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huntertales · 5 years ago

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Part One: Be Careful Who You Make Deals With. (Sacrifice S08E23)

Episode Summary: With Crowley poised to undo all the good they’ve ever done as hunters; Sam, Dean and the reader find themselves cornered. But with Kevin’s help, the Winchesters and the reader bound into one last play against the king of hell. However everything comes with a cost. What must the three sacrifice to seal the gates of hell for good? Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 4,544.

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In the few times you made deals with demons and the devil himself, you learned you needed to give something they wanted. For some it was a soul, perhaps your body for them to do whatever they pleased with. Other times it was your complete and total submission to them. Crowley wanted none of those things, he wanted something much more. He wanted you exactly where he could keep an eye on you; right under his thumb, defenseless and holding a slab of stone that was the key to shutting him and everything else like him away for good. You needed the demon tablet in order to keep your end of the bargain. And the only person who knew the whereabouts of the tablet was Kevin Tran himself.

You told him what you and the boys were planning on doing, the kid was on board. He told you the location where he stashed the tablet after he started growing paranoid when the king of hell started messing with his head. It was out in the middle of an empty stretch of road, a perfect spot for the word of God to be hiding. You saw Mrs. Tran's car with a new set of license plates parked on the side of the road where the Impala pulled up from behind as Dean parked. Across the way you spotted a sort of ironic billboard above Kevin as he continued digging for the demon tablet. You found yourself staring at the devil with a slightly confused expression from the backseat window.

You got out of the car and made your way across the street, catching sight of a painted devil to greet you. It was an advertisement for some restaurant, why they chose Satan himself dressed in a chef's hat and apron was beyond you. You brought your attention over to Kevin who was shoving more dirt out of a shallow hole until he pulled out a dirty backpack from the ground. He took out the other piece of the tablet, your only bargaining chip if you wanted this to go exactly how you had been working towards for the past six grueling long months.

"You hid the demon tablet underneath the devil?" Dean asked the prophet, finding the irony in all of this himself. It was a little on the nose for his taste. "Seriously?"

"What? I was delirious." Kevin said. He dropped the backpack to the ground so he could place both pieces of the demon tablet together after they were accidentally broken apart months back. You watched as by some force they were mended back, as if they were never broken in the first place. Kevin handed over your bargaining piece over to Sam for safekeeping. "You sure this is gonna work?"

Sam examined the tablet to make sure that it looked exactly as the demon would remember, wanting nothing to go wrong. "What other choice do we have?"

"All right, listen, this is a secret lair. You understand me?" Dean took out the box that held the key to the Men of Letters and handed it over to Kevin for him. He was getting an upgrade in his living status. There would be no more houseboats. You had a room ready for him in the bunker. However there came some rules for the kid. "No keggers."

"I don't have any friends." Kevin reminded you of the sad fact about his life.

"Yeah, well, just lay low. Who knows?" Dean tried cheering the kid up, reminding him of the possibility that he could go back to his old life and have a little fun if this all went according to plan. "You'll be a mathlete again before you know it."

Kevin tucked the key into his pocket for safekeeping until he got to the bunker. With everything that you needed, you and the boys started to make your way down the hill and back to the Impala. Before you could get too far, Kevin stopped you to say one last thing. "You guys? You're doing the right thing."

You gave Kevin a small smile from the encouraging words. All of his hard work over the past several months weren’t going to go to waste. Sooner than he thought he was going to be able to go back to a life he once had before all of this started. Without worrying about a demon wanting to kill him or the people he cared for. And hopefully without being bothered with prophet duties. Once was enough. You had one shot at making this work. You weren’t doing this just for you and Kevin. It was for the people who lost loved ones because of demons. And for the next generation so they wouldn’t have to suffer in ways that you did.

+ + +

Trying to find a location to do this trade off was harder than you thought it was going to be. There was no way you were letting Crowley anywhere near the bunker. The both of you agreed the trade off needed to be on neutral territory where no outsiders were allowed. No extra hunters to help you keep the peace. And no demon bodyguards to protect the king of hell if things were to go south. If you were going to do this, you were going to do it right. The property you agreed on was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Crowley was in the neighborhood and decided to use a piece of property that had been deserted for a few years. He figured the owner wouldn't mind. He’d been dead for quite some time now, after all.

You remembered the last time you stepped foot on Bobby's property. It was almost three years ago. Right after you learned the truth about why you were pulled out of the cage. You spent your last night in Bobby's study, the exact same room where you spent countless nights sleeping and researching ways to solve your problems. Now all that remained of the place was a graveyard of abandoned cars and a burned down home. The sight of all, what came of Bobby's place, made your heart sink. It was like you were reliving all of your grief for the man again.

You found yourself staring at Bobby's old car that was a piece of junk from the beginning you first laid eyes on it. You were surprised it still ran half the time when he got it on the road. It was beat up and old like the owner. Now all that remained for the vehicle was nothing more than a place to collect dust in the junkyard. The driver's side window was broken and certain parts of the car were already rusting. It was good for nothing more than for weeds to grow and a critter to call home. You reached out a hand to trace your fingers over the metal. Bobby was in a better place thanks to you. He might have given you hell for doing these trials, but you had a feeling he would be proud of you for making this far. You were doing this for him, and everyone who had been screwed over by those black eyed monster. It ends today, you thought to yourself.

"Hello, boys. Kitten." Crowley had a way of appearing out of thin air. He greeted you and the boys in a particularly happy voice. You turned your head to see the king of hell in all of his glory. You stared at him straight on with a blank expression, giving him the idea that you were trying to hide your anger at how all of this was ending. Dean scanned the area to see if there was anyone else around. When all that remained was the four of you, all of you began taking a few steps forward. "What's that old expression? Success has many fathers. Failure is a Winchester." Crowley thought his joke was funny from the laugh he let out. You responded with a dirty glare, knowing exactly how the quote went and the implication he was making. "Where's the stone?"

"You show us yours, and we'll show you ours." Dean suggested to the demon.

"Really, Dean? I'm trying to conduct a professional negotiation here, and you want to talk dangly bits? The stone." Crowley always had a knack for twisting the simplest of words into something more different, He skipped right to his demands, wanting to see the very thing he'd been working tirelessly to keep in possession. After all, the demon thought it rightfully belonged to him. Sam attempted to reach inside his jacket to do exactly that, however the demon stopped him, wanting to use the most extreme of caution. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slowly." Sam did exactly as he was told. He cautiously slid a hand inside his jacket and pulled out the stone you had retrieved from the prophet himself. The sight of the demon tablet made Crowley smirk in delight. "There she is."

Crowley promised you he was going to play fair when he opened up his jacket to show you the angel tablet that was tucked safely in the pocket of his own jacket after Dean demanded it as a fair exchange. While it was refreshing to see a demon trying to conduct business, this wasn't no ordinary deal. You raised your brow slightly, knowing he was one thing to make it official. You needed to sign on the dotted line in order for this to be complete.

"And the contract?" You asked him. Crowley pulled out something from his jacket that resembled just that. However it seemed you underestimated what you were getting yourself into when the contract wasn't in the form of a piece of paper. Not even in a packet. You watched as he pulled out a scroll and tossed it, letting the paper roll all the way out, until it stopped right at your feet. The contract had to be at least ten feet long. You let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I'm sure there's no hidden agendas in there."

"The highlights—we swap tablets, you stand down from the trials forever." Crowley told you the key components all of you agreed to on the phone.

"You stop killing everyone we've ever saved." Sam reminded the demon about the most crucial part of the deal he might have forgotten about. It was the reason why the three of you were here in the first place, stooping so low just to keep a few lives still breathing.

"Agreed." Crowley reassured the younger Winchester.

You and the boys exchanged glances, wondering one last time this was how you really wanted all of your hard work to end up. Backing down and taking a plea deal to stop from anymore innocent blood shed. It wasn't how you wanted this to go if you were being honest, but you knew it was the right thing to do. You nodded your head. Dean pulled out a pen from his jacket, deciding to be the one to read the fine print and sign his life away. Before he could bend down and grab the contract, Crowley immediately yanked it back by a few feet, stopping the older Winchester from doing such a foolish thing.

"Unh-unh-unh. Nice, try squirrel." Crowley told the hunter. "Kitten is doing these trials. Kitten signs."

"No, no, no.” Dean said. “She's not signing anything until I read the fine print."

You rolled your eyes in annoyance at how he was treating this whole situation and your role in it. Dean was always the one who took over and tried to save the day. It would come as no surprise to Crowley when you acted the way you always did, wanting to take control yourself. You snatched the pen out of his hands when he wasn't looking, wanting to do exactly what Crowley said to make sure this went properly. "Pretty sure I'm capable of reading it myself, Dean."

"Hey, you wanted us here. We're here. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him screw us even more." Dean whispered his frustrations to you about how you were handling this situation more casual than he was. He did it just at the right level so the demon heard everything, exactly as you planned.

"What's this? Trouble in paradise?" Crowley found himself chuckling at the sight of you two disagreeing. The both of you turned your heads to give the demon a dirty glare for poking his nose into a conversation that didn't concern him. "I don't mean to turn away from whatever domestic dispute you're having, but I'd like for things to keep moving.”

Dean grabbed the pen back from you before you could so anything stupid like you always did without thinking. He didn't sign the contract, instead, he took his sweet time reading every single word to make sure Crowley wasn't planning on doing something stupid. Along the lines of trapping your soul in hell when you die. Killing everyone for the hell of it. All around screwing your lives over for his personal benefit and entertainment. Dean made it halfway through the contract with only a few more feet to go through until he was finished.

“You’re gonna move your lips up the whole way up here, aren’t you?” Crowley asked the man. Dean ignored the remark and continued on skimming the contract, taking another step forward to the demon so they were only about a few feet away from one another. “You know why I always defeat you? It’s your humanity. It’s a built-in handicap. You always put emotion ahead of good, old-fashioned common sense.” Dean looked up at the demon, knowing soon enough he was going to regret saying those words. “Let’s have Mommy Dearest sign it now, shall we?”

You began making your way over to Dean and the demon, Sam following behind. You knew the easy way out of this was to sign your name and hand over the tablet. You could go on with your life without worrying about the trials and having innocent lives in danger all over again. You could focus on more important things in life you had been put on the back burner. That would have been the easy option...but you weren't the one for shortcuts. You liked to stick to things until the very end. And there was no way you were quitting when you were so close to the finish line. You looked over at Dean when the both of you made eye contact. You nodded your head.

In one swift motion, Dean took out the handcuffs from his jacket pocket and slapped it on Crowley's wrist without having him realize until it was too late. All of this worked out easier than you thought it was going to be. Crowley's arrogance was always his downfall. He always thought of the big picture, never the little details that went into a plan. You were always one step ahead of him the entire time. He stared at the cuff around his wrist and the other one occupied by the older Winchester. Both of them were trapped together.

“Is this a joke?” Crowley asked the three of you. You answered him by giving a smirk, knowing this was your turn to gloat in your victory at how you had him cornered. The demon thought you were stupid enough to put him in regular handcuffs. It seemed he didn’t notice the details in the metal. “You realize all I have to do is…” Crowley snapped his fingers, thinking that was going to be his key to escaping this situation. However you noticed he remained where he was.

“Unh-unh-unh. Demonic handcuffs, jackass. No flicking, no teleporting, no smoking out—oh, and...no deal.” Dean told the demon about the real negotiations about how this was gonna go down. The poor bastard was never going to make it out of this deal with what he wanted. Because if you also learned anything about making deals with demons, it was that you screwed them over first before they could screw you. "Which pretty much means that you're our bitch."

"Fine. You want to play chain gang? Let's." Crowley wasn't the least bit afraid about how all of this was gonna go down. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty every once in a while, especially when it came to getting something he desperately wanted. He swung his fist right at Dean, landing a sucker punch to the man's face. "You saddled yourself to the wrong bull, mate."

Crowley thought one punch was going to be enough for a man to break down a man who took beatings almost every week. Dean wasted no time in seeking his own revenge when he threw a punch at the demon after recovering from his own. He quickly grabbed the angel tablet from Crowley's jacket and handed it over to Sam for safekeeping. Dean grabbed the demon by the sides of his jacket so he was staring at him straight in the eye, wanting to make it clear a few love taps were nothing compared to what all of you were going to do to him. He’d get the crap beaten out of him if it meant he got the demon exactly where he wanted him.

"I can do this all day, 'cause you know what? Damn, it feels good! But sooner or later, you're gonna have to face it—you're ours." Dean told the demon about how it was going to go down. He might have kept every demon in hell away from you, but there was still one he didn’t take in account for. Himself. "Which means that your demon ass is going to be a mortal ass pretty damn quick."

"What's he mouthing on about?" Crowley asked you, still not getting how screwed he was.

“You can thank Y/N for what you got yourself into.” Sam said. “You’re the third trial, Crowley.”

You thought the demon should have known better than to try and mess with you. At least keep a promise he could fulfill. Crowley made it quite clear he wanted to seek a little revenge for how many times you screwed him over. However it seemed he was going to have to eat those words at the predicament he landed himself in by the sheer of his own confidence with how he thought he had a grip on things. Now the tables turned on him, and it was time for your to seek a little revenge of your own.

+ + +

You and the boys already had a plan set in motion long before you had a demon in your grasp to complete the third trial once and for all. An abandoned church not too far out of town was the perfect location to cure a demon. Not only was it consecrated ground, there was nobody around for miles to disrupt you for the journey you were about to embark on. Six months of translating and putting your neck on the line to complete the first two trials, endless fights between you and Dean for what you were doing, all of it lead you to here. You sat in the passenger seat of the Impala while Sam drove, leaving Crowley and Dean to ride in the back. There wasn’t a chance you were going to risk of letting the demon get away. The handcuffs were working like a charm to keep him exactly where you wanted. And that’s how you were going to stay that way.

When you saw the church pull up, you felt a sense of nervousness come over you at what you were about to do. This was really happening. By tonight you were going to have cured a demon. And you were finally going to be done with these trials forever, hell locked away for good. You felt a shift of movement in your stomach, a little punch from what it felt like. You hid the smile that wanted to spread across your face at feeling the baby move. They were giving you encouragement that everything was going to work out just fine. After tonight it was going to be all about them. How you were going to spoil them by giving them the best life they deserve.

Crowley could pretend all he wanted that he wasn't the least bit scared at what was happening. But he had no chance of escaping. You had him chained down into a chair, extra tight from restraints on his hands and feet, along with a collar around his neck that had a chain to the floor to keep the demon from bashing his skull against yours. Or even biting for that matter. Dean finished up the final touches of the devil's trap to seal the demon for good, just in case he somehow escaped from the bonds, there was no way Crowley could get out from the circle.

“You really think this is gonna hold me, that you’re gonna cure me, or whatever it is?” Crowley asked the older Winchester. Dean didn’t feel the need to respond to the demon considering the state that he was in right now. He tossed the spray can across the room, letting it hit the wall and land with a thud, slowly rolling back to the demon with no chance of him to kick it away.

Dean made his way out of the church and headed over to the Impala where you and Sam had the trunk open, gathering all the supplies you need for this to work. While Sam poured some holy oil into a jar, you looked up to the cloudy sky when you heard a rumble of thunder. There was a storm brewing in the near distance, it had already been raining for quite some time now, considering the ground was reduced to nothing more than mud. You weren’t going to let a little rain ruin the good mood you had going for yourself.

“He’s primed.” Dean said. “How you feeling?”

“Honestly, for the first time in a long time, it feels like we’re gonna win, boys.” You admitted to them about your well being. You gave a small smile to reassure them you were going to be okay throughout all of this. “I’m good.”

“All right, well, no dancing in the end zone until we’re finished. What’s the good father’s playbook say now?” Dean asked, curious to what the next step was for all of you.

"Well, now that we got the consecrated ground, I just slip Crowley one dose of blood every hour for eight hours and seal the deal with a bloody-fist sandwich." You told him the game plan, grabbing a small container from the trunk and pulled out a clean syringe. "That should do it."

“Your blood’s supposed to be purified, isn’t it?” Dean asked you an important question. You knew the only way around this was to have you give Crowley your own blood. There was a risk of doing this, considering what you went through years back. But it was a risk you were willing to take. Sometimes all you needed to do was go to confession to be pure in the eyes of some religions. If it were only that easy. You might not have been born a human, but there was nothing a good old confession that couldn’t wash away your sins. "You ever done the 'Forgive me, father' before?"

"Well, once, when I came back from hell. The first time. And another time...a few months back after we worked that case with Prometheus and Zeus.” You admitted to them. Your hand reached up to clutch your locket that you always wore, wondering if that was truly a confession. And not along the lines of bargaining for help when you were desperate for it. "I don't know exactly what to say now.”

"Well, I mean, I could give you suggestions if you want." Dean tried to be helpful. You didn't see any harm in it, wondering if he might be able to come up with some past mistakes you might have forgotten about. "Well, I'm just spit-balling here, but if I were you, uh...the whole deal you made with Crowley way back to stay a demon. The deal you made with Cas. The demon blood you gave to Sam while under the influence of Famine. Trusting Ruby. You helped free Lucifer. Not telling me you were alive when you came back from the cage. Sleeping with Sam behind my back—”

“Okay, okay! I get it.” You stopped him from listing off any more of your accomplishments over the past handful of years that lead to failure. You had to admit you didn’t exactly take into consideration how much damage you inflicted. You stared at the church for a moment, suddenly realizing again what you were getting yourself into. Not only were you locking away every demon out there, you were also facing against your own. "Let's see how this goes."

"How about what you did to Sammy in the eleventh grade when we stayed with you that one summer?" Dean kept on throwing suggestions out there, bringing up some old prank that ended in a disaster. "Why don't you lead with that and trickle in with the big stuff later?"

“Wait, that was you.” You knew exactly what the man was talking about. You had your fair share of pranks over the years, however what happened was all on him. Dean realized that you were right, causing you to roll your eyes. “Dummy.”

You left the brothers alone to discuss the prank that went south, you had to do a little confessing of your own. It felt a little strange when you stepped inside the church and made your way over to the confessional. You inhaled a deep breath and opened up the door, forcing yourself to step inside and shut the door behind you. Normally you weren't afraid of enclosed spaces, but for a moment you felt like you were back in the coffin again when you came back from hell the first time around. After you took the deal with Lilith that ended with you watching Dean get torn into pieces. Another thing you needed to confess to be forgiven from your mistake. Another sin you made. Your punishment was fighting for your life to get out of the box.

You felt your breathing slowly turn into shallow breaths at the memory. The complete darkness, the pain in your fingertips from banging on the top of the coffin for hours. Confessing to anyone for a way out of there before you died again from the lack of oxygen. How desperate you were to be forgiven for your mistakes. Now this was your chance to do it right. You got down on your knees and folded your hands together, wanting to make sure you were doing this correctly. This was your only and only shot to do this right. You needed to make sure you got everything off your chest. You knew the big guy upstairs was listening, it was your turn to make sure you were going to give Him something worthwhile of His time.

[Next Part]

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hereyougo-flamingsword · 5 years ago

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iCarly Good Omens AU, the possession scene

So, I was actually Serious about that icarly Good Omens AU, where Freddie is the angel, Sam is the demon, Carly is the fake antichrist, and Spencer is the real antichrist.

Gibby’s just a regular human, but he definitely has a part to play in this story as well, which is what you will find below. Enjoy.

“Moooom, I’m trying to commune with the DEAD!” Gibby yelled, “The souls? On the other side of the veil, know of em?! Don’t BOTHER me right now, or I’m gonna lose my FOCUS!”

Gibby slammed the door.

“Sorry about that, ladies,” he smiled, turning the charm back on for his guests, “Where were we?”

His three friends from school shifted uncomfortably.

“We were gonna talk to ghosts,” said Tammy impatiently, “You SAID you knew how.”

“Ah, yes,” Gibby said, pulling an Ouija board out from under his bed, “Let us begin.”

“Isn’t that just a board game?” asked Julia, “I think I saw it at Target the other day.”

“Just a BOARD GAME?!” gasped Gibby in outrage, “This is no ordinary BOARD game…it’s glow in the DARK!”

He shook the cardboard box at them, the contents rattling. “Therefore, more connected to spirits!”

He began the setup, unfolding the board onto the floor, and flicking the light switch off.

“Okay. The instructions said that we ALL have to put our hands on this little thingy together,” Gibby said, motioning for the others to copy him, “and then the spirits will move it along the letterboard to give us a message. Everybody ready?”

The girls looked at each other, and then reached their hands out to the plastic triangle, glowing ominously in the dark.

“Spirits, spirits, I call upon your presence,” Gibby said, closing his eyes shut tightly, “If you are with us, please give us a sign!”

Nothing happened.

Gibby cracked an eye open after an uncomfortably long period of time, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” said Julia.

“Shut up, Julia, give him a minute! I wanna talk to ghosts!” snapped Tammy.

“Ghosts aren’t even REAL, Tammy, I don’t know why we’re here-“

“They are too! My uncle said-“

“Shut up about your uncle, Sarah-“

“Would you quiet down! It’s disturbing the spirits!” scolded Gibby.

The three of them fell silent, and put their hands slowly back onto the triangle.

And waited.

“I’m getting bored, when are the spirits going to come?!” asked Sarah impatiently.

“In just a moment, I’m sure of it! As the spirit medium, I need to make sure I am a…” Gibby took a deep breath, and wiggled his body, “Completely receptive vessel.”

He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

“Empty your mind, Gibby…” he muttered in self-encouragement.

Even Tammy raised an eyebrow at that.

“This isn’t working, Gibby,” insisted Julia, pulling her hands back, “I’m going home.”

At that exact moment, Gibby’s eyes flew wide open.

“Wait! I-I-I think, something’s happe-AGH!”

Gibby thrashed, sending the board flying and his friends scrambling to the other side of his bed, screaming all the way.

They watched in horror as he continued to flounder around, and let out a truly upsetting number of sounds.

But even in the midst of his distress, Gibby was laughing.

“Guys! I’m being-agh-possessed! I TOLD you-agh! Ow! Eee! I TOLD you that the spirits were coming!! Yess! I was right!!! Ooooooooo-AAAAAAAAAAA-“

Suddenly Gibby went very still, and fell backwards onto the ground.

The girls crawled across the bed and peeked down at his motionless form.

“Is he dead?” asked Tammy.

“I don’t know,” said Sarah.

Gibby suddenly sat up, ramrod straight, and observed his surroundings.

“Well, this is weird,” came a deeper, smoother voice out of Gibby’s mouth. “Where AM I…”

“Let there be light!” Gibby said, snapping his fingers, and the light switch moved on its own to brighten up the room.

Gibby looked down at his hands, patted his belly, his chest, his head-

“Wait. Am I…GIBBY?!” he exclaimed in disgust.

“Hey!” came Gibby’s regular voice from his throat, crossing his arms, “What’s wrong with being-wait, Freddie?”

Gibby tapped his own forehead. “Is that YOU in there?”

Freddie rolled Gibby’s eyes. “Yeah, it’s me, Gib.”

“Is that…Freddie from iCarly?” asked Julia in a timid voice.

Both entities occupying Gibby’s body seemed to realize that they weren’t alone at the same time.

“Okay! Session over, time for you all to go,” said Freddie’s voice, opening the door and ushering the three girls out.

“So sorry to rush you, my mom will show you out BYE!” called Gibby as Freddie used his hand to close the door on them.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Gibby turned around.

“Freddie, why are you possessing me? Does this mean you’re dead?”

Gibby gasped, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Did Sam finally kill you?”

“Wha-NO!!” Freddie bristled.

“No judgement, brother,” Gibby said, clapping himself sympathetically on the shoulder, “We all knew it was coming.”

“No, Gibby, I’m an ANGEL.”

“Ah, yes. Only the good die young,” said Gibby, nodding slowly.

“Gibby I was never human!” Freddie blurted, “I’m a real angel, the kind from Heaven, I’m six THOUSAND years old, and I’m trying to stop the end of the WORLD!”

Gibby blinked, and sat on his bed heavily.

“An angel?” he said in disbelief, “I’m being possessed…by an angel right now?”

“Um, technically? Yeah.”

“Wow…this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me!” Gibby exclaimed, a grin spreading wide over his face.

Freddie rolled Gibby’s eyes. “That’s great, Gibby. But can we please get a move on? The antichrist has come into his power already, which means we REALLY don’t have the time to sit around.”

“The antichrist? Who’s the ANTIchrist?” asked Gibby.

“It’s uh…it’s actually Spencer, if you can believe it.”

Gibby’s mouth dropped.

“What are we sitting around for?! He’s probably destroyed half the CITY by now, Freddie!!” Gibby said, standing up too quickly and falling on his face.

“Glad we’re on the same page,” Freddie said, muffled into the carpet.

“By the way, my real name is Benthiel,” said Freddie, as they both struggled to stand again, “But you can still call me Freddie if you want.”

“Wow. Well my real name is Orenthal,” said Gibby, “But you can still call me Gibby if you want.”

Freddie shuddered a little. “I think I will.”

They pulled the door open and started down the hallway as a joint effort.

“Oh, and by the way? Sam’s a demon.”

“KNEW it!” Gibby pumped his fist in the air, then picked up the pace a little more.

#icarly #good omens

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creamypudding · 5 years ago

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WIP Clack sneak peek

Hi,

I’ve decided to upload a sneak peek of my WIP Clack story. I’m currently on writing chapter 8 and I think the story might have 10 chapters, so I’m sort of nearing the end mark, but also still a fair way off completion because a lot of editing needs to be done. I’m currently re-reading everything that I’ve written so far to get my head around the timeline, which I had no clue about when I first started writing it, so now I’m making minor adjustments (read: major edits) to the previous chapters before moving on to chapter 8. It’s my form of procrastination because chapter 8 is a POV change, which is notoriously difficult on my soul. So, while there is no guarantee that this chapter 1 will look exactly like this when I get to posting the whole story, it should still be a very close approximation once I’m done with everything. I am happy to share this bit and hope to pique your interest in this AU. This story will explore mental health issues, like PTSD and body dysphoria. The main setting is in a hospital, so set expectations accordingly. Title: Silver Lining (working title) Chapter: 1 Fandom: FFVII - Modern AU Pairing: Cloud/Zack Rated: Teen Word Count: 10,232 Summary: Cloud is a delivery driver and one day gets a very specific job to complete, which sends him to the brink of discomfort, but leaves the door open for something very wonderful to potentially bloom.

CHAPTER 1 - Despite the winter sun being at its low-hanging apex, and this region never getting any snow, it was still cold. The frosty air gnawed and bit into the tip of Cloud’s nose, blasted against and stiffened his glove-covered fingers, and caused shivers to wrack his body. Winter wasn’t the best time of year to ride his motorcycle, but his passion for his vehicle outweighed the seasonal discomfort. He was as rugged up as he could be with his helmet and scarf underneath, multiple shirts, and a sweater under his riding jacket, and thermals under the leather pants to keep his lower limbs warm, yet Cloud looked forward to arriving at work, which he usually did around midday, where he would hop into the familiar white and blue delivery van with its air conditioner, funky smell, worn leather seating, and sticky patches all over the dashboard caused by spilled coffee.

He lived about half an hours ride from work and arrived at the two-story brick warehouse in a business district of the sprawling metropolis. He rode around the back of the large, empty lot, to the garage capable of housing five vans and parked his bike near the wall. He left his helmet hanging on the handlebars and headed through the lofty loading zone, past the only vehicle still reminding (his own) and to the door and into the heated office space beyond. With a relieved sigh he pulled his gloves off and rubbed them together to regain feeling and warmth.

Tifa gave the usual teasing greeting of, "Hello, Cloud. Sleep well?" which forced a grumbled unintelligible retort from him. He headed straight for the left side of the sparsely decorated rectangular room. A long, mid-chest high cupboard stood along the wall with five color-coded plastic double-letter trays atop of it. This was their duty roster system. The top tray houses his schedule for the day, and the bottom one held his payslips and things of that nature. A large whiteboard hung on the wall right above the cupboard with each employee’s details demarcated to line up with their specific letter-trays.

He grabbed his sheet of paper, listing addresses and delivery times, and stalked off to the van, grabbing the held out travel mug which Tifa had filled with hot coffee. “Thanks,” he muttered while she smiled at him with amusement. Cloud counted his blessings that Tifa was understanding of his late starts to the day and his sporadic-yet-far-too-common absences.

