Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I am grateful for the fear, because for the first time in my life I am afraid that the person who is next to me may leave me."

      It is very bright and cool here. It's early in the morning, even the sun has not risen. And I'm sitting here next to you…

      — Hi ... — I'm trying to find the words, but it's hard.

      How strange it is to talk to You, it's not usual. It's also a setting.
But having gathered my strength, I say…

      — I was told what You did then — I sighed, remembering this moment — You could have killed her… Thank you for not doing this. After all, you were afraid like them and you could have killed her, but you didn't. I plucked up the courage and did not. Thanks…

      — She survived, by the way. So to say, You saved mine, and I saved yours.  I tried to joke, but I realized how stupid it was. — They examined her, said she would live and everything would be fine with her.

      I don't know what else to tell you, it's so hard for me. I understand that I can't stay here anymore… I can't, it's hard…

      — Everyone survived. — I smiled — Yes, we haven't found him yet, but everyone else is alive. Everyone is stressed, everyone is scared. Fear does not let them go, just like me…

       It's already getting light. Why did I decide to come at this time? I don't know the answer myself.

       — It's a pity that You don't see this beautiful dawn... — I got up, came closer to You and continued — It's a pity that You didn't see that dawn, it's a pity. All of us…

       — You know, it was very hard to look at Jessica when they told her about you, she couldn't calm down. I had to inject her with sleeping pills so that she would calm down and sleep. — immediately this terrible picture popped up in my head. — Ashley and Chris, they didn't believe in it, they couldn't, it was also hard for them to accept it. Sam blames herself, believes that it's her fault that she could have saved you, but she couldn't… But no one blames her for this — I sighed. It's really not Sam's fault. - And Emmily, at first she hated you, but when you did it, she forgave you. And I...I... — I can't say anything and just fall silent.

    When did I fall in love with You? When did this hatred pass? When did a simple friendship turn into love? I can't answer these questions myself... Time is up, and it's time for me to leave, and I'm finishing our "dialogue"...

    — Thank you . Thank you for not killing Emm. Thank you for running to save Jessica right away. Thank you for not being scared and going ahead, even when I lost my fingers. Thank you for rushing into the mine for the key. Thank you for sacrificing yourself and saving everyone. — I took Your hand, gently bent down and kissed You on the forehead. — Thank you for everything, Michael Monroe.

      I went to the door and looked back again. I looked at the device that shows that you are still alive. At the dawn that seemed to have come then. And you.
I went out to repeat this phrase.

 Thank you for everything, Michael Monroe ...

Chapter Text

"Every awakening is a return to life."

    A year has passed since the day when we returned to that mountain again to help Josh. He's been in a coma for a year… During this time, everything has changed.

   — Hi, Michael — I came first, everyone else is waiting in the corridor. A year has passed, and I am not used to seeing bandages on your face, hiding terrible burns, but we have saved up money, and when you wake up, if you wake up, we will perform an operation on you and you will be as before.

      — Where to start. — I think I — Don't be mad at Jess, she couldn't stand it and broke down during this time, but Em supported her and now they are a couple — I said this with a smile, this situation made me laugh a little — I forgot to say the most important thing, they found him, they found Josh, can you imagine? — how stupid it was to ask this question, because there will be no answer to it — so now, Emily is with Jess, Josh and Chris, and Sam is with Ashley.

      — I don't have enough for you, I miss you, Monroe... — I closed my eyes and heard the nurse come in, but something else scared me…

      — Actually, I'm not dead yet... — a voice rang out, I abruptly opened my eyes and saw how you opened your eyes and smiled faintly, but it was difficult to see because of the bandages.

     The nurse screamed, thereby attracting the attention of other doctors. They came and took me out of the room.

     Everything else was a blur for me, but I remember how all our friends came up to me

     — What happened there?!  Sam asked first, visibly nervous.

    — He... — I began to say, coming to myself — he woke up... Mike woke up!

     It's been a couple of months since Mike woke up. He had an operation now he is without burns, but the scars remained (do not ask how), and they could not do anything with his fingers.

     And now all our company is standing and waiting for him. Here he is, he came out in the clothes he was in a year ago, only it is now washed. He didn't have another one because they gave birth to him, they left, and they took all the things.

     — What kind of people have come, — Emily said happily. — we thought you wouldn't get out.

     — You won't wait-said Mike with a smile — only there is one problem, where do I live?

     — Stay with Matt, would you mind? — Sam said, turning to me.

     — Well, you can do that — I was happy about it and not. On the one hand, Mike will live with me, and on the other, how can we live together? What if he heard what I was saying?

      — Oh, thank you very much — he smiled.

      We all hugged, said goodbye and parted. Mike and I got into my car. We were driving and I looked at him as he looked out of the window with longing.

      So we arrived, went to my house. Monroe immediately began to look around, looking at something that had changed during this time.

      — Come on, get excited —  I said and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

       — Can I take you to the bathroom for a soak? — He asked me-I've been dreaming about this for a long time

        — All right — I said-Throw the things in the basket they should be thrown out or do you want to leave them?

         He thought about it and said

         — Yes, it is necessary to throw out except for the jacket — he said.

         — Okay — I answered and he went to the bathroom, remembers where it is. After a while, I knocked on his door — close the curtain, I'll throw out my clothes and give you a towel

          — Okay-after waiting a little, I went in, took my clothes and gave a towel. And I came out of the bath to finish cooking dinner.

          I had already set the table, when suddenly…

          — Matt!  — a voice came from the bathroom.

          — What's wrong, Michael? — I said, and started to climb up to him

          — And what should I wear, we threw away my clothes? — He asked and I realized what kind of jerks we were, we threw out things, but did not think about what to wear later

         — I'll find something for you — and I went into the room to look for things.

         In the closet, I found a pair of shorts forgotten by either Josh or Chris, and I had to take my own T-shirt, I hope he will be fine. And then I blunted again, I forgot to knock. Thank God he was in his underwear and making a towel. As a result, we looked at each other for about five minutes.

      — I brought you some clothes here, I hope it will be fine — I said and went out, there was a blush on my cheeks and I hope that he did not see it.

