Born to Die
Written by: Mustbemiskaten
Category: Daredevil (with Avengers (pre-ultron) later on)
Genre: Romance/Drama/Hurt
Timeline: This floats around during season one of Daredevil, and is post Captain America: Winter Solider but Pre-Avengers Age of Ultron.
Rating: R
Notes: The idea of this would not leave me alone for days. This is based on/around an original character who I will try to develop as well as possible, but I feel like most originals she will have her Mary-Sue tendencies (ie: falling in love with a main character/having abilities). The story you are about to read is going to not only be long but it will be dark. I will pre-warn in the darker chapters, but anything and everything can happen in this fic. Sure there will be light-hearted moments, but there will also be moments of utter terror for the main character.
I write for myself, but I post for others-therefore the more reviews/feedback, the more I will post. I shall also mention here and now that I don't have a beta reader, I do all my own editing therefore some stuff may slide through the cracks.
And with that, enjoy.
/
Prologue: I Need a Hero
"You'll be okay, Lily."
Her mother's dying words floated in her head as it was being smashed against a brick wall. The man who had dragged her into the dark, garbage filled alley was yelling at her to shut up-she wasn't aware she was making any noise. Was this how she was going to die? Some random attack?
He grabbed a fistful of her hair and started to drag her down to the pavement. Her body was reacting on it's own, her mouth screaming without her permission, her hands tearing at the man who was urging her to the wet concrete. Honestly she wasn't sure if she should be happy or not, sure this wouldn't be the ideal way to die (she was more than certain he wasn't going to let her live) but it would be better than being captured by those who were constantly chasing after her. They wouldn't kill her, the fate she had with them was much worse. Yet still, she fought.
It was a late summer evening, the sun had just set, and the world was still a sticky humid place. He was pulling at her shirt, cursing at her for wearing long sleeves. She doubted him yelling over her clothing choice was because he cared about fashion. It wasn't easy to get a girl who was bucking around like a dying fish out of a long sleeve shirt. It still tore, at the shoulder and down revealing the dingy well worn white bra that covered pale skin.
"You'll be okay, Lily."
It wasn't long until his hand reached against her skin after roughly pulling her bra down. The instant his flesh made contact with hers all thought washed out of her mind, replaced with visions of the future. It was painful, it hurt. It always hurt, even if what she saw was someone with a white picket fence and happy family life. This man did not have a happy family life for his future. Instead all she saw was a man in black, pulling him off of her.
While in the vision she must have been fighting even harder than she had been because a sudden stinging to her abdomen brought her mind back to the current, just in time for two things to happen-the first was to notice and feel a knife being pulled out of her stomach, the second was seeing her vision come true, a man in black pulling the creep off of her.
Her hand immediately went to her stomach, feeling a worrying amount of blood pouring out of her. She pressed down hard and bit back a scream. Was this really where she would die? Despite seeing what would happen to others in the future, she was never able to see her own future. The blood was warm, it was sticky, she breathed in deep. Her head moved, trying to track the two men fighting. It was a blur, or maybe her vision was getting blurry-she couldn't tell. The man who attacked her was not a very good fighter in comparison to the man in the mask, but he was putting up what little fight he did have. When they moved out of her line of vision she watched their reflection against the puddles in the alley, listening to the grunts, the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
Her stomach hurt. Anytime her lungs filled with air it pulled at her torso making it feel like there was a fire inside of her trying to get out. The warm sticky night was starting to feel cold, which she took as a bad sign. She wished that the man didn't rip her shirt. Her teeth chattered.
She didn't realize the fight was over until the man in black came into her line of vision. He was feeling her for injuries, his gloved hands making her feel at least a little relieved-no chance of him triggering a vision as his hands moved over her until they reached where hers were holding her stomach. He frowned.
"Help should be here soon, you were screaming pretty loud."
"No." Her weak reply. No. Help meant cops, it meant hospitals, it meant paper trail, it meant being found even if she was using fake names. They would find her.
"It's okay, you'll be taken care of." He said again, as if simply thinking she was too out of it to converse.
"They'll find me." She breathed out, her own gloved hands moving to cover his as he was already getting ready to pull away and run off into the darkness before the authorities showed up.
"Who?"
Was there any sense in lying? Was there any sense in actually trying to get him to help her? If she kept her hands off of her stomach long enough she would probably bleed to death, that was an option instead of keeping him there, trying to get him to 'save' her. Did she even want to continue on? Running day in and out? Looking over her shoulder?
