Title: I'd like some fries with that
Author: maharet83
Timeline: S2 or earlier.
Characters: Ruby
Rating: PG13
Warnings: None, really.
Feedback: Yes, please, and concrit will not be frowned upon :)
Disclaimer: Based on the characters and world created by Eric Kripke.
Summary/Notes: Written for the multifandom Gen Battle, prompt: Ruby - fries.
I'd like some fries with that
There was a light up ahead, just a pinprick, but they all knew what it meant, and the riptide of darkness clamored for release. Ruby crawled and clawed and tore through the twisted torrent, black smoke that somehow still had sharp edges to snare and tear, shapes just like her very own roiling all about her. She'd grit her teeth if she still had them, open her mouth wide and howl defiance, sink them deep in her enemies.
Several around her she recognized, forms that had been behind endless years of torture, gleeful in their duties, and she fought harder than all of them, went faster, got closer – until there was nothing but the light searing through her.
Roots. Dirt. Pebbles and stones and bones from a long forgotten past, all in a rush and she felt free, strong and ready to take on anything that would dare stand in her way. Then there was a solid obstacle and she writhed and snaked, found cracks in the foundation, went up up up, following vibrations and then the echoes of people talking.
She was in a large building of some kind, clearly built to give the impression of dignity and power with its high ceilings and smooth surfaces made of stone. The closest thing she could remember was a church she visited once when she was young; hand clenched tightly in her mother's as they walked beneath the Saints and the cold eyes of the clergy. Fear clenched her little heart then, and Ruby never came to feel a closeness with God, no refuge in His house, and years later she turned to other powers to help her family survive the plague that ravaged her village.
Now, these places held no power over her, fear burned away and replaced with an iron will forged in the fires of hell. She went forward, keeping to the dark corners of the ceiling, out of sight to the crowds milling beneath, entering an air duct, following another pinprick of light ahead.
Fresh air rushed all around her and she streaked across roads and trees, leaving the large crowds behind until she came to a modest little building by the side of the road. Another opening to let her in, and few twists and turns and there her new body was. Poor thing, all alone.
Ruby would see to that.
Tunneling downwards, she forced her herself into every inch of her new body, packed tight and nerves singing. Ruby could feel the tips of her fingers, the soles of her feet, her heart pounding against her ribcage as if it wanted to be free of her, a duller pounding in the back of her mind that she easily ignored.
With a new body came taste and smell, and while at first the new sensations overwhelmed her, tugging at the memories she should no longer have, the host's memories taught her that she was at the moment standing in the bathroom of Cubbie's, and that was no place to experience her new senses. She took another minute to study her new reflection in the mirror before exiting through the flimsy wooden door to her right.
The moment she left the bathroom a new scent hit her, and it was unlike anything she had ever smelled before. Her mouth watered as she breathed deep, already heading straight towards the counter.
"Hello and welcome to Cubbie's. May I take your order?" the girl behind the counter droned on automatic, clearly not very enthusiastic about her job. Fortunately for her, Ruby was in a fantastic mood at the moment and couldn't care less about her attitude.
"Yeah," Ruby replied, eagerly scanning the large menu printed in red on white plastered to the counter. She looked up, wide grin plastered onto her newly acquired face, "I want the Freedom Fries."