In The Dark

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In the Dark is a Spice Girls/Backstreet Boys fic written by Kohala8 on Wattpad. During their joint American tour, the two groups end up in a bus crash causing three of the characters to go missing. After a rescue party locates two of the missing characters, the third reappears a changed person after having been through a situation that creates a turn of events for all involved.

Tropes used in In The Dark include:

• Accidental Hero: While going through the photos of where Melanie was held captive, a pattern starts to form. Otis and the cult were to sacrifice 7 people with Melanie almost becoming the 3rd one, her escape exposes what was going on, sparing the lives of four other random people.
• Adult Fear: Granted Melanie is adult, but her parents are fearful of never seeing her again... that's gotta be difficult.
• Beware of the Nice Ones: Emma loses it after seeing Melanie's recovery in danger.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Emma rejects any pity.
• Break the Badass: Melanie is known to be a tough girl, hence Sporty. After her trauma, she has a lot of healing to do in order to return to her old self.
  • Break the Cutie: Emma has a breakdown of her own.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Melanie is subjected to this.
  • Complete Monster: Otis Darwin
  • Carved Mark: Darwin some kind of mark on Melanie.
• Cute Mute: Melanie becomes this after her trauma, but she slowly recovers.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia
  • Heroic BSOD
  • Despair Event Horizon: Downplayed Melanie almost goes through this moment.
  • Hope Is Scary
  • Torture Cellar: Melanie is locked in a small closet.
  • Loss of Identity
  • Force Feeding: Melanie was forced to drink LSD-Laced Deer Blood.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center
• Darker and Edgier: With head trauma, getting lost in the woods, almost being killed by a cultist, suffering post-trauma... ya think?
• How Many Fingers?: Brian checks on Melanie with this.
  • Flipping the Bird: A.J. does this as a prank. Melanie isn't amused and calls him a twat.
• Holy Shit Quotient: Dropped twice after James notices what Simon and Vern are preparing to do to Melanie.
  • Geri drops one after hearing Emma's breakdown.
• Hurt/Comfort Fic
• I Should Have Been Better: Brian blames himself for not staying with an injured Melanie, despite being told otherwise.
• Kick Chick: A panicked Melanie kicks Simon in the thigh. Rather than getting upset, Simon admits to deserving it.
• Kind Restraints: Melanie is given sedatives when out of control, due to the trauma she went though. She almost gets two shots, but is able to settle down without needing them.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A minor character, James, approaches Melanie when she's alone. After looking at her injuries, James quickly realizes he's made a mistake. After Emma is able to calm a terrified Melanie, James admits his stupidity to a co-worker.
  • In Chapter 55, Geri tricks Melanie into hypnosis in order to ensure the men who assaulted the latter are put away for good. During the session, Melanie had to relive the hell she went through. Cue the Mass "Oh Crap"...
    • Gone Horribly Right
  • Manly Tears: Both AJ and Brian are seen crying around Chapter 55 after Melanie unknowingly opens up about her experience with the cult. Howie, Nick, and Kevin just stand there without a word
• Mama Bear/Papa Wolf: Both Joan and Dennis DO show up to look for Melanie, fearing for her life, especially after learning how close they came to losing her. Alan, Melanie's birth father, also displays this, even breaking down when Melanie mistakes him for being an "abusive cunt" like her captors, despite being the opposite.
• No One Should Survive That: Melanie suffers a head injury that is often fatal; add being the victim of cold-blooded torture... sweet lord. Finally, what she knew was going to be her gornic end... all bets are off.
  • Not Quite Dead
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Vern wants to beat up Otis Darwin for almost making Melanie the 3rd Human Sacrifice in a cold-blooded cult ritual.
• No Sense of Direction: After suffering a head injury, Melanie becomes confused and ends up in a horrible situation.
• Obligatory Swearing: There is a lot of swearing, even Emma drops a few.
• Out-of-Character is Serious Business: Melanie goes from a tough chick to a Broken Ace, while Emma drops her childlike personality. The folks around them know the situation has clearly become serious at that point.
• One of the Kids: Melanie is introduced to children in an attempt to help her recover.
• Repressed Memories: Melanie refuses to open up about her experience with the cult until Geri tricks her into seeing hypnotist. To Geri's credit, it works some have some basis, even the MythBusters tried it out.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Mel orders Melanie to throw a rock at the cabin that had been the latter's hellhole, as her form of treatment. When Office Shaw learns of this, he simply blames it on random strangers as it appears to help. Shaw hands Melanie his baton to smash the TV set.
• Tear Jerker: Seeing what Melanie is going through, it's hard to hold back.
• Time Out: Joan and Dennis try this after Melanie runs off.
  • Crazy Enough to Work: Melanie's parents are told to try some role-playing in an effort to help Melanie overcome her trauma.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Emma delivers this one after seeing most of the others rushing Melanie though her recovery, and she includes herself in the process. Many try to use sedatives on Melanie, which Emma is against. This speech involves Emma wanting to find a better alternative that doesn't involved drugging Melanie, which makes sense because Otis did the latter.
  • Stunned Silence: Victoria has this one.
  • Mass "Oh Crap": Victoria, Geri, and even Melanie all had this reaction to Emma's breakdown. Melanie feels guilty for causing this.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: Many dismiss Emma's fears of Melanie's growing issues. After Melanie suffers a mental breakdown during the court case against her torturers, Emma is taken more seriously.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Emma pretty much goes through this one.
• Torture Porn: Chapter 55 explain what Melanie had to go through, if you can read it.
  • Strapped onto the Altar:
  • Human Sacrifice: Melanie almost became the 3rd victim of this.
    • They Would Cut You Up: Ya Think!
  • Waking Up Elsewhere
  • Black Cloak: The cult members were wearing these. Geri wearing a robe and James having his hood down reminds Melanie of this.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Otis Darwin crossed this one when he tells Melanie about her fate being sealed. Luckily, Melanie managed to get away.
• Stoic Woobie: To some degree, Melanie fits this trope.
  • Not So Stoic: After seeing what she might have done to Emma, even Melanie breaks down and asks if she upset Emma.
• Woman Child: Melanie regresses to a child-like state.