2019-07-02 - Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?

"Eli.."

At first it seems like a persistent whisper. "Eli.." Familiar, but it still sounds foreign. Too far away, too afraid. "Eli..please.." It's softer than it should be, Genevieve should be right next to him. He'll reach out to her, perhaps to draw her in, but the bed is cold.

"Eli! Help me!" The timbre of desperation and fear is hard to ignore now, the low whimper that accompanies the last word is pained.

The door to the apartment is open, gouged with deep claw marks. A slimy black sludge mars the otherwise clean floor, the door frame. If Eli follows the puddles of ichor, they lead to the roof, the door open to the elements.

Thunder rumbles ominously, rain looks like it's threatening, the sky is as dark as the substance puddled on the stairs.

"Genevieve?" The blankets are pulled off the bed, Eli finding himself standing beside it, frowning down at the empty place as the world comes more sharply into focus. He strides out of the room, calling her name again with some more urgency. Eyes focus on the door that's hanging open, the destruction brought on by the claws and the sludge. "Genevieve!" He calls out once more, taking a large chef's knife from the kitchen when he passes it and brandishing it in front of him. Like it would help. He hurries out of the door and up the stairs, following the ichor until he emerges onto the roof. The heavy gusts that draw in the storm push against him, hair blowing wildly as he searches the darkness.

Genevieve lays on the roof, half of her body in a puddle that is dark enough to be blood. Is it? She's not flat on the ground, her left shoulder is propped up, head tilted slightly to the side, her chin against her chest. She looks pale, her eyes fluttering as if she's trying to claw her way back to consciousness. If Eli steps forward, Genevieve is jerked around roughly, the movement drawing a pained groan from her.

You're going to fuck this up, Eli. There is that voice again.

Genevieve's eyes snap open, and she gives a token struggle as the ichor around her starts to coalesce. The muzzle of something large and black is clamped down on her shoulder. She cries out as it drags her toward the edge of the building, a low rumbling growl escaping its maw as dark amber eyes focus on Eli.

"Genevieve!" Eli says, finding himself breathless, his tone pained. His eyes are wide on the dark animal that drags the woman backwards. He does begin to move forward, but when she is jerked roughly at a result he stops in his steps again. His face is pale, fingers clenched too tightly around the meager feeling knife that he's wielding. Nothing physical assaults him, but the heaviness of the darkness and the hopelessness of the situation press down almost hard enough to buckle his knees. He'd already fucked it up. He'd promised that they'd face the darkness of this town together, but instead he'd let her venture off by herself - and all he can do is stand paralyzed with a kitchen knife.

"Eli.." Genevieve's voice is quiet, her eyes on his face. "..please don't give up." It's barely spoken, her voice quiet. She is jerked from side to side again, forcing a pained cry from her lips. The wolf drops her, prowling to the side as if it is stalking Eli.

Another rumble of thunder almost drowns out the growl from the creature, its amber eyes on the knife in Eli's hand. There is blood on Genevieve's night shirt, she drags herself back to press against the building, trying to get to her feet. She looks wobbly, her eyes on the wolf.

The creature shifts low looking as if it might pounce, its body moving from side to side as it takes Eli's measure. You're not going to wake up from this. It wants a reaction, but doesn't seem to get the one it wants.

Perhaps it's Genevieve's words that drag him back from whatever overwhelming darkness he was fighting with, but Eli's eyes seem to focus again and when he creature leaves Genevieve and turns toward him instead, he draws himself up straighter. The words thunder in his head along with the real thunder that rumbles in the sky, but he grits his teeth and maintains his focus on the dark animal.

"You keep saying that. And I keep waking up." He says quietly to the creature, though his words seem to travel easily despite the noise of the thunder. He doesn't even draw the knife backwards, seeing no reason to go through the motions - it just shoots from his hand in a line toward the beast. It's not sent with a huge force, but enough to be bothersome. The moment the knife is hurtling toward creature he begins to move, trying to get to Genevieve's side if he can find a gap while the wolf is distracted.

The knife leaves a mark, a slice of red among all of the black that makes up the large wolf. Eli's words seem to affect it more than the blade. It bounds and snaps at Eli, teeth narrowly missing him as he makes his way to Genevieve.

