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rainythefox · 6 years

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The Truth of Micah Bell

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR RDR2

Wanted to put my thoughts and theories out there about the despicable rat Micah Bell, and how he almost single-handedly took down the Van der Linde Gang.

The Van der Linde Gang, a highly infamous gang that has been around for nearly 20 years by 1899. By this point, they have robbed nearly 50 banks, countless businesses, stagecoaches, trains, etc. You have some of the deadliest gunslingers, marksmen, robbers, hunters, etc within this group of people, led by a highly influential man armed with wits and a silver-tongue and his partner, a master con-artist.

How does a gang like this fall apart, implode, and crumble within months after so many years of loyalty, love, and dedication? All you need is one snake playing the right angles.

In the game, we learn that after the gang came back from Guarma that it was Micah that was picked up by the Pinkertons and talked, that ratted them out. Molly was just an unfortunate red herring. Now, Micah may not have talked to the Pinkertons before that moment, to save his skin, but there are definite signs that he never had the gang’s best interests at heart, especially after Blackwater.

So the story goes that Micah joined the Van der Linde Gang after “saving” Dutch when he tried to sell stolen gold for the gang and was “attacked”. This was said by Micah in a random camp event, and this is never backed up by Dutch or his closest partner or enforcer (Hosea or Arthur). So we can only go by Micah’s word whether this truly happened or not, but I know there has to be some validation to this as Dutch allowed him into the gang.

He is only with the gang for six months before the events took place in Blackwater that set the ball rolling that would be the untimely demise of our favorite gang. It was Micah that got Dutch excited about this ferry job, when Hosea and Arthur told him it didn’t feel right and had a better lead for something else. The ferry job not only fails, but becomes a major slaughter. The gang loses four members as we are starting the game, (Mac, Davey, Jenny, and Sean, who luckily comes back) and John gets shot. Now when you live this kind of lifestyle, people are going to get hurt or die, sometimes things go wrong. But this gang has been doing this for nearly 20 years. Mistakes like this are unlikely to happen. It has been hinted in game that this ferry was heavily guarded, but that it wasn’t known to the gang, that it was supposed to be “easy”. Who fed this information to Dutch? Micah.

From there on out, the gang continually gets into botched heists and jobs, and this isn’t something you would expect from a gang that, again, has been doing this for 20 years with some of the best gunslingers in the world.

For a man such as Dutch, who, with his fellow gang members, have always stayed one step ahead of their enemies, have stolen heists from other notorious gangs, have continued to live this long despite the prices on their heads, just doesn’t make any sense. I think someone was sabotaging them. Who? You guessed it. Micah.

Let me give an example here. Colm O’Driscoll. He suddenly wants peace with Dutch and their gangs? They knew Arthur would be on the ledge. We knew it was a trap in the beginning. And Colm said it was to lure Dutch and the others in when they went to save Arthur to get them captured by the Pinkertons in exchange for him being left alone. But Micah insisted Dutch do this, preaching a scripted story about how he cares about the gang and that this would get one less enemy off their backs. Micah is the one who told Arthur to go up on that ledge! And that they would meet him at the crossroads after the meeting (which didn’t happen of course). Now, we know it was Pearson who brought this up, saying he bumped into Colm’s men and “got to talking”, and they suggested peace. First of all, how the HELL do the O’Driscolls even know who Pearson is? He isn’t one of the known faces of the gang. Someone told Colm about Pearson and what he would be doing, and set it all up. I’m thinking...Micah. I’ll get back to this in a minute.

When you go back to Micah’s temporary camp after you bust him out of Strawberry jail and he has rejoined the gang, you can find his leftover stuff. One item you pick up is a WANTED POSTER for Dutch van der Linde. I assume it is an old poster as I recall it saying $1000 for Dutch, but Milton stated that Arthur was worth $5,000. So I assume Dutch’s bounty has skyrocketed past that after the Blackwater incident. Suspicious, yes? It gets better.

Now we can chock the fallout with the Grays and Braithwaites as just another failed lead and mess up. Maybe they were smarter than they looked and caught on. But come on, how could these families get wind on the gang that fast? The Grays seemed especially gullible despite their powerful influence. These two warring families should have assumed it was the other more so than the gang. I think someone tipped them off as well. I can’t provide any hard evidence to this particular scenario, but it just seems unlikely that the gang would have been found out that fast without some inside information. Besides that, how the hell did the Braithwaites know where the gang was camping at? Someone had to have told them in order for them to sneak in there and take Jack. I know Hosea wasn’t about to hand Catherine a map with directions so they could play cribbage *snorts*.

Keep in mind Micah still has his buddies on the outside of the gang he could use to relay information or tip anyone to set the gang up, be it the Grays, Braithwaites, Pinkertons, etc.

That being said, I do not think Micah tipped anyone off about the Saint Denis bank job. I think that was a mix between the destruction of the Grays and the Braithwaites, and the botched train station job where Arthur, Dutch, and Lenny were set up by Angelo Bronte. I think this drew in the Pinkertons. Hell, maybe Bronte tipped them off when he saw that the cops failed to kill Dutch, Arthur, and Lenny, and knew they would be coming for him.

Anyways, I digress. Once Hosea was dead and Arthur was getting sicker, Micah weaseled his way into being Dutch’s right hand man. He twisted words and played Dutch into turning against most of the gang, including his most trusted. It was at this time that it went to shit in a hurry, that Dutch went mad and started doing reckless, impulsive actions, something he never used to do. Maybe most people would play into it being because Micah is also impulsive and violent, and he is manipulating Dutch into doing what he wants. Although partly true, I also think it stems that Micah wanted Dutch to be caught/killed all along. Or at least since after the Blackwater incident.

In the Epilogue when John shows up to kill Micah and avenge Arthur, Dutch is already there. Micah makes it sound like Dutch just arrived, and that they had plans to team up together once more. I bet he lured Dutch in, telling him he went in and got the money from Blackwater. He tempts John to join them, although this is likely a trick. After Micah is killed, and the credits are rolling, we see Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham arrive at Mount Hagen. They find Micah’s body. Ross seems really disappointed about finding Micah dead. How did they know where to find him? John, Sadie, and Charles only found out by threatening Cleet. I think Ross and Fordham knew where Micah was because Micah was going to hand over Dutch.

Can you imagine the reward money for Dutch van der Linde? Alive? If Arthur was worth $5000 after Blackwater, I guarantee Dutch was nearly double that. Now some of you may think that it wouldn’t make sense for Micah to turn Dutch in for the bounty when he could make more money staying in the gang. Well, that’s why he played Dutch. He played him and the gang, set it up to get Dutch’s trust, and turned Dutch against everyone else. Once their big score was secured, Micah was going to turn in Dutch to get the Pinkertons to let him go free and he was going to disappear with ALL that money.

Once Micah realized the shitstorm they were in because of Blackwater, he started working on how to get free and save himself. I think he tried to work a deal with Colm O’Driscoll first and set them up, but Arthur escape and it fell through. I think Micah tipped the Grays and Braithwaites off somehow to try and get the gang caught, and I am sure it did end up drawing the Pinkertons in. After he was caught, of course he was going to rat them out. He made a deal to save himself and hand the rest of the gang over on silver platters. I think Micah shot Miss Grimshaw not only to cut down Arthur’s support, but to alert the Pinkertons where they were. I mean, they showed up directly after. He knew they were coming!

And yet again, Dutch and the others got away. And this time Dutch left him, left Arthur, left everyone. Because Dutch realized that Arthur was right and couldn’t face what he had done. Years later, when Dutch comes to see Micah, you know Micah is preaching for them to team up again, using the money from Blackwater as a bargaining chip to lure him in. He knows that if he can keep Dutch there, the Pinkertons would come in and take him and Micah gets a reward and let free. And bonus points if he got JOHN MARSTON as well!!! Why else would he tempt John to join them?

I think by this time, Dutch knows what Micah is up to, and doesn’t really care. I think he is there to kill Micah just as much as John was in that very moment. For Arthur.

Ross is just so disappointed that Micah was dead. It’s hard to miss.

Anyways. In the end, Micah was a manipulative, backstabbing coward who knew exactly how to play Dutch and the gang to save his own skin. He is a rat, but also quite intelligent. I think he knew Dutch’s type, and knew them well. I think he has done this before. He knew exactly how to take advantage of every single misstep or tragedy the gang endured, weaseling his way into a position where he could sell the gang out, turn them in, especially Dutch, the most wanted of them all, and take all their money and run.

“I believe there’s winners and losers...and nothing else besides.”

He almost did too, until Dutch and John arrived to avenge Arthur.

It only takes one rat to infect your family with disease. In this case, that disease was betrayal.

#red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption 2 spoilers #rdr2 #rdr2 spoilers #arthur morgan #dutch van der linde #john marston #micah bell #hosea matthews #red dead spoilers #meta #red dead redemption meta

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writingonthemoon · 5 years

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Old Clothes Part 1

Word Count: ≈1913

Warnings: Mentions of Death

Back of Book: Odette had few constants in her ever-changing life. One was The Burn. She had learned it from her mother Lilijah when she was only four. It was a way to escape all past mistakes and start anew. It also came at a cost. After one Burn, they need for more grows stronger. Every time there was a possibility of someone recognizing one person in the family, matches were thrown to the ground and everything with them. After, they would move hundreds of kilometres away and build a life again, only for it to be burned once again. Then they would find old clothes and start thrice.