Cloud sank into his familiar seat, leaving the bright pink folder on his lap and cradled his mug. It warmed his icy hands and as he slowly sipped the liquid it gave him the energy to recuperate from the arduous task of having woken up this morning and gotten himself out of bed. He skimmed over his list of jobs for the day at a casual pace, set his GPS and then headed off to get his workday underway.

His day consisted of a sizeable amount of pick-ups and drop-offs. Small and large parcels and goods alike. Usually, he’d radio Gavin or Therone to see if he could get more jobs, but today he felt extra drained so just stuck to what was on his sheet. He drove to familiar businesses and places, and some new locations. One of these was somewhat out of the way. Cloud took a left turn onto the freeway and headed out of the metropolitan area. The scenery grew ever more rural and then downright quaint; cows and horses dotted fields, small bakeries and one-pump gas stations came and went.

The road, though no less busy, lacked maintenance and pot-holes great and small peppered it. The place he was after was on the main road and turned out to be a giant greenhouse. He pulled into the large expansive gravel forecourt, and to his surprise found the car park almost completely full. People came and went, carrying gardening equipment and flowers of all sorts of shapes and colors. He pulled into a parking space, and got out, heading for the large glass structure. For being so out-of-the-way of the major population centers, it sure was bustling.

As Cloud entered through a set of glazed double doors, and then another set of automated sliding doors to get into the building proper, he was instantly accosted by the perfuming fragrant smell of flowers, as well as a very comfortable warmth. Winter didn’t touch this botanist’s wet dream and it almost felt tropical. Cloud sneezed. Repeatedly.

He was reminded that flowers weren’t his friends, though he could still appreciate the botanical marvel he found himself in. Flowers and plants of all shapes, sizes, species, and colors grew absolutely everywhere. A lot were set in pots, but an equal number were also growing seemingly right from out of the soiled and mulched ground. It smelled like earth and damp. Not a wholly unpleasant smell. It's just the flowers that got Cloud sniffling like crazy.

He still sneezed when a friendly voice sounded next to him, “Here. My flowers have that effect on some people.”

Cloud turned and took the held out tissue with a, “Thanks,” and blew his nose. Once back in control of his body's reflexes he looked at the short-in-stature woman who had spoken to him; her brunette hair was tied in a ponytail, with wavy bangs falling wall past her shoulders. Her eyes, a vibrant green, sparkle and seemed enhanced by the rusty red of her mid-waist length cardigan, which sat over the top of a blue and white striped blouse. Her look of a homey farm-girl was completed by the soiled, three-quarter denim trousers and big brown boots. “Your flowers?' Cloud asked, "Are you the owner?”

The woman grinned brightly and gave a curt nod. She looked around, with a lot of pride. “This place is my life’s work. Growing and cultivating plants of all types has always been my dream. And of course, sharing the joy this life brings with it.” Green eyes returned to settle on Cloud once more.

Cloud thought her rather pretty. He wasn’t sure if it was her features or her passion for her work. Whichever the case, she seemed rather too cheerful. “For a profit though,” he said, not caring to disguise the sardonic tone.

“Well of course. Girl’s gotta eat, right?” she laughed. “Name’s Aerith Gainsborough. Welcome to my greenhouse. How can I help you?”

She stuck out her hand and Cloud took it. “Cloud Strife. I’m here to pick up a delivery,” he said with little expression to his face. Being around jovial people exhausted him. He could already feel his energy draining away and mentally scanned his brain to see if he had passed any coffee shops on the way here.

“Oh, wonderful! I’ve been expecting you. Come this way.” She turned on a dime, her ponytail swinging wildly and marched with a slight bounce to her step.

Cloud followed.

“It’s such awful news what happened to Zack,” she began, rather worriedly. “I absolutely hate not being able to go see him, but I’m flat out here. So many weddings and government ceremonies to plan for. My own delivery guys are all booked up for the next few months, and the hospital is too far away for me to get to on such short notice,” she muttered somewhat defeated.

Despite not knowing what she was talking about, he reveled in seeing some of that cheer strip away from the woman. He possessed an inherent distrust of cheerful people, for cheer was a disguise best reserved for shop-front clerks who wanted to flog you something. It wasn’t for real-life, flesh-and-blood people. Real people had their own shit lives and problems to deal with. That’s what he told himself at least. He had always found it paid off to be wary of the too happy and enthusiastic. He could relate to the woman more in her slightly soured state though. Yet not too much to engage in actual conversation with her.

They made their way into a large shipping container, housed off to the side. This was apparently the office area if the desk with a computer sitting on it, and the various cork boards and whiteboards propped up on portable stands, meant anything. The other thing that Cloud spotted was the very elaborate bouquet sitting on the desk.

“Besides, I’m sure he’ll have far too many visitors for me to be able to spend any quality time with him.” Aerith reached the desk with the bouquet sitting on top of it and came to pause before it. She stretched out an arm as if steadying herself against the table.

The quiet which followed unsettled Cloud somewhat. The bubbly energy seemed depleted.

“Uh, is everything alright?” he tried, merely as a courtesy.

Cloud heard the sniffle, and saw the motion which could only be a wipe at eyes. Aerith turned around, cheeks ruddy and eyes glassy. She gave a weepy smile. “No. It’s not, but I hope it will be very soon. I really wish I could go be with him. He needs someone to look after him.” “I thought you said he was in hospital. Isn’t that—”

“He needs some love. Some care. From people who genuinely care about him. I know the hospital staff do their best, but they’re just staff.” She sniffled some more, grabbed the bouquet and walked it over to Cloud. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like for you to make regular flower deliveries for me. I don’t know if he’s conscious or not, but I want his room to be full of color. I want him to not feel alone. So please bring this to him.” She handed the surprisingly heavy item over. “And I’d also like for you to be my regular delivery guy. I don’t want Zack to have to put up with not getting to know you.”

Cloud grunted and pulled a face. “Getting to know me?”

“Yes. You’ll be my proxy.”

“I'm just a delivery guy. Not an… escort, or… friend for hire,” he said with unease. Cloud definitely hadn’t signed up for this.

“I know that. I'm not asking you to do anything other than deliver my flowers to him. But when you meet him I'm sure you won't be able to avoid having conversations with him.” Aerith’s growing smile faltered, and sadness swept through, robbing her of any mirth which might have burgeoned. “Oh gosh, let him be alright,” she said to no one in particular. “Tifa said it would be alright for you to check in on him regularly and to give me updates when you come to pick up the flowers.”

“Did she now?” Cloud said with derision and barely kept the eye roll at bay.

Aerith nodded and started walking back out into the main building, and Cloud continued to follow.

The pungent smell of flowers accosted Cloud once more as they made their way back to the front of the greenhouse. A sinking feeling grew. “You know Tifa personally?”

“Oh yes. We’ve been friends for years. She’s told me lots about you.” Aerith threw a cheeky smile over her shoulder, back at Cloud.

Without a doubt, this had all been an elaborate set-up. He let a defeated sigh slip out and wondered if this Zack guy was even an actual patient. “More like she complains about me to you.”

“Oh no. Nothing like that.” Her laugh was like the tinkling of bells.

Cloud still knew that it was exactly like that. “Well, she’s never made mention of you,” he sulked.

His remark made Aerith spin around. Her smile radiated ever so brightly. “I’m pretty sure she has and you just never listen to her,” she giggled and gently pushed her palm against his shoulder.

Cloud couldn’t refute that. It seemed like a very reasonable assumption.

“Anyway, can you just wait here a moment. This bouquet is missing something.” Aerith dashed off, leaving Cloud’s nose to develop another irritating tickle.

The pungent flower smells aside, he also knew this whole situation reeked of something, but he didn’t know what. Well, perhaps he did know. Of course Tifa purposefully sent him on this delivery run. She was always trying to get him to be more social and make friends. Something which Cloud had no interest in doing. He thought it cruel to force friendship upon him with some guy who sounded bedridden. And to be fair, he felt it equally awful to force himself onto other people. Cloud hoped that if this Zack guy truly was sick that he would get well soon. That way Cloud wouldn’t have to visit for very long, saving them both the agony of playing at a fake friendship.

Aerith returned holding a few brilliantly vibrant yellow flowers. She stuck them into the bouquet, which mostly consisted of blues and purples.

“There. Some much needed complementary opposites.” She stepped back from her creation and admired it. “I hope he’ll love it.” Worry returned to her face. “I hope he’s okay. Please tell him I’ll visit as soon as I can if he’s awake.” Aerith looked like she was going to say more but clapped her mouth shut and shook her head. “No. I won’t bombard you with any more. Everything I need to tell him is in the card. Please see to it that he receives the flowers, and I look forward to seeing you next time.”

Cloud gave her a courteous nod. “Next time, then.” He knew that no amount of complaining to Tifa would get him off this roster duty. She probably had also talked to everyone else at work to make sure he couldn’t swap delivery duties, that’s how crafty she was.

_____________

The hospital Cloud drove to was a familiar destination. He parked around the loading bay, avoiding the large conglomerate of media stationed out the front of the main entrance. The hustle and bustle out the front of the hospital, though not completely foreign, was still a little strange. Cloud wondered for all of two seconds what famous or newsworthy person had ended up inside before he refocused on his job. He grabbed the bouquet and marched himself inside, making his way to the nurses station, as Aerith apparently hadn’t known the exact location of the recipient of her gift. He had done a fair few deliveries to the different wards in the past, which was why a fair few of the regular staff knew him by sight and gave him acknowledging nods as he passed.

“Oh, those are lovely. Who are they for, darl?” an elderly and a rather plump woman greeted Cloud warmly as he stood by the imposing desk.

“Evening, Barbara.” Cloud didn't have many friends to speak of, but most people he came into somewhat regulate contact with were friendly enough with him, and he reciprocated as much as possible. It's not like he hated people. It had more to do with him being too tired and exhausted most of the time to exert energy into keeping friends around. “They are for a—” he looked at the attached card for the last name. “Zack Fair.”

“Oh. He’s a right popular chap. I wish they would have sent him to a different hospital, to be honest with you. Maybe Golden Oak or Edgewater. That media pack out the front is driving everyone here crazy.”

“What? All those people out there are here for him?” A sinking feeling swept through Cloud. He didn’t deal well with being in the limelight, not even via loose association.

The head nurse gave a sullen nod. “Them out the front aren’t even half of it. Military folks have been in and out of the ICU all day. Day shift have had it up to here,” she gestured well above her head, “with all the kafuffle.”

Barbara’s words caused a rush of irritation to flurry inside of Cloud. He wrinkled his nose. “Military?”

She hummed in the back of her throat and shuffled through some papers at her station. “Mr. Fair is military personnel, or I guess that should be Corporal Fair? Is that how those titles are supposed to work?”

It took everything in Cloud’s power not to dump the flowers and leave. “Don’t they have a military hospital for this kind of stuff?” he grumbled through grit teeth, already knowing that the answer was ‘yes’.

“Apparently it wasn’t good enough for the injuries he’s sustained. He’ll be needing long term care and rehabilitation, and they aren’t cut out for that.”

“Ah—that bad, huh?” Some of the irritation quelled with a wash of sympathy.

Barbara gave a solemn nod. “Here, darl. There has been nothing else on the news all day.” She directed her gaze toward a television mounted on the wall to the right of the desk and turned the volume up a little.

Cloud hadn’t watched the news in what felt like months. It was always too depressing. “They let you watch TV?”

“Only the news channels, so we can be atop of any breaking disasters or crisis as they unfold.”

“Ah. Seems sensible enough.” Cloud turned his attention toward the news coverage. It was a lot of body cam footage from a battlefield. People running, gunfire, all in a vastly ambiguous and completely rubble-filled landscape. Cloud didn’t know which war this was, or where it was. He tried his hardest to not pay attention to things of that nature.

The footage went on. Shaking imagery, snaps of stillness, the bottom of the screen covered in scrolling text. Images of fallen soldiers bombarded the screen, but amongst all of it someone came charging in and pulled the fallen out and to safety. Cloud couldn’t make out what was happening exactly, but he got the idea that it was always the same guy darting in and out of cover, to collect the fallen.

Cloud keyed into the faint sound of the news reporter saying something about bravery and selfless acts of courage.

The footage eventually cut to the outside of a familiar building; Phoenix Dessert Downs; the hospital Cloud was currently in.

“Poor fool got himself riddled with more bullets and shrapnel than all of the other men and women he saved. The field hospital got most of it out, and he’s had more blood transfusions than I’ve ever seen anyone else get, but they can’t give him the long term care he needs. Oh, Cloud. Don’t look so glum.”

Cloud startled somewhat and felt his face return to a more neutral position. “I’ll most likely be coming here often, to deliver flowers to him.”

“He’s got a sweetheart, hmm?” Barbara smiled. “Here, take this pass. It will get you through to ICU and past all the military,” she said, sounding exhausted.

“Military personnel can be a right handful,” he observed and gratefully took the pass.

“It’s what day shift have been complaining about the most,” she sighed deeply.

“Bet they’re glad to hand it over to you and your crew, huh.”

“You know night shift handles pressure and unwanted riff-raff better,” she winked.

“That you do,” he gave a small smile.

Cloud took his leave of the nurses station, feeling exhausted from the exchange, and wandered the halls toward ICU. He observed that there were indeed a lot of military personnel mingling around the halls; mostly camped out at the vending machines, which made Cloud realize just how run down and in need of something caffeinated he felt.

He detoured to a coffee machine and drank the burnt, bitter and old tasting brew with a scowl as he forged ahead. He showed his pass to the appropriate authorities and was let through to the ward.

Evening had fallen, and though the interior was brightly lit, the ward was rather hushed. Nursing staff came and went, tending to all the critical patients. Machines beeped and whirred. Quiet murmurs ran through the place like an electric undercurrent.

Cloud went in the direction he saw the most amount of people, confident that it was the room he was after. He stopped across the way and looked in through the glass windows, which lined the wall facing the ward. He recognized the high ranking officials uniforms. A lot of Sergeants of varying degrees. It was kind of impressive, but it also irritated Cloud. This whole situation was irritating and he didn’t think he’d like to make these flower deliveries a staple thing of his working day if this was what he had to walk into every time..

He finished his coffee, tossed it in the trash, breathed deep, and went into the room to get his delivery sorted.

The buzzing murmur of conversation grew marginally louder as he opened the door and let himself in, but then it ceased in a flash, as all eyes turned onto him.

Cloud hadn’t felt this uncomfortable since his last family get together. He swallowed down the nerves. “Delivery for Zack Fair, from a Miss Gainsborough.”

“Ah, Aerith, the sweet thing. Just put them over there. Zack will be happy to see them if he eventually wakes up,” someone, who appeared to be a Sergeant Major, said to him.

The ‘if’ wasn't lost on Cloud. He gave a curt nod and weaved through the small crowd toward the bed at the center of the room. He could make out a seemingly sleeping figure in the bed. His head was bandaged up and gauze was plastered to his cheek. Wires and tubes were attached all over the man and ran in all manner of directions; some hooked up to monitoring equipment and all kinds of drips filled with clear fluids, but also bags of blood.

Cloud looked for somewhere to put the flowers. Here was a small tray table next to the bed, which was covered in bouquets and cards. More bouquets sat on a chair, and others lined the wall to the left of the bed. Clearly, this guy wouldn’t need any more flowers. He wondered if he could convince Aerith that the hospital room was colorful enough already, and could thus spare himself the trip out here and most of all back here.

He supposed he would have no such luck, and instead busied himself making room on the small tray table for Aerith’s flower arrangement (which, if Cloud had to admit, was one of the nicest in the room). He positioned the card so it would also be seen if this guy ever woke up. Cloud figured himself lucky to get out of conversing with him today. Was it cruel to hope he’d never have to make conversation with this guy?

Probably.

He looked back at the broken man lying in the bed. The bandaged head slumped toward Cloud’s direction and the man’s eyes seemed to be open a small crack.

Cloud looked back toward everyone else in the room, but no one was paying attention; too busy talking about tactical information; what to do about the remaining company and what honors to bestow upon the survivors, because Cloud was apparently not important enough to not talk about that kind of stuff in front of.

Cloud didn’t get what everyone was in here for if it wasn’t to help support a fallen comrade. So he decided that they probably just wanted to feel important and were here for some other self-serving purpose.

He turned back toward Zack and quietly murmured, “From Aerith. She’s worried about you, and is sorry that she can’t be here right now.”

Eyes slipped shut and it was barely visible, but Cloud thought he saw the ghost of a smile.

He turned and left, wondering if it would be a problem that he didn’t get the delivery signed off. He didn’t care enough about it to get one from any of the Sergeants in the room, especially not when he heard a faint, “Does General Strife have a kid?" pass through the gap in the door just as he shut it.

He got out of there as fast as possible, finished his other jobs through fatigue gnawing at him. Tifa asked how his day had been when he came back to delivery the van and invoices. He didn’t give her more than a grunting reply before heading back out, hopping on his bike and racing back home so he could collapse on his bed and sleep.

_____________

Aerith asked for a flower arrangement to be sent every second day, which at least gave Cloud rest in between to not stress about having to be in a wholly unpalatable environment. Despite only passing through and lingering in the place for 20 minutes at most, those were still 20 minutes he would rather never have to endure in the first place. But when he saw Aerith again to pick up the next delivery, her gratitude melted Cloud’s displeasure. His heart grew heavier with each passing day that he couldn’t tell her that the man she was so worried about still hadn’t woken up yet, both for her and himself.

He detested the hospital run. It stressed him out and stress legitimately was no good for him. As the first week of doing this job passed, Cloud could feel himself becoming unwell. He always got sick when he was highly stressed, and going to the hospital was a toxic cocktail of stress for him. It didn’t matter how well he organized himself; going in at 6 o’clock at night when there were fewer media and military sleazeballs lurking about. The late deliveries didn’t let him completely escape run-ins with the military. He took to wearing a baseball cap, pulled down over his face, but he could still feel the lingering eyes and hear the too-loud whispering rumors that he was who they all thought he was and everything that came with that territory.

Each day he heard something else; ‘Did you hear he couldn't even finish basic training?’; in the hallway; ‘Did you hear he got special treatment?’; the elevator; ‘Did you hear his parents pulled strings?’; the coffee station; ‘Did you hear he slept with a General?’; passing the door into the bedridden man’s room; ‘Did you hear he got spoon-fed the entrance exam questions?’.

Each day the well of his resentment grew exponentially deeper.

He tried to ignore, to not hear, to pretend he imagined it all. He went about his job, hurrying in and out of the hospital, sometimes seeking refuge at the hot coffee dispenser to refocus himself and get a caffeine hit to stop him from falling asleep behind the wheel, especially as these hospital visits completely drained him. Cloud hated having to be here. Hated the military. Himself. The bed-ridden source of his misery.

Why, out of all the hospitals in the world and in particular this city, did apparent poster boy have to land in this one? Not that Cloud supposed it mattered much since Tifa somehow knew Aerith and both ladies apparently loved pushing their own agendas onto himself.

He kept doing his assigned job though because Tifa (predictably) had put an embargo on anyone taking or swapping that particular job off Cloud. It did not help his mood or physical health. He could feel the onset of the cold and the day after having been stuck in an elevator with 3 military goons who had recognized him, as he had done basic training with two of them close to a decade ago, he crashed and couldn’t get out of his bed when his alarm went off at 11 in the morning. He couldn’t face another day of doing that job, even though today, most likely, he wouldn’t have to go to the hospital. The weeklong process of going through the hospital halls, seeing uniformed personnel, had completely sapped him of his already minimal pool of energy and it crescendoed today, so he slept the day and the next away.

Tifa rang several times, checking in on Cloud, which he appreciated.

"I'm sorry, am I pushing you too hard? I can reduce your workload to five runs a day."

"Do I still need to cover the hospital?"

Silence greeted him for a few beats, "Is it really stressful for you?"

Cloud felt like such a pathetic weakling. Suddenly a surge of needing to ‘suck it up’ raced through him. "No. I think being around all the sick people is just making me sick. I’ll be okay in another day… I think.”

“Take as long as you need. Felix is doing the hospital runs for now. If you think it would be better for your health not to—” “No, really. I’ll be fine. Just give me back my usual runs when I’m back.”

“Okay.” Cloud hated his strong sense of duty.

_____________

Cloud returned to work and did his best to ignore the people around him. He went even later to the hospital, just to be on the safe side and as much as possible hid behind the flower arrangements he carried, especially when it came to the guard who was stationed at the door. Cloud still felt worn out by the almost daily ordeal but, with a sardonic huff, decided to soldier on.

As the weeks passed, he learned more about his comatose burden through the media. Nothing about the operation he had been involved in though, as that was deemed highly sensitive. He wasn’t one to watch the news, but found himself watching it now, just to get some information, especially when he heard conversations with phrases like 'such a shame’, 'cut down in his prime, ‘it's all too bad’, as he passed by people in the hospital.

He learned about all the honors, achievements, and military pursuits of the spirited young man who now lay unmoving and in a critical condition in a sterile hospital bed with intubators, drips, catheters and various other devices attached to himself. Cloud could appreciate the sadness of it, the tragedy of what had befallen this man, especially since the reports said he had worked tirelessly at saving his comrades and single-handedly kept the squad’s Sergeant alive.

It dawned on him one day while standing there in the empty darkened room, surrounded by the staggering amount of flowers, that it almost felt like he was visiting a crypt. Yet there also sat awe in this place, because he bore witness to this barely-there military man, fighting and struggling for his life, even in this perfect stillness, which was punctured by the rasping breath through the oxygen mask and the soft sound of machinery in the background. The monument of decaying flowers, deflating balloons, knocked over 'get well's cards all spoke of one thing: the love of the people; those he had saved, those who knew him, the general public; they adored him and what he represented. Unwavering spirit, devotion, sacrifice, martyrdom. It was like the flowers were a farewell.

Cloud stared at that physically manifested concept every time he stood in the room, trying to find a place for one more flower arrangement. One more tribute to lay at the foot of the living memorial. It left a sour taste in Cloud’s mouth. He understood that this man had been deemed a 'go-getter’ by his superiors. A real 'people person’ by his peers. Someone who had always joked and make sure all his comrades and anyone under and even above himself had been okay, which was what had made him such a great Corporal—had made him. All those things were now relegated to the past, a memory, a dream. And all for what…. Cloud got stuck on that thought and with pure derision, muttered, “Look where all that love and affection has gotten you. You’re stuck here, all alone, in a room full of dead things. And the public and military can’t even wait for you to be properly dead before turning your room into a grave.” Admittedly Cloud was having a rather glum sort of a pensive day.

He kept delivering flowers, kept watching the news late at night when he couldn’t sleep, despite being utterly physically and mentally exhausted. And he listened on the radio while driving his van. It was never anything terribly meaningful or insightful. All events from the battlefield, reports on casualties, and anything pertaining to the mission which had landed the man Cloud visited on an almost daily basis in the hospital, was barely forthcoming. The operation was still deemed too sensitive and top secret. So all the media could report on was Zack Fair.

Cloud felt somewhat entrapped by the man he had been made to visit. Zack Fair turned into a morbid oddity and curiosity; a form of Stockholm Syndrome perhaps. A trainwreck Cloud was glued to witnessing. He wondered if Zack would ever wake up. He wondered what the man was actually really like. He doubted anyone would ever speak badly of the man or call him out on any asshole-ish behavior while he was in such an in-between life and death state of existence. He couldn’t buy that this guy was so amazing, wonderful, kind, fun. Sure, he sounded nice and like the exact type of person, Cloud avoided in his life. It sounded like a real shame for Corporal Fair to not recover from this. But maybe it also really wasn’t. Who knew? Cloud sure as hell didn’t, and wouldn’t know what the actual reality of the matter was unless the dead rose from his coma.

Cloud tried to not lose any more sleep over it and pushed his wonderings away, focusing on the job at hand, which in the end led him right back to the hospital, standing before his charge, staring down at him, thinking a myriad of conflicting thoughts. In the end, he always decided he didn’t care. He was getting paid. It was just the damn military personnel that got under his skin and made this the worst part of his day. He resented coming here. Hated that the comatose guy didn't just wake up, freeing Cloud of his obligations.

"You're one hell of a selfish son of a bitch," Cloud muttered another day, after having caught a half-heard conversation between the military personnel stationed outside of the door, bemoaning their station over having to watch and guard against media entry. "But keep giving them Hell out there," Cloud finished with a smile, liking the discomfort being inflicted on people who resented having to look after someone who apparently did crazy brave things, like sticking his neck out for other people. Cloud supposed the extra resentment outside might have something to do with a new spate of news that he had caught last night.

"You know you got a bunch of medals? I don't know if anyone's been in to inform you, but… congratulations," Cloud said with bitter amusement as he set the flowers down on the tray table. "You got a Medal of Honor, a Distinguished Service Cross, and a Silver Star Medal. You're one impressive guy, Corporal Fair." He bent down to look Zack in his more-akin-to-dead-than-alive face. His eyes trailed over the bandaged forehead, the patch over his left cheek, the mask covering his nose and mouth to help him breathe.

"Hope it was worth being like this, man." Cloud was greeted with the even breathing, the whirring of machines, and the faint beep of the heart rate monitor.

He stood back up and left the room.

_____________

There came a point, somewhere around the 1-month mark of Cloud having started on his hospital delivery route, that things seemed to change a little. He arrived at the comatose man’s room to find the oxygen mask off and a considerable amount of equipment gone. The mountain of flowers also looked smaller and a more sensible amount. Cloud tested the room with a faint, “Hello?” but received no reply. He went over to the bed, warily inspecting the other man, who looked gaunt and pale, but a lot better for not having all that equipment and tubing attached to himself.

There was no motion, other than an even fall of the chest, and generally speaking, the man looked like he had always done while lying in this bed. Cloud left the flowers and headed out, catching Barbara before leaving.

“How is Zack doing? He’s no longer on the oxygen mask.” “He is doing a lot better, yes. His independent breathing improved so he doesn't need the respirator.” She wasn’t willing to give much more information than that, so Cloud left to return the van and go home to sleep, which came a little easier to him that night.

It was also roughly around the 1-month mark that Cloud began enjoying his trips to the hospital a little, especially on rough days because an almost comatose person couldn't give him any flack for not arriving precisely, to the second, on time. They weren’t going to back-chat or give him the stink-eye. Other than the military being everywhere, Cloud relaxed considerably when coming here every second day. The walk through the hall was uncomfortable but he would grab an awful cup of coffee, hurry to his target’s location, not even be acknowledged by the security anymore as Cloud was as good as the bland decor around the hospital, and dumped the flowers wherever he found space. He then sat down in the uncomfortable guest chair and peacefully drank his burnt coffee.

That routine and place almost became like a sanctuary. Sure, he had to traverse Hell to get to it, but it was pleasant when he got there. He found it nice to not be in a mad rush, nice not having to do small talk. And then two weeks after the respirator had come out, the military finally, for the most part, departed. Things were getting even better for Cloud.

One day, he had been in a frantic rush the entire day due to massive traffic congestions absolutely everywhere he had to get to. Exhausted and starved he grabbed whatever looked least offensive at the hospital cafeteria and made his way to the ICU. Once he had deposited yet another exquisite bouquet, he slumped into the guest chair, which had been cleared of flowers a while ago, and relaxed with a deep sigh.

“God, what a day from hell,” he bemoaned and after a few beats of breathing and quiet, he sat up straight and opened his styrofoam food container.

“I’m sure you don’t mind me eating in here, right?” Cloud glanced at the only other occupant of the room. “I mean, I do bring you all these flowers, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who regularly visits. So, if you’re not going to thank me, the least you could afford me is to let me use you like a tray table, huh.”

Cloud looked at the way the body in the bed lay almost lifeless. A steady beating and shallow rise and fall of the chest were the only signs of life.

Taking the prolonged silence as permission, Cloud dug into his meal. Was it strange talking to an unconscious person? It didn’t feel any stranger than talking to himself late at night. It was about as enlightening, but he weirdly enough did enjoy the idea of another set of ears listening, without receiving dumb and pointless input.

“You’re not missing out on much with this food,” Cloud informed as he chewed. “Too dry and rubbery. But food’s food. And bad burnt coffee is still caffeine.” He took a sip, scrunched up his face and placed the cup carefully onto the bed before himself.

