The Picnic

WITHOUT MEN-fanfic. Just a tiny story about the ladies from the "Without Men" movie.
(Cleotilde/Rosalba)


A brief pause from the "Patching Her Up"-series, because a certain person told me to do it. ^^;

Read The Picnic

Disclaimer: I have no clue who owns the rights to the “Without Men” movie, and I’m just borrowing because a certain person made me do it.




The Picnic
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By Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson




”We’re here!” Rosalba happily declared to her companion, trotting off to a small patch of grass at least partially shaded by the branches of a large tree, expertly tip-toeing to avoid getting stuck with the high-heel shoes that were just not suited for this environment.

Cleotilde nodded and watched with interest as Rosalba lay out the blanket. She had all but wrestled her lover for the picnic basket, wanting to be gallant and carry their things, but Rosalba was as always stubborn and bossy, so they ended up sharing; Cleo carried the basket and Rosalba the blanket and the bottle of wine.

She’d tried to play off her excitement when Rosalba had asked her out for a picnic, and tried very hard to keep a neutral expression even now, but she could feel the smile breaking through as she sat down and relinquished control of the basket.

Rosalba of course beamed happily, not so secretly charmed by the bashful but happy smile tugging at Cleo’s lips. She was glad she thought of this.

With expert hands she set out the wine and glasses, some cheese, two different types of biscuits, and many different kinds of fruit, all chopped up to pieces she thought would be suitable for feeding her Cleo by hand. Last of all she brought out a special treat, a handful of nice, ripe strawberries and a small bowl of honey.

Cecilia had some very good ideas, she would have to thank her later. Even if hearing the suggestions about the other uses for the honey was a bit embarrassing.

The wine was nice, and they took turns feeding little bits to one another in between kisses. Rosalba was happy and content, and all seemed well with the world.

Cleotilde was lying down on her back with Rosalba straddling her hips, strawberries long gone but another use for what was left of the honey found – although one more innocent than the one Cecilia had suggested – when they heard it.

A buzzing.

A very, very strong buzzing, getting closer.

Abruptly Cleotilde sat up, unintentionally dislodging Rosalba whom with a yelp poured the rest of the honey over herself and rolled away over the blanket and the remains of their romantic meal. With honey still smeared liberally over her face Cleo stared at the large dark and undulating cloud quickly coming their way.

“W-why?” She gasped and scrambled to get to her feet, knocking the wine bottle over in the process and splashing both herself and Rosalba with what was left in it.

Rosalba, recovered enough from her shock to get angry, growled and threw biscuit crumbs and cheese at her lover. Cleo grabbed her hand and yanked.

“Stop it!” Rosalba complained. “What has gotten into you?”

In reply Cleotilde, with a sticky but firm grip, turned Rosalba’s head towards the loud buzzing.

“Honey...” Cleo squeaked as Rosalba gasped. “Run!”

Finally Cleotilde managed to yank Rosalba to her feet, and together the two of them ran screaming at the top of their lungs away from the large and fast-moving cloud that followed them. Rosalba’s high heels sank into the dirt almost immediately, causing her to fall.

Cleotilde stopped and helped Rosalba to her feet, this time abandoning the shoes, but the first of the bees were already upon them. With a speed borne from desperation – and pain – they ran for the water and dove in.

They just hoped they could both hold their breaths until the angry bees had lost interest in them.

---------------------

“I just don’t understand why they attacked us.” Rosalba complained as Cecilia applied salve to the multitude of beestings covering her face, arms and legs. On a chair nearby Cleotilde pouted mightily as she was given a similar treatment by Magnolia, only her scant clothing meant that she had suffered even more stings than Rosalba.

Cecilia looked thoughtful. “You said you were going somewhere by the trees on the other side of the river?”

Rosalba nodded morosely, mourning her ruined picnic.

“Was it by the really big tree with the branches that make a parasol?”

Both Rosalba’s and Cleotilde’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at their friend.

“Did you happen to see the large beehive up in that tree?” Cecilia asked cheerfully. “I got the honey from there this morning.”

Fading to White

Silent Hill fanfic. Set right at the end of the movie. She watched her child play in the swirling white mist that was their world.
(Rose/Cybil)

Read Fading to White

Disclaimer: I have no idea who owns the rights to Silent Hill, but it certainly isn’t me.
Set after the end of the movie, and has nothing whatsoever to do with any games or whatnot.





Fading to White
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By Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson




Some things were easier to ignore than others.

The way the world had turned white, bathed in that unearthly but gentle light that stemmed from the mist obscuring the world beyond her lawn was such a thing... on some level Rose was aware of the change and the reason for it, but with all that had happened she just did not care. She had Sharon, they were home and they were safe, that was all that mattered.

Rose just... accepted. This was her existence now.

She accepted that although she cooked and they ate, the refrigerator in her kitchen never ran out of food, always somehow holding exactly the thing Rose would be looking for. TV and radio had all the music or movies mother and daughter could want, but never a single news broadcast, talkshow or even commercial break. Well, the news were overrated anyway.

Even the internet connection on the laptop was... select, to say the least. It was of no use to either of them anymore, unless of course they wanted to buy something. That, too, was accepted without question, that whenever Sharon wanted a new videogame or a new toy, or when Rose wanted new whatever item, though that in itself was rare, they just opened up that laptop and placed an order. The packages would be on their doorstep the next morning without anyone having approached the house, and without even the smallest mention of payment. It did not matter.

Sharon seemed happy, and that was really all that mattered to Rose. Yes, when Sharon played in the backyard Rose could hear laughter and play from two children, and when Rose looked out the window at the white-washed scene she would see two dark little figures, but it was not something that brought fear. Perhaps it should have, if Rose did not know with such absolute certainty that this fragment of Alessa, this ghost that appeared whenever Sharon wanted a friend, would never hurt them.

Rose smiled and waved at the children, and two sets of tiny hands waved back.

What was harder to ignore and harder to accept was how every trace of memory of Christopher was fading rapidly from Rose’s mind. Not disappearing, exactly, but fading... and what bothered Rose the most was that she felt nothing really about it.

It was just that she could no longer recall his face. His voice was gone from her memories as well, his interests, what made him happy or angry... all faded into white nothingness, just like his image in the pictures on the walls first faded and then disappeared, leaving only Sharon and Rose. A careful mention of him to Sharon confirmed that the girl, too, no longer recalled her father. Rose never brought the subject up again.

It was not that that Rose grieved the loss, or that she missed him, but there was a lingering sense of guilt that suggested Rose should indeed care more that she had to concentrate hard to even remember her husband’s name anymore. From her memories, no matter how vague all things connected to him had become, Rose could still draw the conclusion that secretly, in her heart, Rose had wanted to leave her husband long ago, and only stayed because of Sharon.

Still, the process was... eerie. And as Rose walked through her white-painted rooms searching for something to occupy herself with while little Sharon was out playing, she could not help but feel somewhat lonely.

She cleaned, she read, she occupied her time with many small things, and when Sharon parted with her playmate for the day, all Rose’s time and attention was focused on her daughter. For most part Rose was quite content, it was just during those solitary hours that the unnamed thing lurked at the back of her mind. Sharon seemed quite happy with just her mother and her mirror playmate around, and that was all that mattered, surely.

As Rose watched her daughter through the window a phrase came to mind, along with the voice that had first spoken this adage by which Rose then lived her life.

“Mother is God in the eyes of a child.”

The burst of emotion, of aching loneliness and longing, that accompanied the memory was no white-washed and gentle thing, in no way faded to the point of being ignored. Short, dishevelled blonde hair, a strong jawline, intense and determined eyes that still sparkled...

Cybil.

Cybil had spoken those words. Cybil Bennett, police officer and stoic, self-sacrificing hero extraordinaire... Rose had barely known the woman, yet she missed her greatly. Why was that?

Rose admired much about Cybil, now that she could allow herself to take the time to think of these things, like her nobility, loyalty and sense of justice... she had also found the woman attractive, something she suspected had not been one-sided, but there was no point in speculating in such things now. More surprisingly perhaps, given their short acquaintance, Cybil was a person, perhaps even the only person, that Rose trusted with Sharon. Given the circumstances and manner in which the policewoman had died, Rose felt her trust in the woman had been more than justified.

