(no subject)

[stbethadettes]

Blessings on this journey.

The nun's mouth contorts to reveal unnaturally pointed teeth, and blood wells in her glowing eyes and drips down her face as the edges of her habit start to burn.

She gets closer and closer, and within seconds there's nothing left of her but all that fire and the fierce glow of those eyes.

Beth wakes with a cry of panic, and for a minute, she's disoriented as hell and can only pick up on the fact that she's not in St. Bernadette's.

I'm back?

It's just this one tiny little hopeful flicker, but she knows she's not back at the bar the instant she looks around. She's on a wheeled bed and (Where are my goddamn clothes?) she's in some kind of flimsy gown but at least it doesn't fall open at the front or back.

And there's Hero, right next to her.

"Where..." It looks like they're in some kind of dungeon. "Where are we?"

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[no-real-hero.livejournal.com]

From behind the crossed halberds, she can't believe what she's hearing and she knew there was a good reason she's not the religious type: it's all a bunch of bullshit, a bunch of fucking fiction told by men to keep women subservient.

She practically spits at the Sister Ober chick. "So you need to find a male pope to talk to God... so God will tell him that popes don't have to be male any more?"

[You can still do it, Hero. You can grab one of those halberds and get rid of the boy baby, Santa Madre or not. All it would take would be one good whack to the stomach.]

Fuck YOU, Victoria. Shut up.

She doesn't have time to listen to the voices or to argue with herself now. "That's retarded."

[stbethadettes]

"The Church of Rome," Sister Ober half-turns from Beth to give Hero a stern look, "pulled this world out of the dark ages once, and it will do so again... but not until we've put our own house in order."

She turns back to Beth, and the woman with glasses, her hair pulled too-tightly up, puts on her gloves and takes a small bottle of her own out, and this one Beth recognizes immediately.

Lying back, she lets her gown be pushed up over her belly. A small amount of gel is squeezed out onto it, and she nearly flinches from how icy-cold it feels on her bare skin.

Sister Ober, possibly trying to be supportive, takes Beth's hand as the ultrasound technician starts doing her thing. "Tell me, when was your last ultrasound?"

"Um," she has to think about how long it would've been at this point, without counting the single trip with Spike to see Doc, but her eyes meet the Sister's directly, "about eight years ago, right before I had an abortion."

Those dark eyes close, and Sister Ober's mouth sets into a firm line. "I see."

But the halfhearted pleasure Beth gets at needling her with the truth is cut short by a gasp of Mein Gott, and she turns to see the shocked expression on the face of the woman giving her the ultrasound.

"Schwester Ober. Sehen sie nur!"

Beth's back leaves the bed, her wrist twisting to get her hand free of Sister Ober's, but the other woman's blocking her view of the screen. "What is it? What is she saying?"

"Es... es ist ein madchen."