Chapter Text
LET ME TELL YOU A TALE.
SOMEWHERE IN THIS SCHOOL OF PAPER
LIES WITHIN, A PAINFUL REMINDER
A BOY ONCE FILLED WITH LAUGHTER
WHO FELL VICTIM LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
HIS DEATH WAS CRUEL, HIS REMAINS DISRESPECTED
HIS DEATH WAS ABRUPT, HIS BODY BEAUTIFULLY SPLIT IN HALF
ONE FATAL BLOW, THEY PULVERIZED HIS SKULL
AND THEN IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, HE Was gone.
But his will to fight
Was the key to life.
AND SO, HE CAME BACK TO LIFE
WITH A BURNING LIGHT
FEAR STRUCK THEIR HEARTS
AS THEY GAZED UPON HIS MIGHT
THEY WERE AFRAID
AFRAID OF THE THING HE BECAME
AND SO THEY TRAPPED HIM
SEALED HIM
CAGED HIM
Never to be se en a g ain
A cruel fate life has dealt him.
But time will pass
And a brave soul
Will free him from his cage of brass.
So, my little dove,
W I L L Y O U F R E E T H E P A S T ?
…
For a troublemaker like Vinyl, class was boring as hell. It was like watching paint dry. Heck, she'd enjoy watching paint dry more than being in this soul draining slaughterhouse that she called "school".
Miss Thavel wasn't here yet, which was odd, considering she's usually on time.
Not that it mattered to her, of course. Language was as boring, if not, more boring than Math. The moment Miss Thavel entered the room, she'd sneakily get out of the classroom to hang out in a little classroom she turned into her "home away from home". But of course, all good things don't last, as she had to move out all of her stuff because the unused classroom she used as a base of operations was going to be repurposed into a storage room. How unfortunate.
So now, she was on the lookout for a new place. Preferably a classroom. She tried the ventilation shafts once, and not only was it cramped, it smelled HORRIBLE. And the fact that she still didn't know what was causing the smell haunts her to this very day.(spoiler alert: it was probably a corpse)
Seeing as Miss Thavel was 10 minutes late now, she took this as a chance to book it and start classroom-hunting.
Going out of the exit door, Vinyl scanned the surroundings for the lucky classroom that's gonna be her new hideout or teachers, making sure not to make any noise.
"Alrighty, let's roll."
She shook her spray can, ready to spray its contents at any teacher or student who happens to get in her way.
This wasn’t her first time sneaking out of class. One time, Episode 7 of Murder Drones came out during class and she just couldn’t resist watching it in her hideout once she saw that youtube notification on her home screen. Oh how she missed her hideout dearly. But the past is in the past, and there’s no time to waste.
There was some commotion happening near the entrance of the school. She couldn't hear much, but she can assume it's just some random guy who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something tells her they're quite clumsy, too.
Now that majority of the school was near the entrance, she can worry less about encountering a teacher.
She shook her spray can once more for good measure, and began walking.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
Her hard, leather boots echoed through the school’s halls. This part of the school looked empty, almost abandoned if it were not for the fact that it lacked cobwebs.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
This part of the school was dimly lit, only being lit by the sun shining through the windows. Even then, the sun itself started to set. Her gut told her to keep going.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
The more she walked, the darker it became. The lack of windows in this area made the hallway she was walking in pitch black, the flashlight of her phone guiding her into the inky darkness. She hasn’t been here before.
Clack.
Clack.
She stopped, noticing a brown door at the left side of the hallway, a faint red light escaping from its gaps.
“Huh. Maybe…”
She removed the lockpick that was chained to her beanie and fiddled with the lock of the doorknob, before eventually unlocking it, letting her enter the d-
…
"What the f*ck."
A headless and bottomless corpse was flying in the middle of the room, surrounded by a red circle with a symbol in it, as chains flew out of it, binding the corpse from freedom. The light emitting from the ritual was covering the room in blood red shadows.
The corpse looked scarily fresh, blood dripping out of its tears and its heart was still pumping despite the lack of the brain.
Now, Vinyl has seen some nasty and creepy sh*t, but this was WAY beyond her experience.
"HELL nah."
She tried to book it and open the door outside, but it just won't budge.
She kept pulling and pulling on it, up to the point where her legs were basically on the door itself, but it still won't budge.
This took a toll on the handle, though, as it ripped off of the door, sending Vinyl flying towards the creepy-ass-ritual-looking thing.
Apparently, the circle was drawn in some sort of wax-like substance. How did she know? Her hand smudged it trying to stand up.
"Oh, f*ck…"
She threw herself away from the ritual, watching as the chains broke and the corpse slowly fall to the ground. She just… Froze. Her mind kept telling her to run, to throw anything at that damn door so she could be free, but her body wouldn't move.
Yellow, translucent body parts replaced the missing ones on the corpse, the room now covered in an almost sickening yellow glow from the light that emitted from it.
It slowly stood up, its head now a glowing ball of light with red lines mimicking eyes.
"A visitor? Hmm, inde- Wait… VIN?!" It interrupted itself, its eyes widening at Vinyl.
Its voice… Could it be?
