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gaia_nitemareright [ The Chaser: ] You wake up, and the first thing you see in your room is a shadow from the corner of your eye. You recognize them: a person, a creature perhaps, someone from your greatest fears, but there is something off about them, the colour washed away from their appearance, grey, as they get closer they talk to you in convoluted whispers that cause you to shake in terror as you reach one hand out -

- Somehow you escape and meet up with your friends. You try to tell them something is after you but no-one believes you. They laugh it off. Slowly, during the course of the day, you watch them get killed, one by one, and even as you try to fight the assailant, seemingly invincible, off one last time, you realize that you are the only one who can see them. They make a gruesome spectacle of your last friend and slowly turn to you... you realize there is no escape. They whisper to you, perhaps words you understand, perhaps something nonsensical entirely, playing on your greatest fears and paranoia. At long last, you accept your fate, and just right before the pain escalates, you finally, truly wake up for real, but something grey shifts in the corner of your eye.


Safe, sound, that was what school was now. It was his home away from home, the only place safe for him. The places they went with school, those weren't safe, but here, his room, with Maggie and Seph and Lasha curled around him on his pile of pillows, there he was safe. Nothing could touch him here.
Julian lay on his pillows, a thick blanket pulled over him as he tried to sleep. Lasha had gone out the open window, it was okay. She was an independent hazcat, and that was okay, he would let her go her own way. She always came home.

He was too excited to sleep. Lumi was coming to school, she had gotten her acceptance letter and would be meeting him tomorrow.
He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was alone in his nest and the clock said it was 6:30 in the morning. The wind was blowing softly outside, the opaque, diaphanous drapes waving slightly, not quite captured by the heavy, dark curtains. It had been his brother's idea, said that he was so nocturnal it would probably be best to be able to make it dark as pitch in his room at any time of the day. But it was nearly dawn, and he had left the window open all night, so rather than waking to a room darker than the backs of his eyelids, it was all shadowed, some areas lightened, others not.

Something moved off to one side. He smiled, it must be Lasha, she must have come back in after all. Only when he turned, it wasn't his pet.
A figure stood there, a person. The sound of waves crashed in his ears as he scrambled out of bed, his talons shredding blankets and pillows, fluff littering the floor. The figure was cloaked and hooded, a huge scythe in its hands. But he knew it wasn't a reaper and it wasn't Death. No, he would have been choked with awe if it had been Death, the harbinger's master. He had no delusions of grandeur that Death knew him or even cared what harbingers did, but that didn't change the fact that it was what Julian was drawn to. He was drawn to death.
But this, this wasn't death. Even in the shades of gray, he knew who this was. Hunter. But not just any hunter. This was one of their leaders. Like water, Julian's fear surrounded him, suffocated him, tried to drown him, holding him paralyzed as the figure walked closer out of the shadows of his room. He wanted to beg, to plead, his hand reaching out in a frail attempt to stop the figure. He didn't want to die, not like Red, not like Riley. What had he ever done to deserve it? It wasn't like he brought death, he just followed it. He suddenly knew what it truly meant to be a harbinger.

It was always, always. your. fault.

His mouth opened and he let out an ear-shattering screech, stunning the figure long enough for Julian to run from his room.

He made it downstairs in a flurry of feathers, ignoring the fact that he was dressed in nothing but his long pajama-pants. Sin was in the common area, Rosc at her side. Alcie was there too, and they were all talking to Lumi. Oh, Jack, no, she had arrived early.
He ran to them, falling against Sin and grabbing Rosc's arm. The boil growled at him and jerked his arm away as Sin turned to him, asking what was wrong.
"There's a hunter! A hunter was in my room, we have to get help!" he cried, panting from the mad dash from upstairs. His heart suddenly sank when he saw the smiles unfold on the ghouls' faces. Sin folded him into her arms, quickly joined by Lumi and Alcie in a hug, trying to comfort him.