At the age of seventeen, Odette got lost during a move. Alone, she scoured the forest for her mother, father, and siblings. As the sun set, she came across the Tuck family while searching for her own people. They welcomed her to their campsite and offered to help her in the morning. Grateful for their kindness, she thanked them and drank from a nearby spring before resting. In the morning the group of five searched for the runaways, but to no avail. The Tucks made a proposition to Odette. She could become a part of their family. And so she did. She travelled with the youngest son, Jesse, for years unknown, never once ageing and always in old clothes.

Alone again, Odette travels back to New York after spending decades out of the country. There, she expects to visit old and new landmarks before making her way to the west. Instead, she comes face-to-face with victims of The Burns she held over her many years. The embers are still hot and may reignite, burning Odette and her old clothes with her.

Author’s Note: It’s here, people! My spur of the moment story after I watched Tuck Everlasting had now become a semi-published story. I know, like, three people will probably end up reading this, but I don’t care much about that. And if you think this is a good part one, share it on your blogs so I get my butt in gear and finish the second part! Thank you for reading and enjoy!

P.S. I’m using this for Day: 11 of Tuck Month since it’s a free day and it works with yesterday’s post if anyone’s wondering.

Old clothes. It’s always old clothes for a new beginning. It’s easiest to create a new identity with someone else’s. Fabricating a single history that intertwines many from all over is simpler than pulling a single story from a single source. If there’s no traceable trail of your lie, nobody can prove anything right or wrong. It’s always wrong, though. It’s wrong until the next new life. And the next and the next. Every new beginning brings an unfinished and unsatisfied end. My mother never taught me that last part.

It had been years, many years since I had last seen her. My father, brother, and sister too. I didn’t know where they were, I just knew they were no longer alive. How could they be? It had been ages since the last time I saw them. Our lack of visitations was not my fault. They lost me in that wood, not the other way around. Things just kept happening after that took me farther and farther away from them. When I met the Tucks in that clearing after hours of panicked wandering, I was desperate for warmth and food. They let me camp with them unit the morning, so we could have the sun on our side while we searched. The water from the spring… I had no idea. None of us had a clue and now we’re all stuck like we were that day. I’m stuck, never being me again, but always being seventeen.

That was, oh, 91 years ago. Now, it’s 1899 and I’ve left New Hampshire and gone everywhere. Jesse and I travelled together when we figured out our… predicament. We were in love and were going to get married and have a family, even with my internal inhibitions. Then Miles had a son, Thomas. Then Thomas and his mother left, fearing the unknown. Jesse and I had become split on the plan. I still loved him and anyone could tell just by the look in my eyes whenever I was with him. I took in everything about him, from the small creases between his eyebrows in the sunshine to the way his fingers always intertwined with mine at all hours of the day. I wanted to be his partner in crime forever, just not with kids. After we discussed it, Jesse… Jesse seemed to start feeling the opposite way. The soft looks we used to give each other while we were waiting in train stations slowly started to disappear and the nights we used to spend talking ‘til all hours of the morning became rare. He started getting more restless, more agitated with everything I did. I would squeeze his hand too hard before we jumped down from trees or me getting excited about our next trip would make him dread the entire thing. After one of our few screaming matches, I discovered out he had been—according to him—falling out of love with me since he found out I didn’t want kids. So we parted in tears, one of us heading to the mountains in the west and the other to the ocean in the east. The storm clouds in the north kept us apart and I never saw him again. Every day, a pang of guilt and loss made my chest ache. It was as if he had died. The fact he never would die was almost worse.

Back to 1899, though. New York City. I had just arrived off a ship from England, wanting to revisit the Brooklyn Bridge after years. Even with amazing emotions being turned sour as I travelled through my past, I still loved revisiting the places the best memories came from. After I found a low profile hotel to stay in for a few days, I wandered the streets to reminisce. I had seen the rest of the world while I was gone, but it seemed like New York had the rest of the world there. Even if the culture had changed exponentially, the city’s energy still contained the same buzz I had grown to adore back when I still aged. Now the city was so much bigger! It included Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The most notable difference was the surplus of children on the streets, hollering headlines and scurrying from shadow to shadow.

My stomach clenched for the dirty boys and overworked girls that crossed my path. They should’ve all been in school, learning about the world they would discover as they got older. Their futures couldn’t be made by the spare change they called a living. What about their parents? They should be the ones working to support the family they made. The ethics of the new world sickened me. As I turned every corner to the new, glittering buildings, I couldn’t stop myself from hoping it was just a dream. To my despair, it was a horrifying reality.

“Hi there, miss.” My heart thudded against my ribcage when I heard a voice just off to my side. No, no, no, no, no. It couldn’t be. “Care to buy a pape?” I turned and looked, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

I lost my breath at the sight of the familiar face. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until his shining eyes were in my life again. Everything was the same, but I don’t know why I thought it wouldn’t be. Perhaps I thought he would’ve changed himself to leave the past behind him. He was never one for looking back. I could still see over his head, but I could see more than before. I realized he had a crutch under his arm. Must’ve been one of the lies I taught him. His blond hair was hidden under a backwards cap. I wondered if it was still soft like when we were 63 before we got caught in that storm while travelling back from the Old World to visit his family. His face still held all the things I fell in love with, but it seemed slightly different. The dimples I enjoyed poking seemed shallower and his eyes didn’t seem as old. Perhaps my imagination was toying with me.

“Jesse.” I breathed out, trying to keep my emotions from going with the word. I couldn’t let him think I was terrible without him because I was thriving without him holding me back. The unfamiliar blue fabric of the dress I had found was held tight in my fist as I studied every last inch of his face. The toe of the worn boot I came to acquire—along with its match—tapped on the ground as I waited for his response. Could he possibly recognize me? I couldn’t age, no, but I could change. My hair got a pair of scissors to in somewhere in Europe and had accidentally darkened my skin while out touring Asia. Would he even want to recognize me? It seemed he wanted to go to the other side of the world to get away from my red hair. That was in Cairo, though. Things can always change.

“Uh, my name is Charlie, but a lady as pretty as you can call me Crutchie.” He lifted his crutch for a moment and made my heart drop. Not him. Is that good? I couldn’t tell at this point, with my emotions rising and falling like the waves of a storming sea.

“Oh, my bad. You just look like a friend I once had.” I glanced down to the ground and back up at the boy, whose face had turned down for me. It wasn’t the boy I loved all those years ago. After a beat, I solved what I felt was wrong. This boy in front of me had seen things different from Jesse. Jesse had seen wonders people could only dream of. Charlie—Crutchie—had seen horrors nobody could imagine. I shoved my hand in my pocket and grabbed a penny. I handed it to the boy with a smile, “I’ll take one newspaper, please.”

The rough paper hit my calloused palm, a part of me I could never hide behind a new identity, “Here you are. Might I know the name of the sight in front a me?“ His eyebrow lifted in such a familiar way, it sent a shiver down my spine.

The test I came across every time my life was compromised. Make a story in an instant with what I have, “Odette Tuck.” Damn, he got stuck in my head and made me think of the future we were going to have. I shook Charlie’s hand firmly, trying to make more of a life for my character. My parents were a fan of the ballet, that’s where my first name comes from. The callouses are from a childhood in small towns where I climbed trees. A dark tone from a recent family visit.

“Nice to meet you, Odette. How old are ya?”

The second part: create a personality. Happy in the way that can make anyone happy. Funny in a playful and flirty way. Smart like no one knows it. Mature enough to hold a conversation with adults, but not enough to stop making practical jokes. “Now, Charlie, didn’t your mother ever teach you not to ask a lady that question?”

He got quiet almost immediately and I knew I struck a nerve. Before I could rush to fix my mistake, he responded, “Nah, I, uh, never really had one.” It was like he flipped a switch and turned his grin back on, “Doesn’t matter much, though. I got plenty a friends. Theys my family.”

“That’s good.” I nodded slightly, trying to remember what it was like to have a family. Laughter around the table. Warm hugs after a long day. Going to the fair for one night only and winning as many prizes as you could for the others. Making jam and pie with your mother and sister while your father and brother were out finding enough patience to fish. Bickering and the occasional biting when you were younger. Unconditional, unwavering, and neverending love.

Finally, my mind and lips seemed to catch up with the original question that was posed only a few moments before, “I’m seventeen, by the way.” It had been an automatic answer since the Tucks and I had figured out what was going on. It would be the same answer forever too. There was nothing behind it anymore. No excitement like someone who had just had their birthday and their whole life ahead of them. No regret like one who was ageing out of their childhood and would soon have to face the anxieties of adulthood. Nothing.

“Huh. I’m only fifteen.” As my expression changed, he quickly went to correct himself, “Well, I’m turnin’ sixteen soon. Real soon.“ Charlie nodded a dozen times too many as he confirmed his age.

I smirked, “I see you enjoy flirting with older women.” Older by a lot.

