A/N: Hey, and welcome to my Until Dawn fanfiction! This will feature an OC, and eventual canon divergence, so if either of those are not your thing, then this fic isn't for you.
Just to let you know that I won't be writing the totems into this fic. I'll include all the clues I can, but I don't think that the totems are really viable as anything other than a gameplay mechanic, so they won't play a part in this fic.
I have a quick question for you – how do you want me to write this story, in regards to the OC's part? I could write her whole section all at once, which would mean that the other chapters get published quicker, or I could write it bit by bit alongside the other characters' parts – fair warning, they won't change a huge amount until we get to the part where my OC interferes with the original story (hence the canon divergence) – and end up updating chapters slower because the OC's part is taken from events that happen much later in the canon storyline, and I'll be playing this through in chronological order as I write the fic. Anyway, let me know!
Harley Monroe
Younger Sister of Mike
Introspective, Meticulous, Empathetic
17 years old
Harley shook her head in mild disgust as she entered the kitchen, eyes immediately drawn to Josh and Chris' prone forms, slumped over the benchtop.
"Hey… Did you see that?" Beth called to her, flicking her eyes over her shoulder before returning them to the window. "Dad said it'd just be us this weekend."
"I didn't see anything." Harley shrugged, walking past the boys and over to the window where Beth stood, peering out of it. "I don't think there's anything there."
"Ugh." Beth groaned, shaking her head with a sheepish grin. "Josh?" she called, approaching him. She reached out and picked up the empty bottle of Jeremiah Cragg, smirking when it proved completely empty. "Jeez, Josh. Once again, brother, you've outdone us all." She shook him gently chuckling when all she received in response was a soft snuffle.
"Don't encourage him." Harley complained. "The underage drinking is bad enough, thank you very much, and I would rather not watch any more friends drink themselves into drunken stupors, if you don't mind."
"He's 19," Beth reasoned. "And better here than at some frat party." She smirked when Harley visibly twitched at the reminder that her crush had started college that year.
"That doesn't even warrant thinking about." Harley grumbled, turning to look back out the window.
"Aw, jealous?" Beth grinned, reaching out and scanning a piece of paper she found near the door. "Oh my god. What'd my naïve sister get herself into, now?"
"What?" Harley asked, turning to look at her. "What is it?"
"Look." Beth replied, showing her the paper.
"Oh, for god's sake. He does realize he has a girlfriend, yes?" Harley sneered at the shoddy handwriting in disgust. "I hate my brother, sometimes."
"Great, we can start a club!" Beth said, anger colouring her words. Harley looked at her understandingly, flicking her strawberry-blonde plait over her shoulder.
Harley sighed once more, putting the page down and turning just in time to see a figure run past the window and out of the lodge. "Was that Hannah?!" she cried in alarm, already sprinting around the kitchen counter as Beth ran to wake Josh.
Harley reached the others in time to hear Sam shout Hannah's name. "Where's Hannah?"
"What's going on? Where's my sister going?" Beth demanded, pushing through them and standing next to Harley.
"It's fine, she just can't take a joke." Jessica dismissed, waving her hand before turning to return to the warmth of the lodge.
"It was just a prank, Han!" Emily called, voice mocking in its insincerity.
"What did you do?!" Harley cried.
"We were just messing around, baby, it wasn't serious." Mike attempted to soothe his younger sister, hands raised pleasingly.
"You jerks!" Beth shouted, and both she and Harley ran after Hannah.
"Harley! Wait!" Mike shouted.
"You know, I kinda think you're the last person they would want to see right now, Mike." Sam sneered, stopping his pursuit with a sneer as she stormed past him and into the lodge.
0o0o0
Beth ran through the woods in pursuit of her sister, Harley falling somewhat behind as her short stature and sedentary lifestyle fought against her.
"Shit!" she cried, batting at branches that flew over Harley's 5ft head – Beth made a mental note to tease her about that, later.
They came to the end of the path, reaching a wooden construction with a stairwell to the right and a sizeable drop directly ahead. "Come on!" Beth urged, pulling Harley towards the fall. Beth jumped off elegantly, landing with ease, while Harley sat on the edge and fell, squealing softly as she immediately sprung backwards, landing on her bum. "Come on." Beth chuckled softly, helping her up and urging her back into a brisk jog.
