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theangriestpea · 4 years

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In the Shadows : Six

Summary: Jughead Jones, resident werewolf, just wants to protect his family and his pack from the incoming doom of The Red Circle. Sweet Pea and Lily join him to help keep the Southside safe from human tyranny. Meanwhile a demon princess named Myra and succubus named Lavender had a plan to bring on the apocalypse. <ao3> <masterlist> <playlist>

Rating: Mature // Explicit

Pairings: Jughead Jones x OC, Sweet Pea x OC, Kurtz x OC

Warnings: Smut (now with plot!)

Word Count: 5.5k+

A/N: Oh dang I'm getting out so much content now that I'm stuck at home its crazy. I wrote this chapter in two days. I haven't updated a fic this quickly since I first started MK last February. This chapter is much more mellow than the last. I know I made SP a bit of a horrible asshole but he will get a redemption later. Top and bottom images were made by @the-gargoyle-queen

Part Six: White Lights

Sweet Pea only felt remnants of his departed soul when he slept. And during his slumber after his last run-in with the sex demon, he felt tremendous guilt for how he had treated her. It ate away at him like millions of ants devouring a ripe piece of fruit that had fallen to the ground. When did he get so cruel? She was going to have his child and he treated her as if she were an old bag of trash. Hell, he treated her worse than if she were trash.

He could feel his soul being tortured in hell. It was distant, like a foggy memory, but it was there. He knew that if he were to ever get it back then he would never be the same as he was before. That kind of darkness carries weight.

He wondered how he could be a good father to Daisy when he was acting the way he was. Also at odds with Lily and now brutally indulging his greatest desires and whims with a demon that he should have no dealings with. A demon which Lily had decided to let into their idiotic alliance so that he can’t be free of her just yet. He wished he had killed her. There was no way he could do that now, soul or no soul, he would not take the life of a woman pregnant by his own seed.

Then came the aching pain of knowing he’d never see his child. It would take a miracle for her to not be taken from him. This is what the cards meant and he was sure of it. They read this situation loud and clear. If only he had done a reading sooner, then perhaps he could have avoided all of this.

But for now, it was too late.

In Sunnyside Trailer park, Lavender was healing her wounds. They were superficial, mostly deep bruises and small muscle tearing. There had been minimal bleeding but she wasn’t surprised due to how rough he had been. Myra was pacing, her energy giving out an obscene amount of pressure. That foul witch had hurt her demon. Worse of all, her demon let him. She could have ended his life as soon as he got rough with her but she didn’t. She didn’t and Myra was beyond reproach.

Myra had to punish her. She knew this and she knew exactly how she would. Hellfire could burn through anything, even the flesh of a demon. She would wait until Lavender had fully healed herself and then she would strike while putting a protection spell on the baby so it would not be harmed in the process.

Lavender was oblivious as she combed through her hair, humming an ancient hymn that allowed her body to heal much faster than it’s already naturally increased speed. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and underwear but nothing more. Charlie had not come home and she was instantly grateful because she was not sure what Myra would have done to her at a time like this. She knew Myra was angry. What she didn’t know was how angry.

Once she was finished, she stood. Myra had fed her a soul to get her through the night since she didn’t hunt. She had been brought straight home to take care of her shame. Well, Myra called it shame. Lavender called it a good night’s workout.

She made her way to the bed, laying down and stretching out like a starfish. Her bed was big enough for two people but it was nice to not have to worry about hitting someone else during a good stretch.

Myra approached her, fingers crackling with magic. A look of alarm crossed Lav’s face. She knew that sound. She knew it all too well. “What are you doing?”

The princess was on top of her, holding her down by the shoulder with her right hand while her left was over her stomach. Lav could feel a barrier being put up inside her. The bottom of her chest cavity and below were protected with an invisible magical bubble. Her hazel eyes were wide with terror. There were some types of pain even a masochist such as herself didn’t handle well.

Her right hand was suddenly engulfed in a blue flame. Lavender screamed with pain so great that the walls of her trailer vibrated from the sound. Her own magical energy was surging and the pulse of it caused a nearby vase of black dahlias to fall over and shatter on the floor.

