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Perpetua meant the whole world and more to you. You had been there for every moment of his journey as the new Papa. You stayed up until midnight to watch his reveal. You watched every new video, read every new article, downloaded every new photoshoot. There was more pining there than a Christmas tree farm. You couldn’t deny he was your light in a time of darkness and uncertainty, as well as what felt like a fantasy tailor-made for you. So as soon as you saw that he was going to visit your city at an arena that you drove by nearly every day, you didn’t hesitate to buy yourself a ticket. You were initially a bit apprehensive to be going all by yourself to such a large event, but you knew it would be a wonderful memory unlike any other. Plus, there was a nearby event you and your best friend attended every year, so you knew you would feel hyped up and confident before the show.
At first, you thought it would have been tacky and attention-seeking to dress up in what you considered to be a gothic wedding outfit to attend the concert. But then you realized there was a chance that you wouldn’t see him in person again in years, if ever. It was also your first-ever Ritual. You wanted to make it count. So you budgeted your money for months to be able to curate your final look. A long black and purple dress with sheer purple inserts meant to mimic the vestments he wore for his reveal at the end of the “Satanized” music video, grey lace gloves to imitate his gauntlets, a black lace veil trimmed with black and purple roses, a rosary-style locket with a picture of your beloved in it, and finally, a ring that consisted of two silver skeletons holding a black multifaceted gem. Thankfully, the weather meant that everything was going smoothly, as excessive heat or rain would have thrown a wrench into your plan. But there you were, in line with your best friend as they walked you to the arena door. They hugged you goodbye and left you at the arena door as you waved goodbye to them. You brought up your ticket on your phone, which the doorman scanned, and led you into a vestibule full of tables and Yondr attendants sealing away concertgoers’ phones.
You already knew that this concert was going to be no phones. You weren’t mad about it either, as it meant you could give your beautiful man and the rocking music your undivided attention. However, you didn’t expect the Yondr station to be right in the first entrance you encounter at the arena. “Oh. You have to seal away my phone already?”, you asked, in slight confusion. “You know the vibes…”, stated the Yondr attendant calmly. You didn’t ask any questions as your phone was slipped into a pouch that they magnetically locked, preventing you from contacting anyone unless you returned back to that station or the other one at the upper arena entrance. You found your seat without much trouble, but only then, in person, could you grapple with the true scale of the arena. A steep set of almost vertical stairs led down a colosseum-like rotunda to your seat. You picked up your skirt and were practically shaking as you walked down them, feeling as if you were certainly going to fall to your death. But you thankfully made it to your seat without any issue. You commented to yourself that you truly were in what some called “The Peanut Gallery”, envious of whoever was going to be Ciriced that night in the pit of the arena. You loved Perpetua more than anything else in the world. To show him how much he truly meant to you would be a dream come true. You wished you could throw the bouquet you were carrying as part of your wedding look to him on stage, but it certainly wouldn't have made it further than right on top of the sound technician's head. And you absolutely did not want to mess up the show like that for such a trivial thing.
Throughout his performance, you decided the next best thing you can do is be as loud as possible to attract his attention and alleviate all the anxiety and excitement within yourself. You screamed when you first saw his face. You screamed when he sang songs that had lifted you up throughout the year. You screamed when he strutted about on stage like a supermodel. He really was all that you had imagined him to be. It wasn’t some idealized version of him that your mind had merely conjured up… He really was that lovely. That funny. That sweet. That beautiful… Perpetua had just finished performing “Mummy Dust”, which meant you got to see for yourself the infamous titillating “Mummy Thrusts” that fans had gone hogwild over. It was now the halfway point in the concert, which meant that there was a lull in between songs and Perpetua could address the crowd directly. “How's that for a Friday night Taint Tickle?!”, he shouted triumphantly at the crowd. You giggled at his goofy yet risque statement that he probably borrowed from his brother’s performances. Silly yet horny banter was on-brand for the Emeritus family as a whole. Things that simultaneously made you laugh and turned you on at the same time… “Think you can go for another round?”, he asks with the same amount of enthusiasm. You let out a loud “Hell yeah, baby!!!!”, and the rest of the crowd seems to have the same attitude towards his double entendre as you do, screaming and cheering wildly. Perpetua stops, microphone in hand, and seems to be pondering his next statement as you see a smirk flash across his face on the massive video monitors on either side of the stage.
