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ilyamatic · 3 years

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Echoes: In Another Life

Hey y'all! I'm bouncing around @arcana-echoes to bring you a glimpse into these Ayitians' alternate lives:

Tiny hands dug into the rich soil. It was days like this that Andrico remembers that he could be happy. It was hard otherwise. Sure he was a hero, damn near a national treasure but the people’s adoration did little to quell the unrest in his heart. Almost 13 years after the war the smell of blood still lingered wherever he went. His fallen men still visited in his dreams, angry and rotting. He should have done more. He could have done more. If he wanted to win so badly he should have sacrificed himself. Instead he led his men to slaughter while he lived the cushy life. No matter how tormented he lived it, how unfulfilled. A life full of politics and policy when his soul craved sweat and soil.

But out there in his garden that didn’t matter. All that mattered there was him, his little Fabienne, and the sunshine. Her wide gapped-toothed smile could chase away his most stubborn demons. It was a shame that she could never stay.

“Are you ready to clean up for lunch Fabi?” He asked as he pet her hair.

The little girl began to pout. “But Papa, you promised me we would plant all the flowers today!”

“Your mother would be very cross if I let you go hungry.”

Not that she wouldn’t find something else to be cross about, he thought bitterly.

“You don’t usually stop for anything when you’re in the garden,” Fabienne argued as she crossed her arms.

“Haven’t you heard Fabi? Se yon neg andeyo mwe ye!”

“Maman says that you are a country bumpkin.”

Andrico could feel his eyebrow twitch.

“Good thing she found a nice city boy to marry, hm?”

Fabienne made no comment as she stuck her hands back into the dirt. He should press harder, be a little more authoritative. But everyone, including the girl in question, knew that Fabienne had him wrapped around her little finger. There was no point in fighting it. All she had to do was look up at him with those coffee black eyes, eyes that were so like her mother’s, and he was a goner. Moreover, he wanted to pretend just a little longer. He didn’t want to be General El-Saieh. He didn’t want the nightmares, or the panic attacks, or the failed marriage, or the strained relationships with everyone around him. He wanted the sweat and soil and for his little daughter to remember her papa as a man who loved the earth and the people on it. Who kissed booboos and chased away monsters and sang her to sleep on the nights she stayed with him. So Andrico kissed the top of her head and handed her another bulb.

Lunch could wait a moment or two.

She should head left. There is nothing stopping her from going left. It wasn’t like there was anything worth staying here for. She was tired. Tired of the expectations, the lessons, the everything. She should leave her teacher behind, go left, and see where life takes her.

Jasna took a few steps and stopped. She could go left.

But what about my family?

Could she live with not seeing them again for years? Possibly ever?

The path she was on was irritating at best, stifling at it’s worse. But it was sure. Jasna knew where she was going, where she would end up. The idea of starting over was tempting. All her life all she ever wanted was the option to choose. And there it was, presenting itself as a caravan heading to a city called Vesuvia.

She could go left.

“Jasna,” her tutor Frantz called out from their wagon. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “Just needed to stretch my legs.”

With that she turned on her heels and headed right.

Jai, Andrés, and Marie-Carmel under the cut

They watched as the shoreline got smaller. The Augustine Regime had fallen Their uncle was dead, beheaded by a ‘young upstart who just learned to wipe his own ass.’ Jai felt no sympathy, no remorse. They did not bat an eyelash as their family uprooted themselves in the middle of the night, fleeing onto a boat towards hopefully friendlier lands.

It’s what they deserved really. Their uncle for being an absolute tyrant, their parents complicit to the horrors, and them… and them for their silence. But not any longer. No, they refused to hold their tongue ever again.

They could hear light footsteps come up behind them. Their mother called out a name that never fit, never belonged to them. They squared their shoulders.

“Jai,” they called back.

They could feel their mother’s confusion.

“What?”

“My name is Jai,” they continued. “That person you’re looking for is not here. My name is Jai, I go by they, and you will address me as such.”

Their mother walked up and stood next to them. From the corner of their eye Jai could see their mother’s exasperation, anger, and grief.

“Must you do this now?” She practically spat.

“Yes. If not now, then when?”

They could feel her eyes bore into the side of their face.

“I have lost my home,” her mother said quietly. “ I have lost my home, my friends, and my country. Must I lose my daughter too?”

Jai could feel giggles and tears war in their gut. They could argue how their mother has not lost her child at all, that they were there, it was just that she had refused to see them for who they were. Jai could laugh in her face because all that her mother mourned was gained on the backs of a suffering nation. Instead they turned to look her in the eye and parroted her words from years ago.

“You cannot lose something you never had, cheri.”

The High Priestess bathed the infant in a tub full of hibiscus petals and fragrant oils. Blessing babies was meant for the acolytes, a routine job regarded beneath her station. However, Andrés could hardly find it in herself to give two shits.

As the human embodiment of the All Mothers, was she not to embody them? Was she not to walk in humility and kindness? To treat everyone with respect? If the All Mothers hadn’t hidden their spirits away in their realm Andrés would find the sisters that came before her and give them a tongue lashing. As if any task at the temple was beneath her. As she would ever pass up giving out The Mothers love. Idiots, the whole lot of them. But those were worries for another day.

Andrés gently wrapped the squirming baby in a soft linen cloth and handed them back to their parents.

“Go, my children. The love and the light of your Mothers will see you through to the end of your days.”

Teary eyes looked up to her gratefully. Often she wondered what people saw when they looked at her. Did they see a living goddess? Did they see power? Did they see The Divine Feminine in her?

Or did they see her, Andrés? A young woman thrust into adulthood too soon? Someone without all the answers but who tries her best for everyone? Do they see her regret?

“High Priestess,” an acolyte called from the doorway of the shrine. “The next family is ready.”

Andrés nodded as the previous family left, praises to the All Mothers and their Chosen Daughter heavy on their lips. She stood tall as the next family walked in, took their tiny baby in her arms with confidence, and began her blessings. In the presence of her children, there was no room for doubt.

