Death and Stardust

That was why her friends decided this Halloween to dare her to go into the infamous "haunted" house at the end of the street. Said house was decripit: its face was practically worn, wood aged by time and creaking with every step, windows shattered and the door barely functioning as a door. And Mariana, never refusing a dare (with the prize being candy especially), decided to show her friends she was hardly scared of an old house.

She sat in the middle of the old living room floor. The sofas was moth-eaten, the carpet torn, and there was an old painting that was just as torn as the rug. The cracked window was letting in the night air, making her shiver in her hoodie.

"Those Hershey Kisses better be a full bag when I finish this dare!" Mariana yelled out, not even sure if her friends could hear her. She glanced around, noticing so many odd things around. Lost hats, gloves, and...a baseball bat? Huh.

She scooted close to the bat, grabbing it to keep it close. Just because she liked scary things doesn't mean she was an idiot.

The wind seemed to howl now, getting louder with every second as it whistled through the the cracked glass. The already cold temperature seemed to have gotten even colder, bleeding through the fabric of her hoodie and Mariana shivered. The Halloween air was definitely getting to her.

The sudden sound of floorboards creaking gave her pause. Her grip on the bat tightened, dark brown eyes darting around. Everything in her was absolutely on high alert as the floorboards creaked once more, the sound disturbing the silence so sharply.

Mariana held her breath, her blood thundering in her ears that she almost feared something could hear it. The floorboards creaked rhythmically, surely beneath steps that were getting closer and closer...

Then a sound she never expected: the sound of a gun cocking.

Before she could even think about it, Mariana turned sharply, swinging the bat around and making contact with something that she knew went flying based on the loud thud against the nearest wall. Her senses were barely catching up to her, her brain trying to catch up with what she had just swung at.

A tall being, headless, dressed to the nines with a cape and...a strangely militant-like outfit. An orange light exuded from where the head would have been as the being had a shotgun pointed right at Mariana's face.

Shaking, bat still in hand, Mariana's dark brown eyes flickered to the direction of where she heard the impact--and gasped sharply at the grinning pumpkin staring back at her.

An awkward silence hung in the air before Mariana deigned to break it with a undignified: "...Fuck."

Mariana's eyes darted between the pumpkin head and the body, trying very hard to not incite the latter to pull the trigger on the shotgun. "Uh...I am so sorry about knocking your head off. But in my defense, you snuck up on me," she said, unsure if this was even the right move.

A distorted growl emanating from somewhere (whether it was the pumpkin head on the floor or the body in front of her, she didn't know) and it was enough for Mariana to drop the bat. "Okay, okay! My bad! Let me just, uh...one second..."

She inched carefully to the pumpkin head laying on the floor, bending down to lift it in her hands. She inched back to the body, ensuring the face was in the right direction before she set it back to where the glow emanated from. It seemed as if that did the trick, for the being in front of her now canted its head to and fro as if testing to ensure the head was properly...attached (how it was attached with no neck was beyond her).

It lowered the shotgun, the grinning Jack-o-Latern head unnerving Mariana just a bit. "Okay, so, I...uh, I fixed your head. As weird as that sounds. So I'm gonna...I'm gonna tell my friends fuck the candy and go home," she mumbled, raising her hands in surrender. When she received no response, she started backing away. "Well, bye, then! Sorry again for knocking your head off!"

Everything happened fast: before Mariana could start leaving, the being's free hand shot forward and snatched her by the wrist, bringing her back close.

Too close.

Close enough that she could see the same, yellow glow inside of the pumpkin's head, past the carved, triangular eyes.

Mariana's breath caught in her lungs, eyes wide. "Uh--"

"You..." The voice was a distorted rasp, radiating command and dominance in a way that made her shiver. "I want you."

"Es-squeeze the fuck out of me?"

"You heard me, human." The pumpkin face leaned closer, so close that the scent of pumpkin and something else--something otherwordly--filled her nose. "I want you."

"And what makes you think I'm up for sale?" Mariana couldn't help the sass coming out of her mouth. But when some headless horseman started to make a claim, she wasn't just going to bend over without questions answered. "Last I checked, you can't buy humans anymore. There's a whole law against that."

A sinister laugh rumbled from the being. "You think the Reaper follows your human laws?" he retorted and that made Mariana freeze.

"The Reap--" she began, swallowing thickly before continuing, "The Reaper. That's you? The eternal servant of the Witch of the Wilds from heaven knows how many centuries ago?"

"Smart girl. Though the Witch has been gone a long time. Unfortunately, her damned spell keeps me her slave." The Reaper pulled away, but not too far. "The Witch still owes me for carrying out her commands. And she said I could have anything I desired--which means you."

"I have absolutely fuck all to do with the Witch of the Wilds!" Mariana retorted, eyes wide. She should have been thinking of her self-preservation, but right now she was focused on the audacity of the thing in front of her. "I'm not some reward for your indentured servitude or whatever!"

