#dmc!nate

CW: uhhhh....dead bodies, auditory hallucinations

Original story by @devil-may-care-series

“Matt? Where’d you go?” Nate stepped carefully through the house, trying to find some clue of his brother. “This isn’t funny anymore.” A wet cough made him turn quickly only to find the creepy angel still there. “Don’t do that.” He warned the figurine. It, naturally, didn’t respond.

The deeper he went into the house, the slower he felt. The more he felt watched. At one point he swore he heard something clicking in his ear.

“Nate!” A scream made him sprint. He didn’t know where he was going, just that it sounded like he was in danger. He didn’t even notice the little girl, waving to get his attention. He just saw Matt, leaning against the wall and pressing on a spreading wound.

“Holy shit,” he muttered as he knelt down to help him. The bleeding was terrible. “How did you even manage to get this hurt?” When he looked up for an answer, he fell back. Matt’s face started melting to reveal some decayed corpse underneath. Nate suddenly became aware of the hands trying to grab him and drag him. And he shot up to run.

‘Where are you going?’ Matt’s voice called to him. ‘You can’t leave me! Please don’t leave me!’

The more he ran the more they tried to pull him back. He ended up hiding in what appeared to be a bathroom. His flashlight had pretty much been flickering on and off and now there were whispers and voices. Right there in the middle was a body. It was curled in on itself with light brown hair splayed around it, blood staining the flannel and jeans.

“No.” He covered his ears and tried to focus on something else as the body shifted and changed to Steph, then Matt and back to Ro.

‘It’s your fault. You should have been better. Why did you have to be so difficult?’ The voices said. He choked back a sob as the darkness set in.

A few hours later Matt got the door open. He had been trying to get Nate for a bit but he wasn’t responding. When he entered the room, his brother was staring blankly at the wall, not registering anything.

“Nate?” Nate jumped slightly when he felt Matt’s hand in his shoulder. When he looked up he back away quickly.

“Alright we need to get out of here. I don’t know what’s in this house but you’ve been in your head for hours.”

“You-,”

you are evil and it’s a delight.

---------------------------------------

Searching the entire warehouse by himself wasn’t easy, and it was a lot more time consuming than Jonathan would have liked. At least the place was old and dusty, so he was able to write off a few shadowy corners thanks to the lack of footprints, but that still left the rest of the corners.

Nate, it turns out, wasn’t in a corner at all.

Jonathan moved quickly and quietly across an open floor, machete grasp comfortably in his hand, ready for anything. The pistol he’d been talking into bringing by his new partner was kept in his waistband, where it couldn’t hurt anyway. It was no secret Jonathan hated the things, he had very little experience in them anyway, and greatly preferred his familiar machete.

That, he had had plenty of experience with.

His ears were strained, and the exercsion had helped the thundering of his pulse in his ears to quiet down a little. Good thing, too, or else he never would have heard the rather distinct sound of a sole scraping across rusty metal.

He paused, listening. The sound only happened once, but it was enough for a hunter used to tracking a monster without hearing anything to locate the source. It was an elevator well, tucked quite literally into the wall, with a heavy collapsible gate stretched across it. Jonathan peered closer, and saw fabric.

“Nate!” he hissed, looking around once more, and then backing up a step and surveying the elevator door. A big shiny chain and padlock secured it to the building’s very frame.

Inside, Nate grunted, his shoes scraping again.

“Hang on, Nate,” Jonathan cried, digging for his lock-picking kit and hoping it would fit the gigantic lock. “I’m going to get you out. It’s kind of James Bond, right? Strapped to an old elevator?”

And he was right. Nate was mostly concealed within shadows, but Jonathan could see that he was sitting up, coarse ropes tied around his arms and wrists and to the bottom of the elevator that hung precariously overhead. If it lifted, it could take Nate with it. If it fell...

“Jojo,” Nate grunted again, shifting loudly on the rusty, gravel covered floor.

“There’s a lock,” Jonathan replied, “a big one, over the chain. I’m trying to pick it - just stay calm, I’ll get you out of here!”

“Jojo,” Nate said again, straining to pull heavy, numb legs underneath him a little more.

“It’s just a lock, right? I’ve picked dozens of them, right? No big challenge! Nothing worth standing between me and my partner!”

“Jonathan!” Nate barked, and the younger hunter looked up at him quickly.

“Yeah?”

“Shoot. It.” the other grunted.

“Oh. OH!” Jonathan moved away quickly, drew his pistol, took careful aim, and fired. The lock fell away, and he heard Nate groan over the ringing in his own ears.

“Just like in the movies!” Jonathan cheered, unwrapping the chain and shoving the door open. Nate’s face, dusty with dirt, was sweat drenched and pinched, his hands flexing minutely as he strained to lessen the pull on them. The rope was digging into his skin, stretched and rubbing at it. At least it seems he hadn’t been struggling, that probably would have made things worse.

Although they didn’t seem like they could get much freaking worse the way Nate cried out when the ropes were sawed through with Jonathan’s machete and his arms dropped.

“Easy, easy,” the younger said, lowering Nate to his back and trying to keep his arms from falling and tearing at his stiff shoulders. Once Nate was down, he quickly worked at removing the rest of the rope, which was coiled like a snake in all different directions at once. He babbled as he worked.

“Jonny,” Nate rasped, Jonathan’s nervous chatter ending to glance down at him quickly.

“Yeah?”

Something glimmered in his partner’s dark eyes, something deep in the bottomless pools, and it made Jonathan’s stomach lurch.

“Hey,” he smiled, gently setting on hand on Nate’s chest, where he wouldn’t touch any throbbing muscles. Nate was hot, probably a little too much so, but it felt as if he leaned into the touch, if that was even possible from his position. Jonathan smiled more. “We’re partners, right? I’ll always come for you.”

Nate smirked.

“We’re not even dating yet.”

“Happy birthday!” Nora said as Nate walked downstairs. He sat at the table as she sat across and handed him the chocolate waffles. They were shaped like a bear with a blueberry nose and eyes. “Do you know what you’re gonna do today?”

He nodded eagerly. “Dad’s gonna take me to get the new Pokémon pack!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth open,” Nora told him. He swallowed quickly and continued rambling about the game, random tidbits that she would forget. “I got you something as well. Not as cool as Pokémon but I think you’ll like it nonetheless.” Nate watched curiously as she took out a small necklace that had ‘영원히’* on it. “In case you ever feel scared or alone, you can always tell me why through this. And I will always come to help.”

“How?” He took it and looked it over. It looked very old, probably before his grandparents.

“Mom magic.” She stood up and kissed the top of his head. “Now, I think your father’s waiting.” She watched as Nate ran out the door, stopping to give her a brief hug before running back to John. As soon as he left the room, it was enveloped in a white light.

Nate woke up, tears streaking down his face. He looked around the small cabin; everyone was still asleep. He sighed before feeling under his pillow for the now even more tarnished pendant. He had stopped using it when John yelled at him over it and tried to throw it away. But he kept it as a memory. This time:

“If you’re there, please help. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do. He’s still in Matt and I don’t know how to get him out.” As he was whispering, it felt like the bed dipped like someone was sitting next to him. A warm feeling surrounded him and he calmed down as he started to lay back down.

“Go to sleep,” something told him. “You’re safe now.”

영원히-yeong-wonhi-Forever in Korean