“You ain’t that much older.” Oh, you poor boy. You have no idea.

"I am still older.“ I made my point by poking him in the chest slightly.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, “Yeah, alright.” I laughed along with him for a moment before stopping as he did, “Well, I’ll let ya get on with your day, Odette.”

I nodded in response, “Thank you. I’ll see you again, Charlie.” I backed away from him for a few steps, getting one last look at the past and a future put together. Maybe these old clothes were finally going to be right. Just like my first clothes had been.

#i hope yall like it #kinda bad but oh well #old clothes

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mayaparker · 5 years

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Not My Spirit;

Maya “Chaotic Dumbass” Parker, @scarlettxruby and @rydenbolt find themselves inside a Victorian asylum

When Ruby woke up, it was dark. Nothing strange really, other than her room was never this black. There was always light from the windows streaming in, both day and night. And while darkness didn’t bother her since even then she could usually see, something about this darkness was... wrong. Ruby sat up. The sheets beneath her hands were wrong too. They were thin and scratchy, not at all like her own soft ones. The smells were... Ruby wrinkled her nose. Antiseptic and something else... Her heart beat just a bit faster. No way. No fucking way. She knew that smell. It was something she'd never forget. Just when she was about to stand, a slash of light split the darkness. "Oi... wakey wakey little lady," an oily voice said from the square of light set into what had to be the door to the room. Something hard tapped against something metallic. "No funny business like yesterday, or you'll go back in the chair. Got it?" Ruby was so shell-shocked that she could only nod as the door opened and a man in dirty white coveralls - flanked by three others dressed just the same - stomped towards her. By the time he had the manacles around her neck and wrists - at least partly silver, since they burned the moment they touched her skin - Ruby was just beginning to realize what was going on. This had to be another pocket verse. She was led out - barefoot and in nothing but a shift (a /shift?/ what year was this supposed to be?) - and down the hallway. Hands reached out of the small openings in the doors lining the hall, and here and there people sat along the wall, some dressed properly, others not so much. But the clothing was... "What year is it?" Ruby asked as she was marched along. The man ahead of her snorted. "Losing track of time now too, love? Aren't you just a peach." He spat into the corner. "It's 1899. Least 'til the morning. Then it's a new century. Gonna be one helluva row tonight amongst your lot I s'pose. Warden says we gotta take extra care of the ones what causes trouble." He glanced back at her. "See the new year in right proper. If you catch my meanin'." The yellow-toothed grin he shot at her did nothing to alleviate Ruby's fears.

Maya walked up to Ruby's house with an increasing sense of dread. The pocket universes were popping up all over town, each one seemingly more dangerous than the last. She approached the front door and tried to call Ruby again. It went to voicemail. Again. With a deep breath, she tried the front door and found it unlocked. She stepped inside and the room spun. When it came back into focus, she found herself in a dirty stone building. "Well, that explains that," she muttered to herself. She treaded carefully down the hallway, looking for Ruby or whatever monsters might be lurking here. As she walked, she realized it was some kind of asylum. From a table she picked up a large syringe. Dangerous thing to leave lying about. She turned a corner to see four men leading Ruby down the hallway. "Yeah, I'm going to have to insist that one gets discharged. Effective immediately."

Once Ruby saw where they were, she tried to backpedal. "Let go..." she said, struggling a bit in the orderly's hold. The old stone walls and the smell of antiseptic and unwashed bodies hit her full on as they entered the corridor. "Let me go!" She pulled hard, breaking the grasp of the man holding the chains. "Oi! I said no trouble!" he snapped. Something hit Ruby hard in the back, sending a jot of pain through her limbs. She staggered, nearly falling to her knees. "There now, see? That's better..." The orderly gestured to bring her along, and they dragged her down the corridor, stopping only when another figure stepped into view. "Get outta the way, girl." The first orderly gestured with his billy club. "Go back to your room."

"Um, no?" Maya replied. She was doing some quick calculations in her head, but she needed more information. She tried to see past the orderlies to determine how much help Ruby might be able to offer. It might not be as much as usual considering her history with asylums. But if Maya could at least distract a couple of them. A shout from behind her drew her attention for a second, but she wasn't sure if it was from a patient or an orderly. All Maya could do was try to solve the situation in front of her. "Like I said, you're going to be letting her go now," she repeated.

"Wha'??" The orderly stopped, looking at Maya as if she'd grown a second head. "Are you deaf, girl? I said, back to your room. Or I'll smash those pretty teeth in and send you back meself." He took a step towards her. He was a large, bulky man, lots of poundage that might've once been muscle, but still much larger than Maya. Ruby had come around a bit, though her entire body ached from the jolt in her back. This wasn't the same as when she'd been a patient, she told herself. Or tried to. Her head was foggy. This was some reject movie set. Some Victorian nightmare that didn't really exist. And she wasn't a helpless human this time. But she needed to get the silver chains off before she could be any help. "Maya..." Ruby called. "Belt..." The key to her shackles was on the orderly's belt.

"That's very rude," Maya replied. This was an old trick for her. If she could just distract the man long enough for Ruby to get away or for someone else to intervene, it would be fine. Winning the fight was not priority. Anyway, the man walking toward her was much bigger than she was, but she was certain that she was smarter. Maya didn't look at Ruby when she mentioned the belt. She only nodded, almost imperceptibly. She waited, posed for a fight. When he finally lunged for her, Maya ducked and used his own weight against him. He went sprawling to the floor. She used that moment to yank the keys from his belt. More shouting echoed down the hallways. Maya turned to look at Ruby again, keys in hand.

Asylums in that day and age were full of dark, creepy secrets - mostly the kind respectable families wanted to put away but some... Some were circus show material. Stuff horror movies were made of. And they always got shoved down a basement, locked up and key thrown away. St Agnes asylum had its own beast in a cage, chained up and forgotten until the single daily mealtime it was entitled to just to keep it alive. Him, it was a him, though most of the staff had forgotten. That was the number one mistake they've made - you should never lock up and just forget about the thing that needed a cage to contain it. At some point, he'd be rattling that cage hard enough for a screw or two to come loose. And then it was only a matter of when utter chaos would be unleashed. The shouts down the hallway belonging to the wards of the asylum soon turned into screams. Something got out, something that didn't belong even among the craziest of nutheads, rapists and murderers that plead insanity to get off the gallows.

Ruby waited as patiently as she could, trying to be still and compliant so the other guards would focus on Maya and the man in front of them instead of her. The man wasn't all that smart, and he certainly wasn't fast. So when Maya finally slipped by him and snagged the keys to her shackles, and she felt the attention of the two men shift to Maya, Ruby finally reacted. She'd been slowly wrapping the chains around her arm. It burned, but she would heal. So when she spun and swung at the first man's head - the man with the cattle prod - she connected with a solid 'thud.' He went sprawling, dropping the prod that went skittering across the stone floor. The second man lunged for Ruby, but she ducked him, leaping on his back and wrapped the chain around his neck. She pulled hard, cutting off the man's air. "Prod!" she yelled at Maya as the fourth man went for it. The screams that found their way up the hall drew Ruby's attention as the man struggled in her grasp. They were different sorts of screams. The kind that you ran away from, not towards. "Maya..." Ruby said again, still shaking the fog from her head.

Maya felt a yank as the man tried to trip her. She responded by kicking down hard. He groaned and let go. Starting towards Ruby, she watched as her friend sent one of the men to the floor. A second Ruby seemed to have pretty well under control. Her shout didn't meant much to Maya though. In her second of confusion, the fourth man grabbed the prod and shoved it into Maya's ribs. She shouted as the electricity crumpled her to the ground. The shouting grew louder. Maya pulled herself to her feet. "I think we're going to have company," she said in a hoarse whisper with a nod to Ruby. The man who had just electrocuted her seemed to have the same idea as he turned his attention to the end of the hallway.

Ruby wasn't keen on killing, but in this case - especially since these fucks weren't real - she would make an exception. As Maya got tazed, and the shouts from down the way grew louder and closer, Ruby gave a quick yank on the chain. There was a wet, snapping sound as the guard jerked once and grew still. Ruby let him fall to the floor before turning to Maya and the other guard. He was pale as a sheet, and when something ran towards them - something covered in blood and torn clothing, fleeing for its life - the guard forgot about Maya and Ruby, dropped the prod, and fled back down the hall. Ruby wasted no time uncuffing herself with the key Maya had, and then helped her friend to her feet. "Yeup. We should go..." Snagging the prod from the floor, just in case, Ruby backpedaled a bit, searching for a way out.

His progress was slow down the hallway, because at every step, there was something that bravely but foolishly tried to charge at him only to end up smashed into the wall. They were mostly people, people the beast didn't give two shits about. After all, he wasn't one of them, didn't think of himself as one of their kind. They were meat and bones to chew on. And being locked up for so long made him hungry. So very, very hungry... The man in front of the best faltered, a prod half raised in a poor attempt to strike but he had second thoughts halfway through. What stood in front of him would make anyone second-guess their life choices. Neither man nor animal, part wolf and part human, jaw full of bloodied teeth and claws sticking out of fingertips. The ward let out a sound, squealing like a pig before the beast jumped him and tore into his big fat belly, muzzle digging in deep. They slid down the corridor for a few feet, propelled by the speed with which the beast collided with the man and when they came to a stop, that's when Maya and Ruby would see it - a big, black wolf-man, neither here nor there in his transformation, feeding on the still twitching soon-to be corpse of one of the orderly of the asylum.