He ate the rest of his meal in silence, mulling over his schedule. When he was done he tidied up and got up. “Well, it was fun, Zack. It’s okay if I call you Zack, right? Or you prefer Sergeant Fair? All your new fancy medals aside, you also got a promotion, y’know?” Cloud looked and got no response. “Zack it is then. See ya later.” And with that he left, feeling far more energized after a meal and some liquid energy.

_____________

Cloud kept coming because Aerith kept ordering flower arrangements to be delivered. He lingered ever longer in that room, finding it oddly meditative. Zack's silent company reminded Cloud of his old family dog, and as Cloud sat in the chair, thinking about it, he almost reached over to pay the comatose man's head. He caught himself though and chuckled about it.

He wondered more and more about the man he was tasked with 'keeping company,' for he did keep him company more often than not. With the military gone, bar for a patrol here and there and the occasional door check, the hospital had a far more relaxed atmosphere, and Cloud found himself less drained and ready to crash by the time he got home. He figured if he was going to stay up anyway, he might as well do it whilst in someone's company.

Cloud sat and used this hospital room as his private dining hall, eating evening meals he had picked up from the cafeteria or from a fast food joint outside. He also sometimes checked his phone while he ate, reading articles, playing games. It was nice and quiet, just how he liked it. And while he did these things he also cast glances over to the sleeping man. The glances turned to gazes, where he studied the man's face and the way his chest rose and fell, shallow and at rest.

Sometimes he got stuck in his head, replaying all that he knew of the other man and all he had seen on the TV. It was a peaceful, quiet evening in early spring. He had a tray of hospital food in his lap, his phone in one hand and a spork in the other when the thoughts that bothered him the most fell out of his mouth in a hushed tone, “What kind of food do you like, Zack? Bet the answer isn't hospital food,” he muttered whilst putting another forkful of green mush into his mouth.

Predictably, there was no response.

“I know what school you went to. I know how hard you worked to get to where you were. I vaguely know about the mission you were on when this happened to you—that’s all the news talks about. Well, they also talk about how whatever you were involved with is still highly top secret so the public isn’t allowed to know the specific details of it. It's been nearly 2 months now since you landed here, and who knows how much time you spent in the field hospital before you were brought here. Smells like a cover-up, if you ask me. I hope you’re not gonna be like some scapegoat for them,” that thought riled Cloud up, but he tried to relax and changed the subject, “But anyway, all that stuff in the media doesn’t actually answer the real questions I have, like what’s your favorite color? Why did you think that mullet was a good look for you in high school? Yeah, the news channels love pulling out that photo of you in your yearbook.”

More silence greeted him and Cloud also fell silent again.

He kept his visitations up, he kept asking Zack random things, but got bored of not having anything answered and soon ran out of things he wondered about without repeating himself. So instead, he used Zack as a way to vent his frustrations with work, and some of the people he had to engage with.

“Did you know that Mr. Storgeno wanted all blue cocktail umbrellas? Well, I didn't either, until he opened up the box right in front of me and started complaining about it. Like I packed that box myself and purposefully put green and red umbrellas into the packet, just to spite him. Kinda wish I had,” he finished in a mutter.

He had many more stories to tell about how he—the messenger—got shot, in the proverbial sense. Venting like this made Cloud feel lighter every time he left the hospital at the end of his day.

That was Cloud’s life; struggle to wake in the mornings, struggle to stay awake in the day during work, dealing with pleasant and unpleasant people alike, and then dropping by the hospital on the days it was on his roster, to chill out before going home where he’d have a battle to shut off in order to get a good night’s sleep.

The days and weeks passed. The military continued their stance of keeping quiet to protect national interests, and so, public interest diminished. The media in front of the hospital dwindled, there were no more sensational headlines, and news of Zack Fair faded into the background and complete obscurity as the months Zack spent in hospital turned to 3.

Cloud still caught sight of the occasional military uniform, much to his chagrin. He managed to avoid them mostly, and came and went undetected as Zack’s security didn’t seem very dedicated to their job, especially as the public no longer had any interest in the man stuck in the ICU ward.

It was one unremarkable evening; Cloud had finished all his deliveries, bar one. Exhaustion clung to him, weighing him down. He went to the coffee station on his way to Zack’s room, pulling his hat over his face as he passed the goons, who stood near the coffee station, cups in hands.

“Did ya hear that they’re gonna continue paying him an on-active-duty wage? The guy’s barely alive from what I’ve seen,” grumbled a burly military man into his cup of coffee.

“And here we are, gettin’ paid less than the guy we are here to guard. Just makes ya wanna spit,” the smaller of the two men responded.

“I’ll tell ya what, Biggs, if I were in charge of the budget I’d find better things to spend it on. Why’s he even need all this special attention? Stick him in the public sector. My sister-in-law’s a nurse over at the fifth district. Says they have all the same equipment.” “The big wiggs gotta put on a show. Make it look like they actually give a shit about their employees. Makes for a hella PR stunt.”

“Ya don’t think the whole thing was a setup to begin with, do ya?”

"No clue. They tell us jack shit."

Cloud had enough. He slapped on a lid for his coffee rather violently and spilling nearly half his drink. Hissing, he grabbed for napkins to mop up the mess and dry himself off a little. He felt eyes on himself and lowered his head, as well as turning away slightly. He unfortunately still heard it though—

"Ya heard the rumors that General Strife’s son doing deliveries around here, haven’t ya?"

Cloud's nostrils flared.

"Deliveries…” a derisive laugh followed. "Is that the only thing that kid's good for? If that was my son I’d be disappointed. I heard everyone in that family has some foot in the army. To be doing deliveries," disappointed tutting followed.

"I know what ya mean."

The voices sounded louder as if directed at Cloud. He threw the soiled napkins in the bin and rushed off, coffee and bouquet in each hand, heading down the hall and away from the muttonheads.

He barged into Zack’s room, dumped the bouquet at the foot of the bed and started pacing.

“How dare those jerks talk about you like that. After all you did. This is what I hate. The backstabbing, two-faced bullshit. Being treated like a number and a burden!"

He was in full swing—pacing around the room and fuming. “I can see it in their smug, douchey faces, you know. The derision. The pity. I don't need anyone's pity. I never asked for anyone's pity. And they throw that same shit at you. At least you can't see or hear it. You're a national hero, but they try to brush you off like you don't exist. Like you're broken. That's what they all do, you know. If you don't cut it they cut you off, and let you go." Cloud stomped, his hands flew around wildly gesticulating as he kept ranting, "They love nothing more than to hammer home what an epic disappointment you are to the whole fucking family,” he slammed his fist into the wall with a low growl. The pain radiated up his arm. It helped to sober him up and cool him off a little. He breathed furiously and stared at the wall, which had become rather blurry through the tears welling up in his eyes.

He listened to the buzzing of machinery in the room. His ragged breathing and the steady beeping of Zack’s heart rate monitor cut through the slight ringing in his ears. Yet the beeping sounded a fraction faster than what it had been before.

“Sorry,” Cloud muttered and turned back to face the room. He stared at Zack's unchanging body for a while before he shuffled back toward the comatose man. Picking up the bouquet as he went, he sank down into the now-familiar chair and placed the flowers on the table where he should have put them to begin with. “I hate it, y’know. I hate what you do and the organization you work for. And if you were to wake up right now—well, I'd hate to think that I’d probably hate you too.” His heart felt heavy. Most of all he hated that it was the truth. As upset as he felt right now, he wasn’t saying this to be vindictive; nothing but honesty left his mouth.

He gave a hard stare at the man on the bed before him. His face was turned away, and Cloud thought it for the best as he spoke in a slow, semi-whisper, “A part of me hopes you won’t pull through.” He cast eyes to the floor. He felt awful admitting it. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this. And most of all, I don’t wanna know you because… because if I got to actually know you through something other than the media, I'd probably end up really liking you. It's easy to hate you when they espouse you to be the poster child of the military. I don't want to like you. I don't want to hate you. Fuck, I don't know." Cloud clutched his head, flinging off his hat and rubbing at his hair furiously. "I don't mean that. I'd rather think the best of you, really. But…" he sighed, "you also don't seem like someone I would ever get along with. Everyone seems to love you—I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a room so full of flowers and get-well wishes on cards. You know, the cleaners have to clear out your room once a week to stop this place from becoming a jungle? That's how much people like you. I mean, I don't know if they are from personal friends and family, but… it doesn't even matter. It’s been three months and you still get so much love showered your way. You're like an amazing poster child. The media made it sound like you were a prodigy; super good at your job; such a bright future ahead of you. That's what I hear the shitheads outside say about you too—the ones who envy you. That's what it is, you know, jealousy and envy. And I know because…” he huffed. “But here you are, nearly dead. Bet no one envies that.. Bet they wouldn't have the guts to be the kind of guy you were—are. I don't even know whether you're dead or alive. All I know is that you're everything I hate in a person. You're everything I wish I could have been. Shit. I don't know. I'm just ranting, ignore me." Cloud sat up straight and replaced his hat.

With a heavy sigh, he continued, “It’s a pretty shit way to feel about someone, especially since I don't even know you. Look, I guess all I know is that from everything I've seen and heard, you sound… really irritating. I guess it’s not the fairest assessment to be making about a person.” Cloud, leaning back down to rest his forearms on his thighs, knit his fingers together and stared at his hands. “I probably sound like a real asshole. I guess I am. And to be honest, if you woke up and I found out you were somewhat of an asshole, that would make me like you more. It would give you a redeemable quality.” Cloud huffed out some sad amusement and looked up at the man he had just admonished. “Or maybe I want you to be an ass so I can feel better about myself.”

He righted himself from where he had slumped. “But all that being said… I actually kind of do hope you pull through. I’m not evil. Or maybe I am.” Cloud cast a glance toward the currently frosted-over privacy windows that looked into the ICU ward. “I want you to prove everyone out there wrong. It’s disgusting the derisive pity and platitudes they all spout. I'm sure you deserve better than that. I'm sure you don't need their shit.” Cloud sighed and picked up the coffee cup he had set down amongst the bouquets. He took a sip and grimaced. “And I'm also pretty sure I deserve better coffee than this.” He aimed and threw the cup toward the bin near the door. He hit his mark and collected himself so he could walk out of the room with an air of aloofness.

“Anyway, good chat, I guess. See you later.”

_____________

Deciding he didn't want to take on his colleagues workload, as he felt rather run down, he arrived very early in the afternoon at the hospital. Cloud wandered down the hospital hall, carrying another bouquet to its usual destination and felt rather anxious. The thought of how long it had actually been since his delivery recipient had landed in the ICU began bothering him. The fact that Zack was still in the same state as the first day Cloud had done his delivery grew disconcerting for him. Yes, the man didn’t need a machine anymore to help him breathe; yes, several more of the intensive care equipment had slowly been moved out of the room, but Zack was still there. Was he brain-dead? Was he improving? Cloud tried to not think about the other man too much, but lately it ate into his sleep and he could feel the onset of another unwell period settling in. He hated how he could practically feel himself slipping into the prodromal phase of his condition. He needed to get some good sleep tonight if he hoped to not crash and burn in the morning. So he stopped by the nurse's station to see if he could get some information.

“Evening Simon,” he said of the man dressed in dark scrubs and a hazel complexion.

“Hi, Cloud. That's another very lovely bouquet you got there.”

“Aerith is a master when it comes to this stuff. I don't think any of the ones I've brought in have been the same.”

“I think you're right. But what can I do for you? You don't make a habit of stopping by for a chat.”

“Ah, just wanted to know how Zack was doing. He's still in the ICU after all this time. That doesn't seem right. Will he be okay?”

Simon looked past Cloud to where Zack's room was. “Considering how on a knife's edge he was, he's doing remarkably well. He's been such a delight, it's almost a shame that we'll be moving him next week.”

Cloud stared, baffled by everything the other man has just said. “He's being moved?”

“Yeah. Getting his own private area, up on the fifth floor of the residential rehabilitation wing. It’s pretty nice up there.”

“Wouldn't he be better off staying down here?”

“No. He's out of imminent danger. Plus, he’s been asking to be moved for the last two weeks.”

“A-asking? But he's out cold.” A sinking feeling grew.

Simon looked confused. “He's been pretty vocal. For someone in his shape, he's been remarkably upbeat these past few weeks. You don’t know that he’s awake?”

If it were possible to feel sea-sick on land, Cloud experienced it at that moment. “No.” The nurse hummed. “Maybe you keep coming in when he's sleeping?”

Cloud really hoped that was what was going on, but his brain went to the worst-case scenario; mocking betrayal. “Yeah. Must be it.”

Cloud took his leave and headed to the room. The windows were frosted over for privacy. As he approached a man with raven hair, and a woman with ebony curls, and an olive complexion, exit the room. They didn't appear to be the regular military personnel; wearing casual clothes as the sting of winter had gone.

As the parties passed each other the woman stopped Cloud in his tracks. “Excuse me, are those for my son?”

Cloud looked toward Zack's room and back at the couple, both of which were a good five inches taller than himself. “A delivery for Zack Fair.”

The man and woman gave him big, good-natured smiles.

“So you must be Cloud,” she said.

Strangers knowing his name always unnerved him. “Ahhh, yeah—that's me,” he answered warily. Cloud had his hand taken and shaken in turn by both of them.

“We can't thank you enough for keeping our son company. We know that it means a lot to him.”

Indignation started to build, but he kept his cool. “There's nothing to thank me for.”

“Oh, come now. Don't be so modest,” the rather-fit-for-a-middle-aged man said, smiling broadly. He clapped Cloud on the shoulder.

“You have been such a great help to our Zack. Thank you,” the woman looked to want to pull Cloud into a hug, but the flowers he held seemed to dissuade her, to Cloud’s relief.

“If we can ever repay you for the kindness, please let us know,” the man said.

“Oh, n-no, that’s not… I’m just doing my job,” Cloud stammers lightly.

He received more warm smiles an ‘thank you’s before the woman urged, “Dear, we should be leaving, and let Cloud get on with his work.”

“Right, right. Thank you again for looking after our son.”

With that the couple hurried off, leaving Cloud staring at the now offending room before himself. He thought about not going in. He'd obviously been played. But he had a job to do, so he inhaled sharply and ventured forward.

On opening the door he was greeted by a wholly unfamiliar voice, “Hey, mom, pop did you—”

Cloud stood in the doorway, glaring daggers

The bright smile vanished even before the sheets were flung over the bedridden man's head and the lump under the blanket shuffled flat against the mattress. Faux snoring sounded moments later.

Cloud stood and his hard-as-steel glare broke at the ridiculousness of the scene playing out before him. It might have been amusing if Cloud wasn’t getting red hot with anger and embarrassment.

He closed the door behind himself and moved toward the bed, a frown playing on his lips. He went to the bed and dropped the flowers on the tray table, making the flimsy plastic rattle. “Another bouquet from Aerith,” was his business-as-usual greeting.

Cloud received no response other than the snoring quieting down a little. He glared and made a snap decision. “I’m not coming back here.” Humiliation burned. Cloud turned to flee the situation and feelings. He’d rather quit his job than make one more delivery to this place. He was going to tell Tifa as much.

“No, Cloud. I’m sorry. I’m an asshole, I know. But that’s why you should stay,” came the hasty and guilty admission in a low, rusty timbre.

Cloud stopped before he reached the door. Without turning back he agreed with the man, “You are an asshole.”

“But it’s my redeemable feature, right?” Zack laid out gently.

It took all of Cloud’s energy to keep his body from trembling with outrage and mortification. How long had this bastard been faking it? “Does Aerith know that you’re awake?” he got out through grit teeth, wanting to know how deep this farcical ruse went.

A few beats of silence. And then, “She visited last week,” came the muttered response.

The outrage erupted. An actual growl rumbled in the back of CLoud’s throat. Through grit teeth, he snapped, “And?”

“Aaaand—we talked and had a really nice time,” came the small, chastened voice.

Cloud huffed, sharply. His clenched fist trembled and his heart hammered. The flash of heat inside his body sprang to his cheeks. He thought he could die from embarrassment. She had known. He had seen her this late morning and she had said nothing to him. He didn’t know who he was madder at. “Good luck with your life,” he spat over his shoulder, without looking at the bane of his existence, and marched to the door.

“I’m so sorry,” came the plea. “Please don’t leave. Let me ex—”

Cloud slammed the door behind himself and hurried out, ignoring any looks or questions of concern he received. His whole body trembled with burning outrage by the time he got to the car. He couldn’t go back to work to drop the van off. He couldn’t face Tifa without snapping at her and unleashing all his anger at her, because she must have known as well.

Cloud went home and passed out in his bed.

#clack #zakkura #FFVII Modern AU #fanfic #sneakpeek #first chapter #hospital #military #cloud strife #zack fair #tifa lockhart #aerith gainsborough

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stillthewordgirl · 5 years ago

Text

LOT/CC fic: In My Life

Sara Lance said goodbye to Leonard Snart nearly two years ago, before he sacrificed himself for his Earth-X self's future.

But goodbyes aren't always forever. And love doesn't always hurt. And, sometimes, even a crook and an assassin can get a happy ending.

This is for @larielromeniel. <3

It's a sequel to "Did You Lose What Won't Return," and I highly suggest reading that first. We've planned a follow-up for a while, but life got in the way. (Who knows? There still might be more to come!) That story, I know, broke a lot of people’s hearts. I promise you, though, there’s nothing but happy CC endings (and beginnings) here. ;)

Many thanks to Pir8grl!

Read “Did You Lose What Won’t Return” here on AO3.

Read “In My Life” here on AO3.

Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life, I'll love you more

-- “In My Life,” the Beatles

The Waverider looks the same.

Leonard stands there, in the empty lot the ship is parked in, and stares at it. It doesn’t seem like it should look the same. Nothing…nothing else is the same, after all. He self-consciously rubs his right hand up and down his left arm, noting that it, also, feels the same.

But it’s not.

“What’s the hold up, mate?” Leonard jerks forward as the trench-coated Brit pokes him in the shoulder, smirking as he turns to glare. “You’ve been gone a while, I get that, but I’d think you’d be running on board, not standing here staring.” The smirk modulates into a leer. “She’s on there, you know. Only one right now, with everyone else off on shore leave. You’ll have lots of privacy.”

He vaguely—very vaguely—remembers the man from before. From that interlude they tell him, now, was nearly two years ago. The span of hours his consciousness—his soul, they say—had surfaced, separate from the man called Leo.

The man who is now in possession of his…their…body, while Leonard…

He catches himself rubbing his arms again. Stops.

“She’s not expecting…me,” he mutters. “You really…you should have warned her.”

Those words do make the man—John Constantine—pause, an odd expression flitting over his face.

“Maybe,” he acknowledges, after a moment. “Maybe. But you heard Leo. Once the experiment worked…well, there was no good reason for waiting around and lots of reasons not to. Don’t you want to go home?”

Home. Leonard stares at the Waverider again, feeling totally at sea.

The man besides him sighs.

“Go on, mate,” he says, a little more gently. “Tear off the bandage. I remember how you kissed her, back when…well. You’ve got a second chance now. Take it, right?”

Leonard doesn’t move. “You said, though…there was someone…”

Constantine eyes him, pulling a cigarette out of nowhere and passing it back and forth between his hands.

“For Sara?” he says finally. “Yeah. After you…Leo…left. But that’s done now.” He winces a little. “Didn’t end well, really.”

It hurts. Of course, he didn’t want Sara to sit around pining, but… “So, what?” Leonard asks, knowing his voice is harsh. “I’m the consolation prize now?”

That gets a scowl. “Look,” the warlock says tersely, pointing the cig at him. “What and who you are now…it wasn’t without risk. To me, to…my counterpart…to Leo himself. A lot of people worked on this. You gonna throw it away? That’s up to you. But I think you owe it to all of us…and to yourself…to go talk to the woman on this ship. She deserves to know you’re back.”

“Kind of,” Leonard mutters despite himself, making a fist. Feeling the lack of scars on his palm.

“Kind of,” Constantine acknowledges. “In all the ways that matter, mate.” He sticks the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and shakes his head. “Well. Good luck. I’ll be back with the others in a few days. See you then.” He shrugs. “Or not.”

Despite how disconcerted Leonard is, and how irritating he finds the other man capable of being…well, he also didn’t think he’d be walking back on board this ship alone. “You’re not…”

Another flash of sympathy. “Mate, I think this is the kinda thing you need to do yourself.”

It’s not much of a surprise, really, that Leonard’s back on the Waverider only a moment when he hears a familiar voice lift to greet him.

“Mr. Snart,” Gideon says quietly, as he stops. “Leonard. Welcome back.”

He can’t help himself. “Is it back?” he asks her, knowing there’s a little bitterness there. “Really?”

The AI is quiet so long that he nearly starts walking again. But when Gideon speaks again, there’s enough irritation in her tone that Leonard’s taken aback.

“You ask me that, Mr. Snart?” she asks. “Me? Truly? Whether it is your…your shell…that matters or the spirit or soul inside? You know better than that.”

When she puts it like that… “I didn’t think of it that way,” Leonard admits, shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. “It’s just…”

Gideon capitulates, tone gentling again. “…odd, I’m sure,” she acknowledges. “Especially as, yet again, you didn’t think you’d ever be returning here.”

“No. I didn’t.” They share a moment of quiet before the AI sighs.

“Captain Lance is in her office, Mr. Snart,” she tells him. “I have warned her there is a…a visitor…on the ship. What sort of visitor, well…”

“That’s up to me. Right.”

Gideon, having informed Sara that she has a visitor onboard, promptly refuses to say any more, other than that the person is not a security risk. Sara, irritated, nearly gets up to go investigate anyway, but eventually decides in a fit of pique that on the AI’s head (so to speak) be it. She stays in the office, going through Rip’s old papers, trying to decide which can be safely put in storage, which to digitalize, and which to keep in the file cabinets.

So, when there’s a hesitant step at the door, it takes her a moment to even glance up. Since they’re in Central City, it’s probably just a member of Team Flash. Maybe Iris, or Caitlin. Mick or Ray could have told them where the Waverider was parked.

Just about the last thing she expects to see is the tall, lean shape that pauses just inside the office, backlit just a little because Sara has the lights low, facing her but coming no farther.

Even now, her heart gives a single, painful “thump” at the sight, but her heart, Sara knows, is a liar. Leonard is gone, giving up his second chance so that Leo could live on with his Ray and his Freedom Fighters on Earth-X. He’s gone. And he won’t be back. She’s had nearly two years to come to grips with that, not to mention the time before that. After the Oculus.

“Leo?” she asks after a second, having hastily gathered up all those feelings and shoved them back in the mental box she keeps them in. “Are you OK? Is Ray…?”

The figure takes a step forward, and Sara gets to her feet, allowing one of her knives to slide from her sleeve into her hand. Sure, Gideon had said this…this person is OK, but Leo would have simply sauntered in, smiling at her, by now. And she remembers all too well the Legion Leonard who’d thrown things into such turmoil.

“Leo?” she asks again, tone tight. “Say something. What’s going on?”

Another step. And Sara blinks, as the figure’s face and eyes suddenly become more visible, as is the intent expression directed at her.

“Sara,” he says, voice low and uncertain. “I…”

The words trail off, but Sara is suddenly just as sure as she’d been back during the institution incident.

She’s looking at Leonard Snart, the one and only Earth-1 original.

Leonard, in the month or so he’s been “back,” has become quite steady on his feet. Certainly, they wouldn’t have let him go if he’d been as wobbly as he’d been at first.

But now, having subsided into a chair in the captain’s office…Sara’s office…on the Waverider, he feels every bit as shaky as he had when he’d first woken up in a new body, there on Earth-X, staring up at a face that was the twin to his own.

That was his own.

Sara, having made sure he’s steady enough in the chair, brings him a glass of water, but he doesn’t miss just how white her knuckles are as she hands it to him, nor how still her expression is. She sits down across from him, still silent, and watches as he takes a drink.

Leonard sighs. “I told them someone should warn you,” he says, staring down into the glass. “I know things were…”

Sara stirs, then. “Who’s ‘them?’” she interrupts, not without a thread of uncertainty.

“Leo,” Leonard informs her promptly. “Ray…his Ray. The Ray. That Constantine guy. The magician from Earth-X.” He glances upward. “And I’m told Gideon was in on it too.”

Sara follows his glance, but her expression is…well, murderous. Gideon must agree, to some extent, because she speaks up promptly, sounding a touch unsettled.

“Not…quite,” she says carefully. “I replicated and sent along some technology native to the Waverider, at Leo Snart’s request. He’d contacted Mr. Constantine and Mr. Rory,” she adds hastily at Sara’s continued silence. “And Mr. Constantine took it over with him on a visit. Neither I nor Mr. Rory know what became of the request.”

“Mick was in on it?” Leonard asks in surprise.

“Again, to some extent. He knew that Leo…”

But Sara holds up a hand then. “Just…before anything else,” she says, carefully looking elsewhere before letting her eyes dart over to Leonard. “I need…is it you? The real…”

She stops. Leonard hesitates. Is it? he thinks. Is it really him? But Gideon’s words from before stand, and he nods, meeting Sara’s eyes.

“Yeah,” he says. “It is.”

“How?!”

Sara just can’t help it. The single word explodes out of her, as she sits there and stares at this Leonard, who looks just the same and still somehow not, though she can’t put her finger on precisely how.

And this Leonard gives her a rueful smile. He puts down the water glass and puts his hands down on her desk, palms down, long fingers splayed, and stares at them.

“I’m...a clone, I guess you’d say,” he murmurs. “Product of Waverider tech and the Earth-X tech that helped create Red Tornado.” He glances up at her, eyes cautious. “And then...well, Constantine and their Zatanna went about, well, banging on doors in Leo’s head until they...woke me up. And they...shoved me in here.”

“He’s asleep,” Sara remembers Leo saying, all that time ago, after John had put Leonard’s reawakened soul back into hibernation inside their shared body. Leonard’s choice, that had been, well and truly, a sacrifice for his other self, but not without regrets...

“They didn’t ask?” she blurts out, thinking suddenly of how it’d felt to be pulled out of...wherever she’d been, after she’d died, and thrust back into a repaired body. “Are you OK?”

Leonard blinks and then looks...well, he looks gratified. Like no one else had asked that, expecting him to simply be grateful for all the trouble they’d gone through, grateful to be back. And to be honest, there are few people who get the other side of that better than Sara.

After a moment, he shrugs. “I’m...all right,” he says, watching her carefully. “They did ask, sort of, but I wasn’t very...coherent, at that point. And once they mentioned...”

He stops short, and Sara wonders...but only briefly, because he starts speaking again, glancing down at his hands. “I’m still getting used to it. Most of the muscle memory...it’s gone, and so are the scars.” His hands close into loose fists, and he turns them from side to side before looking back up at her.

“I’m younger,” Leonard admits. “Now. Physically, anyway. Closer to you. Lots of the damage taken over the years, it’s gone too."

And that’s good, that’s great, but...Sara nods, slowly. “But it was your damage,” she says, meeting his eyes. “And it’s weird without it.”

“Yeah.” The corner of his mouth ticks up, and for the first time, she sees him really relax, at least a little. “Shoulda known you’d get it.”

“You know I do, crook.” The nickname slips out before she can stop it, and Sara glances away, clearing her throat. “Why didn’t someone come with you?” she manages. “Help explain all this? That’s not much like Leo, honestly.”

Leonard makes a thoughtful noise. “He wanted to,” he admits. “But there was a bit of an uprising, some remnants of the Reich, I’m told. Leo said to assure you that they’ve got it, but they wanted me safely out of it for now.” His expression darkens. “Especially after they...put a lot of...work into me.”

Sara stares at him. “Leo didn’t say that.” It’s not a question, but... “Did he?”

He seems to shake himself, giving her another of those rueful smiles. “No. I guess I just...felt like a liability instead of a help, to them. Didn’t like it much.” He shrugs. “Your...Constantine came with me. From Earth-X. But he seemed to think I needed to do this myself.”

Sara snorts, an expression of exasperation that she knows she uses a lot when it comes to John. “Of course he did.”

They share a smirk, then, before apparently realizing yet again how awkward this all is. Leonard looks back down at his hands, and Sara looks too, realizing just how many tiny scars and lines have vanished.

“May I?” she murmurs, reaching out before she can stop herself.

After a breath, he nods, and Sara picks up his right hand gently, running her thumb across the palm, hearing his intake of breath. But it doesn’t seem to be an uncomfortable one, so she continues, gently stroking the long, nimble fingers, feeling the relative lack of callous and scar tissue.

