Chapter Text
Chosen hates The Dark Lord. She hates her smug smirks and her creepy staring. She hates that they have to share her bedroom and that she uses her clothes, even if she didn’t really use the ones her mom gave her.
But what she hates the most about her is the attention she gets.
The monster does something, doesn’t matter how easy and simple it is, and Alan and Vic immediately shower her with praise. They compliment her like, like, like she’s real! Like she isn’t just pretending to be nice so that they lower their guards and she can attack them when they least expect it.
Alan and Vic have completely fallen for the trick, especially Alan who keeps offering the monster soft smiles and friendly pats that she never got from him—
Ehem. You got a little self aware there, Chosen.
Anyway, her mom is too busy to really pay attention to the monster so she hasn’t fallen for the trick but it also means she hasn’t noticed there’s a trick at all! And she can’t help her keep her brothers safe.
So the responsibility of saving the family falls oh ber. It’s a heavy burden but she’s a strong girl. An extremely strong girl in fact! She sees through the tricks and then she will be getting the soft smiles and the friendly pats and all that stuff!
“She won’t see what hit her.” Chosen tells Hopling as she gets ready to confront the monster that has infiltrated her house.
Hopling can’t sigh because they’re made of paper and they can’t quite imitate that noise just with the rustling sound they usually make. But if they could, they would be digging right now. They love Chosen for she is their friend and great friend she is! But they don’t agree with the way Chosen’s acting. The little Dark might be a little odd but from what they remember, Chosen used to act pretty odd as well. At least for human standards.
She might be odd but she’s definitely not a monster, is what Hopling thinks.
They shake their little paper head as Chosen leaves the room. They hope this doesn’t end badly because Chosen has started locking them in her room to keep them safe which means they have no real way of contacting someone responsible. They sag slightly; they really miss Alan and Vic and the scratches they’d get from them. The world has become a cold complicated place.
Chosen observes the monster in silence. She’s not really doing anything. She’s just… sitting in a corner and staring at something on her hand. She squints at her to get a better look of her hand and recoils. She’s holding a spider! Ew! She is evil like she thought! She’s getting along with a spider.
The monster’s eyes suddenly snap at her, noticing she’s there. Chosen represses the urge to duck away but stops herself before she can show weakness. She stands up instead and puffs her chest with a defiant scowl.
The Dark Lord inspects her carefully, rotating her hand to keep the spider running across it. She tilts her head with apparent curiosity but there’s something very animal about it. Like a predator eyeing its meal.
“You were spying on me.” She states.
Well, no point in denying it now. “Yes.”
She expects her again before turning her attention back to the spider on her hand.
“Well, you are not very good at it.” She notes with an odd neutrality. She actually hasn’t seen her off-putting smile in a while now she just stares blankly. Emotionless, like whatever mask she had the first few days had disappeared. “Why don’t you do something else? Something you’re actually good at that, perhaps.”
The “and leave me alone” is implied but Chosen doesn’t catch it, angry as she is.
“I’m excellent at it!” She huffs and stomps her foot. “And I’m great at fighting too! I can show you if you dare.”
She glances at her with a smirk. “Your mother does not want any fights. Neither do Alan and Vic.” She pokes at the spider on her hand. “You cannot touch me; unless you want to break the rules, Chosen One.”
Chosen opens her mouth to reply but closes it immediately. She is right, as much as she hates to admit it. She growls at her.
“I’ll defeat you, Dark Lord.” She groans before stomping away.
As she leaves, she hears her mutter: “be my guest.”
She’s not quite sure why she says that so bitterly but she doesn’t really care. It's probably just a tactic.
Well, that first day of defeating the monster went really badly; she didn’t discover anything aside from her friendship with spiders. And she has to stand yet another dinner where Alan praises perfect little Dark! Disgusting.
She goes to her room, mad as it’s become routine and starts getting ready to sleep.
The Dark Lord enters shortly after and moves through the room like a lion circling her cage.
Hopling sees Dark enter and notices she looks a little sad: shoulder hunched and eyes locked on the floor. So they decide they’ve had enough of hiding from her and it’s time to go say hello. They happily hop out of their cardboard house and on to the desk separating the two beds.
Dark notices the movement and curiously approaches the paper frog. She seems surprised to see them move and a small smile appears on her face. They perform a quick backflip to impress her and make a paper noise to show they’re friendly.
She smiles with a little more enthusiasm. “Hi.” She says, offering her hand so that they may hop on if they want to.
They would be happy to do so! So they get ready to jump and—
Suddenly Chosen is between the two of them, hissing and with her body lowered as a threat. Dark withdraws her hand, tilting her head. She doesn’t appear alarmed but Hopling saw her pupils shrink.
“Stay away from them!” She snarls.
Dark owlishly blinks at her. “I was simply saying hi. Who are they?”
“None of your business!”
“Why are you so upset?” Dark asks and Hopling hears some frustration in her voice. “I am merely curious.”
“Because you’re evi!” Chosen accuses, holding Hopling close to her chest.
Dark smiles but Hopling sees it’s strained.
“That’s not… true.” She says slowly. “I am good.”
Chosen scoffs. “That’s what you want them to think! But you can’t fool me! You’re The Dark Lord and the dark lord is always bad.”
“I am not…” She pauses as if searching for an appropriate argument. “Alan and Vic say I am good.”
That's right, good girl! Hopling thinks, relieved.
Chosen scoffs. “That doesn’t matter, they’re just confused!” She doesn’t really believe that and she knows it’s not a very convincing argument so she bites her lip and looks around for a better one. “And they never wanted you anyway!”
Dark’s hands start to tremble. “No. That’s not—“
“It is!” Chosen says firmly. “I was there. You were an accident and no one was happy you came to life. Everything was just starting to work out when you showed up!” Chosen sniffs and blinks hard to keep the tears at bay. “They never wanted you! You just cause trouble and give them more work! They’ll be happy when I get rid of you!” She hisses and turns around, trying not to cry.
She gently puts Hopling on their house and hurries herself under her covers, turning off the light.
Hopling looks through a hole of their house and looks at Dark, her face occasionally illuminated by the dancing stars of the nightlight.
She’s frozen where she was standing with an expression of pure unadulterated dread and horror on her tiny, young face. Hopling wishes more that ever that they could talk the same language as they it family does to comfort both girls.