Work Text:
The fog. Once you’ve been engulfed in it, not even death will be an escape from the eternal torment you’ve just been condemned to. At least, that’s what it means for most people abducted into The Entity’s realm. But not for Sable. The fog didn’t seek her, yet she still walked into it when she found it. After all, she couldn’t just let Mikaela have all the fun.
Now, they’ve found themselves in yet another perilous trial. The fog clears, and they both find themselves standing in the killer’s shack in the Macmillan Estate. Mikaela takes a breath, trying to steel herself for the danger she’ll surely face, while Sable boldly steps out of the shack, approaching the generator outside.
“Ugh, this has got to be my least favorite part of all this.” Sable says as she winces at the sight of grease and filth getting all over her fingers once she gets to work on the generator. Mikaela follows up to her, kneeling down and joining her in fidgeting with the generator parts. “Way better than getting chased around by whatever monster we’ve wound up with this time, if you ask me..”
Sable snorts. Being the only one who finds a thrill in being hunted by the killers tends to get those kinds of responses out of her fellow survivors. “You just need to learn how to have a little fun. Getting to smack that Legion guy in the head with a pallet the other day was pretty cool. Honestly, what kind of ‘legion’ only has four members in it?”
Mikaela can’t help the little chuckle that comes out of her at that. Of course, leave it to Sable to make fun of whatever dangerous situation she’s in. The generator’s pistons get faster and faster as they continue to repair it, signaling that they’re almost finished with it. Soon, it roars to life as the lights at the top turn on. The two of them stand up and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness we were able to get this one done in peace… Hey, look over there!” Mikaela says as she points out to the area behind Sable.
Turning around, Sable’s eyes narrow at what she sees: Leon hurriedly rushing through the place as he’s being chased around by The Nurse. “Ugh, her again? Yum, we’re screwed.”
A hint of worry starts to grow in Mikaela’s voice. “You think he’ll be okay?” Sable lets out a small huff, knowing she can only move on with the rest of the trial if she hopes to make it out alive. “He’s a cop, isn’t he? He’ll be fine, he’ll probably tell us he’s been attacked by worse. Come on, we’ve gotta keep moving if we want to get out of here as soon as possible.” Mikaela’s expression hardens pensively, but she ultimately agrees with Sable.
The two of them walk around, searching for the next generator with the sound of the ruckus being caused by the chase nearby, when Mikaela sees a dull totem hidden between a couple boxes laid up against a wall. “Hey, I’m gonna go bless that totem over there. You find another generator, I’ll join you once I’m done with this.” Sable nods, walking off towards the flickering pair of lights in the distance. Mikaela kneels down in front of the totem and reaches her hand out towards it, focusing her energy on giving it her blessing. The sound of another generator coming to life is heard in the distance. A small blue flame ignites under the totem, affecting the surrounding area with her boons. She stands up and moves towards the direction Sable went in, joining her at the generator.
Sable looks up at her, but her eyes widen in horror upon seeing The Nurse behind Mikaela, about to blink right towards them. Mikaela, unaware of this, kneels down at the generator to get to work on it. “Alright, let’s do-” she’s suddenly cut off by Sable leaping right behind her just before The Nurse teleports right in front of her with a deafening screech, striking her with her saw. Her skin is cut right open, leaving a deep wound as she cries out in pain.
“S-Sable!!”
“Forget about me, run!!”
Mikaela freezes for a second, before running away, almost tripping over her own feet in her panic. Sable runs away in the opposite direction, leading The Nurse away as she gives chase. “Damn it, hate when she does that..” Sable mutters to herself as she hurriedly limps around, hoping to buy the others some time to get the other generators done.
On the other hand, Mikaela keeps running and running, until her legs give out, making her stop to catch her breath. “Great, just perfect..” she thinks to herself. Her head’s filled with nothing but worry now. Worry for if Sable’s gonna be okay, and the way she jumped in to protect her doesn’t help to ease the weight of the situation. She’s never been one to play savior in the trials, so to get that kind of reaction out of her makes Mikaela unable to help but feel a small bit of guilt for getting her in danger.
