Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lucas absentmindedly tapped his pencil on his paper, barely able to focus in class. How could he possibly focus after everything that had been through? Sometimes he missed being a top student, even if it was agonizing. At least with all the stress weighted on him, his mind was always busy with assignments and projects. Always busy doing something... he was never just... left to think.

"Lucas? Lucas!" Hearing his name snapped Lucas back into reality, jumping in his chair. His cheeks heated up in embarrassment upon realizing he had zoned out in class, Mr. Cooper looking at him, his face unreadable.

Shit.

Taking a moment to collect himself, Lucas looked at his teacher. "Y-Yes, Mr. Cooper?" He asked, his voice wavering out of his control.

The teacher looked at him, casting a small glare at all the students who made snide remarks or giggled at Lucas. A silent growl came out from him, clenching his fist tightly as he tried not to look at the students snickering. Lucas was never one for profane language, but all of them were complete bastards. They couldn't possibly understand what was going through his head.

Hell, what was going through the group's head? It had been a week since homecoming and all of them were still haunted by the horrors that they had encountered.

The waiting was becoming too much for the group, unable to wait any longer for Krinn before they all ran into the ruins one by one. "Krinn, Krinn!" Lucas shouted as he ran back into the broken-down ruins.

Ava was right behind him, searching desperately for the girl. The others were doing their best to keep up, but all of them were in varying conditions. A strained grunt left Andy, leaning heavily on Tom and Stacy due to his injured leg. Despite his injuries, he refused to stay behind, he had to help. "Krinn! Shit, Krinn, where the hell are you?!" Andy shouted, all of them searching desperately for the girl. When they got no reply, all of them began to run down the steps... the steps that led to the horrifying cave where they played that damned game. Back down the stairway to hell.

Are you scared...?

"Lucas, I'd like to speak to you outside for a moment." Mr. Cooper said, making Lucas shrink in his seat.

He really couldn't get a break. Despite everything and how many times he had seen that memory in his head again, it was just going to stay there. And now, it was starting to mess with his school life. Was there no escape from this nightmare?

Setting his pencil down, Lucas shut his notebook close. Well, looks like there was no getting out of this. Letting out a silent sigh, Lucas got up from his chair, trying not to look his teacher in the eyes. A few seats away, Stacy gave him a concerned look. They all had made the conscious effort to look after each other after, well after everything. Lucas gave her a small wave in an attempt to let her know all was well, but both of them knew it wasn't fine... none of it was. With one last concerned look, Lucas followed Mr. Cooper out of the classroom, making his way into the hallway.

Glancing around the hallway, the teacher closed the door behind them, looking at Lucas.

The look nearly made him choke up, unable to return the eye contact. Shame swelled through him, understanding how he had failed Mr. Cooper. This was the same teacher who was proud of his efforts, and worried for him, but was the same teacher that almost exposed him. He was going to lose everything again, he couldn't bear the thought of letting down Mr. Cooper again. Of letting everyone down again. "Mr. Cooper, if it's about my grades-" Lucas began, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Don't." Mr. Cooper held up a hand, "You don't have to explain anything to me". Hearing how calm he was truthfully startled, Lucas. "I understand Krinn was very close to you. Death is never something easy to deal with, and everyone mourns in their ways." Mr. Cooper continued, "I won't grade you too harshly for some time. But Lucas, if you ever need to step out, or need to talk to someone, just ask. You shouldn't have to go through this alone.".

It took him a moment to process everything Mr. Cooper had said and the only response he could utter was a soft thank you. And with that, the two made their way back into the classroom.

Crap, this was going to be an intense year.

It felt like forever, but finally, it was lunchtime. One of the rare times he had felt peace at school, he was so thankful for having the gang still. But even with all of the comfort they provided, they all felt a similar void with Krinn being gone. No one could deny how wrong it felt to not have her around. They all expected her to sit down with them, to be the glue of the group despite how far they had separated as children. Even though she had been bullied so harshly by their peers, she stayed strong for them, for everyone in the school, and him.

Lucas often found himself thinking about her and how much he had missed her. Accidentally caught himself playing with her silky black hair, joking about her once hyper-femme appearance as a child and now her more grunge-like appearance as a teenager. She had changed so much since they were kids and yet she was the same.

"I gotta ask, why do you go by Krinn now?" Lucas had taken a turn at asking a question during the interview, looking at her with a glint of curiosity.

There was a momentary before she groaned, scratching the shaved side of her head as she sheepishly tried to avoid eye contact. "Because it's way more me then, ugh, Kristina." She responded.

A bit of a chuckle slipped from Lucas' lips, smiling at her, "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

Britney's voice snapped him back to reality, Lucas muttering under his breath before looking over to her. "I was able to get the Homecoming pictures early if you guys wanted them." She spoke, trying to ignore the weird looks on their faces. Not like she could completely blame them. After all, she did bully most of them a lot only a few weeks ago.

There was a moment of silence before Stacy forced a small smile. "Thanks, Britney. I bet the pictures look great." She said.

Britney nodded, pulling out her designer bag as she looked for the photos. "Normally I just have all my photos on my phone, but, you know. Vintage I guess." Britney searched her bag before finally pulling out several photos, and placing them on the table for all of them to see.

As soon as the photos were set down, the group leaned forward to look at them. Lily let out a soft gasp, smiling at the photo as she looked at the photos. "Ava, wow. You look so great in that dress." Lily had a sad smile on her face, tenderly holding the photo with all the girls on it.

There was a small scoff from Ava, doing her best to resist a smile, "Don't get used to that, it's never happening again.".

"Those dresses were nice...especially Krinn's." Stacy frowned a bit. She couldn't help but admire the dress, it was so beautiful on Krinn. The gorgeous white fabric accented with black lace? It was gorgeous.

Only after she said those words did she notice the haunted look cast over Lucas' face. She attempted to shake him back into focus, but nothing seemed to reach him. Dark brown eyes staring in sheer horror behind his glasses, haunted gaze fixated on the girl's dress.

The group rushed down the stairs, searching for any sign of their missing friend. "Krinn, Krinn where are you?!" Lily cried out, clinging to Stacy's hand as they ran down the steps. Just as they reached the lower half of the stairs, they finally saw it. Only a few feet away from them, right where they had played that awful game, Krinn lay still in the water. Half of her body was in the water, the other half delicately spread out on the cold cave floor. Her silky black hair spread out around her, reaching out like lifeless roots against the stone. Her skin was an unnaturally pale shade, with various scuffs, and bruises covering her body from the battles they had fought for the past few days. The most haunting part though? Her eyes were still open, a blank and glossed-over look on her face. She didn't look scared, or angry, or even peaceful... it was just this... this blank look on her face as her eyes never shut.

Being the first to snap out of it, Lucas burst into a full sprint, running over to her as fast as he could. "Krinn!" Lily cried out in horror, the rest soon following. The first to make it to her were Ava and Lucas, pulling her out of the water. Touching her skin nearly made them jump, horrified by how cold she was. No, no she couldn't be gone!

"Shit, shit come on wake up!" Ava shouted, sounding more like a demand than a plea. Oh my god..." Stacy gasped out, putting a hand over her mouth. Connor had finally caught up, shocked by what he saw. Without saying a word, he pulled his sister closer to himself. Stacy clung to him immediately, trembling sobs wracking through her body. A chorus of screams and cries echoed through the cave, some in denial to believe she was gone while the others had accepted the horrible truth.

It was Lucas who made the first move, tenderly taking her body and pulling her into a tight embrace. "Krinn please, please wake up." His voice wavered, pleading for her to wake up, "W-Wake up, please. You can't leave us.". 

And with all the wails of pain and loss, not a single breath could be heard from her. And Krinn Charleston would never breathe again.

The sound of the bell ringing brought him back to reality. Lucas gave a short goodbye to the group, grabbed his bag, and walked away. "Lucas." Stacy began, frowning as he kept going. She looked at the others, who had a similar concerned look. After a moment, Dan got up, grabbing his things. The others followed him out of the cafeteria, returning to the cruel world that was high school.

After a long agonizing school day, Lucas finally made it home. It felt like the days were getting longer, he could hardly stand it. Letting out a deep sigh, Lucas entered his home. But home wasn't an escape either and he was a fool to forget that. To his dread, his mother was there, seated at the dining room table still wearing her work attire. It seems she had recently gotten off a shift, oh joy.

No, that was too harsh. His mother wasn't particularly bad, not anymore at least. Unlike his father, she was starting to be less strict with him and seemed engaged in his interests. It was becoming a blessing and a curse truthfully. Lucas knew that there was no chance of escaping her attention, so he decided to just get it over with. "I'm home." He announced, adjusting his back on his back.

"Oh, good." His mother clicked her laptop shut, looking over to him with a smile, "You're home early.".

The clubs, that's right.

"Yeah. The other club members are okay with taking over for a while. I only need a minute or-"

His mother promptly interrupted him, "That's good. You have a lot on your workload, you could use a good few days off.".

"Yeah. Now, if you don't mind I got a lot of homework to do before dinner." Giving her a small smile, Lucas made his way upstairs. "Oh, and Lucas?" His mother stopped herself at the end of the stairs, looking up at her only child.

"Yeah, mom?" He stopped in his place, not even turning back to look.

"Don't forget about your appointment with Dr. Rhet. I know what you said, but your father swears she's a great therapist. I'm sure you'll feel better if you talk to her."

Lucas promptly bit his tongue, preventing him from making a snarky remark. It wouldn't be fair to lash out at her, after all, all she was trying to do was help. "Got it." Taking a deep breath, Lucas made his way upstairs and closed the door behind him. Tossing his bag to the ground, the weight of the world knocked him forward, and the teen promptly fell onto his bed with a groan. If only it were that easy to make this all go away. Muttering something under his breath, Lucas took off his glasses and pressed his face deeply against his pillow.

All he wanted was five minutes, just five minutes to himself.

Chapter Text

"Lucas!" His mother called out, making Lucas groan. Rubbing his eyes, he squinted as he searched for his phone. Feeling around his phone, Lucas managed to find his phone in the trap of comforters and weighted blankets. Turning his phone, Lucas was surprised to find the time being 4:32PM. "Huh... guess I got my five minutes after all." He mumbled, rubbing his back. Stretching a bit, he put his glasses, "What is it?". 

"There's an emergency at work. You're father is going to be out late so you'll have the house to yourself for a while. There's food in the fridge or you can order food, love you!" Before Lucas could even respond, he heard the front door shut.

Perfect.

Lucas let out a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Of course..." He muttered. Why should he be surprised? It's not like this happens all the time. He was never particularly close to his parents, both being incredibly busy and slightly, no not slightly, being completely overbearing. But after everything with Redfield and Krinn, he wished they would both just take a moment and stay home. The need to be left alone would fade the moment he was actually alone at home. All by himself, listening to the shifts in the wind and every little noise the house made.

Taking a moment to accept he was stuck home alone by himself, Lucas got out of bed. Doing homework would help speed up time, and if that didn't work he could always try texting one of the others. As he got up from his bed, he felt a sudden chill. Instinctively he rubbed his arms, looking around for the source which turned out to be a slightly ajar window. From what he could see coming from the window, it seemed like there would be some heavy rainfall. Great, just what he needed, a storm. "Mom... Mom probably left it open when she came home. Right, that's all. Mom just opened it." He whispered, hoping to soothe himself as he walked over to the window.

As he pulled the window closed, a large boom of thunder startled him. The noise sent a strike of fear through him, the teen freezing up in his place as he struggled to maintain himself. It was embarrassing fact, but ever since he was a little boy he had been absolutely terrified. The loud bangs overwhelming his senses, putting him a freeze state.

"AHHHHH!" A young Lucas cried out, jumping back as a loud boom of thunder struck outside.

A series of snickers filled the air, some of their friends giggling at his despair. "Hey, don't laugh at him!" A stern voice shouted and Lucas suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, making him look up to see Kristina. "Don't laugh at him. After all, Ava you're scared of broccoli and Dan, you're scared of birds! So don't laugh." She shoot the others a glare, before kneeling down by Lucas, "You okay?".

