"...rom the flesh!"
"Rise from the flesh!"
You woke up to the sound of chanting. Loud voices blended together as they repeated the phrase over, and over again. Their voices echoed and bounced off the walls, making you groan as you began to gain consciousness. You cracked open your eyes only to immediately close them again. Nearly right over you was a bright, lit-up chandelier. It hurt to look at it. You tried to cover your face with your arm, but it wouldn't move.
Twisting your head to the side, you finally opened your eyes. Rope. You were tied down to what you quickly figured out was an altar. It felt like you were in a dream, like there was a thick fog over everything. Your ears were ringing, you could hardly see, and you were freezing. Goosebumps rose on your skin, the cold stone of the altar only adding to the low temperature. What was going on?
When you looked down everything started rushing back. You were in the cult again. They'd captured Jack. You tried to trick them, and then Krul drugged you and you passed out. Now, you were half naked. You'd been stripped apart from your undergarments. Your first instinct was to be embarrassed, but quickly that feeling was overtaken by a combination of anger and terror.
The ritual. This was for the ritual. You'd failed to stop it, and now you were a part of it. Looking to your right, you saw Jack tied down just as you were. He didn't move as you stared at him, he didn't even seem to realize you were there. They'd probably drugged him as well.
You looked around frantically, spotting all of the hooded figures. There were so many eyes on you. So many people were watching, and yet no one moved to help. You were so angry, but you couldn't blame them. You'd been the same. Instead of the cultists, you directed your focus on Krul and snarled, baring your teeth at the man responsible for it all. Never before had you wanted to rip someone apart so badly.
Krul didn't seem put off by your animosity. "I see you've woken, my child." His grin made you want to vomit. "I do apologize about the... force we had to use earlier, but it was for the best. Now you're here, now you're ready."
"Ready for what?" You hissed, "What's the ritual for this time? What could you possibly want with Jack now?" You didn't bother to hide the anger in your tone.
"I want to fix what we did, I want to give our lord a proper vessel!" There was an odd glimmer in his eyes that made you shudder. "And I've decided that vessel will be you."
Your mouth went dry. You didn't even know what to say to that. Krul had said that with a smile, said that like it was a good thing. It was revolting. Everything had gone so horribly wrong. All of your plans had failed. The plan with Jack to break in undetected, your plan to infiltrate the cult and get Jack out. You'd failed, and now both you and Jack were a part of this sick ritual.
Father Krul raised his hand and the chanting stopped. He turned away from you and faced the cult, lifting both arms in the air. "My children, tonight we will bear witness to a transfer of energy! Of power! The past will be corrected, and finally Chernobog will have his vessel!" The pews boomed with a cheer. The hoods covered their faces, but you were sure they were grinning. They truly believed this would work. They believed every word Krul was saying.
"Now, let the ritual begin!" Father Krul finished and turned to face you and Jack.
The chanting started up again as two cultists stood from the pews and approached the altar. One held a dagger, and the other held a bucket.
No. Please no.
Your mouth was agape and your eyes were wide as tears welled in the corners. Your eyes darted from Jack, to the cultists, to Father Krul. Your heart was beating loudly in your chest, your limbs shaking with fear. You and Jack were about to die. All of your efforts to get revenge were for nothing. After everything the cult was going to live on. And you'd just be another sacrifice, another face on TV as some news reporter went on and on about your horrible demise.
"It won't work!" The words erupted from your throat, though the chanting muffled your voice. "It'll never work!"
Father Krul stepped forward, a cold smile across his features. He had that same look of superiority on his face, the same look that let you know to him you were nothing more than a scared rabbit quivering under a predator's gaze. He leaned down, inches from your face, and whispered, "That may be true, but my dear Y/N, we won't know until we try."
Your face contorted into a scowl and you threw your head forward in an attempt to headbutt him. He pulled away before you could make contact, his mocking smile never dropping. Krul turned away and looked at the two cultists assisting in the ritual.
"You know what to do." He said, clapping them both on the shoulder before joining in on the chanting.
"Rise from the flesh!" The words were repeated again, and again until they all seemed to meld together.
Silent tears began to leak from your eyes, rolling down the sides of your face. With blurry vision, you turned your head and looked at Jack again. He still seemed out of it. His eyes were half-lidded and his hair was messy. Knowing him, he'd probably been fighting as much as he could while locked up. As proof of that, you saw electricity burns scattered along his half-naked form, but most were in the crooks of his neck.
"Jack?" You spoke, but you could hardly hear your own voice against the chanting. "Jack! Jack can you hear me?!" You tried again, this time yelling. He seemed to stir, but your words didn't register.
You silently cursed to yourself and glanced around. The cultist with the dagger was approaching your altar. Your eyes were drawn to the glint of their blade, sending a shiver down your spine. Whatever they were about to do with that, it wasn't going to be good.
Snapping your head towards Jack, you began to struggle against your restraints. "Jack! You have to wake up! Please!" All you got was a twitch of his arm before a cold hand on your forearm stole your attention.
A short gasp left you as you looked up and saw the cultist standing at your side. You couldn't see their eyes because of the hood, but you tried to make eye contact anyhow. You tried to get a read on their emotions, tried to make them feel guilty. Anything to make them stop, but they hardly seemed to hesitate.
They lifted the blade and pressed the tip against your upper arm. Its cold metal didn't cut you, yet, but the indent it made in your skin made you freeze. By now you'd tuned out the chanting, and all you could hear was the beating of your heart and the ringing in your ears. This was it. You were about to be sacrificed, and there was nothing you could do about it.
The dagger plunged into your flesh, not deep enough to cause any real damage, but deep enough to force a sharp scream from your throat. Squeezing your eyes closed, you leaned your head back and tried to ignore the burning sensation, but it quickly became impossible when the cultist dragged the knife across your skin. You didn't have to look at it to know they were carving something into you. It had to be one of Chernobog's symbols. You'd all been forced to study them, and if you saw what they were doing you'd likely be able to figure out which one it was. But you didn't want to look. You couldn't.
You could feel the hot blood running down your arm and pooling around it as more and more dripped out. Finally, it seemed like the first symbol was done, but you weren't offered a break. Again, the knife sunk into you and it was quickly pulled down into the shape of whatever they were drawing. The cultist was getting more comfortable, their dagger going deeper with every cut.
You screamed again, a sob quickly wracking your body as you weakly tried to move your arm away from their grasp. The blood was sticky, and with every twitch of your arm it seemed like glue holding you down further. Its smell was making you sick. It was thick and metallic. It was all you could think about; Red leaking from your arm like a faucet as a numbing sensation slowly spread over the limb, though it did little to soothe the pain.
Turning your head away from the bloody mess that was now your arm, you finally opened your eyes again. Black, empty sockets seemed to stare at you. Your breath caught in your throat. Jack.
He couldn't see what was happening, but he could smell it. He could hear it. By instinct he remembered what'd happened to him, and he knew.
"Jack-!" You cut yourself off with another scream. The cultist was down to your forearm now, and it felt like the knife was scraping bone. It hurt. It hurt so much that it was becoming hard to think, but you knew it wasn't even close to being over.
RRRRRRIP
The sound of rope being torn was accompanied by a deep, guttural growl that single-handedly silenced the cult. Even the cultist cutting into you paused at the noise. It was like the world around you had just suddenly stopped. No one dared to move as you watched Jack rise from the altar, already breathing heavily and body shaking with rage. He seemed to look around, using his remaining senses to gather where things were.
Quickly, his sights were set on the cultist standing beside you, and in a blur he launched himself at them. They rolled on the floor for a moment, both fighting for control, but quickly the cultist was overpowered as Jack sat on their legs and held them down.
You looked away when you heard a crunch followed by wheezing.
The cult seemed to unfreeze as a few cultists rushed towards Jack with their batons raised. This time, Jack seemed prepared for their attacks as he managed to disarm them before tearing into them with his claws. Blood sprayed through the air, coating both his arms and his chest. Wave after wave of cultists ran towards him, all trying desperately to land a hit on him. To electrocute him, to tackle him, to do anything to halt his rampage.
But they were weak, and Jack was strong. They stood no chance.
The cult's numbers were thinning, and bodies lay splayed on the ground. Some were still breathing, but they wouldn't be for long. Now, there were only a few stragglers. A few tried to run, a couple tried to hide, but Jack always got to them before they could do anything meaningful.
A sudden thump to the left of your head made you gasp. Craning your head to the side, you were met with the sight of a bloody hand. Slowly, a robed figure rose from the floor with a profusely bleeding neck being held together only by their hand. You locked eyes.