Up ahead, she sees Leon, working on a generator while still injured from the aftermath of his chase, huffing and groaning in pain. “Hey, you need help?” Mikaela asks as she approaches him. Leon looks up at her, stepping away from the generator and kneeling down so she can treat his wounds. “I’d appreciate it, thanks”
Mikaela opens her med kit and takes out a roll of gauze as she inspects the big slash on Leon’s back. “Goodness, this looks awful. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you before..”
“Don’t worry about it. Been attacked by worse things back in Raccoon City.” He replies reassuringly.
Mikaela can’t stop her lips from quivering upwards slightly, finding amusement in the irony of Sable’s prediction being proven right to help her through the bad feelings swirling in her head. “Figured you’d say that..”
She finishes wrapping the wound, turning to finish repairing the generator. A minute passes, before she hears a pained scream that makes her stomach drop: the sound of Sable being impaled on a hook. It distracts her from the generator so badly that she screws up, making it pop and sparks fly in her face, impeding their progress on it. “Damn it, no..!” she thinks to herself. She’s already been through so many trials, witnessed her best friend being hurt so horribly so many times. So why doesn’t it get any less disheartening every time it happens? She stands up, looking in the direction she heard the scream from. “I have to help her.”
Leon stands up too. “It might be dangerous, I’ll come with you,”
The two of them head towards Sable, carefully scanning the area in case The Nurse might be lurking around to prevent anyone from rescuing her. And surely enough, she once again flies out at them, making another loud screech. Mikaela exclaims as she’s hit by her saw, tearing right through her flesh. She tries to run away, but it doesn’t take long to be caught up to, and she’s once again slashed strong enough to knock her down. The Nurse wastes no time kneeling down and picking her up, intending to carry her over and impale her on another hook.
Then, Leon suddenly reappears, throwing a flash grenade at them just as The Nurse stands back up with Mikaela hoisted over her shoulder. It goes off, making a blinding flash of light that stuns The Nurse, making her drop Mikaela.
“I’ll handle her, get out of here!!”
Mikaela stumbles onto her feet and bolts out of there, her thoughts swirling in panic as she feels almost nothing but pulsating pain, blood dripping from her wounds. The Nurse once again gives chase to Leon, irritated by his interruption.
Mikaela runs as far as her wounds allow her to, she soon makes it back inside the killer’s shack where she falls to her knees. Struggling to catch her breath, her heart’s beating like a drum kit at a death metal show. “Damn it. I’m sorry, Sable…” she thinks to herself, guilt being at the top of all the things rushing through her head. Guilt for being unable to help her best friend, thinking she must be in so much pain while waiting to be rescued.
Then, almost as if on cue, she hears footsteps ascending from the stairwell that leads to the basement. Mikaela’s eyes widen at who she sees coming out: Sable. Injured, bleeding and limping, but holding her head high.
“S-Sable?! How did you-”
Through labored breathing and a throbbing shoulder where the sacrificial hook was stabbed through her, Sable looks at her and chuckles. “Heh, everyone tends to forget I can unhook myself whenever I’m put down there- ngh..”
Mikaela gets back on her feet and stumbles over to her, pulling her in for a quick embrace. “Oh my god, don’t do that again! Just let me take the hit next time.. Here, let me treat your wounds..” She says as she pulls away and opens her med kit.
Sable, however, has a different idea. “Uh, no. You’re in pretty bad shape yourself, you need the attention more than I do.”
Mikaela’s expression hardens. “No, you got hurt first, and you’ve been in pain for longer. Besides, I owe you a heal after you got yourself in danger just to protect me..”
Still unconvinced, Sable shakes her head, unwilling to lose this little squabble. “You don’t owe me anything, I did that because I wanted to. Just like I’m going to heal you first, because I’d rather you be in better condition than me.”