Rebirth, she thinks. So like her own, in some ways. Another thing they have in common, now.

Eventually, Leonard clears his throat, and Sara glances up, realizing just how dark and intent his eyes are as they stare at her. Realizing she’s really, err, been making love to his hand, she drops it quickly, glancing away—and then gets up to cross the room again, pulling out two glasses and a bottle, one of the few remaining from Rip’s collection.

“Scotch?” she asks, staring down at the bottle, trying to calm her heart rate.

“Please.”

When Sara returns to the desk, she doesn’t bother sitting down behind it again. Instead, she hands Leonard his glass and then hooks another chair with her foot, pulling it over and near his own, taking that one. This time, when she sits down, they’re close, more on an even footing, knees almost brushing.

More than close enough to touch.

They both drink, and Sara hears him sigh again, though it seems to be a content sound. Blue eyes dart to hers over the top of his glass, and she sees that rueful smile again.

“I heard,” he murmurs. “About Rip. I’m sorry.”

Sara sighs. She holds her glass up then, in a clear toast, and he clinks his against it before they take another drink together, a tribute to the man who’d once owned the libation.

“He wasn’t perfect,” Sara says quietly, looking down into the amber liquid. “But...none of us are. And without him, we wouldn’t...well...I don’t know where I’d be.”

“Same.” Leonard takes another drink, glancing over at her. “Mick,” he says suddenly, and it’s not quite a non sequitur. “Mick’s OK?”

“He’s fine.” Sara smiles a little. “I think he’s off rambling around with Charlie right now. Charlie...now, she’s an interesting addition to the team. I...” She catches herself. “Well. There will be time. Later.” She looks over at Leonard, who looks slightly amused. More like himself, really, like the man she remembers and less like the unsettled and unsettling stranger who’d first appeared in the doorway.

Maybe that’s why she takes that particular plunge next.

“Well. So. Ah,” she says, carefully if somewhat nonsensically. “You remember...what do you remember?”

The blue eyes grow a little hooded as Leonard studies his scotch. Then he sighs.

“Everything,” he admits. “I think. At least from when I was...me. I remember my life, up to...to the Oculus.” He glances over at her, and Sara throttles back the memory of desperation and the realization of what was happening…what she couldn’t stop from happening. And a kiss.

“The Oculus,” Leonard repeats, still holding her gaze. Is it her imagination or did his eyes grow darker? “Then...waking up after the weirdest dream, and…seeing you.”

His voice trails off. And his eyes are definitely darker, warm and intent on her. And Sara remembers.

“You gonna make love to me, Leonard?" she’d murmured into his ear, running her fingers down his spine and feeling him sigh under her touch. "You better be a hell of a thief."

Oh. He remembers too, remembers their night together, the gift Leo had given them. Sara feels her face heat again, but she holds his gaze a long moment before clearing her throat. The office feels a little too warm, a bit too stuffy, and she remembers so very clearly the taste of his lips, the feel of his hands on her body, the way he’d said her name as…

Sara tosses back the remainder of her scotch, then drags in a deep breath. “I…” she starts hesitantly, gathering her courage—only to realize that Leonard’s looking away again. And when he looks back a moment later, his eyes that seem to have their walls up again, walls she hadn’t yet seen in this new version of him.

“Hey,” he says, looking away, voice quiet. “It’s OK. There’s no pressure. I get it; things have changed.” He closes his eyes as Sara blinks at him. “I can head into the city, look into getting some ID, maybe...”

But he shuts up as Sara, unwilling to let this confusion go another second—hey, she’s learned something in the past few years--snakes a hand behind his head, pulls him toward her, and kisses him. Hard.

It gets out of hand pretty much immediately, but they’re both OK with that.

By the time they come up for more than a breath of air, Sara is sitting in Leonard’s lap, arms wrapped around his neck, their foreheads still touching. Her shirt is completely unbuttoned, and the skirt she’d been wearing is rucked up around her waist. Leonard’s hands are, at the moment, still, high on her thighs…where his questing fingers had accidentally brushed against a (fortuitously sheathed) hidden knife, drawing a startled oath from him and a peal of laughter from Sara.

He’s still mostly clothed, though he’s pretty sure Sara has definite plans for remedying that. For the moment, though, they’re just breathing, watching each other, unwilling to let go but needing that momentary break for, well, oxygen purposes.

Leonard can’t deny a sense of gratitude that Sara hadn’t let him persist in what had, apparently, been quite a misconception. He pulls back just a little, far enough to look in her eyes, marveling.

“Oh,” he says, finding a real smirk for one of the first times since his…rebirth. “I guess you want me to stay?”

That gets another ripple of laughter. Sara closes her eyes, a slow smile spreading across her face before she opens them again.

“What was your first clue?” she teases back, but then shakes her head. “Why on Earth would you think I wanted you to leave?”

There’s a little pain in the question, and the last thing Leonard wants to do is exacerbate it. He hesitates a moment, then sighs.

“There was someone else,” he says finally, watching her. “For you. Constantine said so.” He takes a deep breath. “And I’m not...I’m not the same. It’s been a long time. And I haven’t been here. For you.”

It’s halting and not very eloquent, but Sara, he thinks, gets it. She nods slowly, still looking him in the eyes, but her hands holding him close don’t loosen at all. And when she speaks again, her words are just as thoughtful.

“There was,” Sara says quietly. “Someone. It didn’t work out. She...we wanted different things, ultimately.” She moves just a little, looking around at the room and the ship around them before glancing back at him. “The Waverider...it’s my home, Leonard. My home, my life, and my responsibility. It took me a little while to realize that, to know that I couldn’t be happy going back to a...a more normal life.”

There’s a question in the words, too, though maybe someone else wouldn’t have heard it. Leonard thinks about what Constantine had said before, studying him as he’d stared at the ship and tried to figure out what he was doing here.

“Don’t you want to go home?”

Maybe, he admits to himself, that smartass Brit is more perceptive than Leonard had given him credit for.

“Never had what I’d consider a normal life,” Leonard admits finally. “Don’t think I’d know what to do with one. But going back to...well, being the criminal king of Central City doesn’t have the same allure to it anymore, either.” He offers her a sly smile. “And I figure...maybe...that a team of troublemakers set on protecting the timeline might still need a hell of a thief.”

Sara’s answering smile makes his heart contract. “Definitely,” she whispers, shifting in a way that makes him catch his breath. “Very definitely. And someone who makes the captain...happy...is always a good idea.”

The room is warm. Very warm. Leonard clears his throat again, trying to clear his thoughts a little, moving his hands up and over her skirt and around to the small of her back.

“Happy, huh?” he murmurs, adjusting her a little and smirking at the sound she makes. “Just...happy?”

Sara’s eyes flicker closed. “Content,” she purrs. “Pleased. Satisfied.” Her eyes open a little, heavy-lidded in a way that makes Leonard lick his lips. “Euphoric.”

“Hmm. Hope I can live up to those lofty goals.” With barely a momentary tensing of muscles to warn her, Leonard stands, balancing Sara against him as she laughs and wraps her legs around his waist. “I think it just might be a good thing I’m a little younger now.”

Turning, he carries her to the doorway of the office, pausing only a moment before Sara steers him toward the captain’s quarters. While he’d once cased them for valuables during Rip’s tenure, that’d been a while ago—and Sara is doing her damnest to distract him now, kissing his jaw and neck as he tries to navigate.

“Younger, hmm?” she says playfully when he pauses. “Interesting. We should have some time, here…are you suggesting you might be up for a bit of a…marathon?”

Leonard’s startled into a chuckle. “Hey, you didn’t have any complaints about the older model before,” he objects, glancing over her shoulder as they approach the door.

Sara hums thoughtfully. Leonard looks down at her as she gently places a hand on the side of his face, noting the affection and emotion in her eyes along with a healthy helping of lust.

“I liked the older model,” she says quietly. “I like this one, too. Or perhaps I should say…I like the driver.”

Leonard carefully puts her down on her feet, there outside the door to her room, and sets his hands at her hips, feeling—just about for the first time--fully comfortable in this new body he’s inhabiting.

“So, you want to take me out for a test spin?” he asks suggestively, letting his hands drift a little south.

A smile tugs at Sara’s mouth. “I was thinking more like a lengthy road trip, perhaps.”

Leonard responds in the only way he can.

Gideon opens the door for them without comment.

At one point over the next few days, Sara asks Gideon to remind her when the time approaches for the team’s return. Just in case.

In all fairness, she figures, padding to the galley for a tray to take back to the room, she should be allowed to lose track of time for this, of all things. Right? It’s a miracle, really, Leonard’s return. And soon, she’s going to have to share him—in some ways, anyway. Not that that’s a bad thing—she can’t wait to see Mick’s reaction—but it’s still a thing.

To Sara’s great amusement, there’s already a tray waiting for her in the replicator when she arrives at the galley. She regards it a moment, studying the perfectly ripe strawberries, the chocolates, the cheese and sliced baguettes. There are even two glasses of what appears to be champagne, along with some glasses of spring water. The AI, it seems, might have a romantic streak.

“Thanks, Gideon,” she says, collecting it, turning to head back to the room. “Appreciate it.”

“You are welcome.” Gideon pauses, then says, tentatively “Are you…well, Captain Lance?’

Sara blinks, pausing. “Don’t I…seem well?”

“I keep an effort not to…listen in…on moments that should be private.” Gideon’s voice seems a little prim. “And frankly, that’s all there have been on this ship, lately.”

The laugh bubbles up before she can help it. “I suppose that’s true,” Sara admits, continuing on. “Yes, I’m well. And so is Leonard.” She can’t help the smile that lurks around her mouth then. “I think he just needs…refueling. And maybe a little rest.”

“As you say, Captain Lance.” Gideon’s tone is rather definitely amused now. “As a reminder, you have about 24 hours before the others return. Enjoy.”

“Oh, believe me. I intend to.”

They don’t get 24 hours, though. Later, Sara will figure it’s rather early the next morning when she hears voices in the hallways outside and Gideon’s resigned voice interrupting their sleep.

“Captain Lance,” she says regretfully. “You have visitors. And they seem to be…”

A familiar voice in the hall cuts in before she can finish. A very, very familiar voice.

“Captain Lance! Sara! Are you here?!”

Sara sits bolt upright, startled for a moment before the true identity of the voice’s owner gets through. Then she sighs, smiling a little, and reaches out to put a hand on the shoulder of the man who’s been sleeping besides her.

“Len,” she says quietly. “Wake up. I think someone wants to check on you.”

“Sara!” she hears again, worry clear in the tone.

A moment passes before her lover opens an eye. He doesn’t seem horribly enthused about the idea. “They had plenty of time to make sure all the parts worked before they sent me here,” he mutters after a moment. “What now?”

“I think we’ve had plenty of proof of that, too.” Snickering, Sara gets out of bed, reaching for a robe. “C’mon. I think we at least owe him some thanks and some reassurance, don’t you?”

Leonard growls, but he does follow her. Sara waits only a minute for him to grab a sheet and…arrange it…before she crosses the room and throws the door open.

Right in Leo Snart’s worried face.

“What?” she asks innocently, as he blinks at her. “Who on Earth are you looking for?”

Leo’s mouth drops open…and then, as Sara watches, he clearly sees Leonard approaching from behind her—presumably wearing nothing but his sheet.

“Yeah,” he says, just as innocently, reaching out to put a hand on Sara’s hip. “Who are you looking for?”

Leo’s mouth snaps shut. For once, he actually seems speechless.

Behind him, Ray Terrill closes his eyes, clearly trying to hold back laughter, and not very well. Opening them again, he nods in a friendly fashion to Leonard, who nods back.

“He was worried,” Terrill notes with amusement, glancing at his husband. “Things didn’t go at all the way he was planning. For once.”

Leonard shrugs. “Well, you know. Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails…”

His doppelganger recovers enough to glare at him, though amusement clearly shows through around the edges. “That’s an awful motto!” He shakes his head as Sara laughs, then gives Leonard a more even look.

“Ah,” he says with a sigh. “I see you made it here all right. As soon as we had things sorted, I meant to follow, but then we weren’t sure where you were…”

Sara eyes him. “You were worried?” She folds her arms. “I figured sending him off alone with John Constantine, of all people, was maybe a little…”

A voice rises again, then, from farther down the hall, and all four of the players in the little tableau roll their eyes.

“Do I hear my name being taken in vain?” Constantine asks, strolling down the hall with an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. He spots and studies them all—especially Sara and Leonard in their state of dress, or lack thereof—and then smirks. “Ha.”

Leo sighs at him. “When I asked you to bring him to Earth-1,” he says, rubbing his face with a hand, “I meant to wait somewhere for us to help explain what was going on.” He points at the unrepentant warlock. “Not to abandon him here to fend for himself and then fuck off to a bar. But Zatanna said that’s precisely what you did.”

Sara decides she wants to know more about this Zatanna, but John merely grins around his cigarette.

“What’s all the fuss, anyway?” he asks, removing the cig and glancing around. “Clearly, things went…well.” He leers at Leonard, who looks evenly back, and then shrugs.

“They needed to deal with this on their own,” John continues in his world-weary tone. “The more people around, the more time they’d spend staring at each other and coming up with reasons why they shouldn’t just kiss and fall into bed.” He points at Sara. “Am I right?”

Sara opens her mouth. Closes it. And then sighs, thinking that John’s going to be even more insufferable for the foreseeable future. “Pretty much.”

Leo looks like he’d like to argue, but very obviously shakes it off. He gives John another piercing look, then glances back at Leonard and Sara. “Everything worked all right, I take it?”

He obviously means their relationship, but…Sara actually giggles as John guffaws next to her and Terrill sighs.

“Perfectly,” Leonard drawls back at him. There’s a light in his eyes as Sara glances up at him, and it gleams even brighter as he pulls her just a little closer to him. “I gotta say…thanks.”

Leo smiles in return, and while there’s something that makes them look more like, say, twins than the split souls (wow, that’s still a weird thought) they are, at that moment, the gleam is very much the same.

“Good,” he says softly. “Good.” He looks over at his Ray, smiling, then back. “You are so very welcome. Make the most of it, will you?”

Memory crashes in, suddenly, and Sara draws in a breath.

"This is a gift, Sara, the most precious gift I could ever have been given," she remembers that same voice saying. "And I swear to you I'll make the most of it."

And now, he’s given her, them, a precious gift in return.

Leonard may not remember that promise from before, but he’s not so unobservant as to be unaware of the undercurrent. “Promise,” he tells Leo in return, voice just as serious.

Sara eyes them a moment, then decides that’s enough seriousness for such an occasion. She looks back down at a (nonexistent) watch on her wrist, then back up at the men around her.

“Well, boys,” she says, in a bit of a drawl of her own. “We still have some time until the rest of my chaos crew gets back here. John notwithstanding.” She looks up, smirking at Leonard, as John makes a cheerfully obscene suggestion in the background. “Sorry, but I have more time to make the most of, right now.”

And with that, she grabs a handful of Leonard’s sheet in her hand, winking at them all before turning and hauling him back in the room with her. The door shuts behind them, and Leonard promptly turns her grip around on her, backing her against the bed while Sara laughs out loud.

He kisses her, then pulls back just a fraction, watching her, blue eyes dark. Different, but still so very much her crook.

“I love you, Sara Lance,” he murmurs.

Sara smiles up at him, as somewhere inside, something that’s been wounded and bleeding for years finally starts to heal. “And I love you too.”

#captaincanary #legends of tomorrow #larielromeniel #LOT fic #captain canary

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milkcartonbastard · 6 years ago

Text

Demons Can Suck It

Fandom- The Umbrella Academy (Klaus Hargreeves)

Warnings- Violence, death descriptions, possession, and descriptions of past drug abuse.

