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Cleo was absolutely done with Bigb, actually she was done with the whole fairyford alliance.
Which is why she grabbed her stuff, burned the place down and left. Anger, fury and betrayal flooded through her veins. After some consideration they decided to see if Pearl and Scott might have a place for her in their alliance. They would never betray her, they were actually her friends.
They ended up being welcomed with open arms just like they had expected. Together the three became the gaslight, gatekeep and girlboss trio. Nothing would take them down, nobody would be able to do anything against them now.
Cleo tried to forget about the fairy port alliance, tried to leave what had happened in the past. But they just couldn't. Nothing that Cleo did helped them forget about her friends, about the way that Bigb betrayed her. Everything she saw reminded her of what had happened, of the nice times before what had happened, happened.
Every once in a while Cleo would still spot Bigb, Lizzie or Ren, every time the simple sight would bring her back to that moment. Every time Cleo could feel the pain, not just the physical pain but also the mental pain. The feeling after she had respawned and realised that the pain they were feeling were caused by one of her best friends. Bigb.
The person who they had teamed up from day one had betrayed her, he had killed her and that hurt. But now Cleo was with Scott and Pearl so everything was fine, right? She didn't have to talk with him again, she had gotten her revenge by burning down the place.
So why could they still not forget about what happened?
Cleo was talking with Bigb after a long day. The two stood in the tower that they had built together, chatting without a care in the world. It was still early in the game, there weren't that many things to worry about yet. Or at least, that was what Cleo thought.
Everything changed when Bigb suddenly pulled out an axe "Cleo I'm very sorry for this" He said, guilt in his eyes. Cleo opened their mouth to say something, to ask what he was talking about, but they were never given the chance as Bigb started hitting towards them with an axe.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as Bigb kept attacking. There seemed to be no hesitation as he reached out with the axe over and over again. Something in Cleo wanted them to fight, they already reached towards the sword in her holster. But she couldn't, she couldn't hurt Bigb.
Cleo started running, trying to make an escape. She had no idea where she was going but she just had to get away from Bigb. From the man that she had called her friend just a few minutes earlier, from the man that was now trying to kill them. She quickly found her way outside, looking over her shoulder.
Bigb was following her, the man was close behind her. Murder in his eyes. He switched from an axe to a sword and tried hitting her, getting some cuts in on her back. "Cleo! Cleo! Cleo!" The man shouted as he chased her, a hint of guilt in his voice. He kept running after them, kept creating new wounds and cuts wherever he could.
All Cleo could say was "No" she kept repeating and repeating it. No, this couldn't be happening. No, her friend couldn't be betraying her. Their panicked brain couldn't think of anything else to say as pain overtook their body. She kept running though, knowing that she had to survive.
Cleo ended up falling into a small lake, water soaking her wounded body. She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and now she was stuck. With one last hit everything was over and Cleo's dead body was left to sink to the bottom of the lake. Her eyes were still glued on Bigb as life left their body.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" Cleo heard right before they died.
Their eyes slipped shut but opened just a second later. She sat up in bed, trying to catch her breath. Their body was covered in a layer of sweat, their body was tangled in the blanket covering them. For a few seconds Cleo just sat there, scanning the area around her, trying to convince herself that she wasn't in that lake.
It had been a while since they had had a nightmare about what had happened. The last time that happened was right after she'd been killed. It took a few seconds before Cleo was able to catch their breath, to calm themselves down.
Reality seemed to hit like a hard brick and Cleo soon realized how bad she actually felt. Her head was pounding, she was incredibly nauseous and her whole body hurt about as badly as it had done after they'd been killed. Cleo let herself fall down onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.
She pulled the blanket that had fallen off of her back around her, shivers overtaking her body. It was surprisingly cold in the room. She curled in on herself, pulling her knees to her chest. She was probably just tired, yeah, all she needed was a little more sleep.
Cleo closed their eyes and lay as still as possible, but nothing that she did seemed to work. The pain in her head never went away and the nausea only seemed to get worse. The fact that the image of Bigb standing in front of them, axe in hand, smile on his face kept appearing whenever she closed her eyes also wasn't working.
It took some time before Cleo was able to accept that she wasn't going to be able to sleep anymore. That didn't mean that they were planning to get out of bed though. Cleo moved onto their back with a groan, they lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
After laying there for a while Cleo was pulled out of their thoughts by a knock on the door. The sound seemed to go straight to their skull. A voice sounded a few seconds after the knock "Cleo are you awake yet?" Ah, Scott was there. Cleo moved onto their side, she loved Scott but really did not have the energy for him.
