paradisalost

Current Mood: worried

Entry tags:

-17

Who: Bela Talbot and OPEN
What: Bela goes for Ruby's body
When: Early Sunday Morning
Where: Empty Building just at the edge of the City Royale
Rating: PG

Bela's knowledge of Dean Winchester was -- limited. It was clear that he felt he knew more about her than she did about him, or that she was aware that he knew, which indicated that he may have known her longer than she has known him. Which was fine -- timelines were screwy in this place, and while it annoyed her that he may have information about her that she didn't want him to have, there was nothing she could do to find out what it was. The castle hadn't afforded her a trip home, and considering that she now knew that she had made a deal for her soul, she wasn't sure she wanted to be sent home just to live her life through to her death -- or worse. Therefore, she was fine with her limited knowledge of Dean Winchester, because it was enough to get by in living in the same place with him without causing a major problem as of yet.

What she did know about him, though, was that he wasn't one to afford demons any kind of respect. If what he said was the truth -- which she didn't doubt it was -- Ruby was dead, and he probably had felt that the more important matter was to deal with taking care of Sam, not the dead demon's meat. She wasn't saying he was wrong -- Sam was still alive and was going to have to deal with the ramifications for his actions far sooner than Ruby would at this point, but unlike Dean, Bela did not have Sam to worry about. On top of that, Ruby was a friend, and it was the least she could do at this point.

Her head was still spinning with what had happened over the past few days. She knew the castle was capable of being cruel, but she had never anticipated something of this caliber. Sam -- Sam wasn't a monster. She knew at least that much. But the things that she had heard, that he had tortured people -- that was the work of a monster. To be honest, she was surprised he hadn't focused his attention in her direction. She had thought for certain that if one of the Winchesters went on a murdering rampage, she would have been first on the list.

When she finally found the building where the body was located, she tried to push back the gagging feeling in the back of her throat at the way the feeling of death hung in the air. It had always gotten to her, ever since she was a child, but when you were in a business like hers, you dealt in death all the time. You just had to suck it up and get used to it. She made her way inside, and it didn't take her too long to locate the body, just where Dean had left it. Her face softened a bit at that, before making her way over, crouching down next to her.

"Oh, love. What did you get yourself into?"

It wasn't until she tried to pick up the body that the term "dead weight" was given new meaning. She was taller than Ruby, and pretty sturdy for her frame, but she knew she wasn't going to make it to the castle on her own. She moved to the journal, filtering a quick message to whoever may happen to be available, before packing up and lifting the body up and away. Hopefully someone would meet her on the way. If not -- well, she'd make it to the morgue eventually.

"Sweetie, when you get back you're laying off the french fries."

It only took her a second to realize that she was talking to a dead body. Maybe this place really was making her lose her mind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clark didn’t leave a conflict half-way through. As soon as he was sure Claire was safe and in good hands, it was time to move onto the Winchesters and the mentioned other victim, whichever he came across first, and move he did. It was time consuming, but then again, what else did Clark need his evenings for?

As he moved down a street or two, starting the next line of buildings, walking around them and giving them quick scans with x-ray vision for signs of struggle and the like, he overheard the comments about french fries. He narrowed his eyes and focused, and through the building, he saw her: a woman carrying another woman’s body.

He sped over, stopping out of view, and then stepping out at a regular pace. His expression was serious, but there was a lot of concern there, too.

“Hey,” he said, making sure he was in her line of vision before he spoke. He didn’t want to startle her. “Are you okay, Miss?”

"Hmmm?" she looked up with a small huff, before nodding. Dead bodies were heavy, but she was a big girl. She would manage. "Yes. Just -- doing my part in helping to clean up the mess, I suppose."

She shifted Ruby's weight so that her center of gravity was a bit higher, before letting out a slow breath. Lift with your legs, not your back, all that. "Just want to get the body to the morgue before it decays too much. Body's not going to be much good to her when she gets back if it's falling to pieces."

Crowley prided himself on trying not to give a damn about anyone but himself. Of course, there were a few residents in the castle he would make an exception for, Ruby being one of them. Where he came from, demons most certainly did not look out for one another, but here is was a different story.

"I wouldn't want to be the one who tried to take them off her," he commented dryly to Bela as he stepped inside, frowning behind his shades as he walked over.

She smirked slightly at that, shifting the limp body in her arms before nodding. "Oh, I'm aware that she'll sooner stab me with that pointy little knife of hers before she'll even let me try, but -- when one eats their weight in them, they're bound to put on a few pounds."

