A trip into the underworld
Prompt: Can you write where Isaac and Cru reunite in season 5b in the underworld or storybrooke and they just have a momentum?
Sitting on a throne of not burning flames, with an uncharacteristically soft smile on the lips and a long black cigarette holder between her lips. That was not how Isaac had expected to see Cruella again – but actually this timehe had not expected to see her again at all.
Only three months before he had collected her dead body and buried her; now he was in front of her and all her striking beauty.
Only three minutes before he was walking alone in the streets of Storybrooke; now he was in Hell, facing the Devil itself.
"Oh darling, don't worry… No harm is going to come to you, I swear" she said suddenly, with an almost sweet tone.
She was not talking to him, though. Instead, her eyes were fixed at a spot at her left, where something not yet identified was moving confusingly and making strange noises. But, after the woman spoke, that something started to crawl forward into the dim light, revaling itself in all its disgusting magnificence. There was no doubt of identification as the monstrous creature started to lick Cruella's hand with all its three mouths.
Isaac unavoidably startled at the vision, but it did take less time than the expected for him to recover. The sense of terror and disgust was gradually being bilance by a sort of amusement and, finally, it was curiosity to take over.
"So, you have made yourself a new puppy, haven't you?" he started to tease ironically, trying to show a confidence he never really had, but that she seemed to appreciate the last time.
Cruella looked up immediately and then widened her eyes for some moments, actually realizing only in that moment his presence. It was her turn to startle, it was like the vision of Isaac was to her almost as terrifying as the vision of her monster had been to Isaac. Clearly, she hadn't expected to see him again as well. Many questions and exclamations crossed her mind all of a sudden, but thanks to a new sort of patience she had seemed to achieve in death, she managed to keep her mouth shut and hold back every single impulsive words. Instead, she smiled again, but in his direction this time.
"Oh yes, Cerberus is a true darling: loyal but nasty – just how I like" she answered eventually, pausing just to take another breath from the cigarette holder. "And before you ask, I'm smoking pure nectar. Being friends with gods can give you privilege you know? Oh, Hades is such a darling too…"
Before giving him a chance to reply, she stood up and with a surprising quickness, she approached him, invading completely his personal space. His weak attempt to take a step back was vain and actually he froze in place when she raised one hand up, in order to let her fingertips touching his cheek. He had missed that touch, even if he had never really experienced it before in that way; it was cold and slight, but yet he was craving for it and defintely was ready to lean in. However, just when he was beginning to get used to that unexpected change, she dared to cross one more line and just placed her lips on his ones. Shock, fear and cold increased remarkably, but so did desire and bravery. In spite of his surprise, he found a way to surprise her back, as he didn't hesitate too much before returning the kiss and even deepening it with a new intensity.
"You are warm, Isaac" she breathed against his lips, slowly breaking their physical contact.
"You are cold instead"
Facing his somewhat lost face, Cruella suddenly took a step back and created once again a distance between them. Shaking her head, she let out a loud chuckle that expressed a sincere amusement.
"Of course I am cold, darling, I am dead" she pointed out ruthlessly. Then, somehow, her look softened, as she sighed sadly. "But you are alive and I'm actually glad of it. I found peace in this ghostly place, but it would have destoyed you… You are a kind sould, you know?"
Fondness, could it possibly be what he was seeing in her eyes? He couldn't be sure – there was no way he could have been sure about anything when it came to Cruella –, but just the slim chance of it was suddenly making him feel hope after a very long time of lonely desperation.
"I take that as a compliment" he muttered, forcing a small smile, since he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't take her in his arms and kiss her again, after all.
"It is not" she cut him off abruptly, in fact. The trace of tenderness in her eyes was gone and it was soon being replaced by her bold calmness. "So, if you're not dead, what are you doing here? A trip into the underworld?"
He couldn't help but smirk at that idea. Maybe he was the new Dante – only that his own Beatrice was a letal mixture of Brutus, Cassius and Judas all together, instead. But, as far as he knew, he had no mission to fulfill for the humankind and had already enough ideas without making a darker remake of the Divine Comedy.
Honestly, he didn't know what he was doing there. It was not a choice and certainly not some kind of predestination; surely it was a consequences of an act of dark magic, one he couldn't do anything about now that he wasn't the author anymore. Maybe he was there just to see her, maybe the whole sense of that encounter was to kiss her.
"I don't know" he finally admitted, shrugging slightly. He looked sad, but his sadness depended on more than just not knowing that answer. "Will I see you again?" he asked in fact, letting his inward fight between hope and desperation show.
Cruella blinked a few times, the new smile on her lips wasn't soft, but instead challenging. "Only if you behave very very bad, darling…" she said, maybe teasing him.
After one last glance, she turned around and started to walk back to her throne. That was a goodbye and he understood that, but somehow it wasn't hurting him how he would have thought. Because he didn't know what he was doing there, but now he suddenly knew at least what he had to do: find a way out of there, leave that ghostly place – but only to achieve an actual right to deserve Hell.
His new purpose in life would have been to behave very very bad.
This one shot was to answer to a prompt received from a guest on "A family with a great story". I wanted to add it into the collection, but it is something completely unrelated to my "Loving the Devil" series, so I decided that it had to stand alone. I don't know if that is what this fic was supposed to be like, but it turned out like that and honestly, I have to admit that I am kinda satisfied of the result lol I hope you liked it too:)