Work Text:
Come and Save Me
Re-L was surrounded by mist when she opened her eyes. Thick, cloying clouds of it. She couldn't see anything but white and shadows softened by the water in the air. It was hot. The heat clung to her skin and a thin sweat broke out all over her body. The mist caressed her skin and even though it was hot, she shivered, goose bumps breaking out on her arms and chest. That's when she noticed that she was naked, not even a scrap of clothing hung on her skin. Stunned, Re-L threw her hands over her breasts and looked around wildly, hoping that no one could see her. There wasn't anyone there as far as she could see, which wasn't very far in the first place, but still covered herself even when she didn't see or hear anything in the mist. The raven-haired woman sighed, blowing a chunk of her hair out of her face. She was still tense, strung like a tight cord, and jumped when she moved her foot and felt something unknown. She swallowed a startled scream, but let it out as a laugh when she saw her bralette on the ground next to her. Her underwear wasn't too far off either and she slipped into her undergarments, thankful to be wearing something in case anyone found her. But even the small comfort of familiar clothes couldn't dispel the uneasiness she was feeling.
"Where am I?" she asked quietly, so confused as to how she even got here. As if answering her question, the mist parted a little, revealing a familiar mirror and a counter. Re-L's blue eyes widened as she realized where she was. She was in Romdeau! She was in her house! "But…how…?"
The last thing she remembered was finding Vincent Law at that stupid little AutoReiv out in the middle of nowhere. She knew that Vincent was Ergo Proxy, she knew that she should be far away from this place…and yet she was here. Was it all a dream…? None of this made sense as the woman took a few steps to her mirror, wiping the condensation off the smooth surface to look at herself. She looked the same as she always had, even though she didn't feel the same way she always had. She didn't have any make-up on and her eyes were holding an uncertainty that didn't fit her normally confident personality. Seeing herself so unmasked added to the uneasiness and then she noticed that there was something moving on her arm.
Re-L squinted into the mirror to see it better, and watched in horror as a thin black line made its way across her arm, over her chest, and then snake up her neck. She frantically brushed at herself and batted the blackness, but it seemed fused into her skin, a permanent part of her. She stared into the mirror again, watching it crawl over her face until a single word painted across her skin in black:
awakening
Suddenly, a darkness shot out of the mist and slammed into her, pinning the woman against the counter. She screamed in agony, her torso compressing against the hard surface, stuck between the counter and whatever had run into her. A large, black hand shot out and slammed into the mirror, cracking the glass. A pair of menacing, electric blue eyes stared back at her, black lips pulled away from brilliantly white teeth, revealing a sick grin that was only enhanced by the half smile of the mask the monster wore on the right side of its face. White hair fell across obsidian skin, like a snowfall in the night and it would've been beautiful if it hadn't been utterly horrifying.
Re-L screamed, faced with the only thing that ever terrified her, and struggled to pull herself away from the monster. Despite her best efforts, she was stuck right where she was, caught in the clutches of Ergo Proxy as his right hand came away from the mirror and grabbed her face. She screamed again, her cry muffled by skin and claws. He had her cheekbones pinched in between his thumb and index finger, her lips in the center of his palm. His other fingers splayed out her left cheek, down to her jaw and neck, digging into her skin. He had her in an iron grip, his other arm coming around her body and clawing at her chest. Re-L was crushed against the proxy's body, his hard chest pressed against her back and head. Claws, pricked at her skin, drawing little drops of blood that ran down her face like tears. She shrieked, terrified, trembling, and crying, struggling to somehow get away. But he had her, and she wasn't getting away.
Ergo growled and the sound rumbled in his chest and vibrated both of their bodies. Re-L tried to stomp on his foot or kick his leg, but the proxy wouldn't budge. He just squeezed her tighter in retaliation, drawing more blood from her face and chest, claws tearing into her skin. The raven screamed again desperately, but she doubted that anyone was coming to save her. She squeezed her eyes shut, freeing the tears trapped in her eyes and sending them running down her cheeks. She waited for the end, for those claws to open her chest up and expose everything inside her to the world, but it didn't come.
The proxy's grip on her face loosened just a bit, just enough so that he could move his thumb across her lips, pushing aside the flesh, touching her teeth. The motion was gentler than anything else he'd done to her, but it was still rough, still possessive. This was a reminder of the memory that would always haunt her on that fateful night. Tears ran freely down her skin, mixing with blood, pain, and terror. The raven was forced to stare at herself in the mirror, watching her ice queen image fall apart into that of a terrified little girl. She hated being weak, but against the proxy, she wasn't anything but weak.