"I... I..." "I don't like loud wind! We can be storm buddies." Kristina smiled, offering a hand.

Lucas grimaced at the memory, closing the curtains as quickly as he could. Now... now he knew that the most terrifying noises were the whisperers, the creaks, all the quiet sounds that you couldn't hear unless you were paying attention.

Rubbing his temples, Lucas stepped away from the window. "Deep breaths, it's just a storm. Just focus." He muttered. Forcing himself to relax, Lucas made his way to the backpack when the window he had closed suddenly flew open. "W-What..?" Lucas asked, his voice just above a whisper.

That's when he felt it. An all too familiar feeling of dread, a bone chilling grip that tickled down his spine. There was something else in here and the realization nearly had him choke up in fear. "No, no! You're gone, you're-" He was interrupted as a chilling noise filled the air, one that was forever seared into his brain. It was a giggle, like a child. This childlike and whimsical giggle. He turned around in a start, his body stiffening seeing a familiar ghostly apparition.

Mr. Redfield, no... no, Jane.

Fear quickly turned into rage, glaring at the beast before him. "You're not real! Get the hell away from me!" He snapped out. In a single moment the laughter faded, turning into a blinding rage as it shrieked at him. The glass of the window in his room burst inwards, cutting up his back. "AUGH!" He cried out.

This was bad, he had to get the hell out of here and warn the others! Taking his chances, Lucas burst out of his room, hearing the shriek follow after him. He hurried into the hallway, yelping as a picture frame was thrown at him. "Jane, that's enough! I will never play with you AGAIN!" Lucas shouted aloud, only succeeding in making it angrier at him. 

Was this it? Were they doomed to forever be haunted by the beast that Jane was turned into?

A startled cry left him as he felt a vase slam into his back, knocking him down to his knees. Fuck, this was bad! He needed to warn the others before it got to them or... or before it finished him.

Lucas hurried into his father's office, tensing as a chair was thrown at him. The chair missed him just barely, but it was enough to startle him. "ENOUGH!" He screamed out, grabbing his phone, typing as fast as he could. He slammed the door shut behind him, praying that it would give him the few seconds he desperately needed to call for help. Swiping open the group chat, Lucas was becoming more and more thankful for speech-to-text.

"Everyone, JANE IS BACK" Lucas announced, screaming out the last past as the door to the office flew open.

Crap, time to go!

Gripping to his phone like a life line, he ran out of the room, a lamp flying at the door and shattering behind him. "Augh!" A hiss left him, tensing up as he felt broken bits of ceramic pierce through his shirt. "Time to get out of here!" He gasped. If he wasn't running for his life, he'd be questioning him talking to himself.

"Lucas, what the Hell are you going on about man?" His phone dinged, Andy was the first to respond.

"You okay, man?" Dan typed. "Lucas, are you sure?" Stacy typed at the exact same time.

"This is not a joke! She's in my house and I don't know what she- FUCK! What she wants, but it's not good!" Lucas shouted back, ducking a flying photo being sent at him. 

The group chat immediately began to blow up after his latest message. "Get out of the house!" "Everyone get outside, Ill gra everyone!" "Be careful, Lucas!" "GEET OFF YR FUCKIN PHONE AND BOOK IT MAN!"

Lucas ran as fast as he could down the hall, nearing the stairs when he heard a whoosh behind him. He turned around startled, finding himself face to face with the ghostly apparition. All the rage that had consumed it seemed to have vanish, a whimsical look on it's face, as if... it was curious. "W-What the hell... the hell do you want with me?" He asked, backing up. His back hit a photo on the wall, startling them both. Lucas looked down hastily, seeing a broken photo on the ground... their dinner date photo.

Before Lucas could even utter a word, the apparition's whimsical expression turned into one of almost grief. A deep and pained noise left it, looking at the photo, caressing the photo. Lucas looked down too, seeing it almost petting the picture of him and Krinn. And a... a sickening thought hit him. "Wait, is-" Lucas stepped forward, crushing a piece of glass under his shoo.

Immediately the apparition grew raged again, shrieking at him. A startled scream left Lucas, and then it happened. He lost his footing, falling backwards down the stairs. Red eyes faded into blue, a confused cry leaving the apparition as if it were trying to reach out for him. No, no it couldn't be. No, it-

His back hit the stairs... and the world went black.

Chapter Text

It had been the group that found him only minutes later, a sense of dread filling them all as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Stacy bit her lip, grimacing as the paramedics took Lucas away. Once they were gone, the group all looked at each other in silent agreement. They needed to search the house. See if R-Jane was still here and try to figure out the how and why she came.

Carefully the group made their way inside, taking in that the first floor was the most calm. "Oh no..." Lily gasped, putting a hand over her mouth in disbelief.

"What...what the hell happened here?" Dan asked, glancing around the destroyed house.

"No. This is bullshit, why? We won the game, why is it back?!" Ava's fist trembled in rage, tensing as Dan placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm mad too, but we gotta keep our heads." Dan softly said, squeezing her shoulder.

Lily was the first upstairs, grimacing at the carnage. "Why... why did it come after Lucas?" She whimpered, kneeling down to pick up the broken photo at the top of the stairs. A pained expression crossed her face, tears running down her skin as she looked at the photo. "Oh... Oh no." She softly whispered pulling the photo close to her chest. Stacy made her way up the stairs, frowning as she took in the scene. "Crap. It went all out." Stacy muttered, biting her lip.

The group stayed for nearly half an hour before collectively agreeing they were doing no good here. There were no clues that could lead to why Jane, or whoever the spirit was now, attacking Lucas. "We searched upstairs at least six times now. We needed to leave, check on Lucas and... and see if he's all good." Andy said. Stacy silently nodded, grabbing her car keys as they all headed outside.

As the group left, a shadowy figure retreated back into the woods, their glowing eyes withering as the car drove off.

The drive to the hospital was tense and it didn't get any better as they entered. There were no peaceful memories in this building, all of them remembering what they've been through. "Look, we're just here for Lucas, don't forget about that." Ava stated, tilting her head up as she made her way into the waiting room. Thinking about it would just hurt more.

Two familiar, well barely familiar, faces caught their attention immediately as they walked into the waiting room. Sitting in the waiting room, separated by a few chairs, were Krinn's parents. Paul Charleston and Emma Liao. Last they heard the two... were in the process of trying to get a divorce, not that anyone could blame them necessarily. Krinn was their only child. For some, it made an old twinge of resentment grow. Even as they fell apart, they all knew how often Krinn would be alone by herself for long periods of time. Alone in that horrifying house in the middle of the woods.

Dan was the first one to approach the two, grimacing at the haunted looks on their face. Seemed like they were missing Krinn as much as all of them. "Ms. Liao, Mr, Charleston, what are you two doing here?" He questioned. 

Ms. Liao attempted to talk, but was immediately spoken over by her former husband, "Heard there was a break in, that your friend Luke got hurt. Considering he was... involved with our Kristina, we wanted to make sure that he was okay. Can't have more kids gettin hurt.". "We... we just wanted to make sure you all were okay. You meant so much to Krinn." Ms. Liao softly said.

Andy scowled, biting back a remark. "I'm sure he'll appreciate knowing you two came. We're gonna see if we can check on him." Stacy said, leaving the two alone as they all walked to the front desk. "Good to know that her dad is still a douche." Ava remarked, Andy nodding along in agreement. "Guys be nice... but you're completely right." Stacy sighed, rubbing her temples.

The world was really enjoying kicking them down today, the nurse only letting them know that he was being tended too and no, they couldn't see him. There was a momentary pause before they all looked at each other. "Well... guess we gotta wait a bit." Dan scratched the back of his neck, looking at the others. "We could play card games?" Lily offered, pulling a deck of playing cards from her back. An amused huff left Ava, nodding, "Alright, let's play.".

As they waited for any updates, three more people joined them over time. Having been updated, Britney, Tom, and Connor showed up. No words needed to be spoken, knowing something was very very wrong based on the dreaded looks on their faces. "Hey, what happened?" Connor asked, sitting by his sister.

A hushed silence passed over the group, all of them looking at each other with the same haunted expressions. "Guys... it's back. Jane's back, she attacked Lucas." Stacy started. "And she might come after all of us again." Andy added, letting Lilly grip his hand.

None of them knew what was awaiting them, but they were afraid. Why did she want them again?

Chapter Text

In a single moment, Lucas went from feeling nothing to feeling everything at once. A pained hiss left Lucas, slowly sitting up and opening his eyes. "Is this what it feels like to go to a rager?" He muttered, rubbing his head, "Feels like I was hit by a train.".

Trying to understand what was going on, Lucas stood up, finding himself in a dark place. "What the-" His thoughts were interrupted when something... off caught his attention. A chill coursed through his body suddenly, eyes widening as he found himself in his homecoming attire. No, NO NOT AGAIN!

And that's when he heard it. An all too familiar voice that made him feel both rage and fear.

"Come on guys, in here!" Noah called out, standing before the ruins just like he had on the night of homecoming. The night he led them all to that fucking game.

Lucas tensed seeing the group heading towards the ruins and it only worsened when he saw Krinn following after them. "No! Noah, don't you-" The words suddenly died in his mouth, sending a violent chill through him. 

A frantic hand pressed against his throat, trying to scream out for any of them. No warning could be heard, the group heading towards their cruel fates once again. The world around him became a bone chilling cold, his movements growing and more statuesque as he tried to go after them. He had to stop this, he couldn't lose her! Not again!

Why?! Why was this happening to him again and again?! Had they not suffered enough? Forced to endure torment after torment?! No, please, not again.

Lucas continued to struggle against his own body, shutting his eyes tight as he struggled. And at that moment, two gentle hands were placed on his cheeks. His eyes snapped open, looking forward in disbelief. "I'm here Lucas, I'm here." Her soft voice was unforgettable, her rare yet beautiful smile decorating her face as she looked at him. Tears rolled down his cheeks, trembling lightly in her touch. He... he had nearly forgotten what it felt like, her gentle touch. 

Words continued to remain trapped in his throat, a helpless whimper leaving him. There was so much that he wanted to say but nothing would come out. “Shhh, it’s okay. Just breathe, breathe. You don’t need to say anything.” Without another word, he felt her stand on her toes, reaching up to hug him. If this wasn’t a sick dream, he’d laugh. Everything they would kiss or hug, he’d have to lean down for her. Not like he’d ever comment on it, she’d kick his ankles if she heard him call her short.

The chill was making his body scream and everything around them was a warning sign to run. But he couldn’t run… he couldn’t abandon her, not again. Slowly he sank into her hug, taking in the scent of her vanilla perfume and the distinct smell of the woods she always had on her. “I missed you.” She said… her voice changed into something much more inhuman .

Lucas startled, but her arms wrapped around him tighter, no longer feeling like her soft embrace. His eyes darted around frantically when he saw it on the walls. The wall of names, Redfield, Jane… KRINN .

A choked gasp left Lucas, opening his eyes, panicked only to be immediately overwhelmed by blinding lights that only came from one side of his face.

"Lucas!" A familiar voice called out, Andy stepping into his field of view, at least he assumed it was Andy. A confused groan left Lucas, weakly reaching out for his face. “No, don’t!” Stacy’s yell made him flinch, the scream hurting his already overwhelmed senses.

“Here.” Someone turned off the lights and a weak sigh left Lucas, that was already much better. Relying on natural light from the window and clearly not having his glasses, his vision was truthfully shit. But with some effort, he was able to make out his friends and some others.

There was an attempt to sit up before a sharp pain consumed him, making him fall back against the bed. Yeah… definitely not happening. Taking a moment to gather his bearings, Lucas finally realized that he was in the hospital. “How… How did…?” He began, before remembering what had happened, “I was attacked.”.

“We came as soon as you message us. H-Here, this might help. Just be… be careful of your bandages, you knocked your head pretty badly.” A blur of green made their way over and a gentle smile formed on his face knowing it was Lily. Something was gently placed in his hand and a sigh left Lucas and he put on his glasses, “Thank you.”.

