#and then i realized it was my destiny to be a mortician | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tabarnaks · 5 years

Text

Bravery’s Call

AU where Duck accepts his destiny at 18, except some of the ages (Aubrey’s) are weird because otherwise, it doesn’t work.

You can also read it on ao3 here.

As Tabitha drives him back home after their day at Mount Kepler, Duck knows he’s made his decision. It’s difficult for him to find the right words to tell her, but he has no other options available to him.

He has to refuse Minerva.

He can’t do it. He can’t risk his life like that. He can’t throw away every single one of his future opportunities, he can’t throw away all the potential french onion soup he’ll have in the future.

Duck decides not to tell Minerva the exact reason why. He feels stupid enough reiterating it in his thoughts, saying it out loud would be much worse.

About ten minutes before Minerva usually shows up, Tabitha pulls up in front of his house. Duck steels himself before opening the door to his girlfriend’s car. He makes sure he’s ready to tell Minerva a firm, unwavering “No”.

Finally, he starts to open his door, and Tabitha pulls him towards her. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek, before adding, “This was super fun, honey. We should do this again soon.”

Duck swallows through the rapidly forming lump in his throat and nods. He almost wants to mention the fact that he wasn’t even with her for most of the day, but opts not to, “Yeah, we should.”

He closes the car door behind him and starts heading through his driveway. He hears the car start speeding away before he’s even at his door. Duck sighs, and hopes he’ll be able to stop himself from overthinking it. Tabitha’s just in a hurry to get home. It’s nothing to think twice about.

It takes until he’s at the door, fishing through his pockets for his keys, before he realizes the driveway is empty. He feels anxiety start to bubble up in his stomach, his mother’s supposed to be home by now. Duck shakes his head in an attempt to clear it. His mother was supposed to pick Jane up from a friend’s house today. She’s just running late.

Everything has to be normal right now. Duck’s already telling a semi-ethereal woman that he can’t fight her war for her, and he doesn’t think he can handle anything else.

As soon as he enters his home, Duck loses any hope that this is a regular evening. There’s a pot of pasta cooking on the stove, the burner still on, boiling water overflowing and spilling out. Duck leaves his keys in the door, rushing to the stove to turn off the heat.

After he’s turned off the obvious fire hazard, Duck spots the hastily scrawled note left on the kitchen counter.

Animal attacked Jane Couldn’t get in touch Come to hospital

Duck’s heart drops. He doesn’t think even for a second before running outside, slamming his front door behind him, unaware of the keys still hanging from the lock.

He runs to the middle of the street, hoping that he might be able to still see Tabitha’s car, but of course, he’s not that lucky.

He considers his options for a second. He could always call one of the three cabs in Kepler and hope they’re close enough to bring him to the hospital in less time than it’ll take to walk there. Or, he could just book it.

There’s a weird energy coursing through him. There’s a part of it that’s adrenaline for sure, but also something else, something a lot more foreign. That energy makes him sure that he’ll be able to reach the hospital or at least Tabitha’s car which should be heading in the same direction.

A weird energy courses through him. Part of it is adrenaline and anxiety and fear for his sister’s life, but there’s also something else, something a lot more foreign and alien.

It’s that foreign feeling that makes him sure he’ll be able to reach the hospital, or at least Tabitha’s car, before a cab even arrives.

Duck decides to run for it. It feels like the fastest option, even if the energy wears off after two or three street corners.

Also, if Duck had stayed still for a second longer, he would’ve had the worst anxiety attack of his life, right in the middle of the road.

So Duck runs as fast as his legs will take him. Which, turns out, is pretty fast. The streets fly by, pure instinct guiding him through the streets of Kepler. Though he knows he should be feeling something by now, shortness of breath, cramps, whatever, there’s nothing. It feels like little more than a casual jog.

Duck almost trips in surprise when he spots Tabitha’s familiar red car at a stoplight. He slows down, knocking on the passenger side window. She jumps and a look of shock spreads across her face. Tabitha stays frozen for a second before finally leaning across the passenger seat to unlock the door.

As the door before him opens before him, familiar music starts playing, immediately followed by the voice he’s dreaded almost all day, “Duck Newton! I see you have started utilizing your abilities! How exciting!”

Duck grits his teeth and doesn’t think before turning back to Minerva, “Not now.”

He sits in the car and slams the door in the ghostly figure’s face. He shoots a look at Tabitha, whose face has shifted from flabbergasted to worried.

