Ultraviolence
Natalie Scatorccio x Fem!Reader
—-
a/n: i hope you all enjoy!!
warnings: mentions of death, grief, dead animal, swearing, kissing, panic attack, tell me if i missed anything!!
Chapter Twenty Two - Hard Day’s Night
Chapter Twenty Two - Hard Day’s Night
—-
1996-
Once the snow started, it never stopped.
The lake froze over long ago, so someone collects drinking water each day from the fresh snow. The fire burns all night, and everyone clutches onto their friends for warmth at night, not caring about anything except shaking a bit of the ice in their bones.
It’s early in the morning, early enough so it’s still dark and still extra cold, and you’re stuffing the porn magazines you first found in this cabin into your clothes.
This is what mornings are like now. Going out into the cold and looking for things you’ll never find.
Natalie shoved another stack into of magazines into your hands, and you sigh, filling your shoes with the extra layers.
It’s hard to find anything to be happy about these days, but when you stand up, Natalie smiles at you.
You think about when you used to just be a normal teenager. And now you’re sending yourself out into the cold every early morning, getting sicker and weaker by the day. More and more exercise, less and less rations. You’re all feeling it.
You tiptoe past the girls still sleeping, looking at the frost on the windows.
“Wait,” Lottie says from the bench she’s taken to sitting on, right by the frosted windows.
She stands up and you lift your palm out on command, letting her brush dust or dirt or whatever it is onto your palm.
Next, she dips the edge of something into a candle, making it smoke, letting it waft all over the three of you as she waves it around.
Lottie pricks her finger with a needle and dips it into the metal bowl of water Travis holds, mixing it around. He holds it out to Natalie.
“It’s not like this Wicca bullshit’s doing us any good.”
“Well, you keep coming back alive, don’t you?”
Natalie and Lottie share a heated look, and you sigh, grabbing the bowl from Travis and taking a disgusting sip, fighting the urge to gag.
You smile sarcastically, and Natalie rolls her eyes, but grabs the bowl and takes her own sip. Then Travis, until Lottie takes the bowl back.
“Thanks, Lot,” Travis says, and you nod and smile at her. He opens the door, and the three of you file outside into the dark cold you’ve come to think as the closest you’ll ever get to death until you actually die.
You stand out on the porch, and Natalie stands next to you. You both pull your hoods over your heads, before Natalie leans over and presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth, pulling up your face covering before you can even see your breath in the air.
—-
The sun rises into the sky, but you’re too high up the mountains and too cold already for it make a difference. You trudge through the snow, thinking of your bed, Natalie’s gloved hand in yours.
You study the sun in the sky.
“What- uh, time should we start h-heading back, do you think?” you ask, and Natalie squeezes your hand, looking at the sun too.
She pants. “Uh… probably-”
“What is that?” Travis asks, and you look ahead, only to find something in the snow. He trips over himself running to it, the snow so deep, muttering Javi’s name over and over again, digging through the snow.
“Travis, it’s just a fox,” you breathe, but he doesn’t stop. You lean down and grab his shoulder. “Travis-”
“Javi, Javi, Javi,” he keeps panting.
“It’s just a fox!” you shout. Travis goes still.
“Travis, it’s just a fox,” Natalie breathes, trying to get it through his head that it’s not his little brother.
He stares at the decaying body of the small fox, breathing heavily, and you find yourself wanting to lay down next to the dead thing. Natalie pats his back and stands up, giving you her hand, and Travis stumbles to his own feet.
“We need to start heading back about now,” Natalie says, answering your question from earlier. “It’s gonna get dark soon.”
“We need to be searching out further and getting up earlier. Javi could’ve found another cabin, or… I don’t know, but…”
You share a glance with Natalie.
“We… we could probably start another hour before sunup.” Natalie says, nodding and breathing heavily.
“That’s where Javi would be,” you say. “Further out. It makes sense.”
He nods after another glance to the fox.
“We should head back. You’re right. It’s not gonna help anyone if we get lost out here in the dark.”
Travis starts walking, but Natalie takes out a red strip of fabric from her pocket. “Hang on. I’m gonna mark it,” she says, tying the small scrap around the tree that looks over the fox.
You look at the soft, white snow for another moment before Natalie takes your hand again, looking from you to where you’re staring.
“Let’s go,” she says.
You nod, and at least the downward trek is somewhat easier.
—-
You grab your cup from Lottie, joining the line of girls waiting to get their dinner. Natalie stands next to you, looking off in the distance.
“What’s wrong?” you frown, bumping her shoulder.
“Travis,” she mutters.
“Oh. No, yeah. I-I know.”
She meets your eyes.
