Hey guys! Anyone still there after all this time? =.=
I'm sorry for taking so long to update this... If anyone reads my IllumixOC HxH fic, you know that I've been rather busy during September and October and didn't have the time to write. Then, when I finally got the time, some personal stuff happened and got me rather down so I didn't have the energy to write. I'm still in the process of dealing with it but at least now I have the energy to write again :D
Thank you TheForgottenSheikah, TapatioLizzy, Sailor Pandabear, AZ and Kid for reviewing :)
I remember saying I had a treat for you all in this chapter... Hope you enjoy it ;D
ALSO: this new amazing cover was made by leon9606 from tumblr. You should check out their tumblr, not only their work is amazing but there are also some pretty funny TEW comics there XD
Suddenly, large, clawed and blood-covered hands emerged from the air duct and closed around Joseph's upper body, quickly pulling him half-way inside the vent. Sofia's eyes widened and she leaped towards Joseph, hugging his legs tightly in an attempt to anchor him to the floor. But her weight made no difference to Reborn Laura's hands and they easily pulled both her and the detective inside the vent.
Darkness invaded the doctor's sight the deeper she was dragged inside the seeming endless vent so she didn't see when another pair of hands appeared behind her. She only felt them closing around her legs. Those bloodied hands pulled once on the opposite direction she was being dragged, easily breaking the hold Sofia had on Joseph's body and pulling her away from him.
The doctor felt her head and body slam on the insides of the ducts as she was taken to an unknown but certainly terrifying destination. She knew it was all Ruvik's design. All the hurt and fear. It was all on him.
Still she hoped he'd show up to save her.
Sofia expected to fall in a place filled with pain and blood and body parts, however what met her was nothing more than the warmth and softness. She was on top of the mattress of the bed in her apartment.
"Hello."
Nervous and wide-eyed as was the norm inside STEM, the doctor quickly sat up in her bed and focused her eyes on the direction that unmistakable rough voice had come from. Ruvik was standing in front of her bedroom's door, staring down at her with silver eyes that, to her utmost surprise and confusion, held longing and warmth inside them
"I knew you'd give me some trouble-" Ruvik began in a calm voice as he stalked to the side of the bed, so he could reach out and touch Sofia's face. Gently, as if he was handling some very delicate, very expensive china. "-But to actually be able to bend my world so you could escape me? Even unconsciously that's no easy deed, my love. But I couldn't expect anything less from you. After me, you're the one who most understands STEM and how it works. It's only natural that you could hold a larger influence over it than the others. Maybe that's why you've been resisting this place's corruption so well too. Or did Mobius give you the same present they gave our mutual friend Kid? Well, it doesn't matter right now. What's important is that you're still you. And you're still mine."
Unmoving, Sofia bit her lower lip and stared at Ruvik as he lazily traced her lips with his thumb, smiling to himself. Then he tucked some of her hair behind her ear and his smile was quickly replaced by an unsatisfied scowl.
"Look what you've done to yourself." He continued, brushing his fingers over a bump on the side of her head. "You had no right."
With a scowl of her own, Sofia turned her face away.
"Your creatures did that to me. You did that to me."
The doctor flinched and bit her lip to keep herself from yelping in pain when Ruvik's cold fingers pressed against her wound, hard and without mercy.
"You're the one who ran from me." The man spat. "You brought it all upon yourself."
Sofia didn't dare to look at Ruvik, choosing to scan her surroundings for anything she could throw at him so she could make her escape. She had ran from him because she chose survival over death and she wasn't about to stop now.
Unfortunately for her, she never liked keeping bedside lamps in her bedroom so her only potential weapon was the fluffy pillow at her side. She was cornered and defenceless. She was at Ruvik's mercy; he could indeed do with her as he pleased. And it terrified her to think what it would please him at the moment.
"…What happens now?" The doctor asked carefully, trying to sound brave as she hesitantly raised her gaze to Ruvik's. "You'll kill me yourself or you'll have that thing do the job for you?"
The man's lips twitched in amusement, but that didn't reassure Sofia in the least.
"You will not die. Especially not by the hands of that mental miscarriage." Ruvik spoke with finality and, in a blink of an eye, Sofia felt all of her wounds heal at once.
