Re: FIC(HELL): Ashes 01- Rubicon

[Alan Rogers <masterofwords@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Awesome work, my friend....more soon is a good thing.  Esp.
considering some of the teasers you've laid on me with this thing!

Nice work on detail and imagery; you've really brought this one too
life.  And as always, you're emotions are tiny scalpels flaying away
skin....

~alan, the mad dragon

At 04:47 PM 9/6/01 +0000, you wrote:


> Drain Brameged Inc. Proudly
> Presents
>       A Mad-Hamlet Production
>
>
>
> Scrolls.
> This history of the world is on scrolls.
> They tell us stories.
> Wars
> Truimphs
> Tragedies
> Scrolls tell us of heros and villains.
> Magic, power, love.
> They leave us a legacy of these things.
> But scrolls are paper children.
> And paper....BURNS!
>
>
>                        
> Ashes, Ashes, They All Fell Down
>
>                                                      
> Part the 
> First
>                             
> Dragged Across the Rubicon
>
>
>
>       With a flutter of wings it landed on the
> twisted branch of  
> dead tree. Cocking it's head to the side it examined the surroundings.
> Graves stretched across night blackened grass, the gates far beyond 
> sights. That was fine though, there were other gates to be opened 
> here. To be opened tonight. That was why it was here after all.
>
>       Raising it's head a bit it took in the
> night sky. Over eons of 
> duty it had expierenced storms the likes of which mankind had never 
> seen. Usually nights like these, with gates to be flung open, there 
> was a storm. A cry of protest maybe from the heavens, but not tonight.
> The air was cool, the sky clear, no moon was overhead and so it was 
> quite dark. This was fine too though, it had brought storms of it's 
> own.
>
>       Small it was, black as well but old. So
> old..old enough to 
> have known the watchmaker at the begining. Given a task it was and 
> that task it would do. Tasting the air it made sure it was in the 
> right place, at the right time. Pain, a slight tinge dancing along the
> sense, like a foul scent just along the edges of preception. It really
> didn't have to do anything, the gate would opened elsewhere. Simply by
> being it was enough, for now.
>
>       Taking wing briefly it fluttered to a
> grave stone. Not the 
> gravestone of it's intrest. That was two over too the right. No, this
> headstone was chosen because there was a savory looking bug to feast
> on. It didn't get to eat as often as it liked. Oh yes, the the souls
> it consumed, those taken by vengence, those were fine, but after an 
> eternity or three..well..all things like a little dirvisity from time
> to time.
>
>       It made short work of the bug. Ruffling
> it's feathers a few 
> times it stared at the grave two down to the right. It was almost 
> time. Lifting one leg slightly it half opened it's wings and struck 
> the wind..once..twice.. three times. That was enough. 
>
>       Beyond sound and sight it heard and saw a
> gate swing open. 
>
>       She'd be here soon. 
>
>       Maybe there was another bug to be had
> beforehand?
>
> ***
>
>
>       Eyes open, eyes shut. Didn't make any
> diffrence, she couldn't 
> see anything. She moved her hands in the dark slowly. Unsure of her 
> surroundings. It payed to be cautious in totally unknown situations.
> Her hands didn't move far..less than three inches up before she hit an
> obstrution. Sides were the same. She was boxed in, she couldn't move,
> couldn't get out!
>
>       Trapped! She was trapped! She had to get
> out, it was more than 
> panic, more than instinct, it was a directive.  
>
>       Fingers curved into claws and tore at the
> soft material that 
> smothered her, held her down. Soon it gave way to something stronger,
> somthing harder, but this didn't stop her efforts. She could feel it
> crumble underneath her assults and if her fingers were bleeding, 
> well..she couldn't see it and she certainly couldn't feel it so that
> was alright. 
>       
>       She pushed up. She had to get out, she was
> going fast, but it 
> wasn't fast enough, she had to get out, up, out..now..had to go, had
> to move. It was pushing at her, from inside a ceaselss, merceliss 
> drive. It was building inside with a terror and voice of it's own and
> if she didn't get out in time she would scream and scream and scream
> and never stop screaming..but she'd still be trapped. 