“I love you,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. Marie-Carmel smiled lightly, enjoying the sun and the fresh air. She rested her head against her husband’s shoulder. It was a beautiful summer day. Her dear husband decided it would be the perfect day for a carriage ride. It was nice. It was romantic. She could not stop the words from spilling out.

“I love you too,” she said quietly and today it felt like she meant it.

It was terrible, she knew. Martine was not a bad man, not by a long shot. He was kind, generous, and smart. He was what anyone would want in a spouse. It was what she wanted in a spouse. And yet.

She does her best not to think of the loves of her past, the gentle Claudine or the funny Francois. They were all kind, generous, and smart but Mimi always found them lacking. And now Marie-Carmel was there, married to a man her Mimi adored but she found herself loving only on occasion.

Marie-Carmel does her best to not think of the notice on the community board.

Best Divorce Lawyer in Town!

Jean-Jacques Deroleaux Esq.

5555 Gardenia Street, Port Joyeux

Get your appointment today!

Her ‘friends’, all people of high society as her Mimi intended, were properly scandalized. She played the part, titterting behind an open fan at the depravity of it all but in her heart she wondered.

Her Mimi would be so disappointed! She would lose her friends! And Martine, poor sweet Martine. Oh he would be so heartbroken!

And yet.

Marie-Carmel rested her head on her husband’s shoulder, the flyer burning a hole in her dress all the while.

#the arcana #fan apprentice #the arcana mc #andrico the soft chaos boy #jasna the reluctant magician #jai the rebel #andrés the chosen one #marie carmel the runaway #arcana eotp #arcana echoes #we are in our feelings tonight lads

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feferipeixes · 4 years

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Jay’s Brother (3/?)

Jay has been working in the cobalt mines her entire life. Against all odds, she’s still alive when so many others have fallen. It’s been decades since she’s had anyone she could call family. And then, out of nowhere, a demon shows up and says he’s her brother.

Naturally, she’s upset.

Chapter 3: Hope Against Hope (link to chapter 1) (2)

Shout out to my awesome beta reader, @toothpastecanyon!

(See the most updated version on AO3!)

===

Chunk.

The girl slammed her axe into the blue rock in front of her. The rock resisted -- gaining an ugly scratch but otherwise surviving unharmed. It seemed to sneer at her, seemed to say, “What, having a hard time? Getting too old for this?”

She groaned in response. Dropping her pickaxe, she straightened up, and heard a creak as something shifted in her back. She nearly doubled over again, but caught herself by resting a hand on the cavern wall. She breathed in through her nose and tried to swallow the hacking cough that she felt wriggling its way out of her. Everything was okay. She could do this. She did it every day.

Still… it seemed harder that day than usual. She glanced down at her pickaxe -- an old rusty tool that seemed to be aging before her eyes -- and then peered out at the other workers around her. They all raised their axes in unison -- brought them high above their heads before each clicking a button that shot beams of energy into their respective hunks of cobalt.

“Hey, wait a minute.” She could barely recognize her voice when it came out. It sounded about as bad as her pickaxe looked. “What’s the big setup? Why do you all have quantum axes and I’ve got this piece of junk?”

Every worker turned to look at her. “Because you’re obsolete, Miss Du,” they said together, their collective voice echoing through the cave like it was a scream in her ear.

“And junk like you doesn’t deserve more than junk in turn,” came a voice from behind her.

The girl tried to gasp, but what came out instead was an awful, spluttering cough. She whipped around to find her shift manager looming over her, staring down with a wicked grin.

“Tick-tock,” he purred, pulling up a clock display on the wall panel and thrumming his fingers against it. “You’re slowing down. If you don’t increase your output we’ll have no choice but to -”

Knock knock knock.

Her manager’s mouth was still moving, but no sound was coming out. Instead, there was a steady knocking coming from behind her. Confused, she glanced back to see a door standing freely in the middle of the room. She could see it rattle in time with the knocking, and there was a soft, white glow pouring in from the edges of the frame.

The girl stepped toward it. Her manager tried to stop her -- jumped in her path with fire in his eyes and snakes pouring out of his mouth -- but she ignored him. He wasn’t a threat anymore. All she could hear was the knocking.

She brushed her fingers along the access pad, and it slid open. A brilliant, blinding light stood on the other side. He was much brighter than Prima, but she had no trouble looking at him.

He stepped across the doorframe and extended a hand to her. “Let’s get out of here.”

She went to grab his hand, but hesitated. “I don’t know. Why should I trust you?”

His smile flickered, plunging her momentarily back into darkness. “What?”

“I don’t know you.” She sensed her manager reaching over her shoulder with a slimy tentacle, and she slapped it away. “But I know this. I know how to survive this.”

“But... this is awful. Why would you want to stay here? What happened to your dreams of exploring the cosmos?”

The girl looked up and saw the night sky projected onto the cave ceiling, semi-transparent like a hologram. It was beautiful, but it made her feel emptier than ever.

“Could I really do it? Could you actually take me there?”

“Anywhere,” he breathed. “Anywhere you want.”

She sighed. “I need some time to think about it, alright? Give me some time.”

The star nodded. “Of course. Just… let me know, alright? It’s lonely in here.”

She tried to respond, but her throat fought against her. She shuddered with pain, clutched her stomach, and a rough, stuttering cough heaved its way out of her. She looked up at him, his hand still extended out to her, his smile weak but there nonetheless. Cautiously, she reached up and accepted his invitation.

Quick as a whistle, he pulled her up to her feet. The pain was gone, her breathing once again simple, and she could swear the air around her was sparkling. She stared at her hands, which suddenly felt so strong and capable, and gulped.

“Thanks,” she said.

He only bowed in response. He spun around to leave, filling the room with a brilliant display of colors for a brief moment. Then he vanished, and it was dark again. She was holding a pickaxe again. Her manager was behind her, fury radiating out of his empty eye sockets. The world was her burden once more.

And yet it was so pointless. So insignificant.

Gritting her teeth, she turned around to face her manager. Before he could say a word, she reached out and grabbed his head with both hands. She felt the power pulsing through her, felt the fear radiating off him in her grasp. She smiled, because for once, she was in control.

