#iswm fic

[ciara-clycone]

'Paradoxial' Virus: Ch.2 -Weariness.

Ao3: link

Summary:

Strange things are going on in the Invicinble 2. Electronics are acting up. Eerie sightings are happening on the ship. No one knows why this is going on. They try to act like it's nothing serious.

But it's having a strange toll on the captain...

Pairings: Captaineer

Warnings for this chapter: None.

Length: 861 words.

As Mark was walking down the hall, he heard Tyler and the other crew member talking. He was planning on ignoring them and continuing on his way when he heard them mention the captain. Immediately, his interest was piqued.

He walked over to them. “What’s this about the captain acting weird?” He asked.

“The captain nearly took of my head with their Alexa,” said the guy, holding out the offending machine, “They just threw it right at me. I nearly got clocked.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like the Captain.Are you ok? They're pretty strong."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Captain came and checked up on me afterwards. They were sorry about it too. But still, the fact they threw it at me shook me up.”

I gotta find out what what’s going on with them, thought Mark.

“Can I have that?” Mark asks, motioning to the Alexa. The guy hands it to Mark, and he leaves them for the Captain’s quarters. Coming upon the captain’s door, he knocked. “Captain?”

“Just a second….” Came the captain’s response. They sounded tired. A few seconds passed.

What are they doing? Mark wondered as he struggled to hear what is going on in the other room. He only heard shuffling and footsteps.

“Alright, come in.” Called the captain.

Mark walked in and saw the Captain at their desk. Papers were strewn across their table.

“Mark,” the captains said, nodding at him. “What brings you here?”

“A little birdie told me you were having trouble with Alexa?” Mark grinned as he held the Alexa out. “I think you might be missing this?”

“Bird’s the word…” the captain mumbled. They shake their head and blink as if they were trying to wake up.

Mark arched an eyebrow at them. “Captain? Are you feeling ok?”

Blinking again, the captain looked up at Mark and then the Alexa, and growled at the bot. “I thought I tossed that thing out.” They murmured.

“You did. One of the crew had it. Said you hit them with it?”

“An accident!” The captain exclaimed. They looked stricken that it had hit someone. “He said he was ok though? I went and apologized to him and checked on him.”

“Yeah, he’s ok. Just still surprised by it.”

“I didn’t know anyone was coming in when I tossed it,” the captain said. “I just wanted to get rid of the dang thing.”

“Why though? This thing is handy.”

The captain shook their head. “It’s cursed, is what it is.”

Mark chuckled. “Why do you say that?”

“Blasted thing keeps telling me where the nearest graveyard is. Like it wants me to go there or something.” The captain glared at it.

“What?” Mark asked,giving the Alexa a perplexed look, “That’s not normal. Not at all… I can check into it for you, if you want?”

“That’d be great, thanks…”

The tiredness in the captain’s voice caught Mark’s attention. “Hey, Captain? You seem more tired than usual.Is anything wrong? I mean beside this weird Alexa stuff.”

The captain let out a sigh and slowly shook their head. “Just feeling tired…. Didn’t sleep well last night.” They shrug it off.

“Why not?” Mark asked.

“Just didn’t.” The captain didn’t really want to tell Mark they were having nightmares.

And that the nightmares weren’t just last night. But every night. That’d make them sound whiny. And gah they were the captain! They were supposed to be the fount of strength and stability on the ship. That would all crumble to nothing if people found out how shaky they got from nightmares. And there was no reason for them to react that way too, or so they figured.. It’s not like nightmares and unpleasant dreams were unusual or anything.

“Hmm… ok…” Mark said, skeptically. He picked up the Alexa. “Well, I’ll take this little rascal out to the lab and see what’s going on with it.”

“Sounds good. Thanks….” The captain said, nodding. They returned to their work, or at least acted like they were working. In truth, they were still out of it but wanted to look like they were ok. At least while Mark was there.

Goodness! The last thing they wanted to do was fall apart in front of him. It was why when he knocked on the door, they scrambled off from the floor and made it look like they were hard at work on projects or something.

Marl hesitated a moment, watching the captain. He felt something was seriously off with them but he couldn’t place it. And it seemed like something more than just tiredness.

The captain paused in what they were doing and looked up. They raised an eyebrow. “Is there something else?” The question wasn’t sharp sounding, more just stated quietly.

Mark paused a moment. Should he come out and say that he suspected something was going on with them? He wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt it in his bones that there was something wrong.

“Well….”

“Engineering paging Mark. There’s something up with one of the engines. We need you to come down and check it out.”

“Oh uh nevermind…” Mark sighed. Guess asking the captain will have to wait.

[ironwoman359]

The Secret History of the Invincible II

Chapter 1: Seams Pull Apart

Summary: “How much do you remember?” he asked suddenly. “About…you know.”

“About the wormhole,” you said, because one of you had to say it, and it may as well be you.

It's been months since the Invincible safely landed on a new planet to build humanity's first colony among the stars, and the Captain has been working very hard to ensure that the colony has everything it needs. But now that everyone's getting settled, it's time to sit down with the colony's official historian and give a report to send back to earth about the Invincible's voyage...and the Captain must choose how much to reveal about what really happened

Ships: Platonic the Captain and everyone, with an emphasis on the Captain & Mark.

Content Warnings: Just a lot of discussion of everything that went on in ISWM itself, and hurt/comfort as the characters try to process that and work through it. And guilt. SOOOOO much guilt. Fun!

Word Count: 2,857

A/N: I've had this idea in my head for a long time, of how the Captain and Mark would move on with their lives after everything they went through in the wormhole, and I'm excited to finally start posting it. Enjoy!

*If you like to read on AO3, check the notes for a link!

--- --- ---

With a sucking whoosh and a swirl of blue energy, you suddenly found yourself back in your cryopod. You looked around, heart sinking as the pod’s interface whirred to life in a painstakingly familiar sequence.  

*Software update complete*  

“Good morning, Captain! We are currently *error* years into our journey. Coffee is en route. Current ship status is absolutely catastrophic. In-in-initializing emergency wakey-wakey protocol.”  

The cryopod spat you out and you crumpled your hands and knees on the deck of the bridge. The alarm lights flashed an incessant red and the ship’s emergency klaxons blared in your ears, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. You couldn’t even bring yourself to stand up. It wasn’t over. It would never be over. You’d thought that maybe this time, you’d actually done it, but who were you kidding? This would go on forever. 

“Reviving head engineer.”  

“Captain?”  

You looked up at Mark, who was stepping out of his pod with a frown on his face.  

“Does this feel-”  

The air warped around him and his form glitched between different versions of himself, settling briefly on one with a tattered uniform, skin marred by burns and his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. 

“You let us die, Captain,” he said, his voice low and distorted, before he glitched back into his normal self.  

“-familiar to you?”  

“Mark-” you staggered to your feet, but before you could speak, he glitched again, and Celci stood in his place. 

“It never ends, Captain,” she said, her face covered in frost and her goggles glowing blue. “No matter what you try, nothing can save us from this nightmare, and it’s your fault.”   

“Celci-”  

Her body warped and it was Burt now, digital rain running down his face.  

“I'll tell you what I know,” he said. “Storm clouds are gathering... the wind is gonna blow... the race of man is suffering .” 

“This is why we shouldn’t have trusted you,” Gunther’s voice said from behind, but when you turned, it was the alien from the Universal Stability Agency standing there, her clothes torn and blood pouring from her mangled eye socket.  

“It all comes down to bad leadership ,” the alien said in Gunther’s voice, then they continued in their own.  “All those worlds...all those people...gone. Because of you.”  

“Seeing things, Captain?” 

The voice was low in your ear and you whirled around, just in time for the bridge’s main control console to burst into flames. 