Krul. Like the weed he was, he was still alive.
"You." He hissed, his open throat dripping blood onto your face. "You were right. It isn't going to work, not anymore. But if I'm going to die, you're coming with me, traitor." A crazed expression washed over his features as he raised a dagger above your chest.
You opened your mouth to scream, but you were interrupted by Krul's body going flying as Jack easily threw him to the floor. His body seemed to crumble as easily as paper. He didn't move when Jack approached him, only gazing up at him with angry eyes.
"You thief! Chernobog will rise! You're nothing but a monster who took his power! You-!" Crunch.
Jack stomped on his neck once and Krul finally went silent. His expression was in a permanent state of shock, and his glossy eyes were stuck staring up at the ceiling. Krul was dead. The entire cult was dead, and the hall was finally silent apart from your panicked breathing and Jack's panting.
It was over. It was finally over. But as Jack turned towards you, you being the last one living in the entire church, you started to worry he hadn't figured out your plan. He couldn't think you'd actually rejoined the cult, could he?
"...Jack?" You croaked, voice sore from crying. He didn't reply as he slowly walked closer to the altar. You swallowed back a sob, your voice shaking as you started to speak, "I-I only went with them to help you... It was all I could think of other than leaving you behind... and... and I couldn't do that. Not again."
He was right next to you now, the black voids of his eyes staring down at you. You stared back, silently hoping he believed you. Silently hoping he knew you wouldn't betray him. After all the two of you had been through together. You'd driven him around, watched him kill, helped him kill, and even though you never once believed you deserved it, he'd forgiven you.
You cared about him. You cared about him more than anything, and not just because of what the cult had done to him. It was so much more than that. You'd never felt more understood than when you were with him, never felt so safe. At this point, you'd die for him. You just hoped he could see that.
Finally, Jack moved, but it wasn't to kill you. His blood-stained claws sliced through the ropes holding you down. He circled the table cutting all of your binding until you were free. You hesitantly sat up, trying not to put too much pressure on your injured arm. Your entire body stung.
You carefully swung your legs over the side of the altar, your eyes scanning the room around you. Bodies were everywhere. Limbs poked out from between the pews, blood pooling around them. The smell of blood was heavy in the air, much more potent than it had been before. You looked behind you and your eyes landed on the body of Krul with his flattened, bloody neck.
Shivering from both the gore and the cold, you focused your gaze back on Jack. He was still standing over you, staring intensely at your still-bleeding form. His chest was rising and falling quickly, and you could practically feel the adrenaline radiating from him. Blood was rolling off of his arms in droplets, and the area around his mouth was slathered in red. It had been the massacre all over again, but this time you weren't scared.
Neither of you moved. Time had stopped in the church. Both of you were bleeding. Both of you were covered in blood splatter, but that didn't seem to matter. Not now.
You moved first, placing a gentle hand on Jack's cheek, and to your surprise he leaned into your touch. His skin was warm against your own, and it made pulling him closer feel all the more natural. Your lips met in a teeth-clashing kiss, your arms wrapping around Jack's neck while his looped around your waist.
His lips were pressed into yours so harshly, so desperately, that it nearly hurt, but you didn't care. You didn't care about anything other than Jack right now. Not the fact you both were nearly naked, not the fact he tasted like blood. Nothing mattered other than that you both were alive and together.
His nails were digging into your hips, and yours were digging into his back. The two of you were clinging to each other like you were afraid the other would disappear if you dared let go.
Despite how everything had gone wrong, you'd both somehow made it out mostly okay. The cult was dead. Jack had gotten his revenge, and you'd been by his side the whole time. Your old life had become nothing more than memories. You didn't know what you'd find if you ever went back, and at this point you didn't even want to. Jack was all you had, and you were fine with that.
Panting softly, you broke the kiss but didn't move away. "We... We should leave."
Jack gave a short nod, and both of you hesitated for a moment before separating. You gulped as you lowered yourself to the floor, shivering as the cold tiles met your feet. Heading for the door, your hand found Jack's and your fingers interlocked as you went to retrieve your clothes, and then finally to leave the church.
It was time to go home.
Had this specific scene planned out for so long. Anyway first real kiss in a fanfic I've written 😭
ALSO there's one more chapter and then an epilogue left
8.2 pages · 2,886 words