Closed RP Once Upon A Dream

This RP is currently closed.
Crow

Crow

Active member

The buildings seemed to blur together as Sam moved as quickly as she could down never ending alleys. There were no breaks in the buildings, which were all taller than she could scale. No fire escapes to jump up to, no ledges outside windows to climb, nothing. She had yet to see a road as she ran, leaning into walls where she could to take weight off her leg. Every time she tried to fly, her heat sputtered out mere feet above the ground. And with an already broken knee, she couldn’t afford another fall.

Falling hadn’t been what had broken her leg, though, not at all. That had been something else entirely. Something far more terrifying than a fall, and far more deadly. It had been the most beautiful thing she’d ever laid eyes on, the most horribly wonderful thing she’d ever known. And it was somewhere behind her, chasing her. She couldn’t look back to see where it was, to see how close it had gotten in the last few turns. She needed to keep moving, even as the ground faded from asphalt to gravel to dirt and back again. She needed to keep moving, even as it started to get so dark that she could barely see where she was even going.

If she didn’t, the Hunt Song would catch her.

The Hunt Song, with its beautiful smile and its soft calls. The faint and happy laughter that seemed to echo through the alleyways to fall on her ears. She could hear it, somewhere behind her, though the distance was ever-changing. Calling her Sammy, calling her Songbird, calling her Apple Pie. Telling her that he was looking for her, that he was going to find her, to come out and come back to him.

“Don’t you want me to touch you? Don’t you want me to hold you? Weren’t you just asking?” His voice carried through the air, soft and gentle and almost sing-song in tone.

A violent shiver ran through her body. Sam wanted to turn around, to have him take her into his arms. She wanted that happiness and that joy to be focused on her. But she couldn’t. That happiness and joy only led to terrible things, things she promised Todd she wouldn’t let happen. She couldn’t give in, no matter how badly her chest ached for it. No matter the shaking in her core, the longing that ran through her, she had to keep running.

The Hunt Song couldn’t have her.

She turned a corner again, pushing herself to keep running even as she leaned into the wall and used it to support her weight for brief moments. Her knee screamed, and she continuously stumbled forward. She could barely move. The pain was radiating up through her thigh and down through her shin, and her knee kept collapsing under her weight. Sam was nothing if not stubborn, however, so she pushed on, trying her best to keep up speed. Her and Todd were evenly matched on speed on a good day, which meant the Hunt Song had an advantage here if it really wanted to catch up to her.

It was just a matter of time.​
 
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The buildings were as clear and familiar to Todd as if he’d spent his whole life walking down this street – these streets – the neverending twist of alley and forest that blurred together in this perfect world. Nowhere for his little bird to fly off; nowhere for her to climb up, as fun as that chase would be. It’d been too long since he’d had a proper rooftop chase. They used to be his favorites, and sometimes he even dreamed that she’d made it to the top of one of the buildings, only to find the expanse even more endless from above.

But now his bird’s wings were clipped, and the chase, while boring, was building up the ache of hunger under his skin. The drag of her foot behind her, the uneven steps, the labored panting, they were all exquisite details in the otherwise quiet night.

He knew what had broken her leg. He remembered the crack under his foot as if it were yesterday – and, well, maybe it was. It could’ve been yesterday. It could’ve been a year ago, and yet it wouldn’t matter, because he had her now. She was his, she’d just forgotten her little promise.

When she remembered, his hunting song would catch up to her.

It was beautiful, the time that beat out with the sound of his heartbeat matching each shallow breath, each slow drag of her body against a building or the gravel or a tree. She was slowing down, and he knew that his words were resonating not just in the space between them, but in her heart and her mind and her soul, so intricately tied to his.

His perfect prey.

“Come on now, Sammy,” he called, in the deepest sweetness his voice could manage with its harsh edge; “Come on, where’re you going? You want everything I can give you, right? To be with me forever?”

She did. And she didn’t. And she did. His mouth watered as he caught her scent, thick drool that he had to swallow back as he slowly but inevitably closed the distance. She wanted him with almost as much animal ferocity as he wanted her – just a very different flavor, one that tainted her cinnamon-sweet apple pie scent and sent his mind reeling. She wanted him, of course. But she was a stubborn little bird. She’d keep flying until her wings gave out, and she’d still sing even when his teeth found her pretty throat. Just the idea of her flavor put a little more pep in his step, the warmth of her under his lips. She was so close now, and he could almost taste her again as he had so often. He would taste her again.