She lay with her back towards the door, pretending to be asleep. A few seconds after Scott asked the question the door opened. It was silent for a few seconds before Scott spoke again "Cleo?" The man whispered "are you awake?" Cleo kept their eyes closed, couldn't Scott just leave them alone?
Scott started walking, his footsteps getting louder as they moved closer to the bed Cleo was laying on. He stopped right next to the bed and knelt down next to Cleo, reaching out and gently shaking their shoulder in an attempt to wake them up. Another groan left her, but it didn't seem like Scott was giving up or leaving them alone any time soon.
"Cleo, wake up Cleo" Scott said, a bit louder this time.
Cleo opened their eyes, turning back onto their back so they could look Scott in the eyes. She let out a grunt of annoyance as another bolt of pain went through their skull. "You okay?" Scott asked. "What do you want, Scott?" Cleo asked, they didn't want to be rude but she just wanted Scott to leave.
"I'm just checking up on you, you never stay in bed this long" Scott said, this long? What time was it? There were no windows in the bedroom that Cleo had been given. It was by choice, Cleo didn't want any light blinding them in the early morning. Apparently there was a bad thing about not having windows. Cleo had absolutely no idea what time it was.
"What time is it?" They asked "10:45am Scott replied, "But you didn't answer my question, are you okay?" The man asked, reaching out to push some of the hair out of Cleo's face. Cleo bent their head, yes another groan leaving their mouth. The action made the hair fall back into her face.
"I'm fine, just not feeling too well" Cleo admitted, pulling the blanket tighter around themselves. "oh, can I get you something?" Scott asked, his brow deepend in worry. "Nah, I just need some sleep and some peace and quiet," Cleo replied. "Okay, I will leave you alone. Text me if you need anything" Scott said before walking away.
He closed the door behind him, making the room nice and dark again. 'Finally some peace and quiet' Cleo thought as they closed their eyes. They hoped that they would be able to fall asleep and just sleep off whatever was wrong with them. But this of course didn't happen.
Every time she closed her eyes she saw herself sinking to the bottom of the lake with Bigb standing on the land, watching her. His shoulders slumped as he saw what he had just done. By now Cleo knew that the man had been overtaken by the need to kill that came with having the boogey curse. Knowing this didn't make anything easier though.
He'd still made the decision to kill her.
Cleo gave up on trying to fall asleep and went to the main room, a blanket hanging over their shoulders. "Cleo, you're up. How are you feeling? Scott said that you're sick" Pearl said as she noticed Cleo walking into the room. The woman sat on the couch, their communicator in hand.
"I'm fine, just a little under the weather. I wanted to sleep but my stupid body refused to let me fall asleep" Cleo said as they lay down on the couch. "Have you eaten anything today?" Pearl asked, moving closer towards the woman. Cleo's head rested on a pillow, but their eyes were open. She looked straight into Pearl's eyes.
"No," Cleo simply answered.
"I will get you something to eat," Pearl said as she stood up and walked away. Cleo wasn't really hungry but they understood that their body needed food. Pearl came back a little later with two plates of food, she helped Cleo sit up and handed her one of the plates. "Where did Scott go?" Cleo asked as they started eating.
"He went to see what the others are up to, said something about being bored" Pearl said. "He should be back soon," Cleo hummed in response. Pearl started telling Cleo a story. Cleo wasn't really listening, the headache making it hard to concentrate but the background noise and company were nice.
After a while Scott returned home, he took a seat on the other side of where Cleo was sitting. The man had a big smile on his face "Hey you're up. How are you feeling?" Scott asked, looking down at Cleo. "Fine, just a little under the weather" Cleo said, not really wanting to talk to anyone.
Scott must have noticed that she wasn't in a talking mood because he instead started up a conversation with Pearl. Cleo leaned her head on Scott's shoulder while listening to their conversation. The words soon started to blut together and her eyes soon started to fall shut.
Cleo finally fell asleep.
Cleo was standing in front of Bigb like they had been standing right before he started attacking. But this wasn't that memory, Cleo knew it immediately. They weren't standing in the tower like they usually were. Instead they stood outside, right next to the lake, the lake where Cleo's body had fallen seconds before she died.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Bigb kept repeating to the lake. He wasn't looking at Cleo though, it seemed like he didn't even realize that she was there. "Bigb?" Cleo asked, but her words fell to unheard ears. The zombie took a few steps towards the lake, she stared down at whatever Bigb was looking at.