The contact only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to nearly throw her into unconsciousness. When Myra retracted her hand, Lav tried looking at her but her vision was too clouded by tears. “You are to stay away from that stupid warlock, you understand me?” She hissed. “No more sex without taking souls. You need to feed more instead of messing around with mangy wolves and empty husks.”

She took her left hand away, straddling Lav’s thighs now. “I have to go to hell for a few days. I will not be here to protect you. Kurtz will be around but he’s not dependable in his current state. That witch hurt him pretty badly the other night and he needs time to heal. You have to stay out of trouble. Do you get that, you little whore?”

Why Sweet Pea called her a whore it was enticing. When Myra did it, it was degrading. She found herself wanting to scream but the sound was lodged in the muscles of her throat. The only movement she could manage was the involuntary trembling of her body. “Y-yes,” She managed to gasp out with great difficulty.

Myra got off of her fully then, sliding off the large bed. “Good. If you’re lucky, that’ll heal pretty quickly and you won’t starve too much. Don’t worry, the bringer of the end is protected for now. She is safe but you are not. If you die then she will too. The spell will be void. So don’t be a fucking idiot because I will raise your soul from the depths of hell and make you start all over again.”

After one more hiss of a curse, the demon princess was gone.

Back in Fox Forest, in the small cottage that housed a two-witch coven and a baby witch in training, Lily awoke with a start. She was panting heavily, sweat trailing down her brow. The rest of the house was asleep, the eerie quietness of the house settling caused her nerves to rev up even more. Someone was hurt. Someone….

Lily didn’t need to be particularly close to a person to grow an internal connection to them. It was one of her born talents that she could sense others from distances if she had some kind of dealings with them. Some were stronger than others. Sweet Pea she used to feel very strongly however since losing his soul there would be times when there was no connection at all. It left her feeling hollow.

But this was not Sweet Pea, though he was in distress from his dreams as he had been since the night he met Lavender. She would sometimes utter a spell under her breath to calm him, other times she’d go into the living room and pet his hair to try and soothe him. Either of these usually worked for a brief amount of time.

The pain she was feeling was not hers but that didn’t make it any less palpable. It was great, overwhelming, and she knew that the person that was in trouble was the succubus that lived down the street from the Jones trailer. She was in incredible agony and the thought of losing a powerful ally had her jumping out of bed.

She grabbed her cell phone as she dressed, cutting it on speaker. A few moments later a very groggy werewolf answered. “Lily? What’s wrong?”

“Lav is hurt, we need to go to her.” Lily said, buttoning a red flannel shirt over her black tank top. “It’s bad, I’ll have to bring Sweet Pea and Daisy. He’s better at making potions and salves and I have a feeling she’ll need one.”

The wolf was silent before she heard a loud yawn. It brought a small smile to her worried face. “I’ll meet you over there. Don’t go alone. The vargulf has been hanging around the park lately.”

“I will.” She murmured while chewing on her lip. Her anxiety was spiking even more now. “Don’t worry. Just get over there.”

Jughead disconnected the call and got ready to go see what was wrong with his demon neighbor while Lily threw her hair up into a tousled bun before going into the living room and waking Sweet Pea.

“What?” He asked, annoyed that he had been awoken but also happy to no longer be dreaming of hell. The guilt he felt while asleep quickly dissolved into apathy. “The sun’s not even up, Lily, Jesus Christ.”

“Lavender is in danger. We need to go help her.” Lily said, “We have to bring Daisy, I might need your help.” Before he could respond she started throwing the ingredients used for healing remedies into a backpack along with a few tools to mix them with.

Sweet Pea was quiet, an odd feeling in his chest. It was as if he didn’t know if he should care or not. He decided to not. “I don’t care. She’s a demon, she can take care of herself.” Though the thought of her being with his child almost instantly changed his mind. He swung his legs over and stood up, ruffling his hair with his hand. “Whatever, I’ll pack Daisy’s diaper bag.”

While he was collecting things for his little girl, he could sense Lily’s distress growing more. He swallowed the uneasy feeling gathering in the base of his throat. Did this have something to do with what had happened at the Wyrm earlier that night? Would she point a finger at him? Would her little demon master smite him with revenge? His fragile mortality was hanging heavy in the back of his mind. He wouldn’t age without a soul but he could still die.

