Spook Me 2021 - Sapphire and Steel
Title: Bogey Fever
Genre: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1040
Prompts:
My thanks to Sparky for her beta help with this monster.
Steel stood at the end of a long corridor, fighting a sense of dread. Realistically, he knew there was very little that could hurt him. His strength and other abilities protected him from physical injuries, but at the moment, it was his mind he feared for.
Something was moving, something he couldn’t identify.
Sapphire? Where are you? There was no answer. There hadn’t been an answer for days. Either she heard and couldn’t answer or didn’t hear. Steel didn’t care for either option at the moment. All he knew is that he had to find her.
Of course, They were of no help. He’d gone to them and practically begged for information. He’d gone to his fellow Elementals, but they merely looked at him as if he’d lost him mind.
Even Lead, someone he trusted as much as Sapphire wasn’t any help.
“I… I don’t know who you mean, Steel.”
“Sapphire! My partner. She… she cooks for you.”
“An Elemental that can cook?” His laughter shook the immediate area. “Now that would be something else.”
He looked down the corridor and saw a shaft of light. It spilled from an open room. The thing was across from it - hoarding or protecting, Steel didn’t know, but at this point he didn’t care.
The prudent course was to wait for backup, but Steel didn’t trust them. He didn’t trust anyone or anything at the moment aside from himself and his need to find his partner.
Steel took a cautious step closer and a bit more of the creature came into view. Long limbs with hooked claws promised danger, but Steel wasn’t worried. While the flesh and bone disguise he wore might suffer, his core was his name - steel.
He let his core drop a few degrees and took a step closer. That seemed to confuse the creature and a head appeared.
It was horrific and comical at the same time. Grossly exaggerated features with teeth and horns made him wonder how it ate or even drank. Suddenly, he wasn’t worried.
He walked resolutely to the room and entered. On a bed was a body… the body of a woman wearing a blood-soaked sapphire blue dress and wearing familiar-looking boots. They were Sapphire’s favorite.
“Sapphire?” He ran to the bed, ignoring the creature as it emerged fully from the darkness. The body had been torn open, limbs broken and snapped off, and there was so much blood.
“Sapphire!” he shouted again.
“What do you want, Steel?”
He spun around at the sound of her voice, her sweet but slightly cajoling voice. She was there, or at least her head was. That was the first time he realized the body was missing hers. “Sapphire?” he stumbled over the word as the tentacle bearing her head loomed closer.
“You’re sounding like a broken record, Steel.” Her eyes were a glassy milky white and he realized what he was seeing was no more his partner than was the creature that jammed the room.
Dozens of tentacles waved about and he started to recognize things attached to some of them. Silver, Diamond, Jet, their heads swirled about him in some macabre dance, eyes unseeing, yet seeing.
Abruptly, he was trapped, held down.
“Now you are mine!”
He realized it was the creature, not Sapphire that claimed him.
“That’s what you think.” He let his core drop, faster than was wise, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.
The creature screamed, throwing him against a wall. It cracked and he gasped, the air knocked from him. It tried to grab him with the Jet tentacle, but it froze and he easily broke it.
He broke all of them, except for Sapphire. He was struggling now, the power draining from him, his energy spent. He struggled to get as far away from the creature as he could in the small room. Suddenly, Sapphire was in front of him, practically nose to nose with him. She opened her mouth and a set of razor sharp teeth slashed out.
He screamed and sat up in bed, panting and grasping for breath. It took him several moments to come to the realization that he was in his own bed.
Steel?
He practically sang as the sound of her voice. Sapphire?
Was that you who screamed?
Yes. It was… something happened.
I’ll be right there.
He gathered up the sheets wadded at the bottom of the bed and then stopped. Since when did he sleep in a bed or anywhere else for that matter?
Hastily he climbed out of the bed and clothed himself appropriately a moment before his partner arrived.
She was wearing a dress of soft blue and those boots that she loved so much. She went to him and actually embraced him.
“Steel, you’re cold. What happened? Tell me.” She guided him to the bed and sat down.
“I was… somewhere else. Terrible things were happening to you and the other Elementals. It was just me.”
“Tell me.” Sapphire’s voice had a soft edge to it, something he hadn’t heard before.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“There was a corridor and at the end of it a being.”
“Corridor of time and I would assume Time was the monster. What else?”
“Everyone I knew was dead and… wait, I said a being, why did you assume it was a monster?”
“I… I can see it in your mind.”
“No, you can’t.” Steel stood up and moved away from her. “Where is the real Sapphire?”
“Steel, you are being silly. I am Sapphire.”
“I don’t know what you are, but you are not her.” He shoved her back onto the bed with no little force and took a step back towards the door.
“Very well.” She began to unzip her face, revealing a creature dark and ominous.
With a shout, Steel was upon her and when he was done, the creature was no more. He’d ripped the head away and thrown it into a corner, then proceeded to destroy the capsule it traveled in. Only then did he stop.
On a bed was a body… the body of a woman wearing a blood-soaked sapphire blue dress and wearing familiar looking boots. They were Sapphire’s favorite.
