Chapter Text
Mia woke with a scream trapped in her throat, eyes wide open, and blood coating her tongue. The world was a roiling sea of darkness and pain. Her body spasmed and contracted, her limbs trembled, and her heart beat so hard in her chest she was certain it would explode.
She was sure she was dying, and if she wasn’t then the pain racking through her made her wish she was. The torment was unending. Waves of agony radiating throughout her body, from the top of her head to the ends of her toes, pulsing, pulverizing, breaking her down, and rebuilding her anew.
And then there was light.
Bright, shining, stabbing, not clearing the dark fully, but certainly piercing through it. Her eyes snapped closed, and her mouth stayed open in silent agony. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, could only writhe. And then almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The agony dimmed, the pain did not fully disappear, but it lessened enough for her to take her first gulping breath. She lay still, waiting, wondering when the next hit would come, balancing on the knife’s edge of exhaustion. She forced her eyes back open.
Noise filled the air around her, muted and easily ignored. She couldn’t comprehend it at all. She was so very tired but was terrified to let herself fall back into the dark again. What if in the dark she had to experience the pain again. She wouldn’t survive it, couldn’t. She trembled as the adrenaline that had been coursing through her body lessened. Slowly her mind calmed, and she began to feel herself settle into her body more fully, no longer feeling like she was on the cusp of floating away.
Her gasping slowly wound down till she was breathing more normally, she focused on it, trying to soothe herself. The cool air drifted into her lungs, the freshness of it stinging her raw throat. It felt good, and terrible, and she was almost certain she would live.
The dark sea cleared from the edges of her vision in waves, replaced with bright hues of green and brown. It took Mia several long, discombobulating minutes to realize she was on her back, staring up the trunk of a great gnarled tree. It took longer for her to realize that the noises around her were coming from a group of people, all of whom were clustered around her.
Figures drifted through her line of sight; her eyes could not fully focus on them. They moved like ghosts in front of her. Somehow slow, and fast at the same time, melding and blending together in confusing globs of color. As the final remnants of darkness cleared, it was as if all of her senses went into overdrive. She gasped as muted noise became a loud cacophony, and the ghosts settled into more humanoid shapes.
Her eyes wandered listlessly over the strange group hovering around her till they landed on the tallest man closest to her. He took up much of her field of vision as he kneeled towards her. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears as sudden fear bathed her insides with ice.
Unnaturally bright blue pupils glowed down at her, irises swimming in matching black pools. His skin was…wrong. An ashy gray blue tint that did not make sense on any living person. It got worse the more she stared. Sharp spikes grew from the skin of his forehead; A set of short horns, curling back over his long dark hair.
Mia shut her eyes, unwilling to see anymore, she raised her arms clumsily over her head, and did her best to curl herself into a ball, afraid he’d strike at her.
“Helena, can you hear me?” A hand that must have been twice the size of her own, touched the top of Mia’s head. A sob ripped from her throat; It rang loud in the clearing, sending the other figures into sudden silence.
The hand jerked away immediately. Mia continued to weep, unable to stop the torrential outpouring of despair, fear, and pain that was making it impossible for her to catch her breath.
The dark loomed up around the edges of her vision, but she fought it with all her might.
"What is wrong with her? What did you do!” The demon yelled, voice frantic.
“Thou asked for her life, did thou not? Her flame had been snuffed for quite some time before thou brought her to me. Returning to the living after such a journey is no easy feat." The voice was a low rasp, it sounded strange somehow, but Mia didn't dare open her eyes to see who it belonged to. She was afraid of catching sight of the demonic man again. She longed for a blanket to hide under, some form of barrier that would at least give the illusion of safety. A foggy memory of herself as a child flashed to the front of her mind. An image of herself curled up under a quilt her grandmother had made her, lying deathly still in the dark, certain that if she peeked her head out from underneath it a horribly monster would snatch her up.
“She’s bleeding everywhere!” The demon growled above her, and a moment later Mia could feel that over large hand trailing through her hair again. She flinched away, pressing her face into the prickly grass beneath her cheek. Mouth open, sobs finally tapering off into hiccups and harsh panting.
