It's Midnight

**It's Midnight** is a story about an oblivious family adopting a murderous demon, disguised as a human child.

While plenty of people point the finger at the young  Kieran, his trusting foster mother refuses to believe the claims and stands by his side till the end. The story has no definite conclusion.

It plays off during the Victorian period in England, making it easy for the murders and overall disappearances to stay unsolved.

It was conceived on December 24, 2020, but it and the characters have made no official appearance.

## Story

> An aristocrat woman,  Adien, returns to her home country after a long business journey. When her horse carriage passes through a town, she notices a group of villagers planning something ominous with  a toddler. She orders her driver to stop and scolds them, but they argue the child is cursed and has to be disposed of.
>
>
> Their faces and voices exude insanity, but she manages to calm them down and make them doubt their earlier assessments. They cancel their heinous plans and she accepts their apologies, but not trusting them with the child's safety, takes him off their hands. Upon making contact with her arms, the once silent boy becomes vocal and very affectionate.
>
>
> Adien arrives at her mansion, where  her husband and children are eagerly waiting. She tells them about her successful trip and the little boy that's clinging to her chest like a bear trap. Though they're not sure what to think of her decision to adopt a random, outcast orphan, they let him stay and grant him the name,  Kieran.
>
> But only a few hours later, around midnight, the youngest son is found dead in the kitchen, bringing an end to the otherwise joyous reunion. His half-devoured body makes the family draw the conclusion a wild animal snuck into their home, though Kieran's absent response to the nauseating scene doesn't sit well with the husband and other children.
>
> Adien attributes it to shock and hastily removes him from the room.
>
>
> As Kieran grows older and thus stronger, his other foster siblings also start to die one by one, as for visiting family and friends. A serial killer is believed to be terrorizing the area, though the husband believes his family is being targeted by either his own servants or lords from past feuds.
>
> Adien is overcome with grief every time she has to say farewell to a loved one, yet refuses to let it halt her job as a mother. Her care for the people that still surround her is only strengthened with every incident.
>
>
> *(Click "Expand" to read more)>*
>
> When all children and close family members are gone, her husband starts to drown himself in alcohol and feels like a failure for never having found the killer before it was too late. His personal list of suspects were either killed or generously supportive during the family's many moments of tragedy, and no further proof supported his beliefs.
>
> Nevertheless, Kieran's indifference throughout the years is very much picked up on and irritate him greatly. He confronts the teenager about it, and the unapologetic remarks that are returned earn the boy a rough beating. He's sent to his room afterwards, but at midnight, Kieran sneaks out to murder and eat his foster father, not even leaving behind a speck of blood in his moment of vengeful rage.
>
>
> Only Adien and Kieran are left, yet she sees no suspect in him. He shows her obedience like he's always done, but also developed a habit of chasing people away from her and seeing her as some kind of possession. He calls dibs on her attention and she's unknowingly blocked from developing new relationships, with only having Kieran to depend on. Adien thinks the outside world is distrustful of her and can't resist to shed tears every few nights.
>
>
> When Kieran is officially an adult, his instincts tell him his foster mother is no longer needed for his survival and her only purpose left is being his food, but he finds himself unable to dispose of the woman that never treated him with any negativity in her heart.
>
> As getting angered by someone will increase the urge to attack them, he enters her room at the inappropriate midnight hour with the plan to push her buttons and make her lash out to him, but she's happy to have him "come check on her" during one of her many sleepless nights.
>
>
> He wastes no time to reveal he's to blame for all the deaths, but Adien believes he's just looking for something to blame and instead consoles him, saying that not to be true. She continues to express thankfulness for his presence and existence, only reinforcing Kieran's reluctance to attack and making the beast in him grow antsy.
>