A gasp left her when she saw what it was.
In the bottom of the lake, staring right back at her was her. Her own body lay there, covered in blood and unmoving. The cuts that Bigb had caused seconds earlier were clear, the blood coming from them being mixed with the water around them. Cleo's mouth fell open at the sight, they froze, having no idea what to do or say.
Bigb dropped his sword, the sound of metal making contact with stone echoed through the dreamworld. Bigb looked down at his hands, his shaking hands, a tear rolled down his cheek. The man took a few steps forward, stepping directly into the lake. His eyes never left Cleo's body as he knelt down next to it.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" He said, taking Cleo's dead body in his arms. He pulled her close to his chest, tears rolling down his cheeks as more and more apologies rolled over his tongue. Cleo watched the scene happen in front of her, trying to figure out what to do.
Their blood started boiling the longer she watched. They didn't feel good at all watching the man suffer at all. He had done this, he had made this desicion, he had caused this. He didn't deserve the pity that Cleo was starting to feel towards him.
"Shut up, you're not sorry. If you really were sorry you wouldn't have killed me, you would have found another way, we could have found another way" Cleo shouted, she didn't receive an answer. Bigb kept staring at the dead body in his hands, ignoring the real Cleo that was yelling at him.
"You didn't need to kill me, and yet you did," Cleo yelled, tears started rolling over her own cheeks but she ignored them. It was silent for a few seconds, all that Cleo heard were her own sniffles as more and more tears fell to the ground.
Bigb had fallen quiet, the apologies stopped. He suddenly looked up, staring at real Cleo. "Fine, I shouldn't have killed you, I could have killed someone else. But I didn't see another choice okay! It was either you or me" Bigb said, he stood up, dropping the dead body back into the lake.
He kept walking closer and closer to Grian, taking the sword that he had dropped to the floor minutes earlier. Water rolled down his body and fell onto the floor, his torso was covered in blood from Cleo's dead body. But the guilt was now gone, instead he had a murderous look on his face. "And you know what I would do it again"
The sword went through Cleo's chest.
Her eyes shut, when she opened it she was back in the tower. The dream from before started over again, the loop just continued.
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"We can't let them take the wither skull" Scott argued to Pearl, the two had been trying to figure out what to do for a while now. Cleo was resting next to him, her head on his shoulder. She had been asleep for a while now, Scott was glad that they were able to fall asleep. The woman looked like she needed it.
Scott opened his mouth to say something, but he shut up when he felt Cleo move. Fear that she was waking up went through his body and he froze. But the zombie's eyes remained shut. Scott knew that she was sick, he tried to not move too much as to not wake her up.
A few seconds passed in total silence, a few seconds in which Cleo didn't move. But then it started again, their face scrunched together as if they were in pain. A whine left them, drawing Pearl's attention too. Pearl was standing in the corner of the room, arms crossed over each other as they leaned against the wall behind them.
"Is she okay?" Pearl asked, seemingly noticing the same thing as Scott. Her eyes were now glued to Cleo, subtly leaning closer to the zombie. Scott kept his eyes on Cleo "I think that they might be having a nightmare" He whispered, watching as Cleo's hands turned into fists, her whole body going tense.
He had been there the first night Cleo was part of their alliance, when she had had a nightmare about Bigb killing her. He had comforted her after that nightmare. What was happening now seemed similar to what happened back then.
Scott moved Cleo so that she was laying down, placing her head on a soft pillow. He looked her over, trying to figure out what to do. From the corner of his eyes Scott noticed Pearl getting closer. The woman knelt down next to Cleo, brushing some of the hair out of their pale face."Should we wake her up?" Pearl asked, not looking away from Cleo.
"We can't keep her trapped in a nightmare," Scott said, he started to gently shake her shoulders. He wanted the woman to get the rest she needed, but he couldn't just leave her like this. "Cleo? Cleo, wake up" Scott tried, for a few seconds nothing happened. Scott repeated himself after sharing another look with Pearl.
After he spoke the second time Cleo woke up. Their eyes opened and they shot up into a sitting position, breathing heavily as they looked around the room. "Don't kill me" They shouted as they placed their hands in front of them, it looked like they were planning to protect themselves. From what Scott didn't know
"Hey easy, you're okay," Scott said, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring her in the eyes. "Everything is okay, you're safe here" He said, watching Cleo as they calmed down. Only when their breathing evened out did Scott release his hold on her. Warmth was rediating off of her so Scott placed his hand on her forehead, checking her temperature.