Notes- Requests are open and really love The Umbrella Academy.

~~~~

Klaus had only ever seen one demon in his lifetime. Only one and that taught him everything he needed to know about them- not to fuck with demons. He'd read a few YA novels about people who fell in love with demons, who loved them despite their partners being 'incapable' of love. That crap sounded like some creepy brainwashing scam: Klaus knew the authors of those books had never seen real demon. He knew those authors had no idea what they were talking about.

Klaus had spent years trying to erase his unwanted visitor from his mind. He'd never meant to see it, never once even thought the word in his mind until it was too late. The demon hadn't even appeared to him in particular. The demon was attached to an older man, draining his life-force much faster than poltergeists or malevolent spirits had ever dreamed about.

As soon as Klaus- small, eleven year old, Klaus- had laid eyes on the demon, it turned and looked at him. Klaus felt the freezing temperature of its gaze sear into his soul. For some reason, Klaus could feel his body and soul blocking the demon's ability to leech onto his life-force. The demon seemed to take that as a challenge and left its original prey's side. Klaus could remember the oozing darkness surrounding the evil looking man- demon- and remembered the way its crooked fingers reached out for the collar of Klaus's uniform.

But that was so many years ago, so many drugs, liquor bottles, and overdoses ago that Klaus had almost forgotten the face of his living- undead?- nightmare. Especially with the whole 'End of The World' shebang happening- the main reason for Klaus's drug-abuse was forgotten. And then there was Dave, the promise of seeing the love of Klaus Hargreeves's life overshadowed any terrifying demon that Hell could throw at him. He wanted to get sober for Dave, which meant any reason for using was out of the window. Plus, the horror of losing Dave stained the back of Klaus's eyelids, meaning the grey face of that demon- who had haunted him for so long- was not pinned to Klaus's closed eyes like a family picture on a cork-board.

Maybe it wasn't just Dave that caused Klaus to forget the demon. Maybe it was the fact Klaus had started using soon after his cold-companion joined him. Which was true, Klaus had barely turned twelve when he'd discovered the sweet release of copious amounts of narcotics. He'd erased all of the spirits from his sight- demons included. Who knew drugs could shield demons from his eyes? His powers were muted for the first time in his life and he'd never felt better. Klaus regretted ever letting that go.

At least, in this moment he did.

When he'd woken up that morning, Klaus had been fine. He'd stretched his arms over his head, and reveled in the warmth that waking up with clothes on provided him. Sure, he hadn't slept the best, but this sobriety and recovery thing was full of baby steps. When Klaus had turned his face away from the wall beside his bed, he'd been met with the worst surprise of his life. Standing- hunched slightly at the shoulders- was the demon. Klaus's heart pissed in his lungs- fear spreading through him like a nuclear bomb. Klaus's knees began to tremble as soon as the demon wiggled his crooked fingers at him. The demon tutted, waving morbidly at the middle Hargreeves child.

Klaus dropped like a ton of bricks, a deflating balloon sound falling from his lips as he decended. Klaus was now sitting in the floor, his back pressed against his mattress and his bedside table. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his arms were locked around his torso. The blue flannel shirt he'd been sleeping in had his fists clenched in the material. He was shaking, absolutely petrified of what he was looking at.

The demon from so many years ago was standing against his closet, staring him down with a crooked smile. The Demon's void eyes stood out viciously from the dark circles under its eyes. Mutilations covered its face, making it look like Frankenstein before the stitches came into play. The gashes weren't bleeding, only open and red looking. Its skin was grey and the three inches of air that surrounded it was the purest shade of black that could have existed. Klaus watched the air spin and tumble around the demon like it was in a bubble.

Klaus opened his mouth to scream for help, to scream for somebody. Fuck, even if Luther was the only one to show up Klaus would be thankful. But what would they be able to do for him anyway? Shout at an empty space by a wall and look at Klaus like he was crazy? No, they probably wouldn't be able to do anything but try to unfold Klaus's limbs from himself and talk to him. Anything was better than be alone with the demon by his closet. Klaus tried to scream, but that deflating balloon noise was all that fell from his lips. He felt tears well up in his eyes and he felt ten again. He felt helpless and like he was locked back up in the mausoleum for the first time. Or the escape room. Klaus would have shuddered if he wasn't so paralyzed.

Just like the cherry on top of an already shit cake, the ghosts that lumbered around the Academy decided it was time for Klaus's morning torture. They appeared one by one- screaming incoherently and gesticulating wildly to Klaus. Klaus thought if he ever died and met someone who could see the dead, he would do them a favor and fuck right off and away from them. He wished the ghosts here would do the same thing.

"Oh, good. You're awa- Klaus? What's wrong?" Klaus's deflating balloon sound almost became one of relief when he heard one of his brother's voices. It was the late Ben Hargreeves, standing at the entrance of his room and staring at him with concern evident on his face. Klaus continued staring- his chest beginning to heave up and down with a new fight for oxygen.

"De-demon. Its back." Klaus breathed out the words, his mouth barely moving. But Ben heard the words as clear as day. Sure, he'd never heard Klaus mention a demon before, but he saw the look on Klaus's face. He was terrified and Ben felt like he would do anything for that look to go away. It almost made his still heart break.

Ben half expected for the demon to be a crimson red color or to have a scorpion's tail. When he looked at the demon, he was surprised to see a normal-ish looking man. The only demon-esque features on it were the two horns curling backwards on its head. They laid on its greasy hair, poking out of the black, oozing, aura around it. Ben never saw its black eyes leave Klaus's face or the twisted smirk on its lips fall.

"Conjure me and I'll get help, Klaus! Do you think you can do that?" Klaus inclined his head minutely and Ben went on. "Conjure me in fifteen seconds for as long as you need. I'll get help."

Ben took off, his ghost legs carrying his dead body as fast as they could. He knew everyone was at breakfast, since it was early in the morning and it was a habitual time that they ate. Even after Reginald died, some things didn't. Like the fact that nobody had set foot in his office since Klaus had stolen the box holding his research book and pawned it for cash. Grace was the only one who set foot in there- but only just to clean. Pogo still had free-reign, but he opted to avoid that part of the Academy.

Ben took the steps down two at a time- almost feeling like he was racing the others during practice or getting ready to go on an important mission. But he had a terrifying feeling deep in his gut. Klaus could see demons? There was a demon in Klaus's room? The words 'Its back' sent shivers tumbling down Ben's spine. How long had Klaus been facing that thing alone? Ben felt goosebumps explode over his skin and noticed that he was glowing blue. Klaus had conjured him up. Somehow it didn't feel like the other times Klaus had conjured him. The blue energy around him didn't feel rushed- it almost felt locked and secure. Yet, Ben wasn't so sure that was a good thing.

"Guys! Klaus needs help. Come on!" Ben skidded into the kitchen. Sure enough, all the siblings were sat around the kitchen table in their usual spots. The room was tinted blue from the Klaus's power connected to Ben. Sleepy faces turned up towards Ben's glowing blue form and their eyes widened in unison. Luther and Allison were sitting beside each other. Allison's white bandage was no longer on her throat. The stitches had healed wonderfully and there hadn't been any incidents with the wound splitting open. It was healed, but she still couldn't speak.

Diego was out of his seat and crossing to Ben before Five and Vanya had a chance to process the words coming out of Ben's ghostly cotton-candy colored mouth. Five lowered his cup of coffee, giving Ben a curious look. Vanya's hair was pulled back from her face and her eyes were barely opened from her short time being awake. Still, the words caused her to perk up tremendously.

Vanya had been training with the others to control her abilities. She was progressing a lot and could control them without her violin now, without going dark side. She was kind of like Thor after he lost Mjolnir and was able to control his powers without her. Klaus had been the one the make that comparison, which Ben laughed along with.

"Come on! Let's go!" Diego barked out the words and the others got moving. They all raced toward Klaus's room and Ben told them about the demon that had appeared to Klaus. They all quickly discovered that things weren't going to be easy. Ghosts illuminated in blue light were all over the halls and walking around. They were all screaming- the quiet house was quickly becoming an earful.

"What are those things?" Luther yelled over the screams. Everyone's hands were crushed against their ears, trying to dull the screams.

"They're what Klaus sees. They are the dead." Ben said. A weight fell on the siblings shoulders. That's what Klaus sees? Allison's mouth was agape. A little girl in a flowery purple dress was standing at the top of the stairs and looking down at them. Her mouth was twisted open in a wailing motion. All Allison could think of was her baby girl, Claire, millions of miles away from her. The little girl's dress was splattered with blood and her big, green, eyes were crying rivers of tears. Her throat was gashed open wide, like a second mouth wiggling out unheard words. Allison felt her own throat tighten at the sight.

"No wonder he's so... Klaus." Vanya's brown eyes were glossy as she tried not to look at the dead. The siblings kept going, pushing through the crowded hall. A scream sounded out- much louder than the other ones and much more emotional. It was Klaus, screaming from inside of his room.

Diego was the first to arrive, Ben a very close second. A man had Klaus pinned against the wall by his throat. Klaus's face was quickly turning a soft purple, the veins on his head were starting to rise and poke at the surface of his skin. He gasped, his mouth trying to form words. His hands were wrapped around the demon's, glowing a bright blue.

"Klaus!" Diego grabbed a knife by his side and slung it in the direction of the demon. The demon held its rotten hand up and deflected the small silver blade like it was a piece of paper. A dark, black, eye winked at Klaus before dropping him to the ground. Klaus scrambled, not even taking time to catch his breath. When the tip of his purple painted toe-nails left his room, the demon moved his finger in a single, fluid, motion and sent Klaus flying backwards. He crashed into his wall with all his writing on it. It crushed underneath him, sending spider-web cracks up towards the ceiling.

"Klaus!" Luther yelled and hurtled into the room. The demon flicked his finger and Luther was sent backwards too, knocking the others down and against the ground. Ben stood up first and snarled at It. The angry look wasn't a common one on the sixth child of the Academy's face. Ben threw a punch, his arm only managing to get twisted behind him and his body thrown against the wall.

"Get Klaus and go!" Diego hissed the words to Allison and Vanya before standing up again. He launched himself at the demon, sending knives spiraling through the air kicking madly. The girls grabbed Klaus by his arms and hauled him to his feet. The three darted out of the room while Luther and Diego kept the asshole's attention.

Allison hit Klaus's arm while they were running down the stairs and towards the exit. She made a face that said exactly what she was thinking: "Why is there a demon after you?"

"It can't feed off me and It's angry. I've been eating my body weight in crack since I was twelve, so It sorta disappeared for a while there!" Klaus dodged around the full-bodied spirits standing angrily in his home. The dead were still screaming and crying, something that Klaus was slowly getting used to. Vanya flinched every time a new scream echoed.

Suddenly, with a loud and unexpected cry, Luther was flung over the railing and began descending rapidly. Allison managed a quiet and strained gasp when his large body crushed the couch beneath him on impact. The three siblings hurried down the stairs and scrambled to check on him. He was brushing dust and wood chips off himself when Diego came flying over the railing too, just as fast and heavy. Luther's arms wrapped around his brother's torso and caught him before he landed and hurt himself on the glass coffee table that had been replaced since Hazel and Cha Cha had attacked the Academy. Diego gave an indignant huff before pushing Luther off him.

Like It hadn't even broken a sweat, the demon came floating over the railing and towards the ground. The cries of the dead sounded more panicked now, like they could sense something wasn't right. Klaus was pushed behind a dark clothed body, his older (number and relationship wise) brother standing protectively in front of him. The demon stared at them all, like It was plotting Its next move.

"Stop using your power! You're just making it worse." Five jumped in front of Klaus- coming out of his neat little portal. Klaus's hands were still lit up blue. He wasn't even doing it on purpose, either. He'd barely managed to conjure Ben up, but then had never been able to sever the connection.

"I can't! I'm not even trying to use it! I can't turn it off!" Klaus shouted out the words, panic lacing his voice. The demon's mouth regained that crooked smile It had earlier. It was hard to know exactly who It was looking at, but those fully black colored eyes locked on to Klaus. It wasn't until the demon moved forward that Klaus realized it wasn't him.

The demon took Diego's chin between Its forefinger and thumb and lifted Diego's face to match Its. The demon pressed Its lips quickly against Diego's and disappeared. Diego stumbled backwards, but Klaus wasn't close to him anymore. It was like Diego had a hologram inside of his body, shining blue and looking out at the room. Where the hologram's head moved, so did Diego's. They were in sync and Klaus felt sick.

"It's possessing Diego." Klaus strained the words out. Ben was staring, wide-eyed, with the rest of them. They all watched, dumbfounded, as Diego's arms moved up towards his face. He looked at his hands and arms with a new-found interest. Slowly, the blue and black hued demon twitched and flickered until it disappeared completely. Instead, blue veins began to race up Diego's tanned skin and under his black combat uniform.

"Holy shit." Five cursed out. Diego flexed his fingers and Klaus was lifted off the ground by an invisible hand. They all stood around, not knowing what to do to the demon since It was now inside their brother's body.

"What do we do now?" Vanya asked. She almost expected them to tell her she couldn't do anything, but then she remembered her newly trained ability and that she was in-fact part of the Umbrella Academy now, in all shapes and forms. Vanya looked at Five- hoping he'd give one of them an order.

"I was going to ask for this little cupcake and then leave, but you all feel so good and that's making me feel real good." Diego cracked a smile, his teeth now rotten and crooked like the demon's had been. Dark circles were under his dark eyes and the blue veins on his face were pulsing darker shades. "So I might just stick around."

"That is... so messed up..." Klaus choked out. His face was the same purple shade as before and he was thrashing madly. Vanya was staring at Diego, along with all the others, but she was listening to the screams of the dead, the noise wrapping around her mind. She felt her hair curl and uncurl slightly in the new, invisible, wind. She watched as she wrapped her invisible hands around Diego's body and threw him against the wall- not hard enough to cause damage to his body, but just enough to throw off the demon inside of him. Klaus immediately dropped to the floor, which prompted Five to wrap his arm around his midsection and jump with Klaus in his hold.

They reappeared in the garden house upstairs. Klaus was gasping, trying to get oxygen back into his airways. Five was crouched down and holding Klaus by his shoulders.

"Shut it down. You have to shut it down." Five motioned to the blue light shining from Klaus's fists. Klaus shook his head wildly.

"I don't know how- it's not like there's a manual to this!"

"Diego is in trouble! You have to!" Five was stern, but faltered when Klaus shook his head again, his wavy hair flopping around.

"That won't stop the possession! We have to split them apart, bu- but I don't think I can do that either." Klaus sobbed dryly, no tears appearing. He flexed his fingers outwards, flattening his hands out. The connection didn't even waver.

"Something is holding it open! I don't- I don't know!"

"Calm down, Klaus! Calm down. I'm taking us back and I need you-" Five grabbed Klaus's chin and made him focus on what he was saying. "I need you to focus on getting your powers under control. Understood?"

"Okay, okay. I'll try."

"Is there anything you think you can do to get rid of the demon? Anything that Dad taught you or made you study?" Five asked. Klaus stared at the intensity on his brother's face and began to calm. Five was making a plan and Klaus was going to listen. No more look-out business. The danger was already in the Academy and Klaus was going to have to be the only one who could really get rid of It.

Klaus thought about his powers and everything he knew about them. They didn't work with drugs!

"Drugs! I just need drugs! My pow-"

"No! The demon will just come back when you are sober and be pissed, right?" Five asked.

"Yeah, but it could give us time to prepare and research!"

"That's Plan Z. We are at Plan B and that is last case scenario. No drugs. Got it?" Klaus nodded compliantly. "Use the connection to your advantage."

With that, Five clapped his hands around Klaus's wrists and jumped back downstairs with his brother in tow. When they reappeared, it was a lot worse than when that left. Diego had black veins on his face and his eyes were that of the demon's. It clicked for Klaus that the demon was tainting the connection and had been since Klaus had opened it. Ben's blue hue was a much darker blue than the cotton-candy color it had been.

Klaus had been dropped off at the balcony, now being surrounded by the dead. Their colors matched Ben's. It was affecting all of them. The dead weren't focused on him. They were all standing at the edge, pressed against the railing, and had their mouths open in a constant scream. They were focused on the more powerful entity of their kind- Diego.

Klaus slunk backwards and pressed his back to the wall, crouching slightly. He thought back to all the trainings he had with Dad and his powers. He could see the dead, he could talk to the dead, he could conjure the dead, and he could see their deaths in live action if he wanted. These were the talents he knew he had, but that was it. How was he supposed to get the demon out of Diego?

Like a cruel answer to his question, Vanya came flying over the railing of the balcony, over hanging the living room, and landed next to him. She sputtered for a second and gasped. Luther was charging Diego now, so the demon's focus on Vanya went away. Klaus thanked the little girl up in Heaven, riding her bicycle around and hating Klaus's face.

"Vanya! I need you for this." Klaus turned to her, still crouching, and held his hands out. She took them and began to crouch with him.

"Okay."

"You can drain energy, we've seen it during practice. I need you to drain Diego and his new guest while they are together. I have to split them apart and sever the connection. Okay?"

"I don't know. I get energy out of that and I have nowhere to send it. I could bring the whole place down." She was suddenly just as panicky as Klaus had been with Five. Klaus had this feeling swimming in his gut and he new it was because he saw her as a younger sister. He hadn't when they were younger, only because he had been high all the time and saw everyone as a rather bad buzzkill. He took her hands, just as Five had done with him.

"You shouldn't get a lot of energy from this, because you don't need to drain them. You just need to weaken them. Use the energy to pin the demon against the wall when I separate them, so that it doesn't jump into another one of us. Do you think you can hold onto the energy until I get them split?"

Luther came sailing over head and crashed into the wall a little farther down. He waisted no time brushing the plaster off of himself and jumping back down to the living room. Vanya sucked in a breath and nodded slightly.

"Okay. I think I can do it. Let's go before he throws Luther at us again."

Klaus grinned and grabbed her hand. They snuck down the staircase that went to the kitchen and would spit them back out into the main hall, where they could enter the living room. Once there, Vanya concentrated on the erratic beating of Diego's heart. The demon was busy trying to block Five's blows that were only meant to distract it.

Vanya began to feel energy piling up on her chest, it wasn't a lot at all, so she kept pulling. A white line had them connected now and Five was sending more blows, landing a couple. Diego's blocks were beginning to get sloppy and Vanya kept pulling. The beating of his heart was slowing and she kept her focus.

The black veins covering Diego began to lighten up. They were a deep violet now and his eyes began to flicker. Klaus needed to split them now, so Vanya could pin the other before she hurt Diego.

Klaus clenched his fists now, focusing on the connection and the two spirits stuck together. He could feel the demon's spirit, but not Diego's. He kept searching, coming up with nothing. It wasn't working. Klaus felt his control over his powers flicker, the connection the demon had stuck open was still that- stuck open and as tainted as ever.

"Klaus! Klaus, come on!" Ben was yelling at him near by. Diego's eyes snapped to Klaus and Vanya now, understanding why Five was beginning to get the best of him. His violet veins were pulsing when he held up his hand, the one that wasn't throwing Five against the nearby wall. Suddenly, the spirits on the balcony began to spill over the railing and into the living room. They were animated now and Klaus knew damn well it wasn't his doing.

"Oh, fuck!" Klaus started to pinwheel backwards, his feet slipping with his effort to get his body away from the angry looking dead. They looked like the ones in the mausoleum that Sir Reginald had shoved him in and they started to feel like that too. Panic was building up inside of him again and his hands went slack.

Klaus couldn't do this. There was no way and he knew it. This demon was going to play with them until it killed them all one by one, using their brother's face while they did it. And it was all Klaus's fault.

Plan Z.

That's what popped into Klaus's head and he turned on his feet, ready to race through the house and to the sibling's rooms, where he knew he had at least one balloon of heroin sewed up in a stuffed animal he'd given to Allison for safe keeping. She didn't know that, of course. It was just a cute little stuffed zebra to her.

When Klaus was almost to the door, a voice called out.

"Hey, doll. Where ya going?"

Klaus's chest felt like he had been punched by Luther. Oh, God, was it really? Klaus turned around, expecting to see Diego standing there, looking at him with the demon's words taunting him. But he was wrong.

"Dave..."

There he was. Dave was standing there with his army uniform on. His black shirt had a couple holes in it and blood was seeping from his wounds, but Klaus had never been happier to see a dead man. Dave smiled and shook his fist at Klaus. He was teasing Klaus in the only manner that Klaus had ever been teased and not taunted by. It was a loving one.

Dave was not glowing the color of the rest of the spirits. He was a beautiful, cotton-candy, blue. Klaus's hands shot up to the dog-tags he was wearing around his neck. They were Dave's and he never took them off. Dave was wearing Klaus's still, just like he'd been doing for weeks before he'd died in his lover's arms.

"I missed you so much." Klaus was throwing his arms around his dead boyfriend and every muscle in body was on fire as Dave wrapped his arms around him. Klaus breathed him in and could smell the smoke from the war and the cheap deodorant that the army had supplied them. He smelled like home.

"I missed you, too." He pressed a soft kiss to Klaus's mouth and gently placed his hands on Klaus's cheeks. Klaus had a few tears there and Dave wiped them away with his thumb. It was rough and Klaus was on fire with the love he was feeling.

"Klaus! I can't hold this anymore! Split them! Now!"

"You can do this, doll. I know you can. Help them." Dave kissed him again and pushed Klaus towards Vanya. "I'll wait for you right here."

With those words, heat flared inside of Klaus and he clenched his fists again. He turned to Diego, who looked like he could topple over at any second and was only standing because of the demon. The white line that was connecting him and Vanya was thick and she had a lot of energy swirling around her body.

The ghosts were fighting his family and Ben was in the corner by himself, looking sick and like he was fighting with himself. He was under the demon's control and was trying not to unleash his monster on his siblings. He was barely hanging on, because a tentacle was shooting outwards and being pulled back in, only to try and get out again. It was getting farther each time.

The screaming was unbearable and some of the spirits were coming towards Klaus. Fear skyrocketed though him, but before they got to him, Allison was there and batting them away with a leg of the broken- once again- coffee table.

"Klaus!" Vanya sounded desperate now and Klaus locked eyes with the demon, who looked like he was getting a second wind. Klaus could feel the icy-fire inside of his body rising and could feel his fists glowing. He closed his eyes and could feel Diego's spirit, it was weak, and the Hell spawn's; They were overlaid like two cards and Klaus focused on driving his powers between them. They didn't budge.

A hand slinked around his waist and Dave started to whisper in his ear. "C'mon, doll, you got this. Think of your happy place. That's what I do when I need to get control over myself."

Klaus sighed deeply. Happy place? His happy place was a little house in the forest, surrounded by wildflowers. It was a yellow house with one bedroom, which is where he and Dave would be laying with a plate of bacon and a tv that only played classic movies. They had all the time in the world and nobody to interrupt. Klaus felt his powers surge and Dave's hand left his side.

When Klaus opened his eyes, his sight was clearer and sharper than it had ever been and he could see It being pulled out of Diego. It felt like pulling a string out of a stretched sweater and suddenly, that string snapped and Diego dropped to the ground and out of Klaus's sight. The demon was staring at Klaus with wide eyes. The ghosts went quiet and Klaus saw the demon went back to his power's blue and not some tainted connection.

Vanya tightened her arms around herself and almost aimed at the demon. As soon as she did, she yelled and the demon was slammed against the wall opposite of everyone. Klaus threw his arms open, his green eyes were still locked onto the demon's black ones. Its horns dug into the wall, peeling up the wallpaper and digging into the plaster. The demon flexed and sat up against the wall, but Vanya tilted her head and he slammed back against it and Vanya pushed It up the wall, causing Its feet to leave the ground. It was pinned five feet off the ground.

Without severing the connection, Klaus opened his fist again and held his left hand up. Good Bye flashed out and that hand glowed brighter and brighter until the demon had to shield Its eyes. Klaus wasn't aware of anything around him but the icy fire rushing through his left arm and the weightless feeling washing over him. He was rising to the demon's level and suddenly, the light from his hand caused a blue flame to appear at the demon's legs.

For one of the first times in his life, Klaus was truly in control of his own powers. He felt the control settle over him. He did not crave drugs and he felt the fear of this monster in front of him dwindle down to nothing. He was not going to feed the demon with his fear of the dark or his fear of It. He was going to do something he never had done before. He was going to kill it.

He was going to kill It for himself, but there were more important reasons to. He was going to kill it for tossing Luther like a ragdoll, for using Diego like a puppet, for scaring Allison, for hurting him, for besting Five, for causing Ben to fight with himself, and for daring to challenge Vanya. He was going to kill It for hurting his family- and that's what they had become in the time since the Apocalypse had almost happened, since Diego and Klaus had busted Vanya out of that stupid box and saved her from herself. They were a family.

"Go to Hell." Klaus spat the words. The demon's eyes widened comically and the blue flames burning at Its hoofed legs, rushed up Its body. The demon was seared into the wall until it exploded in a cloud of blue and red flame. The air cleared and so did Klaus's mind. Klaus let his right fist unclench and the connection relaxed back and stopped. Ben disappeared for the siblings, along with all the spirits in the living room.

The ground rushed up to meet Klaus and he felt the impact of the ground. Six faces appeared above him, all covered with shock and concern. Klaus laid on the ground, next to the broken couch and the busted coffee table. His entire body was tingling and he was beginning to feel uncomfortable with their questioning looks.

"Is there any bacon in the kitchen? I am starved." Klaus put his hands above his stomach and twiddled his fingers while making a grumbling noise. Diego scoffed and gave him a lopsided smile.

"Did you know you could levitate?" Luther asked. Klaus's eyebrows shot up and he sputtered. That explained why he fell from a high place and why the demon was below him when he'd killed It.

"I'm just full of surprises."

"Who's the guy you almost killed Diego for?" Vanya wiggled her eyebrows and Klaus scrambled up. His siblings jerked their heads up and backed away. Klaus's eyes scanned the area and landed on the only ghost there, besides Ben. Dave was still smiling and had his hands in his army pants. Klaus felt his shoulders relax and the biggest smile he'd ever produced under this roof came onto his face. He rushed forward, his hands lighting up blue and collided with a solid formed Dave. Ben had appeared too, but he was the only other one.

Klaus kissed Dave's shoulders and the base of his throat and his cheeks. He peppered him with affection and Dave devoured it all. They were both giggling and hugging the other one.

"I told you that I would see you again. I promised, didn't I?" Dave asked. Klaus nodded and laughed hard.

"If I recall correctly, you didn't believe me when I said I saw dead people? Bet you feel really smart now." Klaus teased. It was true, but Dave had believed him and they both knew that. Someone cleared their throat behind the two and Klaus reluctantly released his love. They held hands and had their shoulders pressed together.

Allison made a gesture and Klaus smiled brightly. "This is my boyfriend, Dave Katz, from Vietnam. He died and I got sober for him. There."

"Vietnam? When did you go to Vietnam?!" Diego asked. Ben's eyes widened. He'd known that Klaus had time-traveled and managed to lose Ben for a while, but he didn't know he'd been to Vietnam of all places.

"When I stole that briefcase from Hazel and Cha Cha after they kidnapped me. I travelled back to 1968 in the middle of the war. I met Dave there and became a soldier." Klaus explained and gave a sloppy salute with his clenched left hand. The others stood dumbfounded.

"Why didn't you travel back? What happened?" Vanya asked. Klaus looked down at his hand clutching Dave's. They were both glowing and Klaus was starting to feel tired but he couldn't let this go. The contact meant so much.

"I didn't want to." He mumbled. He smiled again, still genuinely happy. "Now, about breakfast."

Ben laughed and strolled over to the two and looped his arm around Klaus's shoulder. They were a family alright. A dysfunctional one, but a family.

#Klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #dr pogo #the umbrella academy #dave katz #fluff ending #angst #violence #demons #hope everyone enjoys my shane madej reference for a title #toby writes #requests are open

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icefir-windbreaker · 6 years ago

Text

All-Stars -Story Mode- [CHAPTER 3]

I thought I put the third chapter before Day 45 is over, this day had been quite inspiring thanks to the people I had tagged and re-edited the forth chapter. So give @gulliblepineapples and @sampoststuff a lot of thanks. 🤭 I hope you guys won’t mind if I had put your ideas in the story. Still, I’ll do Day 46 when the clock strikes 12. So, be expecting it later. I hope you guys enjoy.

[EDITED]

-Chapter 3-

Frisk found themself not been able to control their body and gotten scared once they realized they had also a knife in their hands and it was stained in crimson liquid, they knew it was the blood of their victims as they reached the hallway that is colored with gold and orange.

They had reached the SAVE file and saved the progress as they looked at it in horror.

[Chara, Level 19 HP 92/92, Judgement Hall] 1 left…

Frisk fought for control as the entity that’s doing this then processed to through the hallway like it knew this was going to happened. Frisk walked until a figure stepped in, a short skeleton in unzipped blue hoodie with white t-shirt/sweater along with the black shorts with white stripes and had a pair of sneakers/slippers. He had appeared out of nowhere like a ghost but Frisk knew is going to happen next.

‘’Heya… you’ve been busy, huh?’’ the skeleton began, Frisk was shaking with the thought of needed to wake up before they could get into a battle with Sans.

‘’So, i’ve gotten a question for ya. Do you think even the worse person can change? And anyone can be a good person if they just try?’’ Sans asked to the fallen human, whom took a step forward towards him, making him laugh at this threat.

‘’Hehe… okay, i’ve gotten a better question for ya: wanna have a bad time? Because if you take another step forward, you really not gonna like what happens next…’’ He threaten with his eye sockets black as the dark.

Frisk struggled to not to go forward but, a demon in them… made them take another step forward towards Sans, crossing the line.

‘’Welp… sorry old lady, this is why i never make promises…’’ Sans said everything around them had turned white and black as the colors fade away, Sans, had always been a skeleton, keep a grin on his face.

In these words he spoke ‘’It’s a beautiful day outside... birds are singing… flowers are blooming… on days like these, kids like you…’’ then raised his left hand as his eye had cyan-yellow pupil and glowed with wraith of justice after patience had drained from it as he finished this sentence of the previous.

‘’S H O U L D B E B U R N I N G I N H E L L .’’

Then the human felt gravity betrayed them as they flew up to the ceiling and down to the floor then to the walls as they avoided the bones.

Frisk struggled, begged, pleaded or anything they could but the demon, _ _ _ _ _ was thrilled, they truly loved every time they both died and reset to fight Sans, each time he dodges their attacks. Oh! How they wished this moment could last forever.

