Yandere cult! Yandere cult! Yandere cult!
Sealed Fate
Summary: Reader leaves a festival after receiving a prophetic tarot reading.
Reader x Frederick (Cult Leader Yandere Dad)
Author's Note: First writing after all the Halloween stuffs! Need to catch up on some requests!
Word Count:4.5k
Warnings/Tags: reader is slightly manipulated, reader is also somewhat willing, tarot reading might not be that accurate, low-key doomsday cult
Masterlist
With sore feet, you walk through the last section of the festival. There are vendors on either side of the path, and a huge cloth tent at the end. Its beige cloth moves with the wind as it picks up. People in dark beige simple clothes stand near the entrance. There aren't many other people in the area, probably cause the festival is almost over.
You stop in the pathway, unsure what the tent is here for. It doesn't match everything else in the festival, standing out like a sore thumb.
“Hey there, are you interested in getting a reading? My friend over here can give you one.” A lady says to you.
“Yeah, come on in, get out of the sun. We'll give you a free reading.” The man behind her adds on. Both of them smile at you, and they make you feel like you are already friends with them.
“What do you mean by getting a reading?” You ask them, approaching them a bit more.
“Just a simple tarot reading, it can be about multiple things, but generally it’s about your future.” The lady tells you.
You take a peek into the tent, now able to see inside. There are more similarly dressed people inside, and a couple of them wear different colors. There are tables inside, some of them empty, others having papers and books on them.
“Sure, I guess. It wouldn't hurt to know some things.”
“Follow me.” The man says, entering the tent. He leads you to a table, sitting on the far side from the entrance.
“I'm Jacob, by the way. Who am I reading today?” He asks you, grabbing the cards in the center of the table, shuffling them lazily. You introduce yourself to him, wondering what will come from the cards.
“Alright, well, I hope you enjoy your reading. Let's get this started.” He shuffles the cards differently now. Cards fly out of the deck, falling in different directions. He places the cards in front of you as they fly out, keeping them face down. Once three cards are in front of you, he places the deck to the side.
He flips over the first card, revealing it to you.
“We are starting strong. You got Ace of Cups. This definitely means a fresh start. New relationships can be a thing for you, maybe just new opportunities in general. Let's see what else this pairs with. Maybe we can get some more details.”
“Sounds promising.” You say, happy with the results so far. He flips the next card, the words “The Sun” at the bottom.
“Ooooh, okay. You got The Sun for your second one. This is really good news. This could mean success, joy, and good fortune.” He pauses for a second, seeming to gather his thoughts.
“When paired with that ace of cups, it likely means that the change will be good. It could be successful, causing happiness in general, or you have some good luck ahead of you.” His fingers rest over the next card, waiting for the answers underneath.
“Let's see what your last card is.” He flips the next card over, the words “The Emperor” at the bottom.
Unlike other cards, he doesn't immediately speak. He stares at the card for a moment, then makes eye contact with you.
“You have…The Emperor for your last card.” He tells you, looking at you like you are a completely different person.
“So…what does this one mean? Please don't tell me it's anything bad.”
“Oh, no, no, no, honey. This isn't a bad thing at all.” He tells you, excitement growing on his face by the second.
“Hey, Mallory?” He says, looking past you. The woman from before walks through the entrance.
“Can you please get Father Frederick?” He continues, and the people around the tent freeze, aware of the situation happening. Mallory looks between you and Jacob, her eyes lighting up each second.
“Yes, I will go get him immediately.” She leaves without hearing if there is anything else he needs.
People around the tent start whispering to themselves. News spreading around the tent that you aren’t aware of.
“So what exactly just happened?” You turn back to Jacob. Everyone around you seems to know what is happening without you knowing.
“I just need to get another opinion for your reading. It's good to have a second opinion for readings. Nothing bad, it's a good thing. In the meantime, would you like anything? We have water and snacks if you would like some.” Jacob's attitude is still ecstatic, but he's trying to hide it more.
Your throat feels dry from the long day of walking you've had, so you ask for water. He leaves you at the table, going behind one of the tables that acts like a counter, grabbing you a fresh cold water bottle.
