Who: Lara and Bo What: Bo finishes her dreams, but wakes up in Dark Evil Queen mode. Lara manages to stop her with brute force. When: Today Where: In and near their home, then a hospital Warnings: High for fighting, Bo nearly pulling a Boromir with being hit by arrows, and near-death experience from a stab to the heart that succubus chi-sucking manages to save.
The time of reckoning in Bo’s dreams had come. She’d had a game plan for trying to defeat Hades. Bo had pretended to be on his side, pretended to do what he wanted. Though she’d left the horseshoe for Kenzi and company to find and use to keep them safe. Just in case the worst happened. Which, of course, it had. Hades had finally broken Bo’s spirit enough that her dark side had taken control and kept control. She’d started sucking the chi out of everyone in the city at once, save for her group of friends that had the horseshoe. Eventually, feeling the love of her friends in their chi that she’d sucked up, she came back to herself, and eventually stood up to Hades. She managed to banish him back to Tartarus, though she knew he’d try to come back again in the future.
However, when Bo woke up, her dark side was in control. Her eyes were electric blue, a sign that her dark side was in control. There was definitely something different in her demeanor and expression. Something decidedly cold and evil that was definitely not Bo. She pulled on some clothes, and made her way downstairs. She needed to find her father in this world and help to create the world in his image.
She headed for the door, not bothering to even go for car keys. However, the dog sensed her presence and initially began running to greet her the way she always did. Except the dog skidded to a stop as she sensed something was very wrong with Bo, and Fae started barking and growling at Bo, who just turned around and looked at the dog.
Deep down inside, the real Bo couldn’t fight to come through, and she seriously hoped Lara had taken her warning to keep the horseshoe on her at all times.
The horseshoe was something that Lara had taken seriously. With the way that Bo’s dreams went, or even the way that her own dreams went, it paid to be careful.
She heard the ruckus with the dog, coming out of the kitchen, “Fae, what’s going on?”
Lara suddenly sensed something was very wrong, too. She approached Bo, and reached out to touch her, “Bo?”
Her gaze shifted to Lara when she came into view. Just the way that Bo moved was more like a predator stalking its prey. When Lara reached out to touch her, Bo caught her wrist. Fae made a move to attack her, but Bo shot a glare at her. The dog whined and scampered away in fear.
“Bo’s not home.” Her voice was the creepy, almost-demonic tone of voice she got when her dark side took over. She then shoved Lara away using her superhuman strength to do so. “My army will cometh, and the world will be mine.” She turned to head out the door.
For a brief moment, Lara was almost certain Bo was going to snap her wrist. Instead, she was shoved back hard enough to hit the wall. She cursed, starting to chase after Bo before she caught herself. The fact that she even thought it might be necessary should have bothered her more than it should, but she clamped down on her emotions and tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her chest.
Instead, she rushed to her study, opening the gun safe and pulling out her compound bow and two pistols. She started to leave, then stopped, and walked back to the safe. She pulled out the dagger, the relic that whispered sometimes to her, that she theorized could kill those dark creatures she’d encountered a few times.
Rushing back towards the door, Lara just hoped one of those dark creatures wasn’t her wife.
Bo was out of the house and nearly off the property by the time Lara was armed and coming after her. At least Bo didn’t have superhuman speed, otherwise this would get a hell of a lot worse before it got better. Bo was trying to figure out where her father would be. Thinking on that did slow her down, but she ended up heading off in the direction of some tall buildings.
Right now, Lara wasn’t a concern to her, but if she tried to interfere, she would become the first casualty in raising her army.
“Bo!” Lara called out for her, rushing down the steps and the driveway. She didn’t see Bo, so she cursed, and went for her motorcycle. Bo couldn’t get that far, that fast, right? Revving it up, she rode out and hoped Bo hadn’t gotten much farther than down the street.
The dagger at her hip kept showing her the worst possible scenario.
The sound of a motorcycle caught her attention. Bo stopped and turned around, spotting Lara on her motorcycle. Well, if she wanted to stop her so badly, she was going to make her do it. Bo stepped out into the road and stood directly in Lara’s path, her electric blue eyes daring the tomb raider to run her over.
Lara didn’t, instead stopping and getting off the bike. She slowly approached Bo, hands out as if to tell her she didn’t mean her any harm. “Bo, I need you to stop.”
