Content: Eye gore, possession, minor whump (16yo), abuse by a family member, lab whump (implied, on a child). Ruby discovering that her aunt is actually possessed. (cont.)
Word count: 415
A low, mocking warble of laughter split through the metronome of blood dripping onto the floor, footsteps following in time. Ruby pressed herself back into the corner, cowering away from Not-Akale’s advance. Each thump of her heartbeat sent a shockwave through her body. Every fiber of her being was telling her to run away. Clamping a hand over her eye socket, she prayed that it was salvageable, but the blood seeping down her cheek and leaving speckles on her cloak argued otherwise.
“What happened to your bite?” Not-Akale came forwards, stepping into the sunlight that filtered in through the series of windows down the hallway behind her, stirring up dust motes as she went. “I thought you were meaner than this.”
I was. I was. I was.
“I promise. I w-won’t bite. I won’t. I won’t,” Ruby huffed, and hissed, her voice edging a shriek, “Please go away!” She grabbed at the hood over her head, pulling it down over her good eye and pressing herself so far into the corner that she hoped it would swallow her up.
Not-Akale’s footsteps, slightly closer this time, made her shudder. Her aunt clicked with her tongue, “I don’t think I will. You went through all this work just to deliver yourself right back to me. You can’t even use your magic on your own, what makes you think you would’ve survived without me? This is what you were born for.”
Her history had been burnt down with the laboratory. Her parents were only just barely questioned before they were executed. Maryanne had never told her anything, and had never treated her like anything more than fodder for testing. The sound of leather boots creaking had her chancing a peek outside of her hood, to see Not-Akale crouching down in front of her. “How.. do you know?”
“Charlie. Look at my eyes.” It was an order, not a request.
She flicked her gaze up from the blood on the floor to Not-Akale’s eyes. The piercing yellow shocked her back to her childhood self, curled up into the corner, as her sister threw open the heavy cell door and stared right down at her. She squeaked, averting her eye as if she’d been burned.
The will to fight drained from her body and left her a hollow, quivering shell in the corner. A cold lump settled in her stomach. She was going to die at the hands of her sister, or worse. She would be kept alive for testing.
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chibs is straight up not having a great time right now