He picked up the sleeping toddler who stirred minimally in his arms. Once she was secure he met with Lily in the entrance hall. “Ready?” She asked and he simply nodded in return.

They hopped into the beat up saturn that Lily had managed to procure a few years back. Sweet Pea put Daisy in her carseat before getting into the driver’s side. It only took about ten minutes to get to the trailer that Lily pointed out to him. The pain on her left side was growing worse and she had to grab her shoulder to try and keep it in check.

Her state had Sweet Pea even more worried. Lily’s empathetic abilities allowed her to feel what others felt. If she was in this much pain then the demon must be even worse off.

Jughead was standing on the steps outside, ears covered as the demon’s cries were too much for his sensitive ears.

“Why the hell is he here?” Sweet Pea seethed, not wanting to deal with the wolf any more than he had to.

“I called him. He’s going to help us.” Lily said before getting out of the car with the supplies, “Grab Daisy!”

Sweet Pea got his daughter and her diaper bag and carried her inside. The screams weren’t nearly as loud for him as they were for Jughead. He could barely hear them while outside but the sound made his blood run cold.

Jughead broke the door down and ran inside with Lily at his heels. Sweet Pea was a few paces behind them, not nearly as eager to go inside. His heart and his brain were having a fierce battle on whether or not they should even be here in the first place. Currently his heart was winning but who knew how long that would last.

The wolf found Lavender in her bedroom, on her bed, immobilized by pain. The smell of burnt flesh invaded his senses and nearly blinded him. He put a hand over his nose as he moved to her side. “Lavie, hey, we’re here. It’s okay.”

Lavender stopped, hand on her stomach as her eyes opened to see Jughead. She was crying black tears which was only something she did when she was really hurting. The entirety of her eyes were jet black, putting the three back in shock for a solitary second. Jughead could see the singed edges of the shirt she was wearing and in the gaping hole was a handprint, still burning with magical flame. They were low blue licks that caught nothing else on fire and only came up a few millimeters off her flesh.

“Hell fire.” Lily breathed as she moved to the other side of Lavender. She checked the baby first and noticed the protection spell on the lower half of the demon’s body. “Lavender, I’m going to try to heal you but it’s going to take a lot of work, okay?” Lav’s only response was a groan of pain. She didn’t even notice Sweet Pea in the room.

Sweet Pea’s worries dissipated as soon as he knew she wouldn’t die and the child was safe. He no longer cared to help either of them, but knew he’d have to or else Lily might hex him. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for that right now.

“Get to work making a burn salve, Sweet Pea, she’s going to need it.” Lily instructed, “put Daisy down on the chair over there, she’ll be fine.”

There was a plush loveseat along the wall. He gently laid down the little girl, surprised that she hadn’t woken up. He made sure she still had her favorite stuffed black cat in her arms. She couldn’t sleep without it.

He looked through the materials Lily packed and noticed the ingredients he needed were all there. He got to making it as Lily had asked It would take a few hours to finish and she needed it done as soon as possible.

Lily looked at Jughead, “can you rip her shirt more? I need better access. Don’t touch the flames.” Jug nodded and grabbed the edges of the shirt and ripped it so that the hole was much larger. The serpent tattoo on her breast was now visible.

The witch gently grabbed the sides of Lavender’s face. “Lav, I need you to breathe, okay? You need to relax as much as you can. I know it hurts.” She could feel the succubus draining a bit of her energy, most likely on accident. The more pain she was in the less control she’d have.

The succubus struggled to do as Lily was telling her. She was worried if she opened her mouth then she’d start screaming again. She didn’t want to do that. Slowly she began to regulate her breathing, her dark eyes locked with Lily’s.

Lily did not move her hands. She took a deep breath to concentrate, whispered a prayer to her matrons, and began to mouth the lost words of one of the most powerful healing spells she knew. The longer she kept physical contact, the more that was drained from her, but she knew that her energy would be just as healing as the spell.

Jughead watched in awe as the blue flames slowly diminished. It wasn’t instantaneous, rather maybe half an hour of chanting until it was finally all the way gone. The pain ebbed slowly from both Lily and Lav. Lav was close to unconsciousness as her body worked to try and heal itself.