Coming back to the table, he opens the water bottle before giving it to you, setting the cap beside you. Minutes pass, and Jacob makes small talk with you, asking about your day and how the festival has gone.
“They are over there, Father Frederick.” You hear Mallory's voice coming from the tent's entrance. The people in the tent start acting normal, pretending to be busy.
“Thank you, dear.” His voice is confident and clear. Jacob stands as he approaches the table.
“So I hear there is a reading I can help with?” You look at him as he stops at the side of the table. His clothes are similar to everyone else in the tent, simple and plain. However, they have two different colors. A light muted green is sewn together with the same dark beige.
“Yes, Father Frederick.” He offers up the chair to him, taking a spot behind the chair.
Father Frederick accepts the chair from him, sitting across from you. His dark hair is pulled from his face, leaving his brown eyes clear of stray hairs. His somewhat patchy beard covers the bottom half of his face.
“As you might have guessed, I’m Father Frederick. Sorry that this has been so suspenseful for you. I'm glad that Jacob and Mallory brought me here to explain everything to you.”
“You are right, it's been suspenseful for sure. Jacob assured me that it wasn't a bad thing, so that made it better.” You say, nervously. What is yet to come from the reading? The people around you make you nervous. Everyone seems to have eyes and ears on you, yet they pretend they don’t.
“Oh, no. It's quite the opposite. Before we continue, let's go to the back. It's more private there.” He stands, taking the deck and the cards before you. You follow him deeper into the tent, the cloth separating the tent into sections.
The room you come to is more decorated than the front, pillows and rugs cover the ground, making it feel more homey. Father Frederick sits against a couple of pillows, and you sit across him, against a row of pillows too.
“Let's get this started.” He lays the cards in front of you, just like how they were before. The suspension kills you. How could this be a good thing, and they haven't told you how yet?
“Your reading started with Ace of Cups and The Sun, it finished with The Emperor. Do you know anything about these cards or tarot in general?” He continues.
“I know what they are, but I've never used them. This is the only reading I've had as well.” You respond truthfully.
“That's okay, everyone starts somewhere. I'll just give you a simple rundown.”
“The reading you received can predict your future, as you have been told already. Your cards deal with things like new beginnings, relationships, change, happiness, success…things like that. But the last card is a bit different than the others. Traditionally, it symbolizes things like authority, structure, and stability.”
You have some answers now, but you need more.
“So, how does it work with the other cards?” You say, nervously fidgeting.
“It would pair with them, signifying there's some type of stability coming into your life with a new beginning or change and relationships. Most readings this would reflect over time, but I have a feeling yours isn't like that.” He explains further, connecting the cards altogether.
“However, the emperor has an additional and alternative meaning within my community. Would you like to hear about it?” Silence lingers in the air afterwards.
“Sure, it wouldn't hurt. It just sounds like all good things so far, something happens, and it's a good outcome, that would benefit me in a way.” You look at the cards in front of you, studying the intricate artwork.
“Within the community, we believe this card represents a person, rather than just a few meanings. This person still represents all of the things within the card, so it's not entirely replaced. Adding the alternative to your reading, it would indicate that this person can bring you these things.” He stops speaking, letting your thoughts catch up to you. The alternative meaning confuses you. Can this mean anything to you?
“Who's the emperor within your community? I personally don't think it involves them, but I'm curious.”
“I've always associated myself with The Emperor. It just feels right for me. Naturally, the rest of the community agrees, so it's me…I know this sounds crazy for you, but you were meant to get this reading. You see, months ago, I asked the cards for signs for when I would finally have a child of my own. Three cards came out of the deck: Ace of Cups, The Sun, and The Emperor. All in that order, just like you.” He gathers the cards, putting them back in the deck.
“That's why everyone was paying attention to me earlier. That's why Mallory got you. They knew to look for those cards already.” The puzzle pieces slide around your brain, clicking into place.
“Such a smart child I have!” He claps his hands together excitedly.
“You actually think I'm a child?” You say with a questioning look on your face. His age definitely could make him one, old enough to actually be yours.
