Category: Resident Evil Village
Rating: M
Couples: -
Warnings: AU, mention of torture, Blood
Chapter: 36
Copyright: Characters & places © By Capcom, Plot & OC´s © by me
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Ereina was burrowed deep underground, to where the rain could not reach easily. Once in a while, she would burrow upward part of herself to overtake one of the fallen. Their clothes and armour shielded her enough from the rain that she could get something from devouring them, even with the losses of mass by the water in the toplayer of the ground.
Slowly, she grew, rippling and spreading over the battlefield. As she grew, the water bothered less and less as more and more of her was unreachable.
At times, she felt herself be drained, when Frederika had suffered too much damage and needed to restore it. Unlike Mother and Ereina herself, the first Nymph could not replenish her mass herself easily, having no healing-factor like Mother or the quick mass-uptake of the second Nymph.
She didn't mind, there was more than enough mass for her to go around so the loss was easily replaced and if it kept her sister in the fight, so be it.
Part of her did wish she could tell Grandmother to go a bit easier on the explosions. The shockwaves churned the earth, tearing off parts of her. It didn't hurt as such, but it was very annoying that she had to get back to them before they decayed and became useless. Vocal-cords really had to become a thing soon, but for now, she just grew. It was the only thing she could do, after all.
Most of the living enemies were moving too much and would tear any attempt of her to devour them. But any that had been knocked down, either just dazed or outright killed? Those were free food for her and therefore free fuel for Frederika, who was far more use on a battlefield.
Her older sister was almost dancing, long claws needing at most two hits to kill a human enemy; one to break the armour and one to break the human hiding behind the armour. But it wasn't just humans, she could tell as much even underground. Throbbing, she nearly recoiled at the taste of rot on one of the bodies that had fallen to her.
"Some are already dead." She warned her sister. It made no difference to her, as anything that could mold and rot could still sustain her, but it had to mean something, even if she did not know what.
"How do you mean that?" Frederika roared out loud when she lost an arm to an explosion of some human weapon, promptly piercing the earth beneath her with a spike of amber to absorb her sister's mass to regrow it. Despite that, her mental voice was quite calm.
"Like those former-maids Mother has." Ereina recalled her encounter with one of those shambling former-maids when it had slipped from the cellar. "Moving, but with nothing much there. They die slower than the others."
"I see." The Amber shape of Alcina Dimitrescu rippled.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Donna offered her sister a drink. Between the rain and distance, they could only see the battle in the distance, but no sound reached the castle, everything being drowned out by the rain, storm and thunder raging in the air. Both of them were in one of the family's rooms, Alcina just barely not pacing. It was the room almost the furthest from the entrance, needing some of the longest walking through the castle to get to from both the ground and the tower-tops.
Neither of them had said anything, even as Donna's dolls had spread out over the castle. Between the short time and the heavy rain, she had barely any pollen to use, so those were the only things she could defend her sister with. Her hallucinations would be a last-ditch attack, perhaps even only a one-off.
Far below, the servants of the Dimitrescu-family had barricaded themselves in the kitchen and nearby servant-quarters, which hopefully would leave them untouched if anyone got this far.
Until now, she couldn't spot any lights on the ground between the castle and the far-away fight, so that was something at least.
The taller woman had already gouged deep grooves into the chair she was sitting on in her stress. Since they had arrived in the room, she had not said a word.
"Sister...?" It took a bit of coaxing, but at least she took the offered chalice.
"I can't..." Alcina's eyes were haunted. "I cannot do this again, Donna."
"You won't have to." The Dollmaker reached over hesitantly, small hand barely covering half of her sister's cheek. "No one will let them get here. No doubt even your daughters are just lingering in the forest to make sure nothing gets past the line of our brothers and mother."
"And what if they fail?" The older woman whispered. "What if you fail...? What if they do get here!?" She trembled, eyes pressed close. "Why...?"
There was nothing she could offer in answer, so Donna reached forward, wrapping her arms around the Dimitrescu matriarch as much as she could.
Below them, the sound of breaking glass echoed in the castle. Alcina nearly jumped up like a spooked deer, eyes wide and disturbingly fearful. She'd be having nightmares of that sight, of that she was painfully certain.
"It's just a broken window..." Donna soothed her gently, tightening her hold, trying to ease the trembling form in front of her. "Probably something got blown into it from in the gardens." Still, just to be certain, she directed the closest doll there. Better safe than sorry, especially with such high stakes as her sister's well-being.