“He has to realize soon, right? That… there’s no way…”
You take in a deep breath. “I just… I just don’t wanna see him get hurt like that, you know? You saw with the fox today- Javi- it would break him.”
She hums, and you sigh, looking away, but Travis isn’t in the main room.
“Hey. What the fuck are you doing?”
You look up to find Mari and a few other girls looking down at Misty, who crouches before the pot, stirring the sorry excuse for a soup.
“Me?” Misty asks, dropping the ladle.
“Get away from that. You know the rules.”
Misty stands up. “Wha- It’s not like I’m gonna poison anyone. Again,” she adds after a moment.
“You drew the four this morning, Misty,” Akilah says solemnly. “You have to get the water.”
“But that’s not fair! I-I’ve been doing it every day, and it’s freezing out there. I…”
The girls only give her blank stares, and Misty realizes it’s a losing battle.
“Fine,” she says, and you feel a little bad, seeing the tears in her eyes.
Then you remember what almost happened that night- just because Misty had wanted Coach Ben when he didn’t want her.
She walks past you and picks up the metal bucket, storming outside.
—-
“I think that patch of forest was a bit bigger than that,” you hum, staring over Natalie’s shoulder as she draws one of her maps that her and Coach Ben have been compiling.
She looks over her shoulder at you, smiling sarcastically.
“Yeah? Well then, why don’t you just do it, huh?”
“Happily,” you smile, and she hands you the pencil, so you draw a few more trees around the small patch she has already drawn. You hold it up. “There. Much more accurate.”
“You’re controlling,” she teases, “A little perfectionist.” You gasp, pressing the paper against your chest.
“Rude,” you huff, both of smiling too wide to be anything less than joking. She leans forward and kisses your cheek, grabbing the paper from you.
“C’mon,” she says, standing and holding out her hand for you. You swing your legs over the bench, taking her hand. She tugs you up and start dragging you to Coach’s room, and you come, if only because his room always feels a little warmer for some reason.
She opens the door, and he looks up, hopeful, putting his book down.
“Hey. How’d it go?”
Nat sighs. “Great. Except for the part where we failed for the millionth day in a row.”
You roll your eyes at Natalie’s negativity, grabbing the paper from her.
“But, at least look at what Nat finished,” you say, holding out the paper, and his face melts into shock as soon as he sees it.
He looks at it, and you can’t help but feel slightly sick looking at the back of it. Review for a 12th grade Civics and General History Quiz.
“Wow, these are getting pretty good.”
Nat hums, and he mutters, handing the paper back to you before standing up, grabbing his crutches and hopping around the bed to the board him and Nat have been putting their map up onto.
They prop it up against his bed, and you reach forward and slide it into the empty corner, holding it in place until Natalie reaches over with a pin, sticking it to place.
“That’s what, like, seven miles in each direction?” Coach asks.
“Mm, ballpark. Zero sign of game. Or Javi.”
Coach sighs and turns to the two of you.
“You know… at this point, I mean, there’s just no conceivable way.”
“W-we know,” Natalie says after a moment, nodding to you. “But… Travis.”
“Yeah,” Coach mutters after a moment. “Yeah, that must be… tough.”
You look over at Natalie, and both of you know that at some point, he’s gonna have to find out. And you’re not sure if he’ll be the same after.
—-
“You can go to sleep if you want to,” Travis says. You’re both sitting by the fire, and a part of you is scared to leave Travis alone. You’re coming towards a boiling point, to the edge of a cliff, and you’re not sure what will happen. “I’m sure Natalie misses you.”
You look over at Natalie, who’s a few feet away from you, asleep against the wall, a space next to her for you. Her arm is stretched out in front of her, like you’re supposed to be there.
“She’s asleep. She doesn’t even notice I’m gone. I’ll go to sleep when you do.” You stare into the fire. “Besides, I’m really enjoying this stone-age TV,” you smile to yourself.
He looks over at you after a moment, and you turn your head to him.
You smile softly, and he looks back into the fire.
“I know you both think that he’s dead.”
You sigh heavily.
The more that this goes on, the more your life seems to revolve around Travis and his search for Javi, the more you think he just needs to realize that his brother is gone so he can start healing.
“Travis…” you start, your voice low, trying to be as comforting as you can be. “It’s been so long. And it’s so cold…”
He starts breathing heavily, and you look away, bracing yourself, thinking he’s about to start crying.
But he doesn’t.
He makes this sound is his throat like he’s choking, and he can’t look away from the fire, can’t even open his mouth to get a proper breath in.
“Travis?” you ask.
But he starts shuddering, his eyes rolling back into his head-
“T-Travis? Travis? What- what’s wrong?” you green his arm to steady him from falling over, your eyes scanning his body, looking to see if he’s hurt. “Are you hurt, Travis? What’s wrong?”