“Yes, I have been waiting for you for months now. Now at last, I finally have a child, we can celebrate. There will be celebrations-”
“Wait. I can't do this. I'm sure you will find a kid of your own, but this is a misunderstanding. I’m an adult, not a child.” You stand up, confused about everything.
“This is no misunderstanding, you may be an adult, but you can still be child-like. I may not be your actual dad, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of you.” He stands up with you, talking in a gentle and calming voice.
His words make your stomach flip. Does he really think like this? Why you, out of all people? What’s up with this community thing? Is he the leader of it?
“Don’t you think that could work between us? You don’t have to do much, no responsibilities, just spending time with me. I’ll give you whatever you’d like. You’ll have your own rooms, and you can decorate them however you’d like. You can make friends within the community, or just relax inside.” As he continues talking, the promises sound more tempting.
You can’t believe that you feel that way, but life has been hard recently. Being able to have no responsibilities sounds nice, but you just don’t know if you can trust him.
“How can I trust that you are telling the truth? How could I know this isn’t a trap?” You look into his eyes, trying to gauge if he’s trying to get you into something worse.
“First of all, I would never trap you into anything. I know you don’t know me well, but I would never try to do anything like that to you. I would never lie to you like that either. I don’t like liars at all.” He’s a bit irritated at the thought that you wouldn’t trust him. He should be the only one you trust.
“Do you know anything about my community? How it works or anything like that?” He asks you. You wonder where this will lead, how this is relevant to the questions you asked him.
“No, I don’t know anything.” You respond truthfully, not even aware that the group was a thing until today.
“Okay, well, in our community, we take promises very seriously. We use bracelets to mark our serious ones. All people that involved in the promise wear a matching bracelet to make it accountable to everyone. We can wear one together to reflect the promises that I made to you. That way, if I don’t keep it, everyone will know that I lied.” He pulls out light green bracelets from his pocket, offering one of them to you. A silver sun decorates it; otherwise, it is quite plain.
“Once you accept the bracelet, we put them on each other, and the promise has been made.” He finishes off, still showing you them.
“Just think about it, no stress or worries for you. Let me worry about everything else.” His words creep into your brain. They build off your thoughts of wishing for no responsibilities and stress.
It doesn't feel like you when you reach for one of the bracelets. A smile appears on his face, so happy that you made the right decision. He puts the bracelet on you first, making sure that it’s not too tight or loose. He helps you put his on, adjusting the size to fit over his hand.
Your throat closes a little, nervousness radiating from you. Did you just make a good decision or a mistake? He still smiles, excitement radiating from him.
“Thank you for this. I will never forget this.” His voice doesn’t match his attitude, too quiet for so much excitement.
“Just keep your promise.” You laugh nervously.
“Father, they are asking us to take down the tent. The festival is over now.” Jacob’s voice comes from the other side of the fabric. The light from his eyes dims slightly, only to spark back up.
“Go ahead and get everyone to pack up the tent. We’ll leave for home now.”
“Yes, Father. Is there anything else you need?” Jacob’s voice comes through the fabric again.
“Actually, yes, you and Mallory will have new colors. Please return your current colors and get your new ones tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Father. I will let Mallory know.”
He turns back to you, giving you his full attention.
“Sorry to cut our time short, but I’m going to have to leave you with my guards. They will take you to my house. Feel free to go wherever. I’ll meet you at the house soon.” He calls a couple of names, people appearing through the cloth.
“It’s okay.” It’s weird for you to be around so many people you don’t know, but you’ll soon figure it out.
He introduces you to Orion and Elijah, telling you they are his most trusted men and he's known them all his life. Orion looks similar to Frederick, like they could be cousins. Elijah looks the total opposite, having dirty blonde hair and green eyes.
Frederick leaves you with them after walking you to a car. Orion drives away from the festival, taking back roads, going down roads you've never been through. Houses appear here and there, farmland and woods taking most of the land.
A huge sign ahead appears, the words “The Family” painted in white against the wood. Orion turns on the gravel road beside it. You guess this is where everything is. You study what is ahead of you, a gate blocks the road, fencing running alongside it till it hits the trees. A guard stands by the gate, opening it when they see Orion in the front seat.