She paused for a minute, tilting her head to the side slightly. "I've heard your voice before. The one talking about the Bentley, yeah?"

"Hmmm," replied Crowley by way of acknowledgement, and then, because he felt it should be added, "Crowley."

He glanced over in Ruby's direction and sighed. "I should have known this would happen eventually. You meddle too close to the folks who can kill you, it never ends well."

"Bela. And I couldn't agree more," Bela sighed, starting to move towards the door -- moving with the weight was better than just standing still and letting it weigh her down. "She really cared about him, though. And I don't think Dean is going to be prepared for what Sam's going to be going through when he wakes up."

"That's often the way, especially when you take the brother thing into account. Family does have a tendency to blind people to the facts of the matter," said Crowley as he fell into step beside her. "I can help you with her, you know. I'm stronger than I look."

"And when it comes to Sam, Dean is blinder than most," Bela admitted, shifting the weight in her arms as though telling Crowley to go ahead. She would have asked him to switch off at some point anyway. "When someone loves enough to do the things that Dean has done for his brother, it's hard to throw them to the wolves, even when it's necessary."

Crowley nodded, moving to take Ruby off her, shouldering her weight easily. "You may have a point, it confuses me, a little. The lengths people go to, to protect their own. I always supposed it was one of those little human traits."

"I think basically it comes down to what makes you feel safe," she said for a moment. "It seems so ridiculous now, but back home, I wouldn't let anything get between me and a pay day. I didn't have anyone else, and money was a sense of security. It was all I had. With Dean -- all he and Sam truly have is each other and that bloody revenge mission. And despite his action's to the contrary this week -- Sam is Dean's heart. If Dean didn't have him -- I'd be scared to see what Dean would actually do."

Crowley was quiet for a moment as her mulled Bela's words over. "I doubt it would be very pretty," he decided on. "Dean knows his stuff, and if history has anything to show for it, when people lose the thing most dear to them, things get very ugly, very quickly. I think I'd take cover for a while if he lost it."

"Considering our history, I would leave the castle entirely," Bela sighed. "He's threatened to kill me several times over -- I'd probably be his first target."

"Really now? Just for your trade?" Crowley frowned. "That's a little excessive, don't you think? I thought they just hunted things that go bump in the night."

"Oh, they do," she said, before smirking slightly. "They don't like my trade, but when I make things worse like -- shooting Sam or stealing the hand of glory they need to lay a spirit to rest right out from under their nose -- it's clear I'm not really their favorite individual. From what Dean's told me, I apparently sell them up a river quite a few times in the course of our acquaintance."

"Ahhh, yes I can see why that would irritate him a lot," allowed Crowley. "Of course, you'd think they'd expect such a thing. The occult is a sneaky buisness in which you can't really trust anyone."

"One would think so," Bela sighed. "Or at least gotten used to me being around enough to see it coming. I swear, they tended to make things far too easy at times."

"There's a crazy old bloke where I come from who puts more effort into it than they do," said Crowley with a smirk. "And, really, he's scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as demon-slash-witch hunters go. Though perhaps it's just that castle life has lulled them into a false sense of security."

"Dean, maybe. I've been here longer than Sam has, but then again -- with everything that they've been through, this place is like Disney World."

"It really is. Loses and strange world changes aside, Paradisa is incredibly tame. I don't think most people realise how lucky they are."

"They really are," Bela nodded. "It could have been far, far worse."

"It really could be," Crowley shook his head. "They could be in Milton Keynes."

She chuckled slightly at that. "Or stranded on a desert island."

"I don't know, so long as there was a supply of booze, I think I could cope with that."

Over the course of the last two weeks, Sylar had more or less shut himself down, emotionally. It made the loss of Mohinder that much less painful if he could convince himself he didn't care, and this was supposed to be who he was, wasn't it? Cold and only capable of showing emotion if it was in fits of rage or mad triumph. It was what people expected, and it worked, so why try and be human? Why bother?

Of course, it also meant that his personal relationships had suffered--he'd only really bothered making conversation with Elle and Peri since his geneticist's disappearance--and in turn he had suffered for it. If, perhaps, he'd been more attentive to the people he gave a damn about, rather than trying to let the Castle take him back to the man he'd been when he'd first arrived, maybe he could have done something to save Ruby. Hell, maybe he would have known she was in trouble in the first place, and could have ground that damn Winchester kid into fine powder before he'd even had a chance to touch her.

