prank text. that's all it is. the circle keeps going 'round and 'round. not a lot of bars up here on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. going 'round and 'round. not a lot of anything up here anymore. and there goes his chance of escape, clutched in captain's teeth and she dances 'round and 'round. 

and that circle stops and so does knox's heart. fingers shaking so hard he has to put the phone down on the table. run ragged through his hair. swear "fuck, fuck, fuck," under his breath when there's no more breath to be had. 

taps it and that evil crawls inside his gaping mouth, eyes locked on the screen. wriggles around inside of him, throwing up blood into his ears to block out the rest of the world. striking tuning forks, buzzing in his ear. summer's cruel, smiling eyes. 

if we take him out. 

he's white as a sheet, fingers curled on the countertops. bile rising in his throat because that evil is still squirming, sneering. ollie. ollie? ollie. his eyes don't deceive him. under that mask of blood and horror, those pretty green eyes. 

sneering, he starts to say something. 

bang. the volume on his phone is low, near muted. does not do the gunshot its justice.

ollie's head explodes. 

"knox?" he looks up, blinking. sam standing there in front of him. chunks of ollie splattering the walls. captain, by the door, poking her head back through. concerned, she chirps and doubles back. a few of his eeveelutions who'd been hiding pad into the kitchen.

he looks down. 

unknown number //
...downloading sms

cruel, twisted thing; a boy living past his due. the reaper at his door, rotten smile. it's come to collect. this is what he deserves. 

this is what i deserve. no anger, though that will come soon. it is bridling within him now, a tempest trapped under ice. 

he rocks forward, folds his arms around sam. unblinking. looks down at blue and lena. something clicks. this hollow feeling in his chest. it's over, isn't it? they're out of time. 

"blue. lena. frozen roots." he squeezes sam tighter and when the vaporeon and glaceon falter, he barks. "do it now! fuck." water and ice spray, climbing up sam's legs. 

entranced, he touches sam's face and then turns. noise still won't come back to him. just rolling waves, that muted gunshot. summer. and the message has loaded. body of a boy he loved once upon a time. 

seven years, knox. that's all it takes. 

two short, he decides then that he will never see his metamorphoses. 

samuel carter

☉

lena and blue look at each other, at sam clawing at the ice at his legs. they skirt around him to rub against knox's ankles, but he shakes them off. palms flat on the table, staring down at that macabre picture on his phone. until the screen times out and he's staring at blackness. 

hearing his name said a million and one ways. captain zings his wrist, puts the molly back into his open palm. he crushes it in a fist and tosses it aside. 

please just, talk to me.  - but if i do that, love, then i might not go. and i have to go.

"get my belt," he says to captain. she hurries off and knox looks down at his vaporeon and glaceon.

"he stays here," he says, pointing without lifting his gaze. it won't be long until sam's houndoom and absol come back from their rounds. he can't will himself to talk to sam, nevermind look at him. how could he explain? how can he say his goodbyes without breaking down? 

when he'll need every defense he has to finish this once and for all.

so when he takes hypatia's hand, he leaves his phone behind. an elegy or an apology - both? maybe sam won't forgive him for this, but that won't matter. not when he's done. 

but ever weak-willed, he raises his gaze from the floor and while hypatia gathers energy around them, he grins brokenly at sam one last time. 

samuel carter

☉