Cybil, whose hands were strong and warm.

The thought crossed her mind that it would have been nice if somehow Cybil could have been there with them, with her and Sharon. How strange, that thought had never even occurred to her in regards to... Rose tried to recall the name but for the moment it eluded her... her husband.

Sharon’s call as she came back inside the house disrupted Rose’s ruminations, as if the pang of longing and loneliness had never been. Dinner was prepared and eaten, followed by the unmistakable sounds of a happy little girl soundly trouncing her amused mother in some game that was just a trifle too loud and a trifle to colourful for an adult to fully grasp.

As Rose walked towards the bathroom, still smiling as she listened to her little girl temporarily finding a more challenging opponent in the game’s computer, she passed the section in the hallway where the family photos were hung. Her destination was instantly forgotten.

There was once again a face in the pictures where Rose’s husband had once been. A smiling figure with blonde hair, whose arms were wrapped safely, yes even lovingly, around both Rose and Sharon in some pictures... the images were not clear, as if they had yet to congeal into the shapes they would ultimately take, and so it was hard to tell just who this figure was just by looking. Once things was abundantly obvious though...

It was not a man.

Compelled by something unclear, Rose walked around the house, starting by the front door. Had these things always been there? Had there not been a potted plant on the floor in the corner by the door, rather than the leather boots and motorcycle helmet Rose saw there now? Was that glass-framed box containing an old police officer’s badge always standing on the ornate chest in the hallway, and had that diploma always hung above it?

Rose couldn’t tell anymore, but there was that eerie feeling again that suggested that these things were out of place, that although they had always been there Rose had also just seen them for the first time.

A small guest bedroom turned out to have training equipment instead of a bed, and Rose wondered why she had thought it would be otherwise, the upstairs bathroom had an extra set of towels and another toothbrush standing in the same cup as Rose’s own.

The bedroom looked as it should when Rose entered it, clean and crisp and the two sets of pyjamas were neatly folded on the usual spot on the dresser. Nothing out of place. The closet divulged two sets of wardrobe, one belonging to Rose herself and the other... Rose touched a woman’s shirt too large to be her own and wondered why she couldn’t seem to decide whether that part of the closet should have been empty or not.

This time Rose’s thoughts were interrupted not only by Sharon calling for her mother, but also by the unusual sound of an engine coming closer up the road outside.

As she hurried downstairs the noise came up to the house and then stopped, replaced by faint footsteps in the gravel path up to the door, sounds Rose shouldn’t have been able to hear so well, especially over the deafening sound of her heart pounding.

Sharon sped past Rose on the way to the door as Rose slowed to a near standstill once she saw the silhouette in the glass panes of the front door. Her heart beat so hard in her chest that Rose felt light-headed as she stared in enrapture when the door opened and revealed what the opaque white glass had obscured. Tall, blonde hair, a form Rose found to be quite impressive in uniform...

“DADDY!” Sharon squealed happily and flung herself towards the person that crossed the threshold.

Daddy? Rose wondered.

There was a dull thud as Cybil quickly tossed her work-helmet on the floor to be able to catch the girl that jumped at her. The smile and enthusiastic hug that followed was heartfelt and just as happy as Sharon’s own.

“Hey there pumpkin!” Cybil swung the girl lightly before letting her back on her feet. “Been good to your mommy today?”

The ‘yes’ given in reply came out giggling as Cybil tickled the child a little and mussed her hair before letting her go. When she straightened and focused her attention on Rose, Rose was strangely relieved to see a slight touch of confusion in the other woman’s eyes that matched her own.

Rose closed the distance, wrapped her arms around Cybil’s neck and pulled her in for a nicely enthusiastic welcome kiss. Cybil did not take long to throw her arms around Rose in return and dip her for a longer, deeper kiss that was equal parts sweetness and a promise of more, later.

“Welcome home, darling.” Rose breathed as she regained her footing, trying not to blush at the giggling of the young audience that was no doubt rolling her eyes and making faces at her parents.

Cybil grinned playfully but her eyes and tone of voice conveyed a deeper, unspoken, meaning to her reply. “Thank you.”

With Cybil’s arm around Rose the two of them walked along towards the living room, prompted by a bouncing girl who was explaining the greatness of her latest favourite game and how her mother had been too easy to defeat, laughter and jokes traded by the tallest and the smallest of the household. Rose leaned happily against her wife, feeling some unnamed and half-forgotten anxiety just melt away in the warmth of Cybil’s arms.

Yes, Cybil was warm. And so was Rose, at long last.




Outside the mist grew thicker and tighter, announcing the onset of night in this small and singularly peaceful corner of Silent Hill.

Resident Evil 3: Regeneration

Resident Evil (movie 1 and 2) fanfic. Set just after the escape at the end of movie 2, Alice and her group are on the run, but where is there to run to? And what exactly is being sent after them?
(Alice/Rain)

Read Resident Evil 3: Regeneration

Disclaimer: Resident Evil, the characters, the concept and situations from those movies or games belong to... someone not me. Obviously. In fact I’ve only seen the two movies and never played the games, so you can just forget the games for this one. Possible spoiler warnings for the movies, though the story is meant to take place directly after the end of movie 2. It was written long before I heard about any third movie, so just ignore that one, ok?

I’ve used a possible Swedish subtitle translation error for this story - the translation says “You are” this and that “JUST LIKE YOUR brother and sister” (in regards to Alice and Nemesis), but I am unsure if the English line actually says this or if it ends “YOU ARE LIKE brother and sister”. I prefer it this way though, since the possibilities are nice.

In this story I have replaced Olivera with Terri Morales as a surviving member of the team. If you will, imagine that Jill Valentine did all the things Olivera did in the end of Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse.


Resident Evil 3: Regeneration
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





Eight days had passed since Alice’s spectacular escape from the Umbrella Corporation with the aid the close-knit group that through trial and fire had become something more than just friends. In their own way, this scarred and ragtag group of survivors had become family.

Eight days had passed since Alice’s awakening and the events that followed. Seven days since Jill Valentine and Terri Morales went from just being ridiculed in media for the tape containing Alice’s story to being wanted criminals sought by the police. Four days had passed since the lot of them, Alice, Jill, Terri, Angie and L.J, managed to get out of the city and hole up in the unlikeliest of hideouts – an old abandoned Umbrella Corporation research facility no further away than a five hour drive from the city itself. And finally, one day had passed since the transport that, in the extension, was supposed to take the group out of the country had missed the appointed time.

One day since this odd family of ... rebels? Heroes? ...had gone from the already present and adrenaline-pumping frenzy to something edging dangerously close to hysteria.

Well, some of them anyway.

Terri and L.J were convinced they saw dead people, monsters or SWAT-teams in every shadow, and Jill had tripled her efforts to not only reassure the other two but also keep alert and keep the perimeter safe. Unfortunately for the put-upon former S.T.A.R officer, the one she relied on the most... no, the one they ALL relied on the most to keep them safe had suddenly stopped her efforts to do the same.

When half the day had gone by since the appointed time, Alice had simply nodded and turned to her young shadow, Angie, as calm as can be: “They are coming. I won’t run.” An almost inhumanly calm blink at a young face that also did not reveal any anxiety. “You?”

Angie had, predictably according to Jill, refused to leave as well, the two of them making it clear to Jill, Terri and L.J that they were free to go if they wanted to. Naturally that meant no-one had left, and Jill was ready to scream in frustration because Alice had abandoned all attempts at keeping battle alertness and Jill could not seem to shake or scream or taunt any sense back into her. Instead Alice just spent her time sitting near Angie, staring out into space.

Waiting.

Until the evening on the tenth day, when Alice suddenly stood, cocked her head to the side, and informed in a voice that lacked any of the urgency that by rights it should have held. “They’re here.”

None of the alarms Jill had rigged surrendered a single squeak of warning, but they had all seen the super-human abilities Alice possessed in action before and so, without question, they raced towards the surface alongside the tall blonde.

Alice herself seemed in no hurry, as keeping their pace with her frightfully enhanced physique equalled something like a companionable jog. It got on Jill’s nerves sometimes, the ease by which the other woman did near impossible physical feats without even once appearing to notice that it was not something not even Jill herself, with all her physical conditioning and training, was capable of. The seldom used psychic abilities were worse though, and left all but Angie, who had manifested quite a few herself, shivering and uncomfortable.