The doctor's eyes widened and she immediately opened her mouth, even if she didn't know how to respond to Ruvik's words. He saved her the trouble of figuring it out by laying his thumb over her lips and softly shushing her as he pushed his face closer to hers.
"I saw your memories." The apparition revealed with a brief twitch of his lips. "And they pleased me very much."
Sofia bit her lip and tried to put some distance between herself and the man, but her head and back hit the headboard of the bed all too soon, leaving her trapped between the wood and Ruvik, who didn't waste a second in crawling over her frame in a way that years ago she would classify as sensual, but that now seemed mostly dangerous. She felt like a lamb cornered by a starving wolf.
"Do not pull away from me." Ruvik demanded, silver eyes pinning her down with their intensity.
Sofia couldn't help but avert her eyes and push herself further against the headboard.
"You scare me." She admitted, noticing with relief that the man hovering over her stilled completely at those words. "I don't know what to expect from you anymore, but I know it'll only hurt me. Maybe even kill me."
As those words left her mouth, Sofia felt tears threaten to fall and closed her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to hold them back. It was more painful than she imagined, to actually say out-loud what she had known all-along.
The man she once loved – maybe still did, despite all that had happened between them – would be the same one to kill her.
Sofia felt cold fingers settle on her face and, as much as she wanted to appear at least somewhat strong and controlled, she couldn't help but flinch. That action went completely ignored by Ruvik, who just raised his other hand to her face as well and turned it towards himself.
"Look at me."
Ruvik's voice was as rough and demanding as expected, but something in it was enough to make Sofia's heart skip a beat, and not due to fear. It was that something that she'd find in Ruben's voice whenever he talked to her. It was something… warm.
Because of that something, Sofia immediately complied with the demand and stared wide-eyed at Ruvik, not fully understanding what was happening anymore.
"I can take you to Leslie."
The doctor's heart leaped to her throat and she even sat up straighter in the bed.
"…Will you?" She asked carefully, noticing that, instead of lashing out at her obvious eagerness to find Leslie, Ruvik simply smirked in amusement.
"I will. If you earn it."
The doctor's response was immediate. "What do you want me to do?"
Ruvik didn't say anything, but his hands and eyes did. They moved down Sofia's cheeks and neck teasingly, slowly making their way to the first button of doctor's blouse.
As his cold fingers undid the button, Ruvik's silver eyes rose to Sofia's face, taking in the blush of her cheeks and the veiled want in her eyes as signs of his conquest.
"You've always looked beautiful in red."
At this point, Sofia didn't know if he was talking about her blouse or her face, nor if she should feel flattered or disgusted. Either way, it didn't matter. This was wrong, and she had to stop it.
"What do you think you're doing?" The woman demanded, chewing on her lower lip as her hands grabbed Ruvik's, holding his wandering fingers still.
"I'm giving you an excuse to do what you want to, but are too afraid to admit." Ruvik answered easily. "You still want me but think that it's wrong to indulge. Your precious conscience is the only thing keeping you from returning my affections so I'm giving it an out. Give yourself to me, and I'll give Leslie to you."
Not that he'll remain "Leslie" much longer.
"Ruvik-"
"Ruben." The man interrupted. "You may call me Ruben."
Sofia's eyes widened and she couldn't deny the happiness and relief she felt bubble inside her chest. The mere possibility of Ruben being alive somewhere inside the apparition was enough to bring to surface all the emotions she had been trying so hard to push as far away from her mind as possible. All the pain, love, regret and want Ruben made her feel hit her like a tsunami.
"I can't." Sofia breathed out, looking away from Ruben in an attempt to hide from him just how many emotions he was making her feel. "We can't."
"We can." He protested, gently turning her face back to him. "We should."
"Why?"
"Because I want to-"
Sofia's eyes widened as her own voice answered her question and both she and Ruben turned their gaze to their right. There, standing side by side and staring out of the window in Sofia's bedroom were the shadows of her and Ruben, playing one of their memories for them.
"-Not now, obviously. But one day. And we've been together for a long time now. So I think it's important for me to know your opinion on the matter."
"Please no." Sofia whispered horrified; she knew exactly which memory that was and she couldn't look away.
Ruvik didn't bother to answer, for he too had been completely drawn by the memory.
