18 for angst and 17 for fluff with remus and reader (not necessarily romantic)
“Leave! Me! Alone!” + “I’m here for you.”
Word Count: 811
Warnings: Mild blood, gore, and violence
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Three days.
Normally you couldn't even go an hour in Thomas's house without the duke popping in for some reason or another, and suddenly both twins had been off for days. Roman was almost imitating Virgil: much less energetic and spending most of his time in his room. Meanwhile Remus had been more aggressive for a while before completely disappearing.
Thomas thought it was all related to the creative block he'd been stuck in for those past few days and they'd be back to normal once he got past it. Regardless, you refused to let your friend suffer alone until then. Roman was well enough off with the light sides helping him, so you were more concerned about Remus.
Not only was he missing, he was undoubtedly the more unstable of the two and Janus was probably not the best help for him, whether or not he tried, so you took it upon yourself to make sure he was alright.
You had searched his room and all the creepy, dark corners of the mindscape, so you could only guess he was in the imagination.
"REMUS!" Unfortunately, the imagination was huge. At this point, you'd probably be out here for hours before-
SHRIEK!!!
You were startled out of your thoughts. The screech didn't quite sound human so that was good...probably. Now you really had to weigh your options: go towards the screaming and possibly find Remus even more homicidal than usual or turn around and wait for him to calm down and come back on his own after who-knows-how-long. Neither really seemed like a good idea, and the first option was definitely the more reckless of the two, but you hadn't made friends with Remus in the first place by playing things safe.
So against better judgement, you ran towards the screeches of whatever monsters lived in the imagination. You began to notice the splotches of red dotting the forest around you becoming bigger and more frequent the closer you got to the source of the noise, until the trees around you were coated in crimson blood.
Even if they aren't real, isn't he being pretty violent with these things? You couldn't help but think. I mean it's good if it helps his stress, but how much is he taking on to do all this?
Finally, you came to a small clearing. Several different monsters stood around to edges, as though waiting for a turn, and in the center you could see a blur of green and black fighting some sort of griffin. Well, fighting was a generous way to put it; the griffin could barely touch Remus while he attacked wildly from any angle he could get at, beating the creature to a mangled pulp. Even then, he seemed unsatisfied, giving the corpse a few more whacks, as though ensuring it was really dead, before it poofed out of existence.
Before he could call forward whatever beast he decided to massacre next, you called out to him.
"Remus!" He tensed at your sudden shout. "Are you-"
"Go away." He didn't even turn around.
"But-"
"You shouldn't be here."
"I'm here because I'm worried about you, Remus." He didn't respond. "I know you're frustrated, but there has to be a better way to-"
"You don't know shit!" He was still turned away, but you could see his grip tightening around his morning star as his body began to shake. "You've known me for what, a few months, and suddenly you know what's best for me?!"
"I just-"
"How long is it going to take to get you to understand? I don't need your help! LEAVE! ME! ALONE!"
You barely had time to dodge his weapon before it lodged itself into the tree behind you. Your eyes slowly raised to meet Remus's, who looked just as shocked at his actions as you were, and you could've sworn the Imagination itself held its breath for a moment. Then, just as quickly as he'd thrown the morning star, Remus darted over to you.
"Oh no, oh no, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I-" He looked you over for any sign of injury, reaching his hands towards you, but drawing them right back a moment later, as though he was afraid his touch alone would cause you to start bleeding out. You wrapped your arms around him and as you pulled him close, he almost instantly latched onto you. It took you a moment to put together his shaking and the growing wet spot on your shoulder.
"It's okay, Remus," you rubbed his back, "You can let it out. I'm here for you, y'know."
His only response was another sob and curling further into you. It would be a long while before either of you pulled away.
