“Fire on the bridge! *Error* Life support systems failing. *Error* Automatic fire suppression system offline. *Error* Failsafes offline.”  

Instinctively, you turned towards the fire extinguisher, but found yourself stuck to the floor and unable to move, ice slowly creeping up your legs.  

“*Error* Captain offline.”   

A wall of fire and shrapnel barreled towards you as the console exploded, engulfing the bridge in flames. As the heat swarmed around you, you felt a deep despair settle in your heart, like a physical weight. It didn’t matter that the explosion would kill you. Nothing mattered anymore.  

Not even death could save you from your fate.  

--- --- ---

Your eyes flew open and you gasped, lurching upright to find yourself in your bedroom, safe and sound. Cool night air filled your lungs, a stark contrast to the blazing fumes from your dream.  

Dream? Or memory?  

You pushed the thought away and swung your legs over the side of the bed. You knew from an unfortunate amount of experience that there was no point in trying to get back to sleep after one of these dreams. You slid your feet into your slippers and made your way into the kitchen, overriding your coffee machine’s programmed start time to brew a pot right away.  

“Coffee always helps,” you muttered to yourself as you grabbed a mug from your cupboard.  

And it really did.  

True, coffee couldn’t keep the nightmares (or the memories) from rising up and plaguing your mind, but the strong scent and bitter taste was grounding, as was the gentle *drip drip drip* of the machine in the quiet hours of the morning. The caffeine boost didn’t hurt either, and throwing yourself into the next day’s work was typically enough to silence any lingering thoughts floating inside your head.  

Tonight, however, was anything but typical. 

Normally, you’d instruct your computer to read out tomorrow’s schedule for you, but there was no need; you already knew what it would say.  

*Senior Crew Meeting with Colony Historian – All Day* 

You cupped your mug in your hands, letting the warmth seep into your palms as you leaned against the counter.  

The historian had been nothing but cordial, assuring you that while they’d blocked out the full day for the interviews, it would most likely only take a few hours out of the morning, if that. You hadn’t argued the point, unsure of how to even explain why it might take longer to chronicle the Invincible’s journey than the historian expected. That was if you even decided to give the full, true account of what had happened.  

If, indeed, it had even happened at all.  

You shook yourself and rubbed your eyes. Suddenly, stuck within the confines of your apartment walls was the last place you wanted to be while you waited until it was socially acceptable to be out and about. Still holding your coffee in one hand, you grabbed a jacket from where you’d draped it over the back of a chair the day before and slipped out your front door.  

Your apartment building was one of the first permanent residences that had been built after the initial groundwork of the colony was laid. It stood near the center of the settlement and housed most of the Invincible’s crew, including her entire senior staff. As Captain, you’d been given a large unit on the top floor, which conveniently meant that you were only one flight of stairs away from the roof. 

The rooftop was little more than a barren expanse of concrete and loose gravel, though eventually there were plans to plant a garden, and you could see why. You’d only come here once or twice before, but the view of the colony below and the sweeping landscape of your new planet stretching out beyond it made it the perfect spot to create a cozy little gathering space. For now, though, it would be a decent enough place to wait out the rest of the night alone. 

Or at least, alone in theory. 

Illuminated by the dim glow of the streetlights below, a single figure sat on the edge of the rooftop, their legs dangling over the edge of the building. 

“Mark?” 

He turned, surprise written on his face.

“Captain? What are you doing up here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing,” you said as you approached. “It’s nearly four in the morning.”

“Is it?” He asked, and you nodded. “Huh. Didn’t realize it’d gotten that late. Or, early, I guess.” 

“How long have you been out here?” 

“Oh...who’s to say? It’s easy to lose track of time with a view like this.” He gestured, but not down at the colony or the dense woods surrounding it. His eyes were fixed upward, and when you followed his gaze it was easy to see why. 

Thousands upon thousands of stars dotted the night sky, with nary a cloud in sight to obstruct them from view. The largest of the planet’s three moons was also fully visible, and one of its smaller sisters was just beginning to poke over the horizon. 

“Wow,” you whispered. “They’re so much brighter here than on Earth.”

“No major cities here yet,” Mark responded. “No light pollution to obstruct our view. And it’s gonna stay that way, if I have anything to say about it. What’s the point of a new planet if we treat it just like the old one?” 

You hummed in agreement, before folding your legs beneath you and sitting beside him.

“Yeah...it would be a shame to waste this second chance,” you said quietly. 

Mark glanced over at you for a moment, something unreadable flashing in his eyes before he looked away again.

“You never did say what you were doing here, Captain.”

“You didn’t either,” you countered, and he pressed his lips together in a firm line. 

You were both quiet for a moment, one beat of silence that threatened to stretch on into infinity with barely an acknowledgement before Mark sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

“Couldn’t sleep,” he said with a shrug. “That’s all.”  He looked over at you again, and this time he let his gaze linger. “...could you?”

“Not really,” you admitted. “Too many…thoughts in my head, I suppose.” 

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” he said with a nod. “Have you…” he hesitated, then seemed to steel himself. “Have you been having that problem often, since we…since our voyage?” 

The unspoken question hung heavy in the air between you, and you swallowed down your nerves.

“Fairly often,” you said quietly. “You?” 

“Yeah,” Mark said, sighing again. “Same here.” 

You fidgeted beside him, unsure of how to proceed. It wasn’t like the two of you had been avoiding each other since you landed, you worked together nearly every day of course. But aside from Mark’s quiet “ thank you” when you’d first arrived here months ago, neither of you had even remotely acknowledged what had happened between you in the warp core. You weren’t even sure how much he remembered, and aside from that brief moment on the bridge, Mark had seemed completely fine, throwing himself fully into building the colony without a single sign of discomfort. 

Though maybe , you thought now as you took in the tension in his shoulders and the tightness at the corners of his eyes, he was just very good at hiding it. 

You knew you should say something, you needed to say something; not only were you Mark’s captain and therefore responsible for his well-being as a member of your crew, but you were his friend. Or at least, you hoped that after everything, you were still friends. 

“Mark, I-”

“How much do you remember?” he asked suddenly. “About…you know.” 

“About the wormhole,” you said, because one of you had to say it, and it may as well be you. Mark winced, and you took that as a sign to continue. “Everything.” 

“ Everything everything?” Mark asked, and you nodded. “So…you remember what I did then,” he said, pulling his legs up and leaning his arms on his knees. 

“What you did?” you repeated, and he rolled his eyes. 

“If you’re trying to spare my feelings then I appreciate it, but you don’t have to bother. We both know that I...I caused all of it.”

"Mark, it wasn't-"

"Don't you dare say that it wasn't my fault," he interrupted, shooting you a glare. " I went back in time, I sabotaged both ships, I built the warp core. It was my fault." He laughed, hollow and empty, and for a moment you were back on the Invincible II , watching him fall apart in front of you all over again.

"You were just doing what you thought was right," you said slowly. "That's all any of us were doing. You had no way of knowing-"

"I did though," he insisted. "You told me, remember? You told me not to use the warp core, not to go back. But did I listen? No. I lost faith in you, trusted the word of that alien lady over yours, and I nearly destroyed everything."

It’s not like I gave you a good reason to have faith in me in the first place, you wanted to say, but you thought better of it. As much as you wanted to stew in your own guilt, trying to shift the blame onto yourself wouldn’t help Mark feel any better about his part in it all. 

"Do you know why I told you not to go back?" you asked instead. "How I knew that you would even try? You told me not to let you. You said that you lost hope, but you never stopped trying to fix your mistakes, right up until the very end."

Mark opened his mouth to speak, but he froze, confusion written across his face.

"I...I told you?" he looked down at his hands and nodded carefully. "I…I did tell you."

"Mark…” You frowned. “How much do you remember?"

