[CSMintCat]

Bruh.

[Placebo]

hecc mark

[DragonGlitch]

Link to story (In progress):
Why Did We Have to Meet Again?

[allinian]

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[she wolf warrior]

oh heck
res maybe ??

[canary.]

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ｎａｍｅ keegan torben dallas ｓｅｘ male ａｇｅ eighteen ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｅ canon
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➙ 𝙷e sat right in front of the old oak tree, admiring every one of its branches. They seemed to want to touch the sky, just like a small child would; outstretching their arms high above their heads just to grab a piece of the cotton-ball like clouds. He remembers being that child, with imagination and curiosity that could fill millions of books. Unfortunately, his innocent nature seemed to slowly seep out of him as he grew older, realizing that you can’t touch the mesmerizing fluff in the sky, but you can only touch the dark soil of reality. A sudden gust of wind made his orange locks disheveled, but Keegan didn’t mind. He stared at the tree as the leaves danced in the wind. Whenever Keegan was upset as a child he would come to the old oak tree, and stare while thinking. Keegan liked to think that the tree was all-knowing and that the tree had been let down countless times for every year it lived, it was his way of comfort; to just know that someone else had more troubles than he did. His friends would call him weird for admiring the oak tree when he was feeling down. “It’s just a tree,” they would say, “It has no thoughts.” At the time, he was speechless, but he understood now. It’s not usually for your typical child-rebel to get comforted by something like a tree. The teen sighed, looking at the large roots that came from the even larger tree. He found it hard to imagine something so small evolve into something so huge. After a few minutes, the redhead picked himself off the ground, and walked away, clutching his fists. Today was an unusual day. He was finally saying goodbye, but as he walked away, it felt like the tree was staring at him. He shook off the abnormal feeling and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He started to remember the first time he saw the tree, “Wow! It’s such a giant oak tree! I’ve never seen anything like it, Keegan!” Mom exclaimed with a grin. I looked at the tree in awe, she was right. It was like a beast standing in front of me. “Henry! Take a picture!” My mother shouted waving her arms, waiting for dad to hurry up. He simply nodded and took a picture of me and my mom standing in front of the tree. Click! I ran over to my father. “Let me see! Let me see!” I hopped around him. “Calm down,” dad said with a grin and showed me the picture. “Wow,” I murmured in awe. “It's a wonderful picture, isn’t it Keegan?” Mom asked. He smiled at the memory, remembering when he was just a young kid. He treasured the memory like it was gold, Keegan hoped to never forget it. The redhead’s grin turned to a frown when he remembered the death of his mother a couple days after seeing the tree. That’s when everything started going downhill, and that’s when the habit to see the tree began. The boy casually walked out of the small forest, heading towards a sidewalk. He absolutely loved the park like it was a piece of him, although he would never admit it. Honestly, he hardly admits anything, he has too many secrets that would destroy his reputation in Keegan’s eyes. The redhead walked down the plain sidewalk, looking at the people have a picnic or a barbecue. After a while, Keegan soon made it to the city, and scurried to get home quickly. The vehicles zoomed past him; he heard an occasional honk here and there. Keegan quickly checked his watch. The old man is going to kill me! The teenager thought as he started dashing to his house, but still managed to keep an eye on the cars. Not long after, he finally made it. In the front of his house was a moving van, and some men were stuffing large boxes in it. He looked at the people, but then looked towards the door of his home. There his father was, standing in the doorframe. “KEEGAN! YOU KNOW WE’RE LEAVING IN AN HOUR! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO PACK YOUR BAGS ALREADY?!” His father shouted with rage as Keegan nonchalantly made his way into the house and into his tiny room. “Sheesh…” Keegan muttered as he got out a large suitcase from his closet and messily shoved his clothes, toiletries and other things he owned in it. “You need to learn to stop procrastinating and start DOING, young man! Do you hear me?!” His father roared as he stepped in the boy’s room. “Yes, whatever,” Keegan growled and stuffed his laptop and some other stuff in a white backpack. “Whatever?! You never change, Keegan. What took you so long to get here anyway? Were you talking to that tree again?” His dad questioned with an unhappy expression. “I don’t talk to it,” Keegan asserted, zipping up the backpack. “Listen, that tree is just living wood. It can’t think, kid. Meanwhile, you can think like any other human being, yet you try not to. Use your brain for once. You had all-day yesterday to pack, but instead you are packing now. Stupid,” his dad walked away. Keegan was speechless as he zipped the suitcase and brought it to a U-Haul van and placed his stuff in it. “You still want this thing?” His father appeared, holding a wooden baseball bat. “Yes,” Keegan replied, grabbing the bat and shoving it in the cargo van. “You have twenty-five minutes to do whatever before we leave. Don’t go talk to that tree again,” Henry walked away, probably to put a couple more boxes in the moving van. “I don’t talk to it,” Keegan huffed. Keegan pulled his cellphone out from his pocket, before sending a couple of text messages to his friends. Although he wouldn’t admit it (like multiple other things), he was happy he was moving to a different state. He would go to a different school with different people. Keegan grinned at the thought, thinking of the opportunities and possibilities. “Oh, you’re still here? Well, we may aswell go now, then,” Henry said as he locked the door to the house and hopped into the driver’s seat as Keegan followed and sat in the passenger’s seat. The redheaded teen pulled out lime green earbuds out of his pocket and plugged them into his phone, which luckily still had a headphone jack. Keegan quickly selected a random song on his Spotify playlist, and quietly hummed to himself. He looked out the window while his father started the U-Haul and started pulling out of the drive way. So, from Iowa to California, eh? Keegan thought. The teen looked around the cargo van, only to find something shocking. There were some false teeth right behind the driver’s seat [1]. Keegan turned back to the window. It’s going to be a long 26 hour drive.