      I went downstairs, sat down at the table and waited for him. Five minutes later, Mike came out, the T-shirt can not be said that it was big, but huge. It kept falling off his shoulder.He sat down next to me at the table and we began to eat in silence

     After clearing the table, Michael said that he would wash the dishes himself and this is not condemned. I agreed and went to raise him a sofa. After washing the dishes, he came up to me.

    — Are you sleeping here, Mike

    — Good

    — Good night, — I said, and went to bed.

    — Good night, — said Monroe and lay down on the sofa and somehow fell asleep.

Chapter Text

 Here is the morning. For the first time in such a long time, I wake up with joy, because Mike is sleeping on the couch in the living room. Damn, it sounds like I'm an amorous schoolgirl. And figs with it.

 I go downstairs and see that he is sleeping on the floor, hugging the blanket tightly, I somehow managed to restrain my laughter. I decided not to disturb his sleep, but to put him back. And so I take him on bail, as a bride, and I understand that during this time he has clearly lost a lot of weight. At the moment of awareness, something happened that made me very ashamed…

 "What are you doing?"  I heard Mike's sleepy voice.

 "I-I… I decided to put you back on the bed" I said, feeling my cheeks begin to burn.

 "Okay, but this is no longer necessary, just put me down" he said and I quickly put it on the floor.

 The rest of the morning to the joy passed quietly, we washed our faces, ate. And all the time I tried not to look at him, I was very ashamed of it, and he behaved as if it had never happened.

"Why them???"

"The others are busy:

 Do you know what's going on? Mike has no clothes and he needs to go to the store, and he is not happy with whom he will go there.

 "Okay, if there were Josh and Chris, but Emily???"

 "You have a good relationship," I said, hinting at Emily's infidelities with him.

 "They were, but now they are not" Mike refused.

 "Is it so difficult to just go to the store and buy things??? " I asked.

 "You were also her boyfriend, you know Emily in terms of clothes" here he was right she needs everything to be as she wants " And why can't you go with me???"

 "I have a job, it's your disability, not mine" I replied. "I'll just take you and pick you up.

 "Like a small child?"

 "Yes, you are my little child today" I said and tousled his hair and went to look for his things. And he just stayed sitting on the couch.

 Having somehow found something for him to go to the store in, we got into the car. Driving there, we were silent until I turned on the radio and Monroe started singing along to songs that he had ever heard and looking at me. I still didn't understand why he did it, then I will have to ask when he will return.

 We got out of the car and walked through the park, reaching the right place, a lonely tree standing next to it, we saw an interesting picture. Emily was standing with her back to us, her arm around Jess's waist, and she was hugging her neck, both of them had their eyes closed and they were calmly standing and kissing.

 "What a beautiful picture" Mike said cheerfully, to which Emily showed him an indecent gesture and continued to kiss Jess.

 "I'm leaving him to you, don't kill him, " I said when the girls broke away from each other.

 "Mike, and it suits you" Jess said smiling, he really looked funny a big long sweater with a big collar, bend the pants so that they were breeches and sneakers. That's all I could find for him.

 "I look like either a gay man or a child, we will explain the second option, Matt said that I am a child today. Even though I'm older than him, " Monroe said and looked at me on the last sentence.

 "Okay, I'll leave this «child» to you, and I'll go to work. Bye to everyone" I said and went to the car hearing the forgiveness of friends.

 "For now," Emily said calmly.

 "Bye, Matt," Jess said more cheerfully.

 "Bye, «daddy» " Mike said, and clearly there was a grin on his face at that moment. I calmly got into the car, the phrase did not surprise me, because it was Michael Monroe and this is in his style. I started the car and drove to work.

 It's already evening, my work is long over and I'm standing at the door to Emily and Jess's house.

 "I'm already running!" Jess's voice came from outside the door when I rang the doorbell. A click, and the door opened "Hello, come in."

 "Hi" I answered and went into the house, taking off my shoes, I went to the kitchen, because I knew where they could be.

 When I went there, I saw Emily plushia tea, she refused coffee after the incident, and I saw Mike in new clothes and with wet hair.

 "Hi, how did it go?" I asked, sitting down on a chair, at this time Jess returned to the kitchen and sat down next to Emily, on a small sofa.

 "In principle, it's fine, except for the fact that they wanted to kick us out of there," said Mike.

"Kick him out?"  I asked.

 "Yes, let them tell us what happened.:

 "I just accidentally pushed Monroe into the fountain and sprayed the guard," Emily said calmly.

 "By accident?"??  I said, looking at her.

 "Well, I pushed it on purpose, but accidentally into the fountain."

 "Everything is clear with you, okay" I said and got up. "We went"

Going into the house, I took his bags with things and went to look for a place for them, it's good that my closet is large, I don't have so many things.

 "Mike, I'll go clean up my things, and you put the kettle on."

 "Good" after a while he answered me.

 It seems like a simple request to put the kettle on, right? I thought so too, but when I finished and came to the kitchen, I saw Mike leaning on the table connected to the stove. And the kettle has not been put on.

 "Mike?" I asked, it was bothering me.

 "A?" apparently he was surprised, because when I called him, he jumped. But when he turned to me, he pretended that everything was fine, but clearly it was not so.

 "Why didn't you put the kettle on?" and in response, silence-Mike?

 "I... I... I can't..." he said looking at the floor, I've never seen him like this, it was very scary.

 "Why?"

 "Then that fire"

  "Are you afraid of fire?" I get only a weak nod in response.

 I did not torment him and sent him to the living room. I put the kettle on myself and decided to talk to him about everything tomorrow.

 The kettle boiled, and I turned it off. All this time, while the kettle was heating up, I stood in the doorway and looked at him and thought how I should talk to him tomorrow.

 After making tea, I sat down next to him and gave him a mug of tea. The last thing we did was sit quietly all this time. And when they finished their tea, they put them in the sink and went to bed.

 "Good night, Mike."

 "Good night," he replied, and I went to my room. Lying down on the bed, I kept thinking and did not notice how I fell asleep.

Chapter Text

 And here is a new day. And it's so easy again, only the fact that Mike is afraid of fire is disturbing. Sighing, I got out of bed and went to check on him.

 I don't know if I'm surprised or not, but I saw Mike sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket.

"How long have we been awake?" I asked, smiling.