“Um…everything,” he said slowly. “Or at least, I assume it’s everything. It’s strange…sometimes I can’t pin the memories down quite right. Almost like I’m trying to remember a dream.” 

“I almost thought it was a dream,” you said, leaning back to look up at the sky. “When no one acknowledged it when we landed, I thought maybe it was some side effect of the cryosleep. I asked Celci though, and she said that the brain doesn’t enter REM in cryo. So I just figured I was the only one who remembered.” 

“That’s what I thought too,” Mark admitted. “And it’s not like I could tell someone about it without them thinking I was crazy.” 

“It’s not the easiest thing to explain,” you agreed. 

“ Right? ” he said, so loudly and suddenly that you jumped a little. “How would you even do that, like, ‘oh, guess what, I was transported through a wormhole across space and time and can remember living and dying over and over and have the memories from a dozen different universes all jacked up in my brain! Take me to the looney bin!’” 

He grew more and more animated as he spoke, arms waving around before he finally let them fall back to his sides with a huff, and you swallowed. 

“Mark…you’re not crazy. You know that, right?” 

He hesitated, for just a bit too long for your liking before he answered. 

“I know. It just…it feels crazy. I don’t even know how to begin sorting through everything in my head.”

“I understand,” you said quietly. “Believe me, I do. I’ve been trying not to think about it, but lately I can’t help but wonder…” you trailed off, your gaze slipping from Mark’s face down to the mug of coffee cooling in your hands. 

“Yes?” he prompted, and you sighed. 

“The historian interviews are tomorrow,” you said bluntly. “And I’m not sure whether to tell them the truth.” 

Mark let out a breath, and you glanced over at him just in time to see him rest his chin on his fist. 

“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” he admitted. “Until tonight, I wasn’t sure that it was worth the risk. I didn’t want to lose everything I’d worked so hard to build…not again.” 

You opened your mouth to reassure him that he wouldn’t, but you couldn’t quite make the words come out. After all, how many times had the two of you lost the ship, the crew, the colony? How many times had you lost each other? 

“But you know what I think now?” Mark continued, looking over at you. “I think that that’s exactly why we need to tell them what really happened. To try and stop it from happening again, to somebody else.” 

“To somebody else?” you asked.

“As far as command back on Earth is concerned, this mission has been one hundred percent successful,” he explained. “I mean, it sure looks like it on the outside. Everyone is alive and healthy, the ship made it here safely, the colony is thriving. And the Invincible herself was a prototype...if she was successful then there were plans to fully reverse engineer the warp core for other ships, other missions…” he trailed off as your eyes widened, the full impact of his words settling over your shoulders. 

“We can’t let that happen,” you whispered, and he nodded.

“We have to tell them. We can’t…. I can’t let my mistakes be repeated. No matter the consequences.” 

He wrapped his arms around his legs, shrinking in on himself, and you swallowed. Slowly, you reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder. 

“Our mistakes,” you corrected quietly. Mark shot you a small smile, and you returned it as best as you could. “I’ll be there to back you up, one hundred percent,” you continued. “And…”

You paused, unsure if you should complete your thought, but Mark made the choice for you, reaching out to return your gesture, taking your arm in a steady grip. 

“And I’ll do the same for you,” he said. “I’m behind you all the way, Captain.” 

You looked at him, his face illuminated by starlight, and for a moment all you could think of was all the times you’d failed him, all the times he’d suffered because of you. But his gaze held none of that anger, that resentment that you’d seen from him before. And if you could trust him, after everything, was it really so inconceivable that he could still have faith in you? 

“We got into this mess together,” you finally said, squeezing his arm. “And we’re going to get through it the same way.” 

Mark nodded as the first rays of sunlight began to peek over the planet’s new horizon. 

“Together.” 

--- --- ---

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, please consider reblogging, it means a lot to me <3

[spookieypookie]

No. 2

"I'll call out your name, but you won't call back." Thermometer | Delirium | "They don't care about you."

Summary: the Captain needs their sleep

Mark's POV, first person

Word count: 1,813

Cw: major character deaths, isolation, insanity, survivors guilt, loss of memory, alcohol abuse, caps, delirium, repetition

Software update complete.

Good Morning Head Engineer. We are currently ERROR years into our journey. Coffee is en route. Current ship status is… ABSOLUTELY CATASTROPHIC

I-I-Initializing emergency Wakey Wakey Protocol.

Reviving Head Engineer.

Suddenly I was pushed out of my cryopod. Not this shit again. I clicked the 'blast shields close' button on the main console. Not again.

I looked around but the Captain was nowhere to be found?

There was no time to look as alarms blared.

Fire on the bridge. Error. Life support systems failing. Error.

I ran to life support.

I cranked the wheel as fast as I could trying not to pass out.

Oxygen levels rising.

Good News Head Engineer, the momentary lapse in oxygen extinguished the fire on the bridge.

Then came the ADS and the reactor and the warpcore. I activated the Event Horizon Protocol.

Now that the time sensitive emergencies were taken care of it was time to wake the rest of the crew. Luckily since I programmed the computer, it listens to me even though I'm not the Captain.

"Computer, wake the Captain," I commanded.

Error. Wakey wakey protocol disengaged.

"Why?!" I asked, infuriated.

Error.

"Computer, what is the error?"

Error.

"What is the-"

Error.

I groaned in frustration. This was useless. "Computer, wake Gunther."

Error. Wakey wakey protocol disengaged.

What was going on? "Computer, ship status?"

Ship status nominal.

"Computer, wake Burt."

Error. Wakey wakey protocol disen…

"What the fuck???!?!"

Error.

I didn't want it to come to this. But I'd need the cryo expert to solve this problem. Also she was the only option left out of the crew leads.

"Computer, wake asshat," I said through gritted teeth.

Error. Wakey wakey protocol…

And now I was worried.

"Computer, wake the colonists," I was getting desperate.

Error.

"Wake the Captain."

Error.

"Wake the crew."

Error.

"Wake-"

Error.

"Computer, can you do anything?"

No.

I punched the wall, tears in my eyes. But I wasn't giving up yet. I was the fucking head engineer dammit. I built this ship and I'd fix every 100,000 cryopods one by one if I had to.

First was the Captain's. I took a look but everything seemed to be in order. It looked the same as my cryopod. There was no explanation as to why the Captain's cryopod didn't engage Wakey Wakey Protocol.

I searched every cryopod. Every. Single. One.

I lost track of the hours… days… weeks…

It seemed useless. I couldn't wake anybody up. I couldn't fix the cryopods. I couldn't even reprogram the computer to get the wakey wakey protocols working again.

I tried over and over and over. Everything I could think of… until I just gave up. I cried banging on the cryopods. Trying to manually pry them open. Nothing worked.

I tried to put myself back into cryosleep.

Error.

Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error. Error.

Over and over.

Everything was useless.

~~~

I ate from the reserves. There was plenty. More than what was needed for my lifetime. No rationing needed. I never was in want of food.

I still tried some days. When I had the sudden motivation or maybe it was just the need to do something, anything.

It was never any use. I was a useless head engineer. I could never do anything right. Not the first invincible and now my entire ship was in peril once again.

I was all alone. Again.

It was my own mistakes. It was all my fault.

~~~

"Captain! Captain… Captain. Please wake up. I need you. I need your guidance, your leadership, I need, I need…. You."

Time passed before I could realize it. Suddenly I had a beard and long hair. There was all the time in the world, but not enough time to pay attention to my appearance. There was no need to anyway. I would be alone for the rest of my life. I tried to do what I was supposed to. Keep the ship running, keep the cryopods in order. Eventually it ran out of power… and the cryopods' internal temperatures were rising to unsafe levels… the ship was running out of its oxygen supply.