Lily frowned, “your magic is weak otherwise you could probably heal yourself.”

“I had to heal myself earlier.” Lav confessed, her voice raspy with fatigue. She had fed off of Lily involuntarily but she had not taken her soul, just simply her essence. “I used what I had left to keep from passing out.”

The witch’s brow furrowed as Jughead looked perplexed. “Did whoever did this hurt you earlier too?” The wolf asked.

Sweet Pea stiffened. He knew he was the one that had done it. He glared up at the demon from his place on the floor. Their eyes met briefly and Lily’s narrowed in suspicion.

“No,” Lav said truthfully. But the truth stopped there, “something went wrong when I was feeding. I was careless and was injured. I was...punished for being reckless.” And so the truth returned.

As soon as Lily pulled her hands away from the demon, she collapsed onto the bed. Jughead jumped across and caught her before she could fall, awkwardly hovering above Lavender in the process. “I’m sorry,” Lavender murmured, too weak to project her voice, “I took too much, I’m sorry.”

“That’s not it.” Lily said, feeling as if there was a heavy weight on her chest that prevented her from taking deep breaths. “That took a lot of magic that I didn’t really have.”

Sweet Pea frowned as he stood, abandoning his work for the time being. “You need-”

“I know what I need to do, Sweet Pea! And I’m not doing it with you!” Lily snapped at him. “Lav is too weak to do it either.”

Jughead cocked his head to the side, understanding that they were talking about sex. Sex was the quickest way to build up your magic reserves as no magic was as powerful as sex magic. Especially sex between soulmates.

Of course the only one that knew they were soulmates was Lavender, and while she planned on biding her time before mentioning this, it seemed like as good a time as ever. “Lily…” She mumbled and the three others stared at her again. “It has to be Jughead.”

Jughead and Lily’s faces both blossomed a brilliant shade of red. He suddenly pulled away from her and she slowly slid to a sitting position on the floor. “W-what?” The witch managed to sputter.

Sweet Pea was glaring again, “She’s not fucking that lowlife mutt. She’s too good for him.”

“No,” Lav countered, “she’s too good for you.��

The warlock nearly lost himself to his rage but quickly reigned it in. Perhaps the demon had a point. Soulless Sweet Pea wasn’t good enough for anyone but the sex demon that took his life from him. His fists and teeth clenched, his jugular throbbing on the side of his neck. He wanted to say something to refute her claim, but had had nothing clever to say.

“I am amazed how blind you are to your own hearts.” Lav said weakly, fading in and out. “Do you not feel the connection yet? Or are you just hoping it’ll go away? You’re a witch, you should have recognized it by now.”

Lily was frowning. She did feel a connection to the Jones wolf but she didn’t know why. It was a foreign feeling, nothing like what she had once felt for Sweet Pea. “No, I...I don’t know.”

Jughead was looking between them, “what are you talking about? What connection?”

“Your souls are tied together, Jug.” Lavender replied, “you’re soulmates. Lily will be at her most powerful when you two are finally together and I’m afraid I don’t have time to wait on you two to figure it out for yourselves.”

Sweet Pea stormed from the room, slamming the door so loudly that Daisy finally did wake up crying. Lily tried to go to her, but fell as soon as she tried to stand. Jughead smiled and went and picked up the frightened toddler. “It’s okay, flower bud, mommy is right there.”

“Puppy?” She mumbled, looking up at Jug with wide but sleepy green eyes.

He turned so that Daisy could see her mother. The little girl smiled before yawning. “Go back to sleep, baby.” Lily said softly, “Mommy and daddy had an errand to run and we couldn’t leave you by yourself. You’re safe, just go back to sleep.”

Jughead set Daisy down back on the loveseat. The little girl curled up with her stuffed cat and easily drifted back off to sleep. The wolf looked at Lily with a small smile of triumph, as if he somehow had aided the toddler into going back to sleep.

“You must do it tonight, Lily.” Lav urged before wheezing painfully. “It must be done tonight.”

“I know.” Lily murmured, “Let me talk to Sweet Pea, he will stay here with you while we…” The residual blush that was still on her face darkened considerably. “You know.”

