#rfth fic

[ficfromthehip]

The Three Principles of St Churnleys- Monty

Summery: The full moon landed on Montys transformation day which was always more intense. But the trust of his most nervous friend made things go a surprising direction.

Word count: 1087

Warnings: mentions of blood and killing. Brief fight. Cuteness. A bit cheesy but who cares. The boys being the best of friends.

Authors note: this is the second of The Three Principles of St Churnley's mini series but can be read independently without needing to read the others.

It was one of those rarer occasions where the tenth business day actually landed on the full moon.

Full moons were always worse. It always took more bloodshed to bring him back.

Through out the day there were differences too. He was hungrier, he was quieter and he was much more restless.

The Others knew the drill by now, so let him pick at their plates during meal times and snuck snacks for in class for him.

Luckily it was porridge day so sneaking a napkin full of nuts and berries wasn't too difficult.

During playtime was the only time it was ever a real problem. Which always lead to the same conversation with Sargent Lewis.

"Don't even ask, Monty. You know my answer." She'd sighed barely taking the time to look up from a register she'd been filling in.

"Sarge, it's the full moon tonight. I really don't think-" one sharp look from Sargent cut the teen off.

"Monty, you're in your fifth year now. You've come a long way from being the little boy who cried because he didn't hurt anyone 'this time'." Sarge glanced up at the rest of the brave boys who were patiently waiting for their friend to join them. Catching Edgar as he glanced over to check on Monty, slight concern in his eye.

Sarge placed her hand on Monty's shoulder and gave him a soft smile. "You just need to trust yourself the way that they trust you." She said turning him to look at his friends. "Edgar's smart right?"

"The smartest." Monty nodded, looking over at the taller lad who grinned sheepishly at being caught checking on him.

"Then surely he can't be wrong for trusting you." Then the warmth in her voice faded as she became a teacher again. "Now go. Playtimes about to start."

Monty sighed softly, walking over to join the others who only smiled at him as the horn sounded the beginning of play time.

"Maybe joining us is a good thing, Monty. Maybe getting some of your energy out before tonight." Kevin tried to cheer him up, easily shooting down a creature that would have caused them too much trouble only a few years ago, as they headed deeper into the plagueround.

"Maybe." Monty hummed, all his senses on high alert for any danger. The wolf laying in wait just under his skin ready to fight the first chance he got.

And Monty wasn't going to fight it when a hellpincher took the opportunity to try to ambush Edgar.

Monty was so much quicker as he leapt at Edgar, watching almost in slow motion as instead of reacting in fear, Edgar almost calmly turned to see what the danger was.

One arm curled around Edgar to pull him away while the other claw caught the massive pincher, the wolf snarling at the beast.

The creature dispatched of quickly after the initial shock wore off, leaving the boys stood around the corpse, joking amount themselves about how much they used to struggle with these things.

"At least you're not so useless anymore, huh Kevin?"

"Oi! Saved your arse didn't I?"

"Not really you just also took damage you didn't need to."

"Shut up Edgar!"

The three laughed and continued on their way while Monty stared at the creature for a few seconds longer.

Edgar had been so calm.

There was no fear or panic. Only a small amount of surprise paired with utter trust.

Monty smiled as the wolf retracted and he rushed to join the others. "Yeah Kevin, even Poe did more damage then you... Didn't Poe have a gun?"

Poe did not have a gun. No one's sure why Monty thought that.

Later in the afternoon Edgar cursed in frustration.

"What's up with you?" Kevin asked between mouthfuls of beans.

"I was going through my bag when that hellpincher tried to get me and I think I lost my book." Edgar sighed.

"Oh you're not seeing that again then." Roland added helpfully.

"Damn it." Edgar sighed.

"You've read it like three dozen times this year, what's the big deal?" Kevin asked.

"It was my dad's before me. He used to read me it before bed when I was little."

Monty listened with a small frown. He didn't remember seeing the book. Maybe next playtime he could try and find it for him.

Soon nightfall came and Edgar gave Monty a reassuring smile as he headed out from the dorms.

Monty's whole body seemed to buzz either the energy of the fullmoon. He let out a soft sigh as he went further in.

The transformation much faster and less painful than horror movies would have you believe.

Once it was over Monty expected to be coming too a few minutes later, covered in blood, but he didn't.

He was still looking up at the gaps in the leafs at the silvery moon. He was still him mentally even if his body had changed.

Well this was certainly odd.

Monty sniffed at the air as he looked around. He could see smell and hear EVERYTHING.

Even...

Wait...

No! Is it?

That smelt like Edgar.

Monty was confused, Edgar should know better than to come out here alone, especially when Monty was out here to get the transformation out the way.

So he followed the scent, deeper into the plagueround. The scent mixing with fainter smells of his other friends and hellpincher blood.

Oh!

That made more sense.

But them why was Edgar's so strong?

Sniffing again he got a faint scent of dusty old book and fresh ink.

Right there, just under a jagged root was a book.

