Mind Games

Out of the Darkness

We gotta get out of here." Nick stated.

"We can't, trust me I've tried." She replied.

"What do you mean?" Nick inquired, standing and helping Trubel to her feet as well.

"The only way out that I can find is the door on bottom level, and there's no getting past that Sigbarste. It's like he guards the door or something." Trubel explained.

"We have to try." Nick stated.

"No, I can't...I can't go down there with that thing, not again." Trubel protested.

"Yes you can, Trubel we're in your head, this is your subconscious. You have all the power here." Nick turned to her.

Trubel could already feel her heart rate quickening. She didn't want to do this, but she knew she had to. She needed to wake up and she knew full well that Nick wouldn't leave her behind again, not this time.

"Fine, let's go." Trubel agreed reluctantly.

Trubel led the way down the winding dark halls until she made it to the staircase. She stopped, holding onto the metal railing, her palms where beginning to sweat and she could feel the fear and anxiety rising within her. Nick trailed close behind.

"Hey, you can do this, I'm here for you. I won't let him hurt you, I promise." He assured.

Trubel nodded, and they started their decent.

Trubel couldn't help but wonder why this was so hard. There were a lot of her fears here, and Trubel would rank a lot of them on roughly the same level. The Sigbarste wasn't her worst fear, at least not anymore. But it was the deepest, her oldest. It was first thing her Grimm eyes had ever seen, and it had haunted her for so long. What it did to her foster parents, what it did to her life. In many ways, it was what she had been running from all those years, but the problem was that she couldn't escape it because it was in her head. Even now, even when she had become the hunter rather than the hunted, she still hadn't gotten past it. But this was it, as she and Nick passed the second level and headed for the first. This was the moment where she faced her oldest fear.

Trubel stepped off the stairs and onto the first level, Nick beside her. Her breath caught, there it stood. Across the room was the Sigbarste, the thing that started it all. Trubel stood rigid, mainly to hide the fact that was beginning to shake.

The Sigbarste locked eyes with the Grimms and let out a low growl. Then the next thing Trubel knew the Sigbarste was coming at them, they dove in opposite directions and out of the part of the behemoth. Nick was on his feet first and attempted to land a solid kick. But the Wesen deflected it, he grabbed Nick's shirts collar and shoved him back, sending him tumbling across the floor. Trubel did her best to push the rising fear from her mind, and she pounced. She threw a hard punch attempting to target the softer spots of its face. But to her surprise it caught her fist with one hand, it's other hand found Trubel's throat. Then she felt her feet leave the ground as the Sigbarste lifted her by her neck. She her air way constricted under the Wesen's vise-like grip. She struggled to frantically pry it's have off of her throat, however her attempts had no effect. Trubel felt the shrill sensation of fear flood her whole being, which only seemed to make the Wesen's grip tighter.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Nick yelled.

Nick attacked throwing several punches and kicks, the Sigbarste let go of Trubel and turned run face Nick. Trubel fell to the cold, hard floor, coughing and holding her throat. She inhaled sharply, now fully trembling. Trubel breaths came out in rapid gasps and she now felt too frozen with terror to even get up. She hadn't felt this weak and small since she was a child, and it was a feeling she had come to hate. She felt helpless, like there was nothing she could do, no way to beat it.

Then the Sigbarste knocked Nick down, the Wesen towered above him and clenched its fists menacingly. Then Trubel felt something awaken within her, something that overpowered the fear. Maybe it was simply seeing the Wesen attempting to hurt someone else she loved, but at that moment it was also the plain and simple fact that she was tired. Tired of being afraid, tired of running, she was ready to end this.

"That's it." Trubel hissed, pushing herself off the ground.

The Sigbarste turns around.

"I'm done. I'm done being afraid of you." Trubel said sharply, standing tall and facing off with the creature.

The Wesen growled and took a step forward.

"This ends right here, right now. I'm done running!" She shouted.

Trubel lunged at the Wesen landing a series of solid kicks and punches. The Sigbarste was briefly dazed and appeared weakened. She continued hitting, kicking and punching and clawing, it seemed to be wearing on the Wesen. This continued for several minutes as Nick lay seemingly unconscious on the floor.

The Wesen soon became angry, and in what appeared to be a last ditch effort, it charged at her. She sidestepped it, now behind the Sigbarste she jumped on its back, attempting to choke it. However in the scofful she accidentally snapped its neck. They both tumbled to the ground.

Trubel's pushed herself onto her hand and knees, looking at the body of the Sigbarste. The room was silent for a few moments save for the sound of Trubel's heavy, exasperated breath. She had done it, she had face her fear, and she had won. Nick got up off the ground and helped Trubel up.

"Are you alright?" Nick asked.

Trubel nodded, giving the Wesen one last glance as it disintegrated. She felt like a weight had been lifted, some previously unnoticed pressure relieved.

"You did it." Nick exclaimed.

"Technically we did it, I couldn't have done it without you." Trubel replied.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked, offering his hand.

Trubel looked around at the room one last time, it seemed just a little bit brighter then before.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She took his hand, cracking a small smile.

Together they walked through the large opening and out of the darkness.