Bliss In Emptiness - Epilogue (soulless!Sam/Ruby, NC-17)
Her feet moved swiftly through the forest, its thorns and needles soft under her feet. She was in a new world, but she'd been here before. She knew this forest intimately, her feet running as surely between the trees as they had when she was a girl. She listened as she ran, hearing howls and cries she'd never known existed. There were things moving in the trees-huge and long limbed, things that hadn't set foot on earth in centuries. Some of them started to follow her, and she ran faster, weaving between the trees to slow them down.
She ran until she got to a cliff, and only then did she start to panic. The edge was jagged and the drop was immense-a hundred feet easy, maybe more, ending in a churning pool of water that moved like an ocean. She didn't know the laws here. Would her body heal? Was it her borrowed body, or her true self made flesh? She looked down at her hands, and they weren't quite human, but they weren't pure sharpened bone like her demonic form either. She was somewhere in between. There was no warmth left in her chest, and no trace of the shimmering light running up and down her skin. Whatever protection Eve had granted her before was gone.
The growls of the things chasing her grew louder as they slowed and formed a half circle in front of her. She turned to face them and held up her hand, hoping to either calm them or push them away. She couldn't feel her power anymore. It wasn't like before when it had been blocked, it was just…gone. She felt vulnerable, more human than she had in centuries. Reaching down to her belt she found her knife missing and when she kneeled down, reaching into her boot slowly, she found her other knife gone as well. She was stuck somewhere between demon and human, powerless, and unarmed. Peachy.
The spider-wolf thing directly across from her lowered its head, like it was sniffing her scent, and let out a warning growl as it stepped closer.
Ruby took another reflexive step back, sending a pebble falling off the edge of the cliff. She heard it ping off the side of the rock-face twice and then nothing as it continued to fall. "Hi," she said. "I'm new here. Any idea where I could find Sam? He's about…" She held her hands out wide, one high above her head and the other pointing down to the ground. "…yea big. Horns, big teeth, yellow eyes. He's new too. Came in right before Eve."
The spider-wolf growled again and stepped closer.
"Guess that's a no?" She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, finally settling on the largest rock she could lift. She waited for a moment and then leapt, her hand just skimming the edge of the large stone before the pack surrounding her closed in. Her fingers clutched the stone and she brought it crashing into the jaw of the monster above her right before it closed its mandibles around her. It staggered away and another two took its place, one of them piercing her shoulder with its long pointed leg-spike.
Ruby cried out at the pain of the wound, so much stronger than anything she'd felt as a demon, and saw the blood begin to well up. She moved the rock to her other hand and tried to ram it into the other spider-wolf's head, but it ducked and hissed, venom dripping from its fanged mouth. Ruby's knees started to buckle from the venom, or pain or both and she staggered backwards towards the edge of the cliff. Her vision started to stutter-black stars winking in and out of existence and she tried to lower herself to the ground, wary of the edge behind her. Another lower growl filled the air, and she stumbled back another step as her eyes closed, a powerful sense of vertigo filling her body with lead. She felt her heel touch air and tried to right herself, but she could barely see anymore. The grey sky kept growing dimmer above her.
The wind felt cool against her back as she fell and the throbbing in her shoulder had all but vanished. Her limbs were numb, and she thought maybe she'd fall asleep. She barely remembered what sleep felt like, but she thought she remembered it was kind of like this. Only with less falling-to-your-death.
She hit the water hard, and the impact not only hurt, it chased the numbing sensations of the venom right out of her system. She opened her eyes wide against the force of the water and looked up, trying to see how far under she'd gone. The water was as murky as the sky, but she let her instincts direct her and swam towards what she was pretty sure was the surface. Maybe it was the shock of the fall, or purgatory as a whole, but she felt panic start to push her faster-that horrible feeling of not being able to see what's beneath you, but a primal surety that something's there, waiting. She swam faster and faster, forcing herself not to look down. Once she reached the surface, she'd find the shore, and swim there and get out. She'd find somewhere to hide, make a weapon out of anything she could get her hands own. She could survive here, and she would. And Sam was here, too. Somewhere in the forest, probably just as lost as she was.
The surface was close now, she could see the light of the pale sky and just as her fingertips broke through, something long and fast curled itself around her leg and pulled her down with so much force she gasped in shock, swallowing a mouthful of water. If she'd been fully human she would've drowned right then, but instead her eyes burned and she struggled to see what it was that had grabbed her. And then really wished she hadn't. Whatever it was, was enormous, a huge serpent circling her from afar with its body, while its tail hung onto her, holding her completely still with nothing more than a casual display of strength. When it turned its giant head, she wondered how far back its eyes were, until she realized it didn't have any. It just had a mouth full of teeth and a long bifurcated tongue. The head lashed out at her quickly, its jaw wide enough to swallow her whole.
She struggled in its hold, and pushed as much water with her hands as she could, evading its strike just in time. She turned away, her foot rotating and loosening just enough to give her hope. Then it pulled her back down as it started to wrap itself around her more tightly. Her ribs cracked and the pain in her shoulder started anew. Something huge fell into the water beside her, hitting the water hard enough that she could hear its impact. The serpent's hold on her tightened and its slick body coiled around her more until she couldn't see a thing.
The next few minutes were strange. She was pretty sure she lost consciousness for a bit. The rest was mostly churning water and water-distorted roars of rage.
