>Your beaten head rolls back, like your neck was a noddle and your head a bowling ball
>You feel swollen all over, wet with blood and sweat
“You know, I think you're right. People don't change," you say, struggling for breath
>Your gaze briefly flits to Sam's crumpled body on the edge of the roof, and then back to Vanessa, who is staring so triumphantly back at you through darkening eyes
>"Little too late to fly a new flag there, Anon. You missed your chance to be on the winning side."
“You didn't let me finish." You breathe hard. “I was going to say I always hated you. I still hate you. Even if I could understand where you were coming from, I'd still hate you. In some ways, people don't change, because I will always, always hate you." You take a shallow breath. “But you're wrong about everything else."
>Vanessa flashes a toothy grin, or some poor attempt at containing her fury — one of the two
>"Aww you're cute, you know that? If I were into humans — scrawny cowards like you — I might think about making you some sort of concubine in the new world. But sadly…"
>She lifts you higher in the air like you're some kind of rag doll
>"People just don't change."
>She cocks her arm back, and in one swift motion, hurls you with unbelievable force
>Your back slams against the hard metal door of the rooftop's maintenance access entryway, a low, hunched over brick building jutting out from the roof
>You bounce forward, coming to rest against the door, all the air ejected from your lungs via concussive force
>You lurch forward and breathlessly gasp, propped upright by sheer luck
>You swear you physically felt yourself going concussed
>"You'll be a coward forever!" She howls, starting forward, “Always creeping in the dark, always running from what threatens your peace. I know your type."
>She towers over you with clenched fists, her blood moon shadow engulfing you entirely
>The sound of car alarms blaring draws both of your attention
>And then a terrible squealing noise that shakes the rooftop gravel, the sound of The Behemoth raging somewhere
>"Can you hear it? Maybe not with your pathetic human ears, but I can. It's the sound of a human's spirit breaking. Ooooh we're so close now to the end now."
>She shivers, but not from the cold and biting wind. Her expression turns soft as she look down at your pathetic, writhing form
>“Seeing you like this, down and out, moments away from death, I can't help but pity you just a little."
“You don't have pity," you wheeze, still trying to recover from the glancing blow dealt to the back of your head (which you're sure is starting to bleed now). “You only have anger and hate for people who couldn't care less about you at all."
>"You mean those SHEEP in the gym beneath us? Of course they don't care. And that's their crime. They're self-absorbed, self-obsessed, normal, well-adjusted, happy, social and loving, and they always, always will be. You and I are different — that's why I trusted you. It's why I thought you'd understand what I had to do."
>She leans in close
>"I wanted you to rule beside me, you stupid fucking coward. At least you know what it feels like not to belong."
>Your vision is going fuzzy, but you're still lucid enough to spit blood and curses
“Fuck you, Vanessa. Gloria was right this whole time. People can change. You're just a sad, lonely doe who never got the message." Blood and curses fly from your mouth
>Did you bite your tongue?
>Vanessa shrieks with laughter
>Real, horrible, rib-sucking laughter
>"Oh Anon, how I wish that were true. Maybe you'd have seen our side of things… saw all these normalcunts for what they are: shallow and selfish. But it's okay. I'm going to make everything better. We can all be equal in our madness as we tear this world apart, brick by rotten brick."
>JESUS CHRIST she's insane
>You thought she was just edgy and had gone too far, but no, she's just insane
>And cocky too
>Villains
>Why do they always have to gloat?
>You might gloat too if you were her
>And you're about to have reason to gloat
>Your hand sneaks beneath your robes, where you keep the water pistol tucked into a belt loop
“Some free advice, you crazy bitch:" you say, aiming the pistol upwards under your vestments.
“don't monologue."
>Vanessa recognizes the shape of your holy water pistol beneath the robes all too late
>Triumphantly, you squeeze off a few shots that fly through the relatively thin fabric of your fake vestments
>Thank FUCK for cheap costumes
>They catch Vanessa once on the breast of her skin-tight black jacket
>And then again in the face, arms and legs
>It's about as unceremonious as it gets — little streams of water pounding against Vanessa's arms, legs, chest and face
>No concussive heat blast, no triumphant orange muzzle flash to herald her doom
>Just holy water in a cheap, 99-cent water pistol
>But it's enough
>She flinches and winces as the streams of water strike her
>Wisps of steam and smoke trail off her as a bright scars appears where her skin and makeup begin to slough off from her face
>And yet beneath the searing flesh, you can see a hateful, devil's grin
>Reminds you of Sam's Dad
>"Very clever you little CUNT."
>You pull the trigger again — and you keep pulling it until her hand grips the water pistol and easily squeezes it into shards, sending plastic and holy water flying in all directions
>With skin and fur falling away from her hands, revealing tightly corded and magically cursed muscle beneath, she looks up at her now bloody and raw fist with morbid curiosity
>And then with contempt down at you
>"You're still a coward…" she hisses through her fangs
>Oh god
>Her face is starting to peel and welt up
>Still winded from being hurled across the roof, you can do little more than struggle when she grips you by the collar and pulls you to your feet
>She pulls back her right arm like a pistol's hammer being cocked back
>"…You brought a gun to a fist fight!"
