Work Text:
Agnes never moved.
She stayed against the wall, paralyzed with indecision, when Doctor Kelly ripped the door open and held her hand out for the traquliizors.
At least she had been smart enough to pinch her eyes closed when Reese grabbed his mother. She couldn’t watch, she couldn’t breathe, just the thought of seeing her die — Joan Kelly who raised her alongside Vivian, Joan Kelly who had been her mother’s best friend who’d told her to call her when things got tough, Joan Kelly who lied about Vivian’s murder, Joan Kelly who had been poisoning her son for most of his life, Joan Kelly who wanted to lock him away for eternity, in a small cell of lead and cement — Joan Kelly, who by the sound of tearing meat and cracking bones, was now dead.
After a few long, quiet moments, Agnes opened her eyes.
Viserca covers the walls. The once pristine tile is splattered in crimson and little bits of red, meaty organs. The light flickers every so often.
“I…I’m sorry you had to be here for that,” Reese’s voice was hoarse, still his own, but wholly unfamiliar. He looked more himself. Smaller, hunched over as if that would help shrink his size back, with dark, stringy hair in front of his eyes, and tusky teeth protruding from behind his lips. They were painted pink from the blood in his mouth. Agnes didn’t speak; she only stood, stepping through the blood that was once Doctor Kelly, as tears formed in her eyes.
“Agnes…” Reese looked away, his shoulders tensed defensively in shame as she came close. She sank to her knees in front of him, putting her hands on his shoulders. He winces as her fingers brush the spot that Wayne harmed. She was trembling as her hands slowly brushed up his neck, over the remains of his mother’s blood, before they landed on his jaw. Anges tilted his head back to look at her.
Reese said nothing as his eyes met hers, his brows bent in worry. His bare chest was heaving, adrenaline still coursing, pulse a rabbit's pace under her fingers. What he had done was horrible, and yet, she hadn’t stopped it, and yet she loved him despite it.
Matricide in animals is rare, she knew that; she’d had countless conversations with the bugs in her balcony garden about it. Infanticide was different; the lion at the zoo had told her once before imprisonment that he had killed countless cubs. Those animals couldn’t defend themselves, but he could — he had. Humans and animals weren’t that different, at the end of the day.
Reese frowned, lips unsure how to settle around his reforming mouth. “Wh-what are you?”
Agnes wrapped her arms around his shoulders, drawing him into a tight embrace. His hands hung loose at her side before his good arm wrapped around her middle. He buried his head into the crook of her neck, hot tears on her skin.
She didn’t want him to think she hated him, or that she thought he was a monster. Anyone can kill. Edwardine had killed Charlie. Tabitha had a gun in her office; she could kill with that. If she had left Alexis and Becka, that would have made her a killer. If anything, the murder made him more human in some sick and twisted way. Leaning back, she took his chin between her thumb and forefinger, looking into his eyes. She missed the blue, but would be lying if she said the yellow glow did not suit Reese.
Agnes kissed him. He tasted like gore, sharp with iron, yet somehow sweet. His lips on hers are wet with blood as he falls into the kiss with a desperate and sad whine. She could feel the relief wash over him, his arm tight around her waist as he knelt up onto his knees to better hold her as his body pressed to hers, staining her already paint-covered clothing with crimson viscera. It was hard to find the right angle around the teeth; her mouth slipped open, and his tongue ran against her bottom lip before sliding against the inside of her cheek.
It was wrong, it was wrong, she shouldn’t be kissing him after what happened, but there was so much relief that he was alive. Alive and free and never being thrown behind a door, muzzled and sedated until a miracle answer showed up to solve the problem Doctor Kelly had created.
She did not think of the Doctor’s blood on her hands, the sharp tang of it on her lips, and the feeling of it in her hair as Reese loomed over her and her back hit the tile. The smell of sanguine iron had replaced that of sterile, hospital-grade cleaner, burning her senses as sharp nails dug into her side. A bony tail wrapped around her leg, pulling her as close as she could be. Lust, stress and death all spiked adrenaline; she isn’t sure which one is making her heart rate race, some twist of all three? Reese’s mouth was hard on hers, their teeth clacking once in the desperation to be held, as if he stopped, he’d never get another chance. Agnes worried, for a brief moment, that he wouldn’t be able to even if he tried.
“Reese,” She mumbled against his mouth, pushing on his chest, but he was as heavy as stone, even if she hadn’t lost her vitality and years, they’d be no pushing him off. Her now wet hair clung to the nape of her neck, and nausea rushed through her.
There’d be time later, later, when they were off the wet tile floor, when the smell of guts and death wasn’t creeping into her nose, and the remains of his mother weren’t dripping off of him. Reese pulled her tighter; she moved her head to be able to speak more clearly, and his lips just moved to her throat, forked tongue dipping to her collarbone.
“Reese!” She said it with more urgency that time, and he snapped upright. His body has changed again, rows of unruly teeth, wide glowing eyes under the ugly fluorescent light.
“S-sorry,” He was struggling to breathe evenly.
Agnes sat up, pushing him gently off of her. Her jeans had already begun to crust and turn an ugly rust colour. With a long, steady breath, she pulled the hem of her shirt up, the sleeves too short to wipe the blood on her face off. Reese's eyes snapped to her exposed skin as she did so, before glancing away, giving her a moment of modesty.
Face clean of blood, Agnes kissed his forehead, and he smiled. She then stood and reached a hand down for him to take.
“C’mon, let’s get you out of here.”