Maya was all for getting the hell out of there. Clearly whatever was coming was worse than the orderlies and she did not want to meet it. Slowly, she backed down the hallway, looking for a weapon or an exit. But she wasn't about to turn her back on whatever this was. She froze when it came into view at the end of the hallway. It looked like...But it couldn't be... "Ruby," she whispered, "I think that's Ryden." She only had a glimmer of recognition because he'd semi-shifted for her once before, in the abandoned cabin over a year ago. But this was different. Whatever he was now was not what he had been then.

Maya was right. This was not the Ryden they both knew. Nor the wolf who was the member of Ruby's pack. This was The Beast - the embodiment of the demonic ritual Ryden was exposed to on the day he'd been bitten. It was the thing the horror movies tried to portray, the thing that gothic literature attempted to describe - poorly in comparison to what was feeding in front of them. When it hollowed out the man's stomach cavity, he stood back on his hind legs to a height so impressive he made ceiling look closer to the floor. He dwarfed everything around him. Curled fingers were more paws than hands, long claws painted crimson. His slobbering snout was dripping with blood. He let out a terrible howl that shook the corridor and all its adjacent rooms. And then his attention turned to the next thing that was moving.

Ruby knew it was Ryden. Even as twisted and horrible as the creature was, she could smell her friend beneath it. Barely there, and without any consciousness of the man he really was, but there. This was the thing she'd never seen. The Dark she smelled in him at times. "It is," she told Maya. "But it's not him either. It's..." She shook her head, keeping hold of Maya's arm and backing slowly away. You never ran from creatures like this, as it only drew their attention. The gore and the horror didn't bother Ruby. It was the not rightness of the creature that bothered her. No wonder Ryden felt the way he did about it. And what better place for it to come out than this?? The howl shook the walls, and the wolf inside Ruby stood up, lowering her ears and growling. But it would be no match for the beast down the way. Better than either Ruby or Maya, but still a much weaker creature. "Do not run... find a doorway... something... before he-" It was too late. The Beast saw them.

Maya nodded, eyes never leaving the creature that used to be their friend. She didn't move as Ruby tugged at her arm. But it wasn't fear that froze her in place. Not at first. She couldn't just walk away. They couldn't leave Ryden in this place. Fear replaced her concern though as it howled. She swallowed. "Fuck," she whispered. Ruby, in her wolf form, might have a hope of outrunning it. Maya human as she was had no chance. As her mind raced to come up with an alternative way of not being ripped apart, she remembered her experiments with Faye. "I have one very bad idea," she whispered to Ruby.

The beast lowered himself to all fours, to creep better towards them, stalking with his grey, glowing eyes pinned on his next two targets. He seemed to be grinning, but it was just a snarl giving way to too many sharp, deadly teeth. He lowered himself all the way down to the floor, ready to pounce, because their heartbeats were enough to set him off. A low growl announced a deadly leap in their direction.

Yes, they could just walk away. Ryden wouldn’t be left here. He’d be spit out along with them once they did whatever it was they were here to do. But if he got spit out like this... “If it involves trying to talk him down, it won’t work. Ryden’s not in there.” She didn’t want to leave him either, but the wolf in her screamed retreat. She was brave, but not foolish. Ruby tugged harder on her friends arm. “Maya...” Ruby would shift if it came to it, and do what she could. At least she had a chance of maybe slowing the creature down, drawing its attention. Maya was just a soft morsel, unless she had something up her sleeve.

Maya looked away from the creature to give Ruby a look. She might be stupid sometimes, but she wasn't /that/ stupid. She turned quickly back to face the wolf man though, knowing better than to take her eyes off it for long. She took an involuntary step back as the wolf shifted onto four legs. "More like using my magic touch," she added. It was fully fear now that had her frozen to the spot. She needed to move. Part of her brain was screaming at her to move. As for her idea of a plan, it had sounded crazy in her head, but it sounded even more so when she said it out loud.

The beast leaped and a quick swipe of his massive arm had Maya pushed out of the way like she was nothing but a rag doll to him to throw around. Maybe he had sensed a shadow of a threat in the wolf lurking within Ruby and she was the first one he went for, circling her as if to challenge her. Then his first strike fell, slamming straight into her to bring her down to the floor, aiming to bite into her neck. That was how the wolves hunter prey smaller than themselves - they went straight for the neck, for the kill. The supernatural strength in her arms was the only thing that kept him at bay, jaws snapping mere inches away from her face. She was screaming for Maya to get away, to run.

Ruby shoved both hands hard against the beasts neck, holding him back with every ounce of strength she possessed. The muscles in her arms strained, and hot slobber dripped onto her face. “Run!!” She screamed at Maya, growling at the beast above her. She couldn’t shift like this. She’d be ripped apart the moment she was vulnerable. But Maya didn’t run. Instead, she did the opposite, throwing herself at the creature. She was no match for him strength wise. Ruby kicked at the beast with her legs, but she was pinned. “Put him out!” She yelled at Maya, knowing some of what her friends magic might do. She would shift if she could get away, but she needed space.

Maya found herself suddenly on the floor again. Pain blossomed in her ribs. She shut her eyes against the tears that sprang to them. It was enough though to break her out of the fear that had grabbed hold of her. "Ruby!" she shouted as she saw what Not Ryden was about to do. Despite having just argued that she wasn't that stupid, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around the creature, trying to pull him away. She felt, among many other things, the electric shock that accompanied her accidental use of magic. It was a begging for calm and peace that she felt from the bottom of her heart. It was instinct without fully understanding what she was doing. Her conscious focus was on trying to drag him off of Ruby.

Maya was just a flea attaching itself to the massive, fur-covered bulk of Ryden's back and for a second, it seemed unlikely that she'd be able to do more than a flea would. If they were lucky, she wouldn't annoy him enough to shake her off with a kick. But the deadly jaws stopped snapping at Ruby as she fought her best to push him back, her trembling arms ready to give in any second against the sheer weight and power of the beast. Ruby could now see the dilated pupils in the silver of Ryden's eyes shrink as he blinked, confused by the electric shock of magic Maya sent through his body. It was making him feel things other than endless rage the beast fed and thrived on. With a huff alike to a massive sneeze, the beast scuttled off Ruby, hunching and whining as if hit by some unseen force strong enough to kick him away. Ears flattened, he curled up in a corner, ducking his face under a paw as if to hide it.

Something happened then, and Ruby saw something in Ryden’s eyes shift. She felt the residual of whatever Maya had done as it fizzled over her too. The beast moved off, whining in a way that tugged at something inside her

Maya slipped to the floor as the wolf man let go of Ruby. She tried to breathe past the pain in her ribs. Her gaze quickly sought out the creature again, trying to see if it was going to attack. What she saw instead stole her breath. She looked down at her hands, realizing slowly what she had done. She swallowed. Without getting up, she picked her way carefully over to the creature. Maya was careful to make no sudden movements. "It's okay," she spoke softly, "We can help you. Did they hurt you?" It was a tone she would use with any injured animal. She trusted Ruby to recover, even shift if she needed to. First in Maya's mind though was making sure that the creature wouldn't attack again the minute their backs were turned.

She pushed to her feet, looking between the shivering beast that was her friend, and the witch that was also her friend. “Be careful,” Ruby told Maya. “I’m gonna change, just in case.” There was the span of less than a minute where Ruby changed into her lupine counterpart. She shook herself, breath steaming in the cold air, but stayed where she was. She lowered her head, ears forward towards the other creature, and whined. ~Hurt you?~ she echoed Maya, stepping close to the witch. ~Bad people.~

The beast whined, lowering himself all the way down against the wall. What would be soft cries coming from any other animal, they resonated loudly out of him in an unnatural, guttural way. Long tongue licked at his wrist where he was bound before, all those long long years in a dark basement, as any animal would when injured, in pain or distress. You could almost think that it was an animal like any other, abused, misunderstood and just wanting to live. Maya sent out calm, and calm he was, but only for a moment. Very very brief moment. A snarl bubbled up from within him again and angry, murderous eyes focused on Maya. Whatever they thought they saw, it was gone or wasn't in there to begin with.

Maya noticed the marks on the creature's wrists as it licked them. "We can get you out of here. Get you somewhere no one will hurt you anymore," she continued. She clamped her mouth shut to keep from swearing as it brought its gaze back up to her. Whatever moment of calm was gone. Again she needed to run, but knew that sudden movements would only make things worse. She stopped. "Okay, never mind," she said in the same calm tone before reversing direction.

The wolf gave a warning growl as the beast seeped back in. She took one step between him and Maya. ~No.~

Whatever this beast was, it said nothing in response to Ruby. Ryden's true wolf, although not a wolf of many words, was open to communication, to feelings. It was vibrant with emotions, as any living creature is. This thing was a black hole for anything but wrath. Nothing went through to him, not a friend, not an enemy, not a fucking baseball bat. It didn't feel fear, regret or sorrow. He was rage incarnate, one of the seven deadly sins in its true form. And he went at Ruby full force again, claws into her snow white fur, teeth bared for her neck.