Which was not to say that they did not have their uses, or that any one of them had any hope of escaping Umbrella without all the inhuman ‘gifts’ the company had bestowed upon their unwilling recipient Alice. Angie’s abilities were the result of a near lifelong treatment with the T-virus at her father’s hands, and although perhaps the Umbrella Corporation had their suspicions regarding the only child of the genius that created their precious virus, it was fairly clear to everyone that they had not yet grasped that what they had there was something akin to a child version of their much coveted Alice.


They reached the surface all too soon, and there, in the dying light, awaited a sight that was the only thing Jill Valentine could have imagined that would have been slightly worse than having the entire area surrounded by a teeming mass of T-virus-infected undead.

There were very few soldiers, strangely enough, only a few standing guard next to the aircraft and then perhaps half a dozen scattered around a familiar and impeccably dressed male. Spotlights were turned on as soon as the group set foot on the concrete area that was the topmost part of the compound, and the lights outlined a horror standing alone in the centre of the concrete field, immobile and waiting.

“Alice!” Angie hissed, suddenly sounding frightened after all.

“I know.” Was Alice’s quiet reply, along with a small silencing hand movement. The blonde turned her head to pin Jill with a stark stare from over the shoulder, a brief flicker at the child by her side, then back to stare at Jill again. Jill swallowed hard and nodded, carefully pulling Angie to her and backing up several steps as Alice stepped forward.

At the same time the man in the suit spoke up, his voice carrying clear across the distance with the help of loudspeakers on the aircraft behind him. Long, sinewy muscles tensed, and the tension began rolling off Alice in waves. Gone was the supernatural calm, replaced by barely contained animal energy.

“Alice.” The words spoken were tainted with a smarminess that the man might not even have been consciously aware of, and a smirk that was as plain to hear as it was to see on his face despite the distance. “Your playtime is over. It is time for your final exam. Are you ready?” The man was amusing himself, and Jill glared at him in Alice’s place. Alice did not take her eyes off her opponent.

“You failed your first test, against Nemesis.” There was fake regret in his voice at those words. “But we... fixed that glitch in your programming, didn’t we?” He nodded as in reply to himself. “You are quite precious, Alice... we have such plans for you. But you need to pass this test. There won’t be a third chance for you.”

“Either you succeed this time... or your sister takes your place.” He lifted his hand displaying a black remote. “Program ALICE, begin end phase. Initiate... program KALI.” He pressed the button.

The figure that Alice had slowly been advancing on suddenly shook, once, violently. Then with the hiss of released air the seamless black surface of the bulky thing covering the creature’s head, torso and arms revealed cracks. With a small clicking sound, the cracks became interlocking parts that, with a grating metal noise, slid apart and fell heavily to the ground.

The lone figure standing there, unmoving as it watched Alice’s suddenly halted approach, was... not what Jill Valentine would have expected. Short, a fair bit shorter than the tall Alice but also some shorter than the more average-height Jill, but quite a bit wider in a dense muscularity that, in other circumstances, would have suggested a lifetime of hard physical training. Bronzed skin, what appeared to be a leather outfit, and longish black hair tied tightly behind the head in something that appeared to be part ponytail, part braid, and all punishment.

Suddenly the figure moved... rolling her head from side to side as if working out a kink.

“Ahhh... that’s better.” A husky voice purred, and then the woman opened her eyes to give Alice a heavy-lidded gaze and small lopsided grin. “Did ya miss me, babe?”

A brief, winsome and almost involuntary smile stole across Alice’s features. “Only every day, Rain.”

The two no longer human women grinned at one another and began slowly circling, their eyes never leaving the other’s. The soldiers and the man at the aircraft were all focused on the two combatants, and Jill tore her own attention away from Alice to instead carefully nudge the rest of her group further back against the relative shelter of the elevator doors. Considering that Alice had captured a great deal of Jill’s attention ever since the tall blonde had come crashing down through a church window and into Jill’s life, it was no small feat but somehow Jill succeeded.

“Y’know, I’ve gotta ask... which life is this for you, anyway? Third?” Rain asked while flexing her hands, still circling.

“Fourth. One that began in a lab... ended in the mansion. The second was with you, began and ended in the mansion.” An exchange of strange smiles. “Third began in another lab, ended in a helicopter crash. This, the fourth, began in a lab.”

“Makes my two seem puny.” Rain grunted. “Where will it end this time?”

A shrug. “Who knows?” A flicker of uncertainty. “How... ?”

A hand gesture and a grimace. “We were all prepped before we were sent to the Hive, apparently. The damn stuff backfired though, I was the only one they could revive after contamination because I turned out to be allergic to the stuff.”

“Ouch.”

Wry smile. “Yeah, you remember me puking my guts out, huh?”

Black eyes flickered away from blue for a moment. “Boss is getting antsy. Time to move.” Still circling each other.

“I’m game if you are.”

They stopped moving.

“C’mon... give us a kiss.” Rain smirked and held her arms out wide.

“Gladly... bitch!” With wild smiles and even wilder screams Alice charged Rain and locked arms with her. The two spun around wildly several times before Rain hurled Alice away from her and right into two soldiers who were promptly knocked out. Laughing, Rain charged again, ending in a kind of half-toss, half-wrestle combat with Alice.

The remaining soldiers made ready to fire at Alice as soon as she hit the soldiers, but the man in the suit immediately intercepted them and barked an order to hold their fire. Alice and Rain wrestled around, then launched themselves further into the middle of the field by sheer momentum of their fight. They had each other in a firm lock, and once more, stopped to talk.

“So... how are you able to fight all that programming they’ve crammed in your head?” Rain wanted to know. Alice grinned and shrugged.

“Don’t know how or why, exactly... just know that I only take orders from one place.” The intense blue gaze swept back to indicate the fair head of Angie peeking out from their meagre cover despite Jill’s efforts. “The White Queen.”

Rain whistled. “The White Queen huh? Impressive.”

“What about you?” Alice smirked.

“Me?” Rain grunted at the same time as the man in the suit barked out “Stop talking and FINISH her!”

Rain rolled her eyes. Then, almost faster than the eye could follow, Rain and Alice released one another... revealing that pressed between them they had managed to hide the weapons of the soldiers Alice had knocked out moments before. A swift motion and both hands came up armed, Alice spinning around to take out the soldiers on her side. Rain calmly turned around and aimed at the man in the suit.

“Shut UP, ya idiot!” She told him, and then made sure he would.

In the melee Jill managed to pick off a few soldiers as Rain finished the rest and Alice sprinted into the aircraft to take care of whoever was still inside. It was swift, brutal, and efficient.

Despite the confusion that followed, and the mistrust felt towards Rain, the group quickly realised that they would not have much time to run before more of the Umbrella Corporation’s people would arrive. They stole the aircraft, after a few re-arrangements from Rain and Alice, and got far enough that they could abandon it and hitch a ride with a late-night traveller to get to the place where the flight waited that would take them overseas. The Umbrella Corporation controlled nearly all of the US and also had large holdings in the rest of the world, but... outside of the US the company’s control was far from absolute. There were many places, many countries left in the world where Umbrella not only had no resources, but where the government of those countries actively fought not to allow Umbrella to gain control.

There was still some distance to go, but they were heading for one of those countries. They would continue their battle from afar, do their best to bring the truth to light with the aid of resistance groups and what media was still free. They might never be truly out of danger, as troops were easy enough to smuggle in here and there, and accidents could easily be arranged, but their chances would certainly be much better at their destination. There was some hope to cling to yet.

It began as a quiet, anxious flight, with everyone jumping at shadows, even, to some small degree, Alice herself. Eventually endless days of stress took their toll on little Angie, who curled up in her seat and fell asleep covered by Alice’s jacket. L.J tried to follow the girl’s example, but his was a fitful rest at best, every so often he would twitch and open his eyes to examine his surroundings suspiciously before attempting to settle down again.

Jill Valentine could not settle down at all. Not only had the adrenaline rush not quite cleared her system and made way for fatigue just yet, but she was kept alert observing Alice and her interaction with the newcomer with an increasingly dark expression.

The images burned on the inside of her eyelids, making Jill clench her jaw hard against the urge to gnash her teeth in frustration.