She smiled, and she squeezed his skull as hard as she could, letting the slime ooze over her fingers and waiting for the moment when it would POP -

---

Jay gasped and opened her eyes.

It was a dream. It was a dream and she was awake now and she definitely hadn’t snapped at work and killed her manager. She let out a sigh of relief. Everything was fine. It was just another one of those weird dreams she’d been having for the past couple of days. No matter how much she hated Kanif and her job, physically attacking him would do her far more harm than good.

Although -- she had to admit that it felt really good to take her frustrations out on Kanif. Maybe the dreams weren’t so bad, as long as she never really acted on them.

As she gradually returned to consciousness, Jay began to realize that she wasn’t in her bed. The pillow she was using was flat and rough. Her glasses were already on, and the room was bright. She wasn’t at home at all -- she was at the library.

She jolted upright. There was a tearing noise -- a page of the book she’d been sleeping and apparently drooling on had stuck to her face. She pulled it off and examined it.

In folklore, a deer is a mythical beast that is believed to appear in times of need to guide lost souls to safety. It is often depicted as tall, furry, hoofed, quadrupedal, and antlered. According to the Encyclopedia of Ancient Creature Lore, a deer is an ordinary pony that has been touched by a divine being and granted immortality.

Jay grimaced. None of that made sense. She picked up the book she’d been resting on and read the cover -- A History of Magical Creatures. Why was she reading… Oh yeah.

It had been three days since she’d met Alcor on the way home from work. Since then, the candles and magic circle he’d left her had remained untouched in the corner of her room as she wracked her brain for reasons to contact him again. There was so much about him that didn’t make sense -- a normal person would’ve dismissed him entirely at this point -- but some part of her was curious. Some part of her wanted to believe him.

One of the things that continued to confuse her was his claim that he was a demon. She’d been combing both the library and the Interweb for any information on what a demon was, and after three days she still had nothing to show for it. She’d woken up early that morning so she could go to the library again before work, but apparently her lack of sleep had caught up with her and…

Jay jumped out of her chair. Work. She checked her phone and -- heck, it was 12th trentile. She was very late for work. Panicking, she dropped the book and darted out of the building. The torn page she’d slept on fluttered slowly to the ground behind her.

It was 12:25 when she made it to the lobby of the mine, hoping against hope that no one had missed her. She already knew her pay would be docked, but if Kanif saw how late she was she'd surely get fired, and she couldn’t let that happen. He'd been mysteriously absent the past couple of days so maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be there -

Her hope vanished quickly when she breached the double doors and saw Kanif staring up at her with a furious look on his face.

“I’msosorryI’mlateKanifsir!” Jay blurted, out of breath from running. “It won’t happen again, I -”

“Rhysti-Du!” Kanif barked, cutting her off. “I thought I made it very clear to you what would happen if you were late again! Tick-tock!”

“Sir, please, I can’t lose this job. I’ll work late again!”

Kanif grinned at her, words starting to form on his lips, and then -- something happened.

Jay’s vision flickered. The air suddenly felt very thick, like they were standing in honey. She refocused her eyes to see Kanif’s smile dead on the ground, replaced with a look of abject horror. He took a step back and hit the wall behind him. Jay could’ve sworn he was trembling. He looked so weak and puny -- kind of like in her dream. Her dream, when her hands had felt so full of power. Her dream -- or was it real life? -- where something inside of her had whispered go… do it… do it now…

Then the moment passed. The pressure in the air was gone, and Jay couldn’t remember what she’d been thinking about a moment ago. But Kanif was still backed into the wall looking as scared as if he’d just seen a monster.

“Mr. Kanif… sir?” she asked nervously. “Are you alright?”

He didn’t respond at first, just looked both ways a few times. “Yes, I’m fine, Jay!” he choked out eventually. His words were studded with nervous laughter and he could barely keep his eyes on her. “Everything is up to code. About being late today -- we can just pretend that didn’t happen, do you hear me? That’d be exemplary! Get along to work now, there’s mining to do.”

“Uhh…” She looked behind her to make sure there wasn’t some other person there named Jay that Kanif might’ve been talking to. “Alright…?”

“Great! Off you go!”

He then scampered out of the room more quickly than she’d ever seen him move. For a few minutes she could only gape at the space where he’d stood. Never in the decade that he’d been her manager had he ever shown her any mercy for lateness or mistakes of any kind. It was baffling.

Something had happened -- she thought to herself as she collected her mining equipment and set off to her post -- something had happened a few days ago and since then her life had gotten weird. She wanted answers, and she was beginning to think there was only one person who had them.

---

There was an electronic chime as Jay pushed open the door to the diner. A cheaply decorated room greeted her on the other side. The atmosphere was sleepy -- most people were eating silently, with the odd couple sitting together in a booth and whispering in each other’s ears. None of this was out of the ordinary.

Jay stepped over to the counter and sat down on a stool. A couple of people sitting nearby glanced at her -- people she’d never met but must have seen countless times before -- but they returned quickly to their food. She looked around for the waitress -- they really needed more than one, but for some reason couldn’t seem to afford another -- before spotting her at the other end of the room, taking someone’s order. She gave her a little wave, and turned to look out the window while she waited.

The world outside was still lit, thanks to Jay getting out of work a trentile earlier than she had the previous day. The view out of the diner’s front window was mostly occluded by the shops on the other side of the street, but there was a small alley between the laundromat and the convenience store through which she could appreciate the setting star. The sky was awash with color -- the greenish-blue of day replaced by a brilliant orange, soon to fade away into the saddest pink.

It was beautiful, the small slice of the sky she could see while waiting to order her food. It was beautiful and it was filled with so many memories of lying in the grass watching the sky, hand-in-hand with Akko or Sunil or Evan. These days, she never really got to watch Prima set. She wondered if maybe she should try waiting a bit before grabbing food after work, so she could spend some time outside just letting the colors swirl around her, just thinking and dreaming and hoping and -

“Jay?”

The sound of snapping fingers brought Jay back to the present. The waitress -- Gnern or Gnert or something -- was staring at her with a weird expression on her face.