> Trapped and screaming. 
>
>       Forever.
>
>       And a girl clawed through silk, and wood,
> and earth with bare 
> fingers that bled, healed, and tore open again to bleed some more. 
> Just the girl, the wood, the earth, and the blood, in the dark.
>
> ***
>
>       It took wing briefly yet again to land on
> the headstone it had 
> come for. All across the planes, endless realities with a million 
> souls burning for release. Spheres floating each one alight with more
> flames of hate and pain and grief then there were starts in all of 
> heavens creation. Out of all these fires, a countless number of red,
> sweet cravings for vengence, it had come here. To this miserable 
> little mudball. It had chosen her out of them all. Not because hers 
> was the brightest, no there were others who's full fury could have set
> worlds alight.
>
>       But hers was simple. It could work with
> simple.Pain, not rage. 
> That was it's focus. Pain, with teeth and claw that grabbed souls and
> held them back, yet at the same time the soul had to want to leave. 
> Most were stuck in loops of reliving the events of their entrapment 
> over and over again. Mere phantasms, no, it couldn't help them. But 
> she, she struggled against the shackles. She wanted to use it, her 
> pain, as a weapon. It liked weapons. So it would give her a chance to
> utilize her agony, she would have her time, as it's weapon.  Also
> the 
> bugs here were quite deliscious. 
>
>       Rapping the headstone with it's beak once
> or twice it 
> listened. Yes, there she was. 
>
>       As the earth split from the pressure
> beneath and a white hand, 
> bloody with torn nails, scrabbled at the crumbling ground for 
> purchase, as red hair broke the night air and long closed eyes drank
> in the sight of the moon, as lips opened and let loose a scream of 
> pain, like the first cry of a newborne infant, as all this happened it
> opened it's beak, spread it's wings and let free a cry of it's own.
>
>       Oh yes, it had brought storms.
>       
>
> ***
>
>       
>       'Free.' She thought. 'I'm free.'
> Collapsing to the ground she 
> wept freely. She wasn't sure why, just it was something she had to do.
> She didn't know what had happened, who had taken her, why they had 
> taken her, or even who they were.
>
>       'That's okay.' She mused. 'Buffy will take
> care of them.' 
>       She paused.
>
>       'Who's Buffy?' 
>
>       That was intresting. She was pretty sure
> she knew a Buffy, was 
> even more certain that said Buffy was very important to her. As she 
> was to this Buffy person. However... she couldn't remember who Buffy
> was, why she was important, or...for that matter..who she herself
> was.
>
>       Sitting up, resting her weight on her arms
> she looked up into 
> the night. 'Where..where am I?' She thought scratching her head. She
> glanced around. 
>
>       'Great. The cemetary. Must be...' She
> glanced behind her, 
> seeing where she'd come from. Her thoughts froze in her mind. It was
> odd, she knew where she was, and she knew what she beheld meant, but
> at the same time any personal recolections seemed to be...missing.
>
>       "A...a...grave?" She squeaked.
> The earth was torn apart, a 
> great gaping maw through which splinters of a coffins hood, and the 
> shredded silk lining of it's insides were scattered about the mound of
> dirt. 
>
>       She was gasping now, one hand clasp to her
> chest, she felt 
> like her heart was going to hammer through her ribcage, it was only 
> after a moment thought she realised...her heart wasn't beating. 
>
>       Hunching foward her fingers flew to her
> face hoping to deny 
> her worst fears. But when she touched her brow and teeth she found the
> skin unmarred. Smooth and soft, her teeth were unchanged as well. 
> Now 
> she was really confused. 
>
>       'What..the heck?' She wondered. 'I'm not a
> vampire, that's 
> good news. But...'
>
>       She rolled over on her knees and scrambled
> across the grass to 
> get a closer look at the headstone.
>
>       "A prank." She mumbled.