> He insists he should be hated and almost asks her to, but she again takes it as his way of grieving and only has honeyed words ready for him.
>
>
> While locked in her embrace, Kieran can't keep his eyes off the clock on the wall; with its hands still pointing at the midnight hour and calling for him to eat. With his clawed hands on her back, he bears his fangs, yet they still only subtly brush her neck. He doesn't have the strength to bite, and Kieran feels confused by his behaviour.
>
> He becomes unsure on what to say or do to her that wouldn't cause her the kind of hurt he's not ready to inflict on her yet, thus only states to need to "go back home". The comment worries Adien, who insists he is home and a full-blooded Englishman, but he replies to know that not to be so. She responds disheartened at the assumption someone has already told him he's adopted, despite it being an obvious one to make, when looking at the dark-skinned Kieran and the pale, red-headed family that took him in.
>
>
> Kieran's overall silence is palpable and forces Adien to re-examine his words. Thinking he wishes to find his real parents, she concludes it to be unfair to deny him this right. She asks if he would be willing to take her on this journey and have her meet them too, but is told his home is dangerous. He declines her follow-up offer to join him with hired bodyguards.
>
>
> Adien starts to believe Kieran simply wants to escape her and the miserably empty mansion, like is believed her husband has done. She can only beg him not to forget about her, and come back when his journey is deemed over.
>
> Kieran's eyes shift back to the clock that's still pushing him to skip the pointless talk, but the tears being shed for him and the concept of an adult creature needing another -outside of basic survival- intrigues him.
>
> He exclaims not to understand why he is needed, to which she replies his departure will only confirm further she's done her family wrong. She insists he's the only good thing left in her life, whilst everyone else lost faith in her.
>
> Kieran argues that keeping him around was the mistake, but she doesn't want to hear more of his self-blaming.
>
>
> With her hands again grabbing him and her devotion for him going strong, Kieran finds nothing else to say, thus gives a half-hearted embrace back. When he checks the clock again, he sees it's 30 minutes after midnight.
>
> The urge to start his long delayed adult phase presses onto his fake human body, but neither of them let go or have anything more to say, and eventually, the clock hits 1 AM.
>
>
> Kieran finally prepares some words for her, and explains they'll never be able to meet again if he leaves, and he'll surely forget about her and live the life he's meant to live without feelings of regret. Adien is far from comforted by this message, but can only nod in understanding.
>
> Though Kieran knows none of this will matter if he continues his plans like normal, he admits to her to be struggling with it. She doesn't like the confession and starts to feel guilty. Not wanting to withhold him from living his own life, she says to rather let him go forever if she's interfering with his dreams.
>
> Kieran caresses her face while his passionless, dark eyes are glued to it. His silent stare feels like an eternity, until he suddenly begins to mention her husband.
>
>
> With eeriness in his voice, he claims to have witnessed him killing their last-standing child. Adien trembles with shock and argues her husband was a kind father who would never harm his children. Kieran reminds her of the times he lost his patience with them, especially towards him.
>
> He continues to lie on about how the man then boldly confessed in his face to be the wanted serial killer, as he trusted no one would believe him, and planned to use his bad reputation to pin the blame on him. Adien doesn't know what to think or say, and keeps listening with widened eyes. Kieran gives her a slimy apology and says her husband's disappearance is his doing, as he threatened him to tell her and the police anyway. Adien expresses confusion for her husband's motive, one Kieran can't make up on the spot, but also doesn't have to bother with. The oblivious woman cries loudly in his arms.
>
>
> He coos to her he'd never betray or leave her, and has decided to stay. Adien's embrace tightens and she thanks him, whereafter he plants a kiss on her mouth, making her flinch. He states he'll be a more worthy husband and give her a new family to love, spawning some confusion from her.
>
> She comments to be too old to be a mother again and that he is her son, to which he optimistically replies she'll do fine and he's not.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