Through the gate, it isn't until you clear the trees that you begin to see more interesting things. The car circles the roundabout, giving you time to look at the details. When you enter the circle, there's a mostly empty parking lot. Halfway through the circle, buildings appear alongside a road.
Completing the circle, the car drives down the last road, similar to the last one. People wearing beige walk around everywhere, going into buildings, walking on the roads, and working outside.
The road ends up splitting into a V, with formal-looking buildings at the end of one, a single big house on the other. The car takes you to the house, parking once it drives up the large driveway.
You left Orion and Elijah to explore the house some time ago. You stayed in the living room with them for a couple of minutes, but quickly got bored. The house is pretty simple. All the rooms are minimalistic. Some doors are closed, so you don’t enter those. You only look through the open ones. There are some meeting and office-like rooms, with tons of chairs and a table in the center of the room. Other rooms are copy-and-paste bedrooms, only containing what someone would need for a couple of days.
You wonder if you will stay in a room like this. Does Frederick stay in a room like this? Everyone here is quite minimalistic, so there is a chance. You leave the rooms, hoping that you didn’t invade anyone's privacy. Leaving the rooms, you are back in the hallway. It continues past the rooms you were just in; there are a couple of guards standing there. You don’t want to deal with them, so you leave, wandering back to the main parts.
One thing you are curious about, there’s no technology here. You haven’t seen any phones, computers, TVs, just nothing. It makes you think back to your phone, feeling your pocket…it’s not there. You can’t remember the last time you had it. Even then, could you get a signal here? Did Frederick take it when he hugged you before getting into the car? Would he do something like that?
“There you are, I was wondering where you’d be.” Frederick comes into your line of sight just before you walk into the living room.
“Oh, yeah, I was just exploring like you said I could.”
“Where have you been? I can help complete the tour for you.”
“I’ve just seen the main area, and this hallway, so just the first floor really.” You want to ask what the guards are for, but you don’t want to make things awkward.
He shows you the rest of the house, starting with the basement. It’s mainly just storage down there. Lots of it is food; rows of cans cover a good chunk of the room. The rest is hard to tell what it is, totes and boxes stacked in neat rows.
The only interesting thing is a panic room at the end of the stairs. He lets you in there, putting a code to open it. It’s bigger than you expect. One wall has shelves, books of different genres cover parts of it. The other shelves are like the ones in the other room, cans taking up more shelves. He explains that as a kid, he ran out of food at times, and he never wants to feel like that again.
The rest of the room has other furniture, dressers, end tables, couches, and a dining table. Looking through the room altogether, it feels like a bomb shelter. It has everything to support a small group of people for a short time.
“Is this a bomb shelter? Your voice is higher than normal, giving it a questioning feel. Frederick chuckles a little, containing his laughter.
“No, that’s outside of the house. This is just a good panic room. I wanted to make sure it was as safe as possible.” His voice is more serious than his laughter just a few seconds before.
“Good place to go to if you have bad weather.” You try to lighten the mood. Why did he get so serious then? Does he really have a bomb shelter?
You are met with awkward silence. This is obviously a sensitive topic for him. He takes your thoughts from the bomb shelter, asking if you would like to see the upstairs, where your room is.
Going up the steps after him, you don't see Orion and Elijah in the living room anymore. They must have gone to do something else. Hitting the second floor, there's a secondary living room. It's more decorated than the rest of the house, but still no electronics in sight.
“This part of the house is more private than the rest. You will only see Orion and Elijah up here. They have rooms up here too.” He turns, walking down another hallway.
“Orion and Elijah stay in the rooms closest to the stairs. Mine is at the end of the hallway. Both of yours are at the end too.” He walks past a couple more doors, probably being closets or bathrooms.
“Both rooms? I don't need two rooms.”
“Nonsense, you can have five rooms if you'd like.” He turns back to you, resting against a doorframe. The door is wide open; its partner across the hall remains closed.
“Come on in. Don't be shy. This is your room.” He taps the light switch, causing light to come into the hallway.
Walking into the room, you are met with minimal colors and furniture. It looks like the rooms downstairs, minimal and boring.
“Don't worry, tomorrow we will get ready to design it however you'd like.” He watches you as you look around the room.