Jay grimaced. “What?”

“I said, can I take your order?”

“Oh. Yes. Of course.” She shook her head. “Sorry about that. I’ll have… uh… the usual. Slashnorts with umbrella broccoli. Actually, no, wait. Make that umbrella pipsqueaks instead.”

The waitress nodded and made a complicated gesture at the notepad she was holding, which responded by dinging. Then she cocked her head at Jay. “How are you doing, pip? Holding in there?”

Jay blinked. “Uh. What does that mean?”

“You just looked distracted, is all. I don’t mind it, I mean. They say that’s supposed to happen to old folks, right?”

“I…” Jay paused. “I think I read that once.”

She tilted her head slightly to catch view of herself in the mirror behind the waitress. She studied her wavy grey locks -- once a deep brown, the color had started draining out of them years ago and they were almost white at this point. Her skin was wrinkled where it had once been smooth. She hadn’t needed glasses when she started working in the mines, but at some point everything had started getting blurry, and before she knew it, she was in the convenience store buying a cheap pair of rectangular frames.

She knew that these were things that happened when you got old, but it still felt like she was changing somehow -- like the person she had been was being squeezed from her and soon she’d become something else entirely. It was one thing knowing theoretically that people changed when they got old and it was another to actually become an old person herself. And the idea that her mind could be changing too as a part of it was very stressful.

“Yeah…” she continued. “Maybe all of... this... is because I’m getting old.”

The waitress snorted. “Pip, I’m old, and you’re twice my age. I think you borrowed the kilter on ‘getting’ old a few decades ago.”

Jay frowned. “Yeah, yeah. Are you here to take my order or gawk at me?”

“I wasn’t -” she started, but hesitated at the annoyed expression on Jay’s face. “Your order, I guess. I’ll be right back hun.”

She quickly turned away and walked into the kitchen. Jay winced at how hurt she’d sounded -- she hadn’t meant to come off so brusque but the few days of confusion and frustration must’ve taken a toll on her. She didn’t want to take that out on anyone else. The waitress stepped back into the room a moment later, carrying a couple of plates of food on her arm. She started placing them down in front of other customers sitting at the counter.

Jay cleared her throat. “Hey, Gnern.” The waitress glanced up, looking nonplussed. “I’m sorry I was being rude. I’ve had a long few days, and I might’ve been kind of annoyed because I was trying to research something earlier and was coming up with nothing, blah blah blah.”

The waitress put down the last plate she was carrying and cocked her head at Jay. “Well, pip, my name’s Gnert, not Gnern,” (DARN IT), “but I accept your apology. What’s eating at you?”

Jay stared at her blankly until what she’d said clicked in her brain. “Wait. You’re asking me about my day?”

“Yeah. You’re in here a lot and you don’t really speak up much. What’s eating at you?”

“Uh…” Jay mentally juggled images of all the weird stuff that had been happening to her. There was no way she could even begin to explain most of it. “Well, this’ll sound strange, but… Have you ever heard of a demon?”

“Oh, yeah. Is that all?”

Jay felt like she’d been kicked in the gut. “What? You- how- how do you know? I spent so much time in the library and I found nothing!”

Gnert shrugged. “Mom told me when I was young. It’s an old story for kids, you know? You wouldn’t find anything like that in the library.”

When Jay could only wordlessly flap her mouth open and shut like a fish, Gnert laughed and leaned over the counter. “Alright, pip. Here’s the story. I don’t remember any names or morals or nothin’ but I remember the basics. They say a demon is a star that fell out of the sky and has to live on the ground like a person.”

Jay felt a tingly sensation creep up across her neck. She nodded at Gnert. “Go on.”

“Well, the star is lonely down on the ground. It can’t ever go back where it came from. It misses its family in the sky so bad that it turns to wickedness.”

Jay furrowed her brow. “Wickedness? Really?”

Gnert shrugged. “It’s a story for kids. There’s always a good guy and a bad guy.”

Jay remembered Alcor telling her that most demons weren’t as nice as him. The tingling feeling spread from her neck to her torso. “Okay. Go on.”

“You know how you can go wish on a star? They say that’s because stars are made out of magic. And that means demons are too.”

Jay saw herself turning around and around and finding Alcor in front of her no matter what she did. Her arms were tingling now.

“The demons try to trick people by giving them nice things and doing favors with their magic.”

His words rang in Jay’s ears. I can’t really do magic for free.

“And then right when you’re not expecting it… BAM!” Gnert slammed her hands on the counter. “They gobble you right up!”

Gnert started laughing, but it felt very far away. The tingling had spread across Jay’s entire body at this point, and with the tingling came a thought. A memory. An image floated into her brain of Alcor crouching down next to her, her hand in his, his tongue lapping away at her cut -- lick, lick, lick -- and there was blood on his teeth. Her blood.

Something in her brain flipped over. She jumped out of her stool, and banged her hip against the underside of the counter. “Frick- agh!” she yelled, barely avoiding falling over in pain.

Half of the diner looked up at her shout. Gnert dashed around the counter to her with a panicked expression on her face. “Jay, I’m sorry, I got too excited about that story. Let me help you.”

“No, stop, I’m fine,” Jay grunted. She grabbed the edge of the counter to pull herself up. “It wasn’t the story. I’m just old, haha, remember? I’m fine.”

Gnert seemed torn between offering her more help and leaving her be. Deflating, she returned to the other side of the counter, and started fiddling with cooking instruments, all without taking her eyes off of Jay.

It took a minute for Jay’s breath to go back to normal. Her hip should’ve hurt quite a bit, but it was barely registering to her in her mind. She was too preoccupied with Gnert’s story. Her thoughts were circling around and around like a swarm of ringwats. She knew it had only been a fairytale, but at least some of it had to be true because she really had met a strange man that could do magical favors. And if some of it was true, she couldn’t help but wonder…

The star is lonely down on the ground. It can’t ever go back where it came from.

She wanted to go home. “Is my order almost done?” she asked.

Gnert flinched, almost dropping the pot of coffee she was refilling. “Sorry. Let me check on that for you.”

