Post by Jessica | Rémiel on Jul 7, 2018 22:00:07 GMT -5
J e s s i c a | S e a r s
D e a n | M a t t h e w s
The Paladin and the Fanged One, Level Up!
File 005: Perdition | パーディション
It was over.
The War against the Children of Nephilim was finally over.
A year of constant struggle and strife ended with a Silver Moon Shockwave off of Dean’s shoulders onto the monster Cronos.
The match itself had seen more than its fair share of drama and a few moments where it seemed like they would fail. Not the least of which when Dean Matthews finally arrived and it became clear that he wasn’t Dean anymore. The Reptile had run rampant over the WarGames, indiscriminate between friend and foe… Until Jessica Sears stood between the Reptile and one of her own enemies. As it choked out Joshua Mcbride, the Demon Prince known as Abaddon, she put herself between Joshua and the man she loved, placed her hands on his face, and spoke to him. In the middle of the WarGames, she tried to reach the man she loved. When she kissed him Cronos struck, aiming to take her by surprise only to have his fist stopped dead in Dean’s hand.
When it was all over and the Resistance stood victoriously, their loved ones were escorted to the ring where they reunited with those they thought they had lost forever. Dean’s younger brother Sam embraced his lover and girlfriend Isobella Ramirez, and Jessica hugged her older brother Zachary tightly. She was so relieved to see him, to see everyone free. At that moment, however, Jessica felt something was off. Something was wrong.
Jessica looked to the outside of the ring in time to see Dean Matthews jump the barricade alone and disappear into the crowd. She shouted his name, calling him to return to the celebration, but when he looked back there was nothing but pain on his face.
It was at that moment Jessica realized the dark reality… Dean was leaving. He thought he was a threat to all those he loved. And he was disappearing again. There was no agony or sorrow on the face of the blonde Paladin of the Vengeance. There was resolve. This wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t going to let him suffer this fate alone.
Not again.
Zachary noticed his sister’s determination and neither Sears sibling hesitated. There was no time to waste. Both of them quickly left the PPG Paints Arena to pursue Dean.
[Now Loading. . . ♥]
In the midnight hour, the door leading to the luxury apartment Dean called their Sanctuary was unlocked and pushed open. It hadn’t been hard to make a copy of the key, one he would leave on the kitchen counter when he was done. He pushed the door open and the little furry companion Daryl came running around the corner. When he saw Dean again he barked happily, his little tail wagging, and Dean smiled as he eased the door closed behind him.
“Hey, bud.” The big man whispered. “I’ll miss you… so much…”
Daryl let out a little howl in confusion and canted his little head, trying to make some sense of what he had heard and watched as Dean walked down the hallway. In the bedroom, he laid the biker bag, a bag that slings over the shoulder, onto the floor at the foot of the bed.
He’d leave the PS4. The video games and the pictures. The money in her account. A way to remember him the way he had been before he lost to the beast. Before he became more monster than man… and enough money that she would never have to worry about having a home again.
He crouched down, pulled the bottom drawer of the five-drawer dresser open, and began to pull out shirts and slide them into the bag. If Dean had been actively perceptive, he would have noticed the Sailor Moon duffel bag sitting on the left side of the bed, the side towards the large walk-in closet. However, his tunnel vision was centered on packing as many of his belongings as he could.
From the lobby, one of the elevator’s doors parted ways to reveal Jessica and Zachary. He was treated by the nurse onboard the private jet, but he was well aware he’d need an actual doctor visit as soon as possible. He’d make a house call when there was free time. He and his baby sister began to make their way back towards the apartment, the determination never leaving her wellbeing. She was the Hope of the Resistance and she would never give that up.
When Jessica placed her right hand on the door handle, she tilted her head. “Huh?”
“Vhat is it…?” Zachary stopped to her left, letting out a soft groan. He didn’t know how he was still going. It had to be the adrenaline, a second wind flowing through his exhausted body.
Without answering, Jessica simply turned the handle and the door opened. She looked back at her brother before she walked inside first. Zachary stepped in and softly closed the door behind him, greeted by Daryl the faithful dog with a happy bark. The barking would alert the presence of whoever was inside, but Jessica had a feeling she knew who was in here. There were only two people with spare keys to the apartment. She didn’t hesitate to reach the open doorway of the master bedroom and she exclaimed his name.
