Fall into Darkness
Chapter 8: acclimatization
You must turn the lights on…
Bellatrix started awake, finding herself lying on the pink carpet of a bedroom floor inside the trailer staring at a lightbulb of a desklamp with her hand firmly clasped around the lamp-switch on its power cord. Immediately, she felt like throwing up. A few moments later, she did throw up. A mix of bile and nothing more. Her head was still woozy and her limbs felt like wet noodles. She felt nauseous, hung over and generally awful. And once she realized it was pitch black outside, only anger kept her going. She forced herself to focus. She forced herself to drag herself up by grasping the bedpost. All her working out had paid off as her arm and stomach muscles groaned but eventually cooperated. Even so, she swayed with every step. It was hard to think. Hard to see.
Anger. Focus on anger.
A small bedroom TV sprung to life as for a moment she wondered if she was hallucinating again, just as she had back at the petrol station due to blood loss. On the TV, she saw herself at Bird Leg Cabin again. At a desk. Writing… in her diary? She again heard herself speak. "I can't tell reality from dream anymore," she heard herself say. "But... Hermione. I have Hermione to help me. She's... editing. Hermione is very strict, very aggressive. And every day there's less of me and more of her. I hate it, but I know she's right. She promises me we can be together again. She knows more of this than I do. She's been guiding me for more for then ten years. Why would she lie to me now? I'm getting close, I can feel it."
The TV went to static again and Bellatrix slowly but surely hobbled out of the bedroom. She could hear Max barking outside. Another sign that this was not a dream. She passed the kitchen and noticed an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to the coffee machine. Anger mounted again. For whatever reason, Rose had taken a day from her. Looking at the clock, she now had less than twelve hours to meet the kidnapper. All she could do was to wake up Nymphadora, get into the car and work something out on the road.
Which would be easier said than done. Where had only had a sip or two, Nymphadora had had two cups. Such was evident as her niece still lay unconscious on the floor. Rose was nearby as well, sat against the wall of the trailer staring the distance, still repeating her mantra. "Welcome to the Oh Deer Diner. Could I get you some coffee?" she droned over and over again. Nymphadora lay with her head in her lap. Rose stroked Nymphadora's hair with one hand and gently squeezed her hand with the other. It seemed that was still part of Rose inside, screaming to get out.
Nymphadora was alive and breathing, luckily. The pool of vomit near her meant that she had gotten a lot of the deadly pills out of her system during her slumber. Still, she wouldn't be any help in her current state and asking her to drive a car would be tantamount to suicide.
No, she would leave her niece be for now. She was where she wanted to be now anyway.
Bellatrix pushed the door open and staggered outside. The balmy air did a lot of clear her head, but it wasn't nearly enough. Bellatrix tried to keep herself steady, but staggered to her knees and her palms. Panting as she did, she noticed Randolph near the entrance further away, staring at her for a moment before heading back in his office.
Sure, mate. Can't wait for you to not help again.
Bellatrix slumped to her stomach and immediately closed her eyes. She was awakened again by a wet tongue licking her cheek. Bellatrix grimaced when she opened her eyes and found the dog Max happily licking her.
"Stop…" demanded Bellatrix, her throat getting dryer. The dog didn't listen.
She knew she had lost time yet again, but she didn't know how much. What she did know was that her head was clearer and she could feel her limbs again. She freed the dog from his leash and noticed flashes of red and blue lights from the distance. They stood out in the darkness and Bellatrix staggered towards the entrance with the dog in tow. The red and blue lights were like beacons in the distance. As she got closer, should could make out three police cruiser and a few men stood by the entrance.
"Five cops and three cars for a couple of drunks?" Randolph demanded, his voice grating her nerves already.
The dog started barking and all hell broken loose. Though the four deputies remained calm, one man who looked to be tall and intense and was wearing a different jacket drew one of his muggle weapons and pointed it directly at her. "Agent Nightingale, FBI. Hands in the fucking air!" he shouted.
Bellatrix did anything but. Rather, she raised her chin imperiously and crossed her arms. "If you think I'm impressed by your little weapon, think again."
"I'm not fucking around, bitch! Hands in the fucking air!" he demanded again.
Bellatrix could recognize a drunk when she saw one. Uncle Orion definitely liked his whiskey a tad too much, after all. Aside from the fact that she could smell the booze on his breath from where she stood, there were the colour of his eyes and the not-so-subtle way his hands shook when holding the weapon. He'd had some fairly recently. Maybe even on the way here.
Next to her, Max raised his lip and let out a low growl. Indeed, dogs were a good judge of character.
"Calm down, man!" said on the deputies. "Sheriff Breaker said we were just here to talk. You don't even have a warrant."
"Shut up!" the agent snapped. "Cuff her already! Now that I finally found her, I won't let her slip!"
"I don't even know who the hell you even are!" Bellatrix retorted angrily.
The deputy looked hesitant for a moment, sighed and reached for the cuffs on his belt.