The proxy's hand came away from her face, his arm still poised in from of her mouth. His sick grin got even wider, a deep chuckle hissing out from between his teeth. Re-L's eyes widened even more, a split second before he attacked, squeezing her neck while he ripped his claws through her chest and all the way down to her left side. Blood gushed from her wound but her scream was choked by the hand on her throat. Re-L felt her life seeping out of her, running warm and slick across her skin. Darkness started to creep in on her vision as a soft breath brushed against her cheek. Then the hand on her throat moved to her jaw, moving it to the left before whipping it to the right, ending her misery. She felt her neck snap and then everything went completely black.
Re-L screamed as she awoke in terror. She was a trembling mess as she sat up and curled in on herself, clutching at her chest, making sure that it was whole. Her breath was heavy and short with fear as she felt the lingering fingers of her nightmare slither across her consciousness.
Her scream woke up her companion sleeping below her on the floor and Vincent was yanked out of sleep with panic etched on his tired face. "Re-L! What's wrong?!" The man wiggled out of his sleeping bag and stood up to check on her. The woman was shaking, visibly upset, and clutching her body with her arms. Vincent reached out to grab her shoulders but she slapped his hands away.
"Don't touch me!" Re-L hissed, glaring fiercely at the immigrant. She looked like a cornered cat, all teeth and claws and Vincent stumbled back, surprised at her fierce snarl and that he'd tried to touch her. He hardly ever tried to touch her in the first place but he was so worried for her that he didn't care about keeping his distance to save himself from her wrath. Now he cared because she was ready to claw him.
"Miss Re-L…I'm sor-" he started to apologize meekly but she growled at him again.
"Get the hell away from me!"
"What's going on?" Pino had poked her little head out from her hiding place in the back of the hold by the bathroom. All her little trinkets were back there as well as a blanket she used to "sleep" on, wanting to do what everyone else did at night even though she didn't sleep herself.
"Shut up, Pino!" Re-L screamed, scaring the little AutoReiv back into her hiding place.
"Ah! Scary Lady!" the girl wailed.
"Miss Re-L, you shouldn't talk to Pino like that…" Vincent said warily, wanting to protect his friend from the fiery wrath of his crush, but also not wanting to get his head ripped off in the process.
"Shut up! Just leave me alone!" Re-L couldn't take it anymore; she couldn't stay here any longer. The monster in her dreams was standing right in front of her, staring at her with those green, puppy-dog eyes and it sickened her to think about what was lurking under his skin. She couldn't stay here with him, not if she wanted to hold herself together. Re-L threw off her blanket and rushed out of the room, only grabbing her coat despite knowing that it was so goddamn cold outside. She bundled up and pushed the door up and out of the way before Vincent had time to do anything besides call out after her.
Re-L burst out into the freezing night air and slammed the door shut again before dashing to the stern of the Rabbit, hunkering down on the cold, metal floor. As she sat there, shivering and dreading the moment Vincent walked out here, the last bit of fogginess was erased from her brain as the nightmare finally became insubstantial. I haven't had a dream that bad in a long time, the woman thought to herself. She would never tell anyone that she'd had nightmares, not even Iggy – it was too embarrassing to admit it, especially after everyone thought she'd gone crazy and was hallucinating the "monster" that had smashed its way through her bathroom. No, she couldn't have told anyone, and now the only person she would've told went crazy and was now dead. Re-L's heart pinched in her chest thinking about Iggy. He'd been a good companion until he went crazy, but even then she couldn't blame him. She missed Iggy and wanted to hear his cheerful voice just one more time, especially now since she was living with her nightmare. Without even realizing it, Re-L was crying quietly and only recognized her tears when the wind started to freeze them. She angrily wiped at her cheeks and stemmed the tears before any more could fall.
Stupid nightmare! They only started again when I saw…when I saw Vincent turn into a proxy with my own eyes, she thought. That had been before Iggy's death, when Re-L got attacked by that wild proxy. Vincent, or rather Ergo Proxy, had leaped in to fight the other proxy, and whether or not he meant to save her was still up for debate. Re-L could at least trust Vincent to not try to kill her since he was besotted with her, but Ergo Proxy was an unknown variable. Her words at the time came back to her, the one she whispered to Iggy: It's the only thing I've ever seen that terrified me. She was still terrified of him. It was like, once she saw the proxy again, all the horror from that night, her close brush with death, it all came slamming back into her, tipped out of the box that she'd carefully constructed to keep it in control. Re-L was not an emotional person – no one was anymore, engineered to be calm and collected – but in any instance involving Ergo Proxy, her fear was threatening to swallow her whole. Re-L always wanted to be strong and she couldn't stand letting people see her cry and yet, here she was, unable to do the one she wanted and succumbing to the other she didn't.