"No," Monroe said, and turned to face me, he looked like he hadn't slept at all.

"Are you lying?"

"What? What makes you think that?" he said, and smiled.

 All of us, every night, woke up from a nightmare and often could not sleep. After all this, we looked like the dead. Did the nightmares come back again after a year?..Heck. He was in a coma…

 I went over to him and sat down next to him.

"Nightmares?"

"No, why did you decide that?"

"Michael, stop playing the fearless guy," I said, looking at him sternly. At this, he silently looked away. Like a child who broke something.

"Yes," Mike said in a low voice, though quietly, but confidently.

"Then you need drugotherapy," I said, smiling weakly.

"As my best friend, will you listen to me and tell me what to do while I cry into my pillow?  What is it? " he asked, already smiling.

"Almost, everyone will listen to you. I'll call them and invite them to spend the night."

"And where will everyone sleep?"

"In sleeping bags, but I only have one."

"Nothing, you'll sleep in the bag, and I'll lie on you."

"Hey!"  I pretended to be indignant, laughing. I picked up the pillow Mike was sleeping on and threw it at him.

 But I did not expect that from this he would roll over the side of the sofa and fall to the floor, and the main thing was that his legs remained on the sofa.

"Did you die there???"

"Figs to you!"

 In the evening, the whole company was already in full force. The guys joked, drank juice with soda, in a word, had fun. But by one o'clock in the morning, they began to gather at home, although they wanted to stay, the best decision was to return home.

 And then an hour later there were only two guys in the house again.

"How old am I now?" Twenty or Nineteen?  Michael asked.

"What???"

"Well, I spent a whole year in a coma, is it considered that I lived it?"

"Yes, probably."

"It turns out that I'm still older than you."

"Yes, you are an old man here."

"Josh is older."

"Well, yes. You should probably go to bed."

"Should I go to bed?" Mike repeated my phrase.

"You don't want to yet?" I asked, to which I received consent. "Then look for a movie, and I'll be right there."

 At first I didn't want to return it to you, but now I think it's necessary…

 February 3, 2015

 We've just been brought from the station to the hospital, Jess and I haven't seen any of our own yet. But we really want Emily and Mike to be fine.After the examination and suturing, bandages and wound treatment, we were finally able to meet friends. Emilia as soon as she saw me, ran up to me and hugged me, at first I was surprised, but then I hugged her, she called me names and said how she was afraid for me. And I hugged her and looked at everyone, everyone was not in the best condition, but the scary thing was that I didn't see two more.

"Where are Josh and Mike?"  I asked

"Yes, where's Michael???"  Jess asked quietly, looking for her boyfriend with her eyes.

"Josh was dragged away by a wendigo," Chris said, looking at the floor. He probably blamed himself for this.

"Oh, Mike?.. " Jess asked again.

"It burned down in the house. I'm sorry, Jessica, " Sam said, and hugged Jess.

"No! No! It can't be!" Jess roared, and began to break free, to scream. To this, the doctors injected her with sleeping pills and took her to the ward.

And I looked and realized that now it's not Josh who's gone and I won't see Mike anymore. When suddenly, the doctors shouted to get out of the way and let them pass. They were carrying someone, who had a burnt arm hanging down, holding something. When they passed, I saw that the thing had fallen out and I picked it up. It was a lighter, but I'd seen it somewhere before.

"This is Mike's lighter, where did you get it?"  Emily asked when she saw that I was holding something

"A patient has just been brought in, he was burned all over and it was in his hand…"

"So, Mike is alive?.."  Ashley asked. 

 I kept it, of course I thought I should give it to Jess. But it was a painful memory.

 "I've chosen everything, where are you?"  Monroe asked.

"Here," I said, and sat down next to him.

"Why did you go?"

"For this, " I replied, and handed him the lighter.

"This is ... " he said, taking it in his hands.

"When you were brought to the hospital, it fell out of your hand."

"Did you keep it?"

"I was waiting for you to wake up. And now you've woken up."

 We didn't say anything else, and watched the movie in silence.

"Thank you... " Mike said quietly after a while, and fell asleep. I smiled at this and then fell asleep myself.

Chapter Text

 Mike and I have been living together for a whole month now, which is great. I work, I bring money to the house, and he is sitting at home on disability. Jess joked that it was like a married couple, it would be good or at least fun.

 During this time, he pumped from the living room to my room, now we share a bed, we just do it. Everyone has their own pillow, side and blanket. We sleep together because if I have relatively moved away from what was, then Mike is not yet. Because of this, we slept together, after the incident it is very difficult to sleep alone, when we returned, I had Emily, but she went to Jessica and it would not be a shame we slept in troy, they still lacked a person to calm down, and I did not have a person.

 Mike, no matter what, did not just sit at home, he ran every morning, did sports, gradually returned to form and today was no exception.

 It rained all night, when I woke up, I was hoping to see Mike, because the weather is bad and it is unlikely that he would have gone, but when I turned around, I saw an empty part of the bed. After that, I went to the window and saw a downpour, went around the whole house and called him everywhere, finally realized that he was not at home. Finally not rebelling, he went running in the downpour, if earlier it was not a fact that he got sick, now he will get sick more precisely.

 I got dressed and had already gone to the door when it opened. And Mike came in all wet.

 "Matt, why aren't you sleeping?"

 "Why aren't you at home?"

 "Me? I ran."

 "Is it normal that it's raining outside???"

 "I'm sorry, Mom. When I came out, it stopped dripping, " Mike said carelessly, smiling at me.

 "Don't you want a belt?"  I decided to answer jokingly.

 "And I'm not averse, but let's just do everything at night and sleep" he replied, running his finger over my chest "I'll go change, and you don't peek" he continued and went to the bathroom. Leaving me in the hallway all red and in shock. Even after the fire, Mike did not stop using flirting in conversation, and as before, it does not matter whether it is a guy or a girl.

 Jokes are jokes, but in the evening he already had a fever. And after that, you can write a week and a half on points.

 The first day. Sam and Josh came to us, and Sam and I almost killed Monroe for lying with a fever

 The second day. He made me blush again. Because of his heat, he was hot and did not understand what he was doing. I sleep under a blanket that is thinner than him, because of this, he climbed under the blanket at night and came to me with the words "you're cold", at that time he was asleep. And I couldn't sleep properly.