The demon didn’t hear her as she finally had drifted into an uneasy slumber. Lily frowned, worried about her as Jughead helped her to stand. “I’ll be fine, just give me a few minutes to calm him down.”

Jug nodded to her and helped her to the door before stopping and letting her go on her own. She stumbled, leaning against the wall for support as she made her way into the living room of the trailer. “Sweet Pea.” She said tiredly as she looked at him.

He was sitting on the couch, head in both of his hands as he shook with rage and sorrow. How could he think that he still had a chance with her? How could he think that he could have made it work? She was completely lost to him now and he felt as if he was left with nothing. Would she take Daisy with her? Shut him out? He couldn’t lose her too.

“I want my soul back.” He seethed, because somehow that’s when all of this began. His downfall was due to his lack of spirit and he needed it back because he needed something to cling to. “You have to bring it back.”

Lily was quiet. She had brought the soul back to a bird once, but it had just departed. Sweet Pea’s soul has been in hell for weeks. The condition it would be in upon its return was unknown. He might be worse off. “I will do my best. Will you do something for me until then?” She asked softly.

He looked up at her, brown eyes hard and jaw set firm. “What?” He said, sounding more ungrateful than he meant to.

“Finish the salve for Lavender and put it on her wounds. It’s the least you could do for hurting her earlier.” Lily said, making her suspicions known. She watched him carefully to see how he’d react. She’d know for sure if she was right based on that.

Sweet Pea stiffened. He didn’t want to admit to what he had done. Perhaps Lily knew how out of control he could be. How selfish of a lover he was. The look on her face was non judgmental, but he still felt as if she was bearing a weight down on him. Eventually he let out a sigh of defeat. Some things just weren’t worth denying. “Fine, it’ll be done in an hour.”

The white witch nodded, “I’ll be taking Jughead and Daisy back to the cottage. You’ll need to stay here. I’m worried that the other demon will come back and hurt her again. You’re the strongest one of the three of us right now.”

Sweet Pea said nothing as he stood and brushed past her, shoulders bumping. He didn’t apologize as he went back into the bedroom and kissed his daughter on the forehead. “You’re not going to take her away from me.” He whispered darkly to Jughead who was still present.

“I don’t want to.” Jughead said earnestly. “I wouldn’t dream of it. You’ll always be her father.”

The warlock seemed to relax a small bit at that but he was still on edge with the thought that the wolf and Lily were soulmates. It just didn’t seem fair.

Lily came back in and managed to pick up Daisy. “Jug, can you get her diaper bag? We’ll take the car. I’ll pick up Sweet Pea in the morning.”

Jughead nodded and retrieved the bag while Sweet Pea went back to work on the medicine.

About ten minutes later, after an incredibly awkward car ride, Lily arrived at the cottage with her soulmate and child in tow. She put Daisy back in her own bed before taking Jughead to hers. She nervously shut the door and was unsure on what to do next. She rubbed her upper arm with her opposite hand and shifted awkwardly.

“I know this is a shitty way to have to start a relationship.” Jughead said, “but we have to do this to protect everyone, including yourself and your family.” He reached out and grasped both her wrists before pulling her to him. “I never had the nerve to tell you how amazing your scent is.”

He leaned down, lips brushing against her neck. Lily shuddered as her shoulders relaxed. “It’s intoxicating, I can’t think straight when you’re close to me.” He slowly moved upwards, planting kisses between phrases. “And you’re so beautiful, I can’t imagine why Sweet Pea would have wanted to hurt you the way he did.”

He progressed to her jawline, trailing closer to her mouth. “I will never harm you.” He kissed her on the lips. He was purposefully being slow and gentle, wanting her to know that he had the utmost respect for her and would only do what she felt comfortable with.

Lily was already melting against him, eyes shut as she kissed him back. Her mouth opened for his tongue and the two collided in a sensual dance. Kissing him was almost the polar opposite of Sweet Pea. She felt fireworks in her fluttering heart and happiness blooming in her veins. She had no idea a kiss could even feel this way.

They only separated when they needed air and only then for a brief moment. Clothes were lost, thrown haphazardly onto the floor. Somehow they made it to the bed. Jughead was on top with Lily splayed out beneath him. His fingers trailed down her body. First they ran along her clavicle before dipping lower to her breast. He gave a tentative squeeze and elicited a mewl of excitement from her.