> "This has to be a prank of some sort, 
> yeah that's it. Some joke that got a little out of hand."
>
>       She ran her fingers over the smooth stone.
> There was almost no 
> light to read by but her eyes were adapting fast. Overhead a black 
> bird watched with feigned intrest. It knew what was happening, it was
> always like this at the begining. 
>
>       By touch she found the carved words, in
> the dim light, and 
> following the pattern with her fingers she could make them out.
>
>       'W..' She spelled out in her mind.
> 'I...L...L...O...'
>
>       'Willow.' She hummed. That sounded
> familiar. She kept going.
>
>       'R..O..S...E...N...'  Numb hands
> stopped. A numb mind stopped.
>
>       "Rosenberg." She whispered.
> "Willow Rosenberg." 
>
>       Falling back on her butt she slowly
> crabwalked away from the 
> headstone. "But...but...but I'm Willow Rosenberg." She said
> feebly. 
>
>       She didn't know how she knew. But she did
> know. 
>
>       "I'm...Willow Rosenberg." She
> said again. "And...and..if I'm 
> Willow Rosenberg and I'm here to say I'm Willow Rosenberg, than that
> means I can't be dead, so the headstone is wrong, and I'm right 
> so..so..who's grave..and..oh...no. No no no. I'm right and it's 
> reality that's incorrect. That doesn't make any sense!" 
>
>       It cocked it's head to the side again,
> staring at the girl 
> intently. This had never happened before. 
> Well, they always were confused but it had never seen anyone being so
> confused...like this. Rarely did 'something new' happen to it.
>
>       "So...so..I'll go to Giles. He'll
> know what to do." She pulled 
> herself to her feet and turned to leave. She was pretty sure the exit
> was this way.
>
>       Now. It decided. It would happen 
> now.
>
>       Without warning, and without sound, yet
> all across reality the 
> crack was heard, her back arched, mouth open in a silent scream. Arms
> stretched out of their sockets, eye blazing foward, a tearing shriek
> of agony whipped arcoss her mind.
>
>
>       
>       "I'm not worked up." Willow
> denied innocently, as she was a 
> hair's breadth away from the Slayer. "Yet." 
>       
>       She collapsed into a ball.
>
>       "I wish I remembered last night. I
> bet it was great." Willow 
> said, shyly, a little embarrassed at her boldness.
>
>       The girl's hands spasmed. 
>
>       "I'm going to have a baby."
> Willow whispered.
>
>       Another convulsion sent her body tumbling
> down the slight 
> incline. 
>
>       "You want me to give my baby up for
> adoption?!" Willow cried.
>
>       Pulling herself to her knees she wrapped
> her arms around her 
> belly. A low moan escaped from her throat.
>
>       "Friends and Family, I am pleased to
> present to you Buffy and 
> Willow Rosenberg-Summers. You may kiss the bride."
>
>       It watched her suffer. This was old
> territory now, but 
> nesseccary. 
>
>       Willow blinked, before a seductive grin
> moved over her lips. 
> "Do you want some more?"
>
>       She flopped over onto her back, staring,
> yet not seeing, into 
> the dark above. 
>
>       "Do...you...trust...me?" the
> Slayer sounded out again, waiting 
> for a response. 
>
>       She lay on the black grass, underneath a
> glass sky. Nearby a 
> black bird watched her burn. Overhead dark clouds quicky gathered. 
> Neither of the dark pair noticed, the bird as it didn't care, the 
> girl, because she was lost within.
>       "That's okay." Willow said,
> smiling in relief as her wife got 
> closer. "Just hurry up and untie me so we can
> get....BUFFY!!!"
>
>       "No." The girl whispered to
> herself.
>
>       "Looks like I killed you this time,
> B."
>
>       "Buffy." She whispered.
>
>       "I may be dying." Buffy choked
> on a mist of blood, looking 
> directly into the deep brown eyes. "But I'm taking you with
> me." 
