Hello, dahlings. This is chapter one of a three-shot that has very graphic themes, including rape, child molestation, alcohol, and suicide. It's not for the faint of heart. And don't preach to me about OOCness, because I already got that. WAY OOC. And you HAVE been warned about the graphic nature of this fic, so uh, don't FLAME. I don't like it when the pre-warned people flame, even on other people's fics. It's pretty ridiculous, and really unfair. Besides, this is FANfiction, I can mold the characters to my twisted will, as long as I give credit to Eoin Colfer. Which I ... haven't done..
DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters belong to the walking brilliance with the Irish accent and giant eyebrows.
There. I will warn you once more, this story is not for people with weak stomachs for this kind of thing. Go back now, if you ever wish to keep your sanity.
Ah, who am I kidding.
WITH HER VENGEANCE- A New Path to Hell.
She should have seen it coming.
The signs were clear enough. Like the weather before a tornado, he had morphed. The slightly more lusting glint in his eyes. The difference between his half-proud look and his seductive leer became blurry and indistinguishable. She should have seen it. But even if she had, she wouldn't have believed it.
And the saddest part?
No one else would have.
Her inadvertent descent into his clutches could not have been stopped, even if someone had noticed. Grief, misery, so much pain… But upon whom should, could the blame be set?
Almost all, even you, would say that it was his fault.
After all, it had been just an innocent, simple intercom request to his office. Nothing unusual about that. Every step toward his office door made the future more and more certain. Is that to say no one could have stopped it? Perhaps. But the assumption that, even with prior knowledge of it, someone would have had the courage to stop their commanding officer is, sadly, highly unlikely. Her fate was already certain. They couldn't help that.
So what is to blame?
Fate, really. The unfortunate chain reaction.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As she stood outside his office, waiting for him to buzz her in, Holly smoothed the creases off her uniform with coffee-colored hands. An unconscious, habitual thing. If she didn't do it now, Root would preach to her about it for ten minutes. And, worse, rumors and gossip slithered around about his wife's leaving. Holly didn't feel particularly involved in those rumors, and didn't really care, to be hones. Her commander's personal life was exactly as it suggested: personal.
But she did feel half-obligated to keep Root's mood mild by trying her best to make him happy, as far as work performance. Holly straightened the acorns on her green suit lapel. How was she to know that he wanted more?
A gentle hiss sounded as Commander Root's doors slid open. If Holly had made the smallest hesitation before entering, she would have detected the smell of alcohol. When she was inside, she immediately smelled it, but it was too late. His doors slid back shut, the automatic lock activating. Holly felt goose bumps erupt on the back of her neck. A twitching paranoia spread down her body, and her arms stiffened against her sides in a tense protectiveness.
Julius Root sat at his Commander desk, swallowed in the depressing light of his office. As Holly walked towards him, she heard low, desperate-toned murmuring. She heard his ragged, sharp breathing and felt a small stab of fear.
"Commander?"
Her voice pried into the heavy air and Root's muttering quieted. He looked up at Holly with red-rimmed eyes. She was startled at his rough appearance. His skin seemed stretched back onto his cheekbones, pale and sharp. His graying hair was wild and unkempt around his face, which was caught in a desperate, angry expression. He caught her eye and his gaze shone with grief, hurt, and need.
Holly swallowed the growing creepiness she was feeling. "Sir? Are you all right?"
Root didn't answer, but instead drank deeply from a bottle. Holly could guess accurately what was sliding down his throat. Needless to say, Holly really wished she wasn't in presence.
Root wordlessly stood from his chair, still looking at Holly, something new in his eyes. Something that further spooked Holly. But her eyes were captured with his, like a deer in headlights. She found herself backing away as he stepped toward her.
He took another drink and dropped the now empty bottle on the floor, the glass clunking and rolling away. Holly looked into her commander's eyes. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with hurt and desperation.
"I loved her." His words came out on a shaky whisper and Holly backed even further away from his gaze. She watched his eyes travel down her body and felt a cross between angry and violated. But something in her mind didn't accept that this could be real. He stepped even closer to her, and she could smell the evil on his breath. A burning lust filled the eyes of her Commander and his breathing became more sharp and rough, as if he were struggling not to sob aloud.