“Sorry,” Duck says quickly, “My little sister’s been hurt. You need to drive me to the hospital.”

Ned wonders how he managed to get himself stuck in this situation.

Housed by an old, dying woman after having broken into her home with the intent to rob her blind. His name written on her will, giving him her museum of oddities.

He does have to admit it is a comfortable situation, despite how boring it often is. As long as he knows how to convincingly peddle his bullshit, he’ll always have a roof over his head and warm meals.

Still, it’s never as simple as that. Especially right now. Especially with the way the walls of Victoria’s home seem to close in around him a little more with every minute he pushes back checking on her.

Victoria had told him last night she didn’t think she’d make it to sunrise. She’d been saying stuff like that with increasing frequency the past few weeks. This time, Ned had really believed her.

The total lack of movement, not even the sound of struggling breaths, makes Ned more and more sure of her passing as the minutes pass.

Ned’s never dreaded anything more than entering Victoria’s room right now. Even if it’s only to confirm what he already knows, it feels like an insurmountable task.

The handle to her door feels colder than it should be, a lingering effect of Death passing through. He hesitates before turning the handle and opening the door, but it has to be done.

He finally rips off the band-aid and swings the door open much faster than he means to.

Her room isn’t as dark as Ned expects it to be. Apparently, she had managed to open the curtains some time last night. The late morning sun shines through the window, illuminating every last nook and cranny.

She looks like she’s sleeping. Her eyes are closed, and her arms are draped across her stomach. She looks about as peaceful as she has ever been, at least around Ned.

He knows it’s pointless, but he tries to call out anyway, “Victoria?” he says, surprised by the shakiness of his own voice.

Predictably, there’s no reaction.

Ned sighs, passing a hand through his too long hair, and leaves the room heading the landline.

He dials the doctor’s phone number and is assured someone will pass by in the next few hours.

So Ned waits. He shuts Victoria’s door, leaving her as is. He closes the Cryptonomica for the day. It’s pointless to leave it open when he can’t put on a convincing show for the potential visitors. Instead, Ned busies himself by tidying up Victoria’s office, and finally sorting through her paperwork.

This is his place now after all. He needs to know about all the finance stuff.

The men from the local coroner’s office finally come, and Victoria leaves with them.

Before leaving, one of the two men comes to talk to him, “You’re Ned right?”

Ned nods, trying to not let his nerves get the best of him, “Yes, that would be me.”

“I’m Gregor, I’m so sorry for your loss. I just wanted to make sure you noticed the note she left on her bedside table. It’s probably for you unless she knows another Ned.”

Ned smiles, but it feels tacky on his face, “Oh, yeah, that would be for me. Thank you for the info, Gregor.”

“It’s the least I can do.” Gregor pauses, looking at his clipboard, “Are you the one who’s going to be taking care of the funeral arrangements?”

Oh, yeah. Victoria needs a funeral. That’s another thing Ned needs to worry about.

“Yes, I suppose so. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”

The mortician nods and heads towards the door, “Alright then, I’ll hear from you soon.”

The door shuts, and for the first time in months, Ned is alone.

He watches the van drive away, a lump caught in his throat. Once it’s out of sight, he heads upstairs to Victoria’s empty room. The coroner was right. There is a note left for him on her bedside table.

Big, and very obvious. Ned has no idea how he missed it.

Ned picks it up, admiring Victoria’s neat handwriting. Ned would guess she wrote this a few weeks ago, or, at the very least, not yesterday. She’s been shaking a lot lately, and she would’ve been too weak to spend so much energy on making her handwriting so neat.

Ned opens it and sits on her bed to read it.

Ned Chicane. I’ve already told you that I’m giving you the Cryptonomica. I know that you’re going to change some things about it. Even more than you’ve already changed that is. I understand. A man with so much life ahead of him like you needs to worry about money much more than a dying old woman. Still, I just want to ask you one thing. No matter how much you change to this place, make sure it always does one thing.

Ned, please make sure to keep Kepler as curious as you can.

Duck is in the middle of an unfamiliar clearing in the forest. The moon shines above, its light filling the opening of an odd stone gate a few feet from Duck. the wind blows, rustling the leaves and chilling Duck to the bone.

A monstrous, guttural growl snaps him out of his reverie and sends Duck running away from it on pure instinct. Some kind of fiery projectile comes toward him and he ducks to avoid it. It hits the thing behind him, if Duck judges by the ensuing screech and sound of glass breaking.

Duck looks in the direction the fire came from and sees a young girl, one or two years older than Jane, staring at her own hand in wonder.

