Wow! Last chapter got the most reviews for this story- thank you all so much! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint and I'm very sorry for the cliffhanger.
Disclaimer: I don't own POTO or Frankenstein
Gustave tried to ignore the vicious throbbing in his head. Twice he had nearly let the wind sway him off his feet. He couldn't afford to jeopardize their journey, not with Kristine in his arms. Her shivers grew, Erik's bloodied cloak hardly enough to keep her warm.
"Frederik!" he called.
A rush of wind. They still had more to go. The harsh sound of barking resonated in his ears- she would be in safety soon. He bit his lower lip, turning back to check on Erik. The other man's limps were growing more drastic by the second, their path in the snow traced with his blood. Erik kept a hand on his side, yellow eyes frequently flicking to nothing behind that mask, his normally erect posture reduced to a pained slouch.
It was nothing but proof of his deteriorating condition. "Frederik!"he cried again.
He was knee deep in snow, head swirling, and breaths coming out in puffs of mist. He could still hear the dogs barking. They could make it. They had to make it.
Adam dragged his prey through the snow, the woman kicking and and screaming to no avail. The only reply she received was the wind's harsh sound. He snarled, lifting her by the legs and slamming her body against himself. Winded, she stared up at him like an animal about to be skinned. Her cold eyes were terrified, her disarrayed hair blowing past her hooded cloak.
He had come across her while approaching the fire and drums. They had screamed upon seeing him and she was among the few supposed cult members, the one unfortunate enough to have been caught. He forced a ghastly grin.
"Tell me," he demanded, "what you were doing in the forest."
"Death- death," she stammered, "go away- away-"
"It was YOU!" he roared, "your people! I ought to slay you where you cower!"
"No!" she shrieked, fighting to free herself, clawing at him, kicking, "No! No!"
He squeezed, causing a choke to escape her mouth. Gurgling, she writhed until he let go. The woman lay frozen, unable to tear her eyes away from his visage. Adam stood over her, hands poised to strike once more.
"I will rip you limb from limb!"
"No!" she curled into a ball, "I- I'll tell you everything, whatever you are, whatever you are-"
"Start!"
"Hi- his name is Anders. I didn't want this- I didn't! They'll kill us if we-"
He grabbed her and shook, ignoring her cries. "Start at the beginning," he growled.
Kristine was aware of Gustave's comforting presence, his warm arms around her, and yet she was surrounded by death. The cloak smelled of death, not the decay of corpses, but that of the reaper himself. No, not now, please, not now.
She felt disconcerted as her body moved, the distant call of a name ringing in her head. Frederik. Frederik. Erik. Her eyes refused to open, the cold refusing to leave her quaking body. She heard barks as Gustave's yells were returned.
Frederik. Frederik.
"... by a fire... hurry."
She heard herself babble about the child, about mylings. "Gustave, gustave..."
"... going to be fine-"
"Gustave, what..."
"M. Daae-"
"Kristine!"
Gustave's arms left; she wanted to shudder as another pair took her. "... doctor..."
"Frederik."
Gustave. Vague names formed in her numb head. Frederik. Christine. Erik.
"... safe..." Safe.
"Gustave, come in!" Frederik ordered, standing at the door to his cottage.
Erik put his weight on a nearby tree, hoping he had heard wrong when Daae replied: "no." He had no doubt they would all be caught in the coming blizzard if they ignored Frederik, and Gustave's head wound was not faring well. He attempted to voice his opinion when a wave of dizziness surged through him. The various aches did little to help matters.
"They're still out there- I have to make sure they're caught. I need to go to town-"
"You're mad!"
"They could return! We can't let them continue this!"
He couldn't hear the rest of their conversation. All he could see was the sultana's laughing face, Kristine's terrified eyes, Adam's enraged stare, his own death's head. He tried to block them from his mind, tried to push the nausea back, tried to ignore the pain. He focused on Kristine. What about Kristine? Who was she? Daae's wife, yes, Daae's poor wife. With child. She was in the cottage, in shock, tended by Frederik's wife and son. Son... the son was a blur, a blur who had gone for a doctor, gun in hand.
Frederik's dogs paced restlessly about, baring their teeth at nothing and barking into the night.
"Come back!"
The stockier man chased his friend, only to be shoved back violently by the latter. Gustave disappeared into the woods, leaving Frederik sitting in the snow, and it was only then that the masked man's senses returned.
Shit.
"You," he directed at Frederik, "stay here-" cough- "stand guard." Holding back a groan, he pushed himself off the tree, and staggered toward the woods. If Daae had run in that condition, he would surely die- daroga, what would you do?- if Frederik went after him, that let the women vulnerable- Erik does not know.
"And you'll find him?" Frederik snapped, "you can barely walk!"
"Then we shall make do." Erik limped past the other man, Frederik grudgingly letting him have his way. The man had his own family to worry about, to fear for. You're certainly smarter than Daae...
Frederik turned away, unsure eyes landing on a gruesome sight. The bark of Erik's tree was stained with red.
Anders. The name was like a curse in his head- Anders, the man whose sick fantasies were stimulated by one thing alone- the lost notes of Victor Frankenstein. Adam kicked a tree, knocking off a heap of snow, the wind beating his hard back. To want to recreate this destruction, to want to summon the dead, the sick fool would die.
The woman had run from him, and in her haste, fallen into the frozen stream, into a hole that Adam was glad he had created. He left the abused tree and watched the stream- her body did not surface.
He had a hunt to tend to.
Adam stomped through the forest, angrily wrecking the dying trees in his path. Snapping twigs, ruined bark, ripped branches, savage roars. When at last he stopped, he stood in a small clearing, listening to the rapid fall of snow.