Stop what, she could only guess yet. Something to do with Hades, probably, but it wasn’t like either of them could have known the endgame without Bo dreaming it first. “I need you to look at me, breathe, calm down, tell me what’s going on so we can work through this.”
She was a few feet away now. Too close for the bow, but not for the guns, or the knife. Lara wasn’t even sure an arrow or bullets could stop Bo.
“You are only delaying the inevitable. My father’s army shall rise, and the world shall be made in his image. And I shall rule as queen.” Her voice was still the demonic-type with multiple tones within it. Bo eyed Lara as though she were prey. Which, well, she was.
“All will break beneath the power of the Pyrippus.” Bo had told Lara about the Pyrippus and how it was Hades’ ‘Hell Horse.’ However, in her previous dream, she’d discovered that she herself was the Pyrippus, that it was the dark side of herself that was now in control. She’d given Lara that piece of information, not knowing what would be useful should a situation like this current one arise.
She should have grabbed a taser, Lara thought. She dropped her hands to her sides, though didn’t move. “You’re not going to rule anything. You’re going to come back to me, and we’ll deal with any demonic horses the same way we deal with anything demonic.”
That is, pump it full of bullets and explosives. Or a very powerful dagger.
Lara hadn’t yet come to the conclusion that she needed to put Bo down, but the thought had occurred to her, or she wouldn’t have come armed. Did that make her a terrible person? No, just pragmatic.
Bo laughed. “You don’t get it, do you? I am the Pyrippus. The Ancients always loved their metaphors.” At any rate, she may have just given Lara the clue that she would need to be put down. Or in some way contained in the way the real Bo was currently contained. “But enough dallying, I have an appointment to keep.” And with that, she attempted to chi-suck Lara, but given the horseshoe, nothing happened, and she frowned.
“You are protected from my power.” Well, from that power. So, she’d have to do this the old fashioned way. Bo charged at Lara.
"You're the... shit." Lara started to backpedal as Bo tried to suck her chi, but when nothing happened she unslung her bow. Lara knocked an arrow and loosed it in a panic, but she wasn't trying to actually kill her wife. Just slow her down. She had another arrow loaded and fired a second later.
Just slow down, just slow down. But Bo wasn't slowing down, even with two arrows in her. What Lara wanted to do was sit down somewhere and hold her head in her hands. She wanted to give up, she hated herself for how easy this was. Bo was her wife, one of the three people in the entire world that meant the most to her. One of the people she'd move heaven and earth and face down gods to protect. She’d burned an island to ash for Sam. Lara would wreck an army for Bo.
But in this state, Bo could hurt a lot of people. In this state, Lara was certain Bo could drain the entire city in minutes, and there was no telling what could happen after that. Good people. Innocent people. People that Bo herself would want to save.
With only a few seconds to decide before Bo was too close again, Lara drew another arrow and aimed for Bo's heart. She might as well have been shooting herself, "Don't make me do this!"
The arrows definitely hurt, and they did temporarily slow Bo down. She may have been fae, but injuries still slowed her down. Even normally, Bo was good at shrugging them off for prolonged periods of time, typically however long it took to get somewhere safe or to unite with Lara for healing purposes.
The real Bo was unaware of what was happening, but she had once made Lara to promise to kill her if there was no other way to stop her. Almost as soon as Bo had learned of that dark side of herself that she couldn’t control, she needed to ensure that if she couldn’t be stopped, that Lara would kill her to protect innocents from dying.
But then the Pyrippus had an idea. She stopped the charge, and her eyes turned back to brown, letting the real Bo come back. She suddenly felt the pain and grunted.
“Oh shit,” She hunched over a bit, noting the two arrows in her, then she looked at her wife. “Lara?” It was a question of confusion, not an accusation. She felt more than a little like Boromir getting stuck with arrows, only she didn’t think these wounds were fatal. They just hurt and she was bleeding.
For another couple of seconds, Lara held her aim. "Bo? Are you you again?"
“Yeah, it’s me.” Bo sunk to her knees, looking at the arrows. She was uncertain about pulling them out. Of course, the time she’d been shot with an arrow in her dreams, Tamsin had pulled it out for her. And it had hurt like a mother fucker.
“I went all evil, didn’t I?” It would explain the whole memory loss of how she’d gotten out here. The last thing she remembered was going to bed.
Another heartbeat, and then another. Five in told before Lara lowered her bow, and rushed over to Bo. She was careful of the arrows, one in Bo's thigh, another in her shoulder, but she'd missed anything vital at least.
