He ran away from the monster child and met a woman, beautiful and elegant. But old and ancient. He fainted and woke up to find himself at her home, dazzled by the spectacle of the living spirits who are living there. but to find the monster already before him, hungry.

I was shaking and gasping at the sight of the black fog, and a skull that was glowing exotic blue. He was back.

What could I do?! I stammered my movements as I almost fell off the chair. I was thoroughly shocked when I heard laughing from behind me.

I caught myself looking into the eyes of the void in the jaded eye sockets. I froze up— as if that would help me in any way. My soul hurt so much from the sudden rush of anxiety that it felt like my rib cage would explode if my soul kept beating.

Its aura felt so dark and cold, and grim thoughts crept up my back as flashes of red and gray entered my mind. Violent screams of the dam rang my ears as I tried to shake off the distressing feeling. I felt the fog cover my vision and swirl around me like a snake.

I wanted to cry.

It jumped up to my feet. A small gasp escaped through my teeth, and like a flinch, I closed my eyes, praying that someone would help me from the horror and dread that was in front of me.

"Pup! Stop scaring the guest! Turn into another form please." I heard Life yell. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Dark fog-swirled into my vision with a loud shout behind me. The aura and grim thoughts halted to a stop, but not fully, as remnants were still there, but only in the back of my mind which was noticeable enough to wander.

It became a familiar figure, it was like my doppelganger form but... bigger? We were in an awkward position as this... thing was on top of me, like it was holding me down without touch.

I noticed that it was floating above with only its hands touching the ground on both sides of my hips. I made weird flickery hand gestures like I was trying to pull a magic trick to make him disappear.

It only flew up above me and landed into a standing position. I slowly stood and repositioned myself,

Why was it bigger than me?

"Pup..." Life said sternly, and the creature turned its head. "You have to say sorry to our guest for scaring him."

'Pup' only turned its head to the side, like a child thinking what about toy to play with, and then nodded. "Sorry," it said, with a dead tone that gave you the sense that it wasn't a sincere apology at all.

"It can speak!" A thought passed by. I didn't even think that it could apologise properly.

"Rude." Did I say that out loud?!

"Ah— uh! Sorry!" I yelled, embarrassingly shuffling backwards and tripping on myself.

"Reaper! What did you do?!" Life yelled. I peeked up to see the grim monster holding its hands up like it was all innocent.

"It's... fine..." slowly I muttered, trying to keep my balance after my fall, but as soon as I stood up I started to gag.

Dark red choked out as my body tried to regurgitate. "Oh my goodness!" I heard Life's voice echoed through the ringing in my ears.

I felt something fluffy touching me before feeling a spread of warmth that covered my chest cavity area. My arms felt wobbly and my throat felt like it was burning. I'd stopped coughing up small spews of blood, still coughing even though I only had enough energy to keep myself steady. I looked up to see Life holding me and keeping me upright.

"I'm fine, this happens all the time-" I choked as I raised my hand as if to say I didn't need help.

"Don't lie to me! You're in no condition to say you're fine, Geno! Reaper! Quickly get some clean clothes for our guest!" She shouted, my ears were still ringing and the intensity was still almost unbearable. I didn't want to pass out now. I felt Life placing me down on a chair, and again I felt a warmth cover me.

"Can I have-" I gasped for more air." "-water?" I choked as I struggled to keep my eyes open, I only saw Life nod and walk away while I rested my arms on the nearby table.

I struggled to keep my eyes open, I didn't want to close my eyes, otherwise, I'd fall asleep!

Everything was so blurry, my mind wandered to the many possibilities but remained fragmented as I was met with an empty pain. A friendly reminder of my death day.

Today.

Still, though, I guess the pills won't go on forever. I felt sadness though, to the monsters that came to me...

"Geno! Hang in there, I have some water for you!" I heard Life's voice cutting through my mind.

I lifted my head up and stared at life as she gave me some water. Lightly I raised my hand to reach out for the cup and softly sipped the water.

"Haah, thank you... sorry for the mess, um..." my voice wavered slightly, and I looked around as if I was scanning the room for something specific.