It was just a matter of time.
 

With her wings clipped, there was only so far that she could go. With her leg crumpling beneath her, dragging behind her, she had to stop. There was nothing else that she could do. She needed to run, but the pain was too much. With a shuddering breath, she leaned against a tree at the edge of the alleyway, clinging to it for dear life. What else was there for her to do, after all, other than give in to her fate?

She was his, now and forever.

Her breath was coming in short bursts, panicked almost. Erratic. She reached a hand down and touched the broken knee, feeling a sharp throb radiate through her leg. With every step, it hurt more. She looked behind her, and just as she did, she saw him. Unlike the earliest times she could remember, the last times he had caught her, he wasn’t in the mask and the coat. He was dressed in the clothes she had bought him. The long sleeved shirt and the jeans, with his hiking boots on. His face was visible, with the longer curls and the scruff coming in along his jaw.

And oh, those eyes. Those blue eyes that she couldn’t bear to look away from, the eyes that changed everything about her life. She loved those eyes. Those blue, blue eyes. They were lit up with joy as he looked at her, as she came into view.

She pushed herself up and tried to run, tried to keep moving so that her soulmate couldn’t kill her. And how he would, he would tear her apart if he got his hands on her. Those hands that had held her so gently just a few hours before would rip her apart. Her soulmate, her lover, her wonderful Todd was going to end her life once again.

She ran, as fast as she could, as the buildings melted into trees. Then, she was running along a dirt path, with a canopy of trees overhead. The forest spread endlessly around her, and the minimal light she had been getting was gone.

That was when she tripped over the root sticking out of the ground.

She hit, hands first, then knees, then with a scream of pain she collapsed on her side. She wanted to hold her knee, to cradle the broken joint, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have time. He was gaining. She could hear how close he was now. On instinct, she tried to push herself up and off the path and into the trees. The path seemed to twist though, and follow her. Follow her around the tree, through the underbrush that slowed her down, and deep into the winding darkness.

She couldn’t do it. Her heart was thundering, ready to burst out her chest. Her leg was shaking, and even the adrenaline wasn’t enough. Her body ached and shook and she slowed. She almost tripped again, falling against a tree. She slid down it.

It was just too much.​
 
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The forest was even more familiar than the streets, the cold, dark expanse welcoming him like a childhood bedroom. It was his playground, his perfect terrain, built for him to move through smoothly and evenly. No root caught his foot, though his pace quickened when he heard her fall. He didn’t need a marked path; the road was even no matter where he tread, his step high and light enough to keep him out of any trouble until she came into sight.

She was so small. He always noticed her size first, noticed that were it not for the sensation of rightness and perfection in this hunt she’d be much too small to care about. But the air was full of blood and panic, blended evenly with apples and cinnamon and vanilla. It didn’t really matter to him what she was wearing; he didn’t even see her clothes, just the soft white skin that would flake away like a pastry crust under his teeth. Long gone was the irritating red armor that he’d have to tear off and peel away to get to the delicacy underneath.

He heard her body collapse against a tree, heard the slide of her back against its bark. Almost at once he slowed down, pacing up to her like a stalking cat, eyes bright in the otherwise dark forest.

“Giving up so soon, Apple Pie?” His lips were wet; he couldn’t control it, those soft, physical manifestations of his hunger that only emphasized the throbbing cold beneath his skin.

And now he’d caught up to her. Now she was his, to do with as he pleased. And he knew there was so much more fight in her than this. But he didn’t say anything about that, just crept forward, step by aching step, until he finally knelt down at her side. He held her golden eyes the whole time, never so much as blinking. She was his whole world now; everything came down to her. Maybe it’d always been destined to come down to her. Maybe it was kind fate – kind to him, at least.

And his hands were almost kind as they took her hand, one palm over her wrist, the other interlocked with hers. She wouldn’t fight. She never did, poor bird, paralyzed as she was in his stare. She never fought, only begged, only asked foolish questions.

There’d be no kindness when his hands locked on hers, and pulled it free of her arm.
 

The pain was unlike anything that Sam had ever felt before, though it must have been something like it, in order for her to feel it now. She was stunned into silence for a moment as the blood began to rush down her arm, as she watched him lift the hand– her hand, god that was her hand– up to his lips and take a bite. She could only think that he looked so beautiful, so euphoric, that it made her want to cry. He held her eyes as he chewed, those brilliant blues consuming her.

