A/N: Soooo...a new fic! This one is basically in a Sentinel/Guide (ish) verse, except that in this fic they will be referred to as Einheri/Valkyrie. Totally fine if you are not familiar with the Sentinel/Guide AU. Everything will be explained as the story moves along. Yes there will be bonding heat!
Will be a slow burn as usual. Tamsin won't have a lot of appearances until a few chapters later. Unlike many of my previous fics where I didn't know how the story would go when I wrote early chapters, I have a fairly good idea of the plot of this fic. I expect it to have somewhere between 30 -35 chapters.
The title of this fic is from "Unbreakable" by Stratovarius. I feel that the song suits this story very well.
I hope that I could do an update every two weeks but I guess we will see!
Hope everyone likes this fic! Long live Valkubus!
Chapter 1 - Raven
As the entire world succumbed to the night, the new moon slowly rose, hanging above the tip of the tallest mountain.
Under the moon, there stood a thick, crooked tree. Its gnarly branches bore no growth. Its bark was cracked and dry. Yet, the grass around that tree was much greener and more lush than anywhere else. It was as if the grass had drained the life out of the tree and made it its own.
Slowly, the moon made its way across the sky. Just as the last ray of moonlight left the tree's tallest branch, a huge chunk of the tree bark groaned and creaked.
Like a door, it opened.
A woman stepped out. She wore a tattered gray robe adorned with gems, gold and silver. Her long, lush hair of red and gray wavered gently like lazy snakes.
Her eyes were blindfolded by a piece of old cloth. Under the blindfold, lines of scarlet tattoos of runic words ran down along her cheeks. It was as if she had cried out those bloodied texts.
She turned to look at the moon, as her deer antler crown cast long, vague shadows behind her.
The tree hut door opened again, and there came a young girl. She wore nothing but a washed out white robe. Her dark hair was braided into two long braids, and her eyes were brighter than the brightest stars.
"Is it time, Seer Helga?" She asked the older woman.
"Almost," the older woman answered simply, before she sat down in front of the hut.
The young girl stood behind her. Neither of them spoke another word.
A few moments later, a man and a woman came up to the mountain top.
The man was bald. He wore a set of dark tunic and breeches. His entire face was covered by a black leather mask. The exposed skin on his arms and legs were covered in scars and ink.
The woman was in a full set of silver plate armor. She had both her sheathed sword and her shield mounted on her back. The hair above her ears were shaved, and the hair on top of her head was tied into a single, short braid.
"Seer Signe," the young girl greeted the woman. Then she turned to the man. "Seer Einar."
Einar gave her a firm nod, while Signe responded with a brief smile. Then, they sat down, forming a triangle with Helga.
"The stars have aligned. It has begun," Signe said as she stared into the night sky.
"We shall take one last peek," Einar suggested, before he took off his mask, exposing his heavily burnt face.
Helga nodded and reached her hands out. The three of them connected their hands to form a circle.
Together, they started to chant. Signe's voice was soft and low, like the lullaby of the calm ocean. Einer's whispers were husky and heavy, like the night wind that traveled through narrow tunnels of the rocky mountains. Helga's singsong tone resembled soaring larks in late spring.
Their voices turned into a melody of magic. It allowed them to see through the sea of stars, through the fog of universe, through the veil of time.
It granted them a glimpse into the world's fate.
"I see…I see…a monster…" Einar bit out, squeezing the other two women's hands hard.
"...a beast," Signe breathed, panting slightly. "A four legged beast…a four legged beast with…with so much darkness inside. I see…I see a-"
She tried to make out a shape, but it quickly disappeared into the swirling stars.
"I see something else…" Helga whispered, digging her fingers into the other two people's hands. "A winged creature…a bird…a warrior of…of…."
Before she could complete her sentence, a sudden, invisible shockwave of energy hit her. It smashed into her chest, beating her to the ground.
"Seer Helga!" The young girl behind her exclaimed as she rushed to help her, but Helga gave her a firm head shake.
She then took a deep breath and sat up, forcing herself back into the ritual.