"Damn…damn…damn…goddamnit!" Re-L threw her arm to the side and smacked it against the Rabbit, ineffectually. Her fist hurt, she was cold and tired and scared and she didn't want anyone to know. She wanted Iggy, but Iggy was gone. All she had was a man she barely knew and a little robot that annoyed her half of the time and the other half was spent trying to become Re-L's friend. She had no one; everything she had was gone and all she was left with was her dark memories. She wrapped her arms around her legs and tipped her head into her knees, trying not to cry again, trying to become the confident Re-L she wanted to be.
The raven didn't know how long she'd been outside, but she'd started to drift off into a cold-induced exhaustion when she felt someone's presence beside her.
"Miss Re-L…?" It was Vincent's soft voice.
"What do you want?" she hissed softly, way too tired to panic around him.
"…You should come inside now. You're really cold." The man hesitantly reached out to grab her arm and help her up, afraid that she might break his fingers and also really nervous to touch her in the first place. Re-L was still off limits because she didn't even like him, even though he wanted to touch her so much, even in just little ways. The woman saw the hesitation and knew she couldn't completely blame the guy for who he was, but she would partially blame him no matter what.
"Fine." she relented, shivering and wanting to get back inside. She started to get up, but her nearly-frozen legs refused to cooperate and she nearly fell to the ground. Vincent was quick enough to grab under her armpits and pull her to her feet. He held her gently, blushing like an idiot, but Re-L was too tired and annoyed to notice. She stomped some life back into her legs and once standing on her own, she pushed Vincent away and stumbled back inside by herself.
She flopped down on her cot, suddenly acutely aware that she was only in her underwear and coat. She growled and angrily buried herself in her blanket for warmth, still in her coat.
"…Will you be okay?" Vincent asked, shutting the Rabbit's door and looking at her with so much concern in those puppy-dog eyes.
"I'll be fine!" the woman grumped back. She felt two sets of eyes on her, watching her closely, and got even more irritated. "But do me a favor," she started, coming upon an idea that was both spiteful and would get Vincent out of her sight so she could calm down.
"Ah…uh…sure…?" the man stumbled over his words nervously, wanting to please her.
And that's how Vincent was forced to wait in the bathroom for an hour until Re-L fell asleep again without ever knowing why.
…
The next day, Re-L was up before anyone else and got out of the room as quickly and quietly as she could. She didn't even let Vincent do her hair, which was odd, and what was even odder was the fact she didn't even attempt to do it herself (not that she could style it properly anyway). However, she did manage to put her blue eye shadow on to have some semblance of normality. Re-L was aware of Pino watching her, the AutoReiv having apparently not gone back into hibernation after disconnecting during the night, but she ignored the little girl and went outside on her own.
And that's how Vincent woke up to Re-L's empty cot and Pino's piano-harmonica toy blaring in his ear.
"Wake up, Vince! It's time to get up!" Pino sang, playing a few more notes of her signature song.
"I'm up, I'm up!" he replied groggily, his mind still trying to shove off sleep and figure out what had happened the night before. Re-L had seemed…unhinged. It was new to Vincent to see her like that because she was usually the ice queen, but yesterday was very strange. She must've had a really bad dream, he mused, knowing that sometimes his dreams could be horrifying. I wish she'd talk to me…but who am I kidding? She'd never tell me. Vincent gazed longingly at the empty cot and started his morning routine. As he went into the bathroom, he remembered her strange request from yesterday and smiled a little. Sitting in the bathroom for an hour hadn't been the best experience ever, but he was glad that he could do something for Re-L, no matter how weird it was.
As he was getting ready, Vincent heard Re-L call out to him, her voice making his heart skip a beat in excitement.
"Hey! I'm going to go see what the landscape is like up ahead." Re-L called out suddenly and then the man heard the Rabbit's ladder drop and her footsteps on it as she disembarked.
"Wait! You shouldn't go alone!" Vincent replied, running out of the bathroom and out the door just to see Re-L take off running. What is up with her today? He was worried about her and turned to get Pino to follow her when he realized that the AutoReiv had gone into hibernation after waking him up, charging her battery.