He had to blink a bit to adjust his vision and he grimaced a bit, noticing the left lens was cracked. “My parents are going to have a field day with this… speaking of, w-where are they?” Lucas asked, looking around.

To his surprise, it was Ava who made her way over. “Your mom has been in and out. She’s doing some work while she waits, can’t sit still I guess. As for your old man, no clue.” She shrugged.

A grimace tugged at his lips, but he wasn’t too surprised. At least his mother seemed to be concerned about what had happened to him. And by the looks of it… the others were too.

There was a long pause within the group, before Dan finally spoke. "Lucas, what happened? Was it Jane or one of her creatures? It doesn’t make sense. You only got hurt from falling and being hit by stuff. It doesn’t fit their usual tricks." Dan stated. Figures he’d understand the best of what Redfield specialized in.

A dry feeling took over his throat, struggling to find the words. How… how could he tell them that Krinn wasn’t gone. That she was the new Redfield? The one who protected them and held them all together. She… he couldn’t believe it himself, but she knew that it was true.

"You’re… You’re right, it’s not her. That’s because it’s not Jane anymore." Lucas took a trembling breath, holding his head, “It’s…”. The words felt like they were choking him, preventing him from getting out the truth. 

"Lucas, what happened?” Andy asked.

 "Lucas, you look ready to faint." Connor remarked, there was an odd expression on his face. There was something about it that he couldn’t place. 

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Lucas forced himself to talk finally. "It's neither of them...it's...it's Krinn. I-I guess after we… We won, Krinn took Jane’s place. She died… and whatever is left of her took Jane’s place.” His voice wavered towards the end, struggling to grapple with the truth.

The others looked at him horrified, struggling to process what he had just told them. "No...no that's not possible." Stacy gaped, pacing back and forth as she threaded her fingers through her hair. This wasn’t possible, there was no way… A choked whimper left her, sniffling as she was wrapped up in her brother’s arms.

"There is no FUCKING way that thing was Krinn! It trashed your house and nearly killed you!" Andy snapped out, shaking his head in refusal. No, no! There was no way that it was Krinn, no! She wouldn’t do this to them, she wouldn’t attack Lucas! “FUCK!” He shouted, pulling away when Tom tried to comfort him.

 "Y-Yeah, Kang's right, she would never do that. I didn't know her that much, -well…outside of me bullying her-. But she was pining over Lucas big time. This is the guy she’s liked since forever! There’s no way she’d go psycho ghost and attack him.” Britney stammered out.

 Listening to all of the carnage going on, Connor gently let go of Stacy to look at them all. “Lucas is right. I saw it, Krinn is that thing now.” Connor confessed, all eyes turned towards him immediately. “Connor… what do you mean?” Stacy asked, taking a step back from her brother.

"Krinn did take Jane's place. When we were running back into the ruins, I saw her name scrawled on the wall.”

Chapter Text

“You knew?” Lucas choked out.

“You knew since homecoming?” Andy hissed out, glaring at the older teen. 

There were varying emotions that overpowered the group. Ava and Andy were obviously enraged, shouting a variety of things at Connor. It was honestly a miracle no doctors or nurses had rushed in to see what was going on. Dan, Lily, Lucas, and Tom were completely speechless. How could Connor lie to them like this? Britney and Stacy were completely in denial, not knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You were all morning, you-”

“Don’t.” Stacy abruptly said, sniffling as she wiped tears from her eyes, “T-That wasn't… wasn’t your choice to make!”. Her voice trembled before she collapsed into a chair, clinging to Lily as they both softly cried.

Damnit. Why? Why did she always have to put herself before everyone else? Why couldn’t she just… let someone else take the fall?

As Lily held onto Stacy, a thought suddenly came to her mind. Slowly easing her hold on Stacy, she looked at the others, “If… If Krinn is ‘Mr. Redfield’ now, do you think there is any part of her left?”.

“You lost me.” Tom said.

“L-Like with Jane. Wh-what if a part of her is in there? Jane wanted to help us and only got mad when we didn’t play. Sh-she went to Lucas first because… because they were together.” Lily explained, looking over to Lucas.

A pained expression crossed his features, thinking it over as well, “She was laughing when she first showed up. Almost like a child. Then I said she wasn’t real and she got angry, only then did she attack me. I accidentally broke our dinner date photo and she looked heartbroken. I think she even tried to grab me when I fell back.”.

“Then it’s definitely her.” Dan grimaced, scratching the back of his neck.

If this was true… then he needed to make this right. Ignoring the immediate protest from his friends, Lucas struggled to sit up.

"Lucas, what are you doing?!" Stacy shouted. She was by his side in an instance, trying to lay him down as gently as possible. This didn’t deter him, still trying to sit up the best he could. 

"You have broken bones. Lucas, lay back down please!" Dan begged, joining Stacy in his attempts to help him lay down.

"I don’t care! I have to help her, I need to help her. She’s out there by herself. S-She’s alone, she’s scared…! I can’t… I can’t fail her again.” The anger in his voice subsided, ending in a choked whimper, his resistance against the two stopping finally.

 "Lucas..." Lilly frowned, reaching out for his hand.

Ava bit her lip silently before growing more frustrated, turning away from Connor and towards Lucas. "Okay. Loo Lucas, we get it. Shit SUCKS right now and what happened to her was horrible. But you’re supposed to be the smart one! Use your brain! Do you really think busting out of a hospital is gonna do her any good? You can’t even sit up!" Ava exclaimed, "Wanna help her? Get better so we can kick the ass of any of those damned forest monster's that come out.". 

He went to argue, but he knew there was no point in arguing with her. After all, Ava was stubborn as all hell… and unfortunately, very right. "Fine, I'll wait until I'm in a wheel-" Lucas was cut off by a glare from Andy. 

"Yeah, not happening. As soon as you’re in crutches, we’ll go. I get it, I want to go too, but we can’t just run off into danger. It’ll just get us all killed and then we really can’t help her.” Andy stated.

Lucas let out a deep sigh before nodding, “Okay.”.

The waiting was unbearable, but after two weeks he was finally deemed all clear by his mom to wear crutches. He felt bad for lying to her, but if she knew where he was going she’d have him sent to a mental hospital or something similar.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go out to the movies with your friends? I don’t want you to get hurt.” His mother frowned, taking a seat beside her son.

“Mom, I’m okay, I swear. You already know Stacy and Dan are gonna be there, they’ll make sure I take it easy.” Lucas responded, diverting his attention to his buzzing phone. His mother looked over as well, letting out a deep sigh before hugging him. “Okay, have fun. Be safe.” Giving him a gentle squish, she got up and headed towards the kitchen.

Once she was out of sigh, Lucas grabbed his phone, texting the group chat. 

Lucas: All ready. Let’s do this.

After sending his message, he waited for the others. To his amusement, a photo of Ava holding Lucille -the barbed wire bat Krinn had that she insisted on naming after some pop culture villain from a zombie show she tried making him watch- and crossing it in a X with the ax Andy had.

Lily: You two are enjoying this too much .

Ava: And you’re not taking it seriously enough! EENIE MEENIE MINIE MOO BITCH

Stacy: AVA!!!!

Lucas couldn’t help but roll his eyes as a faint smile tugged at his lips.

Stacy: ANYWAYYYY. Everyone ready to go? I’m gonna nab Lucas first.

Dan: … so whose riding shotgun and whose sitting on laps.

Immediately the group chat burst into a flurry of arguments, everyone fighting for their reason to sit or have the front seat. Even when they were getting ready to go back into those awful woods, Lucas had to admit it was amusing to watch. A loud honk came from the front year and Lucas let out a deep sigh. It was time, time to go back to the woods. Calling out a goodbye to his mom, Lucas grabbed his crutches and made his way to Stacey’s car.

“Ready?” Stacy asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” 

One by one the rest of the gang was gathered, until they finally had everyone. All of them had grown quiet as they climbed out of the car, looking at the woods with mutual fear. “Well… what are we waiting for?” Stacy softly said, before walking in first. The others looked at each other before following after her, entering the haunted woods all over again.

As the group made their way into the woods, they had no idea that they were being watched. “Holy shit…” Noah murmured, backing away behind a tree to avoid being seen.

Chapter Text

Stacy led the way, waving her flashlight around as she searched for any signs of Krinn. Lucas followed as closely as he could in his crutches. “Should we be calling out for her?” Lily asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Lucas grimaced as they looked around. He hoped that shouting out for her would help but he also knew it could bring back those monstrous vine creatures. 

“Well, if something comes.” Ava began, making a dramatic swing in the air with the barbed bat. “You’re enjoying your Negan moment way too much.” Dan remarked.

Everything around them sounded normal, the wind, the animals, all of it sounded normal. It’s when it suddenly stopped that made them all freeze. Everything around them had just gone… quiet. And that’s when they heard it, a faint whisper in the wind.

 "What...the hell?" Dan asked, shaken up slightly. He had hoped that he would be okay after everything that had happened but he was trembling where he stood.

Lily tensed slightly, hiding behind Ava, “Do… Do you think it’s Krinn?”.

“For all we know it could be one of those freaking moss freaks again!” Ava held up the bat, “Get your ass out here now! I won’t hesitate!”.

“Ava, what if it’s Krinn!” “What if it isn’t?!”

Biting his lip, Lucas was growing more and more anxious. No, no, she had to be here. Breaking from the tension, Lucas began crying out her name into the woods. "KRINN! KRINN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. 

“Will you calm down?! You’re gonna-” Before Ava could finish, Lucas hurried off as fast as he could with his healing injuries.

“LUCAS?!” Stacy screamed out, covering her mouth startled as he ran off.

"Lucas?!" Dan gaped. 

"I’m gonna kill him, I SWEAR!" Ava scowled, gripping the bat as she ran after Lucas with the others.

Travelin through the woods was difficult, but Lucas didn’t care. “Krinn!” Lucas shouted, hissing as he nearly tripped over a root, “Krinn, please! If you’re here, please, answer me!”.

He ran as fast as he could, suddenly stopping with a gasp. Just as he stopped, the others caught up with him. “Lucas, you can’t-” Stacy stopped behind him, gasping in terror, “Oh no… not here.”.

They had found themselves at a familiar clearing, a stump in the center being lit up by the moonlight. “Guys…” Andy whispered, pointing forward. All of them looked forward, all of them gasping as they saw what he was pointing at.

They all looked over, finding a black shadowy figure standing at the treeline, watching them with glowing blue eyes. Rather than fear they had felt seeing Redfield or Jane, there was this… wave of pain, all of them in disbelief as they finally saw her.

"Oh my god..." Stacy whispered, trying to stop the flow of tears. 

Lucas took a moment to snap out of his shock, looking at her. Staring right back at them, the shadowy being tilted her head. It was that same childlike curiosity she had when she had come to his house. "K-Krinn...?" His voice wavered, tears threatening to fall. 

Slowly, Lily took a step forward, sniffling as she looked at her, “Kr-Krinn, is… is that you? It’s us. You’re friends.”.

The words reached her, her pale white eyes suddenly flashing neon teal in joyful curiosity. "F-Friends..?" The figure whispered out, slowly inching towards the group. 

"This is real, this is really happening…" Andy rasped out. 

It was such a conflicting feeling, remembering all the terror and dread that Redfield and Jane had brought them. But it truly seemed like Krinn didn’t want to hurt them…

Despite the concerned look from his friends, Lucas took a step forward. "Y-Yeah, it's us... it's us, Krinn." Lucas spoke, making his way closer to her as she reached out his uninjured hand. 

There was a pause as Krinn tiled her head, eyes reverted back to white in confusion. After a moment, she tentatively reached forward, taking his hand. The cold from her touch nearly made him drop to his knees, but he forced himself to stay upright. “W-We came back, we’re never going to lose you again. Nothing will split up our group again…” Lucas whispered, swallowing back the tears as he knew he could no longer try to figure out what was going on in her mind just from looking at her eyes.

"Krinn... I...I can't believe it's you..." Lily whispered, taking a small step forward.

