The end for Lauren didn't come quickly as she had hoped. After the first beating she woke to find herself chained to a wall. Whoever it was that was holding her captive had left some water and a gruel like food nearby her side. Lauren picked up the plate of food and smelt it before throwing it across the room. As much as she didn't want to accept a thing from her captors, her mouth was dry and her body was crying for hydration. She took the water and cursed herself for not being stronger.
Some days they sent the thing down into the basement to beat her, others days she was left in peace. There were no more hours to count, simply time between the creation and nursing of the pain. She had heard voices of others. Sometimes when the beast brought her too close to the edge of blackness she'd hear him called back to his masters. Whoever they were, they were not ready for Lauren Lewis to die just yet.
It may have been minutes, perhaps hours, after one of her more brutal encounters with the beast that Lauren heard a clear voice for the first time in that basement. "Doc...Doc, wake up...Doc". At first she thought she was dreaming, she hadn't heard a voice in what seemed like such a long time. She tried desperately to open her eyes, to move her head but everything felt weighed down. "Fuck me...they've been having some fun with you". Lauren knew the voice, it was in no way comforting, it had a swagger all of its own. "Tam..Tamsin?" She could barely get the words out and could only just lift her eyes to see the Valkyrie sitting across from her on the opposite wall. "Yeah it's me Doc, heard you were feeling a bit down in the dumps so thought I'd drop in to say hi". Lauren didn't need to look up to know that shit eating grin was plasted over Tamsin's face. "Are you here with Bo to rescue me?" Lauren asked in hope. "Fffffft, fraid not Doc, the cavalry ain't coming and I ain't wearing these lovely bracelets for shits and giggles", Tamsin lifts out her hands which are clasped in irons towards Lauren's limited sight line. "Mind you I've always had a penchant for cuffs..."
Lauren wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. At least there was a familiar face, a voice to hear, even if it was Tamsin. On the other hand, it was Tamsin. Lauren felt the dark overwhelm her again, her eyes tunnelled into nothing but blackness even as she struggled to keep them open. She could hear Tamsin call out to her but was incapable of fighting anymore as she slipped back into unconsciousness.
Over the next few days, Lauren slipped in and out of consciousness. Occasionally she had the capacity to drink some water. She had heard the beast come once but on this occasion he let her be, laying his fists instead into the Valkyrie. She heard Tamsin taunt the beast and she thought the sound of the Valkyrie striking it back. She wanted to believe that Tamsin had hurt it. She wanted Tamsin to do what she felt no longer capable of doing, fighting.
Lauren was woken again by a bucket of freezing cold water thrown over her. She braced momentarily for a beating that never came. Instead she heard another bucket thrown over her cell companion. "Fuck you, you piece of fucking fuck... Arrrggh...fuck". Lauren heard Tamsin shake her chains in an attempt to hit the water barer. "I'd rather start the day with yoga but beggars can't be choosers" Lauren quipped through a swollen jaw. "Well, well well, Dr Lewis, the first words out of your mouth in days and your cracking jokes. If you didn't look like a human handbag right now I might actually have found that funny". There was silence between the two for a moment. Lauren had so many questions she didn't know where to start. "Tamsin...where are we, why are we here?". Tamsin could hear the the physical and emotional pain Lauren was suffering just in getting the words out and for a moment she felt deeply concerned for her and so considered not telling her the truth. Better truth than lies at this point she thought. "This place is called the eternity room. It's a Dark Fae holding area for prisoners who are condemned to death. The Dark think death is too good for the worst of their prisoners so we've been put in this room and they will beat and torture us until the people high up think we've suffered enough and then they'll put us poor sods out of our misery. Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes days but when I was a kid I used to hear stories of them keeping people alive down here for centuries..." Tamsin's voice trailed off as if the realisation of her own situation had finally hit home. "I'm guessing you're hear because of your involvement Dr Faekstein and I'm here because I know just the right way to piss off people".
Both Lauren and Tamsin sat quietly for a time. Saying nothing, deep in their own thoughts. Once again it was Lauren who spoke first. "Bo?"... Lauren heard Tamsin laugh under her breath. "She went crazy looking for you in the first few weeks after you disappeared. Dyson and I tried every source, every trick we knew to track you. Bo just went ape shit on everyone at Taft's facility. That girl's got some emotional control issues that she's got to work out". Lauren felt relieved, relieved that she was missed, relieved that Bo still cared, relieved that someone was looking for her. "...in the end though everyone was convinced your Houdini was on purpose, that you didn't want to be found, I guess in the end Bo believed it too". As Tamsin said the words she realised their power. She realised that Lauren would know that there was going to be no rescue party, that this was the end "...guess it sucks to be you" she smirked, her face belying the shared pain she felt with the doctor in that moment.
Before Lauren could scream in anger, before she could weep or sob, she heard the doors to their shared hell open and the putridness engulf her senses as the beast entered. She knew it was there this time for her and this time she wanted the hurt, she needed the pain, she desperately wanted to be sent back into the dark and away from Tamsin, away from the truth.
Lauren pushed herself up with her legs forcing her back against the wall. She wanted to face him, she wanted him to want to hurt her. "Lauren, what the fuck are you doing!?" called out Tamsin. When the beast grabbed Lauren by the throat he held her for a moment and looked into her eyes. Lauren could see nothing but hate in his gaze. The brute pushed her against the wall and winded her. The animal lifted Lauren off the ground by her throat and in doing so brought her legs to his eyes before taking her left fibula in his massive hand and squeezing until he heard a snap. Lauren screamed out in pain as he threw her to the ground. She could only barely hear Tamsin fighting with her own chains and picking up dirt from the ground and throwing it at beast in an attempt to distract him. Both women were taken aback when they heard it speak. In a low tone the beast bent over a panting Lauren and said "Let's see you stand now human". And with that he began to laugh, the same laugh that Lauren had heard on her first day in this hell. On that day it filled her with fear but today it filled her with a rage so deep burning that she could not feel the excruciating pain of bone on muscle as she dragged herself to her feet once more. She glimpsed a look at Tamsin who shared with her a look of shock and awe, how the hell?
When the beast turned towards the Doctor and saw her standing once more his laughter stopped. When he came down upon Lauren again she could feel her ribs crack, her shoulder dislocate and her arm snap. The pain overpowered her until her body did what human bodies do, it relieved her of consciousness and laid her within a healing darkness once more.