>       The brown eyes smiled. "Wanna
> bet?" With a turn and a twist 
> Faith tossed the blonde Slayer over her hip to slam into the concrete
> floor. "Check this out B, you're gonna love it."
>       Faith bent over to pick up the knife,
> still wet with blood. 
> Faith licked the blade with the tip of her tounge, smearing a track of
> the crimison liquid over her lips.
>       "Just in case Red never told ya
> B." She smiled a bloody grin. 
> "You taste great!"
>       She turned her attention back to Willow
> who was curled up in 
> the corner. "Don't go know Preggie-Red, party's just gettin' started
> y'know?"
>       "Buffy." Willow whimpered.
> "Get up Buffy, please. Please get 
> up Buffy." 
>       Fighting a crismon haze that was
> threatening to cloud her 
> vision Buffy stretched her hand in Willow's direction.
> "Wi..Willow." 
> She gasped.  She could see Willow. Scared and alone, coming up
> behind 
> her was Faith. Taking her time, striding across the concrete with a 
> cocky grin and sexy swivel of the hips. 
>       "Buffy." Willow moaned and
> reached out her own hand. They were 
> so close. Centimeteres. Despite all reality to the contrary the 
> Redhead believed if she could just touch Buffy's hand, everything 
> would be okay. That everything could be okay, if only she could reach
> her. "Buffy. Help me."
>
>       A spiked heel drove through the top of the
> Slayer's hand 
> pinning it to floor. "Ah ah ah." Faith clucked her tounge.
> "No rest 
> for the weary. Sorry." Buffy glared at the dark Slayer through 
> clenched teeth. 
>       Faith blew her a kiss. 
>       She looked back at Willow. Bending over
> she wiped the flat of 
> the blade across the wiccan's cheeck. "Now then Red. Where were
> we?"
>
>       The girl bolted upright off the grass.
> Hands pressed to her 
> temples she shook her head, trying to block out the images. "No. No.
> No. No...."
>
>       Darker heavens than had been there a
> second before rumbled, 
> and chain lightning lept from sky to sky, to ground. The sky was lit
> up for only a breath of time, yet her eyes were not shut and she could
> see. 
>       Willow Rosenberg-Summers
>       Buffy Ann Roseberg-Summers
>                       
> and their daughter
>                             
> Rest Well.
>                
> We Never Knew Your Name
>                   
> But The Lord Does Child
>                   
> And He Holds You Now
>       As He Does All Mothers and Children.
>
>      
> "BUUUUUFFFFFFFFFFFFFFYY!!!!"
>
>       The bird glanced at the screaming girl,
> it's charge. It's 
> mission. It glanced heavenward as a fresh bolt tore a jagged streak 
> across the sky. Showtime.
>
> ***
>
>
>       She ran. 
>
>       Unseeing, uncaring, unheeding. The rain
> had come upon the tail 
> of the storm, great sheets of water that blinded her, or would have,
> if she'd been looking where she was going. Hurtling down the streets
> cars swerved around her, horns blaring but she didn't hear them or 
> care. Locked inside her head she was, as the last seconds of her 
> former life were hammered home with the grace and subtlety of a 
> hammer.  
>
>       With a final incoherent shriek she fell to
> her knees on the 
> yellow double line, marking the median of the road. Her hands fumbled
> at the front of the dress she had been buried in. Jagged, hooked 
> fingers tore through the soaked material, coated with grime and muck.
> Buttons went flying as she rent the fabric apart. With impeccable 
> timing a fresh shriek of lightning tore across the sky leaving rage in
> it's wake. From the flash of illumination the appearence of a 
> grotesque, puckered scar was clear. It ran along the base of her 
> belly, just above the begining of her pelvis. In a wicked twisted 
> concave arc, like the smile of hell it laughed at her. It marred her
> flesh, corupted her smooth belly.
>
>       A belly, she realised at that instant,
> that shouldn't have 
> been smooth. That hadn't been smooth the last time her hands had 
> rested on it. 