The stars, the figures, the beast, the bird…they were so close yet so far away. They were changing, transforming and growing…
Helga tried to see further. She tried to see what was happening with the bird or the beast, but a strong pull on her hand yanked her out of her vision.
Einar, defeated by the same shockwave, collapsed right beside her, gasping like every breath might be his last.
Then, Signe crashed. She gagged, eventually coughing out a mouthful of blood.
"Seer Signe! Seer Einar!" The young girl yelled in panic. She ran to Signe and held her arm.
She looked at the other two Seers as her eyes brimmed in tears. "Please stop…."
Signe shook her head. "We have to…we have to know…."
The three Seers struggled to form the ritual circle again. Again, they pushed themselves into the visions of fate.
"No…no…this is not-" Helga muttered, for what she was seeing was absolutely confusing.
The bird…the beast…the world that crumbled in front of them….
She tried to grasp everything that appeared in her vision, but suddenly, everything became dark.
A shriek, painful wail burst out from her, as she pulled her blindfold off with her shaky fingers. The young girl watched in terror as Helga's eyes were being scorched by dark flames that had come from nowhere.
The other two Seers weren't in any better shape. Einar had passed out, and Signe kept coughing out blood.
"Seer Helga…" the young girl placed her shaky hands on the elder woman's arm. "Please, let me help. Tell me what to do…."
In heavy pants, Helga clutched the young girl's wrist, so hard that her fingernails drew blood.
"Gunhild…" she bit out. "You have to…stop the beast…or the world will fall at its feet…."
"Which…which world?" Gunhild asked.
The elder woman shook her head and gasped. It took her a long time before she was finally able to catch her breath. "All…" she murmured, "all of them…."
- Present Day -
Bo was having a bad day.
It all started with her breakfast, where she had spilled milk over her kitchen counter. While cleaning it up, she knocked the cereal bowl off. Not only did she have milk all over her floor, but wet granola clusters, fruit bits and whole grain crumbs as well.
It took her, and her roommate, best friend and business partner Kenzi, a long time to clean. Inevitably, they were running late for an appointment with their client.
They rushed to the meeting location - City College's chemistry building - in their 1969 yellow Camaro. Everything seemed fine until the traffic slowed down and eventually became stagnant.
"It says that there's an overturned transfer truck in front of us with…chemical spills and shit. It could take hours before the traffic clears up," Kenzi announced after she had briefly checked the local news on her phone.
Bo let out a frustrated sigh as she threw her hands into the air. "What's with all these spills today? Is it the damn World Spill Day or something?"
Then, her phone rang.
"Great, it's our client. She's probably fuming by now…" Bo grunted as she answered the call.
The caller didn't speak at all. She didn't say anything despite Bo's hellos and can-you-hear-mes. The call lasted for about ten seconds before it disconnected.
Bo called her back immediately, but she wasn't answering.
"Why is she not answering…" Bo murmured. Before she did anything else, there came a heavy thump in the back of her car - the car behind her, trying to steer out of the traffic, hit her.
"What the hell!" Bo groaned as she exited her car.
"We probably should just tell her to reschedule or something…" Kenzi suggested.
"Well she's not picking up her phone…" Bo said as she recalled the conversation she had with her client the day before. The woman had come to her and Kenzi seeking help. She said she was being followed and wanted them to figure out who that might be.
Somehow, Bo suddenly had a bad feeling.
She looked down the road in both directions. It was packed, and there was no way they could get out of the traffic any time soon.
She called her client again. This time it went straight to her voicemail.
"Hey, Kenz," Bo tucked her phone into her pocket. "Can you stay here and handle the…insurance stuff?"
"Where are you going?"
"I think I'm just gonna…walk over to the campus and check on her," Bo said. "I mean, it's like less than a mile away from here anyway."
As Bo approached the chemistry building on campus, she noticed a large crowd gathering in front of it.
She quickly made her way through, and was shocked to find a dead body in the center of the crowd.
As she took a close look at the dead person's face, her jaw dropped.
It was her client, Laura Davis.
Bo swallowed hard as she stood there numbly staring at her client's dead body. Around her, the crowd murmured, discussing the possible cause of death, revealing the dead's identity, sharing stories of knowing her.
