A/N: Here's a random bit of whatever, sorry I haven't been updating for a while I guess, I just got a new job so I'm focusing on that at the moment.
Enjoy!
Bleak
Bleak - Not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favorable outcome. Grim.
.0.
Idelia Herrmann was a simple, easy-to-please child. Her mother, Karla, was a stay-at-home mom, more due to the fact she had been crippled in a hunting accident.
-"That can happen when hunting bears, süße," her mother told her, dark eyes gleaming almost-black in the dim light of the three-year-olds room.
"But why were you huntin' bears, Mama?" Idelia asked; her mother had just smiled, teeth gleaming in a sharp line across her olive-toned face.
"Because that's what I did best, süße."-
Her father, Adimar, was always coming and going, sometimes bringing back the strangest of things, from feathers and pelts to weird-looking claws and fangs.
-"But what is it, Papi?!" Idelia demanded, poking at the weird looking horn. It was oddly fleshy, despite looking like a small cow horn, and it made her skin itch weirdly. Adimar smiled, dark eyes gleaming.
"It's the horn from a Heftigauroch, Schätzchen," he told her; silently, the four-year-old mouthed the word, turning the horn in her hand carefully. Her father chuckled. "Give it a few years, little one," he told her, taking the horn back and placing it back onto its new spot on his office shelf, where many strange and fantastical bits and bobs from his trips rested. "We'll teach you everything you need to know then." Idelia pouted but nodded, and, as she followed the tall, lanky man out, she glanced back at the lone horn on its shelf and, shuddering as her skin itched again, she wondered what had happened to the other horn.-
Yes, Idelia may have had a bit of a strange upbringing, considering her parents dynamics, but the soon-to-be seven-year-old couldn't have been happier, honest, she couldn't!
...
Except...
Well...
For a few weeks now, she had been having strange, horrible nightmares. Nightmares she couldn't tell her parents about, because, her Mama and Papi were so nice and warm and caring, how could she tell them that she was having horrible dreams about creature who hid behind human faces, and killing them?! Especially the dreams she had where her parents were killing them?!
She couldn't! She didn't want them to think she was a bad girl or crazy or scared of them!
So, she would bite her pillow and cry into it, instead of crawling into her parents bed like she used to.
She was a big girl now! And no scary monsters would make her bad!
-Idelia was creeping carefully down to the kitchen. Her Mama had made cookies earlier, and, since she couldn't sleep, she might as well eat one! There were a bunch of them, after all!
Just as she entered the kitchen, she froze, hearing footsteps coming down the hall; panicking, the six-year-old dove into a nearby cabinet and shrank against the pots and pans, trying not to make a sound as the barely-cracked open door let her see who it was. Silently, she watched her Mama and Papi close the door and lock it, and knew she was about to hear a grown-up conversation! Fear forgotten, Idelia leaned forward carefully, eager to hear what was going on.
"Has she come to you yet?" Her Papi asked, he looked unusually serious and, eyes wide, Idelia watched them, fascinated.
"No," Her Mama replied, mouth thin as she shifted in her wheelchair. "I'm guessing by your questions, she hasn't come to you either?"
"Nein," Papi replied; Mama crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
"She could be a late bloomer?" She offered; Idelia frowned, brow furrowing. Who were they talking about?
"Has either of our families had a late bloomer?" Her Papi asked dryly; Mama shook her head reluctantly. "Every female in both our families started the Dreams at five, maybe one or two at six, but never after," he pointed out seriously; Mama sighed softly, shoulders slumping, and this was the first time Idelia had ever seen the strong woman look small.
"I know," she murmured, sighing. "...I had hoped to teach her how to Hunt," she murmured mournfully; Papi walked forward and knelt wrapping his arms around her Mama softly and pressing a kiss to her head.
"I know, Mein lieber. I was, too." They hugged for a few more minutes, before they pulled apart and, not saying a word, left the kitchen, Papi pushing Mama's chair out. Idelia waited for several moments, until her legs were starting to hurt from sitting on them so long, before she pushed the cabinet open and crawled out, mind full of questions.
Were they talking about her?
Cookies forgotten, the six-year-old slunk out of the kitchen and returned to her room, where she fell into a restless sleep.-
It was the sound of fighting that woke the seven-year-old. Eyes wide, Idelia listened, and heard her Papi shouting her Mama's name, and the screeching shatter of glass. Heart pounding, terrified, Idelia climbed out of her bed and crawled under it, pulling with her the soft lamb-doll her teacher had given her for her birthday. She shivered, scared, and listened to the fighting get progressively worse, until there was a strange, cut-off sound and a thump, and the sound of something rolling across the floor. After that, there was silence, and Idelia blinking rapidly, tears sliding down her cheeks as her breath came in soft, short gasps, ears straining. There was a strange, dragging sound, and then the sound of slow, measured steps coming upstairs, and the little girl pushed herself as far back as she could against the wall behind her bed, biting back a whimper as the footsteps stopped outside her door.