Sans was getting tired after dodging so, he had to hold the human down to the floor with his magic gripping tight on their soul. But he gotten so tired, he fell asleep and allowed the human to attack but the skeleton suddenly woke and dodged it on time.

‘’Did you really think you really could-’’ Sans asked but he was interrupted by a sudden attack from _ _ _ _ _ themself, Sans was slashed across the chest and blood begins to bleed out as he held the fatal wound.

‘’So…’’ he spoke with his final breathes ripping out, ‘’i guess this is it? Huh? Just didn’t say i didn’t warn you…’’

_ _ _ _ _ was expected more from him but Sans stood up and walked away with a limp as he said ‘’Welp… i’m heading for Gribbly’s… Papyrus? Do you want anything?’’

Frisk, in pure sorrow, screamed as Sans is reduced to nothing but dust…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frisk was jolted awake from the nightmare by Cuphead shaking them to wake them, Frisk looked around and realized their still in the bunker, then… they cried as Cuphead looked at them with confused painted on his face.

‘’F-frisk? Are you alright? It looked you just fought a demon in you.’’ Cuphead said to Frisk then suddenly been pulled into a hug by the human. ‘’Frisk… You had a nightmare?’’ Cuphead asked, Frisk nodded as Cuphead hugged back ‘’I… I can tell that it’s not a pretty one…’’ he said, comforting the human child.

‘’Cups? Frisk?’’ Mugman said as he enters the room after he heard the crying, ‘Is everything alright? I heard crying.’’ he said as Frisk continued crying while Cuphead turned his head towards his brother.

‘’Frisk had a nightmare, I am not sure what it was but I can tell it’s not a very good kind.’’ Cuphead explained, Mugman looked at them and said ‘’I never thought they would have one. Specially with a very bad one.’’

‘’I know Mugs,’’ Cuphead said ‘’Is Boris making breakfast yet?’’

‘’I guess he is making it right now, Bendy said that he can help him with that.’’ Mugman spoke, ‘’As long if Bendy doesn’t destroy anything while doing it.’’

‘’Well, can you least tell us what that nightmare is all about Frisk, we can keep it a secret, we can promised that.’’ Cuphead asked, but Frisk just shook their head.

The two brothers looked at each other as Frisk continued crying their eyes out then back at Frisk, Cuphead comforting Frisk a little longer as he said ‘’If you don’t want to talk about, then it’s alright to not talk about. Okay? How about breakfast first?’’

Frisk nods to the thought of eating breakfast first, but first they gently pushed Cuphead away and rubs their eyes to pull themself together after that moment.

Mugman smiled warmly as Frisk pulled themself back together and Cuphead gently smacked them on the back as they climbed down from the top bunk and into the living room, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the air for the trio to smell it with their tongues licked their lips.

At the wooden wire spool table is Bendy placing forks and knives on the tables as he sings a song as he felt it was related to him somehow, he sung the verse he liked.

‘’I am alive, Immortalized. You're the creator, you traitor. Hey! There's no vaccine to cure your dirty needs, for now you must build up our machine. You die tonight!~’’

Frisk walked to Bendy with curiosity in their heart as Bendy finished up setting things up, Bendy brushes his gloved hands off and stop to admire his work when he felt a tap on his shoulder. ‘’Hmm?’’ He murmured as he turned around and sees Frisk standing behind him.

Bendy smiled and he said ‘’Hey Frisk! Morning, I just finished setting the forks and knives on the table. You are welcomed to wait for breakfast if you like.’’

>[What song were you singing?] �� [Okay then.]

>[What song were you singing?]<

‘’That song?’’ Bendy said ‘’I am not sure but I think that the title of it is ‘’Build Our Machine’’ sung by someone named Will Ryan or other. I just think it’s catchy for me, ya think?’’

>[I think it suits you well.] [Good luck with that then.]

>[I think it suits you well]<

Bendy blushed, ‘’Awww. You think? Hehehe… Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,’’ he complimented as he walked over to his seat at the table as Frisk walked over to the chair beside him.

Cuphead and Mugman walked over and sat with Bendy and Frisk as Boris finished making the breakfast and passed out ot everyone on the table as well with his own.

They all giggled and laughed while they ate breakfast, they enjoyed their morning as they gotten ready for the day ahead to go back up to the surface. ‘’Are you sure you don’t want to come with us Bendy?’’ Cuphead asked to the Ink Demon, ‘’I am sure that we can use an extra hand with the supplies.’’

‘’Nope, I‘m sorry but someone needs to be on the other side of the door so they can opened it from the inside of the bunker.’’ Bendy answered, ‘’Well, alright, I am not going to stop you. We will be alright when he get back.’’ Cuphead explained, to winch Bendy nods.

With Boris by their side, they made it up the ladder and into the surface and back to the old abandoned elderly home. They looked outside through the boarded-up window and sees that it’s now partly cloudy as the sun poured through the clouds, they smiled as they are glad that the ray of hope is still there like they had been through a nuclear fallout and come out from that unscleathed.

But there’s no time to admire the light in the sky, they had to search for supplies then returned to the bunker. They were aware of the soldiers as well with zombies while they walked down the ruined streets of the 80-year old war torn town with Boris leading the way. Tommy gun in the wolf’s possession.

They all looked around at the surroundings, they could see cars that had nearly been rusted over, buildings remained vacant and empty of life but it does looked like it had been evacuated when a war had just started unexpectedly.

They hid behind fallen pillars, broken cars and inside of the most nearly destroyed buildings to keep out of sight of the Helghan soldiers so they can’t see them all being really there.

They had gone to the stores and looked around for anything, ‘’Is there anyone like us here?’’ Mugman asked to his brother, ‘’I’m not sure Mugs,’’ Cuphead began ‘’If there are different people that we’ve never encountered before then there’s nothing we can handle.’’

‘’And about those zombies… if they were dead and try to kill us, then I am sure we can be handle this if things go wrong.’’ Mugman said to his brother, ‘’if there are anyone trying to survive out there, we’ll find them.’’ Cuphead said as he looked around.

They were walking around for about 2 hours till they found the food and water. They were about to head back until they heard voices, thirteen voices from far, 12 of them males and one muffed by some kind of a gas mask.

They wondered on who they are and decided to check them out but with caution, they crawled down on the the dusty ground and made their way to the cliff as their viewing point.

When they got to the cliff and looked down, the two cup brothers saw the most unusual thing they had ever saw in their lives.

There are a crew of 13 men but one of them, they can’t make out if the one in the gas mask is a male or a female.

There are two Germans, one in the a leather vest with blood vials wrapped around his chest, he had green-blue eyes and dark black hair that is crown-chopped, with a cut on his cheek under his left eye and was wearing a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a leather vest with straps that seemed too tight around his chest with one of them had vials of blood with numbers labeled on them, blackish blue pants with red lines going down to his strapped boots, he had a pouched on his side of waist with a some type of pumping device attached in it. who is talking to what appears to be a field medic but wears a doctor’s coat with medical emblem on each sleeves and wore glasses over his blue eyes and he had a strange-looking backpack-like device on his his back. They can tell they are Germans because of their language and it reminded the two brothers of Werner Werman who happened to be a literal rat.

Then there are two Russians, one had a mustache and a beard, ocean blue eyes, wearing a bulletproof chest plate and a pilot helmet with goggles while other is a giant bald man with a Bavcon, belt of bullets going across his chest and wears a red t-shirt with a vest going over it, also talking in their language.

Four more men are Americans, one of them has a brown hair, sky blue eyes and a mustache, brown jacket, t-shirt, yellowish green pants and wore gloves with weird transmission device on his wrist,

other one is a man that appears to be a soldier with a helmet nearly covering his eyes, with a red jacket with rocket emblems on each sleeves like the medic had,

same thing goes to the other one that is a Texan with the wrench emblems like the previous two, he has a construction helmet that is backwards and wears goggles that hardy revealed his eyes, wore a shirt and overalls with one glove on right hand and the last one in their group is a young man with a cap with an headset, he had sky blue eyes like the first one but unlike him, he had a backpack with a strap across his chest as he had his hands had been bandaged and had pants with socks and shoes, he had red shirt with sleeves rolled up to his shoulders and had buck teeth. He looked like a baseball player.

One of them is Asian with green shirt but with the sleeves ripped off and with the goggles around his neck as his hands are bandaged like the other and he has a katana sword by his side, he had brown eyes and his coal black hair had tied into a bun, like the american and Russian, had mustache and short beard.

He appears to be avoiding the other man sharpening his kukri, that’s taller than him as he wore a hat with one end bended up and sunglasses, red button-up shirt with emblems like the others and the vest with bullets in the vest’s upper pocket, rifle case on his back with a sniper rifle in it, grayish-green pants and shoes. He is muttering something under his breath as he continued on sharpening his weapon while avoiding the Asian as well as they sat against the old rusted truck.

Other man is wearing some kind of a mask that only revealed his evening sky blue eyes, eyebrows and his mouth, wearing the sharp suit, black gloves and shoes. He is smoking a cigarette as he seemed to be busy.

The next man is black african with an eye patch covering his left eye and wore a cotton beanie on his head, he wore some kind of demolitions expert protection clothing/uniform with six pipe bombs on his chest, he still had his good brown eye to make bombs on the nearby wooden wire spool table with a claymore sword on his back.

Last one in the group with the gender is still yet undetermined, they were wearing a gas mask and a red fireproof suit with flare grenades on the strap across their chest with boots and gloves, they just sat down and watch a dead body burn with their legs crossed, seemed to admire the flames.

Most of them are talking among each other while others stood in silence, till one of the group with the sunglasses muttered ‘’Bloody hell, this is strange…’’ in the Australian accent, that caught the Asian's attention as he turned to face him.

‘’What do you mean Sniper?’’ the Asian in a Japanese accent said, ‘’I’d expected there would be people here in this bloody backwater town but no one’s here.’’ now named Australian answered, ‘’There’s no one here, no sounds of the city nor cars but only things that are here: are a bloody army from outer space and walking dead wankers with no life here mate, I am not sure if this is the world we knew anymore Takeo.’’

‘’I know Sniper,’’ now named Takeo said looking down at the ground, ‘’But I am from mine and now, somehow in fate, we end up here by an unknown force.’’

‘’Yeah yeah…’’ Sniper muttered as he stopped sharpening his kurki then looked at him,

‘’You know, it’s not the first time I have ever been to other world nor timeline,’’ Sniper stated, ‘’We were like you wankers, but it was in the bloody medieval times and there wasn’t like ours when Soldier had angered a wizard. Demoman was the one that helped us win against the BLUs in Degroot Keep castle. Now we both it’s now different than that, expect this time there’s no bloody wizard…’’

Takeo nodded as he understood this situation they were in, then looked over to the figure who is staring at the fire, very focus in fact, as he asked ‘’Your friend is very strange, do they?’’.

‘’Ya mean Pyro?’’ Sniper said as he looked the gas-masked figure, ‘’Yeah they are mate, we wish we knew why they like the fire so much. I guess they just like burning anything they could find on the ground.’’

‘’True but we both know that it’s your team’s responsibility to watch them,’’ Takeo stricted to the tall Australian, ‘’To watch them to make sure they don’t accidentally burn someone in their way unless it’s an enemy.’’

‘’Yes we know, Pyro is our pyro and our responsibility for this.’’ Sniper said as the German with emerald green eyes looked in their way. ‘’Is your Pyro always like zhis?’’ he asked, ‘’Of course zhey are, Herr Richtofen.’’ the one in the doctor’s coat answered. ‘’Vell, at least we still had time for zhis. Do remind me again, vho are ve going to rescue from zhe other vorldly soldiers?’’ Richtofen asked.

‘’Zhe fräulein named Mrs. Pauling, she vas zhe one vho hired us und now coming to her rescue as any mercenary vould do.’’ the doctor answered, ‘’Ah yes, now I remember Medic but still; I cant believe zhat zhis is happening.’’ Richtofen said, Medic nodded.

‘’Well, we are all in this whole mess of f****ups together,’’ The man in the suit said in a french accent ‘’But I can’t believe that we all managed to survive this long without one of our own dying from a zombie or the enemy we’re up against. Even the ones who are from different timelines.’’ as that sentence caught the man in the jacket’s attention as he turned to look at him.

‘’Better watch your mouth there Spy.’’ he said, ‘’Keep talking like that would get you even more trouble than that.’’

‘’Tank, come on man! We’re already gotten into even more trouble than that! With soldiers and zombies runnin’ around, we’re all going to die out there for sure!’’ Other in the cap said till one in the helmet yelled ‘’Don’t you dare to lose faith in everything Private! We are going to survive this war!’’

‘’Yeah, like you know what it was.’’ he said as he grinned like it’s no big deal but in reality it was.

‘’Boys, arguing isn’t gonna get us anywhere and if they come waltzing here, it’s just gonna keep happening and happening.’’ the one in the hard hat said in a Texan accent.

‘’Little Engineer is right about it.’’ the giant Russian said, ‘’Arguing is for babies, working together is now full time job if we are going to survive problem.’’

‘’I agree with Heavy, there is no point to argue.’’ The other Russian said with a strict yet concerned look on his face, Tank and Spy looked at each other for a minute before turning their glazes away from each other.

Boris, Cuphead, Mugman and Frisk are all up on the cliff, just listening to what was going on from above. Different world? Are they really been taken from theirs and then brought there?

That explains the town had been abandoned for quite long time but can something else explain the reason they were here?

As for the 13 men we had met, I know what you were wondering the same thought how they met, let’s do a flashback thing, will we?

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magicallygrimmwiccan · 6 years ago

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Close My Eyes From My Recent Disgrace

Summary: Thomas moved to this small town expecting an average, normal, boring life. What he found instead was a new family. Sure, they were weird, but it was all worth it. Even if he did have to deal with a lot more smashed dishware than he’d like. Written for Inktober Day 13: Specter.

Notes: … Internet still isn’t fixed, so have this a day late. Heads up, a couple of my OCs slipped their way in there. Whoops. They’re not super important, though, so no need to worry. By the way, I am starting a series off of this after October. It’s going to deal with some dark and potentially triggering topics, but none of those are brought up in this story. I’ll warn you ahead of time on what triggers there are, don’t worry. Anyway, thank you for clicking, and enjoy!

Thomas woke up to a house that was at least twenty degrees colder than he remembered it being when he went to sleep last night. That could only mean one thing: Virgil was having a bad day. Thomas sighed and heaved himself out of bed, prepared to maybe call in sick for the day. He had sick days to burn, after all. He didn’t even bother changing out of his pyjamas, just grabbing his phone and walking downstairs, fully prepared to deal with the situation, whatever it may be.

He emerged into the living room to find Virgil standing in front of a shaking Logan, glaring at Roman with murder in his violet eyes. Literally, Thomas swore that his eyes were glowing with rage. Patton appeared to be attempting to moderate, a pinched smile on his normally genial face.

“What happened, guys? Because the house is like twenty degrees colder than it should be,” Thomas asked, projecting his voice and adding in an undercurrent of sternness. He’d learned the hard way that that was the only way to get Roman to listen to you when he was engaged in a Battle of the Murder Eyes.

“Logan and I were merely having a disagreement, and then Virgil here threatened to destroy the painting!” Roman complained, his bright red eyes shooting even more daggers in Virgil’s direction.

“Oh yeah, after you made him go into a panic attack because someone thought it was a good idea to tower over him!” Virgil shot back, the temperature dropping at least two degrees as he spoke.

“Now, kiddo, Roman didn’t mean it-” Patton started, but was cut off as Virgil shot him a glare almost as venomous as the one he was giving Roman.

“Like hell he didn’t! He just casually ‘forgot’ how Logan died!” Virgil growled, his eyes resembling a neutron star imploding at this point. Ice began to form around his hands, and Thomas figured that he should probably step in right now unless he wanted this to turn nasty. He slid in between the angry ghosts, ignoring every single survival instinct screaming at him to do anything but that, and held his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Hey, guys, let’s all calm down, okay?” he soothed, hoping and praying that Virgil still had enough sense to not attack him too. Patton instantly backed away to let Thomas handle it, inching his way out of Virgil’s sight and around the back of the couch to get to Logan, who Thomas could now see had two silvery tear tracks running down his face. Roman growled low in his throat, and Thomas braced himself for the inevitable confrontation.

“Why don’t you tell Darkness Personified over there to calm down first?!” Roman shrieked, his voice reaching octaves that Thomas didn’t think possible. Virgil shot back with a heated “Tell him to apologize to Logan first!” Thomas sighed and gritted his teeth. He loved his unexpected housemates, he really did, but it was at times like this that he remembered how difficult they could be.

“I have nothing to apologize for!” “Oh, sure, you didn’t just make him curl up crying on the couch because you can’t control your temper.” “He’s the one who escalated the situation!” “And you’re the one who made it worse!” “You didn’t need to get involved.” “Like hell I wouldn’t jump to my boyfriend’s defense.” “He didn’t need it!” “Says who?!” “Listen here, you little-”

“ENOUGH!” Logan screamed. Roman and Virgil both instantly fell silent, and Logan looked at them both with tear-stained cheeks, his voice shaky.

“It was my fault, alright? It was my stupid brain chemistry kicking in at the worst possible moment. Stop blaming each other, stop plotting murder, and just… stop, okay?”

“Oh, honey, no, it’s not your fault,” Patton soothed, going to wrap his arms around Logan. His arms passed right through his small frame, and Patton’s eyes filled with so deep a sadness, Thomas wondered how he could still smile. Logan was the only one of the ghosts that no one could touch, not even Roman, and Patton, in his need to offer comfort, had forgotten that his prime method would fail him in this instance. Logan sniffled and wiped at his eyes, offering Patton a watery smile.

“Thank you for trying, Patt. I truly do appreciate it,” he said, his voice soft. Thomas stepped forward then, eager to resolve this situation as soon as possible. He really should go to work today, but he didn’t want to leave Logan and Roman alone in the house together.

“Logan, how do you feel about coming to school with me today? I’m introducing the kids to a new topic, and I think I’d like your help on it,” Thomas offers, hoping his solution goes over well. Logan sniffs again but nods while Virgil shoots Thomas a murderous glare.

“Relax, Virgil. I think getting out of the house for the day will do me some good. Try not to murder Roman while I’m gone, eh?” Logan soothed, standing smoothly before following Thomas back upstairs. Thomas quickly prepared for the day before swinging downstairs to grab a muffin and a coffee that Patton and Roman had somehow prepared for him with Virgil’s help. He slung his bag over his shoulder and paused at the front door, looking at Logan.

“Are you ready?” he asked, bracing himself for the cold sensation he knew was coming. Logan nodded, and in the space between one breath and the next, Logan nestled himself in next to Thomas’s soul while leaving Thomas in full control of the body. There was still a lot of Logan in there, but he’d gotten better at not taking full control when it wasn’t necessary, something that Thomas was immensely grateful for.

“Bye, guys! Try not to murder each other while I’m gone!” Thomas called before exiting the house and starting his ten-minute walk to the local high school he taught at. Once he was a decent distance away from the house (about three blocks), Thomas mumbled “Okay, Lo, you can come out if you want.” Logan immediately materialized next to Thomas, trepidation still painting his face. Thomas understood completely. The only way for a ghost to leave the area they were tied to was to possess another human with the human’s consent, and they weren’t supposed to stay outside if they ever left the host. Of course, Thomas had found a loophole in that and had spent the better part of a month tracking down objects that had once belonged to each of his boys that could act as portable conduits when he left the house. It only worked if they possessed him before he left, but it kept them outside the house if they ever chose to leave his body, which Thomas counted as a huge success on his end. It was worth it to have to deal with all of his boys’ weird relatives if he could see them happy and relaxed like this.

“You sure you’re okay, Lo?” Thomas asked, glancing over the specter in concern. Logan affectionately rolled his eyes and responded with an exasperated “Yes, Thomas, I’m fine. My neurotransmitters just acted up, that’s all.”

“If you say so, Lo,” Thomas answered, skepticism practically dripping from his voice. The former teacher had a habit of downplaying his problems until they became too big to ignore. Thomas resolved to either keep an eye on him himself, or have one of his students do it for him. Logan needed the help today, and gosh dangit, Thomas was going to give him it.

“Morning, Mr. Sanders! Morning, Logan!” Thomas turned around from writing the lesson plan for today on the board to see Danielle Leifsson, one of his more enthusiastic students. Her long blonde hair was tucked behind one ear, and her grin threatened to fall off her face with how large it was. Thomas secretly smiled to himself. Logan was Dani’s favourite, and best of all, she understood Logan’s issues, having dealt with her best friend’s similar situation for many years. She was perfect.

“Good morning, Dani! Quick question: I’m super busy today, and I don’t want Logan getting bored. Would you mind if he went around with you today?” Thomas asked. Logan’s eyes widened, but Dani ignored it, her grin growing even larger.

“Absolutely, Mr. Sanders! Do I need to do anything in particular?” she asked, slipping into what Patton had affectionately dubbed her Serious Student Mode.

“Yeah, I just need to you keep this necklace close and give it back to me at the end of the day. Think you can do that?” Thomas answered, handing over the thin silver chain that held Logan’s old engagement ring. Dani took it carefully and fastened it around her neck after gaining Logan’s approval. With that, she grinned, dropped her backpack at her desk, and bounced out of the room, calling back “I’ll be back, Mr. Sanders!” Logan followed her, shooting Thomas one last panicked glance before following the bubbly blonde athlete to wherever she was going. Thomas wasn’t worried; almost everyone in the school knew about the ghosts by now. And if they didn’t… well… better they met Logan first than Roman.

The five minute warning bell rang twenty-five minutes later, and students began to flood into his room. All of them waved hello or murmured a verbal greeting, and Thomas couldn’t blame them. He’d rather be in bed still as well.

“Morning, Mr. Sanders. No ghost today?” Alessa Alvarez called, strolling in in her usual bright red flannel and cream Converse high tops. Her fluffy ponytail was filled with even more curls than usual today, making Thomas think that she’d woken up late. The curlier her hair, the later she woke up.

“No, he’s here, he’s just off with Dani right now,” Thomas replied, opening up his Powerpoint for the day’s lesson. Alessa arched an eyebrow but shrugged, taking her usual seat to Dani’s right.

“Mr. Sanders, can I just go to sleep?” Shiloh Mizrah groaned as he walked in, his chestnut-auburn hair flopping into his brilliant green eyes. His boyfriend, Keith Choi, elbowed him from behind, glaring.

“If I’m up, you’re up,” he grumbled before giving Thomas a two-fingered salute. “Morning, Mr. Sanders.”

“Good morning Keith, Shiloh. Late night?” Thomas asked, grinning. Keith stared Thomas dead in the eye, took a long sip of his extra-espresso coffee, and said “Bold of you to assume I slept at all.” Sometimes, Keith scarily reminded him of Virgil. Maybe he should ask Virgil about the possibility of the two of them being related.

“Keith, do I need to drug your tea to make you go to sleep?” Alessa asked, concerned and angry at the same time. Keith rolled his eyes and dropped into his seat on Dani’s other side while Shiloh sat behind him.

“That’s not going to help and you know it,” Keith replied, taking out his materials for class. Thomas made a mental note to bring Virgil tomorrow to talk to Keith about his unhealthy sleeping habits.

Just before the final bell rang, Dani swept back in, Logan trailing behind her. Everyone in the class perked up at the sight of the ghost; when Logan was around, the lesson was sure to be interesting, especially if you could get him on a tangent about astronomy. This was a feat, Thomas thought, because this was an AP English course, not a science class.

The bell rang, and Thomas called out “Okay, everyone, take out a notebook because we’re taking notes on how to write a good rhetorical essay today!” Groans went up from the class, and Logan smiled while “leaning” (read: floating in a tilted position) against the desk.

“Think of it this way. If you do it now, you won’t have to do it in college,” Logan offered. The grumbles died down after that, and Thomas shot Logan a silent glance of thanks. Logan shrugged, and Thomas continued with his lesson.

“Now, first, we’re going to study this graduation speech about women and their role in society. Can anyone point out at least one rhetorical device they see being used?”

“So, who wants to watch a movie? I’m tired of grading essays,” Thomas asked later that night, putting down Shiloh’s essay on why libraries were crucial to American culture and society. The kid was brilliant, Thomas couldn’t deny that, but his handwriting was atrocious. Thomas was fairly certain he had started using Hebrew characters halfway through instead of English letters, and Thomas was too tired to decipher his scrawl.

“Ooooh, me! Me! Can it be Disney?!” Roman cried, bouncing up and down. His aura started to glow brighter, and Thomas giggled a little at the ridiculously adorable sight.

“Any objections?” Thomas asked. Logan looked up from where he and Virgil were attempting to solve a puzzle together and shrugged. Virgil seconded that motion and went back to pointing out where certain pieces should go so that Logan could telekinetically fit them together. Patton squealed and flopped down on the couch next to Thomas, narrowly missing Alessa’s (surprisingly) legible essay. Thomas put them all into a stack, separating out the graded ones from the non-graded ones, and selected Moana from the Netflix cue. He then settled back, content to just spend the rest of the night with his dead roommates. Thomas had moved to this small town expecting an average, normal, boring life. What he found instead was a new family, one that he wouldn’t trade for the world. Sure, they were weird, but it was all worth it. Even if he did have to deal with a lot more smashed dishware than he’d like.

Notes: Thanks for reading, guys! I’ll see you tomorrow!

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #logan sanders #virgil sander #roman sanders #patton sanders #ghosts #death #fluff #angst #hurt/comfort #panic attacks #dorks in love #family #inktober

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keepyourpantsongohan · 7 years ago

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Ayesha Liveblogs Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry

Natsu!!! Such a tiny baby he’s really just a 90% head

Classic Fairy Tail lmao dropping us right in the middle of a mess I love it

I assume this is set pre Magic Council Disaster I really have like 3000 questions about the Fiore government

“I think you may need glasses” Lucy’s been #called out for Plue not being a real dog lmao

Someone spare Wendy from these unnecessarily intimate teens

My sweet gentle snowman Gray Fullbuster clearing my skin and saving my crops

“It’s been a while since we visited Crocus, eh?” said Gray, about an incident during which he literally died

“I’m furthering my education over here man!” character development Gajeel

Jesus Christ I’m glad Juvia’s ridiculous fantasy about Wendy being her competition was at least PG as hell but hard pass thanks

“Juvia please hold me” On the other hand, I will take her Levy fantasy 10/10 nice

If they’re acknowledging Ishgar I have at least 10 more questions about the chronology of this movie is it post-manga or???

“Don’t worry about it, Lucy, you look great up there” if they don’t want me to ship Graylu they need to stop doing this

God I almost forgot for 13 whole minutes how obsessed Hiro Mashima is with boobs.... simpler times

At least for once the boobs are serving a purpose I love my scheming babies coordinating their covert attacks

“I hope they’re not taking the same job we are” isn’t that what the mission board is for?

Wendy being Natsu’s little dragon sister is super cute

You’d really think if they were housing the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb there’d be a more effective security system

“I’m the guy telling you there’s no smoking backstage” wrong Gray ur all smokin’ ayyyyyyyyyyy

Also who the hell thought to trust Natsu with an infiltration mission cripes

I LOVE that everyone’s got a blushy face in this it improves their aesthetic so much

It ain’t Team Natsu without both Gray and Lucy half-naked lmao

“So you’re the kind of girl who steals things” but mostly hearts, Evil Dude

“The people here are creepy, I’ll teach them to glare at me” Natsu was so ready to kick every single townsfolk’s ass lmao my boy is truly chaotic neutral

I already don’t like Sonia and this lord’s relationship and they’ve only been on screen together for like 10 seconds

“My Graydar is starting to pick up an extremely strong signal” good lord

I don’t know what’s funnier when Gray is outraged that he’s naked or when he’s just like “eh”

In fairness to the villains, doesn’t seem like they made much effort to hide

Why does this angry zooming villain boy look like the lovechild of Natsu and Acnologia

“Please Natsu, stop” as anime strategies go, fair, but u oughta move Lucy

Every ten seconds I have to stop to be enamored with Gray Fullbuster

“King Animus” Mystogan, shouting from space ‘Animaaaaaaaa’

But where..... did Gray get those clothes???? Does Erza stock up on spare outfits for him or???

Oh my god does this dude literally have a group of captive women he tortures I hate it this is the worst if he doesn’t die I’ll murder him

Thank you Natsu for preemptively interrupting this gross scene

“We’re not good at being inconspicuous,” said Erza, in what might be the understatement of the century

Not 2 be that guy but the titty shots of Lucy sort of take away from the severity of this plot exposition I hope someone gives her some real clothes

“Then we gotta sleep in shifts” a surprisingly sensible suggestion, Natsu

Omg Natsu’s showing her the stars what a sweet dragon boy

“I don’t know, we literally haven’t done anything!” Fairy Tail has always done something and u know it Gajeel

I can’t believe she’s just... the Leg Wizard.... like... who named these characters????

“Did you find me using your Juviadar, my love?” “HELL no!” [Hiro Mashima voice] requited love

So Carla’s change in form definitely means that this is set post-Fairy disbandment at least, but I’m willing to bet it’s post-manga too, all things considered

Wendy using dragon force and Lucy going to free these captive ladies that’s my girls!!!

I really thought the lady wizard captain was going to be more involved in this story based on her character design and introduction

They didn’t even bother to deal with the question of where Lucy’s keys were when she was captured what kinda storyboarding

Omg at Lucy’s Capricorn outfit she’s finally the dom that Virgo’s always wanted her to be

None Can Defeat... The Power of.... The Leg

“What in the hell, this is his city” Gray questioning the movie’s internal logic

Gray Fullbuster’s truest magical power: His Stunning Dick

I’m loving everyone pulling out their coolest magical powers like yassss show off your years of training my beautiful and competent wizards

“Your kicks are lovely [...]” I’m not sure what I’m more pleased about how gay this battle just got or the fact that ERZA IS USING JELLAL’S CELESTIAL MAGIC (definitely that one I LOVE IT)

Holy fucking plot twist this is the kind of villain I’m here for

“If you must know, I’m Animus, and I’m the dragon soul that lives within Sonia” this is doubly funny because it’s Young Jellal’s VA like how many times will this same voice actor play a young idealist possessed by ancient evil good lord

Whomst?? Does anyone who eats that fruit breathe fire or just Happy

Team Natsu, probably, every time another goddamn dragon appears from the distant past to fuck up the present: Getting real sick of this shit

I know Jellal’s not going to show up but I keep hoping he will where r u Erza’s garbage boyfriend

This dragon makes a weirdly compelling antagonist

“Your soul used to shine” this brings the whole childhood friends backstory into weird perspective huh

Should Natsu really be moving around that much after being impaled

“You’re the destroyer of all... E. N.” “Who cares” Hard same Natsu??

Really the King of Fiore should stop keeping shit that can destroy the whole world in his basement clearly it’s very poorly guarded

“This is the first time I’ve seen your smile, it’s beautiful” you were?? In her body??? U were looking in the mirror in an earlier scene man

Sometimes a family is a fuckton of impulsive wizards and some flying cats

Ooh damn I guess they did have a time setting for this movie after all and it’s post-2014 anime but pre-everything that follows huh?

#ayesha liveblogs ft #ayesha talks anime #liveblogging #truth be told this blog was originally mostly for liveblogging and now it's become a shrine 2 kakashi whoops #ft series #long post #fairy tail

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artificialqueens · 7 years ago

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I Look Spooky but I’m Really Nice; the Saga Continues (Vatya/Sashea/Katlaska) - Remény

If this somehow gets posted twice, I’m sorry!!

If you want to read where the story all began, which I suggest, you can find it here. If you want to read the first part of this continuance, click here.