"Geno, I didn't know you had such a condition! Why were you all alone in this forest? You surely weren't allowed to exert yourself! Aren't you young too? You look barely 15!" Life said in a worried rush, she sounded just like Mother.

"Clothes." I heard. I turned to my side to see Pup, or Reaper? This monster seemed to have many names. He was a lifesaver in the nick of time when any of Life's questions would have driven me insane.

"Thank goodness, good job Pup!" she said and patted him softly on the head. It seemed like more of a dog than a person, I could almost see it wagging its tail. If it had a tail...

Life looked at me with the conspicuous bundle of linen clothes in her hand. "Please change into these, I will wash your clothes for you," she said, her voice etching a sincere worry.

"No, it's fine-" " you don't have a choice, Geno." she cut me off. I was going to decline again but that... thing, was looking at me with those devil eyes. It almost gave me another panic attack.

I gulped and nodded rapidly. Life smiled and the other Monster quickly lost interest in me again, thankfully. I seemed to be outmatched by these two. I was a little uncomfortable with them taking my hooded coat...

I was placed in a small change room, I could see the monster shadow's figure in front of the curtain. So much for privacy...

I took most of my clothes off leaving my linen undergarments in place. Having my valued red hood neatly placed on a hanging rack. I looked at my chest, it was bleeding out from its bandages. Should I replace them?

If I were to ask for bandages they might freak out and probably contain me or something...

yeah, let's not.

I just simply put on the clean clothes, I look towards the small mirror that was placed in here.

Disgusting, who would help this? I saw my half-torn face. I could see the dirt and dust particles stuck between the fibres of my bones, giving me a slight yellow tint. I didn't have my eye light anymore since there was no more magic to support it. It gave off a withered and sad complexion. I looked horrible and disgusting. My eye socket barely showed any life.

I put my hood back on.

I was carrying my dirty clothes when the monster spotted me when I walked out. It raised its eyebrow at me. I stared back. It took me time to notice a small necklace with a skull on it, couldn't be any creepier. It was sitting on the floor like a dog waiting, if it had ears would they be up for me? Didn't matter, that was a dumb thought.

It pointed to itself, at its clothes, like signalling in a silent language. I looked at it in confusion for a while before realising what they meant. I showed it to my to the new clean clothes I had on. It only shook its head and pointed at my hood.

"It's not dirty!" I said and quickly walked away. How insulting. Calling this hood dirty, that's disrespectful! How dare it points at my hood like it is some dirty thing from the streets. I made my way of thinking of a thousand reasons why I didn't like that monster.

I bumped my head on something warm, I looked up to see Life just in the hallway carrying a large basket of clothes. She looked... tired.

"Oh, Geno! Just who I wanted to see." Life said enthusiastically, basically ignoring the probability of being tired. "I see you have your clothes-"

She stopped and looked at me up and down, like a vulture analyzing it's meal, and gave me a hard grin. Like to hide the fact that she was unsatisfied, I could see it in her eyes.

"Geno... why don't you let me wash your red coat? I am sure they would be cleaner if-"

"No, it is clean." I interrupted, kinda offended that she would suggest that.

"Geno-"

"No thank you, it is clean," I said in haste.

"Alright... suit yourself, Pup. Please grab his coat." It took me a minute to fully digest her statement but my coat was already being pulled off by force.

I turned around in a small soul beat to see who it was that was pulling me down. My, my...! It was the creature again, using its hands to grab the hood of the cape. It would've choked me if I wasn't holding the bow that tied my hood together.

"Hey let go!" I yelled, gripping the string harder, almost pulling it to an extent. It shook its head rapidly and kept pulling. I growled and swung my entire body around, wrapping my hand across my cape, it stopped abruptly, with the coth's tension linking between me and them.

"I said let go," I grumbled at it and tugged my coat again. It shrugged and let go, evaporating before my eyes. The tension from my coat disappeared, but I felt like its presence was still here. I looked around, but only to see Life with a small smirk on her face.

"What?" I said.

"Oh nothing~" she giggled.

My very own hood was pulled down, blocking my vision. And pulled off downwards. I saw a glimpse of the small black smoke before my whole coat was off completely. I stared at it, amazed.