That murmur slowly reduced to a white noise. It became a buzz in the back of Bo's mind.
In fact, everything around her had suddenly been absorbed by that buzz.
It was as if she was now in a vacuum seal, where the sole focus of all her senses had been drawn to Laura's body: the look of terror on her face, her wide open green eyes, the glass shards in her hair and arms, the blood stains on her light sage cardigan, the small, sterling silver cross she wore around her neck, the cobweb that was stuck on her forehead….
It was then that Bo noticed the large, black bird sitting on Laura's chest.
A black raven.
The bird sensed Bo's stare and turned to her. He had his head tilted slightly as he held her gaze. The look in his eyes was too sophisticated to be a bird's
Bo held her breath as she gazed into the bird's bright eyes. Many thoughts fleeted across her mind, but at the same time, her mind was empty.
Suddenly, there came this moment, when the vacuum seal was broken. Everything around her - every shape, every sound, every color - started to move again.
With a loud gasp, Bo flinched a little. When she turned to look at Laura's body again, the raven was gone.
"Did she fall off the building or something?" A young man's voice came to her, terrified yet somewhat excited.
"How terrible…" a woman murmured while taking a picture with her phone.
"I think she used to be my TA…man, this is just so fucked up," a guy told his friends.
While absentmindedly listening to the crowd, Bo searched for the bird - as ridiculous as it might sound, she was somehow convinced that the bird must know something about Laura's death.
A few moments later, she located him. The black bird was on top of the 5-story chemistry building, standing on a tall, blond woman's shoulder.
As Bo laid her eyes on that woman's face, the vacuum seal was back again. She entered another episode of her trance, where everything was tuned out, everything but that woman.
Bo found it hard to describe what it was exactly about her that caught her attention. Was it that she was exceptionally good looking? Was it that she was standing on top of a building like she owned the place? Was it her calm yet sharp blue eyes?
Why would she have a raven standing on her shoulder? Why did she have a belt of throwing daggers strapped to diagonally across her chest?
Why was she even here?
Have I seen her before? Bo asked herself. Then, she frowned. Why would I even think that?
The woman noticed her gaze. She raised her eyebrows slightly, as if Bo being aware of her presence surprised her….
A sudden, firm tug on Bo's arm yanked her out of her trance, throwing her back into the real world again, where she was greeted by deafening ambulance sirens and Kenzi's concerned eyes.
"Bo, are you with me?" Kenzi asked as she cupped Bo's face and examined her closely.
"Yeah..." Bo nodded.
"Are you…alright? Were you having one of those episodes of yours again? You were, weren't you? Weren't you?"
"Yes I was. I'm fine. You don't need to treat me like I was having a stroke, Kenz," Bo replied with a smile. "How did you get here so fast?"
"I called Hale and he gave me a ride in his patrol car…oh my dear Lord of-is that a dead body?"
"Yeah…that's our client, Laura Davis."
"Wait…she's…she's dead?"
"Apparently. She was like this when I got here."
Kenzi gaped at Laura's body. "Dude…how did she die?"
"I have no idea, but…" Bo pointed at a broken window on the 3rd floor. "She must have…fallen through the window over there, I guess?"
"But, those windows are like…I once tried to break one of them and let me tell ya, those suckers are like super strong. How is it even possible for her to just…fall through them?"
"I don't know," Bo murmured as she watched a fleet of police vehicles entering the scene, followed by new channels' vans.
Among the officers she saw Hale, Kenzi's boyfriend and also a young detective. She greeted him with a nod.
"Bo, do you think it could be her…stalker? She did say she was being followed, didn't she?" Kenzi asked Bo in a whisper. "We need to investigate."
"We do, but not now," Bo replied. "No way the cops will let us into the building right now…."
She quickly took a picture of Laura's body with her phone before the crime scene people started to yellow tape the scene. "Why don't we go get something to eat first? I figure the cops will need our statement later anyway, you know, being Laura's PI and stuff."
"Riiight, and when they do that, we could figure out what they discovered!"
Bo nodded. She took one last glance at Laura's body before she left with Kenzi.