>
>
>       A final hoarse scream, a protest, a denial
> of what was all too 
> obvious shouldered it's way past her lips to be lost in the peals of
> thunder that shook the heavens.
>
>       "GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!!!"
>
>       Had her rage and pain been palable, a
> living, coherant thing, 
> it would have been flung outward in a wave that would have left the 
> earth barren for miles in all directions, sent trees and dirt and cars
> around like toys. As it wasn't...
>
> ***
>
>       He had had a long day. The boss had been a
> real bastard, his 
> wife was dealing with 'that time', and to cap it off thank's to his 
> son's insitance at playing his 'music' at teeth rattling levels of 
> volume he hadn't been getting much sleep. Now this storm...
>
>       "Perfect ending to a perfect
> day." He yawned. "Never seen it 
> this bad."
>
>       He reached for the cup holder and the
> lukewarm cup of coffee 
> that rested there. He only took his eyes off the road for a second. 
> Really.
>
>       His head bouncing off the air bag was his
> first clue. The 
> echoing crunch of metal and bone was his second. Instincts kicked in
> and his feet drove the break down with all the force he could muster.
> As tires shrieked and the rear of the car came around in a viscious 
> fishtail he could hear the rolling thumbs of whatever he had hit 
> bouncing across the roof. There were a few idents that marked it's 
> passage too.
>
> ***
>
>       She hadn't seen it coming. One second she
> was screaming, the 
> next a blinding sheet of noise and light hammered into her side 
> tossing her up and over. She rolled across the steel metal as it 
> passed underneath. Her mind, ever helpful, informed her of what was 
> probably happening.
>
>       'A car.' She thought. 'I got hit by a
> car.'
>
>       The tumbling slowed down to a crawl,
> though happening in an 
> instant, it seemed to take forever.
>
>       'I got hit by a car.' She repeated
> internally. 'Well..that's 
> good. That means I'll die. Again. Maybe..maybe Buffy and..our... maybe
> they'll be waiting for me.'
>
>       The edge of the roof came upon her and
> time sped up so she hit 
> the pavement with a jarring thud. Fresh pain crawled across muscles 
> and limbs, those that hadn't been shredded by the tearing metal that
> had collapsed around her thighs. The pain was good though. It was here
> and now, not from the past, now she could deal with it, or it could 
> deal with her.
>
>       She rested her head on the asphalt waiting
> for the darkness to 
> close over her, to take her somewhere else. 
>
>       Pounding footsteps, splashing across the
> fresh puddles of 
> water disturbed her rest.
>
>       "Oh Jesus. Oh Christ. Oh Jesus"
> A voice said. "Are you 
> alright?"
>
>       'Scuze me.' She thought. 'I'm trying to
> die here.'
>
>       "Young lady? Are you hurt? Can you
> hear me? Say something! 
> Anything please!" The voice was desperate and reluctantly, she
> opened 
> her eyes.
>
>       "Oh thank God." He was young.
> The man, around his late 
> twenties but he seemed far older. Tired lines markes his eyes and 
> circles his mouth, his eyes seemed a little lackluster. 
>
>       "Don't thank God." She
> croaked.
>
>       "What?" He stopped his nervous
> pacing.
>
>       Pulling herself so she was sitting upright
> she examined 
> herself. There wasn't a bruise anywhere, and other than the pain 
> already feeding on her, her fresh wounds were not even a memory.
>
>       "Don't thank God." She repeated.
> "He doesn't deserve it."
>
>       She slowly got to her feet. 'I'm a little
> woozy.' She thought. 
> 'But I'm fine. Why?'
>
>       "Excuse me." She said and
> brushed the man aside.
>
>       "Hey where ya goin lady? The cops are
> gonna be here any 
> second, we gotta tell em' something!" The man's arms were flung out
> helplessly.
>
>       She turned her head slowly and he saw her
> eyes. He hadn't 
> before. He really wish he never got the chance. Wherever she was, 
> inside, it made all the hells on earth look like a picnic. He'd never
> come face to face with such as this. Few living had, and those that 
> did never forgot. 
