Tags: Psychological Horror, Incest, Suicide Attempt, Language, and general weirdness. I seriously don't know where this even came from.
---
You're holding on tightly to Rose's hand as the two of you race down the dark corridor. Neither of you know what's behind you, and you can't look back, because it's right behind you and it's going to kill you if it catches you.
"Don't look back," you say over and over. "Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back -"
Rose doesn't listen. She never listens.
You hear her scream.
---
"Rose, this might be one of the stupidest things you've ever asked me to do, and I've done a lot of crazy things for you."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it's ridiculous. Because fortune telling is nothing but a bunch of old cons telling people shit they already know and want to hear someone else say."
"You only believe that because you've never heard an authentic fortuneteller at work."
"Fuck yeah, I haven't. Because fortunetelling isn't real."
---
"It's just as the cards said," Rose manages as you finally get her to calm down. You think you're safe, now - you think that it can't reach you there. Damn it, you hope you're right. You really do.
"Don't think about that," you say through gritted teeth. "We've gotta come up with a plan -"
"Transformation. Devils. Evil. Change." She's still got that reading stuck in her head. You can't seem to pry it out of her. "We made this happen, Dave. We made it come here."
"Rose. Damn it, look, Rose -"
She looks up at you with empty eyes. "I brought it here."
---
"Oh, dear. You're going to have a very dull life, with that attitude."
"Look, all I'm saying is if a bunch of cards could tell the future, everyone would be doing it by now, okay? We'd already know which countries were gonna start shit someday, which would be all of them, so we would've nuked each other out of existence by now. I don't even know why you think that's a good thing."
"It's not that simple, and stop pretending that you don't know otherwise. This isn't about that."
"So what's it about?"
"Guidance."
---
"I have to consult them again."
"What?" You grab her wrists - you don't want to hurt her, but you have to stop her from doing anything crazy. Again. "Rose, look, they got us into this mess, what makes you think they can get us out?"
"What makes you think that anything else can?" Below her tight mask of control lies barely-concealed panic.
"Look, sitting around and staring at your cards isn't going to help. We have to run -"
"There's nowhere to run, Dave - you saw the cards. Ten of Swords, inverted - he's coming for us. He'll find us wherever we go."
You shut up. How are you supposed to argue with her when she has an answer for everything you say? You can't stop her from pulling out that damned deck and shuffling the cards; all you can do is wait.
---
"Okay, wow. This is just a great fucking time all around."
"You're not the one interpretating this reading, Dave. You have no place to say."
"C'mon, so far we've got freaky devil guy, the grim reaper, and a shitload of swords. I can't see how this could possibly be a good thing, do you?"
"It's not meant to be taken literally. Death is a sign of change, and the Devil is the sign of bondage. The swords usually indicate a combative nature..."
"Rose? Hey, c'mon. Not funny."
"I wasn't joking. Didn't you hear something?"
"No, besides - wait. What was that?"
"..."
"...shit."
---
Rose isn't putting cards down carefully in a pattern this time, like she was before. She's shuffling wildly and throwing them down, and you see them land - a pair of lovers, a bunch of wands, a lady with a sceptre -
"Rose," you finally snap, grabbing her wrist. "Stop it. Please."
She looks up at you with frightened - and somehow mocking - eyes. "I can fix this," she starts.
You pull her in and kiss her. It's the only way you can think of to shut her up. "We've got to keep going," he says. "We'll be fine if we keep going. Everything will be fine."
She stares at you for a moment longer. "All right," she says, at last, and leans in to kiss you again, and it's weird but you keep doing it, because at least if she's kissing you she's not panicking. And it's weird, but somehow the running and being terrified and shit makes it better, and you're really getting into it.
She loses her balance, and you're too tangled up in her to catch you, and suddenly, you're falling.
"You're right, Dave," she says over the roaring. "Everything's going to be fine."
You black out before you hit the ground.
---
"What IS it? What is that thing?"
"I don't know! This is supposed to be symbolic, not literal -"
"Well, tell him that! Maybe he'll disappear if you tell him he's not real!"
"I don't understand -"
"Come on, Rose. We have to run!"
---
You aren't sure how you both survived that. You're somewhere in the darkness, and Rose is resting with you, her head in you lap, and it occurs to you that you have no idea where you are.
Whatever she did - whatever crazy plan she had - it worked. But now you're lost, completely fucking lost, and you haven't been able to find a way out.
Two nights ago, when she was asleep, you took the cards out of her pockets and buried the motherfuckers in the sand. You wonder if she's noticed yet.