The two of them headed to a pizzeria a few blocks down the road. Unbeknownst to them, the blonde woman that Bo had just seen was following them closely.
She had her eyes on Bo the whole time while making a phone call.
"She's dead," she reported with a low voice. "Looks like Spinner got to her before I could."
She paused briefly while moving along with the crowd as the light turned green. "An unregistered Einheri made me, I think…no I don't know what level she is. How? Do I look like an fucking ECAM to you?"
She promptly ducked into a narrow pathway between two shops when Bo suddenly stopped and turned back.
"No, I don't see a Fylgja with her…" she whispered as she carefully stuck her head out and took a peek at Bo and Kenzi. Gently stroking the back of her Raven, she commanded in a whisper, "go!"
The Raven flew to Bo, and landed on Bo's head. Bo, however, was completely unaware of his presence.
"Weird…I could swear that she was staring at me and my raven earlier. Maybe she's just a hybrid or something…anyway, not important. I gotta go."
She hung up and turned around. Her Raven fluttered its wings and followed her.
At that exact moment, Bo stopped and looked back with a small frown.
She could swear that she felt something, or even saw something, but it was now gone.
Later that day, Bo and Kenzi went to the police precinct to make a statement. While being in one of the rooms with Hale, they told him that they would like to know what the police had found out about Laura's death.
Hale announced that he would like to get a cup of coffee and "accidentally" left a folder in the room before he exited.
With the door closed and the window shades down, Bo and Kenzi studied the files in the folder.
"So…their conclusion is that…she died of heart failure," Bo read.
"Heart failure? So she didn't die because of the fall? She did fall from…that room with the broken window, right?"
"She…was in that room right before the fall. She was there working, alone. There appeared to be signs of struggles, but…no evidence pointing to anyone else being there at that time, and the room was locked from the inside."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Kenzi exclaimed. "If she was there alone, why would there be a struggle? What was she struggling against? How did she break the window?"
"Well…they are still working on that…" Bo trailed off as she frowned hard at the photos of Laura's body.
"What's wrong?"
"When I…when I saw her body, she had some cobweb stuck on her," Bo explained, "but…I don't see it in any of these pictures."
"Cobweb?" Kenzi frowned.
"Yeah…" Bo nodded as she took out her phone and showed Kenzi the picture that she had taken. "Like a small patch of-"
She stopped abruptly after zooming in on Laura's face and finding no cobwebs anywhere.
"I…I swear that I saw it!" She said to Kenzi.
"Maybe it just came off or something? I mean…do you think it might be important?"
"I don't know…I mean, yeah I guess it could be?" Bo murmured. She examined the photos again, before she announced, "I think I'm gonna go over to the chemistry building and have a look around myself. Maybe I could find something there."
"Do you want me to go with you? I mean, what I'm really asking is, are you sure you are okay, Bo?"
"Why?"
"Your…episodes, you know," Kenzi waved her fingers in front of Bo's face. "Aren't you supposed to call your doctor right away when you start having them again or something?"
"No…she said having one every now and then was no big deal. I only need to call her if I start to have them too often."
"Well how often is too often?"
Bo took a deep breath as she pondered Kenzi's question. For a brief moment, it took her back to her adolescence, when she would have intense episodes every single day to the point that she could not function at all. She thought she was either going crazy or dying from a brain tumor, until she started seeing her psychiatrist, Dr. Olivia Smith.
With hypnotic therapy and proper medication from Dr. Smith, she started to get better and better. In fact, it had been a very long time since she had any episodes, until today.
With the two mild episodes she had had today, she wondered if Kenzi was right. Maybe she should be a little more concerned. Maybe she should call her doctor….
"I think I'm alright," Bo reassured her friend as she cupped her face and gave her a loud kiss on her forehead. "I'll call her first thing tomorrow. I promise."
Bo arrived at the chemistry building a little past 8pm. She noticed that the building was locked and the only ones who had access would be those with a student ID card. She had to wait outside for a while before she was able to piggyback her way inside.
The room that Laura had been in before her death - her lab - was on the third floor. The door was sealed by crime scene tapes, but there was no one guarding it.
