A/N: This is meant to take place at the end of 4x12 and is a sort of speculative story of what could happen afterwards. Thank-you for all the reads, favourites, follows and as always I enjoy hearing your thoughts in reviews.
"Monster…" The angry voice screamed out through gritted teeth. "That's so cruel."
She watched in mixed fascination and horror as Massimo continued to spiral down into insanity in front of her, alternating between yelling at Evony and looking at her.
She wished she could scoot further into the little cave within his apartment, back into the comfort and the safety she could find within the darkness. But she couldn't go any further back.
All she could do was watch this man slowly lose his mind, or perhaps lose what little sanity he had left.
She wanted so badly to just curl up into a ball and disappear, hoping that he wouldn't notice, but she couldn't.
"I hate you!" She heard him roar. The anger in his voice caused a little tremor of fear to run down her spine.
"But I love you." She heard him say softly, much less anger in his voice.
She wanted to be anywhere but here.
She had to resist the urge to cry, to allow tears of fear to escape.
She wanted to run. She just wanted to get away, to get away for the fear and the pain that seemed to haunt her.
"The Valkyrie hair. The seed. What will make you love me?"
She pressed her knees a little closer to her chest as she watched Massimo pace back and forth in front of her. She could feel the waves of pain wash over her as she aggravated her bruised and beaten frame but there was nothing she could do to stop her body as she shook in fear.
She knew that for the moment he was yelling at Evony, meaning that she was safe from his harsh words and from his hands. But still she continued to shake in fear.
This was to much, it was to much like the thoughts that sometimes ran through her mind.
What would it take for anyone to love her?
What would it take for her brother to love her?
What would it take for her parents to look at her? To actually take a moment to look at her and pay attention to her? What would it take for them to approve of her?
What would it take for her mother and father to love her?
How long would it take Nadia to realize that she was damaged goods? That she was broken almost beyond repair.
How long would it take Bo to leave her again?
How much longer would it be until she was abandoned once again?
How long was it until she was left alone in this world for good this time?
She knew she shouldn't let him get to her like this, that she shouldn't allow these thoughts to creep into her head. She knew that she should have put up more of a fight, that she shouldn't have allowed herself to get beaten up.
She thought she had changed, but she was still the weak pathetic human wasn't she?
"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." She heard him utter as he began to hit the wall of the place she was sitting in. She curled into herself a little tighter as fear and anxiety overwhelmed her. She could hear a little whimper escape as her eyes started to water more.
"You. I will get her everything she wants, I will be everything she wanted. And you. You're going to help me."
She had to swallow back the fear as the anger rose. "I will not." She whispered, her voice defiant.
She would never help this man, this psychotic man-child.
She would never do anything for him.
"We are going to make a great team." She hear him utter, plainly ignoring what she had just said. "Of course you'll have to die."
No.
She will do many things but she will not, and she cannot help this person. "I will not help a madman."
"I am not a monster! Stop calling me a monster!" Massimo yelled out at her, she could feel another whimper escape and her eyes tear up in fear. She brought clasped her hand together and brought them up to rest against her chin, her eyes screwing shut as the fear overtook her.
"When you see what I'm about to do it's… You're a scientist, you are really, really going to dig this." She suppressed the urge to whimper again as she brought her hands up to cover her eyes for a brief moment before she brought them back down and began to clap them together trying to think of a way out of this situation.
She could tell that it was deteriorating rapidly, that if Massimo had any grip left on his sanity he was loosing it quickly. She needed to find a way out of this, but she wasn't even sure she could talk without whimpering in fear.
She had been in this situation before but Bo had come bursting through the door before it had gotten this bad.
Think! She glanced up at Massimo to see him reaching for a box. He walked back over towards her, laughing silently as he reached down to open the box.
She could feel a chill run down her spine as she realized what could be in there.
No.
Anything but that.
All she wanted was to be out of this situation, all she wanted was someone to come in and break down the door, to come charging in to rescue her from this crazy man.
She took a breath and stared Massimo in the eyes, silently begging him to please stop, to please think about what he was doing, what he was about to do to them all. She could see him wave the box in front of her and she could feel her stomach sink as he opened it and pulled a small seed out of it.
So small, and yet it had the power to ruin them all.
"This. Is. The origin seed."
No. No.
"Seed." She whispered to herself, disbelief in her voice.