Edgar's book!

Careful claws plucked the book and Monty started moving back towards the school.

Once out of the plagueround, the wolf retreated backbone the recesses of Monty's mind to sleep until the next time.

Monty smiled down at his regular hands holding onto Edgar's worn book.

He wondered back to the dorm to see Edgar.

The taller teen looked up in surprise as Monty arrived back so early.

Doubly so when there was no blood in sight.

Triple when Monty dropped the book in his lap before looking like an overly pleased puppy who retrieved a stick.

"You found it? But how?" Edgar blinked in surprise at Monty.

"I just... had control. So i stead of killing anything I followed your smell and found yer book."

Edgar looked shocked for a few moments longer before grinning over at Monty. "I knew you could do it, Monty."

[appalachianapologies]

Arms out Disarming

A sickeningly sweet and fluffy Plagueground (RFTH) Fic written for the incredible people in the RFTH Artists Hangout discord ❤️

None of the four brave boys have ever been invited to a sleepover. Why not make that change tonight?

[luciferrswolves]

Shadows, an Extremely Violent Raven and a Bunch of Eyes

Words: 1810

Read it on ao3 here!

Elliot Allen stares at the roof of his tiny room in the back of the RV, a galaxy wallpaper plastered all over it, with labels for each planet and any other celestial object that he found important enough to label. His dad was already asleep, and the snoring was weirdly comforting to Elliot. 

It had been a hell of a couple of months ever since the raven showed up, screaming to be let in. Elliot had done it, excited to have his own raven, but to his shock, the raven was practically a monster from hell. And now he was going to St. Churnley’s School for Cursed Boys, all because his raven was defective.

To say he was nervous was an understatement. He was absolutely terrified that his bird would screw something up. This was also Elliot’s first time staying at a school for more than a week. He would be enrolled just before the Scholastic Book Fair and then immediately after they would travel to the next city over and repeat the process.

As he was zoning out, he was unaware of his father’s snoring stopping, and him shuffling out of bed. He was only made aware of his father’s movements once Elliot’s bird, who he had not named yet, out of fear he’d get attached, seems to just appear, talons digging into his nose so hard Elliot can’t help but yelp.

Elias pops his head in and stares at Elliot and his bird, his face contorting into an emotion Elliot can’t quite decipher, and then Elias leaves for the kitchen, which is of course, right next to Elliot’s bedroom. He slowly pulls the bird off of his nose, placing her on the floor and getting up, opening up the curtains that separate his room, the kitchen and his father’s room.

“Morning,” is all his father says as he enters the kitchen, grabbing a piece of bread. The bird grabs onto the leg of his pyjama pants, sliding across the floor behind Elliot. As soon as Elliot sits down, the bird jumps up onto the table and grabs the bread out of his hand. Elliot groans but gives up and gives her the bread.

“Morning,” Elliot responds quickly, but doesn’t bother looking up. He stares down at his empty hands, laced with bandaids from the many scratches that the bird managed to inflict. Elias puts down Elliot’s glasses on the table, and he looks up at his dad, who just stares back down at him, and Elliot slowly slides his glasses onto his face, keeping his eyes locked with his dad’s.

“You got everything for school?” Elias asks his son, slowly feeding Thaddeus, who is perched on his shoulder.

“Yeah. Why?” Elliot asks, his bird chomping down on an unbandaged part of his hand.

“We leave today,” Elliot’s head snaps up in shock, temporarily ignoring the fresh searing pain in his hand. 

“Did I not tell you?” Elias shrugs, “oops.”

And he leaves the RV, most likely filling up the motorcycle with gas. Elliot stares after him, still surprised that he was going to school today. He thought he was going in like, a week, not TODAY.

The bird bites down further into his flesh, and Elliot has to swallow back a scream, tears forming in his eyes as he pries the bird's mouth back open, sliding his hand out while keeping the mouth open, so it doesn’t snap back down and injure his hand further. 

He looks down at the raven, who just stares back up at him with innocent eyes. Thaddeus flies back into the room and drops an ointment onto the table for Elliot, then politely pushes the bird off the table, and it slams beak down onto the floor as Thaddeus flaps away.

Elliot stares at Thaddeus as he leaves, his bird still face down on the floor, feet straight up in the air. He applies the ointment, then grabs another piece of bread, eating it while the bird figures out how to get it’s beak unstuck out of the crack in the floor. It finally gets up properly, and flies back up to the table, but doesn’t get too close to Elliot anymore.

“C’MON ELLIOT, WE’RE GOING!” Elliot jumps in his seat as his father screams out to him. He rushes into his room and grabs some random stuff to shove into a suitcase. He then drags it out, and hops into the tiny sidecar attached to his fathers motorcycle, shoving the luggage in between his legs. 

His father places a motorcycle helmet onto his head, then places his own one on, turning on the engine. Thaddeus perches on the handlebar briefly, before the engine roars, and the motorcycle soars down the dirt path at a dangerously fast speed, heading towards the highway.