Mikaela pauses for a second, before letting out a little huff, her expression softening into a slight frown. Seeing that she won’t be having her way, she gives up and kneels down, sliding her medkit over to Sable. “..Ugh, fine. But you better start putting yourself first, got it?”
Knowing she’s won, Sable lets out a weak smirk and walks over to Mikaela’s backside, reaching for a roll of bandages. “I’m not as good at this as Orela or Rebecca, but it should do..” She wraps the bandages around Mikaela’s torso, pushing through the lingering anguish of being hooked. She lets out a sigh of relief as her wounds are sealed off, all the pain immediately going away. If there’s one upside to being in The Entity’s realm, it’s the feeling of being good as new even when the bare minimum has been done to treat your injuries. The sound of The Nurse screeching over and over again is heard in the distance as she blinks all over the place, trying to catch Leon.
Feeling better, Mikaela stands up. “Alright, your turn. And don’t act like you can just tough this out.” she says with a hint of sternness in her voice as she reaches for another roll of bandages. Sable subtly rolls her eyes as she lets her tend to her. Beginning to wrap up the stab wound, Mikaela can’t help but let the guilt flood back into her mind.
“This is just terrible. I’m sorry I made you get hurt, all because I didn’t see The Nurse coming. And that you had to fend for yourself..”
Sable sighs and places her free hand on Mikaela’s side reassuringly. “Mikaela, it’s fine. I told you, I did that because I wanted to keep you safe.” She lets out a quiet, weak chuckle, before adding, “Besides, it’s not as bad as when I got my wisdom teeth pulled..”
As she loops the roll of bandages around her shoulder, Mikaela lets out a pensive sigh. “Oh shut up, you know this is worse. I just feel sorry for needing to be helped. Even Leon’s in trouble for me right now. He took The Nurse off my back so I could get away while we were coming to rescue you..”
“Well, that’s his problem. He looks out for everyone. That just means he cares about you too.” Sable replies. “Not like I do, though…” she thinks to herself.
She gets back up once she’s fully healed, ready to jump back into the fray. Just as she does, they hear the chilling sound of Leon screaming in pain as he’s hooked. Mikaela looks out the shack’s exit, looking anxious but determined. “Well, I’d better go return the favor. No way I’m letting anyone get sacrificed after sticking their neck out for me.” She starts speed-walking out the exit, Sable following closely behind.
“Alright, but if that asshole shows up again, you run like your life depends on it, got it? Because it technically does.” she responds, a sense of protectiveness flaring up within her.
“I should be saying that to you. You don’t exactly have a habit of keeping yourself out of trouble..” Mikaela replies as they move in on Leon’s location.
Sable falls silent for a second, being thrown off by being called out for her self-destructive tendencies, “...Oh come on, you know we’ll just come back if we die.”
Mikaela just rolls her eyes, seeing right through her excuse, but she knows better than to press on it in a rather strained moment like this. They soon find Leon and run up to him, hoisting him off the hook and getting him back on his feet. “Come on, we can’t stay here or we’ll all be caught!” They run off before The Nurse is surely alerted to their actions and returns to the site. The three of them get to the Macmillan estate’s water tower and duck behind it to heal Leon’s injuries. Once ready, he stands back up. “Thanks, you guys. I’d have been dead meat if not for you. Come on, let’s finish that generator Mikaela and I were working on.”
The trio carefully returns to the half-finished generator that was left behind, but they find a pleasant surprise in the form of Haddie kneeled down at it, the pistons moving rapidly. A second later, it springs to life, signaling completion. Haddie looks over to them. “Oh, hey everyone. I found this one halfway completed, figured I’d finish it off.”
Mikaela lets out a sigh of relief. “Man, you’re a lifesaver. Literally... Okay, three generators down, two more to go..”
Haddie nods, “We shouldn’t all stay together, or else we’ll all be put at risk if we’re attacked. Let’s split up.”