Oh, she definitely did not have time for any of this. A plan already started to form. From the corner of her eyes, she could see a path leading deeper into the forest. She grinned briefly when she suddenly stepped forward, formed a ball of light in her arm and threw it onto the ground. Light exploded everywhere. Instantly, Bellatrix flitted to the path and dove into the forest during the confusion. Behind her, she heard shouts and cries of pain. Five bangs in rapid succession and the voice of Randolph. "What the hell are you shooting at, you dumbass motherfucker?! We gots people living here!"
Bellatrix was in excellent shape and ran through the forest with effortless ease. Though she hated having to leave Nymphadora behind, there was no way she was going to miss her appointment with the kidnapper. An appointment she would undoubtedly miss if she had bowed to the whims of that drunkard agent. However, she was not alone. Max, apparently not as confused by her tactic as the humans were, had followed. He ran next to her, looking at her with those friendly golden retriever eyes.
"And now we have a dog," she muttered the same phrase she had uttered last night as she ran through the forest, dodging branches as she did. Max kept up just fine as Bellatrix quietly pressed forward, keeping to the trees and the shadows.
The muggle police didn't take long to get themselves organized and scampered to give chase. She heard the police cruisers take off from the distance, sirens blaring with that insufferable agent barking orders. The cops were locals, thus did have her at a disadvantage, but with the studied map still fresh in her head that should give her some indication of where to go. Right now, she was low to the ground among plenty of high trees. She'd need to find higher ground to find a landmark. She knew the old coal mine wasn't far; she'd seen it from the road, after all.
Darkness, once the enemy, had become her friend. Lights flashed around and above her as two of the deputies had gone to ground. Well, she was no stranger to being a fugitive, but she was not particularly concerned about them, even without having a wand. She'd been on the run from people far more powerful and cunning than these yokels, after all. Back in the day, she had given famed Auror Mad-eye Moody the slip, and not before adding a few more scars to his collection.
With the dog by her side, she made her way along a small creek until she came to a bridge. She dove into the darkness and grabbed the dog by the muzzle just as a police cruiser passed overhead. All these muggle morons running around, it was rather exhilarating to a point. Being on the run, it made her feel alive. It made her feel strong. It made her feel powerful. If she only had a wand, she could show them horrors beyond imagining.
Max trotted after her as she followed the creek, making sure to step over any wet stones while keeping up the pace. Up in the distance, the creek disappeared into a grate over a small concrete bridge. Red and blue lights could be seen as a police cruiser pulled up right over it. Bellatrix cursed under her breath, grabbed the dog by the collar and yanked him into the treeline where she squatted among the underbrush. Of course, the bloody dog started to lick her face.
Bellatrix was weighing her options just as a familiar oppressive feeling returned to the pit of her stomach. Next to her, Max seemed quite agitated. It didn't take long before a loud alien rumbling returned from the depths of the forest. Trees groaned under the pressure until they were uprooted along the side of the road ahead. Bellatrix looked in amazement as the police cruiser was flung into the air and crashed onto the ground further along the road. And then, as quickly as it had come, the alien rumbling was gone again.
Cautiously, Bellatrix made her way forward and up the incline at the side of the bridge. The road was empty and the night was clear. The cruiser lay on top of its roof and was laced with the smell of leaking petrol. The deputy inside had been flung from the car and lay unconscious on the road in a puddle of blood. Though he was alive, he was in bad shape and, as far as Bellatrix was concerned, completely on his own.
Interestingly enough, the radio was still working and active and she heard some familiar voices.
"What the fuck did you do?!" sounded Sheriff Breaker over the radio. "What's this shit about you opening fire with civilians around?! Or opening fire at all?!"
"Look, lady, I ain't got time for this. She's a dangerous suspect on the run. Assumed armed. She had some sort of flashbang on her!"
"And yet you were the only one firing a gun!"
Well... trouble in paradise, it seemed. Bellatrix regarded the car and the downed deputy and wondered why the creature in the dark, this Dark Presence, hadn't stuck around to finish her off. Yet, the deputy blocking her path had been aptly taken care of. An odd thought crossed her mind. Did that thing, that Dark Presence just… help her? Why would it even?
Bellatrix shook her head, scoffing at herself. Nah, she didn't need any help. And certainly not from some thing in the woods.
The dark witch cringed when Max barked and quickly looked around to see if anyone or anything was coming. "Quiet," she hissed to the dog when she spotted a path up a mountain ridge next to the road. Perfect. If she get to higher ground, she could get some idea where she was going. Downside, of course, was that there was hardly any cover on the ridge and she would be easily spotted if she wasn't careful. And that bloody dog with his waggy tail and barking didn't help much.
The elevation was a bit steep, but Bellatrix ran up the hill in the bit of a crouch to try to remain out of sight. She found herself looking down on the wooded valley below. It seemed her pursuers were there as well. A second police cruiser had parked below and two deputies were scouring the woods: she could see the beams of their torches as they searched. Unfortunately for them, they were looking in the wrong place and were headed in the wrong direction. The ridge would lead her deeper into the hills and away from the search party.
The dark witch allowed a smirk: Bellatrix Black would win again.