Maya couldn't help, but scream again as the creature lunged for Ruby. Any emotional confusion about wanting to help her friend evaporated. There was nothing left of Ryden in this thing. The only way to actually help him would be to get the hell out of this pocket universe. Without killing Ruby of course. Maya pulled herself to her feet. She wasn't sure it would work twice, but she had to try. They just needed to space to get out of this place. She took a deep breath, focusing this time. Hoping that it was too much focused on Ruby to pay much attention to her, Maya took a step forward and attempted to lay a hand on the creature.

Ruby felt the impact like a runaway train, claws and teeth piercing flesh that had already started to heal. The wolf ducked to the side, using her smaller form to sidestep a bit. But he still grabbed her and held on. She clamped her teeth over the side of his head, one ear and one eye obscured by her massive jaws. She tried to shake him, to toss him aside so they could run, but it was like trying to throw a mountain. Claws dug into her flesh, and Ruby yelped shrilly as something snapped. But she didn’t let go.

Ruby had another disadvantage - she wasn't shifted halfway through, had no opposable thumbs and if she stood up on hind legs, she could only do a trick dog lovers would aww at. Ryden was a human form with all the advantageous features of a werewolf. Ruby had everything going against her but her brave, strong heart and an urgency to protect a friend. A friend Ryden didn't mistakenly ignore this time. Maya did receive a kick this time, right into her stomach, shooting her to the opposite wall like a ball from a cannon. Ryden's hand found Ruby's sensitive underside, claws digging into the sensitive spot under her ribs. Just another push and he'd break flesh, reaching for her intestines. She fought back though, witch such fierceness despite the pain that Ryden couldn't keep a very good hold of her. Her slick fur was constantly slipping from his grasp, taking advantage of her smaller frame. So he caught ahold of her back leg and tossed her away like a dog-shaped toy. He didn't even wait for her to properly land before he rushed after her to fetch her in his open maw.

All the breath left Maya's lungs as the creature formerly known as Ryden landed a kick in her stomach. She skidded to a stop. Tears sprang to her eyes again. "Fuck," she wheezed. They had to get out. One of them had to get out. Maya had to tear her eyes away from the sight in front of her to look for any exit. A few feet to her right was an half open window. She dragged herself to her feet. Every movement hurt. She climbed onto the sill. One last time she looked back at the two wolves fighting. "I fucking hope this works," she whispered. "See you on the other side," she shouted, hoping to buy Ruby a distraction. Maya then turned and leapt from the window. It was only the second story. Not good by any means, but could be worse. A moment later she landed on soft grass and quickly tipped into a somersault. She ended up laying flat on her back, staring up at the cloudless sky outside Ruby's house.

It was pushing past the limits of dangerous. Ruby’s tender belly scraped raw from the claws that tried to eviscerate her even as she struggled and fought and tried to keep the beasts attention away from Maya. But the beast was part man, and Ruby wasn’t. He had advantages. All the advantages. And when she was tossed like a rag doll, dazed and ears ringing, she almost couldn’t get back up. She barely registered Maya’s form moving out of site, but the teeth and claws coming at her drew her attention. Blood ran from Ruby’s wounds, flecked the foam on her muzzle as she breathed heavily, but she pushed to her feet, teeth bared and limbs shaking, ready to meet him head on, if it would mean Maya’s escape, and hopefully both of theirs too. And then she was steaming and panting on the lawn.

The moment Maya had jumped out of the window, time in the pocket world seem to slow down, leaving Ryden in mid-leap after Ruby. What tumbled past Ruby wasn't the beast, but a limp, naked form of nothing but a man, unconscious to even brace himself for the fall. He rolled over the grass on Ruby's front lawn, the earth cushioning his fall and stayed down, sprawled on his side.

Maya heard with relief Ruby and Ryden on the lawn beside her. Turning her head to check on them, she found they were both naked. She should probably help with that. But she needed a second. Her ribs were screaming, but not quite loud enough to drown out the pain from her legs. "Alright, anybody dead?" she asked in a breathless almost laugh. They were out. The asylum was gone. There was going to be some fallout to deal with, but it could've been much much worse.

Ryden was unresponsive, lying sideways on the ground with his back turned to them. But the way he lay there didn't seem unnatural, like a dead body would sprawl. He was very much alive, just knocked out.

Ruby groaned, holding her own side and coughing wetly. There were long, bleeding gashes across her shoulders and belly, and she was barely holding on to consciousness.

"Okay, I'm taking that as a yes," Maya said as she pushed herself off the ground. She had to downplay it a little. After all the horror of it all was almost too much. She looked between Ruby and Ryden. He was unconscious, but at least seemed relatively uninjured. Ruby needed immediate medical attention. But Maya would need help for that. She could stop the bleeding if she could just get Ruby into the house. Using the last stores of her magic, she pressed a hand to Ryden's back, sending a shock of adrenaline through him. Hopefully it would be enough to wake him up. Immediately though she got out of the way, just in case. Moving over Ruby, Maya tore off her shirt to use as a makeshift and very temporary bandage.

It worked like a charm. For all intents and purposes, when Ryden was fully human, he was human all the way, super strength aside. He jolted up, stumbling with a yelp, like someone had just poured ice cold water on him while he slept. "Wha... huh... aah?!?!" He panted, frantically looking about himself. But he was used to it. Waking up someplace he didn't remember he was headed to, butt nekkid and confused was pretty much your every usual Thursday for him now. What was so totally wrong with this picture was Ruby on the ground, bleeding and Maya trying to fix that. "Shit... fuck!" He cussed under his breath, immediately going over to them. "What the fuck happened?"

“Ow...” Ruby murmured as Maya pressed on the wound. Her ribs and insides were mending like normal, but the rest didn’t seem to be improving much.

Maya spared a glance Ryden's direction as he leapt up. "I know," she said softly to Ruby, "I know it hurts." She looked back to Ryden. "I need you to help me get her inside," she half-ordered. But some of the authority was lost by the breathlessness of her voice. She couldn't take a deep breath without her ribs screaming in protest. But she just gritted her teeth against the pain. Ruby's external wounds weren't healing like they should and that took first priority.

Ryden nodded at Maya's instructions, carefully tucking his hands under Ruby to gently lift her up. "Hang in there babe, we'll fix it." He attempted to comfort her but it was secondary to getting her inside as carefully as possible. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and went for upstairs, where Ruby's bedroom was. The last time they were here, he'd stolen a wish he shouldn't have made.

Maya walked behind Ryden into Ruby's house, pain echoing with every step. She swallowed it and tried to keep the wincing to a minimum. While Ryden headed straight for the upstairs bedroom, she stopped in the bathroom for first aid supplies. She then followed them upstairs. Without hesitation, she went to Ruby's side to properly patch up her wounds. Ryden would get whatever he'd come up here for. Now that he was himself again, she could trust that.

Normally, Ruby was more worried about others than herself. But right now she didn’t have much choice. She groaned as Ryden lifted her, head rolling against his shoulder as he carried her inside. Her breathing wasn’t as labored anymore at least.

Putting Ruby down on the bed, Ryden immediately knew what he should be looking for. He rummaged through the same drawer he looked into before, back on that night when Ruby was bitten. As expected, he came up with a couple of blood capsules Ruby had stashed. She snapped one open for her, sitting on the bed to help her drink from the tiny vial.

After bandaging Ruby up, Maya moved on to her next task: clothing. She pulled out some loose fitting clothing and set it on the bed beside Ruby. It could wait until Ryden was done feeding Ruby from the capsules. She did her best as she moved around the room to cover up that she was injured. She dug through a few drawers before finding some jogging pants that might have a hope of fitting Ryden. She tossed them on the bed too. Finally, she sat on the edge of the bed, trying to breathe properly. The room had started to spin a little, but it would pass. She should get water. They could both use water.

The blood capsules were a precaution from when Ruby had been human. But they were still effective. She coughed slightly as Ryden poured the thick substance into her mouth. But she swallowed it down. It started to work almost immediately, though still a bit slower than usual. There would be some scarring, but Ruby could live with that. Finally she groaned again, opening her eyes to see Ryden’s face, his grey eyes. Not the beast or the wolf, but her dear friend. She weakly tipped her forehead to his, sighing wearily but in relief. “There you are...”

"What, have I been away." A smirk tugged on a corner of Ryden's mouth and he ducked down to press his forehead against Ruby's briefly, closing his eyes for a second against the touch. When he parted from her, he looked around to Maya, where she was sitting on the bed. He kept one capsule for her and was handing it over to her. "What's going on?" If she thought he hadn't noticed her injuries, she was mistaken.

Maya turned her head back to give Ruby a soft smile. "You scared me for a second there, Ruby," she said. She took the capsule from Ryden with a quiet thanks. She shook her head, "It was one of those fucking pocket universes. This Victorian era asylum," she explained before cracking open the capsule. She drank it down. Relief seeped through her immediately. It wasn't complete, but it was a hell of a lot better. Maya finally took a full deep breath. "I put some clothes out for you guys, if you want them," she added.