There wasn't a single thing I could do. I was a prisoner in my own ship, trapped in a cage of my own making. I'd let them down. I'd let them all down.

~~~

The isolation. The silence. The darkness.

It gets to you after awhile…

I don't know when the papers showed up. I knew I wrote them. I had to. I was the only one awake, possibly alive at this point. The oxygen was running low. It was getting to my head. My head. My head.

Weeks, days, years, hours, months, decades, what is time anyway? 24 hours in a day. The sun, the moon, they didn't exist out here. Nothing but the darkness of the ship and lingering light from celestial bodies when they were merciful enough.

Floating. Endlessly. For eternity.

I deserved it. I had failed my crew, my, my…

My captain, my dearest… and yet I couldn't remember their name. What was their name! Their name? Their name… my captain, the love of my life, what was their name?

And I'd never even told them how I feel.

I leaned against their cryopod. I pressed my hands and forehead against it as if it would will them to come out, will my brain to think of something miraculously… but it never came. They never left their cryopod.

I turned my back to them, sinking to the floor.

"I-I…" my voice was hoarse from barely using it. "I love you, Captain."

Guess it's no use remembering their name anyway.

"I'll call out your name, but you won't call back."

~~~

The cryopods were all the wrong temperatures. The oxygen was far too low.

Everyone but me was dead.

~~~

But not even my death would save me from this fate. I ended up here again. And again. And again. And again. And again! And again. And again….

~~~

I may have found some liquor hidden away in Gunther's quarters…

"Oh Captain! Captain, come out, come out wherever you are! I know you're in there Captain. Come on, join the party. I'll bake you a caaaake~!"

I kicked their cryopod. "This isn't funny anymore, Captain," I said through gritted teeth. "You just want to ignore me, huh? I'm just disposable to you! A tool so you don't have to get your hands dirty!" In a mocking voice I said, "Oh I'm the Captain. I know what's best and sometimes that's sacrificing my dumb old crew who sacrifice EVERYTHING for me. I'm the Captain and I jump out the airlock for fun! Forget that Mark has to clean up the mess and fix the ship! How bout I blow everyone up just for funsies! It's not like every single 100,000 of us have plans and lives. Oh noooo. We're just here for the Captain. They can kill us for their own entertainment."

"They don't care about you."

"They don't care about me."

Tears threatened to fall from my watering eyes but my burning rage wouldn't allow it.

"It's good you're getting your beauty rest Captain! Good to know a nap is more important than our lives! Just like everything else. The Captain needs their sleep. A fucking sleepy head, huh."

"You know… it's no different Captain. Even with you here I have to do everything myself. You're no use anyway. It's better without you here!"

The clanking of the metal ship groaning didn't alarm me. About time this damn hunk of metal started falling apart. I am a joke of an engineer anyway. The Invincible II? Who was I kidding? I'm surprised she made it this far with a pathetic father like me.

But then I heard it. Shallow breaths. Coming closer. What was happening? The oxygen was low enough as it is.

"Who's breathing? Who's breathing?! THERE'S NOT ENOUGH AIR FOR ALL OF US! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE I-"

I stumbled to the ground.

There the Captain stood in the hallway. Like they had never left. Like they didn't rip a hole in my heart when they never woke up from their cryogenic slumber.

Was I hallucinating? I internally laughed at myself. Maybe I'm the one who needs their sleep after all.

But there they were.

"Captain?" It was undeniably them but I still posed the question. Not wanting to believe it.

"Captain." I got up from the ground.

"You're not here." Maybe telling my hallucination they're a lie would make them disappear. Leave me to what I know: solitude.

"You've never woken up here before."

"You were always gone."

I started to get choked up.

"I tried. I tried to keep them alive, Captain."

I walked towards the Captain and they backed away from me.

"But I go and I come back. I solve problems, and I go and I come back, and I go and I come back, and I always come back!"

The Captain held up their hands as if to defend themself.

"But this time… this time…" my thoughts were getting away from me.

The Captain reached out as if to give me a reassuring touch. Oh how long it'd been since I felt another person's touch…

Something blue glinted in the Captain's left palm.

"Captain, what's in your hand?" I asked them.

It was undeniable. It was the warp crystal.

"Where did you get that crystal?" I grabbed their hand. "You didn't shut it down did you?" I held them tight as they tried to break away.

"Was she right about you?" Dorene Whitacare… all she said about their poor leadership. The Universal Stability Agency… Gunther… they all saw the flaws while I was being led into a fool's paradise putting every once of my trust into their leadership!

"We trusted you!"

But who gives a fuck about the colonists. About the crew who all put their lives in the Captain's hands. I put more than my life in their hands. I gave them my heart. My soul. My eternity. And it led me to this endless hell! I gave them my everything and they didn't care about me.

"I trusted you, Captain!"

They finally pushed me away.

A buzzing sound hit my ears and the warp crystal glew, whirring to life.

"Captain!"

They disappeared in a flash of blue light.

They left me alone.

Again.

I'm so sick of being alone.

Sick of having time to think.

They were all right about the Captain.

The Captain caused all of this.

I was going to stop them even if I have to die for a thousand years. But I will stop them.

They don't care about the colonists and the crew. But most importantly, they don't care about me.

…Not in the way I care about them.

I'll call out 'I love you' but you won't call back.

[faecaribou]

Thinking about that one fic I should be working on but I’m drawing future plans for it instead of writing it 😭

[fullmoonandstar]

Those are just Bad Dreams

Mack & The Captain (Reader) Fandom: In Space with Markiplier, markiplier connected universe Rating: T Word count: 1.1 k CW: Angst, Swearing Summary: You can't sleep and meet a fellow insomniac in the kitchen. Or Mack confronts you about the happenings on the Invincible II A/N: This is one of those stories that no one will read but I had to write 🙈

Back home you had taken a few camping trips but this was different. The vegetation was so dense that it was impossible to leave the clearing that you had made on this side of the river. On earth, you had never thought about how much humans had shaped the planet to suit their needs. Even the wilderness was not really wild, but just a less well-maintained part of a garden. While the plants here looked vaguely like something that grew on earth, with green leaves and familiar leaf patterns, they were not quite right and the biologists warned that anything in this world was potentially deadly. You, on the other hand, had different things to worry about. As captain, it was your responsibility to oversee the construction of the base camp, regardless of your qualification for this job. This would be hard enough even with proper sleep. 

You pushed the blanket to the side and slid out of bed. Your quarters were lit by dim lights that lined the floor and ceiling. Only they stood between you and the absolute darkness of the night. When the yellow G-class star sank under the horizon, the night devoured the world, until only the dim lights of the base camp remained. Back on earth, you had wondered how the people of the old times could believe in gods, but here in this bubble of light staring into the void beyond the clearing you understood. The gods of darkness were just outside, waiting for the lights to go out. 

You shook your head as if that could dispel the things, you saw in the darkness. 

Maybe a midnight snack could help, you thought.

To your surprise, the kitchen that the crew used was not dark and empty. The light strips washed the room in twilight, not bright enough to disperse your sleepiness but enough to avoid any obstacles. You knew all crew that was on board the Invincible II even by just their back and you immediately knew who slouched on the high stool at the center kitchen island. 

"What are you doing up so late," you asked and Mack jumped in his seat. He turned to see you standing at the door to the empty hallway. 

"Captain?!"

You raised an eyebrow and carefully stepped into the kitchen. Even in the low light, you could see all color had drained from his face as if he had seen a ghost. 

"You okay, Mack?" you asked while opening the refrigerator. "I haven't seen you around much."

He smoothed his wrinkled t-shirt and combed the stray hairs out of his face. 

"I’m fine," he said in a tone that was a good imitation of his usual smug way of speaking, but not quite right. "Just busy with ... work."