He smelled the sickening tang of iron before he heard the strangled scream, accompanied by the sound of something breaking, from behind the locked bathroom door.

Gabriel was already at the door, his instincts on high alert even as he gripped the doorknob tight in his hands. "Mariposa," he called out, the smell of blood becoming stronger with each passing second. He twisted the knob, feeling it resist. "Open the door."

"Go away." Mariana's voice was choked. Unlike the usually defiant and sassy tone she often took with him. And that anomaly alone sent alarm bells in Gabriel's head ringing.

His grip was hard on the knob as he twisted it again, with more force. "Mariana. Open this door before I break it down."

Silence answered Gabriel on the other side--and he didn't want to give her a chance to refuse him again even if she did answer now. Hand still tight on the doorknob, he rammed his shoulder against the door hard, then harder, until the frame splintered and the lock gave out.

And that familiar, metallic tang permeated the air, thicker now that the door wasn't hiding it.

Wasn't hiding her.

Mariana, on the bathroom floor, eyes bloodshot and tears streaking down her crimson cheeks. The bathroom mirror was utterly shattered and she was gripping a shard in her bloodied hand, digging the sharpest point into her wrist. The star patterns from her being experimented on were hidden beneath the mess of crimson that coated her skin and dripped onto her bare thighs and onto the floor. The wrist of her other hand that held the shard was just as red, just as messy.

Rare panic flooded Gabriel in a way that made him feel less like death and more like a man in the face of agony. He was on his knee at her side before he even realized he jolted forward, his hands fighting hers for the shard. But Mariana put up a fight, trying to claw his grip off of her with sobs so wrecked that it rattled him to the core. "Mariana, what the hell--" he snarled, managing to free the mirror shard from her hand and tossing it out of reach.

"Let me die!" Mariana's voice was hoarse from her tears, her body shaking, her skin getting cold as the blood continued to pour from the wounds on her wrists. There was a wildness and emptiness in her eyes as she tried to fight to break free of his grip. But Gabriel was unrelenting as he kept Mariana's hands in one of his while the other managed to snag a towel hanging from its rack to wrap it over her wounds. And all the while, Mariana kept repeating those words that cut into him.

"Let me die...just let me fucking die..."

Gabriel waited. Waited until her breathing steadied, until her throat was raw from alternating between sobs and screams, until she stopped trying to fight to free herself from his grip. The towel was beginning to reek with her blood, becoming heavy from absorbing it. The silence hung in the air, thick, suffocating with the smell of blood and the mirror shards on the floor.

Mariana was still shaking, her gaze now on the towel pressed to her wrists. Her dark hair had fallen over her shoulders, a curtain hiding her face, but Gabriel could still hear every breath she tried to keep quiet.

He'd always known she was unstable. Fragile. This was the first time he'd seen it beyond the silence where she'd smile and pretend she was fine. He didn't let up the pressure, didn't let up his grip. The panic made his blood sound like thunder in his ears, something he hadn't felt in years.

"Don't move," Gabriel ordered in a low rasp, his tone carrying a warning. Mariana didn't fight him, didn't even lift her head. She stayed on the floor, waiting, as he got up to go to the cabinet under the sink. He opened the cabinet door, crimson gaze flickering to make sure Mariana didn't try anything, as he grabbed the first-aid kit.

He returned back to Mariana's side, unlatching the first-aid kit's lid. He grabbed the disinfecting alcohol and bandages, not saying a word as he got to work. He removed the towel from her wrists, holding back a flinch at the damage she caused as he uncapped the disinfecting alcohol and found cotton balls.

Gabriel had to lick his fair share of wounds even before he became commander of Blackwatch. Mariana flinched only once when he started applying the disinfecting alcohol, but was still otherwise. She flexed her fingers a few times as he tended to her, as if testing if she still could move them, as he got a clean rag to wipe her wrists free of blood before he started wrapping them with the bandages.

He heard her swallow before she whispered, "Gabe..."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Gabriel snapped, the worry he was trying to suppress bleeding into his voice. He felt his hands shake once while bandaging her, but he forced himself to steady them. "Estúpida de mierda, you think I wasn't going to check on you? That I don't fucking know what blood smells like?"

Mariana went quiet again, her shoulders trembling; but only for a moment. "You don't get it. You don't get what my head's like--"

"I know next to everything about you and you think I wouldn't know how fucked up your head can get?" Anger was seeping into his voice now as Gabriel finished bandaging Mariana's wrists. His hand rose, fingers curling beneath her chin to force her gaze upward to meet his--still red-rimmed, tear tracks staining her cheeks. His next words were bitten out with venom: "¿Crees que puedes simplemente irte y morirte y dejarme tirado?"

Her expression shattered just like the mirror. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes again, burning droplets falling on his wrist. Her chest heaved, her sobs punching the steady air from her lungs. "Gabriel..." His name was strained, choked, and it sent him dancing to the razor's edge.