When Ruby could see clearly again, she was out of the water, but soaking wet. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, trying to orient herself. She was lying on wet earth, the lake-not an ocean then, a huge lake-was to her left, the water gently lapping at the bank. There were trees to her right, the edge of the forest she'd been in. The grey-blue tint of the sky had grown darker and she wondered if it would be night soon instead of the never quite day, perpetual dusk. She sat up further and her head ached. Her shoulder did too, but it was healing, she could tell from the uncomfortable way the skin pulled around the wounded muscle. She cupped her hand over the hole the poison had left a sickly shade of blackening red, and focused, trying to make the injury heal faster. The last thing she needed was to be caught unawares and wounded, by whatever other predators were out here.
She still couldn't feel a trace of power inside of her, but her body responded anyway, the wound growing smaller, but more painful as she willed the tissue to rebuild itself.
"The Hell?" she muttered, trying to understand what Purgatory had done to her, what she'd become. Part of her wanted to go look in the surface of the water and see her reflection. But something had just tried to eat her and she still had no idea how she'd gotten away.
A soft noise from behind her, from the direction of the woods, drew her attention. It was barely more than a muffled grunt but whatever it was…it was close. Ruby pushed herself to her feet, careful not to make a sound and walked towards the tree-line. The trees weren't that dense here at the edge of the woods, but they were thick with branches and needles from pines that had grown so large their trunks were easily ten feet wide. She put her hand on the tree closest to her so her feet would make even less noise and stepped forward, under the dark canopy.
The forest was strangely silent. Nothing like the noise she'd heard when she'd first fallen into this world. There was an absolute stillness, the kind that only comes after everything nearby has fled. But she knew something was here. She took a few steps further in and froze when her foot crunched down on some dry needles beneath her. She bit her lip, waiting for a reaction, for whatever it was to come bounding her way. Instead, there was another huff-a heavy tired breath and a pained sound. One she recognized.
Ruby moved quickly, rushing towards the direction of the sound. The bed of needles under her feet crackled, but she didn't care anymore. She ran until she was sure she was exactly where the sound had come from, and then stopped. To her right was a small clearing, not big enough to let the dim light of the sun come through, but mostly empty of needles. In the center of the clearing was a large grey boulder, streaked with red, and it was breathing.
She knew what it was-who it was, the second she saw him, and her eyes filled with tears. Whatever had attacked her would've swallowed her whole. She remembered the sheer size of its serpentine body, the massive fanged mouth. But she was still here, because someone else had joined the fray.
"Sam," she said, running to the beast's side. She kneeled down next to him and looked at his wounds. There were deep gashes running down his side flanks, chunks of flesh missing where the water-serpent had bitten into him. "What was that thing?"
She ran her hand over the only undamaged part of his back and shifted her position until she could see his head. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping. His breathing was shallow and quick and he didn't react to her presence at all.
"This place sucks," Ruby said, her voice shakier than she would've liked. "I don't know how to get out, either. There has to be a way though."
Sam's breathing stayed steady and his grey skin felt hot to the touch. Ruby looked around for something she could use to clean his wounds, moss maybe or leaves. She could use her shirt, but then it didn't seem like there was going to be a way to get more clothes in this place.
She picked up a jagged piece of rock and walked until she found a particularly moss-covered tree not too far from Sam. Then she started cutting the moss off of the bark, trying to remember what she new about antiseptics in nature. She could use comfrey leaves, but whether or not that actually existed here, she didn't know. Even the trees and moss were different. The leaves of what she'd thought were oaks were too thick and spiky, and the birch tree bark burned her skin when she touched it.
Deciding to settle on water for the time being, she headed back towards the lake, soaked the moss with water and carried it back over to Sam, who hadn't moved an inch. She started running the cold moss over the open tears in his skin as gently as she could, watching his blood run down his sides and pool on the ground below.
A branch to their left snapped, and her head jerked- scanning the trees for danger. If something was coming, she had to defend them both. She picked up her sharp rock again, then started to look around for a large stick, or anything else she could use if she had to. Walking backwards towards a tree where she'd seen some loose branches earlier, she searched the ground around until she found one that was well balanced and sturdy. She broke the twigs off, grabbed a nearby cord of thick ivy and began to bind the rock to the tip of the branch as she waited for the next warning sound.
The sharp edge of the stone grazed her skin when she turned it slightly, trying to force it further down into the wood. She could feel a small cut in the center of her palm.
Sam's large form stirred and he raised his head, blinking at her with dark amber eyes.
"You're awake," she said. "Good, because something's coming."
Standing on all fours Sam looked even taller than he had when Death had pulled him out of his body. His head was at eye level with hers as he scented the air. He crossed the ground between them quickly but unsteadily, the wounds slowing his movements. When he reached her, his snout pushed against her hand, until she opened it, dropping her make-shift spear to the ground. His tongue moved across the tiny cut on her palm and he let out a contented sound, pushing closer to her.
Ruby watched, completely stunned as one by one, all the large gashes on his body started to close. "That's new," she said, impressed. "Guess my blood's a little more concentrated here, huh?"
Sam grunted in approval and turned away from her, facing the trees. He sniffed at the air, his head turning as he studied the branches overhead.
"I heard something a few minutes ago. Small I think, but I don't know if-"
The trees above them shook as something fell straight down from above and landed in the center of the clearing, directly across from Sam. It looked like an oil-slick black puddle of goo, but only for a moment, then something grew out of it, higher and higher until it was human-sized. It looked like a man, but it wasn't. She could see the wrongness of it under its skin-something far larger, and hungrier.
"What the hell are you?" Ruby asked, as she reached back down to grab her weapon.
It grinned at her, threw back its head and roared, its mouth expanding until it was larger than its head. The fangs and tongue of the water-serpent were on the humanoid body the thing had made, and Ruby had had just about enough.
Sam lunged forward, tackling the thing to the ground, and Ruby followed, her makeshift spear held high.
