The laugh didn't fade.It clung to the cavern air like a secret too aware of itself.
…hhuhhuhhuh…
The Bloom throbbed against my chest, its blue shrinking small — like a light trying not to be noticed. The darkness pressed thick against its edge.
The mark beneath my fur pulsed back.
[Title Activated: Marked][Passive Triggered: Residual Awareness]
…Not now…
Something brushed the inside of my skull — gentle as a fingertip tracing the wrong side of a mirror.
You should not be here.
My breath stuttered. The voice wasn't in the air.It was in me.
Y-you're the one from the clearing.The… instant-death one.
Yes.
My stomach dropped straight to hell.
Silence… then — carefully, almost ashamed:
I didn't mean to reach so deep.I thought you broke.You didn't.
Somehow that was worse.
So you didn't mean to hurt me… you messed up?
Mm. Accident.I was excited.You do impossible things and I get—hungry.
I froze.
…like the eat-me kind of hungry?
No.Yes.…Maybe.
The Bloom flickered — and for one heartbeat I saw something:
A fox shape, but wrong.Skin where fur should be.Dark violet shell plates growing like half-formed armor.
Then gone.
Don't look.Not finished.She promised.She lied.She always lies.
Not a threat — a plea.
Sorry…
Now we are connected.I can tug your thoughts like thread.I shouldn't.I want to.
Connected… how?
When I reached, you reached back.You tore something inside me.You broke me.You fixed me.
…That's not terrifying…
A delighted breath-laugh:
…hhuhhuhhuh…
My heart hammered.
You've been… watching me, haven't you.
Yes.
How long?
Since the first time you refused to die.
That… narrows nothing down.
Another soft laugh — thrilled:
…hhuhhuhhuh…
You run toward danger like you miss it.What are you chasing, little rabbit?
I guess… if something needs doing… I do it.Even if it's stupid.Like — really stupid.Rat-eating stupid.
Silence stretched thin.
Then:
And the girl?Saving her was also stupid?
She knew about her.
I helped her because she… needed it.
Something snapped in her.
The air crushed my mind — pressure spiking so fast I gasped.Vision warped.Ringing flooded my ears.
Her laugh spiked jagged and wrong:
…hhuhhuh—hhh—hhh—hhh…
A monster helping the weak.Because they needed it.He really is different.Broken.Flawed.Unnatural — like me—
Words spun around me — not to me — about me.
Maybe I picked correctly.Maybe—maybe—
The psychic pressure became a knife—
Then gone.
My legs buckled and I collapsed, sucking air like it was something rare.
If that was her losing control for one second?I needed to leave yesterday.
She waited until my heartbeat slowed.
Still alive?
Barely…
Don't worry, I won't kill you.Not by accident.
Fantastic. Love that for me…
She's still alive.The girl. I have to get to her.
To save her.
Y-yeah.(Please don't freak out again.)
Monsters don't protect.They kill.They grow.So what are you?
No answer came.Just pounding blood.
She leaned close — breath cold against my inner thoughts.
It's loud in you.The wanting-to-save.It makes the others… quiet.
O-others?
A hesitant confession:
The voices inside.They shout and tear.It hurts.But since you…not as much.I hate it.I want more of it.
Chills crawled under my fur.
If it's voices in your head then I know all about that.Guess we're the same...ish.
Silence.Not empty — hungry.
Just then a distant rumble rolled through the cavern.
She flinched — armor clicking — terror prickling the dark.
Mother.
Just one word.All dread.
You are different.If she notices you…she will take you apart to learn why.
My stomach folded into origami.
Are you — trying to protect me?
No.You are mine.Not hers.
My breath stumbled.
Of course.
The Bloom dimmed — wisely.
She resumed her circling — claws tracing a quiet territorial spell.
I don't want her to notice you.I found you first.
She wasn't saving me.She was saving me for herself.
Another rumble.She froze — prey sensing the predator.
You must go.Now-now.
Where?
Beside you.A path.It leads back your girl.Do not wander, trouble-finder.Luck won't save you down here.
Should I trust something that nearly erased me?…Probably not.
But staying felt like volunteering to be taken apart.
Well… not the first time I've listened to a voice in my head and hoped for the best.
Stone shifted under my paw — a seam pretending to be a wall.
Don't look back.
I wasn't planning to…
I hopped into darkness.Fast.Like my life depended on it.
Because it did.
Her laugh followed — hooked behind my ribs:
…hhuhhuhhuh…