His thumb glanced over her nipple and another pleased sound came out of her. Jug couldn’t help but smirk into their kiss before breaking it. He had a feeling Sweet Pea wasn’t the most gracious of lovers in the sack, but he sure was. His mouth trailed down and captured her other breast, tongue doing what his thumb just had. Lily gasped out in surprise.

The hand that was on her chest then moved down lower to cup her heat slowly. His palm grinding against her clit as the tip of his finger probed her entrance. Lily tensed for a moment with uncertainty before relaxing again. Her hands were on his shoulders, squeezing gently to reassure him that she was okay.

His middle finger slowly made its way past her entrance and into her core, moving at a languid pace. Lily’s hips were moving slightly to try and feel more, impatience made by her own desires to be loved.

Jughead continued to suck lightly on her breast, nipping at her nipple on occasion. Lily’s hips and spine rolled behind him as she squirmed, moaning softly at his teasings. He increased the speed on his finger before adding a second. Her moans went up a decibel at the new fullness she was feeling, his palm still rubbing on his clit.

She wanted to touch him, to feel him. She reached down and gently touched the tip of his penis, unable to reach much more due to the position he was in. He moved so she could grasp his shaft and lightly pump him.

It was Jughead’s turn to moan. He bit at the swells of her breasts as he held himself back from thrusting into her hand. His fingers were moving much faster now and Lily was making all kinds of delightful sounds. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait.

They were lucky they were not too terribly close to the full moon. The closer the time for him to change was, the harder it was for him to control himself. He was fine for tonight but he made a mental note to warn her in the future. His alpha nature would cause him to become much more dominant and aggressive. Some women were into that, of course, but he wasn’t sure if Lily would be.

“Jug, please,” Lily begged, now unsatisfied with just his fingers. She quickly reached over to the side table and pulled a condom out of the drawer. She handed it to him, eyes wide and pleading for him to give her more than just two digits.

He stared at her for a moment, amazed that he even found himself in this situation. He had been dreaming about her since they met and he didn’t think this would ever be happening. He’d have to remember to thank Lavender later when they were alone again…

Jughead grabbed the condom and opened the wrapper before rolling it on. She bit her lower lip in anticipation. The morning after he saved her she had noticed that he was better endowed than Sweet Pea, and she had thought the warlock was big. She hoped this wasn’t going to hurt.

The wolf suddenly rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. Lily looked at him with wide, surprised eyes. Sweet Pea had never let her be on top, despite her asking him if they could try it. A giggle of amusement came out of her as she straddled his hips and grabbed the base of his penis to align his tip with her entrance.

She slowly lowered herself onto him. Jughead remained perfectly still, wanting her to go at her own pace. There was some discomfort as he stretched her out but it didn’t last very long. Unlike with her ex, she was very into this.

Once he was fully inside, Lily was still. Her eyes were closed as she could already feel the empty reservoir inside of her filling with magical energy at an obscenely rapid pace. She hadn’t felt this full in a very long time and she had forgotten how amazing it was. As soon as she was over the initial excitement of regaining her strength, she began to rock her hips.

The two of them moaned. Jughead grabbed the backs of her thighs and gripping them lightly to urge her on. Lily took the hint and increased her speed, bouncing on top of him with ease. She didn’t even need magic to enhance what she was feeling as what she was feeling was already beyond belief.

She had never known sex to be this amazing. It was mostly uncomfortable and when she did actually get off it was subpar. She was able to give herself better orgasms than Sweet Pea ever could. Now she was wondering what kind of high Jughead could give her and she was acutely aware that she was about to get her answer.

Jughead began to move in rhythm with her, his hips bucking up to connect with her so he was going in harder. Lily let out a small cry of pleasure when he first did this, causing him to continue feverishly. Lily matched his speed and wondered how he could be fast and go in deep all at the same time. It was mind blowing.

One of his hands moved to her inner thigh and his thumb found her clit. He motioned small circles around it, keeping in pace with her movements. Lily’s moans went higher and louder. Her head was thrown back as she hit her highest peak yet, vision blinding with light as glowing sparkles manifested around her body and illuminated the dark room.

