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hellsitesonlybookclub · 1 year

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Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

Chapter 47 The End

XLVII.

HARVEST TIME.

For a year Jo and her Professor worked and waited, hoped and loved, met occasionally, and wrote such voluminous letters that the rise in the price of paper was accounted for, Laurie said. The second year began rather soberly, for their prospects did not brighten, and Aunt March died suddenly. But when their first sorrow was over,—for they loved the old lady in spite of her sharp tongue,—they found they had cause for rejoicing, for she had left Plumfield to Jo, which made all sorts of joyful things possible.

"It's a fine old place, and will bring a handsome sum; for of course you intend to sell it," said Laurie, as they were all talking the matter over, some weeks later.

"No, I don't," was Jo's decided answer, as she petted the fat poodle, whom she had adopted, out of respect to his former mistress.

576 "You don't mean to live there?"

"Yes, I do."

"But, my dear girl, it's an immense house, and will take a power of money to keep it in order. The garden and orchard alone need two or three men, and farming isn't in Bhaer's line, I take it."

"He'll try his hand at it there, if I propose it."

"And you expect to live on the produce of the place? Well, that sounds paradisiacal, but you'll find it desperate hard work."

"The crop we are going to raise is a profitable one;" and Jo laughed.

"Of what is this fine crop to consist, ma'am?"

"Boys. I want to open a school for little lads,—a good, happy, homelike school, with me to take care of them, and Fritz to teach them."

"There's a truly Joian plan for you! Isn't that just like her?" cried Laurie, appealing to the family, who looked as much surprised as he.

"I like it," said Mrs. March decidedly.

"So do I," added her husband, who welcomed the thought of a chance for trying the Socratic method of education on modern youth.

"It will be an immense care for Jo," said Meg, stroking the head of her one all-absorbing son.

"Jo can do it, and be happy in it. It's a splendid idea. Tell us all about it," cried Mr. Laurence, who had been longing to lend the lovers a hand, but knew that they would refuse his help.

"I knew you'd stand by me, sir. Amy does too—I see it in her eyes, though she prudently waits to turn it over in her mind before she speaks. Now, my dear people," continued Jo earnestly, "just understand that this isn't a new idea of mine, but a long-cherished plan. Before my Fritz came, I used to think how, when I'd made my fortune, and no one needed me at home, I'd hire a big house, and pick up some poor, forlorn little lads, who hadn't any mothers, and take care of them, and make life jolly for them before it was too late. I see so many going to ruin, for want of help at the right minute; I love so to do anything for them; I seem to feel their wants, and sympathize with their troubles, and, oh, I should so like to be a mother to them!"

577 Mrs. March held out her hand to Jo, who took it, smiling, with tears in her eyes, and went on in the old enthusiastic way, which they had not seen for a long while.

"I told my plan to Fritz once, and he said it was just what he would like, and agreed to try it when we got rich. Bless his dear heart, he's been doing it all his life,—helping poor boys, I mean, not getting rich; that he'll never be; money doesn't stay in his pocket long enough to lay up any. But now, thanks to my good old aunt, who loved me better than I ever deserved, I'm rich, at least I feel so, and we can live at Plumfield perfectly well, if we have a flourishing school. It's just the place for boys, the house is big, and the furniture strong and plain. There's plenty of room for dozens inside, and splendid grounds outside. They could help in the garden and orchard: such work is healthy, isn't it, sir? Then Fritz can train and teach in his own way, and father will help him. I can feed and nurse and pet and scold them; and mother will be my stand-by. I've always longed for lots of boys, and never had enough; now I can fill the house full, and revel in the little dears to my heart's content. Think what luxury,—Plumfield my own, and a wilderness of boys to enjoy it with me!"

As Jo waved her hands, and gave a sigh of rapture, the family went off into a gale of merriment, and Mr. Laurence laughed till they thought he'd have an apoplectic fit.

"I don't see anything funny," she said gravely, when she could be heard. "Nothing could be more natural or proper than for my Professor to open a school, and for me to prefer to reside on my own estate."

"She is putting on airs already," said Laurie, who regarded the idea in the light of a capital joke. "But may I inquire how you intend to support the establishment? If all the pupils are little ragamuffins, I'm afraid your crop won't be profitable in a worldly sense, Mrs. Bhaer."

"Now don't be a wet-blanket, Teddy. Of course I shall have rich pupils, also,—perhaps begin with such altogether; then, when I've got a start, I can take a ragamuffin or two, just for a relish. Rich people's children often need care and comfort, as well as poor. I've 578 seen unfortunate little creatures left to servants, or backward ones pushed forward, when it's real cruelty. Some are naughty through mismanagement or neglect, and some lose their mothers. Besides, the best have to get through the hobbledehoy age, and that's the very time they need most patience and kindness. People laugh at them, and hustle them about, try to keep them out of sight, and expect them to turn, all at once, from pretty children into fine young men. They don't complain much,—plucky little souls,—but they feel it. I've been through something of it, and I know all about it. I've a special interest in such young bears, and like to show them that I see the warm, honest, well-meaning boys' hearts, in spite of the clumsy arms and legs and the topsy-turvy heads. I've had experience, too, for haven't I brought up one boy to be a pride and honor to his family?"

"I'll testify that you tried to do it," said Laurie, with a grateful look.

"And I've succeeded beyond my hopes; for here you are, a steady, sensible business man, doing heaps of good with your money, and laying up the blessings of the poor, instead of dollars. But you are not merely a business man: you love good and beautiful things, enjoy them yourself, and let others go halves, as you always did in the old times. I am proud of you, Teddy, for you get better every year, and every one feels it, though you won't let them say so. Yes, and when I have my flock, I'll just point to you, and say, 'There's your model, my lads.'"

Poor Laurie didn't know where to look; for, man though he was, something of the old bashfulness came over him as this burst of praise made all faces turn approvingly upon him.

"I say, Jo, that's rather too much," he began, just in his old boyish way. "You have all done more for me than I can ever thank you for, except by doing my best not to disappoint you. You have rather cast me off lately, Jo, but I've had the best of help, nevertheless; so, if I've got on at all, you may thank these two for it;" and he laid one hand gently on his grandfather's white head, the other on Amy's golden one, for the three were never far apart.

"I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the 579 world!" burst out Jo, who was in an unusually uplifted frame of mind just then. "When I have one of my own, I hope it will be as happy as the three I know and love the best. If John and my Fritz were only here, it would be quite a little heaven on earth," she added more quietly. And that night, when she went to her room, after a blissful evening of family counsels, hopes, and plans, her heart was so full of happiness that she could only calm it by kneeling beside the empty bed always near her own, and thinking tender thoughts of Beth.

It was a very astonishing year altogether, for things seemed to happen in an unusually rapid and delightful manner. Almost before she knew where she was, Jo found herself married and settled at Plumfield. Then a family of six or seven boys sprung up like mushrooms, and flourished surprisingly, poor boys as well as rich; for Mr. Laurence was continually finding some touching case of destitution, and begging the Bhaers to take pity on the child, and he would gladly pay a trifle for its support. In this way the sly old gentleman got round proud Jo, and furnished her with the style of boy in which she most delighted.

Of course it was up-hill work at first, and Jo made queer mistakes; but the wise Professor steered her safely into calmer waters, and the most rampant ragamuffin was conquered in the end. How Jo did enjoy her "wilderness of boys," and how poor, dear Aunt March would have lamented had she been there to see the sacred precincts of prim, well-ordered Plumfield overrun with Toms, Dicks, and Harrys! There was a sort of poetic justice about it, after all, for the old lady had been the terror of the boys for miles round; and now the exiles feasted freely on forbidden plums, kicked up the gravel with profane boots unreproved, and played cricket in the big field where the irritable "cow with a crumpled horn" used to invite rash youths to come and be tossed. It became a sort of boys' paradise, and Laurie suggested that it should be called the "Bhaer-garten," as a compliment to its master and appropriate to its inhabitants.

It never was a fashionable school, and the Professor did not lay up a fortune; but it was just what Jo intended it to be,—"a happy, homelike place for boys, who needed teaching, care, and kindness." 580 Every room in the big house was soon full; every little plot in the garden soon had its owner; a regular menagerie appeared in barn and shed, for pet animals were allowed; and, three times a day, Jo smiled at her Fritz from the head of a long table lined on either side with rows of happy young faces, which all turned to her with affectionate eyes, confiding words, and grateful hearts, full of love for "Mother Bhaer." She had boys enough now, and did not tire of them, though they were not angels, by any means, and some of them caused both Professor and Professorin much trouble and anxiety. But her faith in the good spot which exists in the heart of the naughtiest, sauciest, most tantalizing little ragamuffin gave her patience, skill, and, in time, success; for no mortal boy could hold out long with Father Bhaer shining on him as benevolently as the sun, and Mother Bhaer forgiving him seventy times seven. Very precious to Jo was the friendship of the lads; their penitent sniffs and whispers after wrong-doing; their droll or touching little confidences; their pleasant enthusiasms, hopes, and plans; even their misfortunes, for they only endeared them to her all the more. There were slow boys and bashful boys; feeble boys and riotous boys; boys that lisped and boys that stuttered; one or two lame ones; and a merry little quadroon, who could not be taken in elsewhere, but who was welcome to the "Bhaer-garten," though some people predicted that his admission would ruin the school.

Yes; Jo was a very happy woman there, in spite of hard work, much anxiety, and a perpetual racket. She enjoyed it heartily, and found the applause of her boys more satisfying than any praise of the world; for now she told no stories except to her flock of enthusiastic believers and admirers. As the years went on, two little lads of her own came to increase her happiness,—Rob, named for grandpa, and Teddy, a happy-go-lucky baby, who seemed to have inherited his papa's sunshiny temper as well as his mother's lively spirit. How they ever grew up alive in that whirlpool of boys was a mystery to their grandma and aunts; but they flourished like dandelions in spring, and their rough nurses loved and served them well.

There were a great many holidays at Plumfield, and one of the most delightful was the yearly apple-picking; for then the Marches, Laurences, Brookes, and Bhaers turned out in full force, and made a day 581 of it. Five years after Jo's wedding, one of these fruitful festivals occurred,—a mellow October day, when the air was full of an exhilarating freshness which made the spirits rise, and the blood dance healthily in the veins. The old orchard wore its holiday attire; golden-rod and asters fringed the mossy walls; grasshoppers skipped briskly in the sere grass, and crickets chirped like fairy pipers at a feast; squirrels were busy with their small harvesting; birds twittered their adieux from the alders in the lane; and every tree stood ready to send down its shower of red or yellow apples at the first shake. Everybody was there; everybody laughed and sang, climbed up and tumbled down; everybody declared that there never had been such a perfect day or such a jolly set to enjoy it; and every one gave themselves up to the simple pleasures of the hour as freely as if there were no such things as care or sorrow in the world.

Mr. March strolled placidly about, quoting Tusser, Cowley, and Columella to Mr. Laurence, while enjoying—

"The gentle apple's winey juice."

The Professor charged up and down the green aisles like a stout Teutonic knight, with a pole for a lance, leading on the boys, who made a hook and ladder company of themselves, and performed wonders in the way of ground and lofty tumbling. Laurie devoted himself to the little ones, rode his small daughter in a bushel-basket, took Daisy up among the birds' nests, and kept adventurous Rob from breaking his neck. Mrs. March and Meg sat among the apple piles like a pair of Pomonas, sorting the contributions that kept pouring in; while Amy, with a beautiful motherly expression in her face, sketched the various groups, and watched over one pale lad, who sat adoring her with his little crutch beside him.

Jo was in her element that day, and rushed about, with her gown pinned up, her hat anywhere but on her head, and her baby tucked under her arm, ready for any lively adventure which might turn up. Little Teddy bore a charmed life, for nothing ever happened to him, and Jo never felt any anxiety when he was whisked up into a tree by one lad, galloped off on the back of another, or supplied with sour russets by his indulgent papa, who labored under the Germanic delusion 582 that babies could digest anything, from pickled cabbage to buttons, nails, and their own small shoes. She knew that little Ted would turn up again in time, safe and rosy, dirty and serene, and she always received him back with a hearty welcome, for Jo loved her babies tenderly.

At four o'clock a lull took place, and baskets remained empty, while the apple-pickers rested, and compared rents and bruises. Then Jo and Meg, with a detachment of the bigger boys, set forth the supper on the grass, for an out-of-door tea was always the crowning joy of the day. The land literally flowed with milk and honey on such occasions, for the lads were not required to sit at table, but allowed to partake of refreshment as they liked,—freedom being the sauce best beloved by the boyish soul. They availed themselves of the rare privilege to the fullest extent, for some tried the pleasing experiment of drinking milk while standing on their heads, others lent a charm to leap-frog by eating pie in the pauses of the game, cookies were sown broadcast over the field, and apple-turnovers roosted in the trees like a new style of bird. The little girls had a private tea-party, and Ted roved among the edibles at his own sweet will.

When no one could eat any more, the Professor proposed the first regular toast, which was always drunk at such times,—"Aunt March, God bless her!" A toast heartily given by the good man, who never forgot how much he owed her, and 583 quietly drunk by the boys, who had been taught to keep her memory green.

"Now, grandma's sixtieth birthday! Long life to her, with three times three!"

That was given with a will, as you may well believe; and the cheering once begun, it was hard to stop it. Everybody's health was proposed, from Mr. Laurence, who was considered their special patron, to the astonished guinea-pig, who had strayed from its proper sphere in search of its young master. Demi, as the oldest grandchild, then presented the queen of the day with various gifts, so numerous that they were transported to the festive scene in a wheelbarrow. Funny presents, some of them, but what would have been defects to other eyes were ornaments to grandma's,—for the children's gifts were all their own. Every stitch Daisy's patient little fingers had put into the handkerchiefs she hemmed was better than embroidery to Mrs. March; Demi's shoe-box was a miracle of mechanical skill, though the cover wouldn't shut; Rob's footstool had a wiggle in its uneven legs, that she declared was very soothing; and no page of the costly book Amy's child gave her was so fair as that on which appeared, in tipsy capitals, the words,—"To dear Grandma, from her little Beth."

During this ceremony the boys had mysteriously disappeared; and, when Mrs. March had tried to thank her children, and broken down, while Teddy wiped her eyes on his pinafore, the Professor suddenly began to sing. Then, from above him, voice after voice took up the words, and from tree to tree echoed the music of the unseen choir, as the boys sung, with all their hearts, the little song Jo had written, Laurie set to music, and the Professor trained his lads to give with the best effect. This was something altogether new, and it proved a grand success; for Mrs. March couldn't get over her surprise, and insisted on shaking hands with every one of the featherless birds, from tall Franz and Emil to the little quadroon, who had the sweetest voice of all.

After this, the boys dispersed for a final lark, leaving Mrs. March and her daughters under the festival tree.

"Leaving Mrs. March and her daughters under the festival tree."—Page 583 "I don't think I ever ought to call myself 'Unlucky Jo' again, when my greatest wish has been so beautifully gratified," said Mrs. 584 Bhaer, taking Teddy's little fist out of the milk-pitcher, in which he was rapturously churning.

"And yet your life is very different from the one you pictured so long ago. Do you remember our castles in the air?" asked Amy, smiling as she watched Laurie and John playing cricket with the boys.

"Dear fellows! It does my heart good to see them forget business, and frolic for a day," answered Jo, who now spoke in a maternal way of all mankind. "Yes, I remember; but the life I wanted then seems selfish, lonely, and cold to me now. I haven't given up the hope that I may write a good book yet, but I can wait, and I'm sure it will be all the better for such experiences and illustrations as these;" and Jo pointed from the lively lads in the distance to her father, leaning on the Professor's arm, as they walked to and fro in the sunshine, deep in one of the conversations which both enjoyed so much, and then to her mother, sitting enthroned among her daughters, with their children in her lap and at her feet, as if all found help and happiness in the face which never could grow old to them.

"My castle was the most nearly realized of all. I asked for splendid things, to be sure, but in my heart I knew I should be satisfied, if I had a little home, and John, and some dear children like these. I've got them all, thank God, and am the happiest woman in the world;" and Meg laid her hand on her tall boy's head, with a face full of tender and devout content.

"My castle is very different from what I planned, but I would not alter it, though, like Jo, I don't relinquish all my artistic hopes, or confine myself to helping others fulfil their dreams of beauty. I've begun to model a figure of baby, and Laurie says it is the best thing I've ever done. I think so myself, and mean to do it in marble, so that, whatever happens, I may at least keep the image of my little angel."

As Amy spoke, a great tear dropped on the golden hair of the sleeping child in her arms; for her one well-beloved daughter was a frail little creature and the dread of losing her was the shadow over Amy's sunshine. This cross was doing much for both father and mother, for one love and sorrow bound them closely together. Amy's nature was 585 growing sweeter, deeper, and more tender; Laurie was growing more serious, strong, and firm; and both were learning that beauty, youth, good fortune, even love itself, cannot keep care and pain, loss and sorrow, from the most blest; for—

"Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and sad and dreary."

"She is growing better, I am sure of it, my dear. Don't despond, but hope and keep happy," said Mrs. March, as tender-hearted Daisy stooped from her knee, to lay her rosy cheek against her little cousin's pale one.

"I never ought to, while I have you to cheer me up, Marmee, and Laurie to take more than half of every burden," replied Amy warmly. "He never lets me see his anxiety, but is so sweet and patient with me, so devoted to Beth, and such a stay and comfort to me always, that I can't love him enough. So, in spite of my one cross, I can say with Meg, 'Thank God, I'm a happy woman.'"

"There's no need for me to say it, for every one can see that I'm far happier than I deserve," added Jo, glancing from her good husband to her chubby children, tumbling on the grass beside her. "Fritz is getting gray and stout; I'm growing as thin as a shadow, and am thirty; we never shall be rich, and Plumfield may burn up any night, for that incorrigible Tommy Bangs will smoke sweet-fern cigars under the bed-clothes, though he's set himself afire three times already. But in spite of these unromantic facts, I have nothing to complain of, and never was so jolly in my life. Excuse the remark, but living among boys, I can't help using their expressions now and then."

"Yes, Jo, I think your harvest will be a good one," began Mrs. March, frightening away a big black cricket that was staring Teddy out of countenance.

"Not half so good as yours, mother. Here it is, and we never can thank you enough for the patient sowing and reaping you have done," cried Jo, with the loving impetuosity which she never could outgrow.

"I hope there will be more wheat and fewer tares every year," said Amy softly.

586 "A large sheaf, but I know there's room in your heart for it, Marmee dear," added Meg's tender voice.

Touched to the heart, Mrs. March could only stretch out her arms, as if to gather children and grandchildren to herself, and say, with face and voice full of motherly love, gratitude, and humility,—

"O, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!"

587

589Louisa M. Alcott's Writin

#hellsitesonlybookclub #bookblr #little women #alcott

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pettyprocrastination · 3 years

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GAngel!Oberyn at first trying to help you get laid, but the he begins to realize that he HATES the idea of you with anyone else so he he subtly ruins dates, crap weather, date’s phone won’t stop ringing, annoying things like that. And after like a 3 weeks of you not going out he “runs into you” and ask you out. Bonus points if he’s in that robe. (Is this basic? Yes. But I’m a basic bitch)

Oberyn as an angel is the worst and best because he’s about to make divine intervention his personal bitch. Angels are set to follow specific rules. 1. not to directly interact with their ward, nor affect anybody in their life directly.

Angels are supposed to guard and guide, not control or coddle.

Maybe it’s because he thinks you're pretty. Maybe it’s because you always seem to look up at the sky with a pleased hum as you enjoyed the sun, almost as if thanking him for it. It was the same noise you made when snuggling under your covers on a rainy day, which he learned you loved just as much.

Perhaps, it’s because you weren’t even his original ward. But his sister’s. Elia. Such a kind and caring soul who gave her life keeping you safe from foul forces that sought you out for whatever reason and wished you harm.

Maybe it was a combination of it all, but Oberyn was hellbent on helping you in every way. Including dates.

Until he learned he hated all of them.

He simply thought you deserved better, was his opinion.

This one spoke too loud.

That one could barely be heard.

This one is too concerned with his looks instead of admiring yours.

That one hardly looked you in the eye the entire time.

This one is too rude.

Too sharp.

Too pale.

Too prickly.

Too human.

You deserved better. and if he thought they weren’t worthy of you, well, why shouldn’t he do something about it? Faulty cellphone connections, food poisoning, traffic jams and renovation mishaps were all too easy to create.

But his favorite? Storms.

Oh he loved storm. Swirling the clouds and watching the lighting dancing beneath him gave him a jolt of adrenaline like nothing else.

Now of course he’d never create one so bad it’d harm others. But just enough that outside dining seemed like a poor choice.

You never seemed to mind much. Part of the reason he liked making storms for you was because he knew you loved them. The first time since becoming your ward when it stormed, he watched you wrap a blanket around yourself before sitting by a window and watching the rain and wind whip through the air with a smile. The booming thunder was a comforting bass in your chest that eventually lulled you to sleep.

If he could keep these undeserving men away from you while bringing you such joy, why stop?

Your most recent date he had yet to sabotage because well, you were just so excited. Maybe he would allow this one. Put the suitor through the ringer before allowing him to go further.

He watched as you arrived at a restaurant in your favorite outfit and was led to a table with shaking fingers. He saw the way your eyes would dart to the door every time it opened and then flash to your phone with a frown.

When the waitress came over to take your order, you politely told her you’d like to wait until your date showed up.

So you waited.

and waited.

it was an hour later when you no longer held that joy in your eyes, but instead embarrassment as you watched the waitress walk by once again with pity in her eyes. Oberyn’s brows furrowed. The son of a bitch wasn’t even going to show? After all the effort you put in? After how excited you got? No. He wouldn’t let your night be ruined so quickly.

The angel went from watching through the clouds to moving his way through the groups of people walking on the asphalt by the restaurant before you could blink. Just as he gripped the handle of the entrance and swung it open, a woman in a form fitting dress sat down in the seat across from you. “Red or white?” She asked. You froze, blinking owlishly as you took her in.

Ebony curls framed her face and fell over her shoulder. A soft yellow dress hugged her figure well, leaving a slit up the side to reveal her long legs and a dangerous neckline that left little to the imagination. She looked like the type of woman who you weren’t sure you wanted to be or be with.

She was gorgeous.