The girls start shuffling behind you, waking up, and it’s late and you’re cold and scared, and something wet falls down your face.
“Y/N,” Natalie breathes, sitting up behind you.
“What’s happening?” someone asks.
“I-I don’t know,” you gasp, and Lottie suddenly crouches down in front of him. “Maybe… he’s having a panic attack?”
You fall back into Nat as she wraps her arms around you, and try to reach for him as he keeps breathing weirdly and shuddering.
“Travis. Travis, look at me,” Lottie says, placing her hand on his chest. “Breathe with me, okay? You can do that. Breath is the only thing in the world right now. Breathe in,” she inhales.
And he takes a shaky breath with her, but still he’s breathing too fast, and she keeps breathing steadily, and slowly, after a moment, his breathing evens out.
“Oh,” Lottie mutters, looking down, and Travis places a blanket over his legs before you can see anything. Lottie looks into his eyes. “Your brother’s alive. I know he is.”
Travis stares up at her with such awe you don’t know what to make of it.
“You should get some rest.”
Natalie scoffs and stands up, grabbing Lottie’s arm as she tries to move past her.
“Can I talk to you?” Nat whispers, but doesn’t really give her a choice. You watch from the floor as they whisper, tired and done. “What the fuck was that? Javi is… Look. Giving him false hope is just going to make things worse.”
“There’s no such thing as false hope,” Lottie breathes, this crazy smile on her face. “There’s just… hope.”
“Did you read that from a fucking fortune cookie?”
“What do you want from me, Nat? I just said what I felt.”
“I want you to say less Lottie. A lot fucking less.”
She sighs and sits back down next to you, and Lottie watches, seemingly in shock.
“It’s all right,” Nat whispers to you, and Lottie walks away. “Go to sleep,” she whispers, and it takes a while, thoughts about Travis swirling, but you do.
—-
The next day, the three of you hike out and find a tree on the side of the hill. It’s covered in moss, and the ground before it is devoid of snow. You climb up, through the thick snow, but eventually, you reach it.
Natalie reaches forward and touches the dirt and moss.
“Weird,” she remarks, but besides for that- there’s nothing here that any of you want. No game, no Javi.
Travis taps her shoulder. “C’mon,” he says, and Nat stares at the weird tree for a moment longer, before you continue your steep hike.
—-
taglist:
@sweetdayme4427 @dreaming-for-an-escape @peachydoki @happysparklingshadows @zhivaxo @maraudeerrs @karsonromanoff
everything taglist:
@emilynissangtr
82 notes
·
View notes
Past Polls
Round 1: Peter : WINNER: Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
Round 2: Elizabeth : WINNER: Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Round 3: Jason : WINNER: Jason Mendoza (The Good Place)
Round 4: Eve : WINNER: EVE (WALL-E)
Round 5: Fred : WINNER: Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo)
Round 6: Rachel : WINNER: Rachel (Animorphs)
Round 7: Arthur : WINNER: Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Round 8: Amy : WINNER: Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
Round 9: Tom : WINNER: Tom (Tom and Jerry)
Round 10: Claire : WINNER: Clare Devlin (Derry Girls)
Round 11: James : WINNER: James (Pokemon)
Round 12: Max : WINNER: Max (Black Sails)
Round 13: Simon : WINNER: Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
Round 14: Jane : WINNER: Jane Crocker (Homestuck)
Round 15: Victor : WINNER: Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)
Round 16: Mary : WINNER: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)
Round 17: Will : WINNER: Will Graham (Hannibal)
Round 18: Laura : WINNER: Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)
Round 19: Ben : WINNER: Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (Star Wars)
Round 20: Chloe : WINNER: Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)
Round 21: John : WINNER: Jonathan Sims (The Magnus Archives)
Round 22: Lydia : WINNER: Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice)
Round 23: Mark : WINNER: Marc Spector (Moon Knight)
Round 24: Jess : WINNER: Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
Round 25: Theo : WINNER: Theobald Gumbar (Dimension 20: A Crown Of Candy)
Round 26: Sarah: WINNER: Sarah Jane Smith (Doctor Who)
Round 27: Richard : WINNER: Richard Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)
Round 28: Cass : WINNER: Cassandra Cain (Batman)