Hearing the name again made Krinn’s eyes flash for a moment, slowly turning to look back at them. She looked at Lily and then Lucas, turning her focus to the hand still holding hers. 

"Oh no." Ava suddenly said, a grim look casting over her face. 

"What's up Ava?" Stacy questoned.

Struggling to find the words, Ava looked at Krinn with a frown, dropping the bat to the ground.  "Guys... I’m pretty sure she doesn't remember us." Ava explained.

Her words struck everyone through the hearts, but no one was upset by this more than Andy. "No, there's no way she doesn't remember us. We're her friends, we all grew up together!" Andy exclaimed, clearly angry as he threw his arms in the air.

"Andy, calm down please." Dan asked. 

"No, Dan! This is fucking BULLSHIT! She's our friend, and we let this happen to her!" Andy shouted, turning back towards them jabbing a finger towards Krinn, “We said we were going to fix this! Fix HER!”.

 "We didn't know she'd do that...!" Lily whimpered, trying to calm him down. 

"Calm the hell down-" Ava began, reaching out for Andy.

"Dammit! We were supposed to save her, I was supposed to save her! If I hadn't got caught, none of you would've been forced to come after me that night..! She wouldn’t…wouldn’t have…" Andy’s voice had begun to waver the farther he got into his rant.

"You...you blame yourself?" Lily asked, frowning as she tried reaching out for him.

Lucas pulled his hand away from Krinn, looking back at Andy with shock. “Andy..?” He whispered, frowning as he looked at him. He had gotten so wrapped up in his own grief… that he had forgotten about the others. Blind to the suffering they were all dealing with as well.

Andy aggressively rubbed his eyes, sniffling as he took a seat on the ground, burying his face in his knees. "Andy, we-" Before Dan could finish his sentence, a series of yells caught their attention.

Everyone turned back in surprise, hearing voices coming from where they had come from. "Guys! Guys are you there?!" Tom called out loudly, his voice getting closer and closer. 

Hearing the news, Krinn’s eyes began dimming, letting out a soft whimper. “Wait, Krinn, it’s okay!” Stacy frantically called out. But it did no good and in an instance she was gone. "No. NO !!! Krinn, come back!" Lucas pleaded, trying to grab onto her… but she was gone just like that. Lucas felt his heart break in that instance, a trembling whimper left him as he dropped to his knees, the crutches collapsing beside him. “No…” A ghost of a whisper left him, his hand still outstretched.

"Over here! I found them!” Conner was the first to appear, followed by Britney and Tom. "Oh my god, there you are!" Britney rushed over, pulling Lily over into a tight embrace, "I was so worried, you weren't answering your text or anything!". 

Tom hurried over to Andy’s side, immediately concerned about finding him curled up. “Hey, you okay man? What happened?” Tom knelt down beside him, trying to get Andy to open up.

"Did you guys find anything? You guys were gone for an hour and no one was picking up. I was getting worried." Conner asked, reaching out for his sister only for Stacy to slap his hand away.

"We found her! We were talking to her and-and you guys scared her off!" Stacy hissed out, scowling at Connor. 

Hearing this, Britney let go of Lily, "What the hell? You guys are saying you actually found her?!".

"We did....but now we're back to square one..." Dan looked at the tree line, holding his head as he let out a trembling breath. 

Shooting her brother one last glare, Stacy walked over to Lucas, kneeling down beside him. "She's gone..." Lucas' breath hitched as he finally lowered his hand, "She's gone.".

Chapter Text

Despite how much it hurt, time went on after they last saw Krinn. They had all graduated from Westchester High and were going their separate ways. 

It stung, but Lucas knew that this was bound to happen. It had been months since homecoming, it was still hard to believe that they were in college and living their lives. 

Everyone seemed to find their passion and were doing amazing in their respective fields. Lily had gone off to create games, her current project being Pixel Moon. She made the group promise to be her test runners and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Ava was writing a book, probably something supernatural to no one's surprise. Andy, of course, was pursuing his career in basketball and they all promised to go to every one of his games no matter where it was. Surprising everyone, Stacy went into journalism and was currently working on exposing haze culture in the college fraternities. Dan ended up turning his trauma around, wanting to take a psychology degree, and become a trauma counselor. 

All of them had moved on. They were all doing something with their lives. All of them except him.

He had hoped going to college would fix things, that he could somehow move on. But nothing was helping, he was falling apart at the seams. Nothing he did could keep his mind off of Krinn. He found himself in the Hartfeld library more and more often, pouring every waking moment into researching other supernatural cases like what happened in Westercher.

"Hey dude, you look trashed." Lucas looked up from his laptop for the first time in hours, finding Tom standing at his side. 

Well, at least one of them had gone through a freshmen glow up. Ever since they started school, Tom had begun working out like crazy, bulking up and even growing out his hair. To no one's surprise, the girls and boys on campus were obsessed with the man bun.

"You know the drill. Late night studying, all that." Lucas was unable to stop himself from yawning, pressing his hand against his mouth. 

Tom couldn’t help but laugh, taking a seat beside him and placing a coffee down before him. “I’m guessing you want this?” He teased. 

"Oh thank god." Lucas breathed out, “You’re a lifesaver.”. Lucas pushed his laptop aside, wasting no time drinking the coffee down. 

"Damn dude, you sure spent a long time 'researching'." Tom glanced around them, thankful that Lucas seemed to be the only psycho at the library at this time, "Speaking of which, what do you got?".

Sighing heavily, Lucas put the cup down, turning the laptop towards Tom. "I've run dry. This is the last article I could find and this is hours after research." Lucas explained, opening up the article in question.

"Wow. You finally dug the internet so deep you ran out of stuff to look for? The world is ending!" Tom exclaimed, throwing up his arms in mock hysteria. 

Lucas couldn’t help but roll his eyes, lightly nudging Tom in the side. "I'm not done. Listen, I found something freaky." Lucas said. 

"Like Ava's basement scary or Stacy's period scary?" Tom questioned. 

"Tom, this is exactly why you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend.” Lucas stated. “Dude, we are both single bisexuals.” Tom quipped back. Lucas shot him a look before turning the computer towards him, “Just read.”.

'Mysterious drownings occurring in a small town.'

"Drowning happens man, especially if you live near a lake." Tom tried explaining, only to be cut off. 

"No, no, read the rest. If it was just random drownings, I wouldn’t have considered it but look at this. This has been happening for decades and they’re becoming more common. There's rumors of the town's folk seeing strange beasts in the waters. Weird noises. Monsters from the lake." Lucas paused, turning to Tom, “Sound familiar?”. If Tom hadn’t seen what happened in Westercheter a few months ago, he would think that Lucas looked insane.

You know… he still did look a little insane.

"So... what? You think what happened in Westchester is happening at this place too?" Tom asked, leaning forward to read the article better. 

"That’s what I don’t get. I don’t know if it’s all related or if there are monsters all over the world. What I do know is that I need to get to Pine Springs. I won’t do any good here.” Lucas stated, standing up and packing his laptop into his backpack. 

Tom whipped his head around, looking at him with a startled response. "Woah, woah!!! What are you doing man? You can't just up and leave college." Tom exclaimed, following after Lucas after he made his way out of the library. 

Lucas let out an exasperated scoff, stopping to look at Tom. "Why not, Tom? There’s nothing for me here. I’m hardly passing my classes at this rate and I’ve already let my parents down. I need to find answers and figure out what is going on there. All I can think about is her and if I ignore this it’ll just kill me." Lucas explained, adjusting the bag on his back. 

"Okay, okay. It would make sense if this was me dropping out, I can barely handle being here. Lucas, I miss her too, but this is your future we're talking about dude! You are the real Captain Planet! You wanted to fix climate change, stop pollution! If anyone can keep that promise, it’s you!" Tom remarked, pausing before sighing, "I'll go, you stay.".

"That's not happening." Lucas quickly responded.

Tom was taken aback by the firmness in Lucas' voice and honestly a bit intimidated by the height difference. "Woah, dude chill." Tom said, holding up his hands. He was thankful for how late it was, it meant that no one could hear them.

"Tom, I'm going." Lucas responded bluntly, keeping a tight grip on his bag, "I need answers, we all deserve answers. I have to see if this is somehow connected to the power.".

 "Dude. I don’t know if we can answer these. It's too crazy." Tom groaned, following after him. He may have bulked up, but Lucas was still incredibly tall, his long legs carrying him far. He was starting to get tired of people with stupid long legs. “Lucas, come on, stop and think for a second!” He pleaded.

“NO!” Lucas suddenly shouted, startling both of them, “This is all I’ve been thinking about since homecoming! I can’t sleep, I can’t think, I can’t breathe without being consumed by all the thoughts of what I could or couldn’t have done!”. Lucas let out a frustrated exhale, running his hands through his hair as he passed in his spot. The last battle with Redfield had left them all with their own scars, whether it be mental or physical. Tom was beginning to question how he hadn’t noticed the lack of sleep matching the faded bite marks on Lucas’ arm from the ritual, how his haunted thoughts matched the injuries of his attack at home.

How… broken the once put together class president was.

"Krinn, Krinn didn't deserve this. None of US deserved what Redfield did to us. She sacrificed herself… for Jane, for us. Now she's stuck there, and has no idea who she was, or of her life. It isn’t fair and I swear one way or another I’m going to find a way to fix this. And for all I know, my answers could be in Pine Springs." Lucas explained, letting out a heavy exhale as he sat down on the sidewalk. 

Letting him cool down for a moment, Tom sat down beside him, wrapping him up in a hug. “Okay. I get why you want to go and I support it. But I’m letting you know now, I’m coming too!” Before Lucas could protest, Tom snatched Lucas’ car keys and booked it towards the dorms.

“Tom!” Lucas grabbed his bag, chasing after him.

It seemed like it was truly set in stone. The two of them would leave Hartfeld and go to Pine Springs to see what secrets it held.

Chapter Text

It was strange to accept that they were really doing this, leaving everything behind to take a chance in Pine Springs.

Lucas checked his suitcase again during the drive, ensuring he had everything that he would need. Of course, it was too late to go back if he had forgotten something, it still eased him. Something boney pressed against his palm as he leaned back, a soft chittering noise leaving Maurice as he peered out of the backseat. “We’re almost there, buddy.” Lucas responded, stroking the mossy skull, “You’ll be able to stretch your legs soon.”.

Initially he had despised the fact that Krinn took in the creature, but after… After everything, Maurice’s presence comforted him. There was no way of getting rid of him either, he tried in the past. Maurice had broken into his home only a few weeks after they saw Krinn, it scared the living daylights out of him.

“Is the group chat still freaking out?” Tom asked, glancing at Lucas as he drove through the woods. He had to admit, it was making him a bit nervous to be surrounded by so many woodlands again. But it was a necessary evil.

Lucas let out an audible scoff, spinning his phone in his hand before turning it on. “Of course. How else would they react to ‘We’re dropping out of college and going to Pine Springs because we think the power is there’.” Lucas read out, “I could have formulated a better text but it worked. Ava wasn’t thrilled that we were ‘doing her job’.”.

“Did you clarify that it’s your idea? I don’t need Andy yelling at me for running off like an idiot. I mean I am, but you know what I mean.” Tom muttered and Lucas immediately noticed the blush on Tom’s face.

“Let me guess. You were going to tell Andy you liked him before chickening out by telling him you were leaving?” Lucas said, smirking a bit as he played with his phone.

Tom let out a startled noise, sputtering a bit before turning his head in the direction of the lake. “Hey, look! We’re here! So what’s the plan, you have a plan right? This was your crazy idea.”. Tom hastily said, trying to avoid eye contact.

“Good deflection.” Lucas scoffed, fighting Maurice who tried stealing his snacks. “Give me- AH!” Lucas snatched the jerky bag free, scolding the creature before looking at Tom, “The plan is simple. We pose as simple workers with no ulterior motive. I’ve already found us a place we can stay and we can ask around for jobs. Once we have some solid footing, we can get to work.”.

