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undertalethingems · 3 years

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Bark at the Moon Chapter 19: Darker Yet Darker

Or read on my Ao3>

Rating, Setting: Gen, Pre-canon

Chapter Warnings: None?

Chapter Summary: If Alphys is going to help the brothers overcome their inability to shift forms, she needs more information. Information that lies in the grim, long-abandoned sections of the lab she never knew about. The lab where the brothers were made.

Alphys breathed. In, and out. She meshed her fingers together, then snapped them outwards with a crackle. She picked up a hammer, a blowtorch, and lowered the welding visor over her eyes.

It was time to 'hack' into the abandoned labs.

Of all the floors listed on the elevator, all but two seemed to be operational--the entry floor, and the lowest, where she'd conducted her experiments. She'd wondered about the others, of course, but had never been able to verify that they existed. As far as she could tell, they'd been dummied out, so to speak--placeholders in the elevator's control panel that weren't actually connected to anything.

Thanks to a couple of skeletons, she knew that wasn't true. There were whole sections of her facility that had been sealed off, and who was she, as a scientist, if she didn't investigate? This was supposed to be her lab, what if there was important equipment to salvage? Not to mention the implications it might have for her friends. So she'd gathered her tools and her courage, turned off most of the elevator's safeties to keep its doors open, and began lowering it manually so there'd be no bypassing whatever floors lay between. Slowly sinking downwards, her heart leapt when a door finally rose into view in the dim light--but she quickly got to work.

The blowtorch hissed and sparked, and a clang announced it had done its work. Alphys shut it off and switched to the hammer, using it to knock the doors loose and slowly pry her way through. She could really use Undyne's muscles right now... Her strong, broad shoulders... those powerful biceps covered in glimmering scales... No! She could dream later. There were people counting on her. She wedged herself in the half-open door, braced herself against the other, and pushed with her leg. It grated open, and finally, she set foot on a floor it seemed no one had used for decades.

The landing was nondescript, lit by the weak emergency lighting she was familiar with. Even so, she exchanged the welding mask for a headlamp and flicked it on, illuminating the rest of the hall down to a doorway. She took a deep breath--and tried not to choke on the stale air. Even the ventilation system seemed to have been cut off here... She'd have to be careful. Gripping her hammer, she shuffled forward into the gloom.

A greyish-white mass erupted from the wall. Alphys shrieked, backpedaling so fast she tripped over her own tail. She landed on her back and rolled, scrambling on all fours for the elevator--and then she stopped. She recognized that electronic buzzing...

She turned, looking over her shoulder. "M-m... Memoryheads?"

The mass screeched, coalescing into a more familiar appearance, and Alphys turned over and sat as she tried to catch her breath. What were they doing here...?

"U-um, hi... you know you can leave the lab now, i-if you wanted," she said, slowly recovering from her nerves. "S-sorry I yelled, by the way, you just startled me. It's... k-kind of spooky down here, huh?"

The memoryheads buzzed like an old computer's disk drive.

"W-well, maybe not to you, ha ha... U-um... I sure hope you're the only thing lurking down here! I-I... I'm going to keep going now, okay?"

She got to her feet, brushed off her coat, and picked up her scattered tools before proceeding back down the hallway. She passed the memoryheads, and looked back to see they'd begun following her a few feet behind. What Undyne had shared about them popped into her head, and she had to wonder... Maybe they could help her.

"H-hey! So, I... I didn't make you, did I? You weren't part of my experiment."

A harsh grating sound emanated from the amalgamate. Oh, that's right--Alphys dug into her pocket for her phone. The speaker crackled with static, and she listened.

"NEGATIVE RESULT."

"O-Oh, that means, no, right?"

"That is correct."

"O-oh... Oh man... so my hypothesis... C... Can you... show me where you were made?"

"One moment, please."

The memoryheads phased through the floor.

"H-hey! I can't do that!" Alphys spluttered, then sighed. She should have known... the memoryheads were the more enigmatic of her charges... and they weren't even hers! What had she gotten into...?

"You may join us now," the phone suddenly crackled, and she jumped.

"Wh-where? What floor? What number?"

"666666666666666666666666666666666666--"

She shut the phone off, ending the harsh screech. Was there even a sixth floor? She turned back for the elevator once more--though she definitely wanted to check out all the abandoned labs had to offer, she had a priority. Back inside, she checked the panel--and there was indeed a sixth level. She'd head there, and could only hope the memoryheads actually had something for her.

A bang, clang, and scrape, and Alphys forced another set of doors open. The air here was even stuffier--a lingering chemical trace intermingled with decaying tile and carpet. She coughed, and hoped the air coming down the elevator shaft would be enough until she got the ventilation working. She'd take it slow until then.

"O-okay, I'm on the sixth floor, Memoryheads," she spoke into the phone, and static rose on the line.

"Come join the fun." "Come join the fun." "Come join the fun."

She sighed. They were helping, in their limited way. There was nothing for it but to venture into the dark, and see what she'd find. She shuffled forward, feet padding along warped linoleum--the first monster to tread these halls in years.

No.

Alphys' breath caught in her throat. There, in the dust--there were footprints. She swallowed hard, and followed them. The hall opened into a room, and she passed by rows of deteriorating machines. She could only guess at their purpose--all rotten rubber tubing, peeling paint, and oxidizing metal. Generators, perhaps. The footprints passed them by, and so did she. Another hall lead to another room, this one lined with all kinds of monitoring equipment, their paneling and readouts coated with years of dust and stained by a burst pipe. But nothing here seemed to have a means of storing information--there wasn't much to be gleaned here. So she continued on.

She finally came to a room that looked like a laboratory, with workbenches and cabinets on one side--and a pair of operating tables on the other. There was also some kind of device on the floor--it had been shattered by an incredible force. The footprints seemed to stop by it before moving on.

The next room made Alphys gasp--and not because the air was thin. It was U-shaped, and tall cisterns lined the walls, nearly reaching the vaulted ceiling. The memoryheads waited here.

"Th... This is...?"

"It's a real get together," the memoryheads stated, apparently confirming her unfinished thought.

Alphys hurried over to examine the nearest tank, pouring over its construction. The craftsmanship, the expert tooling! What she wouldn't give for a set of blueprints or schematics or--a chill suddenly ran down her spine. No. This wasn't anything to get excited about.

She looked back up at the cracked glass walls of the tank before her. This was where the brothers had been... made. They'd both come from one of these--not sparked from a parent's soul like any other monster. If Gaster had stopped there, he might have been alright, but then he'd...

She turned back to the memoryheads. "C-can you show me... Do you know where the brothers lived down here? Sans and Papyrus?"

"Invalid statement. Please try again."

"Oh, you don't know... O-okay, I can figure it out. Thank you for leading me here."

"Our pleasure."

She nodded to them, and headed back the way she'd come. It seemed the owner of the footprints had done the same--but then had seemed to stagger... and then the trail vanished...? Weird...

Wait. Alphys squinted, and found a clear print. She placed her own foot beside it to compare. It was just a little smaller, left by rounded footwear... These were Sans' footprints. She should have known...! She sighed. What had Sans been looking for down here...? In any case, his trail went cold. Alphys only had her own guidance to go on now.

There was another doorway opposite of the tank room, so she headed for it--and thanked her luck as rows of ancient computers greeted her. Finally! This was what she'd been hoping for. She headed for the nearest one, and booted it up--or, tried to. It briefly wheezed to life, only to die, and she swore under her breath as she dove under the desk to open it up. These were built into the floor?! Oh come on... Maybe she could remove the hard drives and take them back to her lab for analysis. She pried the side panel open and took a look--well, that was unusual.

And bad.

The main drives had melted together somehow, the plastic and metal a bubbled mess. She swore under her breath again, and reached in to see what her magic could tell her. The spark of magical electricity raced out, laying the computer's wiring bare in her mind's eye. It was the skill that had made her such a mechanical genius, and as she sensed the magic's ebb and flow, she sighed. She'd salvaged many a broken machine others had written off, but the chances of getting anything more than parts out of this were slim. She squeezed back out from under the desk, and surveyed the room. There were at least a dozen more... She had to hope she could get something out of those. She dusted herself off, moved to the next station, and got to work.

Three hours later, and Alphys had pulled as many drives from the remaining computers. She didn't have high hopes for these either, but they'd seemingly suffered the least damage from whatever event had fried an entire room of computers. She suspected the events leading to Gaster's disappearance might have been it... but that didn't help her now. She put the drives in her tool satchel, took one last look around the room, then headed back for the elevator.

The memoryheads burst from the floor again, and Alphys shrieked.

"G-guys! I know I sh-should be used to that by now, but please--"

The amalgamates buzzed, and she pulled out her phone to listen.

"Right this way."

"O-oh, you know of... more stuff?"

"CORRECT."

"Okay. Um, lead the way then."

Alphys shuffled after the memoryheads as they flit down the hall and into the elevator. She gave them a quizzical look--and jumped as the elevator started without any input--any visible input, at least. It rose to the next floor up, and Alphys dug for her tools, expecting another round of cutting her way in. But the doors dinged and opened smoothly onto a wide landing, and she watched the amalgamate glide out. But she shook her head and followed.

The hallway opened into a larger room, with windows along one side and a door to another hallway that continued on straight. Of chief interest to her was the large computer terminal set into the wall, but there was also a monitor near the windows, and she could just make out another placed in the hallway. If nothing else, this looked promising.

She padded over to the terminal, then blinked and turned back to the memoryheads. "Hey, u-um... thank you."

"DON'T MENTION IT." "You're welcome" "be seeing you."

They phased out, leaving Alphys alone in the abandoned lab once more. She took a deep breath, and turned back to the main terminal. This looked more advanced than the computers she'd already raided, and she hoped it had been better shielded from damage. She gathered her nerves, and turned it on. It flickered--and command-line text spurted across the screen. Alphys grinned, cracked her knuckles, and got to work. Alphys dug into the files, many of which, though corrupted, still held tantalizing fragments of data.

"O-okay, this said something about behavioral sources, and that other file mentioned cross-referencing a natural history encyclopedia with the behaviors observed in a study group... A study group of what though...?" Alphys muttered to herself as she wrote her own notes on what she'd pieced together. She'd copied down a few tables of measurements, and found parameters for the tubes she'd seen in the other rooms. But there was still more to comb through, and amid the gibberish of corrupted text more complete phrases stood out, forming a log of observations.

"...UBJECT REQUIRES FOOD. UNFORTUNATE. I WAS HOPING IT WOU..."

"...BEAM OUTPUT UNDER EXPECTED PERFORMANCE. SUBJECT CONTINUES TO EXHIB... URTHER TESTING REQUIRED..."

"...SUBJECT EXHIBITS UNUSUAL BEHAVIO... NGE OUTSIDE PREDICTED... NOT FOLLOWING MY INTENDED..."

"Y-yeah, of course they didn't, you jerk," Alphys muttered to herself as she continued to scroll through the files and copy whatever had survived. She already didn't like Gaster very much, but these files were doing nothing for his reputation. She found a proposed recipe for whatever he'd used to feed the brothers and grimaced. "Just plain food-grade magic and a few basic vitamins...? Really? That would have no flavor... No wonder Sans loves fast food and Papyrus can't cook... Oh, this log looks pretty complete! Let's see what it says..."

"I HAVE NOW CONFIRMED IT... BOTH SUBJECTS EXHIBIT TROUBLING ABILITY. PHENOTYPE EXPRESSION IS VARIABLE... SEEMINGLY AT WILL. MORE TESTING WILL BE NEEDED TO DETERMINE IF THIS COULD BE... PREVENTED IN SOME WAY. FOR NOW, UNDESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES WILL BE MITIGATED."

Alphys shuddered. "M-mitigated... I guess that's a nice way of saying he made them be what he wanted... ugh. Well... there's another entry, so..."

"PHENOTYPE ISSUES PERSIST. NO PROGRESS MADE ON SUPPRESSING THE ABILITY. IT APPEARS TO BE A FUNCTION OF THEIR... DESIGN FLAW."

Alphys stared at the words before her. "Design flaw... what does he... wait.... Does he mean their souls?!"

Disgusted, she pushed away from the terminal and paced. Suggesting a soul was a flaw... she couldn't understand it, couldn't comprehend the callousness this log boasted. She bristled, and static crackled across her scales--oh, the last time she'd been this angry it had been watching Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2! But as angry as she was, she needed to keep looking. She needed whatever information this place still held. She took a few more deep breaths, ran her hands over her face, and returned to the computer to keep digging.

As it so often did, the time flew as she worked. She only realized how long she'd spent browsing and recovering files when her stomach growled, signaling it was well into the night and she'd forgotten to eat. She sighed, and rubbed at weary eyes... She'd collected so much, but there was still more, dozens of files she hadn't gotten to. She'd have to come back and keep looking at this--at least she knew where it was now. And all she'd read was enough to start formulating a hypothesis.

She shut the computer down and gathered her things, then shuffled over to the windows to have a look before she headed up. She couldn't make out much in the dim light, but the room beyond seemed... huge. She looked around and... oh! There was a light switch here. She pressed it, and overhead lighting clicked on, revealing the room beyond. It was huge--perhaps twice the size of the main floor upstairs, if not bigger. The walls were stained--but had clearly once been a stark, sterile white. Was this where the brothers had been... tested?

Alphys pursed her lips, and backed away. The lights had also been turned on in the hallway, showing more rooms. She wasn't sure she wanted to, but... she was curious. She shuffled on, and came to the first door. It was reinforced, and she could only just see through the window if she stood on her toes. More stark walls, though the room was much smaller--then she realized it was subdivided, with a thick window and another reinforced door splitting the room...

A pit grew in her stomach. This... had to be...

She wouldn't have believed anyone could keep a fellow monster like this. But, considering what she'd just read she wasn't surprised Gaster had only provided the bare essential to the brothers. She glanced up at the monitor set into the wall nearby. If it was anything like the ones she'd used herself... She waved her hand in front of it.

"HOLDING ROOM 1. CONTENTS: UNOCCUPIED."

"A-ah..." she uttered, and shuffled to the next. It was identical to the first.

"HOLDING ROOM 2. CONTENTS: UNOCCUPIED."

She supposed it was better they were empty... but she wanted to see them all. The third room was slightly different--it was a bit larger, and had a raised shelf on one side. If she squinted, she could just make out what seemed to be a ragged scrap of fabric laid on top of it. Was that... supposed to be a bed? Maybe this was where the brothers really lived... At least it had more space than the holding rooms, but there was nothing to make it any more comfortable. It was just bare, featureless metal walls. She grimaced, and activated the nearby monitor.

"ENCLOSURE 1: SUBJECT 1. WARNING: DO NOT APPROACH. SUBJECT IS KNOWN TO BE DANGEROUS. DO NOT PERMIT INTERACTION WITH SUBJECT 2. EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION: FAILURE."

Alphys shuddered, then turned to the next room. It was similarly barren.

"ENCLOSURE 2: SUBJECT 2. WARNING: DO NOT APPROACH. SUBJECT IS KNOWN TO ESCAPE, MAY BE DANGEROUS. DO NOT PERMIT INTERACTION WITH SUBJECT 1. EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION: FAILURE."

Alphys clenched her fists. Her friends weren't failures... they were incredible for holding together for so long, getting through so much, and then doing nice things for her and trusting her to help them. They had survived all of--this. Her goal was clearer than ever--but she was too tired to work on it now. She turned her back on the abandoned lab and headed for the elevator.

Reaching the fresh air of the main floor was a relief. As tempted as she was to immediately plug the hard drives she'd collected into her computer and start recovering them, she opted to fix some instant noodles and catch up on the Undernet instead. It had been a long day... she'd get back to work tomorrow, after she'd had some time to recharge.

The drives she'd recovered from the lab were plugged into her main computer as she heated up breakfast, and she sipped at a mug of coffee as she poked at them virtually. If she could coax more information out of them, it'd bolster her suspicions. To say the code structure was archaic was... an understatement. But, it meant the password protection was easily bypassed with a few tricks--she was better at actual hacking than the 'hacking' she'd done to get into the abandoned lab floors, and in moments she'd begun browsing whatever files remained. There were plenty to choose from, many of which seemed to relate to details of the Core and other technological projects. But none seemed to relate to the brothers' origins, and after thoroughly checking the rest of the available files, she moved to the next drive.

It seemed these computers hadn't been used for anything relating to the brothers, however. Barring any damage or corruption, each drive contained essentially the same files. Alphys' best guess was that that room of computers had been used by everyone in the lab... and perhaps not everyone was allowed access to the files detailing Gaster's little project. She sighed, setting the old disks aside. She'd have to go back to that main computer after all, see what else she could get, and collect her own data to compare. And that would mean calling the brothers in for some tests.

"O-okay, just, hold still please!" Alphys said, trying to steady her own hands as Papyrus fidgeted.

"Are all of these really necessary?" he griped. "They're making me, itchy, I think."

"I n-need them so I can properly read your magic! Th-these sensors are the only way to tell what's going on with it, and they won't work if I don't get them placed just right," Alphys explained.

"think of it like one of your puzzles bro," Sans suggested helpfully from where he half-dozed nearby. "do it in the wrong order and ya gotta start over, right?"

Papyrus sighed. "I suppose. Very well!"

He finally sat perfectly still, allowing Alphys to place the rest of the sensors.

"Okay! There! That's it for that--now I need to make sure they work, and then we can get, um, some data. You guys ready?"

"Finally! We're doing real science!"

"instead of being the science done," Sans joked--was it a joke? Alphys hoped so as she flicked the electro-magical field reader on.

"Okay, just like we did for S-Sans, I'm going to need you to hold still and wait for a minute so we can get a baseline," she explained.

"Of course! I was paying attention!" Papyrus huffed. "I'm just excited! To think, after all this time, we might find out why... I'm tall, and Sans isn't!"

"well, that's one possibility," Sans said, and Alphys couldn't help but laugh.

"I sure hope we find out more than that. O-okay, just a little bit longer, and...!" She watched the timer count up to one minute, then cut the data collection off. "Okay, now, I'm going to start it again, but I'd like for you to cast a few attacks. I-it can be any pattern or bullet type, you just have to keep it up for thirty seconds!"

"A simple task for someone as great as me! I'm ready!"

"Target's over there--aaand go!"

Papyrus obliged, sending a flurry of bones at the dummy Undyne had loaned them for the day. He started with a basic array, then quickly built up to a complex pattern before finishing with a blast from his own jaws. Alphys gave him a smile as she cut the reading off.

"Okay, that was great! Sans, are you sure you can't give me at least a couple attacks to compare...?"

"Yeah, come on, Sans! Your patterns may not be as good as mine, but you don't want to mess up Alphys' data, do you? I know you can do it!" Papyrus encouraged, and his brother gave a drawn-out sigh as he got up and trudged over.

"alright, alright. i'll throw you a bone."

"Sans! You better throw more than one! You have to fill thirty seconds of data!"

"geez, don't remind me."

Alphys finished disconnecting the wires that had linked Papyrus to her machine, and reconnected the lines that were still attached to Sans from his first round of tests. "Okay, everything should be hooked back up. Are you ready?"

"as i'll ever be."

"And... go!"

Sans immediately opened with a pair of blasters before tearing into the dummy with a bone maze, then sent alternating blue and white bones at it before summoning another round of blasters. As she watched, Alphys wondered if they would have a training dummy to return to Undyne by the time this was through. She gave the signal for him to stop, and he flopped to the tile floor panting.

"Sans, you showoff! Alphys, I want to do mine again, I can do better than my troll of a brother," Papyrus said, indignant. Despite his breathlessness, Sans chuckled from the floor.

"U-uh, well, maybe later--I only needed to see you guys using your attacks, it didn't really matter how, um, flashy they were," she replied, holding up her hands. "That should be good enough for now. Th... There's one other thing I wish I could test, b-but, I think I can just use the old... the old data I was able to recover for that."

"I thought the point of this was to collect brand new, un-possibly-corrupted data?" Papyrus said, fiddling with one of the wires trailing from his skull.

"W-well, yeah, but... I can't ask you guys to do it, not when you guys have worked so hard to..." Alphys fidgeted. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you don't want to, and I can't imagine you'd want to do, um, this potential round of testing... so, f-forget it! It's fine."

"you wanna know what our magic's doing when we slip," Sans surmised, pushing up into a sitting position. "isolating those patterns might tell us how to turn 'em off... that's what you're thinking, right?"

Alphys sighed. "Y-yeah... but... I know how hard it is for you guys to break out of it. And... I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. I... I saw where he kept you. I... I read at least... some of what he did to you... And I don't want this to be anything like what you went through down there."

The brothers exchanged looks. After a moment, Sans sighed. "we want to get this figured out as much as anyone. if that means... letting go... well, with any luck it'll be worth the trouble, right? plus, i'll have you guys to pull me out of it."

"Oh no you don't Sans, you are not sacrificing yourself! I mean, it's very selfless of you, but! You also have the worst time with it. So I volunteer!"

"no way papyrus, i'm not letting you do that to yourself. i'll feel better knowing you're looking out for me."

"And! You'll be looking out for me! It's fair either way!"

"no, you're not doing it. end of story bro."

"Guys," Alphys interrupted, "we don't have to do it! I shouldn't have even mentioned it, ugh."

Papyrus turned to her. "Doctor Alphys, if this is going to help us figure out how to never do this again, then I think we should. I... I want to know what he did to us."

Alphys looked at his earnest expression, and turned to Sans. "Is... Is that how you feel too?"

Sans closed his eyes and rubbed his face with a claw. "... yeah. everything we've tried... it hasn't worked. i have no idea how we figured it out as kids. so... anything that might help us get this over with... we gotta try all our options, right?"

"O-okay... If you guys are sure... then, I'll take care of my side of things. If you need a few days to decide who's going t-to... do the tests, or if we're doing them at all, that's fine. I can analyze what we collected today in the meantime."

"I think that may be best!" Papyrus replied, and Sans nodded. "You'll hear from us soon enough! You can count on it!"

"J-just, take care, okay?" Alphys said as she hurried to help remove the sensors from the brothers' skulls. "I d-don't want you guys to get hurt because of me..."

Papyrus turned to pat her head. "Don't worry about us, Doctor Alphys! We've gotten through far worse! And! This time! It's on our terms!"

She bid them farewell, hoping they hadn't all just made a terrible mistake... but she had to trust the brothers. They had gotten through worse, and come out on top every time. They were counting on her to do her job--so she ought to do it. She gathered up the lines from the EM reader, and wheeled it closer to the computer so she could input the data and begin her analysis. She'd compare the brothers' readouts to samples she'd taken of herself, some of the engineers from the Core, and her friends--all to see if anything differed between them. It was bound to be interesting.

The days passed, and even as she continued trawling through the data collected by a cruel man, she realized she was having fun doing science again. Watching the numbers come together, formulating a hypothesis, tweaking variables to monitor the effects... This was so much more up her alley, finding how all the pieces fit together. And as she collected more pieces, she was getting a clearer picture of just what state the brothers' souls were in, and what Gaster's experiment had been meant to achieve.

She just needed was one last piece to confirm her idea and start working on a solution. She could only hope she'd hear from the brothers soon...

Finally, Sans called her one afternoon, sounding especially weary. "heya alph."

"Oh! H-hi, Sans! What's up?"

"i, uh think we're ready."

"... I guess Papyrus won the argument, huh?"

Sans managed a laugh. "yeah. i couldn't stand up to his flawless logic... which was 'go into the woods for a few days to loosen up' before i could get around to it myself."

"Uh. Wow."

"yeah. he's always really on top of things."

"He's... okay, right?"

"oh yeah, my bro's fine. it's just... rough, seeing him like this, y'know?"

"I bet. A-anyway, I'm ready whenever you guys are."

"ok. we'll be right up."

"Okay! I'l be ready!"

Sans hung up, and she scrambled to actually be ready, because whenever Sans said he was about to be somewhere, he was almost always already there. She pulled the EM reader away from the wall, and gathered a bundle of sensors and draped them over the top just as there was a knock at the door. She squinted, because that was an automatic door...

"Come in!" she called, and the door slid open.

"you're supposed to say 'who's there'," Sans replied as he ambled in, Papyrus in tow. "alright, good luck getting him to hold still this time. don't think he's, uh, as far as he could be, but, should be enough for your tests."

Alphys looked from him to Papyrus, who was warily sniffing the floor. She could already tell in how he carried himself and studied the room that he really had fallen back on instincts. Which was what they needed for the test, but... like Sans had said. It was rough seeing him like this.

"O-okay. Papyrus?"

He perked up, and swung his head around, tilting it to one side.

"Um, hi. Can you come over here, please?"

He looked to Sans, who nodded before walking slowly over to the machine. Papyrus followed, and scrutinized the device thoroughly before sitting down and studying her patiently.

"Okay, now, I need you to hold still while I stick these on," she explained, feeling like she was repeating herself--but she wasn't sure Papyrus remembered the last time he'd been here. "Th-they might get a little itchy, but, I need you to let them stay on, okay?"