“Sir?” A woman in slacks and a black button down approached him, her nametag said Amy but he didn’t bother glancing at her as his eyes never left your table. “Are you here alone or with a party?” “Red.” You told her, she smiled. “You have good taste.” She leaned over to the woman taking your order of drinks. You made a nervous noise in your throat before shooting your eyes up to the ceiling as she unknowingly gave you a perfect view down her dress.

Oberyn clenched his teeth as the smile curling on the beautiful woman’s face.

Oh she knew.

“He’s an idiot, you know.” She told you. “Whoever it was that stood you up.”

Oberyn watched the mystery woman, enticing like a siren as she looked you over like a meal she wanted to devour right on the table before you.

“Beauty like yours shouldn’t be abandoned.” She told you, she sat back in her chair, as if to take you in like a work of art. “It should be worshipped.” She was beautiful, charming, and something about her touched Oberyn in a way that had the alarms in his head ringing.

“Ellaria Sand.”

You stuttered out your name and she took your hand in hers before raising it to your lips. The soft mark left on your hand from her lipstick sent your heart beating so loud you wondered if she could hear it.

Unbeknownst to you, she could.

Ellaria made you laugh. She made you smile and feel beautiful and wanted and sexy. She made your knees week and your head dizzy in the best way possible. Oberyn watched the woman speak sweet words and spin stories to you all night.

It wasn’t until the end of your date when she pressed her lips to yours with a low hum that made your knees weak and said goodbye in a soft voice with a promise of calling you in the morning. Her eyes flicked over your shoulder, catching Oberyn’s.

And winking.

For a moment they seemed feral, wild and ultimately not human.

Oberyn blinked.

His job just got a lot harder.

#angel tag #oberyn martell x reader #oberyn martell x reader x ellaria sand #ellaria sand x reader #ellaria is hinted at being not human hehe shes a succubus #also yes elia was your original ward but she died protecting you #so oberyn took over and makes it his purpose to make sure you live a good and happy life

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pickledeyes · 3 years

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That post you reblogged, say that! Dean's been abusive throughout his entire time on the show (it's not ooc and it gets worse every season). Everytime he's nice to Sam or Cas, I'm like okay so when is he going to say something or do something absolutely cruel to them (and without fail he always ends up doing just that)

I could probably write an essay about it but I don’t really want to right now. But yea, Dean constantly claims that he’s protecting Sam but he’s only trying to protect a version of Sam that doesn’t exist. The Sam who’s a good hunter who listens to orders and doesn’t question anything, doesn’t raise “ethical” questions. Inserting a keep reading cause I went off a bit...

Anytime Sam or Cas mess up, Dean will bring up their mistakes for years afterwards and make them re-live the shame and guilt. He doesn’t try to assure them that it was a mistake, that they can move past it or anything, because he doesn’t want them to. It’s a control tactic, because Dean is the moral standpoint and anyone who disagrees with him is too far below and should follow him.

And the mistakes will be like, Sam not knowing that killing Lilith releases Lucifer, Sam not knowing where to begin to find Dean and Cas because he didn’t know what the hell Purgatory was, and for once honoring their thing about how they won’t go raising one another from the dead.

Or it’s Cas trying to keep the Winchesters away from a Civil War (Apocalypse 2.0) up in Heaven since they’d already been through hell, but he made a poor decision in opening Purgatory to end that war. Cas not wanting to let Balphagor do that exact same thing bc it would become another huge problem for them, and not knowing that the alternative would be that Rowena dies to close the rift.

But when DEAN messes up, it’s self-pity hour with the asshole loser who cries about how bad of a person he is while Sam and/or Cas tell him he’s such a good man and he’s just made a mistake!! He can come back from this!!

Meanwhile the mistakes are like, torturing souls in hell and being really good at it. Letting Gadreel possess Sam and then SAM having the memory of his own hands murdering Kevin but it’s still pity-hour for Dean cause it’s arguably his fault that he lied to Sam to agree to be possessed by an unknown angel in the first place even though Sam was okay with dying. Killing Amy, not trusting Sam when he said that Amy is a good person and deserves to live, and thus leaving her son an orphan. Learning that Jack was going to die in order to kill Chuck and getting angry at Sam for not wanting Jack to die?

Season 15 was a culmination of Dean Winchester caring about himself and his self-image first and foremost, and extending those “feelings” to versions of the people around him he desperately wanted them to be but failed to realize they weren’t no matter how much he tried manipulating them to be the people he wanted them to be. And when he realized that they weren’t who he wanted them to be, ultimately, he cared about his own sense of free will and decided “fuck it, if I gotta kill Sam and Cas to kill God, who cares” and that’s why he pointed a gun at Sam.

okay so i sorta wrote an essay anyway...

EDIT: I feel like adding this but this isn’t to say that Cas and Sam are without faults, because they have ALSO made shit decisions that they needed to make up for. But not only were they more likely to genuinely try to make up for egregious mistakes (like Cas trying to help Claire) but they were usually also trying to make up for or were continuing to beat themselves up over mistakes they made when they didn’t know that they were being lied to or misled to (or were possessed/controlled) make poor decisions (like Sam beating himself up over killing Lilith).

#i honestly started writing and didn't fact check everything but idc if things are off lmfao #anti dean winchester #dean critical #dean negative #spn critical #spn negative #sorta #pickledmess #answered asks

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midautumnnightdream · 3 years

Note

Star for any of your fics. I want to hear your thoughts about them. :DDD

aflamethatneverdies said:

If you want something specific then, uh, star for, Enjolras survives and talks with Valjean fic or star for your latest Cosette and Valjean fic.

well i'm talking your ear off about Cosette and Valjean anyway, so I guess I can talk a bit about Enjolras and Valjean too xD

(The fic in questions is The Earth Will Beam With Radiance aka the one where post-barricades Enjolras drops in on Valjean to talk him out of ghosting his family.)

There are many (many many) fascinating patterns to Valjean's interactions with the other characters and perhaps obviously, one of the themes that stands out the most is Judgement: this dynamic where he encounters a character who represents a certain facet of the Society; he's laid bare, put in their mercy in some way; they pass judgement upon him, for good or bad, and it has a huge impact on his life, but even so he remains distanced from the act of judgement itself. It's one-way process: they judge, he accepts.

It happens over and over: with the courts and tribunals, obviously, and with the bishop, and also with the other priest archetype characters: Simplice, Mother Superior, Javert. But it also happens with Fantine. It happens with Fauvent and with Marius, and in a twisted way it happens with Thénardier. On a very low-key way, it sorta happens with the Amis ("He is a man who saves others")

(Is Cosette the only one who doesn't judge Valjean? Remind me to come back to this thought)

Anyway, this is fascinating for multitude of reasons, but something that really interests me is Valjean's passivity in these situations. He doesn't consider the opposite impacts of the judgements rendered upon him any more than he recalls the people he saves. He knows the effect the bishop had upon him, but it would never occur to him to consider that he could have had an effect upon the bishop. He certainly doesn't think about what it means for Marius to condemn him as he does, let alone what it does to Cosette – and that's the one challenge the narrative never really confronts him with.

And then there's Enjolras. You know, our one last priest archetype character, who just barely interacts with Valjean in canon. Who's very much engaged in illegal activities, and is certainly a more dangerous association for our respectably bourgeois couple (which in itself is a challenge to Valjean’s self-perception). Who at this point of his suddenly extended timeline (poor dude) would really not be holding back from raising all these questions and generally... resisting the role of arbiter of fate to someone who's really, really determined to externalise the condemnation he thinks he deserves to the nearest convenient proxy. In that was a lot of the appeal for writing this particular story for me: in a way it's about challenging Valjean's own narrative about the agency he does and doesn't have in determining his own fate, the impact he has upon others, and through that, his sense of being a person who belongs into the world.

(Well that and I really wanted someone to give him a metaphorical whack over the head with the concept of open honest communication. For his own good and Cosette’s)

#mememes #thank you friend!#character thoughts #Jean Valjean #The Earth Will Beam With Radiance #aflamethatneverdies

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a-lonely-tatertot · 3 years

Text

Finding Home

First / Wattpad / Ao3

A/N: Second to last chapter boiiissss :DD! once again betaed by the amazing @bookwyrminspiration! also @cadence-talle helped with editing after having to deal with me yell way to much about it!

words: 4731

tw: n/a if you do find any please let me know

The sun had set again, in a brilliant display of colors lighting up the sky. Sophie wondered what it would be like to be the sun; the center of everything, endlessly spinning. It was probably dizzying.

She chuckled at the thought before turning back to her girls.

That was right, her girls. Her Linh and Amy. Linh made her feel like the sun sometimes, all dizzy inside and out, not quite knowing what way to go. Not knowing what was right, only what her instincts told her (even if they were wrong).

Linh held her hand as they walked, finding their way down to the van, old and worn down, but it still held up with only mild complaints.

"We need more time," Fitz had groaned at the table that morning, Sophie responding with a hum of agreement. The twins weren't back to themselves yet and Sophie couldn't imagine going back to school and pretending that her best friend wasn't living with her pseudo-mom (was she even allowed to call Mari that?). Amy had perked up at Fitz's words, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Sophie," she started. "Do you remember that cabin Mom and Dad used to take us to?"

Sophie did. All too clearly if she could say. It was a fairly large thing, they went on summer breaks, and whenever they could. Countless memories of laughing and running around as her parents haphazardly yelled at them to not break anything (they tried, they really did—it wasn't Sophie's fault that the vase just had to be right there). "I do," Sophie said hesitantly. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing!" Amy yelled way too conspicuously. "It’s just that it’s super cheap right now, and-" she trailed off.

Sophie knew for a fact that it definitely wasn't cheap; the place was huge and everyone would be jumping to get at it. But, she hadn't seen her sister this nervous in forever, and it would be nice to see the place again, she had reasoned with herself.

So, she agreed because god dammit her sister deserved something good. That was how they ended up standing next to the van, giving last minute hugs, and trading promises to see each other soon.

She was not panicking. There was no way that she was possibly panicking. Sophie "The Moonlark" fuckin’ Foster did not panic about something as simple as packing for a trip.

Except for the fact that she very much was. And it was very much not okay.

"AMY!" she yelled, half stuck in her very small closet, as she stood on her tippy toes trying to reach the duffle bag stuffed in the very back. Why had she put it so far up? How had she put it so far up?

"AMY!" she called again. Where the hell was her sister?

"WHAT!" Amy finally yelled back.

"GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

A few complaints and grumbles later Amy was standing at her side. "What do you want? I have to pack still," Amy said.

"That’s exactly what I want," Sophie bit back. Amy raised her eyebrow and Sophie groaned. "I mean, what am I even supposed to pack?"

"Clothes?"

"No shit. But like what else."

"Sophie what the fuck how long has it been since you went somewhere?"

"We went to Mari's literally last week!"

"So why don't you know how to pack?"

"Cause that was for like two days! This is two weeks!" Sophie yelled, desperately throwing her hands up in distress.

Amy muttered something along the lines of "You are helpless," under her breath before grabbing the duffle out of Sophie's hands. "Come on, Soybean. We got shit to do."

"You know, saying my childhood nickname and a curse in the same sentence is really jarring." Amy huffed a laugh before tearing through Sophie's poor closet.

The van felt too large and too small all at the same time. Their bags were thrown haphazardly in the back, along with an outrageous amount of snacks. But even with everything there was still room. The thing that made it feel small was the silence. Amy's silence, to be more specific. The worst part was Sophie knew exactly what it was about.

Music drifted through the car, some random song about love feeling like a movie, and it made Sophie want to hit the radio with a hammer. Unfortunately, Amy would murder her if she even made a scratch on the poor van that was already falling apart. So, in a desperate attempt to ignore her relationship problems she changed the station. In the corner of her eye she could see Amy shake her head.

Sophie didn't ask for this, okay? So, it meant that she didn't have to deal with it if it was too much, right?

She knew she was wrong. Watching the memories, listening in, thinking of the girl she loved as a threat because that’s what she was trained to do! The war was over but its scars were still there.

She didn't need Amy's eye rolls, or her head shakes of disapproval, she didn't need Fitz's butting in. She didn't need it, okay! She knew. But dear God it hurt.

It hurt when Linh had kissed her that morning. It hurt when she didn't quite know what to do, if she was moving her mouth right, or if Linh could just see straight through her. Every mistake, every broken thought. Every stupid, stupid decision.

And then the question had to come out of Amy's mouth.

That stupid stupid question she had asked a million times over.

"Why do you keep doing it?"

She wanted to cry. Cry until her eyes were dry and her throat hurt and her insides cracked. Because that's what she was, wasn't she? Cracked. Shattered. Broken. Sophie didn't know why she lied. Why she went into the girl who she swore she loved, business. Why couldn't she just stop? Why not?

"I don't know," she said truthfully. Her voice was roughed and scratchy and wrong.

Amy sighed, "You know I love you. But you've got to tell her. Sooner or later, it’s just gonna tear you to shreds. And we both know you elves don’t do good with guilt."

"No, we don't," Sophie chucked bitterly.

They settled into uneasy silence after that. For once though, Sophie found herself agreeing with Amy. She needed to tell Linh. They were a ticking time bomb, only good for broken hearts and massive collateral damage.

The cabin was exactly how she remembered it. Old wood, old beams, old memories. Glass windows that covered the towering walls, trees that went as far as the eye could see. It was cozy, and Sophie felt small again. Like a little child waiting for her parents to come in carrying their suitcases as she jumped around yelling with all the energy in the world.

It felt like home, welcoming her back with open arms. And she couldn't be happier.

Well, until Linh had to walk and reality came crashing down.

And it didn't help that Linh looked good. She wasn't even wearing anything special, a cardigan over a crop top, some worn jeans and nice boots. Her hair had two short braids going around her head like a circlet and connecting in the back like a crown. Sophie hoped she could just die on the spot.

But she couldn't, because Amy was showing her upstairs to put their bags away in their old room (She and Linh weren't rooming together because Amy stated that she didn't want anything gross to happen. She was lying, and Sophie would be eternally grateful for that).

Sighing, she turned to go up the stairs, finally dragging her gaze away from Linh to haul the bags to their rightful spots.

After the bags were thrown lazily on the bed Sophie resisted the urge to unpack them just so that she could put it off for longer. So she made her way down the stairs, quietly asked Linh if she would meet her on the porch, and opened the door with a heavy sigh.

The lights were low—in any other circumstance it should have been romantic. Well, it was romantic; to the blissfully unaware Linh. To Sophie it was ironic.

She was cold, the air chilling her and it took everything in her to not wrap her arms around Linh's waist and bury her head into the crook of Linh's neck. Not right before spilling her guts. She promised Amy. Even if Linh hated her after, she had to do this.

"I’m sorry." Okay, not a strong start, but still a start.

Linh tilted her head towards her, "Why?"

Her hands moved wildly in front of her, "I- everything."

"Love, you've gotta explain," Linh said, giving Sophie those stupid eyes that seemed to see right through her.

Sophie sighed, she couldn't push this off any longer. The words fell out of her mouth like a waterfall, her hands following in stumbling movements. Tumbling out, overlapping each other, one not quite getting out fast enough before the next started. She squeezed her eyes shut as if she could block out the world and forget about what she had done, what she was saying, the look on Linh's face.

Oh god that look.

Sophie didn't think she would ever forget it.

When the words stopped, and her hands stilled and the world seemed to stop with them. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt her shoulders hunch involuntarily, folding in on herself. Part of her wished this was a fight she could win,the match ending with one of them on top and a blade to someone’s throat- because that Sophie knew. Not these emotions that she was taught to shove in a box. Emotions got in the way. They affected decisions. Honestly, Sophie thought she was free of that, being easily swayed like a tree in the wind by her own heart.

But fear still controlled her.

It made her do things she regretted. Things she hated herself for.

An iron grip that she couldn't escape.

The worst part about the entire situation was that Linh was silent. If there was one thing Sophie knew, it was that she was shit at reading body language. And seeing that that was the only thing she currently had to gauge Linh's reaction, Sophie was at a loss.

"What the fuck," Linh finally said, staring at the wood like she hoped it would help her.

Sophie wished it would too. "I’m sorry," she whispered.

"Let me get this straight," Linh sighed. "You watched my memories without my permission, listened in on conversations that I had. And when Amy tried to tell you not to, you didn't listen."

Sophie gulped, "Yup."

"I'm sorry."

It took at least a minute for the words to process. Linh- why was Linh sorry? Sophie was sure the confusion was clear on her face because Linh smiled sadly before speaking again.

"I never meant to lie to you. About coming here when I said that I had been at that road house the entire time. I wanted to tell you I just- I didn't want to think about it, how I pushed everyone away. And when I saw you I saw a fresh start, someone I could be someone else with and I wanted that. So I pretended I was fine. I’m sorry that you had to find out on your own."

Sophie chuckled dryly, “God, we’re both so fucked up.”

Linh laughed quietly. “Do you think,” she said, “that if we didn’t go through everything we did, if you stayed and I didn’t push you away, would we have worked?”

Sophie didn’t like to think about what could’ve happened, a side effect of losing so many friends.She remembered a time that with one word she would burn down the world for Linh. “I think we were doomed to fail,” Sophie said sadly. Because in the end, she loved the idea of Linh and not the girl herself.

Linh only nodded and they both ignored the tears in their eyes. Just walk away, she told herself. it’s time to go now, just walk away.

And Sophie tried, tried to peel herself off that porch, but no matter how hard she pulled she was stuck. Staring at the girl she thought she loved, tears blurring her vision, her head spinning like she was the sun.

Sophie just wanted to hold Linh because even if she didn’t love her like she thought she did, she still loved her in some way.

Linh’s head turned, her normally bright eyes that could light up the world were dull. There was no light behind them, and Sophie was haunted by the fact that it was eerily similar to the face she wore in the memory of bruised hands Sophie had watched.

In that moment Sophie wanted to take it all back. Her hands itched to hold Linh, to tell her that she didn't do anything wrong, to comfort her. But Sophie had lost that, lost the privilege to hold her. The realization hit her then (though she might have always known) that she didn't love this girl in the beginning. But spending nights together, realizing who Linh was again, she believed she loved her like she had. It hurt a bit, but she’d known for a while that she had fallen again, but she couldn't take back what she did and that had to be okay.

They stood there a while longer, tears staining both their cheeks, knowing eventually the moment would have to end. It was all gonna be over. It felt like leaving all over again and this time Sophie didn't have the strength to walk away—but Linh did. She left, pulling her hands away from the railing, leaving Sophie to stand in the slowly falling snow alone (she didn't know when it had started, or when the tears in her eyes were colder than normal, tasting like ice on her tongue).

Eventually, the cold forced her back inside. She found Amy waiting on the couch in the 'Great Hall' (a.k.a. Living Room 2 out of three). There was a book in her hand that dropped as soon as Sophie wandered pitifully into her sister's line of sight.

"Hey," Amy whispered as Sophie put her head in her lap.

"Hi," Sophie responded.

"Hello?" Fitz spoke from the doorway, voice startling both of them.

Sophie still didn't move, barely glancing back at him to see his eyebrow raised.

"Is she good?" Fitz asked.

"They broke up," Amy supplied when Sophie didn't give an answer.

"That explains why Tam's lookin’ like he's gonna commit murder." Sophie groaned in response, only burying her head further from view and into the blanket. She heard Fitz leave, expecting him to leave her with Amy in her misery only for his footsteps to come back. "Oh yes gimme," Amy said above her, hand leaving Sophie's hair.

"Nope, it’s for the depressed dumbass." Sophie raised her head to see Fitz grinning. The next thing she knew she was lifted off of the couch, trying to hold onto something, only for Fitz to slip under her and throw her over him and Amy. "There you go, you cat," Fitz laughed and handed her a tub of ice cream.

At some point the tub of ice cream would become empty, and at some point reality would come crashing down again and she would cry. In the arms of her sister and her best friend. At some point she would fall asleep to be woken up by a knock on the door. But right then she would grin, with Amy's hand in her hair and Fitz trying to decide what movie they should watch. Right then she would feel loved.

Someone was banging on the front door and Sophie was about two seconds from committing murder. It wasn't the knocks that had woken her up--no, it was that they meant Fitz was getting up, which meant he had to let go of her, which made her follow him around like a lost puppy because dammit he gave good cuddles.

Sophie honestly didn't give a shit about who was at the door, just waiting for Fitz to open it so that they could go back to the couch and Moana, which was currently paused. What she did not expect was Marella, Keefe, and Dex to be standing outside the door with suitcases and matching grins.

Sophie was too tired for this.

The grins faded as soon as Fitz and Keefe locked eyes and the tension in the room rose.

"You're- you're here-" Fitz said, his face painted with surprise.

"I brought friends," Keefe responded.

"Hello," Marella and Dex greeted.

"Hi," Sophie responded from behind Fitz, who was still locked in a staring contest with Keefe.

Finally, Keefe's eyes moved from Fitz and he grinned again when he saw her, "To be honest I'm not surprised that you and Biana set this up. Need a family reunion after a few years?"

"Biana?" Fitz and Sophie asked in unison. Neither of them had seen her since they had left. It made some part of Sophie queasy to think that Biana was left alone to deal with the council.

"Yeah? She sent us invites and plane tickets?" Marella spoke up, her eyebrows knitted together.

"I had no idea about those," Sophie said. "I haven't heard from Biana since I left. For all I know she's back in the Lost Cities."

"Actually-" a voice with a thick accent came from behind her. For a moment Sophie thought it was Fitz until a flash of light and long brown hair came into view on her left. "Hi," Biana grinned.

Five minutes later the Great Hall was packed with Sophie's friends who she thought she wouldn't see for at least another eight years. But here they were; Marella, Dex and Keefe crammed on a couch, Linh avoiding her eyes as she and Tam talked in hushed tones, Fitz anxiously opening and closing his hands next to her, and Amy and Biana talking in the middle of the room in harsh whispers.

Honestly? Sophie was done with the avoidance of the elephant in the room. "Are you guys going to explain what the hell is going on or?" Sophie finally asked, her exasperation clear.

"WE'RE HERE!" came from the doorway, a clear answer to Sophie's question. Dex's face paled at the voice, clearly recognizing its owner.

"Biana, Amy," Dex started, staring at the girls in the center of the room with a look of pure terror on his face. "Why, in the Ancients names, are they here?"

"Sup, bitch," Bex walked through the door, her lips pulled into a smug grin.

Dex's head fell into his hands with a groan that only got longer when his other two siblings joined them. The triplets weren't all that surprising. Unexpected, until you took into the account that this was probably some elaborate prank that would most definitely have the triplets involved.