"I loved her. She was so beautiful." More fear rushed through Holly as she realized that they weren't rumors after all. And that she had backed up to Root's office's locked doors.
Root caught her eyes again and Holly shivered at the intensity in them. If it had been anyone else, they would have been on the floor moaning in pain. But in the state Julius was in, he could easily overpower Holly. He was a good two hundred pound heavier than her, and drunk.
"Beautiful," he breathed again, ever closer to Holly. Inches away. Holly flinched as Root dipped his head down and sniffed deeply through his nose, right next to her shoulder. Holly tensed against the doors. Root looked back up at her. "Like you."
Holly started to tremble, scared at the sound of the lust in his voice, thoroughly spooked. She swallowed, released a shaky breath she didn't realize she had been holding. A small, seductive smile twitched smile twitched on Julius's face.
"So beautiful. Just like you," he whispered, her breath brushing Holly's face. He now had one hand beside her head on the door. The other was gently stroking her jaw line. Holly was afraid to speak, but shivered at his touch, and not in a good way. The whiskey smell was strong on his breath and made Holly about gag.
Root gazed deeply into Holly's eyes, bringing his hand to the collar of her suit. Why couldn't she move? She seemed anchored to the floor, and couldn't make her vocal chords work. Julius pressed her against the wall as his fingers fumbled with the collar clasp around Holly's neck. She suddenly knew what his intentions were.
Just as she registered this, Root crushed her lips with his own in a rough, demanding kiss that seemed to suck the life force out of Holly. He forced her mouth open and slid his tongue between her teeth. Holly fought the urge to scream. It wasn't as if that would do any good anyway. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he had her in an iron grip. She felt as if she was about to vomit. The taste of alcohol was thick on his tongue. She fought harder to escape his grip.
Then, suddenly, Root broke his kiss and shoved Holly roughly against the wall with an angry grunt. Without hesitation, he drew his Neutrino from his holster and thrust it to Holly's chest. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a frightened breath.
"Stop it," he growled, his eyes burning with fury. "Stop." Holly gasped again and felt the gun's end dig into her chest. Root's gaze slid down her body again and he took a half step back, still pressing the gun to her.
"Take off your clothes," he rasped huskily.
An icy chill claimed the room at his order. Holly's mind was so numb with fear she couldn't think. If it had been anyone, anyone else, this wouldn't be the case. Holly Short was a soldier known for her ability to make beneficial, rational decisions in the face of immense stress.
The tiniest bit of that ability made its sluggish way to Holly's vocal chord. "Wh - Why are y-you doing th-this?" she half-whimpered, half-shouted out of pure fear.
Root hesitated, as if he were about to answer. Holly felt his hold on the Neutrino relax and saw a bit of the fury drain from his eyes. For a moment, Holly's stomach unclenched and the tiniest glimmer of hope took seed in her soul.
Then she felt the pressure of the gun to her chest come back. Her hope shredded and fell in pieces.
"I said take off your clothes!" he barked, spraying Holly's face with spittle. Crushed. Shredded. Gone. Holly tried to control her frightened breathing but it grew faster with every shiver that shook her spine. And it seemed to fuel Roots cruel desire. He forced her lips into another hard kiss. She choked back a helpless whimper as he yanked roughly at her suit, tearing the material in his haste to claim her. Nothing could stop him now.
A fist of panic clenched Holly's heart as Root ripped the clothing from her trembling body. He slid his tongue along the side of her face and she choked a sob in her throat. He kept the gun pressed to her chest as he tossed her torn suit away and shed his own with unnatural speed. Holly whimpered openly now, hoping feebly that he would show the mercy she thought she knew he had. Then she made a fatal mistake. Root went in for another rough kiss and on pure instinct and fear, such as a dog that had been beaten, she bit down on his lip. Hard. Root grunted loudly in pain and pulled back. Rosy blood leaked out from his lip and he hissed angrily. She flinched in fear as he drew his hand back and struck her hard across the face. The stinging pain brought tears to her eyes. But she wouldn't let them fall. She couldn't. 'This is all just a test,' she tried to tell herself. 'It isn't real. Just another test.'