"Oh, geez. Why didn't she do that while we were sleeping?" he complained, the odd night and the odd morning getting even odder. Vincent turned away from Pino and watched his beloved get smaller and smaller. He told himself that she wouldn't be gone long, just maybe an hour or so. Re-L's smart, she'll be fine. "I should get to work on repairs," he told himself, going back inside to get a fresh pair of undergarments before suiting up. "We're not going anywhere until those are done and I know Re-L will want to keep moving as soon as possible." The man got ready and then got to work, thinking about the woman who made his already crazy life even crazier.
Meanwhile, Re-L had gotten far enough away from the ship to finally feel safe. She breathed a sigh of relief after she stomped up a small hill, looking back at the Rabbit to get her bearings. A bone-chilling wind pulled at her hair and clothes and she shivered, pulling her coat up around her face and yanking on her hood to get warm. She put the Rabbit to her rear and trudged into the barren landscape, enjoying her solitude. She really was going to scout ahead, but right now, she was mostly using it as an excuse to get away from Vincent. As harmless as he seemed on the outside right now, she didn't want to be anywhere near the monster lurking on the inside.
As she walked, the small hills turned into quite big hills, but Re-L wasn't too worried because she could still see the ship and Pino could find her with her sensors if need be. If Vincent did a good job on repairs, the Rabbit could just come and pick her up instead of her having to make the long walk back. The hills were just like all the other ones they had traveled through – grayish brown, pretty bare, lacking animal life. The world was a wasteland, but it had its own kind of beauty – the beauty of simplicity. But unlike most other hills, these had done a little better for themselves: they had a few trees and bushes, and the knobby roots of the plants poked up here and there. With how barren the rest of the world seemed to be, Re-L was surprised to find any kind of vegetation outside of the small forests they occasionally traveled by. She was so distracted by looking at the hearty plant that when the raven wasn't paying attention, she accidentally tripped over an upturned root and hit the ground hard.
"Ow!" she hissed, pain shooting through her body. Her hands hurt from catching her and would've been scraped up if she hadn't had her gloves on, and her left foot throbbed painfully too. It was caught in the root of a skinny, bare tree, and when Re-L got her foot unstuck and gingerly pulled her leg in to look at it. She gently felt her ankle and swore when it throbbed in protest. Nothing seemed severely injured, but she was going to have a devil of a time getting back to the Rabbit. Now she really wished she had Iggy – he could've given her a medical exam and could've carried her back to the ship with ease. Her heart pinched with grief at his loss but the logical part of her brain told her that there was no use wishing for something that could never come back to her; all she could do now was take things one step at a time.
Stand up, that's the first step.
Then make sure you can walk on your ankle.
Walk for a short distance to make sure that nothing is wrong.
Walk slowly back to the Rabbit.
Make Vincent's life terrible for causing all of this.
The last step in her plan might've sounded unreasonable, but Re-L figured that Vincent was the whole reason she was out here, so this mess was clearly his fault whether it actually was or not. The raven rested for a minute hoping that the throbbing would stop and while it didn't go away, it eventually turned into a dull ache. She then wobbled to her feet, testing her weight on her foot. It wasn't bad, but it definitely could be better.
"I'll just have the Rabbit come pick me up," Re-L told herself. "They have a telescope and I'll signal them somehow to come and get me from the top of this hill. Vincent and Pino can at least do that much." The woman displayed a confidence that she just didn't have today, all thanks to that stupid nightmare. What's the matter with me? she grumbled internally. I've known about the proxies long enough; they shouldn't terrify me anymore. They're scary, but Vincent isn't too scary, at least when he's a dopy idiot. As she limped along, Re-L remembered her dream from the night before, how the proxy had grabbed her, clawed her, and then savagely broke her neck. She shivered and shook her head as if she could dispel the memory, but it stayed etched into the backs of her eyelids. She kept trying to get rid of it by walking uphill as fast as she could for the next thirty minutes, but that didn't work either.
Re-L found herself nearing the top of the hill as the little path she'd found thinned and passed by a gully in the hillside. It looked like the mountain had just cracked open and while it wasn't a huge gully, a slip down could kill someone. The woman peeked over the side carefully and then decided that she didn't like looking down all that much. She started to walk back toward the middle of the path when her left foot hit an uneven patch of dirt and rocks and twisted painfully again. Her injured leg buckled under her weight and gave out. She yelped in surprise and fell to her side…towards the gully.