It teleported above me and took me by surprise! Just so I can have my clean coat off!

"Oh, my Toby how dARE YOU-" I tried to jump but something hooked under and around my arms, stopping my torso, leaving my legs to flail around.

I struggle against this new being, tossing side to side. In curiosity, I looked behind me to see the shape of the chair, but distorted branches coming from the sides and were wrapping around me. It pulled me closer and forcefully sat me down. Wrapping more branches around my waist and legs so I couldn't get out.

"What is the meaning of this?!" I shouted alarmingly. I could feel high pulses of magic from everywhere, I couldn't believe I didn't notice earlier that everything was already shady in the first place!

The random lady who fed me Toby knows what, a fucking transforming monster that could copy my very own body and the fucking LIVING CHAIRS. How could I be so blind! Was I just dazed from the drugs Dr Sci gave me or I was so spellbound from their impression?! This is how I die, in the woods in the hands of strangers!

I shook and struggled, pulling my legs and twisting myself in hopes of getting out of this stupid chair.

"Let me out!" I yelled.

"Geno dear, please let us help you, your hood will come back I promise-"

"No! It's clean, I swear! Give it back!" I cut her off again. Angered from the many times the hood was assumed to be dirty.

Life sighed. "Pup, please watch over our guest while I'm gone." She said and placed my hood in the basket along with the dirty clothes.

"No!" I shouted again, but this time I could see the creature blocking it's ears.

"Shush," it said quietly to me. I almost forgot it could speak.

"NO!" I shouted louder, so loud I thought my own ears couldn't handle the volume.

An earthly taste filled my mouth as a branch gags me, just to stop me from shouting so loud. I scrunched up my face in disgust as I tried to claw the thing out of my mouth. Then my arms too were bound to the chair.

It overwhelmed me with a strange feeling, familiar but yet different. I knew this newfound feeling was definitely bad, it has to be bad! As I was bounded by a chair, a chair!

I struggled and struggled, just trying to get out desperately. My hood, my dear hood. The only thing I had left. Gone, out of my sight. I never I thought I would lose something again.

A great soreness and fatigue plagued me now from the endless struggling. I just stopped, sweating. An empty silence filled the room as I was stuck in the chair, almost forgetting that thing watching me from afar.

I made the mistake of staring into its eyes and insecure thoughts emerged again, but it wasn't as drastic as before. The constant fear of death filled my mind as I glared at the creature, just hoping it would end soon.

The monster just sneezed and moved into a resting position, and shaking its head at me.

Mad, I growled at it again, biting down on the wood in my mouth. It only chuckled at my response and stuck it's tongue out to mock me. I just lost it. I kept screaming into the birch, hoping, pleading to go. I was still not sure how long I had been lasting, the magic suppressants should have lost its effects by now. How was I even still alive?

I teared up a bit. Without my hood, I could not rest. Never.

I heard loud crunches like someone was chewing food, I look at the monster who somehow out of nowhere was eating cookies. Cookies.

How on the Lord's name of the entire continent did it get those cookies? It was just watching me as if I was a spectacle. I will show it someday, that I will not be considered some entertainment of some kind! I will be laughing at it!

I struggled again, finding newfound power, I wiggled, wiggled and wiggled, but to no avail.

Time passed as it felt like hours, maybe years of struggling. Only now I fell due to the fatigued overtime of just pure struggling. I glared at the monster now who was now covered in crumbs, it ran out of cookies now and started drinking from a bottle, looking at a pocket watch while looking at me.

I raised my eyebrow, staring at this monster. What type of monster even is this? It can shapeshift to a bunch of clones of something, I didn't know such a monster exist until now. Like from some stupid fairytale.

Chimes twinkled the air, sparkling the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. I felt a familiar sensation that was placed before me, cloth. I analysed it, finding red my hood was beneath me. I was released and I hugged my hood tightly.

"Sorry Geno, I just wanted to help." Life said with a comforting smile.

I just nodded, digging my face into the cloth.

"30 minutes..." I heard another voice, that monster again.

I shot a glare at it, a small shiver when through my spine but I still looked into his eyes. He glared back.

