Chapter Text
“What have I told you, time and time again!?”
“I know what you’ve told me, Seek…”
“So pray tell why you continue to disobey?!”
He was yelling at her, reprimanding her once more for her carelessness. This wouldn’t be the first time Seek had chastised the human, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. Seek had called a group meeting a couple minutes prior. Almost every entity in the hotel was present.
She was almost killed during a hunt. Normally, the other entities would warn her when there were intruders in the hotel. This allowed her to either hunker down in a closet until they were dealt with, or—if she was close enough— make her way to Jeff’s shop and hide behind him. Those were the rules; no wandering during hunts. However, this time around she wasn’t so lucky. If she was not in the library, she would notice when a hunt would start. Simple things like the aggressive rain attacking the windows or the unnerving quiet that would suddenly take over every room in the hotel would be enough signs for her to hide, however she missed both of those. She was in one of the later rooms of the hotel, a room that was fully enclosed. It had no windows and she could barely hear the rain. If it wasn’t for Ambush’s loud screaming, she wouldn’t be sitting at this meeting right now.
They were (mostly) sat in one of the dining rooms, the fireplace burning warmly behind Seek. He stood at one end of the table, staring directly at the anxious human who was sat at the other end. The other entities were sat at the table as well, aside from those far too big such as Figure and Dupe; they had to stand by the wall. Everyone could feel the tension in the small room, it was palpable. This was a serious matter, their friend could have died today. Of course they would be on edge because of that, but they were more worried about Seek. Val knew his mannerisms. She knew that he was blunt and didn’t like sugar coating things, but the entities knew him better. They knew he was going to rip her apart.
“I don’t mean to disobey- you know that!” she pleaded.
“Sure. You don’t mean to, but you do anyway! Why?! ” Seek was starting to yell.
“It was an accident…!” she jumped at his voice and shrunk in her seat.
‘That doesn’t matter-!”
“Seek!” Halt interrupted him, clearly annoyed “Lower your voice! She’s frightened enough, must you make it worse?!”
Seek stared daggers at him. Unlike Val, the ghostly entity did not back down. With a huff, Seek returned his gaze back to Val. He sighed and spoke calmly with irritation still laced in his voice.
“You could have died again. First it was the accident with Rush- do you want Ambush to be the second accident?!”
“No! I don’t want that again, but I can’t exactly do a whole lot to stop them!”
“Oh please.” Seek rolled his eye, “Don’t pretend like you’re dead weight moseying along. You know exactly what I’ve told you time and time again, but it seems to me like you just don’t care!”
“Really? You sure act like I’m dead weight! Don’t do this, don’t do that! ‘You humans’ this, ‘you humans’ that! What am I supposed to think when you constantly chastise me?”
“Has it ever occurred to you the situation you’re in? Why else would I talk your ear off about things you do, hm? You seem to forget that you’re in constant danger just by existing. It is my job to keep you and everyone else here safe!”
“I didn’t ask you to take on that job, Seek. I can take care of myself just fine!”
“You almost died! Pray tell, how well do you think you take care of yourself for that to happen twice now?! ”
“You’re lucky I’ve walked through this hell hotel multiple times before settling in. If I hadn't, it would have been a lot more than two!” Val started to raise her voice. Seek was agitating her.
“You’re human. A death count isn’t something you should be proud of.”
“Yet you guys are allowed to have weekly leaderboards of who has killed the most humans.” she quipped.
“You are ignoring my point.” Seek grumbled, anger quickly growing and displaying on his face.
“I’m ignoring the fact that you treat me like a helpless child who can’t do anything right?” She scoffed, “Yeah, I think most people would do the same.”
“You’re right. You are a helpless child!”
“Seek please-” Ambush interrupted, “Just cut her some slack. Look- she got in a closet and I stopped in time, it’s not that big of a deal-!”
“This is not your problem, Ambush.” Seek spat out her name, “So I suggest staying quiet unless you’d like to receive the same treatment!”
Ambush shrunk into her seat. Rush was standing behind her with his hands on her shoulder. He squeezed her gently.
“If I'm so helpless then why haven’t you locked me in a room already- huh? I wouldn’t be able to do anything, wouldn’t be able to walk around and constantly annoy you with my presence. The best part– and you’ll love this part Seek– I won’t be in your fucking way!”
Eyes gently placed her hand on top of one of Val’s, gently squeezing her with concern.