The surprise, though, was the mop of curly brown hair and almost-purple eyes that walked in after them with a fond look of exasperation. Stina Heks was not someone who Sophie thought would be involved in this.

Tam shared her look of confusion, "Will somebody please tell us what the fuck is going on?"

That got a laugh out of the triplets and Amy, while Biana smiled and Stina looked bored. That wasn't much of a surprise, the bored face of Stina was one Sophie knew well (mostly from having to stare at it for hours during Valiant meetings, trying desperately for her to understand that she didn't have a choice to fight like she did). If anything, it was comforting to know she hadn't changed much.

"I don’t even know where to start," Biana said, and Amy laughed awkwardly.

"The beginning," Sophie deadpanned just wishing this would be over so that she could wallow in self pity in peace.

"Well..." Biana trailed off.

"This was a project to get your dumbasses together," Bex started.

Dex looked moderately distressed as he whispered, "Language", which only got an eye roll in response.

"We started it after you three left," Lex said pointing towards Marella, Dex and Keefe, who looked only mildly uncomfortable.

“Because all of you thought that the only way of coping was running away,” Rex finished. The room erupted in a cacophony of half finished excuses before Biana raised her hand, a pointed look on her face.

“And that was fine! For a while,” she started. “I kept tabs on you to make sure y’all didn’t do anything stupid, until I realized what the heck was going on with Linh-“

“Oh great,” Linh growled every head swivling to her in surprise, “another person who doesn’t know how to respect some fucking privacy!” Linh had stood as she spose, anger clear on her face. A sharp pang of guilt found itself stabbing at Sophie’s heart.

“Please, I just wanted to look out for you-“

“Oh shut up. You were doing it so you could feel good about yourself picking up some goddamn charity cases!” With almost every word Linh took a step forward, getting into Biana’s space with a snarl. “Well guess what. I was doing fine until you fucked with my life.”

“Linh-“ Tam called after her as she stormed out of the room. With a sigh he looked back at all the stunned faces; most of them had never seen Linh angry. “I’m sorry, she’s just had a bad day. I’ll go talk to her,” he said before following her out.

“Christ,” Marella murmured, watching the door.

The feeling of guilt only grew bigger at that knowing that she was the reason for the outburst. That her stupid fucking instincts could’ve-

“Soph,” Fitz whispered. “Sophie, look at me.”

She really really didn’t want to. But there was a soft urgency in his voice that made her look. “It’s not your fault, you came clean. How Linh deals with that is entirely up to her, okay?”

Sophie wanted to say that she shouldn't have done anything in the first place but stopped herself. She couldn't go down that rabbit hole, not then not ever.

Biana sighed, and her shoulders seemed to drop before she started again. "I'm sorry for watching you guys, I tried to stay out of most things just making sure y’all didn't, like, go to jail or fuck up a government or something," she said slowly.

"Bi," Fitz said, older brother instincts clearly kicking in, "it's okay. We tried to drop off the face of the earth-- we didn't exactly expect you to walk away unaffected."

Murmurs of agreement rang out through the room and slowly Biana’s hunched form seeped away to her normal stance.

Amy picked up the story. “We realized that you guys weren’t getting better and that frankly the Lost Cities were getting worse.”

“We might’ve not done it in the best way,” Lex said. “But you guys needed each other. All of you were hiding under facades with a false belief that you were getting better and it was feeding into the idea to run away. So all we did was point you guys to each other, a little nudge to the right spot.”

“Oh,” Fitz said next to Sophie as realization dawned on both of them.

“OH MY GOD I WAS RIGHT!” Sophie said as soon as it all made sense. It was all planned! She wasn’t going crazy with paranoia (okay, maybe she was going slightly crazy, but that wasn’t the point)!

All she got was raised eyebrows and a snort from Amy as a response to her outburst.

“A little nudge?” Keefe asked. “You literally sent us a weird ass note with plane tickets and money so that we could be here—not very subtle of you.”

“Look, we were working off of what we had-“ Rex spoke, trying to hold in a laugh.

“Very cryptic, good job guys,” Marella laughed.

“Wait okay,” Sophie started. “Was Tam and Fitz ending up at Mari’s planned?”

Bex laughed and Amy grinned, “Nope! That woman just attracts strays somehow.”

Sophie and Fitz shared a knowing smile, remembering how she took them in with no hesitation.

“One last question: why are you here?” Dex asked, gesturing to Stina.

“I’m moral support,” the girl answered with a shrug, and no one questioned it.

“Keefe- Keefe you can’t fall asleep. It’s only four pm,” Marella said suddenly, shaking the boy's shoulder slightly.

“But I’m so fucking tired,” Keefe whined.

“Jet lag my beloathed,” Fitz chuckled, and Sophie felt it rumble through his body.

“Okay sleepy heads,” Biana smiled, because no matter how hard Dex and Marella tried to pretend they weren’t tired their eyes were clearly dropping. "Go to bed, grab a room upstairs that isn't taken."

"Dinner's at six!" Fitz called out after them and Sophie vaguely wondered if he would make one of Mari's recipes.

Fitz did actually end up making one of Mari's recipes, a simple chicken and waffles with hashbrowns and bacon. An odd thing to have for dinner, but when it tasted heavenly who was gonna complain? The smell carried through the house, dragging the occupants to the kitchen with growling stomachs.

Honestly, the sight was delicious and Sophie wanted nothing more than to just smack her face into it like an animal. It looked really good, okay? It was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

It was not, Sophie found out as she basically devoured a chicken strip in one bite, only to find the others looking at her in bewilderment (except for Linh, who was ignoring her existence).

"Jeez, it’s like you have never eaten before," Biana laughed.

Sophie considered throwing a chicken strip at her but held back for the sake of keeping her food to herself.

Meaningless conversation started after that. A million and one questions about where they all ended up, how they got there, all that. It was all fine for a while, Sophie mostly tuning out conversations and trying oh so desperately to keep her eyes off of Linh (she was only moderately failing). It all started to go downhill when some not so subtle giggles erupted from what Sophie had dubbed as the childrens’ end of the table.

The next thing Sophie knew, Keefe was getting smacked in the face with a waffle.

Predictably, chaos broke out after the declaration of war. Sophie chucked a piece of chicken at who she thought was Biana only to be hit in the face with a handful of hashbrowns. Dex, Marella, and Keefe seemed to be teaming up against the triplets—who were absolutely wild. And then Fitz and Biana were on the other side of the table pelting her and Amy with whatever they could get their hands on, Linh was helping the triplets. Tam and Stina stood off to the side, presumably judging them but Sophie didn’t care because she knew that they didn’t hate them until—

A loud smack rang out.

Silence covered the room as everyone’s heads turned to Tam,who had a waffle slowly dripping down his face. In that moment, Keefe looked scared shitless. Slowly, Tam took the waffle off his face, grabbed the tray full of bacon and without hesitation launched it at Keefe with deadly accuracy. Marella was screaming “man down,” the triplets and Amy were cackling, Linh was grinning (Sophie forced herself not to look), and Sophie had never felt more content.

The fight came to an end as everyone’s exhaustion started to show. Giggling like madmen, the large group stumbled their way up the stairs to their respective rooms. Sophie, too tired to think and walking on autopilot, started to follow Linh like a lost puppy to their room. It was their room, right?

A hand on her arm stopped her.

The feeling of watching Linh leave, watching Linh yell, saying that she didn't think they would've ever worked, came crashing down on her. Knocking the wind out of her, making her choke.

With a sad smile Amy dragged her back to their room, handing her pjs, getting her to the bathroom and holding her as she cried. They ended up on the stupidly large bed, Amy running a comforting hand through Sophie's too-long hair, as the moon rose, and the stars watched.

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #fitz vacker #sophie foster #biana vacker #amy foster #kotlc amy #dex dizznee #keefe sencen #linh song #marella redek #lex dizznee #rex dizznee #bex dizznee #jesus how many fucking character tags must i use #the entire dizznee family is here jeez #kotlc fic #tater writes #finding home

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shadowsfascination · 3 years

Text

Rewrite: Sonic YAAU - ch 3

I’m currently re-structuring my story about the Sonic gang in their young adulthood. When I came across this chapter, I HAD to rewrite it. I felt like in the original chapter, Shadow and Amy were out of character. I’d love to get some feedback.

YAAU: Young Adults AU

I hope you enjoy (:

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“Come on. I’ll take you home.” “Huh?” “You’re exhausted. You should get some rest.” Amy Rose nodded at him, agreeing. Even though she still was unable to reflect on the entire situation, let alone reflect on how she was feeling right now. Shadow knelt next to her on the grass and lifted her up in his arms. Her body felt a little heavy and numb and she only watched him to let this situation happen the way that it did. “Work with me, okay?” he said while he was trying to lift her. The muscles in his arms tightened. “What?” He sighed when he looked at her face and concluded she had no clue at all what he was talking about. His sense of responsibility came up when Amy subsided in the grass and it sharpened his senses. “Never mind. Pull your arms around me and hold on tight.” “Okaaay.” He dashed off into the distance with a high speed that she was used to because Sonic ran with her in his arms this fast many times before, but this… This was different. This time, there was no threat from an enemy to fight against like the many, many times in the past with Sonic. Shadow’s movement was fairly smooth as he dashed through the endlessly seeming dark night sky and the cold night breeze cooled her heated body. It was like she was dreaming. Everything felt so serene: the starry skies, the quiet calm of the night, the speed they were traveling at. She found herself oddly drawn to him. His smell, the lines that formed his silhouette and that attitude of him that made him so mysterious… Amy caught herself on the urge to break through the wall he built up and had felt like that for a long time. She just couldn’t stand it that anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with her, whoever it may be. She always tried to be friendly to others and not only sometimes Amy pushed too far in attempt to get close to them. Whilst pondering she played a little with his chest fur. I can feel his heartbeat.. Slowly she shifted her gaze to look at him. The warmth of his breath while exhaling created small damp clouds against the cold of the night that vanished as quickly as they had appeared. “Your heart rate is fast.” “Needless to say under the circumstances.” He calmly stated, eyes uninterruptedly focussed on the path before him. But while he seemed calm on the outside, his heartbeat sped up. “It’s increasing.” She whispered. He rolled his eyes at her. “Because you’re making me feeling highly uncomfortable.” He hissed and placed her back on her own two feet, having arrived at her house. “And why do you think that is?” �� “Because you ran a couple of miles with me in your arms?” Amy guessed when she grew impatient. “But I’m not out of breath, now am I?” Amy thought about it: his condition was so good, he’d barely ever run out of breath. Suddenly it hit her. “Might it be… me?” She asked almost inaudible. He looked away from her and remained silent, cheeks reddening instantly and shoulders stiffening. “Shadow?” “You should get some rest, Amy.” Shadow let the chilly breeze cool down his flustered muzzle and scratched his squills in discomfort. Amy grasped his hands and thereby forced him to look at her. “I want you to stay.”

Suddenly they both felt stone cold sober again. “I can’t.” “Why?” “Just because.” “That’s not good enough, Shadow. Give me a proper reason.” “Amy, you’re drunk and I feel like I’ve drank too much as well. I can’t… you know? It’s not right.” “You’re the one who kissed me in the first place!” The agitation in her voice rose. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” “You’re sorry?!” – she questioned in dismay, volume of her voice running up. “Listen, Shadow, I don’t want to force you to come with me if that’s not what you want, but I don’t believe you don’t want to. We don’t have to… I mean… I’m not asking you to… sleep with me.” “Of course you’re not!” He blunted at her. Neither of them spoke. Time seemed frozen and her head spun a little. It was like she had a fever, flushing from hot to cold and back again. She then realized what it was and gagged. “Blast!” Amy rushed inside to make it in time for the bathroom and was followed by Shadows footsteps. How inconvenient to follow me at this time. But there wasn’t enough time for her to shout to leave her alone. The door stayed closed though until the sound the doorknob disturbed the one of the flushing toilet and running water she rinsed her face with. “You all right?” He put a hand on her back and softly rubbed it. Looking up to him, her face was dripping, her eyes prickly and red. He grabbed a towel for her, but found his attempts to dry her face for her were interrupted. “Give me that.” She took it from him, took a seat on the edge of the bathtub and sighed when she observed herself in the mirror. She felt horrible and now also looked it. “Sorry. That wasn’t necessary. I just wished that you didn’t have to see me like this.” “I don’t mind.”

For a minute she wanted to protest, insulted by the insinuation that he didn’t mind her feeling sick, but then swallowed it. Knowing him, this was probably a poor choice of words and maybe it meant that he wasn’t disturbed by this side of her. It didn’t drive him away. Amy freshened herself up a little and flushed her mouth with eucalyptus-flavoured mouthwash to rid herself of the bad taste of vomit. Shadow leaned against the tiled wall of her bathroom in silence, eyeing her in discretion.

“Shadow, why did you kiss me tonight?”

“We hit the glass too hard.” He raised one eyebrow and smirked at her.

“You’re avoiding my question. Try again, hedgehog.”

“I gues… You’re pleasant to be around. I seem to enjoy your company lately. I didn’t mean for it to happen.” “Honestly? I didn’t notice until tonight.” “I knew you didn’t. I’m sorry for kissing you out of the blue… but when you returned my gestures…” “It’s okay. I like spending time with you as well.”

“Okay you say.” He sounded somewhat disappointed. “Until tonight, I never really thought about you like this, but suddenly there was this tension…” “I already told you: we both drank too much.” “Not that!” In a gust she closed in on him. Chaos, she smelled great! “Let me try something here.” She then slowly closed in on his face, her hot breath provoking just enough sensation to call it ticklish on his lips. She softly kissed them, pressing her body against him smoothly. He spontaneously forgot how to breathe for a second and let an ‘wow’ escape his lips, followed by a chuckle. “What?!”

“Nothing.” Shadow whispered in between a breath to place his hands behind her back to kiss her again- with more confidence this time. He now eagerly kissed her lips, leaving her longing for more of him. Playing with his chestfur again, Amy worked her lips down to his jawline and neck, her fingertips firmly alongside the quills on his back. She noticed his breathing became irregular and could feel his heartrate increase again. Just when she wondered if the tension would push them to take a next step, he opened his mouth: “Amy…” “Huh?” “Let’s go sleeping for now.” An almost inaudible ‘oh’ escaped her lips. “Let’s take things slow. I want to treat you with the respect you deserve. And that means that we have to stop right here, not in the last place because you look exhausted and I have to admit: even I’m beat.” “Even you?” “Even me.” She smiled at him. Feeling playful, she couldn’t stop herself from kissing him again, but he was quick to break away from it. “Stop that.” His smile vanished, expression replaced with the blank she was used to, even though on the inside he was smug that she couldn’t stop herself from kissing him. “You’re so disciplined!” “Stop teasing me. We need to get some rest.” “You’re secretly such a gentleman.” “Don’t tell anyone, though.” She giggled. “I’ll carry you upstairs.” He put her in bed, pulled the blankets over her to pet her forehead and turned around to leave the bedroom. He kept amazing her with the uncommon way he acted sometimes. It intrigued her. “I’ll sleep on the couch.” “Bu-“ “Amy, I’m in the military. I sleep in odd places all the time. I think I can handle your couch.” “At least know where the blankets are, you stubborn hedgehog.” She said while handing one to him. “Thanks. Sweet dreams.” “You too.”

#shadamy #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #Amy Rose the Hedgehog #shadow and amy #Shadamy love #Shadamy romance #sonic young adults #sonic au #yaau #Young adults alternate universe #sonic fanfic #Shadowsfascination #my writing #yaau amy #yaau shadow

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bluescreening · 4 years

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Book Recommendations: Space

Hi guys! This is my first collection of book recommendations. I’m going to make a small collection for each genre I like. I wanted to start with sci-fi, but there are too many to fit in one post, so I’ve divided them into Space and Not Space. I hope you enjoy them! Blurbs by me unless otherwise mentioned.

The Illuminae Files (Illuminae, Gemini, Obsidio) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - Kady Grant lives on an illegal, frozen mining colony, and her biggest problem right now is breaking up with her boyfriend. Until the bombs start to fall.

Illuminae is a space opera, there’s no doubt about it. The vast majority of the books take place on spaceships. However, it’s far from the 10-book-long dragged out sagas that populate old sci-fi nerds’ bookshelves. Presented as a collection of chat logs and transcripts, this series is quite possibly the fastest-paced thing I’ve ever read. I read each book in one sitting. It’s filled with twists, turns and a compelling female-led cast of characters including an AI that you’ll love if, like me, you get overly attached to typical robot characters. I do have a couple of criticisms that I can’t really voice without spoilers, and it’s slightly lacking in representation given the number of characters, but this is still an incredible series despite its shortcomings. In short, this is a legitimately funny, tense and surprisingly heartbreaking sledgehammer into the typical space opera genre which I suggest to anyone and everyone who loves sci-fi.

Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith - When the entire world is run by robots and your life is heavily regulated by the government, what else is there to do but be permanently off your head on drugs? That is, until your friend takes you to a space station to sober up and take a break... and then the world ends. Oh, and the robots are crazy now.

This is far from your typical space book. It starts off completely unintelligible, and you find yourself loathing the characters. Then you begin to piece together what’s happening and why, and it morphs into a comedic survival horror story. And right at the end, you realise you’re looking at this mess through the eyes of a terrified, clueless kid, and you realise you’ve against all odds formed a connection with the characters and you find yourself crying. This book somehow conveys exactly what it means to be human in a way that cannot be articulated, and also has a chapter called ‘It’s Time To Eat Now, And I Become Aware Of My Balls’. Basically, it’s a crazy trip, but a good one.

Satellite by Nick Lake - Leo, alongside twins Orion and Libra, is the first child to be born and raised in space. For the first time, he is going home - to Earth. But something has been going on behind the scenes, something his isolation has hidden from him so far.

Firstly, this is Good Gay Representation! If that isn’t reason enough to read it, this book paints the world as a beautiful, wonderful place that really restores some faith. It remains scientifically accurate while also showing the beauty in every aspect of nature. Frankly, the way this story is told feels like home, which is a major theme throughout - whether home is Earth, the space station, a person or something else entirely. Essentially it’s a coming-of-age story with a sci-fi ish setting, but I think it deserves recommendation because of the overall message that science and nature are beautiful, and the way the author conveys that. The only downside is that the whole book is written in text-speak, but that isn’t too hard to ignore.

The Martian by Andy Weir - I can’t come up with a better blurb than this quote which is abbreviated on the back of the book: “I’m stranded on Mars. If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Habitat breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So yeah. I’m fucked.”

The Martian is quintessential modern sci-fi at its greatest. It is one of my top 5 books of all time. It has a charming, witty protagonist, it has scientifically accurate solutions to every problem, it has in-depth yet understandable and often funny explanations for that science, it has some really emotional moments that come out of left field. It has it all! It’s a crazy survival story that is 100% possible, and I love every second of it. I literally cannot recommend anything more. Please, if you haven’t already, read it. Even if you’ve already watched the move. Please!

Artemis by Andy Weir - Artemis is the first and only city on the moon. And like all cities, it comes complete with a shady criminal underworld, and its fair share of corruption. Jazz Bashara is a delivery girl and smuggler who just wants some extra cash and to avoid trouble, but I think we all know how that’s going to go.

Liked The Martian? Want more? Artemis is full of the same lightening-paced action and scientific problem solving, but this time with a larger, more vibrant cast of characters! There’s some extra funky representation here. I have to admit, this one plays a bit more fast and loose with the rules of science, but it still holds up in general and I think Weir is entitled to have a little fun given how accurate he’s been so far. I can’t get enough, and I recommend this to anyone who loves the Martian, or the moon.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (and the rest of the trilogy of five books) by Douglas Adams - When the Earth was bulldozed to make way for an interstellar highway, Arthur Dent was rescued by his friend Ford Prefect, and promptly taken on a whirlwind tour of the universe involving dolphins, depressed robots and the literal end of the world. Poor Arthur just wants a cup of tea.

To round off the list, we have what happens when sci-fi and British comedy get it on. The original. The classic. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that Douglas Adams is a genius, and if you haven’t read this you’re severely missing out. Charming, hilarious and surprisingly meaningful in places, this is pretty much mandatory reading in my opinion. Of course, it was a radio show to begin with, so that’s an equally excellent way to take in this story. If you like Good Omens, and you also like space, give this a shot.

And that wraps up my top space book recommendations! I will post my recs for sci-fi in general at some point soon, so keep an eye out. If you want to geek out about one of these books or recommend me anything, let me know!

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roi-des-voleurs · 3 years

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The Cats Out of the Bag || Self Para

Summary: Remy takes on a job to steal a package for a crime boss, and ends up with some unexpected new friends

Word Count: 2085

Warnings: A little violence and some allusions to animal neglect/mistreatment

Takes place prior to the travel ban being instated. Not that it would have applied to Remy, but after this, he definitely would have chosen to stay at home for a while!

Though he treaded the mostly straight and narrow these days, Remy did still do thievery jobs from time to time, if the money and the job was right. He would never steal from someone who could not afford or did not deserve it. But when one crime boss contacted him and asked him to steal from another crime boss? Yeah, that would work. And if they went at each other later, would that be a real loss? Remy did not think so. Besides, if any of them rubbed him the wrong way, he could always drop an anonymous tip to the police.

"So dis package? What's in it?" he inquired after agreeing to the job. He was aware it would be something illegally acquired, but he was not keen on picking up weapons or something else which could be used to hurt innocent people later on.

"I'm not paying you to ask questions, thief. Just do your job," snapped the crime boss.

Clearly Remy should not have expected civility, or an explanation. But most people usually let him know what he was going to steal, just to make sure he got it right. That made him more leery of what he was going after, but he was willing to give a little leeway for now. Hopefully he could get a chance to peek at the contents of the package before having to deliver it, and thus could choose not to deliver it if it was something too questionable.

"Pardon, pardon." Remy held up his hands, showing he would remain silent for now. "Jus' askin'. Ok, I'll have it here at ten tomorrow night."

"And not a minute later. Otherwise you'll regret it."

Hmm, definitely not a flexible customer. And probably up to more than just pissing off his rival. But Remy said nothing; instead he bowed politely and backed out of the office. Now he was quite curious as to what he was going to steal, and definitely ready to give the police an anonymous tip if things went south.

~*~*~*~

The target building was a warehouse, naturally. And it was guarded, naturally. But then the crime boss would not have hired one of the best in the business if this was simple snatch and grab, so Remy had expected no less. Still, unless there were guards stationed on the roof, things might still be pretty simple.

Leaping from the roof of the building next door, he landed noiselessly on the roof of the warehouse and headed for the nearest skylight.