That was, before the pain rushed her, flooding her system and making her cry out. He had left space for her to move, to run, and run she did. Through trees and underbrush, through branches and bushes, things that seemed to exist only to be in her way. Things meant to slow her down as Todd started to play catch and release with her. Every time he finished a piece, he caught her again, before almost lovingly stripping her of another piece. He moved his way up her arm, and when there was nothing left, he took the other hand.

When she finally collapsed again, she found she couldn’t get back up. Her legs were shaking too much, so horribly, that she couldn’t move any further. She let herself collapse onto the earth, looking up above her. She stared for a moment at the distant lights, the stars that were dazzling in the sky. They twinkled just like his eyes. She felt tears cutting through the dirt and blood on her cheeks, twisting through the gore as they fell.

This was the last time she’d see the stars. At least, for this time. They would do this all over, again and again. She would always let him have her, piece by piece, inch by inch, until there was nothing left of her. Because she was his and he was hers. They belonged together, two halves of a whole.

And if this is what he wanted from her, he could have it. He could have everything. Maybe then he’d understand how much she loved him. Maybe then he’d love her back the way she wanted. The way she needed. Maybe then he would crave her with every fiber of his being, the way she did him. Maybe. Maybe.

His steps were coming closer. She could hear the softness of his footfalls, approaching her slowly and leisurely. With a shuddering breath, she tried to push herself up. But without her hands, without a full arm, there was simply no way to stand back up. She felt her breath pick up.

“Todd. Todd, please. Don’t you recognize me? Why are you doing this?” Her voice was soft, faint, and higher than usual as she begged him. She turned her head toward him and looked up at him, splattered in her blood, looking at her with a soft eagerness she couldn’t identify.​
 
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She was perfect – God, she was always perfect, the perfect warmth, the perfect texture. Each bite was better than the last, rocking his whole world with her flavor. The right fear. The right love. The adoration never left her scent even as the fear thickened the air like the blood that was left spattered in her wake.

And her voice – her voice, ragged, lovely, sobbing, singing. It resonated in his bones, drew him closer, pulled the hunger out, unraveled him entirely until nothing but the Hunt remained. Couldn’t she see that she was doing this to him, every time she opened her mouth to plead? Couldn’t she see she’d made the perfect accompaniment to the hunting song?

“Oh, sweetheart, can’t you see?” He was over her again, looking down at her beautiful eyes – her beauty wasn’t reduced, even though her body had been. It never was. In fact, she was made more beautiful by it, because of what it represented. “You’re meant to be part of me. Both of us, together, whole. Don’t you want that, Sammy?”
 

“No. Not like this. Please, it was never supposed to be like this.” Her mouth curled into a smile against her own will. Tears continued to stream down her face, her eyes locked with his. His euphoria resonated within her, inside her bones, inside her mind, inside her soul. He was so beautiful like this, so lovely and free. Part of her, a deep and dark part that always rose to the surface during times like these, when he was the perfect predator, and she was his perfect prey, wanted that for him constantly.

What would he be like if he was always free? Would he be happier? She didn’t know. She didn’t know, and she knew when she woke up she would try her hardest to never think about it again. She had made him promises. Promises to live, no matter what. But for just a moment, in this moment, she wondered. Would he actually be happier if this was the way they were meant to be whole?

No. No, he wouldn’t be. He wouldn’t be, and she knew from the fractured flashes of memory that he wouldn’t be. As he said her name, she heard his voice, full of a different kind of emotion, whispering her name. They overlapped and distorted what was happening. She was pulled back into the moment as her arm throbbed where it was missing the rest. Her body shuddered as she drew in far too deep a breath in response.​
 
“How else could it be?”

Didn’t she know? This was how it was always meant to be, meant to end, this desperate tangling of souls that she had started. He dropped down, almost gently, almost gentleman (almost man, almost more than starving predator), dropped to one knee, reached out to cradle her in one arm and hold her closer. Close enough that there was nothing between them. Gentle enough to lie and say this was all there was, all there would ever be – that this was what would come after the pain.

But was it a lie? Not really. He’d have her forever, held even closer than here, even closer than his arms. Her warmth might finally fill the aching void he’d felt for as long as his body could remember. Had there ever been a time he’d been warm? Not like hers. Never like her. Maybe she would fill the void that he’d become. This was, after all, what they were meant to be – wholeness.
 

Sam shook her head, even as her body curled into him instinctively. Her breath hitched, even as she rested her head against his shoulder. She felt him pressed against her, holding her close, and she wanted to let it go. She wanted to sigh and release everything. All of the fear, all of the tension, all of the sadness– all but the love. All but the love that she had become at her core once more. The warmth that she was, had always been, would always be, was run off that love.