Life just laughed it off. "You two are way too funny."

"Hah? Funny? How is this funny?!" I said, borderline loud. Even the creature turned its head slightly in confusion at Life's statement.

"I don't know really, I just feel like you two are meant to be with each other! I'm sure a lot of people would feel this way if they saw you two together." She said in a more joking tone.

She waved it off and looked at me with a more compassionate face. "Please don't take it to heart, But please just know we are trying to help you. I just thought it was appropriate to wash your hood, I know it means much to you, don't you want it to be cleaner?"

I look away, avoiding eye contact with her. I could see the monster behind Life now just fiddling with its watch.

"I guess," I said, in doubt. I am sure that I didn't leave any blood on the hood.

"Oh, Geno are you bleeding?" My eyes widen in surprise as I pull off the red hood to see my scar bleeding out from its bandages and managed to get some blood on the clean shirt they gave me.

"Oh my Toby, I am so sorry," I said immediately, only to feel another powerful warm sensation across my chest cavity. I looked up to see Life, with her hand on my chest using healing magic. I never realised that she was doing it before.

"Geno, may I look at your soul?" I heard Life say, I immediately directed my attention to her.

I gave her a small nod, too tired to care anymore. I was content that I had my hood with me.

I felt a slight glow in my chest, and saw my soul... Life gasped, I think I even saw the monster widen its eyes too.

It was only 1/9th of a soul, dusty and cracked. It was still glowing though, somehow.

______________________________

|*GENOCIDE 10 ATK 5 DEF                  |

|*Has only a few hours to live.        |

"Oh my goodness Geno..." I heard her say. "Your soul... it's... oh goodness... I'm so, so sorry."

A long, long silence emerged as the both of them just stared at me with pity. Well maybe not the monster one. I don't know what else to say, I saw my soul, it looked pretty messed up. And it would stay like that till I died.

I stared into my hood, not wanting this unnecessary attention I was currently getting...

I just... sat there, on the chair that bound me before. I wondered why I was not currently running away from here, like there was this aura that forced me to be calm. But I still waited anyway, listening to the soft chimes in the wind.

"How long did I sleep for?" I asked, my voice barely holding any emotion.

Life was taken aback, as if she wasn't even expecting a question. She was too busy thinking, I think. Slowly I saw her face morph into her warm expression again.

"About 5 hours, it's been an hour since you woke up." She simply replied in a sad manner.

Another long silence.

I watched the animals outside the shadowy window, clueless of what's happening here now.

"What do you want to do now as your last wish?" Life said, breaking the silent ambience.

It took me time to process what she said, she was asking for my final moments. What did I want? It took me time to ponder... why? I thought I had planned my death already. Maybe a small request would help. But still, she didn't have to go out of her way to make me happy just because I was dying.

Would she question my request? Why would she? I dug my face deeper into my hood. She would do that... maybe. What about that thing? I glanced at it a few times, it was so silent it was weird. Not only does it seem like an embodiment of death, everything it touches seems to drain the life out of it.

"Geno?" I heard her call.

Oh right, my last wish... what did I want? Originally I didn't want to die and get buried in a dust cemetery. That peaceful place I found was breathtaking.

How about...

"Take me to a peaceful place here."

A/N: why greetings, Now I am not the type to have Author notes in stories so I'll make it quick.

Thank you for reading this story so far and waiting for 3 months for this chapter. I apologies for the long-awaited wait for this update. Recently current... situations has been happing to me for the past few months so I had a mini hold then my usual update once a month. 

So you must have noticed how long it is: well it is quite long as a normal chapter is usually 1000-1500 words long but this is 3000 words long. in compensation for the few months, I missed. If you want longer chapters please comment so I can get some feedback.

A recent edition has also occurred to me of a new member: @LazyAsHeck, aka my editor!

they will be editing this story from here on out! do you have anything to say?

E/N:

Can I just say that this was a pain to edit cause the author kept changing tenses. (Past tense to present, etc.)

A/N:

Love ya too, 

thank you for everyone who still read this fanfic, and Happy Halloween.

                                                             stay tuned,

                                                                                    -Golde