“Sort of,” Ruby said to Ryden, giving him a soft smile. “But you’re back now. And sorry ‘bout that,” she said to Maya. “It was fucked. Felt like... bad memories,” she huffed. “You good?” she asked the witch, seeing the capsule Ryden handed her.

Ryden regarded Maya for a good, long second until she drag the capsule till the last drop. "Thanks..." He mumbled, warm palm resting against Ruby's forearm. "And I'm guessing the reason I don't remember it is cause I wolfed out there." He concluded, all on his own. "Who did this to ya both?" He put he next awkward question out there, up for grabs for anyone willing to answer it.

Maya scooted up the bed to sit next to Ruby. She leaned back against the pillows. The fabric felt cool and soft against her skin. She'd abandoned her shirt to the floor once she'd gotten proper bandages. Eyes closed, she gave Ryden a nod, "You did." She didn't answer his second question though. It wasn't him, not really. "I'm okay," she said. She opened her eyes again. Her limbs felt heavy. She could breathe again, but she still felt sore all over. With her human rate of healing, it would probably be a few days before that fully faded.

Ryden sucked his bottom lip in, teeth biting in a little when Maya confirmed his fears. It wasn't the first time he'd hurt someone without even knowing. It wouldn't be the last either, he knew it. And now these two knew that as well. Good. It was just a matter of time when they'd stop calling and meeting up, having seen him in their nightmares too many times to handle him in reality. Good, good. Hardly any of these thoughts showed on his face as he grabbed the clothes Maya had found for him and started putting the ill-fitting sweats on. Tight as they were, they'd do the job. "Gonna grab ya water and stuff." He announced, going downstairs to the kitchen.

Ruby hummed in agreement that Ryden had indeed wolfed out, but glazed over the second part. “I’ll just be glad when these things go away,” she said of the pocket verses. It didn’t matter what or who had hurt them. It wasn’t him, that’s all that mattered. That and they were all okay now. “Good,” Ruby said to Maya, still leaning slightly against Ryden. She didn’t bother with clothes. She was too tired. But she watched Ryden go with a concerned look, listening to him moving around in her kitchen.

Maya shook her head as Ryden started to leave. "No, bed," she argued weakly. He was already gone though. "Me too," she agreed with Ruby. She then pushed herself off the bed. "I'll be right back," she said, "Get dressed if you want. It'll start to get cold soon." Maya padded downstairs. Her footsteps were louder than usual. She stopped and leaned against the kitchen doorway without a word.

“‘M’good,” Ruby murmured. Though as Maya followed after Ryden, she did reach to slowly pull what maya had laid out. Since she’d gone to all the effort. And apparently would be coming back with Ryden. Sleeping in a warm pile sounded like heaven right now. She could hear Ryden’s voice in the kitchen, and even though she tried not to, she couldn’t help but overhear.

The moment he'd heard Maya's shoulder hit the doorframe with inaudible, dull thud, Ryden turned the tap off, placing a glass of water down on the counter. "Your ribs are bruised. Not broken, but definitely bruised." He informed her, not because he could sniff out but because he knew how a person moved when their ribcage was in terrible pain. He wasn't turning around to look at her.

"You can say that again," Maya agreed. It wasn't the first time she'd bruised her ribs. She did sort of hope it was the last time though. She doubted it, but she hoped anyway.

"And Ruby and that gash she got... Was it a pocket world monster or... was it me?" Ryden asked, in that calm voice that asked for nothing but the truth and he wouldn't ask for it twice.

Maya knew that tone. She'd used that tone. "Trust me, that thing wasn't you, but yeah, technically it was you," she couldn't help but couch it. It wasn't him. After having looked it in its eyes, she had to say as much. "And, um, I did some magic on you. Sorry about that," she added as long as they were laying everything out on the table.

Ryden’s shoulders twitched as he snorted out a weak smile. "That's my girl... Good job." He'd usually very much mind if anyone practiced any magic on him he didn't voluntarily agree to. But in this case, he'd encourage Maya to throw all the fireballs and lighting bolts or whatever at him. Anything to keep him from hurting her and other people, because he couldn't stop make sure he didn't himself. He turned the tap water back on and poured another glass. He emptied it right after then filled it again.

Maya's lips tilted in a crooked smile. "Are you hurt at all?" she asked. She'd already scoped him out earlier, but he might be better at hiding it than she was. She watched his back too, trying to tell how he was doing. Not well, she guessed. But Maya didn't know how to help. Other than staying, she didn't know what she could do.

"Yeaaah. I'm like a cockroach. Indestructible." Ryden picked up two glasses of water, finally turning around. No one would've guessed at what had happened earlier just by his expression. He looked like a veteran to pocket universes, violence and friends in distress whom he'd almost killed. If he was troubled by it at least a little, he didn't let it show. "I guess I gotta pamper you two now, cause I got yer asses whooped. Ya shouldn't move much. It's gonna hurt hell of a lot more f'ya do."

Maya nodded. There wasn't much else to say on the point. She watched him turn, dark eyes soft and full of concern. There was nothing in his expression that suggested Ryden wasn't fine. But she knew what had happened. Maya managed a laugh and then winced. "You think this is my first rodeo?" she asked, "I can handle a couple of bruised ribs." She took one of the glasses from him and sipped. "C'mon," she gestured with a nod of her head towards the stairs, "There's a bed upstairs that's calling our names."

"I think you ride that bull too hard and too often for your own good,” Ryden said softly, letting her take a glass off him. "But yer not the only one t'blame." He followed her back to Ruby's bedroom, putting the glass he carried for Ruby on he nightstand and within reach.

Maya smiled a little brighter, "I'll get up to a minute one of these days."

Ruby listened to the quiet conversation in her kitchen. She didn't think Maya would outright lie to Ryden - just as Ruby wouldn't - but to hear him ask outright if it was him that had hurt them was heartbreaking. Ruby knew it /wasn't/ him, not really. Just whatever was inside him that was /using/ him against his will. A parasite that needed out. She huffed a small laugh to herself though as Ryden mentioned them getting their asses whooped. It was true. She was gonna have to hit the gym apparently. As if it were that easy, of course. But then he and Maya were both coming back upstairs. Ruby murmured a soft thanks for the water, taking a small sip to get the bad taste out of her mouth before taking a longer one to help her thirst. She sunk back down under the covers afterwards, watching the others sleepily. "Ain't no blame to lay on nobody..." she said, shifting the covers if they were going to lay back down.

"Shut up, badly hurt losers ain't allowed to talk," Ryden spoke too softly for it to be anything but his usual way of showering someone dear with tough loving. Or rather, a convenient cover for the guilt he felt at seeing Ruby hurt but still ready to forgive. Wasn't he supposed to take good care of her too? When her brother got her bit, she was left with no one to guide her through the life-changing transformation she'd gone through. Ryden was there to make up for that. If fate had ever poked him in the eye, telling him that something was his responsibility, it was that time, when he chased Johnny away and took over as something like Ruby's mentor or alfa or whatever wolf crap equivalent would that be. Nice job he'd done there. She told him she was grateful for letting her be independent and find her own way through this. He thought he was being negligent. He couldn't even find her a real pack. He just assumed she didn't need it just like he didn't. He sat down on the bed, lowering himself onto the mattress next to Ruby. He'd heard from other werewolves that their kind had a strange, comforting sort of healing powers when in a pack. Not the kind that would cure cancer or provide an antidote to a poison. But the kind that came with being surrounded by a family and warmth. He scooted carefully closer to Ruby, wrapping an arm around her in a way he wouldn't put any painful pressure on her injury. His warmth against hers, he felt an instantaneous relief himself, some kind of toasty, pulsing feeling inside that could only be described as a healing energy that mostly healed the soul, rather than the body, and maybe took some of the pain away too.

Ruby huffed a small laugh, but kept mostly quiet after that. Truth was, she could've simply run away from The Beast. Snagged Maya and forced her to follow until they found a way out that would save all of them. But it hadn't worked out that way. That wasn't Ryden's fault. If it wasn't for Ryden, Ruby would be dead right now. She would've bled out on the bathroom floor. And that would've been the end of her story. But it was because of Ryden that she was here now. Alive and finding her way through all the things life brought to her door, sometimes quite literally. But it wasn't up to him to find her a pack, no matter what they were to each other. Her pack was here. In Ryden and Maya. And in others that weren't present. And with that, Ruby was happy. So she made room for him when he slid in next to her, groaning in relief as his warmth - and whatever other power their kind had - rolled over her. Her injuries still pained her a bit, but the ache in her chest eased. Like a weight was lifted. She lay her arm over his, fingers stroking his skin in sleepily, idle affection as Maya joined them.

Maya curled up on the other side of Ruby. She hadn't had a proper night's sleep in a long time, but right now was probably her best shot at it. "Okay, wake me up in about five years," she murmured as she closed her eyes. Her ribs still ached dully, but she was exhausted enough not to be bothered by it. "And nobody go feeling guilty over things that aren't their fault."