She honestly felt quite content. Right up to the point where Max stood at the edge of the ridge and started growling.
The golden retriever had sensed it before Bellatrix did. Sounds became… different. The oppressive air returned. And this time… the smell. The rotten corpse-like smell. It was as if reality itself was bending when whatever it was passed through the woods.
Impossible darkness flitted right past her by a hair's width and rush into the valley before like the tide of a flood. This startled Bellatrix in such a manner that she yelped and fell back while the dog barked loudly. Below her, the Dark Presence fell upon the bungling deputies amid the trees. As Bellatrix got to her feet, she could see the torches of the deputies which was all she could see through the trees and the darkness. The torches flailed about loudly. Followed by gunshots. Screaming. And silence.
A final alien cry shouted out before it fell silent. The air turned back to normal and so did the rest of the forest. It was gone again, for now. The dark witch shared a look at the dog. Max looked up at her quizzically, whining softly. She realized that this horror was everywhere she went, circling her. The poor sods below had never stood a chance.
Well, their misfortune was her gain: the forest had become quiet, the Dark Presence seemed to have moved on for now and nobody was left alive to chase after her. Her new goal was still to find a higher point to try to figure out where she was and how she could get to the coal mine from here. With no luxury of a car or Nymphadora driving her, she'd have to cross a lot of rough terrain on foot. It really was a good thing she was in excellent shape.
With the dog in tow, Bellatrix made her way further up the ridge, but still found herself hampered by the tall trees and the fact that the hill she was climbing still blocked off view to the other side. The valley below offered very little frame of reference and she was getting frustrated.
She came upon a strange sight: moonlight reflected of the metallic wreck of a police cruiser. No doubt flung up here when the Dark Presence attacked the deputies down in the valley. The dog barked as a strange sound came from the empty, destroyed vehicle. The police radio was still working and it seemed the sheriff and that twat who took a shot at her were still arguing.
"I lost contact with some of your men and somehow she took out the goddamn helicopter. It's Black's doing, alright," sounded Nightingale.
Helicopter? Bellatrix didn't remember seeing one of those muggle flying windmills.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sarah Breaker returned. "Are you telling me one middle-aged 130 pound woman barely over 5 foot tall took out my deputies and a search and rescue chopper? Are you high, drunk or both?!"
Bellatrix chuckled to herself: if only they knew what she could be capable of. Still, she couldn't take credit for it. Not this time at least.
"If not her then who?" Nightingale snapped back. "Bigfoot?!"
"I don't know yet, but I will!"
"You do whatever the fuck you want, Breaker. I ain't stopping till I have Black in cuffs! OUT."
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes. This Nightingale chap was starting to become a real problem and she still had absolutely no idea who the bloke was or why he was after her. Still, she was resolute: if he dared to stand between her and Hermione, she would happily become the monster he had made her out to be.
She was about to leave when Sarah Breaker sounded over the radio again.
"Team 1, come in. Team 2. Anybody?" sounded the sheriff. Though she tried to hide it, there was a slight twinge of panic in her voice. "Mulligan? Jensen? Benneton? Come on guys, talk to me! Anyone?"
She was a mother to her men. Men which were now dead. Bellatrix nodded in understanding. She too had lost a lot of friends during the wars, both wars. It had upset her in her first years. But she hardened herself too it. Shed no tears, but take revenge. For every one of her comrades taken down, she had made sure to pay back the aurors in three-fold. The sheriff would, perhaps, one day learn that lesson too.
"Grant here, Sheriff."
A moment of silence.
"Marjory, thank fucking Christ," responded Sarah Breaker. "Where are you?"
"En route to the station. Just left the trailer park. Better call in the doctor too. I got one woman in the back who's clearly poisoned and needs medical attention. Possible OD. Got Rose in the back too, talking to herself and not making much sense."
"Just… keep safe, alright? I'm not sure what kind of gauntlet that FBI asshole is running the guys through."
"Notice a whiff of scotch on him?" said Grant. "He hides it better than Walt, but he's definitely on the waggon."
"Claims Black killed her girlfriend by drowning her in the lake."
Before Bellatrix knew it, she let out a cry and punched the metal door of the wrecked cruiser. How dare that bastard? How dare he claim she had murdered Hermione of all people? Oh, there would be a reckoning now, he'd better believe it. In the meantime, Max looked at her quizzically, before gently licking her hand.
"Not a chance," Grant replied. "Way she was at the station? She didn't kill that girl. I'd stake my life on it."
"Black definitely has that killer instinct. I saw it in her eyes at the gas station."
"Like your brother?"
"Hm," replied the sheriff. "Having a killer instinct and acting on it are two very different things. I find her more likely to kill anyone threatening her loved ones than her actual loved ones."
Bellatrix snorted. Perceptive these two coppers. It was good to know she had at least some allies left in this Merlin-forsaken place.
"Stay safe, Marjory. Go the station and wait for the doctor. If Nightingale tries to recruit you, tell him you're needed to supervise the two people you have in custody."
"Will do. Don't do anything stupid either, Sarah. Over."
