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[ exclaim gore warning exclaim ]

Tonight, in Clerise's subconscious mind, the creature from the four clans had placed the parasite into Eva's ear, like it had promised.

It burrowed around inside of the girl, traveling under her skin like some subdermal mole, wet and horrible sounds accompanying the movement.

It went still, for a time, leaving Eva time to beg for Clerise, for anyone, to help her. To save her.

The monster laughed, caressing her hair in a mockery of sympathy, crooning to her that such help would never arrive. There were tears on Eva's face, wet and shining on her cheeks, her eyes so full of pain.

The parasite burst forth from just below her sternum, splattering Clerise with bone fragments and innards as she laid helpless and bound before the carnage. In the dream, she could not turn away, vision drawn to the limp body writhing on the ground in pain.

Clerise watched the parasite feast on Eva's face, its mandibles tearing away strips of skin and burrowing into her eye socket, devouring it, and--

[ exclaim gore over exclaim ]

She started from the nightmare with a barely contained shout, her entire body shaking. Pale and clammy, Clerise sat up and tightened her fingers in the sweat-drenched sheets, the grip impossibly tight. Conveniently, she ignored the scant few tears that slid down her face, stoically refusing to weep over what was purely confined to the realm of sleep.

Even as Clerise struggled to compose herself for no audience but own mind, she realized it was natural to have nightmares, after all that had been said and done. They had been conned by parasites wearing the skin of children, lead to the Witch's hut by a corrupted Hanzel and Gretel.

From there, they had been attacked and overtaken by creatures, and had been roused from unconsciousness up by a member of the four clans, who had ensured that they'd been bound and tied.

A human had died in front of her and a hunter had been tortured in front of her. Caelius had threatened her life, then nearly taken Reine's. All of these things were nightmare worthy.

Nevertheless, it was often Eva that was the focus of her terrors at night, and...

Well. Clerise worried. She worried so very much.

In a frantic haze, Clerise threw the covers off, running her hands over her face, scrubbing away the evidence of tears. There were more, she knew. They threatened to spill from shining eyes, but she blinked them away.

Clerise couldn't help but flinch when the visage of Evie's limp and dying body was burned into the back of her eyelids. Taken by a frenzy, Clerise pulled on a tanktop and some sweatpants, grabbing Balthazar and winding his chain around his wrist.

She didn't bother to peer at his cracked face to check the time-- there were more important things to do.

Such as hunting down Evie and ensuring her safety. At first, she was walking there, bare feet against the tile. It turned into a jog soon enough, and then a run. Panting, Clerise pounded on her door, hoping desperately that she'd answer.

"Evie?" she asked, voice cracking. "Evie, it's Clerise, o-open your door, please, I-"

Clerise winced as she heard Evie's shout, nearly clawing at the door with her nails, scrambling at the door and--

Evie was okay.

Without a word, Clerise lunged forward, wrapping her arm around Evie's neck, her trembling just barely perceptible.

"I'm fine, it's--" It was far too familiar an embrace for someone who she only knew through a traumatic and near death experience. She pulled away, strong fingers grasping Evie's shoulders.

"Sorry. Uh. ******** were dead, Eva. You were very, very dead.

Clerise clung to Evie's wrists with her hands, shaking. "I'm sorry," she muttered, eyes cast aside, jittering a little. "It's a wonder you're as together as you are, Evie," is all she says, giving her another hug.

It was less panicked, at least. "I close my eyes and it's like the...thing is ******** seared into the back of my eyelids."

The redhead took Evie's chin in her head, turning her head lightly this way and that-- she looked worse than Clerise did.

"You want some company? Since I was retarded enough to run down here?" A lopsided smile, but the saddest eyes.

If there was anything she could do, it was be outrageous. To be subdued was unnatural, to be quiet was unsettling, to be drizzle instead of rain was disorienting.

"Oh, girl," Clerise breathed, squeezing Evie's shoulder. "Been there, done that, own a ******** army of t-shirts that prove it, right?"

She looked at the other girl with sad eyes, noting that Eva's were just as harrowed as her own. "You look like you need a nap and some ice cream."

Too bad their freezer was still busted as ******** being let in, the redhead didn't say a word. She explored the room as if it were her own, picking up random plushies and inspecting them with a keen eye, going through each of them methodically.

She finally settled on a little red cat, soft as velvet and red with orange and black accents, cradling it in her arms.

"They're adorable. I didn't really have any as a kid." She looked at the ground, oddly embarrassed. "Not for uh, lack of trying on my dad's part."

She took a seat in front of Evie's bed, arms wrapped around the medium sized toy. "I kind of set them on fire." Clerise offered her a weak grin. "I was a pretty mad little girl. I didn't like being told I was nutter butters."

"You're a big bad intermediate-- if you want to leave the grounds on a mission for ice craem and bad movies and maybe popcorn, then damnit, you should be able to!" Clerise shook her fist at the ceiling, then glanced over to Evie, an impish grin on her face.

"Guess we may need to settle on a just a nap until then, huh?" Clerise stroked at the ears of her chosen plush, as if it were a real feline she'd had.

She'd always loved the animals, even if she was too loud and brash for most of them to love her.

"This one reminds me of one of the tigers-- dumb as a rock, but the nicest out of the bunch. High five for us crazies, huh?" Curling up by Evie's bed, resting her head against lean arms, Clerise smiled a little. "Yeah. I know what you mean. It's a relief to know I can DO something about the ********."

"I went on one with Dakota and Reine a while back," Clerise offered with a smile, rubbing Evie's good shoulder. "I think as long as you aren't terrible, you can get some approved leave and go?"

She bounced on the bed at the mention of ice cream, grinning. "Dude. We have to go to this place, Marble Slab? God, ******** delicious. They mix extra cookies or ingredients in and stuff, it's delicious."

It was nice to chase the loneliness away, to chase that everlasting feeling of being by herself out of her mind.

{[ I am still here. ]}

You don't ******** count.

She raised a brow at puppy. "You have a dog? Where is it?" Casting curious glances around, Clerise made a face as she didn't see one. "Yeah, all the doc told me is that my worst nightmares were real and he was going to help me exact my revenge, or something."

A sheepish grin. "I was pretty wasted, if we're being real here. ********' Meximarts."