“Dean!”
He heard the dog bark and silently a curse went through him. He wanted this to be in and out. Over before she even knew it. He knew how hard this would be for her. How hard it would be for him. He didn’t wanna do this. He loved her more than he had ever loved anyone in his life, but that was why he had to. He had to protect her.
He pushed the last of the shirts into the leather bag and folded the flap back over, not even bothering to buckle it in place. When he heard his name his shoulders tensed, he loved the way his name sounded on her tongue. He always had.
“You...weren’t supposed to be here.”
His tone was broken. Tired and weak. Slowly he rose holding the bag in his hand and turned to face her but he didn’t look at her. He couldn’t. It hurt too much.
“...I can’t let… what happened to you happen again, Jess. I can’t live with it… I…”
He let out a soft sigh and crossed the room to the doorway where she stood and tried to pass. She refused to move, stretching her arms out and placing her hands on the doorway. Looking into his icy blue eyes, her soft blue eyes yearned for a deep gaze.
“Dean, I know what you’re thinking and it’s not true. You leaving… The world wouldn’t be a better place without you. I know this...”
Without hesitation, she pulled up the long sleeves of her purple blouse and persistently wiped the cover makeup... on her wrists. They were very faint from the years gone by, healed by numerous applications of body moisturizer, but there were still tiny scars of when she believed what he believed right now…
That disappearing off the face of the Earth would make everyone “happier”.
Listening from the living room, Zachary felt his adrenaline slowly begin to plummet as he fell back against the closed door. He knew his boyfriend Gael would be here very soon. That phone call on the private jet was incredibly stress-relieving. To hear the sound of his beloved’s voice… Zachary wanted to hold him tightly as soon as he was here. But right now, his sister needed his help and he would do everything in his power to be strong.
He stared at the wrists that were offered and felt the muscles of his jaw jump and tighten. To deal with a life without Jessica was bad enough, but to think that he might not have ever met her... Might not have ever had the chance to know her, to love her, that was unthinkable to him.
His arms came out and rested his hands gently on her hips. With ease, he lifted her up and set her down beside him on the bedroom floor. He turned his gaze over to her, and for the first time did he truly look into her eyes. There was love within them, so much deep profound love and yet beneath that she could see the sadness. He didn’t want to do this. Somewhere deep inside, he really didn’t want to do this.
“...What’s dead… should stay dead…”
He whispered and turned walking down the hallway. When he reached Zachary, Dean stopped and looked down at the floor, staring at the blood droplets from two days before. He felt the shame. The regret. The horrible pain. There was a physical squeezing sensation around his head.
“...I'm sorry you had to endure the suffering, Zachary. Sorry… I wasn’t stronger... but I need you to move. Please... I don’t wanna move you, Zach. Even gently...would hurt you and I really don’t wanna do that. I’m tired of hurting people...”
“Zen vhy are you hurting my sister?”
Despite how exhausted he was, Zachary looked up, his sapphire eyes looking back into Dean’s icy blue eyes. He was trying to be assertive, but his emotions were so out of focus. He didn’t want to become angry. “I have seen… too many boys shatter her heart… don’t be like zem.”
Jessica decided to intervene, her focus sharpened even after the gruesome war. She stepped out into the living room and raised her arms out to her sides.
“...if you really insist on going, then all I ask… all I ask is for one last motorcycle ride around Manhattan. Through Times Square, along the Hudson River, across the Brooklyn Bridge…”
When he heard her voice and her simple request, Dean looked down. Jess wouldn’t have been able to see it, but Zach would. The pain was all over his face. This was tearing him apart. He shook his head by way of answer and answered without looking at her.
“You know I can’t do that, Ba… I can’t let it happen again. It hurt so much to know what that thing did. Are you sure that’s a good idea, Jess? Not just… You know… clean break…?”
Zachary narrowed his eyes, realizing what Dean was trying to do, and he raised his arms to his sides.
“You owe her zhat much.”
“...Zach, do you know who the Resistance is?”
The talent director raised an eyebrow before he shook his head a little.