Mack always did his work with ease where others would struggle but this also made him notoriously difficult to work with. Even you had a hard time dealing with Mack’s superiority complex, especially when you also had to keep your Head engineer in check and prevent Gunter from blowing things up because he got bored. All in all, you let other people handle Mack and hoped that it would not blow up in your face. 

You grabbed an undefinable snack and a bottle of water from the fridge. 

"Well, good night then," you said and turned. "Don't stay up too late, Mack. You have to work tomorrow too."

The lights in the hallway flickered on as you moved toward the door. 

"Captain?"

Mack’s voice made you pause and you looked over your shoulder. He was still standing by the center console in his loose pants and crumpled t-shirt, shoulders tight as if he was bracing himself and avoiding looking at you directly.

"Yes?"

"Do you have strange dreams?"

His quiet voice send chills up your neck. Dreams. You licked your lips and asked:

"Did you have strange dreams?"

Mack looked at you without moving his head, gauging your counter-question. You clutched the bottle tighter and waited. A dark memory, that was not your own, rose from the depth of your subconscious. 

"Captain," he said in a sharp tone, "what happened on the invincible II?"

"I don’t know what you mean."

Playing dumb was not the right call. Mack locked eyes with you and took a few steps forward like a cat getting in position to pounce on an unsuspecting bird. 

"Oh, I think you do,  Captain ."

Don’t let him see that you are scared , you told yourself and faked a relaxed stance as convincingly as you could. Mack was only an arm's length away now and the bags under his eyes stood out from his ashen face. Your mouth was dry and you swallowed without breaking eye contact. 

"What do you dream about,  Mack,"  you ask again. 

He stares at you. The silence in the room is deafening. Even the hum of the refrigerator had faded. You only hear your breathing and the blood rushing in your ears as Mack’s dark eyes bore into yours.  Mack is dangerous, run!  your brain screamed but your feet stayed glued to the ground. 

"I dream," he whispered. "I dream about you."

Your whole body felt cold as if you had been submerged in the icy oceans of your former home world. 

"You’re in shackles."

You wanted to run but your body did not move. The skin on your wrists tingled with the ghost of unyielding metal and you were frozen in place under Mack’s stare.

"You’re a traitor," he continued. "You were executed."

You held your breath. You could almost see the weapons pointed at you, just a moment before it happened.

"And I made it happen," he whispered. A deep wrinkle appeared between his brows.

"Captain," his voice quivered and he swallowed audibly. "was that real?"

He sounded fragile as if he could break with one wrong move. You opened your mouth but no sound came out. Mack waited, his face frozen in a mask of despair, ready to flip at any moment.

"M-m-mack …" you stuttered. He exhaled and stumbled backward. 

"Fuck," he breathed. Mack sank to the floor; he had no longer the strength to stand. His hands covered his face and his rapid breathing sounded almost like he had trouble breathing. This was bad, you had to do something. 

"Mack, look, they are just dreams."

You sat down on the floor next to him and slowly reached out for his shoulder. 

"Just breath in deep."

When your hand made contact, he squirmed away. 

"No," he hissed. "You’re lying."

"Please ca-"

"Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!"

He sat up, shaking, his face with angry red swatches. 

"What the fuck happened out there, Captain? And Why -" he took a deep breath. "Why do I remember your death."

You swallowed hard. Under his burning stare, you caved. 

"I thought only Mark and I remember."

You told him. You told him everything.

A/N: I hope you liked it :)

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Send me requests?

[puppeteered-poetry]

Introduction to the Snow.

(Hypothermia, Frostbite, death, hurt no comfort)

Ao3 link

   Sirens. Loud screeching sirens and red lights are what Celci woke up to. She looked to the others, Burt blinking sleep from his eyes and Gunther grabbing his gun with shaking, adrenaline fueled hands, Celcionna heard the awful words from the voice of the ship.

    “Emergency evacuation effective immediately, make your way to the airlock and await your shuttle. Now boarding group A.”

   Group A were civilians. People heading for the colony that weren’t crew. Next would be general crew, Reactor, Cryo, ADS, and finally Head Engineer and Captain. Celci followed Burt and Gunther out of the Crew Lead room, meeting the Captain on the bridge.

   The Captain was pacing, quick to ask them where Mark was. They didn’t know. The Captain really didn’t like that answer.

   “What do we do, Captain?” Gunther’s teeth were clamped down on his cigar, jaw clenched so tight he threatened to bite through.

   “... You all stay here, I’ll go find him.” Celci spoke, determined. “Make sure everyone escapes.”

   The Captain moved to speak up, but Celci was already gone, counting on the boys to make sure the Captain oversaw the evacuation. She checked the failing systems list, figuring he must have been too involved in a repair.

    Bridge was down and repaired. ADS was down and repaired. 

    Cryo was down.

   She ran down the hall, pressing her hand to the scanner. It tried to open, but it must have frozen shut. She grabbed a crowbar from ADS, prying it open with struggle.

   There Mark was, covered in frost. Icicles hung off of his hands and uniform, which he had pulled off. The Hypothermia must have set in.

   “CC…” Mark drawled. “Hey… Cryo’s… Cryo’s down. I was… I was, um. I was fixing it, but the scanner stopped working…” He giggled, shivering.

   Celcionna quickly shoved him back in his uniform’s sleeves, zipping it up. His fingers had already turned black, as had the tips of his ears. If he survived, they’d have to amputate, and make serious tissue grafts.

   She picked him up, his clothes damp from condensation, trying to bring him to the Reactor room. He could warm up there. He could live.

   “CC… Celci… Don’t go in there. Reactor’s overheating. It’s going to blow any minute.”

   Celci paused, swallowing hard. “No. No, no, you need to warm up, Mark, you’re freezing, you’ll die of hypothermia any minute!” She wasn’t sure when she had started yelling, but she was.

   “Hey, don’t worry… I’ll… I’ll come back. I can live forever.” Mark shrugged weakly.

   “Stop it, Mark! There’s no coming back from this!”

   “... Computer… Seal access to Reactor.” Mark commanded, ignoring Celci’s wide, brown eyes focused on him.

   “Access to Reactor sealed. Head Engineer in critical condition.” The computer responded.

   “Mark! Mark, you idiot!” Celci sobbed, sitting him on the Cryo console and trying desperately to rip her own uniform off to wrap around him. 

   Mark slapped clumsily at her hands, his fingers like rocks. “Stop that… You… You go evacuate. I’m not… Leaving m… My… Baby…” 

   Mark’s eyes glassed over, and he closed them slowly, leaving Celci to sob harder, ripping off her glove to check his pulse. It weakened faster and faster, until it was gone entirely.

   Tears froze to Celci’s cheek, yet to her surprise she laughed. She stumbled forward, tears piling into messy icicles on her face as she wrenched a pipe from the wall. Her breath was fogging. Snow piled up.

   She jammed the pipe into the scanner, forcing the door open. Snow flooded the halls. Her giggles echoed, delirious from grief. 

   He won’t live forever, but they can. They all can, frozen eternally in Cryo Sleep.

   They’ll live forever tonight.