"…I never thought about the subject." Ruben's shadow replied. "My thoughts about the future involved only STEM. I never thought I'd have the need to consider this."
"Are you saying you don't want to?"
"I'm saying I don't know. It would bring a whole different future than I've envisioned to myself."
"I think it'd be a nice future. A distant future of course, since I have no plans to stop dedicating myself to STEM and my patients anytime soon. But in a few years… it would be nice, I think. Buy a house with a large backyard, slow down with my work a bit and you know."
"Fill it up with carbon copies of yourself?"
"Don't mock me." The woman's shadow scolded in a humoured tone. "I can easily picture you with a child, especially a daughter. You'd teach her science and how to play the piano, and spoil her rotten. You'd treat her like a princess."
Ruben's shadow turned his body so he was completely facing the woman's and both ghosts remained in silence for a long time, staring at one another with pensive eyes until the first broke the deafening silence that had been installed.
"I guess the scenario isn't completely… appalling. It's something to be considered, for a distant future."
Sofia's shadow smiled and gently wrapped her arms around the other's neck.
"For a distant future."
The doctor watched both shadows kiss and disappear from her sight, leaving her with an even more chaotic hurricane of emotions to deal with. And the one person responsible for all those emotions was there with her, with his silver eyes fixed on her face, dissecting every feeling and thought she had.
Gently, Ruben caressed Sofia's bottom lip with his thumb and moved his face closer to hers so the only thing standing between their lips was his cold and scarred finger. For what seemed the hundredth time since falling inside her bedroom Sofia felt her heart lose its rhythm because of Ruben.
But this time, it was not frightening.
"Make love with me, Sofia."
Not frightening at all.
Pushing everything away from her thoughts – STEM, the Director, the Chain Man, Leslie and Ruvik – Sofia let the silent tears streak down her eyes freely as she threw herself at the man in her bed.
Even if brief and fragile, Ruben was offering her an escape; he was offering her one last time with the love of her life... also the chance to recover Leslie.
And she would accept.
Ruben had always known the fragile shell that was his body was an obstacle in his and Sofia's physical relations, but with time learnt to accept it. Both did all they could to cope with his limitations and keep a somehow active sexual relationship and, for a while, it made him believe his scars weren't that much of a problem after all.
He had been so wrong.
Without the constant worry about hurting his body, Sofia showed a whole different attitude in bed. And he damned that useless carcass he once dared to call his body for not allowing him to enjoy his woman in such a manner sooner.
Sofia more than earned her right to be taken back to Leslie. The vision of her body atop of his, all flushed and sweaty as she took from him what she wanted was something he would never allow himself to forget.
"I knew you prefer to be on top." Ruben began, smirking in satisfaction at the unfamiliar but very welcomed sensation of the weight of the limp woman laying on him. "But I never thought I might prefer it too."
Ruben felt Sofia's body tense before it started to shake softly. It didn't take much to know the woman was sobbing.
"Crying doesn't suit you, my love."
The woman's sobbing only increased with the last word and Ruvik had to hold back the urge to grab her by the neck and force her into ceasing her crying. It wasn't a loud sort of crying – actually it was strangely silent – but the fact that Sofia felt the need to break down immediately after making love to him hit a rather sensitive nerve.
"We shouldn't have done that." Sofia whispered in his ear with an unexpectedly steady voice. "This was a mistake."
No sooner the words left her lips and Ruvik pushed her off him, nearly sending her tumbling out of bed.
"What was?" The man demanded, pinning her down with his glaring, knife-sharp eyes. "Making love to me? Or selling yourself like a prostitute in the name of your precious Leslie Withers?"
Sofia bit her lips and narrowed her teary eyes at Ruvik, as if she wanted to protest his words. But she didn't utter a single word, choosing to silently retrieve her clothing from the floor. Ruvik himself had hit a rather sensitive nerve, and he felt a great deal of satisfaction out of it.
It still wasn't enough to heal his wounded pride though.
"Well, let me save you the trouble of deciding which action you regret the most." Ruvik began, materializing himself in front of Sofia. He was already fully dressed, but the woman was mid-way into buttoning her blouse and she was stopped by cold hands wrapping around her wrists tightly. "The deal is off."