It was as if Alice had been drawn towards Rain after stepping out of the aircraft. She seemed barely able to tear her attention away long enough to cast an intense look in their direction, immediately getting Terri, Angie and L.J’s shouts that they were all OK. Then Alice’s attention snapped right back to the smaller woman. Rain had not bothered to look their way at all, instead she had been busy scenting the blonde, or so it seemed to Jill, the two of them standing so close and staring at one another in such a way that the heat was palpable even at her distance.

They had all clearly heard Rain’s rasping comment to Alice that this was twice now Alice had promised her a kiss, but so far she hadn’t delivered. Jill caught the expression on Alice’s face then, and nearly bit her tongue right through... as Alice pulled both arms around the shorter woman and proceeded to give her a kiss that would more than make up for any earlier shortcomings.

L.J had whistled and leered a little, while Terri gasped a soft ‘oh my!’ and then tried to cover Angie’s eyes. Jill had done... nothing, but stared in horror as all her hopes of catching Alice’s eye burned to ashes before her eyes.

Angie had saved Jill, if by accident, by giggling and telling Terri softly that she was not _that_ young... and besides, she had known this would happen. That comment had caught their attention and forced the girl to explain herself.

Jill didn’t know what she had expected, but it certainly hadn’t been to hear a fairly comprehensible explanation for what the T-virus does to the human brain functions, nor had she expected it when little Angie then explained that for those that had adapted the virus, assimilated their bodies to it like Alice, Rain and herself had, it was reasonable to assume that their basic, more primitive, instincts would be strongly reinforced. They had all gaped at the girl then, except for Alice of course, who had disentangled from Rain at last and merely gazed at Angie.

The urge to eat, sleep, find a mate, the girl explained while blushing somewhat, and breed, would be extremely strong in Rain and Alice, being that they were the only adults of this new race that Angie considered them to be, and it was quite likely the two women had already been somehow imprinted on each other for some time. Angie then tried to explain the potential consequences of their growing mental abilities, but Jill had stopped listening at that point.

Alice had smiled, a small, mysterious but oh so pleased smile, and bent down to whisper in Rain’s ear. Rain had smirked and pulled her arm a little more snugly against Alice waist, causing Jill to wince and look away.

Look right at Terri, for some reason, and the former reporter had a strange look on her face, something compassionate but also something... else. Jill couldn’t quite decide what it was, but the brief touch of her hand on Jill’s arm was certainly compassionate enough. It was... embarrassing for a supposedly tough and capable woman like Jill to be so transparent, she thought, and she tried to put up an unaffected front.

Something changed in Terri’s expression, bringing Jill to realise that Alice had said something that had surprised both Terri and L.J, delighted little Angie, and given Rain the goofiest, round-eyed look of astonishment that Jill had ever seen. Rain had been reduced to sputtering, and then they had all been ordered off to work, getting away from that place as quickly as they could.

It wasn’t until later, while Rain and Alice were in the cockpit steering the stolen craft and the rest of them were keeping quiet in the back that Jill found out from Terri that Alice had simply claimed little Angie as their daughter, hers and Rain’s, since they were a kind of their own.

Now, hours later and aboard another flight, hopefully heading towards a safer corner of the world for all of them, Alice had tucked the girl into a seat behind herself and Rain, and then the two women had not been able to keep off one another.

Trying not grind her molars to dust, Jill had to admit that it was not as if the two were tearing one another’s clothes off, but with the heated looks and the long, intense make-out sessions that neither seemed to care that everyone was witness to, it couldn’t have been much worse. In fact, Jill wasn’t sure which she dreaded most, watching Alice and Rain come to the point where they shredded clothing despite the fact that they were not alone, or watching the two of them sneak off to the bathroom. She dreaded the moment either women would realise there was a bathroom up front with a lockable door.

Just as Jill was sure Rain and Alice had become completely ignorant of their surroundings in their... heat, Angie made a tiny whimpering sound in her sleep. Immediately Alice shot up and leaned over her seat to stroke the girl’s hair and speak to her soothingly. Even Rain leaned over, awkwardly patting the jacked a bit more snug around the girl, and Angie relaxed into her dreams with a more peaceful look on her face.

Something cold slid down Jill’s spine to briefly lodge in the pit of her stomach as she watched the identical expressions on both women’s faces... but more than the identical looks, it was their eyes that suddenly seemed frightening. Black or blue did not matter, both had that same intense, open and completely alien quality about them. It reminded Jill briefly of how she as a child had stared right into the large, wide-open golden eyes of a tiger at a zoo, and with a spear of ice-cold insight known that what she was looking at was something so foreign, so beyond her, that she could never understand it. Something... primal.

Closing her eyes with a shudder, Jill tried to let it all go.

A warm hand touched her bare arm gently, making a dark blue eye open to peek in that direction. Dark brown eyes set in an always surprisingly Asian-appearing face gazed at her kindly. Jill summoned up a wry smile at the woman beside her, appreciating the fact that Terri tried to make her feel better.

“Serves me right.” Jill muttered, sending for a moment a dark thought to her parents and their poor choice in family name and valiantly trying to ignore the fact that judging from the sound of things Rain and Alice had returned to their previous activity. “Bumbling into a crush on someone I barely know like some oversized schoolgirl.”

The hand remained on her arm, and it felt nice. Warm.

“We can’t help these things.” Terri whispered back, compassionately stroking Jill’s arm ever so slightly.

“Hmph.” Jill muttered, leaning a little more towards Terri so the sharp ears of the women in front would not pick up on their whispered conversation. “Maybe. I just wish...”

“What?” Terri’s face was so close that Jill was involuntarily distracted for a moment. It hit her suddenly that Terri was one of the most genuinely feminine women that Jill had ever known... granted Jill, as a career S.T.A.R officer, had not exactly moved in the kind of circles that Terri’s brand of female charms were all that common, but even so – it took a very special kind of woman to manage to look both dignified and daintily feminine while running away from a mob of crazed man-eating monsters.

“Oh you know...” A vague hand gesture. “That there could be someone for me too, that’s all. Kind of silly after all that has happened lately, huh?”

That got a warm smile from the other woman. “It’s not silly at all, and don’t give up on that. Especially not after all that has happened lately.”

For a brief moment both were silent, studiously ignoring other sounds nearby including the snoring that L.J was sleeping soundly at least for the moment.

“So... what would be the requirements for a... partner, Jill Valentine?” Terri’s eyes glittered with playfulness and something else, causing Jill to grin a little in response.

“Oh, my wishes aren’t that complicated really...” Jill replied with a wistful tone that was only partly pretence. “Any nice woman that hasn’t thrown her lot in with Umbrella would be just fine. Of course she’d also have to put up with all...” A gesture with her hands. ”...this, so what are the odds huh?”

For a moment it seemed Terri wouldn’t respond. Then she leaned in, her breath tickling Jill’s ear. “You silly woman.”

Her next move pinned Jill in place with a lingering kiss on the lips. Stunned beyond mobility and words Jill just stared in shock when Terri drew back and stared at her intently.

“Alice isn’t the only woman who has been standing right by your side through all of this, you know.”

With those words Terri got up and made her way towards the bathroom, leaving the open-mouthed Jill Valentine to stare – not without quite a bit of appreciation at the view – after her retreating form, trying to wrap her mind around the meaning of this.

And outside the window a different continent spread out as far as eyes could see.

Night Thoughts

Twins Effect/Vampire Effect fanfic. A vampire hunter contemplates her life as she awaits her prey in the rain.
(Gypsy/Helen)

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Disclaimer: This is loosely based on the movie Chin gei bin (Vampire Effect/The Twins Effect), although of course I’ve changed and tweaked things. I’m not sure who actually owns the rights to it, but it most surely is not me.

It is just a short little tale and I don’t think you really need to have seen the movie at all to be able to follow this.



NIGHT THOUGHTS
--------------------------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson




I stare out into the darkness while the rain pours down from above, soaking me and running in rivulets down my black leather coat, but I remain unmoving on my high rooftop perch. I crouch at a ledge invisible to others, while my own eyes see as clearly as during the day. All my senses are so much stronger, so much sharper now, than they ever were before.