 The third day. I woke up earlier in the morning, managed to push him away and wrap him in his blanket. Thank God he doesn't remember what happened.

 The fourth day. I tried to feed him, but I couldn't. And because I tried to force him to eat, he went to the sofa, but at night while I was sleeping, he came back.

 The fifth day. The day passed quietly, we spent the whole day lying in bed.

 The sixth day. I already wanted to eat progress myself. But we couldn't eat properly. He sneezed and hit the plate, as a result, all the soup was on him.

 The seventh day. On this day, we were able to eat normally, but I myself began to sniff.

The eighth day. Now we are lying together with the temperature, great. "The family should cheer together," Mike said to me. I feel bad, and he makes me laugh.

 The ninth day. Jess and Emily have already come to us, they decided to help us. They helped, but the attitude of Emily and Mike is something. The girls stayed up late until we went to bed. Monroe had to lie down again on the sofa. But after leaving, he immediately came to me.

 The tenth day. I felt better and so did Mike, but everyone spent the day in bed.

 The eleventh day. Well, my temperature went, and Mike's remained a little too high. But I feel great.

 Two days later, everything was already fine, until a policeman came who sees the case about the incident on the mountain. We were then forced to show where we were and what was happening. We were walking with our whole company and a couple of policemen were with us. Mike wasn't there then, because of this, he will have to show what was there, but I'm kind of glad that our whole company will be the same. I was also quietly glad that I could find out what he had experienced, because he never told anyone what had happened. But when I found out how long he was alone. I realized that I definitely have something to learn.

In two days we will be there again.

Chapter Text

"The past is always with us, it is waiting to turn the present around."   

 The male part of the company was waiting for the return of the funicular, there were many of them, because of this, the guys, like real gentlemen, were waiting in the trailer house. After all, as for evil, there was a terrible downpour today. No one was happy to come here anyway, so this terrible weather.

"We should have done the opposite, first we went, and then they."  Mike suddenly said, to which Matt immediately looked at him.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"You were in that building by the cable car, so you understand that they will not be very pleased."

"He's right..." sighed Josh, he also remembered everything that he had arranged in that place, what inscriptions, what a pogrom. A hug brought him out of his thoughts, he looked at the person who was hugging him, Josh was not surprised to see that it was Chris who was hugging him. From such a simple gesture, it immediately became warm and easier. In response to the hug, he kissed his boyfriend on the forehead, for which he received the already familiar native smile. Only in addition to this, he felt a sad look on himself, looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw that it was Matt. After the incident, she and Sam noticed that Mike was no longer so important to Jess, but Matt was starting to like him more. Because of this, they decided that it was better for Mike to live with him, so that Matt could confess to him, and not pull like Chris once did… But Mike's voice prevented him from continuing to think.

"The funicular is here."

Chris and Josh sat on one side, hugging and warming each other, and Matt and Mike sat on the other. The latter silently looked out of the window, immersed in his thoughts.

"Are you nervous?"  Matt asked.

"As without it." Mike sighed heavily "so it's still such a good weather."

"I thought you liked this weather, someone recently got sick because of it." Matt said with a faint smile, which received a quiet snort.

The rest of the time they drove to the mountain in silence. When they came out, they saw two policemen: one was leading their case — Lieutenant Luther Garcia, irritated everyone, did not believe them, constantly shouted, even now he was standing smoking in the room where everyone was, and swore at Mike that he had come out of a coma, saying that now the case was closed and he would live in peace. But the second one was unknown to them, a young-looking guy with long hair tied in a ponytail, just like he was not in his police uniform.

"Finally, that you have not arrived in a month yet???" Luther swore, to which Emily wanted to swear in response, but Jess stopped her, the others also wanted to answer, but they tolerated it.

"An officer." the guy said, He clearly didn't like what was happening either.

 "But to my joy, and I no longer conduct your case... " the lieutenant said angrily with a grin. The company was surprised, but it was not completely bad. "Only today, as a help, I will help you and I will not see you anymore…"

"Do we need to help you?"  Sam asked.

"I have your personal files, so I can roughly try to name them." they answered her. After that, they were all correctly called by their first and last names, but when it came to Mike, he hung up "that's what the whole department is mocking me for??? And now we are taking a statement from Michael Monroe."

"Yes, you named everyone correctly." Jess said, surprised by the policeman's reaction.

"I'm sorry, but why did you have such a reaction?" Ashley asked.

"Because of who I am. I'm a police sergeant, Damian Monroe." he answered, which caused everyone even more surprise, everyone immediately looked at Mike to get an answer to the question. But they did not give an answer, the detective answered himself. "We just have the same last names."

"While the rain has finally stopped coming, I'm going to the hut, and you will leave them along the route, and then we will go to the mines."  Garcia muttered, throwing his cigarette on the floor and stubbing it out with the toe of his shoe, and went out into the street.

"That is, we will even pass the mines???"  Mike asked in surprise, clearly not expecting such a complete route. "Even to a mental hospital?"

"Excuse me, what kind of mental hospital? There is no data about this in the case." Damian asked.

"But I told you!"  Samantha exclaimed in surprise.

"This asshole again considers this not important information!" Emily swore.

"Okay, guys, calm down. Let's go while it's not raining."  the sergeant said.

 No one began to argue with this fact, and they moved along the route, Mike was given documents where it was written what happened on his route when he was with someone, so he could just say right or wrong or point out that something was missing.

"Do you believe us at least a little?" Chris asked, halfway there.

"Guys, let's go to You, otherwise I feel like an old man."

"And if it's true, do you think we're crazy, too?"  Ashley continued the topic.

"And then suddenly, you pretend to be so nice." Jess echoed.

"To your great joy, I believe you."

"But why?"  Matt asked.

"You know, I've already had two unusual cases. All of them occurred after your incident, I give each of my cases a name for some of the differences, your case was called «Until Dawn». "

"Until Dawn."  Mike translated. (I'm from Russia, and this fan fiction was originally written in Russian. Because of this, there is such an incomprehensible situation here. Damian says in English "Until Dawn", and Mike says in Russian the same phrase "До Рассвета". I could have done, done that Damian says this phrase in Russian, but I had a controversial situation)

"Yes, it fits," Josh said.