“She’s right. Why don’t you two find one and get it done, while Haddie and I do the other? It’s our best shot if we want to get out of here as soon as possible.” Leon adds.
Suddenly, The Nurse’s screeching is heard nearby as she blinks around the place, clearly starting to get frustrated by how quickly the survivors are progressing through the trial. She hasn’t spotted them, but she’s still rather close. Sable looks in the direction the sounds are coming from, before saying, “Yeah.. not that I’d be entirely opposed to getting chased around by her..”
Mikaela scoffs and puts her hand on Sable’s shoulder, steering her around and walking off towards another pair of flickering lights posted above a generator. “No way, Sable. You’re not putting yourself in danger again,” she says sternly as the group divides and heads in separate directions.
Sable snickers as she lets her take her by the shoulder. “What? It’d be a good distraction while you all these rusty hunks of junk up and running,” she mutters as she follows Mikaela to the generator, kneeling down and getting started on it. She grabs some broken wires and reconnects them back together, bright but miniature sparks flickering around as the electric currents within them interact with one another. “You know, I always wondered, how come most of us don’t know the first thing about engineering yet we can usually get these things done in a couple minutes? Usually, except for whenever some idiot still finds a way to mess up anyway and sets us back..” She says in a carefree voice, as if there isn’t a ruthless killer lurking around looking to kill everyone. Because of course, leave it to Sable to not give a damn about her personal safety when it comes to seeing something totally wicked up close.
“Beats me. I’m just glad it means I don’t have to become a full on mechanic just to survive..” Mikaela replies as she tightens screws and bolts back in place and switches the lever back and forth, not missing her careless attitude. But she doesn’t say anything about it. By now, she’s so used to it, she actually kind of admires it. As long as she’s not straight up charging towards the killer with a microphone, looking to get an interview for her radio show, of course. Soon, the fourth row of pistons on the generator start to push up and down, telling that they’re almost done bringing it back to life.
A few seconds later, it finally starts. The two of them stand up, looking at the nearby exit gate and waiting for it to buzz as the last generator is activated and delivers the final amount of power needed to operate it. “Okay, Leon and Haddie should be finished any second now. We’ll finally get the hell out of here soon..” A few seconds pass, and.. Nothing. The gate stays dormant. Mikaela’s face gradually hardens as she waits for it to go off, yet she’s only met with silence. “Oh no, you think they got interrupted?”
“Hmph, guess something just had to go wrong somewhere, if not with us,” Sable responds. “Well, come on, the least we can do is finish where they left off. Think you can use that generator-spotting perk you’ve got to find where they might be?”
Mikaela nods, before focusing her energy on seeing the auras of all the objects in the area with her Clairvoyance. She sees the red outlines of the last three generators scattered in the distance, pointing at the one in the direction she saw Leon and Haddie heading towards. “Okay, there’s one all the way over there. I think it might be one the others got started on. And don’t try to ‘distract’ The Nurse or whatever if you see her, okay? You’ve already gotten yourself in enough trouble for one trial..”
Sable rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t protest as they make their way over to the generator. Suddenly, they see an injured Haddie rushing past them, pursued swiftly by The Nurse. “Oh great, just what we need..” Mikaela grumbles as she spots Leon collapsed and bleeding on the ground, too hurt to get up and finish the generator. They rush over to him and start to patch him up. Once he’s regained enough strength to stand back up, he rejects the rest of their treatment and gets back on his feet. “Okay, that’s good enough. We need to finish that thing off before Haddie gets caught..” He’s still in pain but is trying his best to tough it out.
“And I’m the one who gets told to put myself first?” Sable sarcastically thinks to herself as she kneels down at the half-completed generator. From afar, Haddie spots the three of them resuming its progress, and is put at ease (at least, as much as you can while being chased by a killer) knowing they’re going to win this trial. As she continues throwing The Nurse on a good loop, the other three’s combined efforts quickly make the final repairs and get the generator going, sending the final surge of electricity to the exit gates and making them operable.