My prey will not be moving for some time yet, so I let my thoughts wander. They wander to a figure hidden down below, sheltered from the rain but not from the night, waiting for my sign.

I smile.

Has it been a year? It seems a lifetime ago that I was that fresh-faced agent given my first commission, assigned to partner a living legend among us who in secret to the world at large hunt and kill vampires to keep that world safe. Ever since my teens, when vampires murdered my parents and older brother, I had fought single-mindedly to become an agent, leaving little time for a life outside my training… and so I was in full hero-worship when I met my new partner, Reeve.

I, like any other anti-vampire agent, came into this business fully aware that no-one survives it, and only a rare few even makes it for any length of time. That was one of the reasons Reeve was a legend, he had survived the war for more years than most could hope to. Of course as if to balance that scale, his partners had a habit of dying… rapidly. I was aware of that, too.

Perhaps I harboured a death-wish for all those years and never faced up to it, since that fact never bothered me. It would be possible, and I certainly had no life outside of the service. Not until I moved in with Reese… and his sister.

I am not ashamed to say that I carried a kind of schoolgirl crush for Reeve. He was everything I could hope to aspire to as an agent, and he was also a kind, gentle older man that treated his sister with a lot of love… and later myself, as if by default because I was close to Helen in age. I cared for him a great deal, but ultimately it wasn’t he who awoke my passion.

That was Helen’s doing.

Our first meeting was… spirited. She, hurting from a betrayal, was looking for a fight and I, recognising the need, accommodated her. It was a lovely fight, wild, free, exhilarating… and rather destructive to the furniture, but we left cleanup for Reeve to deal with. Unfortunately I miscalculated something in our fight which left me smarting for days afterwards and her smirking whenever she saw me. I held back too much in fear of hurting her, not realizing that her training was nearly as extensive as mine, being raised by the legendary vampire killer as she had been. She won our tussle, and she wasn’t about to let me forget it.

Helen was the one who made me aware of my crush on Reeve, and because she thought it far more than it was, so did I. She had far more experience in the romance department than I who had none, so I assumed she was right… and by then I was ready to throw myself off a building if she asked me to.

Helen herself was dating, of all things, a young vampire prince. While Kazaf is a gentle and goofily sweet boy, he was still a vampire and that did not sit well with Reeve despite my intervention. And this led to the great tragedy of our time together.

Kazaf’s enemy captured Reeve when he was on his way to kill the prince, and Reeve was turned.

An agent’s weapons are her wits, her combat skills, acceptance of the inevitable death, and two more sinister things. One is a vial of vampire blood that once ingested grants a boost in strength, speed and endurance that lasts for an hour and a half if the antidote is taken in time.
The other is the slightly cumbersome-looking large baton that if pressed right will release either the long rope and grappling hook that is surprisingly handy at times, or the long, sanctified blade that is destruction to the undead. Just how the forger priests of the agency create these deadly blades is beyond me, but each agent carries one.

Reeve’s life ended on one. And some of my and Helen’s innocence died along with him.

The battle that followed was the hardest of my life, although I quickly found to my surprise that Helen and I make an excellent team. Far better balanced than Reeve and I ever could have hoped to be, and we seared through the vampires like a burning blade.

The problem was that the leader of the vampires was simply too strong for us, and not only that, by the time we reached him he was about to swallow the eldritch potion that would make him the ultimate vampire. A vampire that could walk in the sunlight and held powers far beyond that of any other.

We attacked, he beat us back. We were no match for him, but somehow during the fight the magical potion was splintered… and I ended up with nearly all of it clutched in my hand.

Reeve was dead. Helen was all but unconscious, Kazaf dying from what had been done to him in order to retrieve the potion, and I had no weapon in reach. Worse still, my opponent still had a sliver of the potion, and he swallowed it.

I did not have the time to consider what I was doing when I crammed the larger part of that same potion into my own mouth and forced it down a suddenly very dry throat. The pain that followed and that signified my death as a human being, even though I did not die, and my birth as something else, was intense beyond words.

This is what I am now and forevermore. A vampire but not a vampire like any other. No longer human, but not truly undead.

I am stronger, faster, have powers beyond those of any vampire and I do not need to fear the sun. I need not feed upon blood to sustain me, although I have occasionally drunk with Kazaf from the supplies the agency send us from blood banks. Neither he nor I will ever harm a human for our sustenance, and thanks to this arrangement, we need not concern ourselves with that detail.

Does it bother me that I have become that which I had sworn to fight?

It did at first… especially when Helen looked at me with wide eyes, taking in my fangs, my eyes and the markings on my face with a horrified expression. I wanted to hide, then. Didn’t want her to see me like that, and it took some time and some effort on Helen’s part before I stopped hiding that side of myself from her. Since then I have made my peace with this fate of mine. If nothing else I am strong enough to protect her now and that is important to me.

Kazaf was changed by the events as well.

As a prince he was strong, stronger than other vampires although he was ever a gentle boy, and indeed had he been less strong he would not have survived the ordeal, like his brothers. What remains now is something less than a vampire yet not quite human… he cannot bear the sunlight and still require blood to live, yet he is not quite as strong as a human that has taken vampire blood. He cannot fly nor change or any of those things, and his fangs are gone.

Kazaf joined us to become an agent, possibly knowing that even those that were his servants before would kill him now, possibly to remain close to Helen. It did not work out well.

He is a good agent, what he lacks in strength these days easily made up for by his naturally vast knowledge of vampires and their habits. But Helen distanced herself from him after the events that led to her brother’s death, and even though she in time was able to get over the fact that she felt Kazaf was responsible for Reeve’s death, the two was never close again. Although Helen didn’t treat Kazaf with much hostility, the cold was just too much for the boy, and not too long ago he requested a transfer. I heard he is paired off with another young female agent now, and things seem to go well for him.

I do not feel sorry that things ended this way between Helen and Kazaf, I cannot. I do feel slightly guilty though.

With my new powers came a greater clarity to my life, and it did not take me long to realise that I was attracted to Helen in a way I certainly had not been with Reeve, or with anyone for that matter. Attraction became hunger, an indescribable, undeniable need for her, but I said nothing to her of this… because it had become quite clear to me also that I love her, truly and fully. The beast in me screamed for me to claim my mate so many times, yet each time I shoved it down hard, satisfying myself with friendly affection that would not impose on her too much.

Apparently she was dissatisfied with the situation, and grew tired of waiting for me.

To put it plainly, she seduced me. Once I realised what was happening I was only to happy to let it, but even so I was still somewhat reticent, afraid to overwhelm her or hurt her, feeling that she deserved far more than a creature such as myself. Helen was uncharacteristically patient, taking her time to convince me, as she once had of my vampiric appearance, that she wanted all of me, all of my passion.

I tried to be discreet, not to hurt Kazaf’s feelings with the fact that his loss had been my gain, but the fact that Helen was only too happy to flaunt that we had become lovers and also that he now lived in the house that Helen and I shared, it was inevitable. He endured it for a while before he finally got his transfer.

Helen and I are alone now, and happy together. We do our work with quite a bit of satisfaction, and then we get to go home, loving one another and squeezing every bit of joy out of life that we are able to.

Or, upon occasions such as this night, we are given an assignment someplace outside of our own jurisdiction due to our skills, and find ourselves in places we had not expected. Like tonight, crouched on a rooftop next to a grinning stone gargoyle in rainy London, with the love of my life tucked away unobtrusively in black plastic in the alley below.

I peer into the darkness and the rain and spot the slight movement that signals that our prey has arrived. I wait a moment before signalling her, allowing the prey to settle where we will fall upon them, and I anticipate her sweet voice moments before I hear her whispering my name in the small microphone located in my ear. I give her the signal and give her two seconds to shed her cover and expose herself to the rain.

With a wild laughter I leap from the rooftop, hurling down towards my startled prey with the black coat billowing around me and my sword tucked securely into my belt. I see her charging from behind them, unnoticed, and my heart swells with pride at her competence and her fierceness. Our prey lost the moment they settled within our sight, but we will draw out the fighting if we can.

This night is ours, and we will enjoy it.