"What are the other two?"  Sam asked.

"The first was «Man of Medan», a sea adventure of two brothers, a girl of one brother who is already a wife, the brother of that girl and the captain of the boat, as well as French thieves. The group, like you were young, maybe 5 years older, decided to go diving, the idea was interesting, but the result is terrible, they found a ship that once transported valuable cargo. Of course, as they found them, they were taken hostage by those Frenchmen and forced to come there. And the treasure turned out to be «fog», which causes terrible hallucinations. The guys often fought with each other, I don't know that. But it was the French who were unlucky, they all died, except for one, the only one who believed. As a result, 6 people left the ship, no one believed, and I was given this case, and I was able to prove the reality of what was happening." Damian finished, the company was silent, they thought that they were the only ones who were unlucky, and then this pops up, after this story, some had thoughts about meeting them.

"And what is the second case?" Matt asked.

"It is already easier and not so scary. «Litlle Hope», named after the city where everything happened. A male bus driver was involved in an accident due to his hallucinations. In his youth, he was sheltered by one family, they had another adopted son and two daughters. The youngest daughter started a huge fire, the whole family died, the mother suffocated, the father was covered with the ceiling, the brother fell on the fence, the sister got caught in a scarf and broke her neck, and the girl herself burned. He was the only one who survived, a man found him and saw matches in the boy's hands, accused him of arson, and he panicked, ran into the house and got burns. And then, after a while, it flowed into a psychological problem. While he was walking around the area, he saw himself as a teenager from the university, he also saw the rest of the family members, as there were no such students except for his father and younger sister, and he was like a teacher. And he walked around the city and talked to himself, and while he was walking in his hallucinations as a teenager, he saw more hallucinations, they were carried by a girl who looked like his younger sister, any touch to her sent them to the years of witches, where the girl on someone else's orders killed the whole family again. Their executions were the same as the death of his family, only his mother drowned in hallucinations. After each execution, monsters crawl out in the hallucination where he is a teenager — the corpses of doppelgangers and try to kill them like themselves. But in the end, all the hallucinations go away. I found him trying to shoot himself, and then took him to the police station. I was surprised when he told me at the beginning when he was going there that he was taking a passenger when the bus was empty."

"How difficult and terrible it is..." said Ashley, she told her she was scared, and not only her. They will return to hell and decided to hear a story about someone else's hell.

"Hallucinations in hallucinations?"  Emily was saying in surprise.

"Not so scary?"  Chris asked again.

"Well, relatively, what happened to the family is terrible, and it's not scary that it's in terms of hallucinations, that everything he saw was unreal." The second Monroe explained.

No one began to argue and continue. Everyone walked on in silence, only sometimes Mike explained the route. After a while, they reached the hut. Once inside, they saw Luther and the equipment.

"Have you really reached it???"  the lieutenant was saying irritably.

"Luther."  Damian interrupted. "there are cameras on the sofa that will be attached to you, there will also be a voice recorder. Now, Michael, you will lead us along the way you walked, only where we can not pass, we will change a little."

"Often you will have to change it then."  Mike said, attaching the camera.

After a while, they set off on their way. By this time, it began to drizzle.Of course, as he said, they often had to go on long paths and not short ones. And after a while they got to the right place. When they reached the elevator, Jess and Mike exchanged glances for them, these were important events. Jess smiled gently and kindly.

"Thank you. If you were slow and walked like us, it's not a fact that I would be here." she said, and he nodded at her.

"And where did you go next?" Damian asked.

"Up there."

"Wow, but not everyone will get there, I'm surprised how you even got there yourself. " Matt said, he was nervous for Mike's guidance, but he didn't show it, just like Mike himself didn't show that he was nervous

"Adrenaline." Mike simply replied  "And it was cold, I was wearing only a T-shirt."

"I decided so myself."  Lieutenant Garcia replied to this.

"Of course, I could, like you in my place, do nothing at all, but I am not you and I am not a coward who asks and says."  Mike quipped, to which the others laughed softly or smiled.

"Oh, you..." he began to swear, but the sergeant interrupted him.

"Lieutenant." You must remember that you must lead us around in the mines.

Luther, muttered something about it and took out a map and began to lead them. The guys didn't like the way they were walking, there was clearly something wrong.

"Where are you seeing us?"  Joshua asked.

 "It doesn't concern you…"

After a while, their suspicions were justified, they did not go to the exit, but somewhere wrong, when they reached the end, they saw a cliff.

"Where have you brought us?!"  Emily swore.

"We should go to the mental hospital, not into the depths of the cave!"  Samantha insisted.

The others were cursing standing a little further away from the cliff, when Mike, shining a flashlight, went a little closer to the edge and looked down. Matt noticed this immediately and approached him.

"Have you been here, Mike?"

"No, and you?"

"Also."

Suddenly Matt noticed that something was bothering Mike. He was looking down at something, biting his lip.

"What happened?"

"I thought I saw something down there." It probably seemed ..." Mike said, when suddenly he heard a sound and a crash. "Guys, run! The cliff is collapsing!"

Immediately after these words, where Mike was standing was covered with cracks, and immediately a stone began to collapse and he flew down. Luther and Matt were the first to react, the first ran away from here, and the second grabbed Mike by the arm.

"I've got it!" he shouted, and the stone continued to collapse, because of this, they both flew down. The mines were filled with screams and rumbling, everyone ran, but no one managed to escape and everything flew down together with the stones…

***

"It's been a long time since I've seen you. The last time was almost two years ago. At the police station, listening to what is happening from our friends." Dr. Hill said, sitting down at the table in front of you.

"Previously, you had a choice of your actions, but you could just keep silent, and now you don't, so make your choice correctly, think about everything well, otherwise... death cannot be avoided."

"How do you like the company, after what happened? Have they become worse, or maybe not? Will their new character spoil everything for them?"

• «Yes»
• «No»

"A new policeman, investigating their case. Will it be death for them? After all, it was too easy for him to believe them, and even these stories. Can Jess be right, he only looks nice? Does he inspire confidence in you?"

