Fandom: Malevolent (Podcast) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships:

Fandom: Malevolent (Podcast) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: John & Arthur Lester Characters: Arthur Lester, John (Malevolent) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-episode 25, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Crying, Panic Attacks, Trauma, But Also!, Communication, and additionally:, Hopeful Ending, Queerplatonic Relationships, Minor Character Death, intricate discussions of the nature of humanity, Fix-It of Sorts, (as in now at least they’re talking) Content Warnings: minor character death, knife violence, blood, arguments, minor suicidal ideation, minor religious guilt, minor suicidal ideation, dissociation; mentions of minor character death, child death, cannibalism, ritual sacrifice, eye trauma, suicide attempt, minor child abuse, period-typical gender roles, body decomposition Summary:

Arthur grits his teeth and fumbles around for the soap. It’s a small bar, but it will have to do. “Look. I get that you’re angry, but this really isn’t the time for—”

“I’m not angry.”

Arthur scoffs. “No?”

“No. I’m … let’s call it grieving.”

.

After killing Larson, Arthur and John leave Addison. They end up in a motel for the night, and when Arthur’s emotions and traumas from the past few months bubble over into an inevitable breakdown, he finally communicates with John just what has happened the past few days and why Larson’s blood has ended up on his hands.

.

There’s blood on Arthur’s hand. He can feel it between his fingers, tacky and warm, sticking his skin to the handle of the dagger.

But he’s had blood on his hands since the day he cradled his daughter’s dead body in his arms. At least now, the literal matches the metaphorical.

He forces his fingers to uncurl from around the dagger. It clatters to the floor, loud in the silence that has overtaken the room. The echo of it is long, but Arthur thinks he imagines it longer. The room is large, the ceilings of the front hall of the manor vaulted and glittering with an intricate glass chandelier. The sound pings from surface to surface until it fades beyond human perception. (Inhuman perception as well, he supposes. Monstrous perception.)

Keep reading