The girl opens her mouth, but as she starts to speak, her words get drowned out. The ambient noises of the forest fade with her, replaced with his little sister, growing more and more frustrated, “Duck. Duck. Duck!”

Duck’s eyes snap open, looking around at his surroundings. Bright neon lights, blue curtains, lots of machinery, he’s in the hospital room. And, more importantly, Jane is finally awake and trying to get his attention.

Duck shifts in the chair he’d fallen asleep in, getting back into a comfortable position, “Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Jane looks around the room and sits up slowly, flinching and clutching at her stomach despite her caution, “Bad. Where’s Mom?”

“She had to talk to people, insurance or something. She should be back soon.”

Jane nods, “Duck, I have somethin’ I need to tell you. But you have to promise to believe me, okay?”

Duck frowns puzzled, “What is it?”

She locks eyes with him, and Duck sees a look he’s never seen on his sister’s face before, “You gotta promise first.”

Duck doesn’t hesitate, “I promise, whatever you say, I believe you.”

Jane looks away and takes a deep breath, “I lied to mom. It wasn’t an animal, it was some kind of freak monster that attacked me.”

Duck’s heart drops straight into his stomach. Fear and apprehension lock his muscles in place. He opens his mouth to ask a question, but nothing comes out of his mouth.

Jane doesn’t notice his silence, and continues talking, “It was huge. At least twice as big as you or mom, and it looked like it was made of this weird slimy purple crystal. It had huge claws and even bigger teeth that smelled just awful, and I don’t know if it had eyes there was too much crystal. But it probably did because it seemed to be able to tell exactly where I was running and everything.”

The door to the room opens behind him, and though he’s sure Jane has more to tell him, she shuts her mouth.

“Oh, Jane,” his mother says from behind him, “You’re awake, I hope you’re not feeling too bad. Is it okay if the doctor checks on you now?”

His sister considers for a second before nodding, “Yeah, sure.”

Duck hears some rustling, and then his mother’s handing him a five dollar bill, “Hey-” she hesitates on the name, of course she does, “Honey, do you mind getting yourself something to eat? The doctor needs some privacy to check on Jane.”

Duck nods and takes the money, it’s almost time for lunch anyway.

His sister’s confession sits heavy on his conscience. He knows his sister wasn’t lying. He also knows that the thing that attacked her is one of the creatures Minerva says he’s destined to fight.

The same creatures he’d decided it was impossible for him to fight. The same creatures he’d decided were too dangerous to fight. The same creatures he’d realized would be the end of him.

One of those creatures had attacked his sister.

It feels like a slap in the face. Or some kind of fucked up wake up call.

If he doesn’t do anything, if he rejects Minerva like he’d planned to do just hours earlier, the monsters would hurt more people. If he doesn’t do anything, the monsters are sure to kill someone sooner or later.

Duck is suddenly aware of how selfish his initial decision was. He knew it was selfish, he’s not that dumb, but it didn’t feel real.

Now, with his sister in a hospital bed, he has no idea how he could live with himself if he does nothing to try and stop the creatures.

God, he feels so guilty.

Duck lets his head slowly fall towards the table he’s sitting at, exhaustion and guilt taking their toll on him.

“Minerva,” Duck whispers, hoping the few others in the cafeteria can’t hear him, “I don’t know how this all works. I don’t know if you can hear me right now, or what. But I’ll do it. I’ll be your chosen one.”

Aubrey spends way too long looking at herself in the mirror, trying to see what she can do to make herself look older. The owner of the hotel had seemed skeptical on the phone, but Aubrey had assured her that she just sounded young. She really doesn’t want to get kicked out before performing for silly reasons like being too young. She’s an entrepreneur after all.

Aubrey finally gives up, realizing that nothing she’s doing it actually helping much. She puts on her usual costume, a traditional magician’s outfit she’d modified with cool flame motifs. Then, she grabs her coat and her suitcase full of gear, heading for the door.

She’s ready to open the door before she realizes she’s forgotten her greatest ally. Aubrey drops her things, and runs to her room, almost tripping on some of the miscellaneous boxes still littering the corridor. Dr. Harris Bonkers Ph.D. is in his enclosure, as expected. She picks him up and puts him in his travel bag, before heading back to the front door.

Once she’s sure she has everything she needs, Aubrey writes a note for her dad. Just in case he comes back before she’s finished her show. Once she’s placed it somewhere so obvious he couldn’t possibly miss it, she leaves their new apartment.