Mikaela wastes no time running over to the gate and switching the lever, Sable and Leon following closely behind. “Come on, come on…” she mutters as she begins the painstakingly long process of waiting for the old electrical system to charge up its power and finally move the gate open. The red light bulbs above flashing on one by one, it makes another loud buzz as the last one illuminates. Just a few more seconds. The sound of Haddie crying out in pain is heard as she’s finally struck down in her chase.
Finally, the towering wall blocking them from escape moves out of the way. As the gate opens, the pressure in the air changes and the ground beneath starts to rumble and crack, orange light and particles rising from it. Leon looks to the distance where he heard Haddie from. “Shit, you two go on ahead, I have to help Haddie..” He runs off towards her.
Before Mikaela can protest leaving him by himself, The Nurse suddenly blinks right at them, her saw raised as she’s ready to stop them from leaving. Frightened, Mikaela stumbles back and trips over, Sable rushing in front of her to protect her. However, The Nurse stops dead in her tracks at the border of the gate. She knows the Entity will block her from pursuing them once they’ve reached the area behind the gates, so she lowers her weapon and lets out a low, quiet hiss full of frustration and disappointment. Though her face is hidden behind the cloth tied to her head, the two can both clearly tell she’s silently telling them “Just go.”
“..Come on, let's get out of here already.” Sable says as she helps Mikaela back to her feet. They pick up their legs and walk off into the black fog waiting for them outside. Mikaela looks back one last time, worried for Leon and Haddie. But they’re both strong, so they’ll be okay too, right?
The two of them stick close to each other as they trek through the thick fog, the only thing they can see being each other. But soon, they start to see the orange, flickering light of the campfire rapidly growing as they get closer. They come out of the fog, their vision being unclouded to the surrounding woods of The Entity’s realm. No one else is there, all the other survivors must still be in their trials.
Sable walks over to a fallen tree in front of the fire and lazily plops down on it. “Well, I guess that was alright. Would’ve preferred some more pain and screaming, though..” she says with an obvious hint of disappointment in her voice. Mikaela comes over and sits down next to her. “Of course you’d want it to be harder..” she mutters. Sable rolls her eyes and says “Oh please, that was too easy and you know it. Only two hooks in the whole trial? Was Nurse even trying? Don’t answer that, because she clearly wasn’t, the way she just gave up at the end..”
Mikaela sighs, knowing she could never hope to get Sable to lose her strangeness and her love of all things wicked. But at the same time, she knows she wouldn’t want to. After all, it’s the main thing that brought them so close to one another. “I never thanked you for protecting me, by the way,”
“Don’t mention it. Already done it plenty of times, and I’ll do it as many more times as I have to.” Sable replies.
Mikaela looks up into the eternally night sky, staring at the ever-present moon mimicking that of their home world. “Do you really think this’ll ever end? That we’ll finally get to go home and go back to our lives, somehow?”
Sable sighs before responding, “I don’t know. I wish I knew how to do that manifesting thing I heard about, maybe I could make a HAM and tune in to some scary stations. I wouldn’t mind being stuck here a while longer, but I sure miss my show..”
It’s just about the only thing she misses. Not the Moonstone, not her college classes, not all the stupid, judgmental people who always gave her weird looks just for being different. But she doesn’t say that out loud. She knows Mikaela had things she loved and misses back in their hometown, so she keeps her lips shut to avoid accidentally belittling her by suggesting this dark, horrible realm is better than their home.
Mikaela lets out another breath, before turning to look at Sable. “At least we have each other, right?” She subtly begins to lean closer to her.
Sable turns her sight to her as well, her face lighting up slightly with a smile. “Damn right we do. Nowhere I’d rather be, if not with you.”
Mikaela can’t help but smile as well at that. “Why am I not surprised that includes this awful nightmare of a world...”