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“Say hello to San Francisco, Keegan!” Keegan’s dad said joyfully as the boy munched on a donut from the famous Dunkin’ Donuts. “Wow!” Keegan exclaimed with a mouthful of chewed-up donut bits before taking multiple pictures and sending them to his friends on SnapChat. The two were gawking at pretty much everything, since they truthfully have never been to California before. After a lot of traffic, they had finally made it to the apartment building they’d be living in. They parked the U-Haul outside the building and headed inside. The apartment was quite neat and tidy, looking very modern. There was a long, tan carpet that stretched from the doors to the elevators, the walls were tan with random circles of orange and a green colour. To the left, the receptionist sat staring at a computer rapidly typing things down. The desk was a wooden brown, and had the logo of the apartment in the center that was green. The wall behind the receptionist was orange, again the logo in green. Hanging above were some lamps most likely from IKEA. To the right was a small room with multiple chairs and tables along with a lone vending machine and a claw machine. In one of the chairs sat a man most likely in his late thirties scrolling his phone, looking rather bored. Keegan’s father recognized the man from Skype and immediately starting talking with him. Keegan paced around a bit at the strange place, making sure to get every single little detail of the place. “Can I help you?” The receptionist suddenly asked in a monotone voice. “No, I-it’s alright,” Keegan stuttered before heading back to the little room with chairs and tables. Keegan thought the lobby looked rather nice. The redheaded boy looked at the claw machine and glanced at his father who was currently signing some papers, and decided to kill some time with the most-likely rigged machine. ‘TOY CLAW MACHINE’ it read on the front. ‘ONE DOLLAR ONE PLAY. TWO DOLLARS THREE PLAYS. FIVE DOLLARS TEN PLAYS.’ Keegan took out a five dollar bill and carefully looked inside the machine, judging which plush toy he would get. His yellow eyes drifted from one plush to another, before finding a little red dog. It had green eyes and was showing its white fangs, and had one white dot circling around one eye, one leg and one ear. He shoved his five dollar bill in and the music quickly played. He mentally noted that the song was ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ which was slightly annoying and distracting. He moved the joystick and clicked the button for the claw to drop and pick the plush up. The silver claw dropped down slowly, managed to grab two legs of the dog, and went back up again. Keegan carefully moved the joystick to the place where the dog would fall out, only for the claw to lose grip and drop the toy. Keegan fumbled with the machine for a bit, and managed to get the dog. Luckily, he only wasted two plays, so he decided to randomly go for a toy which just happened to be a purple patterned elephant. He picked the elephant up and dropped it in the chute. Okay, this is going pretty good! Keegan thought as he picked up a frog. Unfortunately, it kept dropping and he eventually wasted all his other plays trying to get the frog. He took the dog and the elephant out and walked over to his father which was being handed the keys to their new apartment by their new landlord. Keegan’s father started chatting a bit with the man, and Keegan quickly lost interest. Okay, you’re going to be called Spotty and you’re going to be called Raisin, Keegan grinned to himself despite how childish it was. “Okay kid, let’s see our new home!” Keegan’s dad squealed and hurried to the elevator, Keegan trailing behind. “We got room number 408 on floor 5, alright?” He said as he clicked the button on the large elevator. Keegan nodded and hopped out of the elevator as soon as the elevator doors opened, searching for the numbers ‘408’ on any doors. Keegan noted that the hallways weren’t tight and actually were quite open, there were even some chairs and tables scattered around the hall. After finding the door and heading inside, the two joyfully explored the apartment. There were three bedrooms total with two bathrooms for each, along with one nice living room space and an office room. The kitchen has marble counters and one small island in the middle, the cabinets were all painted white, the fridge, stove, and microwave were black. There was also a small laundry room. The floor looked to be like some kind of gray wood and the walls were just a plain white. Keegan and his father squealed as they claimed their rooms, and went back to the U-Haul to store the boxes in the house. A nice resident of the apartment decided to help unload. After thanking the stranger, Keegan’s father went to return the U-Haul. Keegan placed his mattress on the floor, put his clothes in the closet, and put his toiletries in his bathroom. He put a blue cover on the mattress with a matching blue blanket and pillow on his ‘bed’ and placed his new toys on top. He grabbed his charger and shoved the thing in an electrical outlet near his mattress and immediately started texting his friends. Shortly after, his father arrived and gave Keegan and himself some instant noodles before going to sleep.