His worry only grew when he discovered that they were burning up. He shared a concerned look with Pearl and then turned back to Cleo. "Nobody's going to hurt you" Scott said as he started rubbing his hand over Cleo's back in an attempt to calm her down more.
"Pearl, could you get them some water please?" Scott asked Pearl, they needed to calm Cleo down. "Of course" Pearl replied, watching Cleo as she left the room. Cleo turned to look at Scott, blinking at him. She hadn't spoken a word yet but it seemed like she knew where she was at least.
Tears appeared in the zombie's eyes but she blinked them away. Scott wrapped his arms around her, pulling them closer to him. Cleo leaned into his touch, resting her head on his shoulder again. With Cleo so close to him Scott could feel the heat radiating from her body. This fever must be really bad, he thought.
Pearl returned and Scott guided Cleo away from him so that she could drink the water. Pearl took a seat next to her on her other side and helped her slowly drink the water. When Cleo was done Pearl put the water on the coffee table. Cleo leaned against Pearl, Pearl must have felt the heat radiating from her too because she shared another concerned look with Scott.
Pearl placed an arm around Cleo, pulling them even closer to her. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Scott whispered, keeping his voice low. Cleo just shook her head. The three of them sat there in silence for a while, Scott having no idea what to say.
Suddenly Cleo jumped up holding a hand to her mouth, Scott got the message and quickly grabbed a trashcan holding it in front of Cleo. Cleo took it and started throwing up in it. Pearl shot into action and pulled the hair out of Cleo's face while Scott started rubbing slow circles on Cleo's back.
"It's okay, let it out," Pearl said in a comforting way. When Cleo was done Scott grabbed the glass of water and handed it back to Cleo. They took it with a nod of thanks and quickly rinshed her mouth. When they were done they handed the glass back to Scott.
"Thank you" She mumbled as she laid back down, fully leaning against Pearl. "Can I get you anything Cleo?" Scott asked, Cleo just shook her head and closed her eyes again. Pearl put a hand on Cleo's forehead, "Cleo, you're burning up" Pearl said. Scott got up "I'll get her a wet cloth against the fever, I'm also going to see if we have some medicine for her"
"Good idea" Pearl said.
Scott started looking around all the chest for some medicine, when they left to go to this dead game they hadn't thought to bring medicine. Scott crabbed a cloth and put it under some cool water, he walked back to Pearl and Cleo with the wet cloth. He put it over Cleo's forehead and she hummed in pleasure.
"I couldn't find any medecine here, I'm gonna go over to the others to ask them if they have any medicine." Scott told Pearl. Cleo already had their eyes closed as they laid on Pearl's chest. Pearl ran her hands through the zombie's hair, she nodded "smart, I think she needs it"
After a few more seconds of staring at Cleo with concern he forced himself to move. He made his way outside and started walking through the world. He asked every single person he came across if they had some medicine but it turned out that Scott, Pearl and Cleo weren't the only people who hadn't thought to bring any.
Eventually Scott walked over to the fairy ford alliance and asked them, Lizzie of all people had thought to bring some medicine. She and Cleo weren't really on good terms but after Scott told her about how bad Cleo was feeling Lizzie was happy to help.
Scott walked back to his base as fast as he could.
He walked in and made his way back to Cleo and Pearl, Cleo was still laying in Pearl's lap her eyes were closed but Scott could tell that they were still awake.
"I got some medicine" Scott said as he handed it to Pearl, he took the now empty glass from the table and he walked into the kitchen to refill it. When he walked back into the main room he saw Pearl helping Pearl into a sitting position. She wordlessly handed the medicine over and Cleo took it without a question.
Scott sped up and handed her the glass of water. The second the pills were done Cleo moved back into a laying position. Scott sat down next to Cleo and she rested her legs on his lap, her head in Pearl's. Pearl and Scott started silently talking, the only clue that they had that Cleo was still awake was that she laughed every time that Pearl and Scott made a joke.
After a while Cleo stopped laughing, so either she had fallen asleep or Scott and Pearl had stopped being funny. Pearl and Scott still talked but in silent whispers, they really didn't want to wake Cleo but they couldn't move and they weren't about to sit in silence for a few hours.
They talked about everything and nothing until Cleo started moving around again. "Why?" She mumbled.
Scott looked at Pearl and without saying a word they came to a decision. Pearl placed a hand on Cleo's shoulder, she started moving her thumb along the area "Cleo, wake up. You're having another nightmare" The woman said in a soft tone.