Ryden pressed himself flush against Ruby's body, so that he could reach over to Maya as well, easily scooping both women into his wide arm-reach. He buried his face into Ruby's hair, warm palm spreading over the side of Maya's ribcage. Whatever Ruby and Ryden shared, it seeped some into Maya too. Sleep wasn't going to come easy to him. But holding them both safe in his arms made him feel a little less like a wolf in sheep's clothing, meant to destroy everything good that despite the evil in him tried to surround him.

Ruby sank into the warm cocoon of blankets and bodies, bolstered by the wolf at her back and the witch at her front. She was already drifting off, too tired from the shift, her injuries, and being cast in and out of reality to stay awake much longer. Ryden's breath was warm in her hair, and she used the rise and fall of his breathing to slow her own. She tucked herself against Maya's front, inhaling the smell of magic and warm, sweet things mixed with Ryden's own comforting familiar scent. Later, there would be things to talk about, but right now this was the best place any of them could be. Ruby hummed softly, voice barely there as sleep pulled her down. "This ain't the threesome I dreamed about... but it'll do..."

#Ruby Devereaux #ryden bolt #not my spirit: chatzy #our ghosts beside us #disturbing imagery tw

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sarahreesbrennan · 6 years

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Hi Sarah! I have a question about the land I lost... jem only seems to think of will in relation to tessa.. did jem not love will as much as tessa did? I've been noticing this in all the stories.. thanks either way!

Hi, petal!

I’m definitely not the final authority on this, as Cassie is the supreme queen of her world and characters, and her words are Word of God. Maybe I am Word of Minor Saint? Seems literarily unclear.

But I know Cassie is on vacation right now, and I feel responsible for inflicting a Hella Novella on you all, so I have been trying to keep an especial eye on this story, am thrilled you guys seem to like it, and I am very happy to share my thoughts about this since you ask for them! With the understanding I may be quite wrong.

Some SPOILERS and HIGHLY BROMANTIC QUOTES beneath the cut.

In Ghosts of the Shadow Market, Jem thinks of Will and Tessa both a lot (a lot a lot) and very often in relation to each other. Jem thinks of Will a great deal in Son of the Dawn, not just in relation to Tessa, because Jace acts as an unconscious trigger for his memories of Will from the first and because Jem is fighting in that story and thinking of being parabatai, and Jem wants to be fighting with Will. He says in The Land I Lost that he can’t be a Shadowhunter without Will because ‘too much of my heart is in a grave.’ He carved Will’s initials into his staff ‘so, in a way, they would always be fighting together.’ He overcomes despair by thinking of his link to Will, and that ‘there had been none stronger.’ I actually saw people saying Jem was thinking about Will more than Tessa in SotD and being like ‘steady on, son’ which just goes to show how we all read things differently! But also shows how we are reminded of those we love in different ways, at different times. Just as we love different people in different ways.

It does make sense to me that in Ghosts of the Shadow Market the thought of Will makes Jem think of Tessa, and vice versa, because they are linked. In the first story chronologically (Cast Long Shadows) Will and Tessa have already been married almost 20 years: being married is often being considered becoming one flesh. They are bound, as are Will and Jem by the parabatai bond. ‘Our souls are knit,’ says Will. ‘You merged your souls when you were both children’ says Tessa. ‘You are half my heart, and she is the other’ says Jem. They are all three very much bound up in each other for the century-plus the stories span: in Cast Long Shadows when the year is turning from 1899 to 1900, Jem wishes not to leave Tessa and takes brief comfort in walking ‘a little way’ with Will, ending that story together ‘even though both knew they must part.’ He spends the entire century feeling that twinned longing, the longing to be with Tessa when he cannot, the longing for Will with whom he had so little time, when he can feel hardly anything else.

When you love someone that much, their names become different words for love to you: in SotD Jem has been hanging onto that love and those names for more than a century, and their names are linked together as his talisman in his struggle to retain human emotion. ‘Remember him… Remember them… Remember the only answer to the only question.’ Their names together are the answer to the only question, and he remembers their names before his own. ‘They are Will and Tessa, and you were Ke Jian Ming. You were James Carstairs. You were Jem.’ When Jem thinks he’s dying in The Land I Lost, his hope is to see Will again, but the thought of Will recalls Tessa, and he tries to live for both of them, as he always has.

Jem loves Will so much that when Will was dying the great wish of Jem’s heart, as we see in Kelly and Cassie’s Learn about Loss, was a night spent in the company of Will, simply together and simply young. Eighty years after Will’s death, Jem thinks of Will with longing: ‘you are not lost to me on some forever distant shore’ and ‘Sometimes, Will, you seem very close.’ He thinks of Will when he sees James, when he sees Anna, when he sees Rosemary, when he sees Jace, and when he sees Alec, and he thinks of Will when urging Matthew not to keep a huge secret. ‘I watched a secret almost destroy a man once, the finest man ever made.’ (In the same scene he thinks of Tessa, as Henry thinks of his wife Charlotte, as ‘the sweetest woman God ever made.’) Jem thinks about Will and Tessa so much that the Silent Brothers are like ‘please oh please give it a rest. Back in the day we had to cope with the Head of the London Institute having a sulk if any other Silent Brother ever showed up. Sometimes when Tessa approaches Brother Ezekiel just runs away from her sexy self. We support u Brother I Predict A Zachariot but stop.’ (Not a real quote, I just made it up.)

‘Learn about Loss’ and ‘The Land I Lost’ have echo titles (like James’s story in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and Matthew’s GOTSM story, ‘Nothing But Shadows’ and ‘Cast Long Shadows’) because they’re about childhood and death. Roland and Auraline’s child appears in LaL, Alec finds his child Rafe in TLIL, and we see Jem and Will as carefree children in LaL, the children they never got to be. Alec too didn’t get to be carefree as a child, and wishes to give his children Max and Rafe the support and acceptance he would’ve wanted. When Jem wishes for what he doesn’t have in TLIL, he thinks of his parabatai and a child: his thoughts are running on children with his wife, and Tessa’s children were Will’s.

When Jem sees Alec holding Rafe, it hits him like a blow because Alec’s black hair and blue eyes make him very physically similar to Will at first glance (as Camille remarked in CoLS), and because the tender way Alec is looking at and carrying Rafe reminds Jem of how Will carried and looked at baby James and Lucie. Jem reaches for Tessa, feeling her suffering is greater than his, because she lost her children as well as Will. Her great three-fold loss is always on Jem’s mind, as his loss of Will.

Tessa is also, for the majority of the GOTSM stories, the one who unlike Will is alive and the one who Jem can help–he’s trying to help Tessa find out about her father in the early stories, and he’s being mindful of her grief from Learn about Loss to The Land I Lost. Jem is a very selfless person: we see him becoming a Silent Brother in order to go save Tessa, and fight with Will and the others for their lives, though he would’ve preferred to die back then ‘in Tessa’s arms, holding Will’s hand.’ He shields her feelings, as he valued their lives above his own, because of his nature and his high regard for Tessa’s feelings, not because he loved Will less. ‘My Will… my defiance against encroaching dark. My rebellion. Mine, forever’ Jem thinks in SotD, and he calls Tessa ‘my wife’ many times in TLIL, and thinks ‘He was hers forever’ in Cassie and Maureen’s A Deeper Love. He sees them as belonging to him, and himself as belonging to them, but also sees them as belonging to each other.

‘They say you cannot love two people equally at once… And perhaps for others that is so… I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did.’ I think Jem would agree with Tessa that one love enhances, not diminishes, the other.

‘How they loved each other, these three’ Magnus reflects in The Midnight Heir in TBC. I do think Jem loved Will as much as Tessa did, though she loved him differently. I believe Tessa and Will are the two great loves of Jem’s life.

#the land i lost #tlil #gotsm #gotsm spoilers #jessa #wessa #herongraystairs #cassandra clare #sarah rees brennan

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wordshakerofgallifrey · 7 years

Text

original “Found You” beginning

a lovely nonny asked me what the original beginning for Found You was, and I am pleased to say that I did not delete it!

so under the cut is the original beginning before I added Jack’s perspective. there’s a lot from here I really liked, but in the end, I loved the beginning I ended up writing a lot more.

It wasn’t always the same, each life they were reincarnated into.

Sometimes they were royals, forced into an arranged marriage. Sometimes they were both struggling to get by. Sometimes they met as kids and grew up together. Sometimes he found her first. Sometimes she did.

Sometimes they didn’t find each other at all.

*~*~*~*~*

What started as a bet between her and Darcy turned into a wonderful, slightly terrifying, discovery.

Darcy had bet she couldn’t name ten women who wrote “real” news before World War one.

“Real news, Darcy. Really?” Katherine crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him.

He held up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, Kath, but it’s just a fact that women in that time mainly wrote society pieces. They didn’t write hard-hitting news. I’m not saying I agree, but…”

“Fine,” she rolled her eyes. “I’ll take your bet. What do I get when I win?”

Darcy considered this. “If you win, I’ll drive you to work for a week—” Katherine raised an eyebrow again “—two weeks, plus bring you coffee every morning. And if I win…” he sat back, eyes narrowing as he thought. “You take all my messages, schedule any of my appointments, and take notes for me in staff meeting. Two weeks.”

Katherine leaned forward on the table. “You play chauffeur, I play secretary?”

