Okay you Supernatural fans out there, I know that (at least with my stories), you suck at reviewing, but it is very important that you do so with this story. If you do not review, I won't keep writing it. Seriously. This story that you are about to read is unfinished and (mostly) unedited. I posted it so I could see if anyone was interested. This isn't even as much as I've written of it. I'm running out of motivation, so I really don't see the point of continuing with this if nobody is interested. So if you like it and would like to read more, please say so. Thank you!
Disclaimer: What do you mean 'disclaimer'? I own this. I own Supernatural, I own Ruby, Sam, Dean, Bobby, Castiel, demons, angels, everybody. Hell, I own the guy working at the 7-Eleven you visited yesterday. I own you too, you just don't know it. Everything is mine, you know why? Because I am Kripke and that means I'm God. Instead of putting any of this into an episode of Supernatural, or write things that could make me money, I decided to waste my time writing fan fiction of my own show. Right.
Hell was made to break souls, to burn away their memory and humanity until nothing was left but evil. Most souls that spent any significant time in Hell lost their recollection of their families, their values, and their past life; everything that made staying on the rack and not torturing souls make sense. Names were always the first to go, then faces, then events got jumbled up until it became too confusing to try to remember. Then it just faded, and you would have no problem cutting into soul after soul, no problem befriending the person who tortured you. The amnesia was so severe that demons didn't remember their human names. Not like it mattered, names weren't used in Hell. There wasn't much room for conversation, just insults, screams, pleads, and orders. If somebody needed you, they'd point. If you took the time to ask them, 60% of the humans being tortured wouldn't remember their own names. 40% of them probably wouldn't remember how many siblings they had.
Ruby was different. She couldn't remember her, her mother's, or her father's name. She couldn't remember their faces. But she could remember her mother's sweet voice that sang church hymns so smoothly and softly. It was a clear high pitched sound that always reminded her of a pure bird's song. Ruby remembered her mother's hair, soft as silk it flowed down her shoulders in beautiful red curls. Her hair was a bit different than Ruby's own pin straight auburn hair, but Ruby figured she got her hair from her mother because her father's hair was deep chestnut. Ruby remembered her mother would take her to an orchard about a fifteen minute walk from their house and they would pick apples together, an adventure that many times ended in running away from the owner, apples flying this way and that. Ruby didn't remember much of her father, just that he was a quiet timid man who never stood up for himself. Her mother was passive, content; she handled every situation with a tranquil smile. She didn't cry once when Ruby's baby sister fell ill and died, just gave Ruby the smile and said, "It is God's will. What's meant to be is meant to be."
The house Ruby lived in was small, not surprising as it was a peasants house. It had two rooms and the smell of the animals hung in the air. The walls were made of twigs and mud, the floor of clay with straw on top of it. Ruby's father would chatter on anxiously about having to give a portion of their crops to the Church. Ruby's mother would lightheartedly scold him, saying that God would make everything okay. As Ruby got older she had to fight to roll her eyes at the hypocrisy of their lives. People would say that motherhood is the greatest gift, but then the Church would tell young women to become nuns and stay virgins. Society told men to respect women and admire them for being beautiful and gentle, yet men could still hit their wives if they were disobedient. God cared about His children, yet he allowed them to die and be poor and torture each other. God said to love each other yet He wanted people to kill each other for Him.
The first time Ruby noticed her disdain for God was when she was twelve and she heard the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac. Ruby was horrified to hear that God commanded Abraham kill his son and even more horrified when Abraham obeyed without hesitation. When God told Abraham not to sacrifice his son, Ruby couldn't tell if she had been relieved or more horrified. At the beginning it was relief, then she thought about it and wondered why God was so sick. He played with Abraham, causing him to go through the distress of almost killing his son just to 'prove his faith'. It was a twisted game that made Ruby wonder why people held both Abraham and God in such high respect. The story of Abraham and Isaac was the only bible story Ruby clearly remembered.
