#cursed heritage

[b-griveros]

Im working on the concept of two characters for a new project called “Cursed Heritage”, they’re the twins Emma and Evan.

[writeahurricane]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Wooooo~ Another chapter completed :0 In this chapter Tanya finds out that there's a prophecy in that world. And Mikhael and Caellum get into a little spat before getting attacked!

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage - [14/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

   Talking to Josh had definitely helped Chris calm down. The blond youth felt more at home knowing that someone was watching out for him...Even if the reason behind it was quite hard to wrap your head around. It was good to keep his mind busy, he really didn't like the idea of Cyrillus coming back to pester him if he was alone. But, even if things were a little bit less uncomfortable at the moment, the bespectacled teen began to notice some things about the brunet.    During their conversational banter Chris noted how often Josh's eyes seemed to shift to the left or right. How he seemed a bit spaced out for a few seconds before going back to staring up into Chris' eyes. The eye contact didn't last long. His hands were twitchy as well...Was Josh having difficulty keeping focus? Was the topic starting to bore him?    A frown found it's way onto the mixed-heritage blond's face as he observed his ranting friend. He was definitely not looking at his eye, that green gaze of his darting away in various directions, almost as if double checking for something or another... A thought occurred to Chris, a thought he didn't really like. 'Perhaps the Fool is off his rocker once more?' Cyrillus' icy tone startled Chris ever so slightly before an annoyed glare claimed it's place on his face. 'Not now' he thought angrily. 'Josh doesn't need to listen to me rambling like a lunatic.' 'Such harsh words Christopher. Such harsh words that describe your precious pretty fool so fittingly.' Cyrillus mocked. 'Fuck you! Josh isn't a lunatic nor a fool!' Chris' glare intensified. 'He's my friend. My best friend! But I suppose you don't know what that is considering you don't have any friends!' 'Oh my, it seems my presence alone has already began to change you. How beautiful...' 'What? No it hasn't?' A look of concern crossed the blond's features, taking the glare's place. He didn't feel different? 'Oh but it must! You wouldn't be so cruel as to pick on someone for not having allies? Or would you? Are you secretly cruel Christopher? You must be...Because I had not come along yet when you decided to allow the Brute to manhandle the Fool like a toy...That was all you wasn't it boy?' 'What? No! I didn't--' 'But you did! I can see it! You even tied him up to a post...Tied him up and left him for dead like an ill animal...My my Christopher Freund...You and I aren't so different at all it seems.' "No!" Chris cringed at the mere idea of it. He was nothing like Cyrillus, he couldn't be! "C-Cochise?"    Chris looked down, realizing Josh was looking at him oddly. It then occurred to him that his last protest had come out aloud and not in his own mind. Great, now Josh probably thought something was up...Not that it wasn't, clearly something was indeed 'up', besides him that is. "Are you ok? You looked kinda spaced out dude..." Josh asked, scratching his arm absentmindedly.    Oh, he was spaced out? As if Josh hadn't been unfocused during their conversation as well, who was he to question if something didn't seem right with Chris? 'Compared to you, he is nothing...And when he realizes it he'll run away just like those others who fled as soon as they saw your greatness...'    A shiver ran down his spine. Despite currently not talking with Cyrillus, the giant was still going to insist on pestering him. And even if he was right and Jess and Matt had...Ran away from him...That didn't mean Josh would do the same.......Right? "I'm uh...My head is, my head is bothering me a bit." He lied, hoping Josh wouldn't catch on. He didn't need to bother him with this at the moment. "Oh...Well uh, I guess that's normal? You did just grow a ton dude. You're like a...Uh...Baby Godzilla sized or something?" "Ouch..." "I didn't mean that in a bad way or anything! Just uh...Size reference?" "Do you even know how big a baby Godzilla would be?" "Nah, just know it'd still be pretty big and you're pretty fucking ginormous bro. No offence."    Chris rolled his eyes before spotting Mike in the distance. It seemed like he'd managed to convince Matt and Jess to come back...But they'd refused to get out of the car. How pleasant of them, as if the blond didn't feel bad enough already. "Looks like it's time for you to chow down." Josh grinned. "Hope they brought some pizza." "Hope it's a thousand pizzas, I'm pretty hungry and I don't think just one will cut it for me." Chris admitted as his stomach began to rumble at the mere thought of food. How he'd wished he'd got to taste Ashley's food before he left. "A thousand pizzas...I could fill up a bathtub with a thousand pizzas!" Josh's face lit up at the idea.    A chuckle escaped the blond as he considered this. A pizza-bath did not sound pleasant, not in the least, but just watching Josh grinning about something so absurd was, well, very Josh-like! It was good to see that the new meds weren't messing too much with his mood, Chris knew how much his friend hated when that happened.    The warm feeling all but vanished as the gargantuan bespectacled teen thought back to what he'd been thinking about earlier, before Cyrillus interrupted him so abruptly. Josh's medication. After Blackwood, Chris had looked up the pills that his best friend had been prescribed previously. He'd looked into what sort of effects it had, or possible side effects. It hadn't been pretty. The blond had been horrified when he read the long list of maladies that those tiny little pills could bring, the headaches, the hallucinations...And stopping taking them? It had been one of the reasons why Chris had been so willing to forgive Josh. Partially, it was his fault for stopping...But genuinely? The entirety of the ordeal just seemed like everyone's fault, even his own. Mostly, the medication itself was the blame. It was just too strong and it clearly did not work properly. So knowing that Dr.Hill had prescribed something else? It made him feel a little bit better about the situation. More secure. These had to work...They just had to! He couldn't bare to watch Josh crash like he had in the shed.    Still...That spaced out look...The lack of focus? That shouldn't be happening right? He needed to pay closer attention to Josh, he just did. Chris really did feel like it was much more important than caring for his own immense sized problem. The blond could certainly deal with the annoying giant's spirit. He had to. For everyone's sake, specially Josh's at this point... "That's it, I'm filling the Malibu vacation house's pool with pizza next time we go there!"    The blond blinked as he was brought back to the present. Had Josh still been talking about pizza and artificial bodies of water? Seems so...Hopefully he hadn't noticed Chris hadn't been listening to him for a bit. "Dude, your parents would be pretty pissed off if they had to get the pool filters fixed because of cheese dripping into the inner workings." "Let them be angry all they want Cochise, it'd be SO worth it!" "What? Swimming in cheese?! Ew no, it'd be gross and greasy!" "What would be?" Mike asked as he walked closer to the two, the car following him the whole way at a snail's pace.    Josh grinned happily, which made Chris laugh. Despite the sharp teeth, that smile was still all Josh and as goofy looking as usual. "Josh wants to fill up the vacation house's pool with pizza." The blond replied, rubbing a tear out of his eye. "Really? Dude, that'd be pretty gross! The sun'd make all of the cheese melt into a sticky mess!" Mike cringed. "You two are such killjoys, you know that?" The Washington boy pouted. "No, we're reasonable people. We gotta make sure you don't end up causing your parents any financial grief." Chris pointed out, grinning from ear to ear. "Fuck that shit, if I fucked up the pool they'd just get a bigger and better one. Have you met my dad? He bought a mountain and put a shooting range near a ski lodge, as if that wasn't asking for trouble..." "Said mountain was also cursed by crazy native american cannibal spirits." Mike added. "See? Double trouble. Guns and monsters. Lesson here? Never buy a mountain if you're rich."    Chris rolled his eyes at this. The mountain was still pretty touch a subject in his opinion, but at least now Josh was actually talking about it instead of becoming reclusive like before. That still...Worried him a bit...But for now he wanted to focus on getting something into his aching belly.    