ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ᴡᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇ ✓ ᶜʳᵉᵉᵖʸᵖᵃˢᵗᵃ

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝟐𝟑

you turned your head to look at him, eyes squinting as your formed a glare. the water reached his stomach now, you could feel it barely grazing your back. "toby please." you gritted your teeth, hands wrapping tighter around his neck, afraid he'd let you go.

"scared of a li-little water?" he mocked, a low chuckle emitting from his throat which had your cheeks in a light shad of red, "you're already s-soaked, what're ya so af-afraid of?" he stopped walking, the water now just above his stomach.

you slapped his bare shoulder, "i can swim perfectly fine." you spat, squirming to try and loosen his tight grip around you, "it's just i would rather be out of the water." you sighed, slumping as your hands finally let go of his neck, finding your attempts futile. you looked around, trying to find a solution, "jaack!" you called out, he was currently in the house doing god knows what.

"woah, don't summon t-that demon now." toby sweat dropped, a strained smile appearing on his lips as you glared at him in response.

"then please let me go?" you queried, crossing your arms, emphasising and extending the please to add more affect.

the brunette stared at you, a smile no longer evident, his eyes seemed to darken which made you shiver. you raised a brow at him before a smirk etched on his lips, his grip around you tightened as he leaned a bit, "i like i-it when you beg." he said in the lowest tone possible, this being close to your ear made your eyes go wide, any wider and you swore they'd pop out.

despite your face being dusted with a light red, you furrowed your eyebrows with an irritated grin, "oh yeah?" you replied, earning a smug nod from the latter, "you're not going to like what's next then."

something close to a growl came from behind toby, you snorted looking over his shoulder as the brunette tensed. toby twisted his head over to see a fuming eyeless demon, "toby."

｡･ﾟ𓂅ꗃ𓂅ꗃ𓂅ꗃ ﾟ･｡

stripes woke up with a groan, her dark eyes peeling into slits before fully opening. she was awake and alive, leaning on a trunk of a tree as a makeshift bed.

a clear headache made its way to her head, she reached a hand only to abruptly stop and hiss in pain. the many scars littering her body oozed a string of blood, each having individually different shapes and lengths.

"those proxies are hell..." she mumbled, grazing her thumb over an open scar before licking it, "i am not going to father till i satisfy his deeds." she huffed, using the tree trunk to hoist herself off the ground with a grunt.

she wobbled, the headache coming back to her. as carefully as she could, she lifted a leg forward, then the other, then back to the previous leg till she was walking or rather limping.

stripes had ventured deeper into the forest, needing to take a short nap after fighting and running away from skilled killers that outnumbered her greatly. she saw the light peaking over the mountains, indicating that it was early morning, too early.

with a gruff sigh, she managed to take a few weak steps with the help of the trees. she wouldn't admit it but it was clear that she was lost, one minute at the mansion of her father's enemy, the next deeper into the dark forest.

she can't die... more figuratively she can, she just refuses to. especially in the eyes of her father, she was a weapon to zalgo, nothing more nothing less.

stripes swore an oath to fight for him, alongside rake. she was praised, yes, but not as a daughter. what would happen if she were to die, what would happen if zalgo found out about her passing?