"The people that created me." That summed it up. Didn't it? His mouth turned into a frown, he was trying to decide what to do, it was clear as day in the dark night of the alley that her words through a wrench in his plans. "If I go to a hospital they will find me, and it will be worse than dying here in this alley." Her voice felt soft, like she was whispering-she wasn't trying to, was that supposed to happen when you were stabbed?
The pain was also starting to fade, that also probably wasn't good.
She could hear sirens now. He was right, her screams had attracted attention.
After what felt like an eternity he picked her up off the concrete, and the pain flushed back into her body. "Thank you." Was all she had been able to get out before her mind went dark.
/
"She's lucky." Claire stated as she pulled off her latex gloves that were splattered in the girls blood. "If that wound was an inch to the left or just a little deeper she would have been in more trouble than she already was."
"Thank you."
"Any idea on who she is?"
"Just some random girl who begged me not to let her go to a hospital." Matt moved closer to the bed where the girl was now resting, her heartbeat moving at a normal pace now. He had brought her to his apartment, it was the closest place he could think to take the girl. Claire had been called as he ran home with the girl in his arms, the nurse thankfully was at the end of her shift and willing to help.
"Remind you of anyone?" Claire asked him as she took out a few things from her bag, "I'll leave some pain reliever for her, now that she's stable she should sleep through the night but she's going to wake up in pain. Extra gauze and tape, you know the drill-keep the wound clean for as long as she's here with you. I work a double tomorrow, but after that if you need me…"
"I'll call."
"I'm going to start charging you for this."
"And here I thought you liked the excitement I brought."
"Not hardly."
/
"You'll be okay, Lily."
It hurt. Her entire body hurt. The only good thing about that was hurt meant she was still alive. Hurt also meant she wasn't in a hospital. If she was numb to the pain, that would be a reason to be alarmed. Her eyes opened and took in her surroundings, she was in someone's bedroom. It was bleak, not decorated. The bed was comfortable and she would have enjoyed it more had her body not throbbed, she couldn't help but let out a moan of pain.
He appeared only seconds later, a glass of water in one hand and in the other a bottle of pills. She could tell by his jawline that he was the man who had saved her. He clearly didn't care about being masked now. She was also aware too much of her flesh was showing, her gloves were gone, she was in a tee shirt that was a few sizes too big.
"Here these are to help with the pain." He said, holding the pills out to her.
"I...I...um...could you set them down for me to grab?" She did not want to risk touching his flesh.
There was a pause but he did as she asked, setting the pills and water glass on the table that was next to the bed. As soon as he moved away from them she grabbed the pills and took them with a few large swallows of water. She hoped they would kick in soon.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like crap...but alive, so that is good." Her gaze on him was unwavering, it had been a long time since she interacted with someone that wasn't her mother (who was now dead) more than once.
"You're lucky I know a nurse, she came to patch you up for me."
The silence that hung in the air was like an elephant in the room.
"I should…" She started, but he was already talking.
"You said you were created." Straight and to the point.
"You run around in a mask and fight crime?" She countered back. He wasn't about to let the tables turn on him though.
"What do you mean? I don't make a habit of bringing people I save to my apartment."
She sighed, "Technically speaking I was created the old fashioned way, but science intervened...um, and let's just say those people that intervened like to think that they should have me under lock and key…" She bit the inside of her cheek, her hands in her lap felt cold without her gloves. "I don't think I should tell you more than that, and as soon as I can move more than a few inches I should probably leave."
"If you're in trouble I can help."
"Sadly, these people aren't the type to be stopped by a lone vigilante." She told him. She could feel the pain starting to ease, the pills were kicking in. It was like some weird stand-off, with her slowly starting to fade as the pain medication made her want to fall back to sleep.
"I'm Matt." He said after moments went by. She could only assume he introduced himself as a way to forge trust.
"Lily." She responded, "Thank you for not letting me die." Her voice was starting to fade as her eyes were having a hard time staying open. It was true, she really didn't want to die-but in the end death would in fact be preferable to what those after her would do.
"You're welcome. Go to sleep, we'll talk more later." Before she could stop him, his hand was on her forearm, helping her back down into the bed. Her breath caught in her throat, but no vision came.
She was too tired to say anything, too tired to think, too tired to agonize over the fact that she had never been touched flesh to flesh without it causing a painful vision.
Why didn't she see his future?
/
Soundtrack Notes:
Lead Title: 'Born to Die' - Lana Del Rey
Prologue Title: 'Holding Out For a Hero' - Frou Frou