The blond's gaze ventured towards the car, where he could make out Matt's and Jess' form shrinking back in fear as soon as they saw he was looking at them. This made Chris feel a twinge of guilt and self-consciousness. They were still scared, even if he was clearly not going to hurt them. Was he that menacing in appearance at this size? Josh and Mike sure hadn't acted like it... "Alright you two, time to unload the goodies." He turned to look back at Josh who was knocking on the car window. "We got a friend who needs some large portions right now."    Chris flinched. Large portions, how nice...As if he didn't already have to lose some weight, way to make him feel better about it! 'My aren't you a petulant child, whining about everything...A large gut means sufficient food.' 'Fuck off, not now.'    The voice of the giant subsided, which surprised Chris a bit. Shaking his head he looked back down at his friends again. Matt and Jess were out of the car but they wouldn't budge away from it. It seemed like Mike and Josh were the ones unloading the trunk. Maybe now he should try to ease their fears a bit? "Uh...Hi?"    They flinched, how pleasant. Ok, maybe a greeting wasn't a good idea, they certainly didn't look like they needed one at the moment. Still he couldn't just let this go, they needed to know he was still himself, even if he was bigger than a giraffe and probably heavier than a stack of hippos. "I'm not going to do anything to you, if that's what you're worried about..."    From the corner of his eye he could see Josh peeking, probably accessing if things would get out of hand. Jess and Matt still seemed unsure. "..." Chris sighed impatiently. "Come on guys, you know me! I wouldn't just take advantage of...What ever this is, and use it to hurt someone! I'm your friend, remember?" "We know!" Matt shouted, which surprised the blond a bit. "It's just--" "Weird!" Jess cut in. "Y-Yeah...I'm sorry man, but this is...Josh stayed the same size when he--It's really freaky to look at you when you're like..."    Chris frowned sadly. Freaky and weird, yeah that about summarized it. He was a ginormous freak and he probably scared everyone else just as much as he scared Jess and Matt. "I get it." He spoke as softly as he could, he knew the volume of his voice probably spooked them even more than his overall appearance. It added to it. "...We're sorry Chris, this is just too much..." Jess looked down as she said this, incapable of looking him in the eye. "No no, it's fine I get it. Don't worry about it." He didn't even remember sitting down, but once more the blond found himself getting back on his feet, which alarmed the others."I'm just, gonna go for a walk." "Chris, bro! You should probably eat before you--" "Not hungry anymore." "But Cochi--" "I SAID I'M NOT HUNGRY!"    Chris flinched when he realized he'd shouted. That had been a bit unexpected, but it sure had it's affect on the others. Mike dropped the bags he was holding to grab at his aching ears, Jess and Matt hid behind the car and Josh flinched violently before grabbing at his own ears as well. He was right, every single one of them was scared of him. With a frustrated huff the giant teen turned around and stomped off, the ground shaking with each angry step. 'I told you they knew they were nothing compared to you...They fear your greatness. Your power. Your size.' 'They're scared of me, and it's all your fault.' 'Let them be. I offered you a gift unlike any other, boy. You should learn to be more grateful.' 'Fuck you. I HATE you.' 'I can guarantee you won't for long...'    The bespectacled blond sighed sadly, leaving the last statement unanswered. He was too tired of all this bullshit to muster up the strength to reply. All he wanted to do for now is just get away from everyone and everything. He needed some time to think. Time which he clearly did not have... "I need to go after him." Josh spoke up as he got away from the car and started moving quickly after the distant form of the giant, each large step taking him further and further away from them all. "Are you crazy? He was really angry!" Matt exclaimed. "Exactly! Chris doesn't cope well with anger, he needs someone to talk to about it..." "What, like you're suddenly the expert around here? When did you turn into a psychologist?" "Everyone, quiet down!" Mike glared at them both. "Josh, as much as I'd like to agree with you, maybe it's best if we let him cool down a bit before we go after him. And Matt, I know this is all pretty fucking weird and...I donno...Impossible sounding? But Chris is still pretty much himself? Maybe a little bit moody, but he's still our friend." "I know that! But you know how clumsy he is as well! One wrong move and we're dead. How do you think he'd feel if that happened, uh?" Matt interjected. "We have to be careful about this situation!"    Jess bit her lip as she looked at her three friends, she was just as scared and confused as Matt but she still felt bad for making Chris storm off like that. How would of she liked it if the same happened to her? She considered saying something when one of their phones started ringing. It sounded like Mike's. "It's Em, again...Maybe she has some news?" Mike said, looking hopefully at the number display. "Maybe, pick it up then! Come on!" Josh pushed a bit, staring at the ringing phone and then at the direction Chris had gone off to.    Wordlessly, Mike did just that. He didn't even have time to say anything before Emily began bombarding him with news. His face lit up when he heard that there was a way to cure Chris of his supernatural ailment...But the happiness quickly fell when she mentioned the little "catch" in their plan. "You have no idea if he's going to go back to normal size?!" Mike screeched into the phone, which got him a yell in return. "Ok! Ok! Fine, Jesus! Sorry...Look...Just...Get that stuff and meet with us! We'll go get Chris--Yeah he ran off, he was pretty upset over--Ok ok, slow down what? Oh...Oh fuck...Ok yeah! We're going! Bye!"    Josh, Matt and Jess frowned at the panicked look that had etched it's way into the handsome brunet's face. Was something wrong? Well, more than it already was? "Good news and bad news. The good news is that there's a way to fix this mess...Bad news is, Chris might be stuck in his new size...And stress causes him to grow larger and larger...If we don't get to him, that asshole of a spirit's gonna take control of him." "WHAT?!" All three of them quickly turned to look in the direction the blond giant had disappeared off to. Not good.    Not good at all.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage - [13/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. A shorter filler chapter to see what Sam, Ashley and Emily are up to before we get to some more blond nerd torture. [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

   "Guys, I think I finally found someone who's legit' got some info." Sam spoke up, looking up from the laptop and over at Emily and Ashley.    She'd been trying to find information that may be of use to saving their asses from what may possibly be a very dangerous and highly aggressive spirit. Of course things had not gone smoothly, not at all. Endless streams of misinformation and fake bullshit had come and gone. "Yeah right, just like you found those other fifty 'legit' sources?" Emily snarked. She was starting to sound incredibly annoyed at this point. Neither the blonde or redhead could blame her. "Yeah yeah, I know I know! My bad." Sam grumbled. "But this time I'm 100% sure we have an expert. I promise." "How can you be so sure?" Ashley asked. "Hate to say it Sam...But uh...Emily's right. We've found a lot of bullshit links full of made up stuff on the supernatural." "I'm sure, because this is the only place so far that's actually talked about Wendigos accurately."    This made both skeptical girls perk up. A look of surprise crossed their faces as they went to check the screen. No tales of furry deer skull monsters, the actual real deal. Lanky emaciated body, long bony hands with razor sharp claws, milky white eyes and jaws that could make a great white weep and wet the bed...Really detailed pictures and drawings, similar to the ones in the Stranger's book. "There's more than just Wendigos. Demons, spirits...This blog has like, a hundred topics on several different monsters. And they're all as detailed as this page." Sam explained."There's a tab on spirit-based curses. The Wendigo is under that tab and so will probably be our current issue."    