>
>       "I..." Her mouth hung open for a
> second and she blinked a few 
> times. 
>
>       "Ma'am?" The man whispered
> respectfully. "Can..is there 
> anything I can do? Can I help you somehow?"
>
>       She tried to remember how to smile. She
> really did. A lifetime 
> of manners, even after being dead, did not abandon her easily. But she
> couldn't. She simply couldn't.
>
>       "No one can help me, thank you."
> She shook her head slightly. 
> "Excuse me, I really have to be going." She took a shuffling
> step.
>
>       "Where?" The man asked
> quietly.
>
>       With a sigh she turned and faced him one
> last time. "To find 
> out why I can't die."
>
>       She ambled off into the night, the storm
> had passed but the 
> rain still fell. 
> The man couldn't be sure why, but he was pretty confidant that if he
> dared to taste some of the water on his cheeks, it would have been 
> salty. He made a promise to himself to hug his son and kiss his wife,
> to make sure they knew how much he really loved them, just as soon as
> he got home.
>
> ***
>
>       She moved through the night, going
> nowhere. Just away. The 
> rain fell, the wind howled, but she didn't feel the cold or hear the
> air. She was going. 
>
>       It followed from above. Along the night
> winds, it didn't need 
> to move it's wings much, the currents were more than capable of 
> carrying it's light, but ancient, frame. 
>
>       She had left quickly. Not followed like so
> many before, so now 
> it had to follow her.
>
>       She finally weakened, and, leaning heavily
> against a tree, 
> allowed herself to slide down it's trunk till she sat upon the muddy
> floor of the woods. It lit upon a nearby branch and peered down at 
> her. There was no time for this, she had to use her pain, harness it,
> become a weapon or it would have wasted it's efforts. It opened it's
> beak and cried into the night.
>
>       Her head came up wearily as she looked for
> what had made the 
> sound disturbing the quiet of the forest. She saw, perched overhead,
> through the gloom of the rain, a large black bird. It's wet feathers
> reflected what little light fell through the canopy.  It held a
> presense, a sense of majesty, midnight plumage and midnight eyes. A 
> beak as black as it's feathers completed the appearence.
>
>       "You.." She said quietly.
> "You're not a normal bird are you?"
>
>       She wasn't surprised when it nodded in an
> awkward way.
>
>       "And you know why I'm
> here."
>
>       Again a nod. 
>
>       "And why I can't die?"
>
>       For a third time it nodded.
>
>       "So." Fresh tears began to leak
> around her eyes, over white 
> cheeks, as pain again forced itself to be made manifest. "Tell me
> why 
> I'm here. What am I supposed to do? Why did this have to happen? Why
> can't I DIE!! Tell me...please..please tell me.."
>
>       It did nothing, merely stared at her with
> old, old, black 
> eyes.
>
>       She crumpled completly to the earth,
> sprawling, loose and 
> weak, crying, occasionally screaming as again the memories of what had
> been, and could never be undone, assulted her.
>
>       And it rained.
>
>       On the Girl.
>
>       On the Crow.
>
>       On the Earth.
>
>       It rained.
>
>
>
> Authors Notes:  In case you havn't figured it out, this is, for all
> intents and purposes, an altverse of an alterverse. Hey, it's fun. 
> Really. The Universe in question is the Sappho's Scoll series by our
> beloved Shyfox. The point of dirvigance is, naturally, Five By 
> Five.
> What happened you ask?
> Simple.
> Faith Won.
> End of Story.
>
> Or is it?
> I know this cross over has been done before. Probably done LOTS. But
> now..now it's my turn.
> Much thanks to Shyfox who gave me permission to do this. Now...
> Welcome to my Hell.
>
>
>
>       
> Disclaimer:(Moved here so I would spoil the surprise) 
> All this belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Inc. The Crow belongs
> to J.O'Barr.
>       
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor 
> Start here...
>
> Height:
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>
> Weight:
> lbs. kg.
>
>
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