Equally quietly, Remy worked to slip the glass out of the opening, smirking to himself when it came off easily. As he set it aside, however, a shadow suddenly fell over him. "Ah, maybe not quite so easily, den," he muttered, correctly assuming a guard had come up.

"Stand up--slowly--and raise your hands. Otherwise I'll be kickin' you down into that hole," came the gruff voice behind him.

"Don't t'ink I can argue wit' dat, homme."

Remy did indeed start to stand slowly...before halting and whipping his leg around to knock the man behind him off his feet. Caught off guard, he toppled backwards, mercifully not making as much of a thud as he could have. He was not quite knocked out, though, so Remy gave him a whack to the head, putting him out of commission.

"Still not much o' a challenge," Remy commented before slipping into the open skylight and lowering himself down with a cable.

Once he dropped down to the floor, he unhooked the cable and started off towards the office, where his client had assured him the package would be. Glancing up, Remy saw there were cameras around, but he was good at blending into the shadows, and he fancied he could make it to the office without getting noticed.

He was not wrong. When he was almost to the office, Remy smirked at having done so unnoticed--until he glimpsed into the window of the security room and saw the guard watching the video feed was sound asleep. Though he was glad that would make things really easy, he had to confess to being a little disappointed that he would never know for sure how well he had avoided the cameras. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Creeping towards the office, Remy found it was, naturally, locked. He did know how to pick a lock, but since there clearly was no one watching, he went for the quicker option--touching the lock, giving it a small charge, and opening the door once it sizzled and gave a small pop.

Remy had not been sure what he would find inside, so he was glad when he saw that his prize was sitting right on the desk. Without hesitation, he picked it up, though he paused when he thought he heard the sound of rustling within it. Yet he did not really have time to wonder about it now, so Remy strapped the box to his back and slipped out of the office.

Judging by the sound of voices coming from nearby, the sleeping guard had woken either of his own volition or by someone else's, which meant Remy needed to go--and fast. Hurrying back to his cable, he climbed back up, pulling it up along with him. When he climbed out of the skylight, he could see guards gathering below, and he rolled onto the roof just in time to avoid the first shot. The initial guard he had encountered was still knocked out, so Remy waved at his prone form before taking off, getting away onto the other building before the rest of the guards had a chance to muster the search.

~*~*~*~

Once back at his apartment, Remy set the package down and observed it. As he had made his escape, he became more convinced there were noises coming from within it, so he knew he was going to have to take a look inside. Gazing at it now, he could see small air holes cut into the box, which meant there was a living thing inside. And despite not being a weapon, that seemed like something he would have second thoughts about delivering.

Slowly, he opened the top and peered down into the box--and saw three small cats peering up at him. One white, one grey and one orange.

"Mon Dieu...chats?" Remy breathed.

The cats did not move at first, but the longer they looked at him, the more curious they became, and soon all three were attempting to climb out of the box.

"Aw, you wanna come out, mes amis?" Smiling, Remy proceeded to take them out one by one, smiling more as they did not hesitate to start crawling onto him. "Hey, you sure a rambunctious lot! What were you doin' in dere anyway?" Were they valuable? He could not imagine why else the crime boss had been after them. But he was certain of one thing. Remy was not going to give the cats up without a fight.

"Don' worry, garçons, I ain't gonna let anythin' bad happen t' you," he said, rubbing two of the cats behind the ears, "I'll jus' hafta have some words wit' a certain client, an' den we'll see if we can't find somebody t' take you in, hein?"

The cats he was rubbing purred, and the one who was not being rubbed promptly pushed his way in to try and get similiar treatment. Chuckling, Remy said, "Sacre, I only got deux hands! You'll hafta wait your turn, glouton!" His chiding did not dissuade the cat, who only started to rub his head against Remy's hand more in response. He chuckled again and started to rub him, making sure to give all of them a scratch in turn. They were such sweethearts. What did that connard want with them? Well, whatever had happened to put these poor little guys in his crosshairs, Remy was damn well going to get to the bottom of it.

~*~*~*~

"So, care t' explain dis?"

Remy was standing in front of the desk in the office of his "client," with the box sitting on said desk, open to allow the cats to peer out at the crime boss just as accusingly as Remy was doing.

"You weren't supposed to open it, asshole!" the man fumed, "I contracted you to retrieve it and bring it to me--no questions asked, and no looking at the merchandise!"

"Merchandise! Dese are livin' creatures!" Remy fumed. Ok, animals sold in pet stores were technically merchandise, but he was pretty damn sure no one who worked in a pet store would refer to them so callously.

"They are merchandise. I make money off of them, and I don't appreciate when they are stolen from me. That fucker is lucky that I only had them stolen back, because I could have made things much more unpleasant for him. And I still might."

So that was it. Illegal animal sales were part of his crime racket. And obviously his rival's as well, if he had stolen the cats originally. And now Remy had delivered them back to a jerk who did not give a shit about the cats. He only cared how much money he could make off of them. That was not what he had been expecting when he had taken on this job.

"So you sell dem, den," Remy said, more a statement than a question.

"Uh, what did I just say, dipshit?" The crime boss frowned. "You keep asking questions and you're not gonna see any of the money we agreed on."

"Keep it."

"What?"

"Keep it," said Remy, more firmly this time, "I don' wanna get paid for havin' any part in somet'ing so cruel."

"Cruel? What, you worried about the poor widdle kitties? What the hell kinda thief are you?"

"De kind wit' a heart, homme. Lots o' dem, in fact." His cards were in his pocket, but if he charged any of them now, he might hurt the cats. "But tonight's your lucky night. You won' get t' see 'em, 'cause I'm gonna let you off easy."

The crime boss and his two thugs by the door all laughed.

"Oh, that's mighty generous of you, sir. So generous that I just might repay you in kind," the crime boss said, shaking his head.

Remy noticed the movement of the thugs, and he was quick enough to dodge the first. But the second landed a punch to his stomach, and when he doubled over in pain, the first landed a punch to his jaw. Remy fell backwards, but the thugs grabbed him and pulled him back to his feet as the crime boss approached them.

"Looks like you might get off easy too, because I'm going to let you live." Then, to the thugs he said, "Show him the way out."

They nodded and dragged Remy out of the office and out of the warehouse, dumping him unceremoniously on the pavement outside. He groaned at the fresh wave of pain from the fall, taking a while before managing to get back on his feet again. He glared at the now closed door of the warehouse, angry at the assault on him but feeling much worse about having been tossed out before he could retrieve the cats. There were a hell of a lot of mistakes he had made in his life, but this one at least he could correct. Smirking a bit despite his pain, Remy staggered off, muttering, "Maybe you...ain't gonna get off so easy after all, connard."

~*~*~*~

Later that evening, acting on an anonymous tip, the police raided the warehouse, arresting the crime boss and his thugs and confiscating hordes of stolen merchandise...except for a box containing three cats.

That was safely in Remy's arms as he watched the scene from a roof a short distance away. Hearing a meow, he looked down to see one of the cats trying to paw open the box. Chuckling, he lifted the flap and waved at them.

"Don' worry, mes amis, you'll be outta dere soon." He had been planning to take them to a shelter, but the more time Remy spent with them, the more he began to change his mind. They were growing on him, and now he did not think he wanted to let them go. In fact, he knew he did not want to. Smiling down at the cats, he said, "Come on, garçons, let's go home."

#self para #(in honor of Remy's birthday today he gets a present!)#(and woo hoo 2K club!)

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yonaih · 4 years

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en route I - [ doc x lion ]

posted on ao3 as aIIegro (capital i’s in username)

word count: ~2.7k

a/n: here we go! this is the fic from that teaser i posted a week (?) ago. i said i’d write a few chapters before posting but. i want. instant validation.

Things between Gustave and Olivier had always been tense since Operation Chimera, to say the least. It infuriated Gustave to no end every time he thought about the other haughty, arrogant French operator. Sure, they got their work done once both could temporarily get over their unrepressed hostility towards each other (albeit grudgingly), but even the moments of mutual teamwork didn’t suture the festering sore spot between the medic and Lion. Even the most antisocial operators in Rainbow knew the aspects that the two hated about each other. In some ways, it was rather shocking. Olivier was already known to be stubborn and had a knack for annoying everyone in a room, but his ability to dig a strong, seemingly out of place reaction from Gustave was extraordinary. Doc, a man who basically had “putting up with others’ problems” in his job description, was thought to be universally calm and collected, but Lion’s presence was clearly an exception to that notion.

Twitch found herself almost caught in the crosshairs when she brought Olivier to the infirmary after a recruit training session got out of control and left him with a bloodied calf. The trek down the hall was gruelling. Helping support the larger man, Emmanuelle sighed a little as she fumbled with the door handle, trying to push it with her foot.

“If you couldn’t get the door, knocking is an option,” Gustave called, helping Twitch inside, blatantly ignoring Olivier’s groans of protest.

“My bad, Gus,” she quipped, dragging the bristling Lion towards a cot and haphazardly dumping him there. “Next time, I’ll get a nitro.”

“Very funny. Not a claymore?”

Twitch shook off her vest, tucked it into the crook of her arm, and gave the Frenchman a pointed glare, stuck out her tongue, and motioned to Lion. Suddenly stone cold, Gustave asked what had happened.

“Well you see, recruits got a hold of Shuhrat’s cluster charges and didn’t fully understand what they did. Need I say more, mon ami?”

“I suppose not, but what exactly happened to him?” Doc’s voice soured at the mention of Olivier, whose glare was shooting daggers in return. A moment of tense eye contact passed before Emmanuelle responded.

“No one else got hurt. Some property damage of course, but Olivier is the only one who got hit by anything. I think it’s just, er, stuff that flew into his leg? I am not sure.”

Silence.

“Thank you, Emmanuelle, you may go.”

“Wow, I’m Emmanuelle now, huh?” She playfully retorted before getting up to leave, shifting her vest in her arms. “What did I ever do to you?”

“Em…” Gustave warned as she left with her hands raised in surrender. Once again, there was a tense silence, the only noise coming from various machines scattered throughout the room.

“Are you going to help me or not, dipshit?” Lion snarled before twisting around to inspect his bloodied calf. Nursing his tender leg, blood dripping down his boots, Olivier sat in the most defensive way he could.

“Va te faire foutre,” Gustave spat, reaching for tools to remove the shrapnel in the other Frenchman’s leg and kept an iron grip on the tense limb. Wrenching it free from Olivier’s preening, the medic began to inspect it.

“Oh? Va mourir, Kateb,” was the response as Olivier grudgingly started to comply, refusing to wince when bits of drywall and shattered cement were pulled from his blood covered leg.

“I’d watch your mouth, Flament.” Even though his mood was definitely ruined by the sorry excuse for an operator, Gustave tried his best to disinfect the wound nicely and keep his stitches tidy. Surprisingly, Lion was quiet the entire time. The process took place in almost complete silence. Another few minutes of bandaging a little too tightly passed, then Doc let him go.

“I doubt you’re going to reclean and bandage your wound properly. Come back tomorrow afternoon,” he said gruffly, removing his bloodied gloves and threw them away, purposefully ignoring Lion’s gaze. After some inaudible mumbling from the taller, sandy haired man, the door slammed shut and Gustave finally turned around. Cursing the entire way, he stomped back to his desk and shuffled his mounds of paperwork, blood still boiling and teeth still clenched.

That was simply how it was between the two. Gilles, the poor man, couldn’t take a side. Twitch and Rook were wholly sick of the tension, but they had a much harder time trying to be more forgiving of Lion when he was the one who did anything that rubbed them the wrong way. Rook, as positive as he believed himself to be, couldn’t find common ground with the prickly fellow Frenchman. Of course, it was mostly due to his strong, unwavering loyalty for the medic he thought of as a brother. Julien admired Gustave greatly, considering how much time he spent working with him and how much good he had seen Doc do, whether he was on duty or not. Julien saw the way Gustave and Olivier fought, tooth and nail, and couldn’t help side with the person he thought of as selfless and compassionate. The GIGN’s beloved medic was a trustworthy member of Rainbow and a constant in the dangerous lives of everyone who worked with Six’s team. Overworked and always serving overtime, Gustave’s workaholic habits only added to Julien’s concerns but also made Doc an exemplary example of an operator to him. Julien couldn’t help but appreciate the humanitarian efforts of Gustave. The doctor was an idol of his, flaws and all. Lion? To Rook, he was something like a friend, but Olivier’s thorny exterior didn’t do much to help their limited friendship. He had to admit, though, that Olivier was quite a lot of fun to be around whenever a sparring session was needed. He was a worthy opponent and respectable fighter. His persistence and indefatigable nature was something Julien aspired to emulate. However, Lion was the kind of person he would go out and drink with every once in a while but never truly get to know. It was all very surface-level, Rook thought.

Twitch, no matter how much she enjoyed a good gossip, hated the arguments, if one could call Doc and Lion’s fights “arguments.” They were horrible, chock full of smothering insults and shouting laced with enmity and poison. They were bitter and they were hateful. They made her feel defensive and conflicted. Did she have to choose a side? She was incredibly loyal to Doc, considering their close friendship and the amount of times he came to the rescue for her and everyone else in the GIGN. He was a great secret keeper and amazing listener, even if he was only pretending to do so sometimes. Their trust in each other was mutual, and she liked Gustave’s logic-based, straightforward advice. Even though both respected each other immensely, she did have to hear snide comments about Olivier whenever he was brought up in conversation. Despite this, she couldn’t help but feel like Lion deserved a second chance. After all, who had spent the most time with her in the workshop by far, staying late to work with her on her drones? Who had been the quickest to volunteer to help her to the infirmary when she fell severely ill in the middle of a mission? Who gave her the expensive bottle of wine for her birthday when it was only the GIGN operators who bothered to remember? Olivier Flament. Despite her hope for a kinder Olivier and for peace between him and Gustave, he kept brushing her away and constantly took out his anger on her, even if it was really meant for Doc. It was hard to put up with. “Sorry,” she’d tell him wearily before leaving the room. “I don’t want to deal with this.”

For Rook, it really came down to a deep bias. For Twitch, it was her growing tired of Lion’s sour attitude. Simple.

It wasn’t quite like that for Gilles. Montagne found himself as the middleman of this inter-GIGN war. A unit he thought of as family. Even though he was close to both Gustave and Olivier, Gilles couldn’t figure out the root of their problem. As far as he remembered, the two were quite close before. What changed?

“Gus,” he called from the doorway after being brushed off by Lion, who he had caught stomping out of the medic’s office.

“Gilles,” Gustave responded coldly, still facing away from the door, tidying up his cabinet of supplies next to his desk, tossing away some empty boxes.

“What was Olivier doing here?”

“Injury.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay, mon ami?”

“Yes.”

“So...no?”

“He’s just being himself and it...displeases me.”

“Understatement of the year,” Montangne mused, walking over and leaning on the counter, observing Doc. “You know he’s not that bad, right? You must’ve known, considering you’re familiar with him from some time before.”

“Merde, that was a misjudgement on my part. I don’t want anything to do with that prick.”

“You both work together frequently, and you make dinners in the GIGN dorm quite uncomfortable. Don’t you want to make amends and spare everyone else?”

“Gilles—“

“No, really.”

“Let it go.”

“Gustave,” he warned, dragging a hand through his hair. “I’m being serious, this is an issue whether you know it or not. It can jeopardize future operations, it’s clear you can’t work together in training simulations—“

“Look,” Doc snarled, slamming a cabinet closed and whirling around to face Gilles. “I have my reasons. We worked together fine in New Mexico. I’m sick of being the one trying to repair whatever relationship we had. I tried, he didn’t reciprocate. I’m done.” Coldly, he brushed past the other man and went back to sifting through paperwork.

“Please. I understand, but there has to be something you both can do.” Gilles was practically begging him at this point, briskly striding towards Gustave’s desk and turning his chair to face him. “Anything. I’ll talk to him, you can figure it out from there.”

After a moment’s pause, Gustave threw down a folder and leaned back, groaning while straightening his crisp white coat. “Talk to him and I’ll try again.”

A pause.

“It means a lot, Gus.” Gilles patted his back and chatted a bit about his day before swiftly exiting, leaving Gustave to think briefly about Olivier before returning his focus to his work.

Unbeknownst to him, Olivier had a similar talk with Gilles. It began as hostile as Gilles’ conversation with Gustave had, but Olivier was the one to pour out the story. The Ebola crisis, the collateral damage, Doc’s vicious retaliation, their previous friendship, everything. All of this information came after a week and a half of partly pressure and partly gained trust. Olivier, while quick to retaliate, was slow to trust. His facade of permanent arrogance and pugnaciousness crumbled in the face of those he believed to have his best interest at heart. Gilles began to get why both were so upset with each other, and it fueled his drive to bring them back together. Satisfied with both men’s responses, Gilles talked to both again, saying that the other agreed to try to make it up to the other.

He thought it was a little selfish of him to try and intervene, but what else could be done? Both Olivier and Gustave were headstrong and opinionated. Eerily enough, Gilles thought they were similar in many ways. Perhaps it was this exact fact that Montagne wanted them to understand. Still, it seemed that their differences were not what drove them apart. Rather, their similarities stood out enough to clash, while unawareness raised a heightened sense of conflict and blinded both to the hypocrisy of their own ideals. Gilles couldn’t have his GIGN team torn apart by the past, no matter how bitter and bloody. He adamantly held blind faith in the power of unity within the group, and it was well known that nothing could stop him from enforcing that mindset. Miscommunication came between Doc and Lion, and Montagne hoped that meeting on neutral ground would catalyze the rebuilding of burned bridges.

Olivier had mixed opinions. On one hand, he didn’t want to let down his guard and risk his pride and beg for forgiveness. On the other, he realized that unless one of them left, there was no escape from working together. He took the issue to church, consulting his pastor and some monks in hope that they could come up with a solid solution to the dilemma that had lasted him a very long time. Returning from his Sunday mass with a strong sense of resolve, he settled on trying to be the bigger person with the advice of his friends at the church. While he did indeed find this difficult, he felt like the brothers of the church were right. No use fighting fire with fire; take the high ground. Cautiously, his battle to repair his bond with Gustave began. It was difficult to adequately explain, but Olivier felt the need to fix things. Something out there compelled him to do so. Whether it was God or an itch to clear a guilt-heavy conscience, that “something” stubbornly wrenched him from his haze of defensive anger towards Gustave and cleared his head for a brief moment, enough to definitively commit him to his revelation.

A week after their skirmish, Lion traversed the base in search of the coffee machine, hoping a peace offering of a fresh cup of espresso would test the waters. After asking a few of the SAS operators, only to be met with brusque answers, he turned to Emmanuel, who he had found lounging in the workshop, wearing a GIGN hoodie and lazily testing her drone. Thoroughly anxious, he felt like a fool for being nervous about anything relating to his quest to make amends with Doc.

“Em.” Rapping the wooden table to get her attention, he leaned against an empty chair next to Jäger, who was too busy to notice.

“Olivier,” she greeted, stretching. “Need something?”

“Er, oui,” he hesitated. “Where’s the coffee machine?”

She thought for a moment, brows wrinkled in concentration. “I know there’s one back at our dorms in the living room, but the one in the base is always moving around. Why? Don’t you drink coffee?”

“Merci. Just wondering. I don’t get coffee from the base.” He quickly exited, giving a curt nod in the direction of some recruits working in a corner who were staring. He continued his trek, finally satisfied when he found a quaint coffee maker in a secluded corner of the communal living and dining room. After a few unsuccessful tries to get it to work properly, he wondered if this was truly worth it.

“A fucking waste,” he grumbled after ten minutes of fumbling around the machine. The coffee looked acceptable, but Lion was beginning to remember the significance of his anger-filled falling out with Doc. Gustave didn’t fucking understand. I bet the bastard never understood death, the damned medic, Olivier thought, gripping the coffee cup tightly as he made his way to the infirmary, purposely walking slower than normal. All about saving lives and shit. The asshole loves preaching about human life but he doesn’t understand death like I do, because I...

No, that’s not right. Olivier felt deflated, the strange bout of petty angst abruptly leaving him.

Maybe neither of us understand what happened in Africa. Determined once more, Lion pressed on, desperate for at least some closure with the past and answers as to why the intertwined parts of him and Gustave were driven away in the midst of the collateral damage and conflict. A mix of almost instinctual anger and resentment fused with a repressed sense of fear became a strange conglomerate that merged with hesitation and dread, all of which came bubbling up as Olivier approached Gustave’s office door. With the inner turmoil of a prisoner on death row, he knocked three times.

“Come in,” Gustave’s professional voice came from inside. Seemingly in slow motion, Lion watched his hand reach for the handle.

This is it, Flament.

#fanfiction #writing #doc/lion #doc x lion #rainbow six siege #rainbow six #r6s #r6s doc #r6s lion #gustave kateb #olivier flament #rainbow six doc #rainbow six lion #wow!!#i cant wait to completely lose any motivation to write!!!

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dontdietwd · 4 years

Text

Day 65, part 1

Daryl was snoring. Not too loud, I could probably go back to sleep if I tried, but the contrast with the deep silence of the shared room and the corridor woke me up with a start. For a second I couldn’t picture where I was, the shriek cry of a baby that had been only in my dreams fading to nothing as I looked around trying to understand the singing crickets and cicadas’ absence. On the couch by the cot, now not reeking any sort of smell, Daryl didn’t even more a muscle, his low, constant snoring lulling my heart back to a normal beat.

A clock on the wall above the door showed it was early morning. At camp, the group would be up and about by now, woken up by the growing heat inside the tents. The silence showed it was not the case this morning. I thought it was good; these people deserved a lie in to get some rest.

I got up, though, and padded silently to the tiny adjoining toilet, where I found a small pack with disposable toothbrush and paste. Making a mental note to put it in my bag later if we ever had to leave this place, because the toothpaste I had brought from home was being scrapped out of the package already, I brushed my teeth, drank water from the faucet and washed my face before tying back my headful of dreads. Daryl was still snoring when I quietly left the room.

Jenner was in the cafeteria, the same we all had had dinner the previous night, behind the counters filling a mug of fresh coffee.

“Good morning,” he told me with a small, forced smile. “I think I probably shouldn’t offer you coffee.”

“Oh,” I said as I stood on the other side of the counter. “’Cause pregnant women shouldn’t drink coffee?”

“Well, yeah, people say. I wouldn’t know, I’ve always focused on other areas of medicine.”

“Right. Yeah, it’s – so you got the result then.”