Papyrus made an uncertain warble as she approached, but Sans gave him a reassuring hoot and laid down. Alphys gave him a look.

"U-um... you're not... slipping too, are you?"

He gave her a weary shrug. "doing my best not to, but... we stick close, y'know?"

Alphys pursed her lips, but continued with her task. Papyrus was surprisingly patient despite his former concern, only fidgeting a little as she pasted the sensors onto his skull and sternum. He tried to scratch at them once--but Sans batted his hand down with a gruff rasp, and though Papyrus shot him an annoyed look, he settled down.

"Okay, they're all hooked up! I'm starting the test now--just, hang in there okay?"

Well before the minute was up, Papyrus got too fidgety again, and risked pulling away from the machine--but before Alphys could scold him, Sans started a game with him. He summoned a small bone just within the reach of Papyrus' neck, and Papyrus snapped at it--missing as Sans pulled it away at the last moment. Papyrus uttered a playful growl, his tail flicking before he lunged at the bone's new spot--and missed again. Sans evaded him a few more times before Papyrus caught the bone in his jaws and it fizzled out of existence. Sans summoned another bone, and the game began anew.

"Alright, that should be enough!" Alphys announced, and the two looked up--though Papyrus took the opportunity to catch the latest bone Sans had been taunting him with. "I think I can work with this--thank you so, so much you guys. I should have more info in a week or two... Are you really going to be okay?"

Sans shrugged. "we're going to undyne's after this, she'll get him to shape up. we'll see ya later, alph."

"O-oh, okay! Tell her I said hi," Alphys said, hoping she wasn't blushing as she peeled the last of the sensors off Papyrus. "With any luck, I'll be able to help you with a different kind of shape."

"heh, good one. ok bro, ready to see undyne?"

Papyrus warbled an affirmative, and with a click, and a blink, they were gone.

Alphys shook her head, and turned to begin analyzing her results. She still didn't get how Sans did that. Maybe there'd be something in the data.

There certainly was a lot of data to go through. Alphys had been building her hypothesis, but as she got deeper into the numbers, she realized there was more to it. She dug back into the abandoned lab's computers, hacked and reconfigured her way in, and scraped every last bit from the broken registries and hidden backups. She cheered when she found a nearly complete log charting the brothers' growth, only to feel sickened by Gaster's actions yet again as she read the suggestions on how to alter their physiology and diet to get better results--whatever that meant.

"Subject had human-derived willpower substance drawn today..." Alphys read, squinting. "Human derived... willpower substance? What does he mean by..."

A chill seized her. Surely it wasn't the same...? She scrambled back through the readouts she'd taken from the brothers, and cross referenced them. Oh. That would explain... why that part of the wavelengths had looked so odd. She sank back in her chair--it really was the same. Determination... Really, knowing the memoryheads hadn't been her doing, and the blueprints she'd found, she shouldn't be so surprised. Somehow, the brothers were stable--thank god. But, why...? Why add that to... a living weapon? Or a monster? She kept digging, trying to understand the man who'd created life just to use it as a tool.

But before she could make much progress or come to any conclusions, Undyne called her.

"Alphys, are you busy?" she said ugently, and Alphys dropped the stack of papers she'd collected.

"N-no, why?"

"It's Papyrus. We can't get him back."

Alphys froze, heart racing instantly. "...Wh-what? It wasn't too b-bad when he was here--what's going on?"

"It's," she started, frustration clear, "it's like he just keeps sliding, no matter what we do. Sans won't say anything but I can tell he's worried. We thought you might be able to tell us something..."

Alphys gave a shuddering breath. "I... It's too early, I haven't had a chance to analyze everything yet. I-I only have a guess as to why the brothers can change at all, not--not how to help them yet..."

Undyne grunted. "Okay, well, we'll help him as much as we can. Let us know as soon as you find something, okay? Please."

"I-I'm working as fast as I can. Just.. just tell them to hang in there, I should have something soon."

"Okay. Thank you, Alph."

She hung up, and Alphys was left staring ahead at her desk. It... was... probably okay? The brothers had been stuck in their feral states before, and both had snapped out of it eventually. It was the pattern--even if they stayed in the blaster form for a while, they'd get back to their true selves...

A pattern.

The idea seized her. Scrambling through the papers before her, she began compiling all the notes, charts, anything that was relevant. She hoped her hunch was wrong, dread coiled tight in her chest as she began running the numbers.

A week of nearly constant work later, and she had her results in hand.

Alphys stared at it, threw it aside to pace, then came back to it. This couldn't be right. But it explained... too much about the problems they'd had. She couldn't bear the thought of telling them... but she had to, didn't she? They deserved to know. But if she told them, wouldn't they hate her...? No, they might hate her more if she didn't say something, tell them that they...

She had to tell them.

"Th-thanks for coming," she uttered, trying not to let her voice shake as Undyne and the brothers entered her lab again. Papyrus balked at the doorway, and only scuttled in once Sans had plodded into the center of the room, proving it was safe. His gaze darted around his surroundings, and he chittered nervously. Alphys frowned. They really hadn't gotten him back, and today... she'd be telling them why.

"Uh, so, how's it going?" Undyne said, trying to lighten the mood with small talk as they gathered around a fold-out table. "You said you had something for us, right? Not gonna lie, I've been super excited for the results."

Alphys sighed, and Undyne's smile fell.

"Alph... what did you find?"

"I-I," she stammered, "I found... well... I found a lot. Not everything, but, enough to figure some things out. I was able to piece together what Gaster did to make the brothers the way they are, b-but... I also found something... that's... bad. And it has to do with why Papyrus isn't back to being himself... but I didn't find out any way to help you... I'm sorry."

"s'ok. you did your best," Sans said, his head laid on the table and eyes dim. What was happening now had clearly taken its toll.

Undyne grimaced. "Well, it's only been a little bit since you started working, right? Maybe you just haven't found the answer yet. But, I think you should tell us what you did find."

"Maybe," Alphys said, trying not to sound defeated. It was true she'd only had all the data for a little while, but... she wasn't sure it would matter. "I... I want to be more honest about my work, s-so... I'll tell you what I found, even though it's bad news... If... if you don't want to hear it, I don't blame you..."

Sans closed his eyes. "Papyrus... isn't going to understand it. So... you can say whatever."

"We're not gonna be mad or anything just because you did your job," Undyne reassured her. "Tell us what you found out."

Alphys grit her teeth, and turned to Sans. "S-so... I guess I'll start with why you guys are like this to begin with. The beginning's usually a good place to start, right? Ha ha... Anyway... I'll, um, try not to ramble but... I think the gist of it... is that, Gaster tried to make a living... bullet. You know how some monsters can cast attacks that, um, seem like their own entity, right? That sort of construct is uncommon, but not unheard of--but, they're not truly living things, they're attacks the same as any other. It seems like... Gaster wanted to take this idea further, and make attacks that could potentially think for themselves and last outside of battle a long time. All to hunt humans...

"He constructed some extremely advanced attacks--based on what I could find, he figured out their most intricate workings, even how to 'program' them with certain traits or behaviors--ones he learned hunting animals on the surface have. It looks like he spent years refining this technique. But... he still couldn't get them to last outside of battle like he wanted. The way he saw it... the next step was to add a little bit of soul energy. H-he, um, apparently didn't expect... that even a small amount would become a full soul. S-so... the soul formed inside this... programmed attack format.

"It was easiest for the magic to flow along these pre-constructed paths... but the soul... still contained the genetic format for a skeleton monster--a bipedal form with intelligence and skills beyond what Gaster had intended. So... without realizing it... he ended up with a sort of... hybrid, of his specialized attack, and a monster that, um... technically... was his... child."

"Gaster should count himself lucky he's erased, because if I got my hands on him..." Undyne growled, her fists clenched tightly, "he'd WISH he was."

"Y-yeah, seeing all this, I was furious too," Alphys breathed. "He... in what little I read, he just... talked like he was working with animals. M-maybe... he'd convinced himself that's all you were. B-but... so... that's... where your instincts, and ability to transform, come from. It was all him--he, unwittingly, gave your souls this ability by trying to fit them into another form."

"...huh," Sans uttered. "guess that does explain it... why we can do it, and why the instincts only come up when we're like this."

"So is there any way to like... turn it off?" Undyne said. "It's not really a part of them, so maybe--"

"I-it is, though" Alphys said, downcast. "It's as much a part of their soul as, I dunno, bone magic. A-and, turning it off, w-well... Gaster wanted to do the opposite, and take away their other form... He never actually succeeded, obviously, but... that... brings me to the bad news."

"Wh... What do you mean?"

Alphys heaved another sigh. "I didn't think anything of it at first. It just seemed like... like a coincidence, or maybe Gaster just wore you guys down over time, but... You've said it was easier to change back and forth when you were younger, right? And you just... did it less as time went on... B-but... well... with Papyrus being unable to get back from even a relatively mild slip with your guys' help... I got to thinking...

"Maybe... maybe there was actually a pattern to it. Th-that... as time has gone on... it really.... It really is getting harder for you guys to switch back and forth. Like... like the forms get more entrenched as time goes on, a-and, the longer you stay in them. S-so... I plotted all the times it mentioned you guys switching forms on a graph... a-and..."

She slid a pair of papers across the table for Sans and Undyne to study. Each was labeled with their names, and the points on the graphs plotted lines--but they looked more like waves, the crests and troughs of which increased in amplitude as time went on as their frequency decreased. A fainter line projected the waves' path into the future--and it went off the page.

"I-I... I think... W-well, the data suggests, that, if... if we can't get you guys changed back soon... you... you might... slip, and... not... not be able t-to break out of it... e-ever... ever again."

Sans' eyes blinked out. "... papyrus is going to be stuck like this forever?"

Alphys had never heard his voice break like that before. She could barely speak herself, but she couldn't leave things there. "I-I don't know, there's--there's still a chance we can bring him out of this. We just--we can't let it get too far, o-or... A-and I mean, I could be wrong! God, I hope I'm wrong... My d-data is probably pretty incomplete, I don't have much f-from, when you were younger or before all this... B-but, it's... It's a possibility, and, when you called and said you hadn't gotten him out of it, that's when I realized what might be going on, why you might not be able to change back like you did a long time ago... and, I... I'm so sorry..."

Undyne clenched her fists. "I... I really hate Gaster. ALL of this, ALL of your guys' suffering, is because of HIM, and hearing it might not be something you can escape? I WON'T accept that. Alphys, if I can help you, just tell me what to do--I'm NOT letting this guy take my friends away after he's already DEAD."

"we'll still be around," Sans uttered, voice subdued. "just won't be like we used to. i... i dunno what we'll do to live, but... h... hey, just... keep being nice to my bro, ok?"

"Sans, we're not giving up! I can't give up! I WON'T give up! I--" Undyne was interrupted as Papyrus, seeing her upset, had put his head against her arm and nuzzled it. She grimaced, and patted him with a hand as she continued. "I said it before, I'll say it as long as I need to. I won't rest until you guys are back the way you want to be. Alphys hasn't finished her research, so there might still be something we can do. For your brother's sake, don't you DARE slip, or give up, or let go. Okay?"

Sans looked up at her, beleaguered. "dunno... i was never good at fighting the inevitable..."

"Well it's not inevitable yet," Undyne stated firmly. "Alphys, if we get the bros changed back soon, what will happen?"

She thought. "I-it... it should mean it's their other forms--the regular skeleton monster form--that becomes dominant. A-at least, at least on this scale. I didn't plot ahead like... decades, s-so it's possible this doesn't show every outcome... B-but... the sooner we avert the current trend, the better..."

"so... how much time... before we're too far gone?" Sans murmured, and Alphys winced. Despite Undyne's words of encouragement, he was obviously doing pretty badly.

"I can't be sure--it, I think it depends on how much you keep exercising your mind, since that seems to be what's helped you break out of it. I'd... I'd keep trying with Papyrus too. I... I'm with Undyne on this one, I... I don't want to give up, even though it looks really bad... S-so, please... you can't give up, Sans. I know that's really hard for you, b-but... one of the other things I discovered, that I'm still researching is... that... You both have artificially elevated levels of Determination. I... I think that's something else he figured out--how to give Determination to monsters in a safe way. It might be another factor in why you haven't been able to change back, but... It might help keep you going, too."

Sans studied her for a while, then closed his eyes. "i dunno. all this... sounds like there was never anything we could do about it. the moment either of us changed this last time... our fate was sealed. i'm... i'm just so tired. all the work we've done to keep ourselves together... it didn't get us anywhere. i... i'll try to keep it together, for papyrus... i don't want to leave him hanging. but... it's been real hard. and if it's only going to get harder... i don't think i can keep it up for much longer."

Undyne reached over to pat his shoulder. "Look, we'll get through this. You just keep holding on to yourself, I'll help with Papyrus--done that before--and Alphys will keep looking for a solution. Monsters didn't get to where we are today by giving up, so you can't either."

"Yeah Sans, I promise I'll keep looking," Alphys stated--Undyne's will was bolstering her own. "Now that I have an idea of what's going on... maybe I can figure out how to undo it--not, not all the way. Like I said, this... this is a part of your soul. But... if we can figure out how you can change back, then, it should stay dormant for a long, long time. And, that's worth going after."

Sans opened his eyes, their lights returned as he studied them both, then looked to his brother, who had gotten bored and wandered off to bat a piece of crumpled paper across the floor. "i... to be honest? i dunno if i care how we end up. all i want is for papyrus to be happy. but... i guess... if i slip too, i dunno who's gonna take care of him. if i can't hold a job, we can't pay for a house, or good food, or... he couldn't do any of the stuff he really loves. i, uh, remember how it was when we lived in the forest, and... i don't want him living like that ever again. so... i guess i do have to keep it together, huh?"

Alphys smiled with relief. "Y-yeah, you do. I still have a lot of data to go through, s-so, nothing's decided yet, b-but... I figured you should know what might be happening, and... hopefully... do something about it. I know I'm going to try."

"Yeah, don't worry! We've got your backs, okay?" Undyne said, grinning widely. She wound up to slap him on the back, but he dodged out of the way.

"ok, don't make that literal," he said, sounding a little better as he squinted at her. "i, uh... won't make any promises. but... hey, maybe i should help with the research too. if there's anything good i inherited from gaster, it was his smarts. science stuff is still cool, despite him."

"I'm glad he didn't totally ruin it for you," Alphys replied, heart soaring as her own hopes returned. "I certainly could use the help, and it would help keep your mind sharp, s-so, if it's not too much for you... that might be good for both of us."

"heh... using gaster's own specialty against him? can't say i don't like the sound of that," Sans replied, something like spiteful glee shining in his eyes now. "yeah. count me in."

"Aw man, all of us working together!" Undyne cheered. "It'll be great!"

"Yeah... yeah, I think that'll be nice. I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't give you guys good news today, but... That's hardly the end of it," Alphys said. "We'll see where the data leads us, and go from there, and not give up until we're sure we've thought of everything. Until then... I'm not through with Gaster's work. He... he's dead... But I won't let him win!"

#Undertalethingem writes #bark at the moon fic #gaster blaster au #sans (undertale)#papyrus (undertale)#alphys (undertale)#Undyne (undertale)#aaaah finally! sorry it took so long to get this out but it's done now ^^#let me know if i need to tag anything??? i don't think there's anything obvious but #this is an angsty story with bad things happening so =u=;

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roguerogerss · 4 years

Note

Hi babe! I saw you wanted some requests so here I am! Could you do a Bucky x reader where the reader has secret telekinesis abilities (or whatever Wanda can do lmao) and is forced to use them on a mission. Bucky is just in shock bc his secret crush is a even more of a badass, so when he compliments her powers, she gets flustered and disagrees bc they’re dangerous, so Bucky helps her see the beauty in them? Tysm ❤️❤️

His Girl

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Enhanced!Reader

W/C: 3.9k (eek sorry!)

Warnings: Language (??), that's literally it.

(A/N: This one got away from me a little and I wrote wayyy more than anticipated. I hope u like it though? Idk. I had so much fun with this request, thank u sm bb! Praying that someone reads this, even though it's a whole ass novel.)

————

"Bucky, where are you? We have a minute and eight seconds until this place blows."

Y/N was worried, and, upon hearing her frantic voice in his intercoms, Bucky was too. He was aware that he didn't have long until the bomb detonated, but unaware of just how short that amount of time was. He was caught up in a fight, one that was frustrating in the way that he couldn't shake this guy. "Yeah, be there in five?"

He was being sarcastic, he must've been being sarcastic, Y/N shook her head and pressed her fingers to her temples, agitated. "Five what? Five seconds? Minutes? Bucky, I have to ask, are you insane?"

She seemed angry - no, she was most definitely angry - and Bucky silently cursed himself and allowed the Hydra agent to get a hit in, he thought he probably deserved it. "Look, I'll get out. Is there anything you guys can do to buy me some more time?"

Tony had chimed in by this point, telling Bucky that he was 'fucking crazy', ranting and raving to the heavens above about how the entire motive had been messed up and they might as well have stayed home. Y/N knew that she could help him, but that would mean using them - she didn't like to call them by the name that most would use - and she wasn't sure if it was really worth the risk. Bucky would get out, right? He'd work something out.

But time was ticking on, fifty-nine seconds now, and she was unsure of just how right that assumption was. She wasn't even entirely sure that she still had her powers, since she'd avoided using them or telling anyone that they existed since she'd escaped from the grasp of Hydra. Even as she doubted her abilities, she found herself rising from her seat behind the control panels of the Quinjet, next to Steve, and sprinting to the exit to the aircraft.

"Y/N, where are you going?" Steve asked, getting up and following her. The rest of the team were staring now, Natasha and Tony also standing from their places and looking expectantly in Y/N's direction.

"I have something that'll help. Something that you guys don't know about." She said sheepishly, slamming her palm down on the button that opened the exit hatch. "Don't worry, I've got this."

Even though she was promising her friends that everything would be okay, they seemingly didn't believe her, as all five of the other Avengers on the ship - Tony, Nat, Steve, Sam and Thor - followed her out onto the streets of Bucharest, where the public was in awe at the huge, futuristic ship that was sat in the middle of a narrow, cobbled street. Natasha had told them to go home, she'd made the best effort she could to make sure that everyone was safe. However, no one had listened, and so she desperately ushered them away from the place that she knew would soon be rubble, while Y/N ran in search for Bucky.

They had what they'd came for, but that didn't mean that there were no Hydra agents willing to get into altercations with the team. Thor and Steve were frantically fighting off a pack of them, while Tony and Sam helped Y/N, hopefully getting a better view of the streets and where Bucky might be. "Hey, Y/N, I got him. Turn right, next street over. You'll see him." Sam spoke into the intercoms. Y/N thanked him, hurrying off in search of the super-soldier to whom she'd taken more than a liking to over the few months that he'd been fighting with them.

"Buck, I'm on my way, you better be ready to get the fuck out of here." Bucky's eyebrows furrowed as he wondered why Y/N, of all people, was the one who was coming to save him. He had to admit, he was more embarrassed than anything else, needing the help of the one girl who he'd felt anything for in seventy years. But he tried to brush it off, mostly because he had to focus on not letting a Hydra agent rip his arm off, and answered her.

"What are you gonna do? If I can't fight him off, no offence, but what makes you think you'll be able to?" Bucky sounded breathless, and she could hear the obvious sounds of strain and struggle as he continued to tussle with the agent. Y/N took a deep breath and turned the corner, close enough to hear the ominous beeping of the explosive device that a Hydra agent had planted there in hopes of causing harm to one of the Avengers.

"You know what, maybe don't question it. I have my own doubts, but it certainly doesn't help that you have them too."

The agent, who was currently deep in a brawl with Bucky, noticed Y/N, but all that she was able to think about was the amount of time that was left on the clock. She asked FRIDAY, and a rush of adrenaline and fear coursed through her when she realised that they weren't going to get out in time.

Ten, nine, eight, seven,

Y/N drew her gun and shot the Hydra agent, not missing as usual, and Bucky snorted. "Couldn't have done that earlier?"

Four, three, two,

She knew that this was it. It was either expose the world to her powers, probably be deemed as a weapon and certainly become even more wanted by Hydra, or die, and let her friends die too. She took a deep breath and felt the horribly familiar surge of - what was it, electricity? She wasn't actually sure - coursing through her body, and watched as Bucky ogled at the purple wisps of magic that extended from her hands and the way that her irises seemed to ignite.

One.

Bucky ducked and shielded his face, but looked up again when he didn't hear, nor feel anything that would signal an explosion had happened. Y/N had it under control, holding the bomb together with just her fingertips. She'd thought that it wouldn't happen, that her abilities would've simply subsided into nothingness due to being unused for so long, but she was wrong. She'd done it, and there was no going back now.

And then? The small explosion turned huge, and lurched forwards, setting a civilian apartment building completely alight. Y/N stood, watching, mouth wide open and quite unable to understand the circumstances of what the hell just happened. Bucky was at her side, a hand on her shoulder as he, too, watched the destruction take place. The rest of the team had rushed straight there, each one of them with hands over agape mouths while Steve called for Fire and Rescue and Tony wondered aloud, 'What the fuck is going on?'

Y/N found herself on her knees. She could see and hear Bucky in front of her, worry in his eyes as a few tears dripped from her chin onto her chest, but she didn't have it in her to decipher what his words meant, they all just sounded muffled and like he was speaking a language that she didn't understand.

She didn't know what she'd done, how bad it was, but she could hear the screams of the residents of the building, she could feel them vibrating through her body and ringing in her ears, and that was enough to convince her that her enhancements truly were the worst thing about her, that she really was the weapon that Hydra had deliberately mutated her to be.

--------

It had been hours. How many, Y/N was unsure, but a considerable amount of time had passed since they'd gotten home. The flight back from Bucharest had consisted of Y/N locking herself in a cabin, and the rest of the people on the Quinjet taking it in turns to try to speak to her, to try to understand.

No one, apart from Bucky, (who only had a vague idea), knew what had happened. There wasn't a single person on the jet who could fully understand it, Y/N included.

She was now sat on a sofa in the lounge, chewing off parts of her nails while everyone murmured and tiptoed around her. Tony was speaking quickly on the phone and glancing at her every couple of seconds, Steve was pacing back and forth along the length of the room.

Y/N wondered for a minute what would happen. Would she be arrested? Would something like the accords happen again? Was she about to become the cause of another civil war? Would Tony disown her? Send her back to Hydra? She didn't know. She didn't think she wanted to know.

Wanda and Natasha had come to comfort Y/N at first, sat with her and braided her hair like they did often, and it was nice to think that Wanda knew exactly what she was going through.

However, she'd told them that she wanted to be alone, and they'd dispersed and were sitting quietly in two separate armchairs, watching a movie with Sam. The truth was, she didn't really want to be alone. She wanted Bucky. She didn't quite know why, but she'd always felt calm around him, which was one of the reasons why she'd taken such a shine to him, and she made it very clear to herself that she was at least a little bit in love with Bucky, in a way that was less platonic and more romantic.

She couldn't lie and say that she was happy with the way that he'd handled things, though. As soon as the jet landed, he mumbled something about taking a shower and hurried off to his room, like he couldn't stand to be around her for any longer, like he was afraid of her.

And, honestly? She wouldn't be surprised if he was.

The truth, of course, wasn't that Bucky didn't want to see her, it wasn't that he was afraid of her, it was that she was evidently upset. It was tearing him apart to have to see her like that. He felt like he was obligated to be alone to think about what had happened, because he knew that - realistically - it was his fault that she'd had to use her powers. He'd been caught up in a fight, the bomb that had been planted was seconds away from detonating, she had to do something. Of course, he had no idea that something was going to be exposing hidden telekinetic abilities to the world, but close enough, right?

"I just got off the phone with a higher up." Tony stood in the middle of the lounge, everyone looking at him as he began his speech. "Everything's gonna be fine. Just, maybe don't turn on the news for a couple days, Y/N doesn't need to see that."

"Don't act like I'm a kid, please." Y/N spoke up, making it clear that she was annoyed by the fact that everyone was seemingly ignoring that it was her who had done this. "I did this, Tony. I want to know how much damage I caused."

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, shaking his head at her. "No, this is not the time to get all Steve-y on me, okay? You don't need to see it, you don't need to know, so you're not going to. Is that clear to you?"

"Mistakes happen, Y/N. It's not your fault." Steve said from where he was standing, next to the breakfast bar. "What matters is that you tell us what actually happened at some point."

"So, what I'm going to take from that, is that it's bad." She turned from Steve, back to Tony. "I'm not weak, I can deal with what I did, Tony."

Tony snapped, the stress of the situation and the argument from his daughter-figure becoming too much for him to handle, "Goddamn it, Y/N, you really wanna know what you did? Let's see, first of all, you used whatever powers you have, something that you clearly knew about but warned no one of. Second of all, you essentially bombed an apartment building in a poor part of Romania, you literally took from the poor. And now what? Fifty-five people are dead, kids have been left without parents, and that's on my back. Plus, you're being publicly deemed as a weapon until they figure out what's really going on there. So, do tell us, what is really going on there?"