“Aside from vhat I heard from Jessica, I am not entirely sure who they are. I only know zhat they vere aligned with her… Why do you ask?”
“...If anything happens to her. To anyone. Call them. Tell them...end it.”
Slowly he turned his head and glanced behind him and his gaze fell on Jessica. There was a longing in his eyes as he looked into her beautiful face.
“One ride. Then I disappear.”
Jess’ eyes lit up with hope. After Zach let them pass, Dean walked through the lobby and to the bike parked in the designated parking spot. After storing his pack in one of the storage compartments, he swung his leg over the bike and grabbed the bars, setting the bike upright and waiting for her to climb on. She was never too far behind, taking her time to climb onto the rear end of the large seat. There was something that was catching the lights of the city on her left hand as she wrapped her arms around him, that same hand caressing his chest before she lowered her arm around his waist. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
If Jessica was going to break through to him, it had to be on this ride around the city she grew up in. There was no second chance, no extra lives, no reset button. This was it. Dean was thankful for one thing at that moment. She was behind him. Seeing her left hand had nearly been too much.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Jessica. I love you. I love you more than any man has ever loved you before. And that’s why I must do this. You are precious to me… and I cannot let it hurt you again.”
The bike roared to life with a kick and he eased the lean stand up and the two pulled out into the parking lot slowly. There were no screeching tires this time. No honking horns. No braking cars. They pulled out onto the street with the night air whipping through their hair.
With her arms around him, she felt how tight he was. His body a rock to ward off his heart. To keep his love for her in check. She could no doubt tell he was fighting his own heart now trying to protect her. Trying to protect everyone. But this wasn't going to offer protection for anyone and she knew this. She had to get through to him… and she decided to start simple.
As they rode towards the sleepless Times Square, she gripped his waist tightly with her left arm while she extended her right hand. She raised her index finger and pointed towards the closed shops as well as the neon lights of nightclubs and late-night bars.
“...Remember the first time when you wandered off alone in Times Square? I was preoccupied with fans at Gamestop and you decided to explore like a little kid. You came across J’s Bar and a couple of women started flirting with you. When I realized you left and I caught up with you as fast as I could, I saw you were rejecting their advances and I told them to back off. They were already tall, even taller in their high heels. One of them called me a little girl while the other one laughed. You saw my “Edward Elric” fury for the very first time and smiled as I scared them off.”
She brought her right arm back around his waist and let out a giggle. That giggle sent shivers down his spine, but his stomach and chest tightened. As the memory hit him, however, he softened a bit. Relaxed, just a hint.
He remembered it well. The women promised him the world. A night he would never forget. They promised him every pleasure their bodies could give, but the whole time they did all he could think was… ‘You would be a pale imitation of the woman who already gives me that. Who can inflame me with a single kiss... Who can awaken passions in me I never even knew I had… simply by walking by me and swinging her hips a certain way.’ He called her his Angel but she was more than that. She was a goddess. She was his one true love.
His hands tightened around the throttle and pushed it. The bike roared as it sped up, speeding past the bars and nightclubs. His only hope was that she didn’t try and tell him what her life would be like without him, but somehow… he knew she would.
Dean knew Jessica well.
Leaning in, she pressed herself against him, her voluptuous chest against his back, her head resting with her ear listening in. Her long blonde hair was flowing as if dancing with the nighttime air.
“Bayani… Luke… Ryan… Victor… even Gekiryu… all of them left me for different reasons. Infidelity. Jealousy. Insecurity. Dishonesty. Hopelessness…”
She sucked in a breath of air.
“...I was so afraid of being hurt again… but at the same time, I didn't care about myself. I was trying to forget what love was because, at the time, all it felt like was deception. I thought I was disgraced by the world… But after I let you into my home, the more time I spent with you, the more I realized Adrien was right. I couldn't isolate myself from the future possibilities. I needed to open up and allow myself to feel again. Every second I was nursing you back to health, I knew I was given a rarity in the world… a second chance. To be with you. To get to know you, better understand you, and experience new things with you.”
Closing her eyes, she moved her hands up a little, resting them against his abdomen and the ribs she helped to mend.
