Chapter Text
“Krystal?”
A familiar voice called out, putting down her brush, Krystal turned to look at Derek, who looked a complete mess. Hair tangled and knotted, with clothes stained by both dirt and specks of blood. Krystal could immediately tell that whatever he was about to bother her for wasn’t going to be pretty.
“What do you want?”
“Remember how Trevor went out a few weeks ago to track down those three runaways?”
“Yes, what of it?”
“We..”
Derek looked over his shoulder, and swallowed hard.
“We never found the runaways, but.. we found Trevor.”
Krystal could already tell where this was going, stealing a glance down to her left arm, still wrapped in bandages and in terrible pain, a near constant for Krystal. She looked back up, and sighed.
“How bad is it?”
“Bad.”
Krystal rolled her eyes and stood up.
“Bring him in.”
Derek nodded, and walked out, a few moments passed, and he came back in, at his side were Emily, Oliver, and Marcus. Emily glanced at Krystal, then to the wall, her expression creased in boredom, Marcus, for his part, was helping Derek carry in an injured Trevor, Oliver standing behind the three, a large grey bag in his hands. Krystal looked to Trevor, he was in awful condition. His eyes muddied by both shame and sorrow, head hung low, and arms wrapped around Derek and Marcus for support. His left eye was squinted shut, it took Krystal a moment to realize the reason, black fungi growing from the empty socket, his face and clothes stained in black liquid, in his blood.
Trevor was infected.
“Will you.. be able to help him?”
Derek spoke up, his voice unusually shaky, beads of sweat trickling down his face. Krystal considered the five, looking between Trevor, and her bandaged limbs, so many injuries, so much blood already wasted. And in an instant, her mind was made up.
“No.”
“What?!”
Each of the four immediately became surprised, Emily’s expression turning from bored apathy, to wide eyed shock, Derek’s face became filled with both horror and rage.
“What do you mean no?!”
“He’s too far into the infection, there’s nothing I can do.”
“What do you mean he’s too far in?!”
Derek shouted, pushing Trevor into Marcus’ arms and storming towards Krystal.
“I’ve seen you cure people in much worse condition than him! It’ll only take a bit of blood, why won’t you just do it?!”
“This is different,”
Krystal lied, turning her head in the direction of Trever, Marcus, Oliver and Emily.
“I’ve healed him before when he’s gotten infected, my blood will have been useless by now, his body has gotten used to it.”
“That doesn’t make any god damn sense!”
Derek shouted, stepping closer. Krystal glared back at him, and stepped forward in return, making him recoil.
“I didn’t quite catch that, could you say that again please?”
Derek’s jaw worked, but no words came out, Krystal took another step in his direction, and he stepped even further from her, in fear, something Krystal would never get tired of seeing others do.
“I told you to repeat yourself.”
She took another step forward.
“Now! What did you say to me?!”
“Nothing!”
Derek spoke up, flinching when she raised her voice, almost making Krystal grin.
“I said nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.”
She turned away from Derek to Trever, whose face creased with worry.
“What’s.. going to happen to me?”
“Well,”
Krystal began, looking between each person in the room.
“I can’t heal you, and you’re infected now, you’re a danger to each person in our settlement. I do wish it could be any other way, but it’s better to lose one person than to risk losing everyone.”
“What?!”
Trevor’s eye widened, and he froze.
“Krystal, please!”
Derek pleaded, reaching out and grabbing her arm, sharp pain shooting up the limb, only serving to further motivate her decision.
“Isn’t there any other way? Please!”
Tears formed in Derek’s eyes.
“It’s okay, Derek.”
Trevor spoke up, paying him a weak smile.
“I was reckless and got infected, this is my own fault, and now I need to face the consequences. I couldn’t live with myself if I put any of you in danger, it’s.. it’s better this way.”
Trevor swallowed hard, trying his best to appear confident to the man he loved, but the shaking in his legs showed his fear.
“No…”
Tears fell from Derek’s eyes, he released Krystal’s arm, making his way towards Trevor.
“Marcus, you know what to do, make sure it’s quick and that his ashes be buried someplace nice.”
Marcus gave a weak nod, and began dragging Trevor out.
“WAIT, WAIT, STOP!”
Derek chased after, leaving Krystal, Oliver, and Emily alone in the tent. Emily’s expression sorrowful, and Oliver’s pure disgust.
“What is wrong with you?! You could have easily healed him and we all know it, and now you’re just letting him die?! He’s your friend, why would you do that?! How could you do that?!”
“My arms are sore.”
Krystal said plainly.
“These wounds need to heal, y’know. Unless you want your cure bleeding out on the floor somewhere?”
Oliver threw his bag down, glaring at her, Emily watched the two, not daring utter a single word.
“Are you serious?! You let him die because ‘your arms hurt’?!”
“Yes.”
Krystal turned away from him, sitting back down.
“Your selfish, your a monster! This is exactly the kind of thing your father would have-“
Before he could finish, Krystal grabbed her hair brush, and raised it above her head, rising to her feet once more.
“SHUT UP!”
She screamed, throwing the hair brush as hard as she could at him. It connected, and Oliver stumbled back, blood beginning to drip down his forehead.
“GET OUT, NOW!”
Krystal screamed again, and Oliver scurried past Emily, not bothering to retrieve his bag.
A few beats of silence passed, and Emily raised her hand to wipe a splotch of sticky red blood from her shoulder.
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Emily picked up the hair brush from off the ground, flicking off Oliver’s blood, and walking to Krystal, setting the it down on her vanity. A worn down and scratched up thing, stolen from a random house, traces of its previous owner’s blood still present in some places on the faded white wood.
“He’s just some idiot who got lucky and now thinks he knows what’s right.”
Emily looked up at Krystal, raising a hand and cupping her cheek, her warm palm running over Krystal’s scars.
“Don’t listen to a word he says.”
Krystal couldn’t help but smile, leaning into the touch, and tucking a strand of hair behind Emily’s ear.
“We both know I never have. You and Marcus are the only people here whose opinions matters to me.”
Emily chuckled lightly, and put her free hand on Krystal’s upper shoulder, the only part of her arm not wounded and covered in bandages. Be it a calculated decision or a simple sign of affection, or perhaps both, Krystal didn’t know. She appreciated the gesture all the same. Krystal was a monster, she knew it, she couldn’t live with that, but she had Emily, and she had Marcus, and she cared about them. Maybe that somehow proved she had a bit of her humanity left, even if just a trace of it.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO:
Okay, so I FINALLY finished a few of the character redesigns and information about Krystal’s cult. Please look at both slideshows as they are very important to the story. Feedback regarding the character designs would also be much appreciated so please leave your thoughts in the comments