Jay watched her go, and felt a funny tickle in her mind. “Actually,” she added, almost absentmindedly, “can you throw in a bar of candy with my order?”

Gnert looked surprised. “I can definitely do that. What kind would you like?”

“Uh…” Jay looked at the pile of candy against the far wall, and realized that she hadn’t eaten candy in a really long time. “Wow, I don’t know. Surprise me?”

Gnert nodded, and rushed off to gather Jay’s food. She was back a minute later, and Jay quickly paid for the meal and left. She could still feel the whole diner’s eyes on her as she walked out the door and down the street.

It wasn’t until she was a couple of blocks away that Jay realized what she’d done. She looked at the candy bar in her bag -- a Sneakers bar -- and slapped her forehead. What was she doing, spending hard-earned money on candy so she could call a guy she barely knew and wasn’t sure she could trust? What was she doing spending money on the chance... to have... a family again?

Jay stopped in her tracks. Was that really what this was? The chance to have a family again? She’d gone so long without anyone she could call family. Everyone she’d ever loved was dead -- or at least, in the case of her sister, probably dead. From what he’d told her, it sounded like he was in the same situation. If she was his chance to have a family again, maybe he was hers too.

Feeling her resolve strengthen, Jay rushed the rest of the way home. She dropped her meal onto her bed and clapped her hands in front of her computer. Her computer seemed to struggle to turn on, but eventually the screen illuminated and displayed the poem she’d started writing a few days. She felt like the breath was being squeezed out of her as she reread it.

Harsh cold nights in the recesses of space Plucked right out, leaving me without a trace Death defied, now she’s on her way back home One last hope that I won’t be so alone

She’d had her sister in mind when she’d written it, but as she turned Alcor’s words over in her head, she wondered if maybe it wasn’t about him instead. Maybe he was the family that she’d been hoping against hope for all of this time.

Jay took a deep breath, and made a decision.

There wasn’t very much space on the floor, but she managed to find a spot big enough for her to completely unfold the magic circle picture Alcor had given her. She arranged the candles so that they sat on the symbols that went around the edge. She activated the lighter on her phone and lit the candles one by one. Almost done. She looked around for the bag from the diner -- it was still on her bed. She reached in and grabbed the candy bar. It was light, but she felt out of breath anyway. She unwrapped it and dropped it into the center of the circle.

“Hey, Alcor,” she said, trying to sound confident. “I’ve thought about it. I want to give this a try.”

Instantly, all of the lights in the room went out. The candles lit up by themselves shortly after, but their flames were blue instead of yellow. A prickly presence came over her -- the fuzzy feeling she’d been having on and off for the past few days. And finally, a smile appeared in the middle of the room.

“Jay!” Alcor exclaimed. He hopped over the candles and wrapped her in a vice grip hug. “You mean it?”

The light gradually returned to the room, and in the light she was reminded of everything that was wrong. His positively ancient clothing, his pointed ears, his wings like windows into the sky. How was it possible that this was her brother? It didn’t make sense. This was madness. She couldn’t be doing this.

“Yeah,” she breathed. She hesitated for a moment, and then hugged him back. “Yeah, I mean it.”

(AO3 link)

#gravity falls #transcendence au #dipper pines #alcor the dreambender #mizar #jay rhysti-du #reincarnation #space arc #fic #my stuff #long post

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lloydskywalkers · 6 years

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Survivor Ninja!

Angst week took it out of me, so here's something less angsty to balance it out! This is partly the fault of watching Sharknado 3 at 2 am, and heavily, heavily inspired by a Voltron crack video that showed up on my dash, which was taken from The Try Guys Try Not to Die at Sea, or something. It's kind of crack, that's what I'm trying to say.

Takes place immediately after season 2!

"Da dum."

"Stop."

"Da dum."

"Stop it, Jay."

"Da dum da dum da dum da dum-"

"Jay!"

Jay ducks Kai's irritated smack, laughing. "Come on, you're not actually scared right now, are you?"

Kai scoffs, glaring at nothing in particular. "We're floating on a tiny, fragile, cheap piece of plastic in the middle of the ocean. Excuse me for being a little uncomfortable."

He certainly does look uncomfortable, huddled up in the middle of the raft, his arms wrapped around his knees as he glares at the ocean around them. "I hate this," Kai seethes. "I hate water. Water is the worst."

"Don't take it out on the water just because you can't swim," Nya says. Kai shoots her a venomous look of betrayal.

Lloyd frowns. "Weren't you gonna try to walk across the ocean back to Ninjago, when we were stuck on the Dark Island?"

"I had adrenaline then," Kai mutters. "It was life or death. This is just dumb."

"Aw, come on, it's not that bad," Jay offers, consolingly.

"Yeah, just boring," Lloyd sighs, flopping his head against the side of their raft, staring up at the cloudless sky.

"Stop that, you're gonna blind yourself," Cole says, putting a hand over Lloyd's eyes.

"Am not." Lloyd throws an elbow over his face in placation, though.

"Well, I'm having fun," Nya says, from where she's draped over the side, her legs hanging in the water, her head in Jay's lap. "This is the most relaxing training we've had in months."

"Speaking of, how did you weasel your way into this?" Kai says.

"That better not be a dig at me being part of the team," Nya glares at him. "Sensei Wu apparently thought I was necessary. Admit it. You guys would all die without me."

"Debatable," Kai mutters, while Jay agrees enthusiastically.

"Also, Sensei Garmadon still feels bad enough about the whole 'captured me and turned me into a brainless, purple-eyed minion' thing that all I really have to do is look at him and he'll let me do anything," Nya says, shrugging.

"Aw, he isn't like that with me," Lloyd whines. "And he swallowed me in a vortex of dark matter. And broke my ankle."

"Sprained," Zane supplies.

"It was broken when I got to the hospital!"

"That's because you ran up a skyscraper on it," Cole says helpfully.

Lloyd sticks his tongue out at him.

"We should probably start trying to find a way out of this," Zane says, attempting to reign them back in. "That is the mission objective, is it not?"

"I thought it was not to die in the middle of the ocean," Kai grumbles.

