{"sf1_id":1707660,"sf2_id":"pnGDrWM1","title":" The Leaves of Fall Act 3: Something That Matters (Part 24)","author":"Oliver_Hart","words":1334,"posted_at":"2021-04-17T14:24:12.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Alternate Reality","Anon","Boy","Brother","Bunny","Classroom","Couple","Emo","Fight","Girl","Green text","Greentext","HMOFA","Halloween","Heterosexual","High School","Hmofa/","Human","Kissing","Plot Development","Rabbit","Siblings","Slow burn","Young Romance","anthro/human"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1707660-the-leaves-of-fall-act-3-something-that-matters-part-24","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/pnGDrWM1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/d2/75/d2758958-712b-4ff9-aa71-5949a06b37b7","description":"You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.  \n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  \n  \nAbout this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.  \n  \nCover: [https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q](https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q)  \nSam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) [https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT](https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT)  \nFan art collection: [https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv](https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv)  \nAccompanying playlist (WIP): [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410\\_nI-0J](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J)  \nAlternative link: [https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078](https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078)  \nTotal word count: 147,552 words","content":"\\\u003eThe door to the roof flies open  \n\\\u003eYou weakly turn your head around and squint through your collapsing vision  \n\\\u003eStanding there in the portal, breathing hard and gripping the frame like a life preserver in choppy seas…  \n\\\u003e…Is the BIGGEST asshole you’ve ever met…  \n\\\u003eMike MOTHERFUCKING Sapone  \n\\\u003e”You bitch,” he seethes  \n\\\u003eHe starts forward, and you notice his body is practically ruined  \n\\\u003eNo water gun  \n\\\u003eMASSIVE bloody gashes running down his chest and arms and legs  \n\\\u003eBlood from his forehead forcing one of his eyes shut  \n\\\u003eNose crooked  \n\\\u003eHands looking like they’ve been dipped in a vat of acid  \n\\\u003eHe rushes past you, almost like you’re not even there, suffocating on the ground  \n\\\u003e”You stole my friend.”  \n\\\u003e”You stole HIS boyfriend.” He jabs a finger at you  \n\\\u003eHe lunges through the air, intercepting Vanessa mid-sprint  \n\\\u003e”You stole my future!”  \n  \nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZbOvE996hY\u0026list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410\\_nI-0J\u0026index=24\u0026t=0s  \n\\\u003eThe pair tangle their limbs together, digging tooth and nail into one another, fighting to stay on their feet  \n\\\u003eThe first one to go down isn’t getting back up again, you know that  \n\\\u003eVanessa gives Mike a powerful shove, sending him clunk-footing backwards  \n\\\u003eShe follows up with a wild right that goes wide as Mike ducks it  \n\\\u003eAnd watching him move, even all ragged and bloody, is like watching water slip around sharp rocks  \n\\\u003eHe comes up strong, exploding with an uppercut that knocks Vanessa a good inch or two into the air  \n\\\u003eThough she lands on her back, the doe is far from done  \n\\\u003eShe swiftly rolls out of the way of another rage-guided fist, meant for her face, which explodes into the gravel  \n\\\u003eAnd in an instant she’s back on her feet, breathing hard, her face a horrible, bloody mask of what she once was  \n\\\u003eThe Behemoth roars, shaking the entire school — hell, maybe even the earth, you don’t know  \n\\\u003eNow is your chance  \n\\\u003eThe world is ringing. Everything starts to collapse around you — an avalanche of sensory data cascading in on you all at once:  \n\\\u003eMike and Vanessa, tangled up together, near the edge;  \n\\\u003eDark stars pulsing and receding in the fringes of your vision;  \n\\\u003eThe feel of the gravel and grit underneath you as you dig your fingers in and pull yourself across the rooftop;  \n\\\u003eThe hammering pain jumping and pulsing through your body, emanating from a bloody gash at the back of your head;  \n\\\u003eSpinning nausea rising in your gut;  \n\\\u003eHeart hammering like God Himself was pounding on your ribcage with a mallet;  \n\\\u003eThe sight of Sam aching to her feet;  \n\\\u003eThe panic that rises in you when you see Mike come away from Vanessa as a splattering of crimson is shot up against the moon;  \n\\\u003eHis gurggling shriek and Vanessa’s laughter against your ears;  \n\\\u003eEverything, all at once:  \n\\\u003eOne time for all time  \n  \n\\\u003eYour right hand falls upon The Book of Wrath, its gritty black cover reflects the crimson light of the moon  \n\\\u003eYou flip it open to a page — any page — intent on one quick spell to knock Vanessa on her ass for good  \n\\\u003eYou look up   \n\\\u003eMike stumbles backwards, away from the rooftop’s edge, clutching at his neck  \n\\\u003eYour eyes widen as blood spills out between his fingers  \n\\\u003eHe makes horrible, ugly gurgling sounds as he bleeds profusely through the slash across his throat  \n\\\u003eA razor gleams in the doe’s hands  \n\\\u003eShe turns to look at you, and even from a distance, you can see the proud smile on her face that says, ‘That’s for the bottle.’  \n\\\u003eMike drops to his knees  \n\\\u003eBut you can’t take your eyes off your best friend, who is sharing a look with you  \n\\\u003eA desperate, wild look, one that says, ‘I’m scared to die,’ and ‘I don’t want to go.’  \n\\\u003eBut there’s something else there behind his bulging and panicked eyes   \n\\\u003eAnother expression  \n\\\u003eAnd it sends your heart plummeting when you lock eyes for the span of a heartbeat, because you know what he’s saying:  \n\\\u003e’Goodbye.’  \n  \n\\\u003eNo  \n\\\u003eNO  \n“MIKE!” Your throat is raw, like you’ve been screaming with your head under scalding water  \n\\\u003eYou know what he has planned  \n\\\u003eMike, that asshole, rises to his feet, tottering on the edge of the roof where you once sat and threw beers at the city  \n\\\u003eHe releases his hold on his own neck, and blood comes cascading out like a dam bursting  \n\\\u003eHe needs both hands for this  \n\\\u003eHe needs Vanessa, who is striding forward, towards you, the razor gleaming in her hands  \n\\\u003e”Now, your turn,” she says in your direction  \n\\\u003eBut she doesn’t get any further than a foot or two  \n  \n\\\u003eMike wraps his tired arms around her waist and digs his feet back into the grit and gravel  \n\\\u003eAnd starts dragging her backwards  \n\\\u003e”Get the hell off me!” Vanessa throws an elbow backwards at Mike  \n\\\u003eBut the distance to the edge is short, and he’s long since passed the stage of lucidity  \n\\\u003eHe’s just a body, hauling another body  \n\\\u003eThe last of what he has is wrapped around her waist  \n\\\u003eAll effort and pain and glory between his threaded fingers  \n\\\u003eIf Mike’s heart were anywhere else but his shuddering chest, it’d be between those fingers  \n\\\u003eHe stumbles backwards, hauling Vanessa’s struggling form towards the edge of the roof  \n\\\u003eNow at the edge  \n\\\u003eSo close  \n\\\u003eYou scream again  \n“MIKE! YOU ASSHOLE!”  \n\\\u003eHe lets one foot slip off, his body suspended in purgatory, eyes to the sky, vacant and yet so full of moonlight you swear they’re glowing  \n\\\u003eWith one final effort he pulls Vanessa’s body tight against his own, takes another step backwards  \n\\\u003eAnd then they’re gone  \n  \n\\\u003eYou remain unreasonably still despite it all  \n\\\u003eEverything has gone hauntingly quiet, save for the rush of blood pulsing through your veins  \n\\\u003eThat you are alive; you hear that loud and clear  \n\\\u003eYou just keep looking at the spot where Mike and Vanessa once were, as if they were going to reappear any second  \n\\\u003eBut they don’t. And the ground rumbles again with an otherworldly tremor again  \n\\\u003eYour throat tightens up, reminiscent of the pain you felt when Vanessa was choking you out  \n\\\u003eBut this?  \n\\\u003eThis hurts more  \n  \n\\\u003eYour eyes instinctively flit towards some motion on the edge of the rooftop, just in the fringes of your vision  \n\\\u003eIt’s Sam, struggling to rise to her feet, wounded body trembling itself back into consciousness  \n\\\u003eSam  \n\\\u003eIt’s Sam  \n\\\u003eWAIT  \n\\\u003eIT’S SAM  \n\\\u003eSuddenly you're on your feet, having collected the two books and an edge of the broken glass bottle  \n\\\u003e”Sam!” You call, clutching at your head where the pain is the sharpest  \n\\\u003eThe little bunny can’t stand under her own power  \n\\\u003eYour sprint across the rooftop  \n\\\u003eIt feels like you’re running the mile all over again  \n\\\u003eBefore you help Sam, you take a masochistic look over the edge of the roof  \n  \n\\\u003eTwo bodies  \n\\\u003eA pool of blood  \n\\\u003eStill as the moonlight  \n\\\u003eIt’s a long way down, but you can see Mike’s eyes peacefully resting, his lips just slightly parted, almost as if he were sleeping and would never wake up again  \n\\\u003eAnd Vanessa, that horrible bitch of a doe, looks shot through with surprise — eyes bulging, mouth agape  \n\\\u003eBut still and void, just like Mike  \n  \n\\\u003eEven though she’s pure hatred and evil, you can’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for her and her ilk  \n\\\u003eNo  \n\\\u003eSympathy isn’t the right word  \n\\\u003eWhat you feel is pity  \n\\\u003eThat mike had to die, so that you may live-  \n\\\u003e”A-Anon, h-help me,” Sam wheezes  \n\\\u003eShe’s limping upwards on a badly wounded leg  \n\\\u003e-You’re not going to waste his sacrifice  \n\\\u003eYou slip your shoulder underneath Sam’s arm and hoist the rabbit to her feet  \n\\\u003eShe nearly collapses against you as her leg gives out again  \n\\\u003e”S-S-Sorry,” she says, wincing. “T-T-Think it might b-be b-broken.”  \n“It’s alright,” you say to her. “Just hold out a little bit longer.”  \n\\\u003eYou press the books and shard of glass against your breast and stare fixedly at the open door  \n\\\u003eThe one with the hole punched into it  \n\\\u003eThe one leading into the dark  \n\\\u003eAnd towards the end","series":{"name":"The Leaves of Fall","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1706089-the-leaves-of-fall-act-3-something-that-matters-part-23.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1709350-the-leaves-of-fall-act-3-something-that-matters-part-25.json"}}