>Her arm explodes forward and hits you so goddamn harm in the jaw that you don't actually feel it
>You feel the blunt force of her bloody fist colliding with your jawbone, but the tremendous shock of pain that normally follows a finishing blow like that doesn't come
>What gets you is the way your body collides with the door, head slamming backwards into the cold metal
>Now THAT hurt
>But at least she hit you hard enough to knock you from her grasp
>Dazed, you can see Vanessa pulling her bleeding fist back again for another killing blow
>And it happens in slow motion
>For once you're grateful to have been belted one
>The way her arm pushes forward, a comet's tail of fresh blood streaking off of her now boiling arm and chest and face…
>…The way the cars begin flying through the air haphazardly behind her, as if tossed by some gigantic child — but you know that's the Behemoth's work as it spreads its madness to the moon and stars…
>And it's in this slow motion that you're able to duck your head and roll onto your side
>The doe's triumphant fist punches a hole in the door right in the space where your head used to be, all metal shredding inward like a flower's petals opening
>You hit the ground hard, getting a face full of gravel and grime
>And maybe a few pebbles up the nose
>Vanessa rips her hand out of the door, the thin canvas bag dangling in the crook of her elbow
>She bellows a deep, scarred-throat shredding roar, as if she were full of hell itself
>But you hardly hear it
>Your eyes are fixed on something else: that swinging bag she's carrying, so tantalizingly close
>Without thinking you reach out and-
>You get a black boot in the gut as Vanessa roars, the glint of madness long since swallowed by darkness and rage
>You can't even see her pupils anymore — just black stones
>Sputtering blood from your mouth, your mind instinctively reels backwards in time, flying at the speed of a warm blood rush
>You just want to find a place in your memories that doesn't hurt
>And maybe it's because you're on the rooftop again, but you can't help but find yourself back in the same place you were last week near this time
>Friday night, one week ago you-
>Another stuttering kick in the gut and you're sucking air
>-You were all on the rooftop drinking and-
>Your hands grope blindly against the side of the maintenance access entryway, feeling for something — anything to anchor you to reality
>-And you still had beers leftover and-
>You fight against the urge to vomit as the doe clutches you by the throat, your airways pinched off in a vise grip
>She starts to hoist you in the air, face-to-face with her, spitting blood through her sharpened teeth, face peeling and sizzling, revealing a mask of muscle and raw skin beneath her velvety fur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQwKWuTrlCY&list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J&index=22
>She shrieks in a voice not her own, “I WANNA SEE THE LIGHT LEAVE YOUR EYES!"
>>-The four of you elect to leave the rest of your beers on the roof, right next to the rooftop door, making plans to return again-
>Your searching fingers find the still full bottle against the side of the access tunnel and wrap around its neck
>You feel Vanessa's second hand cinch around your throat like a vise
>She lifts you in the air under her own strength, too fixed on your inevitable suffocation to notice the amber bottle dangling in your right hand
>Dark stars all around you
>Swarms of unconsciousness bleed in around the corners of your vision, stretching inward like ruthless vines
>You're very still and limp as she chokes the life out of you, and you know: this is your time
>Sam isn't moving over there on the ledge
>Jenna, Alex, Mike and Stella are still trapped in the gym
>She squeezes your airways shut
>She squeezes for everything she's worth
>Everything she's worked for and built
>Everything you've tried to undo
>And for what?
>What was it all for?
>For Sam
>For Alex
>For Jenna
>For Mike
>
>For something that matters
>You bring your arm up, the amber bottle shot through with red moonlight; like Excalibur ripped from the lake
>Vanessa's eyes go up, settling on your weapon, its oblong shape reflected in her black pupils like a prophecy from beyond time
>With your last moments of consciousness, feeling her bloody fingers pressed tight against your skin, your grip tightens and…
>…you bring down your arm down in a hammer-stroke, the bottle crashing sharp against the top of her skull
>The bottle breaks into heavy shards and a spray of warm beer, leaving you with only its jagged neck as you fall from Vanessa's grasp
>The doe throws her hands onto her head and screams
>You drop like a cinder block into a heap of blood and cheap costume fabric
>One last thing though
>With the last bit of lucidity you can still scrounge up from your brush with death, you swipe the sharp remnants of the bottle against the taut strap of her canvas bag with enough force to sheer the fabric
>It drops against the rooftop, spilling its contents — and the two books — everywhere
>You gasp and suck and sputter, struggling to put air back into your nearly-collapsed lungs
>The books are just feet away, while Vanessa stumbles backwards, blood cascading down her face from a now bright red gash on the top of her skull
>You'd reach for the books but… you just have nothing left in the tank
>She screams and shrieks horribly through the pain and…
>Fuck
>…Lunges towards you
>Well, this is all you can do, you guess
>You played your last card and you still couldn't stop her
>You're sorry to everyone you've let down
>Which is… literally everyone on earth
>But more importantly:
>Sam, who risked everything for a better life
>For Alex who wanted to change the world
>For Jenna who… gave up her car?
>And for Mike, who ruined his entire life for you
>If he was here, you'd scream apologies, beg his forgiveness
>But he's not
>You're cold
>So very cold now
>Alone
>And ready to die
The Leaves of Fall Act 3: Something That Matters (Part 23)
You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.
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About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
4 years ago
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Estimated reading time
10 Minutes
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