“You should’ve known quite well I’d jump for joy to join you in a place like this.” Sable replies, before adding, “Besides, there's no way I’d just stand around and let you get hurt if I can help it.”
She falls silent for a few seconds, before once again parting her lips to say, “I know I always make it look like I’m having fun, and I am most of the time, but whenever we both get put in the same trial together, that’s when things get serious for me. Keeping you free from harm is just about the only thing on my mind..”
Mikaela listens to her intently, her eyes widening at Sable’s words, almost surprised to hear them. “Oh, Sable, I didn’t think it’d be that deep for you..” She responds after a couple seconds in silence.
Sable soon realizes the weight of her words and internally panics a little bit, knowing she let out more than she intended to. She shifts her gaze away from Mikaela, trying not to look embarrassed. “Well.. I care about you. You’re the one who’s always been there for me, you helped me get to where I was before this whole mess started. So.. If having a familiar face around makes you feel any better about all this, then of course I’ll drop everything and be here with you.” She knows she’s starting to sound whipped, and she knows she’s starting to confess more than she probably should. So why can’t she stop herself?
After another pause, Mikaela speaks up, her expression softening into something fond as she feels something fluttery in her chest, “Well, then.. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get all sappy like that..”
Sable huffs, seriously hoping she’s not blushing. “Oh come on, don’t ruin the moment with some snarky response. And you better not tell anyone about this conversation, okay? I don’t want any of the others to know I let myself get this personal.”
That gets a small, quiet giggle out of Mikaela. “Alright, alright, I won’t. Still, though, I’m really that important to you? I mean, we’re best friends, obviously, but.. I just can’t help but feel a little.. Fluttery, at that.”
A subtle purse of Sable’s lips can be seen as she continues staring into the campfire. She knows what she wants to say, but she’s afraid to. Might as well be the first time she’s ever been scared to express herself, and it just has to be for her best friend. Three simple words everyone knows the meaning of, yet it just has to be a meaning that carries one of the heaviest weights a phrase can have. She pauses yet again, trying to find the right way around those words, before speaking in a quiet voice, “When I walked down that staircase into the fog, I knew I’d find you here, but I told myself I was just looking to have some fun, with all the pain and horror and all that. But, it’s not the only thing I found. I came to.. Realize a few things.. Like how I get to spend who-knows-how-long-we’re-gonna-be-at-this with you. And there was something I liked about that idea. Like, in the sense that I’d have been more likely to walk away and move on with my life if I didn’t know I’d be reunited with you.”
“Oh my god, it’s completely obvious..” She frustratedly thinks to herself as she starts to grit her teeth behind her lips pressing against each other. She knows she’s gone too far to take it all back now, though.
On the other hand, Mikaela’s expression goes blank like a deer in headlights, except for her eyes being opened slightly wider, her pupils dilated. She’s starting to realize what Sable is implying, what she’s too unwilling to say out loud. And she’s starting to feel her heartbeat pounding against her chest. She opens her mouth to say something, but she didn’t even have any words planned out yet, making her fall silent for a few seconds. “I.. I don’t even- are you saying- you’re not just saying that, right?” She finally asks, even though she feels like she already knows- or she desperately hopes that she knows the answer.
Sable turns her sights back on Mikaela, the simple act of maintaining eye contact taking more effort than any trial she’s ever been in. “...I mean it. You’re everything to me… I love you, Mikaela.” Her heart’s beating just as fast, if not faster than Mikaela’s, and she’s fighting everything in herself to keep her breathing steady.
Mikaela parts her lips and silently takes in a shocked breath, her heart and mind racing so fast that her thoughts just go silent, she can only muster the will to say just one thing, “Sable..”
“I know, I know, I don’t expect you to feel the same way. Just- forget I said- mmph!” Sable suddenly goes quiet as she’s cut off by Mikaela’s lips pressing against hers, her hands placed around her head. She gasps through her nose, her eyes shooting wide open, but it doesn’t take long for her eyelids to melt and close as she leans into the kiss, putting her hands on Mikaela’s upper arms.