"No, we need to be trying to find a way back to the island," Lloyd sighs, finally sitting up straight. "It's been an hour already, we need to get moving."

This proves a problem, as none of them really have any idea where they were. Having been unceremoniously kidnapped from their beds early that morning, blindfolded, and dropped on a small raft in the middle of the sea, the most progress they've made so far is to complain about the general situation. They're off to a fairly rough start.

Kai eyes the note left by Sensei Wu cheerfully ordering them to "Find your way home!" in distaste. He'll bet anything this is Sensei Garmadon's fault.

"No powers, no Spinjitzu, no mechs," Jay says, dismally. "Face it, Lloyd. We're all hooped."

"C'mon, we can do this," Cole says, trying to inject some positivity into the conversation. "We trapped a giant snake on our own. We defeated the Overlord, for crying out loud!"

"No, you didn't," Kai says. "You got hit by purple goo and turned into a snarling nightmare two flights up Borg Tower."

"Oh, like you lasted much longer."

"I did! I didn't even get hit!"

"Oh yeah?" Cole sneers. "Then why'd Lloyd end up climbing all the way to the top by himself?"

"Which was totally not cool, by the way," Lloyd sulks.

"Hey, we tried, alright, it was an off day for us," Cole winces.

"Su-ure."

"Oh, come on, Lloyd," Kai says.

Lloyd huffs. "All I'm saying is that you better not leave me to face the big bad guy of the week all by myself again. It sucks."

"What, the golden ninja can't handle it?" Jay smirks.

"Nope."

"Geez, not even trying for subtlety there."

"I've been a ninja for like, what, a couple of months?" Lloyd throws his hands up. "And suddenly I'm supposed to be some invincible master? I'm still only like, fourteen-ish. Give me a year and then I'll be unstoppable."

"Technically, you're like ten-ish," Kai points out.

Lloyd narrows his eyes. "Fourteen-ish."

"Ten-ish."

"Fourteen-ish! Tomorrow's Tea counts!"

"Does it, though? Does it really?"

"It counts when it comes to being taller than Jay."

"You are not taller than me, you miniscule shrimp of a pipsqueak-"

"FSM help us, we are all going to die," Nya mutters.

"C'mon, guys, we're all exhausted, and tempers are high," Cole cuts in. "Fighting isn't going to help us any."

"Perhaps we would not be so tired if we hadn't stayed up so late watching movies," Zane says, innocently as always.

"Za-ane, you're not supposed to put the blame on us," Jay groans. "Pass it off to someone else."

"Words of a ninja, right there."

"Besides," Cole defends. "Attack of the Six-Headed Shark is a classic."

"In what world?" Nya says.

"Don't bring up sharks," Jay says. "You'll lure them to us."

Cole blinks. "You were literally singing the Jaws theme five minutes ago."

Jay waves him off. "That was to mess with Kai. Different case." He groans. "Ugh, now I'm thinking about it. This is exactly like the scene in Shark Frenzy 4."

"Just don't think about the sharks, then," Zane says.

"I can't help thinking about them!" Jay throws his hands up, glaring at Lloyd. "After someone made us watch all those dumb shark horror movies last night."

Lloyd shrugs innocently, making no comment.

"You knew," Kai suddenly says, his eyes narrowed on Lloyd. "You knew!"

"Knew what?" Lloyd says, even more innocently.

"You knew Sensei was gonna do something like this to us!" Kai accuses. "That's why you had us watch all those shark movies last night!"

"No, I didn't!" Lloyd defends himself as Jay gasps in wounded betrayal. "I just - okay, I had an idea, maybe, of what he was going to do." He glares at the raft. "I didn't know it was going to be this."

"You still knew," Kai glares at him.

Lloyd folds his arms. "It's not my fault you're scared of some dumb shark movies."

"Snotty brat."

"Arrogant jerk."

"Child menace."

"Spiky-haired hothead."

"Demon spawn."

"Okay, okay, enough," Cole sighs, as the two wrestle, Kai burying his knuckles in Lloyd's hair he cackles. "Does anyone have an idea of how to get back to land?"

He's ignored.

"Let him go, loser," Nya says, splashing water up on Kai with her foot. "Lloyd scaring us with shark movies is pretty tame, for him messing with you."

"I wasn't trying to scare you guys!"

"Uh-huh," Jay says, skeptically. "Then why'd you terrorize us with all those shark movies?"

"Maybe I picked all those shark movies because I like sharks," Lloyd folds his arms. "They're one of my favorite animals."

"Why?" Jay says, scandalized. "Why have you chosen aquatic death creatures as your favorite animal?"

"Your favorite animal is a rat, don't judge me!" Lloyd shoots back. "Besides," he inhales, getting the patented Lloyd-Look-of-Righteous-Justice on his face. "Everyone goes around trying to force sharks into this box of vicious murderers, painting them as bloodthirsty monsters with their shark prejudice, when sharks are actually just wildly misunderstood creatures trying to live the best shark lives they can, and-"

"Okay, National Geographic, chill out," Kai says, clapping a hand over Lloyd's mouth even as he grins in amusement. "There will be no shark murders today."

Lloyd shoves Kai's hand off, grumbling. "There better not."

"I didn't know you felt so strongly about sharks," Zane says, bemused.

"It's a metaphor," Jay tells him, in an obvious whisper. "Lloyd is expressing his feelings about past prejudice against his father and himself by channeling it into the defense of fishy teeth monsters."

"I am not," Lloyd scowls. "I just like sharks, that's all."

"I mean, if that's true, then what's that say about you and your passionate defense of rats?" Kai directs at Jay. "Do you too feel the urge to run around making a pest of yourself, squealing loudly at everything-"

Nya yelps as her head hits the raft, having been upset as Jay moves to tackle Kai.

"Guys, stop, you're gonna tip us over!"

"We're never going to make it back to shore," Zane sighs, sadly.

"Captain's log, day fourty-five lost at sea," Jay announces, a glazed look in his eyes as he hangs over the edge of the raft. "Morale is fading. We'll probably have to eat Kai soon to survive."