"Wait… THERSIE??" She couldn't believe it. Thersander was one of her best friends, along with Gabe. Unfortunately, both of them suffered the same fate; they were killed due to poor grades(though for Thersander's case, he was sabotaged).
"Thers, what the HELL happened to you?!" Vinyl yelled.
"Does it look like i have a f*ckin' clue?!" Thersander yelled back, running his hands over his own body, just to make sure it's his.
"Dude, I can literally see the blood pumping through you- Ew!" Vinyl blocked him from her vision with her hand and looked away, seemingly disgusted at the fact that the translucent yellow parts of his body had veins in it.
"You can see the- what the heck??" Thersander finally noticed his hands. He too, was disgusted by the veins.
Vinyl looked at him again and nearly gagged. "I can even see your heart man! Jesus!"
"Okay! I get it, you're not good at handling gore! Jeez." Thersander said, folding his hands next to his waist.
"Oh f*ck- we're going off topic here!" Vinyl pinched the bridge of her nose. "How are you alive?"
"Oh… Uh… I don't know either."
Vinyl groaned. "Okay, okay, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we get out of this damn classroom. But we can't do that if the-"
"Doorknob's broken?"
Thersander was already in front of the door.
"Yeah… You were talking too slow." He smirked. Or at least, he would be smirking, if it weren't for the fact that he didn't have a mouth anymore.
"Oh, shut up, Thers. I bet you can't even find a way to open the damn thi-"
CRACK!
…
Click.
"And we're out." Thersander proudly announced.
There was hole next to the doorknob on the door, pieces of stray plywood were scattered across the floor.
Vinyl was speechless for a second, before shaking her head and pressing on.
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
"So, uh…" Vinyl tried to start a conversation as they ventured back to the light. "Um… How's it… Going?"
"I feel… Disoriented."
"How so?" Vinyl tilted her head.
"I don't know. It's like I was in a state between life and death. It feels weird having control over my body again."
"Huh."
Vinyl thought for a moment.
"Hey, you know those legends our parents used to tell us? You know, how you could come back to life from an unjust death with just sheer will alone?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe that's what happened to you, Thersie."
"Hm."
Thersander's voice growled as he thought, reverberating back and forth between the hallway's walls.
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
"Is mom okay?" Thersander broke the silence.
"What?" Vinyl flinched at Thersander suddenly talking.
"I said if my mom's okay. I don't think she'll be able to handle finding out her son was killed."
"Oh, Thers…" Vinyl's voice had an apologetic tone to it.
"Why are you speaking like that?"
Vinyl went silent.
"..."
"...She's… Not here anymore." She finally spoke.
"Not cool, Vin." Thersander was unimpressed.
"Huh?"
"You know, I'm all for dark jokes, but that's just not it, man."
"Dude, I'm serious." Vinyl declared.
"She was found dead underneath the bridge near Paper School." Vinyl regretted saying this, but she had to.
"Yeah, right-"
Thersander stopped when he realized that it could've been possible.
"Thers?"
He simply sat on the floor and slumped against the cold, steel locker.
His mom wasn't the same ever since his dad died. Before Thersander's death, he was the sun in her eternal storm. The light in her darkness.
He didn't know how long he was gone for, but he knew his mom wouldn't last after losing her son, too.
"I'm sorry-"
"She's dead."
Vinyl was dumbfounded. "What?"
"What's the point?"
Vinyl stayed silent.
"What's the point of coming back to life when you have no one to come back to?" Thersander's new intimidating look betrayed his true feelings. Despite his new and quite possibly powerful form, he was still just an innocent boy who didn't know any better.
"Thersie…" Vinyl walked up to him and sat next to him.
"I… I know this is a lot to take in. Heck, even I'm still trying to process everything. But… You're not alone. You still have me, y'know? I'm still here for you."
As Vinyl said this, her face turned a few shades redder.
"God, that sounded cheesy…" She said, burying her face into her arms, hugging her knees.
"Vin… Uh… That actually helped slightly. Since when were you good at comforting people?" Thersander turned his head to her.
Vinyl raised her head, her cheeks still a bit rosy.
"I don't know. I just said what was on my mind."
"Huh." Thersander turned to look in front of him, staring at an empty blue locker across his position.
Vinyl shook her head, shaking off any weird feelings from developing any furthrr as she stood up. "Come on, we gotta go. This hallway is giving me the creeps."
"Whatever, scaredy cat." Thersander teased.
"You're only saying that because you have the literal f*cking sun for a head."
"Sounds like a skill issue to me, Vinnie."
"Oh, you little-"
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
Clack. Thud.
After what felt like hours, they finally reached the light.
"How long did we take in there?" the sun's still in the same spot." Vinyl asked, looking at the windows.
"Man, I don't know. I don't even know what year it is."
"Oh, it's 2024."
"..."
"I WAS GONE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR?!"
"Yeah. Gabe died while you were gone."
"Honestly… I'm not even that surprised. He was surviving off of my notes for a while now."
"...Also, he's apparently the reincarnation of the Archangel Gabriel."
"Excuse me, what the fu-"
Thersander was cut off by the sound of something crashing into the wall.
As they turned their heads to the source of the sound, they saw a grotesque being with a tank top over its shirt, its mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. Before they could even fully process its form, it stood back up and lunged back where it came from.
"..."
"..."