Ashley sighed in relief before motioning for Sam to start looking. Emily however didn't think this would be as easy as just clicking a new tab open. They looked through each name of each bizarre sounding curse, until they rested upon one in particular. "The 'Gigas Grandis' curse?" Ashley muttered. " 'Gigas Grandis' ?" Emily grimaced. " That literally spells out 'Giant Big' in Latin." "I didn't know you took Latin?" Sam turned to look at the mixed race girl. "It was either that or Spanish and frankly there's just so many 'Donde está la biblioteca' jokes one can take...So I decided to go for Latin instead. It wasn't too bad either, pretty frigging easy actually."    Sam muttered a quiet 'O' before nodding. She knew that most of said jokes would have probably come from Josh either way so Emily definitely had a reason to be pissy. When Josh started throwing in jokes, Chris would usually join in and Chris just didn't know when to stop. "Giant big, that sounds about right anyway." The blonde clicked on the link.    The page loaded quickly. It was full of quite a nice amount of text (Most of which the trio hoped would be useful for them) and topping the page was a detailed sketch of what appeared to be a man in the shade of a giant's figure. "The 'Gigas Grandis' is an odd curse that originated in ancient Greece. It was often called the 'Giant's Promise' and it depended solely on two factors. That the one the giant cursed would bare many generations to come and that a descendant of said cursed person would eventually gain contact of any artifact that mentioned the giant in question."    So far it sounded perfectly like what had occurred to Chris. Cyrillus had cursed his own descendants since he'd impregnated the poor woman he'd stolen from the lone soldier. Since none of his children had ever been near an object that had belonged to Cyrillus nor a manuscript that spoke of his existence to them, they'd never been forced to bare the brunt of the curse. Chris however had found out about the giant when they'd gone to the new exhibit, thus the giant's spirit had been freed from it's slumber and come back as promised. "Yes...But how do we fix it?" Ashley asked, squinting as she scanned through text.    The three silently read before Emily's eyes widened in alarm. "The curse depends on negative feelings alone. The more the host body becomes stressed and upset, the more likely the spirit will be allowed to force the host to undergrow a steady growth. Shit!" "...That explains why his growth spurts were so odd." Sam muttered. "It also explains why it took a while to start after we went to the museum." Ashley stated. "Chris was a lot more cheery after meeting up with everyone...But he kept having nightmares and the lack of sleep started stressing him out a bit. And the more he grew the more he got upset when we found out something was wrong! If he gets any worse..." "Lets not focus on that!" Sam urged. "Focus on a cure!"    They read on and on, slowly feeling dread make their skins crawl. Nothing on a cure so far...Until... "Here!" Ashley yelled, poking the side of the laptop's screen. "The spirit will take over the host after achieving full growth. Then it'll remain in control for three days until the host becomes accustomed and enamored with the giant's life style. Sufferers of the curse will actively become lustful and aggressive and disregard humanity completely...However before the three days are over, the host may be saved if the spirit is correctly exorcised from the body." "Ok, an exorcism...But what do we need?" Sam asked. "Not done yet, look." Ashley scrolled down. "To exorcise the spirit of the giant, the host needs to be in the presence of their mate...'Mate'?" "That'd be you. You're both fucking each other now, so..." "Emily!" "What? It's true!" "U-Uh...Anyway...The host body needs to be around their mate and has to be convinced to drink a powerful remedy made of a series of listed ingredients. If the host recognizes the person as their mate, they will regain their senses and accept. The remedy will then purify the body and destroy the giant's soul, setting the sufferer free. These ingredients can be found down bellow with a set of pictures...Ok great, looks like we'll need to go for another shopping run..." "That is, if any of that stuff can be found at a convenience shop." Emily pointed out."Which I doubt." "Wait, wait! Sam, reopen the tab." Ashley exclaimed suddenly, shaking the blonde's arm. "Uh? What for? I snapped a picture with my phone..." "Not the ingredients! I just want to make sure that after Chris is exorcised, that he'll go back to normal size." "Ooooh...Good point."    The blonde quickly restored her tab and began to scroll downwards once more. The three silently scanned the text before coming across a few bolded lines. Side effects of the transition from man to giant may include slight increase of height, unpredictable temper fits, increase in libido and appetite. Some cases could not stand the process of recovery and died of internal hemorrhaging. Some cases were even stuck at a certain unnatural height. Total recovery is, inconclusive.    The trio of teenage girls stared at the screen before looking at each other, completely horrified at the idea of the changes being permanent. They had been with Josh, so who's to say Chris wouldn't be stuck as a freakishly huge man after this was over? And then, what would they do? Only one way to find out.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage - [12/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. When you got problems that literally make you burst out of a cave, you know things are bad. Thankfully you have a best friend to help you deal with shit...A best friend who's making a very bad decision at the moment. These poor kids are in for a bad time... [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

   Of course big leaps or not there were still a lot of problems that had yet to be solved and, while the tension had lessened considerably, Mike couldn't help feel like he needed to keep a close eye on Josh. Something about his outburst had worried him momentarily. Well, not momentarily, he was still quite conserned actually, but could you blame him, really? If anyone had any reasons to be a bit jumpy and paranoid, it definitely had to be Mike or anyone else of the group who'd survived the horrors up in the Washington Lodge. Some gut feelings had to be listened to at some very specific moments. Ones in which he preferably had no access to guns nor was in a state of stress and blind panic. That one he'd learned the hard way, sheesh. However, suspicious behavior or anomalous cuss filled meaningful conversations were the type of things one needed to be careful about, specially if the one expressing these was Joshua Washington. Josh wasn't one to share what bothered him. At least not under "normal" conditions.    Sadly Mike couldn't say keeping an eye out for the shorter brunet was currently high on his priority list. The whole Greek Curse dilemma was still far too important to shove to the side, like the very few worksheets he'd thrown away in his earlier days of college (Heck, first year homework had nothing on this bullshit). "So he's asleep for now?" The cigarette had long extinguished, having been neglected through out the course of their discussion. "Pretty much, yeah..." Josh replied, surgical mask twisting in his hold as he played with the fabric, a strange calmness in his voice. "Definitely needs it. He's sore all over and he'll probably have some pretty messed up headaches soon. Can't be easy getting this big in one night." "Probably isn't. Wouldn't really know." Mike stated as he finally let go of the cigarette and stamped it out, for good measure, even if it was clearly not lit anymore. Something about Josh's initial theme of conversation had hammered into his conscience. No point in pissing off Smoky the bear, right? "Me neither." Josh chuckled "But well uh, this kinda settles an argument or two." "What does?" "Now that Chris is like, I donno...20 feet tall or something? Yeah that sounds about right, now that he's 20 something feet tall the argument of who's taller is finally settled. Christopher Freund 1, Joshua Washington 0."    A laugh escaped the taller brunet, again with the ridiculousness? He really did not know how to read into Josh's train of thoughts. It must be one confusing rail system...Maybe more akin to a roller coaster than a train, actually. However the laugh faded as the area was slowly illuminated by the pale glare of headlights.    