“...I don't want to lose you, Dean… I can't imagine my life without you. I would never, ever want to be with anyone else for the rest of my life. My mom never remarried after dad passed away. She didn't even try to date anyone else. He was the man, husband, and father of her children in her life. He was her final love. That is essentially who you are to me. My man… my Hunter… my Adonis…”
“...”
Beneath her tender caress and words, he softened more and eased back on the throttle. It seemed he was no longer in a hurry to get this ride over with. While they rode along the Hudson River overlooking the other side of Manhattan, there was absolute silence between them… until she heard something she may have thought she’d ever hear again. His voice.
“When I stayed that first night? I woke up that morning and found you lying beside me in the guest bedroom. At first, I was scared that we had crossed a line. That I had made you dishonor your boyfriend at the time... but when I realized we hadn’t? I was suddenly overcome by grief. I wanted nothing more than to touch you. To protect you from all the things that wanted to hurt you. I promised myself I would always protect you. But… Jess… baby, when the chips were down? I failed you.”
There was an uneven level of pain in his voice. Those last three words came out nearly as a wail of anguish and sorrow.
“What if I hadn’t been able to stop it? The Reptile would have choked you to death. You would have died… in my hands. I cannot let that happen again, Jessica. I can’t. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. I promised your father that you would be safe. That I would take care of you for him, and right now, he’s looking down at me… disgusted at what I did to his little girl...”
Through him, she listened carefully to what he had to say and she pressed her lips together. Despite their soul-searching, she was losing him! She was losing him to the darkness, the isolation she knew the Reptile wanted to ensnare him in. Refusing to give up, she tightened her grip around him, raising her left hand to press against his chest and feel his heartbeat.
thump-thump,
thump-thump,
thump-thump,
thump-thump
thump-thump,
thump-thump,
thump-thump
The mental rolling of the D20 die. Her next charisma persuasion check as a paladin needed to land on a natural twenty if she wanted to bring him back.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale. . .
“You never failed me, Dean. Not once. You broke free when I called out to you within our Sanctuary. When you were on the verge of… possibly killing Joshua McBride, I talked to you. I kissed you… and you overcame the Reptile. You tapped into your own power to fight Cronos and you did what no one thought was humanly possible. You deadlifted him. You, not the slithering psychosis within you. You made a promise to my father… and you have done nothing to break that promise. You've kept it this entire time. The only reason why you believe otherwise is because IT is deceiving you to think that everyone would be safer without you… No.
The world is better with Dean Brandon Matthews-Hemlen in it. Everyone is safer with you here. I am happier with you in my life…”
One last chance. One last breath before she would allow him to answer her.
“...You are the Dean Winchester to my Castiel and the Winter Soldier to my Captain America. And just as Steve recited the exact same words back to Bucky…
I am with you until the end of the line!”
Each and every word she said was like a knife to the chest. It hit him harder than Danika’s betrayal. Harder than all those weeks on the streets. Harder, truly, than anything in his life ever had. Not only did she love him, she trusted him. She believed in him. How could he not return that? Trust she knew what she was saying.
The bike veered and it could either be very good, or very bad. They reached the shoulder of a black empty road beneath a single street light as he slowed to a stop and kicked the lean stand down. He stood and climbed off before sitting down in front of her sideways on the seat. Slowly he turned to look at her and reached out, taking her left hand in his own. He lifted it until the light caught the object on it.
An engagement ring.
“I love you, Jessica Elisa Sears. You… you saved me again. You would have worn this… forever, wouldn't you? No matter what.”
She lightly caressed his rough hand with the tips of her fingers, keeping the engagement ring in the light above them. Upon realization, she was smiling with tears in her soft blue eyes.
“Until the end of the line, Dean Matthews… Until the end of time.”
“And beyond, Jessica Matthews. And beyond.”
He pulled her from the bike with ease and sat her in his lap before sliding his arms around her waist, and her own arms around his neck. Her head gently lying on his chest as they held one another tightly. They had nearly lost everything. To letting the War and the Reptile rip apart what fate and destiny had planned for them. As far as the two of them were concerned, there were only two words that mattered now.
‘I do.’
[Saving data. Do not remove the memory card. . . ♥]