Cleo woke up with a gasp, this time it wasn't as bad as the last few times since the nightmare hadn't been going on for that long. Cleo looked slightly better, but you could still tell that she was sick. "Are you okay?" Scott asked her. "Yeah, thank you for waking me up" Cleo said, they sat up and pulled their knees towards their chest before resting their head on them.
They stared at the wall in front of them without saying a word.
"Are you feeling better?" Pearl asked, breaking the silence that had fallen to the room. "Yeah a little, I'm sorry for making you guys be stuck on the couch all day" Cleo said, taking their head from their knees to look at Pearl and Scott.
"Don't worry about it, all of us could use a day on the couch to rest. You just gave us an excuse to do so" Scott said, a smile on his face. "Yeah a day on the couch is nice every once in a while, but it is getting kinda late. Does one of you want dinner?" Pearl asked, getting up from the couch.
"Yeah dinner sounds great" Scott replied, he had totally forgotten about the time but now that Pearl mentioned it Scott realised that it was quite late and that he was quite hungry. "I'm not really hungry, but I think that eating something would help," Cleo said.
Pearl stretched her arms above her body, a yawn escaped her. "Okay, I'll go make something before I fall asleep" She said with a laugh before turning to leave. "Don't have too much fun without me" The woman said without turning as she left the room, disappearing into the kitchen.
When Pearl returned she was holding three plates. She handed one to Cleo and one to Scott before she joined them on the couch again. Theys slowly ate dinner while chatting, it was the kind of thing that made you forget that you were in a dead game. "Hey Cleo, you don't have to but if you want to talk about your nightmares, we're here to listen" Pearl said suddenly.
"I don't really want to talk about it but I think that you're right. It might help" Cleo replied, sitting up a bit straighter. "Okay, first I would like to know how often do you get these nightmares? Have you been getting them this whole time?" Scott asked, he just wanted to know this.
Had Cleo been having these awful nightmares the whole time that they were there? Had Scott and Pearl been completely oblivious? "No, I haven't had a nightmare since I first arrived here. I think that the fever I have is making the nightmares return. I also think it made the nightmare worse" Cleo said.
"Okay, what are the nightmares about?" Pearl asked in a soft voice, laying a comforting hand on Cleo's shoulder. "Mostly Bigb betraying me, about me killing him" Cleo said simply, but both Pearl and Scott could see how much this was hurting her. How much the betrayal had hurt them.
"Can we do anything to help with them?" Pearl asked, Cleo let out a sigh and started shaking their head. "I don't think so, but laying here with you two did help me fall asleep" Cleo admitted. "Sooo what you're saying is sleepover time?" Scott said, a smile making its way to his face.
Pearl copied the smile, looking between Scott and Cleo. Scott was obviously in, so both of them were now looking at Cleo. Waiting for their response. "Cleo? Is it sleepover time?" Scott asked looking at her with puppy eyes.
"Yes" Cleo said while she rolled her eyes, followed by a chuckle.
Scott ran to his bedroom and returned with his pillows and a few blankets. Then he ran to Pearl's room also grabbing her pillows and blankets, he threw the blankets and most of the pillows on the couch randomly but he made sure to keep one pillow which he threw into Pearl's face.
Pearl screamed "Hey!" While laughing, she took the pillow and aimed but Scott had disappeared again. He made his way to Pearl and Cleo's room to get their pillows too. Then he returned to the living room and threw the pillows with the other ones.
After that he made his way back to his own room and started pushing his bed into the main room. He placed the thing against the couch so that all of them could lay with their legs stretched. He took the pillows from before and placed them on the bed, standing with his hands by his side and releasing a breath "A little bit more space" He said as Cleo and Pearl streched their legs on the bed.
They started rearranging the pillows and blankets until they were all comfortable. They all lay down with Cleo in the middle and started just telling stories while staring at the ceiling. When it had gone fully dark outside they told each other creepy stories.
Eventually Cleo fell asleep again and Pearl and Scott followed soon.
The next day Cleo felt much better, she wasn't completely healthy again but the medicine and the sleep had helped a lot.
Cleo didn't have any more nightmares, they did have some weird dream about the whole last life world having turned into a candy land and all the members having turned into cupcakes, but they blamed the fever for that one.
The next day was spent mostly on the couch. Pearl and Scott had some other things to do that day but they always made sure that one of them was with Cleo.
Stupid overprotective friends, Cleo loved them.