He watched in amusement at the tiny lights but couldn’t concentrate on them too hard or he’d lose focus. He was moving her hips with his own grip, noticing that she had stopped moving due to the incredible high she was feeling. He helped her ride out the orgasm, her inner muscles fluttering around him and causing him to come himself.

Once he was done spilling himself into the condom, he laid motionless on the bed with her hips still in his hands. They were catching their breaths in unison as Lily slowly came down from the haziness that was orgasmic relief. She laid down, her head on his chest as he pulled out of her. He reached around and took off the condom, tying it off before setting it on the table.

Lily’s eyes were closed again as she inhaled the scent of his sweat and happiness. His fingers were trailing up and down her spine until she drifted off into the most blissful sleep she had ever had.

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briangroth27 · 7 years

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I’m of Two Minds About Split...

Initially, I didn’t want to see Split, M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller. I haven’t liked a film of his since The Village, but the reviews praising this one convinced me to see it today. It’s definitely not as bad as The Happening or The Last Airbender, but I’m not convinced he’s returned to form yet either.

Light spoilers…

Split focuses on the kidnapping of three girls (Casey—Anya Taylor-Joy, Claire—Haley Lu Richardson, and Marcia—Jessica Sula) by Kevin (James McAvoy), a man with 23 different personalities resulting from Dissociative Identity Disorder. I agree with other reviews: McAvoy’s great! Each of his characters feel like a distinct person with their own movement style and mannerisms—they even take things one step further by having one personality go undercover as another—and McAvoy deftly switches between them in rapid-fire succession at one point. Some personalities, like the 9-year old Hedwig and the prim Patricia, could easily have fallen into camp in the hands of a less skilled actor, but McAvoy is able to keep the thrills (and occasional comedy, which honestly walks a tightrope between funny, silly, and exploitative) on track. However, Shyamalan’s script falls short and robs us of seeing even more of McAvoy’s range: why give him 23 personalities and only show 8 or so? Why not include a moment where one of the good personalities tries to help the girls escape, to provide some literal internal drama in whatever argument might ensue within him? Why does one of the personalities have to have a history of pedophilia? Beyond the harmful stereotype that the mentally ill are automatically criminals, couldn’t Shyamalan have at least come up with fresh villainy?

The script does the girls even fewer favors. Taylor-Joy is good with what she’s given: as a teenager dealing with a traumatic past she’s soulful and careful in her navigation of her captor’s ticks rather than taking the default sullen/sarcastic teen route, but she’s still not given much to work with. Shyamalan’s style of directing pregnant pauses into his dialogue (a habit I can’t stand) results in long stretches of silence here, leaving us to watch characters slowly react to things. Richardson’s Claire is established immediately as the fighter of the trio, but she’s sidelined just as early and never gets a moment to reclaim that mantle. To her and the script’s credit, she’s popular but never presented as a stereotypical stuck-up mean girl. Sula’s Marcia fares the worst, given nothing to do as “Claire’s friend”—at one point she won’t act on Claire’s plan unless their acquaintance Casey agrees too, which was baffling—and doesn’t offer a third course of action to counter Claire’s “attack and run” and Casey’s “observe and understand/manipulate” survival approaches. She does get one of the best sequences of the film, though, trying to unlock a door with a coat hangar.

Betty Buckley appears as Kevin’s psychologist and provides most of the exposition in the film via her theory that individuals with DID can physically transform themselves through the power of the mind; that they may not be ill at all, but experiencing some form of higher evolution. She’s solid in the role and gives the outlandish premise enough weight to make it feel real. Neal Huff, as Claire’s father, brings some early levity by poking fun at and embracing dad stereotypes. Casey’s father, played by Sebastian Arcelus, gets to give young Casey some hunting pointers, but nothing else. Brad William Henke is effective in a somewhat clichéd role as Casey’s uncle. Shyamalan gives himself a cameo as a security guard debating the merits of Hooters with Buckley’s Dr. Fletcher. It feels wholly out of place.