“That soon?”
“Yep, anything for my kid. You've got to have everything you need available for you.” He goes over to the dresser, opening drawers, pulling out muted green clothing. He folds them when he's made a decision, leaving them on the bed.
“I don't need everything. I'm happy with how I am now.” You turn, looking at the first corner of the room. The open door blocks another door. It jets out from the wall, making it look out of place.
“Nonsense. Children need everything they can get.” He notices you are distracted, looking at the door.
He comes up from behind you, gently placing his arm around your shoulder.
“That's another panic room, it's much smaller than the other one. It also connects to my room.” He walks up to the PIN pad beside it, pushing numbers.
“The code to open and close it is 3049.” The door opens, revealing the insides.
“But if there's any reason why you need to stay in there without me, never open the door. Orion and I are the only ones who know the code to get inside. One of us will help you get out. Never open it for any reason, you understand that?” His mood gets serious again, his voice firm and unwavering. It scares you seeing him like this. Why does he keep getting in moods like this?
“Um, yeah. No opening door once inside.” You repeat his words.
“Good. I don't like having you in unsafe situations. C'mon in and take a peek inside. We can add some stuff for you, tons of coloring supplies and stuffies or whatever you'd prefer.”
You look into the room, it looks like a large studio apartment. Food supplies sit in the corner with the kitchen stuff, and a bed sits in another corner.
He watches you look around the room, hoping you like everything you have seen so far. He worries that you think you can leave him any second, but that's far from the truth. Now that he has you here, he'll always have eyes on you.
All you've been doing since your first night is spending more time with Frederick. You called him Frederick once. You will never be doing that again. He got a serious look on his face again and told you to call him Dad from now on. It was weird the first couple of times, but it felt natural afterwards.
You have also been designing and decorating your rooms. He showed you the other room the next morning. Unlike your bedroom, this room is decorated fully, and most of the space is already taken up.
He didn't know what age his kid would be, so he has almost everything for all ages. It's a bit intimidating how much thought he put into it.
You've gone through some of the stuff, weeding out some of the things you'd like and wouldn't like. He puts whatever you don't like into boxes, packing them away just in case you ever change your mind.
“Are you sure you want this in the boxes?” Frederick holds the latest thing you’ve asked to be put away.
“Dad, I told you that I didn’t think it suited me.” You look through more things, sorting them into piles.
“Okay, honey, but I really think you should reconsider some of the things you’ve rejected.” He seems sad about the number of things you rejected. You watch him pick up a teddy bear that you thought looked creepy, holding it in his hands as he looks at it sadly.
“I changed my mind. I’ll take the bear. I was just being too harsh on him. Maybe he can go into the panic room.” His eyes light up as he looks back at you.
“Yes, darling! That’s perfect. I’ll go leave him in there now.” He leaves you in the room. There’s stuff all around the floor, like a tornado came through the room.
Looking at a pile of books on the ground, you are pulled back to your childhood. The drawings on the front bring you nostalgia, and you start to feel somewhat spaced out as you grab it, flipping through the pages. You read the words on the pages, flipping them to finish the story.
“You like that book?” Frederick stands beside you, you didn't realize that he was already back.
“Oh, yeah, I remember it as a kid.” You flip the book closed, slightly embarrassed that he caught you reminiscing.
“This really works for you, don't you see how the reading predicted all of this?”
You've had some time to dwell on the tarot reading that you've received, and you find it hard to deny that it's just a coincidence. You've been able to get more sleep, not having to worry about money and other life stresses. You can't help but feel the happiness and relief that have been brought into your life.
“Yeah, it was right. It's just hard to imagine it was before. It was so hard to understand it all in the beginning.”
“It takes time to understand readings. Sometimes they won't make sense until after everything happens.” He says softly, a smile on his face.
“I'm glad I decided to stay with you. I know it's just the beginning…so that might be weird to hear.”
“Oh no, honey. You could have come up to me without the reading, and I would have accepted you as my own. It was meant to be one way or another.”
He's so happy you decided to stay with him, too. Otherwise, he would have had to take more extreme measures. You may have escaped dealing with it for now, but if you ever try to leave, he'll have to use them.
