Chapter Text
alright alright buckle up gang cus this (Chapter one I mean) is gonna be a while
SO for starters,
1. Avery is a basilisk from the boiling isles in this fic (He gets their name later on)
2. Dereck ends up still meeting The King In Yellow
3. the regular cast still end up in the boiling isles
4. Dereck ends up becoming similar to Belos (not the dictator part)
5. Dereck and Avery will meet, as they were fated to do so in every timeline (No I will not elaborate)
6. The King is a major plot point probably
7. I am more than likely going to end up at least implying a relationship between the SFAWTDE cast so be prepared for that (Homophobes begone)
8. this is very loosely planned, and tags + plot points will be tweaked to match what ends up happening
Alright now lets get into it :)
-----
Dereck held onto his flashlight tiredly, his hands shaking.
he'd been running for far too long, far too fast away from that...
thing.
he couldn't describe it.
the details blurred into obscurity every time he tried to think about it.
his head felt like an ice pick had been slammed into it, like a lobotomy gone horribly wrong. (Is there a right way for a lobotomy to go???)
it hurt.
it hurt unbelievably bad, and he was still in the cave, still in it's His dwelling.
still in it's His grasp.
splitting, tearing, burning, crushing agony struck him like lightning.
a warm, coppery taste filled his mouth, and he spluttered at the near immediate realization that it was his own blood.
he'd bitten his tongue at some point, hard.
his vision blurred, whether from tears or exhaustion he was unsure.
bile rose up his throat, and he collapsed, desperately clutching the sides of his chest as the sour acid sizzled in the dirt.
Dereck gasped for air for a few moments, shaking in fear and pain.
his fingers curled in pain as he slowly but surely got up.
he'd dropped his bag earlier.
"... damn it." he whispered to himself, hoping the thing he had seen couldn't hear him.
he'd have to go back for it later, however terrible an idea it was.
he shouldn't have been alive by then, he knew distantly.
Dereck sure wasn't about to take it for granted, though.
-----
Dereck stared up at the sky.
he couldn't go home, not after what he'd seen.
nobody would believe him if he tried to tell the town about what he'd found at the crossroads.
not the priest, not his neighbors, especially not his family.
he'd be sent to a facility of some sort, and he was not at all willing to do that.
he had to stop that thing from cursing anyone else.
especially the first thing he'd known about after receiving it.
he had to save Avery, whatever way he could.
so Dereck packed his things in the very dead of night, and left.
-----
soft, squelchy mud beneath their boots.
leaves rustling in the trees above them, dancing as though alive.
the leaves were, if they thought about it in a technical stance.
they shook their head softly to clear it.
it didn't matter.
what mattered was the steady, almost measured bounds they made across the marsh.
the branches swayed to a rhythm nothing else seemed to hear, the occasional clicking of their boots against rock, or the scuffling of a creature against the ground providing the brilliant melody that the trees danced to somberly.
the fresh, cool air filled their lungs.
they were happy.
they were free.
and nothing could change that.
(Foreshadowing ooOOoOoOoOooo)