Into The Shadow Realm | Rascal x fem reader story 2023

20| Comfort in the Suffering

You look up from the floor and are met with the black sockets of the joker's mask, upside down and inches from yours.

You roll your eyes. "And you have been yourself."

His eyes fine out and his mouth turns down into a fake pout. "You look exhausted~"

"I am perfectly fine. So how is the plan going for getting the clock?"

Rascal flips back down to the ground and stands across from you, a grin surfacing. "What makes you think I'm telling you?"

You would be lying if you said the comment did not shake you up a little. "Okay, up to you. Just – "

The surroundings, the entire living room go out of focus, then glitch, only for a second, making your heart skip a beat.

Sleep deprivation.

"...just...what?~"

Snapping out of the shock, you roll your eyes and look back up to him, and in return he stares solidly at you. "Just...let me know if you need assistance. I want Nogo revived too."

Then you walk out of the room, knowing you would not be able to teleport and Rascal stares behind you as you leave, a brow raised under the mask and the cogs in his head spinning fast.

...

You drop to the ground of long grass in overwhelm. Damp soil and dirt soaks the knees of your black pants.

No!

You did not mean to collapse onto the floor upon entering your room. Three weeks was really pushing it without any sleep. You are lucky you are not a human, you have heard that they cannot last more than 11 days.

Unable to walk, you stare up at the sky with a turned down expression. Stomach churning, your veins already release a false sensation of pain.

The colours are true, the vibrancy is burning into your gaze and the fear is spiking out of control inside of you.

"DAMN IT!" You shout, then laying eyes on the rock that has just emerged as a tiny bright orange speck from the night sky.

What is it really though? You have had this dream for years and years, referring to it as a 'rock' comes only naturally. As it inches closer, you know that this time there is no point in running, so you just stay put.

During your childhood, you first began living this nightmare at a ripe age of 12. You remember exactly what happened that very first night it came to you, how it gave your veins painful shocks, and how disturbing it was. Always the same dream, a broken record. Not one blade of grass is in a different spot, not one blade flows out of place.

Every time you stare at this rock, your vision blurs and distorts, never allowing you to capture a proper glimpse of what it truly is.

WHAT IS IT!? The question screams at you. Squinting does not help, neither does copious amounts of blinking.

Then, something happens that has never happened before.

The dream pauses, like a television screen. Nothing moves, the grass freezes, there is no breeze anymore and the rock is now suspended in thin air inching no further towards you.

Nothing.

Then...

"Ah...what do we have here?" A silvery dark voice, you feel it behind you.

Morpheus.

At once the colours around you drain from your dream, your surroundings becoming a dark and dull black and white.