Into The Shadow Realm | Rascal x fem reader story 2023

You have endured the teleporting enough, that by now you are used to it. It is not nearly as uncomfortable to do as the first time was.

The purple cards fade away, leaving you standing in one of the dark subdivisions of the fortress. You look around. All cave, no Rascal.

Weird. You were positive you were going to have to endure a twisted attempt of criticism in critiquing your latest performance.

"Rascal?" You call out into the deserted hallway, louder than you would have preferred, your voice bouncing off the walls to reverberate around you,. You do not say it as a question, more of a statement or fact that resolves his absence. Just a word. But then it dies out and you turn to leave, when...

"Argh!" Painless, yet some sort of electrifying energy races through your veins like poison. The feeling of electrified energy uncontrollably enters your muscles, turning wobbly and loosening them. You realise what is going on.

Your body hits the hard rock floor with a thud, and unfortunately, so does the side of your face.

A high amused chuckle soon echoes the hall. Irritation flashes red behind your eyes. Delayed stinging pain from the fall then welcomes you.

Rascal has hit me with the comb.

The solid and sharp sounds of the jester's boots increase with each step closer, then stops right up to the side of your face, giving you a view to Rascal's shiny pointed shoes. You can move your eyes and mouth, but that is about it.

"What the hell was that for!?" You angrily interrogate.

"For fun." He simply says.

"Hold on, how do you even have access to the comb? I stored it away."

"I can't believe you could look more foolish than you do right now. Do I have to tell you everything?" He murmurs, the sound of his shoes indicate him moving around you. "What I told you about the charm ball and the notebook, you are able to access them at any time of the day you like, whoever's background possession they may be in; of course this is because I showed them to you."

Oh. You could look more foolish.

He continues. "I was aware of the comb, and who's possession it was in."

If you could punch yourself in the face right now, you would. You groan. "Where is the charm?"

"Safe. Now that was quite the performance (y/n)."

"Here we go."

"I take it you do not want to hear my kind thoughts?" The joker asks slyly, almost teasingly. Being vulnerable on the ground without an escape, you do not like one bit of it.

The rocks are really making their way into your skin. "I fought the Glitter Force, collected negative energy, turned the Wheel-of-Doom, and distracted them with enough time for you to collect a charm. I would say I did my job."

"The cockiness~" Rascal responds immediately, as if he had rehearsed, "really isn't a good look on you. Oooh, and neither is that burn."

He refers to your forearm, displaying a red burn, courtesy of Glitter Sunny's fire ball. You cannot see it, but you most definitely can feel it.

Especially when Rascal lifts it up with the tip of his boot.

"Rascal," you threaten, "put my arm down."

"If you say so." The joker drops it roughly in an instant. You muffle a groan through the pain with gritted teeth.

Has he forgotten? You wonder, but do not say a word.

"Our Master Emperor Nogo is impressed with you."

"We arrived back less than a minute ago, how the hell would you have figured that already?"

With a high-pitched laugh, you sense Rascal flipping into some sort of aerobatic, as he usually does when not knowing what else to do.

Then, suddenly, the joker comes into an easy view. This is because he has lifted your chin with the curl of one boot. Rascal's face is now situated opposite to your own, and...quite close. He has bent over, the incredibly flexible clown, and now grins in your face, showcasing his pointed fangs, eyes narrowing into thin slits.

He must have forgotten! Your thoughts attempt to overpower the funny fluttery feeling growing in your stomach.

"He told me. Apparently, he chose you because he expects great things out of you. Second highest ranked subordinate you put it hmm?"

He chose me to steal some of your energy. And also because everyone else had left, you had worked that out a few days ago. Rascal obviously has no idea.

You roll your eyes, something you find yourself doing more often since arriving here.

"You see I am not opposed to your presence here (y/n), but you should you are not in – "

The joker's grin fades, and his eyes widen, setting his jaw and glaring into your eyes.

"You were saying?"

You see that he tries, really tries to hold his stance, but his now non-functioning muscles give in.

And he flops to the floor in a groan, joining you. Behind him, hovers the pink comb, saturated in purple negative energy. You have made a connection to it with your paralysed hand, and touched it to his back.

Just as he did to you.

Rascal scowls at you, now motionless on the ground. This means you will regain motion first. But for the meantime, you wisp the comb away.

"An eye for an eye Rascal. How could you forget I can manipulate?"

"I'd prefer you manipulate the Glitter Force, something you did not do today." Still frowning at me, the jester has his head tilted to the side, meeting my eyes. Neither of us can move now.

"I got the job done Rascal, the job Nogo wanted me to do!" You are immediately reminded of the jester's negative energy; a heaviness hangs in your chest. "Besides, you are not in charge remember?"

Without blinking, Rascal just stares at you. "I wouldn't have thought Nogo would have picked another Brooha, Or Ulric...Or Brute."

A tingling works up and down your body. Is it anger? It could be.

Now you feel your body regaining consciousness.

Groaning, you wobbly place your hands on the ground and weakly push yourself up. The joker watches you, angered.

Finally, you stand and soon feel perfectly normal. Something about the way he lays there helplessly, his hair pushed up against the rocky surface of the ground, satisfies your soul.

This time the tip of your shoe meets Rascal's jaw. You tilt it so that he now looks directly at you, his teeth are bared in anger, eyes narrowed again into slits. However, anger is something that swarms you also.

You can tell so easily that he attempts to struggle out of it, but the effects of Brooha's magic makes it impossible.

"Every time you hit me with the comb, I will do it back. Best to break the cycle now." You say, then continue. "I am my own person, not another one of your goons. I have heard that enough today."

A scowl is shared between the two of you. "That does not feel good does it?" This is the perfect opportunity, the perfect time to steal some of Rascal's energy. Then your eyes catch your dust-speckled shoe holding Rascal's defined jaw, and catch yourself staring at it for too long.

But you decide against it, removing your shoe, then turn away to leave.

Of course you keep your promise to gift one of your ration bars to Brute later that night.