When the two were done talking, the police radio produced only static. The dark witch reached in and turned the biggest round button and, with a single click, she put the police cruiser and its radio to rest. She would leave it to rust and decay and be a profound mystery to future hikers coming this way.
Luck would soon be on her side. Not only had she reached the top of the ridge, but there was a fire lookout tower located there. From that tower, she would be able to see for miles away. The tower itself was a small wooden one-story building on top of a construction of stilts of six meter high stilts and a staircase meandering around it. The building itself was darkened, which was strange because she was certain these fire lookout towers were supposed to be manned.
Careful as she was, Bellatrix crept up the stairs, ready for anything. If only that bloody dog behind her would stop panting. The sound of the dog's nails clicking on the steel steps were loud enough at it was. Fortunately, caution had been unnecessary, as when she arrived at the top of the tower she found the place devoid of any creature living or dead. Thing was, it didn't look deserted. The tower itself contained a small living space for its occupant. A single bed, a small kitchen area with a fridge, a large bookcase and an office desk with a radio. Most of the tower consisted of windows looking out all over the forest on all sides.
People manning these towers were usually here for weeks on end. One day, Bellatrix might have enjoyed this job: being away from everything, no people around, alone with your own thoughts and all the time in the world to let loose one's creative side.
The dog hopped onto the bed and got comfortable while Bellatrix searched the tower for anything she might use. There was a map on the office, which she pocketed. In a drawer, she found a device which looked a lot like the flares the kidnapper had used, but these could be inserted inside some sort of muggle pistol. Bellatrix held this flaregun out and tried aiming it: it seemed easy enough to use. Simply point and click the trigger. This might be useful against the shadow-creatures. Another good find was a set of kitchen knives: Bellatrix took out the largest one and put it away in her coat for use as a weapon. A small empty backpack had been put underneath the bed and was quickly claimed.
Finally, the fridge. Chilled bottled water and some ready-made petrol-station sandwiches. Not exactly a large haul, but after losing an entire day it felt good to quench her thirst and fill her stomach. She sat on the chair next to the bed, eating one of the sandwiches and feeding the other one to Max. She took a sip from the opened bottle while scratching Max behind the ear while he was eating. Though she had found the sandwich to be disgusting and utterly unworthy of the term 'food', the dog was definitely far less discerning.
With the map in hand, Bellatrix made her way to the mounted binoculars on the sides of the tower's platform. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to an orange glow in the distance. Taking a closer look with the binoculars revealed a crashed search and rescue helicopter in the distance. Undoubtedly a victim of the Dark Presence's wrath… the same fate the once occupant of this tower likely had suffered.
She turned the binoculars and spotted a train bridge in the distance. From memory, she remembered that the train yard was close to the coal mine. Ergo, a train bridge leading to the train yard meant she should head in that direction. Looking to the map confirmed this. But it also confirmed she had underestimated just how far away the coal mine was from her current location.
Bellatrix sighed. She knew it would be wiser to spend the night here. She knew it would lessen the risks if she travelled by day. But she also knew doing so would leave very little room for error.
So, she squared her shoulders and prepared herself for a trek through the darkest of night. Bellatrix loaded up the backpack she had found with a few bottles of water, some of those godawful sandwiches and the flaregun. With the dog again in tow, Bellatrix made her way through the woods for a rather thankfully uneventful trip until she found the railway tracks. From here, it would simply be following the tracks until she got to the coal mine. Which would be hours upon hours of walking.
The forest around her cast dark shadows, but there was none of the malevolence from before. The moon was above them, the forest was rife with sounds of birds, wind and whatever creatures deigned to live here. Strange, really. The deputies. The helicopter. The fire lookout tower… whatever people manning those were called. And she was rather certain the Dark Presence was behind whatever had happened to Rose back at the trailer park. So far the Dark Presence had attacked just about anyone except her. What was going on here?
Max panted next to her as he hopped across the tracks, tail wagging.
"So, what you going to do where this is over, hm?"
"Wuf?"
"Don't look at me like that. You know what I mean."
"Wuf."
"I know what you're thinking. 'This nice curly-haired witch lady probably has a nice yard I can run around in and shit all over'."
"Wuf."
"Well we do. Back in Helena. Clear air and woods and mountains as far as the eye can see. And no shadow-monsters in the bloody woods either."
"Wuf."
"Oh, Hermione is going to love you," Bellatrix chuckled. "Lost that cat of hers about… three years ago, I think. Horrible little bastard I was relieved to see go, but she was gutted. It was her first pet. Hermione didn't want to get a new cat and still hasn't. But I think she'll warm up to you. My Hermione has a thing for lost strays. Of course… we'll need to find her first."
"Wuf."
Bellatrix stopped in her tracks and squatted next to the dog. The dog, of course, took this as an invitation to try to lick her face. "Look," said Bellatrix. "I'm only admitting this to you because you can't speak, but… I'm glad I'm not alone in this mess."
