Ssoundss Familiar Solo Finished

Mars pulled their robes a little tighter around themselves and pushed the hair out of their eyes. The signs of the incoming winter were starting to show, air turning crisp and chilly. Winter was coming... that meant winter break was approaching too.

They sighed. It was a good idea that they'd come out here. The bright air was a welcome refresher, clearing their thoughts as they wandered through the Campgrounds. Winter break meant they could go home. It meant they could see their brothers again, tell them about this place, regale the stories of magic and monsters the likes of which they'd never seen. But... could they?

Every part of them wanted to. But the image of that crumpled paper ball, the words written in Estella's curly handwriting, it all still burned behind their eyelids, haunting them. Was it safe by now? It had to be, right? It'd been this long already, nearly a year and a half since the incident with the masked man and the bloody rose. And they were stronger now. They could protect the people they loved.

Ugh. All this contemplation was making their head hurt. There were thousands of other factors to consider, swirling in an angry torrent through their head. It burned, burned like hellfire, pulsing in a way that couldn't have been normal. Why was it that it hurt so much to think about this? Why did it feel like the images would fuzz, blur, almost seeming to—overlap with ones they didn't remember.

"Ugh!" Mars grunted, hand coming up to knock at their skull. A few bystanders turned to stare at them and they grinned sheepishly, walking away as fast as they could. It was just worry, they were sure. An overwhelming amount of anxiety and paranoia and some amount of annoyance at the prospect of talking around Lady Estella once more. She was so aggravating sometimes, and though Mars was grateful, that didn't curb the nagging suspicion they had that the woman didn't like them, that she feared more for the well-being of her estate than theirs. Oh well. They didn't care enough to challenge that notion.

Still, they wanted to go home. Especially for Christmas, where the smell of sugar cookies would overwhelm the Castillion Manor and they could give tiny gifts to each of their brothers and see the smiles light up their faces. Lydia would help them manage the kitchen and smile in that way that made them feel special, that made them feel warm inside, that—Mars walked a little faster, the flare in their chest unfitting for the dryness of their eyes.

They stopped, panting just a little, at the edge of forest. The darkness of the trees stretched out in front of them, hiding the shadows of what lurked within its bounds. Mars collapsed a little, a small bubble of laughter spilling through their lips. They needed to stop thinking so much. There was time anyway, and they could figure it out then.

They meandered over to a set of rocks at the forest edge, giving them a once over before sinking down on the largest one. The Ravenclaw sighed, hands coming up to support the weight of their head. The wind whistled in their ears, blowing red locks to and fro, and they resolved to just be for a moment. The firestorm that raged in their mind bucked and settled, cooling as they stared blankly into the trees. They should've brought their guitar.

A tune sprang to their lips regardless, aimless and wandering as they hummed gently. Faintly, in an odd sense of deja vu, it felt as if they'd heard it before, as if it'd wormed its way into their sleeping conscious an octave higher and a timbre sweeter. But it couldn't have—this was an impulse melody, a series of notes strung up with no real purpose tying them together.

"Prettyyy," came voice from beside them. Eyes still unfocused, mind too lost to the strange familiarity of the tune, Mars responded, "Mn, thanks."

That—that was odd. They stopped humming. Somehow, their tongue had twisted mid-sentence, tucked itself behind their teeth in a way that it shouldn't have. The back of their throat felt scratchy, as if they'd dropped a few octaves lower than they normally could. But it hadn't sounded any different. Why did it feel so strange?

There was a rustle from beside them and Mars jerked up, the fact finally hitting them. There had been someone talking to them. But looking to the side, no one was there. What? Had they run? But the floor was covering in dry, crackly leaves, brittle enough that they would've heard scrambling footsteps. Then an invisibility spell? They weren't even sure one existed but it was possible. In all honesty, they didn't know much about the wizarding world, nothing beyond what their classes taught. It was a possibility then, but they weren't sure who'd try to trick them like this. No one they could think of—

"The sssong." There it was again, this time on their other side. Mars whipped around, eyes searching for the voice. They wanted to find it for normal reasons, of course, but there was also something weird about it. Gravelly, low, maybe kind of hallow in a way. It came off as English to them, but there was something layered underneath that they couldn't quite put a finger on.

"Ssso prettyyy." Sh*t, where was it coming from?

"Sssoundsss familiar." That—that. Mars stopped their rather frantic searching. Did it? But... how? It was just an aimless tune, probably a conglomeration of songs they'd heard in the past pieced together in a new melody. Unless—it wasn't.

They found their tongue again, thick and heavy in the back of their mouth. Speak, god damnit, speak.

"It... doesss?" Again, thicker, deeper, more gravelly than it should've been. Mars found themselves unable to let go of the 's' at the end of the word, dragging it out in a snake-like fashion. Snake. Snake.

Their eyes shot to the ground. "Yesss. Sssoundsss—" There it was. An adder, if they recalled correctly, one of the most common snakes around here. A large one too, staring up at them like they were some kind of anomaly. There was something swirling in its beady eyes, something that had Mars fixed to the spot. Its tongue flicked out, as if it were trying to taste them.

hh

"I— You—" They were at a lost for words. The firestorm started up again, but this time it was a thousand new thoughts, a hundred new situations they couldn't comprehend. Why. How. The hell. The snake cocked its head to the side in a fashion much too human for their comfort.

"It'sss you. You're—" the snake paused, or rather stopped, examining Mars with beady eyes. Its tongue flicked out again, almost mimicking the motion of licking its lips. Then, it asked,

"Do you remember?"

That gravelly, slow tone shot through Mars' head like a bullet. The layers of the words seemed to unravel, split apart in their mind. The English sentence echoed its meaning over and over, but there was another language, another sentence reverberating in their bones. That one was all hisses, long and vibrating. Just the way a snake would talk.

The back of their brain lit on fire.

Mars clutched at their head, doubling over with a strangled scream. It burned, bubbled, something trying to force its way through the folds of their memory, angry and rising. No. Sh*t. No.

Their eyes popped open, wide and slightly blood-shot, vision blurring. The adder was moving, it was coming closer, long body slithering across the dried leaves. A new round of pain crashed over their skull. It was nearing now, raising its body to touch against their leg, something—concern that they couldn't see—swirling in its beady eyes.

Mars shot up, breaths coming in hard and fast. They chanced half a look at the snake below them—then bolted out of the Campgrounds, the stinging song of pain still ebbing out behind them. What the hell.