The two brunets tensed visibly, a bitter taste in the back of their mouths and eyes squinted due to the harsh glare of light. could someone else know where to find this place? And if so, was Chris really safe hiding here? They relaxed not too long after these worries began to plague their minds. Following the startling brightness, was a car both Michael Munroe and Joshua Washington recognized. Matt's car. He'd arrived with Jess. This of course meant they were probably loaded with food. Something Chris probably really needed just as much, if not more, as a nap.    20 minutes of rest were not enough in the blond's opinion. If anything, he felt like it hadn't made much of a difference...Or rather, he felt like it had made it worse actually. Chris' body was aflame with agony, pain blossoming from every little twitch of his sore muscles. His skin was irritably sensitive for some reason. With his head pounding, mouth tasting of copper and his tongue and eyelids feeling like lead, Chris felt nothing if not indisposed and quite frankly, upset. He tried moving, but it didn't seem to work too well. A groan escaped the groggy and pained giant, his body had grown far too much during his much craved respite. In fact, it had grown so much larger that he was virtually stuck, like how he had been when he'd tried crossing Sams' living room doorway and ended up breaking it instead. This however was sturdy rock and not a wooden construct. It would not bend and splinter like the doorway had when he'd tried forcing his embarrassingly round behind though. How was any of this, fair? Had Chris done anything that had made him deserve so much torment? Clearly he had, in a past life.    Another groan escaped his mouth as the lack of space fully registered in the bespectacled blond youth's mind. Stuck, no room for movement, impossible to escape, can't breath! Panic began to swell into an all-consuming mass in his brain and, soon enough, Chris was wriggling and kicking as much as he could. He felt crushed! He couldn't get out! Why did he agree to go into a cave when he had no idea of just how much larger he'd get?! Oh god he needed out! HE NEEDED OUT NOW!    Against his better judgement, Chris continued in his struggles to escape the confines of the shrinking cave. His claustrophobia had gotten the better of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Cyrillus chuckled in amusement.    Explaining the situation could have gone a lot better than it had, in Josh's opinion at least. It wasn't every night that someone who'd told two friends she hated them would just randomly call and ask for enough food to feed an army. It certainly wasn't every night that said food would be put into the growing list of expenses the Washingtons had taken up for the group. But most jarringly, it wasn't every night you got to see one of your friends burst out of a crumbling cave while standing taller than the most humongous tree in the whole entirety of the woods. Mike and Josh found that this was one of such odd nights.    They'd just about started telling Matt and Jess about Chris' "slight inconvenience" when they'd been interrupted by the sound of crumbling of rock and rumbling of destruction, which rung from inside the cave. Josh's first instinct was to run over, his second instinct was ducking at a very startling speed when a far too large arm smashed through part of the rocky wall and nearly took him out in one go as a gigantic twitching hand groped at the ground and clawed into it with nails that weren't too long but certainly needed a trim by now. The arm was followed by a leg, and then another arm and another leg once more. Then Chris' whole body emerged from the destroyed crumbling mess that used to be a cave. Used to be shelter.    Naturally Josh and Mike stayed put (although for a second there, they'd been happy to have gone to the bathroom beforehand as soiling themselves wouldn't be the best thing to do when trying to show support) as they were already very much aware of the situation at hand. Matt and Jess however began to scream their heads off and had tried to do a run for the car. A jock and a scarred beauty, running clumsily through the woods, were not exactly the most graceful sighs to grace the land.    Both brunets shared a look of mild distress before nodding to each other and parting ways. Mike running after the two terrified friends who'd arrived at the wrong time; Josh running up to a clearly upset Chris who needed some help. "Holy fuck Cochise! That was some shit timing for a growth spurt!" "I'm sorry, I can't control it..." The blond had replied after he'd regained his breath. He hated tight spaces. "Shit, your voice is a lot louder and deeper too...This is getting pretty freaking bad..."    The bespectacled blond frowned sadly and looked away. How he hated this, he just wanted to be normal again! But, every second that ticked by seemed to suggest he wouldn't know normalcy for a good long time. "I'm so sick of this Josh!" Chris complained. "I want to be normal again! I want to go home!"    A look of sympathy, oh how Josh knew that feeling... "I know big guy, but you can't go like this...Hate to say it bro, but you'll probably have the same affect you had on Matt and Jess with complete strangers, probably worse since Mike will at least TRY to explain what's up."    The wrong choice of words. Chris' frown increased in levels of misery, the blond bringing his legs to rest against his chest while he hid his face behind his knees and curled in on himself. Josh winced. Christopher Freund 02, Joshua Washington -1. How could he make himself sound reassuring without accidentally messing up? He couldn't just have a bit of a cuss fest like he'd had with Mike...Chris would realize things weren't exactly 100 with him as well. Which was not ideal. For the second time of his life, Josh regretted not taking his medication... But...No one really needed to know that.    The tanned brunet worked his jaw, moving it from side to side absent mindedly as he considered a few options. The scrapping of tooth against tooth reached his ears and suddenly Josh was very much aware that he still hadn't placed his mask back where it properly belonged. On his face. Embarrassment crept up and the damaged scarred skin on the left side of his face began to contrast with the right side as it remained paler than the blush that had spread to his cheek and nose. He wasn't sure what point he was trying to make when he started yelling at Mike about his freaky mouth but now he regretted ever removing the mask. He didn't like how sad Chris' eyes seemed to get when he stared at the sharp teeth and scarring. "You're doing it again." The muffled and unnaturally deep voice of the blond in question, cut through his thoughts like butter. "Uh? Doing what?" Josh couldn't help ask, curiosity had always been a weak point of his. "That scrapey thing you do when you're thinking too hard." Chris replied, looking over his knees to stare down at Josh. "With the teeth." "Oh." The brunet acknowledged, trying not to twitch his jaw again.    It had become a habit of his, one that often annoyed anyone he interacted with actually...Even Sam had complained about it on occasion. Dr. Hill had suggested it was a nervous tic, one he'd gotten because his teeth felt wrong and it just felt more comforting to stimulate the jaw's muscles from time to time so that he could forget about the jagged horrors that protruded from his gums. Not a very good way to forget they existed really, since they made a weird scraping noise anyway. Mike had once jokingly suggested it was just a weird instinct thing, like how hamsters chewed on stuff to keep their teeth in check. Somehow it felt more like the correct option than Dr. Hill's "too human" theory. "Sorry, I don't notice it always." He decided to apologize. "No no...It's fine I guess. Kinda comforting." "Really?" Josh raised an eyebrow at that, his sensitive eye stinging as the eyelid pulled back more than he'd wanted. The blurred vision didn't help. "How?"    Chris moved, which Josh assumed was probably a shrug from a very low perspective, his own, compared to how much bigger the blond was now. "I don't really know. I just kinda associate that noise with you by now? It feels familiar." Chris tried to explain. "Like uh....Uh..." "Ash's home-knit beanies?" "Yeah! That! I just associate it with you, like how I associate Ash with homemade beanies." "So me making weird noises feels comforting, like beanies." Josh wrinkled his nose a bit."That's...Kinda gay, Cochise." "Oh my god Josh..." A deep rumble, was Chris actually chuckling? That was good! He'd done good for once! "Maybe you're right, but it's not gay if I say 'No homo' right?" "Nah, still pretty gay." Josh laughed. "But hey, nothing like some good old fashioned homemade beanies, amirite? Got a bit of love carefully crafted into them, the kind that sweeps you away in a shower of kisses and cuddles." "And I'm the one that sounds gay?" "Bi and proud bro! Bi and proud!"    The two sat like that for a few minutes, the atmosphere around them slowly feeling more comfortable than sad. Deeper within the blond's mind, Cyrillus snarled in irritation. The Fool's influence was just as strong as the Autumnal Muse's. There had to be a way for the curse to be finalized...His descendant had just barely made it to 35 feet tall, just 15 to go before he could finally take over! To get this to work however...Cyrillus had to isolate the gullible blond, if he managed that he'd be able to swiftly take hold and then he could have his fun. And then suddenly, an idea. The two others who had ran, maybe their reaction is just what Cyrillus needed.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage - [11/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. Sorry this one took me so long. I'm actually dealing with some course tests at the moment so I've been focusing on that mainly for the past few days. So bare with me friends! [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