## Characters

### Lady Bell

Lady Bell, or Adien *(pronounced: "Ay-deen")*, is a woman with inexhaustible tolerance and the willingness to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. She's about 33 years old when she finds  Kieran.

She is soft-spoken, but social, and has the gift of keeping the peace, which is more or less her "job". Before she and Kieran crossed paths, she was out of the country to play the mediator between  her husband and intimidating competition.

She was the mother of 4 children, varying between the ages of 3 and 15, but all were murdered by Kieran. He received the same treatment she gave her own offspring, and she allowed no mention of him being adopted in his presence. While many people in general would gossip and speak ill off the child, including Adien's family, her opinions of him were the same in private settings.

Her consistent kindness and generosity made it hard for even the sociopathic Kieran to want her as a target, and it ended up saving her life. At the same time, her blind trust in him is what cost everyone else's.

The death of each child weighed heavy on her and made her cling onto whoever was left. She decided to take on the role of a more classic mother; and servants no longer had to cook for the family. When her husband disappeared, she believed he had abandoned her after all the emotional suffering and she was to blame somehow. Kieran made use of her concerns to try and swoon her.

She is petite, has very pale skin, rosy cheeks, bright green eyes, and voluminous orange hair. She likes wearing dresses with many frills and ribbons, as for wide skirts, as to compensate for her small hips, or so she says.

### Lord Bellew

Lord Bellew, or Aodhan *(pronounced: "Ay-awn")*, is the husband of  Adien. He's from Ireland, and upon meeting each other, they bonded over their slightly similar names.

As a lord, he provided nearby villages with the necessities to live, in exchange for their produce and loyalty. As more powerful lords from abroad were trying to win over these towns for themselves, the angered Aodhan sent them threatening messages without thinking about the consequences. Before there'd be no turning back, his wife suggested to meet every one of them in person and offer them a peaceful solution.

Though skeptical, Aodhan knew he didn't possess the delicacy to better the situation, and let her try.

He was fatherly and supportive of his family and their personal goals, but had relatively little patience. If a command wasn't obeyed after stating it twice, a minor punishment of some sorts was to be expected, though  Kieran was the most likely to get subjected to this rule.

After all of his children and many close contacts had died, Aodhan's suspicion of his adoptive son reached its limit and he hit him in a drunken rage. Though Kieran never preferred him over Adien anyway, the escalation helped him come to the conclusion that keeping his foster father around was no longer beneficiary. He killed and devoured him that same night, not leaving a trace, making Adien wonder if her husband had abandoned her after all the emotional suffering. Kieran and Adien officially became a family of two after that.

Aodhan has very pale skin, brown eyes, and orange hair with a moustache.

### Kieran

Kieran is a cinderel. He was between the age of 1 and 2 when found by  Adien.

Cinderel are demons with the ability to take on the form of any existing creature after birth. The mothers dump their offspring with other animal species to raise in their stead, not unlike the cuckoo bird.

As Kieran's biological mother brought him to a human town, he took on the form of a human baby. Though he looks mostly unsuspicious, he adapted an appearance not native to Great Britain; and it's implied he suffered some minor mistreatment over it from his previous caretakers. He's gone through multiple throughout his first year of life, but all were deemed unsuitable by the young Kieran, thus killed.

It didn't take long for the residents to see something was off about the situation, and as their town's population kept decreasing, they started to blame the baby who came out of nowhere.

Kieran is manipulative and plays the role of a normal child at day, but around midnight, can't keep his nature hidden. The story describes him as a murderous people eater, though the vast majority of targets made throughout his life were animals. Generally speaking, he doesn't attack humans who don't threaten his comfort or aren't connected to his foster family in some way.

With every year he approaches adulthood, he loses the human traits that helped him fit in as a child. He stops caring about -or can't- fake childlike cheerfulness or most facial expressions anymore, and the low intelligence of his species comes in the form of not answering questions or ignoring commands. Because Kieran carries a serious expression and speaks little, people misunderstand his behaviour as "stoic" and "mysterious". Those who question it too much and subject his foster parents to their concerns are disposed of.

Though his learned human behaviour is being erased by the natural puberty process of his species, his lived experiences still left their mark and are mostly noticed when he's interacting with Adien. He can't recognize feelings of "love", nor have them as a cinderel, though the closest thing he can feel was being amplified by the more complex human body he grew up in. He turned dangerously possessive over his foster mother and couldn't abandon her in the end.

As to ensure his instincts won't steer him into killing her at a later time, he decided to take her as his mate; as male cinderel have the highest tolerance for females pregnant with their offspring. The story gives no definite answer on whether Adien accepted this inappropriate role change from who she always treated like a son.

Kieran is a mostly unsuspicious-looking human, though has some traits that look off when inspected long enough. He has tanned/dark skin, black hair, and is described to have "unnaturally" black eyes that show no pupils in any kind of lighting.

When midnight arrives and he connects more to his demon roots, his eyes turn blue and have what looks like a small red ball inside each one -with a similar texture to molten lava- grows a few pointed bumps on his back, sharp nails that extend from under his human ones, and rows of fangs inside a large and dislocated jaw.

## Trivia

* The series' creation was inspired by "Midnight" by Caravan Palace.

## See also

* It's Midnight (Intro video)
* Cinderel