“But you love me. You love me. I know you do. I know you love me like I love you. Please, Todd.” Her voice broke as she cried into his shoulder, her eyes closing and shutting his out for just a moment. It was too much. When had it become too much to bear? Which part was the part that was too much? Was it the fear or the love?

Whatever it was, it was eating away at her strength. Her body was trembling as it fell into him, as she allowed him to embrace her and hold her close. She wanted to beg. She wanted to fight. She wanted to plead, and shout, and make him understand. Didn’t he know he already had all of her? That he didn’t need to do this to have her warmth, her heart, her soul? She’d belonged to him since that very first day.​
 
He smiled at her, and it was nearly soft. As soft as his face could be come like this – as soft as the moon on a clear winter’s night, as soft as the snow on the ground catching its glow. He pulled her close, feeling her warmth, letting it fill him as he sighed contentedly. He could do whatever he wanted right now, and he knew that while she would buckle, she’d eventually break. She always did. She always had.

Because, in the end, she knew what he knew.

“This is love, sweetheart.” He leaned in, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke. Patient, leading. Giving her bait he knew she couldn’t refuse, space to give herself to the teeth that wanted her so desperately. Patience, though. A predator’s gift.

“What else could it be?”
 

There was no fighting it. Not really. This was something she had no defenses against. Even as the most surface parts of her rebelled and screamed and wanted to fight him with all their might, the rest of her knew. And it was the rest of her that was in control. The caution, the fear, the knowing all took backseat to the burning that spread through her chest when she felt his lips brush hers. She could have cried from how much it hurt. Instead, she did the only thing that her heart and mind and soul would let her do.

Sam leaned into him and kissed him, her lips pressing against his with a desperation that she couldn’t help. Maybe, she could make him see this time. Maybe, she could stop it if she just gave him enough. In a distant memory, she felt his hands on her skin, felt his lips work against hers, felt his breath on her lips. She knew, she knew, that he loved her the way she loved him. With lips and hands and hearts intertwined. The way they were always meant to be.

Just like she knew she had doomed herself here and now by taking the bait he had so clearly laid out for her. Still, she couldn’t help her stupid heart, her hungry heart, from seeking out what it so fully desired. If she had hands, they’d be wrapped in his beautiful curls. Maybe, maybe, maybe this time it would be different, her heart said, ever the optimist when it came to Todd. Ever the fool.

Sam was a fool.​
 
She took the bait. She always took the bait, every time they did this dance, ran this run. Every time his lips brushed her lips –

– brushed her cheek –

– brushed her jaw –

– brushed her throat –

– she melted. Like he was the fire, and she the wax. The way her throat gave way, soft white and so, so supple… the soft crack of the cartilage… the rush of blood and air that should not be outside her body –

The way his lips brushed hers again, passing on that magical flavor back into the body it came from before the last breath escaped out her throat.
 

The stars were beautiful. Their light was all she could see as she looked up, as Todd kissed his way down her throat. She was dazzled as she felt his lips trail lovingly down her skin. She breathed in, as deep as she could, one last time. A soft smile graced her face as the tears finally stopped. This was it. The moment that always came. The moment that always ended their nights together. As she went to breathe out, she felt the sharp and searing pain at her throat, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe at all.

As her body shuddered and started to convulse, his lips found hers again. It was all she could do to close her eyes and relax herself. All she saw behind her eyes was him. His smile, his eyes, his curls. She wondered, one last time, if this was truly the way he was meant to have her warmth.

What about all the nights she had always dreamed of, with them wrapped around one another? All the days hand in hand? Why weren’t those enough for him? Why wasn’t she enough for him, whole and well and happy? A tear slipped down her face, toward her trembling lips, still pressed to his. As she began to feel dizzy, she gave him what she could– she turned the heat up, quickly, but gently. She didn’t want to hurt him. She just wanted to warm him up, one last time. One last time before she went cold forever, until the next time they played this out.

With her final moments, she pulled her lips back just far enough to move them against his, to whisper without air. “I love you.”

She let go.​
 
Todd woke with a sticky mouth, and the taste of cinnamon on his tongue.

Before he even opened his eyes, he reached up to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. He let himself linger in the dark for another minute, then looked at it, squinting a little in dim, unfamiliar light. As he suspected, it was wet, but not dark.