• «We trust him»
• «He is not trustworthy»

"There are two policemen. Harsh, hot — tempered, always dissatisfied-Lieutenant Luther Garcia, as well as an unknown new sergeant Damian Monroe. Which one of them do you like best?"

• «Garcia»
• «Monroe»

"From the previous questions, one important question is formed. So think carefully about the answer, it is important. Does Damian need to survive?"

• «Needed»
• «Not needed»

The clock struck. 

"The time is over, so you have the opportunity to decide how you will answer, because without answers their fate will not continue."

 "See you soon"

Chapter Text

How everything hurts, opening my eyes I look around a pile of stones, cobblestones. Sam helps Chris up, the girl had a big bruise on her cheek, and the jacket was torn, Chris looks better, there are no noticeable bruises, but the pants and sleeve are torn.

I look in the direction of the scream and Jess is standing there, she holds out one hand to me, the other is pressed to her, there is a bruise visible.

"Jess, are you okay?" I answer, taking her hand, trying to get up, but suddenly I feel pressure on my leg, and I see that she is a block of stone. "Oh, shit..." I swear and remove the stones.

"Did you say something?" Jess says loudly, helping to quickly remove the stones. I look at her in surprise.

"I asked how you were," I repeated, but she was looking at me with slightly narrowed eyes. "I asked how you were!" I said louder.

"Ah! It's quite normal, my arm hurts and apparently I got a little cantuzila, " she answered loudly.

We removed the stones, and Jess helped me up. Chris and Sam came up to us.

"How are you?" Sam asked.

"My leg is blocked, it hurts now. Jessica has a sore arm and a hearing problem, " I answered for us.

"You're our hero, Matt, you ran straight to save Mike," Chris said with a faint smile, " But has anyone seen Josh and Ash?"

"And Mike himself? And Emily."

"And our police officers. Sam finished, looking around.

We all moved out until we heard voices, quickened our pace and went there. The voices were louder and more distinct.

"Be patient, we will help!"

"I'll be patient, but it's unlikely that tross!"

"I'm also cheerful and everything is fine!"

"I read your testimony! It then broke!"

As we got closer, we saw that Damian was hanging on to him with a rope, which caught on his leg, but the worst thing was that there were bayonets under him, so to speak. And next to them stood a frightened Ashley and Emily.

"Emily!" Jess shouted and ran to Emily.

"Oh, my God, don't shout like that!" Emily hugged her.

"Um, she has hearing problems," I explained.

"Baby..."she immediately changed her face and put her hands on her cheek.

Emily and Ash looked better than the others. The remaining two came up and began to ask Ashley about her well-being. And I looked at Damian, looking scared around, he was trying to catch on the wall and get out somehow, but he was hanging upside down.

"Sam, can you help him in any way? I asked.

"Of course." she replied and walked away from her girlfriend, looking at where the guy weighs. She found a couple of cracks and protruding, with the help of them, Samantha was able to be next to him, how lucky we were that she was engaged in rock climbing." Can you somehow turn over so that your feet are at the bottom?"

"Now..." Damian replied and reached for the cable. When he got everything out, then he pulled himself to it and was already in a normal horizontal position. But from all this there was a crack, the cable began to tear a little "Help, please"

"I'll help, stand with your foot on this ledge," Sam replied, showing where to get up, the policeman followed her advice, but when he began to step, there was another crack. "Can you stand there with two legs?" the girl began to get nervous.

"No..."

The rope continued to break, causing the atmosphere to thicken.

"Try to stand with the same foot on the ledge closer to me,and the second on the place where that was. "

Damian did as he should, at that moment the cable broke, the guy was thrown back and...

Chapter Text

Opening his eyes, Matt breathed a sigh of relief. Damian grabbed the ledge and did not fall on the rebar. Sam also visibly calmed down and began to get off. The guy followed her.

As soon as they both got down, Ashley ran up to Sam and hugged her tightly, almost hurting her. The blonde laughed and kissed her on the forehead.

"Thank you very much, if it wasn't for you, I would have died."Damian came up to them. 

“I didn't do anything wrong, did I? The girl calmly replied, stroking Ash's hair soothingly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need to find Josh," Chris said nervously.

Mike... Matt flashed through his head, the guy looked around nervously, but there were no traces of Monroe, to the guy's excitement was added the fact that Mike had recently come out of a coma, had undergone a couple of operations, and had been ill for a long time! He has not moved away from what happened almost two years ago, because of a stupid coma, and here it is! 

"And Mike. " Matt almost screamed, but he was kept. 

"Oh, your Mike, tenacious as a cockroach." Emily said, holding Jess's whole hand, examining the other one along the way.

Your Mike? Matt felt his cheeks start to turn red, he pretended that he went to look around so that no one would notice his displacement. All the time there was one phrase in my head — Your Mike, your Mike, your Mike... My God, he really wanted him to be his, it was wonderful! God... He had been talking to Emily for too long, that he had taken over her nickname from her, but it wasn't so bad, was it? Mike is free and so is Matt, only Mike is hardly gay...  But Matt himself wasn't one before, and now somehow it turned out that he fell in love with fucking Michael Monroe!

The guy would continue to talk further about his feelings for Mike until he came across a small cliff, not at all far from their fall. Matt looked down and saw that the height was only about three meters (nine feet), and there were strange footprints below. Sitting down, he began to examine them until he was interrupted by the fact that his name was called.

”Matt!"

"Come here! I know maybe where they fell!”

Looking closer, he saw footprints similar to someone being dragged, and there were also claw marks, they were clearly visible and it was clear that they belonged to Josh. But unfortunately the second pair consisted of eight stripes, which showed the absence of two fingers, as Mike had...

"Did you find them??? Chris's voice came from behind Matt. The guy stood up and sighed.

"Detective, look down” 

Hearing these words, Damian approached Matt and, as he had done earlier, squatted down, looking down.

"Mmh... There are clear signs that someone was dragged. I still see traces of... Nails? So they were conscious, but there were some strange traces." The policeman said and looked at the teenagers.

"Mike and Josh? Jess asked excitedly. Emily hugged her to herself and said confidently.

“If there is an opportunity to go down easily, then we go down.” 