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Everything was dark. The sky was a dark gray, and for miles and miles all you could see was the black soil. “Concentrate,” a mellow voice seemed to whisper as an oak tree sprouted from the dark soil. “Concentrate,” the voice spoke again, and the tree grew from a seedling to more of that of a larger tree. “Concen...trate,” The voice seemed to be farther away this time, but the tree continued to grow. He stared, and the once gloomy land filled with life. Grass, trees, shrubs, moss, lichen, bushes and flowers sprouted from the ground. The sky turned blue, and he could see bugs and animals living in their new home. His memory started to fade as he woke up, though…. Keegan took a deep breath in before his nose filled with the scent of bacon and scrambled eggs. He groggily got up and stretched his arms, his eyes still sensitive to the light that shone from his window. Keegan picked up Raisin, his elephant, and walked into the kitchen with a long-lasting yawn. The teenager sat down on the cold floor, seeing that they both hadn't set up any furniture yet. Keegan’s father had bought entirely new furniture for them, but the redhead just hoped the instructions were easy to understand and were better than IKEA instructions. Keegan’s dad placed scrambled eggs, two sausages, three strips of bacon and some fruits on a plate and gave it to Keegan as the older man chuckled slightly. “Still a kid at heart, eh?” He said while Keegan shoved the food down his throat in hunger. When he finished, he put the plate in the sink and went to go take a shower. When he returned, he saw his father getting ready to leave. “You’re going to work already?!” Keegan exclaimed as his dad unlocked the door. “Unfortunately, yes. Oh, can you go grocery shopping and when you come back set up some of the smaller furniture?” His father asked but it was more like a demand, “Here, we both get one key. Don't lose it!” Keegan huffed as he went back to his room and got ready for the day. He quickly searched for any Walmarts nearby, but they were quite the distance from his humble apartment. Keegan sighed and picked up a pocket knife just for safety and headed out of the apartment, making sure to not forget to lock the door. And so his trek began, it was very tiresome considering Keegan never really walked far on foot. Some of the streets smelled like urine [2], which disgusted Keegan a lot. Finally he made it to Walmart. He grabbed a cart and started his ‘quest’ for the items. The Walmart was rather large, bigger than the ones he was use to. Anyway, after finding some of the things on his mental list, he spotted some plants. For some unknown reason, his fingers felt slightly tingly. Keegan felt an urge to go see the plants, and, he did. A lot of them were flowers to Keegan’s dismay, but he spotted one interesting plant. He walked over to the succulent, learning that it was called a ‘jade plant’. He grabbed the pot and placed it in his cart before going to find the rest of his items.