The doctor opened her mouth, ready to scream at Ruvik in a way that could very much end her life, but before she could protest the man slammed his lips over hers violently.
She pushed and punched at Ruvik, but he only smirked in the kiss at her feeble attempts of freeing herself from his hold. Only when he was satisfied did he pull away from the kiss.
"I'll come back for you." He promised.
Then, before Sofia could get even one word in, he disappeared from her sight in a glitch, leaving her to chew on her lip and glare at the bed in frustrated anger.
Damn it! Damn it all to hell!
Once she was dressed, the doctor started moving, not daring to stay still in one place for long even if it was a mimicry of her home. She was positively surprised by the lack of Haunted inside her apartment, but even so she found it safer to go to her small laundry and retrieve the hammer she had in her toolbox, just in case.
Even the building was mostly empty. When leaving it, she only came across one of the monsters as she climbed down the last flight of stairs in the building and it was very easy to just push the creature down the stairs and crack its skull open with the hammer while it was still disoriented on the floor.
It scared the doctor how easy it was becoming to just kill the Haunted.
As soon as she walked out of the building, Sofia took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She knew things would only grow more complicated from now on.
"I wish I could say the same." A man spoke, not far from her.
But it seemed she wouldn't have to deal with them on her own.
Sofia turned her head to the direction the masculine voice had come from and found the parking lot of the neighbourhood's school buses open. Only one bus was inside and she could see the two detectives – Sebastian and Joseph – talking by its side.
"Detectives!" Sofia called out, rushing to them.
"Sofia!" Sebastian greeted, laying a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Glad to see you're alright."
"You too." The woman said with a polite nod to each, quickly scanning their bodies for any signs of injuries and letting out a sigh of relieve at finding none. "Have any of you seen Leslie?"
"I saw him not too long ago. But he ran away and disappeared from sight. Again." Sebastian answered, combing his fingers through his hair in frustration. "What about you, Joseph?"
"Sorry. But you two are the only ones I've encountered in a long while."
"I figured." Detective Castellanos spoke. "The boy must be half-way across the city already. He's a fast runner."
The doctor let out a sigh as she nodded. "I think you're right."
"Well, in this case, I think there's a way for us to catch up with him." Joseph began in a helpful tone, fixing his gaze on the bus close to them. "I think I might have found some transportation."
The three of them wasted no time in climbing inside the school bus.
"I don't think I can drive this." The doctor admitted as she eyed the driver's seat.
"One step at a time, doc. Is this thing even gonna run?" Sebastian asked in a voice that clearly showed he didn't plan on getting his hopes up until he had actual reason to.
"Only one way to find out."
Sofia heard the clicking sound of heels approaching them and next thing she knew, she had been pushed back by none other than Juli Kidman, who was now sitting on the driver's seat, desperately trying to start the vehicle.
"Shit!"
"Juli?" Sofia called worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"What are you doing?" Sebastian demanded. "Answer me, Kid-"
Suddenly the bus was shaken, making both detectives and the doctor fall to their knees. Sofia heard a thunderous sound coming from her right and turned her head to the side, feeling her eyes widen at finding a giant spider leg just outside the bus.
Fortunately, it was just then that Juli managed to bring the bus to life. And she wasted no time to push her foot onto the gas pedal as far as it went.
"Hold tight!" Juli warned as she barely avoided hitting the parking lot's wall. "It's going to be a bumpy ride!"
If that wasn't enough warning for Sofia, watching bus' ceiling being torn out easily by another enormous arachnoid limb, revealing to her an even larger deformed creature certainly was.
"Stay back, doc!" Sebastian ordered as both he and Joseph retrieved their guns and aimed it at the monster.
It bothered Sofia to admit it, but it really was all that she could do during that ride. Without a gun she was completely useless.
Until Joseph got shot.
"Joseph, NO!"
Before Sebastian could blink, Sofia was by his side, pushing Joseph's hands away from his wound so she could take a look at it.
"Sebastian." The doctor began in a no-nonsense voice. "Help me lay him down and then turn him around. I need to see if there's an exit wound."
The detective did as told and together they moved Joseph over one of the bus' benches so he was laying on his back. Joseph grunted and moaned in pain, but still the two pushed him on his side for long enough for Sofia to find the bullet's exit wound. The bullet didn't seem to have pierced through any bones in its trajectory, which was very good.