They reached a fork in the path, and while footsteps led off to the left, the distinctly head something moving away from them to the right.
"Um…" Harley looked between them indecisively. "I'll go this way; you go that way." She told her friend, indicating that she would follow the footprints.
"Are you sure?" Beth asked, protective of her shy, young friend.
"Yeah." Harley nodded.
"Alright." Beth confirmed, turning and running down the right path.
Harley took a deep breath, wincing as the stitch in her side pulled, before forcing herself to run down the left. She jogged around the corner, coming to a stop when she saw the herd of elk that blocked her path. She debated for a minute, before sobbing once in defeat and forcing herself forwards, jumping in fear when the elk suddenly bounded away.
"Gods," she gasped, bending over with one hand braced on her chest and the other on her knee. "That scared the shit out of me." Almost immediately after the words left her she heard a branch snap behind her. "Jesus!" she shrieked. "Fuck!" she sighed, shaking her head before continuing on. "Damnit, Hannah. Where are you?"
she winced when she saw the drop, once again sitting before pushing off. She sighed in relief, punching the air happily when she landed on her feet, before pulling out her phone to light the dark path.
"Hannah?" she called, squinting and cursing herself for not wearing her glasses.
She walked along, screaming once when an elk shot past her and into the trees on her right, and then again when she saw a burst of flame to her left, but she pushed on, eventually finding two figures standing in front of her. "Hannah! Beth!" she called, jogging over to them and slipping her phone back into her pocket, zipping it up.
"Harley!" Hannah cried, throwing her arms around her friend and pulling her under her chin with ease.
"Hannah…" Harley sighed in relief, returning the embrace, before sharing a similar hug with Beth. "What happened?"
"I'm such an idiot. I'm so dumb!" Hannah told them tearfully, about to launch into a rendition of events when a terrible shriek forced them to look back the way they came.
"Oh gods, what is that thing?" Harley cried, backing away with the other two before they all turned tail and ran. She couldn't stop the sob tearing from her throat when she distinctly heard something giving chase.
They ran towards a small bridge, Hannah crying out as she fell. Beth ran back to her, pulling her up as Harley kept a vigil, unable to see whatever was chasing them. Beth's phone fell through the wooden planks, but they made a unanimous decision to leave it and continue running.
"Oh, Jesus Christ." Hannah whimpered when they reached the cliff, Harley standing off the the side while the two sisters stopped right in the middle of it.
"What do we do?" Harley sobbed. She saw the twins link hands as they backed further towards the cliff edge, and found herself imitating them, standing to their left but backing away in fear from the monster that approached, eyes fixed firmly on the twins.
"No!" Beth cried. "No! Shit! No… Get back!" she cried. "Fuck!"
Harley's eyes widened in horror as she watched Hannah step back once more, leaning her weight on a sign which immediately broke in half. "Hannah! Beth!" she screamed as her friends disappeared below the cliff edge, not paying attention to where she was going and screaming just as loud when she fell, clinging to the side of the icy mountain with everything she had. "Oh, god. Oh, god, please." She wept, desperately trying to pull her self back up but slipping every time.
She heard the horrible sound of her friends screaming, the distinct sound of them falling, and the sickening sound of bodies hitting the rocks below. "No!" she screamed, tears and mucus running down her face as she grieved.
Determined to live, she redoubled her efforts, adrenaline pumping through her body as she scrabbled for purchase, pulling herself up and over the side of the rock just in time to see a man dousing the monster in flames. She heard it shrieking in pain and rage, but he refused to relent, his flamethrower spewing flames until finally the creature laid, dead.
He turned to her, and she cried out in fear and pain as her now bloodied fingers desperately pulled her body over the side of the cliff. He knelt beside her, one hand holding the flamethrower while the other wrapped itself underneath her shoulders and around her torso, before pulling her up and into his arms. She wept, clinging to the stranger that had just saved her life as he kept one arm holding her up, all the while scanning the trees with a mistrustful glare.
"We gotta go." He told her, in an accent she couldn't place. "Come on." He yanked on her arm to get her to move, but her vision was closing in.
"I… I don't…" was all she was able to say, before she fainted.