Gabriel's free arm moved, looping around Mariana to yank her against his chest. Everything inside of him was teetering dangerously between anger and worry. "You don't get to leave me like that, mariposa. Not you," he snarled, feeling her sobbing against his chest. He felt her arm move, her hand fisting the back of his shirt like it was the only anchor keeping her from spiraling off the edge.

The hand that was under her chin moved to cradle the back of her head, the gentlest he'd ever been with her. As much as he'd berate for this later, his fragile butterfly needed her reaper more.

Mariana's sobs subsided, her breaths becoming slow. Quiet. Her grip was still tight on the back of his shirt, but Gabriel recognized the shift in her breathing. She cried herself unconscious.

He waited a few beats, knowing that anything could jostle her awake this early. Once her breathing was steadier, he moved, easing Mariana into his arms bridal style. He was careful in walking out of the bathroom (and he would clean up the mess later).

Gabriel laid Mariana onto the bed before sitting at the edge beside her, a sentinel to make sure she didn't lapse into the dark places her mind threatened to go. Every time she whimpered, he ran his fingers through her hair to soothe her, watching until she relaxed once more.

He knew. He knew her mind had been broken a long time ago, just like his had become. Just as he wouldn't let her take herself out, he wouldn't let himself be either.

Now, she sat in a chair, wearing an oversized shirt and jeans because she was smaller than most Blackwatch operatives that had even remotely the same frame as her. Her hair was worn down, framing her face and her bangs nearly covered her eyes.

Her eyes were the most striking about her: dark brown, but golden if the light caught the iris just right. Wide as a doe framed with dark lashes. Gabriel already knew the tidbits from the papers they'd found at the facility--her name, her nationality, her age, where she was from.

"Remember anything before you went under?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest. When she remained silent, he let out a gruff breath. "You're not in danger here. You can tell me."

"I don't know you," Mariana muttered. "How do I know you're not dangerous?"

"You don't." Gabriel was impressed at least. The girl wasn't stupid in the least to blindly trust him. "But what other choice do you have, kid?"

Mariana's jaw set, but she remained quiet. That was enough to confirm that she knew he was right on this aspect.

After a moment of tense silence, Gabriel ventured again. "Do you remember before you went under? What you were at that lab for?"

She was quiet, her fingers twisting together in her lap and he could see star-shaped, white marks that stood out against her cinnamon skin, circling her wrists like shackles. "It was on the school's bulletin. Volunteers to try a new vaccine," she explained, her gaze now on her hands. "I arrived at the lab and they did tests."

Gabriel's brows furrowed. "What kind of tests?"

"Blood draws, measuring my weight, that kind of stuff." Mariana shrugged. "It seemed legit. Some volunteers they sent home. I wasn't one of them, obviously. Next thing I knew, I was strapped to a chair and they put a mask over my face and told me to count back from one thousand."

"And it was lights out."

"Yeah."

Gabriel contemplated a moment, eyes studying Mariana. She looked way too young to be involved in anything in what he suspected. But he had to ask: "Did they mention anything about a Project Stardust?"

She shook her head. "No. They just said when I woke up, their testing of the vaccine would be done. Though I never went under for a vaccine before."

No one usually would. "What were you doing before this, kid?" asked Gabriel, canting his head to the side.

"School. I was enrolled for a Bachelor's in art," answered Mariana, lifting her gaze before her lips pursed in suspicion. "You a cop?"

"How'd you figure?"

"You're interrogating me like one. Also my cousin's my cop."

Smart girl. She kept impressing him by her intuition. Not may recognized that Gabriel used to be in the police force unless they were once in the force themselves. "Think you're up for more tests to see what exactly the labcoats did to you?" he asked, though even he wouldn't really volunteer the young woman unless he really had to. "We have a doctor who can check you out."

"No." Mariana's answer was immediate. "No. Thank you, but no. I already don't like doctors and--"

"You'd rather live in the dark than know what it is exactly you volunteered for?" Gabriel unfolded his arms from his chest now, setting his hands on his hips. "You were in a government lab, Mariana, and under the guise of helping with a sham vaccine. You're not the least bit curious as to why?"

"Is it pertaining to that Project Stardust you asked me about?"

"That's part of the reason. I want answers to why Talon's after it and you're our only link."

"Except I don't remember anything before going under and when I woke up, it was here," she pointed out.

Gabriel shrugged. "I'm sure we'll figure something out," he said, with every confidence in his skill to gather information as well as in the rest of Blackwatch. "You just got to trust in us."

"I don't trust you," Mariana retorted back and Gabriel was almost impressed by her sass. "...But I don't have a choice, do I?"

A grin appeared on Gabriel's lips despite himself. "Not really, but you at least recognize that."

Mariana exhaled, her head bowing forward before she raised it once more. "Fine. I'll let your doctors do their...whatever. To find out what you need to know. But after that, I walk." She stuck out her hand. "Deal?"