Around the halfway mark of the trip, Elliot looks up, and notices two shadows flitting across the sky. The two birds are pretty far apart however, and it looks somewhat like Elliot’s bird is purposefully distancing himself from Thaddeus. Despite how much Elliot despises the bird, he can’t really blame it after Thaddeus pushed it off of the table. 

Elliot sighs, hoping that the bird won’t do anything stupid that gets him killed while they’re driving, and goes back to his book of sudoku puzzles, frowning every time they hit a bump or a pothole in the road. 

The motorcycle hits a bump and before he knows it, Elliot’s pencil is ripped out of his hand, and it goes flying down the road. Elliot grumbles extremely frustrated at this turn of events, as the only other pencils he packed in his rush were the ones in his suitcase that he truly doesn’t want to open while in the sidecar.

Elliot just sits, staring at the piece of paper, trying to do it in his head, but ultimately fails at it, the numbers getting all jumbled up and his brain begins hurting with the effort of keeping them all in place in his mind.

Elliot stares up at his dad. His black hair is laced with grey, and it is too long to entirely fit inside the helmet. He looks badass, Elliot can’t lie, however he is also a fucking bitch. He doesn’t hate his dad per say, but he sure can be really annoying especially when he’s constantly forgetting things, and occasionally even forgetting he even has a kid.

As they rush down the road, presumably down towards wherever this school was, Elliot hears a harsh whistle from overhead. He glances up right as a pencil comes flying out of the sky and hits him right in the temple.

“Ow…”

— — — — — — — —

“Will you fucking stop it?” Ranjit Singh snarls at his younger brother, who is desperately holding onto the sleeve of his oversized sweater, as if attempting to prevent him from leaving. The younger boy loosens his grip, but looks up at his older brother with intense puppy dog eyes, brimming with tears.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Ranjit immediately kneels down to get on Akash’s level, placing two hands on his shoulders, to steady himself. The younger boy immediately falls into his brother’s chest, sobbing loudly. Ranjit almost topples backwards but manages to keep his balance, before standing up, Akash in his arms.

He picks up his luggage, along with Akash’s stuff, takes one last glance back to the motel he had been calling his home for the past few weeks, and begins walking towards the taxi that is waiting on the side of the street.

“Where are you headed?” The man driving asks as the pair pile into the car. Ranjit sets Akash down, who has stopped crying and is instead snoring very loudly now. Ranjit buckles his seatbelt, before leaning forwards to talk to the driver, talking quietly as to not wake up the child. 

“Uhm, I don’t exactly know. I just have this map if it helps?” Ranjit passes the map he had received through the shadows the other day to the driver, who just raises an eyebrow, but attempts to read it nevertheless.

“Huh. I actually think I know where this is. I had to take a kid there about a couple of years ago.” The taxi driver says, turning the engine of the car on. 

“Oh also, after you drop me off…” Ranjit slowly trails off, glancing back at the sleeping form of his younger brother, “can you take him to this address. There should be a man there named Hero. He’ll take him.” 

The taxi driver raises an eyebrow as he is handed a second piece of paper, but doesn’t question it. The car begins driving down the barren street, and Ranjit can feel himself about to cry or throw up. Something like that. He knows that all the luggage is for his brother, and he has nothing for himself. He knows that he’s going to have to abandon his brother at the end of the line.

And he really doesn’t want to do that.

But it’s necessary for his safety. Ranjit knows how dangerous he is. He can’t have a young boy who could easily get trapped in the shadows around him.

Ranjit pulls a small book out of the small bag he brought for himself, which is mostly full of money and other small knicknacks. He begins reading, but soon enough he begins falling asleep, and eventually passes out against the window, the shadows enveloping him. 

“WAKE UPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Ranjit bolts awake at the sound of his brother’s yell, immediately looking around for any threats. Unfortunately, the shadows grab the taxi driver’s throat, as he is the nearest unknown person that his brain could clarify as a threat.

This giant hand begins dragging the taxi driver into the ground, and Ranjit looks on in horror as his feet disappear, then his shins. Ranjit sprints towards him, grabbing onto him and pulling him out, dispelling the shadows. Akash just laughs, but the taxi driver stares at Ranjit with a terrified look. 

“Akash, why don’t you go with him for a couple of minutes while I just go inside? I swear I’ll only be a minute or so.” Ranjit places a hand on his little brother’s shoulder, slowly directing him to the still stunned taxi driver. Akash looks up nervously but upon seeing the certainty on his older brother’s face, goes over with the taxi driver, who snaps out of his trance. 

“C’mon kid, let’s wait in the car.” The taxi driver says, opening the door for Akash, who pulls himself in, sitting patiently in the back seat. He looks out the window towards Ranjit, who just smiles and waves, but there is a tinge of sadness in those gestures.

With one last wave from Akash, and one last saddened smile from Ranjit, he begins walking away from the car, and towards the rest of his entire life.