Seal the Deal ( Malak x Reader )

Mascot Mayhem

Y/N POV

I excused myself and hurried towards the bathroom, my steps quickening with each nauseating wave that washed over me. The urge to vomit was overwhelming, threatening to consume me entirely. As I entered the bathroom, I leaned over the sink, trying to steady my breathing as my stomach churned with discomfort. With trembling hands, I splashed cold water on my face, hoping to quell the rising nausea.  

Just as I was about to leave the bathroom, a fleeting memory tugged at the corners of my mind. I recalled a file I had yet to read, one of the note from (I) and Bierce's diaries  that held the promise of answers amidst the chaos. With a sense of determination, I retrieved the note first and began to read, the words on the page offering a temporary distraction from the turmoil swirling within me.

"As I feared, the circus and cathedral were just more dead ends. I had hoped to avoid making any more jumps, but there was no such luck. The additional jumps hit me harder than I was prepared for. The symptoms were excruciating and still have not yet fully subsided. More and more, I'm aware that my time is running out. The demon's path led me to a rather large and ominous looking hospital. When I arrived, I was prepared for the next ridiculous nightmare, but instead I found it full of.....women. Nurses to be exact and they were quite unusual as well. They wore medical bags over their heads while moving around on roller skates, which struct me as odd. I didn't care to look at what was under those bags and I prefer to never find out. Like all the other monsters that I've encountered, their souls were bound in servitude to the demon whose footsteps I have been following. Even as I stood before them, the nurses didn't bother to attack me. They are demons that specifically prey on men and call themselves "Reaper Nurses". I could feel in each of them the soul of a woman with a deep & scarring hatred of men. They were all born from that hatred. The Hospital lures the souls of men that hate & disrespect woman and offers them an eternity of torment by women that hate & disrespect men. How appropriate. They truly deserve each other.

As I stood there in silence, one of them skated over and offered me a seat in the lounge. She even brought me a pot of tea after seating me. I refused to drink it, expecting that it was poisoned or drugged. They seem amused by my paranoia and laughed. After whispering to one another for a few seconds, one of them turned to me and asked me if I'd like to join the sisterhood of healing & mercy. They told me that my soul checked all of their boxes and that a "little initiation ritual" was all that was required to join. I wasn't sure what they meant, but it didn't sound good. As they were all holding large sharp syringes, I wondered if refusal would mean my immediate executions. I gripped my relic and prepared to jump as I declined their offer. They stood silently for a moment and then laughed more. They seemed unaffected by my response and told me to go ahead and make myself at home. I was allowed to explore the upper levels as much as I wanted, but not permitted to go near the restricted areas. As long as I did what they told me and didn't threaten their mission, I would remain safe. However, my curiosity was already piqued. Is there a way out in those restricted areas? I need to find out why they are off limits."

-I

As I read through the note from (I), a sense of recognition washed over me. The writer's experiences mirrored my own journey through the nightmare realms, from the futile search for answers in the circus and cathedral to the unsettling encounter with the Reaper Nurses at the hospital. A theory began to form in my mind, a possibility too unsettling to ignore. What if the writer of the note was a woman, just like me? It would explain why neither of us had been attacked by the Reaper Nurses, who preyed specifically on men consumed by hatred and disrespect towards women.

The thought sent a chill down my spine, the implications of such a revelation staggering in their implications. If the writer was indeed a woman, then what did it mean for the nightmare realms and the entities that inhabited them? As I pondered these questions, a sense of urgency swept over me. There were still so many mysteries to unravel, so many dangers to confront.