Slowly, her door opened, whispering across her carpet, and Idelia tightened her hands on her Lamby, shivering, unable to look away as large black boots made their slow way across the floor and came to a stop just in front of her bed. As she stared, something dripped down from above, landing beside the boots with a soft, sound. Whatever it was, it was red, like the finger-paint they had used on Thursday in Art Class, but thinner, wetter, and Idelia held her breath, body tight as a knot and tummy twisting unhappily at the smell of pennies coming from the stranger, and it was a stranger. No one she knew had boots like that, and her Mama had always taught her to pay attention to strange things like that.
-"You can learn a lot about a person by the prints they leave behind, Idelia."-
Her lungs were burning as she held her breath, watching that steady drip-drip of red as the stranger just stood there. Why didn't they move?! Her hands were beginning to hurt from clutching Lamby so hard, shivering from the strain.
It happened suddenly, abruptly, and Idelia barely managed a startled scream when her bed was lifted and thrown away, her wide, dark eyes darting up and latching onto the face of one of the Monsters in her dream, his head bald and silvery-colored, with jagged gray-black striped. Poisonous yellow eyes glared down at her from a cat-like face, huge fangs dipping down from his sneering mouth like daggers, covered in red and, in one claws hand, a scythe-like weapon glinted with that red liquid.
Idelia scrambled back, but she was already against the wall, and all she could do was stare, horrified, as her head bounced off the soft, peach walls, her throat too tight from fear to make even a sound as she cowered, clutching Lamby hard enough to tear as she stared at the Monster.
"Hello, little Grimm," the Monster hissed, and Idelia, for a wild moment, wondered when the Monsters had learned to speak, because all they ever did in her dreams was snarl and hiss and scream and die, and then wondered if this Monster was there to kill her like her family had killed his Monster friends in her dreams. He stepped forward, lifting his weapon menacingly, and Idelia found that she could sob, the sounds tearing from her throat painfully as she cringed away, finally ripping her eyes away to hide her face in her Lamby, crying hysterically.
"It's just a dream!" She sobbed desperately, repeating the phrase as she had every night since her nightmares had started. "It's just a DREAM!" The Monster chuckled darkly, and Idelia dropped Lamby to slap her hands over her ears, screaming her safety words into her knees as she curled into a ball, even as she felt the Monster kneel over her mockingly, that red-liquid dripping down onto her, lukewarm and slimy, like spit, or snot, and suddenly, Idelia was chocking on puke as her stomach heaved.
"Are you scared, little Grimm?" The Monster asked her mockingly, his growling voice loud enough for her to hear past her hands, and Idelia sobbed harder, choking and heaving even as she wet herself, too scared to care that she hadn't done that since she was three. A clawed hand grabbed her black curls viciously, yanking her head from her knees to stare blearily into that horrible, horrible face as those teeth grinned nastily at her.
"Good," he hissed, and lifted his weapon high in the air.
Idelia screamed, high-pitched enough to hurt her own ears, eye squeezing shut.
The Monster snarled and swung the weapon.
There was a loud, angry explosion.
Idelia continued to scream. She continued screaming even as the hand in her hair slowly fell away, and something heavy hit the ground in front of her. All she did was shove herself tighter into the wall, hands clamped tightly over her ears as she continued screaming, sobbing horribly between gasps of air.
Something touched her face and she screamed again, smacking her head harshly into the wall when she jerked away, eyes shooting open to see what the Monster was doing...
Only, it wasn't the Monster.
"Mama!" She warbled, throwing herself into her Mother, wrapping her trembling arms around the woman's neck desperately. In a distant, far-away part of her brain, Idelia realized her Mama wasn't in her chair, but had apparently crawl from wherever she'd been downstairs.
Warm liquid spread across Idelia's chest from where it pressed against her Mama's, even as those strong, gentle arms wrapped around her, protecting her from the world. Something hard and metal brushed her shoulder, and, from the corner of her eye, the traumatized child saw her Papi's favorite revolver, the one he took on his trips.
"Shh, süße," her Mama coaxed softly, moving them around until her Mama was the one against the wall, and Idelia was in her lap, face buried in her Mama's neck, ignoring the hot wetness that continued to steadily seep through her once-white nightshirt, shivering against her Mama in exhausted relief.
"The police are on their way, süße, shh, it's alright," Mama whispered soothingly, her free hand dragging carefully, soothingly, through Idelia's messy black curls. "You'll be okay, süße, I promise, okay? Hey, look, look at me," she coaxed; sniffling, Idelia obeyed, hiccuping as she continued crying. Her Mama's olive-toned face was abnormally pale, and she had some of that horrible red liquid on her face, and Idelia decided it was an ugly color, and she hated it, and lifted a hand to wipe it away from her beautiful Mama's face, only to find her hand already covered in it. Confused, she tried to glance down, but Her Mama caught her chin and forced her to meet her eyes.
"Listen to me, Idelia," she told the girl firmly; Idelia sniffled and blinked at her uncertainly, the sound of police sirens growing in the distance. "None of this was your fault, understand? Your Papi and I, we hurt people, we made them angry and this is our fault, never yours, understand?"
"Mama?" Idelia asked, confused; her Mama wasn't making any sense! And her breathing was all funny, wet and hoarse and gasping now, it wasn't right!