Mists of Memory

Star Wars fanfic. On a distant forest world a woman named Mara is lost in thoughts and fragmented memories.
(Mara/Leia)

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Disclaimer: Mara Jade, Leia and all things Star Wars belong to Mr Lucas and probably a whole bunch of others, certainly not me. I just happen to love them a lot. ^_^
Most things mentioned here, creatures and such, are taken from Timothy Zahn’s brilliant Star Wars books.



Mists of Memory
--------------------------------------
By Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson




She was standing right outside the doorway to the small balcony, leaning back against the uneven rockface with her arms crossed over her chest and her face unreadable. Unruly deep red hair tossed on the wind in front of her, sometimes obscuring her vision, but the bright green eyes were not watching the oncoming darkness swelling against the last tiny rays of light as night was falling over the world around her. No, the normally so intense gaze had turned inward, and darkened on their long journey.

The memories moved back and forth as flesh and bone stood still, one fragment replacing the other in constant motion, a mire of thoughts and memories in the chill of an early autumn night on this forest world.

Coruscant, its shiny spires and towers reaching towards the night sky, all laid out under her as an endless treasure box of glittering jewels as she watched from on high. Power untold, and purpose... she took pride in both. And then came the pain and devastation... the complete loss of all she knew, all she had been.

Old power, old pain. Old memories.

Coruscant, again, years later, the shining spires in the light of day. She had woken up in a medical facility, surprised for a moment to be back on the throne world. Her memories had been hazy then, too. But only for a moment.

Battle had followed, of course, like so many other times she could remember. So many hard, desperate battles... even when all she desired was to be left in peace. But this one was different. This one meant choosing sides, fighting against what she had once held precious and for what she had been raised to hate. This one had given her a place again, a purpose... something to hold on to.

And just before it, she had met _her_. Leia.

It was not their first meeting. Their first meeting had been... somewhere in the mists of memory came the impression of sand, of vast space and harsh sun. Of moving in time to the beating drums, and a small, slender woman wearing a loincloth and a chain around her neck.

Was that their first meeting? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

She let the melancholy wave wash over her, let it fill her before drawing back leaving her to her memories. For a moment the memories cleared, became crystal and tangible, so real to her that she could feel the ghost of hair running through her fingers. Hair she had braided carefully and whose silky strands had awakened a reverence inside that had stunned and choked for a long moment.

Reverence. Adoration. Feelings such as these were not what anyone would think to ascribe to Mara Jade, least of all herself. But they were there nonetheless, and she had never thought to deny them. It was perhaps ironic for someone who had once lived her life by denying so much.

But not this life.

Coruscant, once more... an Imperial suite, a place she might have once considered home, but no longer. Troubled dreams and dark images, leaving her in despair... desperate... lost. Then...

Leia.

Words were lost in the mist, but their meaning clear. She had told Leia everything... absolutely everything. Her dark past, the Emperor’s Hand, her training, her former purpose, everything. She had also told Leia that she would kill Luke Skywalker.

Then she had all but begged the smaller woman to throw her in prison. An old Imperial re-made New Republic prison from which even Mara Jade, Emperor’s Hand and heir to Emperor Palpatine’s wrath and vengeance, could do no harm. She had done all but say please.

The mists grew thicker again, what had Leia’s response been? The request had been denied, but... Abruptly the memories shifted, replaced one another and brought clarity.

She had told Leia of the Emperor’s Hand, of what she was and what she was capable of. Ashamed, desperate and hurting she had pounced, trapping the smaller, much more slender form between herself, her arms, and the bulkhead grey wall. She had stared into warm brown eyes and found herself unable to look away even as she hissed in desperation. Those words were as clear and vivid as the sunset that passed before her unseeing eyes only hours before had been, and rang in her ears still.

Are you afraid of me, she had asked although it was she who was afraid, afraid of the answer.

The expression in those dark brown eyes changed, but it wasn’t fear that darkened them. Small hands moved up and insinuated themselves in red hair until they circled her neck, pulling gently downwards. The reply was spoken softly, a single word on a trembling breath before taking a leap into the great unknown, but the meaning of it never wavered nor hesitated.

Never.

The first kiss had taken her by surprise and the third was reciprocated. The endless stream that followed were never counted but unreservedly enjoyed, and that drove all other thoughts from her mind. Many wonderful new memories had been made that night and the days and years that followed. Memories untouched by mist or uncertainty, memories to cherish and hold onto when the morning seemed far away.

Memories that never would fade into mist or confusion, ever. She would not allow it.

Soft footsteps approaching from behind pulled green eyes back from their inward journey and into a new and star strewn night. The moons had begun their orbit and the night wind was cold with whispered promises of winter to come.

“Mara?”

Leia’s voice was gentle, hesitant to intrude but also coloured with worry and echoes of her own pain. Mara smiled at the love that surged so easily in her with just the sound of the other woman’s voice, and baffled silently once more at the peace she felt in her presence.

“I’m alright, Leia.”

Her arms opened almost as if on their own accord as Leia stepped out on the outcropping that served as their balcony, and Mara sighed with satisfaction as the smaller woman willingly leaned into her, resting her head on Mara’s shoulder.

They stood in silence for a long moment, Mara playing idly with Leia’s long hair while basking in the sense of Leia so close to her. She remained quiet, giving the other woman some time with her own thoughts, paying attention to the shifts in Leia’s spirit and offering the silent comfort of her own as best she knew how.

The bonds that held them together were so very strong, sometimes it was hard to tell what inside was Leia and what was Mara. She preferred it that way of course, but sometimes Mara wondered if their bond had been the same had they been elsewhere... Lived on another world than their beautiful wild forest paradise, someplace where there were other people. Other beings of a higher level of self-awareness and intelligence than the Vornskr whose hunting calls echoed in the distance during clear nights like these.

With other people’s thoughts and souls around them, would Leia and Mara’s souls still seek each other out? Had they in fact already? So much was unclear in the haze of memory, and she was unsure whether she really cared to know the answer. She could not even tell which answer she really wanted, and none of it mattered now anyway.

The forest would keep its secrets safe, perhaps long after empires and republics were all tales of long ago. Mara kissed the top of brown hair and breathed in the scent of her beloved.

“Mara?” Leia whispered against Mara’s chest, knowing the other woman would still hear every word. “Are you afraid?”

Mara tilted Leia’s face up to look searching into those brown eyes. She knew what the other woman was asking but felt a perhaps perverse need to hear the words spoken out loud. “Afraid?”

“Afraid...” Leia responded with that calm dignity that spoke of the Royal High Court of the long-lost planet Alderaan, despite the trace of pain that laced the words. “...of what will happen to us. Afraid that we will go insane, like everyone else has before us.”

“Like all the other clones created during the wars did.”

Mara closed her eyes against the sudden stab of pain caused by the tiny break in Leia’s voice as she uttered the word ‘clones’, and pulled her lover tight against her own, stronger, frame. No verbal reply was given, and none was truly needed.

In that simple word lay all their pain and also the true futility in the evening’s journey through the maze of memories.

She was not Mara Jade. She was _a_ Mara Jade.

A physically perfect copy created from tissue samples derived someplace, sometime, then placed in a Spaarti cylinder by some twisted genius like the late Grand Admiral Thrawn, and imbued with hazy, fragmented memories of a life never lived.

From the moment they stepped out of their cylinders after long years of maturing, she and Leia had been alone in their secluded mountain-based home. No-one had ever contacted them nor come to collect them, and in time they learned the truth, that they were not who they had thought to be.

But they were alive, and safe on their forest world. Perhaps it was also true that the galaxy around them was also safer because they chose to remain there, alone and unknown, on their small forest world. Certainly the women whose younger mirror-images they were would be safer that way, and so Leia and Mara remained.

They made their own lives here, their own memories.

“Perhaps it won’t happen to us.” Mara whispered against Leia’s hair, some desperate and only half-believed hope colouring her voice. “The records said that the longer a clone was allowed to grow in the cylinder, the longer it would stay stabile, and there has never been any clones allowed to grow for as many years as you and I have.”

“That we know of.” Leia whispered.

“That we know of.” Mara agreed, and thought for a moment. The unrest in her spirit suddenly lifted with a new idea, and in its place settled a truth that delivered peace at long last.

“I really only know two things. Whatever happens, we will always be together.”

“And I will love you always.”

