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goatbi · 4 years

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The Riverbank Chapter Eleven

It was a quaint little coffee shop. One that none of them had seen before, though simply by having never been in the area. It was one of those places Tommy loved to take them all on dates, when they would hold a table for hours, only keeping from annoying the employees too much by getting drinks often, or cake pops that they had hidden.

Of course, Darnold was here alone this time, one simple coffee set in front of her at the two person table, book up to her face. She wasn’t reading anything on the pages, unfortunately, but still turned the pages carefully as if she was. This is where she would sit for the moment, as it was the only place that any of them knew that the other stars would go.

Hopefully they were right and they would come back. Darnold certainly hoped so. She also let herself hope that this would all be over soon enough, so they could come back here, make better memories than this, sitting here in silence and hoping that Benrey was still okay enough for this little trap to be worth it.

Someone in the corner of her eye entered the shop. She barely glanced over, but they froze, before turning and leaving again. Darnold said nothing, hoping that that didn’t mean they knew and were going to leave, move spots, ruin this on the second day of trying to get them in.

Three page turns later, someone sat down in the chair across from her. She didn’t look up for a moment, but lowered the book carefully, eyes darting towards it.

It wasn’t the same person that had come in before. She knew that well enough. It stared back at her quietly, eyes narrowed, before the world went grey around them. Darnold’s eyes flicked across it’s face, noting the bruise blooming across it’s cheek. Yellow eyes bored into her, and finally, finally, she made eye contact.

“Capella.” Careful, measured. It knew what it was doing giving it’s name to her. Darnold simply smiled back.

“Darnold.” She replied instead, setting her book down on the table in front of her, pushing the forgotten coffee to the side in order to do it. Capella stared at her quietly, unblinking. Darnold simply stared back. She was used to G-Man’s slightly off existence, not to mention she was dating Tommy. It wasn’t like the unblinking thing freaked her out anymore.

Capella frowned after a moment, seeming to realize this, and sat back, pushing it’s feet against the table legs to balance on the back two. “So. Who knows you’re here.”

At this Darnold looked away, trying to look nervous. It must have worked, as the chair clunked back to the ground.

“No one?” Capella seemed to purr, and Darnold glared at it, halfheartedly, then shifted to look closer, eyes focusing on the bruise on it’s face.

“Are you alright?” Capella jerked back, eyes going wide. “I mean, that looks pretty bad. I thought that... stars could heal that sort of thing.” Darnold tilted her head slightly, almost innocently, and Capella glared at her.

“Fuck off.”

“It was just a question. I didn’t... mean to upset you.” Not to that extent at least. Darnold wondered idly if stars could fix damage done by other stars. Maybe that was it. Dissent in the ranks perhaps? Or... something worse. She shook it off, and Capella leaned forwards again.

“Is this a negotiation? For your little abomination back?” Control. That’s what it wanted here, but even so, the name that it gave Benrey brought a tidal wave of anger.

“Perhaps the people of earth see you as the abomination.” She said instead of screaming, lifting her cup to take a sip carefully. “I know they aren’t, however.”

Capella seemed to give up then, standing and grabbing Darnold’s arm with a burning grip, dragging her bodily from the seat. The coffee teetered for a moment, but steadied, as it and the book were left behind. Darnold stumbled behind it for a moment, but managed to find her footing, putting up a struggle, though knowing that she couldn’t break free from it’s grasp. She was dragged through the portal, all without Capella noticing Bubby and Coomer stationed across the street.

It dragged her through, and she stumbled into a building, almost warehouse like. Her eyes darted around quickly, trying to take everything in at once, trying to see it all, in order to tell them later, as Capella dragged her through the building.

“Acrturus! Guess what I found!” It called, and stopped just outside a door. When it opened, Capella didn’t go in, but instead, Arcturus stepped out carefully. With the pure white eyes, Darnold couldn’t tell who he was looking at, but she knew it wasn’t good, even before the grin split across his face.

“Oh wonderful. Looks like you haven’t failed me after all.” It hit Darnold all at once, eyes flickering between them, but she didn’t speak, as Arcturus carefully cupped Capella’s face, right over the bruise the same size. “Good job, darling.” He turned his head, just barely, to look at Darnold, then moved his hand from Capella’s face to hers, thumb on her chin, forcing her head up to look him in the eyes. “Another of their little group, I assume?” He asked, and Capella nodded.

“I think so. Seemed to know the abomination.” Darnold held back the snarl, kept herself calm. Arcturus seemed to be searching for something, and whether or not he found it was something Darnold didn’t know. He simply drew back, hand falling from her face, the spot he touched burning.

“Put them together. It might be nice to see what we’ve done to your precious nuisance.” Capella dragged her off, and Darnold stumbled to keep up with her, forcing her gaze away from him.

When she was pushed into the room, she chose to land on her left, crashing to the floor, hands curled around her middle. Her upper arm, where Capella had held her, also burned, and, when Capella left, and Darnold sat up to look, the cloth of her dress was melted to her arm.

“Darnold?”

At the sound of her name, her eyes flicked up to the corner, catching the barely glowing eyes of Benrey huddled there. The damage looked extensive, as Benrey’s clothing was mostly covered in blood, the original color lost at this point. His left eyes was swollen shut, though a second peeked out from under it, granting him the normal full range of sight. His lip was split, nose at an odd angle. They were favoring one arm, curling it close to their chest, and, when Darnold got a closer look as she moved towards them, there was bone peeking from the skin, around which had been sweet voice healed. One leg was tucked under daem, the other stretched out in front of daem, covered in various burns and cuts. It seemed a theme with them, the burning.

“Hey.” Darnold kept her voice soft, settling next to daem carefully, wiping away a tear before it could fall properly, Benrey turning his head to look at her.

“How... You shouldn’t be here.” He muttered, and Darnold smiled, reaching into her pocket.

“Yes I should. I did this on purpose.” Out from her pocket came a vial. Inside was two liquids stacked on top of one another. The bottom was dark, sucking in the light around it, while the top was bright and shining. “I can get the others in here, and Tommy and G-Man aren’t gonna be powerless cause they were... invited. This was a trap and they fell right into it.”

Benrey stared at the liquids quietly, eyes wide. "Is that...” Darnold nodded slightly, lifting the little vial a bit closer to Benrey’s face, so that he could see G-Man and Tommy’s blood begin to mix within.

#hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #darnold pepper #benrey #feelings in various ways #mentions of abuse #mentions of an abusive relationship #mentions of torture #capella

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