"We are so proud of you, süße," her Mama continued earnestly, smiling such a beautiful smile, one full of warmth and love and sweetness, her dark eyes glittering with tears. "You're the best of the two of us, without any of the darkness in our hearts. Idelia, listen to me, okay? Don't become us," she whispered, an edge of desperation in her voice now. Her face was paler, more waxy than white, and that redness (Blood, whispered her mind, but Idelia refused to listen) edged out of the corners of her lips, bubbling strangely. "Don't... Don't become a Monster... to the Monsters... It only leads... to death..." Her Mama was struggling to continue, gasps and chocking sounds breaking up her words.
"Mama? Mama, stop!" Idelia begged, but her Mama continued firmly, as always.
"Grow up... And be.. a better... person... I lo..love you... So much, s-süße..." She chocked, and she suddenly began to couch and choke, dark eyes rolling as her body jerked beneath Idelia.
"Mama?! Mama!" Idelia shouted, clutching her Mama tightly, ignoring the sounds of people downstairs, the distant shouts of the police far from her mind as she screamed for her mother as she choked and that horrible redness spattered from her mouth onto Idelia's face.
-"What do you want to do when you're older, Idelia?" Papi asked, sitting in his favorite chair as the five-year-old perched on her Mama's lap, preening as the brush dragged smoothly through her curls.
"I wanna be a doctor!" She declared happily; the brush paused briefly, but continued moving.
"Oh?" Papi asked, smiling slightly. "You don't want to hunt, like your Mama and I?" Idelia shook her head firmly, giggling as her Mama bopped her on the head with the brush for moving. "Why not?" Idelia hesitated, and bit her lip a little looking down at her lap. The brush stopped and pulled away, and her Mama turned her a little, using two fingers to gently tilt her face back up so she could meet those dark eyes, gentle and warm, like the smile on her face.
"You can tell us, süße," she coaxed kindly; Idelia glanced at her Papi, who was sitting straighter in his chair. When he nodded encouragingly, she took a steady breath.
"I don't like hunting for sport," she managed to blurt, and, as if a dam had fallen, the words came spilling out. "Killin' for fun is wrong, an' just killin' things 'cause they're different is bad! Killin' for food, that's okay if you really, really need it, but you shouldn't be greedy wif it, and killin' somethin' that attacks you is okay, but only if it's the only thing you can do! Ms. Rogers, my teacher, says we shouldn't fight with fists if we can fight wif words an', an' that we shoudn't be mean to someone just 'cause they're diff'ent than us, 'cause that's called... umm..." Idelia frowned hard, trying to remember the word. "W-waysust?"
"Racist, süße," Mama murmured, a strange look in her eyes, face oddly blank, but Idelia nodded firmly.
"Yeah, that!" She declared pointing at her Mama. "So, I wanna be a doctor, and help lots'a people, no matter what they look like or what they've done, and I don't wanna hunt 'cause there's no reason for me ta hunt!" Huffing, Idelia crossed her hands, cheeks puffed out in determination as she stared first at her Mama, then at Papi, as the two grown-ups shared an odd, blank-faced look. Slowly, the brush returned to her hair, and Idelia slowly relaxed when they didn't scold her for being silly or stupid, like Billy Gosling did, especially when he was calling her names when she spoke Deutsche when she couldn't think of the English word for something.
"I think that's a wonderful dream, Schätzchen," her Papi murmured; Idelia beamed as her Mama kissed her temple in agreement.
"A very wonderful dream."-
"MAMA!"
A/N: Wow, okay, that got darker than I really meant it too?
Sorry for all the obvious breaks, FF.N wouldn't let me do my personal Break which was a LOT more subtle...
Anyways...
Shall I continue it or leave it here?
If I continue it, it will be an angsty thing, just fyi, with heartwarming and heartrending bits and a traumatized girl growing into a Traumatized Grimm...
Yeah...
Not all Grimms have decent upbringings like Nick did, after all, and even if Idelia's parents were nice and she adored them, that didn't stop the fact that they were serial killers.
I hope I wrote that in properly?
Names & German: (Note, all German was retrieved from Google Translate, so, y'know, mistakes may have been made.)
Herrmann - German Surname, meaning: warrior, soldier. (According to .Com)
Idelia - German. Means: Noble. (According to Babynamescountry)
Karla - German. Means: An alternate form of Carla, the feminine form of Carl, signifying "strong.". (According to Babynamescountry)
Adimar - German. Means: he whose battles have made him distinguished; celebrated and famous combatant. (According to Babynamescountry)
Karla's Injury - Caused when she was hunting a Jägerbar, a bear-like Wesen first seen in the Episode Bears Will Be Bears.
The Heftigauroch - A Bull-like Wesen first seen in the Episode The Last Fight.
The Monster - A Mauvais Dentes, first seen in Episode Bad Teeth
Süße - Sweetness (What I wanted it to be)
Schätzchen - Poppet (What I wanted it to be)
Nein - No
Mein Lieber - My Dear (What I wanted it to be)
Deutsche - German
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