“Yep,” he popped after a sip of coffee.

“Right. Yeah…” Ilooked down with both hands on the counter.

“Mazel Tov,” he said saluting with his mug and I looked at him again, snorting a laugh.

“Yeah, thanks. Fuck…”

Jenner went silent, staring at me with his brows creased. I didn’t know him at all, but it seemed to me that he was worried and thoughtful, maybe.

“Hey, I’m the girl in trouble here having to give birth and raise a child during the end of the world. Why’d ya look like that?”

“Well... it’s, uh… That’s it, isn’t it? A child, the dead…”

“Yeah, I’m a bit more positive now that we’ve found shelter,” I crossed my arms and stared up at him. “Right? We didn’t talk about this, I know, but I was wondering how this works. I got a big group, an elder man, a child, these women who are just now learning how to defend themselves… And now I got a bun in the oven confirmed, so I’d be kinda worried if we got to go back out there. This place might’ve saved our lives,” I paused and looked at Jenner for a moment. He had rested his mug down, still staring at me. “If we don’t stay, well... Gotta be prepared for this, anyway, you know, women’ve had babies for hundreds of thousands of years in nature, living in caves, defending helpless kids from animals and whatever…”

I then took a deep breath, suddenly nervous about the prospect, contrary to my words. Having it confirmed and my otherwise flat stomach showing turned everything even more real, scarier, and the timing of the unfortunate accident this pregnancy was just stunned me.

“I must say,” Jenner started after a few seconds of silence. “I’m impressed by your positivity. Really,” he looked down, nodding to himself, lips tight.

“Okay, what is it, Doc?” I lost it, but tried not to be rude. “I ain’t blind, alright? You ain’t just worried about some random pregnant person who you met. What is it? What you worried about? You ain’t gonna let us stay here, is that it?”

He looked up quickly holding out a hand to me, “Hey, it’s – it’s nothing, ok? Just –” he started walking backwards, away from me. “Don’t worry about it now. I just – I have work to do. Excuse me.”

I tried to say something but he was gone before I could think of how to persuade him to tell me that the hell was happening in his mind. Something was seriously wrong and, with an icy feeling on my stomach – maybe the child had felt it too – I was certain this shelter was not what we had dreamed of. Entering it had been a miracle, and there were no more miracles these days.

And holy fuck, I really was fucking pregnant!

“Hey, you alright over there?”

Startling out of my reverie, I saw T-Dog having just arrived, standing by the counter. I smiled, giving some poor excuse and greeting him with a smile, not mentioning any worries. Together, T-Dog and I started fumbling in the cafeteria cabinets as to find something to make the group breakfast. The man was by the stove doing his best to prepare powdered eggs and I was mixing some artificial juice when the others began to flow into the space, most of them quietly. Glenn looked the worst, eventual groans demonstrating just how bad he felt. Dale, Andrea, Lori and Carl were also sitting with bowls of old but still good cereal.

“Dude, did you puke yet?” I asked Glenn as I stood behind him, a hand on his shoulder. He groans louder and hangs his head. Carl, a mouthful of cereal, laughs at him. “If ya haven’t you should, trust me, you’ll feel better.”

Rick joined us just as T was serving scrambled eggs that surprisingly seem to be good and Lori was handing Glenn some aspirins. As they all started to eat, I leaned against the counter, sipping on my glass of juice. I was quiet with a smile so it would seem like I was following the conversations and quiet teasing going on by the table, but my mind is only half there.

I knew I was pregnant, I was sure ‘bout it, why was I feeling this now? I needed to tell them. They had to know, life was about to get shittier for everyone with a knocked-up woman and then a screaming baby. Where was Daryl, still sleeping? The eggs kinda smelled good, I wished there was bacon. Damnit, bacon.

Interrupting my thoughts, Shane passed in front of me like a storm, walking fast and hunched, quickly dismissing the good morning wishes. At the table Lori flinched, looking down at her eggs, and seemed to shrink unbeknownst to anybody other than me, the only quiet and observing one.

“Fell as bad as I do?” Rick, at the head of the table, asked his friend.

“Worse,” is all he said before turning around and heading to the table.

“What the hell happened to you?” T-Dog asked as he met Shane on his way. “Your neck?”

Shane sits nearly across from the Lori, who purposefully busied herself with her food. “Must’ve done it in my sleep.”

“Never seen you do that before,” Rick questioned as I was slowly abandoning my position at the counter and stepping around the table to stand close to Lori without having planned to do so.

Standing there I could see what T-Dog had asked about. Shane had scratch marks on his neck, as perfect as nails. The rest of the table was silent and I was glad I wasn’t the center of attention. Blood had risen to my face and my throat was tight. I was sure Lori had made the marks, simply by her reaction to Shane’s arrival. She’d had to defend herself from him, and that certainty burned on my chest like a physical blow. I remembered Ed slapping Carol – where are Carol and Sophia? Gotta go find them, see if they’re okay – and the desire to do to Shane the same I did to Ed was almost stronger than me.

“Me neither,” Shane answered and stared directly at Lori. “Not like me at all.”

I then took a step closer to Lori’s back, staring at Shane, whose eyes slid up from Lori straight to me. I stopped there and held his eyes hard, my own narrowed and head turning slightly to the left, daring him to say or do anything else or, I don’t know, breathe.

Jenner returned to the cafeteria just then, finishing the subject. I held Shane under my gaze for seconds longer, though. I wanted him to know that, if no one else did, I had noticed and that I’d keep an eye on him. His look going even harder than before told me he got the message.

***

Seeing the image of the brain dying, and then returning to life, though only in few parts, was not exactly news to anybody. It was impressive to see the transformation occurring on the inside, though. Extraordinary brain or not, it was how happened to everybody. It had happened to Amy, it had happened to Jim by now. But we had seen it in real life, we had shot freshly transformed people in the brain to put them to rest. Andrea had done it to her own sister. The mood in the room was now densely gloomy, verging hopelessness. Though he explained the procedure in detail, Dr. Jenner never mentioned a cause.

“You have no idea what it is, do you?” Andrea voices what was everybody’s impression.

“It could be microbial…” he started, vaguely, his answer to the question very clear. “Viral, parasitic, fungal.”

“Ain’t there nobody who’d know that?” I asked from where I was perched on a desk by Daryl. “Other centers, wherever, nobody could take the – the thing and analyze it to know what it is?”

“And how to stop it – kill it, more importantly?” Rick completed my question standing closer to Jenner

“There are others, right?” Carol also added her question. “Other facilities?”

“There may be some. People like me. There’s no way to be sure, though. Everything went down, communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month.”

“So, it's not just here,” Andrea’s chin trembled as she spoke. “There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?”

The doctor didn’t answer. Instead, he lowered his head as he nodded, and for long seconds nobody spoke a word.

“Well, fuck,” I whispered making the others come out of their shock. Daryl stood up pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes, mumbling to himself that he intended to get drunk again.

Behind the group, among the next row of desks and computers, Dale’s voice came changing the subject and alerting the others for something that hadn’t been noticed yet. “Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but... That clock,” he pointed to a wall further away and the whole group looked at its direction. A red digital clock had just marked one hour. “It's counting down. What happens at zero?”

Once again, like it was beginning to be customary for the doctor, he took seconds to answer, looked around as if in doubt of how to phrase something. “The basement generators... they run out of fuel.”

“And then?” Rick asked him, his voice grave, but it had no effect on Jenner. He just lowered his head again and started walking away, completely ignoring the question. Rick looked up at nothing, as if talking to God, “Vi, what happens when the power runs out?”

“When the power runs out,” the robotic voice started. “Facility-wide decontamination will occur.”

* * *

When Daryl entered the room we had shared the previous night, I was already shoving whatever personal belongings I had back inside my backpack.

“Hey, what ya doing?” he asked as he leaned against the doorframe, a bottle of whiskey in hand.

“Just making sure, leaving the bags ready to take and go,” and I entered the touled, collecting the toothpaste. “I don’t like this no-generator-power-fuel thing. The way the guy didn’t even answer what’ll happen – I don’t know. I told the others to have their packs ready too.

“’Kay, I’ll just –”

“Yours’ done already,” I cut him and pointed to his bag on the floor. “Didn’t have much out.”

“What you figure is gonna happen?”

“No fuckin’ clue,” I zipped the bag forcefully and rested my hands on my hips. “But just think ‘bout it, we’re underground, not a single window, if there’s no power at all how’re we gonna have air? You know?” I pointed up and Daryl looked at the vent on the ceiling.

“No lights, no fridge for the food, no air circulating…” he completed my though.

“Nope, don’t seem to me like a place we can be for long. ‘S why I told the others to get ready, Jenner’s gonna have to explain what the fuck we’re gonna do if when the guys come back they say there really ain’t no more fuel.”

Just as the last words filled the tense air of the room, the light went off, leaving only a faint emergency glow coming from the corridor, and the silent place became even more silent as the air from the vents stopped flowing. Everybody was out in the corridor at once, asking questions at Jenner, who had just appeared and was walking resolutely along the hallway. In seconds, the whole group was back in the control room, Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog back from the lower levels informing there really wasn’t any more fuel in the barrels. With his already infamous half-words, Jenner explained shallowly that the system of the building made the decisions, not him, and that air and light were not as important as keeping the computers running until the very last second.

“Alright, that’s it!” I raised my voice above all the others. “Back to the rooms now, everybody, grab your things and we’ll get the fuck outta here!”

For one or two seconds, everybody was following my orders, running towards the door, but everyone froze in place again at the loud, deafening alarm sound and blaring red light that took hold of our senses.

“30 minutes to decontamination,” the robotic, cold voice informed.

“Everybody, you heard Sam!” Rick shouted at the top of his lungs, “Let’s get out of here, now!”

A metal door rose from within the ground just as he spoke, closing the only way out of the room. It had looked like there wasn’t any door there at all, but now it seemed like it was a solid, metal wall. Fear on the verge of despair washed the group like an ice-cold waterfall, screaming and cries and Daryl trying to attack the doctor, who now was calmly sitting down on his fancy chair.

“Jenner, open that door now,” Rick tried, sweat rolling down his face.

“There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed.”

“Well, open the damn things!” Daryl yelled from where he was being held away by Shane.

“That's not something I control. The computers do,” Jenner spoke firmly, but still carrying and annoying calm on his words. “I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that.”

“We heard you say they’d stay closed, not that we’d be locked in even if we wanted out!” I yelled, despising how my voice trembled. “You were not very clear ‘bout that, doc!”

“It's better this way.”

“What is better?” Rick asked. “What happens in 28 minutes?”

He didn’t answer, once again, turning away and trying to type something on his computer. There was yelling once again, the men around Jenner trying to get him to talk clearly for once. He finally did, getting up from his chair and screaming and spitting that the whole place had been designed to protect the public from horrible deceases, to keep viruses, bacteria and parasite inside and to just destroy everything in case any of it could ever get out. Calming himself down like what he was about to say was the most calming and reassuring thing, he explained how the system did that.

“It sets the air on fire,” he practically smiled. “No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... Regret. Everything.”

“You mean an end to your sorrow,” I shouldered though the men and got closer to Jenner. “You’re sitting there accepting your fate, the end to your grief, but making us stay when we want to go?”

“Open the damn door!”, Daryl yelled from the door, where he’d started kicking it. Shane approached the door with an axe he had found somewhere and they both attacked it, grunting and making sparks come out of the metal.

“You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier,” Jenner said from his chair, watching us like he’d watch a movie. “You know what's out there... A short, brutal life and an agonizing death!”, he tried to convince us. Looking at Andrea, he proceeded. “Your sister, you know what this does. You've seen it,” and he looked back at Rick. “Is that really what you want for your wife and son?

“I don't want this!”

“There is no hope. There never was…”

“There's always hope!” Rick was nearly crying in anger. “Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere –”

“What part of ‘everything is gone’ do you not understand?” Andrea cried from her spot on the floor.

“Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event,” Jenner said with a final tone, like the end of a discussion.

“This isn't right,” Carol was openly crying with Sofia on her arms. “You can't just keep us here!”

“One tiny moment... a millisecond. No pain,” the doctor carried on.

“What the fuck are you trying to convince us about, doctor?” I spoke again. “You want us to sit and accept the air around us will blow up and we’ll die?”

“Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?”

“Wanna hear what’d be kinder? Cause I don’t think you know much ‘bout it,” I bent a little to look at him. “Compassionate would be to let us choose our fate for ourselves. Lock people in and tell them they’ll die ain’t compassionate, it ain’t kind!”

“You may not see it, but I know what I’m talking about. There is nothing else out there other than dead people walking and ready to eat your flesh! Nothing!”

“You’re a fuckin’ liar, you know that?” I angrily whispered, but loud enough for everyone around to hear. “You didn’t kill yourself like the others. You stayed and you were still trying, weren’t you? Why is that, huh?”

“I didn’t stay alive because I wanted to!” he stood up making me straighten my back. Jenner pointed at the screen where he’d shown the image of the transforming brain before. “I made a promise... To her. My wife.”

“Test subject 19 was your wife?” Lori asked him.

“She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me.”

I snorted a bitter laugh. “Good. You kept your promise to her right to the end. And then you fucked it all up. Bravo!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jenner took a step towards me just as Daryl restarted banging his axe on the door.

“You promised, you stayed, you researched, you did all of that. And then right at the end, in the very last minutes of your fuckin’ miserable life, you go and turn yourself into a fuckin murderer. Poor 19… Poor woman who’ll have a murderer for a husband.”

“Murder? Is that what – That’s not what I’m trying to do here!” he screamed and looked around trying to defend himself. “I’m helping you! You all came to me begging for help, and I’ve given it to you! You’re all going to die out there, a suffering, painful death, I’m being compassionate here –”

“Bullshit!” I yelled at his face. “You’re killing us! You’re lockin’ us in and giving us no choice! This is murder, plain and simple. Our lives are not yours to decide. If we wanna go back out there and die fighting to our last breaths, so we should be able to! These children’s lives are their mothers’ to decide about!” I cried out pointing at the direction where Lori and Carol held their kids. Then I pointed to my own stomach. “This child! My child! This life here is mine and I will fight like hell to save it. If we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die fighting. You don’t make this decision for us!”

Nobody seemed to be breathing now. Daryl’s banging on the door had ceased. Jenner stared down at me, eyes on mine for long seconds. Then he shook his head and walked towards the other side of his desk again.

“I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those,” and with a simple card and password, the metal door loudly slid open.

“Come on!” Daryl shouted from the threshold.

“This is the right thing to do,” I pointed at him. “Goodbye, doc!”

“Come on, Sam, let’s go!” Daryl called again as everybody else ran towards the exit.

“We have less than four minutes!” Glenn informed as he reached it.

On my way, I grabbed Jackie, who’d been standing motionless on her spot, and dragged the woman with me. On the rise that led to the door, Jackie stopped.

“No, no, I'm staying. I'm staying, sweetie.”

“What?! No, Jackie!”

“No, it's okay, I know. For the first time in a long time I’m sure about something. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy.”

“You’re not, Jackie, we’re fighting for –”

“There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out!”

“But Jackie –”

“Just get out, please Sam, you have a baby there! Just please, go!”

“Sam!”, Daryl returned from the hallway where he’d already reached. “Come on, Sam,” he said urgently, though in a muffled voice. “We gotta go now, come on!”

With a last look at Jackie, who nodded and smiled at me, I turned around and let Daryl drag me away.

* * *

Carol had a grenade.

Yep. Carol had a fucking grenade.

When the doors upstairs didn’t bolt even at gun shots, she suddenly took a grenade off her pack and handed it to Rick. He placed it by where the glass had been slightly cracked and everybody fell to the floor waiting for the explosion, Daryl right on top of me covering my whole body with his. The whole world shook as the glass broke at the explosion, the group climbing through the hole and out of the condemned building. Walkers outside fell like leaves at our shots, just not as scary as they had been just hours before. With seconds to spare everybody was inside the cars, ready to get out of there even before the explosion. Daryl pushed shoved me in before him into the truck through the driver’s door and just as he closed it we saw Andrea and Dale leaving the building, climbing out and running away, though not fast enough.

“Dale!!” I all but climbed over Daryl to be able to scream through the window. “Andrea! Get cover! It’ll blow – get cover!!”

There was still a moment to see them run and dive behind the sandbags before I was shoved down to the floor of the truck, Daryl over me and the deafening explosion, the heat on our skins threatening to burn everything around, an earthquake destroying anything that was still standing. For minutes we stayed like that, shaking, fearing the cars would not be enough to protect us, until it all started to fade, sound slowly lowering, heat cooling down degree by degree, faint cries coming from the other cars slowly reaching my ears.

“It’s over,” Daryl whispered from somewhere above me. “You okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, you?”

He sat up on the driver’s seat, still bent down to look at me on the floor, curved into a ball. “Fine! Come on, get up,” he reached for my hand and pulled me up. “You fine. It’s okay.”

“Good, good, we’re fine… They’re all fine?”

“All cars whole, Dale and Andrea just entered the RV. Everybody’s fine.”

Being pulled up by Daryl, I didn’t stop moving until I was all but over him, clutching to his shirt and sobbing into his shoulder. I didn’t plan to do it, my body acting on its own volition. I didn’t pay attention to him starting the truck and it moving away from the burning building, my emotions completely out of my control. Daryl didn’t say a word; he held me against him with one arm as he awkwardly drove away following the other cars, only Shane’s jeep behind us.

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blackandblueandstars · 5 years

Text

Happy birthday?

Inspired by post from @idkbutkamilah and comments by @poor-bi-choices

Amy tries to figure out when Kamilah's bday is, Kami mad when she throws party but actually enjoys it

"Kami?" asked Amy.

"Hm?"

"When's your birthday?" Kamilah sighed. She knew it was a matter of time before Amy asked.

"I don't know," Kamilah said with a shrug. "We didn't really celebrate birthdays."

She hoped that would be enough for Amy, but she knew better.

"Well," she said, "what time of year was it?"

"It was summer," said Kamilah. "Many of my friends were born in the spring, but I was born later. It was always very hot, around that time. We were in the thick of summer."

Amy nodded. She'd read about the flooding of the Nile, which occurred around August. It was believed to be a time of fertility in Ancient Egypt, so many conceptions occurred around that time, leading to a spike of births in spring.

"And you never celebrated?" Amy persisted.

"Not as a child," said Kamilah. "Birthdays weren't the same then. They were reserved for Pharaohs, and celebrated their birth as a God."

"What about later on?" asked Amy.

Kamilah sighed. Amy was like a dog with a bone. "The last time I celebrated my birthday was just before Alexander the Great was born," she said. "It was a lovely night under a breathtaking full moon. It just doesn't mean as much when you've got no one to celebrate with."

The look of pain on her face broke Amy's heart. She walked over to her, giving her a hug.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll stop asking about it."

But Amy was resolved to figure out when Kamilah's birthday was and celebrate her properly.

Over the next few months she used her free time to research. She didn't have much luck looking at Ancient Egyptian traditions and time, so she shifted focus to Alexander the Great.

She finally had some luck. Alexander the Great was born during the Olympics, based on reports that his father had received word the day of his birth that his horses had won at the Olympic games.

After further digging, Amy was able to find the previous full moon before the Olympics, as Kamilah had mentioned a full moon on the night she'd last celebrated her birthday.

With a board full of notes that made her look like a conspiracy theorist, Amy was finally able to track down Kamilah's birthday.

June 30th.

Luckily, that gave her a little over a month to plan.

Amy wasn't sure how she should celebrate. She thought of throwing an elegant, formal party, but Kamilah had to attend formal work functions all the time. She wanted her to let loose and have fun.

After agonizing for days, she finally decided to consult Adrian.

"I don't know what to do," said Amy.

"You know she's going to hate this, right?" he said. "She doesn't like celebrating her birthday."

"Ughh," said Amy. "You're supposed to be helping me, not being a Debbie Downer!"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "A Debbie Downer?"

"Yes," sighed Amy. "Debbie Downer, sourpuss, Negative Nancy, take your pick. I'll go elsewhere."

She left Adrian, deciding to recruit Lily to her super-secret party planning committee.

"Oh! This is so exciting!" squealed Lily. "We can have fireworks and cake and we can have a dance contest and karaoke and all kinds of alcohol."

Amy regretted her decision immediately.

"I'm not sure Kamilah would like that," she said gently.

"Girl," said Lily. "Who wouldn't like that?!"

"...Kamilah," said Amy. "Thanks anyway."

Amy left Lily behind, accepting that she and she alone could plan the perfect party for Kamilah.

She went home and began to draw up ideas. Over the next few weeks she ordered the cake, party favors, Kamilah's favorite wine, and of course her birthday present.

Finally, the day had come.

Kamilah went to work, just like any other day. Amy had already let their friends know when and where to show up, and she put Adrian in charge of getting Kamilah there.

"What do you want me to tell her?" he'd asked.

"I don't know," said Amy. "Make something up. Official Council business. New feral outbreak. Gaius back from the dead. Get creative."

Adrian sighed, but reluctantly accepted the task.

Amy arrived ahead of time to set everything up. She had rented a cabin and planned to bring in Kamilah's birthday under the full moon, just like the last time she'd celebrated. She really hoped she liked it.

Lily and Jax showed up and helped her set, up. She had a table with food and refreshments, a table for vampire-only drinks and a table for alcohol.

She'd gotten Kamilah an adorable birthday crown that was gold and had beautiful jewels, just like the relics she had in her home from her youth.

Jax started a fire to light the dark field behind the cabin. Amy smiled as the darkness grew, hundreds of fireflies littering the field before her.

She received a text from Adrian saying that they were close.

"Okay guys!" she said, they're almost here!

They stood by the gate that led to the back from the driveway, ready to surprise her.

They heard the car and in no time at all, Kamilah rounded the corner.

"Surprise!" they all shouted.

Kamilah reacted instantly, knocking Jax to the ground.

"Oof!" he said.

Kamilah looked around.

"What is this?" she asked quickly. "Amy? You're okay?"

She took Amy in her arms, relief flooding her body.

"Adrian," said Amy, "what did you tell her?"

Adrian shrugged meekly. "She wouldn't come," he said.

"He told me your life was in danger," she said, stepping back. "I now see that is not the case."

Amy smiled, hoping that that remained true. "Happy birthday?" she said shyly.

The color drained from Kamilah's face as she looked at Amy. "Birthday?" she asked.

"I--I figured it out," she said. "And you deserve to be celebrated, so... I threw you a birthday party."

"A birthday party," Kamilah said, still staring at Amy.