[elutrosop]

My fanfic got a New Chapter to the imaginary Mark's valentine's

[w1steriawr1tings]

|| Commission ||

For: @caffeinatedreese

ISWM!Mack x OC

Words: 2000

~~~

Rhys Josephine Williams stood in their kitchen, letting warm water run across their hands as they gently washed some dirty dishes from the last few days. They’d been meaning to do them yesterday, but they woke up with the sniffles and Mack, their beloved husband, had insisted they put off that day's chores to rest.

They chuckled fondly to themselves at how lucky they’d gotten.

A husband in the 1920’s who respected their gender and understood that the human body had its limits on some days!

Mr Williams would’ve eaten his hat if Rhys had kept him in their life, not that they wanted too.

They couldn’t say dream the whole day away, as the warm water soothed their cold achy hands. Even if it was winter and they had their sore joints, they had a job to do as a spouse to their beloved husband. They stacked the last few plates on a rack to dry and hung up the towel, making their way to the laundry room now to tend to that.

Mack had an important event the next day, so Rhys had to carefully wash theirs and his finest clothes ready for the next day. They’d chosen a lovely orange blouse and black suit pants to match Mack’d black suit and orange tie. They’d been to these events before and they had all been wonderful. Mack always adored them and the people he could introduce them to, so Rhys was more than happy to follow around his pretty face as he introduced them to well known coworkers amongst the crowd of mostly pricks.

It had come to be a good part of their months, checking each time to see what parties they would be attending with Mack, and where they’d be going. Rhys loved to plan out the outfits too, making sure to match with their husband like many other couples tended to do.

They’d finished folding up all the clothes and took them upstairs, making sure to put the right clothes in the right slots, careful to ensure they didn’t touch the walls and mould in the cold.

Rhys decided to turn on Mack’s record player for a bit, a lovely familiar tune filling the house as they trotted back downstairs to find a jug so they could water the assortment of flowers and plantation that lived around the house. If Mack hadn’t excelled in the business world, he told Rhys on late nights how his former dream had been to live far out in the country, to have animals along with crops and plants to take care of. Rhys loved the way his face had lit up as he explained, promising that the pair could work on expanding their retirement plan to compensate and achieve Mack’d dream. Unlike most couples, the pair did not plan on having children. Wanting to spend the short time that was a human life enjoying one another’s company in peace but relative wealth.

They got to strolling around the house with the large porcelain jug they’d come to use for watering. It’d rained a little earlier that day, so Rhys did not feel like walking out in their slippers to get the watering can and get dirty. That’d just add more to their growing list of chores.

Once they finished watering all the plants inside, they got to opening the upstairs windows and drizzling the dredges of water onto the outdoor plants.

“Oh Josey!” Called a warm, familiar voice from the garden. Rhys heard the familiar click of the front gate opening and looked up with a grin as their dearest husband walked along the gravel path towards the house. They put the jug to the side and leaned playfully against the window sill.

“You’re home, awfully early.” They commented. “I’ve not even started on dinner yet!”

“Well, Mr Peterson was in a good mood. That’s all I’ll say.” Chuckled Mack, standing by the front door with his briefcase and front door keys in hand as he looked up at Rhys.

“I think it’s just your good luck kicking in my dear.” Retorted Rhys, wiggling their eyebrows amused.

“You always do, lovely. Always do.” Sighed Mack, fondly as he unlocked the front door and headed inside.

Rhys quickly shut the window and jogged downstairs to go and greet Mack properly. They pulled him into a hug, wrapping their arms around his shoulders as the pair shared a long but sweet kiss. Mack snickered at them lightheartedly but leaned into the affection and reciprocated it with a gentle hand to run down their back and gently kisses on their cheek once Rhys had pulled out of the longer more intimate kissing. He’d missed them. They rarely ever left their mind during the work day.

Rhys soon got started on dinner, leaving Mack to wash up and change into some more relaxed attire for the evening. The pair planned on having a simple evening, since they’d be headed to a party that next night. It would be one they’d never forget from the sounds of the invitation!

The pair cuddled up to one another in the living room with their dinners, the record player still spinning and playing all too familiar songs as they enjoyed one another’s company after the busy day. Mack took to cleaning up the dishes once the pair had finished eating and even carried Rhys up to bed in a playful manner with a soft sigh as he set them down in bed.

“What’s on your mind, pretty?” Cooed Rhys, setting a hand on his jaw.

“Just thinking about how much I love this.” Hummed Mack, happily, lying his head on Rhys’ stomach as the pair gently began to drift off to sleep.

“I love it too.” Admitted Rhys. “I did not think I could ever achieve perfection, but I get it when I’m with you.”

The next morning was a typical one, Rhys woke in bed alone with a warm loving note from Mack on their dresser as he’d gotten up early to head to work. They got up out of bed and put on their dressing gown and slippers, heading downstairs. They dug through the cupboards to find two pouches. One of seeds and one of mealworms. They needed to restock the bird feeders and leave some treats out for the badger that lived in their garden, that Rhys had affectionately come to call Bean, often staying up late to spot him from their bedroom window on warm summer nights. He was either still hibernating or just waking up, but Rhys would be ecstatic to see him either way.

They then made their way back inside and got to making themselves breakfast, settling on some simple eggs that morning. It was then back to the usual, dishes, clothes, watering and other normal chores for the day. They occasionally took a break to read or search for a different record to play on the musical device. It helped them think of Mack and keep him about when he wasn’t around.

“Josey!”

Rhys looked up, expecting to see their husband. They instead looked up to find their beloved brother Riley Williams and his spouse Alejandro and the pair's two children, Jack and Georgie. The worried looks on the older twos faces had Rhys concerned. They threw on a coat and tracked downstairs into the front garden.

Al was gently rocking Jack and Georgie in their slings as the two babies cried. Riley stepped forward to see Rhys.

“Good heavens Riley, what is going on?!” They fussed.

He put a hand on their shoulder in a comforting manner.

“Rhys. There's been a hit and run in town..”

Everything began to slow down as Rhys ran into town, Riley on their heels calling after them. They could see the sirens already as well as the police tape. The crowd would normally overwhelm them but they pushed through in an uncharacteristically brash manor, needing to make their way through. A simple white sheet lay over a lump in the street, red painting the floor underneath. An all too familiar briefcase sat not too far from the body, marked out in white chalk.

Their knees buckled underneath them, Riley able to catch them as they began to sob loudly in front of the crowd.

“Is this necessary now?!” Hissed Riley.

“I’m sorry sir, but we must confirm.” Spoke the police officer.

Rhys stood in silence, staring at the sheet in front of them. They needed to confirm.

A second officer walked over, standing in a much formal looking attire.

“Mx Packthew, we’ll move the sheet to the side when you’re ready.” He said gently.

Rhys nodded at this, a lump in their throat. They desperately hoped that something had gone wrong and Riley had make some form of mistake. Mack could still be at work. His boss may have kept him working late. Or he was out getting them a surprise accessory for tonight’s fancy dinner. Anything but what was sat in front of them.

They took a deep breath and nodded. The sheet was gently pulled back and Rhys looked at the face in front of them.

They took a shuddery breath as they gently put a hand on the man’s face, gently wiping a spot of blood from his chin.

“Oh my Mack.” They whispered in a numb tone of voice, relishing the last look they’d get of him ever again.

The two officers seemed to nod at this, one of them scribbling down some notes. The other got to inform the other officers with a simple nod gesture and pointed to the van on the groups left. The team prepared to take Mack away. Rhys glanced over at Al, who cradled their nephews into their chest as they watched them and Riley from behind the police tape. They’d been in town when it all happened.

“You should take Al and the kids home.” They murmured to Riley.

“What- No, Rhys-“ Began Riley.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve got many officers who’ll escort me home.”

He was quiet for a few moments.

“Promise to call me?”

“I promise.”