Ruby remembered her father always tried to get her to marry. Every time he suggested someone, Ruby rejected. There wasn't a shortage of men, Ruby's physical appearance assured that. With her shiny auburn hair, her creamy complexion, and her short, thin, willowy body men sent her gifts constantly. The men seemed respectful, charming, kind, and many modern females would marry them then and there. So would quite a few women from her time. But Ruby was different. Growing up in that time period she had heard stories of the women who were trapped into relationships with these 'chivalrous' men, losing any notion of independence and becoming the man's property. Ruby, unlike many females, saw them for what they were; men who wanted dominance, somebody to control, make submissive, and show off as their own little status symbol. If Ruby agreed to marry one of these men, she be forced to follow their orders, a prospect that was not very attractive to Ruby. No, it was better for her to remain alone, no matter the stigma surrounding that. She would rather be ostracized than made into a puppet.
In 1348, when Ruby was fourteen, the plague hit her village. They called it the Black Death and Ruby witnessed more of God's abandonment though those years. Ruby saw people with huge blisters and elevated temperatures vomiting as though something had possessed them. She saw people coughing blood and occasionally there were people with patches of purple skin. Those who caught the plague were lucky to survive past eight days. Ruby's sister was just a toddler when she caught it, and she suffered through ten days. Ten days that Ruby refused to leave her, even when her father ordered her to. Ruby's mother just smiled, patted her on the shoulder and said, "Okay, sweetie. I'll pray for both of you." When Ruby's sister died, Ruby grew tired of her father's anxiety and her mother's complacence. Tired with the ease her mother accepted her own daughter's death, tired with the helplessness Ruby felt. Ruby wanted, no needed, to heal and protect her family. It was all she could think about as she walked through the orchard, tears for her sister streaming down her face and the full moon lighting her way. Ruby didn't notice the woman until Ruby nearly bumped into her.
Ruby's apology trailed off halfway through when she saw something in the woman she hadn't seen in a female before. It took Ruby a while to realize that the something was power, raw and intoxicating, fierce and commanding. The woman introduced herself to Ruby, a name Ruby could never forget; Tamera, shortened to Tammi in later years. Tamera told Ruby she could teach Ruby how to heal people from the plague, how to cast it out from their village, and how to make crops prosper. Ruby hesitated, old bible stories of temptation and witches running through her mind when she remembered how absent God was already, if he was even real. It was the first time Ruby had question God's reality, and it unnerved her. That was an absolutely forbidden thought, she could be burned for it. That was when she realized, really realized, that nobody could read her mind. If she kept it locked up, nobody could condemn her. Ruby was brought out of her thoughts by a cool hand gliding across her forehead. Tamera asked Ruby if she wanted to know how to do the things Tamera had mentioned before. Tamera also said that she would give Ruby the knowledge and the power with no cost and if Ruby didn't want to know more, Tamera would leave forever without taking anything from Ruby. If Ruby did want to know more, she could come to the orchard on the next full moon and Tamera would teach Ruby everything. Ruby thought for a few minutes, trying to find disadvantages, but she couldn't find any. Tamera wouldn't take anything from Ruby, and when she was done fixing the town Ruby just wouldn't go back to the orchard. So, Ruby agreed.
Tamera smiled and pulled out a large, thick, leather bound book and handed it to Ruby. The book was heavy and Ruby's fingers tingled when she touched it. "This book contains everything I told you I could teach you and more. It will tell you how to rid disease, from people or animals, and how to make sure the disease never comes back. It will tell you how to ease pain, speed labour, and make barren women fertile. It is all yours, and I wish you well. It is very important that before you try something in this book, read the instructions carefully and gather all the materials. I will not bother you again unless you come by here on the next full moon. You miss it, I will be gone forever," Tamera said, vanishing before Ruby's eyes. Ruby blinked twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things and then she walked home in a daze. When she was home she was thankful her parents were gone telling cousins about Ruby's sister's death; there wouldn't be awkward questions about where she was or what book she was carrying, and now she could read some of what was in the book.