   Mike contemplated the few choices he had at hand. He was sitting down by a log near the lake, feet just shy of the water's edge, a few meters away from the entrance of the cave they'd hidden Chris in. In his back pocket was his cellphone, in his front pocket a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Neither of these things could ease his current worries, not even the blissful and cancerous lungful of smoke that usually got him to tone it down just a few notches. No, smoking wasn't going to cut it today.    The trek from the city to the woodland area had been a lot easier when the sense of urgency really hit them, specifically after the last call he'd received. An ancient Greek curse, of course it had to be an ancient Greek curse, when the hell wasn't it a curse? It had been back in the mount, so why the fuck not? So, now knowing just what they were dealing with, A murderous giant's damned spirit, the trio had just about bolted. The hell with caution, they had to get out. And so they'd done.    Mike contemplated what he should do now. Should he risk a call to Emily? Or should he just give in and give his lungs another run for the money with another of Marlboro's devil sticks? One of these options sure did sound less damaging than the last, and it came free of shrill screams that could rip through his poor eardrums. Fuck it.    The soft click of the lighter wasn't quite enough to drown out the noise of footsteps coming from the direction of the cave. Josh had gone to in not too long ago to see how the blond was doing and, to be quite frank, Mike didn't really much care if the shorter brunet saw him smoking or not. "You better watch it Munroe." The solemn voice of the surviving Washington teen reverberated through the silent woodland air. "If Smoky the Bear catches you, you're pretty fucked."    A harsh cough, the seriousness of the tone had come as a bit of a surprise due to the sentence being pretty much nonsensical. Who even talked about Smoky the Bear anymore? Fazbear was where it was at these days. "That or your lungs' will go on strike against you. You're not paying them enough to deal with smokers in their workplace." "Jesus dude, cut it out!" Mike hissed through clenched teeth, rubbing at his watering eyes. His cigarette smoke had never tasted so bitter. "Cut what out?" The older male asked, feigning unawareness to his own little plot."Warning you against the dangers of lung cancer and forest fires?" "The voice! Shit, I can't stand hearing YOU of all people sounding so serious when you're pulling this random crap out of your ass!"    This got a reaction out of the other that Mike internally groaned at. The corners of Josh's eyes had crinkled in delight, the slight dimple of his right cheek beneath the mask was exposed enough for Mike to catch sight of it. Joshua Washington was amused, at Mike Munroe's expense of course. "I fucking hate you..." The tired brunet sighed, going back to focusing all his worries on his cigarette, the ashes fluttered to the ground when he moved just a little bit. "Do you now? I didn't realize with just how MUCH you clearly care." The sarcasm was heavy and it sent waves of guilt down Mike's spine. Right, there was that... "...How's Chris?" A diversion, good thinking Munroe. Good thinking. "Asleep. He's probably exhausted and I don't think he's stopped growing either. He's probably gonna get bigger and bigger as he sleeps...Which I'm not sure if it's a good thing because he isn't aware of being in pain or if it's worse 'cuzz it could fuck up his dreams..." "Doubt they'd be any more messed up than usual. Ashley kept saying he wasn't sleeping right." Mike stated, flicking more ash at the ground as he watched the tip of the cigarette burn away. He should quit at some point, he smelled like a dingy old shop back in Texas. The one his uncle bought all of his stuff from. "Yeah, he can't really stomach the shit he sees too well." The Washington youth replied, seeming to be slightly uncomfortable. "That's pretty much my fault."    Mike snorted, a laugh caught between his throat and nose. Playing the obvious asshole card, uh? Two could play that game. "Pretty much? Pretty fucking absolutely." Mike said, dropping the cigarette and stamping it out. "You ran around terrorizing the fuck out of Chris and Ashley, dressed like a circus clown and a mime fucked and had a weird drugged up emo clown baby. You even dragged Sam into it as well and forced her to run around in a towel while you chased after her like a deranged pervert. So yeah, your fault." "You trying to make me cry, Michael?" The other's voice remained calm, a surprise for Mike, any other time and he knew Josh would have tried to sock him. "Not gonna work, you know why? Because I'm not sugar coating it. It was my fault, it was messed up in so many ways and in the end my fucked up prank hid some pretty horrible dangers that nearly got everyone killed."    Josh paused for a second, hand coming to hover near his face, right above the edge of the surgical mask. He seemed to be thinking a lot about his next move and words before finally reaching for the mask and pulling it down. "Look at me, Mike." He hissed, sharp fangs bared and scars proudly displayed. "You think I deserved being the one surviving THIS shit? Hannah deserved to have found some sort of curse more than I did...I was the fucked up child, the black sheep of the family and the twins were the perfect lambs of god. And frankly, that never bothered me. I grew up being just the bad product but I also grew up cherishing those two more than our parents did. And you know what? I wish I'd not allowed them to give in as easily as they had, maybe then Hannah would be standing here instead of me, telling you off for being a pissy cock." "I'm the pissy cock? You're the one bringing up THAT into this conversation. Not everything's about you!" "Well yeah? And not everything is about YOU either!" The Washington boy snarled, silencing the younger teen. "I spent months in therapy after what happened up there, thinking lesser and lesser of myself because of my shitty choices. I made the decision to stop taking my meds and going after you assholes for what happened...I chose to not let go. And I chose to eat a person instead of starving to death down in satan's frigid ass crack. How fucking cowardly is that?! I could have had help, I could have tried to get better instead of giving in...Fuck I'll probably give up again at some point and make some even shittier decisions...But you know what? I've realized I can actually learn from the experience instead of moping about it forever like I planned back in that mountain."    Another prolonged pause, the Washington boy taking a minute to regain his breath and collecting his thoughts. Then after a fair amount of blissful silence, he continued. "Mike, Jess' told me you've been pretty low. You got shit to deal with, pent up anger, a brick wall of guilt, nightmares...Yeah I was angry that you left me down there to die. You downright abandoned me! And I was so fucking pissed off at you! Still am!" He rolled his mismatched eyes. "But that doesn't mean you got to feel shitty just cuzz I'm angry at you for a decision made during a pretty bad moment. Under pressure we crack and turn into complete assholes. You made horrible decisions, so did I, so did everyone else. And we can all be angry at each other forever, who even cares? But we can't just go about being angry at ourselves forever. Shit happens, I'm sick in the head, Chris is currently about the size of a large tree. That's how things work, and it's gonna annoy us till the day we take our dirt nap but hey! We can't just let that stop us from getting better."    