"Tony. Stop." Wanda said, but Y/N was already halfway out of the room, with Tony realising that he probably shouldn't have said what he did and following after her.

"Y/N, hey, I'm sorry, okay?" Tony called, but she wasn't listening. She got in the elevator and left Tony alone in the hallway without a word, tears threatening to spill from her eyes the whole time.

And then, finally, they did. When the doors of the elevator closed, when she could no longer hear Tony's voice, when she was alone, oh they did. She found herself on the floor, face cradled in her hands - the same hands that killed fifty-five people just hours before - and there were tears falling from her eyes, past her chin, soaking her black catsuit.

She felt empty, like her body was a shell and she was simply there, watching herself fall apart. It was a kind of guilt, one that ate at her from the inside and seared through every nerve, every part of her, until she could think of doing nothing but curling up and ceasing to exist. She wanted to yell, scream, punch something, run. Anything that would distract her from how she felt. She wanted to sleep for a week, maybe two, forget about everything and ignore her responsibilities until it hurt less. Most importantly, however, she wanted Bucky. She wanted now more than ever to be his girl. For him to lay with her and tangle his fingers in her hair and whisper sweet things in her ear until the bad things in the world simply melted away.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened, but Y/N didn't get up, not until FRIDAY asked if she wanted to go to another floor. When she did, however, she found herself taking the wrong turn, to the left instead of to the right, and walking away from her room instead of towards it. Without thinking, she'd already opened the door to Bucky's room, where he was reclined lazily on his bed, a pair of sweatpants on and nothing else, focused on the ceiling.

He furrowed his eyebrows at her when she gave him a tiny little smile, but sighed when he noticed the remnants of her somewhat breakdown on her face. Bucky held his arms open, "Hey, c'mere."

She stepped into his embrace, tears finding their way onto her face again, and let him caress her back and play with her hair until the crying stopped. When Bucky held her, everything felt different, like she could put things into perspective and understand that maybe it wasn't all her fault. "Look, I know you think that this is the end of the world. I know it's scary, but Wanda learned how to use her powers for good. You can do the same." Bucky's attempt at comforting Y/N wasn't exactly superlative, but she knew that he was trying.

"I'm a weapon, Buck." She pulled away from him and sat on the end of the bed, wanting to cry and clawing at the sleeves of her suit in an essay to calm herself down. "That's how Tony worded it, anyway. I shouldn't have used them."

Bucky knew that his next question was stupid, that he probably shouldn't have asked it, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he was speaking before properly thinking over the consequences. "How did you get them?" He reached out for her hand and she let him hold it, getting a rush of exhilaration from the affectionate gesture.

Bucky wasn't usually one for showing how he felt, much less for saying it out loud or doing anything to communicate his feelings, and he wasn't quite sure why he had had a sudden change of heart and almost wanted her to know that he liked her, that, really, he would do anything for her. She didn't meet his eye as she began her explanation. "Well, before Tony found me, I worked for Hydra. Actually, less worked for them and more became their personal lab rat. They did a lot of experiments on me, tortured me, really, made me more destructive than any enemy organisation would know how to handle. And then, I escaped. And here I am, talking to you."

She gave him a sad little smile, one that he would swear had broken him. "I'm sorry." It was a lame excuse for comfort, really it was, but he racked his brain once, twice, and couldn't for the life of him find the right words to say.

"Don't be." Y/N shifted in her place, gaze on her hands which were clasped in her lap. It was quiet and Bucky wished that he knew what to say to her, that he could think of something that would make her feel less alone or soothe her in some way. A minute went by, two minutes, three minutes. The silence might've been comfortable between the pair, but it was certainly uncomfortable between Y/N and her own thoughts. "I should go." She said, standing from her place on the bed without looking in Bucky's direction once.

He knew that he had to say something, anything that would make her stay. The thought of her alone in her room was heartbreaking to him. He grabbed her wrist before she could take any more than a few steps towards the door and she looked down at him, lips slightly parted and one eyebrow raised in a silent question. "You're not a weapon. Sure, Stark said that, whatever, the guy's an asshole. But you're not a weapon, Y/N."

She gave a little humourless laugh, blowing a puff of air out of her nose. "The government apparently seem to think so."

Bucky smiled at her and said, "Fuck the government."

"Oh, so you're an anarchist now? Classy." Y/N sat back down and Bucky's heart felt like it was doing summersaults in his chest, all fluttery. She was smiling, he had made her smile, and it was genuine. As far as he was concerned, nothing else really mattered.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't, actually."

Bucky sighed and cocked an eyebrow at her, eliciting a laugh from her lips. "You're really going to make me explain myself, huh?" He joked. "Look, You're not a weapon to me. I think you're a badass, actually." She snorted.

"Bucky, I killed a lot of people."

"So have I." Bucky's tongue darted out to wet his lips as he placed a tender hand on her thigh. "You don't see me as the bad guy. You never have, actually. What I'm trying to say, is that all of us have done bad things. Made mistakes, lost control, that doesn't make us bad people."

"I feel like a bad person." Y/N had her eyes trained on Bucky's face, bottom lip held tightly between her teeth as she tried to avoid letting herself word-vomit about everything that she was feeling at that moment. His hand squeezed her thigh gently, and she let out an embarrassing and involuntary gasp that made her cheeks turn bright red.

"Don't. Y/N, I know it's cheesy as hell, but you did it to save my life, right?" Y/N nodded slowly, "So how does that make you a bad person?"

"You're grasping at strings, here."

“What can I say that'll make you feel better?"

Y/N knew what she wanted to hear, that he liked her as more than a friend, that he wanted to be with her like she wanted to be with him, that her fantasies weren't just fantasies, that he really did love her. But she couldn't say that. God, of course she couldn't say that. So, instead, she simply shrugged.

Bucky knew what he wanted to say to her, that he liked her as more than a friend, wanted her to be with him, of course he loved her. He couldn't drop all of that on her when all she'd given was a shrug, right? Wrong, apparently, because the words spilled from his mouth anyways, like he couldn't control himself.

And really, he couldn't. But he figured that she already knew that.

“I love you." He spluttered, and her eyes widened in shock. "Okay? God, I love you. And what you did today? Made me love you even more. I know you probably don't want to hear this, you don't want me to ruin our friendship, and I get it, I do. But, right now, all I wanna do is protect you, and let you know that you're really not the monster that you think you are."

She stayed silent. What could she say? Her head was swimming with ideas, but none of them really seemed fit. She thought that, if this day ever came, if somehow it came down to confessing her feelings for him, she'd know exactly what to say.

She really couldn't have been more wrong.

So, instead of speaking, she found herself simply staring at Bucky, into his eyes. Had he moved closer? Had she? Either way, their noses were soon bumping together and he was searching her face for any sign of disapproval, one that wasn't there, and so he kissed her.

She felt dizzy, lightheaded, like she couldn't quite figure out where her body ended and Bucky's began, and she didn't think she really wanted to. Lips on lips, his hand on her waist and hers roaming his hair, it felt like heaven.

She was on a high, he was too, and the comedown was breathless and just as euphoric as the real thing. "I love you too." Y/N said.

Bucky couldn't help the plainly stupid, goofy grin that had spread across his face. Did he look like an idiot? Unequivocally. Did he care? Maybe, but that wasn't the point.

"I should get back to my room." Y/N said quietly, a small smile on her lips. "Thanks for...uh, the talk."

Bucky laughed and let her get up, walk to the door and open it while he watched in a daze, and then he stopped her. "Let me walk you."

"I can handle myself."

"Oh, I know, sweetheart. But I'm not entirely sure that you should."

Really, she was already his girl. She always had been.

#bucky barnes #sebastian stan #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x enhanced!reader #bucky barnes x female reader #sebastian stan x reader #fanfic #steve rogers #captain america #marvel #mcu fic #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #deadass a novel #sorry #rogues requests #rogue writes #rogue does marvel

285 notes · View notes

romance-geek · 3 years

Text

sleep my long, unbroken sleep (niragi x oc)

warnings: violence, blood

author’s note: heyy guys! so this chapter is mostly about chiyori's parents and how they came to the borderlands. like the summary says, she was born in the borderlands so she's like a native of this "country" - i wanted to explore such a concept. the next chapter will be more chiyori-centric. let me know what you guys think! (also the tech from her parents' era are a bit diff so instead of smartphones and such, i had to change it a little)

summary: Kuroba Chiyori may be born in the Borderlands, but no way in hell does she want to die in it.

AO3 LINK

20 YEARS AGO ; SEASIDE PARADISE RESORT

I just want to stay like this forever, without the boring routine of life.

The sun begins its slow descent towards the horizon, painting the sky in oranges and pinks and purples. Children screaming in delight, splashing each other with pool water. Couples lathering each other up with sunscreen. Lifeguards diligently looking over everyone.

All her life, everyone praises her wit and loads her with expectations. So, so many expectations that weigh heavily on her shoulders.

Expectations that she wants to meet.

But you can’t exactly please everyone, can you? Or maybe you can, but at the expense of your health.

Being with Kuroba Asuma is a breath of fresh air. He never expects anything too much from her, content with what she has and who she is. She first met him at a crime scene, which isn’t exactly how most love stories go but she didn’t mind because after he took her witness statement he stopped by at the library everyday for lunch. He courted her for almost a year before he asked - quite nervously, might I add - if she could be his girlfriend.

(Of course she said yes. In fact, what she said was: “Wasn’t I already your girlfriend?”)

Fast forward through the happiest years of her life and now she’s here at the Seaside Paradise Resort, a thoughtful surprise from Asuma. It’s the week of their first wedding anniversary, can you believe that? How time flies when you’re with the person you love.

A smile forms on Kuroba Kaname’s face as her husband helps her rise from the pool. Her hand automatically rests on her bulging stomach while Asuma wraps a towel around her.

Like her, he can’t help but caress her stomach, knowing that in just about a month there would be a new addition to their little family. A daughter…

“Let’s get you dried off now, dear.” He brushes off the water droplets on her face, sneaking in a quick kiss.

Kaname presses her fingers together, batting her eyelashes. He immediately catches on to what she wants and rolls his eyes. “What’s the little one craving for now?”

“Congee, some mango, aaand,” she hums for a second, “a chicken sandwich with lots of mayo!”

Asuma sighs resignedly. “I’ll order room service while you wash off.”

They walk into the elevator - or in Kaname’s case, she waddles - and press the button for the third floor. The elevator lifts up smoothly, but Kaname sways in her spot. “Woah!” She presses a hand to her head. “I feel a bit li-ligh—um, what was that word?”

“Light-headed?” Asuma asks softly, putting one of his wife’s arms over his shoulder so that he could carry her weight lest she fall down and potentially harm the baby. “I think you’ve had enough fun for today.”

The elevator dings open and they step out, Asuma nearly bumping into a man who seems almost like he’s sleepwalking. Kaname keeps her gaze on him out of curiosity even as her husband leads them to their room.

“Doesn’t that guy seem strange to you?”

Asuma throws a nonchalant glance over his shoulder. He shrugs and unlocks their room. “Probably had too much to drink. It is Paradise, after all.” Wagging his eyebrows as he says that last sentence, he gathers a giggling Kaname into his arms and closes the door behind them.

“I wish we can stay here forever,” Kaname says.

“Me too, dear.” Asuma kisses her forehead softly. “Now, let me prepare a bath for y—”

Darkness.

Drenched in heavy, silent darkness.

Silence except for the thudding of their heart, their heavy breathing as they try to understand what the hell is going on.

“D-dear, what’s going on?” Kaname trembles against him. He could see the whites of her eyes even in the dim room, eyes searching for an answer.

Asuma runs to the window and peeks behind the curtains. He freezes, then pulls them apart completely. Kaname trails after him in confusion, asking again, “What’s happening?”

“Gone,” Asuma whispers.

“What?!” Kaname gasps. “Wh-But—How can that be?”

He turns to her with a serious look on his face, repeating, “Everyone’s gone.”

Kaname’s brows crease in a mixture of worry and trepidation, biting her lip as she rubs her belly. “That’s impossible. How can everybody disappear in a blink of an eye? Did we miss a fire alarm or something? An earthquake drill?”

“I don’t think so.” Asume grabs his phone from the nightstand and flips it open. He presses the home button to turn it on, but the screen doesn’t light up. “That’s weird.”

Again, he presses it, this time longer.

The black screen stares at him, almost mockingly.

“I was just charging this,” he says to Kaname, scratching his head. “Let me see your phone.”

Kaname’s phone yields the same results.

“Maybe our phones overheated?” Asuma suggests.

Kaname shakes her head. “It’s barely hot out. Let’s just put some clothes on and ask around. If we take too long, we might not be able to catch up to everyone.”

They dress up in a hurry, question after question popping up in their heads. (Asuma discretely takes out a gun from his bags as well as its holster.) They take the stairs when it seems evident that the electricity is out in the whole resort. Their trip is longer than it should have been, mainly due to Kaname’s state.

“You’d think a resort would have backup generators,” Asuma mumbles to her. It didn’t feel right to talk louder than a whisper, like someone may be watching them. The thought unsettles him.

Finally, they exit the resort building.

They are greeted by even more silence and darkness, with only the pale moon as their source of light.

Asuma pulls his wife close to him. “You know, I pride myself in being completely unflappable at whatever the world throws at me, but this is a little too much. The only reason I’m not freaking out right now is because you’re here with me and I don’t want to seem like a wimp.”

This prompts a giggle out of Kaname. “My goofy knight in shining cargo pants.”

“It’s so creepy,” she says after a beat. “Did we black out or something during an evacuation?”

“We’re the picture of health, dear, I don’t think we’d black out. Especially not at the same time.”

She nods. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s just walk until we see someone or something that could tell us what is going on.”

“Don’t worry, babe.” Asuma flexes his biceps, shooting her a charming smile. “I didn’t get a job at the police force because of my exceedingly handsome good looks, you know. I’ll protect you.”

Kaname rolls her eyes, placing a hand on his still-flexing bicep. “Whatever you say, dear.”

They continue walking in a vaguely uncomfortable silence further out of the resort’s grounds. It takes them almost an hour before something bright pops up in the distance.

“Hey, there’s some light over there!”

They quicken their feet, eager to get out of the darkness. What greets them is a LED TV inside an otherwise dark electronic store that says…

𝐖 𝐄 𝐋 𝐂 𝐎 𝐌 𝐄、 𝐏 𝐋 𝐀 𝐘 𝐄 𝐑 𝐒

𝐓 𝐇 𝐄

【 𝙶 𝙰 𝙼 𝙴 】

𝐖 𝐈 𝐋 𝐋 𝐂 𝐎 𝐌 𝐌 𝐄 𝐍 𝐂 𝐄

𝐈 𝐍 𝐀 𝐌 𝐎 𝐌 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓

“Game?” Kaname whispers. “What the hell?”

“Is this some kind of government experiment type of deal?” Asuma asks rhetorically.

The text on the screen changes.

𝐓 𝐇 𝐈 𝐒 𝐖 𝐀 𝐘 𝐓 𝐎

𝐓 𝐇 𝐄 𝐆 𝐀 𝐌 𝐄 𝐀 𝐑 𝐄 𝐍 𝐀

⬅

“Should we go? I mean, there might be people there?” She rubs her belly, as if to comfort her daughter even though it looks like she’s the one who needs comforting.

He thinks for a moment, then nods. “Well, it’s not like there’s anything else to do or anywhere else to go.”

Asuma leads the way, hand clasped tight on Kaname’s as they near what looks like a karaoke bar complete with a blinking GAME sign in neon pink and the background instrumentals of a pop song. When they cross the threshold, what feels like the sense of imminent danger falls over them. Inside is a small group of people, the majority of which glance at the husband and wife pair. All of their eyes trail down to Kaname’s protruding stomach. They give her looks that are a mixture of a grimace and a pitying look.

“Are we playing a singing game?” Kaname chirps into the awkward silence. Asuma now has his arm around her shoulder protectively. “I’m not a bad singer, but if we’re going based on scores I’m definitely gonna fail.”

Silence.

“Tough crowd,” Asuma remarks. He notices a small sign that says 𝐒 𝐂 𝐀 𝐍 𝐇 𝐄 𝐑 𝐄 and below it what looks like a fingerprint scanner. Above those two is a TV screen. “Are we supposed to scan ourselves?”

“Yes.” Surprisingly, one blank-faced man with sleeves rolled up to his elbow replies.

Asuma waits for an explanation, but the man doesn’t say anything else. “Ooookay, then.” He pulls Kaname closer as he presses his thumb to the biometric device.

𝐅 𝐈 𝐍 𝐆 𝐄 𝐑 𝐏 𝐑 𝐈 𝐍 𝐓 𝐑 𝐄 𝐂 𝐎 𝐆 𝐍 𝐈 𝐓 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 𝐈 𝐍 𝐏 𝐑 𝐎 𝐂 𝐄 𝐒 𝐒

𝐏 𝐋 𝐄 𝐀 𝐒 𝐄 𝐖 𝐀 𝐈 𝐓 𝐀 𝐌 𝐎 𝐌 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓

“Please wait for the game to commence.” A robotic feminine voice says, the TV suddenly turning on. A timer appears on the screen. 00:59… 58… 57… “One minute until registration closes. There are currently eleven participants.”

They wait another minute through the stifling silence, but no one else seems to come. Finally, the speakers emit a tone. “Registration has closed. The game will now commence. Game: ‘Singing Contest.’ Difficulty: Ace of Hearts.” At the announcement of the difficulty level, most of the group seems to sag in relief although some still seem tense. Kaname feels a bemused smile slide over her face. So it really is a singing game? And yet, everyone looks so serious.

“Rule: Each player has thirty seconds of singing time. After each player, everyone else has to vote whether that person is a good singer or a bad singer. Condition: Guess the majority vote correctly within one minute.”

A door to one of the karaoke rooms creaks open.

Asuma and Kaname exchange a look as they follow everyone into the room. All this fuss for a simple singing game?

Someone, a young college student, clears her throat to gain the attention of everyone. “How should we decide the order?”

“Whoever wants to go, goes,” replies a gruff voice. It comes from a man whose biceps are nearly as big as his head, with eyes that scrutinize every person in the room. Asuma doesn’t feel as intimidated as he is probably expected to be because he knows that he has a trump card hidden under his jacket. He hopes he doesn’t have to resort to using it.

Everyone stands there in silence for a moment, eyeing each other with suspicion and anxiety. Asuma can feel his patience beginning to wear thin, so he lets go of Kaname’s hand and grabs the microphone in the room. “I’ll go,” he says, flipping through the songbook and inputting the numbers for the song he wants.

When the music starts up, Kaname cheers him on. Everyone else remains silent as he sings for the required thirty seconds, even incorporating silly dance moves that make the rest of the group look at him weirdly. When he finishes, the TV flashes again, text appearing on the screen as the voice dictates. “The voting period has begun. Singer, next to the songbook is a notepad and two pens - take one piece of paper and one pen. You may place your guess inside or outside, but it is required for you to wait outside while the audience submits their votes. Audience, write down your vote and fold it. You may not discuss your vote, nor can you persuade others. Once everyone has voted within one minute, the singer can return to the room. The audience will one by one reveal their votes, and afterward the singer will reveal their guess.”

“Fun.” Asuma tears out one page and takes a pen. It didn’t matter whether he actually sang well, because no one in the room is obligated to write down their actual opinion. He sweeps a quick glance around the others, but he isn’t a mind reader. What he can gather is that they are too solemn for what seems to be a trivial game, therefore there is more than meets the eye. There is also still the question of the city-wide blackout, as well as the disappearance of hundreds-maybe thousands-of people almost in a blink of an eye. So you can’t blame him for feeling nervous as he writes down his guess.

He leaves the room, flashing a smile to his wife as he does so.

“We only have one minute to vote, so let’s vote now,” Kaname says once the door shuts. One by one, they each tear out a piece of paper and write down their votes. When Kaname’s turn comes, she keeps a poker face on while tearing at the notepad.

She bends to write down ‘GOOD.’

Soon enough, the voting period has ended and Asuma returns to the room.

“Audience, you may now reveal your votes.”

Kaname feels her heart pounding as the votes are being said, her hand holding tightly onto Asuma’s. It’s neck to neck. Tears gather at the corners of her eyes ( Why is she being so emotional? It’s just a stupid game. Stupid hormones! ) when she is the last to reveal her vote. “Good,” she croaks out. But it doesn’t matter.

Because there are 6 votes for BAD and 4 votes for GOOD.

Asuma pats her hand reassuringly as he holds up his paper, which says BAD. “Lucky guess, huh?”

She feels the tension in her body leave and a slightly teary giggle erupts from her throat.

"I think I'll wait a while before my turn," she says.

The next two singers successfully guess correctly, and it's during the fourth round when something happens. The guy with muscles drops down like a sack of potatoes as a red laser comes for him, prompting shocked gasps all around.

Asuma immediately kneels down and takes his pulse, but… Nothing. "He's dead," he announces, but it looks like everyone except his wife already knew that. "Alright, can anybody tell us what the fuck is going on?!"

"He didn't follow the rules," says the man with rolled-up sleeves. He was the second singer. His glasses glint in the neon light as he points with his chin to the muscled guy's hand, which clutches two pieces of paper. "The rules stipulate that singers may only take one piece of paper."

Kaname gapes at this.

Almost as if setting the tone for the rest of the game, nearly every singer up next guesses incorrectly and meets the same fate as the muscled guy. Not before long, she is the only singer left. Aside from the first three singers, only one other person had guessed correctly, so four people would be voting.

She starts to move, but Asuma holds her back by the wrist and pulls her in to kiss her, hoping it wasn’t their last. Not wanting to prolong it any more than it has to be, she quickly takes a piece of paper and brings it outside.

Asuma stares at his paper for a while before he scribbles down 'BAD.' He didn't know how he could cement her guess as the majority vote. Eyes burning, he kicks himself inwardly for not fulfilling his promise of protecting her.

Kaname returns with two clenched fists, a determined look in her eyes.

"Audience, you may now reveal your votes."

"Good.”

"Bad.”

"Good.”

What?

Asuma stares at his folded vote, then slowly opens it to show everyone. “Bad.”

The young college girl, who survived, reels back in surprise. “It’s a tie? Does that mean whatever her answer is, she’ll live?”

“No,” interrupts the man with rolled-up sleeves. “The rules say—”

“Enough with your fucking rules, man!” Asuma barks.

The other survivor is quiet. She almost looks like she could blend in the shadows with all the dark colors she’s wearing as well as the shades she has on.

Asuma wraps his arm around Kaname to comfort her when her shoulders start shaking. “Don’t cry, dear,” he says, but his assumption is wrong when she suddenly bursts out laughing.

Kaname holds up not one, but two pieces of paper.

GOOD.

BAD.

“I guessed correctly after all.”

9 YEARS AGO ; TOKYO METROPOLITAN CENTRAL LIBRARY

Eleven-year-old Kuroba Chiyori strikes a match and a tiny little flame appears.

She guides this flame to a tall candle on her favorite bronze candle holder. In the Borderlands, electricity is reserved for the game arenas, which her parents forbid her from entering until she is at least 18 years of age. She hasn’t been able to witness a single game yet, but she knows it’s only a matter of time before her parents let her.

Because if she doesn’t know what to expect, how can she emerge a victor?

Chiyori shifts her focus back to the book on the table. Her mother, Kuroba Kaname, said that she used to work as a librarian in this very library, before she and Chiyori’s father, Kuroba Asuma, became citizens of the Borderlands. It’s her goal to read every single book in the library before she turns 18, but Kaname says that she needs to be realistic. Her mother is right, of course. The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library has literally thousands of books, so how could Chiyori possibly read every book?

Nice to have a goal though, she muses as she flips to another page. It’s not like there’s anything else to do in here, not while her parents are gone probably watching over tonight’s games.

It wasn’t always like this. When she was younger, her parents weren’t the Queen of Diamonds or the King of Spades yet. But then two years ago, the face card representatives were finally killed off by that cycle’s players, and the positions were up for grabs. There were only a handful of citizens in the Borderlands, victors from certain cycles that chose to stay after conquering all the cards from Ace to King. Her parents decided just that almost eight years ago.

It mustn’t have been easy for them, her mother especially. She was due to give birth to Chiyori in a mere two months when they became players. Perhaps this was a good thing though, as it gave them the drive to not die. For her. For Chiyori.

As far as Chiyori knows, she’s the only person to have ever been born in the Borderlands. But there isn’t really anyone to ask, or to give her answers.

Her first memory is of her father returning home, looking as if he took a quick swim in a pool of blood. Chiyori’s fingers clutching at her mother’s clothes as she drank her milk, eyes wide as her father dropped down on one knee to ruffle her then-short hair.

Now that she’s a bit older, her parents started leaving her alone at night, in this quiet library. These books are her only friends as she wasn’t yet allowed to make her presence known to the players.

Sometimes there are game arenas close by and she watches through the windows as numbers of players enter and only a few come back out. None of the players she has seen are anywhere near her age.

Maybe that’s why she wants to join the games when she turns 18. Loneliness.