He should have thrown him off the roof like he'd thought about, briefly, the night Mohinder disappeared. It would have solved a lot of problems.

Soured by that thought, he stalked into the building without so much as a sound, his silence aided by his telekinesis. He took a brief instant to look around, and then he was headed over to Bela just as mutely, looking down at her and Ruby with a scowl. Then, without preamble, not really caring if she hadn't heard him enter or if he scared the hell out of her, he said, "You need help moving her."

Which he did. Bela jumped about five feet in the air when she heard his voice behind her, and it took her a moment to actually respond with something a little more than a yelp. Once she'd calmed herself down, she nodded.

"Yes, actually. Thank you. Dean -- tends to leave a mess behind, at times."

His expression all but one-eightied at the jump, scowl shifting into a vaguely unhinged smile so quickly it would have been comical if not for how disturbing he looked. Thankfully, however, the expression was short-lived, the mention of Dean sending his look into a nose-dive back into a frown.

"I'm telekinetic," he announced after a moment, shooting a glance down at Ruby's body. "I can carry her."

She nodded slightly, before moving away from the body and giving him some room to move. She didn't want to be in the way, and if he could handle it, she was willing to let him. She watched him as he went, however, trying to get a read on him as they went. He wasn't someone she had met before, so she had no idea what to expect. However, if the way he reacted to her was any indication, he had a feeling he should put her slightly on edge.

Again, he looked down at the body for a moment, still scowling. Then quickly, not particularly afraid of abusing his abilities in front of Bela--or anyone else who showed up for that matter--he moving to what remained of Ruby. Carefully, he slung one of her arms over his shoulder, one of his own going around her to pull her up into a sit, so that he could get his other arm under her legs. A deep breath, and then he was standing up effortlessly, Ruby supported in his arms, her head dead weight on his shoulder. It would almost have been romantic, were Ruby not dead.

"Where are we taking her?" he asked after a moment.

"The castle has a morgue, or at least that's what I'm told," she said with a nod, before starting to move towards the doorway, holding it open for him so nothing got in his way. "I figured it'd be the best place to keep the body from decaying until she got back. I'm not sure what the castle policy on bringing demons back to life is, but if they don't give her her body back, she's not going to be of much use to anyone as a black plume of smoke."

"She could always take another one," he answered, stepping out of the building with a glance over his shoulder at her. He nodded a bit, grateful--not that he couldn't have gotten the door on his own, but he could still appreciate the gesture--and then he was headed in the direction of the castle. "I doubt she'd like that much, though. From what she's told me, she likes this model."

"Mmmm -- and the moral implications are less," she said with a nod, falling in step beside him. "The spirit had already left this one long before she arrived in the castle, far as I know. Any body she would find here would most likely have a person inside it, and I don't think the other castle residents would handle that too well. Being in league with Sam on this has already brought her enough trouble."

And that was what truly worried her. Sam was on a loss -- Ruby, far as she knew, didn't have that kind of excuse. It was just her bloody attachment to Sam and while she could understand it, it didn't mean she had to like it. Though she would personally take care of anyone who tried to come near her after this. She paid her penance. Dying was enough.

"She was working with Winchester?"

That was enough to make his head hurt, and for more than the fact that Sam had killed her, despite the fact that they were working together. That he could at least begin to understand--depending on how things went, maybe there had been a reason--but as far as he understood things, Sam had hurt--tortured?--something--Elle. And while he still wasn't quite sure where he stood with Elle, or if they were friends or just humoring each other, he found his loyalties strangely torn.

"No, forget it," he amended a second later, his frown deepening. "I don't care. She did what she did. Whatever. It still doesn't mean she deserved this." Loyalties or otherwise, he wasn't fond of either Winchester, so blaming them and not thinking about the rest was convenient enough for now.

Bela paused for a minute, before ignoring the 'forget it,' and explaining what she knew. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"Sam was on a loss. Ruby was helping him -- from what I understand, Elle was possessed, and she's the only demon here that could have done it." There was a bit of a pause, as she ran a hand through her hair. "I'm relatively certain that Dean was the one who killed her, though. Loss or not, Sam couldn't have. If he would have, it would have been when she told him the truth about back home -- not after that."

He shot her a glance, rolling his eyes at the fact that she'd barreled on anyway, despite the fact that he'd said she should drop it. "Right," he replied, pointedly, still trying not to think too hard about it.

Bela just raised an eyebrow back at him. Facts were important. Judgments without facts were what got her into trouble a lot of the time -- she'd learned at least that much from her mess of a life.