No. If that seed was used, if it's powers were activated then…
"No Massimo. I will do anything, please, please do not eat that." She begged, her body aching from the beating that she had taken and quaking from the fear at what was about to happen if she couldn't stop this. She needed to stop this, she needed to find a way to reason with him.
"Whoever takes this seed will have the combined powers of the Una Mens and that means all the power." No. Please no. "And it is all mine."
He was mad. He was completely insane.
And this was it.
This was it wasn't it?
She watched as she popped the seed in his mouth.
"No, no, no." She called out pathetically. She couldn't move, she was shaking so much and she was deserate to stop this and all she wanted was this to end, to be pulled out of this nightmare.
She just wanted someone, anyone to come for her.
Everything that she had done, all of the things that she had sacrificed would be for naught. All this emotional pain, all of this denial and all of this loneliness would be worth nothing.
It would all be nothing. Everything would be for nothing.
She had to stop this, she had to try and find a way to stop this. And yet all she could do was curl in on herself and cry a little more, the fear for herself and for her lover, her best friends, her family overriding any rational thought capacity.
Any ability to form a plan. She had no way by which to stop this rapidly deteriorating situation.
She needed help, and she needed to be saved, except this time she was frozen.
And because of that she was frozen, she couldn't move, she couldn't say anything beyond begging Massimo to stop, all she could do was beg someone to stop. She wished that Bo would come, that anyone would come because she was not sure if she had the capacity to save herself this time, she was not sure if she could even stand right now let alone run.
She had been beaten again, she was exhausted, she was frightened and in pain. And ironically she found herself wishing for Bo once again.
This was so familiar to her. The second time that this had happened to her, and more then anything else right now she wished that Bo would come charging in and beat up this crazy man, and take her into her arms and shelter her from the world.
Just one more time she wanted to be in Bo's arms, to feel her lips against her own, to feel her skin against her own, to be able to talk with Bo about everything or nothing, to finally have so help and some support, to have someone to fall back on, who would support her.
But she had none of that; she had nothing and no one except for an unhealthy love for a succubus and her own scientific and rational mind. She could see Massimo looking at her, leering at her with his eyes.
The ones that stared back at her full of madness. Holding the seed in his hand, holding it in front of her.
"Please." She begged, her voice cracking one again at the fear that she was feeling, at the stress and emotional and physical anguish that she was feeling. All she could do was see him smile as he popped what looked like a nut in his mouth, a manic smile on his features.
She could see him look at her, glee in his eyes for a few moments as he continued to chew on the seed.
"Please." She whispered again, desperate to stop him, to stop all of this. But she couldn't stand. She didn't have the power to stand at all, she was just the weak human, held in place by biology and her own fear response at the sight of this manic and the insane man.
She could see his eyes widen and she sat up a little straighter in return, some of her fear starting to melt away. Maybe his body was rejecting the seed, or perhaps he had changed his mind, listening to reason.
And then she saw his eyes widen, something about them change, the proportions skewing before he fell on the ground writhing in pain as something that was more then likely something far beyond what they could comprehend took over his body. All she could do is let out another silent whimper as she watched Massimo slowly begin to lose himself to whatever was happening to his body.
Was this it?
Were these her final moments?
Was this how she was going to die? At the hands of this crazy man? She wondered as she watched in horror at the Druid in front of her writhed in what seemed to be in pain for a few moments before he became still. She could see his body convulse again before it lay still again for a few more moments before she heard the sickening cracking of bone as Massimo began to change.
She had to get out of here, she had to run, she had to escape from here from what was happening, from what was going on.
She needed to be strong. She needed to be strong.
She tried to move again only for her body to fall when she tried to stand, her legs unable to bear her weight.
She could hear the sickening cracking start again and she closed her eyes, beginning herself not to look at whatever was happening to Massimo.
She needed to be strong. She had to stand up.
Reaching out again she put her hand on the ground and began to push, slowly lifting her upper-body and hoping, begging that her legs would support her weight. But as soon as she rocked backwards to stand she fell again, her legs shaking, feeling numb to her.
Weak. Useless. Dead weight.
Just like she was and she always had been.
When she had manipulated by her brother, naïve for trusting him with those pipe bombs, thinking that he would make sure there were no people around when he set them off.
Just like she had been when she'd had to beg Bo to kill Nadia because she didn't have the strength to do it herself.
The countless times she had failed herself, Bo, the others.
Just like every time she had failed to save herself and had to let other people do it for her.
She heard the crunching sound stopping, and slowly she heard shuffling around her.
