#4 SAHARA
Rating: This is a short fic but due to the themes I'll say M.
AN: This was my entry for the Gif Wrapped Flash. It won the Best Angst award, with another great work as there was a tie. ;) This was such a great fest, thank you so much the mods for hosting it! If it's a Dramione or Tomione is up to you! ;)
My Prompt was a gif from The Mummy movie saying "What is a place like me doing in a girl like this".
Beta love to: cinnamonbun24 & Postal Ninja.
Sahārā
OS.
"Only one of us can survive."
M
She is drunk.
Merlin, she is completely smashed.
That much is certain.
She doesn't exactly remember why she has gotten so drunk.
But it ought to be good.
And she feels so great, like she's soaring over water or flying high above.
It must certainly be for a good reason that she decided to drink so bloody much.
"Granger."
A tall frame is towering behind to her, a breath on her neck.
"Let's leave."
She turns to look more closely at the man, his strong jawline, his high cheekbones, his pale hair.
"Do I know you?"
She studies him with her ghastly sight, her hand lingering on the table to support herself.
"I'm not sure I know you."
His mouth grimaces in a knowing way, amused at her and it all comes crashing down onto her. Why she is here. What she is doing. What she has done.
She catches her glass, raising it in a mock salute.
"This is to fucking up the goddamn planet."
She throws back her drink as he curses under his breath.
"Granger, for fuck's sake, behave."
He hauls her up as he carries her back to the hotel. She fights as much as she can.
"Let go of me, you filthy beast."
His lips are almost on her as he finally lets her go, at her doorstep, putting a vial into her hands.
"Drink this, you'll need it in the morning."
In a swish of robes, he is gone.
She had been quite pleased when she had found out about the hidden place no one had been to yet. It wasn't supposed to even exist.
But there it lay; there it was, in the middle of the sand. It existed, in all its glory.
She didn't believe in myths, in legends. Facts. Those were important. Those were reliable. Those were trustworthy.
Not bloody fairytales.
In her excitement she had not heeded all the warnings.
And in doing so, she has unleashed a dormant evil creature into the world. What was one girl supposed to do? How could she have been so stupid?
A knock disrupts her thoughts as the door opens.
Through the window, the first rays of the sun enter with him. A new morning is upon them. It could very well be their last.
"Hey."
He sits on the edge of her bed, looking at her intently.
"How are you? "
He sounds concerned, as his eyes practically bore holes into her face.
She shakes her head at her stupid girlish feelings. He isn't, he would never be. He had explained already that she is but a mere contract to him.
That had been the last blow to her ego, making her act stupid and drink herself into a stupor the day before. But she shouldn't feel this way, she knows. He has held no promises for her. The man is despicable at best. Always brooding. Always silent.
She only asked for his help since he had been one of the few who knew the location of the tomb she had wanted to dig in. Curse may the day she had thought that was a good idea.
She sits up straight, setting her covers aside. She grasps for how to apologise for her behaviour the night before, but draws a blank. What could you possibly say when you may have fucked up the world?
His eyes graze over her, dropping to the skin of her thigh, showing under her flimsy excuse of a nightgown.
For a moment, she almost thinks he will say something. Do something.
But he only gets up, raking a hand through his hair.
"Get dressed. I'll wait for you downstairs."
And he turns on his heels, leaving her to wonder once more about this strange man she is falling for. Where had he been all along? How come she has only met him under those circumstances: when it appears too late for her to pursue anything...
"There may be another way."
"I'm not sure there is."
He frowns at her.
"You can't possibly contemplate meeting his terms."
She raises her chin, a pointed look on her face.
"I'm the one who brought him back. Isn't it only fair that I pay the price he demands?"
At his grimace, her heart flutters. Maybe he will say something. Maybe he will give her a good reason not to accept the path that seem to have been given to her.
"After all, what is a place like that doing in a girl like me?"
He smiles at the words she sputtered back then, so nervous to speak with him. When it was still them, when it was still simple enough that she could have kissed him.
"Let's hit the books again. There may be something we overlooked."
She's not sure, but she agrees. What's the harm in trying?
"If I become a monster, a vile creature, you do know I'll come for you first?"
He doesn't look at her, his attention on the creature and its minions around them. There are too many of them.
They've been cornered. They can't fight them all. This is it.
As she steps away, her heart beating erratically in her chest, she knows there's no going back.
"Come my Princess."
The dark figure under the hood doesn't scare her as much as she places her hand into his.
"I've longed for you," he murmurs, his lips grazing against her earlobe, "but finally I've found you."
Over the street, her eyes met his, steel grey hardening as she is taken away. His mouth twists in a sneer but he remains silent : there isn't any other way. The world is at stake, her life is at stake. And they both know it.
Only one of them can survive.
That seems the only answer in all of the books she has poured over these last few days, as they tried to hide.
That is all there is to know about the curse, and the prophecy that used to lay dormant in the tomb before she disrupted it. And since he can't survive without her, he will stop at nothing to make her his to survive. He would destroy them all. He would burn the world.
The only way for everything to go back to normal is for her to leave with this creature. Except her, she will never be the same again...
"Persephone."
She will be the Queen of the Underworld.