She hit the ground hard on her left hip and elbow and even though she was still mostly on the ground, her head and shoulders were out over open air. Re-L hissed in pain but then screamed in terror as the barren earth under her torso crumbled just enough to slide her right over the edge of the drop. She couldn't scramble up fast enough to grab the edge of the cliff and fell, futilely reaching for safety. Re-L's voice echoed off the walls of the gully as she tumbled down the steep incline. Desperate, dizzy, and scared to death, the raven's hands scrambled for something to hold onto and snatched a root sticking out of the ground. She jerked to a stop, her shoulder screaming in pain, her body aching and covered in dirt. Her feet slid around and she managed to find two precarious footholds and her free hand was not glued to the root. Finally upright, Re-L looked around and saw just how much trouble she was in. Two footholds and a gnarly root were her lifeline; she was one lost grip away from tumbling the rest of the way down the cliff-like gully and onto the hard ground and rocks a few dozen feet below her.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" she swore, gasping in panic and pain, squeezing out whatever life was left in the nearly-dead tree root. Her legs were already shaking from her fall and trying to hold the rest of her body up, and her left ankle was very shaky and weak, leading to her right leg doing more work and tiring faster. She knew that she couldn't hold on forever, but how long could she hold on to begin with? The woman looked up desperately at the edge of the gully, far above her. The distance between her and the top of the gully looked to be about the height of the Rabbit's sails to the underside of the hull – a distance she'd never be able to climb by herself even if she wasn't injured.
"What do I do?!" she asked, knowing that no one could hear her. She had to try climbing; it was her only way out. She started to pull herself up by the root, but it groaned ominously with her movement. She froze, terrified that it would snap, but the root settled into place. It could handle her holding onto it, but it would not accommodate the extra strain of her climbing up it. That destroyed any plan of hauling herself up the cliff. The only other thing she could think of was to call for help, but who was going to hear her? Vincent and Pino were the only ones around for hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles, and even they were so far away!
"Why did you have to walk so far, idiot?" she berated, furious with herself for the situation she'd gotten into. "They can't even see you now, let alone hear you!" But despite sound logic, Re-L started screaming for help. "HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME! VINCENT! PINO! ANYONE! HELP!" Tears sprang to her eyes and she pleaded, "Please…help me…HELP!"
She yelled for what seemed like hours until her voice was raw and then fell silent. The day wore on and her stomach growled, telling her that it was lunchtime. Her brain started to wander from her predicament, too tired to be constantly terrified anymore, but the panic still lurked in the back of her mind even as she started to drift off.
We should've been moving by now…Vincent probably fixed whatever was wrong with the Rabbit…are they looking for me? Vincent would have to be… he loves me! And Pino…well…I guess Pino likes me well enough…I'm always mean to her. If I get out of this I promise to be a little nicer to her. And maybe…maybe I'll be a little nicer to Vincent. He does do everything I tell him to do and that has to be worth something. I really want to be back on the Rabbit in my warm bed…
Re-L was left only with her thoughts an aching body, and slowly dwindling strength to hold herself up. But she was too stubborn to give up and hung on for her life as best she could, her sheer willpower keeping her upright. Time passed, she didn't know how much, and just when she thought things couldn't get any worse than hanging off of a cliff, it did. Her weak, left ankle buckled from the strain and slipped from its foothold, dangling uselessly under her body. The raven screamed again, her shoulders pulling painfully as they were forced to take on more weight. This is it. This is where I'm going to die. Grandfather…Iggy…Daedalus…Pino…Vincent…they'll never know what happened to me…Re-L could feel her grip weakening, her shoulders were shaking. She could only hold on for a little longer.
"Why? Why am I so weak?" she whispered, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. She wished her body was like Iggy's, synthetic and tireless. Then she could've climbed up by herself and been done with this whole mess hours ago. "I can't let it end like this…I have to hold on…they'll come…they'll come for me…" Then even talking became too tiring and she focused solely on hanging on through all the pain. Eventually, she tiredly pulled her left leg up and attempted to find another foothold, but the second she tried to put any weight on her ankle, a flash of agony shot up her leg. Re-L screamed again and her leg fell limp, useless. The echoes of the scream faded away quickly, leaving her alone again.
Just when she was about to give up and let herself fall into death, she heard a sound that gave her a last, desperate hope.