Just a dream again.

He sighed, deeply, through his nose. Then paused, squinting at the wet spot again. He could still smell cinnamon and vanilla and apples. And sweat, and –

He became suddenly aware of the heat radiating into him from another body. Fuck. Fuck, he was still in Sam’s room. He’d had a hunting dream with her right there, within reach of his teeth. He gave her a quick glance. Her eyes were still closed. Still asleep.

When he moved to get up, he did so as slowly as he could, so he wouldn’t disturb her. It was a disturbing kind of slowness, if he thought about it too hard. The same slowness that made him hard to see in the dark. Predatory, like all of his movements, like more than half of his thoughts. Like all of his dreams. Dreams of chasing, of blood.

Of her blood.

This had been a bad idea. He had no idea what he would’ve done if he’d pulled his hand away and it had been dark and black, if the room had been cold and empty. If, in his sleep, he’d taken away his only chance for happiness and warmth. His skin crawled as he looked for his clothes, as he started to pull them on with the same slow deliberation he’d used ever since waking. He needed to go. To keep her safe. If he really loved her, he’d find his way back to his apartment without waking her.
 

Sam woke and immediately took a deep breath, her brain catching up to the fact that she was still alive.

As she opened her eyes to look around the room in the dark, she became aware of several things. The first was that she was still in her bedroom. That was a bit of a relief to the parts of her that had wanted to fight so hard in the dream, the dream that was so clear in her mind as if it had actually happened. The second was that Todd wasn’t laying beside her in the bed anymore. She couldn’t feel his coolness, and she carefully spread her hand out for him to make sure. That made her push herself up in bed and blink heavily as she looked around the room.

He was collecting his clothes, slowly slipping into them. He’d just gotten his pants on as she slipped out of the sheets and walked up to him. She wasn’t trying to be quiet, but she knew that her steps were light. She pressed herself to his back and slipped her arms up and around him, pressing her hands to his chest.

“Todd.” Her voice was thick with sleep as she relaxed into him, her hands sliding across his skin with a steadiness they didn’t normally possess. “Come back to bed, love. You don’t need to leave.”

She slipped one of her hands down to his, aiming to take it in hers and lead him back to the bed. That fire that normally burned her chest until she couldn’t breathe had calmed to something warm and gentle. She let him feel it, filling him up with her warmth the best she could.​
 
He heard her moving in the dark, and was braced for her voice, her touch. The warmth crawled up his body from her hands, like somehow it was going to fill him up, make the hungry cold disappear. He felt the knot of guilt tighten in his chest. He hadn’t meant to wake her, and he already knew it would hurt her to hear what he had to say.

“Sorry.” His voice was rough in his own ears as she took his hand, as she tried to lead him back to bed. He stayed where he was with a soft, pained expression. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I… shouldn’t sleep here, anymore. I don’t think it’s safe.”

How was he supposed to explain that he even thought about devouring her in his dreams? Awake, at least, he could control himself. He could keep himself from hunting, keep his teeth off of her. But in his sleep, with her so close — it was what he’d been worried about in the first place. He let her see the worry in his eyes as he met hers in the dim light of the room. The exhaustion, despite days of rest. Despite just waking up.

And the fear. The fear of losing her when he couldn't stop himself, and she couldn’t fight back.
 

“I have the dreams too. You aren’t going to hurt me in a dream, silly. Now come sleep.” She wrapped herself around his arm when he didn’t follow her, resting her tired head against his bicep. Her heat was soft and summery, like standing directly under the sun in early summer, perfect basking heat. She yawned, covering her mouth with her free hand, before placing that gently over his heart, smiling at the beat.

Sam had never told Todd before that she had dreams of him eating her, killing her, ripping her apart. Dreams that scared her, just a bit, but that she knew would never happen. She’d never told him because she hadn’t known that he had them, too. Shared dreams. She’d had them with Alice too, on occasion. Dreams where they were able to run free and just be themselves. It had been so long that she’d forgotten they happened.

“A dream is just a dream, my love. You’re not going to hurt me. You never have before, not from this. You know I don’t lock my doors. If your sleeping mind wanted to, I’m sure you would have started sleepwalking and done it months ago. Now come back to bed with me. It’s like two am. You’ve barely had an hour of sleep.”

She chuckled a bit on the last sentence, finally turning her face up to look at him. She had an easy smile on her face, despite seeing the concern and fear in his. She pressed her lips to his arm, a gentle kiss to reassure him the best she could.​
 
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