"It's okay, Julian," they whispered to him, their voices soothing. Even Rosc crossed his arms and sighed.
"Those bastards are enough to give anyone nightmares," the blindfolded demon added, sounding as if he wasn't immune to bad dreams any more than the rest of them. Maybe more so, Julian had never asked how he'd lost his sight or the use of his wing.
Maybe they were right, maybe it had been just a bad dream. He smiled, shaking as he hugged the ghouls back. His eyes closed, happy that he was safe here, sound, and Lumi was here. He got to see her again, how could he not be happy?

"Thanks Rosc, I guess you're-" Julian had looked up finally, giving a smile to the boil he barely knew. Sin was really happy with him, and Julian was starting to figure out why the more time he spent with the surly demon.
His words were cut short, however, when he saw the hunter walking towards the blond incubus.
"Behind you!" Julian gasped, pointing behind Rosc. The other boil whipped around, hands crooked into claws for a moment before relaxing. Julian didn't know how, but he knew Rosc could see some things. When he relaxed and the ghouls around him began asking what it was, Julian knew they couldn't see it.
Couldn't see as the grayed hunter raised his scythe.
Couldn't see how it slashed down and upwards until blood spewed out of Rosciel's back and he was lifted slightly off of the floor, his mouth hanging open and coughing out blood.

The crashing waves in his ears couldn't block out the sound of Sin's heartbroken scream as Rosc's body, rather than dissipating into FEAR slumped off of the scythe and began to turn to stone. Julian watched as Sin ran from the fear-stricken group, gathering her boilfriend into her arms. He could only watch as she clutched at his hardening corpse. She didn't even see the blade coming down until it rammed itself down into her back.
It was at that moment, as he watched Sin die that he snapped to. They couldn't stay there, the hunter was coming after them now! He had to protect Lumi and Alcie!

Julian grabbed the ghouls hands and started running, as fast as he could, pulling them along. The main door was down a hall from the common rooms, it seemed so much longer than normal as they ran.
Suddenly, Alcie was jerked backwards, Julian losing his grip on her hand as she screamed. He wanted to turn back, to help her, but the scream was cut short and he knew there was nothing he could do. Tahki would be safe in her dorm, the hunter was here. All he had left was Lumi, he had to protect her.

They burst through the front doors and without a second thought Julian scooped her into his arms and shot himself into the air with a powerful beat of his wings. He felt her grab hold of him, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck, but he felt like he was seeing it through someone else's eyes, feeling it through someone else's body. His friends couldn't be dead, they just couldn't be! He fought hard to keep the panic from rising again as he landed on another building's roof. There, Lumi would be safe there.
He set her down on her feet and hugged her close, knowing he would have to leave her here and go get help.
"I'll come back for you, I promise. I'm not leaving," he whispered. A soft breeze swished his hair about and Lumi collapsed against him. She'd fainted? He pulled back and looked into her face, carefully holding her up. There were tear-tracks on her cheeks, her face so calm, so... empty.

Julian fell to his knees, cradling Lumi's lifeless body close as he let out a heart-wrenching denial. The gray hunter stood over him, just watching, smiling as he wailed over his friends.
"Why?! Why do this?!" He begged, he needed to know, even if it was only before his own death. The hunter tilted his head to one side. For a moment, Julian thought he heard something, thought he heard words in the waves crashing in his ears. But he couldn't tell what they were, and it ached to know that it was all he would ever know.
He faced his killer, golden eyes wide and flowing with his sorrow. He wouldn't give the b*****d the satisfaction of living without the memory of his eyes.
The blade swept down, he knew he would never see his family again, would never have one of his own, would never-

Julian jerked awake so hard he flung Lasha several feet, his hazcat letting out a fierce yowl that startled Maggie and Seph awake. He sat up, putting a hand to his head and looking at his phone. He had a new squee-mail from Lumi, she hadn't been accepted at Amityville. Sin was still away at her parents' and Rosc had just gotten back from something he said had to do with the "family business." It was fine, everyone was fine, they were alive and well.
His pets crowded around and nuzzled him, even Lasha, though she feigned indigence for being thrown. It had just been a dream, a very bad, horrible dream. With a sigh, he let himself sink down into his nest of pillows, one hand on his forehead. He was so tired... he let his eyelids start to fall as he cuddled with his girls.

Did a scrap of gray cloak flutter in the corner?

Golden eyes snapped wide open.

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