The books she’s read tell her of companionship, adventure, friendship… love. What interesting concepts. Would she ever experience such a thing?

She startles when the light from her candle burns out. Pouting, she places a bookmark on her book and closes it. That’s her last candle.

As if on cue, flashes of red catch her eye. Outside the window, lasers from the sky come down, and some people scream when they do.

There’s someone standing outside the library.

He looks young, almost as young as Chiyori. Maybe a highschooler? He locks eyes with Chiyori just as a laser comes for him.

She doesn’t move as his body sprawls on the pavement.

Books tell her that she should feel sad when people die. How can she feel sad for this stranger? At least he has experienced life before death. At least he’s out there, while she’s in here almost longing to exchange places with him.

… Well, she may be young, but so is the night.

Chiyori sprints to her closet, which is really a display cabinet that used to house heavy encyclopedias. She tugs off her pajamas in a rush and grabs a clean teal t-shirt along with cream-colored cargo shorts. Her feet are already clad in socks, so she just pushes them into her ratty sneakers.

Most games usually last until midnight, there are some that last until sunrise, and a select few can last for days. It usually depends on the difficulty of the game itself, not just the game levels.

The gamemasters and dealers use the Takebashi Station in Chiyoda City, Tokyo as their headquarters, so the distance from there to here would be… She visualizes a map of Tokyo for a moment. Around 8 to 9 kilometers! It’s far enough to watch one game and get back before midnight.

She giggles when she realizes it’s almost like that Cinderella fairy tale she read as a child.

TWO HOURS LATER

She comes home drenched in blood.

#alice in borderland #niragi x reader #niragi x oc #niragi suguru #niragi

27 notes · View notes

not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

Falling (Stuckony)(Chapter One)

A commission for @xkissmeimirishx who wanted Tony going through the wormhole above NY and right into an D/s reality.

Generic TW for expected “into the wormhole” mentions of death/dying and panic attacks.

STORY MASTERLIST HERE

****************

It was weird, the way something as final as dying could seem as easy as letting go, as taking another breath, as closing your eyes and letting yourself fall.

Easy.

But then again, death was the opposite of life and life was sort of unfairly hard so maybe it was intended balance that made dying so so easy.

Letting go. Taking another breath. Closing your eyes and falling—

— Tony used to love falling. He used to love the exhilaration and anticipation, the way his breath stuttered in that split second of flying before gravity took over. He used to love falling into a new habit, falling into a new love, just falling when he jumped from the diving board or the airplane or the rocks he’d climbed on as a child that he thought were so big and then realized as an adult they were merely stepping stones.

Tony used to love falling but that was before he fell from the rocks and skinned his knee and Howard yelled at him for being clumsy. Tony used to love falling but that was before he’d fallen in love and they’d laughed at his vulnerability and submission and teased that they’d expected different from a Stark.

Tony used to love falling, but that was before Afghanistan and Obadiah, before arc reactors that felt like gravity in his chest, before the suit shut down and he was staring at aliens through a wormhole that just days before had seemed impossible.

Tony used to love falling, but as his eyes opened wide to the horrors of another universe and JARVIS faded out and the wormhole started closing beneath him, all he could think about was how badly he needed someone to catch him.

But it was okay. Because falling was easy. And death would be easy.

All Tony had to do was close his eyes...

...Gravity.

It sank like a rock into Tony’s stomach, made his chest seize up and his lungs constrict and help help help it felt like he was suffocating, pinned under a ton of rock and drowning beneath the ocean and he couldn’t breathe.

Dimly. Voices around him and sunshine on his face and a dog barking in circles close by but Tony couldn't open his eyes far enough to see. Electricity was shocking through his veins to his heart, itching under his skin and behind his temples and his head was pounding and it hurt.

“Hey hey, you’re okay.” someone whispered. “Come down right here like this, on your knees beauty, that will make it feel better.”

Never once had being on his knees made anything feel better and everything in Tony’s core revolted at the thought. He jerked forward and heaved, pitched forward and met prickly grass beneath his palms, dragged in a breath that didn’t seem to touch his lungs and vomited fear out onto the ground.

“Aw hell, he’s in a real bad way. No collar?”

Fingers at his throat and Tony’s mind flashed-- rolled-- gave in sluggishly to a blurry picture of Obadiah looming over him, the click of a terrifying device and the horrifying pull at his heart as the reactor had come loose.

“Babydoll, can you tell us your name?”

“T--Tony.” Something wet at his face like a wipe and Tony tasted blood and defiance, a too familiar voice telling him to settle and Tony suddenly remembered the disappointment on his hero’s face, the way the Captain had looked him over and then looked away like he was nothing and he flinched but then same familiar voice crooned “Easy darlin’, just settle, my name’s Steve and I’m going to help you.”

“Tony. My name’s Bucky, can I hold you? Help you through this real quick?” A different voice pitched low and coaxing, strong fingers in his hair and Tony thought he threw up all over again when Obadiah and that paralysis machine and the violation of heart and soul and body came roaring back to his mind.

“No.” he gasped, and the fingers let go. “No.” he said again and this time the world stopped spinning just a little bit, the input cleared enough for Tony to see the grass in his hands and the clear sky above him and two pairs of worried blue eyes in front and he opened his mouth to ask, “Who--?”

But then gravity kicked in and he was falling again, down and down and sinking and he was cold and he was shaking and it was like the night he’d discovered the icing problem-- heart stopping fear and being trapped in what had made him so free just a moment ago, and the knowing he’d never escape this life and that it would eventually kill him--

Gravity, and Tony was falling.

Through the wormhole, through the sky, into the Earth and into the ocean, and there was no one to catch him.

“We’ve got you, sugar.”

“Hold on, sweetheart, we’ll take you home.”

“Pretty sub, don’t worry, you’re safe. You’re safe. Not gonna let anything get you.”

“You’re dropping, honey. Stop fighting it and let go, we’ll catch you. Let go. If you fight it, it’s only worse. Come on. You can trust us.”

“Trust us.”

“Let go.”

Let go.

Tony let go, let himself fall, and when strong hands caught him, all he could think about was how good it felt to finally be held.

***************

He woke up suddenly, breaking free of a dreamless sleep and right into consciousness with a gasping breath and the sort of headache that usually only came after weekend of binge drinking.

Pepper would be pissed.

“Ow.” Tony whispered and dug the heel of his palm into his eyes until sparks popped behind them and forced his brain back online-- click click click-- cataloging information and putting together a timeline of what had happened and where he might be.

New York, aliens, wormhole. Darkness and JARVIS shutting down and dying. Sunshine and gravity and voices. Sick and hurt and strangling as he tried to breathe. Letting go and falling and-- and somebody catching him.

There was a glass of water, a bottle of lemon lime Gatorade and a couple of ibuprofen on the bedside table and Tony automatically drank the water, popped the pills, then cracked the lid on the Gatorade and sipped slowly at it as he stared around the room.

The bed was small but the mattress was very high, a sure sign of the newer models which was a good thing since waking up in a strange bed was weird enough, waking up in on old bed would somehow be worse. The shades on the window were automatic and clearly expensive, though the clock on the wall looked like something out of the forties. Blankets were over clean and over fresh, so either just recently laundered or laundered and then folded away as a spare so this room must not be used very often.

Spare room meant a bigger apartment and maybe no kids, no carpet just nice flooring so maybe someone single who didn’t need the odd comfort thick carpet afforded or a couple who preferred less upkeep and cleaning. A folded up art easel in the corner along with a well used apron and rolled plastic sheet so--ah, definitely a spare bedroom, definitely not for kids. An artist then, which meant the window most likely faced East to get the most sunlight for painting which meant Tony could probably see the Tower from right here but hopefully not the wormhole cos please God tell him Natasha had closed the damn thing.

His suit had probably dismantled on the way down, but since he was alive it was more likely JARVIS had come back on line just long enough to slow his descent and let the suit take the brunt of the fall before peeling off around him. That would explain why he’d thrown up so many times, why he hurt all over, why his mind felt like scrambled eggs.

Falling and getting all banged up in the suit-- made sense.

Tony would just ask the people that found him and carried him in from wherever he’d fallen to take him back towards the Tower. Should be easy, he was Tony Stark, Iron Man. Recognizable and thankfully pretty well liked among the masses and if anyone doubted he could always show them the arc reactor--

--that wasn’t in his chest, holy shit the arc reactor wasn’t in his chest and Tony’s hand pressed against nothing more than scarred skin beneath his t-shirt.

What?

His arc reactor wasn’t there and that more than anything sent a bolt of panic through Tony’s heart, through his mind, startling him into action so he could fling himself off the bed and out of the room, bumping into walls as he tried to find a bathroom and there, he just had to figure out how to work the doorknob with suddenly sweaty hands and push past the panic crawling up his throat so he could get to a mirror and see what the hell had happened.

“Oh heya babydoll!” Very big and very Brooklyn and very shirtless was standing in front the bathroom mirror, one hand poised to shave away some morning scruff and the other-- well, the other one was no where because the man only had one arm and Tony kept staring at his face because he knew that face.

1945. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, best friend to Captain America. Fell off a train and everyone had searched, Howard had searched just like he’d searched for Captain for years but no one had ever found him.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky freaking Barnes.

“B--Bucky?” he asked slowly, incredulously, and a smile he’d only ever seen in old footage from the Smithsonian’s Howling Commandos Exhibit beamed back at him. “You’re Bucky?”

“Glad you remember that.” Bucky tapped his razor on the sink and finished up a few passes at his chin. “You were so out of it at the park, me and Stevie didn’t know how much you were processing. Can you tell me your name?”

“...Tony.”

“Good good, that’s what you told us.” he patted his face dry then turned and reached for Tony’s chin, turning his face both ways to check his eyes. “You feeling better?”

“Y-yes?” There was a tingle in the back of Tony’s mind that whispered submit when Bucky brushed a careful thumb over his cheek and that-- that was embarrassing.

There’d been a time when Tony had thought about submission, hell there’s been a time when he craved it, but while he was in a stranger’s home and obviously concussed because he was hallucinating long dead soldiers from his dad’s days with SHIELD-- well that was not the time. Not the time at all.

He wasn’t about to get subby and ridiculous over a pair of blue eyes and sort of unfair muscles and a striking resemblance to a war hero.

Nope. Nope. Not today. Not when there were aliens to clean up and a couple of spies to deal with and Pepper to try and talk out of furious hysterics and a Hulk and a demi-god and a super soldier--

“Tony!”

Tony would know that voice anywhere, even if it sounded less disapproving than last time, even if it almost sounded happy to see him. He would know that voice anywhere, and he flinched away from it, recoiled from a set of big hands reaching for him and the newcomer stopped a few feet away, mouth open and eyes hurt, hands up in surrender.

“No no, it’s alright babydoll.” Bucky wrapped his arm around Tony and hushed him. “No harm, Stevie maybe just move a little slower. I think he’s having a hard time coming out of his drop.”

“Oh hey, I’m sorry.” the blond offered with a quick smile. “Didn’t mean to rush you, Tony. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you, alright? I shouldn't have raised my voice or came towards you so quickly. Sorry. Do you remember me?”

“S-Steve.” Tony stammered in disbelief, because it was right but it wasn’t right, this was a hell of a hallucination holy shit. “Steve?”

“Yeah, yeah that’s right. I’m Steve.” He moved slower this time, reaching out to cup Tony’s chin just like Bucky had done. “How are you feeling?”

“I--” Tony had to physically quell the urge to lean into Steve’s palm, to close his eyes and sigh at the gentle touch. It was a stupid reaction and a ridiculous thing to want so Tony leaned back entirely, even stepped away from Bucky and shook his head. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Bucky let him go without comment, but something like hurt flashed through Steve’s eyes again and Tony didn’t understand that at all.

“You need to take a shower, don’t you?” the big brunette decided and Tony actually had to clamp his mouth shut so he wouldn’t blurt yes sir in response to the question that had sounded more like an order. “You’ll call us if you need us, just shout and we’ll come running.”

“If you want one of us to stand in there too, that’s fine.” Steve spoke up and Tony swiveled with wide eyes towards him. “Coming out of a drop like this is brutal, a Dom’s presence would help. Either one of us are willing to be in there with you.”

Steve said it all like it was perfectly acceptable for him or Bucky to watch Tony shower, to share hot water with a stranger. And what did he mean a drop, what the hell was a drop and why did he call himself a Dom and-

“Easy easy, you’re fading again.” A solid hand at the back of his neck and Tony’s knees buckled under the weight. “We’ve got you.” A steadying grip at his waist, another lower on his hip to keep him from hitting the bathroom floor. “Oaky. You’re not ready for a shower.”

I’m not ready for a shower.

“I’m going to take you to the living room.” It was Bucky in his ear, soft and almost a drawl, an edge of Brooklyn accent coming through in a way that made Tony half hysterical, half thrilled. “Stevie, go and get one of our weighted blankets and the cloud pillow.”

“Yeah, Buck.” Steve moved on without another word, no hesitation in his step as he went to get what Bucky had asked for and Tony had only a moment to think how odd it was for the Captain to follow orders before Bucky was gently but firmly walking him out of the bathroom and towards a couch in the living room, lightly but purposefully directing him to sit, and clearly but kindly telling him,

“You need to sit, you need to breathe. Stay put.”

“Yep.” Tony nodded a few times and gripped hard at the couch to try and ground himself when Bucky’s hand left his side and he ended up feeling… feeling empty. “Yeah, I’ll-- I’ll just stay here.”

It was sort of a relief to be told what to do, to have something that Tony didn’t have to think about because right now he was thinking about everything. Bucky had told him to sit so Tony would sit. Steve showed back up with a weighted blanket in the calmest shade of blue Tony had ever seen and when the blond ordered, “Relax.” Tony simply…simply relaxed.

Not thinking, just obeying and it was a relief.

It was a relief like falling was a relief, but falling wasn’t safe anymore so Tony pulled himself back from that particular edge and held on to the couch tight enough for his knuckles to turn white.

Not falling. Just obeying. Breathing and watching because even with the odd urge of submit lingering around the edges of his thought patterns, Tony couldn’t turn his brain off.

There was too much to know, too much to wonder, and too much to see.

Bucky moved like a man meant to be obeyed, a man used to barking orders and having them carried out without question and Steve looked like he would follow every one of those orders right off the side of a cliff if that’s what Bucky wanted.

And that didn’t seem right, because Tony knew the stories about Captain America and Sergeant Barnes, he’d seen the war time footage and the way Steve had snapped his fingers and Bucky had run to his side, the way they were always ‘Captain and his second in command’, ‘Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes’, ‘hero and sidekick’.

It didn’t seem right but there was something very right about the way Steve was every inch as big and powerful as he’d been facing down Loki in Germany and still somehow so soft around the edges when Bucky spoke. There’d been rumours about how close Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes really were back in the day, but seeing it for himself-- or seeing a hallucination of it for himself-- or a time travel flash back? Where the hell was he anyway?-- seeing it for himself was almost devastating.

Steve orbited Bucky like a planet around the sun, Bucky looked up and smiled when Steve handed him a bottle of water and the blond might as well have hung the stars, they moved in close tandem and perfect rhythm and when Bucky caught Steve in close for a kiss, they fit together like two halves of a whole.

...and gravity ripped a jagged tear through Tony’s soul, wide enough to let the lonely rush through and wrap through his heart and suddenly all he could think about was Pepper and the way she’d kissed him goodbye like he was already gone as he’d flown off to join the Avengers. And Rhodey who had begged him to call just once before doing something stupid. And his Mama who would be proud of him and his Dad who hadn’t smiled even when he graduated college and oh fuck he was lonely, he was lonely--

Tony didn’t mean to whimper out loud, it was a thoroughly embarrassing noise and if there was any thing remotely normal about this day or this situation he would have coughed it off and made some glib comment and then poured himself a fucking drink to drown it all.

But there wasn’t anything remotely normal about anything, and Tony didn’t have a drink or the presence of mind to ask for one from the Sergeant and the Captain that were somehow not the men they were supposed to be but still two people that felt familiar down to Tony’s very bones.

They felt familiar and they felt right and he wanted to fall to his knees and cry but instead he just whimpered and two pairs of beautiful blue eyes snapped rough to look at him.

“Tony?”

Submit and this time Tony didn’t ignore it and he slid off the couch to his knees, bit off a sob as the loneliness turned suffocating and it was just like earlier when he couldn’t breathe and he was drowning and he was blurring and he was---

“We’re here.” It was Steve who came close first this time, looming tall over Tony and then meeting him there on his knees, gentle fingers up his neck and lightly at his cheek and Tony gasped out loud and grabbed at the blond’s wrist because he couldn’t stay there un- tethered, floating in uncertainty and fear.

“Oh sweetheart.” Steve sort of… sort of made a rumbling noise and it was instantly the most comforting sound in the world so Tony finally gave into the need to lean into Steve’s palm and rest his head.

“That’s good, beauty.” Steve whispered and something unlocked deep in Tony’s heart. “That’s good, you are so so good. So beautiful when you’re soft like this. I’ve got you. I can hold you when you’re down, I’m here.”

An arm at Tony’s waist and he was pulled in gently gently until his nose notched at the hollow of Steve’s throat and he whimpered all over again when he was surrounded by warmth and steadiness and could feel Steve’s heart beneath his hands where he was clutching tight to the button up shirt.

“You’re so good.” came the whispered reassurance and Tony couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard those words, which meant this was definitely a Grade A hallucination, which meant he was either lost in some effect of the wormhole or lying comatose in a hospital bed after falling back to Earth but either way it was fine. It was fine because for the first time in his life Tony felt loose and pliant and safe, grounded and surrounded and held and it was fine and it was fine and his mind was spinning--

“Settle.” An order from Sergeant Barnes-- from Bucky. “Sugar, I can see how hard you’re thinkin’ from right here. Settle down and breathe.”

Tony breathed, sharp inhale and a shaky exhale that left him drained and the second he obeyed another arm wound tight around him to hold him close.

“Holy hell, you’re about the prettiest sub I’ve ever seen.” Bucky murmured on his other side and Steve rumbled something in agreement. “Just gorgeous, sweet thing. Look how soft you are for Stevie, I love that. Good boy. Sweet boy, you’re doing wonderful.”

The praise was like balm to Tony’s battered heart, and his last thought before letting go and slipping towards darkness was about heaven, about soft lights and quiet music and none of the noise that clamored in his head all the time.

Heaven, because his brain could snap back into gear later and he could figure it all out later and make up for lost time later.

Heaven, because lips brushed over his temples and a deep voice crooned, “You’re such a good sub, sweetheart.” and it was the best thing Tony had ever heard in his life.

Heaven.

**************

“He doesn’t have a collar, Buck.” Steve twisted the heavy ring around his finger anxiously, rubbing his thumb over the raised symbol that marked him as Dominant, the pale aquamarine in the center that marked him as Bucky’s. “There isn’t very many reasons why a sub would be dropping in the middle of the park without a collar on.”

“Only two by my count.” Bucky took a long drink of his beer and didn’t take his eyes off Steve, checking the other Dom’s posture, the stress lines between Steve’s eyebrows, the muscle jumping in his jaw as the blond ground his teeth together. “He’s recently out of a bad break up and left his claimed collar behind without purchasing a white neutral one, emotions are running high and something set him off so he slid.”

“Or?” Steve asked tersely, knowing damn well what else Bucky would say.

“Or his collar was removed during a scene that got outta control.” Bucky grimaced, flexing his fingers to show off the Dominant ring on his right hand. “He ran, didn’t come outta the scene properly and dropped right there in public.”

“Neither of those scenarios are good ones.”

“Nope.” Steve kept twisting his ring and Bucky kept watching. “He’s not a switch, Stevie, not with the way he went down.”

“Nope.” the other Dom echoed. “Not a switch. Did you see how he looked when I held him?”

“The way he curled into you all sweet like that?” Bucky shook his head. “Yeah baby I saw it. Definitely a sub, definitely got into something he couldn’t handle and ended up fuckin’ vulnerable in the middle of the street. It’s a good thing you saw him when you did.”

“It was like something called me over there.” Steve confessed quietly. “Like the way it felt when you and I figured out we were in love. Called me right to him like he had been dropped there waiting for us.”

Bucky stayed quiet a minute, brows raised and his partner finished, “Don’t like that he jerked away from me that first time though, what do you think that was about?”

“Lotsa subs pull away from strange Doms, Stevie.” Bucky reminded him. “Maybe you look like his ex and that far into a drop he couldn’t separate you two. He cuddled right up a minute later though, right? Settled in all sweet against your heart?”

“Yeah.” a reluctant smile pulled at Steve’s mouth. “Yeah, he sure did. Never held anyone half as sweet as him, Buck.”

“Well I’m the only one you’ve held since we were fuckin’ kids.” Bucky grinned and kicked out at the other Dom. “You sayin’ I’m not sweet?”

“I’m saying when it comes time for one of us to be real pretty on our knees, it's never you.” Steve corrected, and when Bucky’s eyes lit like pale lightning, the blond swallowed back a hungry jolt and whispered, “And I know you think I’m pretty when I go down for you too, Buck. But there’s somethin’ special about the way Tony is like that with us. We’ve never even taken him down, not proper, not yet. But just bringing him through that drop….”

His voice trailed off and Bucky shifted forward in his seat, propped his chin up his hand and warned, “He could be somebody’s sub, Stevie. Be careful.”

“He could be our sub.”

“The reasons why he’s not wearing a submissive’s collar could be pretty fucked up, babydoll. We don’t know what sorta baggage he’s got.”

“Yeah, or he might be a sub that refuses to even wear a neutral white one.” Steve countered. “Some subs don’t wear a collar until they find a Dom they’d be proud to claim as their own.”

“Stevie--”

“Tell me you don’t look at him and want him right here.” Steve tapped at his chest a few times. “Right here, Bucky. The way you wanted me, remember?”

“You think I don’t remember th’day I got to call you mine?” Just to remind his love, Bucky lifted one heavy foot and thumped it down, inclined his head towards the floor and just like Steve did every time his Dominant wanted, he went to his knees between Bucky’s spread thighs and let his body roll lax and submissive.

“Fuck me runnin’, you’re gorgeous.” Bucky muttered roughly, winding thick fingers into Steve’s hair so he could direct a searing, claiming kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Steve was every inch a Dominant in every moment but this, and he melted beneath Bucky's lips, trusting and whole heartedly belonging to the man he adored. “Bucky, just tell me--”

“Tony is a submissive desperate to be held.” Bucky interrupted, tugging on the blond strands until Steve’s head fell back obediently. “And I’m pretty fuckin’ desperate to hold him. We’re gonna take it one day at a time, one moment at a time and if Tony wants to stay then he has a place to stay.”

“Yes sir.” Steve nodded.

“If Tony doesn’t want to stay, he doesn’t have to.”

“Yes sir.”

“You want him?”

“I-- I think I need him.”

“Okay then.” Another kiss, soft and sweet and achingly tender. “If you need him, I need him too. Call Clint and tell him we’re not hanging out tonight. Tell him we’re busy. I’m going to order food, we’ll wake Tony up again and then we will eat together.”

“Yes sir.”

“Stevie?” Bucky waited until those gorgeous blue eyes met his. “Get up off your knees and kiss me like a Dom, sweetheart.”

“Mmm, my pleasure.”

******************

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#ncts fics #stuckony #tony stark #steve rogers #bucky barnes #dom/sub

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thickenmyblood · 4 years

Note

I love how you really put a lot of thought into how you regard and read fanfic as well as how you respond to questions about how you feel aout it. Can I ask what are some parts/ideas in fics that really made you go wow, this is well planned or like I never would have thought about this or I forgot that this plot point and device were even a thing! I hope this makes sense

I love you, kind stranger. Thank you for reading my delirious posts and giving me the chance to scream about fics, which is always a pleasure.

Note: If your fic is in this post and you don’t want it to be, let me know and I’ll take it down.

Zeitnot by thereshaegoes

I love the idea of time travel, so when I read this fic’s summary I bookmarked it instantly. At first, I thought it was going to be eight chapters of Laurent waking up the day of the battle of Marlas, but the author really surprised me.

I loved that someone died at the end of each chapter (at first, at least) but what really made me go ‘oh’ is when Lauret realizes the Damen from “this new reality” is, in fact, his Damen!

Damen not being with Jokaste was weird to me, but I shrugged it off as a personal choice the author had made. Then, when Damen was talking about abolishing slavery, I was still in denial. ‘Oh, well, some people don’t like to write Damen as a slave owner, which is cool’. And then, when the big reveal finally came, I was just… amazed. I literally put my phone down and went, ‘okay, this person really knows what they’re doing when it comes to writing’.

I love the little plot twists. In my head, a plot twist most basic example is ‘oh, X is a traitor’ but… this? This is so much better.

Between the Shadow and the Soul by Anonymous

This work was… insanely refreshing, innovative, transgressive, and outrageously good. It does feature a lot of sex scenes, but at the same time, it felt like sex was the least important part of the story. I don’t know how to explain myself when it comes to this fic (and God knows I’ve tried) but… The sex scenes aren’t there just for the smut of it all, if that makes any sense.

