(5) nuit

still working through the “so if earth was abandoned for a year which plumbing resources would still work” questions.

dont eVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE “winter heating/insulation issue”

---

Marcy awoke with the strong sense that she had been falling.

It was night. Quiet, too. Didn’t seem like anybody else was up. The porch doors were propped open, allowing thick streams of balmy air and cricket chips to float in. Every once and awhile, a wind swept the tree into a symphony of rustling.

Marcy used her thumb to rub hard the middle of her right palm. The scar there glowed in the moonlight, as did its twin that was located on her left palm.

Twin scars.

Two of too many.

Silently, she rose from the round wicker chair she had collapsed in earlier that night. Morning? She checked her phone. 2 a.m.

Inside, in the black, Marcy could spot Louis, lying sprawled across one of the couches in the living room. Steve was practically draped over the dog, probably getting a face full of smelly fur. Neither of them seemed to stir when Marcy wandered past, heading towards the bathroom.

Only when the door was closed behind her did she turn on the lantern. Flick water in her face. Stare.

My God she looked like shit.

The dream had been standard (all her mistakes, bad experiences in the past, etcetera etcetera) up until the end. Marcy’d been at this nearly two years and dreams of her still made her want to cry.

She exited, wandered upstairs. Rui and Scarlet were there, occupying the bed in the middle of the main room. Both were asleep as well. Marcy made her way further, into the last room at the end of the hallway. Took of her jacket, changed her shirt. Slipped on some shorts.

There was a distinct thump from the front yard.

Marcy froze.

She out her jacket back on. Grabbed a flashlight.

There was a man out there.

“Uh… hi?” The teenage girl blinked, too confused to even turn on the light. Whoever it was didn’t… look threatening. Looked kinda like her old bus driver, to be more accurate. Maybe middle aged? At least Marcy could tell he was Cattlayan, or else she would have been even more unnerved.

“Oh.” The guy apparently wasn’t as confused as Marcy was. He looked around, scratching the back of his head.

Wasn’t he going to say anything else? “Can… can I help you?” People were never her strong suit, before or after the Change. Besides, it was two in the morning. What the hell was he doing here?

“Well, maybe. You’re never going to believe this, but, see, I’m somewhat of a time traveler.” He seemed proud.

Boy howdy, was he about to get a bit of a culture shock.

---

more explanations will probably come in part seven?? or the next part, I'm not really sure.

remember these are one shots and should not be looked at as a linear series of events in any form. if any of these do follow each other's plot i'll probably let you know by calling them something like 7.1 or 7.2, etc etc etc.

(4) hot damn thats a wizard

asdfghjkl haha nah nope goodbye

---

Will was screaming something shrill and fierce. Fueled by pure panic, he screamed loud enough to scare away the bird from nearby trees.

It was horrible.

.......Of course, it was also what Will ALWAYS did. This was completely normal.

He had a somewhat good excuse, as well! He was bait (this time), as he had lost the bet fair and square.

Son of a bitch should never pick paper every single time he plays rock paper scissors.

Regardless, Marcy had a job to do. That involved screaming. And tiny shells with feet.

Maybe if she hadn't inhaled so much caffeine that morning she would be taking this a little more seriously. But at that moment? Nah.

Two shells down, four to go. She was running full sprint, desperately trying to stay away from Will's diversion, sticking to the back streets of the town. The shells she had gathered were wiggling around desperately in the messanger bag she had, as if they had SOMEPLACE better to be.

Who thought giving relics feet was a good idea?

Marcy quickly dropped and home run slid under a wagon, just managing to grab another shell before it jumped into the gutter.

Wait THIS ONE HAD A TONGUE.

"Gross gross gross gross grOH IT LICKED ME GROSS GROSS GROSS-"

How did it ever come to this? They were just on a supply run. They didn't MEAN to insult the storekeeper, and they didn't MEAN to scoff when said shopkeeper told them to apologize to the deities in the center of town. And Will PROBABLY didn't mean to knock that candle over.

...Or the shells. Or the basket of offerings.

...On second thought, maybe he deserved the role of bait.

But hey, even if the first part was Will's fault, neither of them knew that the literal lifeforce of every citizen in the town was literally tied to the relics. The relics with feet. The incredible CLAM-LIKE relics.

Two more freakish relics in the bag later, there was a VERY nearby explosion, and suddenly Will was sprinting around the corner and screeching "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" and something with a ghostly cloak was levitating quickly after him and the thing created a fireball out of thin air and was throwing it at HER and what was Will throwing at her fACE--?

Marcy screamed as the clam hit her in the nose. Will was still screaming. The ("FRICKING GHOST WIZARD," Will helpfully suggested) thing began to scream when all of the clams were collected in the same vicinity. There was a collective panic when all the villagers zapped back into sight.

Marcy was still screaming, lying on the ground from where she had ducked to avoid the fireball.

She didn't think she'd feel very compelled to return here anytime soon.

---

i regret everything i have ever done goodbye 

(3) void

There was something in the sky.

Of enormous size, it somehow managed to blot out everything visible from his position by the bus stop. To his right, Artie gasped and gripped his hand suddenly.

Something felt very, very wrong.

Traffic had stopped. Everything was still. There was a very apparent lack of sound, like something had grabbed it all away.

Then it was back in a roar.

It’s alive?

“Will!!” Artie was screaming, tugging at his arm. Around him, people were scattering, reacting like this was the end of the world.

Was it?

Someone bumped into him suddenly, nearly knocking him down.

Run run run run run.

He took her hand, and the most grateful look Will had ever seen crossed over his friend’s face. They took off down a side street, full sprint.