“I have restored her life…that does not mean her body does not still carry the damage of what had ended it in the first place.” The voice droned.
"Fuck! We need a healer," The demon cursed, "Shadowheart, can you-"
“On it! Stand aside- she needs a potion before she bleeds out!” A stern feminine voice to her left exclaimed, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. Mia could sense the woman, whoever she was, hovering above her. A smooth slim hand reached down and cupped Mia’s jaw, gently but firmly forcing it sideways and out of the earth it had been pressing into.
Mia dared to open her eyes a fraction, thankful that when she did, the face above her looked human. In fact, the woman was rather pretty. Dark braid trailing over one shoulder, blue eyes intense and focused. She moved with purpose, not hesitating at all. The fleeting thought that maybe the woman was some kind of emergency worker flitted through her mind, but Mia couldn't keep ahold of it. Everything was too overwhelming; she was finding incredibly hard to keep focused.
“I need you to swallow this. Quickly, please.” A glass bottle full of red liquid was brought to her mouth. Mia whimpered fearfully, eyes flicking from the woman to the demon that hovered over her shoulder. The woman shushed her, firmly pressing her fingers into the side of Mia's jaw forcing her lips to part. The woman braced Mia against her, and raised her head from the ground, pressing the opening of the bottle to her lips. Mia with some trepidation let the red liquid slide past her teeth and down her throat.
She jerked in surprise when it warmed her instantly, soothing some of the chill that had begun to settle in her bones.
She greedily began to pull more into her mouth, some of it slipped past her lips, trailing down her face, and soaking into her clothes. She was drinking as fast as she could, but it was like her body wasn't fully cooperating with her. For every mouthful she managed to force down it felt like she ended up gagging up most of the next. The woman adjusted the bottle, turning the pour into a careful trickle to avoid choking her.
Slowly some of the pain that still sent lightning bolts of discomfort through her began to ease. She still felt horrible and over sensitive, like someone had raked their nails over every nerve in her body, but it was manageable. Even if the morning sun felt too unnaturally bright and every soft gust of wind felt like an ice bath.
“Helena, how do you feel?” The demon knelt before her again, inching ever closer "Please speak. Tell me you can hear me." Mia shook harder, panic starting to rise in her chest again. Was no one else seeing this guy? Was she hallucinating?
The woman pulled the empty bottle from her mouth, laying her head back down against the ground gently. With some effort the woman pushed herself back onto her feet, and for the first time Mia could really take in her outfit. Metal gleamed in the morning sun. The strangeness only amplified the anxiety and confusion that was swirling in her head.
The demon man slid forward fully, taking his place at her side. His unnatural eyes still glowing down at her, his mouth moved, but she didn't catch his next words. She was far too busy staring at his incredibly sharp incisors.
Her stomach cramped uncomfortably, her senses screaming that she was in danger even as she knew there was nothing she could do. The demon reached a hand out to her again. Her eyes followed the movement. He had big hands, but they were almost pretty, slender with thin fingers. Those fingers did end in unnaturally sharp pointed nails though.
Those sharp claws reached her, they touched her cheek, scraping the skin there faintly. She suddenly felt very far away, and floaty.
Another hard cramp in her stomach had her mouth filling with saliva. She swallowed thickly fighting to keep herself present, and focused. She rallied herself as much as she could, trying to assemble some coherent sentence.
” Please don't hurt me," She managed to rasp out. Her throat hurt for her efforts.
"Hurt you? Why would we hurt you?" The demon genuinely sounded puzzled. Mia couldn't answer because half a moment later she felt the contents of her stomach hit the back of her throat.
She jerked her head to the side. The red liquid the woman had painstakingly poured into her hit the grass in a sickly red spray. Or well, she really hoped it was whatever had been in that bottle. The only other thing it could have been was blood. She didn't need to be a doctor to know that was probably bad news.
The floaty feeling in her head was getting stronger.
Woozy and dizzy she let her head sink fully into the earth. Her muscles began to relax, her eyes tried and failed to focus on the people standing above her. She was still faintly shaking, but that was easy to ignore now as the darkness began creeping at the edges of her vision again. She couldn't fight it.
The dark ocean swallowed her, and all she felt was relief.