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It was seven P.M and Keegan was exhausted. He had set up chairs and small tables, some lamps and his own bed. Keegan stared at his plant, the tingly feeling in his fingers returning. He stared for what seemed like hours until he left lifted his hand up. Shockingly, the jade plant moved upwards, Keegan moved his hand to the left, and the plant moved to the left. For an hour he kept this going, the plant copying every hand movement Keegan made. The redhead didn't know what to think, but it felt familiar doing this to the plant. Keegan then did a series of moving his hands around and flipping them, and the plant grew more leaves. He smiled softly before the door slammed open making both Keegan and the jade plant jump. “Oops! Sorry! Anyway, wow! You did a lot more than I thought you would do,” his father stated as he locked the door. The boy rolled his eyes, still looking at the plant. “Oh, you got a new plant to talk to, keegan?” His father questioned in a smug voice. “I don't talk to them,” Keegan glared at his father. He looked at him, at his father’s chestnut brown hair to his pine green eyes. If you were to guess, the two looked nothing alike. Keegan looked more like his mother than father, some found it hard to believe they were related. Keegan sighed. “Look at this,” Keegan grinned before focusing on the plant and moving his hand. The plant copied the movements. Keegan’s father just stared; he didn't look surprised. “Did you have any dreams last night, Keegan?” His father asked before sitting down on a chair that Keegan set up himself. Keegan looked back and shook his head, oblivious. His father sighed and rubbed his temples. “Go get that wooden baseball bat of yours,” his father sternly ordered. The boy nodded before scurrying into his room to find his prized bat. He gave his bat to his father. The older man closed his eyes slowly before humming a familiar tune and slowly moving his fingers. The baseball bat shape-shifted into a staff, then a cat, and then to a baseball bat again. Keegan's eyes widened, not expecting his bat to change form entirely. His father looked back at him. “Our family comes from a long line of ‘supernatural’,” he started, “I should’ve known you’d be able to control plants and such every since that oak tree. My father and siblings were always able to control water, but I was able to control wood and wood only. I expected you to be able to control water too, I guess,” his father sighed softly after handing the bat back to Keegan. “Then why didn't you tell me?” Keegan stared at his dad. “I hardly ever used my power or whatever you may call it, and after a certain time you lose the connection. When you were born I was certain you wouldn't be able to do such, or you would learn how to manipulate water. I was learning how to control water around the time you were born, so yeah…” Keegan looked back at the plant and manipulated it again. “You’ve always had a connection to the things, no? Just don't do the thing in public or else people will think you're some kind of alien,” and with that, the father left to his room and shut the door of his room. Keegan growled to himself as he put away his baseball bat. Even if it wasn’t very late, Keegan hopped into bed and went to sleep.

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A month had passed, and everything was fine in their snug home. Sometimes Keegan would go and swim in the pool that was only available to residents of the apartment building, sometimes he would go and plays games at the arcade. It was nice, relaxing almost. Keegan was currently chilling on the sofa watching the game show ‘Big Brother’. Keegan was watching intently, he really hated the guy named Josh [3]. RRINGGG! The annoying phone rang, distracting him from his show. The caller was an unknown number so Keegan hesitated before answering the call. “Hello?” Keegan simply said. “Is this Keegan Torben Dallas?” A feminine voice asked. “Y-yes?” Keegan worriedly said. “I’m afraid I have bad news… Your father has died in a car accident. He was rushed to the hospital, but he wasn’t able to make it,” the voice replied.

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The redhead teen walked home, tears stinging his eyes. He was alone now, all by himself. He was only eighteen at the time. Another damn drunk driver. Keegan clutched his fists as he walked to his apartment. Keegan signed the lease agreement a day after his father died, his landlord turned out to be an open and friendly guy. The lonely redhead sniffled a bit after pressing the button to the fifth floor, the other people in the elevator giving him apologetic looks. He walked out of the elevator and quietly shut his door after entering his apartment. He looked around, the apartment looked like the two were still living together. How could his father leave him like this? They just moved here; and now he was gone? Keegan walked into his room and picked up his bat. He walked to his father’s room, his footsteps the only sound to be heard. He placed the baseball bat on his father’s bed and cried softly. He was never a loud cryer; he was always silent. He went back into the kitchen and made himself instant noodles, the same brand as the day he first arrived in the apartment. He ate the noodles, only to have an unsettling feeling bloom in his mind. He turned around to see the jade plant seemingly staring at him, as if it was giving sympathy. “Don’t worry, I’ll watch over you. I would never leave your side,” the plant seemed to say.
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• [3,632/500 words]
• [20,036 characters]
• [8.1 pages]

[1] - this is based off my real-life, unsettling experience...
[2] - i've never been to san francisco, but I've been to miami and thats what some of the streets smelled like
[3] - BB 19. He's sort of my least favourite, so yeah!