"Lloyd would definitely be first to get eaten," Kai says through a yawn. Lloyd shoves him.

"We're gonna need water before food," Nya says. "If we're actually trying to survive."

"Both of which we have none of," Cole fumes. "Nothing, we've got nothing in here!"

"The raft barely fits us, what'd you expect?" Kai says.

"I don't know, some kind of help!"

"It's my uncle, he likes to be funny like that," Lloyd says.

"Well its not very funny to me," Cole grumbles, sitting back down with a huff. Kai yelps as the raft is slightly upset in the water.

"Look, Cole, this assignment is ridiculous," Jay yawns. "We'd never end up in a situation like this anyways. Worst comes to worst, Lloyd can just fly us out on his dragon."

"But that would be cheating," Lloyd frowns.

"But we wouldn't be roasting out here?" Jay offers.

"Lloyd is right," Zane says, glaring at Jay. "We need to figure out how to get out of here without breaking the set rules. We're trained ninja - it shouldn't be too hard."

"I'm with Zane," Nya says, finally sitting up. "Okay, first things first - we need to actually figure out where we're going." She pauses, shielding her eyes with a hand as she looks out over the sea around them. "Does anyone have any idea what direction we need to head in?"

"Ask Zane," Kai sys. "He's the one with the built-in GPS."

"I have no such thing," Zane says, looking miffed.

"What do you mean, you don't?" Kai gapes. "You have everything!"

"I'm not a computer!" Zane snaps. "Besides, we were specifically banned from using any excess means to complete the training. That includes hacking into the nearest satellite or navigating system and using it to send a distress signal the nearest ship."

Zane looks disappointed by the time he's reached the end.

"Cheating, Zane," Jay says, trying tempt him. "Join the dark side…"

"Maybe…we can use the stars, or something?" Lloyd says, hesitantly. "I saw it in an episode of Starfarer once, you can follow certain ones home. Or something."

"Yeah, except it's the middle of the day, genius," Jay says.

"At least I'm trying!" Lloyd glares.

"We can use the sun, though," Cole says. "Which is, technically, a star. So good job, Lloyd."

"I got it." Kai frowns, shielding his eyes as he looks up. "Okay, so the sun is there, and it's heading there, so that direction must be east."

Nya looks at him. "No, it's heading in the other way," she points. "That way's west."

"Are you blind? It's clearly setting over there!"

"It's obviously moving that way-"

"No way!"

"Why dont'cha just stare at it for a bit, and see what way it moves."

"Lloyd," Cole chastises. Lloyd makes a face at him.

"Ungrateful, sassy child," Jay mutters. He sits up, taking a look himself. "Nya's right. The sun is setting that way, which means if we head in that direction, we should run into Ninjago. Eventually."

"Great," Lloyd says, squinting over the water. "So the island is that way, which means now we just have to reach it." He glances back at the rest of the team. "Did anyone bring a paddle?"

"While we were being captured and set adrift on this piece of garbage?" Kai mutters. "No."

Lloyd rolls his eyes at him. "How about, does anyone have anything we can use as a paddle?"

"Does Jay's head count?" Cole says, innocently. Jay makes an indignant sound.

"Seriously though," Cole says. "If two of us can plank for a bit, maybe we can-"

"Oh, for FSM's sake."

"Maybe we can all lean over the sides and like, paddle with our hands," Lloyd suggests.

"Or we could tie someone to the raft and they could pull it to shore?" Jay says. "I saw that on TV once, this girl rescued a whole raft of people by swimming them in."

"Okay, but who's pulling?" Cole narrows his eyes. "'Cause it better not be me."

"Unless we had sufficient tether, I don't believe we'd make it very far," Zane says. "This raft isn't built to be dragged by a single person. With our combined weight, we might risk tearing it."

"Ugh." Jay flops back over the side, his arms dragging in the water. "Maybe we should all just swim for it."

"Kai can't swim," Lloyd says. He yelps as Kai whacks him in the head.

"We could drag him along?" Jay says.

"I also do not believe it would be wise to leave our raft behind," Zane says. He looks over the gentle waves. "Did you know that approximately three hundred people drown at sea in Ninjago per year?"

Everyone gapes at him.

"Why would we need to know that?!" Jay yelps.

"That's only the unintentional ones, though," Zane adds, thoughtfully. "The intentional ones are outliers, I suppose."

"Prepare to be an outlier, Zane," Kai growls, attempting to stagger to his feet. He fails, the unstable bottom of the raft sending him stumbling into Nya, who nearly pushes him overboard for it.

Cole, who's been watching them in boredom, suddenly goes still. "Is that a shark?" he says, squinting at the water.

Kai immediately sits back down, drawing into the middle of the raft. "Nope, nope, nope."

Jay follows Cole's gaze, then gives a brief yelp. "It is, oh no, oh no-"

"Calm down, I'm sure it means us no harm," Zane says. "Sharks are not known to normally attack sea vessels, unless provoked."

Cole grabs one of the pliable rods that like the raft, pulling it out of the casing and hoisting it up like a spear. "I'll chase it off, just to be safe."

"No, you're going to hurt it!" Lloyd yelps, grabbing the rod away from Cole.

"It's a plastic rod, how am I going to hurt it with that-"

"Guys, look out-!"

In the sort of slow-motion that comes from the worst of the B-movie hour films, Cole and Lloyd wrestle themselves into the edge of the raft, crashing against the side and sending Lloyd toppling into the water.

Kai isn't even surprised.

"Oh no!" Jay cries, as Lloyd sputters in the water. "Quick! Pull him up before he's eaten!"

"Guys, I'm fine-"

"It's going to tear you limb from limb, just like that girl in the movie-"

"Guys!" Lloyd splashes water up on them, glaring at Jay. "I'm fine!" He swirls his hands around in the water for emphasis. Meanwhile, the shark swims beneath him, utterly uninterested. Lloyd gives Jay a superior sniff from where he's treading water.

"See?" he says. "They're harmless little fi-"

The shark turns in the water, moving steadily upwards toward Lloyd.

"-ishhhh pull me up! Pull me up!"