"Thank god. Yes, just a little. Let’s... get you home and healed up."
“I kind of know how Boromir felt now,” she quipped through the pain. At least that was a sign the real Bo was back. Pop culture reference and all. Though Boromir had at least become a pincushion while protecting the hobbits from the uruk-hai. Bo had intended to attack the city.
And then, without warning, Bo’s eyes started glowing the electric blue again and she grabbed Lara by the throat as she started to get to her feet again. “You are not going anywhere,” she said in that demonic voice once again. Her hand squeezed Lara’s throat and she used her other hand to rip out the arrow from her shoulder. She’d heal herself later. First, she needed to get rid of Lara, and she did have an arrow to stab her with now. Except that arrow was also covered in her own blood, and if Lara didn’t die, she’d be enthralled to her. Which could also be amusing. So she pulled the arrow back, ready to stab Lara with it.
"One more arrow and you would have been." Lara lifted her left hand to stroke Bo's hair, but she gagged when Bo grabbed her throat. Her wife had moved so fast that she hadn't seen it coming.
Lara's feet kicked as she dangled in the air by Bo's hand on her throat. She knew it wouldn't take much for Bo to snap her neck, or stab her.
She gagged again, something that sounded like 'I'm sorry,' before she kicked at the arrow in Bo's thigh, and hoping it was enough to make Bo drop her. So she could draw the dagger from her belt. So she could drive it into Bo's heart.
Lara was, after all, a survivor.
That was definitely enough to make Bo drop Lara. She cried out in pain, buckling a bit as that leg gave out. She may be the Pyrippus, but she wasn’t impervious to pain. She also dropped the arrow in her hand to grab her wounded leg. More blood was coming from the wound. The pain was enough to distract her, but not quite enough to let Bo take control of herself again.
More importantly, there was an opening for Lara to take.
Landing lightly, Lara fought off a wave of dizziness, drawing the dagger and spinning it around in her hand as she rushed towards Bo. She couldn’t allow herself to feel or second guess herself. Bo would want it this way. She’d asked her to do this, once upon a time.
And there wasn’t another person that Lara trusted besides herself to see it through.
She pushed the dagger into Bo’s chest, just beneath her ribcage and angled up towards her heart. Make it quick. Make sure she doesn’t suffer.
Someone wailed, and a detached part of her realized it was herself.
Bo didn’t have time to react, not with the pain shooting through her leg. She felt the blade sink into her body and her breath caught. For a long moment, she was frozen in time. The blue eyes faded back to brown. She gazed at Lara in shock as she started to feel the effects of the stab wound. Bo was dying, she didn’t need anyone to tell her that. She didn’t need Lara’s wail to tell her that.
However, even if she was glad that Lara had kept her promise, Bo didn’t exactly want to die today. Bo did have an ace up her sleeve, but she knew time was of the essence. She could feel her life draining away. She coughed as her heart was spasming as though it was having a seizure, and she coughed out some blood.
She sunk down to her knees, and that’s when she saw the horseshoe hanging off of Lara’s belt. She didn’t know if she could chi-suck while it was in Lara’s possession, but she felt that she should operate under the belief that she couldn’t, given that Hades was her father and all. She reached out with a shaky hand, grabbed hold of the horseshoe and pulled it free from Lara’s belt, she collapsed to the ground, the horseshoe getting tossed aside as she did so. She just hoped that it clattered far enough away to make it possible for her to not die completely.
“Lara,” she tried to say and coughed up more blood. She couldn’t breathe very well, and blood was pouring out of the stab wound. Fuck. She didn’t know if she could chi-suck as she gazed up at Lara.
In fact, Lara was the last thing she saw before her vision went black. She was feeling cold, and all feeling became distant. Death was closing in, and she was slipping into it.
Lara sank down with Bo, holding her tightly. The sound of the clattering horseshoe barely startled her from her grief. So that Bo’s suffering wouldn’t linger, she pulled the knife from Bo, letting it fall to the ground as well. The blade had gone black, and Lara felt a profound sense of satisfaction from it.
Bo’s eyes went brown, and she leaned in to touch their foreheads together. She felt sick, her stomach roiling and clenching, but she held it in. She held it all in for Bo, and kissed her good bye. ”I’m sorry.”
The chi-hit was sudden, unexpected, and painful. Lara grasped for the knife, trying to find where she’d dropped it. She didn’t know if this was Bo, or the Dark Queen, but she couldn’t risk the latter. Maybe if she was lucky, they’d both die now.