fun facts;;

• i re-wrote this story about five times
• i had horrible writers block unfortunately
• i didn't have enough time to edit, so if there's any mistakes i'm very sorry!!
• I was just on YouTube and I saw this video on Agrokinesis which gave me the idea to give Keegan plant powers!!
• all of my characters have multiple alternate universes, so if I do win keegan he will probably have two AU's that are either like Fairy Tail or Sword Art Online
• the reason why he felt connected to the tree was because after his mother died, his mother became the tree. In the end, the father became the jade plant!!
• the original name of the story was 'Speechless' and if you didn't know already, this stories name is 'Souls'
• his father's abilities actually started to fail during the time he met keegan's mother. After Keegan was born, he tried to learn hydrokinesis and his wood-bending abilities returned afterwards
• the name 'keegan' is an Irish name and means thinker + fiery
• to people like his father, he'll act childish. To people who are his age, he acts careless and nonchalant with a hint of a rebel.

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[Blumoonwolf]

Name;; Barren (adj. bleak and lifeless)
-- Only he knows about the full version of his name, otherwise, he goes by Ren


Story;;
The old wood hit the dirt with a soft thud and Barren could almost swear he saw wood splinters break off.
Sighing, he shifted his weight as he brought the bat to his shoulder, preparing to swing. This bat wouldn't last much longer.. but he was more than hesitant to leave it locked in an attic somewhere to be forgotten.
"Come on Ren!" The voice came as a taunt from the middle of the field, where his friend stood. The scrawny boy looked out of place usually, but here he became relaxed like he belonged. "You gonna keep lookin' at clouds until I forfeit out of boredom?"
"As if. You'd never lose willingly." Barren retorted, mimicking Domi. But trying to focus back on the game was proving harder than it should've. With a hefty sigh he shoved his tangled hair out of his eyes, and Domi, not one to miss a beat, crossed the field to throw an arm around him.
"Hey, where are you right now?"

Barren startled at those words- it had been so long since he had heard them last, and he knew it was just a question of concern, but he couldn't help it as his mind was sent sprawling into the past.
--
"Where are you?"
It wasn't a question, and if he hadn't been listening to the quiet chatter to people around him, he wasn't sure he would have heard it at all.

"What?"

Allit, the girl who strode the halls with silent purpose, who commanded a presence without ever raising her voice, froze. And for a second he couldn't trust to be real, he thought he saw her mask of indifference slip. She bristled.
Allit opened her mouth to give the answer she always did, but before she could speak, Barren interrupted.
"It's okay."
The girl shook her head, leaning into the stone wall with a sigh. It was strange- usually he couldn't stop people from spilling things when they were around him, but Allit had seemed immune.
Rising to his feet, he picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, sensing his cue to leave the scene.

"It's just a game I play. Where I would be if I could be somewhere else." She took the quiet moment between them to light a cigarette he hadn't seen hidden in her hand just moments before.
"You mean you wouldn't want to be in school?" He used the dry, sarcastic tone so many classmates used. It earned him a snort from Allit, who brushed back her bangs.
"Yeah."
"Where would you be then?" She shot him a look at his question, but he was looking upwards, towards the sky that even here was crowded with skyscrapers.

"Away. Somewhere monsters are just a fairytale." She paused, and then turned to face him. "What about you? What's your history?" The bell rang, but it felt distant and muggy. Neither made a move to go. "Got any favorite games? A special memory? Something to convince me you're an actual person and not a figment of my imagination."

He gave a weak smile at that last question, but he had instinctively gone rigid, his mind suddenly racing with possible answers. He had never had a childhood, not like hers. He shook his head stiffly, struggling to find a lie that skirted the truth, enough to let his leaden tongue speak. After a moment Allit only shrugged, turning away. She flicked her cigarrette and the ash drifted downwards, hitting the cement with a quiet sizzle. Dying as soon as it had existed.
"It's alright. I'm not as perfect as I seem either." She grinned, and her tone was light, but her eyes shone dark and sharp, like broken glass.

For the first time, he saw the dangerous side of this girl that rumors spoke of.

Her eyes focused, and she gave him a light punch to the shoulder. When he looked up however, it was Domi that had connected with his shoulder. The boy gave him a lopsided grin. "I'm gonna go pick up some supplies since you're not lookin' too hot. Stay here, okay? You've got the bat if any of.. them come."