No one disputed it. Sam was the first to climb down, showing the others the way. Most of them went down quietly, but when Matt stayed with Jess and Emily last on top, it became clear that the blonde could not come down because of her hand.

"Can we take a chance?" Damian began, looking at the tracks, then looked at those at the top“ "We will follow the trail, and you will slowly and calmly descend.”

“We did this last time and it didn't lead to anything good." Ashley was indignant. Matt agreed with her and didn't. It is dangerous to split up, but then thanks to this they were able to call for help and escape.

“If your friends and Garcia are in danger, we can help them faster. Damian explained. 

“We'll catch up with you, go ahead." Matt said.  He didn't say that he really wanted to find Mike and find out that everything was okay so that they would come home. To spend time together like the last months, as if nothing had happened.

After standing for a while, they are still on the trail. And the trio was left to think how to get Jessica down. Until it was decided that Emily was going down, and Matt sits on Jess's back and takes her down. Which they did.

After going down, Jessica got off the guy's back and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."after seeing her girlfriend's reaction, the blonde kissed her. Seeing such a cute picture, Matt laughed softly.

They did not wait long and quickly followed the tracks. A small group walked until they reached the fork, but the problem was that there were no more tracks. The guys looked around and Matt saw that if you walk in a straight line, you can stumble upon a large metal door. When he saw her, he went to her. After examining the door, Matt started to open it when he heard Emily's response.

"Matt, the guys are here, come to us!”

"I'm coming now!”

And the guy completely opened the door and walked in, what he saw shocked him...

There were cages like prison cells all around, and wendigos were in them... Alive... In one of the cages, Matt noticed Josh, who was unconscious and with a kind of muzzle on his face. And in the cell next to the wall, to his horror, he saw Mike, the guy was in no mood, and one of his hands was shackled to the wall...

Matt was about to rush to him when he heard a rustle behind him, turning around, the last thing he felt was a blow to the head and that everything was swallowed up by darkness...

Chapter Text

It's not cool to lose consciousness several times in a couple of hours, I realized, recovering from the blow. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes, but my hearing worked.

"At first I was glad that Jack died, my wendigos will be free now." the voice reasoned. Footsteps echoed around the room until their volume increased, hinting at what was coming to them.

I had to open my eyes anyway, and only now did I realize that I was in a cage with the others. Emily glared at the stranger, covering herself with Jess, who was also not looking kindly at the man. Sam was comforting Ashley, who is ready to cry right now. And Chris was watching Josh, who was in another cage. Mike... He was never in the cage, I looked around and saw him also chained outside the cage. I exhaled, because he came to his senses, but tensed when I realized that the stranger had moved towards Mike.

"I went to the sanatorium, and there is already a part of my wendigo burning! This thing burned down part of the sanatorium! Together with them!" the men shouted at him, then kicked Mike in the stomach. The guy bent over and coughed.

"Get away from him!"I couldn't stand it, the man just grinned at these and pulled out a gun. I felt the others behind me shrink and squeeze each other, but I didn't, I was afraid that he would shoot Mike. Only he pointed the gun at me, like Mike is safe now, but now he's scared for himself.

"We've just started." the stranger said smiling, then pointing the gun at me, he slowly approached Mike "You move and I'll take out his brains"

Mike shifted his gaze to me, but it was too fast for me to understand his emotions, he looked at the man angrily until he unbuckled him and, as Mike was told, did not resist. How he was chained again, only this time he was sitting on a chair, his hands were chained, one to the table, and the other to the chair.

"I don't like children because of people like you, my wendigos are much better than you, but I don't know how to fix it. I'm like a good person, I want to help you, Michael." the man said, walking around Mike from behind and approaching the box. Hearing his name, the guy turned around, looking at him in surprise, he was not the only one surprised, but the stranger was only amused by such a reaction: "I heard the blonde calling you while she was being dragged by a wendigo."

"And you, the creature, watched as she was dragged away?! Mike growled at him. This shit was even worse, he coolly watched Hannah drag Jess away, what could he then do to Mike for killing "his" wendigo.

"Watch your mouth, puppy..." the stranger answered this and plunged a machete next to Mike's right hand, which was attached to the table.

Mike flinched from this action and all confidence disappeared, but Monroe pulled himself together and looked more confident than he really was. When the machete stuck next to his hand, I myself was ready to try to break down the bars, but I realized that it was pointless, because I just grabbed the bars with all my strength and watched what was happening.

"So that's better," the man grinned, bypassing Mike, "I had fun watching you try to play the hero. And I liked one scene with a trap..." he continued and pulled out a machete from the table.

The situation was getting worse and worse, and the worst thing is, I can't help but watch.

"You know there should be an equal number of fingers on your hand..." the man said and twirled the machete in his hands, after which he gave Mike a sly smile.

He's not going to...

The stranger grabbed him by the whole arm and pressed him, he did not even pay attention to his swearing and jerking.... Then we began to scream.

"Get your fucking hands off him!" I shouted.

"Why do you need this!?" there was a scream from Jess and she also grabbed the grate, starting to pull it.

"You're going to regret this, scum!" Emily supported us.

"You're crazy!" Chris also continued.

"Come to your senses!" shouted Sam.

Ashley shouted in tears when a machete cut off Mike's little finger on his right hand.

He... I really did it...

We all froze in horror, watching Mike mumble in pain and squeezing his left hand until it turned white.

It seemed to me that tears would flow, but I was able to hold them with great difficulty, even if Mike could not even cry out, I should hold on all the more...

He squinted and breathed heavily while the stranger laughed.

"Buddy, at least shout, otherwise it's not so interesting," the bastard said with a grin. He calmly took the finger that he had just cut off and threw it into the cage to the biggest wendigo, who furiously ate the proper treat... It was so disgusting... Emotional Ashley couldn't stand it and threw up in the corner, Sam held the girl's hair so that she wouldn't get dirty and tried to calm them down, then Chris joined them. In two, they miraculously managed to calm poor Ash.

"You can't wait..." Mike said through his teeth and I had to look at him again, at the sight of Mike Monroe, my heart sank, he shouldn't be here, he redeemed himself for what he did to Hannah, Mikey didn't deserve it...