Somehow, she manages not to get lost while travelling through the streets of Kepler. Soon enough, she’s in front of the large entrance leading into Amnesty Lodge, anxiety building up at the thought of the first show in her new town.

Aubrey opens the door and walks into the warm lobby. It’s much emptier than the previous places she’s performed at, but there are a few people here and there.

She heads towards the desk, trying not to let her nervousness show. This is going to be her first show in Kepler after all. And her first show since…

Aubrey shakes her head to get rid of the thought. It’s definitely bad luck to think about that right before a show. She’s practiced a lot. She’s going to be okay.

Once in front of the reception desk, Aubrey drops her suitcase and gently puts down Dr. Harris Bonkers Ph.D. She stands up a straighter, hoping to seem at least a little taller than she is.

Seeing her walk up, the tall bearded man smiles behind the desk smiles down at her, “Welcome to Amnesty Lodge, I’m Barclay. How can I help you today?”

Aubrey gives Barclay her sweetest smile, and places her hands on the counter in a way she hopes looks professional, “Hi! I’m Aubrey, I’m here for the magic show.”

Barclay frowns, “I didn’t know we’d advertised that.” he mumbles, more to himself than to Aubrey, “Well, the performer hasn’t arrived yet. Just take a seat anywhere and she should get here soon.”

“No, no, no. You don’t understand. I am The Lady Flame. I’m here to perform.” The look on Barclay’s face stays doubtful, so Aubrey quickly opens her jacket to let him see her costume and gestures to it, “See?”

The man stays doubtful for a few more seconds before carefully switching to a more neutral face, “All right then. Let me just go get Mama, she didn’t tell me where she was planning for you to set up.” he says before walking to a back room, leaving Aubrey alone in the lobby.

She manages to wait for at least a few minutes before getting bored and lifting Dr. Harris Bonkers’ travel bag onto the counter to look at him. He looks the same way he usually does, but Aubrey can tell that he’s just as nervous as she is.

She leans in close, poking a finger through the net to pet him, “It’s gonna okay, Doctor. Everything’s gonna be okay.” she whispers to him.

After like an hour, Barclay comes back with a woman as tall as he is. “So you’re The Lady Flame, huh?” she says, moving around the counter towards Aubrey, “Can I have an actual name?”

“Um,” Aubrey hesitates, trying to come up with a fake name, but she comes up empty, “I’m Aubrey.”

The woman raises an eyebrow, “Aubrey what?”

“Aubrey Biggle.” It takes Aubrey real effort to not start laughing at her own answer. Aside from a tiny sideways smile she can’t quite conceal, she thinks she manages it pretty well.

The woman nods, “Well, I’m Mama. Follow me, I’ll show you to the spot I prepared for you.”

The woman, Mama, leads her to a spot near the fireplace where a big table, has been set up.

Aubrey is quick to get everything set up. She places all the necessary things on the table, and then releases Dr. Harris Bonkers on the table with a treat to keep him well behaved.

Once everything’s finally ready, Aubrey takes a deep breath and looks around the room. It’s not packed or anything, but there are a few people here and there. Her eyes soon shift over to Mama, who’s leaning against a wall near a door talking to someone Aubrey can’t see. Mama catches her looking and she smiles and gives her a quick thumbs up.

With such an obvious sign that it’s okay to go, Aubrey starts her show immediately.

The first few tricks go pretty well. Though when she asks for volunteers, she’s disappointed there’s no kids or even people her age.

Luckily for her, a blond guy, like twenty-five or something, wearing a cool bright pink and blue coat, volunteers for her card tricks.

Though she’s skeptical at first, since adults usually aren’t as much fun to do tricks with, she quickly warms up to him.

Finally, she gets to her first fire trick. The fire isn’t integral to it or anything, it’s just a bit of flash paper used to distract the audience, but she feels excited regardless.

The feeling builds up until she feels like she’s almost vibrating in place while doing her trick. It’s not nervousness. She would know, she’s been nervous the entire show. It feels like there’s a weird heat emanating from her heart, spreading through her, all the way to her fingertips.

Instinctively, she knows to keep it inside, to not let it flow completely out of her. But as she’s about to finally pull out the flash paper, she realizes no one’s looking at her.

In the back, Mama and Barclay are talking in hushed voices, Barclay holding car keys in his hand. That’s not a problem, Aubrey’s fine with not having all the attention on her, but everyone else is looking at them too. Even the blond guy in the cool jacket, who’d been her volunteer and had seemed to be really into it, is looking away.