She lets out a shriek as the wolf snaps at them, pulling Eli back against the wall. "You marked it." She says quietly, her eyes shifting from the wolf to the open door. "What is it?" She asks, reaching out to take one of Eli's hands in her own. "Have you ever seen this thing before?" The low rumbling growl sounds again, the darkness deeper now. The only part of the wolf that can be seen now is its eyes as it moves sideways, stalking the couple.

"You're hurt." Eli says, still breathless as he twists just out of the reach of the dark creature and drops to his knees beside Genevieve. His hands find hers and he squeezes them, trying to give her comfort and drawing some back in return. The darkness is growing heavy again and the uncertainty pushes in from all direction. This wasn't the same as all the other times. He'd dragged Genevieve into this with him this time. She was hurt. It was his fault. He swallows and tries to keep his focus.

"Not this thing. Or maybe it was. But, things. I've seen things before." He draws in another uneven breath, feeling himself getting lost to the hopelessness of the situation again, his hands shaking where they grip Genevieve's. "I brought you here. You have to get out. Get away from me." He suddenly pushes her hands away. "Now! Go!" It's neither heroic or self-sacrificing in the way he does it, however. It's more like bending under the inevitable, and hopeless acceptance. He knew this is what would happen.

"No!" Genevieve looks stung when Eli pushes her hands away, reaching out to try to take hold of his shaking hands. "I'm not going." She realizes how deep the darkness has gotten, the rumbles of thunder melding in with the persistent growl from the creature stalking them. The creature they can no longer see. He never wanted you, Genevieve.

"Shut up!" She screams out into the darkness, the anger surging through her allowing her to get to her feet. She pulls on Eli, one hand splayed out behind them as she tries to find the wall again. "We have to find the way out." She whispers, as if she can hide their intent from the darkness. It's everywhere.

It's so entirely dark. If not for the anchor of Genevieve's hand he'd be entirely lost in the darkness. At least now they were lost in it together. Between her reaching back out and her voice pushing back the creature, Eli has gotten his feet beneath him again, focused once more in the moment instead of on the heavy self doubt that fogs his mind and haunts his steps. He reaches out his own free hand, searching. The wall should have been here. He steps in close to Genevieve to make sure they don't get split, his voice pitched low. "Step carefully. It wants us to hurt. We're strong together." He says those last words as much for himself as for Genevieve, as all around the darkness seems to sing to him that he's pulling her deeper into danger and it will be his fault when she's broken and bleeding. His hand squeezes tighter, keeping the images at bay for now.

Just as Eli says that they're strong together, the darkness snaps out at them. Genevieve is almost yanked away from Eli, and she just manages to cling to him with one hand. She cries out as teeth sink into her arm, another splash of red against the black. They seem to have found the edge of the building now, because she almost tumbles off of it, sinking to her knees to keep her balance.

For all that Eli is used to the despair, it beats down on him now, and then he feels the teeth, they dig into his side trying to pull him back, deeper into the gloom, away from Genevieve. There is splatters of blood in the darkness now, and when the wolf retreats this time, the growl has a taunting edge to it. It smells victory.

Eli screams when the teeth rip into his skin and he's left in the heavy darkness alone, having lost Genevieve in the darkness during the physical attack. He scrambles onto his hands and knees, the pain lighting through his body when he hears the growl and feels the nearness of the wolf above him. As it so often is, this isn't about the physical pain but the mental anguish, the hopelessness and despair. He feels all of those in spades in that moment and the wave of despair crashes hard against him, enough that he finds himself raising his hands as though to ward off a physical blow. Perhaps to the surprise of the Wolf, when the wave has subsided, Eli still kneels there staring straight ahead with his teeth clenched together. "Fuck. You."

The darkness all around Eli wavers and bends until it is punched through with thousands of holes of light. As the daylight streams onto the roof top it illuminates the strange scene forming behind Eli. Four brawny men stand there, all hefting large tree axes. Eli has one in his hand too as he climbs to his feet. "Get out of my fucking head, big bad." He demands, brandishing his axe while the four behind him do the same and start to approach.

Sure, it's just an illusion. But it's a damn convincing one.

The sudden light illuminates the wolf, and it looks a lot different than it did in the dark. Smaller, less bulky, far less frightening. It crouches and backs away from the lumberjacks and Eli, slinking backward toward the remaining dark.

Genevieve is laid out, clearly in pain, near the patch of darkness that remains. The wolf backs toward her, not realizing that she's there. She manages to push up into a sitting position, slowly easing herself away from the creature and the darkness.