Only a sadist does not care about this and he will not calm down. The man, to my joy, came up to our cage, and left Mike alone. Jess pulled back a little and Emily immediately began to cover her a little to protect her, only I remained motionless to squeeze the cage bars.

"You're a monster..." I growled at him.

"You just don't understand."he answered this and moved away from the cage to the lever, as soon as the stranger approached the mechanism, the man lowered the lever and all the cages opened, the wendigo left its cages with a quiet growl, and Josh huddled in a corner, clutching his head. I exchanged glances with the equally frightened girls and still moved away from the exit of the cage. Seeing this, the man laughed even louder. "My friends, but what are you doing!? Don't be afraid they will attack you only when I want, so be good and listen to me."

I saw how Emily wanted to be sarcastic, but the fear of the wendigo was stronger and she kept silent.

"You know, I saw almost everything you did on the mountain, and what I didn't know, I was able to find out through the police. And you know, you found an interesting way to kill my good ones." the man said and stroked one of the wendigos, to which he only growled. But surely this is not possible? Wendigo couldn't tame him so easily!? "I was told that the idea was yours, Mike, you broke the light bulb, but it turns out he wasn't acting alone," the man grinned and looked at Sam, we looked with him, even Mike was able to raise his eyes.

Ashley tightened her grip on Sam and began to shake weakly. Chris was scared, but apparently tried to protect them somehow, and covered them with himself, Emily and Jess also tried to hide from sight, I also covered everyone. But the stranger didn't care, he just looked at us until he came closer and we all jerked back.

"Blonde with a bun and.... Dark-skinned, get out of the cage."

He's joking, right?... What else has this bastard come up with?! Unfortunately, Sam and I had no choice and we had to get up, after which we left the cage together.

"One is for revenge and the other is for dessert, isn't it cute? Fas, my good ones!"

We froze in horror when they jumped on us and then I noticed that the camera with Josh was also open and he was growling angrily at the other wendigos....

Chapter Text

I closed my eyes for a second, I didn't want to see how these creatures were tearing me and Sam, I didn't want to see Mike's emotions, see how he was hurt. I would give anything for us to be at my house, talking quietly and calmly, but not to be in this hell again. Honestly, it seemed to me that I closed my eyes for a moment, just for a moment, but when I opened them, I was horrified to see Josh fighting with them, he was half-wendigo because of this he was weaker, but he was younger, which makes up for it.

I stood in front of Sam to close it if anything, the last time when everyone was constantly trying to survive, I wandered around the mine senselessly, this time it won't happen. After that, I turned my gaze to the cage where the others were, the girls behaved better than Chris hugging a sobbing Ashley, who looked at what was happening with horror.

 "How funny! Do you really think you can handle them?!" laughing, the madman said, watching the fight.

I wanted to punch this asshole. He was just mocking them and watching it!

 "Hey, we're here!" suddenly a voice rang out, turning around I saw that it was Jess screaming. Sam and I looked at her in horror, but it wasn't just us, the wendigos, who attacked the cages, trying to get to people.

 "Not on them!" the old man shouted at "his" wendigos, to which they switched back to them and Josh. Washington tried to defend them, but gave up the position until the screams rang out again:

"Critters, I'm here!'

I froze in horror, this time it was Mike, the old man looked at him with an evil look and was about to say something when he was interrupted by other screams from his friends.

 "Catch us if you can!'

 "I'm still here!"

"You're all coming here!"

 "We're here!"

Sam looked at me and we started shouting too. The Wendigos were circling in a circle, not understanding what was where and what source of noise to go to. But we had to stop shouting when there was a bang and Mike went silent. The old man was breathing angrily looking at them, the machete that was on the table was in his hands, the handle of the weapon was covered in blood, and there was a small wound on Mike's temple. The guy himself hung his head and was unconscious. This weirdo knocked him out, and now he was holding a machete dangerously close to him! I didn't care about anything, I wanted to run up to this bastard, knock him out and take Mike. But none of us had time to do anything, as shots rang out, the man dropped the machete from surprise.

 "My good ones, follow me!" he shouted and rushed away with the wendigo. While running away, the man lowered the switch, and when the person who fired came running to them, there was a small explosion. The metal door slammed shut, closing the monsters behind it, and the wooden columns holding the ceiling and walls began to shake and collapse.

 "Why are you all frozen?! Get your asses up, free your friends, and run!" the shooter shouted, I quickly looked at him and was surprised to see that it was Luther Garcia himself, who disliked them, but now decided to help them. After exchanging glances with Sam, we ran to save our friends. She and Josh opened the cages, and I ran to Mike. Unfortunately, he hasn't woken up yet. Not knowing how to open the shackles, I took a machete with disgust and opened them, as much as I would not like to take and break this machete, I had to think about protecting myself and take it with me. Hanging the machete on my pants, I picked up Mike in my arms, by this time everyone was free. And we ran out of the room when the ceiling began to collapse.

After running a little further from that place, we still stop breathing heavily. We all looked at each other, and then we all started looking at Luther.

 "Are they still real?" he asked us.

 "Ha, we told you," Emily replied sarcastically. But apparently the policeman did not care about this, because he began to examine everyone present, after which he suddenly changed his face for a moment.

 "Where's Damian?"

Then we all froze. But really, where is he? I'm after the rest of the team because he was with them. And they looked at each other in shock.

 "He was with us, but when we were put down he was not there." Sam said.

"What if he's with him for the same thing? He's the only one who believed us, so even those stories. You can explain it all." after thinking it over, Jess suggested. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed how these words affected the policeman.

 "Shut up!" he shouted menacingly, which caused the girl to flinch slightly, she clearly did not expect a scream. "You don't know him! Yes, he's still an asshole, but he's too kind and believes people!"

After finishing his screams, the man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. None of them said anything at first, only Jessica lowered her head guiltily. The silence was interrupted by Ashley, who said softly:

 "He was with me… I heard sounds, he went to check, and then a few minutes later we were attacked."

 "He's like a cockroach, you'll kill a fig, so he's alive." Luther said with a sigh, then took out a first aid kit and handed it to Chris. "Get treated and let's go."

Now I exhaled, looking at Mike, I went to the wall and sat down, still holding him in my arms. During this time, he never came to his senses… But never mind, I won't leave you and I will protect you.