Though Aubrey’s only distracted by the lack of attention on her for a second, it’s long enough for something to snap.

Suddenly, the flash paper has ignited in Aubrey’s hands and has caused a much bigger flame than it’s supposed to.

A flame that is becoming bigger and bigger faster than anything Aubrey’s ever seen. A flame Aubrey has no idea what to do about.

The fire has been enough to get attention back on Aubrey, though she really wishes it hadn’t.

There’s a second where the room is still and silent, only leaving the fire slowly spreading more and more.

Then everything starts moving very, very fast.

Aubrey grabs Dr. Harris Bonkers from the table, place him in his travel bag which she slides away to safety. Then, she grabs the extinguisher she’d left underneath the table.

As she’s doing that, she hears Mama say, “You go to Victoria’s place. I’ll take care of this.” Followed by a flurry of footsteps, many of them heading toward her.

Aubrey fumbles with the fire extinguisher for a bit, unsure of how it actually works. Before long, it’s grabbed out of hands by a much more confident Mama who turns it on easily.

The fire is put out as quickly as it had started. Aubrey’s already trying to stumble through apologies, but Mama doesn’t let her get a word it. She grabs Aubrey’s arm and drags her out of the main room to some nearby office.

“Okay, now you’re not in any trouble, but you are going to have to come clean about why you weren’t following the rules.” Mama says in a stern voice

“Rules? No, you told me fire elements were okay. It was just some faulty flash paper.” Aubrey pauses before adding, “Look, I am really super sorry, I can pay for any damage and all that-”

The older woman interrupts Aubrey, “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the rules relating to Sylvain.“

"Sylvain? Is that a place in town or something? Sorry, we moved from out of state a week ago so I don’t know much about Kepler.”

“Come on now, don’t play dumb, you know what I’m talkin’ about. You know humans can’t do magic.”

“No, no no,” Aubrey laughs nervously, “It’s not, like, actual magic. They’re just tricks.” Aubrey pulls her hand out of Mama’s now loose grasp and pulls at her sleeve, “See? I have flash paper in my sleeves and that one was just a bad one.”

Mama considers her for a second, frown still etched across her features. Finally, she sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, “Oh man, you really are human, aren’t you?”

Ned decides not to take the rest of the day off, even though he knows he should

He concentrates on two things: planning the funeral and getting the legal rights to the Cryptonomica.

The first thing is pretty easy. He finds Victoria’s old phone book and calls a few people. Just enough to get the ball rolling and to make sure everything will be done in a timely fashion.

The second is a little more complicated. Sure, he’s gone by Ned Chicane for a few years by now, and he has the appropriate IDs to go with the name, but Ned Chicane is hardly a real person. Definitely not real enough to own and run a business in any case. So he makes a few other calls, this time not using the phone book.

By the time he finishes all his phone calls, he’s completely skipped lunch and it’s already well into dinnertime.

He’s halfway through cooking his dinner when a loud noise outside grabs his attention.

Shivers gather up his spine as he carefully heads towards the backdoor to check it out. He sees his car, undamaged, thank God, with a tall man he’s never seen before leaning against it, pushing it sideways towards the Cryptonomica.

Immediately, Ned opens the door and shouts, “Hey! What are you doing with my car?”

The man stares at him for a second before screaming back, “Go back inside, it isn’t safe out here!” As he shouts, the man motions toward the Cryptonomica.

Ned’s about to retort, tell him to stop messing with his car, but as he turns his head toward where the man is motioning, he honest to God feels his heart skip a beat.

A creature stands there, definitely not human, but definitely not one of the cryptids the Cryptonomica presents either. It’s huge for one, and it’s covered in odd translucent spikes, like the worst porcupine imaginable. Its mouth, which is hard to miss thanks to all its grotesque teeth, is open, letting a disgusting slime-like substance leak out. But, the worst has to be its claws. Though they’re not particularly disproportionate considering the size of the monster, they’re clawing at the walls of the Cryptonomica, definitely damaging it

The stranger continues to motion for Ned to go inside while he’s trying to find words to say. He can’t make any sense of what he’s seeing in front of him. This stuff isn’t supposed to be real, but it is. Except it can’t possibly be.

Finally, a few words come to him that leak out of his mouth without a thought, “Okay, what the fuck is going on?”

#the adventure zone #the adventure zone amnesty #duck newton #aubrey little #ned chicane #taz mama #taz barclay #taz amnesty #taz #a moi #long post

51 notes · View notes