She did, at that point, drop it and just continued to walk in silence next to him, just trying her best to still sort everything out.

He sighed, the sound almost relieved, before letting silence fall between them as they moved back towards the castle. For some reason, however, as much as he had wanted the subject to drop in the first place, he was the one pursuing it again a few moments later. "So, whose side are you on? Sam and Ruby's? Elle's?"

Bela sighed softly at that, running a hand through her hair as she tried to figure out the answer to that question. She didn't want to be thought of as a heartless bitch or ambivalent to the pain she was certain that Elle was going through, but she didn't want to completely abandon Sam and Ruby either. Some things were just harder to choose than others.

"I'm on no one's side, really. Horrible things were done, and I'm not going to condone or vilify one side just because those things happened." She paused for a moment, before letting her arms come to rest at her sides. "Until we know what really happened, I can't say whether or not I choose one side or the other."

Sylar shot her a sideways glance, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Safe answer," he replied, before turning his attentions back to the path in front of them. Silence again as he seemed to consider something, and then, "You don't know Elle all that well--or at all--do you?"

Bela shook her head. "I've never met her. And that's not to say anything against her, or even to put any of the blame on her. As far as I know, she did nothing to Sam to bring on something like this."

She paused for a moment, before running a hand through her hair. "But I do know Ruby. I know how she feels about Sam, and I know all about doing things for the wrong reasons that feel like the right ones. I'm not sure what Sam may have said to her, but I don't see her as any less a victim."

"Not why I asked," he shot back, calmly.

He'd didn't particularly care whether or not Elle had done something to provoke Sam, or if Ruby had made the wrong decisions for all the wrong reasons--more he'd been trying to make sure his high-powered perception was still intact. He'd assumed that Bela had picked the safe answer because she didn't know Elle but didn't want to seem cruel, and he'd been right. And the fact that she seemed to be arguing for Sam and Ruby suggested that she had picked a side, despite her assurances that she hadn't--another thing he'd been right about, though it wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist, given that she was the one who had come to get Ruby's body in the first place.

"I'm not saying Ruby's not a victim either, though," he allowed after a moment. "People do stupid things for love." Such as running through the streets of New York, powerless, trying to save someone from a tidal wave that the castle created. Without knowing that it wouldn't exactly prove fatal for either of them.

"People do stupid things period -- doesn't matter the reason." Bela had enough of her own experience in that particular field. "It's all really a matter of how stupid they want to be."

"Point taken." Sylar flashed her a wry smile. "You realize that not everyone's going to see it like that? Elle in particular, probably."

"Oh, I'm aware." She was very, very aware. "But Sam and Ruby are from my world. The former tends to not like me much but they're the closest thing to family here that I have." Which is both rather sad and saying something, considering that what she did have of family sucked. Hard.

"I won't openly say I'm choosing a side, but if they force me to, I will. It's nothing against Elle, but -- I know Sam. Normally, he's the kind of person who will pull out a hail mary pass to try and save your life rather than torture you to death." And she knew that one from experience.

He was silent, studying her again, and then finally, he sighed. "I'm staying out of this. I'm not good at being forced to pick sides, and I have my reasons to want to support both of them. Ruby's a friend -- " Even if she'd royally screwed herself in following Sam's lead. " -- and Elle's -- " Complicated. " -- from home. Family, I guess. Like Sam and Ruby are for you."

Looking down at Ruby in his arms, he frowned, shaking his head a little. "If something happens, I won't be the one to run to, to stop it. It's not any of my business, after this. I'm doing my good deed, being here now."

Not that he wouldn't talk to Elle or Ruby after this--he would, because he considered them both friends--but he wasn't going to be involved in this clusterfuck. If they wanted to kill each other? Great, and also not his problem. They'd done this to themselves.

She nodded a bit, sighing slightly as the front of the castle came into view, rising up above them. She wasn't sure why she felt so indebted to the Winchesters, like she had done something to them, but the way they treated her meant that it had to be something. But she was done explaining herself. Sylar wasn't the one she had to explain herself too. Instead she just reached for her journal and started flipping through it.

"I'm not sure where the morgue is exactly, but it's usually down, yeah? In basements and things?"

"I'm not sure, either." Shrugging, he moved towards the doors, jerking his head to one side, sharply. The gesture probably looked a bit ridiculous at first, but when the door opened itself from them to enter, it probably at least made sense. "We could always check." A pause, in which he nodded to her journal. "Or you could ask someone."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

-17

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject