MaliceInWonderland
How fine you look when dressed in Rage
♔ Champion ♔
(CW: Pregnancy Loss/Related subjects)
"Anything…?" The Being smiled in question.
Though it wasn't just a smile. It was one of cunning, of such a malicious slyness that it left the woman's skin crawling.
But she needed to persist. This had to work. She couldn't lose another. She knew that working with this… thing… an ancient thing of many names, with many forms… was dangerous.
But she was at the end of her rope. The heartache was too great.
"Yes, anything. Please. I'm just so desperate. I've lost so many already. My husband and I just… can't take it anymore. Anything. I'll do anything."
"Fine, then." The Being said softly, it's vocal range so complex and so foreign-sounding that it surely wasn't human. It extended a severely wrinkled hand. That looked somewhat human, at least. Except for the sharpened, talon-like claws. She ignored those.
"Place your hand in mine."
She hesitated for just a moment, and forced her eyes closed, willing away the voices screaming in her head. Slowly, she reached forward and placed her hand upon the one waiting before her. The hand was frigid, as if merely a wax statue with ice beneath the flesh.
Her own hand was enveloped, then the Being's other hand moved to rest over her own, sandwiched now. Terrible, excruciating pain struck through it, causing her to shriek. Instinctively she tried to pull back, to sever their connection.
"No, no." The Being cooed with that same slithering smile. "To be reborn is to feel the same pain as birth. You are doing this to be a mother, are you not? That will surely be more painful than this, will it not?"
Eyes wide, she stopped, swallowing harshly. She nodded and grit her teeth. But then her hand was merely released, leaving a neon red mark on both sides of it for but just a moment before it seemed to sink into her flesh, hiding away.
"So it is done, my child. Or should I say… your child?"
"Anything…?" The Being smiled in question.
Though it wasn't just a smile. It was one of cunning, of such a malicious slyness that it left the woman's skin crawling.
But she needed to persist. This had to work. She couldn't lose another. She knew that working with this… thing… an ancient thing of many names, with many forms… was dangerous.
But she was at the end of her rope. The heartache was too great.
"Yes, anything. Please. I'm just so desperate. I've lost so many already. My husband and I just… can't take it anymore. Anything. I'll do anything."
"Fine, then." The Being said softly, it's vocal range so complex and so foreign-sounding that it surely wasn't human. It extended a severely wrinkled hand. That looked somewhat human, at least. Except for the sharpened, talon-like claws. She ignored those.
"Place your hand in mine."
She hesitated for just a moment, and forced her eyes closed, willing away the voices screaming in her head. Slowly, she reached forward and placed her hand upon the one waiting before her. The hand was frigid, as if merely a wax statue with ice beneath the flesh.
Her own hand was enveloped, then the Being's other hand moved to rest over her own, sandwiched now. Terrible, excruciating pain struck through it, causing her to shriek. Instinctively she tried to pull back, to sever their connection.
"No, no." The Being cooed with that same slithering smile. "To be reborn is to feel the same pain as birth. You are doing this to be a mother, are you not? That will surely be more painful than this, will it not?"
Eyes wide, she stopped, swallowing harshly. She nodded and grit her teeth. But then her hand was merely released, leaving a neon red mark on both sides of it for but just a moment before it seemed to sink into her flesh, hiding away.
"So it is done, my child. Or should I say… your child?"
A little over a month later, another positive pregnancy test. The new life growing in her womb was watched ever so carefully. Desperately.
Each small milestone was silently celebrated with a sigh in relief. Soon one month became two, then four, and then finally six. Over 24 weeks. She knew now… that even if her baby were to be born early, it had a good chance to live.
After five years of trying to have a baby and close to 20 devastating miscarriages… she was finally going to have a baby.
It was around this time that noticeable changes started to occur, however.
Not to her baby - no, the unborn child was doing just fine. But in fact, herself.
The Mother became gaunt to the point of almost looking skeletal. Bags under her eyes turned to deep dark sockets. Her lips barely covered over her teeth. Her once glorious locks of hair started to feel as if turning to straw, and falling out.
Bedridden. Then hospitalized. The life was being drained from her.
Her husband pleaded with her to have an emergency caesarean delivery.
But no. The Mother refused. "I'll do anything for this baby."
...
"Anything."
It was in the 7th month in which The Mother was barely holding on. Her husband used his power of attorney to demand that they save his wife as she was too weak to argue otherwise.
Before the procedure, a routine ultrasound to confirm the position of the baby. The technician's face was one of horror. First they called over another technician. Who called over a doctor. Who called over many more.
As the husband held his wife's hand, he demanded of them again, to tell them what was happening.
All he was told was that they would need to enter into emergency surgery immediately.
It was an explosion of chaos. She was wheeled away before he had time to finish telling her how much he loved her.
The Mother never woke from her procedure. But her baby did. Or… what should have been a baby.
The child growing within her was no longer human, or perhaps it never had been. Perhaps it had all been a trick for so many months, nestled snugly within a caring womb.
Instead, came a reborn Being. As soon as it's mother's belly was opened, it crawled violently out of her without the need of assistance. All who were in the operating room were consumed. It was a procedure of blood and viscera.
But the Being, having grown stronger and larger with every devoured soul, was now a man. Youthful. Taut. Free of its previous form.
It slowly walked through the blood towards its rebirth mother. It leaned in, holding her hand. A kiss was planted against her harrowed cheek.
"Anything." It purred in her ear.
In her last breaths before slipping away in her chemical-induced slumber, she smiled.
Anything.
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