"Sweet. Let’s do this!” Tom reached out a free hand in a fist bump, Lucas returned as well as Maurice who booped their fists with his nose.

The change from Westchester to Pine Springs was strange. Just up and leaving their childhood homes was a lot, but it was necessary. The two of them worked hard for the next few months, studying into any lead they could find for any hopes of finding a connection to the Power.

They found much more than they expected here, they were only scratching the surface. Pine Springs history of mysterious drownings were only worsening, more and more dying as time went on. Lucas had spotted glimpses of hooded figures in the woods while Tom had heard tales of strange monsters coming from the lake. It was just like Westchester. Some powerful being bringing monsters to life and terrorizing the people. But they were struggling as time went on, being essentially stonewalled as their leads grew fewer and fewer.

“Well that was a waste of time.” Lucas huffed, climbing out of the car with Tom.

“There’s always next time.” Tom shrugged, “But we can worry bout that later. We got work to do. Plus, you know Stacy won’t want us working when she visits!”. 

Of course she wouldn’t. Stacy made an effort to visit them whoever she could and would not be thrilled if the two were doing anything other than relaxing while she visited.

Jogging a bit ahead of him, Tom opened the back door of the familiar cabin. “Hey, Arthur, you in here? Someone just called with a…” he suddenly stopped himself.

Raising a curious brow, Lucas followed him inside, spotting a blonde haired woman in the living room. “Tom, this is why we knock AND use the front door.” Lucas stated, “You never know who is home. It's rude.”.

Tom simply stuck out his tongue before looking over to the woman with a smile, “You must be Regina.”.

There was a pause as she looked the two up and down, her gray eyes piercing through them with resigned judgment. “Hi… do I know you two?” Regina asked, folding her arms over her chest. As Lucas looked at her, he tried not to think about how similar her punk attire was to Krinn’s.

An unamused scoff left Lucas, shooting a look at Tom. “Ignore him, he wasn’t raised with manners.” Lucas said, walking up to Regina, “I’m Lucas Thomas. He’s Tom Sato. We work with your grandfather on boats.”. 

Lucas offered a hand out to her, which Regina eventually shook. “Two first names? Major red flag.” She remarked.

This made Tom snort, immediately getting a glare from Lucas. “More like big guy talks to clients and I do the work. Brain and brawn. Well, I guess we’re both brain and brawn since you were class president and got killer broad shoulders.” Tom said.

Listening to the banter, Regina looked them both over. Certainly wasn’t what she expected from this small town, then again the only other person she had displeasure of meeting was her hardass grandpa. Just from looks alone, she didn’t expect them to be working on boats with her grandpa, especially the taller one. Lucas, yeah Lucas, seemed like he was so out of place. A much better fit for some high end Ivy League school or something.

Despite the snarky thoughts in the back of her head, she had to admit he was pretty good looking. Both of them were. He still looked like a stiff though. Wearing some thick framed glasses, his hair holding an excessive amount of gel, also who the hell wears a hoodie in this weather? It’s SUMMER! She was going to make a joke about it for a moment when she noticed faded scars on his arms. 

Were those bite marks? And it looked like there were more-

As if hearing her thoughts, Lucas rolled his sleeve down a bit. “She totally thinks you look like a jerk.” Tom teased, getting elbowed in response, “Hey!”. 

"Nah, it’s not that. I just find it interesting you got a Tom and a Thomas.” Regina couldn’t help but crack a smirk.

Lucas rolled his eyes but was unable to resist a smile of his own, “How funny. We’ve heard it before, yes.”. He had been very social in high school from his countless positions, but since homecoming he had become more… withdrawn. If discussion was needed, he’d be willing, but his priorities lie elsewhere. They were here for a reason, to ensure the Power didn't hurt anyone else and find a way to bring Krinn back. 

A sudden buzz in his pocket brough Lucas back out of reality, startling him as he grabbed his phone. He wasn’t surprised to see that it was Stacy calling him. "Excuse me." Lucas gave Regina a small wave before stepping out the back door.

Once outside, he answered the call, leaning back against the old wooden home. "Hello, Stacy. Is everything alright? I only recently talked to you. Was your bus canceled, do I need to come pick you up?" Lucas began asking questions before being promptly stopped by Stacy.

"Slow your roll, Superman" Stacy chuckles from the other end, "I’m just letting you know that I’ll be there in a few hours. Got held back a little longer than I liked. Some of the frat boys I exposed were trying to give me a piece of their minds. And before you ask, yes, I am fine.”.

That certainly made him feel better, a soft sigh leaving him. “That works. We have one more job to do today then we can spend the weekend however you want. Just the three of us.” Lucas said.

“Meaning no monster studies or late night exploring?”

Noting his lip, Lucas mulled it over before nodding, “Promise. Cross my heart, all that.”.

“SWEET! Well, I’ll let you go then. Have fun at work. Don’t drown or whatever. Tell Tom I said hi!” With one last eccentric goodbye, Stacy ended the call. 

The timing was perfect as Tom walked out of the house, followed behind by Regina. Lucas raised a brow at this, turning to Tom who just  shrugged. “You know how it goes. What Arthur says goes.” Tom simply replied, walking over to the small boat tied to the dock.

“Explains why you look so mad. It’s how Arthur works. Arguing with him will get you nowhere. The sooner we get the job done, the sooner you can be free.” Lucas stated, grabbing the tool bags they’d need.

Tom had made an effort to talk with Regina, telling her a bit about Pine Springs and even mentioning they were from across the woods. It was still hard to believe how much evil was in this small area, encompassing two small towns and plaguing them with random horrors.

“So why’d you guys leave Westchester?” Regina asked, making them both grimace.

“Some…” Tom glanced over to Lucas, who refused to look up from the tool bag, “Stuff happened there a few years ago.”.

“We’d rather not get into that. I’m sure you understand.” Lucas interjected, wanting the conversation to be over.

Thankfully the boat they were sent to work on wasn’t too far off and he had to admit, watching Tom try to teach Regina how to work the boat was fun. Lucas leaned back against his seat, reading one of his environmentalism books during the ride. Even though he dropped out, he still had a passion for the subject.

Maybe he’d be able to go back someday.

“How can you read on a boat ride? The thought alone makes me want to hurl.” Regina said, leaning over the side of the boat to feel the water.

“It’s his spice brain powers, wooooo.” Tom whispered from the front of the boat.

As childish as that remark was, it reminded him that there were some things he was thankful for after homecoming. After being suspended, Lucas had spoken with a therapist to help him with his anxiety and stress. That single visit led to him talking to a specialist and getting him diagnosed for ADHD, autism, and of course, an anxiety disorder. While he was initially ashamed… It felt nice to put a name to the complex feeling he had grown up with. 

Before Lucas could respond to Regina’s remark, she let out a startled scream, snatching her hand away as if the water had bitten her. “Regina, what’s wrong?” Tom asked, concern visible on his face.

“I…I felt something in the water.” She rasped out.

“The lake holds a surprising amount of biodiversity. It could have been any of our fish, local otter species, or even some of the giant kelp that grows here. In fact, we have-“

“No. I know I felt something in the water! Something evil… something that hates up.” Regina backed away from the water, shaking her head as she refused to look at it any longer, “T-that must sound crazy. I know.”.

Lucas looked over to Tom who had the same look as him. For now, they both agreed that this has to stay hush hush. Without another word, Tom sped up the boat until they got to their destination.

Chapter Text

By the time they arrived at the yacht, the afternoon sun had begun to ease them all. “At least we’re not working on another rainy day.” Lucas mused, climbing aboard the Empress with them.

“I’m never gonna get used to these monsters. It’s like a spaceship engine down there.” Tom said, a hint of excitement in his voice. Well, at least someone was enjoying their job. Lucas honestly despised it but there weren’t many other jobs they could take.

“No kidding. I’ve never seen so many pipes and valves in my life.” Regina added, following after the two.

“How come your parents didn’t have a yacht?” Tom looked at Lucas with a smirk, making Regina look at him as well.

Lucas rolled his eyes, setting the tool bag down, “My father hated the water and mother knew there were better things to save on. Now are we going to keep chatting or are we going to work?”.

“Refreshments!” A joyful voice called out, making them turn to see the yacht owner skipping over with a tray of drinks. “I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I brought a selection. There’s ginger ale, iced tea, beer.” Imogen explained, holding out the tray so they could grab their drinks.

“Thank you!” Regina let out a sigh of relief, taking the beer off the tray, “You’re an Angel.”. A bright smile formed on Imogen’s shoulder, playfully shoving Regina back. 

“Oh stop , it’s the least I can do!” She grinned, a tinge of blush costing her cheeks before she turned to the boys, “Did you figure out what’s wrong with the engine? I’m supposed to have a big party in the lake in a couple of hours and…”.

Tom opened up his mouth, looking ready to mess with her so Lucas took over. “The only concern is water in the fuel line. It will be a simple fix, do not worry.” Lucas explained, kneeling down to grab what tools he needed. “Awww, I wanted to use my flux capacitor gimmick.” Tom frowned, giving him a sad puppy dog look which was cruelly ignored by Lucas.

An excited squeal filled the air, Imogene throwing herself at the three in her best attempts to hug them all. Certainly made it easier with how tall she was. “You guys are lifesavers!!! You guys have to come to my party later!”.

While Regina talked with Imogen about the party, Lucas thought it over, about to come up with some excuse not to go. “Dude, you should go.” Tom stood beside him, “You know Stacy loves a good party. Plus, I can take over for tonight. Go enjoy your night off!”. Tom grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him, “Go. Have. Fun!” He shook him between each word.

“Alright, alright!” Lucas exclaimed, adjusting his glasses that had nearly flung off, “I will so calm down.”.

After some convincing from Imogen, Regina also agreed to a party. “You two socialize, we’ll finish work on the engine.” Lucas said, watching as Imogen immediately dragged Regina inside the yacht.

“That girl is crazy.” Tom chuckled before slowly looking at Lucas, “I’m glad you’re staying too. We both know how dangerous it gets at night. Just… just be careful.”.

“I can always sneak Maurice aboard.” “Dude, that's a terrible idea!” 

Regina had to admit, this wasn’t how she expected her first day here to go, but she was starting to like it. Tom seemed cool, Lucas wasn’t awful, just the typical ‘I’m smarter than you’ attitude, and Imogen was just perfect. She even dragged her down to her personal room on the yacht, wow, money, and offered her an outfit for the party. Looking at herself in the mirror, Regina felt a swell of pride and honestly excitement for tonight. 

After changing, Regina hastily texted Elliot back after he mentioned the boys got back. She felt bad for leaving him behind for the night, but was honestly relieved knowing he would be alright. As she set her phone down, Imogen stepped out of the bathroom, hair done, contacts on, a new dress to fit and accessorized by some of the prettiest silver jewelry she’s ever seen.

Soon enough the party was in full swing, filling up a variety of the wealthy youths of Pine Springs. Regina had sat herself with a group of Imogen’s friends when she saw a familiar face walk over. “Hey you guys! Come join us.” Imogen called out, motioning for her friends to make room on the couch. Lucas had a bit of an awkward smile, joining them with a brunette woman. “Ohhh, who's your friend?” Imogen asked.

An audible gasp left the woman, looking at Lucas in mock offense, “You never talked about me? How freaking rude. Anywayssss, I’m Stacy Green. Me and Lucas have been friends since elementary school.”.

“Actually, it’s Lucas and I-“ Lucas nearly got shoved off the couch by Stacy.

Parties were never really his scene, but Stacy seemed to feel enjoying herself at least. It was a round of truth or dare and he was starting to think back to their last party. He was incredibly thankful none of them seemed to know that game.

Are you scared?

Lucas felt his throat tighten, his breathing tensing up. “E-excuse me.” Was all he could muster, standing up quickly and headed off to the least occupied corner of the yacht.

Frowning, Stacy followed after him, eventually finding him sitting on the side of the boat. “Hey, Lucas?” She asked, kneeling down beside him.