Still uncomfortable, but deciding it wasn't worth not doing it, Bellatrix reached forward to rub the dog's head with one hand and his back with the other. This, of course, led to vigorous tail wagging and more attempts at licking. "Yeah, enough, enough," Bellatrix sighed. "Let's just… get on way, hm? There's no quiet backyard in Helena for you or me unless we actually find Hermione."
After what seemed like hours of walking, they finally reached the train bridge. It was a simple metal construction over a gorge with a river below, some 100 meters long. It looked to be nearly a century old and covered with rust and old red paint. The last time it had seen a paint job must have been decades ago. Wooden beams held the rails in place, while a truss constructed on either side of the bridge bore its load.
Bellatrix took a moment to take a sip of water while the dog started growling at the bridge, laying low while giving it suspicious looks.
"Don't worry, Max," said Bellatrix and offered the dog some water. The dog, however, was too occupied with glaring at the bridge. "We haven't seen a train all night. If you're worried about a train coming just as we try to cross the bridge… that only happens in muggle films and we all know how stupid muggles are."
Bellatrix set foot on the bridge, which was easier said than done. These types of bridges weren't meant for humans to set foot on: there were large gaps in between the wooden beams, the bridge was narrow and there were no railings on either side. A misstep could easy result into a plunge in the dark waters below.
Dark waters.
Bellatrix grasped her head. It was hard to think. The dog barked, but she could barely hear it. She held onto one of the steel beams to steady herself as her brain exploded in her skull.
The metal around her started to smell like death and seemed to decay before her very eyes. The whole bridge shook as living darkness crept up its sides like vines. The shadows that were after her were still trying to stop her. The dog barked and her eyes were drawn to a pipe from the truss.
The pipe wrenched itself loose from the bridge's steel framework. Wrapped in darkness, it floated in midair, twitching in the breeze. For a moment, Bellatrix didn't understand what was happening. The thing then launched at her with impossible force. She threw herself out of the way, but just barely. It slammed against the side of the truss with a loud clank When she formed a lumos in her hands, it shook with a dark rage before it flew at her again. Though she still managed to dodge, she tripped over the rails and almost flew over the side and into the gorge below had it not been for a wild grab and her hand grasping one of the beams. By the time she managed to steady herself, the entire truss was shaking as more pipes yanked loose.
She realized two things. The Dark Presence wasn't gone. It never had been. It's been stalking her, biding its time and infecting objects now. The darkness that was pursuing her was getting stronger and it was consuming everything in its path.
The second thing she realized was that the truss being ripped apart while the entire bridge was shaking wouldn't do wonders for its structural integrity. She had to get to the other side and fast.
She let out a shriek of defiance while throwing a lumos at her feet. The darkness seemed to scream at the sudden burst of light, while Bellatrix ran to the other side to make her escape, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't trip herself by catching her foot between the gaps in the beams. By the time she reached the end of the bridge, she heard a yelp behind her. Apparently, the dog had not been as lucky.
With a curse under her breath, Bellatrix turned herself around and made for the trapped dog as the bridge was shaking up and down while bits of it splashed down into the waters below. She grabbed the dog by the collar and, with magically propelled force, hurled the dog towards the end of the bridge where he landed safely. In fact, Max was already barked at her just as she started running again.
She knew she was not going to make it before the bridge collapsed.
Again, Bellatrix hated being right.
A mass of steel and wooden beams collapsed into the waters below as it let out a death groan of metal scraping over metal. Bellatrix found herself hanging from one of the bent rails still suspended over the side of the gorge, seemingly still connected from a spike rammed into the concrete support for the bridge. Muscles straining, Bellatrix started to shimmy towards the edge, and thanking whatever god of magic planted the idea in her head to start working out regularly some six years ago. Sound of body, sound of mind and all that bollocks.
Part of her wanted to give up. Part of her had had enough and was ready to let herself drop into the churning waters below. But she pushed that aside. Bellatrix didn't give in. Bellatrix never gave up. And Bellatrix never surrendered. Fourteen years of Azkaban had taught her that. Hermione was out there. Hermione needed to be rescued. Bellatrix would save Hermione, just as Hermione had saved her.
She reached the other side and, with a groan, pulled herself and threw herself onto her stomach. Bellatrix lay panting in the dirt, exhausted, in pain and desperate. She would have lain there a bit longer, had it not been for a smelly wet dog-tongue assaulting her cheek.
Bellatrix managed to get to her feet and turned back to see the wreckage of a once not-so-proud railway bridge. For any train-driver's sake, she hoped someone else would call it in, because she sure as hell wasn't going to.
The dark forest on either side of the track seemed that much more threatening now. The attack on the bridge had come out of nowhere and the Dark Presence had proven that it had once again changed tactics on her. There's been no prior sign of the approaching darkness: not the smell, the oppressive feelings or the lack of sounds like it had before. It was frightening just how quickly this thing could adapt. For now, having the dog along was a bit of a blessing, since Max had definitely noticed something wrong on the bridge. If anything, the dog was worth keeping around as an early warning system. The soft fur to pet was a nice bonus.