Mike remained quiet, even as Josh finished delivering his crudely worded awe inspiring speech. Joshua Washington was a charismatic person, entertaining, a party animal too. Joshua Washington was not a debate king. Joshua Washington had somehow silenced what ever mixed feelings of anger and self-loathing Mike Munroe had been feeling. How the fuck did that even work? "Anyway, all that touchy-feeling psychological mumbo jambo aside..." The older teen said "What I'm trying to get at is. We're all shitty people Mike. Dickheads, cuntsuckers really. But that doesn't mean we get to hate ourselves for it. We got a second chance for a reason right? We can make it better. And we can start by helping Chris, because lets be honest I'm really not looking forward to carting food into the woods every day if my best friend turns into Cochisezilla." "...I really don't get you sometimes." Mike stated in a tired voice, hiding his face behind his hands before dragging them down. He groaned. "Right, so I guess I should call Matt and Jess, see where they are and then call Emily to see if they got any idea how to get a grumpy old giant to uh, unpossess someone." "Is that even a word?" "Who gives a flying frick about that?!" "GASP! Michael! Such vulgar language!" "Shut up! Jesus fruitcake hotsauce bananas, you're unbelievable sometimes!"    As the atmosphere changed to that of a less tense one, the pair sat unaware of the pair of large blue eyes that watched them silently. A look of amusement crossed the blond bespectacled youth's face before he retreated further into the cave where he could go back to sleep. Hopefully this time a more peaceful one without a heated argument between friends to get in the way of a few minutes of rest. Chris was glad that, despite being in this abnormal situation, at least now he was sure Josh and Mike were getting somewhere in terms of healing. Admitting the problem was a big leap.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage - [10/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. Sorry this one took me so long. I'm actually dealing with some course tests at the moment so I've been focusing on that mainly for the past few days. So bare with me friends! [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

   There was a lot of the Blackwood Mountain Incident that Chris remembered, most of it being the aftermath of the events that unfolded at the Washington Lodge. There were also a few snippets of things that happened in the duration of said incident, all of them relating to bad choices he'd made. Chris remembered helping Mike drag a psychotic Josh towards the shed. Chris remembered his best friend, his bro, wailing and begging for them to listen to his deranged babbling. Chris remembered calling Josh a coward and ignoring his cries. Chris remembered punching him in the face. Chris remembered tying him up to a beam. Chris remembered returning with a complete stranger, only to find Josh gone. Chris remembered the stranger dying and the Wendigo assault at the Lodge. Chris remembered salvation. Chris remembered guilt.    After all of it had happened, the police interrogations and the endless stream of psychiatrists, the blond had began to think on the matter. He'd thought and thought and suddenly it had become clear to himself. Chris was a complete jackass and a horrible friend. He should have known something had been going wrong with Josh, he was one of the few people that actually knew the Washington boy was on medication! The twins vanishing? Josh's attempt of suicide afterwards? The loss of contact between the two of them? The older boy had needed help, and Chris had been too dense to see it, even when it was in front of his own two eyes. He'd failed Josh.    Ashley had denied this. Told him it hadn't been his fault. Ashley...Chris had thought about her too. About her panic and fear and what it had lead to back on the mountain. How she'd nearly got Emily shot by Mike, or how she'd stabbed Josh with a pair of scissors and not bother to tell him about why his friend had a legitimate reason to punch her? Anger, he'd been angry. But had he the right? No. Why? Because his own panic and fear had caused trouble as well.    Scissors or no scissors, Josh had punched Ashley and it in turn had gotten punched. That wasn't a big issue, no, because that little split second decision hadn't gotten anyone killed. Not like how it had gone with the Stranger. He should have let the man go on his own. The blond had only stalled him and it had cost the poor guy his life. Not only that but the run back had ended up causing Chris to trip up and sprain his ankle. He'd become a useless burden. Ashley? Ashley had the benefit of having been trying to defend herself from what she believed to be a murderous maniac. She'd been scared and panicked. They'd made bad decisions out of fear. Chris had simply led two people to what he'd assumed to be death. And then, Josh was found.    When the blond saw his best friend for the first time since the incident he'd cringed. Not due to disgust of Josh's overall appearance, but of the implications. Him, Chris, allowing Mike to drag Josh into a shed had given way to the mentally impaired Washington boy to become lost somewhere in a monster filled mine where his only option of food was a human corpse. He'd done this. Chris Freund was to blame. He was a horrible friend.    That had been in Blackwood Mountain, aka, Mount Washington. This was now. And, as Chris gazed around the rocky walls of the cave he was currently resting in, the bespectacled youth couldn't help but feel like he deserved this. Josh had been subjected to horrors due to an obscure curse. The same was happening to him. Only, Josh could hide his predicament with oversized clothes and a mask. Chris was far too large to do this.    A sigh escaped the blond as he curled up, his back against the cool surface of uneven rock. The cave he was in had been discovered by the group years before both incidents. Hannah and Beth had been with them still, camping with them had been fun. There had been marshmallows and colorful tents and pubescent companionship that would remain frozen in time in pictures that hid somewhere in discarded photo albums no one had the heart to look at anymore. The cave had an impressively large opening, big enough for him to crawl through even as another growth spurt forced another foot of height to be added to his abnormally large body. The ground was soft like wet clay due to the big lake that it was so close to. It helped a little bit with his back pains, which continue to torment him as he grew ever larger. His gums bled and his nose itched as the veins within his nostrils strained to remain intact as they stretched and enlarged with him. They'd burst eventually he was sure. Worse now were the stomach and joint aches that followed. 'Pathetic aren't you? Wallowing in both self-pity and self-loathing.'    An irritated huff escaped the blond's mouth, eyes snapping open in the dark as his brows furrowed. There was also that. The irritating voice. The voice that now had a name behind it. "Leave me alone..." He hissed under his breath, hoping to silence his tormentor. 'I see no reason to leave you on your own, not when you clearly so tense due to these magnificent growth spurts.' "Magnificent?!" Fists clenched tightly, knuckles popping noisily. "This is hell! Everything hurts and you're just pissing me off!" 'An exercise in anger. Your hormones are doubling stupid boy, you'll be pissed off even without my influence.' A dark chuckle followed. 'I can see the potential you have, descendant. Even if I was not present the sheer amount of testosterone running in your veins would ensure that you are aggressive towards anything smaller than you. They are all sources of irritation after all...'    Chris felt his knuckles relax as his hands went slack. He frowned as he considered those words. This voice, Cyrillus, he was wrong. 'Am I really? These creatures...The little Autumn Muse, the Fool and the uninteresting lackeys you identify with? They have caused you nothing but pain. Pain causes irritation and lack of peace of mind. Something you clearly need.'    Chris bit his lip, trying to think of a protest. The ancient giant's spirit continued. 'Even now you berated yourself for past mistakes that were clearly the fault of others, not yours. The Fool got lost? He shouldn't have playing such a cruel joke on you. The Muse got hurt? She shouldn't have held a knife to someone clearly stronger than her...The others? Well they are just in the way anyway...So why bother with them?'    It was disturbing how similar their voices were. It was what had made identifying Cyrillus as a different entity so difficult. Even now Chris had to remind himself that these ideas, these words, were not of his own construction. 'My boy, soon enough they will be. My curse states that I am to take the reigns, but not for long...No...I desire rest as well. I'll simply lay out the tiles to your new kingdom. You will be able to rule above all without ever fearing hurt. You'll be able to feast without needed to feel ashamed of what you eat...You will have all the women and men in the world when you so desire it. Starting with the little redheaded Muse. She is already yours, is she not? But wait, you're not content just with her...The Fool too, means something more to you...Does he not?' "W-What?" 