Call of the Sea

She Creature fanfic. A finish to the movie, what happened after the return to the human world... and the birth of a small girl with flashing eyes.
(Lily/She Creature)

Read Call of the Sea

Disclaimer: She-Creature and all characters and situations related to that belongs to... some movie folks, to tell the truth I don’t know just who.

This is based on, or rather a strange little epilogue to, the horror movie She-Creature. Although I don’t say it in so many words in this story, I have once again borrowed Takahashi Rumiko’s concept that the person that eats the flesh of a mermaid gains immortality, and this time twisted it a little – i.e. the person that eats the flesh of the queen becomes... well, read the story and you’ll see. ;)




Call of the Sea
-------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





I survived my encounter with the queen of the mermaids, and through her mercy, was allowed to return to the world of man. I have never broken her trust, breathing a single word to anyone about what transpired there, and I never will. I could not.

Ever since I was found in the remains of the ship, drifting aimlessly and with me alone onboard, people have asked me questions. So many questions.

What happened was the most common one, but no matter... I kept the truth in my heart and never spoke a word about it. Eventually doctors determined that I had suffered a trauma from whatever had transpired, and that I simply would not be able to answer for my mind would not allow me to remember. They were wrong. I remember everything.

Would they have been surprised to know that after the gruesome events at the mermaid islands, the queen ordered her mermaids to pull the ship off the rocks and out to sea? That she made sure it would not sink with me on it, and steered it in the direction back towards known routes where I would be sure to encounter other ships and rescue. Or that she would bring me food, fish and fruit of the islands, to make sure we would not starve until another ship crossed our path.

I wonder how those that found me thought I had survived that long, considering that the food reserves onboard had been destroyed in the massacre. I cannot count the times that I have heard that God must have been watching over me, guiding me home.

But it was not God, although surely she is of a world of her own where humans are little more than cattle. Not God, but a maiden of the deep oceans, whose eyes still haunts my dreams and wakes me from my slumber with a pounding heart. No, not God, and the world of man is no longer my home.

The fact that she still haunts my dreams, whispering foreign sounds into my ears and making my skin tingle with her touch even though she is so far away, is only part of the wonder. In due time after events, I gave birth to a healthy little girl.

The birth was easy, surprisingly so, although the doctor that delivered my child was turned a pale white as he handed me this precious new life. He crossed himself and fled the room, not bothering with the aftermath and the care I should have received, but I cared not. It was a small price to pay caring for myself, when I had been given this wondrous gift.

I looked into the dark eyes of my daughter and prepared to speak the name I had chosen for her. In my mind I remembered another moment similar to that, when I had wondered about a name for a lovely mermaid trapped in a box of glass and steel. I had looked into her eyes then and known that the name she bore would not be in any human tongue, and looking into my daughter’s eyes I knew the same held true for her. Still I needed a human name to call her by and so I decided on Eva, for in my heart I knew that she was the first of many.

I was fortunate back then, to receive much kindness from strangers. As all my possessions had been destroyed I had nothing with me to this strange new land, nothing more than the rags I wore on me. Pity and compassion for my strange misfortune led a family of wealth and stature to take me in, possibly because the ship in question that had been destroyed was owned by them. It was one out of many, but still I was pitied enough to receive care until I was strong enough to work for them, my little Evie resting in her cradle nearby.

Because I was used to acting the lady I never truly was, the family stopped considering me hired help, and the oldest son began a tentative courtship of me when my daughter was two years old. It was all very chaste and polite between he and myself, mostly I admit because we both had our hearts elsewhere, he with his male colleague and I out in the deep blue seas. It was an arrangement of convenience for us both although none of his family knew this, and he swore to love my Evie as his very own. After another year and a half, I accepted his ring, and as his fiancé I was suddenly a society lady after all.

He was a good man, my supposed husband-to-be, and a good friend, yet I never had any intention of marrying him. He went away for further schooling then, leaving me three whole years during which I could easily hold off any marriage vows and concentrate on raising my little girl. When the time came that he returned and the family expected us to wed, my little girl had reached her seventh year, and I stalled for further time.

I had already begun feeling the pull in my soul, and as I watched my little girl looking out over the waters with such a longing expression on her sweet face while her eyes flashed red, I knew I was not the only one. It was simply time.

The night I carefully carried the belongings we needed and ushered my child out into the streets I left him a letter with a suitable explanation. I left nothing else, not even his ring, as I sold everything to get enough money to board a ship in the right direction without anyone asking questions.

I felt her long before I saw her. Felt her presence even though it would take at least a week before I saw the first sign of a large shape swimming near the side of the ship. Evie sensed her as well, and spent hours staring into the waters that surrounded us, looking for something I doubt she could yet quite understand.

No-one else onboard noticed that the Captain swerved us off course, setting towards those secret islands I had once seen in the dark of night. No-one but myself, who could feel the shift almost as if the currents of the ocean and the direction of the wind was carved into my being.

It was the work of her siren’s touch on the Captain’s feeble mind, I had seen it before. Part of me wanted to feel jealous that another was allowed to feel the touch of her mind as I wanted her all to myself, but I knew that the connection she and I shared was quite different from what that man would experience. Where her mind’s song lured him to act as she wanted, I doubt that he was ever graced with her visit in his dreams the way she so often visited mine. No, no-one else would know her that way, as a lover’s caress in my deepest dream, this I knew for certain.

I knew that we were almost upon the islands when a storm hit, drawing every waking man to attend the ship, the Captain among them. My little girl was sleeping soundly in the bed she shared with me, and I locked the door behind me as I answered a call in me to carefully make my way towards the captain’s quarters. I did not have to wait for long.

I felt her touch across my skin even before she reached me. I turned around and there she was, glistening wet from rising from the sea and towering over me, this vision that had haunted me ever since I first laid eyes on her. She looked exactly the same, as if no time had passed at all, staring at me with that same intensity. For a moment I felt only too keenly aware of the changes some eight years and childbirth had wrought upon my body, but it was not to last.

A bolt of lightning crossed the skies outside, and then she was human, small, trembling and vulnerable in my arms. Overcome with the enormity of the moment I trembled almost as much, but still I managed to lead her to the bed where finally after so many years of waiting I was allowed to feel her touch outside of my dreams.

In the early hours of morning we crept back to my small room and our little girl, hiding in there while around us men were still fighting with the weather. Our daughter were sleeping a fevered sleep, but somehow I sensed what was going on and remained calm. My beloved sat down by the bed and stared at our child, gently caressing the dark head with such an expression of wonder on her features that it made me love her all the more. I arranged all three of us on the narrow bed, holding them both to me as we waited.

As evening came there was a muted crash and a shudder through the ship, signalling that we had reached the edge of the islands and that the ship had run ashore on the rocks surrounding them. My beloved waited, holding us both close and looking deeply into my eyes, until the moon began to rise. Quietly then she left the room without looking back, and I locked it behind her.

I heard the hushed cry as she changed shape, then I spent the following hour holding our daughter and listening to the sound of the men dying while fighting against her.

When I at last heard the sounds of the mermaids outside I left my daughter’s side and went on deck to join my beloved. I watched her for some time as she fed her kin, silently without interfering, and she seemed to approve of my presence there. Finally nothing remained and dawn was slowly breaking at the edge of the dark clouds, the storm spent and travelling away from us, and a stillness fell upon us all.

The mermaids below were still and solemn, staring intently up towards us, and somehow I knew even before I turned around that my child was standing there. And she was.

Her young eyes red as blood my daughter calmly walked up to her other parent in her hideous form, and stood there unblinking although the fever had her body trembling in its grasp. As the first rays of sunlight reached us, painting my child into a small crimson-eyed angel, my beloved doubled over with a small cry of pain. An empathetic hiss came from the mermaids below, before my love again stood tall and reached out one large, clawed hand towards my child.

My daughter never hesitated, taking hold of the large hand and leaning in to feed of what was offered. I was most curiously detached to see my little girl straighten up, a small drop of blood trailing down from the corner of her mouth, then collapse on deck, convulsing. I looked into my beloved’s eyes for confirmation and assurance for a moment, and found it there. To my surprise she then gestured me closer and reached her hand out towards me.

Heart pounding in my chest I mimicked my daughter’s actions, leaning down to feed of what was offered to me. Perhaps I had known deep down all along this would come. I would not leave these islands this time. I closed my eyes and felt as if my body drifted away and my spirit became light, and then darkness took me.