The feeling of paranoid unease did not leave her as she finally arrived at the trainyard. Though the time of night belied it, she expected there to be a night watch-man at least, but no. The entire place was eerily quiet. According to the pamphlet she had read on local history, the trainyard was built near the coalmine to facilitate the hauling of ore to other parts of the state. After the closing of the mine, it fell into disuse until it was partially converted to haul lumber from the lumber camps. Indeed, she could see plenty of loaded waggons filled with logs waiting to be hauled, and just as many abandoned coal waggons looking to be decades old. These people of Bright Falls weren't too good with cleaning out their mess.
Bellatrix decided to stay off the tracks for now and moved to the side where the warehouses were. According to the map, there was a footpath up to the coal mine which would get her there quicker than following the tracks. It would shave a good hour off her trip. Still there was absolutely no sign of life anywhere. Not a human, but not an animal either. As far as she could tell, only she and the dog were.
She came across a gate blocking passage further into the trainyard's warehouse park. The warehouses were seemingly made from folded aluminium siding with a roof on top: cheaply built and shoddily maintained. Bellatrix wondered what they would even store here which was important enough to keep it under lock and key. In any case, the padlock quickly fell to her unlocking cantrip and she made her way inside. Beyond the gate lay a much larger yard surrounded by more warehouses and a loading dock to one side. Loading equipment stood in a dormant state next to more logs chains together in preparation to be lifted on top of waggons. There was not a light on here. Not in the small office, not in any of the warehouses. There was a gate on the other side and a dirt road beyond. That was her destination.
Halfway across the yard she stopped. Max, whom had been sauntering behind her and sniffing the air, suddenly stopped, bracing himself and growling at one of the warehouses. Then a bark. And another one.
Bellatrix prepared herself for anything: she would not ignore Max' warning a second time.
This warehouse's door was a barred gate and Bellatrix tried to peer into the darkness to try to see beyond. A lumos provided answers: a forked bulldozer, probably used for loading the logs, was the warehouse' lone occupant. But it wouldn't be for long. The bulldozer's engine roared to life. Mud and rocks flew as it fought for traction. It crashed through the gate and landed heavily in the yard. If it were an animal, it would've shaken its head after the impact, fixed its eyes on her, and charged. Of course, it had no head, nor eyes. Shadows crawled on its form, twisting it into a monster. Then, it came for her.
The dog barked loudly, but wisely got out of its way when it sped towards Bellatrix. The dark witch weakly threw a lumos ball at it like she had on shadow-creatures before. Though the shadows shrieked in agony, the massive muggle machine kept bearing towards her. Bellatrix flung herself out of its path and scrambled to her feet. The bulldozer slammed against a railing and quickly changed course. Thankfully for her, this heavy machine was not good at turning, buying her some precious seconds.
Bellatrix ripped the backpack off her back and started searching through it. A few moments later, she held the orange flaregun in her hand. Praying to Morgana that this thing would work, she took the muggle device in sweaty shaking hands, took aim and tried to fire.
Only to find out that some kind of pin was preventing her from pulling the trigger.
Letting out a cry of frustration, she fiddled with the thing as the bulldozer was halfway through its turn. The pin was out and with gritted teeth, Bellatrix took aim again. This time, the flaregun fired its payload. The flare lit up the yard as it sped right over the bulldozer, slammed through the window of the office next to the gate and promptly started a fire inside.
Bellatrix cursed loudly as the bulldozer had almost made its turn and searched for more flares in her backpack. Max continued to bark at the bulldozer just as she found one of the flares. "Come on, come on, you muggle piece of shite!" she yelled as pushed and pulled on the flaregun's barrel so she could load it in. By the time she was done, she raised the flaregun to see the machine rushing towards her again.
Unfortunately, she grasped the flaregun the wrong way and fired before she could aim. The flare slammed into the ground at her feet and exploded in a dizzying array of light and heat. Bellatrix yelped and fell back, crawling away from the mass on the ground and fearing that she might have set her clothes on fire.
The bulldozer was still coming and, still on the ground, Bellatrix scrambled through her backpack for another flare, the last one. While she was loading the flaregun, Max took position between her and the bulldozer and barked loudly at it. The darkness-infected bulldozer, however, didn't seem to be very impressed. Finally, she managed to get the flare into the gun and, still lain on her back, aimed it at the bulldozer. It would hard to miss seeing how bloody close it was to running her over. The flare shot from the gun, passed between her legs, passed over the dog and hit the bulldozer point blank.
The bulldozer, or rather, the darkness infecting the bulldozer, shrieked alien sounds of pain as the flare exploded in light and heat, engulfing the entire muggle device. It stopped in its tracks, the darkness bleeding away in the burning red light. The entire bulldozer shook and groaned as the metal started to dissolve. Mere moments later, the machine was dragged into nothingness along with the dark tendrils, leaving no sign that it had ever existed.
"Bugger you then," Bellatrix told the now useless flaregun and tossed it into the yard to be forgotten.
Max walked up to Bellatrix and found himself a recipient of a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ear. "That was sweet. Useless, but sweet."
As Bellatrix got to her feet, she was met with a welcome sight. Above the hills beyond the gate, she could see a strip of light appearing. Soft, wandering warming light. She had never been so glad to see the sunrise.