Auguste as a narrator is so unusual, and yet it made the fic so painful and enjoyable! I loved the way it left you wondering just how accurate his POV was. I loved the sex scenes with actual characterization. This author never, not even for one second, stopped focusing on the dynamic between Laurent, Auguste, and Damen. It could be argued that the Laurent/Auguste bit weighted more than the overall OT3 bit, but still… I had literally forgotten what sex scenes were for until I read this fic.

Sex scenes, especially in this particular work, are not parentheses in the story. They’re not there for the reader to take a break from the “actual plot” or “narration”. They are what holds the story together, and they’re opportunities for the reader to learn more about the characters

Cherry Wine by SteeleStingray

Yes, I’m back on my bullshit. Yes, I’m talking about CW again. But I’ll make it short because there is no way you don’t know how I feel about this work. If you don’t, check out this comment (which, by the way, is not even a fraction of what I wanted to say to the author when I read the fic).

What I found innovative and made me go “is this allowed?” about CW is not the idea of an OT3, but rather this particular take on a relationship that consists of three people. I’ve read a few published books that feature similar couples (all of them suck, and when I say they suck I mean it) so I was very hesitant to read this because of that reason.

Usually, when people write OT3 they pepper in a lot of stuff I don’t like to read about: extreme jealousy, misunderstandings, cheating, weird dynamics that feel stilted, awkward sex scenes where one of the three just sits in a chair and watches the other two like some voyeur from Juan José Saer’s stories. Guess what doesn’t happen in CW?

Another thing I liked about this work is that it reminded me that themes in fiction aren’t limited to one specific work. This author really likes nicknames. At the time, when I had only read CW, I thought it was just a one-time thing. Turns out, it’s not. An emerald-coloured nightmare also features nicknames. I like this idea that you can tell who wrote something based on little details and narrative choices. It’s like the author is winking at you, going ‘ha, did you get it?’

Ink on Paper by deripmaver

I don’t usually like fics with non-linear narrative because I’m a lazy bitch who can’t keep up. I’d never really seen the point in using flashbacks, scenes from the past, or anything like that because my writing style (oh, fuck off, my writing style, who the fuck do I think I am) is more about references. And then I read this fic. And I was like, ‘okay, I’ve seen the light of not writing everything linearly like an idiot’.

The Mannequin Gallery by marrieddorks

Yes, I realize I’m talking about all my favorite fics. I feel no shame.

This fic is a Modern AU. Everyone who has ever written a Modern AU knows that one of the trickiest parts is finding characters professions that make sense with who they are/what they like/what they’re good at. This story features Damen as an influencer. That’s it, that’s my whole tweet.

It reminded me that even when you’re writing a Modern AU (or any sort of AU, really) it’s important to know what the essence of the characters you’re writing is. The way even Jord’s job makes sense… And how it feels like the author didn’t just steal the characters’ names and use them to create a random story (which is valid, too)... and… Okay, this has nothing to do with a plot twist or a narrative device but have you read this Nicaise? Have you? You haven’t read Nicaise until you’ve read this fic.

(and that's why) you're so beautiful now by iwasgonegonegone

This fic is 612 words. It has no plot. One of the tags reads, “listen they're in love and they're cute and that's all i have to say” and I… yes. This fic inspired me to write plot-less stories again. Not only that, it made me enjoy writing them.

Lately, I’ve been talking to a friend of mine about a new pairing we both like a lot. We go back and forth for hours sometimes just talking about what they’d do, details about the worldbuilding, a billion ‘what-ifs’... and I love it. If one of us sat down to write a story based on all our conversations, it would be a character study fic. It would have, maybe, some plot to it, but… Plot would feel like an excuse to talk about their relationship. And I love that. I fucking hate plot, I hate it, and this… Yes. This fic is like a little slice of life. The author has mentioned before that they enjoy writing poetry (more than longer pieces of fiction) and this story reads like a poem. You know when you read a poem and you get this weird tingly feeling? Read this and feel that, you’re welcome.

The Life We Live by homewithyou

I’ve said before that I don’t go looking for mpreg. Sometimes, mpreg has come looking for me, and I’ve closed my door on its face. I read this fic mainly because I never pay attention to the tags on AO3 (healthy, I know) and I was too busy making myself toast to read the summary.

I was five paragraphs in and this bit hit me like a fucking electric hammer to the head: “...which had been going haywire more often than not since the pregnancy began five months ago.” I was like, ‘wait, did I—am I reading—why am I—’ and then I just shut my mouth and continued reading. I’m glad I did. I’m glad I didn’t let my narrowmindedness stop me from giving this fic a try. I’m glad people out there are writing stories that they enjoy, about topics a few others would deem controversial.

This also applies to the Lamen/Auguste fic I mentioned above. What’s the point of writing if you’re not going to take risks and be honest about what you like to write about? It takes honesty and commitment to write anything that strays from the norm. And so I’m glad this person posted this story, because it changed me in a small way (‘what if I shut the fuck up and read more mpreg instead of instantly clicking out?’).

This is another perfect example of how plot is poison and you don’t need it in your life (unless you enjoy poison. In that case consume the plot, write the plot, sniff the plot. And die). A morning in bed, just nuzzling and talking… living life… Again, this made me realize that you can say a lot about two characters just from a morning in bed. It made me want to write 25 pages of dialogue in bed (this and Manuel Puig’s book titled Kiss of the spider woman, which I recommend fervently).

Plot? In this house? We don’t know her. You’re a strong, independent writer. You don’t need no plot.

For a more general response, I’d say that Steele’s worldbuilding is impeccable and made me look at the setting of stories differently.

Foreshadowing is always amazing, but I haven’t read a lot of fics where it’s a prominent element (which is not to say authors aren’t good at it, I just don’t read enough fics to give you a good example of this).

I really like oxymorons and when writers use funny adverbs. GallaPlacidia’s adverbs are to die for, so definitely check out her stories if you’re interested in that.

I also love the way xlydiadeetz writes archs. She does this thing where she divides the story into different… timelines? archs? I… don’t even know. Amazing.

I hope this answer made sense.

#anon #thereshaegoes #steelestingray #deripmaver #marrieddorks #iwasgonegonegone #homewithyou #this is my trying to tag #i... suck at it as you can tell

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anika-ann · 4 years

Text

Nothing but the Truth - Pt.6

The Worst Pre-honeymoon Ever

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader Word count: 4950

Summary: A fake dating AU. “Lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth…” (F.Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment)

Warnings: a lot of swearing, implied stalking, creepiness and sick beliefs, violence, torture

A/N: The longest one so far and also the most important one; the very birth of this fic. There you go. Read the warnings, please, even if you usually skip them

Story Masterlist

Considering how messed up you were and what circumstances you found yourself in, it suddenly took you a ridiculously little amount of time to realize what at least one of those machines was.

It was a polygraph.

A lie detector.

What was the questioning going to about you could only guess, because ‘I brought you here to ensure your future commitment to each other can be proper” was as much of a fucked-up clue as it was a useless one.

Your mind was about to kick into an overdrive with morbid fantasies, when a groan caught your attention. Your head instantly snapped to Steve, the source of the pained noise.

He squeezed his eyes tightly, shifting his head back and forth, the motion slow, but with a purpose, as if he was trying to avoid annoying sunrays in the morning.

For a brief moment, you wondered if either of you were about to see the morning sun ever again and the thought made you choke up.

Steve’s eyelids fluttered open drowsily, barely focused eyes searching the room until his gaze fell on you and his eyes widened. His lips whispered your name and despite the tears gathering in your eyes, you gave him a watery smile.

“Hey, Steve,” you creaked and his gaze trailed over your body, pupils dilating so much that they nearly hid all of the cerulean of his irises.

He straightened in his chair; or attempted too, his body probably feeling as heavy as yours when you had woken up; possibly heavier even, with that sicko drugging him with a mixture of sedatives that could have stop his breathing.

“Whatta-“ he rasped, his fingers twitching, more forcefully than you grew accustomed to while being here and his glare found the body part in question with utter confusion – and horror.

“Captain, good to see you awake at last.”

Steve tried to stand up to face the voice, the supposed enemy, but he barely moved at all; the tips of his shoes rose a fraction, his thumbs flexing, his palms rising just an inch before falling back to the armrest helplessly.

His eyes found the man at least, his chin coming to rest on his shoulder to keep it from falling on his chest as the muscles in his neck weren’t able to do their job.

Seeing Steve Rogers in a significantly weakened state was a new and an entirely terrifying thing that shook you to a core. Steve Rogers, Captain America, always strong and ready to swing in to save everyone…. You had seen him bruised before, a fading black-eye maybe, a healing scar on his cheek, but nothing that came even close to this; witnessing his battle to keep his head up, that-- that was fucking scary.

You had never ever been met with a sight of him drained enough not to hold his body straight.

However, determination and anger were written all over his face as his eyes narrowed and it was the only thing which felt familiar about him.

It was the sole thing helping you to maintain a piece of sanity, his attitude shining a ray of hope into the darkness and horror of this godforsaken place when a psycho who hooked up Steve to some machine to deliver periodical electric pulses.

Jesus. Christ.

One simple word, mumbled with difficulty, yet carrying a menace; it broke the silence suddenly and startlingly.

“You,” Steve muttered, glaring at your masked captor.

You blinked simultaneously with Steve; while he was apparently attempting to shake off his drowsiness, you were simply confused.

He… had he had an idea who this psycho was?

Your captor ignored him though and went to seat himself to a chair by the polygraph and one more device, causing your face drain of all colour in a terrifying premonition.

“Now that we are all set-“

“You’re the vendor,” Steve stated, still fighting the effect of sedatives, forcing his muscles to move according to his commands.

The fact that he couldn’t was heart-breaking, but what he called the man behind the mask was downright mind-blowing.

The… the vendor? As if-

The man sighed, a breathless chuckle escaping his lips as he reached for the edge of the mask, pealing it off.

To your undiluted shock, he truly revealed a face of a man who had sold you the ring.

What the actual-- you had found him creepy okay, but not I’m-going-to-kidnap-you-and-torture-you creepy! How—how did he even get to you, how did he overpower a freaking supersoldier, how he moved him anywhere, Steve was a mass of muscle, heavy and this guy was just-

“Nothing escapes your attention, I see,” the unmasked man remarked. “I should have known. There is no point in hiding then. Let’s begin-“

“How did you find us?” Steve demanded and for the first time since you had been back to consciousness, it dawned to you that… this was, in fact, what you had wanted. You wanted the man behind the kidnappings to find you.

You most definitely hadn’t wanted it to come to this¸ but-

Despite feeling like absolute shit, cold and terrified in your very core, you… you forced yourself to stop freaking out that much at least. Your mission was on. This was the plan.

Kinda.

“The tracker in the ring, naturally,” the madman answered almost kindly, one corner of his lips rising.

Your heart nearly gave out; he put a tracker in the ring?! What the fuck?!

And then it hit you; a tracker.

You had two trackers on you now; one in the ring from this psycho, one in the necklace from Tony freaking Stark.

The Avengers must have been on their way already Your eyes fluttered close, relief flooding your veins from the centre of your chest to your fingertips. It would be over soon.

Right?

“Unfortunately, I have to inform you I needed to deactivate the tracking devices in your necklace and belt.”

Your eyes snapped open in horror, finding Steve’s alarmed ones.

What? WHAT?!

Fuck.

No, don’t freak out (again) just yet! Surely Tony freaking Stark had counted on that option, right? Because he was a genius, he-

The pure horror in Steve’s face told you otherwise. No, he hadn’t. At least not that Steve knew of.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK-!!

Steve slowly shook his head, grimacing; he wasn’t one to give up. And spotting the terror on your face, he most definitely was not the one to submit, no, he would be the one to keep your head above water before you could drown in panic.

“Was smart,” Steve muttered, apparently still with difficulty, but more clearly now. You would be delighted that his state improving, except your mind was too busy trying to figure out why the heck did it sound as if he just praised your kidnapper. “So is your profession. You can get the information on new couples first-hand.”

The vendor seemed thoughtful as he nodded, but then a scowl twisted his expression.

“Wouldn’t be my first choice.”

And it finally, finally dawned to your slow brain what was Steve doing. He was stalling. To what end you weren’t sure, but you hoped it meant that the Ironman himself would be able to find you anyway… somehow.

“What… what would be your first choice?” you whispered softly, too scared of setting something in him off by speaking louder.

“Doesn’t matter. I found my purpose now,” he replied, leaning to the machines and you gulped when a spark flied from it.

“And what is the purpose again?”

The man turned to Steve at the question. “I am a servant of love. Of true love. One of faith, trust and honesty,” he declared proudly and you wanted to puke. He sounded fucking insane.

A servant of love? Tell that to the missing couples!

“How do you serve this love?” Steve queried, somehow managing to sound genuinely interested and when the other man hesitated, you held your breath.

“Mm. I protect people from entering a marriage based on lies.”

BY KIDNAPPING THEM AND KILLING THEM?!

Because that was the assumption, wasn’t it? If the couples had disappeared and never reappeared, then they were very likely dead.

Just like you might be in a couple of minutes.

You breathed through the hysteria crawling up your throat, rather holding onto the fact Steve was still trying to do something here. The stalling seemed to be working well.

But for how long? And was the time bought with this enough for the Avengers finding you despite this man’s plots?

“You’re protecting them from the same fate you suffered,” Steve deduced and you winced.

“Yes. I know the pain lies can cause to a man. Love must be pure. When you promise dedication to another person, you must be truly committed to them,” he stated seriously and your head… spun as you slowly pierced together a story of a man with a broken heart and… a broken mind, turning absolutely fucking mad from the betrayal.

Ill, he was ill, mentally, but that didn’t justify his actions in the slightest.

“You were married and your partner has been unfaithful,” Steve guessed, but sounded as if he knew for sure, coming to the same conclusion as you.

“How do you-“ the vendor chuckled then, a watery sound as his own memories must have been brought to life, reopening the wound and rubbing salt in it. “Of course you would figure it out…. She sat in this very chair, you know? With her new fiancé. And she didn’t even love him. She was only after his money. And he didn’t love her either, just enjoying the adventure. Such a shame…”

Your blood crystalized in your veins, icy cold, and not for the first time, your stomach turned all over, its contents threatening to spill from your mouth.

He… had he—he-

“Where is she now?” you quipped, unable to keep the question from spilling from your lips, needing to know the answer and dreading it at the same time.

His smile was blinding as he looked at you. “In eternity.”

A violent tremble shook your body and your eyes closed at their own account, tears welling up and instantly rolling down your cheeks.

“I’m sure I’ll meet her one day and we will be reunited, her soul reaching absolution, her love for me finally purified.”

Well, I hope she reached absolution and you’ll rot in hell, you sadistic psycho. You murdered your ex-wife!

“You had enough answers. I’m gonna ask now. Don’t you dare to lie; lies only bring pain to our loved ones,” he warned you, his voice carrying the echo of his own heartbreak.

To deliver his point, your captor pressed a button on what looked like a primitive remote.

A sharp tingle ran through your body and you jerked in your seat, a startled yelp escaping you.

Steve hissed, apparently receiving the same treatment, but being less bothered by it; or at least aiming to appear like that for your benefit.

It was scarily easy to comprehend what was about to happen. You were about to get a shock treatment for every lie leaving your lips.

Steve’s eyes locked on you, pleading. The message written in them was clear; don’t lie at any circumstances.

You didn’t need to be told twice; you did not want to be punished by fucking electricity, thank you very much.

“Let’s start with low intensity and simple questions…” the man informed you casually, rising from his seat, and walked to Steve right after he set something on the machine. It started humming and his words echoed in your skull, bouncing dully in the space with terrible realization. He was about to turn up the intensity at some point. Jesus fuck. “Do you care for this woman, Captain?”

Steve fought to raise his chin in defiance, looking the man dead in the eye.

“Yes.”

Your captor turned to you, smiling. “Told you I’d start with the easy ones. Isn’t it nice to know the truth? Look at that. No significant changes to the lines.”

You followed his line of gaze, noticing for the first time the outcome of the… testing. The polygraph monitoring yours and Steve’s whatever was writing down lines of low amplitudes. He was right.

And you didn’t give a shit.

You just wanted to-- to be free again and not under the threat of being possibly electrocuted.

He went to switch something on the machine before asking you the same question. “Now… do you care for this man?”

This question indeed was easy; yet, the intense eyes of the man who had your destiny in his hands made it hard for you to breathe and answer.

“Y-yes.”

The scribbling on the paper of the polygraph got madder and your heart honest to God stopped.

What the fuck, you were telling the truth!

Your examiner frowned at the paper. “You’re a nervous one, aren’t you? Don’t worry about that.”

No fucking kidding, you have me connected to a-

“Let’s proceed. Have you ever kissed someone else since you started this relationship?”

“Have you had an intercourse with someone else since you started this relationship?”

These were easy to pass; especially considering that you had started fake-dating Steve only two – three? – days ago.

Was it really so shortly? It felt like eternity.

Then again, you felt like you had been in this creepy-as-fuck dungeon, your heart beating so fast that it might fail any second, for hours. And the period seemingly grew more immense as he turned up the potential punishment with each question.

Where the fuck was Tony Stark when you needed him?! Being fashionably late was not an option right now!

“You’re doing very well so far,” the man praised you both with a satisfied smile and moved to Steve once more; not before he modified the volts again.

You shivered at both his expression and actions. You prayed to Lord that you didn’t come across as lying, the memory of the short but intense warning at the beginning of the questioning still vivid in your mind. And that had been just a taste, the levels were much higher now.

A violent shudder shook your body.

“Have you always been honest about your feelings for her?”

For a brief moment, your brain just… froze.

There was one thing you hadn’t considered about this whole ordeal and that Steve finding out how you felt about him.

The moment you’d be asked that question… you’d either had to lie and get… some shock treatment or you’d have to tell the truth.

There was a saying about a rock and a hard place and you felt like it very much applied right now. Also… what would the man do if you told the truth and said no? He was all about honesty and if you hadn’t been honest with Steve, then there was clearly something wrong; at least according to his messed-up code or some shit.

Fuck rocks and hard places.

“I…” Steve whispered, finding your gaze. One look into his eyes and you realized that he was… torn.

Why was he torn? Did he hate you and never told you or something? That was ridiculous, right? You would have noticed that.

“Yes, Captain?” the man encouraged him.

Steve gulped, locking glares with the man. “Yes.”

The sudden beep nearly made you jump out of your skin and the man sighed, his whole demeanour changing. He eyed you and you couldn’t but frown.

Steve lied. You tried hard not to think about why, but thought about the fact that he did and… and that he was-- he was about to get-

“You don’t— you don’t need to hurt him, he’s-“ you quickly blurted out, panicking more when Steve shook his head behind the psycho with the remote, mouthing ‘don’t’. “-I’m sure it’s only some… misunderstanding.”

Yeah, you could see why Steve discouraged you from speaking.

You sounded utterly stupid and pathetic.

“See, that’s what I thought at first about my late wife. This can’t be happening in an honest relationship. I’m truly sorry about this,” he hummed regretfully, stepping away from Steve.

Your heart was squeezed by a cold fist when you saw the supersoldier – momentarily incapacitated – brace for the pain and your hands balled into fists, nails digging into your palms.

“Wait-“ you called out once more, but the man pushed the button anyway.

Your body was set on fire.

An agonized scream erupted from your chest, but you might have imagined it, because you didn’t have control over anything.

Someone struck a match and threw it on your body drenched in gasoline, igniting every cell, every nerve ending; acid flew through your veins, burning, everywhere, inside, outside, pain, pain, pain- and screams, a voice full of rage and desperation, God, is this hell, searing hot, cries of agony, black and crimson, blinding white of the burning heat, fire, fire and no end in sight, only more gasoline poured in--

You gasped as if you were pulled out from under water and earned a second above surface, greedily swallowing oxygen through your burning windpipe, stinging pressure expanding in your lungs, more, more, Jesus, you needed more-

Your fingertips tingled painfully, the muscles in your forearms spasming, the aftertaste of the unbearable heat it had been through stabbing tiny needles in every cell in your body. You were collapsed in the armchair, limp, unable to control the furious fight for oxygen your body led.

Your vision was blurry, dark spots dancing on its edges, pulsing visibly with each frantic beat of your heart.

The male voice – Steve’s, you realized – was still yelling, menacing and deadly.

“STOP! WHY did you do that to her?!” he demanded heatedly, the cerulean of his eyes swallowed by the darkest fury— and glazed by wetness of welled-up tears. “I’m sorry, oh god, I’m so sorry-“

“I told you,” your captor stated coldly and as you tried to focus on him, your mind buzzing loudly with the aftermath of his punishment, you found your own cheeks damp, vision blurred by tears. “Lies hurt the people we love. People we care for.”

“She didn’t do ANYTHING WRONG!” Steve yelled, sitting surprisingly upward for few seconds before he no doubt received his periodic discharge to keep his strength in check and he melted back into the chair with a frustrated grimace, trying to get up the very next second.

“No, she didn’t. You did. Now you know how this works.”

Between your raged breaths and your mind slowly clearing, you swore in your head. Answering this guy’s questions just got hella lot harder. You had not thought you’d enjoy going through that agony ever again, but the thought of putting someone else through it, Steve of all people, that was downright unthinkable.

And fucked up on an entirely new level.

“Now, dear, have you always-“

Staring at Steve’s face, white as the very sheet of paper where the records of his life functions were being written down, screaming thousands of apologies-- something in you snapped and you glared daggers at the sicko of a man who kidnapped you only to do-- this.

“Hey! No, I wasn’t. He was my friend first, have you thought of that? Do you think we just confessed our love to each other the first time we realized it? The first time we realized that we fell for our friend’s friend? No, the answer is one big NO. You bet your fucking ass that I wasn’t honest!” you sputtered at him, leaning forward only the two inches you could.

You hadn’t thought it was possible, but Steve’s face turned even paler as he shot the insane man a look, dreading his reaction.

Okay, maybe you should have considered that Steve might get shocked for your boldness, shit-

But the man in charge only frowned at you, seemingly deep in thought for endless seconds and then he broke into a manic smile.

“I’ll give you this one. You have a point. Very well…”

You sighed in relief; it appeared you wouldn’t find out the consequences of him not liking the truth just yet. Relaxing in your chair, you winced when your forearm spasmed again without your intent.

It wasn’t as painful anymore; but it was incredibly annoying not to be able to control your movements.

The involuntary twitch of muscle didn’t escape Steve’s attention and the deep wrinkle on his forehead which had been the first thing you noticed after— eh, the end of the shock, deepened. His brows were furrowed in concern, the corners of his mouth twisted downward and he just… you had been in agony, alright, it still fucking hurt, but you desperately wanted to give Steve a hug just to erase that troubled expression from his face.

“Moving to another question then. Is there anything you would change about her?”

The look on Steve’s face rivalled one of puppy now – a kicked one. “No.”

“Would you change anything about him?”

“No,” you answered simply, managing a reassuring smile. ‘I’m okay,’ you mouthed and he shook his head, glancing away, his eyes glassy.

You captor nodded for himself. “Back on the right track. One last question then, the most important one…”

You shifted in your seat uncomfortably. It sounded ominous and that was saying something coming from you, considering everything that had happened today.

The machine hummed loudly as the man set the volts to maximum before turning Steve’s direction.

“Do you love her?”

Your heart gave out.

Well, fuck.

It was to be expected, really. It was a perfectly logical question; the man who had your lives in his hands was a self-proclaimed protector of love, claiming to have the duty of ensuring people who were about to get married loved each other unconditionally and with no lie driving a wedge between them.

Yet, hearing the question fall from the madman’s lips paralysed you and filled you with emptiness, numbness settling deep inside your chest.

‘Do you love her?’

Four simple words sealing your fate.

Because no answer Steve could give was the right one, no answer would satisfy the murderer.

And judging by Steve’s expression, he realized that as well.

For several moments, you granted yourself the luxury of your eyelids falling shut, setting your jaw tight to keep your teeth from clattering in fear. You rocked back and forth in the chair, as much as your restraints allowed you to. Tears warmed your cheeks, salty paths of selfish grief, crying for you own life rushing towards its end.

Perhaps Steve could still escape?

You focused on the numbness in your ribcage, letting it engulf you, letting spread it through your mind until all you could think was a blank space.

Only then, you opened your eyes again, meeting Steve’s utterly desperate gaze and you knew, knew that there was no way out of this; no loophole. He had no doubt come to the same conclusion.

The inner turmoil he must have been feeling reflected in his eyes – torn and hurt, dreading what would happen if he told the truth; you both knew what was coming if he lied, you had been through that, but what if he admitted that he didn’t love you? What would this maniac do?

Steve’s jaw was clenched tight, a muscle twitching in what could be irritation. In the terribly silent space, the scribbling of the polygraph grew maddeningly loud, a noise of unbearable volume.

