Chapter Text
Oakhurst 20**, Owen
Owen sat in pure darkness, which was fine, darkness doesn’t hurt like the way light did, but it also meant that there was nothing to look at, nothing to distract himself from the memories. He was forced to relive the stares, the whispers, … Louis’ death. Over and over again, no matter what he did, the memories never stopped,
… but then it did.
It just stopped.
Owen waited for it to come back, but it never did. He looked into the darkness, waiting, he knew he should feel relief, but all he felt was cold numbness.
The longer he sat there the more he started to realize how heavy his limbs felt. Then he heard it, a large booming voice. “Now, this is interesting” it said “A soul that wanted nothing more than to just die and be with his loved one, a soul who has done nothing but harm, is now being called back?” The voice was a man's but also not. It was a whisper in the wind but also a roaring thunder in his ears, so painful as it reverberated in his skull, he wanted to cover his ears but his was glued to the ground. “Who are you, and what do you want?” he said, his voice lacking its usual venom. “I have been called many things, but that is none of your concern, as for what I want…” it said, voice booming causing his ears to pop. His hands went slightly numb and his nerves felt like they were on fire. Whoever this was it was obvious that their voice was not meant to be heard. At least not by mortal spirits. “It is not for what I want, but instead the want of something else.”
“What on earth does that mean?” he asked.
”You’ll learn, you’ll learn soon enough”
And everything faded away
His eyes shot open, and he gasped at air he didn’t need. His hands grabbed at the grass, and he hissed as the sun burned his skin. Wait, the sun? Hell didn’t have any light, nor did it have the warm smells or sounds of nature, like the ones he heard now. He stood up on wobbly legs, he realized he was at the tower. He looked himself over, he still wore Louis’ clothes, but his skin was back to its normal warm tan, and his hair was now a deep brown.
“I need to get out of this sun” he hissed, as he walked slowly down the hill. Owen wasn’t sure where he was going to go, all that mattered was getting out of the open. Birds chirped their cheery song and squirrels bonded nimbly between branches. The branches offered Owen enough shading to stop feeling like he was being cooked alive but that was pretty much it, by the time he made it up a small hill he was drenched in sweat. When did this place get so hot? Owen wiped some sweat off his brow and took in the area, trying to determine his location. He could see the beacon tower he woke up at behind him, marking north. He finally decided that he would keep heading south and find the old paths he used to use to get to the castle.
After much walking he managed to find a large river that he knew linked back to the strange body of water that surrounded the castle. Much cursing and hiking later he could see the old bridge and castle between the trees, promising salvation. As he got closer he could see the old stone bridge was better repaired then how they left it. The columns weren't cracked and looked much more stable with the gaps in between fully filled in.
He walked down the hill, but then stopped half way down, having noticed two figures on the bridge. He squinted and realized that it was Cleo and… Pyro? He couldn’t make out much detail but he could recognize that bright red hair anywhere. Owen debated between revealing himself to them or trying to hide when Cleo looked over in his direction. “Oh great, another one!” Cleo said, having noticed him on the hill. “Owen, get down here!” she hissed. As Owen got closer, he realized that Cleo wore different clothes then what he was used to seeing. They wore weirdly light blue pants with holes on the knees and a loose shirt that slipped slightly off their left shoulder. Cleo pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a disgruntled sigh. “Come on you two, let's get inside before someone sees you.”
Owen looked at Pyro who just gave a measly shrug and quietly followed them past some weird sign posted at the front of the castle and inside away from the heat.
“Pearl! We have two more!” she called, walking into the ball room, with Pyro and Owen following. The windows were covered, making lamps the room’s only source of light. The room looked the same, the only difference was that there were three cots in the middle of the grand room. Owen’s eyes adjusted to the light and he noticed that Ren and Martyn were also in there. They both look shocked to see him and Pyro. “Oh great not these two” Martyn muttered.
Owen would have snapped back, but he was too tired to deal with this and he had an odd feeling in the back of his head that was turning into a headache. “Cleo, we only have one more cot.” Pearl said walking in, Legs following behind her from some random room near the back. Their eyes met and that weird feeling grew stronger.
Surprise, fear, … anger
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was most likely just a few seconds. Many emotions flashed in Legs’ eyes adding to the feelings already storming his head, adding to his head ache. Owen quickly shut down the bond, pushing it to the back of his mind and grabbed the cot Pearl had before setting it up in the far back of the room.
He cannot be bothered with this.