They stay pressed close to one another. Nothing is on either of their minds except for each other. No killers, no trials, no looming threat of The Entity, just this single moment. After what seems like a lovely string of hours, they finally pull away from each other. Sable exhales a shaky breath, still riding on a portion of her previous shock, “..Oh, okay.. I-I didn’t think you-...”
“Sable, you mean the world to me. I missed you so, so much before you turned up in this stupid hellscape, and when you finally did, as terrified as I was for you, I felt like I got back a piece of my entire being. Like.. like I could finally make up for the time we lost.” Mikaela starts to feel a lump growing in her throat. “So.. yeah. I love you, too.”
Sable once again falls silent, as if she needs a moment to process what she’s just heard. “So, does that mean we’re.. A thing, now?” Sable slowly asks, her heart fluttering in ways she never imagined she’d ever feel.
Mikaela nods. “Mm, I guess we are now.”
Her words no longer surprise Sable, but they still feel like everything she’s ever wanted to hear. She’s calmed down enough to form a smile on her face, and she’s begun to slowly regain her former confidence. “Well.. I’ll be damned. You really fell for a weirdo like me, huh?”
Mikaela smiles back at her, “You’re my weirdo, now. And I’m yours. So if there’s one good thing about being trapped here forever, it’s that we’re gonna spend every minute of it together, right?”
“For sure. I don’t intend to spend a second away from you if I can help it,” Sable leans in to press another kiss on Mikaela’s cheek. “Mm, not even death can do us part. That’s what I like about this realm.”
That gets a light giggle out of Mikaela, she’s not even bothered by Sable’s obsession with the darkness and anguish of the realm. “Well, as much as I’d personally love to go home, I suppose I do like that too..” She replies as she leans into Sable’s kiss.
As she brings her hand back down and places it back on the tree, Sable wastes no time placing her own hand over hers, her warmth easily outclassing that of the cold and uncomforting campfire of the realm. “Don’t worry. Doesn’t matter how much I like it here, if we ever find some magic pathway that’ll lead us back home, you sure bet I’ll follow you through it.”
Mikaela’s smile grows wider, and she can’t resist the urge to pull Sable back in for another quick kiss. “Good, you better..” She says as she pulls her into her embrace.
From the fog engulfing the nearby woods, they suddenly see various figures start to emerge from it. Leon and Haddie coming from one side, Alan, Lara and Yui coming from another. The other survivors are beginning to return from their trials. Feng materializes in a glowing flurry of auric cells, muttering something along the lines of “Ugh, can’t believe I’m the only one who died again..”
Sable turns her sight back to Mikaela, not wanting her one-on-one time with her interrupted, “Speaking of going home.. Want to go to that messed up, nightmarish version of it? Maybe we’ll finally figure out how to work the projector in the theater, and we can finally watch whatever’s in all those film rolls.”
Mikaela looks back at her and lets out a soft chuckle, knowing she’s just looking for an excuse to have some more alone time together. “Heh, okay. Lead the way, love.”
Sable playfully rolls her eyes as she gets up, her hand still intertwined with Mikaela’s. “We’re gonna need to work on the pet names, but I guess that’s okay for now. But we’ll worry about that later. I’m ready to watch my first scary movie in ages.”
“I’m pretty sure trying to find the least dangerous way to Greenville would be pretty scary enough, Sable.” Mikaela jokingly responds as she also stands up, knowing Sable’s cravings for unfathomable horrors will never be satisfied.
“Oh, please, whatever’s gonna attack us, we already see it up close every day anyway. Now come on, before the others see us and start interrogating us over this.”
The two of them walk off away from the campfire, making their way towards the realm’s imitation of Greenville Square. The Entity watches them through the eyes of a crow perched atop a tree branch, but it decides to leave them alone for now. After all the fear and anguish of a trial, perhaps warmth and happiness aren’t a bad dessert.