Bellatrix donned her backpack and, with the dog in tow, she made their way across the dirt path towards the coal mine. It was still hours of walking, but she made good time. The light of the sun had given her fresh resolve and determination. Through the up and downs of the dirt path, she made good time and arrived at the coal mine with hours to spare. The old coal mine stood as a frozen image of time long past, it having been abandoned decades ago. A shaft deep into the mountainside was surrounded by wooden husks of buildings. A massive wooden coal tipple stood near the exit of the shaft, once meant to load the extracted coal for transport via railroad hopper cars. Plenty of tracks for hoppers led to a loading dock with larger tracks meant for trains. Hoppers and train waggons stood equally abandoned next to the buildings.
A sign nearby marked the site as an open-air museum of a sort, along with warning signs not to disturb the site or head into the shafts beyond.
Well. No promises.
Not a soul in sight and she would meet up with the kidnapper here at noon if everything would go according to plan. She located what seemed to be an office for the foremen and decided to hole up in there for now. The office was in the same sorry state as the rest of the coal mine: the building was falling apart. A wooden desk struggled to remain upright underneath a lot of old folders. A filing cabinet had been upturned and an old style black and white TV stood unplugged next to the door. Of note, however, was a ratty old sofa. But under the circumstances, it was heaven. Bellatrix sat down comfortably for the first time in what seemed like hours and withdrew a bottle of water from her backpack while Max plopped down next to her.
The sun was fast turning this wooden building into a sauna. A few hours left to go. She could rest for now.
Though there was the small issue of the missing diary. The kidnapper had demanded she bring it and she had nothing to show to him. Not even the fake she had started work on. Still, that would not deter her. She would again meet the muggle. And he would give her Hermione. She would not give him any choice.
Bellatrix grinned to herself. A drowning man would clutch at a straw. In the backpack, she found the knife she had brought and ran a finger across the blade. Very, very sharp. Bellatrix was quite skilled at causing pain and terror. As the day dragged on, more and more scenarios went through her mind. Ways to jump and torture the kidnapper to get Hermione back. She would anything to get Hermione back.
But it was all for nought.
The bastard never showed up.
When Bellatrix had first been given muggle spandex, she had been vehemently against ever having it even touch her skin. Her stubbornness aside, she had come around quite quickly as she had started working out on the regular. To her, it had become important to stay fit and healthy: in fact, Bellatrix saw it as yet another way to achieve perfection. The prison had excellent work-out facilities and she made liberal use of them all. Not only was the spandex quite comfortable, but she was prideful enough to show off her goods. Her arms and legs had gotten a distinct sculpted muscle tone and the last of her stomach fat had made way for very feminine sculpted abs Bellatrix had become quite proud of.
She'd always been vain enough to spend some of her weekly budget on supplements for her hair. Her curly hair was now dark, voluminous and shiny. The one grey streak she had left, she decided to keep undyed. It was a reminder to her of time and misery past and by keeping it, she could move on, but never forget.
It greatly pleased her that she had regained much of her former beauty and was able to turn heads again while casually strolling towards the facilities in her two-piece spandex kit. She also couldn't help but notice that a certain brown-haired girl stealing glances at her when she thought she wasn't looking.
Said brown-haired girl was right next to her in the prison's work-out facility, sat on the rowing machine next to her. Bellatrix had become quite adept at using the rowing machine as it gave her entire body a good workout and put all her hard work neatly on display. She kept up her rhythm perfectly, unlike the girl next to her.
"Come on," Bellatrix chuckled. "Keep going."
Hermione was panting and huffing. Pushing against the weights of the machine with ever more intense groans. Her rhythm was irregular, her breathing was irregular and she was sweating like a hog. Her brown hair, tied in a tail, swung about wildly.
"How… do you… keep… this… up?!" Hermione managed in between gasps. "You make it… seem… so… EASY!"
"Practice and tenacity," said Bellatrix, to whom it had become obvious that she was in far better shape than the girl was. "Come on, just a little bit longer."
"Pray…" Hermione panted in between words. "Just how much… is… a little bit… longer?"
"I said easy work-out today," grinned Bellatrix. "Twenty minutes only."
"TWENTY MINUTES?!" was exclaimed next to her. "I won't even be able to last two at this pace!"
Bellatrix almost chuckled. Almost. The indignation and disbelief was rife on Hermione's voice. She kept her expression neutral as much as possible. "Then a five minute break to drink water and loosen the muscles. After that, it's straight to the thread-mill for thirty minutes."
"THREAD-MILL?! THIRTY MINUTES?!"
"At least."
Hermione groaned again. "I forgot I was dealing with a chronically obsessive person here. I'll be sore all day tomorrow."
"Come on, Granger," said Bellatrix, giving the girl a look while never slowing down her rowing. "I'm over twice your age! Look at you, you're panting like an asthmatic whippet!'
For a moment, Hermione gave her a foul look and it seemed as if she wanted to make an obscene gesture at her. Instead, she tried to increase the pace of her rowing to show her up.