The wolf, realizing that he can't get to Eli, turns its shaggy head toward Genevieve as she tries to make her way toward the light, toward Eli. It snaps at her as Genevieve desperately reaches for Eli, teeth just barely sinking into her ankle. Diminished as it is, it still manages to pull her back as it backs toward the darkness with it.

"Genevieve!" Eli calls out again and he stumbles forward to attack, swinging the weapon in his hands toward the creature. Would it have done anything even if it made contact? We'll never know, because between how agile the creature is and Eli's lurching attempt his balance is entry off and the axe swings through nothing but empty air, flying from his hands and clattering against the rooftop in the process. The effort does propel Eli's over balanced body directly into the wolf, however, colliding with the dark creature in a sprawl of arms and legs. He attempts to do some kind of damage from this position, but the best he can likely do is prevent it from dragging Genevieve any further toward the darkness until it finishes dealing with him. "Run!" He cries. He had been here before, but this time was harder. He thought he'd break them free, but he'd failed. Was it stronger with them both here?

Run, he yells. Run? She can barely crawl. Eli's attack did manage one thing, the wolf released her to deal with him. Genevieve is looking around for anything that might help, anything at all, when she spots it. Reality seems to have frayed near the door to the roof, like one good pull at the threads will tear everything apart. She reaches for Eli, not willing to leave him here with the wolf, diminished or not. Her fingers make contact with his arm and she yanks him toward her, gasping in pain as it jars her shoulder.

The wolf sees what Genevieve sees and it coils to spring, right as her fingers reach the fray. The darkness bounds toward them both as she pulls..

Thunder, like a whip crack, rolls through the darkness and then the world holds its breath. The flash of lightning that comes lights up the area, but they're not on the roof anymore, it's the loft inside the apartment. Momentum sends both Eli and Genevieve careening off the bed, leaving her sprawled on top of him, breathless. "Are we free?" She doesn't seem sure.

Those seconds are a blur for Eli. One moment he's preparing to fend off the final blows from the wolf and the next he's being pulled away by Genevieve. Then everything crashes down and they're on the floor, the heaviness isn't gone, but it also isn't pressing like it had been seconds ago. He's breathing hard where he lays on the floor, feeling numb, uncertain. Eyes focus on Genevieve atop him and he tries to draw himself together. "Never free." He says with a slow breath, lips and mouth dry. "But, out for now." He adds.

"You knew that thing." It's not a question, her eyes on him in the dark. Eli is right about one thing, it's not the oppressive dark of the Dream. It's night outside still, and another flash of lightning shows that there aren't any moving shadows in the room. Genevieve eases away from Eli, a hiss of breath as her shoulder pains her. She sits up, glancing around the loft as if she expects something to jump out at them at any moment. She's trembling, and a few parts of her are slick with blood, and other things. When lightning lights the room again, her expression is no less frightened.

Eli doesn't move even as Genevieve eases herself off of him. It's only when his eyes take in the blood on her body when the lightening strikes the room that he reaches to his own side and feels the wetness on his fingers and the sharp pain that lances through him when his body realizes that it is cut and bleeding. The darkness settles again and he tries to bring his thoughts in order. It's impossible. "I'm sorry." He finally says into the darkness. "This was a mistake." In every fiber of his bones he knows it was a mistake. What the fuck was he thinking? That he could just live a normal life and not drag someone else into it? He pushes himself up to seated position and leans back against the bed. It's even worse than inside the dream, the weight of the despair. "We're out. Out. I'm not taking you back in. I thought that ... I don't know." Every bit of that distance and reluctance has filled Eli again. He was the monster.

Silence fills the room after Eli's declarations, as Genevieve just simply stares at him. Finally after some thought, she speaks up, not making a move to touch Eli yet. "This was a mistake?" She takes a breath, easing herself to her feet. "You didn't drag me in in the first place, Eli. It used me to drag you in." She holds out her good arm, the one that wasn't mauled on the roof. Just like she did that first night. "Come on, let's go assess the damage." She waits, her hand out. She's not going downstairs without him. Is it fear? Partly. Fear is radiating from her in waves. What Eli might not realize is that it's fear that he won't take her hand. "Eli.. please."

