The string of fate! Or was that licorice?(Laughing Jack x Reader insert)

Prologue - Inevitable beginnings

~Before, around the 1850's~

The girl cried, holding a handkerchief near her lips as she shook in fear. She watched in front of her as her lover, Laughing Jack, was bounded up on a wall. He was unconscious, dangerously still, with his pupils rolled to the back of his head. His head was tilted back on the wooden wall behind him and his body hung loosely on the various sharp weapons that kept his body pinned to the wall. His mouth hung wide open, blood still seeping from the corner of his lips. Was he dead? She couldn't tell, the only sign that told her he was alive before was his screams--those agonizing long screams that made her want to rip off her ears. But , when she tried covering her hands with them to block out the noise, she couldn't help but remember the loving nibbles Jack would tease her with.

Now Jack was quiet; she never would've thought that she would rather hear his screams.

"Jack?" She sobbed. There was no response.

"Jack, darling, please." She wept. "Please say something..."

"You did this to him, and yourself." She heard the familiar old female voice. She turned around to glare at her. She knew, in a way, her grandmother was right. But to go this far, to cause someone so much agony-- it was trifling.

"No one said you had to do all of this! I said I was going to leave him!" She barked, tears still streaming down her face, her lips quivering.

"The moment you gave him your virginity, you declared yourself as one of them--a demon! I've tried so hard to reason with the others that you could be saved, but it's gone on for too long now. If you standby quietly, they might consider accepting you." She muttered near the last part.

The elder woman walked gracefully, her hair braided to the side swaying gently with each step. She put both of her hands on her granddaughter's face. "It's for the best, dear. Trust me."

The girl scoffed in response. "How is this for the best?!" She barked pointing a shaky finger to Jack.

The grandmother shook her head, "If anything this is a light punishment for what he had started." She said, her expression grave.

"No human deserves this type of treatment." She seethed to her grandmother.

"Well good thing since that thing wasn't a human to begin with." The grandmother retorted.

"He was living! He had a heartbeat, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet-- all of it! Just like any human being! He can cry, yell, laugh, he can smile, frown, he can do all of that just like any other being with a soul!" She countered.

"He's dead." The grandmother said strictly.
"Not for long." The young lady said. She took off her bonnet and undid her bun.
"What're you doing?" The grandmother asked as she watched her take off her shoes.

Taking in a deep breath she stepped forward. The semicircle that surrounded Jack and the wall consisted of ashes, roses, various charred bones, skin, and venom. There were torches that lined against the semicircle to keep out any and everything that was to disturb this agonizing ritual to cause someone pain.

Biting her lip, she took a step inside the semicircle. Immediately her eyes became blood shot and her nose began to bleed. Stepping inside meant sharing the same fate as the person it was originally for. The fair young lady began to let out screams of pure agony, much like Jacks; however, despite all the pain, she kept walking forward.

"You fool!" The grandmother said yelling from the edge of it.
"Get back here this instant!" She barked.

She stopped her screams, her voice too strained to do so. With her shaky legs and hands, her knees buckling, her breath chopped up into pants, her vision unclear and blurry, she continued to look forward.