“I wanna give a shoutout to our guy, Richie! See, Richie's usually here to uh, keep y'all safe from us … If he's not here, we would come out there and ravish y'all… But, uh… Richie actually isn't here tonight…” he trailed off. The crowd erupted in a cacophony of ooohs and ahhs. Your eyes no doubt resembled saucers at this point, with how wide they were due to his uncouth statement. “Each of us is gonna be picking one of you…You cannot hide in the darkness, you know?”, he chuckled. Suddenly, 8 bright white spotlights highlighted random members of the crowd, one of them directly pointed at you. You almost started hyperventilating at this point. What the actual fuck was going on? They went through what could have been viewed as some kind of roster, listing which spotlighted pick in the crowd was claimed by which Ghoul. You remained seated, screaming internally the entire time, when finally, there were no Ghouls left. You hadn't been “Assigned” to anyone. Was it simply a mistake? A technical error in this strange impromptu game? You suddenly saw your own mortified face on the massive video monitors like some sort of fucked-up kiss cam. “Ohhh…Y/N…There's my girl…Looks like you knew to dress up for the occasion, huh?”, Perpetua cooed into the microphone. Your whole wedding regalia look was visible to him and the entire crowd, clear as day in the bright spotlight. You wanted to do… something. Start screaming to Satanas himself. Play coy. Anything. But your body refused as you remained trapped in place like a deer in the headlights, your heart rate no doubt the same speed as someone being chased by a panther. “Try to get to an exit before we get to you, hm?”, Perpetua taunted. Then, every single light fixture in the arena abruptly shut off.
The crowd quickly devolved into mayhem, people scrambling and pushing each other to get to the nearest exit. You didn't care if Perpetua found you, in fact, you personally wanted him to find you. But you needed to get your phone out of that stupid pouch, or either your friends would assume you had gone missing and call the police, or absolutely nobody would believe the wild turn of events you were experiencing. You had to go up that same flight of stairs that you had so treacherously climbed down to get in your seat without falling. Between people pushing past you and the adrenaline within you making you feel somewhat lightheaded, it was a miracle you made it up them at all. You ran in your block-heeled boots to the only way down to the first floor from your section: 2 crowded elevators. People were cramming themselves inside, and luckily, you were able to squeeze into one at the last minute. The usher was clearly concerned, but since no security threats had been radioed to her, she was left in the dark about the source of the surrounding chaos.
It was not smooth sailing on the first floor either. As you made your way out of the elevator, weaving through a line of people, you found yourself in the middle of a crowd so dense it made you fear for your life. You had watched way too many disturbing YouTube documentaries not to panic even more, as these were almost conditions for what some called a “Human Crush”, a crowd so dense it literally could kill people. “I don’t wanna die like this!!!”, you vocalize to release the anxiety bubbling up in your chest, even though you were sure nobody around you could hear you over their own voices. Finally, the crowd began to thin in the back section where you stood. Thankfully, this meant that you could weave past people to get to the entrance you came through to get your phone unlocked, before anything else out of the ordinary could happen. You now had to scale a flight of stairs that was as tall as a 2 story building. You had taken them at a slow, leisurely pace to the first floor when you initially entered the arena, holding up the corner of your gown so as not to trip. The Yondr station you needed to get to was at the staircase’s bottom. So you did the only thing you could do. You picked up the skirt of your wedding gown, clutched it for dear life at the height of your petticoat you wore underneath, and ran down the stairs like Cinderella at midnight. As you ran, you kept reminding yourself that the boots you wore had high heels. If you tripped on this staircase, either from a misstep or your gown getting caught, there was no doubt the fall would put you in a full-body cast. After this anxiety-filled final stretch of running, you finally reached the floor of the Yondr unlocking station.
You thought your plan of unlocking your phone and informing your friends of your unpredictable situation as a safety net was going to work out, as it was now less than 10 steps away. However, you were in such a rush to get to the station and weave through the crowd on the first floor that you hadn't even noticed the distinct sound of a set of heeled footsteps following behind you all the while. You suddenly feel a pair of arms grab you by the waist, yanking you back mid-step, sending your bouquet flying out of your hands. You couldn’t help but scream loudly due to your already heightened anxiety and how suddenly you were just grabbed. You now felt the warmth and pressure of another person’s body close to your size pressing into your back, distinctly feeling them haphazardly grinding their hips against your ass, even in your multilayered gown and petticoat. You heard the distinct creaking of leather gloves as their arms continued to hold you in a vice grip. You then felt a hot breath against your neck, and a familiar high-pitched nasally voice whispered into your ear. “You can never run…and you cannot hide~”
