Infectious Crimson (M. Yandere x Fem. Reader)

The Suspicion

A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

  

Much to his joy, the false trail had performed splendidly. His father, Bennett and the other men were led astray from the true destination of the knight's corpse. Then again, they still didn't know if he was dead or not. Perhaps, the pixies even conjured a fake body that was put all back together. If they went that far, maybe, he might head back and thank them.

When they had reached the end of the trail, though, there was no body. There only was a dark cave that led downwards into the earth. It was pitch black inside, and it fit the home of a bear quite well. His father held up his lantern along with some of the other men. Personally, Jacob had been hoping that they would stop at the cave entrance, but they continued onward, and he was happy to see that the trail still painted the ground on the inside of the cave.

Luckily, his father and the others didn't travel too far into the area. In fact, the pixies had chosen a most excellent cave to have the trail lead into. Only about five minutes in, they were met by a sheer cut-off. His father held up his lantern over the edge as did some of the other men. Their light illuminated a rushing river down below, which they had been suspecting due to the sound of water they had heard earlier. "We can't go farther," Bennett stated the obvious. "That'd be death for any of us."

Anselm frowned heavily and sighed. "Yes, it would. It would be death for a bear and Emorie as well." He leaned back but continued to stare down. "What doesn't make sense is why the bear would go over the edge with Emorie or even just drop Emorie down there."

"Maybe, Emorie wasn't dead and still had enough strength to throw them both over." Even Bennett sounded skeptical of his own words, but he couldn't come up with another possibility. "Even if that seems unlikely, we have no way of checking. That water would've carried them away."

"We could if we brought rope. Someone could go down and follow the small rock path on the other side of the river to see if Emorie washed up onto the rock." Anselm, though, had a feeling that with that much water, Emorie probably had been carried far down the body of water, and none of them knew how deep that river went or even if they could reach its farthest point. Most likely, they wouldn't be able to given how far down the cave seemed to go.

"... Yes, we could," Bennett mentioned, hesitant. No one really wanted to go down there. It was unexplored territory, and some were concerned about something happening to the rope, which would be the only way back up. Not to mention that somehow getting to the rocky path on the other side was extremely dangerous in itself, especially in regards to trying to get back to the rope. None of them were really confidant that they could leap off the wall and secure a landing. Even Anselm looked doubtful of his own idea, and his son didn't look better off. "But ..."

"I know; it's too risky." Anselm brushed his hand back over his light brown and grey hair in thought. "Perhaps, Emorie is still alive, and he was the one dragging a bear." He knew such a sentence sounded ridiculous since it didn't make much sense. Why would Emorie go to that much trouble to dispose of a bear; why wouldn't he put the body to better use, especially with the weather getting colder? "Whatever happened here, we haven't found a body of Emorie or the bear. He still might be alive even if that seems unlikely. We should wait a few days before we make any conclusions."

Mentally, Jacob groaned at the idea, but he made no indication of annoyance on his face. And in the dim light, no one really could see the irritation in his light brown optics. "Also," Anselm looked to his son briefly, who gave him a questioning look as if to motion for his father to continue, "we can't mention this river to (f/n). I'd be worried that she might try something given how she reacted tonight."