Genre: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1040
Prompts:
My thanks to Sparky for her beta help with this monster.
Steel stood at the end of a long corridor, fighting a sense of dread. Realistically, he knew there was very little that could hurt him. His strength and other abilities protected him from physical injuries, but at the moment, it was his mind he feared for.
Something was moving, something he couldn’t identify.
Sapphire? Where are you? There was no answer. There hadn’t been an answer for days. Either she heard and couldn’t answer or didn’t hear. Steel didn’t care for either option at the moment. All he knew is that he had to find her.
Of course, They were of no help. He’d gone to them and practically begged for information. He’d gone to his fellow Elementals, but they merely looked at him as if he’d lost him mind.
Even Lead, someone he trusted as much as Sapphire wasn’t any help.
“I… I don’t know who you mean, Steel.”
“Sapphire! My partner. She… she cooks for you.”
“An Elemental that can cook?” His laughter shook the immediate area. “Now that would be something else.”
He looked down the corridor and saw a shaft of light. It spilled from an open room. The thing was across from it - hoarding or protecting, Steel didn’t know, but at this point he didn’t care.
The prudent course was to wait for backup, but Steel didn’t trust them. He didn’t trust anyone or anything at the moment aside from himself and his need to find his partner.
Steel took a cautious step closer and a bit more of the creature came into view. Long limbs with hooked claws promised danger, but Steel wasn’t worried. While the flesh and bone disguise he wore might suffer, his core was his name - steel.
He let his core drop a few degrees and took a step closer. That seemed to confuse the creature and a head appeared.
It was horrific and comical at the same time. Grossly exaggerated features with teeth and horns made him wonder how it ate or even drank. Suddenly, he wasn’t worried.
He walked resolutely to the room and entered. On a bed was a body… the body of a woman wearing a blood-soaked sapphire blue dress and wearing familiar-looking boots. They were Sapphire’s favorite.
“Sapphire?” He ran to the bed, ignoring the creature as it emerged fully from the darkness. The body had been torn open, limbs broken and snapped off, and there was so much blood.
“Sapphire!” he shouted again.
“What do you want, Steel?”
He spun around at the sound of her voice, her sweet but slightly cajoling voice. She was there, or at least her head was. That was the first time he realized the body was missing hers. “Sapphire?” he stumbled over the word as the tentacle bearing her head loomed closer.
“You’re sounding like a broken record, Steel.” Her eyes were a glassy milky white and he realized what he was seeing was no more his partner than was the creature that jammed the room.
Dozens of tentacles waved about and he started to recognize things attached to some of them. Silver, Diamond, Jet, their heads swirled about him in some macabre dance, eyes unseeing, yet seeing.
Abruptly, he was trapped, held down.
“Now you are mine!”
He realized it was the creature, not Sapphire that claimed him.
“That’s what you think.” He let his core drop, faster than was wise, but he wasn’t going down without a fight.
The creature screamed, throwing him against a wall. It cracked and he gasped, the air knocked from him. It tried to grab him with the Jet tentacle, but it froze and he easily broke it.
He broke all of them, except for Sapphire. He was struggling now, the power draining from him, his energy spent. He struggled to get as far away from the creature as he could in the small room. Suddenly, Sapphire was in front of him, practically nose to nose with him. She opened her mouth and a set of razor sharp teeth slashed out.
He screamed and sat up in bed, panting and grasping for breath. It took him several moments to come to the realization that he was in his own bed.
Steel?
He practically sang as the sound of her voice. Sapphire?
Was that you who screamed?
Yes. It was… something happened.
I’ll be right there.
He gathered up the sheets wadded at the bottom of the bed and then stopped. Since when did he sleep in a bed or anywhere else for that matter?
Hastily he climbed out of the bed and clothed himself appropriately a moment before his partner arrived.
She was wearing a dress of soft blue and those boots that she loved so much. She went to him and actually embraced him.
“Steel, you’re cold. What happened? Tell me.” She guided him to the bed and sat down.
“I was… somewhere else. Terrible things were happening to you and the other Elementals. It was just me.”
“Tell me.” Sapphire’s voice had a soft edge to it, something he hadn’t heard before.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“There was a corridor and at the end of it a being.”
“Corridor of time and I would assume Time was the monster. What else?”
“Everyone I knew was dead and… wait, I said a being, why did you assume it was a monster?”
“I… I can see it in your mind.”
“No, you can’t.” Steel stood up and moved away from her. “Where is the real Sapphire?”
“Steel, you are being silly. I am Sapphire.”
“I don’t know what you are, but you are not her.” He shoved her back onto the bed with no little force and took a step back towards the door.
“Very well.” She began to unzip her face, revealing a creature dark and ominous.
With a shout, Steel was upon her and when he was done, the creature was no more. He’d ripped the head away and thrown it into a corner, then proceeded to destroy the capsule it traveled in. Only then did he stop.
On a bed was a body… the body of a woman wearing a blood-soaked sapphire blue dress and wearing familiar looking boots. They were Sapphire’s favorite.