Silence fills the space after her words and Eli keeps his eyes down, reluctant to bring his own up to Genevieve's face. A shiver runs through his body and another stab of pain from his side. When the lightening strikes and fills the room again it's clear that he has tears on his cheeks - though he raises a hand to wipe them away, leaving a nice bloody mess across his face in the process. It's really only a few seconds, but it seems like longer, when he finally reaches out and wraps his hand into Genevieve's, using his other to slowly push himself to his feet. His hand is cold and he does little to contain the guilt and pain that he's feeling. "It used you to get to me." He agrees, finally lifting his eyes to look at her. "It will try to hurt you to hurt me, because it knows how I feel about you."

Genevieve won't let go of his hand, keeping hold as she leads him downstairs to the bathroom. She turns on every light along the way, banishing the shadows in the apartment. She doesn't look at his face right away, turning on the shower, steam roiling through the small room. She steps closer to Eli, fingers seeking out his injuries on his side. She's as gentle as she can be, and then her eyes shift up to his face as she lays her hand against the bite. "I've seen that thing before in my dreams too." She admits, letting out an unsteady breath as contact with the wound almost gives her the pain from it. Genevieve always has a glimmer to her, but right now, she's positively shining, even in the light. She can't do much for him, but when she pulls her hand back, he's not bleeding anymore. "You're going to leave, aren't you?" She asks quietly, her eyes moving back down to his torso.

"It's not going to stop." Eli says, leaning there under the too bright lights of the bathroom and clenching his teeth while Genevieve treats his wound, the flesh knitting back together beneath her touch. He clenches his fingers into fists to hide the way that his hands shake, body tense and uncertain. "And it was so strong tonight." He continues, mind reeling while he tries to put the words together. "I don't want to leave, Genevieve. I can't remember a time in my life where I wanted to be anywhere more than here. With you. You know it's the truth." Those last words are desperate, as though he needs her to understand how he feels. "How can I stay knowing that it's going to use you to get at me? What do I do when it's worse than tonight?"

"How can you go knowing that it will come for me even if you're not here." Low blow. She's desperate. Genevieve gazes steadily at Eli, tense and trembling still. She looks pale, and before she can speak again, she sways and almost as if in slow motion, she sinks toward the ground. Her shoulder got the worst of it, out of all the places she was wounded, when the wolf was shaking her in its jaws it tore into her skin. The bleeding has slowed, but it hasn't stopped and between that and her tending Eli, she's not feeling her best.

He should know better after this many years of reacting to the heavy emotions that come after one of these dreams. On the other hand, they're powerful enough that it's nearly impossible to just set them aside. Eli withers visibly at Genevieve's rebuke and tries to open his mouth to form some kind of reply, but before he can speak Genevieve is dropping down to the floor. He drops to his knees beside her, for the first time really fixing his attention on her wound. What a fucking piece of work he was. Arguing with her while she continued to bleed from the attack that was entirely his fault. He takes a breath and lays his hand on her shoulder. This wasn't something he was strong in, but his power was enough to make the wound a bit less ugly. Neither was he a medic, but the idea of going to the hospital and explaining they'd been attacked by the Big Bad Wolf seemed ... difficult. Still tentative about his own wound, he carefully slips his arms beneath Genevieve and carries her out to lay on the couch, then goes to the kitchen to get warm water and a cloth. Once he's back he settles nearby and starts to carefully clean around the wound while he looks down toward the pale woman with concern.

Genevieve doesn't have any more fight in her, literally or figuratively. Her eyes trail him as he goes to the kitchen to get warm water and a cloth, her breath hitching as she attempts to keep from crying. Tears won't help right now. She stares at Eli as he gently wipes at her skin with the cloth, the quiet between them broken as thunder rolls overhead. "If you have to go, Eli. You have to go." She turns her head so he doesn't see her start to cry. She can't help it. She winces when the cloth touches her, biting down on her tongue so she doesn't make a noise. She's tense, pulling her legs up as she tries to curl into a ball.

"Look, Genevieve..." Eli's tone has changed, some of the harsh determination draining out of it. The physical and mental toll seems to hit all at once and it's hard to even focus on his attempt at cleaning her shoulder. "I'm not going." He says, though something about the way the words are pitched make it sound like the word 'yet' was implied. The cloth is placed carefully int the bowl of pink water and instead of picking it up again he twines his arms around Genevieve's curling body. He doesn't perhaps have the strength to summon words that can offer any comfort in these moments, but he at least doesn't stand up and leave her. Instead he surrounds her carefully and lays his head against her hip. You're selfish, Eli. You're going to hurt her more every day, Eli.