Not far behind them, Regina had pulled away from the crowd, her heart hammering in her chest as struggled to get the blood soaked horrors out of her mind. She paced back and forth on the boat, holding her head as swore silently. Looking at the water for a moment…she swore something was calling for her.

Before she could get a closer look, two voices caught her attention.

“Lucas, if you’re struggling so much here, maybe you should come back.” It was Stacy.

This is where they had gone? Taking a silent step forward, Regina leaned forward trying to listen in. “I can’t just LEAVE.” There was an unusual harshness in his voice, “I made a promise. I can’t just leave now.”.

“Lucas, this place isn’t good for you. It looks like it’s killing you all over again, just like in high school.” Stacy grimaced.

“Oh, like high school was any better. All those expectations, you wouldn’t get it!” Lucas snapped out, and he immediately regretted it, “Stacy, I’m-“

“Save it… Lucas, you aren’t the only one who lost her. Don’t act like you're the only one who misses her!” Stacy grabbed her bag, stomping off to the other side of the yacht. “Stacy!” Lucas watched her go, swearing as he held his head in his hands.

Why did he keep fucking this up?!

Regina began backing away from the two, jumping as she bumped into someone. “Oh, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.” Regina vastly turned around, finding a brunette man behind her. “You’re Regina, right? I’m Kyle. Kyle Garza.”.

Hmm, maybe she could check on Stacy. Or she could get to know Imogen’s mysterious friend.

Glancing back where she heard the two, Regina slowly turned her attention back to Kyle. She hardly knew Stacy, checking up on her probably wasn’t the best move. Clearing her throat, Regina gave him a smile, “The infamous Kyle. Imogen’s been talking you up.

“Oh trust me, she’s been singing your praises too. Not often she gets this excited about someone.” He paused for a moment, remembering how he found her, “did you want to be alone? I wanted to introduce myself, but I can leave if-“.

“Nah, I just needed a bit of fresh air.” She sighed, leaning against the railings to look at the water. By all accounts, the water was beautiful, but something about its shimmers made her skin crawl.

The two of them mingled while Lucas made his way back into the party. If he was stuck here, he might as well ‘enjoy’ it and take advantage of rich people's wine. As he sat down, he looked for any signs of Stacy only to spot Regina walking over with Kyle. “Perfect…” He mumbled.

Fate didn’t want him to enjoy the party either, as the music shut off and officer Shaw climbed aboard.

“What the hell, Parker?!” Imogen shouted, making Lucas wince. Last thing he wanted to deal with was rich kids arguing with cops. It didn’t help that Regina was siding with Imogen and it seemed like Kyle was trying to side with Parker. At least Stacy wasn’t in the crowd, otherwise she’d be losing her mind on the cop.

A sigh left Regina, backing away from the two. All the joy of the party had swept away, it seemed like it was time to say her goodbyes. She mouthed a soft goodbye to Kyle, who didn’t seem too thrilled about the whole situation. She spotted Lucas on the couch, seeming more miserable than normal with a glass of wine in his hand. There was one face she couldn’t spot in the crowd though, Stacy.

After standing on her toes to look, she spotted Stacy on the other end of the boat. She seemed to be staring off at the water, her arms hanging slack at her side. “Stacy?” She questioned, making her way through the crowd. Hearing his friend's name, Lucas looked up seeing Regina squeeze her way through the crowd.

Regina made her way over to the girl, shuddering as a sudden mist appeared. “Stacy?” She asked again. To her horror, Stacy suddenly climbed on top of the railing, her legs wobbling slightly from the heels she wore. “Stacy, stop! What are you doing?!” Regina cried out. There was no response and Regina ran over. She could swear she saw a strange light coming from Stacy’s eyes. Breaking through the crowd finally, Regina screamed as Stacy fell forward. “STACY!” She screamed, catching everyone’s attention.

“Wha-OHMYGOD!” Imogen screamed out in horror.

Without thinking, Regina vaulted over the ledge, ignoring everyone else’s screams. The cold waters struck her like a bolt of electricity, pins and needles pricking at her skin as she struggled to keep her eyes open. As she searched the darkness, she spotted her. Stacy was several feet below her and sinking fast, back to being aware and frightened by her situation. She attempted to swim up, spotting Regina and she outstretched a manicured hand in desperation. Regina swam down as hard as she could, reaching out for her.

As Regina got closer, she saw it. A darkness in the water suddenly appeared behind Stacy, grabbing onto her. Horror washed over as the darkness looked back, their eyes blazing a violent blue.

But Stacy refused to give up, her fear turning into race as she freed an elbow and slammed it into the skull's face. It’s hold loosened on her, using her heels to kick off its body and try to swim up. As Stacy tried to swim up, the darkness reached out for her, yanking back her ponytail. A silent scream left Stacy, bubbles ripping free from her throat as she struggled to free herself.

The world was darkening for Regina, but despite her fears she swam down to grab hold of Stacy’s wrist. Her body tensed up in fright as the darkness tried pulling them both down when there was another splash behind her. In her darkening vision, she saw Lucas swimming down to grab Stacy’s other wrist. With effort the two pulled, freeing Stacy from that monster. Lucas tugged Stacy up, making a break for it while Regina stayed a moment to watch the darkness retreat. Seeing its enraged blue eyes staring back at her, Regina wasted no time swimming up, screaming as she finally broke through the surface.

 A startled scream left her as she was grabbed by the shoulders, quickly realizing that it was Kyle and Imogen pulling her back onto the yacht. Regina let out a violent hack as she struggled to catch her breath, sparing a glance to Parker who was performing CPR on a limp Stacy while Lucas stared at her in frozen horror. Terror raked through her trembling body, her eyes darting back to the water.

What the hell was that thing?

Chapter Text

All Regina could do was silently stare as Stacy was loaded onto the ambulance that was waiting for them the moment they reached land. Grimacing, Regina clung to the shock blanket around her. Her nails were practically digging into the blanket, her fists trembling as she feared if she loosened her grip ever so slightly she'd fall back into the water. She still couldn’t believe it, how… How did this happen? What the hell was that thing in the water?! 

With Stacy being taken away to the hospital, Parker didn’t waste any time gathering them into the police station. Not like she could blame him, he needed answers. How could you explain all of this? She was there and she could hardly rationalize any of it.

Regina just wished that the waiting was less overwhelming, feeling all the officers staring at them as they sat in the small town police station. The lackluster decorations provided no ease, all she could do was wait with a dreaded sense of fear.

Simply trying to catch her breath, Regina nearly jumped out of her seat when she felt Kyle place a hand on her shoulder.  “Hey, hey… easy. It’s just me. Sorry... seems I have a habit of scaring you.” Kyle attempted a smile to make her feel better, but it fell in an instant. Trying to think of something to say, he let out a sigh and sat down beside her, “How are you hanging?”.

She let out this distressed noise that almost sounded like a desperate laugh, running a hair through her messy blonde curls that were still damp from the frigid waters, “First night in Pine Springs and someone nearly drowns and I’m about to be interrogated by the Sheriff. It's everything I dreamed of.”. Despite her sarcastic tone, the lies didn't reach her eyes. Her pale eyes which were still etched with the horrific beast they had encountered in the lake.

It was all too much, it felt like she barely had a moment to breathe after everything. Swearing softly, she held her head in her hands. No amount of wit or sarcasm would make this god awful feeling go away.

Glancing up for a moment, Kyle smiled at something in front of them. “Well, I got something that might help you for a quick second.” Kyle softly said, nudging Regina’s shoulders a bit.

While she sincerely doubted that anything could help her at this rate, she still looked up. To her surprise, she found Parker standing in front of her with a mug. “I didn’t know if you were a coffee person or not, so I just grabbed you a hot cocoa.” Parker said, offering her the mug, “Should help ease your mind til Abe is ready to see you. Don't worry, he just looks scary.”.

“Right… Thanks, Parker.” Regina watched him walk off, going back to work at his desk. At least she had a small group of people in her corner already in this god awful town, it made it all the more bareable. Especially if some of them were cute... like Parker and Imogen. Casting one last glance at Officer Shaw, she took a sip of the cocoa and her eyes widened.

Holy shit, this was great!

After a few minutes, the door in the back finally opened, making her look up. To her surprise, Lucas opened the door. So that’s where he had gone after everything. It made sense they’d talk to him first. He knew Stacy, he even jumped in to save them. Even if she had mixed feelings on the older man, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. To have something like that happen to your friend and then be grilled by the Sheriff must have been a lot.

As he made his way to the door, the two of them made eye contact. Lucas maintained eye contact for a moment, opening his mouth before promptly shutting it, turning back towards the door. This caught her attention, wondering what he wanted to say. She could tell by the furrow of his brows and hesitant stance that it seemed important.

Thinking it over, Regina pulled out her phone, only to swear when she realized she didn’t have his number. Perfect, there goes that. She’d have to ask Tom when she saw him next. This had to be important, there was no way she could just ignore this. At that moment, the dreaded realization hit that she’d have to deal with her grandfather’s wrath when she got home.

Can this day get any worse?

The talk with the sheriff had truly worn her out. It didn't help that he chalked everything she said up to shock and trauma. Yeah, as if she could imagine any of that stuff up on her own. Still, she was thankful that Parker offered to drive her home. Honestly, if he hadn’t she may have passed out on the side of the road from the raw exhaustion that had claimed her. Even with her fatigue, she couldn’t shake the feeling of what she saw. It didn't matter if no one believed her, she was positive that something in the leg had tried to drown her and Stacy. There was no way she’d just give up on this, something was wrong with that lake. She could feel it in her bones.

It wasn’t just Regina struggling with the events that occurred last night, it had left an imprint on many. Lucas gripped the steering wheel in a vice grip, keeping his eyes on the road as his mind raced.  What the hell was that thing in the water?! He couldn’t get it out of his mind. They had seen plenty of monsters here in Pine Springs, but that thing? That was something completely new. It had almost looked like a person, just... just like Redfield had.

A soft chitter was heard behind him and Lucas spared a glance back to Maurice. “I don’t know what’s going on Maurice, but I’m worried.” Lucas grimaced, reaching a hand back to scratch at Maurice’s  boney snout. “What I do know is we’re going to find a way to fight this. There's no way I'm waiting for that thing to attack someone else.” Lucas hissed out, casting a glance to his backpack.

He had… he had never told about this Tom this, but how could he tell him? Sometime before they left Westchester, Lucas had made his way back to the ruins. They all promised to never go back to this cursed place, but he couldn’t keep that promise. Something had to be there that could help him. Or at least, that's what he hoped with it being the home of that awful creature, but no. Nothing there was useful for him much to his displeasure. And that’s when an idea came to him. Normally the thought would repulse him, consume him with guilt, but he had to check.

Traveling through the woods, Lucas found himself at Krinn's old house. Same old path, same old house. Only difference was how empty it now was... well, more empty then the many nights that Krinn had spent there alone. Her parents had sold the home not long after her death, it wasn’t like he could blame them but it still hurt to see the house being sold after all the memories they formed there. Thinking of all the nights they'd spend here together, building blanket forts and watching silly movies. Back when things... things were good. Despite the pain he felt thinking about it, Lucas had one reason for being there. 

Checking the shed, a startled cry left him as a baby crow flew at him. “Breadstick, jeez! Nearly gave me a heart attack.” Lucas gasped, placing a hand over his chest as calmed his breathing. Even with his exasperation from the scare, he had to admit the name made him feel slightly better. Krinn had such a strange way of naming things.

After calming himself, Lucas walked into the shed to see if anything important was left behind. While they were moving out, Krinn’s parents were nice enough to give him the weapons she had collected. Well, he obviously couldn’t keep them all, he’d look insane. “Focus, Lucas.” He muttered, searching around the shed for anything useful.

And that’s when he saw it.

Tucked in Breadstick’s nest was an old piece of parchment. “What on earth?” He murmured, snatching the paper while Breadstick was distracted with trying to eat the seams of his sweater.

Immediately he gagged in response looking at the work paper, seeing dried blood on it. He wanted to toss it aside, but the writing on it caught his attention. “A spell? Is this one of Cora’s?” Lucas asked. A part of his mind screamed for him to leave it behind, but he pocketed the page instead. 