"Re-L? Re-L! Is that you?!" a familiar voice called out, filled with worry. Re-l's heart soared as she heard it. It's Vincent! He found me!
She opened her mouth to shout, "Vincent! Down here!" but it came out more as a croak than a yell, her throat parched. She looked up at the clifftop, waiting, and hoping. A few moments later, Vincent's messy black hair leaned out above her, the man's fierce green eyes staring down in horror at her situation.
"Re-L! Are you okay?!" he shouted.
Both relieved and annoyed that she had the help that she did, the woman croaked, "Now is not the time for stupid questions! Do I look okay?!" up at him. He blushed in embarrassment, but the raven bulldozed past that. "Please, get me out of here!"
"O-okay!" Vincent frantically looked around for something to use to pull her up, but there was hardly any vegetation around and he didn't bring anything with him from the Rabbit other than his gun. Re-L was hanging far below him and he couldn't reach her without some sort of tool. He looked down at the woman again, scared that he wouldn't be able to get to her in time. She was dirty and scraped up and her body was shaking, especially her hands. She had been down there for who knows how long, clinging to the cliff for dear life.
Vincent felt so guilty for not coming sooner, even though he knew there was no way he could've known that she was in trouble. He'd fixed up the Rabbit and then he and Pino had gotten everything ready to leave and goofed off afterward while waiting for Re-L to return, but she never did. They even used the telescope to see if she was coming back or signaling them from up on the hills, but of course, she hadn't. They'd moved the Rabbit and got as close to the hills as possible, and that was when Pino spotted Re-L's footprints. Vincent followed the trail, leaving the AutoReiv in charge of the ship, and trekked the hill searching for the woman until he heard her scream. His heart was in his throat now as he tried to figure out a way to get her out of danger but he couldn't think of anything!
"What do I do?! What do I do?!" he muttered, panicking and wringing his gloved hands. There was nothing for him to lower down to her, so the only thing he could do was pull her up himself – somehow. He went back towards the cliff's edge and was about to carefully climb down himself when the worst possible thing happened: Re-L's body jerked precariously, and she shrieked. "Re-L!" Vincent shouted, his heart clenching tightly in his chest.
"Vincent! Hurry!" Re-L looked up at him desperately, tears in her eyes. Her other foothold had just crumbled under her weight and she was scrambling to find another.
The man started to climb over the cliff, sliding down until his hand hooked onto the edge. He wasn't thinking at this point, he just knew that he needed to get to her. His hand clung to the wall securely, much more so than he had expected. Vincent glanced up quickly and noticed that his arm had turned night black, his claws coming out as the stress of the situation forced him to change. For once, he was glad it happened because this time he was trying to save someone rather than kill them. He reached for Re-L, the rest of his body beginning to transform, gaining strength. As his body adapted, Vincent could feel just how easily he could save her: he could do it if he inched down quickly using his claws, grabbed her, and then climbed back up. He knew that he could do that easily; it was simple. Until it wasn't.
As he slid down several more feet towards her Re-L looked up in horror at him. Her nightmare was beginning to come true right before her eyes. There was the brutal strength he'd used to hold her securing Vincent to the cliffside, there were the claws that he'd ripped through her chest, and there was the flicker in his eyes of the unfeeling, glassy stare that watched her fall apart. She shuddered, the movement making her already precarious hold even more precarious, but she didn't care.
"Stop! Don't change…please…!" she pleaded, looking even more terrified of him than she'd been of falling to her death.
Vincent's heart ached, stricken that she was scared of him, the monster.
"But…" he started, already hearing his voice growing huskier, deeper, as the transformation spread. He tried to stop, he really did, but she was still in danger, and he couldn't let go of the power while she still needed him. The man felt his sadness physically weigh him down, his body slumping under the heavy burden. He wanted to save her, but she didn't want him to save her like he was now, but he couldn't be anything other than he was. His voice can out in his whisper, his free hand still open, still reaching for her below him. "I don't know how to save you without this power."
A single tear slid down his cheek as he gazed at the woman he loved, her terrified eyes locked onto his. But then, her eyes widened with something else that wasn't terror, and if he had to name it, the emotion flickering across her blue eyes was more like awe.
Re-L found herself in a weird situation – even more precarious than hanging off of a cliff. She was standing on the edge of a figurative cliff: she could either stay on the cliff and reject him – mostly likely leading to her death – or she could step off of the cliff and trust him. She hadn't trusted anyone in Romdeau except Iggy, and even that trust had been rewarded with betrayal and hate in the end, so could she trust Vincent? She was still scared of the proxy that Vincent hid within him but the fact that he wanted to save her with the same power that he'd previously used to terrify her could make her fall off that cliff for him, could get her to consider trusting him.