'I can see it, you pine for him. Your member throbs for him just as much as it does for the pretty little Muse...And you feel shame for it. My my, what a beautiful mess you are. So lustful, so hungry for more.' "Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" 'Oh, but I do Christopher...I do. We are one in the same, I was just like you as a child. Small and afraid...But then I took hold of what I desired and I lived a grand life! Had that soldier not meddled, I'd have had so many more stories for your people to tell today.' The dark chuckles turned to full blown laughter. The type that sent chills down one's spine. 'Oh yes...I can tell you'll be quite the perfect heir...The legacy of Cyrillus shall not be forgotten! And those two, oh you'd never have to chose between them again dear Christopher. Not like you've been forced in the past. You can have them both, and they can have you and your seed dripping out of their orifices...I am certain the Muse would bare you many children.'    The blond shuddered. The plaques had not been lying, this giant was a perverted monstrosity. Preying not only on innocent people but also on Chris' own insecurities and personal issues. How could something so cruel as Cyrillus possibly exist? There was just no logic behind the cruelty of the monster. "S-Stop." 'Why should I? I can tell the idea arouses you. Do you like that? Picturing the two little pets covered in your--' "I SAID STOP!"    The bespectacled blond nearly jumped in surprise when his own thundering voice echoed back at him in the cavern walls. He'd momentarily forgotten where he was. And god did he hope neither Mike nor Josh had heard him shout. No one came into the cave, so he assumed they hadn't. Another sigh escaped the blond. "Just stop..." 'Hm....Very well then. For now I'll leave you. But be warned, your time is running out and I am sure your stomach would adore some nourishment soon...Less you begin feeling cravings worse than that of the Northern Horned-Beasts. The ones that have skin as pale as snow and hunger in their greedy hearts.' "Horned-Beasts...?" 'The term varies in many places...Here you have called them...Wendigos.'    What? What? Horned...? 'During Spring you will see what I speak of. Hm ehehe...Your Beautiful Fool will have the most impressive ornaments...Mehehe eh eh eh...'    And with that, Chris was left in silence. He did not dwell on these words, instead he shut his eyes once more. Cradling his aching stomach, the growing teen let out a groan. He was worked up, hungry and deadbeat tired. A nap couldn't hurt. Specially now that everything was so quiet again.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Cursed Heritage [9/?]

Summary: Months after returning and recovering from their hellish time in Blackwood Mountain, the group reunites for the first time outside of therapy to go to a new Greek Mythology exhibit at the Museum, only to discover that the 'Curse of the Wendigo' isn't the only malediction they have to fear. ---Sorry this one took me so long. I'm actually dealing with some course tests at the moment so I've been focusing on that mainly for the past few days. In fact I actually got two tests coming up this week and another three next week! So bare with me friends!--- [After much consideration I've decided to write a multichaptered UD fic to keep up with my writing practices! This story will focus on the preternatural side of the Until Dawn universe, which means curses! However this time around it'll be a little close to home for the characters to deal with instead of becoming a by-chance discovery like Hannah's fate.]

"Ok, so let me get this straight..." Emily pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes momentarily before glancing over to the redhead. "You're telling us, that your geek of a boyfriend is possessed by the spirit of a Greek giant that we've only ever heard of once in a museum exhibit?"    Sam and Ashley remained silent, still the latter nodded in affirmation. It was probably one of the weirdest things she's ever had to admit to theorizing but, considering the current events, it didn't seem as far-fetched as one would think. After all, had they not seen the Wendigos? Had they not considered Chris' "condition" to be something equally as supernatural? Surely the idea of an ancient Greek Curse couldn't be more absurd than an Algonquian Curse, right? "Ok, first, what the fuck???" Emily exclaimed to no one in particular. "Second, what is it with this group and getting cursed?" "Well Emily, technically speaking, only two people in this circle of ours has been officially affected by a curse. One of them is....Dead...The other still grieving the knowledge of that belated death, so watch what you say!" Sam stated firmly, clearly meaning so that the Korean-Japanese girl to tie her tongue if she ever were to even think discussing this theme when Josh was anywhere in the vicinity. "We don't really know if this is what's up with Chris, so we can't really think of this sort of thing as a reoccurring theme."    Ashley frowned, no she was certain of it. It had to be Cyrillus' curse! It made sense in it's own weird way, specially now that Mr.Freund had given her a few key pieces for this messed up puzzle they'd stumbled upon. Cyrillus cursed his bloodline, but it somehow didn't work until now. Chris was a descendant, one that seemed to have a few physical attributes similar to the depiction of the giant, she and Josh had even commented on it if Ashley recalled rightly. Maybe the hex only worked if the descendant was aware of it? Chris had mentioned he didn't recall his father ever mentioning the myth, so maybe? "No no no, it has to be it Sam! It just has!" The redhead protested. "Don't you remember how he started acting a bit quiet after the museum trip? He was all weird when he was reading the plaques. It just, adds up!" "How?" Emily probed. "How does it?" "...I...I don't know! I just have this really weird gut feeling about it. Please you two have to believe me! This is it!"    The blonde athlete seemed to relent, the fashionable teen did not seem as inclined to do so. Yet, somehow, the look Sam gave Emily was enough to silence what ever response the other had cooked up. "Ok, we believe you...But so what? We know what's changing him, so how does that help us fix it?" "Uh..."    The blonde was right on that one detail. How did they fix it? How did they ward off Cyrillus' curse? There hadn't been anything mentioned about it, heck Mr. Freund said that the soldier had been ready to take on the monster's child if they were to grow up like their father...And from then on, nothing but peace. Without a need to reverse this madness, the soldier had never really looked into it. This ended up being a problem for them now. "I have no idea...How do you get rid of possessions?" Ashley asked.    A shrug from Sam as a reply. The other teen had no idea either and neither did Emily. All they could really go on by was the ridiculous shit horror movies had to offer them, something which had at some point nearly cost one of them their lives. "We call a priest?" Sam suggested. "What, and go all 'The Exorcist' on Chris' fat ass?" Emily grimaced in response "No thank you, I'd rather not watch him spider-crawl up walls, or rotate his head or start projectile-vomiting all over the place. That's more of Josh's thing." "And what's that supposed to mean?!" Sam glared. "He's a horror fanatic! You were there for the fucked up shit he pulled, I only got glimpses at sketches he had in his notepad. He probably knows all of the quotes from both the original and remake of 'The Exorcist'...Maybe 'Carrie' too, seems like a movie he'd watch." "Are we seriously going to argue over what happened again?" "I'm not arguing, I'm stating a fact!" "Could you both just stop?!"    The two turned to look at a slightly flustered Ashley. Their conversation had quickly turned sour and it wasn't helping in finding a solution at all. They had to think clearly here. "We don't know how to help fix the situation....Maybe we should focus on making it uh...Less stressful?" "How exactly?" Sam asked, not meaning to sound pessimistic, genuinely asking.    