Barren nodded, sliding to the ground. He did feel shaky, and anxiety twisted his gut into knots, but he knew that it came from the memory more than anything. As he watched Domi jog off, he was suddenly glad to be alone.
He knew what came next, but he wouldn't let himself forget. With a shuddering breath, he closes his eyes to let the past wash over him.

"You've never heard of baseball."
"Uhhh, no?" He held the bat awkwardly between his hands. It was much heavier than it looked, and he seriously doubted that he could hit a small flying object out of the air with it. But it could pack a punch.
"You must have had the worst childhood of anyone in this city. Now, this is a game we used to play before all of this.." She drifted off, waving vaguely.
"The monsters." He had to force the words.
"Yeah." Allit nodded. "But the wood also has some silver embedded in it. They don't seem to like that."
"None shall pass this bat, lest they burn into crispy bits." The response was dry, but she quirked her lips nonetheless.
"Also, you idiot, because knowing how to play baseball is essential for the average, functioning human."

Barren rolled his eyes, but let her guide his posture into the 'proper' one. They spent a hefty half hour on that alone, followed by a very shameful experience of learning hand-eye coordination. And when they switched roles, he learned he wasn't a much better pitcher. As they settled into a sort of rhythm, Barren was surprised at how he felt.. almost comfortable. He wasn't good by a long shot, but it distracted him, and for once he didn't need to think.

That was a mistake.

He hadn't noticed the time or their surroundings, and during his lesson, the field had grown dark- a heavy, unnatural dark. He opened his mouth to call for Allit, but she was already at his side, finger raised to her lips for silence.
Idiot, idiot, idiot.
He never should have been distracted, he should have been watching the sun if not the time-
"Ren." His name slashed through his thoughts like a knife, and his eyes darted towards Allit. She seemed strangely calm, though her voice was still low and soft.
She passed him the bat, and he took it, still resting awkwardly in his grip. He moved towards her when he saw a shadow start to writhe, but as soon as he stepped she raised her hand to stop him.

"No." Her voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silent setting. The shadows all around them suddenly seemed to jump to life, forming a thrashing mass with the stench of rotting flesh. Monsters only came from bad actions- murders, tragedies. To see so many...
"Allit.. come here slowly."

"You still don't understand?" She asked, her voice devoid of its natural emotion, the kind he had spent so many hours practicing himself. It sent shivers up his spine.
"I'm not your friend, Ren."
Barren felt his grip loosen on the bat, as it finally hit him.
Why the shadows hadn't jumped yet. Why even as they chattered and hissed they still waited. They were waiting for her. And as soon as she saw realization cross his face, she simply gestured, and suddenly the shadowy mass became a tidal wave of pure hunger, hatred, and death.

Strangely, it was that thought that calmed his mind, chasing away the fear that held him captive in place. He closed his eyes the moment he should have met an end just as sudden as his beginning. Four years ago, he had awoken in a thirteen year old body, next to a disaster. He was the monster that had formed from tragedy.

When he opened his eyes, he could make out the hissing of the shadows as they parted around him.
Monster, reaper, monster.
The shadows quickly disappeared, realizing he was not a meal, and he was left alone with Allit, who had a strange look on her face. Peaceful. Above her, her soul hung suspended in the air, bathing everything in sight in it's glow.
"Eleven lives. Eleven innocent lives I've taken. I bring them here and then.. it keeps them at bay, you see? They stay away from me and my father."
"The first time, that was the hardest. I cried, even though I didn't know the girl. But then it got easier and easier. A life for two lives." She leaned closer, with ghostly eyes. "I would do it again."

For the first time, he felt his emotion rising to the surface, he could feel the way his breath shuddered at the thought, but he knew what he had to do.

"It's okay." He whispered, and reached out and extinguished
her soul like the light of a candle.

The sound of footsteps finally awoke him, and he blinked open his eyes to the sight of the falling sun. That observation quickly sent him stumbling to his feet, where hands reached out to keep him steady. Domi.
"Looks like it's time to go. Drink up and then we'll head back." Barren gratefully drained the flask of water. After a moment to recover himself, he gave a hoarse laugh and picked up his bat.
"You're going down tomorrow."
"You wish."
-1,590 words-

//deep apology for the long story! though it doesn't look like it I had a lot of writers block, so hopefully this doesn't come out too terrible.

[leaftail101]

Helloooo just gonna leave a mark here.

[shatterhowl]

.

[gojo]

oof don't lookkk