Loud, manic laughter echoed off of the walls for a moment before it stopped.
She curled in on herself and covered her face with her hands. She didn't want to look. She didn't have the strength to look.
"Hahahahaaha. Finally no one can stop me, no one can turn me down. No more weak human druid. No more rejection mother, now I am enough, now you will be proud of me!"
Not enough.
Not. Enough.
Just like how she wasn't enough for Bo, just like how she's not enough for herself, for anyone around her.
Always the scientist, always the doctor and always wanted for her brain but never for her as a person.
She could feel hear a whimper escape as she curled in on herself, hiding herself from whatever was happening on the outside.
"Oh what's the matter doctor? Can't bear to look at me? Can't bear to see what I've become?" She heard a voice say as she felt the ground tremble as footsteps got closer to her. She squeezed her eyes shut and allowed a small whimper to escape.
There was no reasoning with a mad man just as there was no reasoning with an all powerful being, and combine the two together and she was doomed to die, right here and right now.
"You know what I'm going to do now?" She heard that same manic voice ask as the footsteps got closer. She could feel warm breath against her ear for a moment before she shuddered and curled away. "Mother said she wanted the succubus dead, that she wanted her head, and I failed before. But now I'm all powerful, now no one can stop me. I will show you and everyone else how powerful I am, just how much I am not a laughing stock."
No.
Nobody gets Bo.
Nobody gets to hurt Bo. No one.
"No." Lauren heard herself whisper as she reached her hand out to push herself up off the ground.
"Oooh what's this? The little human doctor has some fight left in her after all does she?" She heard Massimo taunt as she heard him take a few steps away from her.
"No." She heard herself say, her voice resolute and much stronger then she felt.
But honestly if she could not find the strength to stand for herself then she would do it for the reason she always had. She would stand for the reason she always had even when the world seemed to be against her.
Bo.
And herself now. She stood for herself now as well. Taking a breath she pushed herself up and off the ground. Her legs trembling as they bore her weight, but she stood up on her own.
This time she would save herself, no more relying on Bo, no more relying on anyone else. It was time for her to save herself, and it was time for her to stop this bastard from harming the people she loved, from harming the woman that she loved.
She could hear clapping as she straightened herself out and opened her eyes. She wanted to gag at the sight in front of her. The grotesque and disproportionate limbs in front of her, twisted at angles she had never seen before without someone screaming in pain.
She could see his face, the burns that covered it distorting the features further then they already had been.
Everything about him looked wrong, it all looked disproportional and yet it still looked distinctly human. She took a breath and stood up. She needed to run, she needed to escape and get out of here.
She could feel something about the room change as she finally stood up fully, allowing her shoulders to roll back and her posture to relax.
She could feel something creeping in,. She could feel a sense of unease settle into her stomach as the air around her grew cold enough to cause her to shiver.
Rainer or the Pyripus.
Something had unleashed it.
The swallowing of the origin seed and something that Bo must have done.
She needed to run.
She needed to…
A shock ran down her spine when she realized what she needed to do. The place that she needed to go to and what her role was.
'The healer always by her side.' Her thoughts echoed back the line of the prophecy to her.
The coordinates that the drawing had shown, whatever that place was, the old sanctuary?
20:15 the coordinates that had shown and the map she had found. The old sanctuary that was there, it would hold the key to all of this, possibly to ending all of this. She needed to contact Bo, to tell her to meet her there.
They needed to end this once and for all, and she had a feeling that the key to ending it would be there, in that place.
She needed to get there now. But first…
She nearly screamed in pain as she fell again, her hand coming up to her side automatically. She looked up to see Massimo looking at her, the same manic smile on his face.
"Tut tut. Didn't they teach you to never turn you back to your enemy?" She could see Massimo smile at her again. "Someone may stab you."
She glanced down at his hand to see that he was holding a small knife. She could hear the whimper escape as another wave of pain hit her, causing her to curl in on herself at the force of it.
She could hear the laughter echo again, that same manic laughter as before broken only by a single sound.
Metal clanging against the floor.
Quickly she reached out and grabbed the knife only to have her hand stepped on with a boot the moment she tried to touch the knife. "It is the seed of all power foolish human, do you not think I can foresee what you will do and read your mind?"
"Monster." Lauren growled. Without thinking she moved her hand away from under the boot and grabbed the knife before she reached out to stab him in the leg. She could feel the knife meet a barrier, and for a moment she wondered if it would bounce back at her.