More tears escaped the wells of your eyes, your body trembling violently. You cursed the moment you had said yes to this insanity; you had been so stupid and naïve. Hiding behind doing the right thing, while wishing to be closer to Steve with no consequences to your friendship. How idiotic was that?

And where had that brought you?

To an empty cold room, seconds from being electrocuted.

Because that was what was about to happen, wasn’t it? If Steve said yes, the volts momentarily being set would kill you, no doubt. Lies hurt the people we love. If Steve said no… you were doomed as well, because this psycho was obsessed with the idea of love, it was the very reason why he was doing this. You were not stuck between a rock and a hard place; you were trapped between a death sentence and a death sentence.

Your eyelids slid shut for another moment and you tried your best to shush the sob crawling up your throat.

You were about to die.

Fuck, you didn’t want to die!

“Please, please don’t do this,” a voice whispered into the staccato of the machines, cracking at the plea and your brain barely registered it was your own voice. The shock of the realization caused you to open your eyes again and your gaze fixated on your captor. “Please.”

He shook his head, making his way to Steve, imploring eyes shining with madness and excitement.

“Do you truly love this woman?”

You shook your head helplessly as Steve’s pained gaze found yours, his mouth twisted in a desperate grimace, the cerulean of his eyes speaking thousands of words. Thousands of apologies.

Your quivering lips formed a smile for the briefest moment, one of bravery, to encourage him to speak, to tell him that you didn’t blame him for this mess.

“It’s okay, Steve,” you reassured him softly, choking on a sob, which completely ruined your pretence of actually being strong. But what did it matter? You were a dead woman anyway.

Tears glistened in Steve’s eyes and he shook his head, pressing his lips together. The guilt of pulling you into this – a misplaced guilt – was evident, clearly eating him alive. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed dryly. He lowered his gaze to the floor, ignoring the man who had basically climbed into his personal space.

“Do you love her?“

You saw Steve’s chest expanding vehemently with an inhale and you knew that the moment was here.

“Yes,” slipped past his lips.

In the half-second that followed, your only thought was that Steve wanted you to leave this world thinking he cared about you enough for wanting it to be quick – just one word to end this and deliver the shock rather than telling the truth and waiting for the madman’s response to the revelation.

You squeezed your eyes shut, tears springing out, your body bracing for the unbearable pain and then, hopefully, nothing.

In death, there should be peace, right? No pain? Not for the dead anyway – no, pain was the privilege of survivors; years of friendship with Sam taught you that.

Five seconds passed and your brain was fried.

Not because of electricity coursing through your body, setting aflame everything in its path, no; it was because of the revelation that the only thing burning was your muscles as you had them all flexed to their limit in anticipation of agony.

Agony, which was for some reason still not coming. The discharge was never delivered and with your heart beating with nearly enough force to break your ribcage, your eyes fluttered open with a gasp, swimming in tears.

You tried to focus your blurry vision on the machine that must have circuited somehow, you saw the shadow of the man moving… but when your vision cleared, you saw that everything was still on. The lights didn’t even flicker. The needle of the polygraph continued its steady path.

But—but- how-

Blinking some more, you barely heard your kidnapper praise the result.

Steve- he-- how did he--- he couldn’t possibly- how had he lied to the machine?

Your eyes found his face, his brows furrowed in concern and… guilt? What-

He was fast to avoid your gaze, resignation settling in his features, muscles no longer tensed; as much as he could control them anyway. Only his jaw twitched again, but he refused to look up at you.

Realization hit you like a ton of bricks.

An incredible, unbelievable revelation.

Could he… could he have been telling the truth? Was it-- was it even possible that he might… love you? But-

An incredulous delighted chuckle nearly escaped your lips, but was quickly dissolved when your captor appeared in front of you, smiling brightly, finger on the remote.

“And you… do you love this man? Truly?”

You faced the ceiling as you blinked your tears away, your whole body hurting and yet basking in relief, pleasant sensation seeping into your bones through your skin like the first warm sunrays in the spring.

You’d surely make it out now, alive. The torment would haunt you, yes, but the result… if Steve accepted your answer, this might in fact be a start of something beautiful.

“Steve?” you whispered breathlessly, searching to meet his gaze, because he deserved as much, such a brave, brave man, heart on his sleeve, always doing the right thing.

He risked your rejection – as long as it meant you would live. It might seem like a natural and logical choice, but you had met people who would have most likely chosen the other option. Your ex was one, for god’s sake.

Of course, Steve wouldn’t.

“Steve, look at me, please.”

He stubbornly kept staring at the floor, his hand curling up in a loose fist. You sighed. The machine’s reassurance would have to suffice then; still, your heart sang.

Just as you parted your lips to give your answer, a deafening bang on your right forced you to duck as much as possible while strapped to the chair.

A shock wave of an explosion knocked your chair over, and you were falling-- the pain you had awaited ever since Steve said yes finally coming when your head hit the floor and everything went black.

Part 7

Tags:

@mermaidxatxheart @bobertswagert @kakakatey @ccolz88-blog @joeyrumlow@lovemeterwrites @jessyballet @bellaireland1981

Thoughts, anyone?

I could have had the ‘reader’ confess instead of Steve, but I find this much more fun to write ;) I wanted to try a different dynamic… admit it, you thought it was going to be the other way around :P or did you? Talk to me, please, if you’re willing :-*

#marvel #mcu #fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers fanfic #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #fake dating #fake dating au #nothing but the truth #anika ann

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years

Text

Lost in Time - ch 5

"OW - son of a bi-"

Selene looked up in a hurry at the sound of an electric discharge and Eli's cut off swearing. "Are you all right?"

The Dubei woman had the thumb of one hand in her mouth, was holding two wires apart with the other, and was glaring into an open power panel; they were down on floor...was it 37 or 38? At this point the builder had honestly lost count, and she knew from Pauline's report that this place had a total of 85 floors (with 19 of them being in the shaft they used to get in and out of this place - everything else was deep underground).

"Found a bare spot the hard way," Eli grumbled. "Hand me that epoxy and I'll get it covered." ((Continued below cut))

Selene pulled the battered jar out of her toolbox and passed it over; over the last two weeks Eli had been steadily getting stronger, and was beginning to focus on guiding them on doing repairs down here to get at least auxiliary power levels restored -- she'd been blunt by stating not everything would work, or it wouldn't work properly, with just "aux level" but it would at least let them get through every door so they could locate all the skeletons and get them out of here.

Gale had been very adamant that he only wanted a select few knowing Eli existed, for now; at first Selene had expected to be moving slowly through here without Merlin and Petra but with Eli here knowing which doors should go where, what wires were supposed to go to what, and how to hook things up... Selene loved Old World tech - she loved learning about it, she loved thinking about new ways to use it, she loved recreating or re-inventing gadgets mentioned in the old data discs and piecing together broken relics from the past. She was used to having to do it all piece by piece but having Eli here was just...it was fantastic. It was amazing. Eli knew SO MUCH-

-and it was a constant reminder to keep herself in check because while Eli was direct and honest (or at least seemed to be) when it came to answering questions, Selene had a suspicion that she was on...what was the word...she'd seen it in an old--

Autopilot. That was it. Eli was on autopilot.

And Selene could understand why. It had to be terrible, to stand in the ruins of a city you'd grown up in and loved, to not know what had happened the day she and her comrades had been attacked, and to know that everything else was completely gone - ancient history. Wiped off the map. Not even gravestones left to visit (and she knew how THAT felt - Remington didn't talk about his time in the Lucien Civil Corps much but she knew about his friend who had sacrificed himself to save him...it was very important to Remington to visit that grave every year).

Part of her hoped that, at some point in the near future, Eli would consider someone a close enough friend to open up to -- maybe she was already talking to Dr. Xu about...uh, things? Hopefully that would help; she'd just need to pay attention and see if that autopilot-y, single mindedness relaxed in the future, or maybe that was just a soldier thing? Or maybe just an Eli thing...Higgins could be pretty single minded (if you got in his way or distracted him he tended to metaphorically run you over to get back to what he was doing) so it could be just how Eli was. Or maybe just how people in the Old World were, in general.

Well. Whatever the reason, whether it was Eli's personality or an Old World thing or a soldier thing, Selene still had to keep reminding herself not to get carried away and bombard her with questions (and hopefully Merlin and Petra, when they were allowed to meet her, would show the same restraint). There was still a good chance the woman was just numbed to her circumstances and going through the motions - the less Selene drew attention to everything that was gone, the better (she hoped).

One thing Selene did appreciate as Eli answered questions was the total lack of smugness, or superiority, or pity, or disgust, or -- well, a lot of things. She was...nice, and incredibly helpful, about anything they asked her. If their lack of technology bothered her on a level deeper than the occasional annoyance she showed when she had to figure out how to adapt a tool or route around something they didn't have the tech needed to fix, she definitely was good at hiding it. At first Selene had felt a little embarrassed to be in the woman's presence considering the knowledge gap but not so much anymore.

As Eli daubed the epoxy over the exposed wire she'd shocked herself on a faint scent of freshly melted plastic filled the air; Selene turned back to the panel in front of her -- Eli was handling the door, and she needed to get the lights on. Once they'd swept this floor for skeletons (there were at least 12 unaccounted for when compared to Pauline's logs) they'd move on to the next one, and then the next one, until they reached floor 72 where the All Source AI's installation was where they'd then need to power him and get more in-depth access to...pretty much everything. Eli wanted full administrative control along with all security, hazard, and damage logs -- the woman was confident that once they had their hands on all of that they could move forward with repairs and taking inventory of what was left down here and what was functional.

Dr. Xu had already expressed interest in any remaining medical information and equipment; Petra and Merlin were eager to speak to another All Source AI and see what they could learn from it -- how different would THIS All Source ("his" name was Stewart, apparently) be from Wendy at the Research Center? That there were different types of All Source AIs was recent knowledge gained from Ack and Wendy both; what little Eli had mentioned made it sound like every building in the Old World had had an All Source in it...how weird was it that something so commonplace to her was something so remarkable to them now in Portia?

...oh. Not just Portia. If word got out that there was another All Source... That would be a problem. Selene vaguely remembered Arlo even mentioning something along those lines but it hadn't sunk in until just now.

"-what kind of security systems did All Source AIs have?" she asked into the silence.

"High-level encryption, voice imprints, genetic imprints, passwords and passkeys... Kind of depended on what level and type of AI you had," Eli answered, sounding distracted. There was a long pause before she screwed the epoxy jar shut. "-an AI that ran just a house or business wouldn't necessarily need a lot of security built in but a lot of people tended to buy the best packages just in case. There's not a machine on the-- uh...not a machine left on the planet, that can't be hacked into."

Selene looked up from the wiring at that, brow furrowing - 'hacked' was a term she wasn't familiar with. "What's that?"

"It's...uh... Do you know what coding or programing is?"

Selene nodded at her. "Yep - Mr. Ack explained a little bit about programming and how his works."

Now it was Eli's turn to look confused. "Mr. Ack...?"

"Mmhmm - he's a living AI that lives here in Portia. He's a cook."

Eli stared at her blankly for a moment, then tossed the pliers in her hand back into the toolbox. "Wait wait wait...a living AI is still functional after all this time?"

"He's pretty banged up but he's functional, yeah. He came out of a space station thingy that crashed out in the Collapsed Wasteland."

"Huh... Can we get him here, ASAP?"

"I...uh. Maybe? I know he has a grill set up in the plaza and is staying at the Happy Apartments so he's pretty easy to find. Why?"

"Having an AI interface directly with the All Source AI down here will make getting administrative control a lot easier -- this Ack will be able to fill the All Source in on the state of the world in an instant compared to us having to explain it ourselves."

"I can ask the mayor if he minds if Ack learns about you. I'm pretty sure Ack wouldn't tell anyone."

Eli was silent for a moment, working with the wires in front of her; with a grating noise and a pop the door finally slid open. "There we go. And I'd like it if someone would fill me in on why the mayor is being secretive about me."

Selene blew out a sigh - Gale hadn't outright admitted any reasons but she could guess. "Well... A couple of reasons, I think. A lot of people don't like Old World "stuff" -- they think we're better off without it and the Research Center, and sometimes even me, we get threatening messages from people. The center has been broken in to a couple of times too, some things stolen and a few things sabotaged, and someone once torched the warehouse down in the harbor to protest Portia expanding."

"Right. So I'm basically anathema to certain townsfolk. Go on."

"...anathema?"

"Forget I said it. Keep on with your explanation."

Selene nodded and, before responding, touched the last two wires together. The lights spluttered on but were dreadfully dim; she clicked off her headlamp and Eli did the same. "-so there's going to be people who aren't going to like you, because they hate the Old World. And there's also um...there's a war about to break out, between Duvos and the Alliance. And Duvos is always looking to take, steal, or recreate technologies from the past that will let them take over the world."

Eli let out a loud snort. "Oh good. I get blown out of the start of one war and face-first into another."

"No no, we wouldn't expect you to FIGHT a war on our behalf, no," Selene went on hurriedly. "I just think that...I think the mayor may think Duvos would try to kidnap you. Or maybe people would think you'd go join up with them since they have Old World tech and that's what you're used to. Or something."

"Not happening, on either account," Eli grunted. She picked up a few screwdrivers and a pair of wire snips and returned them to the toolbox, then shut the lids of both the toolbox and the power stone device she'd just wired to the door. "This 'Duvos' would be biting off more than they could chew if they came to town - especially if they came for ME."

Selene smiled a bit. "I don't want that to happen, even if it'd be a bad idea on their part."

"What or where is this Duvos?"

"It's a country - they call themselves an empire - up to the north. They border Ethea and Meidi, and technically a border of The Peripheries touches their border. They've been fighting in and around Lucien and Ethea too...those poor people."

"And all of that is to our north?"

"Yeah. Also up there is Barnarock but they don't share borders with Duvos. Then below that strip is us in the Alliance of Free Cities - that includes Lucien, Highwind, Atara, Sandrock, Portia, Walnut Groove, Tallsky at the southern tip, and a little kind-of-island in the Western Sea called Vega 5. The Peripheries are to our west, and beyond THOSE is the Great Begeondan...but it's hard to get there because the Peripheries is full of monsters. There's also Seesai but they're really, really far away."

As she fell silent again she could almost see the wheels spinning in Eli's head as the woman thought -- maybe she was making a mental map of what she remembered compared to what she was just told. ...actually.

"Do any of those names sound familiar?"

It was a few moments before Eli replied. "Sort of. Meidi and Seesai both sound like places that I kno- that I knew. Meidia was so far south it was snow-covered year round. Seisan was right on the equator. They were known for fruit exports and amazing seafood dishes the likes of which you couldn't get anywhere else."

"Seesai is sort of known for seafood too. Maybe it's a name that got carried through the years."

"Maybe."

Behind them the elevator whirred to life and a few minutes later it opened to let Higgins out; he was wheeling several crates on a dolly and was huffing and puffing like he was out of breath. He steered the dolly up to Selene and let it fall forward with a loud thud. "Here. All that I could collect. It's mostly the blue ones."

Eli nodded and carefully got up from where she sat, using her cane to sort of leverage herself onto her feet. "That's fine. We won't need to leave the power hooked up on every floor, just enough of them to get access to a couple of things."

Higgins rubbed his hands together, looking up and down the hallway; the lights Selene had managed to get on were holding in there but alongside the dimness a few were flickering now - it was just barely bright enough to see what they were doing. "--so what are we doing next?"

Selene swore she saw Eli almost, but not quite, hide an eyeroll.

"Same thing we've done on each floor," the woman replied, her tone patient but bordering on the edge of the tone you'd use when talking to a small child. "Get doors open, sweep for remains, move on."

Higgins wrinkled his nose. "I was hoping you two would've found everyone by now."

"Pauline couldn't get access to personnel tracking logs," Selene sighed, giving Higgins an annoyed look. "She only knows who didn't get out but not where they were last." They'd told him this three times now... Was he really that distracted with a need to start salvaging and emptying this place's resources?

He huffed. "This is taking forever. Why don't I take-"

"-because you don't know how to wire this up and you won't sit still long enough for me to teach you," Eli interrupted. That patient tone was gone now. "If you aren't willing to learn and put the work in then I'm not cutting you lose to wander around. We still don't know where those people are or what even killed them -- I don't care to repeat myself nor do I care for people to try and undermine or circumvent my instructions, and I KNOW you were told about the hazardous materials log because I was there for that meeting. Whether you like it or not whatever got released could still be down here and I'd rather you not blunder into it and get yourself killed."

"But this could take days," Higgins grumbled. "I have so much other work I could be doing right now."

Eli's expression went...well, Selene could only describe it as that sort of look you got when someone's said something stupid and you were too polite to say something directly but not polite enough to simply smile and ignore it. "Then go. Selene and I can handle things now that you got the power stones down here. Let Remington know on your way out that it's just us two. We'll be fine."

Higgins rolled his eyes and turned, heading toward the elevator. "I'll let them know."

They waited together in silence until the sound of the elevator's rumbling was too far away to hear.

"He's such an ass..." Selene growled. She turned her attention to Eli. "I'm sorry. Arlo didn't want him involved either but Gale didn't think I could handle this entire place by myself."

"You couldn't. And really, WE can't. But I'll work myself unconscious before I let that sort of man anywhere near my people," Eli said quietly. "Can't stand the person who won't put in the work but expects to reap the rewards regardless. Can the Civil Corps folks bar him from entering here?"

"The funny thing is he's a really hard worker...just pretty driven to do one thing and one thing only: keep his shop at the top of the regional leader boards. If it's not related to that he doesn't have much interest in it. And as for the Civil Corps they...technically could, I think? At least temporarily. A final decision would be up to Gale but I'm not sure if he would -- all ruins in Portia are open to anyone who pays the weekly fee to go inside and scavenge. I don't think he'd like to be in the position to ban a single person in town from coming in here...it'd be a rather touchy precedent, and might make him look like he's playing favorites."

Eli grunted, and leaned against the stack of crates. "I don't want to see this place ripped apart without any regard to what's being taken. If we're careful we can probably salvage a lot of what's here -- I get the feeling he'd take whatever without worrying about what he's leaving behind, and probably damage things beyond repair or salvage."

Selene nodded; she traded out her screwdriver for the crowbar she'd brought with them, and the wedged the flat end into the gap between the lid and the rest of the top crate. "Not to defend him or anything but the other ruins are sort of...um. Bad. Pieces everywhere. There's not really anything there but bits and scrap that you have to piece together -- not that that excuses him, at all, but finding a place like this that's so intact is almost unheard of." She pulled down on the crowbar and could hear the squeaking of nails slowly prying lose. "--we're really going to have to lock this place down if we want to preserve anything down here," she grunted and wheezed.

With a screeching noise of metal on wood the crate lid came free and she leaned it against the wall; inside was the familiar gleam of power stones - all of them blue, at least on this top layer - nestled in cloth and sawdust to keep them from chipping in transit. A wave of annoyance washed over her as she looked them over - if these were here then that meant the brackets and wires had to be in one of the crates under it. She tossed the crowbar down and, straining and puffing, moved the heavy crate off the stack and plunked it down on the ground narrowly missing her toes.

She grabbed the crowbar again and pried the next lid off, revealing the brackets; Selene offered Eli a hand to help her sit back down between the two open crates as they both set to the task of assembling the brackets and getting the power stones set in place. They were at it about a half hour, by her estimation, when the elevator opened again and Arlo appeared in the weak light of the light fixtures (which were starting to flicker more frequently - they'd need to splice in a second bracket device to help them out).

"Everything all right down here?"

Selene nodded at him, smiling. "All good. Surprised you're down here."

Arlo came over and looked over what they were doing. "--anything I can help with? I know I'm not a builder or know much about Old World tech but I'm willing to learn."

"Remington told you, huh?" Selene asked, sighing. She scooted over as Arlo settled in the floor next to the bracket crate then rummaged around in her toolbox to find a spare screwdriver of the correct size; she handed it to him and then began to pick up the other pieces to show him how it all went together.

"He did. I can't say I'm surprised - I knew it was a bad idea to let Higgins in on this little project. We should have brought in Petra and Merlin right from the start. I just hope he takes Gale seriously and doesn't mention Eli." He paused to look over at Eli, who simply nodded at him.

"I think he knows Gale means business," Selene said. She handed him the bracket and fished out four power stones. "Ok, see those little slots there and there? Those pieces slide. Use that screwdriver to loosen them, slip the stone into the spot - one per - and then slide them back in to hold the stone tight and tighten the screw again. Then, you flip the top of the bracket over and tighten those too. I'll handle attaching the wires, don't worry."

With a nod Arlo started loosening a screw; Selene watched him for a few breaths, then "--so, can the Civil Corps handle having you down here? Won't that mess up the shift times?"

"It will but we can adjust. Everyone already knows about the ruins and we've had several inquiries on when they'll be open to explore -- Paulie's volunteered to take a couple evening shifts making sure no one comes down here and I know Gale sent a courier to the Alliance Council regarding this place."

"A courier?" Selene repeated, blinking at him. "That'll take a week or more to... Why a courier?"

Arlo slid a second stone into place before answering. "After what happened the last time, Gale doesn't want to risk someone intercepting his telegraph, or faking a response. Mint is carrying it to Atara, and will carry the response back."

Selene stole a quick look at Eli to see that she was dutifully assembling a bracket of her own (but was moving considerably faster than Arlo was).

"And was I mentioned in this message?" the Dubei woman asked then without looking up - almost like she'd known Selene was looking at her expecting a reaction.

"Probably," was Arlo's simple answer; he didn't elaborate further and the three of them continued to work in silence as they assembled the power device brackets.

She was grateful that Higgins at least hadn't skimped on screws or quality; it took another hour before they had all of them assembled and the wires attached, and then Arlo carried them up and down the hall placing one at each door as Eli and Selene each took a side and began wiring them up.

Selene found the doors to be fascinating; according to Eli every door here connected to a central server that granted or revoked access to every person in the facility -- most doors would provide access to anyone who walked up to them, opening based on detecting movement as well as weight on pressure panels in the floor beneath the carpeting. Doors with security measures would only open if it detected an access-granting object (usually cards or "key fobs," whatever those were) within a certain distance of its sensors, or else they'd require a hand or finger print on a sensor panel before it would open. And whoever had designed the doors had accounted for times where someone might need to get in somewhere they didn't have access to in a hurry; while the doors didn't have handles they DID have emergency release buttons inside the paneling beside the pocket that the doors slid into when they opened.

Being as the power for the facility was down the doors had no access to their central server so simply hooking up the power brackets she'd built wouldn't work; Eli was instead wiring the power directly to the lines that controlled the emergency releases, which would force the door to open without any sort of access key or central power. The emergency releases were a sort of 'blink and you'd miss them' object inside the walls - Selene had always seen emergency buttons or levers painted a red or otherwise bright color in the other ruins in town but these were all a uniform gray instead with the main difference being the emergency releases were capped with a dull metal that was oddly cold to the touch compared to everything around it.

And of course the emergency releases operated on battery power too when all other sources of power were off but not even the best battery could hope to last 300 years. The good thing was that once they'd used the emergency button to pop the door they could unhook the power and it'd stay open, but they were finding there were a LOT of doors down here -- that was partly why they'd made so many of the portable power stone devices so they could have (or at least the original plan had been) someone placing the devices next to doors, someone coming along to wire them, and then someone else behind THEM unhooking and collecting the devices so they could keep moving at a decent pace.

Of course, with Higgins deciding to take his leave it meant they'd need to find a third person to give them a hand... It was probably time to bring in Petra and Merlin. Petra would go wild over all this and Merlin had a steady hand when it came to delicate wiring and circuitry.

It was, as Higgins had said, going to take awhile to get through this place, but unlike him Selene didn't mind it in the slightest even if they didn't get any more help at all.

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

Django had thrown in some fruit salads for free tonight -- Xu had a hunch that the man knew something was up, as Xu had accidentally let it slip that he was paying for meals for a patient of his without the means to do so themselves; charity wasn't a strange thing in Portia - in fact, Portia's residents were well-known for their desire to help their neighbors - but he supposed the number of meals being provided had tipped Django off to this not being a typical patient. He made a mental note to ask Phyllis if she would mind manning the clinic for longer than usual so Xu himself could cook a bit more and see if that made Django less suspicious of what was going on.

...though, there wasn't any way Django could suspect WHO his patient was. Being charitable for the sake of being charitable wasn't a bad thing, and so long as he found out when the rest of Portia did Xu supposed there wasn't any harm in it.

Based on the smells coming out of the containers on his desk it seemed like Django had outdone himself tonight; there was seasoned ribs, bamboo papaya and seafood with rice, two ramekins of fish head stewed in soy sauce, and of course the fruit salads that he hadn't ordered but Django had tossed in anyway. Eli had mentioned she loved seafood and honestly so did he so aside from the ribs (protein and lots of it would be needed to help her regain lost muscle mass) he'd tried to pick a variety of things he thought she would enjoy (and if she'd disliked anything thus far she'd not mentioned it).