FILL: TEAM ERIDAN<>ROSE
---
You're holding on tightly to Rose's hand as the two of you race down the dark corridor. Neither of you know what's behind you, and you can't look back, because it's right behind you and it's going to kill you if it catches you.
"Don't look back," you say over and over. "Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back -"
Rose doesn't listen. She never listens.
You hear her scream.
---
"Rose, this might be one of the stupidest things you've ever asked me to do, and I've done a lot of crazy things for you."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it's ridiculous. Because fortune telling is nothing but a bunch of old cons telling people shit they already know and want to hear someone else say."
"You only believe that because you've never heard an authentic fortuneteller at work."
"Fuck yeah, I haven't. Because fortunetelling isn't real."
---
"It's just as the cards said," Rose manages as you finally get her to calm down. You think you're safe, now - you think that it can't reach you there. Damn it, you hope you're right. You really do.
"Don't think about that," you say through gritted teeth. "We've gotta come up with a plan -"
"Transformation. Devils. Evil. Change." She's still got that reading stuck in her head. You can't seem to pry it out of her. "We made this happen, Dave. We made it come here."
"Rose. Damn it, look, Rose -"
She looks up at you with empty eyes. "I brought it here."
---
"Oh, dear. You're going to have a very dull life, with that attitude."
"Look, all I'm saying is if a bunch of cards could tell the future, everyone would be doing it by now, okay? We'd already know which countries were gonna start shit someday, which would be all of them, so we would've nuked each other out of existence by now. I don't even know why you think that's a good thing."
"It's not that simple, and stop pretending that you don't know otherwise. This isn't about that."
"So what's it about?"
"Guidance."
---
"I have to consult them again."
"What?" You grab her wrists - you don't want to hurt her, but you have to stop her from doing anything crazy. Again. "Rose, look, they got us into this mess, what makes you think they can get us out?"
"What makes you think that anything else can?" Below her tight mask of control lies barely-concealed panic.
"Look, sitting around and staring at your cards isn't going to help. We have to run -"
"There's nowhere to run, Dave - you saw the cards. Ten of Swords, inverted - he's coming for us. He'll find us wherever we go."
You shut up. How are you supposed to argue with her when she has an answer for everything you say? You can't stop her from pulling out that damned deck and shuffling the cards; all you can do is wait.
---
"Okay, wow. This is just a great fucking time all around."
"You're not the one interpretating this reading, Dave. You have no place to say."
"C'mon, so far we've got freaky devil guy, the grim reaper, and a shitload of swords. I can't see how this could possibly be a good thing, do you?"
"It's not meant to be taken literally. Death is a sign of change, and the Devil is the sign of bondage. The swords usually indicate a combative nature..."
"Rose? Hey, c'mon. Not funny."
"I wasn't joking. Didn't you hear something?"
"No, besides - wait. What was that?"
"..."
"...shit."
---
Rose isn't putting cards down carefully in a pattern this time, like she was before. She's shuffling wildly and throwing them down, and you see them land - a pair of lovers, a bunch of wands, a lady with a sceptre -
"Rose," you finally snap, grabbing her wrist. "Stop it. Please."
She looks up at you with frightened - and somehow mocking - eyes. "I can fix this," she starts.
You pull her in and kiss her. It's the only way you can think of to shut her up. "We've got to keep going," he says. "We'll be fine if we keep going. Everything will be fine."
She stares at you for a moment longer. "All right," she says, at last, and leans in to kiss you again, and it's weird but you keep doing it, because at least if she's kissing you she's not panicking. And it's weird, but somehow the running and being terrified and shit makes it better, and you're really getting into it.
She loses her balance, and you're too tangled up in her to catch you, and suddenly, you're falling.
"You're right, Dave," she says over the roaring. "Everything's going to be fine."
You black out before you hit the ground.
---
"What IS it? What is that thing?"
"I don't know! This is supposed to be symbolic, not literal -"
"Well, tell him that! Maybe he'll disappear if you tell him he's not real!"
"I don't understand -"
"Come on, Rose. We have to run!"
---
You aren't sure how you both survived that. You're somewhere in the darkness, and Rose is resting with you, her head in you lap, and it occurs to you that you have no idea where you are.
Whatever she did - whatever crazy plan she had - it worked. But now you're lost, completely fucking lost, and you haven't been able to find a way out.
Two nights ago, when she was asleep, you took the cards out of her pockets and buried the motherfuckers in the sand. You wonder if she's noticed yet.
You don't know. But you know it had to be done.