He nodded. “But,” he held up a finger. “You only have a week.”

Nodding slowly, she agreed. “Deal.” Katherine spat in her hand and held it out for Darcy to shake.

Darcy wrinkled his nose. “Kath, that’s disgusting.”

“That’s business, Darcy.” She proffered her hand again. “Come on, Darce. You know the rules. Spit shake or it doesn’t count.” They’d been doing it since they were kids, and Darcy always hated it.

But rules were rules, and Darcy was nothing if not a rule-follower. Katherine knew that. Sighing, he, too, spat in his palm and shook her hand.

It seemed so innocent at the time.

*~*~*~*~*

The first few were easy. Nellie Bly, Margaret Fuller, Ina Eloise Young. She could name them in her sleep. Eliza Lynn Linton, since Darcy allowed her to include European writers.

That’s when it got tricky.

Katherine managed to get a list of eight women before she went where she swore she’d never go again, not after she finally made it out of the intern pool.

The archives in the basement of the Sun’s office.

It was dark, fairly dusty, and freezing. Boxes stacked up a dozen high with faded labels on the front. About halfway into the room, she found a box with June 1914 written on the front.

“Well,” Katherine muttered. “Have to start somewhere.”

Two hours later, she was hungry, cold, had only found one other name, and was seriously beginning to think that being Darcy’s secretary for a couple of weeks wouldn’t be that bad, when she opened a box that said July 1899.

NEWSIES STOP THE WORLD was the headline on top.

“The whole world?” Katherine asked aloud, disbelieving. Skimming through the article, she caught the name ‘Joseph Pulitzer’. “Oh. The World. Clever.” She moved her eyes back up to read the byline.

Katherine Plumber

“Weird…” What were the odds she’d find a fellow journalist with the same name? “Now, Katherine Plumber, was this ‘real news’?”

She read the article again, something about the newsies in New York going on strike, refusing to sell papers until Pulitzer and Hearst brought the price of the newspapers back down. A group of kids with barely a nickel to their name formed a union to fight against two of the biggest media tycoons of the day.

“I think that counts,” Katherine declared, flipping to the page that was paper-clipped to the paper. “‘Newsies Banner’,” she read aloud. “Also Katherine Plumber. ‘In the words of union leader, Jack Kelly’… Jack Kelly?” Why did that name sound familiar?

Katherine looked back at the stack of newspapers she’d gathered. Flipping through one of them, she landed on a cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt. In the corner, there was a scribbled J. Kelly.

There were a thousand J names, but it seemed unlikely that this was a different Kelly that had been mentioned in the Banner.

“Wait…” Flipping back to her list of journalists, she read the last name on the list. “Katherine Kelly… Any relation?” Looking back at the copy of the Sun, she scanned the photo of the newsies union, wondering which one of the boys could be Jack.

She paused at the young man standing in the middle, glaring at the camera. He had dark hair and an even darker scowl. Katherine was sure she’d never seen him before—how could she, if he lived in 1899?—but there was just something about him…

“Jack?” she whispered.

Suddenly, she was slammed with an onslaught of mental images. Not images, per se, more like… memories.

Crumpled papers fall from above. The start of their strike.

He’s an incorrigible flirt.

She pretends not to love it.

A rooftop kiss, filled with hope for beginnings, fear for endings. She wonders if he’ll leave her.

Victory. They win. He’s staying.

“For sure?”

“For sure.”

Her eyes flew open. “What. The. Hell?” she whispered.

Katherine couldn’t explain the way her heart was pounding, why her hands were shaking, or why she felt such a strong connection to some other Katherine Plumber and this Jack Kelly.

Shaking her head quickly, she picked up the copy of the Sun, the Newsies Banner, a handful of articles she’d found by Katherine Kelly, and shoved them all in her bag, stood and got the hell out of there.

*~*~*~*~*

Her deadline came and went without her noticing.

She spent the weekend thinking about Jack Kelly. She just… Couldn’t get him out of her head. Some seventeen-year-old kid, who was alive nearly a hundred years ago. Sure, she supposed he was handsome, but it was more than that. It was like… she’d been missing something her life, and suddenly found it, but didn’t know what it was.

It reminded her of a story her sister used to read her, a story about people who led multiple lives. Who came back time and time again as different people. And, sometimes, they had someone who came back with them. You could never have one without the other.

Could she and Jack…?

Katherine couldn’t shake the feeling that it could be possible.

And it was driving her crazy.

Finally, Monday rolled around again, and she had to face Darcy.

“Good morning, Katherine,” he greeted her when she walked into staff meeting. “Should I have picked you up this morning, or will you be taking notes for me?”

“Later,” Katherine insisted, hoping she didn’t appear as frazzled as she felt. She pulled her laptop out of her bag. “I have to show you something.”

“Like, my schedule for this week?” He teased, sitting next to her.

“Darcy.” Her tone made it clear this was the end of their conversation. Thankfully, he took the hint.

“Alright, people!” Their boss, Bryan Denton, walked in, calling for order. “Let’s put out a paper.”

After the meeting, Katherine made a detour to her desk to drop her bag and turn on her computer. As her computer booted on, she pulled out the articles she’d—well, stolen, for lack of better word. She was driving herself insane, staring at them over and over. Maybe Darcy could be of some help.

Once she’d logged in and cleared any important emails, Katherine crossed the floor to Darcy’s desk. He leaned back in his chair as she approached.

“Hey, Kath. Are you okay?”

“Look at this,” she placed the paper in front of him in lieu of answering. “Katherine Plumber. Same name.”

“So?” Darcy shrugged. “Is she one of your ten journalists?”

“Well, yeah. But that’s not the point. Katherine Plumber only wrote two ‘real’ articles. But then…” she put down a couple more articles from later editions of the Sun she’d found. “See? Katherine Kelly. She wrote about local unions, a couple of investigative reports.”

Darcy peered over his glasses at her. “I’m still not following, Kath.”

“I think she’s the same person. See, Katherine Plumber was blacklisted for writing the Newsies article. But then, she married Jack Kelly, the Newsies union leader… I think.” She pointed him out in the photo. “Katherine Kelly was never blacklisted, so she published under her married name.”

Instead of being impressed with her findings, Darcy had the audacity to look smug. “Well, if she’s the same person, then you only found nine female journalists and I win—”

Katherine slapped a hand down on his desk. “Darcy! That’s not the point!”

The smug look dropped from his face. “Then what is?”

“Darce… I think she’s me.”

Darcy rolled back in his chair. “You lost me again.”

“Do you think… it’s possible that…” Katherine wasn’t sure how to ask the question without sounding crazy. “Do you think reincarnation is possible?”

*~*~*~*~*

Katherine took her lunch early, feeling suffocated in the office. Darcy hadn’t believed her, not that she really expected him to. But she’d hoped for a little support.

He thought she was just tired, overworked. He told her she was reaching. “It’s just a coincidence, Kath,” he said. “You weren’t a reporter in 1899. You didn’t marry this Jack Kelly.” He went so far as to retract the bet. And while she was grateful she wouldn’t have to be Darcy’s secretary for two weeks, Katherine did not appreciate him treating her like a child.

It could be possible, right? That she and… Jack had met each other in different circumstances, in different lives? She couldn’t remember much—the memories from Friday were already fading. Struggling to recall anything, Katherine crossed her arms, and put her head down, taking a left outside the building and making her way down the busy sidewalk.

She’s not sure how long she walked, wrapped up in her thoughts, before she knocked shoulders with someone walking opposite of her.

Turning to apologize, Katherine looked up into the face of Jack Kelly.

“Sorry, miss,” he said, before shoving his hands in his pockets and continuing on his way.

She’s in Medda’s theatre, reviewing the show.

She’s in Jacobi’s, asks him about his union and his strike.

She writes her article, worries it’s not good enough.

She celebrates their front-page story with the other Newsies.

She encourages Jack to go back to the strike, to not give up, to fight for Crutchie.

She’s in her father’s office, holds back tears when she sees the betrayed look on Jack’s face.

She’s in the basement of the World, printing the Banner.

She’s in Newsies Square, basking in their victory.

And, just like that, every other past life is flashing in her mind’s eye.

***

Wanna Razzle?”

“Razzles are for kids,” she tries to say snootily, but he sees through it.

“Exactly.” He pours the candy in her hand, and she pops it in her mouth. They stick their tongues out at each other, giggling at the bright red color the candy turned them.

“Arrivederci.”

“Au revoir.”

***

“You’re a regular Prince Charming, aren’t you?”

“I have a name, you know.”

“Nope.” Names are dangerous. If she knows his name, she’ll get attached. She can’t afford to get attached. “Charming suits you.”

***

“I guess we surprised everyone.”

He laughs. It’s bittersweet. “I guess we did.” She drops her head to his chest. She can’t believe he’s leaving. “I’ll never be sorry,” he says softly.

She looks him in the eye. “Neither will I.”

***

And a dozen others, flickering past one another, blurring until she couldn’t see straight. Until she could only think one thing.

I have to find Jack.

#i def could've included a spit shake #still angry @ me for that #but anyways #found you #monstrosity fic #disney writes stuff #anon #pls come talk to me XD #i have many feelings about this monstrosity

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