Vincent wanted to save her and he wanted to do it with everything he had at his disposal. Re-L didn't want to die either, so, maybe, she could trust him – the proxy him – just this once.
"Okay," she agreed reluctantly, the word barely louder than the breeze. "Come and save me." Vincent's eyes lit up and he smiled at her, practically oozing gratitude for her concession, the weight of the world lifting off of his shoulders. Re-L almost felt guilty for making him feel so bad, almost, but not quite. However, no matter how conflicted she felt at the moment she would also be very grateful to him after finally getting out of this situation. As he inched down toward her, Re-L let go of the root with one hand and reached up for his outstretched fingers. She strained upward, suppressing a shiver of discomfort, and almost brushed his clawed hand when her other foot slipped.
The root she was holding onto finally gave out after hours of holding her up as her full body weight yanked on it. It snapped off a few inches above her hand and the bottom then quickly came out of the cliff, leaving Re-L to fall, still holding onto what used to be her lifeline, her other arm still reaching for Vincent. Time slowed down for one horrifying moment and Re-L felt as if she was suspended in the air, held perfectly still, her entire consciousness tunneling down to the realization that she was about to die. Then she was falling, a surprised gasp escaping from her lips as the rocks below started to rush toward her.
The next second she heard a roar and looked up, transfixed by her nightmare becoming reality even as death beckoned at her back. A blur of white, red, and black hung above her, and then just as suddenly disappeared. Something solid hit her back, but it wasn't the rocks she was expecting, instead, a strong arm caught her waist and pulled her into a hard chest as they both jerked to a stop. The other clawed hand not occupied with her waist dug into the cliffside, halting their fall and leaving deep gashes in the rock. Re-L's mind finally caught up to what was happening as she realized that Vincent had just caught her. She couldn't believe how fast he'd done it – one moment he was above her and a second later, he'd stopped her fall!
She also couldn't believe that the first emotion she was able to feel was safety – once her heart started up again. She felt safe against the proxy's chest, which she never would have dreamed was possible. She stared at his face as he started to move upwards, his electric blue eyes narrowed in concentration and determination. Vincent's face was covered by his white mask, the white locks attached to it flowing around her face. With indescribable speed, he shot up the cliff in a few short bursts, literally running and jumping like a normal person would on flat ground. Before she could even take another breath, they were both solidly away from the cliff's edge, safe once again.
Re-L was stunned by how quickly everything had transpired, but the moment she got her breath back she realized that she was facing her nightmare all over again. The proxy was staring at her, his clawed hand coming towards her face. She recoiled but the arm around her felt like iron. She couldn't move let alone escape. The sick grin of the white mask leered at her and the woman opened her mouth to scream again, but then she stopped. His hand had stopped moving toward her. Her eyes flicked to his face. The proxy was crying, just like he had on that fateful night back in Romdeau, a single tear running down his cheek. His hand came up to her face, cradling her jaw and cheek before she was crushed in a strong embrace. He was warm. And while her heart was still pounding in terror from both her fall and the proximity to the monster in her dream, Re-L felt much safer than she had been that night in her bathroom. And then she heard Vincent's voice behind the mask, softly sobbing her name. She felt her heart give a little, seeing the anguish and worry that she'd caused this man – the man underneath the proxy. She found that she couldn't hate Vincent – be annoyed with him, yes, be frustrated with him, yes – but not hate. Almost unconsciously, her arms came up to touch his back, returning the embrace softly. She didn't even really know why she did it, but she did.
"I'm so happy," the proxy, groaned, his voice deep. "I'm so happy that you're safe." He pulled back, looking into Re-L's eyes, studying her face. Re-L saw Vincent behind the mask and obsidian skin. Those were his eyes, the same eyes that always stared at her longingly. She'd never seen such a monster look such a way. It was beautiful. He was a beautiful monster.
"Vincent –" she started, but then a pair of lips were pressing against hers, Vincent's mask hard against her cheek. It wasn't the most elegant kiss – considering that she could only feel the half of his mouth that wasn't covered by the mask – but Re-L could feel his love for her, a wordless conversation was passing between their bodies. One perfect moment where the only thing that mattered was how they fit together, the proxy and his beloved.