Shyamalan achieves a dark, tense tone for most of the film, though his chase scenes do end anticlimactically more often than not. Most of that tension (and the tension-breaking levity) hangs on McAvoy’s increasingly unhinged performance. There’s a bit of repetition in the therapy scenes, but not enough to derail the movie for me. Shyamalan doesn’t utilize or explore his setting as well as he could have: on one hand, not seeing much of the captives’ location puts us in their mindset and includes us in their claustrophobia, but not exploring it also makes it feel much less maze-like than it could’ve been (which would’ve reflected Kevin’s mind). The reveal of where the girls are being held falls totally flat because it doesn’t matter at all; they could’ve been literally anywhere without changing a single thing and this location specifically could’ve thrown a few more dangers at them had they gotten farther away from McAvoy. There are a few moments where the characters make decisions that don’t make a whole lot of sense (Fletcher stuffing a handkerchief in a doorjamb as if she knows it’ll help someone open the door later among them), but not nearly as many as in other horror movies.

All in all, Split is a fine thriller with an interesting premise for superpowers carried by a stellar performance by McAvoy and good supporting work, especially from Taylor-Joy, Buckley, and Richardson. However, they can’t save it from the limitations of the script, certain directorial choices, and a troubling major theme (see below). Split is worth a rental at Redbox or Netflix to see the good parts, but I think the more problematic aspects are preventing me from being eager to see it again.

Major Spoilers

My biggest issue with this—and the thing that wrecks the movie for me—is Casey’s backstory. The more I think about it, the more I hate it. Flashbacks reveal that she was repeatedly raped as a child by her uncle, and this results in The Beast (Kevin’s final, monstrous form) seeing her as “pure” like him. He sees numerous scars on her body—whether from this abuse or self-inflicted later on isn’t clear—and decides he doesn’t need to devour her because she’s already been changed and “blessed” in some manner. “The damaged are the gifted,” and all that. Beyond including such a despicable backstory to give Casey angst, making that the element that saves her life is extremely irresponsible (to say the least). The film even includes Casey’s uncle telling her that he’ll “take care of her” at her father’s funeral, drawing a direct line from his pedophilia to her survival, which is flat-out awful. Nothing she does to save herself matters, because it’s the horrible things her uncle did that ultimately dissuade the Beast. Shyamalan did much better with the “bad things have meaning” idea in Signs (my favorite of his movies), because all the trauma that happened to those characters brought them to places where they’d be empowered to fight the aliens, not because the bad things themselves directly saved the heroes. Why couldn’t Casey get superpowers from her trauma too? If she were able to alter her strength due to her trauma like Kevin does, it wouldn’t have been as bad; at least she could’ve fought him off herself, fulfilling her arc begun when she hesitated to shoot her uncle as a child and never fought back again. Allowing Casey to fight back and defeat The Beast also would’ve made the completely unnecessary comment that Dennis is a pedophile serve a narrative purpose, since you could link him more clearly to her uncle. I’ll give Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt and say that’s probably what he was trying to accomplish via Dennis systematically removing the girls’ clothes as they got “dirty” because of his OCD, but that came off as alternatively genuinely creepy and simply exploitative; either way you take it, Casey still isn’t allowed to defeat her demons in the end. Why can’t Shyamalan even show us Casey’s reaction to a cop asking if she’s ready to go home with her uncle, instead of leaving it ambiguous if she’ll finally report him? To deny her even that bit of character growth feels wrong.

As I said earlier, Kevin’s other personalities could’ve been explored much further, if only to give us more a sense of what was being lost as his darker ones took over. And as another review pointed out, why doesn’t one of the good personalities explain in more detail what the bad ones have done when emailing Dr. Fletcher?

The Beast made for a good villain—if not as physically monstrous as described by Dennis—and Split as a whole forms a fairly good supervillain origin story for Kevin. I never mind a willingness to go all-in on crazy or outlandish premises as long as the filmmakers commit to them and aren’t trying to be bad, so the supernatural aspect didn’t bother me or ruin the tension in the movie. The connection to Unbreakable could finally provide the third act of a superhero movie that earlier film left out, so that could be interesting. I wasn’t a huge fan of Unbreakable, but I’d be down for seeing McAvoy’s characters go up against David Dunn. If Shyamalan has other horror-tinged superheroes and villains up his sleeve, the more the merrier.

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