He hadn’t run this fast since middle school health evaluations.

This time he had incentive.

Danger danger danger-- watch her!

There was a boom, and the ground shook. When the two made it to the next street over, all they saw was just more pandemonium. No one knew what to do. This was rush hour mixed with blind panic, like someone had just spontaneously decided to drop a nuke in the city center.

“We need to get underground, I think.” He was finally able to find words. Without acknowledging each other, the pair began to push among the panicking civilians, trying to make it to the bank across the street.

It was a hollow plan, but nothing seemed to be making sense at that moment. Somewhere along the way, both of them had ditched their backpacks.

The sky was still dark, and yet there was definitely something people were able to make out. An outline, of sorts. It moved, drifted whichever way it pleased. A massive, dark pool of a monster, and for some reason Will was more scared of it than he’d been of anything else in his entire life.

For some reason, this thing felt familiar.

GET AWAY!!!

There were people blindly running, but there were also those who couldn’t think clearly enough to do anything; those few instead choosing to mindlessly stand in the streets like they were already dead.

Another unprecedented thought: Whatever is in the sky will surely kill him.

Get where it can’t go.

Keep moving forward. Go go go.

More distant explosions. Everyone was screaming. Cars were already abandoned. The people were thinning out, and yet Will wasn’t sure where they were going.

Something dark thrust itself into the street before them. He jerked, suddenly grabbing Artie around the waist and pulling her back before either of them could crash into it.

….Was it a leg?

Leg. Monster? Go go go go go run.

But a shade had descended upon them.

Whatever was in the sky was coming down.

Where were all the people?

They were frozen, struck still.

Death!!!!

Unused eyes slid into tune. Features of the darkness came into place. A giant gaping maw was before them.

Artie whispered something in horror. Will didn’t hear her.

Something in him snapped, and he was gone.

Silence.

Everything was dark. Void. He must have been eaten, by whatever it was. Must’ve died. He was part of the missing now, wasn’t he?

At least… he thought so.

There’s a lack of terror. Everything is calm. He’s… OK?

He’s OK.

When he later came to (which could have been five minutes or five years, in his mind), drifting into a crack in the void and ending up on a beach on a planet he’d later call Jiruno, Will was eventually found by a few fishermen out working late.

He looked foreign to them, and they looked foreign to him, so in all due regards both should have been loudly panicking.

All Will could think about instead was a girl with auburn hair and a permanently determined face.

(The fishermen, on the other hand, were simply a little too tired to care whether or not some person on the beach had a weird facial bump).

---

I reeeally hope there aren’t any typos in this one. I’m literally shaking from cold, lmao

also in regards to the "weird facial bump" -- the fishermen don't have solid noses like most humanoids. Instead it's kinda like Voldemort's nose from the HP movies???

(2) home

Whenever he comes home he has to stop for a minute or two, just to take it in.

The way the sunlight washes over everything like it’s trying to fill a hole in the universe and the way the wind washes over him is the main reason Steve always likes to come back. Even if it’ll never be like it was again when he was young, at least it feels right.

Steve was never quite able to get a handle of the whole “smell” thing, though. Everyone else claims that other ‘verses smell differently than home, but for Steve it’s more of a sensation.

(that difference, inevitably, may have something to do with the fact that Steve can’t smell)

When someone comes back home, they know it and feel it instantly. It’s what they always knew before anything big happened, and it’s the only thing they knew existed at that time. It was their entire world.

(and also the only world, actually. No other world in their ‘verse can sustain life. It’s how they were able to stay hidden for so long)

Home is the way the fabric of space presses up against your skin to say hello when you come back. Home is the quiet wilderness and the way you could walk for miles and see only dilapidated houses overcome with plant life. Home is the way your stomach growls when you finally come into distance of Base.

Home is also the way your friends greet you as a mangy and bullet fast dog leaps into your arms, flooring you in the process.

Steve could probably do without that, just for a few times, maybe.

(during winter, he secretly enjoys it, however. During that time, he’s always eager to start a snowball fight)

As cheesy as if sounds, home is also where his friends are. It doesn’t matter if Steve has to go to Rui’s old house, or to the boarding house they all stow away in during winter, or even to the Costco that a few other kids had moved into when no one else was looking.

As long as he can feel the sunlight on his face and take a deep breath to know that he’s back, Steve is fine in the moment.

(1) awaken

For some reason beyond the universe, Rui was pretty accustomed to waking up in strange places. If she had a buck for every time she woke up in the back of a nightclub, she’d probably be ten dollars richer.

If she had a penny for every time she woke up in a swamp, however, then she’d be able to buy her own planet.

But this time she wasn’t in a swamp, thankfully. It was actually quite comfortable! Her head was lying on something padded and everything.

Of course, that just made everything even more suspicious.

It didn’t smell like home, either, so she probably wasn’t surrounded by friends. Didn’t smell like anything she knew.

Rui allowed herself to appear as if she were relaxed. Around her general vicinity, there were hushed tones, as if someone were attempting to be quiet but failing miserably.

“Do you think… wake up soon?”

“...Telling for sure.”

“...Questions he…”

In that moment, Rui suddenly understood what Marcy meant when she complained about the horrible ‘whisper hiss tones.’

There’s movement closer to her and for a second Rui wondered whether she was hooked up to a heart monitor or not.

“She’s awake.”

OH SHIT.

Five seconds. One: open eyes. Exhale. Two: come into a sitting position, rip off the heart monitor attached to her finger. Three: Locate nearest person. Four: Bring up legs and kick the person across the room and into the (metal??) wall. Five: jump up off the gurney she was placed on.

Six seconds pass and she’s already running.