He looked up from the paperwork on his desk as the clinic doors opened but rather than Eli, returning from the ruins as she usually did around this time, Xu was surprised to see Gale standing in his doorway.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Xu," was the man's cheerful greeting. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Not at all." Xu quickly stacked his papers and stood with a smile -- he'd been wondering when Gale would make an appearance here. "I'm sorry to say Eli isn't here at the moment, I'm afraid. I AM expecting her back soon though."

Gale nodded. "Ah, yes. If it's not too much of a bother I'd like to wait here."

"Of course not. Have a seat."

The portly man nodded and came over to sit on a small stool beside the desk. "-how have things been with your patient, doctor?"

"Coming along. The speed at which one regains their health can vary from person to person but she's bouncing back rather quickly."

Gale chuckled. "Good, good. I'm glad to hear that. I hope to-"

They both paused as the doors opened again and this time it was Eli standing there; Gale stood as she came in and Xu came around to the front of his desk.

"Hello, Eli - I'd like to introduce you to Portia's Mayor, Gale."

Gale moved over with a hand extended. "It's a pleasure, Miss Summers."

Something flickered over Eli's face at the word "miss" but it was gone quickly, and instead she offered her hand in turn. "Likewise, sir. I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh? I'm not sure if I should be glad or worried," Gale laughed; Eli smiled at that, at least. "-now, first of all I'd like to apologize for how long it's taken for me to come meet you personally."

"It's not a problem. Mayors are busy people."

"That's definitely true - I've been busier than usual lately, even before you were rescued. I did however want to give you a good amount of time to get your feet squarely on the road to recovery, which is why we're only just meeting now."

"Again, it's no big deal," Eli replied, shrugging. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Gale nodded, chuckling quietly. "Indeed, and it's my hope you'll choose to remain in Portia. And, regarding that... How DO you feel, about Portia? About remaining?"

Eli was silent for a long time; Xu watched her carefully, trying to be aware of any subtle hints in her face or body movement to suggest what she was thinking or feeling. Finally she inhaled deeply and straightened a bit where she stood. "Truth be told, sir-"

"-please, call me Gale if you like."

"-truth be told, Gale, I don't see myself leaving unless the general consensus is I'm not wanted here. Portia is sitting on top of Dubei - this is technically still home, for me. Even if it's totally unrecognizable now."

Gale's expression softened. "I understand, and of course you're welcome here. We do need to begin discussing how best to meet your needs - you'll need a place to stay, and a job, and everything else that goes with it. You'll find Portia is very helpful to her people and I know many would be happy to help get you on your feet."

Eli's smile went a bit strained. "Not everyone will, I'm told."

"...ah, well," Gale faltered a moment, looking awkward.

Xu pressed his lips together; he knew of course that there would be some in town who'd want her gone solely because she WAS Old World -- they had a hard enough time accepting any sort of Old World tech, no matter how harmless or helpful, but to have a living embodiment (at least, ANOTHER living embodiment - Ack hadn't been well received either) of the Old World walking around may be more than they'd be willing to tolerate. It was clear that Arlo or Selene, or maybe Remington, had mentioned as much to Eli already, which was a good thing for her to be forewarned about.

"No one in any position of authority will have a problem with you," Xu said into the silence. "Of that I can promise."

"Y-yes, that's true," Gale said in a rush. "Authority within the city's chain of command itself, anyway. There...MIGHT be a bit of a rub with the Church but they don't have the power to order you out of town, and if he thinks of trying it know that I won't stand for my citizens to be harassed."

Almost imperceptibly Eli's eyes narrowed at the mention of "he" in Gale's words; Xu knew exactly who that "he" was: if there was anyone who would without a doubt have a problem with Eli working and living in Portia it would be Minister Lee. Thankfully Lee was rather powerless within Portia - he could preach, guide, and advise all he liked but he held no administrative or official powers.

And with good reason -- Xu couldn't count the number of times the man had thrown a fit over Old World tech, even simple things like tools made out of new alloys, and it was suspected that he had a hand in a few of the Research Center break ins too even if no one could prove it. Xu could already picture the various shades of purple the man's face would turn as he pontificated (again) on the dangers of letting an Old World "relic" walk around.

"Duly noted," was Eli's quiet reply.

Gale took a steadying breath. "...now, then. Along with discussing how we can best help you get established here within Portia I also wanted to see how you were feeling - physically, as well as emotionally." He paused, giving her a gentle look. "I know none of this can be easy, and if there's anything in my power to help ease any burdens..."

Eli shook her head. "Not unless you've got a time machine -- and before you ask, no, we created machines that could take us to space but not ones that could take us to last week."

As she spoke Eli smiled a bit and Xu returned it to her with an encouraging nod; that she was willing to joke seemed to be a good sign.

"Well, don't hesitate to let me know if there's something I can do for you. -- oh, where are my manners. Do you need to sit down?" Gale asked, turning around quickly to look for the stool he'd just vacated. He grabbed it with both hands and plunked it down in front of Eli who sat down with a grateful look. "I'm sorry, I've been sitting all day and it escaped my mind that someone else might not want to stand."

"It's fine - I was technically sitting all day anyway. Easier to reach what we're working on."

"How is that going?" Xu asked quietly. "Do you know when you'll be done?"

Eli shook her head again, huffing a sigh out through her nose. "No. We're still missing 12, and that's only the ones that the AI Pauline had logs for. Patients or visitors wouldn't be on those logs so there may be more. I know I personally wasn't a part of that log list, and the others that were in the same sort of tubes that I was would be on patient rosters that we've yet to find."

With a thoughtful hum Gale rubbed at his chin, falling silent; Xu moved back to his desk and to the little basket that their dinner was sitting in and reached in to pull out a thermos of chilled apricot juice that he carried over and offered to Eli. She took it, opened it and sniffed, then took a careful sip; a moment later she gave him a smile and nod and took a more confident drink.

"I've marked out land to hold the remains, and intend to commission a gravestone as large as needed to hold as many names as we can find," Gale went on finally. "However, names or no we WILL be seeing that their remains are handled with care and respect until such a time that they can be laid to rest properly." He paused again and looked back to Eli. "I...don't know if this is an appropriate question to ask, considering the circumstances..."

"Burial rites, I'm assuming."

"Yes," Gale replied simply.

Eli shrugged and took another sip of juice before continuing. "I can tell you how my religion handles remains and give an idea of how others handled theirs, but there wasn't a singular religion in Dubei that had rites that everyone followed -- in fact, there were hundreds of different religions within city limits alone, and hundreds of thousands spread across the world in general. And it wasn't legal to track what employee was part of what religion either...medical centers would sometimes have that information on hand to make sure they didn't violate a religious mandate for a patient who couldn't communicate it themselves but HR departments wouldn't touch that sort of thing with a ten foot bangstick."

"Ah, yes. That makes sense. Well. When we're at the point where we're ready to lay them all to rest we'll have a discussion on how best to do that."

"Sounds like a plan."

Gale smiled, then looked to Xu briefly. "Just to double check that I'm not taking up your scheduled time...?"

"Not at all, though dinner may get cold."

"Ah. I'll get right to it then: Eli, do you have any opinion on what sort of employment you'd like to secure? I know it's been mentioned you were a soldier -- would you like a position within the Civ-"

"No," Eli interrupted quickly. "At least, not yet."

Gale blinked at her and Xu felt just as surprised as he looked.

Eli looked between the two of them, laughing quietly. "Did I just grow a second head?"

"No no, I apologize, I just wasn't -- I shouldn't have assumed," Gale sputtered.

She held up one hand in a placating gesture while holding the thermos up to her lips with the other for another drink. "Nah, you were right to assume, and believe me I think that's where I'd best fit in. But, to circle back to the earlier point of people not accepting my existence in town I don't think it'll be a good idea to place ME in a position with any sort of authority, no matter how minor, before I'm generally accepted into the community. That'll either erode trust in you and your Civil Corps or will leave me as the sole member that no one is going to listen to."

Gale pursed his lips, letting out a long breath through his nose. "I...hadn't thought about it like that. That's a very good point."

Xu hadn't thought of it framed in that light either -- she was probably right. The more he thought about it the more he worried that it would be a long time before several of Portia's townsfolk would even give her the time of day. "-what about the Research Center?" he asked into the pause.

"Yes, yes, that was my next suggestion," Gale went on hurriedly, pausing to clear his throat. "We certainly have the budget to add another research position at the Center."

Eli laughed as she screwed the top onto the (now empty, Xu assumed) thermos. "Wouldn't that be cheating? Being as I wouldn't be researching anything so much as I'd just be giving the answers away."

Gale laughed as well. "I suppose that's one way to look at it but the offer still stands: it'd be a monthly salary, enough to live on without worrying about anything. And I can just as easily create a position with the Corps for when you feel comfortable enough to step into that role."

"We'll see how that goes. Ideally that's where I end up but...well." She shrugged and set the thermos on the floor at her feet.

Xu returned to his desk as Gale moved on to discussing where Eli could stay - it sounded like an apartment at Happy Apartments would be available for her - and began jotting down thoughts as he half-listened to them talk.

Aside from the facial tics at mention of 'miss' and 'he' Eli had remained pleasant and direct, as she usually was. It was one of the few times that he'd had visual proof that Eli perhaps wasn't as well as she presented herself to be; he didn't want to pry but it was confirmation that there were things she was suppressing, and he wished she would choose to talk about them. Counseling wasn't entirely his forte but he'd received some training on how to handle mental health as well as physical health.

As Gale and Eli talked Phyllis came in; she gave them both a wave but didn't interrupt as she walked over to Xu to place a heavy leather satchel on his desk.

"The latest shipment of painkillers was delayed at Atara but everything else came through. It seems there was a pipe failure at the processing building so everyone is missing this month's orders."

Xu frowned and stood to open the satchel to look through it. "Well...I guess we'll have to be careful with what we have in stock for the time being - we aren't really using a lot of them at least." He pulled out various jars, boxes, and little vials -- Atara's specialists had never failed to get their products out before so whatever the 'pipe failure' was must have been a major problem.

At the very least Portia's residents didn't really need a lot of medicines at any given time and Xu was able to manage a lot of ailments just by using the herbs that grew naturally around the city. Gale seemed to be wrapping up whatever else he'd come to speak to Eli about so Xu was careful as he stepped around his desk and around them to head over to the cabinets to put everything away.

"--whenever Dr. Xu cuts me loose, I assume."

Hearing his own name caught his attention and he looked over a shoulder back at the others. "Hmm?"

"When do you believe Eli will be hale and hearty enough to leave the clinic, Dr. Xu?" Gale asked.

Xu thought a moment - technically, physically, she could go now. He still worried about her emotional well being however... "I would say a week or so, possibly less," he finally answered (more to give them an actual answer than because he believed what he was saying). "You are recovering your strength at a remarkable rate but you'll still dealing with bouts of weakness, correct?"

Eli nodded. "Yeah. And sometimes I feel a bit dizzy if I'm tired."

"All right, hmm. Let's meet again in about two week's time?" Gale went on, directing the last half of that to Eli. "That should give me enough time to get all pieces into place."

"Works for me."

"And for me as well," Xu agreed.

"I shall see you all then," Gale chuckled, offering Eli another handshake before heading out the door.

Eli watched him go. "...animated little fellow."

"He can get quite excited when things are going as they should," Xu chuckled. He quickly put away the rest of the supplies. "I hope you're hungry."

"Wasn't, really, until I smelled it. What're you feeding me tonight?"

Dusting off his hands he returned the leather satchel to its proper spot in the cabinet and then shut the door; as he fully turned around he caught sight of Phyllis making her way out as well. "Ah, Phyllis - would you care to join us? There's more than enough for three."

"Oh. I'd love to, then."

Xu pulled over the little rolling stool he used during examinations, and helped Eli scoot hers closer to his desk as Phyllis came back over; he offered her his chair but she took the stool instead, and as the two women seated themselves he picked up the basket and began placing the containers out on the desk, including another thermos of apricot juice. The last things he retrieved were a set of chipped plates from the bottom-most drawer of his desk and a handful of silverware.

Phyllis helped him start to portion out the food and once he was done and seated he noticed Eli poking curiously at the bamboo papaya slices. "Hmm. I tried to choose things I thought you'd be familiar with."

"It...sort of looks familiar? What is it?"

"Bamboo papaya," Phyllis answered, spearing a slice with her fork.

Eli wrinkled her nose, flipping the slice over on her plate. "Bamboo...papaya? As in both those words are the name of this...uh, plant?"

Xu nodded. "It's a tough-skinned fruit but tastes like bamboo shoots."

"Ah. So both bamboo AND this exist?"

Phyllis bit into the bite and then wiped some of the seafood sauce off to show the bamboo-like patterning of the 'fruit' inside. "It's hard on the outside but soft in the center. It even tastes like bamboo - it just has a slightly different texture."

"Huh..." Eli hummed, then took a tentative bite. "--yeah, that's bamboo all right. Weird. How did they create this? Selective crossbreeding?"

"Um...chemical and biological weapons, according to the history that survived," Phyllis answered quietly.

Xu watched as a few emotions flickered over Eli's face - surprise, anger, and then something akin to resignation.

"Ah," was all she said.

She tried a bigger bite of the bamboo papaya, then tasted the rice and shrimp; when she didn't make any faces or ask any other questions Xu took a few bites of his own and they all ate in silence for several minutes.

"I bet a lot of things I was used to eating are gone too, huh?"

"That...depends," Xu replied slowly. "We don't have any record of anything being wiped out, but there are certainly a lot of records of things changing. Though, I will say that animal life appears to have more drastically changed than plantlife did, according to our history." He studied her face and could see hesitation there -- she wanted to say or ask something but was holding back. "Did you...have something specific in mind?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Just, kind of hard to sometimes really grasp just...how much has changed."

"Would you like to talk about it?" he asked quietly. "Or, anything at all?"

"...not tonight, doctor. I don't even know where to begin."

Xu nodded. "Of course. Just know, when you choose to..."

After a couple bites she looked up and gave him a smile. "Oh trust me, Dr. Xu. There's a lot I want to talk about. I'm just not sure I want to break that particular dam open just yet, because I know once I start it's going to be hard to stop. ...and, I don't think I want to start, until I know what happened to--" she stopped abruptly, sighing heavily and lightly tapping her fork against the side of her plate. "-I really want to know what happened to Dubei. And why I was down in that facility. I know it was sheer, dumb luck that I was far enough away from the ceiling that caved in but why was I THERE? Why were there others in those tubes? Why were we left behind?"

That last question was said much quieter than the others but her general tone remained the same -- no sadness, no remorse, just a quiet frustration. Xu left his fork on his plate and clasped his hands in front of him, resting them on his desk just behind his plate. "It may be a case that you weren't purposely left behind... Didn't the logs say there was an evacuation, and a materials release? From what Arlo and Selene said, you were attached to sensors and a breathing aparatus. It sounds to me as though you, and whoever else were in those tubes, may have been in the safest place at that given moment."

"That's true." She took a steadying breath and tilted her head back, letting the air out slowly. "But then what kept them from coming back? A hazardous material release and even an armed and violent intruder alert shouldn't have kept everyone away forever. Even if -- I've mentioned how poisonous and deadly a reactor explosion would have been. The poisonous part of a reactor is called radiation, and it'd by far be the worst thing that could've been released down there and even then we have suits and..."

She stopped again, resting her elbow on the desk and her chin in her hand.

"...suits?" Xu prompted gently.

"Yeah. Haz mat - hazardous materials - suits. I used radiation as an example but if it HAD been radiation then I and the others in the tube wouldn't have survived if it was enough to cause the entire building to evacuate -- regular glass, or even the tempered stuff used in most medical equipment, wouldn't have shielded us from the radiation. So that part doesn't make sense. But for the life of me I can't think of anything that would be in a medical research center that would mean EVERYONE would have to run if something leaked. Now, had it been a military base or the like I could name off sixteen different things, but...but not down there." She paused, then waved a hand. "Just speculating. But point still stands that I don't want to discuss anything until I figure out what happened."

She went back to eating; Xu did as well even though he'd lost his appetite at this point. At least they were close to her opening up; she was putting on a brave face but couldn't keep it up forever, as he suspected.

They filled the rest of the evening with idle chatter; it was mostly Eli asking questions about food and plants, and about Portia's general history and the layout of town. Xu didn't have any maps on hand and promised he'd bring her one to look at (Lucy at the school probably wouldn't mind lending him one) so she could try and match up what she remembered of the landscape to what everything looked like now. Eli was firmly back in her 'everything is fine' mentality -- no more tics or clues, just pleasantry. But now Xu had confirmation that his suspicions were correct; he'd just need to wait until Eli had her answers, then be ready to help her put the pieces together.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 5 #Arlo #Dr. Xu #Builder #Eli #Phyllis #Gale #Higgins #My Time at Portia

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imma-fucking-nerd · 5 years

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Satisfied

(Hey guys! This is my first fic at least the first one im actually posting. This is based off of the song Satisfied from the musical Hamilton. I hope y'all enjoy! Constructive criticism is VERY welcomed!)

Beetlejuice x reader (kinda)

It was October 31st. Halloween. I watched as my younger sister, Violet, applied her glittery makeup. She was dressed up as a fairy this year. The Deetzes/Maitlands, our neighbors, were throwing a massive Halloween party, and of course Violet wanted to go. She was the tutor for the Deetz kid, Lydia. I had met her a few times, and she too could see the dead. She was a good kid.

"Why do I have to come to this thing again?" I asked as I leaned against the doorframe.

"You don't have a choice, remember?" she replied matter-of-factly.

"Of course, how could I forget," I sigh in response.

She was right, I didn't have much of a choice. I was bound to her. You see, I'm dead. Have been for a little over three years now. It was a freak car accident and Violet survived. I wasn't so fortunate. Although she survived she was badly injured, almost lost her life too. That must have been the reason why she could see me, and others like me. Ever since my death I followed my sister wherever she went. She's my best friend. After a while I had latched onto her and wasn't able to leave her side. Not that I would anyways.

"Are you ready yet?" I asked, impatiently tapping my foot.

"What's your hurry? Are you actually eager to party?" She glanced at me through the mirror with a hopeful grin.

"I just want to get this over with," I responded with a shrug.

"C'mon, can you at least pretend you'll have fun?" she flashed her puppy eyes at me and batted her eyelashes. She knew I couldn't resist her puppy eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop complaining. Thankfully no one there can bother me there anyways," I said rolling my eyes at her.

"Yay!" She jumped up, her fake wings bouncing as she does. She would have given me a hug if she wouldn't just fall through me.

"Are you finally ready?" I asked, moving away from the doorframe.

She added some extra lip gloss before nodding. "Yep! Let's go!"

Upon arriving at the Deetz/Maitland household Violet was greeted by Delia. While they were chatting I took the opportunity to look around. The decorations were very impressive, the cobwebs and the skulls that adorned the walls looked very convincing. The chandelier above had victorian style candles which where sat upon skulls. The walls looked like they were crawling with bugs. Wait, those are bugs. Okay then. While I was looking at the place I ran into Lydia, not literally of course.

"Hey Y/N, nice costume," She said sarcastically, eyeing my outfit which very obviously not a costume.

"I don't need a costume, I'm dead. And what are you supposed to be? Yourself?" I asked playfully.

"A plague doctor, actually," she said, holding up her plague doctor beak mask. It looked genuine. Other than the mask her outfit was basically her normal style.

"Anyways, I gotta go talk to your sister. I have a math test coming up I need help on. Later." And with that she walked by me and headed for my sister.

There wasn't really much for me to do at a party where no one could see me. I just stood in the corner and observed. My eyes scanned across the room until my they made contact with a pair of pale green ones. Little did I know, I wasn't the only one who spotted the odd figure. As soon as our eyes met the stranger perked up and made his way over to where I was. He wore a filthy black and white striped suit with a forest green tie. His hair was wild, electric green and stood out in all directions. At first glance I would've just assumed he was in costume, but his skin was far too pale to be makeup. Plus the moss growing on his skin was a dead badum tss giveaway. He was like me. Another ghost. Despite how dead he looked, he was actually kind of good looking. Did that make me weird? Whatever, I'm dead I don't really have many options. As he approached he leaned on the wall next to me.

"Heya babes, haven't seen you around here before. Got a name?" His voice was gravelly and flirtatious as he eyed me up and down. I was suddenly thankful for being dead, and therefore unable to blush.

"I uh-" I tried to speak but no words came out. He smirked and chuckled, his fangs slightly showing as he did.

"Wow, speechless? I can't really blame you, I tend to have that effect on people. How bout I go first." He handed me a card with the word Beetlejuice written on it three times. I took it and shifted my gaze onto the card then back to him.

"Your name is Beetlejuice?" I asked, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"Well, it's actually my middle name. ANYWAYS, you can call me Bj, or Beej, or your new boyfriend. Whatever works for you," He replied with a sly grin.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the smile from growing on my face. I'm not going to lie, he was oddly charming.

"So, are you going to tell me your name? Or should I just call you gorgeous?" His grin widened, I could tell he was proud of that one.

"My name's Y/N Smith. Are you from here or-" I was suddenly cut off him gasping dramatically.

"CANDY!!!" His eyes were wide and I could have sworn there were sparkles in them.

He then sprinted towards the newly set bowl of candy that Delia came out with. He didn't even say a goodbye or anything. I watched him as he disappeared into the crowd. I'm not going to lie, he was pretty cute, smooth too. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye out for him later. He was the first interesting ghost I had met since I died. No offense to the Maitlands, they were sweet but a little boring.

I stayed in my spot in the corner as the party went on. Not too long after meeting Beetlejuice, Violet had come up to me. Her cheeks were dusted with a light blush as she rushed to my side.

"Y/N! Y/N!" she was more hyper than usual and her eyes were wide in excitement, she was even bouncing.

"What's up Vi?" I asked with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

Violet giggled like a school girl and leaned in, whispering in my ear.

"You see that guy over there? I call dibs!" she was pointing to Beetlejuice as she spoke.

I kept my smile but on the inside, my cold unbeating heart was breaking. I knew that if I told her that I saw him first, she would back away no doubt. But the look in her eyes told me she was just as smitten as I was. I internally sighed and left her side, possibly making the worst decision of my life- uh death? I made my way across the room to where Beej was, passing through a couple of people on the way. Violet went to object but stopped herself and watched as I made my way over to the man of the hour. Once he spotted me he smirked.

"Hey there gorgeous, back for more?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Actually, I'm about to change your...death." I grabbed him by the arm and guided him to where I left Violet.

As Violet spotted us getting closer she quickly touched up her hair and quickly applied more lip gloss. Once we arrived at Violet, Beetlejuice instantly looked her up and down. I let go of his arm and stood by Violet.

"This is Violet Smith, my sister. Violet, this is Beetlejuice." I pushed her towards him slightly.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, m'lady." He took her hand and laid a wet kiss to the top of her hand. Violet's face turned a deep crimson and she tried to stifle a giggle.

"Well, I'll take that as my cue to leave. Have fun you two." My smile faltered slightly as I turn to leave, but Violet stopped me. She mouths 'Thank you' and I nodded in response with two thumbs up.

I returned to my corner of the room and remained there watching the living as they had their fun. Every now and then I would look over to see Violet and Beej laughing, or flirting. It hurt to, a lot. But then I sew how happy she was and realize that her happiness was more important than mine. The only regret that I really had was that I met him first. It was about an hour or two later when Violet and I had left the party. For the rest of the night, she went on and on about Beetlejuice. I chimed in here and there but I mostly listened. She really seemed to be head over heels.

The weeks that followed the party consisted of many, many, many visits to the Deetz/Maitland household. Most of the time I would leave the two to their own devices, spending most of my time with the Maitlands. As time went on, it was easier to see them together. But there were always times where he would make a comment, or look at me and all those feelings would come crashing back. It was hard, but my sister was more important than anything to me, in life and death. It was almost a year later when Beetlejuice came to me, asking for my blessing to marry Violet. He told me about how he could be alive again, and have a family with her. That was the moment when all my doubts that I made the wrong decision were erased. Of course, when he proposed Violet couldn't have been more ecstatic. From then on I watched over them and their growing family, forever bound to watch the future that I gave up unravel.

#beetlejuice x reader #Beetlejuice #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice x oc #my writing #beetlejuice fanfiction

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h-styles-babes · 5 years

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SEVEN

After her quick chat with Ellen, Sia headed into the studio, where most everybody was already gathered. Ben was sat on the couch in the corner, messing with a camera in his lap, and his assistant was beside him, trying to help him decide on a setting. Mitch was already in the booth, plucking away at his guitar to a beat that Sia was immediately fond of. The sound was slow and sexy, and while it was the same two chords back and forth at varying intervals, Sia could see the potential.

“Who here plays bass?” Sia asked to the room, sliding into her seat at the sound board.

“I do,” Alex offered with a shrug of his shoulder. He was sitting in the seat next to her, messing with settings on the stuff they’d recorded the previous day, which were just very rough drafts with a bit of test lyrics Harry had provided vocals for.