However, the moment didn't last too long as Re-L realized that she was kissing her nightmare. "Get off!" she snapped, pushing against Vincent's shoulders. He pulled away, his eyes shifting back into the stunning green of his human persona.
"Uh…" his mouth didn't seem to work, still wanting to be kissing her rather than talking. Re-L eyed the man, taking in the contrast of his proxy skin surrounding his human eyes and finding the image fascinating, if a little uncanny. She sighed, recognizing the dopy look of Vincent's brain stalling. So she continued speaking until everything clicked back into place.
"I'm only going to say this once," she stated, pulling Vincent's mind back to reality. "Thank you."
"Uh…welcome…" he rumbled back. Re-L couldn't see it on his skin, but the man was blushing, completely elated at her words. Then, seeming to regain some of his senses, Vincent's eyes changed back into the proxy ones. He stood up quickly, sweeping Re-L into his arms like a princess – one arm cradling her shoulders and the other under her knees – before dashing down the hillside faster than human eyes could follow. Re-L's breath was taken away from her again at the sheer speed at which he could move and they were back to the Rabbit in no time at all.
"Other Vince! Re-L! Hi!" Pino was calling to them as they neared the ship and the proxy leapt aboard with ease. The danger gone now, Vincent shifted back into his human form, his clothes still loose and unbuckled as they always seemed to get when he transformed. "You're back! You're back!" the AutoReiv chanted as the man carried Re-L down into the Rabbit. He set her gently on her bunk and started looking her over, careful to keep his eyes lowered and blush hidden as he started to look at her injury Vincent touched her ankle and it flared up in pain.
"Ouch! Damnit!" she cursed, her body tensing up.
"Ouch! Dammit!" Pino repeated, making the same face the woman was as came down the stairs.
"That's pretty bad," the man commented. He was gentler as he continued to check the woman's leg. "It's not broken, but you'll need to rest and get off it. He very carefully pulled her boot off, wincing as Re-L hissed loudly and smacked him on the shoulders a few times. Swears were spewing out of her mouth nonstop until her boot fell onto the floor with a dull thud, followed by her sock. Re-L's ankle was terribly swollen and black and purple bruises had already formed around her injury.
"We don't have any ice, but we could make a compress," Vincent continued, letting her leg dangle softly before checking her other foot. "Pino?"
"Yes?" the AutoReiv answered brightly.
"Could you go soak a cloth in cold water and bring it back here?"
"Sure thing!" The little girl did the task quickly and without complaint, which was a rarity. Usually, she was busy doing something else or just plain didn't want to do what she was told. But luckily enough, she was back in a moment and holding out the cloth to Vincent. He pulled up Re-L's pant leg a bit and wrapped the cloth around her ankle and secured it with a small piece of string. There were more curses as Vincent quickly took care of her other scratches – spraying them with antibacterial solutions and bandaging them up. Her treatment was finished by handing her a glass of water and a few painkiller tablets, and by the time the whole process was done, Re-L was so done.
"Okay! That's enough of that!' she declared, batting Vincent's hands away when he went to check her over for a third time to make sure he got everything. "I'm fine now."
"O-oh, o-okay," he stuttered. Re-L swung her legs up onto her cot and lay down, utterly exhausted. She was already getting pulled into sleep but she had one more thing to say.
"Thank you," she whispered, slipping into dreams that weren't quite as scary, even with the proxy showing up in them, dreams that also included endless showers and being clean forever at one point.
"I thought you were only going to say that once," Vincent chuckled, packing the medical supplies away and giving his beloved a soft smile.
"Shut up…" she answered, unaware that her words were soft and endearing as she fell asleep.
Vincent gently cupped her cheek, his heart full and at peace now that she was safe once again. "I'm glad I could save you." His soft smile got wider as he thought of their kiss, blushing deeply. "I can't believe I did that!" he breathed, excited and nervous at the same time. Re-L hadn't killed him for kissing her; maybe he needed to save her more often so that he could get more kisses. Though, he wouldn't want her to get hurt so often if that was the case. In any case, they still needed to get to Mosk, and he had hundreds of miles to get more kisses.
Vincent put the first aid kit away and draped a blanket over Re-L, chuckling at the fact that she was sleeping fully clothed with her coat on. Hesitating, he then placed a light kiss on her forehead before heading out to pilot the Rabbit, his eyes constantly going back to the door he and Pino had left open to keep an eye on her. As long as she was safe, he was content.
The End