Kai grabs Lloyd's right arm and hauls him up as Cole does the same with his left, catapulting him back into the raft just as the shark reaches him.

"Harmless little fish, huh?" Jay smirks.

Lloyd crosses his arms. "Well, I'm not going to tempt fate. Destiny already has it out for me."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

"Don't ask me.

"Guys, don't look now, but it's circling back around," Nya says, squinting at the unmistakable shape of a shark fin knifing its way above the water toward them.

Kai turns the color of Zane's gi.

"Oh, FSM," Jay mutters. "This is just like that one movie, y'know, where it jumps up and eats their heads-"

"Look, if we just remain calm, it should leave us alone," Zane says, trying in vain to calm them down.

"I'm not taking that chance," Cole mutters. He pulls a knife out from his pant leg.

"Have you had that this whole time?" Nya stares.

"Yes! Cole! Stab it!" Jay yelps, tugging at Cole's gi from where he's clinging to Nya. "Stab the shark!"

"No!" Lloyd cries, tackling Cole by the legs. "Let it live!"

Cole wobbles precariously. "Guys, stop, I'm gonna-"

Cole trips sideways, falling hands-first against the raft. There's a sharp pop, followed by the hiss of escaping air.

The chaos is immediate.

"Cole!"

"You stabbed the raft, why did you stab the raft-"

"I didn't mean to!"

"Quick, it's deflating! Stop it!"

"How?!"

"Duct tape! Put duct tape on it!"

"Nobody has duct tape, genius-"

"The shark is back! It sensed our weakness!"

"No, no, we're sinking, no-"

"Kai, get off of me!"

"Sacrifice yourself for your older brother Lloyd, it's your duty."

"No!"

"You owe me for the fire temple!"

"Just put the life jacket on, dummy!"

"It clashes with my hair!"

"Are you kidding me-"

"Water! We're taking on water!"

"Bail it out, we might be able to save the-"

"Shark! Shark!"

"Oh no, no, we're all gonna die-"

"This is the worst idea Sensei Wu has ever had."

The ocean is quiet in the late afternoon sun, the waves calm as they lap gently against the ninja's sodden clothes and skin. None of them say anything, each floating in their various positions where they've tethered themselves together. Or, in Kai's case, where they cling to Nya, balancing carefully on two life jackets.

"Well," Jay says, breaking the silence. "We suck at this."

Cole groans. Zane trades looks with Kai, then they both turn to Lloyd.

Lloyd glances at them, and sighs.

"Yeah, okay, let's cheat."

The sun is just dipping below the horizon by the time Garmadon hears the trudging footsteps of his brother's students. He casts a glance heavenwards. It certainly took them long enough.

He feels a sharp flicker of relief when he catches sight of Lloyd's windswept blond hair. He immediately winces as he catches sight of his son's face. Right, he was supposed to give them sunscreen, wasn't he. Misako will have his head.

Garmadon is debating the merits of smothering Lloyd's face in Wu's healing tea before Misako can catch sight of it as the troop finally reaches the top of the monastery, dragging their feet up the stairs.

They're a sorry sight, if anything. If Garmadon had to name it, they rather resemble a collection of drowned rats who were mercilessly tossed into a laundry machine, their hair stuck up at awkward angles and stiff from salt. Sweat has collected on their brows, and Lloyd and Jay in particular are sporting truly blinding sunburns.

"I take it you survived the training?" Garmadon says, carefully.

There's a chorus of tired mumbling, a few groans of exhaustion.

"And? How was it?" he tries.

Kai gives a tired half shrug. Lloyd tries, but the sentence is so hopelessly mangled by a yawn that Garmadon really has no idea what his son's just said to him. Nya gives him a grudging thumbs up.

"It was okay," Cole mutters.

"Lloyd flew us out on his dragon," Zane says flatly, his voice booking no argument. He brushes crusted saltwater from his elbow, looking altogether done with the universe.

"Lloyd also almost got eaten by a shark," Jay yawns.

Garmadon sighs. He expected as mu-

"What?" he blinks, finally registering the last sentence.

"I did not," Lloyd moans. "It was a harmless creature of nature, dad."

"I - alright."

"Don't kill it, dad."

"I…wasn't going to?"

"Don't murder the innocent shark population, dad."

"…you need to rehydrate," Garmadon says, firmly guiding his son toward the monastery. "The rest of you, as well," he says, with a pointed look at them.

The most he gets is a few tired murmurs of agreement, and Kai mumbling something about stuffing himself in the refrigerator. Garmadon suppresses a snort of amusement as he drags Lloyd over to a kitchen stool, silently praying Misako doesn't come back any time soon.

"Sorry I cheated," Lloyd says hazily, as Garmadon presses a glass of water on him.

"It's alright," he says, failing to stop the snort this time as Lloyd misses his mouth, staring in confusion as the water splashes down on the counter. Lloyd shakes his head, redirecting the glass and draining it.

Lloyd leans his head against Garmadon's side, yawning. "Y'know, if I could be anything else, I think I'd be a shark," he says.

"Oh, would you?" Garmadon says, trying not to laugh.

"Sharks don't hav'ta fight the Overlord," Lloyd mumbles. Garmadon looks down, wincing.

"But then Kai couldn't be my brother, 'cause he can't swim," Lloyd continues. "So I guess I'm good."

"You are good," Garmadon says, quietly.

"Don't turn it into another morality lesson, dad," Lloyd yawns. "I think I'm lessoned out for the day."

Garmadon rolls his eyes heavenwards. "One day, you'll appreciate it," he says. "You know, someday, you'll be giving these lessons yourse-"

A snore from his side cuts him off. Garmadon glances down where Lloyd has passed out, half slumped on his side, half pressed against the kitchen counter.

Garmadon sighs, but he wraps an arm around his son, fondly.

Maybe he ought to go slightly easier on them next time. They did manage to pull off quite a victory with the Overlord, even if they apparently can't survive a simple day at sea. Garmadon shakes his head.

…now, how to best excuse this to Misako…

#ninjago #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #jay walker #zane julien #nya smith #cole brookstone #the squad basically #and sharks!#my fic

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