TW: illicit drugs by names, character death (well technically she is already dead but I’d rather put it in just in case) blood, hospitals

Just a few words of thanks, if you’ll bear with me, and then we’ll get back to Sasha being possessed by a HOMOcidal (hehehe getit?) maniac

Thank you to Tiff and Vixen for tirelessly running this blog, it’s really appreciated and I don’t say it as often as I should.

Feedback really makes my day, I really love talking with people, so I wanted to say thank you to @civonumist and @leelovesbelli, sorry for scaring the crap out of you Lee! Well I’m kind of sorry but I’m glad you liked it!

Thanks for the constant encouragement from my squad of awesome nerds who write about drag queens and play ACPC with me.

Ok I’m done, not back to the story!

Love and Glitter,

Remény

I just laid there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Then I remembered Aja, they still weren’t moving. I pulled myself over to them and shook their shoulder, “Aja! AJA! Wake up!” I put my hand on their chest, thankfully they were still breathing. I lay flat on the floor so my mouth was beside their ear. “C’Mon Aja!”

They sat bolt upright, coughing and breathing like the wind had been knocked out of them and looking around frantically and hugging themselves around the middle. I made them jump when I said, “over here Aj!”

They looked at me, blinking a few times in confusion. “Where’s your chair?” They asked in a gravelly voice, grimacing and rubbing their neck.

“Sasha…er Sharon took it!”

Aja mouthed the word “BITCH!” and let out a grunt of frustration.

“Aja, we got bigger fish to fry. I need your help, we have to warn Katya, can you find my cellphone? It should be on my bed.” Aja tried to scramble up and fell back with a cry of pain. They tried again, gritting their teeth. “Easy Aj! You’re injured. Just stay down! Do you have your phone on you?”

They shook their head, “no, I forgot it. Otherwise I would have called you before I showed up.” They tried to get up again and grunted in pain.

“Just stop it! Lay down! You’re gonna hurt yourself worse. I have an idea.” I dragged myself over to my bed and yanked on my blanket until it fell, my phone clattering down with it. I reached for it, fumbling it before getting a better grip. I managed to roll myself onto my back, jabbing in Katya’s number.

Aja laid on the floor again curled on their side, pulling in ragged little breaths as they tried to control their breathing. I didn’t know if they were hyperventilating from shock or if Sharon had done some kind of damage to their throat.

Katya’s number rang and rang and finally clicked to voicemail. “Hey Kat! Listen, this sounds crazy but trust me, DO NOT tell Sasha where you are! Call me back please, it’s an emergency. I’m so scared. I love you!”

I hung up and texted her, Don’t tell Sasha where you are! It’s important! Trust me! Please call me!

I wiggled my way the few feet over to Aja. I put my hand on her back and she jumped, “it’s just Violet, she’s gone Aja.” They nodded but didn’t say anything. “Where are you hurt? Do you need me to call an ambulance? Oh shit, you’re bleeding.” I don’t know why I didn’t see it before except that side of their head was turned away from me before they had laid down again. There was a slick dark puddle by my bed that was slowly seeping into the lavender coloured blanket I had pulled to the floor. My stomach lurched. I reached over and pulled a dark T-Shirt out and pressed it to the side of Aja’s head, they let out a little hiss of pain. “Sorry! Sorry! Shit! Hold that!” They raised a shaky hand to hold the cloth in place.

I reached up, barely reaching the bed bar as I labouriously pulled myself to sitting, switched on my bedside lamp and then dragged myself backwards over to my large closet, pulling the folding door open. I swear I heard the hallelujah chorus go off in my head as the light shined onto my old beat up chair that I used to play wheelchair basketball.

I was pushing it out of the closet when my phone buzzed. I abandoned the chair and scooted back to my phone.

There was a text from Katya.

Katya - Why? It’s too late anyway, she offered to drive me and whoever else could fit in Shea’s car back home. She was acting kind of funny, like she might be drunk or high, she refused to speak in Russian. Was she drinking? Is she unsafe to drive? I’m confused because I thought she was supposed to be taking care of you! Did you guys have a fight?You didn’t kick her out, did you?

I hit redial and it went directly to voicemail. “Dammit Kat, call me back!” I threw my phone in my hoodie pocket and went back to Aja, who was still laying on their side, mouth open and staring blankly ahead but their unblinking eyes weren’t focusing on anything. “Hey Aja, what can I do? Do you need me to call an ambulance? AJA!” They didn’t respond for a second and I had pulled out my phone to dial 911 when they shifted and took a deep breath, eyes darting all over. “Shhh hey hey hey, easy Aj! Are you ok? Talk to me? Do you need me to call someone?”

“No sis, I think I’m ok, I think the wind got knocked out of me. I’m just in shock. I got a wicked headache and my neck is killing me.”

“No wonder!” I opened a drawer and grabbed a few of the instant ice packs Katya insisted I keep on hand after my foot injury. I smacked them and passed them over before going back over to my chair and hefting myself into it. I rolled over and held a hand out to Aja, “do you think that you can sit up? Slowly!”

They nodded and with many grunts and moans, we managed to get them propped against the side of my bed, both of us out of breath.

I was just passing Aja a wet cloth for their bleeding head when my phone rang, making us jump.

“Hello? Katya is that you?”

“No it’s Shea, how ya feeling?”

“I’ve been better but much better than this afternoon. Listen, I have to leave the line open because Kat is going to call me about one of our friends who was in surgery.”

“Oh ok, no problem. It’s just…” she paused and I expected her to hit on me or something, “is Sasha there? I’m sorry for calling so early but I’m kindof worried, she’s not answering her phone and I was hoping if you were feeling well enough, that Sash could run out real quick and drive me home. I hate working nights and I’m exhausted because I worked a 14 hour shift. If I go on the bus, I’m gonna fall asleep and miss my stop.”

“N..n..no she had to go grab a few things at the store for us. Maybe her phone died? I mean she was probably on it when she was bored out of her mind during the day while I was sleeping.”

“Good point. When she comes back, can you have her call me?”

“How about I do you one better, I’ll go on my Lyft app and get you a ride? I’m happy to help since you helped me this afternoon. I don’t know when Sasha will be back, she just said she had to pick up a few things and was going to grab me some soup and ginger ale. Does that work?”

“The good ol’ you wash my back, I’ll wash yours kinda thing?” She purred and then yawned loudly. “Yeah, just text me the deets, I know you need to get off the phone, I hope your friend is ok!”

“Thanks Shea! Bye!”

“Bye gorgeous.”

@@@@JAX@@@@

“Do you have anything for pain?” Aja asked.

“Yep. Are you sure we shouldn’t get you to a hospital?” I passed them water, a bottle of Advil, a bottle of tylenol and then passed over my percocet. Ok I know I shouldn’t share meds but one of my best friends was just thrown across the room like they were a rag doll, some of the most gruesome bruises I’d ever seen were blooming around their neck from a friend possessed by a sociopath.

“Nah sis, I’m fine. Just a little beat up. Ask me again when the adrenaline wears off. Holy shit! That was unreal!” The somewhat rye look on their face slid off to be replaced by a look of sheer panic.

“What?”

“If Sharon’s soul or whatever is in Sasha’s body, where is Sasha’s?�� They asked in a high pitched squeak.

I ran my hand through my hair, “shit, I don’t know! I’m calling Katya again.”

I fished my phone out and pulled up my Lyft app and quickly ordered Shea a ride before I could forget. Just as I finished, my phone rang, startling me so bad that I almost dropped it.

“Katya, is that you?”

“Da is me! Vhat is wrong? Vhat happened?”

“Ok listen, I’ll explain it but first you need to know that you CAN’T let Sasha see or talk to Alaska! Do you still carry around that little bottle of holy water?” I always teased Katya about carrying it but she promised her devout Christian Orthodox Mom that she would keep it on her and I hoped with every fibre of my being that she had kept that promise.

“Yes, of course! I promised my Mama. Vhy?”

“Ok when Sasha gets there, you need to throw it at her.”

Katya laughed, “vhat are you even talking about?”

“Ok this sounds crazy but Aja is my witness that this really happened!”

“Oh Aja’s there? Tell her ayo sis!” Katya giggled.

“Kat FOCUS!” I snapped.

“Ok, ok!”

“So the girl in the mirror came back.”

“Vi, you had really bad fever today, are you sure that you didn’t dream it?”

“Yekatarina no. Listen to me! Unless it’s some kinda weird shared dream bullshit it happened! So Sasha and I were sleeping and Aja woke us up when she knocked on the window.”

“Why vas Aja at house in middle of night?”

I sighed in frustration, “Pearl kicked her out for the night but that’s besides the point!”

“Ok! Ok! Take deep breath love.”

“There is no time for breathing!” I said panicky, “so Sasha had brought her Ouija board and we were talking to the girl in the mirror and then Sasha said she would just channel her because she had done that before for her aunt and then Sharon, the girl from the mirror, kinda jumped Sasha and took off! She said she had to reach Alaska but I don’t know if she wants to hurt Alaska or not!”

“I know it’s October but it’s not hallowe’en yet.” Katya said with a little chuckle.

“IT’S NOT A JOKE! If you don’t believe me, can you at least trust me please!” I begged, “she is really strong, I mean Sasha is a twig but it’s like Sharon is strong. She threw Aja across the room by their throat and hit me and knocked me out of my chair and she stole my chair so I couldn’t come after her.”

“VHAT!! And you are promising me that this isn’t a joke?”

“No it’s not, I swear to you! You have to trust me Kitty Kat, please believe me!” I started crying in frustration and panic. “I really want to make sure you and Alaska are ok. I’m so scared,” I sobbed.

“Ok shhh love, please don’t cry, I believe you. Are you ok? Did you do your checks to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell? Is Aja hurt?”

“She’s pretty banged up,” I looked over at a slouched over Aja, I think they may have fallen asleep, “I’m worried that they are really hurt. Sasha…I mean well Sharon technically really threw them and they have some really nasty bruises on their neck and they split their head open, I haven’t been able to see how bad it is. I’m just really more scared she’s gonna hurt you or Alaska so you have to hit her with the water when she gets there and keep her from Alaska but be careful! Promise me that you will videochat me when she gets there?”

“I promise, go look after Aja, call an ambulance if you think you should! Do your checks please and don’t forget, you have a spare chair in your closet.”

“ I will, I promise, I remembered about my chair. Please be careful and keep you and Alaska safe. I’m so scared. I love you!”

“I’ll go to Alaska’s room now. I will keep her safe. I’ll tell you when she gets here.”

“By the way, where are you?”

“We’re in San Mateo.”

“That’s only 25 minutes away so she will be there soon! Get to Alaska Kat. Right now! Lie and say that you’re her sister if you have to to get in to see her because I guarantee Sharon is going to fight dirty. You will know Sasha is back by asking her what her nickname for me was today. She called me kukolka.”

Katya let out a little giggle but quickly got somber, “I’m on my way to Alaska. I’ll video chat when I get there. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I went to Aja, they were asleep but there was still a trickle of blood seeping through their light purple hair. They stirred when I slipped the cloth out of their hand and parted their hair so I could get a better look at the cut. It was only about an inch across, about an inch and a half above their right ear. I grabbed the water bottle off the floor and poured some in the cut, using the cloth to catch the drips.

“What are you doing?” Aja whined, pulling her head away to give me a dirty look. “Did you get a hold of Katya?”

“Stay still!” I commanded, putting pressure on the cut, making them grimace. “Yes I got a hold of Katya, she is going to call back once she gets to Alaska.”

“Good! Do you have to press so hard sis?” Aja complained.

“Yeah I do because you won’t stop bleeding SIS!”

Aja yawned, their eyes were drooping, “I’m so tired.”

“Do you think you can try to get into my bed?”

“I can try.” they took a deep breath and turned so they were on their knees, holding themselves up with one arm, letting out a little grunt.

“Use my chair.” I said, throwing on the brakes so they could grab the side of my chair to heave themselves up, they crumpled on the bed. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” they panted as they struggled to stay awake, “I’m ok. Wake me up when you hear from Katya?” I nodded and their eyes fluttered and closed.

So I sat silently, waiting and worrying with my phone in my lap, clutched in my hand so hard that my knuckles were white. What was taking Katya so long to call me back and should I take Aja to the hospital?

My facetime rang, Aja didn’t even stir so I let them sleep. Katya’s face popped onto the screen, she had an arm around a shaking Sasha.

Alaska was sobbing in the background and screaming “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT! DAMN YOU KATYA!” Monitors were going off and several medical people rushed in. It was sheer pandemonium as they punted Sasha and Katya out of the room. Sasha needed to be supported to walk and she slid down the wall outside Alaska’s room. Katya followed suit and I got a brief glimpse of Alaska, red faced and sobbing while the nurses tried to calm her and hold her down.

“Hello Kukolka.” Sasha breathed, wiping at the steady stream of tears that cascaded down her face.

Katya was just opening her mouth to speak when a deep male voice said, “you have to move ma'ams, you’re upsetting the patient in there and I’ve been asked to escort you to the waiting room. Is she ok?”

Katya rattled off a string of Russian to Sasha who responded shakily. “Da, I mean yes, she is ok. Just upset. Can you help me get her up?” A big black mountain of a man in a dark blue security uniform came into view on the other side of Sasha as they heaved her up. The blinds in Alaska’s room were drawn but I could still hear her raging, although she seemed to be winding down like a toy with a run down battery.

Katya and the security guard sat Sasha down, she was still shaking so violently that her teeth were clacking together.

“So what happened?” I asked after a moment of stunned silence.

It looked like the waiting room was virtually abandoned but Katya’s voice still dropped to a whisper. “Vell vhen I go to Alaska’s room. Sasha or I guess Sharon was standing over bed. Sharon vas saying something to Alaska. Her eyes were really wide, she looked taken aback at vhatever Sharon vas saying. I said something in Russian and vhen Sasha did not respond but she just kind of growled at me and turned back to Alaska. So I dumped the bottle of holy vater on her head and told Sharon to leave in Jesus name. Sasha fainted but I caught her. Then-” Katya trailed off for a minute, looking nervous because the guard was back but he had just brought Sasha a blanket that he draped across her shoulders and set a styrofoam cup of steaming tea on the table beside her. Sasha smiled sweetly and thanked him and he left again. “Then Alaska started to freak out, I tried to explain that Sasha vas not herself, that even though it sounded unbelievable that she vas possessed by girl from mirror of room 121 and then Alaska just freaked out more! I mean you saw her, she was enraged. I do not understand what happened.”

Sasha was quiet through this explanation, just sadly staring off into space. A nurse came over to them and asked, “Is one of you Sasha? Are you ok Miss?”

“Yes, I’m Sasha.” Sasha responded, smiling slightly at her. “I’m ok.”

“Um Alaska is asking for you to go see her, but she made it clear that she wants only you. She’s a little drowsy because we gave her medication to calm down but she insists that she won’t rest until she can talk to you. It’s really important that she rests so if you could come see her for a moment, I’m sure it would set her mind at ease to make sure you are ok. Do you know what got her so worked up to begin with?”

“I think that she vas maybe upset about the bus accident?” Katya offered.

“Maybe, don’t worry about your friend, I’m sure she’ll be fine in a few hours. Sometimes anesthetic can have the side effect of making people feel angry for no reason. She may be asleep by the time you get to her room but she was quite adamant she needed to see you first.”

Sasha looked pale, she turned to Katya and they had a quick conversation in Russian and Sasha pulled the blanket off herself. She was still very shaky so the nurse put an arm around her waist and slowly walked Sasha away.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea for her to go in alone Kat?”

She nodded, “Sashinka said she had to go and hear her out, find out vhy she was so upset. See if she could get the story of vhat happened between Alaska and Sharon out of her.” Aja stirred and let out a little whimper behind me, making me jump as I’d completely forgotten they were there. “Is Aja ok? I haven’t told Sasha about vhat she did to you both, she just seems so shaky and upset already and everything happened so fast.”

“Tell her once she calms down a bit, it wasn’t really her, we both know that. I think they are ok. I’m not entirely convinced that I shouldn’t take them to a doctor to be honest.”

“Vait a minute, isn’t one of Aja’s friends doing a med school residency? Maybe he could come over and check them over?” She let out a little noise of frustration, “We met him that one time but I forget his name. Charles? Chandler? Chad?”

“Charlie, that’s a good idea. They forgot their phone at their house but maybe I can get his number from Pearl. I don’t want to wake Aj up if I can help it. I’m just worried they did some damage to their throat, the bruises are horrible,” I fretted. Aja had turned towards the wall so I couldn’t see their face and but their sides were rising and falling with their breath, so at least things were not swollen so much that it was cutting off their ability to breathe.

Sasha came out, still unbearably pale but looking reticent and reserved as she took a sip of her waiting tea with only slightly shaking hands.

We both just gaped at her but Katya was the first to break the silence, “vell? Vhat happened?”

“Well, I spoke to Alaska and she made a convincing argument so I said yes.”

Katya’s look of confusion mirrored my own. “Yes to what exactly Sasha?” I asked wearily. I was feeling weighed down and I was sure that the fever I’d been too preoccupied to notice was raging once again.

Sasha remained stoic and announced like it was the most normal thing in the world, “when Alaska is well enough to return home, I am going to channel Sharon again for her so they can talk.”

“WHAT? NO!” I shouted. Katya was immediately red faced with anger as she started yelling and swearing in Russian. I knew she was swearing because I had gotten her to teach me some of them when we first started talking.

Aja sat bolt upright, wheezing out, “Wazappenin’?” and letting out a grunt of pain and a cough. Their wide eyes darted around the room.

“Nothing Aj, go back to sleep.” I said calmly and patted their knee. They noticed I was on video chat and sat up and swung their legs so they were sitting on the side of the bed.

“M’ok! You were supposed to wake me up!” They mumbled. The bruises on their neck were turning deep purple. “Ayo sis’!”

Katya and Sasha stopped arguing for a moment, they both gasped, Sasha’s hand raising to her mouth. “Aja! Wha…what happened to you!? W…who attacked you?” Sasha stammered.

“Didn’t you tell her?” Aja said, sounding miffed and giving my shoulder a little cuff.

“Sorry, we hadn’t got there yet!”

“Tell me what?” Sasha asked, worry furrowing her brow so deeply it was almost a unibrow.

Katya reached over and held Sashinka’s hand and gently spoke in Russian. Sasha blanched even paler and her hands covered her mouth in shock as tears pooled in her eyes and trickled down her face as she let out a little sob. “I…I did that?”

“No Sasha, it wasn’t you. We both know that.” Aja said softly.

“I actually threw you across the room? How? And I don’t know where your chair is Violet, I hope it’s not lost. What have I done?”

“This is vhy you can not do that again Sashinka!”

“But I have to. I promised! She needs help.”

“WAIT! Hold up sis,” Aja waved her pointer finger in the air, “you mean to fucking tell me that you are thinking of letting Sharon highjack your body AGAIN? Naw sis! No! That is NOT okay!” Aja said, immediately incensed.

“I never meant to hurt anyone but I made a promise to Alaska,” Sasha dropped her hands and then put them over her heart, “there’s so much heartache there, such loss, I can feel it. How can I not help if I have the ability to? I AM so sorry! Next time, maybe it can just be Alaska and I but I have to do this! My heart. My heart. I can’t say no! I can’t tell her no. I just can’t!” She sobbed and Katya pulled Sasha in for a hug as she blubbered onto her shoulder.

“Don’t cry Sasha, ve’ll figure something out.” Katya soothed, cupping Sasha’s little bald head in her hand as she held the distraught girl close while we exchanged worried looks. Katya murmured in Russian and then looked at the camera, “Vi, vhy don’t you take care of some things there,” her eyes momentarily flicked over to a groggy looking Aja who was barely staying upright,” and then ve vill touch base soon. My phone is going to die anyway so I vill have to find a plug in. I vill let you know vhen ve know anything about Alaska or vhen ve vill be home.”

“I have Shea’s car here,” Sasha offered as she sniffled. “Oh dammit, Shea!!” She smacked her head, “I don’t know where my phone is, she’s probably worried sick! I don’t even know where the car is!” Sasha puffed her cheeks out and blew out a breath of air.

“You are in no condition to drive silly Sashinka. Vell, ve vill just go have a look around and see if ve find it. You can call Shea from my phone. Violet, ve vill keep our eyes out for your chair. Let us know how things go there.”

“Ok, I love you both!”

“Ve love you too.” Katya said with a small lopsided smile, Sasha was back to crying.

“I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!” An anguished Sasha pleaded and then Kat’s battery must have died because the screen abruptly went black.

I opened up my texts and sent Shea a text.

Me - Shea, Sasha went to go see Katya and bring back some of the girls on the team, she said she can’t seem to find her cell so I just wanted to let you know she’s ok.

Then I turned and passed my phone to Aja, who just looked at it dumbly. “Call your friend Charlie and see if he can come and check you over. Your neck is looking gruesome and it needs to be checked out.”

“I don’t want to bug him.”

“Ok, you have two fucking options Aj,” I said firmly while I glared at them, “you can call Charlie and see if he can come check you out or we can go to the hospital where they likely have to report it and I don’t think they will take the whole my friend was possessed plea.”

“Riiiight!” Aja sighed and tapped away at my phone while I pulled up my fuzzy pant legs and hastily checked my lower limbs over. I had good sized bruises blooming on my knees, which must have hit first. My wrists were a bit sore from taking the brunt of my weight when I fell to protect my face and head. My ribs hurt and I wondered if my knees ran into them on my way down, I couldn’t remember how I fell because it happened so fast. I lifted up my shirt a little, sure enough I had two faint bruises.

“You still in one piece? What happened after she tossed me?”

“I think I’m ok, my wrists are a bit sore from bracing myself when I fell. I tried to stop her from leaving, she said she didn’t want to hurt me but she would if she had to. Well apparently she felt she had to because when I wouldn’t move she backhanded me really hard which caused me to fall out of my chair and then she grabbed my chair and said she was taking it so I couldn’t stop her. That she was unstoppable.” Goosebumps multiplied on my arms and down my neck, making me shiver and wrap my arms around myself.

“Hopefully your chair is just in Shea’s trunk. It better be!” Aja grumbled. “Charlie said he’ll be here in 15 minutes or so, I was kind of vague so he’ll probably bring way too much stuff until he knows what he’s dealing with. Does Sasha wear rings by any chance?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You might wanna check out your face sis.” They suggested with a grimace.

I sped over to my vanity and sure enough there were 3 long angry scratches across my red and purple cheek. “Fuuuck! Now how the fuck am I gonna cover THOSE up?”

“I dunno sis, how the fuck am I gonna cover THIS up?” They said, flailing their hand at their neck before going back to hugging themselves like they couldn’t get warm. They had a point.

“I have some scarves, I mean most are bandanas from my neckerchief phase.”

“I remember that!” They said with a little chuckle, “not your best look sis!”

I pretended to be shocked, “how DARE you!! I was young and stupid back then! I didn’t know any better!”

“Back then? Biiiiitch, it was like a month ago!” They laughed and then screwed up their face in pain, pulling the ice packs up to their neck.

I was opening my mouth to ask if they were ok when there was a soft knock on the door, it reminded me of the tap, tap, tap on the mirror and a shiver ran through me. I couldn’t help glancing nervously at the mirror, Sharon wasn’t there. I didn’t think she would be but it never hurts to check. There was a more insistent knock and I realized I was probably too busy staring at the damn mirror. I shook myself like a pissed off cat that got stuck in the rain and opened the door.

Aja was not joking about Charlie bringing a shit tonne of stuff! He had a bag in one hand and a red fucking suitcase on wheels with a giant white cross on it. Subtle. Reeeal subtle!

“Hi Violet and Aja.” Charlie said with his faint british accent. He was a bit older than most of the other students but he had a ready smile and a certain charm about him. “Bloody hell! What happened to you Aja?!” He exclaimed, he grabbed their chin and turned their head to get a better look at the side of their head where the blood was a stark contrast to their light purple hair.

Aja sucked air, they let one of their ice packs go to whack his hand away. “Jesus! Easy Charlie!”

Charlie sat down hard on the side of the bed, “what the hell happened to you Aja?!” We were both silent, “no, I need to know who did that Aj, what happened to you? What happened here?” Charlie looked from Aja to me and back.

Aja and I both spoke at once.

“Rough foreplay?” Aja blurted.

“Their ex!” I babbled.

Aja thought quick, thank God! They tried to keep their face serious but the corners of their mouth twitched, “Yes ok, I have an ex who’s into some rough shit. We just got carried away? Vi’s just a giant worry wart and made me call you.”

“She was right to! And this cut on your head?”

“Wellllll, I kinda passed out and they’re a bad catch?”

“Hmmm.” Charlie said but didn’t say anymore.

He cleaned Aja’s cut and used this weird glue to shut it which made them yelp as they exclaimed that it stung like a bitch. He noticed they were holding their arms against their stomach, “may I?” Aja nodded, biting their lip as they pulled up their shirt to reveal a long bruise across the same side they fell on. Charlie felt around while Aja tried and failed to hold in their whimpers of pain. I had a sinking feeling in my gut and felt like I might throw up, I didn’t think they were hurt anywhere else and cursed at myself for not noticing. No wonder they couldn’t get up.

Charlie had a deep look of concentration as he listened to their chest, getting them to breathe in and out a few times. He sighed, “You definitely bruised or possibly broke a few ribs. I think you are ok all things considered but I would lay off of that stuff. ” Charlie said with a disapproving glare at Aja, “you’re going to be hoarse for the next few days or you might temporarily lose your voice all together. I wanna check in on you in a day or two or sooner if anything gets worse but I’m glad you called. Now what happened to you Violet?” Charlie turned my scratched face so he could scrutinize it in better light.

I brought my hand up to my cheek. Once again Aja and I spoke in unison.

“Jealous ex!” Aja spat out.

“Bar fight?” I interjected but it was more like a question than a statement, now it was my turn to think fast, “yeah I guess my ex didn’t know I was dating someone new and kinda lost it and backhanded me across the face.”

“Hmmm,” he said again, “well make sure that you put something on it at night to keep it from drying out. There will be less chance of scarring. I have to go but” Charlie shot a dark look at me but sternly spoke to them, “Aja tell your ex to knock it off.” He turned his withering glare to Aja, “and Violet, I would recommend you stay away from your ex too. Do you need a ride home Aja?” He added gently.

Aja and I looked at each other, finally cottoning on to what he was talking about. We both burst out laughing.

“He thinks…” I giggled.

“We’re each other’s exes!” Aja wheezed and coughed, holding their side as they laughed.

“No?” Charlie asked looking simultaneously amused and confused, a cute little flush of pink creeped up his neck.

“Charlie, I like boys! And I’m pretty sure that my good sis over there is not a boy. And Vi is totally not my type anyway!”

“Ditto!” I squeaked out, still trying to hold my laughter in, “I mean about Aj not being my type, not about boys, ew!”

“More for me!” Aja teased.

“Ok, answer me one question.” His face turning worried as his voice dropped to a whisper, “are you both safe?”

Aja grabbed Charlie’s hand and looked at him seriously, “it’s a really long story we don’t to get you involved in it because it’s a dramatic mess right now but we’re both safe. I promise. That person can’t hurt us again. They’ve left and they’re not coming back.”

Charlie gave us some parting instructions and sighed deeply again, “ok, I’ll check in with you later,” before wheeling his suitcase back out with a dorky little wave.

We both let out a breath of air. I went over and grabbed a few more ice packs, “lay back and put these on your ribs fool.” A whine crept into my voice as I grabbed their hand, “why didn’t you tell me you were hurt so bad?”

“I was worried that you would make me go to the hospital.” They panted as they laid back with a loud groan.

“God!” I exclaimed, “now I know what you and Katya must feel like when I’m too much of a dumb ass to go to the doctor!”

“I know right?”

“The emphasis is on YOU being a dumb ass right now, just to make it clear!” I cracked.

They giggled and then sucked air like the wind had been knocked out of them. “Well at least you know what it feels like now!”

I grabbed the throw pillows at the bottom of my bed and lifted their legs a few inches to shove the pillows underneath before setting them back down slowly.

“Thanks sis.” Aja mumbled, sounding half asleep.

“No problem sis,” I chuckled, “go to sleep!”

They lifted their head up, “wait, where are you going sleep? Get up here,” they patted the bed beside them.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” I reassured them, wiping a hand across my sweaty forehead, “I don’t want to make you sick!”

“Sis, I just got thrown across the room by a fucking supernaturally charged Twiggy. Perspective bitch.” They chuckled and grunted in pain again.

I guffawed, “True! True!” I went over to my nightstand and pulled the anti-nausea meds over, hoping to calm my rolling stomach. “What if I lay with my head down at the bottom, maybe that will help you not get the plague? I don’t mind sleeping on the floor! Actually I could just sleep in the ugly orange chair, it reclines,” I looked over at Aja, their face was relaxed with one hand resting across their ribs, soundly asleep already. They looked so young as I pulled a fleece Stanford blanket over them.

I grabbed a hoodie out from my drawer for a pillow and pulled my bathrobe down from the hook to cover myself with. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep with my whirring mind but as soon as I leaned back in the chair, my eyes drifted shut.

I woke up to a key being put in the lock of my door, I felt my eyes get huge as the handle of my door seemed to turn painfully slow, they flicked over in Aja’s direction but they were still knocked out.

The door creaked open and my chair was rolled in, I expected to see Katya peek her head in and was surprised at who it was.

“Max? What are you doing here?”

The long grey haired beauty put a hand on her chest, saw Aja and whispered, “gracious! You scared me! I’m sorry that I just let myself in but I heard you weren’t well and then someone found your chair in the quad and I got really concerned. I was going to knock but I didn’t know if you’d be able to get to the door, I suppose I should have knocked though. I’m sorry! Did someone take your chair? Are you ok? You look awfully pale,” The classic beauty fretted and looked completely scandalised, but to be honest, she looked like that a lot!

“Someone must have taken my chair! I didn’t notice!” I said dumbly but Max’ eyes flicked to my beat-up chair beside me and she pressed her lips together and gave me a look. Well fuck!

Max sighed as she hovered in the doorway with a hand on her cocked hip, “may I come in?”

I waved her in, “of course!”

She pushed my chair in and picked the chair Aja was sitting in up from the floor where it had fallen when Aja stood up so abruptly earlier and sat down facing me.

“So what happened? Gracious! What did you do to your face girl? Is someone harassing you? Did someone attack you?” She exclaimed, bringing a hand up to her pearls. She looked over at Aja, her eyes widened and she did a double take, staring at their neck and then down at the drying puddle of blood that I must have rolled through at one point as there was now a gruesome tire track of crimson across my floor. Well shit! Max’ brow furrowed, she wrung her hands and murmured gravely. “It’s clear that we should be speaking with campus security and the police Violet. When they tracked me down to bring me your chair, I said I’d take care of it but I think that you need more help than just I can provide and you both need to see a doctor!”

“We both got checked out by a doctor and I’ve seen two doctors in the past like 12 hours, you know how anxious they make me, please don’t make me!” I begged, hoping I looked the right enough amount of pitiful for her to relent but not pitiful enough for her to insist.

“I know you don’t like them but it’s clear that SOMETHING went on here. Anyone horrendous enough to attack two girls in their dorm and steal someone’s wheelchair should be arrested and brought to justice!” She said, passion igniting in her eyes. “Did you fill out a police report when you got checked out?”

“No, I had a friend of a friend come here to check us out. They’re in their last year or two of residency. It’s hard for me to get around in this old clunker of a chair, it weighs like 3 times my normal chair.” I was purposely vague as the last thing I wanted was for Charlie to get into trouble over all of this.

She crossed her arms, “well thankfully, you have your chair back so you can go.”

I knew what I had to do, I am not proud of knowing Max’ weakness. I burst into tears, I had been through a bunch of shit the past day. I was worried about Katya and Alaska and Sasha and this crazy idea of hers that she should pull that shit again. I was worried and scared and so it wasn’t hard and my breakdown was only partially fake. “Please Max? I can’t! I just can’t. I can’t explain what happened, I can promise that it won’t happen again and I can promise we’re safe. Can’t that be good enough?” My stomach lurched and I managed to get out an “uh oh” and then promptly ralphed all over the floor.