“Dear, calm down please-” she spoke gently.
Val ripped her hand out of her grasp.
“No!” she said, “I’m tired of him treating me like shit! He says I’m a child yet the actual child here doesn’t get abused this way by his father, now does he?! ”
Seek slammed his hands on the table, becoming enraged. Items on the table shook lightly at the sudden force. His eye was blown wide open and everyone could practically feel his hostility. He stared at Val as if she was a target, and he was the scope of a sniper.
“Don’t you DARE bring Screech into this!”
Seek started yelling again. For a second, a hunting screech came out of him; it startled and surprised everyone.
“Why can’t you treat this situation like when Rush killed me, huh?!”
Rush grimaced and squeezed his sister's shoulders tighter. He had killed Val once before. It was an accident, but that didn’t make the ache he constantly felt any better. He felt Ambush’s hand on his and met her patient expression. She took one of his hands off of her shoulder and held it, squeezing it in a gentle and understanding fist. He reciprocated gladly.
“You were so worried and whatever, but you didn’t blow up at me! What changed, Seek? What did I do for you to be so…so… bitchy?! ” she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Excuse me? If you couldn’t tell, you’re at fault this time! Had you not ignored the signs of a hunt you wouldn’t be in this mess!”
She slammed her hands on the table, her anger quickly getting the better of her.
“No one told me they were hunting! How can you not get that through your dense head? Are you stupid , or do you just hate me that much that you’ll jump at anything I do if it means you can yell at me?!” she snapped.
The other entities looked at her in shock. They had never heard or seen her be this angry or explosive. Val was a naturally quiet person, she rarely had any outbursts. It seemed like Seek had finally pushed her over the edge.
“Light’s sake, you just don’t listen! Is your head that empty that you forgot the queue that alerts us of intruders in the first place?!”
“And I’m telling you I didn’t hear or see any of them! Y'know, last time you treated this as a learning experience and told me to be more careful, but now? It’s like you wanted me to get hurt or something!”
The other entities quickly grew fearful, this conversation quickly turned hostile. They all spoke quietly to Seek and Val, begging both of them to calm down to diffuse the situation. However, that option did not seem fruitful. Both of them were too blinded by other things to even hear the others in the room. Even Dupe who would normally laugh at this chaotically heated situation seemed on edge. Her tail was between her legs and her fur spiked outwards. It seemed this argument was long coming. Everyone said they cared deeply for one another despite their attitudes, however that statement was quickly becoming hard to believe. With each yell and insult the two grew colder and colder. It was like hearing never ending gunshots. Both participants had pent up anger towards the other, this was the breaking point. The day finally came where the pot boiled over.
“Hell, maybe you think another scare will finally kick me back into shape. Shit- maybe another death!” She laughed.
“THEN I’LL MAKE SURE I KILL YOU MYSELF!”
“...What?”
The room fell into a dead silence. In a blind rage, he screamed a cacophony of words no one wanted to hear. Even though he only voiced it, every entity looked at him as if he had committed the action anyway. Val stood still, shaking like a little mouse while Seek was the big bad cat. Her expression quickly changed into one of hurt and fear. It was only a couple seconds after that Seek realized what he had said. The deep frown that seemed carved into his face eased, if only for that moment. He didn’t even need to look at her to feel the betrayal she felt, the utter fear she felt as he yelled those horrid words at her.
It was like the entire room was made of glass and his words shot out against the walls, shattering everything into tiny and minuscule pieces. He didn’t mean it. Every entity knew he didn’t mean it. Would he admit that to Val? No. Of course not. He would rather let his pride get in the way then show an ounce of concern for her. She was a human, and he was a monster. Surely that was expected of him, right? He wouldn’t take it back, not even if his life depended on it. That’s just who he was. He thought she knew that by now. Guess not. Maybe if she realized that sooner, she wouldn’t be so hurt.
Every single eye was on him as she quickly but quietly left the room. Quiet sobs threatened to rack her body. He could only stare down at the table in front of him as he heard the turning of a doorknob softly make contact with the doorframe, a quiet enough sound telling him that she deliberately tried to make as little noise as possible. He knew what that meant. She always made as little noise as possible to not bother him. Always. Closing doors after an argument was apparently no different. From such a small and simple gesture, she managed to make him ache more than he already was. He could hear the voices of the other entities silently yelling at him. Their words were lost as his mind faded to a place far away.
He needed a breather…