Round 29: Edward : WINNER: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Round 30: Carm : WINNER: Carmen Sandiego (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)
Round 31: Hal : WINNER: HAL9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
Round 32: Sid : WINNER: Sydney Adamu (The Bear)
Round 33: Jack : WINNER: Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)
Round 34: Stephanie : WINNER: Stephanie Brown (Batman)
Round 35: Ash : WINNER: Ash Ketchum (Pokemon)
Round 36: Veronica : WINNER: Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)
Round 37: Kurt : WINNER: Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler (X-Men)
Round 38: Eleanor : WINNER: Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)
Round 39: Nathan : WINNER: Nathan Young (Misfits)
Round 40: Fiona : WINNER: Princess Fiona (Shrek)
Round 41: Gale : WINNER: Gayle Waters-Waters (Chris Fleming)
Round 42: Barbara : WINNER: Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie (Barbie)
Round 43: Sam : WINNER: Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)
Round 44: Grace : WINNER: Grace Chastity (Nerdy Prudes Must Die)
Round 45: Barry : WINNER: Barry Bluejeans (The Adventure Zone)
Round 46: Raven : WINNER: Raven (Teen Titans)
Round 47: Dan : WINNER: Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom)
Round 48: Mia : WINNER: Mia Fey (Ace Attorney)
Round 49: Matt : WINNER: Matt Murdock (Daredevil)
Round 50: Rose : WINNER: Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)
Round 51: Robert : WINNER: Robbie Rotten (LazyTown)
Round 52: Lola : WINNER: Lola Bunny (Space Jam)
Round 53: Scott : WINNER: Scott Summers aka Cyclops (X-Men)
Round 54: Olivia : WINNER: Olivia Octavious (Spiderverse)
Round 55: Finn : WINNER: Finn the Human (Adventure Time)
Round 56: Emily : WINNER: Emily Charlton (The Devil Wears Prada)
Round 57: Elliot : WINNER: Eliot Spencer (Leverage)
Round 58: Sonia : WINNER: Sonia (Pokemon)
Round 59: Gideon : WINNER: Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)
Round 60: Jen : WINNER: Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)
Round 61: Miles : WINNER: Miles Morales (Spider-Man)
Round 62: Lana : WINNER: Lana Skye (Ace Attorney)
Round 63: Spencer : WINNER: Spencer Shay (iCarly)
Round 64: Tracy : WINNER: Tracy Turnbald (Hairspray!)
Round 65: Luke : WINNER: Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
Round 66: Natalie : WINNER: Natalie Scatorccio (Yellowjackets)
Round 67: Harry : WINNER: Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium)
Round 68: Lucy : WINNER: Lucy van Pelt (Peanuts)
Round 69: Damian : WINNER: Damian Wayne (Batman)
Round 70: Tabitha : WINNER: Tabitha Casper (Dan and Phil Games: Sims 4)
Round 71: Nick : WINNER: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)
Round 72: Gwen : WINNER: Guinevere (Merlin)
Round 73: Paul : WINNER: Paulette Bonafonte (Legally Blonde)
Round 74: Abigail : WINNER: Abigail Hobbs (Hannibal)
Round 75: Jordan : WINNER: Jordan Baker (The Great Gatsby)
Round 76: Donna : WINNER: Donna Noble (Doctor Who)
Round 77: Morgan : WINNER: Morgana (Merlin)
Round 78: Allison : WINNER: Alison Cooper (BBC Ghosts)
Round 79: Patrick : WINNER: Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants)
Round 80: Linda : WINNER: Linda Belcher (Bob's Burgers)
Round 81: Philip : WINNER: Philip J. Fry (Futurama)
Round 82: Clarisse : WINNER: Clarisse La Rue (Percy Jackson)
Round 83: Jeff : WINNER: Jeff The Killer (Creepypasta)
Round 84: Maria : WINNER: Maria (The Sound Of Music)
Round 85: David : WINNER: David aka Solid Snake (Metal Gear)
Round 86: Tiffany : WINNER: Tiffany Aching (Discworld)
Round 87: Charlie : WINNER: Charlie Kelly (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Round 88: Sandy : WINNER: Sandy Cheeks (Spongebob Squarepants)
Round 89: Cody : WINNER: Commander Cody (Star Wars: Clone Wars)
Round 90: Amanda : WINNER: Amanda Young (Saw)
Round 91: Jeremy : WINNER: Jeremy aka Scout (Team Fortress 2)
Round 92: Velma : WINNER: Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo)
Round 93: Adam : WINNER: Adam Parrish (The Raven Cycle)
Round 94: Sue : WINNER: Susan Pevensie (Narnia)
Round 95: Derek : WINNER: Derek Hale (Teen Wolf)
Round 96: Michelle : WINNER: Michelle Mallon (Derry Girls)
Round 97: Neil : WINNER: Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society)
Round 98: Lisa : WINNER: Lisa Cuddy (House MD)
Round 99: Tony : WINNER: Tony Soprano (The Soprano's)
Round 100: Karen : WINNER: Karen Smith (Mean Girls)
8 notes
·
View notes