I don’t know if it was the crying or the barfing but Max seemed to relent, her face softening as she handed me the bucket, “shhh it’s ok! Don’t work yourself up so much Vi! Deep breaths.” She disappeared out the door momentarily and came back with a bucket, rag, dish gloves and cleaner and started to clean the floor.

“Max, you don’t have to do that!”

“It’s no bother! I don’t mind at all! But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about you Violet and I’m not someone who lies.” She said primly, “Did you want me to take this to the laundry?” She asked in a whisper, holding the bloody lavender blanket out at arm’s reach, giving it a dirty look like it had offended her.

“No, I don’t think it’ll come out and it’s making me nauseous just looking at it. Just throw it in the closet please, if you don’t mind. I’ll take care of it later.”

“No it’s ok, I’ll take care of it.” Max disappeared out of the room again with the bucket but returned in a moment. Max still looked worried, her angular face looked pinched. “What else can I do for you? What do you need?”

“Can you pass me my meds please?” I asked, pointing to my bedside table, “I think there might be a ginger ale in the back of the fridge too, if you don’t mind.” I felt bad asking her but maybe if I could keep her busy, she wouldn’t over think not calling the police. I let my head flop back and turned to look at Aja who was still out cold. Max looked down at them for a moment with pity in her eyes before rustling around in the fridge, finding a ginger ale and handing it to me.

“Thanks, ugh I’m sorry Max,” I said, as she handed me everything.

“You can’t help it love, are you sure I can’t convince you to report this? I’m worried.”

“I know you’re worried, I don’t want you to get into trouble and I know you don’t like to lie but can we just say my chair being out in the parking lot was a prank or something? I dunno…or anything?”

She pursed her lips and looked unhappy but sighed, “I truly don’t think that anyone will ask me about it, I reassured the girl that found it that I would make sure it was reported if it wasn’t an accident.”

“It was definitely an accident, the person wasn’t in their right mind when they did it.”

Max hurrumphed, “so it was someone you know?” Oh shit!

“Not really, I mean only in passing, I spoke to them today and they were very remorseful and I just don’t want to get them in trouble for something they really didn’t have control over.”

“Are they ok? Because someone who is sick or an addict is more likely to get help if they get reported.”

“Max, would you please just let it go? We’re safe, I promise you that. Okay?”

She sighed, “okay but if you change your mind…we can always report it. Do you want me to stay with you?”

I shook my head and yawned, “no I’m ok, I’m just going to go back to sleep I think. I’m so tired.”

“Well I guess I will check in on you in a wee bit, you have my number so please use it if you need anything. Do you want me to get you some soup or tea while you’re still awake?”

My stomach lurched at the mere mention of food, so I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to give my stomach anymore ammo if you know what I mean?”

“True, true. Well I hope you feel better,” Max leaned over and kissed the top of my head, “take something for your fever and tell your friend I hope they feel better.”

“Yes mother,” I said sweetly and batted my lashes.

“Smart ass,” Max mumbled and chuckled on her way out, closing the door softly behind her with a click.

I must have passed out again, the next time I woke up, the door was being unlocked and turning again.

The door opened a bit and then paused, people whispering out in the hall, “come on in Max, I’m awake.” I called.

A familiar blonde face appeared, wearing a giant grin, and whispering, “hey! Sorry, ve vanted to peek in and see how you vere. You look terrible love!”

“Gee thanks! Please don’t come any closer. And we?”

Sasha poked her head in, she looked like she’d been crying her eyes out. “Hi,” she said in barely a whisper, she looked from Aja to me and burst into loud sobs, running into the bathroom and locking the door.

Aja stirred and let out a little moan.

“Oh dear, Sasha’s been doing that all afternoon.” Katya shook her head.

“Any news on ‘Lasky? Is Farrah ok?”

“Farrah is well drugged, Kimora is taking care of her. Hopefully she’ll be nice but if she isn’t Farrah probably won’t remember it anyway. Alaska should be back tomorrow, she has a bit of a hard road ahead of her with the pins in her leg. She can’t even put any weight on it for a few weeks, she’s actually going to be moving in two doors down in the accessible room for a bit since she’s on the 2nd floor of her apartment and there is no elevator. It’s kind of lucky that girl dropped out.”

“Poor ‘Lasky! That’s horrible,” I frowned.

“Hey you found your chair! That might help cheer Sashinka up?” Katya put her mouth up to the door and said in a slightly sing-song voice usually used to calm the very young, “Sashinka, they found Vi’s chair, I told you that it vould turn up. Pleeease stop crying dear. It’s not your fault.” Sasha seemed to cry even harder and louder.

“Oh shit, mother fucker!” Aja exclaimed with a groan. “Ouch!”

“Good morning sunshine.” I said in a bright sunny voice, “Kat, can you give Aj these please?” I handed Katya my prescription pain meds and she gave me a questioning look but took them over, helping Aja sit up seemed to be difficult but Katya pulled a bunch of pillows behind them so they could sit up before taking one of the pills gratefully from her.

I dragged my carcass out of the orange chair and into my own, going over to the bathroom door and putting my hand on it, “Sash, please come out. Please? I can’t talk to you through a door.”

“Ayo sis, get out here!” Aja tried to yell but it came out a gravelly, squeaky mess. It seemed to have some effect because the door slowly creaked open and Sasha hesitantly peeked her red, tear streaked face out. Aja smiled and patted the bed beside them, Sasha took a deep breath and then slunk out of the bathroom like an animal that got caught doing something wrong. Aja pulled one of Sasha’s hands away from her face, I rolled over and patted her knee. “Listen sis, I know I don’t know you well at all and half of that time, you were possessed by an evil, raging, bitch-monster.” That earned Aja a little watery chuckle from Sasha, “bottom line, we both know that this wasn’t your fault. I gotta be honest though, the idea of you putting yourself or us through that again is pretty damn scary to me.”

“Ve have a plan for that!” Katya announced triumphantly. We gathered around like a football team while Katya shared her and Sash’s plan.

Needless to say, I did not stay in my room after dark for the next 2 nights. I slept at Katya and Trixie’s, who’s new nickname was Tracie since old Professor Tempest couldn’t seem to remember her name.

We helped a miserable and pale looking Alaska move into her new digs the day she was released from the hospital 2 days ago. She was using a wheelchair and had to keep her leg propped up on pillows. I showed her a few tricks to getting around, just in case she wanted to go out. Alaska was pretty much despondent when she did reply and I knew nothing of what anyone said to her before tonight’s gathering with Sasha would sink in.

We went out with Sasha and Aja for a late night snack before we were due to meet Alaska at 2 am. Aja looked horrible when they joined us at this greasy lil diner we’d discovered the other day, they were still walking slightly hunched over. Thankfully between some theatre grade foundation and powder, the cold snap and a guilty Sasha’s very ample turtleneck sweater collection no one seemed to see the dark bruises on Aj’s neck. Some of them were fading out to shades of green and yellow. As Charlie had predicted, Aja was completely horse still. I also had on a thick layer of foundation and I’d been wearing my hair so it hung over that side of my face instead of my usual ponytail.

Sasha was chasing her Julienne salad around her plate with her fork but not really eating any of it but a few pieces of tomato and a bit of the chicken, she was wearing a long thick cable knit grey sweater and red tights with little rhinestones on them. It was strange to see her head covered by a matching grey cap when it was normally so proudly and defiantly on display. She had dark bags under her eyes and a sallow tone.

“You know the food works better if you actually eat it, right?” Sasha didn’t appear to hear them, so Aja raised their voice, “AYO SIS!” Sasha’s head snapped up, “did you stone those tights yourself?”

Sasha smiled and shook her head. “No Shea’s friend Val made them. She’s obsessed with AB stones.”

“Vhat’s wrong Sashinka?” Katya put her hand on Sasha’s arm and she jumped out of her skin.

Sasha sighed, “Sorry. I am just worried that this won’t work, that somehow I won’t be able to do it or it will go wrong. Or that I will hurt someone again. Or Shea will find out, she already knows I’m upset about something and she keeps apologizing like she has something to be sorry about. Did you turn up the heat in your room Vi?”

“Sash, you’re not going to hurt anyone, our plan is good. It wasn’t your fault the first time either. And yes, I turned up my heat.” I smiled at her.

Sasha managed a weak but queasy looking smile and nodded, she pushed her plate away, “I can’t eat anything. I’m just too nervous.”

Katya pushed the plate back, “how about you eat some protein? Just eat egg or meat or cheese, c’mon 3 more bites? Please Sashinka? Shea said you haven’t eaten much in days, I’m vorried. Ve are all vorried.” Katya needled her just like she’s done with me countless times, Sasha sighed and picked up her fork, skewering a tiny piece of cheese but with a look from Katya she added a half a boiled egg.

Katya and I had gotten a slightly panicked facebook call from Shea yesterday.

“Hey guys, has Sash been acting weird lately or is it just me? I know she’s been hanging out with y’all a lot since I’ve been working so much and spending such long hours at the studio getting ready for the show and I’m glad that she is! Don’t get me wrong! But, has she been eating with you? The groceries in our apartment have hardly been touched, she hasn’t used her meal card in days either. I went to see if I should put some money on it since I got paid and it was still full. I made her her favourite sandwich the other day and I found it in the trash without one bite taken out of it!”

Katya and I exchanged looks, Sasha hadn’t been hanging out with us much.

“Uh…you know that she looked after me the other day when I had the stomach flu, maybe she picked it up? I hope not! I would feel so bad.” From what I’ve seen of Sasha, she didn’t seem sick. Withdrawn and stressed, yes, but not sick.

I think she had been spending a lot of time with Alaska, who did nothing but stare out the window. As far as I know, she hadn’t told Sasha much about who Sharon was to her or what the story was, just that something happened and she needed to talk to Sharon.

We couldn’t do the seance thing until tonight because Sasha insisted we wait for a night when Shea was for sure working and not just at the studio where she could leave and pop in at any point. For some reason Sasha was adamant that Shea not find out, it had taken some pleading with Alaska but what could Alaska do? It’s not like she could MAKE Sasha get possessed or whatever.

“Hmm I don’t know,” Shea scowled. “I mean you were completely out of it when you had it Violet. I don’t think they’ve had a fever, I would have noticed.” Shea chewed her bottom lip, she did look really worried and I wondered, not for the first time, why she flirted with me or anyone else when she seemed to really love Sasha.

“I promise, ve vill keep a better eye on her.” Katya said from over my shoulder.

I nodded, “we will make sure she eats something.”

“Ok, thanks. Just let me know if she says something, I mean, I feel like she’s keeping something from me. Like she’s upset about something? I don’t know, maybe I’m bugging out about nothing? I mean, I’ve never hoped I was bugging out about nothing til now.”

“Ve vill keep our eyes and ears open.”

“That’s all I can ask, I gotta jet but I’ll talk to you guys soon? Take care of my girl for me ok?”

I guiltily looked away, but I heard Kat murmur “ve vill,” before Shea hung up.

Katya nudged my ribs, bringing me out of my memory, “you need to eat something too Missy!” Sasha and I rolled our eyes at each other, a small but genuine grin turned up one side of Sasha’s mouth. Another nudge and I sighed and picked up my own fork, Aja was staring at me.

“What Aja?”

“Nothing. It’s ok sis!”

“No say it.” I stabbed a fry with so much force that the fork scraped across the plate, making us all cringe. “Sorry.”

“Maybe I’m just used to you having your hair back but you just look like you’ve lost weight.”

“Gee thanks! Anyone else wanna tell me I look like shit?” I asked sharply, throwing my fork down with a clatter that made Sasha jump. “Maybe I did lose weight, three days of barfing can do that to a person!” I knew I was overreacting but I couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

Aja pouted, and flailed a chicken wing in my direction, they rolled their eyes, “no sis you’re right!” Then they added sarcastically, “you’re perfect, you’re beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista, you’re a model! Everything about you is perfect!”

I let out a little surprised bark of laughter and it seemed to break whatever mopey spell had been cast on our table. Even Sasha looked up from pushing her food around her plate and let out a little chuckle.

“Smartass,” I muttered, nibbling at the corner of a chicken strip.

“Are you feeling any better kukolka?” Sasha asked quietly.

I nodded, “definitely but I still have no appetite. But I haven’t had a fever in the past day or so.”

“Glad to hear it.” Sasha pushed her plate away again and said something sharply in Russian to Katya when she opened her mouth to tell her to eat more.

A cute girl came to our table to give us the bill, we were the only ones left and it was obvious that the staff were wanting to close up for the night. They were upturning chairs onto tables, sweeping and mopping the floor but leaving a path of dry floor for us to leave by.

Katya had to drive Shea’s car after we decided Sash was too distracted to drive when she tried to get in someone else’s car. On the way back, Sash kept nodding off.

When I opened my dorm door, the stifling heat was like a smack to the face.

“Jesus!” Aja exclaimed, immediately peeling off their sweater.

“I think you’re thinking of the other direction!” Katya joked as she striped off her own sweater.

“I should go change, Alaska will be here any moment. Do you have the…uh…things Vi?” Sasha sighed yet again.

“There’s a bag in the bathroom, there are a few to choose from. There’s a housecoat on the back of the door but I doubt you’ll need it with it being this warm. At least I know the heat works!” I unravelled my scarf and took off my hoodie, putting my hair up in it’s usual ponytail.

There was a chair in the middle of the room, the beat up ouija board box on the table beside it. There was a soft knock on the door, Katya answered, swinging wide the door to let a pale and slightly green Alaska wheel through.

“Hi.” She said but it was little more than a puff of air, “thanks for doing this Violet, I really appreciate it.” She smiled weakly.

The door to the bathroom opened and a bashful and red faced Sasha poked her head out. “Oh good, you’re here Alaska!”

“Mmhmm, thanks again Sash but uh why are you in a bikini? And why is it so fucking hot in here? Someone should open a window for God’s sake!”

“You didn’t tell her the plan?” Sasha said, looking between the other three of us in the room. When none of us said anything, Sasha sighed and sank into her seat in the middle of the room, she had her hands splayed to hide as much of herself as possible.

“So I really hurt Violet and Aja last time when Sharon…uh…borrowed my body and I just don’t feel comfortable putting you all at risk again. So the plan is Katya, Aja and Violet have super soakers filled with holy water. So if it seems Sharon is going to get physical again, they can pull her out of my body.”

“She won’t hurt you again, Sharon would never! She was just worried when she heard I was hurt. Sharon wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Alaska said, scandalised at the very thought that Sharon could be violent.

Aja strode over to the vanity and plucked up one of my makeup wipes, removing the thick layer of cake makeup and powder and going over to Alaska and craning her neck so Alaska could see the full extent of the damage. Alaska grimaced and looked away. “She threw me across the fucking room so buzz, buzz, mother fucker because here is proof that she can and will hurt a fly. She could have killed me!” Sasha opened her mouth to apologize yet again but Aja brought up a finger and shook it in her direction, “and stop saying you’re sorry Sis! It wasn’t you. I know that and so does Vi.” Sasha closed her mouth again.

“I still don’t get why Sasha is in a bikini though.” Alaska mumbled.

“We need the largest amount of skin available to shoot at because we are all bad aims.”

Alaska’s eyes were already brimming with tears and a fat one splashed onto her lap. “Please just give her another chance?”

“So what is the story between you two?” Aja asked, sitting carefully on the edge of my bed.

The lights flickered and Sharon appeared in the mirror, her face totally changed at the sight of Alaska. Her face softened and lost it’s hollowed out look and her eyes sparkled. She put a hand flat on either side of the glass, a glowing tear trickled down her face.

“Ok let’s go. Vi, I think you need to start at the ouija board since it’s your room.” Sasha said, letting out a breath of air from her puffed out cheeks as she swirled the heart shaped wooden planchette around the board while Alaska and I rolled over to the table. Katya stood by the door and Aja stood opposite with their water guns pointed at Sasha.

We added our fingers to the board, Alaska hesitated for a fraction of a moment before adding her long, spindly fingers as Sasha said, “we invite communication from the spirit world, specifically from the girl in the mirror of room 121.”

The planchette almost sprinted around the board, “she just spelled out I’ll be good.” Sasha said, she looked up at Sharon sternly, “you better or I won’t be doing this again.” Sharon nodded emphatically. “Ok let’s get this over with.”

I backed up and grabbed my own gun from my bed as Sasha lowered her head to her chest. There was a moment of still before Sasha took in a huge inhale of air and lifted her chin.

The three of us with guns shifted, I couldn’t talk for the other two but I felt a jittery energy sweep through the room.

Sharon slowly lifted her hands, palms out. “I am not going to hurt you.” She said calmly, it was eerie how much Sasha’s voice changed into this high pitched whine. Sharon turned her eyes to Alaska, “Lasky?”

“Hi,” Alaska breathed, pulling Sharon’s hand into her own and asked in a small voice, “why did you have to leave me all alone? I’m sorry, it should have been me. It was my stuff, it’s all my fault.” Alaska wailed.

“Stop it!” Sharon barked and squeezed Alaska’s hand, shuffling the chair closer. Then her voice softened, husky with tears. “You didn’t know it was bad. I’m glad I got to it first. You can and have and WILL do so much more good in this world than I ever could.”

“But the last thing I ever said to you was that I hated you. ” Alaska sobbed and flung her hands in the air, “and then I just left you. I was so mad but if I hadn’t left, you’d still BE here. I could have saved you, I could have. I should have stayed.”

“No,” Sharon shook her head, “I hate you isn’t the last thing you’ll ever say to me. We have this chance, right now. I love you so much but you have to stop blaming yourself. You have to let yourself move on because that is the only way I will ever get to.”

“I love you too but you…you forgive me? You should hate me, you have every right to! I wouldn’t blame you. I killed you!” Alaska looked down at her lap and broke down, crying harder than I’ve ever seen anyone cry. She looked like she might come apart with the force of her shaking.

The three of us with waterguns gasped at Alaska’s confession.

Sharon’s head snapped up and she looked surprised to find us there, like the only thing that existed in her world was Alaska. “She didn’t kill me.” Sharon scooted closer, lifting her chin with a crooked finger to make Alaska look her in the eye, tears streaming down her own face. “You didn’t. There’s nothing to forgive. NOTHING! I need you to do some things for me.”

“Anything. I would give anything to go back in time and change things.”

“But you can’t Alaska! You can’t! I wish I could too but if it meant you would die, I wouldn’t do it. You can fulfill my dying…er…dead wishes.”

“Anything.” Alaska murmured again.

“I need you to stop wishing you were dead, I need you to NEVER try to kill yourself again. Promise me!” Sharon said firmly, running her hands over Alaska’s collarbones.

Alaska nodded and sobbed out, “I promise, I’m sorry. I can’t help it, I just get so sad and I miss you so much.”

“I know you do babe, I miss you too but you have to realize you’re supposed to be HERE! I’m so, so proud of you for getting sober, I wish we could have done that together. I just want you to know, when you’re ready, that it’s ok to move on. You deserve to love and be loved by someone as special as you are.”

Alaska shook her head and mouthed “no. I can’t.”

“You can! I need to know you’re going to be ok. Promise me?” Sharon pulled Alaska into a hug, running her hand down Alaska’s platinum hair. Aja, Katya and I had all lowered our guns, I swiped at the tears cascading down my face.

“I…I promise, I’ll try but I don’t think I can ever love anyone like I love you. I can’t put my whole heart in it because you took a piece of me with you.” Alaska wailed and held onto Sharon harder, blubbering into her shoulder.

“Shhh I’m so sorry baby. Shhh. I love you so much but I can’t stay. You won’t be able to move on and I need that for you. I need to know you are going to be ok. Shhh. I’m so sorry beautiful.” Sharon cooed, pulling back to cup Alaska’s face in her hands, pressing a kiss onto the sobbing girl’s forehead before pulling her back in again.

We sat there, paused, frozen in time while the two girls in the middle of the room held onto each other and cried out their heartbreak together. We didn’t know the whole story but you didn’t have to know it was a catastrophic loss for both of them.

“Dawn is coming. Can you do one last thing for me?” Sharon asked with a wobbly voice, sniffling and wiping at Alaska’s face with the pads of her thumbs. “Can you sing me to sleep one last time?”

“I can’t. I haven’t sang since you left me all alone.” Alaska whimpered.

“You have to share that gift with the world Lasky and I’m…I’m so tired,” Sharon’s voice cracked and she ended with a sob, sounding child-like, “please? Sing me to sleep.”

Alaska looked conflicted, a gamut of emotions running across her face. She would obviously want to help Sharon find peace but would feel like she was losing her all over again. She finally sighed and nodded, between sniffles she asked, “can you help me onto the bed please Katya?”

While Kat and Aja helped a sobbing Alaska who grunted in pain onto the bed, Sharon came over to me. She looked nervously at my gun so I set it down on the table beside me. Sharon got down on her knees and pulled me into a strong hug, whispering in my ear, “can you please tell Sasha thank you? The words thank you are not remotely strong enough to voice my gratitude but it’s all I have. She’s let me finally rest. She’s given my girl peace. I’m so sorry for hurting you and Aja, when I heard Alaska was hurt, I guess I just lost my damn mind for a minute.”

“Shar?” Sharon’s body stiffened against mine at the sound of Alaska’s broken voice, “I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” Alaska patted the bed beside her.

Sharon sat beside Alaska, a wry smile on her lips as she looked over at me, “also tell Sasha’s girlfriend I’m sorry.” I was about to ask her what the hell she was talking about when she wrapped her arms around Alaska’s neck and pulled her into a long, passionate, open-mouthed kiss as tears streamed down their faces. I looked away, thinking that maybe the two girls would want some privacy in their last moment.

“I don’t think I can do this. I’m scared, I don’t want to let you go.” Alaska admitted tearfully, I turned my head to look at her, Sharon was laying on her side, head in Alaska’s lap, curled around Alaska carefully to avoid her injured leg. Alaska was stroking the back of her fingers down the side of Sharon’s face as she sobbed.

Sharon caught her hand and pulled it to her lips to kiss it and then whispered “please baby? Let me finally rest in your arms, sing me to sleep Lasky?“ Her eyes pleaded with Alaska as she repeated, “I love you but I’m so tired. Please don’t forget me.”

“I could never!” Alaska swore, leaning down to kiss Sharon’s forehead. “I love you so much.”

When Alaska started to sing, my mouth flopped open with surprise at the rich tones of her voice.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Sharon let out a sigh, a small smile on her lips. Sasha’s body went slack and Alaska let out a mournful, keening cry. She cradled Sasha’s limp body against her own and screamed and wailed.

Sasha’s eyes fluttered a few times before they opened. She sat up straighter in Alaska’s arms and pulled the still inconsolable Alaska into a tight hug. “She’s gone, isn’t she? Oh Alaska,” she breathed, “I’m so sorry. Shhh darling.” After a few moments she looked around the room at us, “Katya, I think Alaska could use a nice cup of tea from the cafeteria. Aja, could you run down to Alaska’s room and get her a warm sweater, she’s shaking like a leaf. Vi…uh…”

I could tell Sasha was trying to get rid of us to talk to Alaska alone but was uncomfortable ordering me from my own room, “I will do whatever you need me to, but I have to go to the bathroom first.” I offered.

“Yeah, no that’s good. Yeah go do that.” Sasha stuttered out, giving me a sweet little thank you smile.

We scattered and I pulled the door shut. I wasn’t trying to listen. Occasionally I heard a word or phrase here or there, Alaska was wailing again at one point and I winced. I turned the tap on to drown out what Sasha was almost having to yell to be heard over Alaska but I still heard Sasha repeat the phrase, “you loved her enough to let her be at peace. There is no greater love than that, no greater gift that you could give her Alaska!” Minutes that felt like hours ticked by and Alaska was slowly winding down.

There was a knock at the door to my room and I heard Aja say they got the sweater and then ask if they should come back. Sasha said no so I took that to mean they were done their talk and it was safe to come out, so I poked my head out.

Sasha was sitting cross-legged beside Alaska, her arm around the lanky girl who was rubbing her red rimmed eyes. They both looked absolutely exhausted.

Katya came in shortly after with 4 large paper cups of hot water, pulling milk and sugar and a plethora of different tea bags out of her coat pocket. “I forgot to ask vhat kind.”

For a few minutes Alaska stared at the tea she held in her trembling hands while we all stared at her. She cleared her throat and whispered, “I can feel you staring at me, I’m going to tell you. I just need a minute.”

Sasha patted her hand, “you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to dear.”

“No, you especially out of all people, deserve the truth. I just ask that you not judge me too harshly once I’ve told you the whole story.”

“We wouldn’t do that.” Aja promised somberly and Katya and I murmured sounds of agreement with them.

Alaska sighed, “ok, so before this was an accessible room, it was our room. Sharon and I were roommates, I kind of hated her at the beginning to be honest. She was all doom and gloom and grumpy exterior and I was an independent, overachieving, tightly wound gymnast and cheerleader prone to temper tantrums when I didn’t get my own way. But when I hurt my foot, I saw a whole different and gentler side of Sharon, she took care of me without being asked to. At first it was annoying to me but she kept taking care of me and I eventually admitted to myself that I liked it. I liked being taken care of.” Alaska admitted as if it were a crime to want to be cared for. “I got better and Sharon and I went our separate ways…well…as much as roommates could anyway. Sharon hung out with a different crowd than me but we somehow managed to land at the same pharm party.”

“What’s a farm party? Is it held in a barn?” Sasha asked innocently. Aja let out a snort.

Alaska looked down and turned red. “No no, Pharm with a PH, it’s a party where you go and the entrance fee is usually a couple bucks and whatever prescription meds you can get your hands on. They put them all in a fishbowl and then you take some.” Sasha gasped. “Yeah it’s dumb because you don’t know what you’re getting but I never claimed to be smart. Whatever I took, fucked me up, bad, and Sharon rescued me yet again. She probably saved my life that time too. She made me throw up and watched me through the night even though she was tripping balls herself. When I woke up or came to or whatever, she was in the corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth, muttering to herself that she was a horrible person and I was dead. Not the most amazing time for a first kiss but it calmed her down.” Alaska let out a little chuckle. “I wish I could say that we were never that stupid again, that we vowed to never take drugs again and lived happily ever after but that would obviously be a lie. We did swear off pharm parties, sticking to the drugs we knew so to speak, pot and E, meth a few times but we had the best time with coke so we started to do coke exclusively, somehow trying to convince ourselves we weren’t really drug addicts if we didn’t do the supposed hard stuff or start injecting. It got so bad that I would cut out of class early to do a line before the next one, my grades started falling, I got put on academic probation. I was still secretly chasing a bigger high to avoid my problems. The high from snorting coke could no longer fuel my need and so I started sneaking behind Sharon’s back to inject amphetamines, which were great for my grades as I studied frantically but I wouldn’t sleep for days and Sharon was anything but stupid. Our regular dealer got busted, I had to search this other guy out. I was the one that got the drugs because I figured that way Sharon couldn’t find out how much I was doing or that I was veering from our coke-only plan.” Alaska sagged, “she came home early after I had just picked up a new supply, she walked in our room to find me laying on the bathroom floor with a needle in my vein, half of the drugs still in the syringe. Her walking in on me was the second time she saved my life, I woke up the next day to all my stuff packed and by the door and an irate Sharon who had had 18 hours to think while I lay unconscious on the bed she dragged me onto. I was going into withdrawals at this point and feeling the worst physical pain I’ve ever felt which seemed to go with the worst emotional pain I’ve ever felt. Sharon wasn’t an angel, she had a temper as you two both saw, but I’ve never seen someone so angry.”

Alaska shuddered and held her tea to her chest while Sasha covered her in a blanket. “You can stop Alaska, it’s ok.”

Alaska shook her head and gritted her teeth, “no I’ve come this far. I have to finish it. Sharon gave me an ultimatum as I lay shaking in a pool of my own sweat, get clean or get out. Things were said that shouldn’t have been but in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t take it back. I screamed at her I would do one better and leave without the drugs. She could have them. That I hated her and then I threw the 3 bags of coke in my pocket at her and left. I didn’t take anything with me so I didn’t get her texts. I didn’t know she was in trouble! I would have come back!” Alaska broke down as she pulled up her phone and passed it to Sasha who read it and passed it to me, she had saved the messages from Sharon.

9:42pm Alaska, baby please come back. You’re sick, you can’t spend the night on your own. At least tell me you are somewhere safe, that you aren’t out on the street. Come home.

11:32pm I tried not to do it, but I used some of the coke you threw at me. I think it was cut with something, I feel different.

11:35pm I’m scared something is really wrong ‘Lasky, my heart feels like it’s going so fast it might stop. I think I need to call for help but I’m scared. Can you?

11:40pm HELP ME!

11:41pm I will always love you.

I spent the night at a friend’s house getting wasted, I went back to the room to get some things when I knew Sharon would be in class except she wasn’t. She was laying on the floor dead with one hand over her heart. I’ll never forget how dim her eyes were without their usual sparkle, she was gone.” Alaska stopped for a minute to drink her tea.

Aja, Katya and I all had tears trailing down our faces. I folded in on myself and Katya came over and held my hand. Sasha was weeping loudly, her breath coming in ragged little gasps.

“I freaked, I called 911 and tried to revive her while they got there but she was pronounced dead at the scene, she’d been dead for hours, there had been no chance for survival. Our room was a crime scene until they could figure out what happened. They tested the coke and it came back that Sharon was right, it wasn’t even coke, it was white heroine which looked like coke but was much more potent and since Sharon often did at least two lines, she didn’t have a chance at survival, it stopped her heart and breathing after 10 minutes. The drug dealer didn’t know what he was doing, he was caught and charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession with the intent to traffic. I moved out of our room, Sharon’s memory was everywhere. I spent the first 6 months after Sharon’s death getting coked out until my friend and new roommate nicknamed Jinkx was forced to call 911 because I purposefully ODed. I missed Sharon too much, she was gone and it was my fault so I felt it was only right for me to die too.”

“Oh Alaska,” Katya whispered from right by my ear, making me jump.

“My parents made me go to rehab, I got out and relapsed within 12 hours, confirming my worst fears that I was worthless, hopeless and should be dead. I almost drowned coked out in the bathtub one night, I think maybe Sharon saved me that time because I made sure Jinkxy was out for the night before I did it. I remember going under and feeling at peace but I woke up freezing with the water drained out of the tub. I got thrown in rehab again but this was a different program, they recognised that they needed to help me with underlying problems not just sober me up for 30 days. A year and 3 months after her death, I was sober. I still struggle everyday with cravings and the guilt, which I’m going to try to forgive myself for. It was a horrible accident. When I heard about the girl in room 121, I was glad I wasn’t living in there because I was afraid of what Sharon would say. I knew it was her, of course it was. After graduation, I left the country for a few years, trying to run as far away from this room and the memories it held. When I got offered a job, I was reluctant to take it but I felt like I had to, i was being called to. That there was a deeper purpose and I was right, I just wish I wasn’t such a chicken because I would have been able to give her peace earlier. Thank you Sasha, for giving us both peace.” Alaska said, punctuating the end of her sentence with with a yawn, “if you guys don’t mind, I think I should go to bed.”

“I’d like to come with you and watch over you, if that’s ok.” Sasha asked timidly, “I just have the feeling maybe you shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

Alaska thought for a moment and I recognised that internal struggle between independence and allowing someone in. She smiled a little and nodded, “ok, I’d like that.”

Aja decided to head out too until it was just Katya and I laying in bed with our arms wrapped around each other.

“I love you so much, I don’t know what I’d do or who I’d be without you.” I whispered when I thought Katya was asleep.

Katya pulled me closer, “I love you too. I don’t ever vant to find out how I’d ever live vithout you.”

I relaxed in her arms and let sleep carry me away.

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