The redhead hummed in thought, trying to remember what rusty facts she knew about Greek mythology. If she remembered correctly, Giants were typically humanoid or inhuman in appearance and tended to have a taste for chaos, destruction, war and human flesh. Cyrillus as he'd been depicted in the statue was definitely humanoid and he enjoyed those things as well, that would mean that if Chris succumbed to his will like in the legend then he'd probably be incredibly dangerous. Wherever it was Mike and Josh were taking him to hide was probably not far away enough, they had to fix that. "We need to call Mike, if this IS that giant's curse, then we need to get Chris away from a large population. We need to tell them to keep walking until they're as far away as possible." She paused for a few seconds, another thought occurring to her just then. "We uh, we also need ask them where they went off to and call Matt and Jess. Chris didn't have anything to eat yet and if he's growing larger he'll definitely be hungry. I really don't want to imagine what it must feel like to be that big and being on an empty stomach..." "You want us to tell Matt and Jess to turn around, buy some thousands of picnic baskets' worth of sandwiches and go off to feed your overgrown boyfriend? That's rich..."Emily half-laughed, earning another glare from Sam. "Em, come on..." "No, Sam seriously they have no idea what's going on! How do you expect them to understand what ever quest we suddenly decide to send them on?" "Cyrillus is a cannibalistic giant." The redhead stated coldly, surprising the other two girls."Em, I know I messed up back then on the mountain...But this time I'm 99% sure it's this...And if that spirit takes hold of Chris when he's larger than a house, I'm pretty sure he's not going to opt for a vegetarian diet for the sake of preserving his descendant's friendships...Look at what happened to Hannah...Did it really seem like she cared enough about us that she'd not wanted to hurt us? Josh got incredibly lucky she...She didn't rip him apart like she did the old man!"    The silence that followed was grim and heavy. They all knew Ashley was right, they couldn't risk something like this. Not this time.    Matt stopped at the red light, looking at the passenger seat with a reassuring smile before looking back in front of him. The steering will felt cold in his hands, despite having warmed slightly since he'd first started driving to Sam's apartment. Both of them lived the furthest away from the blonde athlete and, since Jess didn't have a car or a license, Matt had offered to pick her up when Mike had called earlier. He wondered what was up, what ever it was it sounded serious if it got Mike to stumble over his usually careful choice of words. The young African-American boy nearly startled out of his own skin when the ringtone he'd set up for Emily began to blare at top volume. Jess was giving him a questioning look as to why he'd set up 'She's a Manic' as Emily's theme. Forcing a cough, the jock quickly grabbed his cellphone and took the call. "Yeah?" "Hey Meathead, so uh...Ok this is gonna sound pretty fucking weird but I need you to stop and go get some food. Not some actually, like, a lot actually." "...Em?" "Look, don't ask. It's easier just to do it now. I'll text you some directions to where you need to take said food, just...Trust Ashley on this one." "Ashley? What's Ashley got to do with this...?" "Urgh, look when I say it's easier to just do it, it's because explaining it is hard and awkward as fuck. This is more of a, 'you got to see it to believe it' sort of thing. Just...Get it done with, alright?"    Matt bit his upper lip, unsure of what to say. Should he trust what Emily was saying and do what she asked? Or should he proceed to the apartment? It sure seemed a bit out of the blue to suddenly turn around and go grab a ton of food for a reason unknown to him, it would also probably frustrated Jess...But...Then again, Emily wasn't apparently asking on her behalf. Instead she was asking Matt to trust Ashley, Ashley of all people! Everyone knew Emily never spoke kindly of the redhead after what occurred in Blackwood Mountain, so what ever it was must be really important if the half Korean half Japanese girl was resorting to using the redhead as an affirmation of seriousness. Either way, Matt already had his mind set on what to do. So, without much of a thought, the darker skinned teenager turned the car around and drove. He'd have to tell Jess along the way back to his apartment...    This was beginning to become quite problematic. The trio had yet to fully escape the confines of the city and already Chris had suffered three more growth spurts. After getting dressed, the theory behind this set of clothing growing with the blond had been proven correct when he'd started inching upwards to the third and fourth floor's height without the fabric ever giving out once. This was a good thing, they doubted Chris underwear would have held any more of the abuse and neither Mike nor Josh wanted to take a look at the nerdy blond's oversized junk. It had already been quite awkward for the two to be at perfect eyelevel with the other's groin...However, now it was even harder for the growing teenager to remain hidden from prying eyes and if they did not successfully get out of town they'd surely be met with very dire consequences. "I recon you're probably somewhere around 15 feet tall...Give or take." Mike commented.    Chris didn't seem to like this idea, not at all. The larger male hid his face behind his hands and groaned. Another issue the growth spurt provided, Chris voice was deepening and the pitch sounded so absurdly off that it was somewhat disturbing to listen to. "This is so embarrassing..."    Josh frowned sadly at his friend. He could relate when it came to embarrassments, specially when they were linked to something as bizarre as this...He still got stared at frequently for using the surgical mask when he went out. That and the discolored eye. "Hey...It'll be ok Cochise, we'll get this sorted out. I promise." "How?" The blond looked down at him, the gesture somewhat intimidating from the Washington boy's perspective. Still, Josh steeled his nerves. He couldn't afford to upset his friend if he visibly flinched. "How can you promise me everything will get fixed?" "Uh...Hm...Well look at me. I got fucked up too by angry cannibal-spirits and I turned out only half shit. At least you're not, like, growing horns or scales..."    The look the blond was giving him softened, those blue eyes filled with shame at being so pessimistic towards one of the few people he knew definitely didn't need to put with that sort of crap. "....M'sorry...Just, this whole situation is crazy! Look at me, I'm a 15-something foot freak! If I get spotted they're probably not even know if they're high as fuck or if there actually is a real big problem!" "Hm donno..." Josh poked one of Chris' legs. "You look a bit too fleshy to be the product of low quality street drugs...The medical shit tho? That stuff can make you see all sorts of stuff if you go off them abruptly...It's like Nightmares you get from eating way too much candy before bed, only ten times worse."    A grimace. "Think i saw a giant pig's head once actually...Crazy powerful, am I right? Ahah..."    It didn't really help with the mood, but Mike couldn't help but give Josh a C+ for effort in getting their minds off the initial conversational topic. The taller brunet looked around. They were close to being home free, they just needed to head into the woods. The wilderness would provide good cover for Chris and, if this took away longer than planned, maybe the wildlife would also provide him with a meal or two until he could get fixed up. Granted if he could actually start a fire without burning down the whole woods...That'd be a bit tragic...And very flashy for the government to take notice of. Mike really did not want to picture what they'd do if Chris was indeed found out...The image of Zilla on the bridge getting shot down in that one American remake had no been a scenario he wanted to see a friend in...As bizarre as that sounded. "Just a little further and we'll be able to find you somewhere safe to stay Chris, just...Lets take this easy ok?" Mike calmly stated as he looked around.    The Munroe boy was ready to take a step forward when he felt his cellphone vibrating in his shirt pocket. He frowned as he picked it up and took notice of the caller ID. "It's Em, you think they found out anything about your...err...'condition'?" He winded when Josh aimed a well deserving glare at him. "Right uh, let me just take this call..."    As soon as he clicked to start the call he was bombarded with Emily's voice. "Hey easy easy...Did you just say Greek Curse? What? No that can't be--Seriously? His dad called? And he said what? Uh, ok...Uh well we were planning to go down to the woodland area we camped at once? With the marshmallows and stuff? Further? Well uh, we could try the cave by that big lake we stumbled upon before, that seems far away enough right? Hm...Uh-Uhh...Alright bye."   Another click. Call ended. Mike paled slightly. "So uh...We might have an idea of what's up with you, big guy."    Both Josh and Chris stared at Mike, unblinking and somewhat impatient. The brunet laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "Right uh...Well...You're not going to like this..."