A few minutes later Riley left with his family. Rhys would normally have watched him leave but they were focused on Mack, watching as he was wheeled away into a morgue vehicle. They’d have to get to arranging his funeral right away. They hardly believed this was happening.

The same friendlier officer dropped them home not long after, giving them his condolences before continuing his way to the station. Rhys walked holding their coat and Mack’s briefcase tightly in their hands as they slowly walked up to their home along the gravel path. They couldn’t feel anything. They felt numb as they unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

A wave of anger and hurt washed over them though as the familiar tune of Mack’s record player filled their ears. They groaned frustrated, tears brimming in their eyes as they stalked from room to room to find it.

They eventually did so, yanking it from its familiar spot on the desk and in an act of impulse threw it from the upstairs window in anguish, their knees buckling for a second time that day in pure heartbreak. They caught themselves on the window sill, as what they’d just done fully began to weigh on them.

Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to go home alone after all. But then again, no one was ever prepared for this sort of scenario or situation. Rhys didn’t know what to do. Everything they’d ever planned had come crashing down. Everything they’d ever thought about life came down with it too. This was the worst. This was horrid. This was cruel. They wish this was a dream!

Now instead of Rhys fondly calling their husbands name as he walked up the gravel path in the warm evening air, they were sobbing it in a pained way into the midnight sky as if they couldn’t breathe.

[fictionalsownme]

smash???????? who said that?????????

engineer doesn't get enough love on this blog considering how much I cannot express my devotion to him, so I’m working to fix that :) this is similar to what I did for damien but it took foreverr!! iswm lighting is so so pretty which makes it impossible to get right ;;u;; the saturation is really high and there's multiple light sources so in terms of rendering it, its like it was personally designed to leave me dead on the floor :))))) either way,, I'm happy with how it turned out!! he’s very prettie :))

also bonus:

[99sin]

u ruined my life author

And It Starts Again — Echo_in_a_Sky

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40054140

[preciouspinkpup]

Holy shit

We'll Meet Again

"Who throws sand?!"

The Captain sprints for the control panel, hesitating. They don't know how to work this thing, Mark didn't even know how to work it before he built the damn thing, or-or after, or in-between? No, no, they need to focus, what did he do when he turned it on-

"NO!"

The go flying back, the breath knocked out of them by Mark throwing his entire bodyweight against them. they knock over a small table of tools, the sounds of metal falling against metal rattling around in their head as it hits the ground hard. If they didn't already have a concussion from the fire hydrant, they certainly do now.

Mark gets up first, straddling over them and stopping them from being able to get up. They try to go for more pocket sand, but he pins their hand. "Don't you get that I'm trying to help?!"

They nod, trying to free their hand with their other one-

"I'm trying to save everything!"

They nod again, but they don't think he can tell, because they look into his eyes and see nothing but frantic desperation.

"I have to fix it! You understand, right? You've been through all of this, you-you know what's at stake! Why are you trying to stop me?!"

They dig their nails into his arm but his sleeves are thick, and when they look back into his eyes they know he's not seeing them anymore, they know he's just seeing A Traitor, A Monster, A Problem-

Mark sees The End Of Everything, laying right beneath him, trying to end all of existence. And they are clawing at him, trying to get up, trying to destroy the thing he's spent lifetimes rebuilding just to stop them and they're trying to stop him but he needs to stop them they're trying to stop him but HE NEEDS TO STOP THEM-

"I'M GOING TO GO BACK!"

Blind, blind rage, one goal, one goal at the end of the tunnel, Stop The Captain, Stop The Captain, Stop The Captain, STOP THE CAPTAIN

His hands find something to the side, that something goes somewhere, The Captain lurches beneath him and their eyes go wide, a gurgling sound coming out of their mouth but all Mark can hear is the roaring in his ears and the roaring of that stupid wormhole and all he can see is the end of the tunnel the goal the determination the red-

He pulls his arm back hard and feels something warm splash his chest but it's such a distant feeling and it doesn't matter, none of this matters, but he'll make it matter, he'll fix it and things will matter again because he can fix everything he can fix everything he can fix he can fix and The Captain The Captain The Captain-

"I'M GOING TO FIX THINGS AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"

Shng

Squrp

Ghssh

Their hand doesn't make it to the gaping hole in their neck before it goes limp.

Mark stays over them for a moment, panting, eyes wide and wild, waiting for the retaliation but they don't make a move, not one, they-

They... aren't...

"Captain?" His voice shakes, adrenaline still pumping. He goes to slap them in the face, wake them up don't wake the captain don't wake the captain don't wake the captain- and as he pulls his hand away something comes with it-

BLUP

Blood shoot out everywhere. The stench makes Mark reel away, gagging, jostling the still-unmoving Captain as blood- blood- blood-

Blood on his hands.

He drops the pliers, chest heaving as they clatter to the floor and bits of flesh and muscle and tendons fall off from the impact. They're open, wide open, they-they ripped- the hole in The Captain's neck, ripped open wide-

He ripped their throat open.

Mark stumbles back another few steps. The wound stops spraying blood. Now it just... blurbles out, big fat globs rolling down and pooling, pooling, around The Captain, around their-their-

Mark throws up.

He sits there, surrounded by blood and vomit, staring at the cor- The Captain. They... they're so... still.

So still.

With all the chaos around them, Mark's forgotten that he and they could be still.

He doesn't know when he gets up to kneel by them. But when The Wormhole opens, that's where he is. Kneeling in the blood, holding their hand as he shakes.

They'll be back. They will. He'll go through The Wormhole, and they'll be there too, getting aboard the ship. They will. He'll see them again.

He'll look them right in the eye and shake their hand... knowing he drove a pair of pliers through their ribs and their throat. He'll shake their hand, having never actually washed his own of their blood.

... He can't think of another life he's lived where he did something like this.

Not to The Captain. Not so... brutal.

...

"I'll see you soon, Captain. I'll stop you. I promise."

He gets up, climbs on top of the core, and throws himself in.

He wakes up. He gets aboard, and waits.

And... waits.

... Waits.

... Waits.

He stops Celci in the hall. "Hey. When's The Captain coming aboard?"

"Captain? Mark, stop messing around."

"What?"

"Are you just looking for a way to brag about your autopilot system again?"

"But-"

Celci walks away.

Mark goes to the docking bay and waits.

Waits.

Waits.

Waits.

The Captain never arrives.

The Captain.

Never.

ARRIVES.

But The Wormhole does.

And when Mark gets back to the Warp Core... there they are.

Laying still in a puddle of long-dried blood.

[ciara-clycone]

'Paradoxial' Virus: Ch.1 - Nightmares.

Ao3: link

Summary:

Strange things are going on in the Invicinble 2. Electronics are acting up. Eerie sightings are happening on the ship. No one knows why this is going on. They try to act like it's nothing serious.

But it's having a strange toll on the captain...

Pairings: Captaineer

Warnings for this chapter: None.

Length: Around 500ish.

-----------------------------------------------

A light mist swirled around the captain as they looked around the dark expanse that surrounded them. 

Where am I? The captain wondered. How did I get here? I was on the ship and then… I don’t remember.. Something happened and I ended up here…

They looked around again, and saw a few strange objects in the distance. What are they?

They advanced toward the objects, and when they got close enough to recognize them they stopped in their tracks.

They were gravestones.

“You’rrrre in daaaannnggeeer….” A distorted voice echoed in the darkness.It reminded the captain of when voice recorders were running low on batteries, and they would have laughed at it if they weren’t in a creepy enough place as it was.

“Graveyard nearby, please hurry toward destination.”

A computerized voice said.

As this was being said, a strange ghostly apparition formed above one of the gravestones. It motioned toward the captain, beckoning them to come closer as if to join them.

Nope! The captain thought, turning to run away from the ghost.

The ghost raised its hand toward the fleeing captain, and shot out some strange energy toward them.

Pain seared their left arm. They bit back a cry of pain, and continued running onward.

The ghost continued started to chase them. A dark deep booming sound floated in the air as it got closer to them.