"You're not too angry, are you?" asked Amy.

"I told you I don't celebrate my birthday," she said.

"Right," said Amy. "Because you didn't have anyone to celebrate with. But now you do. You have me. Us." She motioned to her friends.

Kamilah sighed. "Amy--"

Amy interrupted her. "Please, Kamilah," she said. "Just give it a chance? If you hate it, we'll leave."

Kamilah pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Very well," she said.

Amy's face lit up like a firework, and Kamilah knew she wouldn't be leaving. She'd do anything for that look in her eyes.

"I got you a birthday crown," said Amy, walking to one of the tables.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Kamilah.

"Yes," said Amy. "Because you're my queen."

Kamilah couldn't help but smile as she pulled out the crown. It reminded her of home, even if it was plastic.

"Very well," said Kamilah, bending down so that Amy could place it on her head.

"You look beautiful, your majesty," said Amy, bowing.

Kamilah chuckled. She even loved Amy's stupid sense of humor.

"Now," said Amy. "I have your favorite wine," she pointed to the alcohol table, "your favorite non-alcoholic refreshment," she pointed to the vampire-only table, "and treats."

Kamilah poured herself a glass of wine.

"Here is your throne, m'lady," said Amy, gesturing to a chair before the fire.

"Thank you," said Kamilah. "This is beautiful, Amy."

"I thought we could bring in your birthday under a full moon, just like the last time you celebrated," Amy replied.

Kamilah was surprised that she remembered. "Thank you," she said softly. "It's lovely."

Amy smiled at her, her eyes shining far brighter than the moon ever could.

"Oh!" said Amy suddenly. "I can't forget the gift!" She jumped up, heading to one of the tables. She grabbed a package, bringing it back and handing it to Kamilah.

"Open it!" said Amy excitedly.

Kamilah opened the gift slowly, finally pulling out a clear box. "It's...a box?" she said, feigning excitement (and failing).

Amy smiled. "It's a display case made out of special material, it's basically indestructible. I thought it would be good for you to put Lysimachus's horse in."

Kamilah began to tear up, despite herself. She cleared her throat. "That's very thoughtful, Amy. Thank you."

Amy leaned into her, kissing her.

"Happy birthday, Kami," she whispered.

And for the first time in a long time, it was.

Final word count: 1397

Tag list: @h-doodles @scarlet-letter-a0114 @idkbutkamilah @lightning-fury @galaxyside-0 @blogsupitssam @ilovetaylor13m @la-guera-69 @adrianrainesworld @iam-the-fuckin-queen @itsroseelise @jen825 @sheyah @lifesadance96 @theoblivionforest

Resources:

Fertility season in Ancient Egypt

Annual Flooding of the Nile

Birth Chart of Alexander the Great

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lianadrayton · 4 years

Photo

**CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION 11/19**

UPDATED: NOVEMBER 19th, 2020

@tupeloextras

KANE // 24 // SHE/HER // EST

DISCORD: whiskey#6583

I work nights so my replies on the dash and in discord are kind of all over the place time-wise

I am irresponsible so here is a 3rd I said I’d never have

LIANA DRAYTON-CRAWFORD

Full Name: Liana Selene Drayton-Crawford

Nickname(s): Lia, Duchess

Birthday: July 5th, 1978 (42)

Hometown: Chanute, Kansas

Education: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in Biochemistry from Northeastern University

Occupation: Waitress at Red’s Diner

Faceclaim: Amy Adams

Content Warning(s):

Divorce, Emotional Manipulation/Abuse (Implied), Cheating,

BACKGROUND:

Liana was born & raised in Chanute, Kansas to young parents (18, 19) who had no concept of the amount of work it took to raise a child

She was raised on hard work, thrift shops, and Sunday mass by her maternal grandparents as her parents never stepped up to the plate to try their hand in raising their daughter

Already absent in much of her life, the couple broke up in their mid-20′s and her father moved to Washington state and was not heard from after that point

Her mother never ended up going to college and ended up marrying a lineman and moved away against the wishes of her parents, officially leaving Liana behind with her grandparents

Though her parental situation was different her life with her grandparents was great

They may have been some of the poorest people in the already poor, little midwestern town.. but they were all rich in love which was what mattered the most

The moment that Liana could get a job she did and her first job was working in a local flower shop and then moved to picking up shifts at the diner

All of the money she made went to help her grandparents with bills even though they would protest and downright refuse her offer to help. Liana would often secretly go and pay off some small bills anyway behind their backs to help

Anything extra of Liana’s that could be spared was saved so she could purchase a car. Her first vehicle was a 1985 Ford Escort (9 years old by the time of purchase). Issues with the vehicle were worked on by her grandfather (and sometimes Liana herself) as he used to be a mechanic in the town

Even with juggling working and school Liana managed to post outstanding scores and was named the valedictorian of her class (even though it was a small class it still felt like a great accomplishment with the way her parents had both barely graduated from high school)

She was accepted and granted a scholarship to attend Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts for chemistry

While in Boston, Liana met Alexander “Lex” Crawford who was attending Harvard University in the neighboring Cambridge, Massachusetts for law

The two began dating officially roughly 6 months after meeting

During Liana’s 4th year at Northeastern and Lex’s final year in law school, Liana found out that she was pregnant with Lex’s child (~2 months before graduation)

After graduation Lex proposed to Liana and the two had a fast-tracked wedding late that summer

The two would end up having 3 children in total and remain happily married for over 10 years before issues arose

MARRIAGE & DIVORCE: TW Divorce, Emotional Manipulation/Abuse, Cheating

They welcomed their first child in 2000, a boy, named Theodore “Theo” Crawford

Even though Liana had her degree her dreams of pursuing a career were cut short and she instead became a stay-at-home mother to care for Theo full time (as per the request of her husband and his family)

Five years after the birth of Theo, Liana and Lex had another child in 2005 - this time a girl named Ava Crawford

For the first few years of marriage Lex was fairly sincere and loyal to Liana but was often swept up in the scandals of his own family’s bad behavior

This bad behavior was often praised by other members of his family and he grew to resent Liana for keeping him from enjoying his youth

Liana spent much of her time with the children and trying to be the perfect housewife

In a matter of years she had gone from the only thing in her name being a 1985 Ford Escort to having access to a house in the Hamptons, cars, lake homes, and expensive time shares overseas

She cooked, cleaned, decorated the house for each and every occasion and was always the parent who attended parent-teacher conferences and was also part of the PTA/PTO

Lex started to go behind Liana’s back with other women (most of whom were college interns or assistants for the law firm)

Everyone knew about it but no one would say anything since Liana never brought it up as she preferred to pretend that it wasn’t always the hot gossip amongst the circles she was in

Lex would reel Liana back in by preying on her love for her children, informing her that if they were to divorce he would take the children and she would be left with nothing

He would also often switch between threats against Liana and grand romantic gestures (empty, of course) to keep her attached to him just enough to not leave

She preferred to wear the rose colored glasses as long as she could though eventually they would break

The worst came when Liana would have their third child together, another boy, in 2015 (Benjamin “Bear” Crawford)

From there things escalated quickly between Liana and Lex and they divorced in 2018

Lex would gain full custody of the children at this time by accusations against Liana that she was alienating the children from him

The Crawford reach extended into many of the rich and elite in New England so there was no concern from Lex about keeping custody no matter what Liana did, in fact the custody battle was an attempt to lure her into doing something uncharacteristic then using that against her to ensure that the children would stay with him (though he did it for revenge against her, not because he cared for the children)

Additionally, the Crawford family did not care for Liana that much overall, believing that she was still “some girl from a cornfield in Kansas” and they often called her Dorothy

Liana would battle with Lex in court over custody until the money ran short, additionally she would see how much of a toll the fighting took on the children and knowing she would never be able to beat her then-husband in court she stopped fighting

Lex also took out a restraining order against Liana after their legal proceedings were finished

Even though the children had spent 90% of their lives with their mother, their father’s words (and Black Amex) proved to be much more alluring than staying with the person who had seen them through everything in their lives

By the time the legal battles had settled down, Theo was of-age and went to college. Liana tries to keep in contact with him but he has not been that responsive (reasons not known, suspected influence from his father paying for his schooling)

Lex offered Liana a large share of money during the divorce as well as vehicles and vacation homes all of which she rejected, only taking what was in her name only

PERSONALITY:

Liana is very dedicated and loyal to her friends and family (even if sometimes they don’t deserve it)

Strong work ethic! She never lost this even while being married to someone who would’ve rather just paid for everything to be done rather than do it himself

Very maternal, she tries not to mother everyone but kind of accidentally does it sometimes (she’s working hard on reeling it in)

She’s very sweet, likes to help others when possible

Tries to see people for the best instead of the worst (hence staying with her husband for so long) even if it comes back to bite her in the ass

Can be almost a little too kind, this usually lead to her being used like a door mat but her divorce gave her some strength to push back once things got to be too much

Walking Pinterest board, she’s creative and enjoys her little projects. Often subjecting friends to testing them out with her (whether it’s building something or baking a recipe that looks good)

FAST FACTS:

Liana moved to Tupelo as an attempt to go somewhere where no one would know her

She could not go home as her family there is no longer around and no one could ever track down her father after he moved to Washington

She has deep regrets and embarrassment over not being able to get custody of her children and does not speak of them (as she does not want to explain anything)

Her home is bare of any photographs that would hint that she has children

She will speak of her ex-husband, but only briefly and not mention what he did but instead say that they split due to differing opinions on where they wanted their lives to lead

She still enjoys cooking and decorating as they are some of the few things she finds comforting, she also finds having live flowers in her home

Liana has two pets - a Great Dane named Salem and a brown tabby cat named “Billy the Kitten” based off the character of the same name from the popular mobile app Neko Atsume (both pets were handed over to Liana during the divorce)

Liana now lives in small home with a decent yard, using the remaining money she had to purchase it mostly for the yard for Salem (the inside of the home is lined with carpet runners for the dog and there is not an abundance of furniture that is not necessary as to accommodate Salem’s size)

Liana can be seen walking Salem often or having Salem outside with her while she gardens, Salem can wander freely around the property when Liana is outside - otherwise he is limited to the fence (which he can stick his head over)

She has a Mercedes (which she hates) and can never get it worked on without taking it to a larger city

She kept the Crawford part of her last name as (for whatever reason) it makes her feel closer to her children in some small way

BEST FRIEND FROM COLLEGE TM: (Taken WC by Ethan Morris, Jake Gyllenhaal FC)

These two met while attending Northeastern and quickly became close friends

Just because they were close didn’t necessarily mean that he always supported or even liked the fact that Liana was dating Lex Crawford

He & Lex shared a mutual distain for one another

Even with this, the two would eventually attend each other’s weddings

Right before he got married he asked Liana to leave Lex and to essentially have a modern-day runaway sequence with him (no points for timing)

Unfortunately, she could not bring herself to divorce her husband at the time

After he got married they began to drift apart

CONNECTIONS:

Friends!

People she mothers on accident

Other dog people (and cat)

Those who benefit/are subjected to taste testing random recipes she finds

Regulars at Red’s

Her kid?? This could be a WC at some point I guess (We out here being flexible on most of that)

She’s not really looking for anything romantic at all - but y’know sometimes it hits you when you least expect

Maybe someone who actually did know her from the east coast (whoops)

Everything!!

#tw divorce #tw emotional abuse #tw emotional manipulation #tw manipulation #tw cheating #just trying to get my tags under wraps #.tag1 #.tag2 #.tag3 #.tag4 #.tag5 #here we are with me being irresponsible #with a 3rd character I swore I'd never have

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

Stars Dance

Ch. 9: All Gobbled Up

Fandom: Doctor Who Pairing: 11th Doctor x Original Female Character

[Previous chapters]

(Fairy Tale Memoirs, One Shot/AU Companion story)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0

Chapter summary: The time travelling group must face a threat from under the planet and, in the process, save Avalon and Amy!

While his companions slept, the Doctor roamed the TARDIS trying to find some entertainment. By now, he was used to the silence that followed every night for an agonizing 8 to 10 hours. Sometimes he had companions who really loved sleep and wouldn't show up for 12 hours! Twelve hours! Who slept for that long!?

Things were a bit different right now, though. Amy and Rory slept the usual eight hours humans took. They were set like stones. Lena and Avalon would vary. Sometimes poor Lena wouldn't be able to sleep well due to her asthma. As much as the Doctor tried, her asthma would just suddenly kick in and make it hard for her to sleep peacefully. Those were the nights he would be on red alert in case she needed something. He didn't want to bring her to the medbay when she had her own comfortable room, but he would make it so that it was the first room next the console room. But other times, she would sleep as soundly as Amy and Rory would. He liked those nights; he didn't like seeing his baby sister suffer.

And then there was Avalon. Oh, Miss Avalon Reynolds was the case when it came to sleeping.

Some nights she would disappear and sleep like anyone else. Sometimes she'd sleep less hours than the others but she would still sleep. Other nights would have her poking her head into the console room and trying to start some type of adventure while everyone else slept. The Doctor admitted that it was nice having somebody around to talk to while it was 'night', but he often worried that she wasn't getting enough rest. It was when he voiced these concerns that Avalon would get irritated and leave the console room in a storm.

That's also when the TARDIS would throw sparks at the Doctor's hands, like she was angry that he upset Avalon. 'Whose bloody side are you on!?' he would yell at the console only to get another spark as a response. And if Avalon happened to be around, she would laugh at him.

The Doctor wasn't very fond of those nights but he was even less fond of the nights where Avalon wouldn't sleep at all.

Those were the nights he sometimes genuinely feared.

Sometimes, Avalon wouldn't sleep for days and it would take a toll on her. She was irritable and sometimes she'd almost doze off in the middle of an adventure. The Doctor would feel sorry for her, as did the others, because it was clear that she wanted to sleep but she just couldn't. He'd offer to help her out but of course she would refuse. Apparently, being hopelessly stubborn was another side affect.

There were various nights where Avalon simply could not sleep and it wouldn't affect her. She didn't seem tired, she didn't act like it, so she would wander through the infinite corridors of the TARDIS. And because the TARDIS seemed to outright favorite her above anyone else - including one possibly jealous Doctor - the box would give her access to nearly every room available. Already Avalon had seen the library, the swimming pool, the bowling alley, the gardens, the gym and one time the Doctor's workroom which she loved and possibly tinkered with until the Doctor had to physically yank her out. She was a wanderer and an explorer, but sometimes the Doctor wanted to shake her until she would just agree to go to sleep.

Of course the Doctor would also admit that they did have some fun together when they actually went out on small trips. He didn't have to wait eight hours to continue adventuring with the others because Avalon was more than ready to go out during 'night'.

To be frank, it was a hit and miss with her. At least the Doctor couldn't say anymore that the nights were boring. He could never be bored when Avalon Reynolds was around.

Tonight, however, the TARDIS began humming in an odd manner...like it was trying to tell him something. Stopping, the Doctor carefully thought what the hums meant. "Avalon and Rory are fine, I just saw them..." he checked the two off his list, "...Amy and Lena...Amy usually's fine, but Lena..." he nodded, "...it has to be Lena. What's wrong with her, old girl? Is it the asthma again?" He raced out of the room and just like the times before, Lena's door was right after the console.

As he neared the door, he began to hear Lena's cries. "Lena?" he knocked on her door. "Baby sister, what's going on?"

"I'M SORRY!" she had screamed and the Doctor, panicking, ran right into the room. Lena was sitting on her bed, chest heaving from the terrible nightmare she'd had. Her eyes were wide and looking from one thing to another to make sure she was in her comfortable room now.

"Lena?" the Doctor cautiously approached her bed, presuming she'd had a nightmare. That was rare, she never had one even with all the trips they had.

Lena's eyes locked with his and immediately softened. "Big brother, did I wake you?"

The Doctor smiled, a bit amused, and shook his head. "Lena, you're the one who woke up screaming. I'd like to focus on you instead."

But that didn't please her. With a snort, she looked down. "Story of my life."

"What's wrong? Do you want me to call Avalon?" the Doctor thought that maybe Lena would feel more comfortable talking with her sister. Seeing as there was nothing physically wrong with Lena, he could go get Avalon now.

"No!" Lena had gasped suddenly, startling him. "I mean...I don't...I don't want her to come for nothing." She swallowed hard.

"It doesn't look like nothing..." the Doctor noted. There was a different sort of fear sitting in Lena's eyes and it made him worry. "I know it's not the same because we haven't known each other for a long time, but...you could talk to me about anything."

Lena contemplated for a moment. Could she trust him with a secret that had been a burden on her ever since she could remember? A secret that she'd learned to put away in the deepest corner of her mind but was now forcing its way back to the surface because...because of where they were?

"Lena?" the Doctor called when the brunette had gone silent. Unlike her sister, Lena failed miserably trying to hide what was bothering her. Avalon was a master at it. Lena's eyes were too frail to act like nothing was wrong. Lena was generally less guarded than Avalon.

"You can't tell anyone," she began in a faint whisper.

"I won't-"

"I mean you literally cannot tell anyone, Doctor," Lena looked him directly in the eyes. "Especially not Avalon."

"I swear I won't," the Doctor raised a hand. "But what is it?"

Lena swallowed hard and looked down, biting her lip. "I...I know something...that I really shouldn't. That I wish I didn't." She closed her eyes for a moment, her lower lip becoming like a chewing gum. "Because it makes me feel really guilty."

"What is it?" the Doctor reached for her hand. The fact she was saying words like those and looking like she did was a big alert that this was no ordinary nightmare she had.

"When I was young, a lot of times I couldn't go outside and play because of my illness so Avalon would invite Amy, Rory and our friend Mels to play inside instead. Our favorite game was hide-and-seek and one time...when I was meant to be hiding...I heard something I shouldn't have from my parents." Lena closed her eyes again and gripped the Doctor's hand. "I really wish I hadn't heard it, big brother, because then I wouldn't have turned into an accomplice and I wouldn't be lying to my sister every day."

The Doctor, although confused, was beginning to make connections on his own but he decided to let Lena get it off her chest. He assumed she had yet to tell anyone and it would do her good to have one opportunity to do it.

"We don't look alike, Avalon and I, not because we're fraternal twins...but because we're not twins at all. I-I don't know what we are, if we're not, but I just know that Avalon isn't my mother's daughter," Lena sniffled more and more as she spoke the words out loud. "I was young, and I got scared...so I ran out before I could finish hearing my parents. Since then I keep getting the same dream over and over of that moment, like a plague..."

"You've been carrying that secret for a long time," the Doctor patted her hand gently.

"I was good at keeping it away," Lena admitted. "But then we came here-" she gestured to the TARDIS as a whole, "-where I thought that Avalon could finally start her own life but instead she keeps focusing on me and missing the bigger picture. It makes me feel awful that she spends all this time on me when I'm not even her sister."

"Avalon has a big heart, and I think she would rather die than let anything happen to you," the Doctor smiled. "But that's no reason to feel guilty, Lena. You should feel special that someone loves you this much."

"I can't, because I don't deserve it,"Lena shook her head.

"What? Lena!"

"It's true!"

"No, it's really not. You've given Avalon the gift of sisterhood, a confidant from the very start of her life. It's always been you two and that is something that no one can replace!"

"I can't tell her," Lena bit her lip, expecting for the Doctor to give her some sermon about telling the truth because Avalon deserved it.

"If you think that's what needs to be done, then you have my support," he surprised her with instead.

"You really...would keep this from her?"

"It's not my story to tell."

"I just...I just don't want you to think that I'm being selfish by not telling Avalon. I-I'm not a bad person, I promise. I just...I would like to spare Avalon from the truth. Because one thing I heard from my parents was that Avalon never had to know."

"I imagine they love her too much to tell her the truth," the Doctor reasoned, and Lena shrugged. "A usual case within adoptive parents. They fear the biological parent or parents would try to take the child from them."

"But Avalon isn't a child anymore. And I think it's really more about my Dad," Lena sighed. "Because my Mum was reproaching him why he never revealed if Avalon was his daughter or not. Isn't that weird?"

"A bit," the Doctor admitted but didn't put that much thought to it. "But parents make the oddest decisions for their children, trust me."

Lena looked at him for a moment, getting that same strange feeling that he was saying this out of experience. "Big brother...did you have children at one point?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose, and he took his hand from Lena's. "Um..."

Lena saw the struggle to come up with an answer and smiled. "You don't have to tell me. But just like you, I'm always here if you'd like to talk." She scooted closer and hugged him, thinking that both of them needed one at the moment.

~ 0 ~

To say Avalon was upset of the newest destination the Doctor had for them was way past an understatement. He knew, Lena knew, Amy knew, Rory knew that she detested the beach and yet somehow...they had all decided to go to a beach. A big ole Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, the biggest and 'coolest' as stated by the Doctor. Avalon did not care how flashy nor how big this Carnival was, she was not stepping out of the box and that was that.

Did no one understand?

"We're here!" the Doctor cheered when the box had finally stopped.

Nope, guess no one.

"Off we go!" the Doctor rushed towards the doors, Amy and Rory right behind him.

Lena cast a glance back to her twin who sat glumly on the chairs beside the console. Lena sighed and walked towards Avalon, "You don't want to see Rio?" she questioned softly.

"Frankly, the only thing I want to see is my pillow," Avalon mumbled and jumped off the chair, her hand rubbing a circle on her temple. She could feel a a headache coming on from her lack of sleep.

"You do look a bit...pale," Lena observed her twin with concern, "Have you slept?"

"C'mon, Lena, you know me," Avalon flashed a small smile and turned for the corridors, "Sleep hates me."

"Maybe we can ask the Doctor to help you," Lena tried following but Avalon turned back in an instant, making Lena bump into her.

"No, don't you dare," Avalon pointed a warning finger at Lena, "I don't want any help from no bow-tie wearing alien. Plus, I'm crossed with him right now. He knows I dislike beaches and yet..."

"Yeah, Avalon?" Amy poked her head inside the TARDIS with a crossed face, "You can come out, it's not Rio."

"It's not?" Lena turned with a disappointed expression, "Aw!"

"Surprise, surprise, he got it wrong," Avalon flashed a small smile and strode towards the doors, "Good."

"But I wanted to see the beach!" Lena trailed after her.

Avalon stepped out to see a cemetery as the environment, "Never mind..." she mumbled. Cemetery or beach? Today was definitely not her day.

"Big brother, what happened here?" Lena crossed her arms while she gave her best mock-irritated frown, "I was promised sunshine and music!"