“Even in death you're keeping an eye on us, Cora.” Lucas frowned, looking back to the road. He just hoped it was enough to keep everyone alive.

It didn't stop the little things unfortunately. The universe seemed like it was personally trying to spite him, as a loud pop from the back of the car nearly made him jump. “You have to be-oh come on!” Scowling, he stopped the car, pulling off to the side of the road. “Maurice, stay here.” Lucas huffed, grabbing his backpack before climbing out of the car.

Just as he suspected, his back left tire had popped, leaving a sad and sorry case left in its place. It felt no matter what tires he bought, they weren’t made for the coarse back roads of Pine Springs. “Just my day.” Lucas scowled, setting his bag on the gravel as he opened the back of his car, “Ugh. Tom is going to never let it go about this. Him and his stu-“.

A twig snapping behind him, making him snap his focus over to the tree line. Instinctively went to grab the barbed wire bat he left in the car when a horrifying and mangled beast leapt from the tree line. “OH BRAHMA!” Lucas screamed out, stumbling back onto the ground. He swore to himself mentally, realizing he hadn't grabbed the bat when he fell and the car door was locked, keeping Maurice in the car.

Looking up at the mangled elk in terror, Lucas began crawling back as fast as he could. There had to be something in his bag he could use, something! A loud ear piercing scream filled the air, both heads of the elk turning towards him. Scrambling back, Lucas yanked the bag over to himself, frantically searching through its contents. 

“Cora, this better work!” Lucas tore the book from his bag, slipping out the page he had hidden within it. Hearing the elk charging at him, Lucas looked at the page in fright. “ Hear my cry. Let your powers become one with me and put fear in my enemies. Let your power become one with mine and vanquish those in my way! ” Before his very eyes a burst of blue energy left his finger tips, tearing into the elk. 

Staring at his hand in shock, Lucas looked up to see the elk thrashing in its place, letting out these ungodly noises. With one last screech, the flesh sloughed off of its bones, dropping to the ground in a disgusting, sizzling puddle. The smell of it alone made him nearly empty his stomach, but his thoughts snapped back to the blue color fading from his right hand. It was a strange sight but not a frightening one, all that remained was a buzzing tingle in his fingertips.

“Next time… I need to do a test run on spells before a fight.” Taking a moment to gather himself, Lucas stood up. He still had to change the tire after all. Looking at the spell page in his hand, Lucas tucked it into his pants pocket. He had a strong feeling that he was going to need this later on.

Little did he know this would cause more harm than good.

Chapter Text

“Think we should tell Tom about this? Hm?” Lucas looked back at Maurice, tsking when he realized what he was doing, “Righttttt. I’m talking to a vine creature. Haha! Oh this day just keeps getting better!”. The only response he got was a yap, making him clench the steering wheel tighter. 

Goodness, he really was losing it!

Reserving the urge to burst into a manic fit of laughter from the stress of it all, Lucas clung to her steering wheel as he drove to their apartment. He had to update Tom on everything. Well… almost everything. He wanted to keep that spell a secret until he understood it more. Tom wouldn’t trust it if it wasn’t safe. Of course, Lucas didn’t blame him for this, the last supernatural being had turned him into some horrific puppet. 

“Alright, Lucas. Think.” He pulled into his parking spot, glancing to see if he could spot Tom from his car. “I’ll refrain from discussing the spell, what harm will that do? The monsters and lake monsters take precedence. Perfect, we have a plan.” Lucas explained aloud, getting a judgemental head tilt from Maurice, “Well, what’s your plan?”.

Maurice gave him a silent and intense stare before curling up into his little bed in the back of the car. “How informative. Thank you.” Sarcasm oozed from his tone, the man shooting one last look at the creature before climbing out of the car.

Suffice to say, Tom was not thrilled about the news, not that he could blame him or anything. “There was a monster in the lake?!” Tom exclaimed, looking at the other stunned.

“Not just that. One of those elk creatures attacked me on the way here. They’re becoming more bold.” Lucas explained, pacing in thought.

“No kidding, man.” Tom sat on the couch, running a hand through his hair, “I don’t get it, why now? Why is it getting worse?”.

A heavy sigh left Lucas, walked over, and sat down by Tom. “You okay, man? You look more worn out than normal.” Tom gave the taller man’s shoulder a squeeze, looking visibly concerned. Figures that he was easy to read, especially after the day he had.

Taking a moment to ponder his words, Lucas rubbed his temples with a deep sigh, “That lake beast attacked during the party. I think I may finally have an answer to the drownings. That thing that was in the water puts its victims in a trance-like state before making them jump in the water. It… It attacked Stacy. If it hadn’t been for Regina, I fear it would have been too late for her.”.

“Holy shit…” “Holy shit indeed.”

“So, what’s the plan? We have a plan, right?” Tom turned to Lucas, who meekly scratched the back of his neck.

“Truthfully I hadn’t anticipated a development like this happening. We’ll have to tread carefully, especially against that thing in the lake. It’s incredibly powerful and has the ability to put people into trances. I believe our best effort will be to focus on the smaller beasts. If we’re lucky, it will lead us to whatever is causing this.” Lucas explained.

He prayed that it was this easy. After the attack against Stacy, he knew that this was so much worse than they had anticipated. To see a being almost like Redfield here? It was dangerous and they had to find a way to stop it.

Soon enough the two men had parted, Tom heading off to the store for some reason or another. Having the place to himself, Lucas made his way to their shared bedroom. With Tom gone, he had some time to… to look at his strange saving grace. Taking the page from his back, Lucas unfolded the page. He almost felt guilty for hiding this from Tom, but he understood that this was a matter that would be discussed later. He didn’t understand this magic enough. While it did work, there was no point in sharing this if he had no plan for it. 

“Alright, I should have an hour or so. Best to not waste any time.” Lucas mused, looking over the page. 

It was like nothing he had seen before. As he looked at the page, he was surprised to find more writing on it. None of this had been here previously. “Hold on now… did this appear because I used the first incantation?” Lucas asked himself, reading over the words on the page. 

Looking at the words, Lucas took a deep breath. “Alright, here goes.” Going to the mirror of their room, Lucas began reading the second incantation, “ As the wind cries, I submit myself to its call. Feel our power. Let these eyes seek beyond the mortal plane and witness those that linger. ”. Similar to before, a blue glow illuminated from his fingertips, and with this incantation he could a blue glow in his eyes too. 

With this haze over his eyes, he could see things through the walls, spotting Maurice in the car. “I can see beyond walls? A way to tear apart those beasts and see them coming. Fascinating.” Lucas mused, staring at the glow of his fingers.

In a matter of seconds, his theory was proven correct as a third incantation appeared on the blood-soaked parchment. “I see, just as I had expected.” He glanced over the words, tensing up when he heard the front door open. Lucas hastily folded the parchment back up, tucking it back into the book where he kept it hidden. To his relief, folding the parchment dispelled the visual effects on his body. “Thank goodness…” He let out a relieved sigh.

“What was that?” Tom called out from the kitchen, making Lucas tense up.

“N-Nothing! Just a moment, I’ll help you with those groceries.” Lucas called out, hastily hiding the book away in his backpack. Once he was certain the book was hidden away, Lucas headed for the kitchen.

It certainly seemed that he’d be busy soon enough. He hoped that this was the break they needed. They were running out of time and he wasn’t going to stand by and cower again.

Chapter Text

Lucas wasn’t the only one obsessing over what had happened, the thought of it all kept Regina awake. The scene with Ned Mallory at the police station was of no help either. The man’s words rattled in her head and she knew she couldn’t just ignore it. 

And that’s how she ended up sneaking out. At this rate she didn’t care how upset her grandfather was with her breaking curfew, she had more important matters to settle. Her only regret was sneaking out in her PJs, not the brightest move. If Elliot was awake when she snuck out there was no way he wouldn’t be making fun of her.

Making her way through the dark streets of Pine Springs, Regina let out a startled cry as she ran into someone. Taking a moment to gather herself, she looked forward, finding a girl who seemed to be close to her age. “Hey, watch it!” The girl scowled, clutching her camera.

“Sorry,” Regina mumbled, watching her walk away. 

Man, Regina couldn't tell if she thought she was a total B or a total hottie. Wait, FOCUS!

Watching her leave, Regina finally made her way over to the front door of Ned Mallory’s house. “Here goes.” Climbing up the steps, she made her way to the door. She was going to get some answers and clearly, he was the only one that had them. 

Summoning up whatever courage she could, Regina knocked on the door. There was a momentary bout of silence, making her shrink a bit where she stood. “Please tell me I'm at the right freaky house” She muttered, fiddling with her pajama hoodie.

As she waited, a sudden noise behind her made her jump. “Stay back, I got a killer manicure and I am NOT afraid to use it!” Regina shouted, baring her recently done acrylics.

Watching the streets behind her, Regina slightly relaxed seeing Lucas walk over. “Lucas?” She asked, tilting her head curiously.

“Apologies. I had no intention of terrorizing you. Albeit, I don’t think that it is wise to threaten someone on another person’s porch. There is no need to cause disputes and such. After all, we’re already in the chief’s disregards.” Lucas had a stupid smirk on his face, arms folded over his chest as he looked at her, “So, what, may I ask, are you doing on Ned Mallory’s property at this moment?”.

“I could ask you the exact same thing, superboy.” Regina retorted, slowly lowering her hands, still barring her aggressive manicure justttttt in case.

She intended to say more until the door finally opened, both looking to see Ned Mallory standing in the doorway. “A-Ah, Mr. Mallory. We apologize for disturbing you at such an hour, but we have important matters to discuss.” Lucas explained, walking up to Regina’s side, “We simply wish to discuss what hap-”.

“What? The cops get tired of telling me I’m crazy, so they send you instead? Well, I don’t give a damn if anyone believes me. So you go back to Chief Kelley and tell him he can shove it!” The man shouted.

Regina recoiled at the sudden harshness, but she stilled herself. There was a reason she was here and she could tell that Lucas was here for the exact same reason. Ned Mallory was one of the few people that wasn’t ignoring all the strange things happening here in Pine Springs, he was bound to have some answers.

Before Regina could say something to upset the man further, Lucas took a step before her. “I assure you, we’re not here because of Kelley. We have a lot of questions about what’s happening out here and you’re one of the only people who can help us. For starters, what is that creature in the lake?”

“Plenty of things live in there. Ottos, frogs, fish. Whole damn ecosystem.”

“You know what we mean!” Regina had enough, moving in front of Lucas, closing the distance between herself and Ned, “There’s something evil down there and I saw it try to drown Stacy Green!”

This certainly worked, Ned looking at the two startled, struggling to find his words. Gathering himself, Ned looked around the neighborhood, searching for any peeping eyes. “Get inside, it’s not safe to talk out here.”.

Not waiting for a response, Ned beckoned the two in before closing the door shut behind them.

Once the door was shut behind them, Lucas took the opportunity to look around the man’s home. With all the papers and reports hung on the walls, it was starting to remind Lucas of his own college dorm. “How? How could this happen in more than one place?” Lucas pondered to himself, observing some of the newsletters that caught his attention.

“So, you two saw what happened with that girl? Please… tell me what you saw.” Ned pleaded.

There was a momentary pause, Lucas and Regina looking at each other before looking at Ned. Even with how briefly they knew each other, they couldn’t deny they saw the same thing. The monster in the lake.

Deciding to take the initiative this time, Regina began to explain everything she could, Lucas occasionally adding extra details here and there. The vacant look in Stacy’s eyes as well as the description of the monster shook Ned to the core, staring at the two with bloodshot eyes as they spoke.

Now that they had explained what they knew, it was time for some answers. “Ned, earlier you said these mysterious drownings have been happening for a while… “ She began, hoping that he would elaborate further.

“Hm? Oh, yes! Here, take a look at this!” Ned stood from his seat, walking over to the wall of photos and articles, “I started digging around after Dierdre’s case got thrown out. These drownings? They go back over twenty years ! The story’s always the same… someone vanishes in the middle of the night, no signs of forced entry or foul play…”.

