(My) Monster - A Jeremiah Valeska Story

The Catacombs

*Still in Flashback*

I parked the car outside an old and abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. Turning off the engine, both me and Jerome, we slid out of the car and I assisted Jerome in pulling Jeremiah out and fixing him on his shoulder again, him groaning due to Jeremiah's weight pressing him down.

With much effort, we entered the factory and found ourselves in one of the middle parts of it, surrounded by abandoned water plants and other machines. We placed Jeremiah on a makeshift bed made by joining empty sacks of wheat together.

"Well, that was the best work out till date." I heard Jerome chuckle as he laid Jeremiah down and fell back on his back next to Jeremiah.

I pulled out my gloves and stared at my hands, my thoughts pulling me back into the sands of time to the day I had watched the burnt man heal by my hands at Indian Hill. We had come a long way from then, I wasn't ever sure if this would work or not.

"What ya thinkin?" Jerome turned on his front and placed his chin on his hands, his body resting on his elbows.

"Failure.. What if ..we fail? What if I can't bring him back? What if this is all for nothing? I'm not ready to come this close and get my heart broken all over again. I can't do this.. Jerome." I looked down at my hands that were shaking now. Suddenly, I felt Jerome's hands take my hands and pull me slightly towards him. Lacing our fingers together, he used his thumb to stroke over the side of my palm. " If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you can never perform as a winner." He said to me, his gaze meeting mine as he continued. "I've seen you survive worse. You're a survivor. You've always been. Even if.. Jeremiah doesn't make it, I know you will." I looked away from his gaze, placing it on Jeremiah.

"I love him so much it hurts. I wish, it was me that fell into that chemical vat that night. And not Jeremiah." I bit my lip hard, almost drawing out blood.

"You'll never know if it works unless you try.. What are you afraid of? Ruby, be brave enough to pick yourself up everytime you fall.." He squeezed my hand one last time and I watched him pull away, leaning over Jeremiah now. Suddenly, he smacked him hard on his cheek.

"What the hell Jerome?" I snapped at him, using both my hands to push him away from Jeremiah.

"I hate him. I hate how he made my life a living hell. He turned everyone I loved against me. He was always a piece of shit. You know he lied to everybody how I tried to kill him by placing a knife to his throat? By lighting his freaking bed on fire?" He looks at me angrily and I just sigh. "I wanted to chop his pretty little head off. I fantasized about how I'm going to kill him sadly, but it's true. I did."

"What changed?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well he did well. Carrying on my legacy. Also, he is my brother. Always has been. Always will be. Now watching him like this, fucked up and useless, it just pisses me off." He shrugged nonchalantly.

With one swift movement, I took my gloves off and took a glance at Jerome. I bit the insides of my cheeks hard, nervously. What I was gonna do now, it could cost me my life probably. I couldn't have told Jerome that. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, taking my palms and placing them on Jeremiah's skin.

Suddenly, a warmth engulfed me and it felt like I was weightless , floating in the air. I opened my eyes and watched a familiar light erupt from my palms, slowly healing the burns on Jeremiah's skin. His burns were worse than I had anticipated. I felt my body get weaker and weaker, my body started convulsing and a white foam started forming in my mouth, flowing out from the side of my lips. The pain kept getting worse, it was like a thousand knives were being pierced through my body. From the corner of my eye, I could see Jerome's hazy body move towards me, probably to stop me from pushing myself to the verge of suicide. But I couldn't stop now. Not when I was this close.