Voices echoed around the captain, some whispery and helpful {”Don’t give up…”} while others were odd sounding and confused the captain by their meaning. {”Paradox detected…”} And then the captain heard one particular voice that they dreaded the most. {”Software update complete…”}

They jolted awake. They found themselves on the floor of their captain’s cabin, sprawled out. They laid there, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down from their dream.

Their arm ached. They sat up and rubbed at it. The warp core crystal still glistening in their palm.

The Alexa on their desk, started to babble.

"Area Graveyard planets nearby. Listing locations...."

Picking it up, they glared daggers at it. Then threw it at the door.

Just then the door to their cabin opened up.

“Hey, Captain, I’ve got some documents-” First mate Tyler said, and then yelped as he dodged the alexa.

The Alexa whizzed by him and hit a passing crew member who was carrying a small boombox playing some music that sounded familiar. It took the captain a moment to recognize it. It was the same spooky music from the dream.

The captain's eyes widened in alarm as they saw what they did.

"Darn it!" they hissed, running over to the two crewmates. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't expecting the door to open. Are you two ok?"

The two nodded, and that was when the captain noticed the paperwork in Tyler's hands.

"Oh the paperwork that was supposed to come in today, right. Thank you, First Mate Tyler." The captain said, taking the papers from him. Their arms felt shakey. Why? It wasn't like they hadn't ever had a nightmare before? Still, they didn't want to look weak in front of their crew. "You two have a good day, then." They hurried into their quaters, and the door closed behind them.

The captain put the papers down on the desk and then sat down in their chair. They should do their work, they should but still... They felt on edge... Their hands were still shaking...

Slumping down in their chair, they groaned.

Today was going to be a rough day, they just knew it.

[ironwoman359]

trick or treat!

Have a sneak peek at the second chapter of The Secret History of the Invincible II, my ISWM post-canon fic!

Invincible crew interviews, session 1 - Recorded by Dr. Mariette Bennett. [Dr. Bennett sits in a meeting room at an oval conference table. Six officers of the Invincible’s crew sit around the table, each with a lav microphone clipped to their uniform.]  Dr. Bennett: Let’s start at the very beginning, shall we? Describe for me the process of getting the Invincible ready for her voyage across the stars!  [The crew members look around at each other, and Mark shifts his weight in his chair.] Mark: Well…if you want to start at the very beginning, it’d make more sense to start with the construction of the Invincible herself. Dr. Bennet: Ah, of course! You were the lead engineer and designer for the project, can you tell us a little bit about how the Invincible came to be? Mark: Well, her design is something I’d tinkered with on and off for most of my career. The idea of a human colony on another planet…that was always a dream of mine. But it was a dream that logistically was made very difficult by the sheer vastness of space.  Celci: Even with the advancements made in cryo technology that made journeying into deep space viable for humans, the closest habitable planet was still much too far for any ship to travel before running out of fuel.  Burt: The world is large, when its weary leagues two loving hearts divide.  Mark: For a long time, my designs for the Invincible were purely theoretical. Without faster than light travel, colonizing the stars was nothing more than a dream. But that all changed when…when we… Captain: When we discovered the warp core. 

trick or treat

[captain-nat-cat]

Sometimes I think the Captain should’ve been way more angry at Peepaw Mark at the diner in part 2.

I mean sure there’s the obvious reasons, the whole trying to kill you, destroying the universe so badly it needed to reboot, sabotaging the ship in the first place-

But doesn’t that mean he staged for the glass in the front of the ship to break when the Captain was awakened from their cryo pod?? Wasn’t he the one that killed YOUR Mark- your universe, your Mark that will never ever be the same Mark again no matter what new universe you’re spawned into?

Sitting in that diner in the booth across from the man that killed my original universe’s Mark…idk I’m just saying the Captain should’ve lunged with their own knife hand for that one

[faecaribou]

Go Into The Dark / ISWM pt 1 fic w/ paranoid Captain, Chapter 2

ao3:

Previous chapter, Ch. 1:

------------------------------

The planet is unfairly gorgeous, but such beauty could be hiding dangers. You eye the rocky outcroppings in the distance, too hilly to be considered proper mountains.

"Come on, Captain!" Mark calls to you a few steps ahead, and you frown at the back of his head. If only you could die and reset, and find some way to prevent Mark from coming down to the planet with you...

No. There are too many variables. You have no idea why the ship didn't malfunction this time. It would be impossible to replicate what may be the best reset yet.

No! Even a single person dying is NOT an option.

"Oh, Captain, look!" Mark breathes in wonder, and your head snaps around quickly in alarm.

There is danger in beauty, you had thought earlier. You raced to Mark's side.

But there is no danger. Your Head Engineer is pointing to a wide valley with a variety of greenery and gentle rivers. It is quite literally, the most ideal place to start a new civilization.

You hate it. You hate that everything is so perfect. It isn't right. Where's the other shoe? How long will it linger over your head, waiting to drop at the worse moment and destroy this idyllic paradise?

Mark pulls out his communicator, calling the rest of the crew with glee. You let him. This valley looks defensible, and perhaps while your crew is safe here, building a place to stay, you can scour the rest of the planet for dangers.

"Captain?" You turn your head away from the surroundings to face him again.

Mark looks nervous. "...Are... are you alright?"

"Of course I am," You reply immediately in a comforting tone. Your crew can NOT pick up on the dangers. Your guard is always up, They wouldn't suspect a thing. But the whole crew on guard? They would know.

Mark doesn't look convinced. "So we can wake the colonists?"

"Not yet." Your screen on your forearm gives you a notification; the crew is preparing to come down, as per Mark's orders. You whip your head around, scanning the horizon wildly.

"No, no, no," you mutter. You take your helmet off with a whoosh of air, and Mark stares at you in surprise.

"Captain?" You take in several frantic breaths. The crew scanned the air, said it was good for breathing. Mark doesn't have a helmet. But you have to maker sure. What if there's something in the air your crew didn't see?

You take a step forward and you can feel the soft dirt beneath your boots. The dirt. Even this dirt could be dangerous. There could be bacteria, microorganisms, or unknown chemicals in the dirt. You know some of the colonists in cryo-sleep are children. Children don't think, they would just shovel this dirt into their maws and get sick! They could die!

"Huh? The dirt's fine, Cap," Mark says, and you ignore the fact that you had apparently been speaking aloud without noticing, instead bending down to grab a handful of the rich soil.

You open your shovel and throw some dirt in.

"Stop that!" says Mark, alarmed, but you ignore him. It tastes like dirt from back home. Good for farming, full of everything a plant could need to thrive. It's grit scrapes down your throat.

"Captain!" Mark barks. "What are you doing? Spit it out!" Children would eat more than one handful. Maybe there's something in the soil that needs a larger quantity to be digested in order to get sick from it. You stuff more dirt in your mouth. It's thick and moist from a recent rain shower- the crew says it rains here! What if the rainwater isn't clean enough, like back at home? Maybe the rainwater in the dirt could kill someone.

Mark smacks the back of your unprotected head, sending the dark soil flying out of your mouth in clumps.

"We'll just test it more!" He cries out, dismayed. "Captain, what would we do if you got sick from eating dirt?!"

Oh. Oh, your brilliant head engineer. He's right, of course. They would surely attack if you were down, sick from protecting your crew. There are safer ways to do this, of course. Of course! Extensive testing.

You stand up and brush the dirt away from your mouth.

"Right," You say numbly, and go back to scanning the valley for dangers. You can hear the humming of engines as your crew comes down to the planet in carriers.

Mark looks distressed. You wonder if news of the Captain eating dirt would distress the other members of the crew.

"Can you not tell this about anyone?" You ask. You turn and head towards where your crew is landing in the valley, not waiting for a response. You trust your head engineer. He won't tell a soul.

[fullmoonandstar]

Unpopular opinion (maybe?): I wish there were some more iswm fanfics that are more feminine (?) coded

Not sure if that's the right word but whenever I read even the gn fics the captain always feels male coded 🙈