Her succubus instincts only had a small window to kick in, and they did when Lara kissed her. Bo wasn’t conscious, but she suddenly felt a tug back towards life. The chi-hit lasted long enough to repair enough damage so that Bo could wake up. She was still bleeding, still had a wound, but she could survive now.
Once she had healed enough, her eyes flew open, initially being electric blue, but she quickly stopped the chi-suck and her eyes turned back to brown.
And then there was pain.
“Shit,” she practically gasped. “Hospital,” she pleaded. She wasn’t going to kill Lara to heal herself completely. This time, she’d take surgery over that.
Lara’s hand wrapped around the dagger’s hilt, and she stared into Bo’s eyes for several seconds before the returned the blade to her belt. It had somehow come away bloodless, which was something to worry about later.
“I’m not sure you’ll make it that far,” Lara said, stumbling to her feet and trying to carry Bo. She was all business, even if her voice was shaking, “I’ll have Logan meet us there.”
“I can make it.” Bo said through gritted teeth. Right now, she didn’t even care about the arrow sticking out of her leg or the injury to her shoulder. She was more concerned about the stab wound. She pressed the hand of her uninjured arm against the stab wound, putting as much pressure on it as she could.
“Bo…” There was so much pain in Lara’s voice, so much meaning in that single syllable. She didn’t know what else to say, she didn’t have anything else to say, if she tried to say again she’d either throw up or cry. Possibly both. So she put on a stoic expression and sat Bo down in front of her on the bike.
Bo heard the pain in Lara’s voice, and it sent a wave of emotion through her, but she was trying to not get emotional because she didn’t know if that would have adverse effects on her surviving until they got to the hospital.
“I’m here…” She responded. Saying that it was okay wasn’t exactly the best thing to say right now, not when her life was still hanging in the balance. But she felt that saying that she was there would be somewhat comforting right now. Bo leaned back against Lara, keeping pressure on the stab wound as much as possible.
Lara had never driven so fast or recklessly in her life. But if it got Bo to the hospital that much faster, then so be it. She blew through lights, dangerously texting Logan to meet them at the hospital. He could take the dagger and squirrel it away, he could smooth things over until his friends at the Agency took care of the legal matters. And most importantly, he could keep Bo alive.
She didn’t even notice, or really care, that Lara was blowing through lights and driving at top speed. In fact, the entire thing was a blur to her. She was still bleeding, there was still a hole in her heart, and she was getting way light-headed again. Her head leaned back against Lara’s shoulder as she tried to remain conscious.
Lara had to wave any nurses off of herself. Thanks to the very obvious bruising on her throat, she could pass the blame to some random who’d assaulted them. Bo might not agree the bruises were a good thing, but Lara would take them right now, even if speaking was incredibly painful.
Bo was whisked away from her, and she was taken to be looked at as well, and Lara itched to run. But she wouldn’t, not while Bo might still need her.
After being whisked away, Bo was examined and immediately taken to surgery to repair the damage from the stab wound. The bleeding was stopped and the wound stitched shut. The wound in her leg from the arrow also needed some surgery to repair the torn muscle there. The wound in her shoulder was also repaired, and eventually Bo came out of surgery and was put in a recovery room.
She started to come to, only mildly aware of her surroundings. “Lara…?” She asked groggily.
“I’m here,” Lara rasped. She scooted closer to the bed. There was something wrapped around her throat. Logan had gone to take care of some paperwork for her. Help redirect the manhunt for their, ah, assailant.
She couldn’t bring herself to touch Bo just yet, the memory of the feel of that dagger entering her, the slickness of Bo’s blood. Lara blanched.
Bo turned her head and Lara came into focus as she blinked a few times to clear her vision. “Where...are we in the hospital?” The drugs coursing through her veins was making it difficult to think and focus. She then noticed what was wrapped around Lara’s neck. “Your neck...are you okay?” So asked the woman who just nearly died and went through surgery that definitely wasn’t minor surgery. Her leg, shoulder and chest area were heavily bandaged, and she had an IV in one hand.
“Yes.” Lara waved her hand, dismissively. “I’m fine, you’re the one that’s in worse shape.”
Okay, it really did hurt to talk. She had been running on adrenaline before, but now it was catching up to her, and she’d refused any pain killers. She might reconsider that later. Later, when it was safe.
It wasn’t safe yet.