Holly told herself that as Root ran his hands over her bare body, dropping the Neutrino. Not real. Can't be real. He groaned loudly and she felt the bulge of his stiff manhood pressing mockingly to her thigh. It isn't real. Not real. He forced her to the floor. She tried to pretend that as she fell, the carpet would swallow her up and she could keep falling, further and further down. Away from him. Couldn't be real. Can't be. She repeated this to herself as he mounted her, driving himself into her. Not real… Not real… Not real…
But she knew that it was entirely real. His rhythmic grunting with every movement, the echo of her useless, desperate protests in her mind. She was too numb to fight. Too numb to think. Too scared to register the pain as he shattered her innocence. Too helpless to do anything about it. A single, salty tear leaked from Holly's eye and onto the floor. Broken.
Holly knew when he had finished with her, but didn't move for several moments, shivering and trembling facedown on the carpet. She made another, pathetic effort to convince herself that none of it had happened. She felt so unbearably weak and helpless. Objectified. Like a victim of some perverted game. That elf who had just taken her as if she were his own: she didn't know him. He was no longer the commander that had encouraged her to be the best she could be. No longer the elf she had thought to be like the father she never had. No longer the Julius Root she could recognize. No. This was a monster, filled with cruel lust and desire to crush gossamer trust. A foul beast. What he had just done…
Holly gagged, feeling her stomach rise into her throat. Too much. She pushed herself shakily to all fours. Then her shoulders bucked and she vomited on the carpet.
Something transformed in her then. She felt the icy fear in her heart morph into a fiery rage. She opened her eyes, and the hazel circles burned with hatred. 'Never again.'
Holly felt something soft fall on her bare body. She gritted her teeth, knowing what it was. She turned to see her suit, no longer ripped, smart-repair patches sealing up the slits. Holly felt another unbearable surge of anger. Sure. No evidence. No one suspects anything that way. Root was already dressed again, acting as if nothing had happened. Did he not see her? Did he not understand the pain he would cause her for nights on end? Of course he could. But he could also ignore it. It was easy for him to do. After all, the power was within his grasp, in the endless bottles he stored in his desk.
Holly watched with burning eyes as the elf that called himself Commander sat down. He didn't meet her glare. Perhaps he knew what he would see if he did. 'Can you see me?!' Holly wanted to scream. 'Do you see what you've become?!' The anger and fury struggled to burst out of her chest. She was trembling with rage as she pulled her suit back on. And still he sat there. As if she didn't exist. As if she was nothing but a speck of dirt under his boot. 'Is that all I am now?' she asked herself. 'To him, is that all I'm worth? '
'No.' The iron spirit that made Holly who she was surfaced. 'That's all he is now. Only a piece of filth that stains this world. No better than the worst human.'
She stood, clothed again. She heard the small swish of Root's automatic doors as they opened, freeing her from the hell that she would never forget. Still he couldn't meet her eye. She turned from him, from his evil, from the smell, and stepped out of his office.
Holly didn't stop walking, glaring straight ahead of her, until she reached Police Plaza's double doors. She paused there, staring at the light reflection of her face. The blood from Root's lip stained the corner of her mouth. She gritted her teeth, trying to halt the wall of growing anger she felt, and wiped the blood off with her suit sleeve. Nothing in her mind would form into coherent thoughts. All she felt was fury. Hatred. Disgust. The LEP Captain pushed the doors open and stepped out onto Haven's busy streets.
A sudden burst of grief forced its way out of Holly, via her vocal chords. She dropped to the sidewalk in the middle of Haven's bustle and let out a mighty shriek. Tears streamed from her eyes and fell sparkling onto the sidewalk, leaving fluorescent streaks on her face. Her heart pounded in her ears and her fingernails dug into her palms, causing blue sparks to dance around her hands. She felt as if her soul was on fire. Burning her, from the inside out.
Told ya. You were warned. But don't worry, the next chapter's .... *smile*