When next I awoke the sun was once again setting although I felt no time has passed. I was warm and comfortable, and the first thing I saw was my beloved’s smiling face looking down at me. She was once more as she had been the first time I saw her, a radiant mermaid with eyes that would always pull me in, and I heard her speak gentle words of love to me, understanding them at last.

I saw our daughter next to us, looking healthier than ever and smiling at me as well. She laughed and spoke to me, and I knew then that I would never again call her by a human name, as her real name was finally revealed to me. I also knew that I had left behind me my own name, just as I had left behind that life.

The other mermaids approached us, greeting me shyly and showering my daughter with their attention. They were showing us their acceptance, and more, their respect to their young princess and to their queen’s chosen mate. I smiled at my love and she released me to try my newfound strength.

My fins were strong and my spirit free, and with a mighty splash I surged beneath the welcoming sea in my joy. My family soon joined me, and together we danced into the depths of the ocean in exhilaration, my new world opening its magical gates to me.

The journey had been long and hard, through pain, sorrow and even horror, but after all that I finally found a place to belong. I have family and I have love, and a freedom I never dreamt existed.

And I finally came home.

Sophie

Kill Bill 1 fanfic. A story about Sophie Fatale, her thoughts on her life and her love. (Sophie/O-Ren)

Read Sophie

Disclaimer: A small fanfic sprung from the movie Kill Bill 1, and I would assume Quentin Tarantino and Co owns all in regards to that. Certainly not I, but then again I doubt anyone thought I did anyway.

I wrote this long before I ever saw Kill Bill 2, and among other things I misunderstood Sophie’s role Bill’s group and assumed she was a Viper as well. Consider it a bit of creative license if you will.



Sophie
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson






My name is Sophie.

I’ve used many over the years, codenames, aliases... perhaps it would surprise some to find out that Sophie is in fact the name my mother gave me, all those years ago. But no matter.

My mother.

My mother was a Japanese prostitute, and very young when she gave birth to me, while my father was a French small-time criminal temporarily in the land of the rising sun, just there long enough to spawn an offspring and was never heard of since. Through them I entered this life an unwanted bastard of a prostitute, and worse, a halfling, only half Japanese, making sure my life would in no way follow any easy path.

Growing up in the world of prostitutes taught me to disconnect from my emotions while very young, and I would have become a prostitute myself at a very tender age had not something unforeseen occurred the first time I was to be presented to a customer.

Yes, I’m sure it was quite a surprise... I was always perfectly agreeable on the surface, somehow acquiring a modicum of good manners despite my glaring lack of role models at that point in my life. So the insane, brutal and downright animalistic slaughter I brought upon the men that tried to take me must have been... most startling.

I was fortunate though.

The men I killed were in service of a particularly twisted Yakuza boss, and when I was brought before him to be killed for my crimes, his master assassin was present. And he found in me the pupil he had been looking for.

I would come to call him my father, for the twelve years I was with him.

So began my schooling, and indeed he taught me so much. My father was a strict teacher and I a slavish student, and we both thrived from that arrangement. He taught me to never feel shame that I am only half-Japanese, and for that alone I would ever feel grateful.

But mostly he taught me to be an assassin. One of the best.

Still the one creature that has had the largest impact on my life was another.

It was only fate’s hand that prevented us from crossing blades while no more than children. I was barely thirteen at the time but already one of my Yakuza boss’ best assassins, and she must have been nine... had I not been away, cutting the throat of one of my master’s enemies, I would have ended up having to go after her that night she tricked her way into his bedroom in order to avenge the murder of her parents.

We were both children still, but oh so deadly, and with an innate skill for bloodletting that put us above those that fell to our blades. But were I was without emotions, she was fuelled by her hate.

O-Ren Ishii.

The years passed by and I grew up. She became legendary in our field, and I heard of her constantly though I had never met her in person at that time. It struck me odd that she would not use codenames nor an alias, but by then her own name was one to strike fear into the hearts of men anywhere, even if it was just a whisper in the dark.

My father died, and I no longer had a master nor owed any creature my allegiance. For a time I worked for the highest bidder, and it was a life that suited me.

Then I met Bill.

Oh I know that most of the Vipers in his service are his lovers, seduced man and women alike by the nefarious charm Bill can summon to all but hypnotize when he wants to, but not I. Never I, and I never truly considered why.

No man had ever touched me in that manner and survived, it was the one thing that would trigger the release of my inner beast, that thing that was locked away with my emotions, and Bill knew better than to try to provoke that. He flattered and flirted, but never past my boundaries, ironically winning more loyalty from me that way.

I became one of his Vipers, and had once more a master to whom I owed allegiance, and I adapted to that. What was more, I had if not partners or allies then at least equals in the other Vipers. Although the others socialized with one another, some of them even becoming friends from what I could understand, I kept apart. Alone.

Solitary.

Then I finally met her. O-Ren Ishii.

Standing on a rooftop, dressed all in blood-red leather, shoulder length hair tossed negligently aside as she tilted her head to one side assessing our opponents with a cool, dispassionate gaze.

I would in time come to realize just how deceptive this calm, unemotional mask of hers is, much as my polite smile is for me. At that particular moment I was too stricken with her beauty to notice much else.

She has tiny freckles on her nose, I thought as I distractedly disembowelled one man and threw a throwing dart into the brain of another. She moves so gracefully, I admired as she split a man in two with one smooth, economical move with her katana.

The first words she spoke to me were to say that my form was sloppy. In years to come, that would become a joke with us, always spoken by her with a perfectly straight face, and never failing to bring a smile to mine.

We worked together after that encounter on the rooftop, always ending up paired together for missions where I before had nearly always fought alone. I thought it was Bill’s idea.

It would take me years before I found out it was by her specific request.

O-Ren was as sociable as I, and as such the other Vipers did not know quite how to handle it when we both appeared in what passed for social functions for creatures such as us. The truth was that I was willing to endure the company of the others for a chance to see her, though it took me some time before I realised why. Years, even.

Another rooftop, again surrounded by opponents, but this time with both of us in black and back to back.

I took a kodachi blade into my left shoulder for her, inadvertently throwing her off-balance as I did so. The perfect mask cracked just a little, and she gasped and turned towards me, leaving herself wide open for a man with a katana in his hands.

I saw red... literally.

The beast inside me came roaring out, and I screamed I know not what as I spun around and showered us both in a fountain of red blood. When I came back to my senses we were the only two alive on that roof, and I was on my knees in front of her, wide-eyed and shaking violently.

She stared at me with those large black eyes, looking slightly unsettled, and neither of us spoke for what felt like a long moment.

Her voice shook when she asked me why.

Mine did not, though hoarse from screaming, when I answered that I love her.

Up until that moment I had not realized it myself, but I did and still do. And the beast in me will not allow anything to harm her, though I know she possesses the superior skills of us two.

She grabbed me by the front of my clothes roughly and pulled me up as if she was going to throw me over the edge of the roof. I offered no resistance.

Our first kiss carried a trace of the coppery taste of blood, and it was the first of many.

We became lovers, my beautiful snow maiden and I... and in time, partners though neither of us carry something so commonplace as a ring to signify our union.

We have stood together in dark times, in struggles and suffering, and we have also stood together in moments of triumph. She achieved her goal to take control over the Yakuza eventually, became their ultimate leader, and I am so proud of her.

We even found a child, a young girl to raise as our own. She reminds us both of our past, and shares our affinity for blood and carnage, it seems sometimes we were truly given a daughter without having to go through the troublesome process of birthing and diapers and all those other things I have a vague notion is the usual way of things. And our GoGo will be loyal to the last breath, I am sure of that.

For our daughter’s first birthday with us, O-Ren gave her a short blade forged by a master. GoGo carries it with her wherever she goes, she even sleeps with it clutched to her chest like I suppose other children not of our dark world might clutch a toy for comfort, much like O-Ren carries the ancient lacquered blade I gave her for our wedding ceremony wherever she goes. This is my beautiful family, and I know that in this life they will always be beside me... always together, united. Nothing can part my O-Ren and I.

I know also that when the day comes that we leave this soiled world they, my beloved and my child, will stand beside me in hell.

And we will walk that world together as well.