Big mistake. The trick behind using the rowing machine was to build up a rhythm using your body and let the momentum do most of the work. By forcing it, Hermione further strained her already strained body even more and was eventually forced to give up due to exhaustion. She simply let loose of the machine, let her legs curl up, threw her head back and closed her eyes. Now it was Bellatrix' time to sneak a peek: the girl did indeed look very appetizing in spandex. Shame she was so out of shape… but she had promised to work out with her more often and the girl loved a challenge as much as she did.
While Bellatrix was still rowing, the girl left the machine and sauntered over to the small bar area to fetch a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge. Bellatrix decided to cut her routine short and slowly cooled down. As she left the machine, she loosened her muscles on the way there. Though she had barely worked up a sweat, Hermione was absolutely drenched and still panting.
It was cute.
Especially when she felt Hermione's eyes roving over her body. Very gratifying.
She got a bottle of chilled water and took a few delicious sips. "I would like to share some good news with you today." Bellatrix said. "It's official. My divorce has been finalized. I am a Lestrange no longer."
"Congratulations!" smiled Hermione, her cheeks still reddened from the exertion.
"Dolph offered no contest to my filing," said Bellatrix. "I made no claims to the Lestrange fortune and I only wanted what was previously mine and my family's. Still, it took almost a year and a small army of solicitors to sort out the financial and ownership issues and to get everything signed back to my name. Fat load of good having a huge fortune will do me in here, but it's the principle of the thing. Of course," Bellatrix chuckled. "You already knew all of this."
Hermione smiled briefly. "I wanted to let you have the pleasure of telling me," she chuckled. "Miss Black."
"Oh, I do like the sound of that," Bellatrix chuckled. "And thank you for allowing me the illusion of private affairs just this once."
"Have you been in contact with Rodolphus?"
"Not a word," shrugged Bellatrix. "I assume he simply wants to move on with his life. So do I hence neither of us laying claims to each other's assets. To get it all over as quick and painless as possible. We were never in love. We were simply… thrown together and our families hoped it'd work out. It did… in a way, I suppose."
"Rodolphus is actually doing quite well in the Program," said Hermione. "His brother… is a different story."
Bellatrix snorted. "Not surprising. Rabastan always was an idiot."
"The program's results thus far has been a bit of a mixed bag. But we prefer to focus on our successes stories."
"And where do I fall in that, hm?"
"Let's say better than most,"
"That's not a clear answer."
"No, it isn't. But we're not quite done yet, now are we?"
"That's sounds like a challenge! You know me well, little girl."
Hermione, now calmed down somewhat, gave her a devious smile. "I'll give you an indication on how your case is going. I've got all the paperwork done to gain official clearance for an inmate weekend furlough."
Inmate weekend furlough?
It took a bit for Bellatrix to register what that meant.
"You passed all the requirements," smiled Hermione. "With flying colours, I might add. If you want to know how well you are doing? Well, let me just say my superiors are very impressed with your progress. And, well, my work with you, not to pound myself on the chest."
Lies. The girl was absolutely proud of herself.
Still, now it was Bellatrix' chest to heave and to break out into hives of sweat when the sheer implications hit her over the head with a mallet. "O-outside?"
"Inmate furlough isn't usually inside of the prison, Bella," spoke Hermione matter of factly.
"But… but…" Bellatrix started hyperventilating. It took her a moment to center herself.
"It's alright, hey, hey," Hermione reached over to grasp her hands. Her fingers were soft to the touch as she slightly squeezed her hands.
Bellatrix closed her eyes and couldn't suppress a tremor going through her entire body. "Where would I even go?!"
"It's simple weekend trip to Stockholm," said Hermione. "You won't be alone. I'll be here every step of the way."
"W-why? Why now?!"
Hermione's soothing voice sounded once more. "My superiors think you're ready. More importantly, I think you're ready. It's your first step towards building a new life for yourself outside of these four walls."
Bellatrix shook her head vigorously. "I'm not ready… I… I'm not ready!"
"You knew this was coming," said Hermione. "We talked about it."
"N-next month! Next. Month!" Bellatrix stressed.
"No," Hermione spoke a little more forcefully. "This weekend."
The shakes got worse as tears started forming in her eyes. "NO!" she hissed. "I am NOT going!"
Hermione never lost that smile. "The Bellatrix I know would never back away from a challenge."
"STOP! Just… STOP!" Bellatrix hissed angrily. "Don't manipulate me like this! Not now! Not this way! NOT YOU!"
Two arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. Another shudder of a different kind went through her. "You won't have to do this alone. There is nothing to worry about."
If Hermione only knew just how badly Bellatrix wanted to kiss her right now.
Suddenly, two sets of razor-sharp talons raked over her back as she was lifted from the ground in a vice-like grip. Bellatrix cried as she felt the air being crushed from her lungs. The pressure on her ribs was immense. When she opened her eyes, she stared into pools of living darkness. The Thing That Was Hermione snarled at her. "YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!"
The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was the sound of all her ribs snapping at once.