“I knew there was something more when I was researching this place!” Lucas exclaimed, relieved his intuition to check on this place was correct.

“Hold up, you knew there was freaky crap? Researched it and came here to what? Hunt ghosts?” Regina glared, folding her arms over her chest, “And you didn’t think to say anything about this BEFORE?”.

“Look, I understand your frustration but it is a long story. But there are more pressing matters. Like understanding these patterns. Mr. Mallory, mind if I observe?” Once he got approval, Lucas delicately started grabbing reports on all the drownings, “Look at this timeline. It started with one person every few years. But the dates. Judging by this, Stacy is the second attempted victim this month.”

“This place is insane! No wonder people bar their freaking windows and crap.” Regina groaned, tugging at her curls in frustration. Taking a deep exhale through her nose, Regina turned to the two of them, “We have to do something. We have to find out what this thing is and how it’s killing people.”

“Regina, trust me when I say this will be no easy feat. Creatures like this often have wicked and twisted lore behind them. But that’s why I came here. I’m here to fight and stop these creatures.” Lucas stated, grimacing as he turned to the news wall again.

No one would ever suffer your fate again Krinn, not as long as he lived.

Looking at the two, Ned let out a shaky breath as he held his head in his hands, tears evident in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how much this means. To have someone finally believe me, after all this time. There have been times when… when I didn’t quite believe it myself. When I thought maybe it was just an accident or worse… I felt her leave, you know. I woke up when she got out of bed, and… I just went back to sleep.”.

“Mr. Mallory… I know what that loss is like. I don’t have the time to explain not yet, but I lost someone I cared for deeply to a creature like this. To have to go on living after losing them… It’s a pain not even time can heal.” Lucas grimaced, lowering his head as he hung up each individual newsletter again.

Regina looked at him in surprise, not expecting to see this side of him, to see him so… hurt. “Oh, Lucas…” She offered him a hand, and after a moment he took it, flashing her a small look of gratitude.

As the two had their moment, Ned moved over to grab something. “Here, I want you to have this. I found it by the lake a few weeks ago. I don’t know where it came from, but I knew there was something special about it. A few days later, I was about to cross the street when the thing started buzzing and glowing. I was so shocked, I stopped in my tracks. A split second later, this pickup truck blows past a stop sign. If I hadn’t stopped, it would’ve run me down.”

Much to Regina’s surprise, he held out towards her, “Woah, me? Lucas, why don’t you take it.”.

“I suggest you take it. Trust me, I have my own methods of protection.” No need to concern her with the incantations, that was for far later if needed.

With both of them looking at her, Regina eventually relented, slipping the bracelet one. To her surprise, it gave a small vibrant pulse, almost feeling like a warm embrace. “Woah.” She gasped out, looking at the older man, “Thank you.”.

…and at that moment, the bracelet gave out an urgent buzz, sounding like a bee trying to escape a jar. All three of them stared down, watching as the bracelet began to pulse a vibrant blue-green color. Ned looked at the two in horror, all color fading from his face. Before a single word could be uttered, glass shattered in the next room.

“ Hide. ”

Chapter Text

A look of terror was exchanged between the two. Seeing how Regina froze up, Lucas took the initiative by grabbing her wrist and ran to the first place he could hide the two of them. A startled gasp left Regina, forced to follow after him as her brain kicked into full panic mode. Pulling her after him, Lucas settled on hiding them behind the couch. Not sparing a glance back, Lucas grabbed the back of Regina’s head and pulled her body against the chest, praying that their being near each other would force each other to not panic.

Don’t freak out, don’t freak out. If you freak out, you both die.

Lucas felt his body tense hearing a heavy thud on the floor, holding Regina tight to keep her from screaming. “What a mess.” He heard someone say, “Grab his legs. We’re gonna have to tear up the carpets.”

The sound of shuffling was heard next, quickly followed by a tearing sound. These sick bastards were trying to get away with it. They had to make a break for it, but if they were caught it would lead to their untimely demise. He had no choice, he had to do this. Easing his grip on Regina, making a shushing motion as he took the folded parchment from his paper. The blood writing was still there, this may be their only solution.

Whispering as softly as he could while being filled with terror, he spoke the second incantation again, “ As the wind cries, I submit myself to its call. Feel our power. Let these eyes seek beyond the mortal plane and witness those that linger .”. Just as it had before, a blue glow emanated from his fingers and eyes, allowing him to see the silhouette of the intruders around them. Regina’s eyes practically bulged out of her skull as she looked at Lucas in disbelief, but remained silent. 

Focusing on where all the intruders were, Lucas was able to spot an opening. Taking Regina’s hand in his, he began to move forward as quietly as possible. They had to get out of here and warn the others as soon as possible, if they were willing to kill Ned then certainly they’d have no issues with killing them. Keeping Regina’s hand tight in his grasp, Lucas inched closer toward the door when Regina abruptly stopped. He turned back in a panic, seeing her staring in horror at one of the men. 

Before he could pull her away, a terrified gasp left Regina making Lucas instantly flinch. Lucas panicked, covering her mouth, he pulled them both behind the couch. His heart hammered violently against his chest, threatening to leap out at a moment's notice.

“What was that?” A voice asked, followed by silence before, “...Lock the door. There’s someone else here.”.

The two looked at each other in alarm, daring not to say a word as the sound of the door locking echoed through the house. As the two hid, they could hear some of the intruders arguing.

Lucas had no idea how long this incantation would last, but upon hearing the figures split up he knew they had to hurry. Keeping a tight grip on Regina’s hand, Lucas glanced around before getting an idea. Gently letting go of her hand, he made a gesture towards their shoes as he began to unlace his. Catching on quickly, Regina began to take her boots off as quietly as possible.

With their chances of making noise greatly diminished, Lucas focused on his projections, watching where the intruder moved. Seeing an opening, Lucas snuck towards a window. Keeping his breath as still as possible, Lucas stood up to slide open the window. Just as it was starting to slide open, an audible creak echoed through it. The two tensed up and Lucas looked at Regina, eyes wide in panic. 

“ Run .”

Not missing a beat, Lucas wedged the window open as much as his body would allow. Not wasting any time to apologize, Lucas began to shove Regina through the window, hearing her ungracefully crash into the patio outside. Once she was through, he began to climb through when he was caught due to his larger stature.

“NO!” Regina screamed, scrambling to her feet to grab his hands and pull.

Lucas latched onto her hand, straining to free himself when something grabbed him. “THERE YOU ARE!” The intruder shouted, fighting to pull him in.

Regina’s grip nearly slipped from the sudden pull and Lucas knew if he didn’t act fast he’d be pulled through. “Let me GO!” Raising his leg as far up as he could, he kicked back with a yell, relieved as he made contact with the cloaked figure. The kick was enough to pop him out of the window, and Regina quickly helped him to his feet. “Come on!” She shouted, taking his hand as they ran for the woods outside of Ned’s house.

Risking it by looking back, Lucas could see the glowing outlines of the two intruders still in the house. They had to get as much distance as possible. Gaining a second wind, Lucas grabbed Regina’s hand and ran as fast as his body would allow. Despite his injuries occurring months ago, they still hindered him. A pained groan left him, his legs spasming as they gave out from under him sending, him into the mud. “Lucas?” Regina stopped in her tracks, moving back to help him up.

An intense wave of vertigo rippled through him, Lucas groaning as he got on all fours. His vision swam and from what he was able to make out, he was able to see the blue glow leaving his fingers. The feeling of something warm on his face suddenly caught his attention, shakily touching his face and when he pulled his hand away, he was surprised to find blood.

Looking at the bracelet on her wrist, Regina eased slightly, they were no longer in danger. Taking this chance, she knelt in front of Lucas, a mix of worry, anger, and shock somehow all present on her face. “Lucas, what the hell was THAT?”

“It… was a trick that I picked up ‘hunting ghosts’ as you so eloquently put it.” He responded, getting smacked in the shoulder by Regina in retaliation, “Ah, fair enough.”

Gathering himself the best he could, Lucas shakily stood up, “I know you have many, many questions… but now isn’t the time. Those men who killed Ned will try to cover whatever loose ends they can, meaning us. We need to leave this area while we can before they search. My car isn’t far.”

“You seriously think you should drive after whatever that was?”

“It’s much safer than driving, I assure you that much.” While Regina wasn’t entirely thrilled, she still followed him through the woods to where he parked. Lucas had been smart to park his car some distance away, people would have noticed him if he had parked closer to Mallory’s house. While the walk there in their bare socks was extremely unpleasant, they finally made it to his car.

“Normally I’d ask you to wipe your feet off, but clearly that doesn’t matter.” With a heavy sigh, Lucas started his car, “I’ll drive around aimlessly for a while, just to be safe in case they try to follow us.”.

This made Regina go quiet, and for a moment Lucas feared that he had said something callous. Before he could ask what was wrong, she spoke first, “Those men were wearing the same mark that my mother has painted on the floor… the night that me and my brother found them murdered.”.

The chill in her voice reminded Lucas of his own, the memories of finding Krinn’s body limp still fresh in his mind. “So that’s your motivation behind this… aside from Stacy’s… accident. My reasonings are similar to yours.”

Regina looked at him, pondering for a moment. This could be her chance to know him more and help him through whatever he had been through. “When you were talking with Ned, you said that you know what it was like. That you guys had been through this before.”

“It happened a few months ago, in a small town a bit away from here. There was this entity that we dubbed ‘Redfield’. We first encountered him as children. It was myself and some of my friends. We played with him in the ruins. As an adult I understand it was foolish but… we were just children, most of us with families who overburdened us or paid us no mind. All we wanted was to have fun and feel valued, which he made us feel. And all was well until that dreadful game, ‘Are you scared?’.” Lucas visibly shuddered, “Made us play and killed our friend Jane. At least, we thought it had killed her.”

“What did it do?” Regina asked, looking confused.

“It somehow transferred bodies. Jane’s physical body died and she became… Redfield. We had no clue about it, all of us splitting apart and vowing to never discuss it again. But, the past had a way of finding us. Before we knew it, Redfield was haunting us all again. Krinn quickly found out that Redfield was ‘helping’ us.”

“Helping?” “Yes, helping. They do this by getting Stacy blackmail information on Britney, forcing Britney to like Lily, and even killing Krinn’s biggest bully. Krinn risked everything to confront Redfield and then things got violent. Redfield turned their rage onto us. Before we knew it, we were all brought back to the ruins. I don’t know if it was Jane’s childlike innocence or the monster destroying what was left of her, but she made us play that game again. We all held strong though, braving it despite the horrors we had endured. All of us made it out. Except… except Krinn.” His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, “For whatever reason… she chose to take Jane’s place, allowing Jane to pass on at the cost of herself.”

Regina stared at him in disbelief, frowning as she gently took Lucas’ hand, “I’m so sorry”.

The gesture eased him, forcing him to take a shaky deep breath, “Thank you… but now you understand why Tom and I came out here. Why I went to find Mallory. I needed answers just as much as you did and I intend to make sure no one suffers as Krinn did.”.

“Well, guess we’re in this together then.” Regina said, “Before you say anything, I’m in. I want answers as much as you do and Ned needs to be avenged.”

Staring at her, he slowly nodded, “Alright. Then tomorrow you and I will go to the police station and report Mallory’s death. Get some rest and we’ll reconvene, and try to find out what we can. Try to lay low as much as possible, alright? We still don’t know who those men were.”

“You’re telling me to be safe and yet you did all that weird witchy shit.” Seeing her grandpa’s home coming up, Regina looked at Lucas, “Look, we don’t know what’s coming but… don’t use those powers again. No matter what we come against, your life shouldn’t be thrown away to stop it.”.

And with that, Regina climbed out of her car and made her way inside. Lucas watched until she got inside safely, sighing as he started to drive back to his place. As Lucas drove off, Regina had one thought in her mind.

I have to get to Ned’s house first thing in the morning before those sick bastards destroy everything.