She nodded a little. She looked around a little, trying to shake the cloudy feeling out of her head. “Can we go home?” Even in this state, she hated hospitals, and she was worried about her blood actually getting into anyone’s open wounds. And she’d really rather just lay in bed at home. Not in a hospital.
“No, not yet,” Lara said. God, she wanted to take Bo home. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached out and took Bo’s hand. Not that she deserved to do this. To have anything like this.
Lara wondered if maybe she shouldn’t be with anyone. But if she hadn’t been there, no one would have stopped Bo.
Feeling Lara take her hand, she gave it a squeeze and turned her head to look back at her. “I just want to go home.” Bo tried to move, but her body felt heavy and sluggish. She was undoubtedly on some powerful painkillers right then.
“Hon, you took a knife to the heart, and a couple of arrows besides. You’re not going to be on your feet for a couple of days.” She squeezed Bo’s hand, very tightly all of a sudden.
“I love you…”
For some reason, the ‘I love you’ made Bo want to cry. Though, well, the reason wasn’t exactly a mystery. “I love you, too. So much.” She squeezed Lara’s hand tighter as well, just not supernaturally tight.
“Logan’ll be back in a bit, you can take a few hits from him. But we probably shouldn’t do that too fast. A quick recovery is probably less suspicious than a miraculous one.”
And Lara didn’t want to say it, but what if Dark Bo came back? Better weakened than full strength.
Bo frowned a bit. “Logan’s here? Why is Logan here?” It didn’t make sense to her. Of course, everything that had happened today made little to no sense to her. Then again, Bo had been unconscious for the vast majority of it.
“I asked him to come here.” Lara leaned in and whispered, “In case there was a problem with the law.”
“Ohh,” she said in a somewhat hushed tone. She also stretched the word out longer than it really needed to be. But Bo was kind of high at the moment and only barely aware of her surroundings. “Is everything okay with the law?”
Lara managed a soft, half-hearted chuckle, lowering her head onto the bed for a long moment. At least one of them was kind of sort of enjoying themselves. She’d take what she could get.
“Well, whoever attacked us got away.” She lifted her head, pushing hair out of her eyes. “He’s going to call in favors. We’re lucky he likes you.”
Bo wouldn’t precisely say she was enjoying herself, the drugs just made it seem like that. “Ah. Good. At least he’s on our side.” Which she was grateful for. “You’ll stay with me, right?” Even in the haze she was currently in, Bo knew that she needed Lara. She didn’t want to be left alone in a hospital, especially when she wasn’t exactly human.
“Of course,” Lara said. She could feel her emotions shutting down, though. Finding some place to go and scream was appealing, at least it would be when her throat was healed.
She hoped this was the end of it, Lara was pretty sure she couldn’t handle any more of this. There’d been times, when Bo’s dreams were darkest, that Lara had been pushed to her limit, and right now, she was pushed to her limit.
She loved her wife, but there was only so much a person could handle when they had their own issues on top of it.
Please, please, Lara prayed. Let this be the end.
“Good, thank you.” When she was more lucid, she’d let Lara do what she needed to do for herself. But right at this moment, Bo was needing someone there for her, and she didn’t want Logan there. She wanted her wife.
And also when she was more lucid, she’d feel absolutely horrible that her dreams had caused this worst case scenario to happen. If she could turn back time and stop it from happening, she would do it in a heartbeat so Lara didn’t have to deal with it.
Lara lowered her head again, pressing her face into Bo’s hand. Every time she closed her eyes she could see it. Feel it. Hear it all over again.
Someone’s ringtone went off outside the door, to the tune of ‘you are my sunshine’, which was honestly just cruel at this point.
Bo closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of Lara’s skin against her hand. It was reassuring that maybe this was real instead of her actually being dead and this was some weird afterlife she was stuck in.
Though she heard that ringtone and opened her eyes again, and tears started rolling down her cheeks. Why was she crying? She wasn’t in physical pain, the drugs were still in full effect.
“I’m going to go out there and murder that person,” Lara mumbled, lifting her head as tears fell freely down her face. “Don’t you ever do this to me again, Bo. I love you too much.”
Bo looked at Lara, tears falling down her face even more at seeing her wife’s tears. “I won’t. I think my dreams are done now, and I don’t plan on doing this again.” She gave Lara’s hand a squeeze.
Lara hoped so. But never say never, for all they knew there was another Bo Dennis that Bo could dream about, but she didn’t think it could possibly be any worse.