Bo made sure that no one was watching, before she picked the lock and went inside.
She turned on her flashlight carefully and examined the room.
The first things that she noticed were broken vials and chemical spills on the floor. Beside them, there were a couple of textbooks that got knocked off from the table.
The cops were absolutely right. There definitely was a struggle. Bo thought as she followed the trail of mess that ran all the way to the broken window.
Bo examined the broken window the next. She found some light sage fiber stuck on the side of the broken glass, which seemed to be a match to what Laura had been wearing. There were also traces of blood.
She checked the glass and agreed with Kenzi's statement - it wasn't easily breakable at all.
Did someone do this? Maybe pushed her forcefully? She wondered as she looked down at the floor, hoping to find some footprints, or really, anything that might be useful.
Or maybe...she was running away from…something. Bo thought, but what could it be?
As she pondered that question, she felt something on her hair.
It was something soft and small. It was barely there…like...like the silk of a spider.
That thought made Bo's hair stand. She jolted and wiped her hair with her hands frantically. Then, she paused and thought, cobweb.
She took a deep breath and pointed her flashlight at the ceiling, but saw nothing.
She shook her head and huffed out a light chuckle. As she lowered her flashlight and turned around, she felt it again.
This time the silk brushed up against her exposed shoulder.
At the exact same time, her flashlight flickered. Suddenly, her episode struck.
Everything around her - the droning A/C, the dripping faucet in one of the bathrooms down the hallway, the distant chattering somewhere - became a vague hum.
In darkness, with the gentle buzzing in her ears, she saw a long thread of spider silk dangling from the ceiling.
As she raised to look at the ceiling, she gasped, for there were sheets of spider webs weaved into a tight net.
The spider webs, they were everywhere, on the wall, behind the door, on the furniture, over the floor.
Great. I must be seeing things now. Bo told herself as she squinted her eyes hard and shook her head, but what she was seeing wasn't going away.
She slowly turned around. In the corner of the room, right beside the broken window, there was a big sac hanging from the ceiling, a sac made of spider silk. It was almost the size of a…person.
Bo gulped nervously as she approached the sac. Every ounce of her sanity was telling her not to get any closer, but she decided against it.
Using the dagger she had always carried with her, she cut the sac open.
With a sticky, wet sound, a big pile of fluid fell out. Bo gagged at the smell and stumbled back.
She pointed her flashlight at the fluid. There, she found a few pieces of tattered fabric. Under the fabric, she discovered a cell phone that had already started to rust and a wallet that was about to fall apart.
What the hell? Bo thought as she grabbed a broom from the other side of the room. She jammed it into the sac, trying to see if there was anything else in there.
After poking at the sac a few times, something else poured out.
At first, Bo thought it might be some sort of dark, heavy sediment inside the sac, but then she quickly realized how wrong she was.
Those things that poured out were alive, and they climbed on the broom stick towards her.
Bo screamed and threw the broom away. The broom hit the wall, and then the floor.
She finally had a clear look at those living things.
They were spiders, from the size of a quarter to the size of a hockey puck.
"Holy fuck!" Bo cursed as she scrambled to get away from the cluster of spiders.
Grossed out and in shock, she suddenly realized what could have happened here.
Somehow, this lab had become a lair of…giant spiders. The sac was woven to trap their prey - the owner of the phone and the wallet. Just like how normal spiders would digest their food, these spiders must have injected similar digestive enzymes into the victim, turning an entire human into a sac of fluid so they could eat them….
Attacks from the furious spiders interrupted Bo's train of thought. She grabbed a textbook and squished the one on the very front of the army. The spider turned into a dark brown mush, and it got splattered everywhere.
Bo bit back her fear and smashed a few more. She quickly realized that there was no way that she could win this battle. There were too many spiders and they were just too fast.
So, she snatched the phone and the wallet and ran. She stormed out of the door and ran all the way to her car without looking back.
With her shaky hands, she started her vehicle and drove away.
This must be my worst damn day ever! She thought to herself. Her heart was still at the back of her throat.
Little did she know, her day was far from over.