"Sebastian, please tear out the sleeve from my blouse." Sofia requested, not moving her eyes from Joseph's wound as she stretched her arm to the detective, who quickly obliged. "Thanks. Now keep him up for a little longer. Don't worry Joseph, I'm almost done."
The doctor folded the sleeve three times and used it to cover the exit wound before helping Sebastian lay Joseph back down and immediately turning her attentions to the entrance wound.
"Does anyone have some sort of knife?" The doctor asked. "I need to cut his clothes to take a better look."
"Here." Sebastian spoke, offering her his blade.
Sofia immediately took the knife and sliced Joseph's shirt and vest open, revealing a tear-drop shaped wound. It was smaller than the exit wound and, thankfully, not bleeding all that much.
"It seems the bullet didn't hit any bones, major arteries or organs." Sofia spoke and settled her gaze on Joseph's pained face. She bit her lower lip. "But, I'd still like to check for injuries done to your bowels, and for that I'd need to insert my fingers in the wound. It'd hurt an awful lot."
Joseph took in a deep breath but nodded his acquiescence nonetheless.
The doctor nodded back and turned her gaze to Sebastian.
"Hold him."
The senior detective again obliged quickly to her request and pressed Joseph's arms and chest down, nodding for Sofia to get started already.
The doctor did her examination as fast as she could, but it still seemed to go on forever. Joseph's scream were filled with agony and all Sofia wished for was an IV drop of morphine.
As soon as she was done, she asked for Sebastian to tear off her other sleeve so she could use it to cover the entrance wound.
"I can't be 100% sure without a CT scan, but I think the bullet didn't damage your intestines. The damage is minimum and very within my capacities to repair." The doctor said to Joseph with a reassuring smile, keeping pressure on his wound. "We just need to find some thread and needle."
As in on cue, Juli stopped the bus and pointed to the outside.
"There's an ambulance there." She said. "There might be some kind of first aid. I'll go."
"No. I'll do it. Don't let any of them on-board." Sebastian ordered, referring to the Haunted before settling his hard eyes on Sofia's kneeled form. "Keep him alive."
"Surgical sutures, homeostatic dressings, antibiotics, disinfectant solution, anaesthetics and saline solution." Sofia listed, not moving her eyes from Joseph. "Bring to me as many of these as you find, as quick as possible."
Sebastian nodded to the doctor and exchanged a meaningful look with Kidman before leaving them.
"Don't worry, Joseph." Sofia reassured the wounded man with a smile. "He'll be back soon."
"I found the homeostatic, some morphine and adrenalin syringes, a bacteriostatic – it's a sort of antibiotic, right? – and some saline solution."
Sofia immediately got to work. She injected some morphine and bacteriostatic into Joseph and then used the saline solution to clean his wounds as much as possible before covering them with the homeostatic dressings.
"We don't need the adrenalin now since his blood pressure seems to be stable, but it won't hurt to hold on to it." The doctor spoke as she stood up and turned to talk to Sebastian and Kidman. "He still might-"
"Shit!" Sebastian interrupted, looking out the window behind Sofia and not liking at all of what he saw. "Let's get out of here, fast."
Startled, the doctor turned around to find a hoard of Haunted approaching the bus. Kidman was already on the driver's seat and stepping on the gas pedal.
"I'm going to push through! It's going to get a little rough!"
The bus slammed full-force on the cars parked in front of it, pushing its way through them and away from the Haunted. It was more than enough to make Sofia fall back to her knees.
"Hold onto me." Sebastian offered the doctor as he pulled her back to her feet.
The bus shook once again and Sofia found herself pressed against the detective's chest, using him as support. "Thanks."
"No. Thank you." The detective began, sparing a glance to Joseph. "You saved Joseph's life."
Sofia smiled and was about to respond that he shouldn't thank her for that.
Instead she suddenly found herself holding onto one of the benches' bars as to not fly out off the inexplicably airborne bus as a very familiar voice echoed in her ears.
"I told you I'd come back."
I hope this chapter was worth the wait! :D
Please tell me what you think about it (from Sofia and Ruben's moments in her room to her part in the ride) ;)
Kisses,
RedVoid