"May have been a bit of a mix up," the Doctor walked a bit ahead and came to an abrupt halt, "Ooh, feel that, though, what's that?" he bounced in place for a second, "Ground feels strange...just me?"

"Yes," Avalon compelled to make the clarification.

"That's weird," he had ignored her as he looked around.

"What's weird?" Rory asked.

"Doctor, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place," Amy sighed as the Doctor ran around to the other side of a church.

"Yeah, it's freezing here," Lena shivered and hugged herself. She committed to Rio and chose a green buttoned rib-knit top with jean shorts. It was not appropriate for where they were right now. "I dressed for Rio..."

"Lena go get changed. I don't want you catching a cold." Avalon had no trouble with colder weather because she hadn't dressed for Rio. She said she wasn't stepping out of the TARDIS and had meant it. She wore a white, short-sleeved, high neck shirt tucked under high-waisted brown and white plaid pants.

"But-"

"Go," Avalon pointed. With a sigh, Lena returned inside the box.

The Doctor was plucking some grass and sifting it through his fingers, "Blue grass. Patches of it all round the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot."

Amy noticed three people on the other side of the valley waving at them. Amy squinted her eyes but they were too far away to see the trio clear. "Why are those people waving at us?"

"Can't be," the Doctor murmured, too engrossed with the grass to notice.

Rory started waving back at the trio but Avalon pushed his hand down and shook her head. "Don't wave until we know who they are."

The Doctor finally looked up and took out some binoculars from his jacket to get a better look at the trio. He almost laughed. "It's...hm, it's you two," he pointed at Amy and Rory, "...and...Lena."

"What? That can't be right," Avalon snatched the binoculars and took a look for herself. Sure enough, it was Amy, Rory and Lena waving at them.

"But we're here," Rory looked at each other, "How can we be up there?"

"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine," the Doctor said.

"But where am I?" Avalon frowned and lowered the binoculars. She tried searching for herself anywhere nearby but she wasn't around. "How come I'm not there?"

"Maybe you got married and moved away," Amy teased but Avalon didn't seem to like the joke.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'd never leave Lena."

"Maybe she forced you to," the Doctor mumbled, thinking no one had heard him, until...

Avalon whacked him on the chest with his binoculars, "What did you just say?"

God help the man who married her alright. He rubbed his chest and tried to move the conversation along. "I said nothing. I was actually thinking about-"

"No, you said she'd force me to leave, why would Lena do that?" Avalon moved to stand right in front of him, eyes narrowing for him to start explaining.

"I don't know, I..." the Doctor sighed and took a look at the pair behind the angry ginger for help. He had such a incredible talent at pissing her off and nobody seemed to help him when it happened, save for Lena.

"I'd measure your words very carefully, Doctor," Avalon warned with a pointed finger at his chest.

"Avalon, don't overreact," Amy moved to the ginger's side and swayed her. Fortunately, it rocked Avalon into a nearlike sleep, her eyes even closing momentarily. All arguments had suddenly been forgotten!

"Yeah...sorry," Avalon mumbled and walked ahead, still half asleep.

"That woman is asleep!" Amy exclaimed.

"I've never seen her like that before," Rory mumbled as he moved up as well.

"That's the only side I've seen," the Doctor remarked but still agreed the ginger had not looked so good, even for her natural feisty self. She was in one of her days-without-sleep spree and it would be a bad one.

"I should talk to her, see what's going on," Rory resolved, "She'll tell me and then we can fix it."

"Fix what?" Lena emerged from the TARDIS, now changed into warmer clothes as requested, ordered, by Avalon. Her jean shorts were exchanged for a regular pair and she'd thrown on a thick green sweater.

"Your sister nearly chewed my head off," the Doctor declared and made her laugh. So much for having Lena's help!

"You certainly have a way of pushing my sister's buttons, don't you?" she stepped off the TARDIS onto the mushy grass.

"It's not my fault she doesn't sleep," the Doctor shrugged, "And I'd really not get into that whole mess so how about we go check that big mining thing, eh?" he pointed behind him to the building.

Two different reactions surfaced in the trio: Lena, as expected, simply nodded, while Amy and Rory wore irritated frowns and shook their heads.

"We want the beach," the engaged couple declared.

"But it's a big mining thing," the Doctor insisted, "Way better than Rio! Rio doesn't have a big mining thing!"

"We're not going to have a look," Amy warned.

"Let's go and have a look!" the Doctor took Lena's hand and walked down into the valley.

Rory sighed, "If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?"

"Did you not see, over there?" Amy nodded up to the hill where their future selves remained, "It all works out fine."

"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives, the nurse and the kissogram?"

"I guess. He's getting away," Amy took Rory by the arm and started off when suddenly Rory halted them.

"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" he pointed to her ring finger.

"Engagement ring! I thought you liked me wearing it," Amy raised an eyebrow, not so sure anymore with the face Rory was making.

"Amy! You could lose it! Cost...a lot of money, that!"

"Hm," Amy removed the ring and handed it over, "Spoilsport."

"C'mon, let's go put it away...to safety," Rory eyed her, taking the groaning ginger back into the TARDIS.

After setting the ring back in its box and placed promptly on the console, the two headed back for the doors.

"If we get lost it's your fault," Amy warned as they stepped out.

"We won't get..." Rory stopped once he saw a woman and a little boy standing in front of him and Amy, as if waiting.

"Well, that was quick!" the woman, a brunette, remarked.

"...was it?" Amy replied in an answer as she nervously glanced at Rory.

"It's great that you came."

"Bit retro," the young boy was staring at the TARDIS, "What is it, portable crime lab?"

"Oh, er..." Rory looked back at the box, "...sort of."

"Ambrose Northover," the woman introduced herself as she shook Rory's hand, Amy next, "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot," she gestured to the boy.

"Where's your uniforms?" he questioned the pair.

"Don't be cheeky, Elliot, they're plain clothes," Ambrose scolded, "CID, is it? Anyway, it's over here."

As the mother and son departed, Rory and Amy exchanged uneasy glances...what was going on?

~ 0 ~

"Avalon? Avalon! What are you doing?" Lena gasped and ran forwards.

Avalon was already at the drill site in front of the gated entrance...which she was currently climbing up on. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Avalon grunted and swung one leg over before looking down at them.

"What? Get down from there!" Lena ordered in her best authoritative tone. But when she saw Avalon swinging her other leg she gave up on that and turned to the Doctor, "Do something!"

"Um...it's restricted access..." he looked around, "No unauthorized personnel. Mm..." he gave the ginger a smirk.

"Hm," Avalon smirked and hopped off, now on the other side of the doors. She curled her hands around the gate's bars and grinned, no longer looking like the sleepless night were an issue. "Come along!"

The Doctor pouted at her words. "Those are my words! I say that!"

Avalon smirked again. She pressed her face against the bars, almost reminding Lena of a few times Avalon had been sent to the local precinct, only this time Avalon seemed content. "You gonna stay there or what, Fairy Tale Man?"

"You watch me," he whipped out his sonic and let it tap Avalon's nose between the gates.

"Big brother!" Lena whacked his arm while he sonicked the gates. "You're not supposed to encourage her!"

"Why are the Reynolds hitting me today!?"

Avalon laughed and stepped backwards for when he opened the gates.

Lena groaned at his lack of attention. "That's breaking and entering!"

"What did I break, little sister?" he gestured to the unbroken locks, "I...sonicked and entered, totally different."

"You and Avalon are going to go to jail!"

"Ah, been there done that," the Doctor said as they stepped through the entrance. "We'll keep each other company."

Avalon's eyes widened at him. "You!? What!?" She promptly burst into laughter, once again making him pout.

"You might not believe me-"

"You're right, I don't!"

"Right, okay, so if you're not extra cranky you just make even more fun of me!" the Doctor shook his head at her and linked arms with Lena. "Let's go baby sister!"

~ 0 ~

Ambrose and Elliot had brought Amy and Rory to the graveyard where a plot laid with no tomb inside. Ambrose stepped beside it and peered down, "It's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now."

"Mum, they don't care about that! They want to know about the dead bodies," Elliot reminded.

"Yes, sorry," Ambrose nodded in agreement, "Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together. But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything."

"What?" Rory blinked, glancing at Amy who was just as confused as he was.

"The mad thing is, on the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with."

"But..." Amy began but shook her head, "...nope, sorry, not getting it."

"Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried," Ambrose reiterated, "But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?"

~ 0 ~

"What about now, can you feel it now?" the Doctor asked the twins as they strolled through halls inside the drill station.

"It's the ground," Avalon sighed, "It just feels like...ground."

"But it doesn't feel like it should," he explained, unaware of the roll of eyes she'd given him behind his back.

"It's ten years in the future, maybe this is how the ground feels like now," Lena offered.

"Good thought! But no. It doesn't," he shook his head. They stopped at the sound of a whirring not too far up ahead. The Doctor listened carefully. "Hear that, drill in start-up mode. Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." He still held a few pieces of the blue grass he picked up from outside and placed it in his mouth.

Avalon made a distasteful face when she saw that, Lena simply giggling when he made a face and had to pulled the grass off his tongue.

"You are disgusting," Avalon declared, almost gagging. "Have you always had that...erratic quality?"

"No..." he genuinely considered, "That's recent."

"Ugh, don't ever kiss my twin nor me," Avalon shivered and moved on ahead.

"I gotta agree there," Lena made him shake off the grass still in his hand, "Repeat after me: blue grass is not food."

"Blue grass is not food," the Doctor muttered.

"Hey, maybe I can be a teacher," she clapped, "If I can make a 907 year old alien pay attention, I'm sure I can make 5 year olds do it!"

"That's what you want to be, then?" the Doctor took her by the arm and led her after Avalon, "A school teacher?"

"Mm, I always liked the idea," she shrugged. She never truly put much thought into what type of career she'd want because of her illness. Her father (and Avalon) wanted Lena to take it easy for a few years before she decided going to a college away from Leadworth.

"My baby sister as a teacher, I can see that. And what about Avalon? What super-twin team are you making?"

Lena faintly smiled, "I...don't know. I don't actually know what she wants to be."

"Oh c'mon, isn't that one of the primary teachings you humans always do with your children?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Always asking your kids what do they want to be when they grow up?"

Lena just shrugged, her smile completely gone, "I don't know. Avalon doesn't say much, she doesn't say anything, actually..."

"Not even to Rory?"

Lena shook her head, "Rory's more of the comforting friend. But she doesn't really say much about herself. Still, I'd rather Rory be able to help her out than for her to have absolutely no one. I mean, she comes to me, we have good talks, sometimes...I can get her to talk about what she wants, but those are rare times."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor genuinely said to her, "I promise after this I will get us all to a nice place, no beach, something calm and I'll make sure you get some sister time with Avalon. How does that sound?"

"That sounds really nice, thank you," she softly smiled.

The two finally entered the room where they heard the sound from. They'd arrived just in time to see Avalon being questioned by a woman with short, black hair. The woman seemed to be getting upset that Avalon wasn't answering any of her questions.

"Time to go in and save your sis...again," the Doctor mumbled to Lena as he took out his psychic paper, the brunette chuckling as he moved ahead, "Hello, see you've met my friend here," he flashed the psychic paper to the woman, "Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science! New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?"

"None of your business," the woman looked at the trio with suspicion, even more towards the Doctor when he started moving around the monitors.

"Where are you getting these readings from?" he asked.

"Under the soil," the woman replied as she moved towards a hole in the ground with certain equipment around it.

Another man entered the room in a quick stride. "The drill's up and running again-" He came to a pause when he saw the newest intruders in the room. "What's going on? Who are these people?"

"Hi!" Lena waved, deciding to go ahead and give introductions seeing how the Doctor was at work and Avalon was...well..half-asleep again. "That's the Doctor and that's my sister, Avalon."

"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" the Doctor looked up, curiously.

"We don't know, it just appeared overnight," the woman answered.

Lena walked closer to the hole and peered down, confused as she only saw soil. The Doctor stood up rather fast and looked at all of them, "Good, right, you all need to get out of here very fast," he rushed to the monitors.

"Why?" the woman raised an eyebrow.

"What's your name?"

"Nasreen Chaudhry."

"Look at the screens, Nasreen, your readings. It's moving," he pointed at the monitor.

"Lena, get away from there," Avalon instructed, currently rubbing her temple again. She felt a head-ache coming soon to her.

The man that'd walked in had moved to the Doctor and Nasreen, irritated to see the stranger touching all their equipment, "Hey, that's specialized equipment! Get away from it."

"What is?" Nasreen asked the Doctor, concerned of the man's words.

"Why is there steam?" Lena frowned as said steam rose from the hole, "Avalon, come and look," she motioned for the ginger to move over.

"Lena, move away," Avalon made her twin stand up, "Doctor?" she called, "There's steam coming out of this thing. I'm gonna go on a wild guess and say it's not good."

"Very correct," he looked over his shoulder and saw the steam, "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting."

"What shouldn't?" Nasreen asked, a bit irritated that none of her questions were being answered.

The ground started shaking as if an earthquake was striking, prompting the Doctor to quickly move his hands over the monitors, "The ground, the soil, the earth, moving, but how? Why?"

"Is this an earthquake?" Lena stumbled back.

"What's going on?" the man demanded.

"Doubt it, baby sister," the Doctor looked around, "Cos it's only happening under this room," he said just as more holes formed on the ground as it subsided underneath, "It knows we're here. The ground's attacking us."

"No, that's not possible!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" the Doctor grabbed Nasreen and headed for the doors.

As Tony quickly followed, the twins made move only to have Lena get trapped.

"No!" Avalon turned, gasping at her fallen twin.

"Stay back, Avalon! Stay away from the earth!" the Doctor, quickly looking for a way around the opening holes.

"No, Avalon, go away," Lena tried waving Avalon to leave, "Don't-"

Avalon leaped over a hole and pushed everything she could to help Lena, "Don't be stupid, Lena. Like I'd ever leave you, hm?"

"Don't...just go," Lena pleaded, whimpered.

"Look, I got - AH!" Avalon found her feet being sucked by the ground underneath, "What the hell!?" she looked down with wide eyes, "Ah! It's pulling me down!" she gave a cry as she went further down.

"No! N-n-n-no!" Lena cried from her spot, feeling so incredibly useless being stuck, "Someone get me out of here so I can help!"

Luckily enough, the Doctor had found a way around the holes and ran towards them, "It's okay! It's okay!" he grabbed onto Avalon's hands while Nasreen and Tony ran to help the other twin in distress.

"Something's got my feet!" Avalon yelped as she sunk to her waist.

The Doctor fell to his stomach with the great pull the ginger had endured, but he never let go, "It's okay, we're going to get you out of here, you'll see."

Avalon had stopped her shouts and looked around with shiny eyes, "Doctor, what is it, why is it doing this?"

"Stay calm, keep hold of my hand, don't let go," he looked over to the others, "Your drill, shut it down! Go! Now!"

Lena was finally pulled away from the hole she was in and so Nasreen and Tony rushed off. Lena tried moving to help the Doctor when Avalon gave a shout.

"Stay where you are! Don't move!"

"But Avalon, I can help-"

"STAY BACK!"

Lena froze in her spot once her sister screamed with full force. It even stopped the Doctor for a moment. "But..." Lena couldn't even open her mouth when Avalon shouted again.

"Just stay where you are! I didn't save you so you can put yourself in danger again! Whatever needs to happen, you let it happen!"

"Don't say that, Avalon!" the Doctor was the one to snap next. "Nothing is going to happen to you! We're gonna get you out! But you gotta stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand. I'm not going to let you go."

"Ah!" Avalon's arms slipped from his grip as she sunk even lower, "I-i-it's pulling me!" she cried.

"Stay calm. Hold on," he gripped her one wrist with both his hands, "If they can just shut down the drill..."

"I can't hold on!" Avalon sunk down to her neck and arms, "Doctor, you gotta tell me what's down here..." she swallowed, her eyes becoming shinier as more water filled them, "What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there! I'd rather drown!" And considering her hatred of beaches, that meant a lot.

"Avalon, just follow orders please. Concentrate!" the Doctor did his best to keep her spirits up despite the situation. He could feel her hands slipping from his grip so he squeezed as much as he could. He'd apologize for breaking her bones when she was safe in the TARDIS. "That's all. Concentrate. Don't you give up! That's not the Avalon I know!"

"Please don't let them take me..." Avalon whimpered as she went down again, her chin beginning to go under as well. Once she tasted dirt in her mouth, she realized this was happening. She would be going under no matter what. "Fairy Tale Man...look after Lena."

The Doctor's eyes widened. He recognized the resignation but before he could tell her things would be okay, her hand slipped out of his and she sunk into the ground.

"AVALON!" Lena cried and rushed forwards, forgetting all about the holes still threatening them.

"No! No!" the Doctor shouted at the ground, unable to believe he'd actually let that happen. "Avalon! Avalon!" he frantically dug through the whole, hoping nothing more than to see her fiery ginger curls. Suddenly, he wanted to hear her snaps and jabs! He wanted to take her night adventures and play cards when she couldn't sleep! The idea of never being able to do that struck chord that he hadn't felt a in a very long time. "No! No! No! No. No! No. NO!"

"Where did my sister go!? Where is she!?" Lena watched the Doctor use his sonic over the spot Avalon had been in but he got nothing from it.

Nasreen and Tony ran back inside the room thinking everything was good until they saw one angry man and one crying woman. It took them a few seconds to realize that Avalon was missing.

"Where's your other friend?" Nasreen asked.

"She's gone. The ground took her," the Doctor answered quietly, his eyes glued to the hole.

"And it's my fault...again," Lena dropped to her knees in front of the hole. "Always has to save me and then she gets in trouble!" she ran her hands through her hair, completely frantic, "Always, always, always me!"

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Tony questioned, the Doctor shooting the man a death glare as he was not helping the case.

The Doctor bent down and helped a frantic Lena to her feet, "Baby sister, baby sister, breathe," he gave the order, "I need you to be calm and to breathe!" he articulated the last word as he searched inside his jacket and pulled out her inhaler, "Breathe!"

Lena took the inhaler and took her breaths as requested, slowly calming down with each take, "Doctor, you have to save her, please," she sniffled, "I'll help you, but...she needs to be here and she needs to be alive!"

"Exactly what we're going to do," he assured her and took a breath himself before he started to think, "So...it's not quicksand, clearly. She didn't just sink..."

"She said something was pulling her," Lena reminded, wiping away some tears off her face, "If she was being pulled then it meant what ever was down there wanted her."

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"You said the ground was dormant, just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning," the Doctor looked at her nod, "And the drill had been stopped."

"That's right," Tony said.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back."

"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling?! Doctor, that is ridiculous," Nasreen shook her head.

"Don't you dare call this ridiculous if it just swallowed my sister!" Lena snapped, surprising the Doctor as he sonicked the hole. Lena never snapped. But she looked so frustrated, so angry and so...sad. She was right in that somehow Avalon seemed to have a habit of getting hurt.

The Doctor felt a twinge of guilt as he recalled Avalon taking a death shot for him as well. Once again, she'd taken a bullet for someone and ended up hurt.

His thoughts were interrupted when the ground started vibrating, "Oh! Oh of course! It's bio-programming!"

"What?" Tony frowned.

"Bio-programming," the Doctor clapped, "You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects! It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future, and not here. What's it doing here?"

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen raised an eyebrow.

"You're not making any sense, man!" Tony added.

The Doctor took a moment to throw the man an indignant look. There was no time to waste and here this man was doing exactly that! "'Scuse me, I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up! The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack."

"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?" Nasreen asked.

"Stop you drilling! We find what's doing the bio-programming, find Avalon, get her back!" he suddenly spun around as if he had twenty people talking to him at the same time. "Ssh ssh ssh! Have I gone mad?! I've gone mad!"

"No time for personal questions, big brother," Lena sighed, "Can we find Avalon now?"

"Ssh ssh! Silence! Absolute silence!" the Doctor held a finger to them and shushed, "You stopped the drill, right?"

"Yes," Nasreen nodded.''

"And you've only got the one drill?"

"Yes!"

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes!"

But the Doctor dropped to the ground on his stomach and pressed an ear to the gun beside the hole where sure enough he heard that faint whirring sound again.

"Doctor, what is it?" Lena stepped forwards, for a second thinking he could hear Avalon still shouting. She shook her head and snapped out of those thoughts.

"So, if you shut the drill down... why can I still hear drilling?" the Doctor looked to Nasreen and Tony, "It's under the ground."

"That's not possible," Tony shot the idea down.

The Doctor ignored the man as he jumped back to his feet and ran towards the machinery with his screwdriver.

"Oh, no, what, what are you doing?" Nasreen quickly followed when she heard the screwdriver making its usual noises.

"Hacking into your records. Reports, samples, sensors, good, just unite the data, make it all one big conversation, let's have a look. So. We are here and this is your drill hole. 21.009 kilometres. Well done!"

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time," Nasreen faintly smiled with pride.

"Why here, though? Why drill on this site?"

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 million years."

"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here," the Doctor gave a small chuckle, "They were a warning. Stay away. Cos while you've been drilling down... somebody else has been drilling up," he pulled up a screen with a vertical network of the tunnels underneath the ground, "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."

"No, no, we've surveyed that area," Tony said.

"Clearly you only saw what you went looking for," Lena shot him an irritated look. If they had paid more attention maybe her sister would still be around.

Nasreen noticed three little green dots that were moving up via the tunnels registered, "What are they?"

"Heat signals," the Doctor started looking into it, "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"

"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in," Tony answered.

"Grab this equipment and follow me," the Doctor instructed and headed for the door with Lena.

"Why? What're we doing?!" Nasreen called.

The Doctor stopped ans turned around, "That noise isn't a drill. It's transport. Three of them, 30km down, rate of speed looks about 150km an hour. Should be here in...ooh, quite soon, 12 minutes," he picked up one of the computers, "Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now!"

~ 0 ~

The group were carrying computers and a wheelbarrow with more equipment as they trundled of the building.

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Tony insistingly asked.

"You saw the readings!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"But whoever is down there...they've got Avalon, right?" Lena hoped, "They took her..."

"Hopefully, and then we can have a nice little chat about that..." the Doctor mumbled, not so sure that a chat was what the creatures were coming for.

"Who are you, anyway?!" Nasreen cut in, "How can you know all this?"

They all stopped when a red light struck across the sky.

Lena gasped, "What was that?"

"No, no, no!" the Doctor took out across slingshot from his pocket and picked up a rock.

He shot the rock to the sky where a force field appeared at the contact in the form of a red light. He used the sonic and made visible the dome-shaped field around the village and drill site.

"Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped," the Doctor explained.

Rory and Amy joined the group with Ambrose and Elliot behind them.

"Doctor! Something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people," Rory really had no other way of putting it.

"And what was that in the sky?" Amy pointed above, "Red lights and stuff appeared."

"Energy barricade. Invisible to the naked eye," the Doctor waved them off, "We can't get out and no-one from the outside world can get in."

"What if we use the TARDIS?" Lena suggested.

"The what?!" Nasreen looked at the girl like she was crazy.

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes."

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"We're trapped. And something's burrowing towards the surface," Nasreen answered with and huff.

"Oh..." Amy nodded but blinked when she realized what had just been said, "No, wait, hold on, what!?"

"Wait, where's Ava?" Rory looked around, realizing they were missing some remarks from her.

"Get everyone inside the church!" the Doctor ordered the others as he picked up the computer he'd been taking out.

"Lena?" Amy asked, knowing the brunette would answer much easier than the Doctor.

"She was taken," Lena whispered guiltily. "Because of me."

"What d'you mean 'taken'? Where's she gone?" Rory demanded as he looked at the Doctor. A growing anger was taking over his expression and a well deserved one too if the Doctor was being honest.

"She was taken. Into the Earth," the Doctor sighed.

"Into the Earth!?" both Amy and Rory exclaimed.

"She saved me, as usual, and she got swallowed down into the Earth," Lena sniffled, "It's my fault."

As Amy moved to comfort the lonely twin, Rory raged at the Doctor, "You need to get Ava back!"

"I will, I'll find her," the Doctor assured, glancing at Lena, "I'll find Avalon. I'll keep you all safe. I promise. Come on, please. I need you alongside me."

Lena nodded and together they all headed towards the church.

~ 0 ~

The group was buy setting up the brought equipment inside the chaotic mess the church's room was in.

Ambrose was closest to the door, overlooking everything that was happening with a frustrated face. She'd been told that her husband, Mo, had apparently

been sucked down into the Earth along with another girl. The whole thing was just mad!

"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone. And something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth," she recited what she'd been told and it still didn't sound very convincing

"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready," the Doctor said

"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"

"He's telling the truth, love," Tony, her father, looked up from the equipment he was setting up.

"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."

"Listen lady!" Lena nearly shouted, shocking her friends her voice could actually reach a level like that, "You can sit there and not believe a thing or you can come and help! Your husband my sister are down there and I will not have you waste our time with your unbelieving rants!"

Ambrose stood still with blinking eyes, unsure of what to do or say next. The brunette looked awfully pale and frantic, something Ambrose didn't want to push even farther.

"Lena," Amy gently came forwards to her friend, "You need to calm down," she set an arm around Lena's shoulder, "It's not good for your health."

Nasreen looked between the frantic brunette and the stunned Ambrose. She stayed looking at Amberose and sighed, "Look, Ambrose, we saw the girl's sister get taken, okay? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."

"Him?!" Ambrose cast a worried look to the Doctor.

"Me," he nodded.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot suddenly asked, making the room go silent as everyone looked at the Doctor for his answer

"Yes," he answered and walked towards Ambrose, "But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time."

"So tell us what to do," Ambrose breathed, resigned.

"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring me every phone, camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find," he ordered, "Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors."

The group nodded and rushed to do the task. The Doctor returned to Lena and Amy and signaled Amy to go ahead and follow Rory out. Once the ginger had left, he set his hands on Lena's shoulders and the brunette promptly looked up with tears in her eyes.

"It's my fault," she sniffled.

"No, it's not. Stop saying that, please," he hugged her.

"It's always my fault, big brother. I always get into trouble and need saving from Avalon. I don't deserve that."

"You're saying you don't deserve your twin sister's love?" the Doctor gave a short chuckle.

She parted to look up at him. "You know I don't."

"Doctor?" Ambrose poked her head back inside the room, "We need help outside," she pointed then rushed out again.

~ 0 ~

Ambrose and Rory finished hooking up cameras in ideal positions where the Doctor sonicked them as the last touch.

Once back in the room, the Doctor monitored the oncoming green dots, "Right, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up," he looked to Elliot beside him, "I need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going."

"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic," the boy shrugged.

"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue," the Doctor turned to him and smiled, "Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot," the boy nodded and ran off. A moment later the Doctor checked his watch and read the time, "6 minutes 40."

~ 0 ~

Lena watched the Doctor going through Ambrose's van, still confused why he needed this particular car. She went around to the back and opened the doors, "Refrigerators!" she called.

"Oi! What're you doing!?" Ambrose hollered as she walked by, her arms full of garden tools, or...weapons.

"Resources! Every little helps!" the Doctor poked his head around the van, Lena closing the doors.

"I still don't understand what this vehicle can provide for us," she sighed.

"Well, it's a bit chilly for a hideout, mind," Ambrose had joined them and set the tools in the front seat.

"What are those?" Lena eyed what Ambrose had set down.

"Like the Doctor said, every little helps."

The Doctor gave the woman a suspicious look and checked the pile, "No! No weapons," he shook his head and stepped back, "It's not the way I do things."

"You said we're supposed to defend ourselves."

"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely. Put them away," the Doctor linked his arm with Lena and walked off.

"She was just trying to help," Lena offered as a valid reason, "Her husband's gone missing."

"Your sister's gone missing," he pointed out, "I don't see you carrying a weapon," he stopped and eyed her outfit, "You're not...you're not-"

Lena laughed, the first real laugh she'd given since Avalon had been taken, "No, silly."

"Sorry," he gave a small chuckle, "But I mean you have lived with a feisty ginger who hides weapons in her shoes."

"But she never let me near them," Lena shook her head and started walking again, the Doctor going at her pace beside her, "And you know, the only reason she knows how to use them is because she wanted to know how...protect me. It's not because she likes them. I mean, she kind of does but not for bad reasons."

The Doctor knew Lena was trying to sway his opinions on her twin with weaponry. Lena understood completely his opposition to them and knew that it was a big disagreement between him and Avalon. She just didn't want him to think that Avalon was a bad person for handling weapons. Avalon only used them because of, well...her...again.

"Everything Avalon is, is because of me," Lena continued, sighing, "She's stolen because of me, gone to jail because of me, learned weaponry because of me. But she's not a bad person, big brother. Honest. She's really sweet and caring, you two will be fine."

And the Doctor had to make another stop there, "Why are you saying that?"

Lena slowly turned with fiddling hands, "Because I'm going home after this."

"What?"

"I don't want to travel anymore," she continued walking again. She couldn't look him in the eyes just yet.

"But...b-b-but...what!?" the Doctor shook his head and quickly caught up with the brunette, "Lena, Lena, what are you saying?"

Lena gazed ahead so she could say what she needed to. "Let's be honest, big brother, I stink at traveling. I get scared of everything, I can't run very fast, and I'm not smart. This is not me."

"Lena, you're just saying that because of the circumstances. You'll see that once you have Avalon back-"

"No, Doctor," she turned to him with watery eyes, "I don't want to do this anymore. I keep getting my sister into trouble. She's supposed to be traveling and having fun and actually making a life of her own. But with me here she's just doing what she'd do at home, only here she can actually die," she swallowed hard, "I don't want to be the reason my sister loses her life."

"And you think that Avalon would just stay here when you go home?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, challenging her thoughts, "The only reason she's here is because of you. If you leave then she'll leave."

"No, that won't happen. I'll make her see that she has a right to make her own life. She needs to go out and meet new people, talk about herself and not focus on me."

"But Lena-"

"Big brother, I've thought about this before. I've known that I can't handle this kind of life and...I think I've finally had my fill. It's okay," Lena touched his arm, giving him a soft smile. "You've shown me more things than I could've imagined. I'm okay to go now."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," the Doctor said almost with the tone of a child. He felt like he only just started traveling with her. She'd truly grown to become his 'baby sister' and he didn't want to have her leave him.

"Just because I won't be in the TARDIS doesn't mean you stop being my big brother," Lena said as if she'd read his mind. "In fact, I fully expect you to pick me up for a trip here and there."

"I guess so," the Doctor sighed. He couldn't be upset with her, especially his baby sister. It wasn't the first time a companion of his decided that the TARDIS life wasn't for them. "So how exactly are you going to tell Avalon this? Because once she hears you're leaving, she'll go too." And maybe he didn't quite want that either...

Lena smiled innocently, making it clear she'd already thought ahead. "I have a way for her to stay. And you're gonna help me."

"What? How and why?" the Doctor was genuinely fearful of what this idea would involve.

"You're going to drop me off home in secret and for no matter what, you are not to bring Avalon home. And why? Simple, because I'm your baby sister and I am asking you to help me."

The Doctor made a face and bowed his head, "I hate that line. I really hate that line."

"Please, Doctor? Please help me?" Lena took his hands and continued to plead, "Without me Avalon can finally live her life and explore the world with no worries about some sick ole twin and have some fun because she really deserves to have fun and even maybe meet someone who'll make really happy and-"

"Alright!" the Doctor gave up and sighed, stumbling back with the great hug Lena attacked him with, "But fair warning, if you never hear from me again it'll be because your sister killed me and buried me in some planet."

"That's...oddly accurate based off her personality," Lena admitted and shrugged, "But I'm sure she won't...ish," she quickly scurried off.

The Doctor took a breath and continued on his way, actually praying to every deity he knew that the ginger wouldn't react so...murderously when she'd find her twin had departed without her knowledge.

~ 0 ~

Back in the church, Elliot ran inside with his finished map paper in his hands, "I did it!" he exclaimed and handed it to the Doctor who was checking one of the computer screens.

"Look at that!" the Doctor saw the map, "Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you."

"I don't understand what you're going to do," Elliot admitted with confusion.

"Two-phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe. "

"Knock 'em out. Cool," Elliot nodded.

"Lovely place to grow up, round here."

"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."

"I was the same, where I grew up," the Doctor related as he went back to a a monitor.

"Did you get away?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"So much..." the Doctor answered a bit late on it, could he be blamed though?

"Is it monsters coming?" Elliot peered at the screens, "Have you met monsters before?"

"Yeah."

"You scared of them?"

"No! They're scared of me," the Doctor smirked.

"Will you really get my dad back?"

"No question."

"I left my headphones at home," Elliot remembered and ran out.

~ 0 ~

After setting the last of the cameras, the group returned to the church but had trouble getting inside as the wooden door would not budge open.

"I can't open it! It keeps sticking!" Ambrose exclaimed as she continuously pushed, "The wood's warped."

The Doctor had gone to help Ambrose, Lena quickly hurrying to help, "Oi you two!" the Doctor looked back at Amy and Rory, "Any time you want to help!"

"What? Can't you sonic it?" Amy raised an eyebrow, heading over nonetheless to help.

"It doesn't do wood!"

Rory snorted, "That is rubbish!"

The Doctor stopped pushing to turn around, showing his offended face, "Oi! Don't diss the sonic!"

"Oi!" Lena grabbed him by the arm, "Get back to helping!"

Once inside, the ground had started shaking with the nearing creatures. The Doctor ran to the computers, dodging the falling objects from above, "See if we can get a fix!" he tried working on them but after a couple second it sparked and shut off with the power gone.

"No power," Tony remarked.

"It's deliberate," the Doctor mumbled.

"What do we do now?" Lena asked, already afraid as the shaking wouldn't cease.

Tony turned on a bright torch that gave some light in the room. The Doctor looked away from the screens with a face, "Nothing. We've got nothing! They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."

Once the shaking stopped, everyone gathered together and took a look around.

"Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?" Rory questioned them.

"I'm fine," Nasreen sighed.

"Lena?" Rory turned to her, knowing out of everyone she'd be the easiest to hurt.

"Fine too," she crossed her arms.

"Anyone?"

"I'm good," Tony said.

"Me too," Ambrose nodded.

A loud rumbling emerged from the outside, making everyone freeze in their spots.

"Doctor, what was that?" Amy whispered.

"It's like the holes at the drill station," Tony remembered.

"Is this how they happened?" Nasreen asked the Doctor.

He knelt down and bent over to listen to the ground, "It's coming through the final layer of Earth."

"What is!?" Nasreen cried.

The Doctor stood quickly just as silence overtook the area.

"The banging's stopped," Lena mumbled, her eyes darting from one place to another.

Ambrose had started looking around and realized something very important, "Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"

Everyone looked around for the missing boy, no one seeing the Doctor stiffen, "...I did," he answered eventually.

"Where is he?" Ambrose turned to him.

"He said he was going to get headphones."

"And you let him go? He was out there on his own?"

Suddenly, they heard pounding on the other side of the door, followed by Elliot's pleading voice, "Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!"

"Elliot!" Ambrose ran to the door, "He's out there! Help me!" she looked at the others.

"Open the door! Mum! There's something out here!"

Everyone hurried to the door and worked on opening it, the wood once again stuck.

"Push, Elliot, push, Elliot!" Ambrose called.

"Mum!"

"Hurry up!" Ambrose ordered the others.

"Mummy..."

"Come on!" Tony exclaimed and finally opened the door, Ambrose being the first to run out.

"Elliot!" she called but saw no one around anymore, "Where is he? He was here. He was here! Elliot!" she ran towards the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off!" the Doctor called after her, Tony going to follow her out.

~ 0 ~

By the time the rest of the group had caught up to Ambrose and Tony, a lot had happened. Ambrose had found her son's headphones and was attacked by a creature with apparently green scaly skin. Tony, in trying to protect his daughter, had gotten lashed with a...tongue? on his neck.

"My dad's hurt!" Ambrose was at her father's side, trying to help him up.

"Get him into the church now!" the Doctor ordered the others.

"Elliot's gone," Ambrose whimpered, "They've killed him, haven't they?"

"No, they can't have!" Lena shook her head frantically, "Don't say that!"

"N-n-n-n-no!" the Doctor tried calming both women down, "Listen to me, both of you, all of you," he eyed the remaining three silent humans, "Now, they've taken three people, when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Lena, Ambrose. There is always hope."

"Then why've they taken him?" Ambrose sniffled.

"And my sister," Lena looked down, her eyes getting ready to release fresh new tears.

"We'll find Avalon and Elliot," the Doctor assured both, "I promise. But first I've gotta stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."

"Come on, Dad," Ambrose helped Tony up with the help of Amy.

"Lena, you go with Amy," the Doctor instructed.

She nodded and helped the women get Tony back.

"So, what now? Rory raised an eyebrow, still in the dark about the exact plan going through the alien's head.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor walked through the street wearing sunglasses that picked up heat signatures all around him. He noticed something move in the bushes that hadn't given off heat, "Cold blood," he smirked and started to sing-song, "I know what they are..." he moved towards the meals on wheels van where he took a fire extinguisher from the front seat and shut the door, all the meanwhile casually whistling.

Through the van's mirror he saw a creature heading towards him. He spun out of the way when it attacked and used the extinguisher on it. Once the creature screamed, Rory jumped out of the van's backdoor and together pushed the creature in the refrigerated back and locked the door.

"We got it!" Rory exclaimed.

"Defending the planet with meals on wheels!" the Doctor laughed and raised hands to do a high-five when a rumbling cut them off.

"What was that?" Rory looked around.

"Sounds like they're leaving..."

"Without this one?" Rory nodded to the van. The darkness went away and allowed the sun to once more hit the area, "Looks like we scared them off!"

"I don't think so. Now both sides have hostages," the Doctor mumbled.

~ 0 ~

"NO!" Avalon gasped awake, her hands flinging to her neck...only to have them crash against the clear wall in front of her that sealed her inside a near-like coffin. She panted as she came around from the awful nightmare. It seemed that even when she'd been swallowed by the planet and being unconscious wouldn't help her get some sleep. She placed her hands on the wall and tried pushing it off with all her might, "Let me out, whoever you are! I'm alive and you better RUN!" she slammed her hands on the wall repeatedly, "I am Avalon Reynolds and I'm not...I'm not scared!" she saw a distorted figure approaching her, "LET ME OUT!"

"Shh!" it said to her.

Avalon raised an eyebrow, "Did you just shush me? You're dead do you hear me!?" suddenly gas started to fill the coffin, "What are you doing!? Stop that!" she coughed, "Sop that..." she coughed some more then fell unconscious.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was heading inside the basement with Lena behind him, a rather cautious engaged couple behind her, tentatively reaching for her arm in case the creature sat in the shadows attacked again. They all agreed that when Avalon returned, because she would return, she would definitely kill them all if anything happened to Lena.

"Are you sure? By yourself?" Lena whispered to the Doctor, "She could hurt you."

"Very sure," he assured her.

"But the sting..."

"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge," he stared at the silent creature, "Am I right?" he called to it but received no answer, "I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine."

Amy and Rory reached out for Lena finally and pulled her back upstairs, leaving the Doctor to deal with the creature. He walked down the remainder of the steps as the creature finally inched out of the shadows with chainmail and a mask over its face.

"I'm the Doctor, I've come to talk," he raised his hands up in peace as he grew closer to it, "I'm going to remove your mask," he he squatted down and removed the creature's mask to reveal a bright green humanoid, scaly face, "You are beautiful. Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth. And by the way, lovely mode of travel! Geothermal currents, projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous! Mind if I sit?' he stood up and reached for a folding chair which he placed in front of the creature and promptly sat down, " Now. Your people have a friend of mine. I want her back. Why did you come to the surface? What do you want?" the creature remained silent, making the Doctor sigh. "Oh, I do hate a monologue. Give us a bit back. How many are you?"

"I'm the last of my species," it responded.

"Really? No. 'Last of the species', the Klempari Defence. As an interrogation defense, it's a bit old hat, I'm afraid."

"I'm the last of my species."

The Doctor grew serious, "No, you're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult me. Let's start again. Tell me your name."

Seeing no other alternative, the creature responded truthfully, "Alaya."

"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya? It's not difficult to work out. You're 300 million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?"

"We were attacked," she spat.

But the Doctor knew that wasn't exactly what happened, to the human's perspective anyways. "The drill."

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault," and by the looks of her face, Alaya had already made her decision on how best to eradicate their problem. "We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet."

"Do we have to say vermin? They're really very nice."

"Primitive apes."

"Extraordinary species," the Doctor countered. "You attack them, they'll fight back. But, there's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that."

"This land is ours. We lived here long before the apes."

"Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid," the Doctor shook his head, "Humans won't give up the planet."

"So we destroy them."

"You underestimate them-"

"-you underestimate us."

"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans, you've got your work cut out."

Alaya stood up, "We did not initiate combat. But we can still win."

"Tell me where my friend is," the Doctor stood up, "Give us back the people who were taken."

"No," she spat again.

He sighed, "I'm not going let you provoke a war, Alaya," he folded the chair up and returned it to its place, "There'll be no battle here today."

"The fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due," Alaya nearly cheered at the idea.

"Not while I'm here."

"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?"

The Doctor gave one last look then turned and left in silence.

~ 0 ~

"You're going to what!?" Rory exclaimed after hearing the Doctor's plan.

"I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe," the Doctor repeated, "To talk to them."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Amy crossed her arms.

"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose nearly shouted.

"They're not aliens! They're Earth...liens!" the Doctor plopped down on a chair with an amused smile, "Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil," he stood up, "Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Avalon. While I'm gone, you six people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity."

"What if they come back?" Tony reminded, "Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?"

"I don't think dissection is going to keep my sister alive," Lena almost snapped again, "We hurt this creature and they hurt Avalon and I will not risk that, you got it?"

"Lena's right," the Doctor set a hand on her shoulder, hoping she'd calm down soon. Her emotions were rather radical and heavy today, certainly not the best way to keep her health in good state, "No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, they return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this, together. If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"

Nasreen gave an applause but stopped when no one joined in, feeling a bit nervous afterwards.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was heading towards the TARDIS when he heard two pairs of footsteps running closer to him. He looked back and saw Lena and Nasreen coming towards him, "No, sorry, no. What are you doing?"

"Coming with you, of course!" Lena panted for breath once they'd caught up, "Nasreen just came for her life's work."

"What is it?" Nasreen nodded to the TARDIS, "Some kind of transport pod?"

"Sort of," the Doctor answered her then looked at Lena, "You're not coming, baby sister. And neither are you Nasreen."

"He's right, you're not," Tony joined them, looking at Nasreen.

"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet. And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!" Nasreen shook her head.

"And I have to go," Lena declared, "My sister is down there. You can't expect me to wait up here. Amy and Rory didn't stop me and neither will you," she pushed open the doors of the TARDIS and stepped inside.

The Doctor sighed and let the brunette go, though he did look at Nasreen with a doubtful face, "It'll be dangerous," he warned her.

"Oh, so's crossing the road," she shrugged.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, all right, then! Come on!" he went inside the box and saw Lena already at the console, "Baby sister, your twin is gonna kill me for this."

"I'll explain to her that I forced you to take me," Lena crossed her arms.

Nasreen stood at the doorway, the doors now closed behind her, and stared with wide eyes at the bigger room inside, "Oh my..." she breathed.

"Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Now don't touch anything!" the Doctor called, "Very precious."

"No way!" she walked over with awe, "But that's... this is..." she slapped him on the arm and laughed, "What does it do?"

"Everything! I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere," the Doctor said just as the box started pitching drastically, making everyone cling to the console, "Did you touch something?!"

"No! Isn't this what it does?!"

"Doctor, what's going on!?" Lena cried.

"We've been hijacked! I can't stop it! They must've sensed the electro-magnetic field!" the Doctor looked at the monitor, "They're pulling the TARDIS down into the Earth!"

The box shook for a couple minutes before it gave a final lurch and sent everyone the floor, finally becoming still. Nasreen lifted her head up and looked around before snapping one of the Doctor's braces.

"Oi!"

"Where are we?" she demanded through a small laugh.

The Doctor got up and helped Lena then rushed to the doors with her. They all stepped out into a yellow-colored tunnel with roots and fungus covering the walls. The Doctor looked up from the way they fell and whistled in impression, "Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system. Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this."

"How far down are we?" Nasreen gasped.

"A lot more than 21km."

"So how come we aren't burning alive?" Lena asked the question that made them all think.

"Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Scary," she corrected and crossed her arms.

"Oh, not really," he swung an arm around her shoulders and the three began walking ahead.

"Is it like this is everyday to you?" Nasreen asked them, curiously.

"Not every day. Every other day," the Doctor shrugged. Nasreen couldn't fathom that type of life; she imagined it was what Lena felt like based off the facial expressions of the young woman.

In reality, Lena just really wanted her sister back already.

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