For a moment it was all silent, she waited to see if the knife would bounce back and stab her, to see if Massimo would start screaming in rage.
The knife didn't bounce.
She thought it would.
But it didn't.
Instead it sunk into Massimo's loosened flesh. She heard a brief scream followed by more manic laughter for a few moments before there was absolute quiet. When she looked up she could see that Massimo was starting to glow red and orange, his skin splitting as he… began to burn from the inside out.
Despite her injury she scrambled backward as she watched in awe as Massimo burned from the inside out. She could only watch in horror as he began to scream in pain and babble.
"This voice. I have heard it before… Hel… Hel! This is my powe…" She heard him let out one last earsplitting scream before he disintegrated into ash. For a moment she could have sworn she saw the shadow of a… horse… oh no. No.
The Pyripus, it had been unleashed, it had been unleashed, or it had escaped, something had happened.
She had to run. She had to get to those coordinates, she needed to find this place and she needed to find a way to stop this thing. She needed to stop this thing now.
She needed to stop Rainer as well… she needed to find Bo. She needed to find her now before Rainer betrayed her, before he turned his back on her.
If the Pyripus got a hold of Bo, if it managed to tap into her dark side.
There would be no bringing her back she realized as she stood, pressing a hand to her side for a few more moments before she pulled it away and leaned down to wipe it on the floor.
She could wait.
She needed to…
Either the warrior or the queen will die. The verse echoed in her head suddenly and forcefully.
She needed to find Bo, know! She thought as she stood, her entire body aching, her newly acquired wound throbbing. She hadn't been stabbed through the jacket, only the shirt.
She gasped when she took her first breath nearly doubling over as the pain echoed through her body, but she continued on, one foot in front of the other until she managed to get to the elevator.
She pressed the button, and leaned against the side of the wall, her legs starting to shake again as she glanced back down the dark hallway of Massimo's apartment building. She shook her head and reached out to press the button to call the elevator again, only for her hand to slip off the button as she tried to press it.
She could feel herself becoming dizzy and lightheaded.
Slowly she allowed herself to slide down the side of the wall as she waited for the elevator to come.
She allowed her head to tilt backward and press against the wall, taking deep breaths in an attempt to overcome the dizziness.
Reaching down she began to apply pressure to the wound on her side with her hand. She closed her eyes and took a breath as wave after wave of pain washed over her from touching the pierced skin.
She could hear a faint ding and a few seconds later she heard the sound of doors opening.
Taking a breath she pulled herself up, reaching over to put a hand against the fall as she slowly made her way into the elevator.
Reaching out to press the button for the ground floor she allowed herself to lean against the wall panting for a few moments before she slid down, her knees out in front of her, shielding her from the world.
Taking a breath she chocked on a sob as the tears started to fall, the reality of what had just happened hitting her hard.
She wanted to lay down and fall asleep, to escape from this pain and this suffering.
But I can't.
I have to hold on.
The origin seed was eaten by Massimo and who knows what the Pyripus will do with that body.
Be brave, and stand up.
Hold on for a little while longer.
Get through this alive and make sure Bo gets through this alive.
That's all that matters.
Be brave and stand up even if this is the last time you have to do this.
Slowly she rocked forward onto the balls of her feet, reaching out for the handrail in the elevator she pulled herself up, her aching body protesting the movement.
"Stand-up." She whispered to herself as she looked into the elevator's mirror.
She could still feel that chill in the air, the sense of doom and darkness that seemed to permeate the building, and not because it was so dilapidated.
Something had changed.
Something much more powerful then they could comprehend had been unleashed.
"Stand-up." She whispered to herself again as she looked up at the count for the floors.
"Walk forward one more time." She murmured to herself as a sense of dread began to creep up on her.
She glanced around the elevator taking everything in.
She had a feeling that something was about to happen.
Something that could go very very wrong.
She could hear the elevator ding as it arrived and when she looked out into the hallway she saw it was clear.
Reaching out she took her first step out of the elevator and onto a path that she could not walk away from.
A path that lead down the road of destruction and would spell disaster if it was not stopped, and could spell heartbreak if it was fulfilled.
But just like last time, and just like every time she would standby Bo.
She reached into her jacket pocket and for a few moments she fished around for a few moments before she felt the cool metal chain.
Smiling slightly she took a breath and began to walk forward towards the entrance of the building.
Once she was at the location she would have to call Bo.
Until then all she could do was walk forward one slow agonizing step at a time.