Frankenstein's indirect influence would be wiped off this Earth, he swore it. He stared ahead, at the distance he was sure he traveled, and saw two hooded figures. He approached them on silent feet.
The first had no time to scream before his head was dashed against a trunk, and the second, in his surprise, lost the grip on his knife. Adam wasted no time in crushing the man's windpipe. He took extra satisfaction in bashing their skulls in, until there was nothing left of their faces save bloodied messes with pink insides leaking out of their heads.
He could only imagine what he would do to Anders- the mere thought made him flinch.
Adam moved on, determined to hound out his enemies, undeterred by the increasing cold. He did not know how long this went on, with nothing but white and brown in his vision, the blood still clinging to his large hands, when he came across a limp body.
"You."
His eyes widened, words failing him. So he had been right. Daae was indeed one of them.
Erik crouched as the vomit left his mouth. Teeth chattering of their own accord, he stood up, every muscle screaming in protest, and placed the mask back on his face, fingers clumsily trying to tie it back in place. His left hand was covered in blood- he reminded himself that the blood had come from his own side, not some victim of the torture chamber.
The cold had dulled the pain from his wounds somewhat, but it was so unbearably cold. The burn from the broken rib, on the other hand, had increased tenfold, and the bouts of coughing only made it worse. The cut along his chest added further to the discomfort.
He had to find Gustave soon- Erik was not confident in his ability to find the way back to the cottage if the blizzard started. Time was running out.
"Oh magician, does it hurt?"
He limped on- "Break for me," she ordered- a fierce gust of wind sending him skidding back. An uneven pile of snow caused him to stumble and fall on one knee. Spots of black. Scarlet spots in the snow.
"You cannot die just yet!" she screeched.
Daroga, don't leave Erik. Don't leave him, please! Please!
"Erik!"
Please, please, daroga.
"Erik."
"Daroga?" he whispered, staring up at the huge man. Daroga... no, that was in the past. He was in... Sweden, yes, looking for a man named Daae... and the creature before him was- was-
"Adam."
Adam's aged cloak was covered in dust and snow, bits of blood on its tearing fabric. There was an excitement in his eyes. But it was the man swung over his back that finally woke Erik up. Gustave's bleeding head lolled.
"I am sorry for the injury I caused you, my friend," Adam began, "But my suspicion was correct. Your violinist was among that cult."
"What!?" Erik shouted, "Let him go!"
"I will tell you everything later, for now, we dispose of him."
"Adam," he growled, "he has nothing to do with them- give him to me and we shall part ways here."
The wind whistled around them. And to Erik's unease, Adam laughed, a dry, uncanny laugh.
"We are so very alike, Erik. If a man like Daae had tried to befriend myself, I believe I would react the same way. But judgement can be blind, and look at your state- I know he was responsible."
Erik stood up unsteadily, Adam's form seeming to double in his unclear vision. "Adam, please," he coughed, "I shall have to harm you if you do not relent."
"Then you will have to forgive me," the other replied coldly.
The larger man wore an expression of rage, of a hellbent eagerness to complete some unknown task, and Erik knew the odds were against him if he dared try to delay Adam. You cannot fight me, was the message he once received from the German's creation.
His bleeding arm protesting, Erik whipped out the punjab- it was futile, he knew- and charged. He had betrayed Adam, he knew, but- "How many innocent men have you condemned, Erik?" the daroga asked softly- he could not let Daae die in this fashion.
Adam easily sidestepped every swipe. The lasso struck the hulk in the shoulder, ripping a piece of cloak off, just as Erik felt a fist dig into his stomach. Another blow hit him on the shoulder and he was face down in the snow, immobilized with pain, swallowing his own bile.
"I am doing this for you!" Adam cried, "your own good, Erik!"
With his own cry, Erik shot back up, a bout of adrenaline allowing the punjab to wind itself around Adam's thick neck. The latter choked as he attempted to pull, the slice in his arm destroying what little tolerance his nerves had left. Adam's heavy hands delivered blow after blow upon his head, chest, and arms, the sounds loud in his ears. A finger dug into the cut and he was forced to loosen his grip.
A bout of coughing took over, enough time for Adam to shove Erik aside and throw the punjab away. Erik felt a strong grip on his shoulders as Adam squeezed, the pain blinding him temporarily before he was slammed back into the ground, much like their first meeting.
"I do what I must for your sake!" Adam roared, frustration in his voice.
"Let- let him go..." Erik rasped, the world mixing into swirls before his eyes. The next sensation he was aware of was Adam's foot coming down on his chest as he prepared to continue the fight-
His screams of pain mingled with Adam's pleads for forgiveness as more ribs crunched under the pressure. When the pain finally stopped, he was unable to open his eyes, the coughs coming out in horrid guttural noises.
"Why?" Adam's voice whispered.
"... him... go..."
Coughs. His own moans.
"You're wounded from head to toe. Why, Erik? Why risk so much for this man?"
"...go..."
"He caused this..."
"... please..."
Erik heard something hit the snow beside him. "Then you may both die here." Adam's shadow was gone. Blood. Pain. Wind. Did this mean he had succeeded? Erik found himself lying alone in pure agony, Gustave's unconscious body beside him.
And that's where we leave off! I hope this was worth reading. Please let me know if it was decent enough.
On another note, sorry for putting Erik in such terrible condition, but it just wouldn't be realistic if he wasn't suffering so much, haha. And no, Adam hasn't really left them- he's still worked up and convinced Gustave is the villain. That may or may not change...
Next time, some not-so-dead cultists come back and Erik has a breakdown.