“Get in there and tell Mitch to keep going,” she instructed, inspiration thrumming in her veins. Even if Harry didn’t see a use for the track, she could think of ten artists off the top of her head that would be very interested in it. “I’m gonna add a drum beat from out here.”

“What have you got cooking in there, Sia?” Alex asked with a sly smirk, grabbing a bass guitar from a rack in the corner of the room.

“Something good, hopefully,” Sia joked, shooing him toward the door of the booth.

Mitch paused his plucking as Alex entered. The older man explained what Sia wanted from them, and Mitch nodded, donning a pair of headphones that were sat nearby.

“Just go back to that beat for a few bars, and then maybe ad lib a bit,” Sia suggested. “I’m gonna start recording.”

Both men shot her a thumbs up and began playing once they got the okay from the only woman in the room. As soon as they started playing together, Sia jumped in with a slow drum beat to match on the little device in front of her.

As they were getting to the point where a chorus would fit, the door opened, and Harry stepped in, keeping quiet when he saw that they were in the middle of recording something. Tentatively, he took the seat next to Sia, who didn’t seem to realize he was there as she focused on keeping the drum sounds going. Harry knew they’d need to get more musicians in here at some point to make up more of the instrumentation, but he was enamored with the way Sia’s fingers worked on the little buttons. He’d always loved how thoroughly she loved music and how invested she was in her career, and seeing her at work, in her element, made his chest a little tight with pride and remorse. It was a strange sensation.

When Mitch started some more complicated picking on his electric, Sia’s smile spread wide as she bobbed her head along to the beat.

“Fuck yes, Mitch!” she cried over the mic, making Mitch shake his head as she smiled, trying not to laugh to muck up the audio.

Harry sat, amazed, as they pretty much laid down a flawless track for an entire song. He wracked through his brain, trying to find a set of lyrics he already had written out that would work with the slow, heavy beat that was laid, but he couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head, which was disappointing. They’d have to keep this track to the side for now, and hopefully Harry could come up with something that would do the music justice lyrically.

The impromptu recording set the tone for the next few hours of their recording. It was a productive day in all, and everyone left the studio that evening satisfied, and more than ready to spend the rest of the day relaxing. After getting a good first draft of a track for a song that had Harry choking up a bit as he reflected on the lyrics, and finishing the recording of the chorus of the song they’d been working on the day before, the day could be called a success by anyone’s definition. The crew celebrated by having a bonfire on the beach just outside of the house, everyone carefree and smiling. Even the ever-present tension that resided between Harry and Sia wasn’t noticeable, though they didn’t interact much still. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and all that.

After they’d all eaten dinner and sat around drinking a few bottles of beer, Sia parted from the group, setting course along the shore. Ben had offered to go with her, but she’d brushed him off, insisting that she’d be okay on her own, and she’d stay relatively close. She walked until the fire was a little more than a dot in the distance. She found a piece of driftwood that seemed sturdy enough, so she sat on it and looked out over the dark ocean, the half moon the only real source of light all the way out there. She basked in the cool ocean breeze and the ever-present warmth of the Caribbean. The sand was still warm beneath her, so she shucked off her sandals and dug her toes in the warm grains.

There wasn’t much happening that far along the beach. The only sound was the lap of the water—the occasional crash of waves against the shore—and the odd flap of a bird’s wings. It was peaceful in a way that Sia hadn’t known in the last year. This sense of serenity left her when Harry had, and she was only now experiencing it again. She wondered if the feeling came with the tropical island, or the fact that she was taking a second alone by herself for the first time in who knew how long. She wouldn’t let herself even entertain the idea that it was because she was in Harry’s presence again. That would be a bit too masochistic, even for her.

It was silent for twenty minutes before the crunch of sand under shoes alerted Sia to the arrival of someone else. She prayed to anything that would listen that it was a person from her group and not some random stranger with possible malicious intentions. She worked out a bit and could probably defend herself if worse came to worse, but she knew she was much too far from her group for any of them to hear her if she screamed. That thought alone had the hair on her arms and back of her neck standing on end.

Her muscles were taut as the person drew closer. She was nearly ready to bolt out of there as fast as she could when they took a seat next to her. She immediately sagged in relief when she recognised Mitch’s familiar figure and long curly hair. She offered him a small smile before turning back to look out over the ocean.

“Someone send you to check on me?” she asked, assuming Ben had prompted someone to look in on her, to make sure she hadn’t died or been kidnapped or something.

“Harry started freaking out a little bit when you walked out of eyesight. I offered to accompany you so he wouldn’t run over here himself.”

Sia wasn’t quite sure how to react to that information. For two sentences, there was a lot of information that she really didn’t want to digest or pick apart. It hurt her head and her heart too much to think about the implications.

“I’m fine,” Sia assured with a shrug. “Just wanted a bit of time for myself. Been around all these people all day.”

“I’m the same. I need time for myself. Harry and the crew are great, but they’re a little excitable.”

“When Harry’s singin’ or perfromin’, it’s like he’s high,” Sia explained. “He gets a rush from what he does. He loves all this so much that he can’t help but act like a chihuahua hopped up on coke. He’s an introvert at heart, though. Will spend weeks by himself when he’s not expected to be anywhere.”

Sia wasn’t sure why she was offering up so much insight on Harry, really. She supposed she owed a bit of an explanation to Mitch. He was the only one out of all of them that hadn’t known Harry for years. Admittedly, Sia knew him the best, just based on how close they were and how long they knew each other. She figured Mitch deserved some forewarning about Harry if they were to be working together for the next couple of months.

“You seem like you know him pretty well,” Mitch said, obviously hinting at wanting to know the full backstory to Harry and Sia’s relationship.

“I’ve known him for a long time,” she shrugged, trying to brush it off.

“I feel like it’s more than that.”

“That, my dear Mitchell, is a story for another time. It’s much too heavy for the ease of the island. Now, we best be headin’ back, I reckon.”

#Harry Styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fanfic #harry styles angst #harry styles blurb #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles writing #the long road home #tlrh

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romnff-blog · 5 years

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suncity

warnings: kinda angsty (with a bit of fluff), tw for anyone who’s triggered by talk of drowning, a couple of swear words &&&& I think that’s it.

pairings: bucky x reader

a/n: the title of this has almost nothing to do w the story unless you wanna be deep about it and whatever I just couldn’t think of a name for it and this was the song I listened to while writing so djdjsj

“You have got to be kidding me!” You complained, somewhat to yourself but loud enough for anyone at a five mile radius to hear you as you attempted to sort out the equipment Stark had set you up with earlier that morning as the enemies continued their attack on you. You’d thrown a few kicks and punches with your able hand and feet as you tried figuring out how to work this hell of a device with the other.

“What is it this time?” Urged an annoyed Bucky through the tiny ear piece, “what’s got your panties in such a twist?” He mumbled in complete annoyance, sounds of throats being slashed and heads being banged into one another echoing through the coms in the background.

“Shut it, Manchurian candidate,” remembering Tony’s nickname for the old guy that made you chuckle, you retorted, “don’t you have some ass to be kicking?”

“Don’t you have some nails to be polishing?” He shot back. That little shit. It’s as if you could literally hear the smirk forming on his face as he knew exactly what it took to set you off. With a huff, you stormed off to the end of the deserted island, holding your weapons in very close proximity as you continue to keep a close eye for any enemy attack.

You could hear the Captain and Nat scoff and exchange a few words before hearing Steve’s demanding voice, “stop arguing, you two, keep an eye out. We may tolerate your annoyance but these guys won’t. They’ll have your heads chopped off within the blink of an eye, Ill assure you of that.” All was silent for a moment as the team had split up, each taking their own personal rage out on the enemy before Natasha’s smug voice shot up with a, “cap’s right, it’s like you guys are like, I don’t know, in love or something. I’ve only ever seen couples fight the way you two do—“ her words were cut off with loud, annoyed groans from both you and Barnes, emitting a low chuckle from her. Asshat.

Here’s the thing with you and Bucky. How does one put this? Well, you didn’t really get along. Like, at all. When you first met, there was an instant click between you two. Everyone had noticed from the beginning. You weren’t ever even really sure what it was but you just seemed to get along so well and it made you more than happy seeing as how it took you almost weeks –with some, even months– to befriend half of the people on the team, so everything just seemed so easy with him. Next thing you knew, you were doing everything together. Almost like best friends, you could say.

Almost.

You weren’t really sure what happened or what it was that you did to him but he just -all of a sudden-stopped talking to you. You questioned the action, even tried confronting him about it a couple of times but only ever got really short, angry and sassy remarks. It broke you heart. To think that the one person you found easiest to open up to, the person you looked forward to waking up in the morning just to see, the one you’d always find rummaging around in the kitchen at 3am knowing damn well you’d be up, unable to sleep, wanting someone to talk to. Knowing that one person who made you happiest all of a sudden just..hated you? And for no reason, you thought.

It’s made you think a lot. What could it have possibly been that you’d done to upset him so much? He’s never been one to hold a grudge, I mean, come on. The guy fell off a freight train, almost died, (not before being “brought back to life” by a couple of evil men) been experimented on and used as a killing machine. If he really was one to hold a grudge, it would most definitely not be towards you. So what was it?

It took some time but slowly you started pulling away as well. Why was it fair for him to treat you this way, yet you’d still come running into his arms the second he’s in need? Fuck that. From that day onward it was like a competition between the two. Always arguing, calling each other names, refusing to work together. The team had most definitely taken a notice on this as well. Always having to deal with the endless bickering between the two.

Little had y/n known, Bucky most definitely did not hate her. Probably the exact opposite. He didn’t know he’d ever feel this..feeling ever again. Especially not after ‘dying.’ He didn’t think he was worthy of such a thing after what he’s done for decades. Steve still has to remind him everyday that that wasn’t him, that he’s innocent and that he’s had no choice. It’s like Steve had put some spell on y/n because soon after she had befriended bucky, that’s all she would tell him. Steve teased his dearest friend about his newly found friend crush on y/n. Bucky loves steve, he really does, but there are times that all he wants to do is crane kick him in the neck.

Ever since then, that’s all Bucky could think about. Did he actually like you? Could there have been a hint of truth in what Steve had said? No, it couldn’t be. You would hate him forever and never talk to him again. Maybe even laugh in his face before storming off and out of his life forever. It’s odd because after all the man has literally gone through years of brainwash, physical abuse, almost dying (if not everyday then every other day) and having murdered innocent people with his own bare hands. A little rejection shouldn’t be a worry. It shouldn’t. But it is. Or, was, you could say. There is no way you’d ever talk to him (well, in a friendly manner, at least) again. Not after how he has treated you all these years. That’s why he’s been so cold with you. But you could never know that. No, he would rather die (trust me, he knows exactly what he’s talking about and yes, he would much rather die, again.)

Looking around herself, y/n took a look at the pile of bodies stacked up on-top of one another, taking in an exhausted breath. It’s been hours since you arrived on this little island and hours since you’ve seen the rest of the team. The mission you were sent on consisted of you, Bucky, Natasha and Steve. Steve and Natasha were off somewhere in the forest where some of the hydra agents hid, the piezoelectric sensor -a device that uses the piezoelectric effect,- that nat had tony set up earlier during one of his machine test-outs had set itself off at their presence, measuring not only the change in pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain, or force and converting them to an electrical charge. That had those agents off their feet in no time (literally.)

You and Bucky had been set up to work together, but due to your, as Steve would say, ‘pointless, ongoing and sadly never ending bickering,’ you were unable to do so as Steve worried the two would be the ones to kill each other before any hydra agent could. Having had your ear piece on for quite some time your ear started to get a bit irritated, so you did as anyone would with an irritating ear piece and went to remove it. But upon doing so, you hear a strange noise. Hesitant, you perk an ear to listen closely, com hanging loosely on your chest. The noise, it’s almost like a muffled scream. But where’s it coming from?

With wide eyes you reach for the com and, surely enough, said noise is coming from the other end of the piece. The muffled screamed..is that..? Oh no.

“You vant him,” you hear a thick German accent speak softly but demandingly, allowing you to hear the screams of terror, “come get him!” And with that you hear a loud splash and your heart stops.

“BUCKY,” you scream before running off into the secluded area. You didn’t even know where your feet were taking you anymore as you weeped at the thought of having lost him. A stream of tears descended your face like a broken necklace of pearls, clutching and beating at your chest as you sobbed violently.

After trudging in the sand for what seemed like hours -in reality having only been no more than twenty minutes- and sobbing like a madman, something had caught your eyesight, turning your full attention towards the calm waves you noticed a shiny, what seemed to be metal object waving in the water. Had your eyes been deceiving you? Your doubts were answered by another wave and this time you knew that your eyes had not been playing any sort of tricks on you.

In shock and utter disbelief, you gasped, running towards the water and jumping in, not at all caring about getting wet. You swam and swam until it felt like the water was burning your lungs. Had only you learned how to swim, this would have been a piece of cake. Keeping your eyes wide open, even through the salty ocean water, you had caught sight of him. It’s like someone had lit a fire because your heart was starting to get all warm and fuzzy again. Or was that just the water slowly making its way into your body, slowly killing you due to your lack of swimming skills, Lord knows.

Was it the salt from the water or the fact that you had been crying for so long that your eyes felt like they were burning, you would never know.

Finally getting a hold of the unconscious metal-armed man you once called friend it’s as if all that worry and doubt you had about his safety was all gone. Well, almost. It would really help a lot if he wasn’t unconscious right now. Using all of the strength you didn’t even know you were capable of handling, you fumbled around your belt to attach yourself to the man with the help of a hook and rope you always carried around the belt of your suit in case of emergency. The weight of his bionic arm and the density of the water making it all even tougher to get the job done and it worried you if whether or not you could make it out in time and alive. The thought of that weighed down on you even more, almost triggering an anxiety attack.

It took everything in you not to start panicking in this situation right now and breathing in wasn’t necessarily an option right now. The only possible way of making it out alive, you thought, was abandoning Bucky and swimming to your own safety and there was no way in hell you were gonna let either of those happen. It’s either you both live or you both die. Something in y/n had sparked motivation, thinking about bucky more than herself, pushing herself to the limit and carrying all of bucky on her back and swimming as much as she possibly could to the top. Each move seemed to make the surface look so much further away than it actually was, and it should have made you feel like giving up like it would in most situations but it only motivated you to continue swimming and even harder and faster than the last.

After what seemed like hours of terror and anxiety, both yourself and Bucky had reached the surface. With heavy breaths you threw yourself to the left side of bucky, looking over at him and smiling tiredly, letting out the biggest breath of relief. It seems as though the evil man had duck taped bucky’s mouth. In panic, you quickly removed the tape and, without a second thought, began performing cpr. Continuing for what seemed like forever, it seemed to be of no use. His pulse was now going (as it wasn’t before) so that was a relief but he was still unconscious and that was enough to set you off on another sob-fit. Burying your face in his chest, you began to weep.

It’s as if the heavens were answering your every prayer because in came Steve and Natasha rushing in on the scene.

“What happened, we heard your screams and then both your coms went off, is everything alri—oh my god..” Steve came running before he could even attempt to finish his sentence as he took notice of the mans unconscious state. “Romanoff, call up Stark. Tell him to get the jet and hurry. We’re going back early.” He ordered, earning a quick, “On it.”

Less than twenty minutes later and the jet was here. Bucky’s body was being carried in the back. You took the seat right next to him, praying everything was alright.

You had made it to the hospital as you prayed he was in good hands you couldn’t help but think back to all the good times with him. Sure, a lot of it was mostly just the usual arguments and nonessential bickering but you still cherished it. No matter how much he may have hated you, he’s still the man you fell in love with the first day you met. You hated having to admit it but it’s true. You were head over heels in love with this man (who, let’s not forget, hates your guts!) and if you were having doubts about it before, today most definitely clarified those doubts.

You didn’t realize you were lost in thought until the nurse was waving a hand in your face. Shaking yourself out of the trans, you looked up at the woman.

“Are you y/n?”

“Yes? Who’s asking?”

“The patent is awake. James barnes, says he wants to see you.” Said the woman before turning on her heel, leading me to the room.

‘He wants to see me?’ You thought ‘I don’t know whether I should be scared or happy. Is this a good thing? Should I be excited? I’m thinking too much.”

Your breath hitched in your throat as you looked at the man in the hospital bed eyeing you wearily with a tired smile. “Come ‘ere.” He motions for you to sit beside him. So you do.

“Hi.” You whisper shyly, ghosting your fingers along where the scars appeared -between the shoulder and metal meet- hesitantly.

“Hi,” He replies, smiling tiredly before replacing it with a tiny frown “you saved me.”

Confused, you reply, “yeah, I did. What’s wrong?”

“Why?”

Why? What does he mean why?

“Why? Why not? Did you think I was gonna let you drown to death? Is that what you were expecting or me?”

“No, no,” He replies defensively, “it’s just,” He sighs before mumbling “I don’t deserve to be here, especially after how I treated you and after all I’ve done all these years. I don’t deserve to live, you should have just left me to die.”

That was all it took to set you off.

“Are you kidding me buck? Of course you deserve to live! You have never done anything to me or to anyone else to make yourself think you aren’t worthy of walking the face of this earth like everyone else. What you “did” all those years? That wasn’t you! You had no control of yourself. They took advantage of you in a vulnerable state and made you do some very unspeakable things. But it wasn’t you. You have zero reason to believe that you aren’t worthy because you are! You’re the most amazing person I have ever met in my entire life! When we stopped talking and you turned away from me and our friendship I was beyond hurt, wanna know why? Because I care about you buck! so so much. Everyone on the team does. You are loved, Bucky. You’re wanted and you’re so worth it.”

Bucky blinked a couple of times, taking in the sudden rant you just went on as he thought. You really did care about him, huh. If it weren’t for the funny tasting medicine they gave him he would probably know what to say, instead going for,

“Would you totally hate me if I kissed you right now?”

And that was it. This was bucky’s shot. No more fear of rejection. No regrets. It was chilling but thrilling and he definitely was not expecting for you to say what you were about to.

“No.”

It was in a hushed tone. So quiet you might have missed it if you had not been listening closely but lucky enough for bucky, the silence filling the hospital room made it so that whatever hushed whisper either one of them had spoken to the other could be heard loud and clear to them but no one else.

So what was he waiting for? He did as he promised and leaned -well, not in because he’s the one in the bed and he’s actually looking up at her so- up to capture your lips in his and -as cliche as it is, because what’s a first kiss without a cliche, overused reference?- it’s like Independence Day came early because you’d never think you’d feel this many sparks in your entire life (see, what’d I tell you about the cliche, you were warned, folks.)

You put your everything into this kiss, reminding yourself to be as gentle as possible, almost as if he were brittle glass you were afraid you’d break if you kissed any harder. The kiss was everything. Passionate, slow and tender but reassuring and it was not rushed but quick enough to assure there would be more in the future.

Breaking the kiss, you’d rest your forehead against bucky’s, enjoying each others presence. Neither of you spoke, but you were definitely thinking the same thing. This was going to be the start of something new -and you liked the thought of that- but for now you both really need the rest, so best assured you do.

a/n: hi it’s 11pm and my head hurts like a lot lol so I’m gonna sleep but hey! my very first ever one shot! and it’s pretty long, I’d say? idk that’s probably just a matter of opinion (idk what you would consider long) but. hopefully there’s more in the future, just hope you enjoyed this one. please show this some love, ur girl would really love that. pls feedback is very very much appreciated! also literally not kidding I haven’t proofread this so let’s just pray there are very minimal, tolerable mistakes ok im djdjsj ok bye now ilysm hope you’re having the greatest day/night

hugs, k 💌

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #you x bucky #reader x bucky #bucky barnes imagine #winter soldier #winter soldier x you #black widow #natasha romanoff #captain america #steve rogers #iron man #tony stark #marvel #mcu #winter soldier x reader #avengers #kwrites

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scarlette-joel-writing · 6 years

Text

Erased Pt. 9

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader

Warnings: things get a bit gruesome, not too bad though. Language.

A/N I know . Ihave taken forever to update. Im sorry about that. I promise that I will be better

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

Y/N’s POV:

It is dark and it is cold and it is loud.

It is dark. I cannot see an inch in front of my face. I cannot see any light coming from any place and I have no idea what the room I am in looks like. I don’t even know if I am in a room. I could be in a cardboard box for all I know. Stored on a shelf somewhere, waiting to be shipped off to China. I haven’t moved from this spot since I woke up because I am not sure that I want to know what my surroundings consist of.

It is cold. I am so cold that my teeth chatter and my skin has permanent goosebumps on them. Yea that is what I mean by it is freaking cold. There is a breeze that is as cold as the Arctic Circle that hits me every couple of minutes and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out where the hell it is coming from. I guess the fact that there is a breeze is some indication that I am not in a card board box, so I can add that to the very short list of things that I know.

It is loud. There is a loud pounding in my ears that causes my entire body to shake as I am sitting on the ground. It is Similar to the sound that I heard when the guy came into the complex to take me, but this sound is much louder than that one. And it isn’t just one steady note. It is high frequencies and low frequencies that mix together and cause my brain to feel like it is turning to mush. It paralyzes my muscles and makes me want to puke. Thankfully, I have been able to stop myself from doing that so far.

I don’t know how long I have been here and I really have no way of figuring it out. My internal clock is fucked because of the noise and my external clock is fucked because of the lack of sun. If I had to take I guess, I would say that I have been awake for about 12 hours but I have no idea how long I was out before then. It could have been 2 hours or two weeks for all I know.

I have to do something besides just sit here. I have to. So far no one has come in and I am pretty sure that even night vision wouldn’t be able to see through the pitch blackness of this room. I am just sitting there until they decide that they have had me for long enough and kill me.

I take a deep breath and then allow myself to unlatch my arms from around my knees and to pull myself up onto all fours. My hand sweeps out in front of me and it is met with nothing but cold air. So not a cardboard box. Maybe a shipping container. I shuffle forward a little bit on my knees. Maybe if I can just make it to the other side of the space, there will be a door or something that will lead to the outside world.

I continue on with my blind search until I put my hand down on top of something. It all happens so quickly. I set my hand down on something and then suddenly my hand is going through the something. My arm goes in all the way up the elbow and I can feel a warmth encompass me. I have to pull my hand out of whatever it was in, and the warm and sticky substance encases my entire left forearm.

That is the breaking point. That is what makes me scramble to my feet, take a couple steps and then hunch over, vomiting up whatever stomach contents I have. I have no idea what that was, but I can tell you that I know it wasn’t strawberry jelly. The smell is enough to tell me that.

I abandon my search of the room and crawl back into my little corner, stumbling as I walk because these fuckers know that I would kick their ass if they didn’t have this stupid noise buzzing through my ears.

I sit back down on the ground and let my head hit the wall behind me. I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to cry but I don’t know what else there is for me to do. I am helpless. I can’t use my power and there isn’t anybody here for me to kick the shit out of. I don’t know who is doing this, why they took me, or what they want.

I let the first tear fall, and I don’t even attempt to wipe it off.

All I know is that I want Bucky. I want to be back home in the complex. I want to be home.

Please come find me Bucky.

Bucky’s POV:

“What the fuck do you mean we don’t have anything?! How can we not have found out a single fucking thing on where Y/N might be?!” my voice shakes and it feels like it shakes the entire complex with it. I am angry. I am beyond angry. I really don’t think that there are any words to describe the emotions that I am feeling right now. There are too many of them.

It has been two days since Y/N has gone missing. Two days since I realized that she was taking a bit to long with her shower and went up to find her bedroom empty and some blood on the floor. It has been two days since I realized that the girl that I am supposed to protect with my entire life is missing. Two days of non-stop panic and anxiety, trying to find anything that could possible lead me to her.

“Bucky. We are doing everything that we can. We don’t really have a lot to go off of,” Steve says as he and the rest of the team are sitting in the conference room, trying to have a civil conversation about the plans that they should be making. How is this any time to be having a civil conversation? This is the time to be going out and knocking people’s teeth out until they tell me what I need to know.

“Yea, Buck. It’s not like they exactly left us a note, telling us exactly where they were taking her. These things take time,” Natasha says and I can see her give me a small smile of sympathy. But small smiles of sympathy aren’t what I need right now.

“Why aren’t we going through lists of all of our enemies and trying to figure out which one has her that way?” I am pacing the floor now. Back and forth. Back and forth. It doesn’t offer me any release but it does allow me to do something. Anything.

“We are doing that. But that list isn’t exactly a short one. Like Romanoff said, these things take time,” Tony is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He gives me a look that tells me that he is sorry but he isn’t that sorry.

They are all trying to cut themselves off from their emotions. They are all trying to pretend like this isn’t one of their own that has gone missing. They are trying to keep themselves more rational by being impartial to the situation. But that doesn’t work with me. None of that works for me.

I am not going to sit here and pretend that my Y/N is just another random stranger that we have to save. I am not going to pretend like she isn’t the most important thing in my life and I am definitely not going to stop until I have her back home and with me.

Let’s just hope that nothing bad has happened to her…

Y/N’s POV:

There is nothing but light surrounding me. Bright blinding light that causes my eyes to water and me to cover them with my right hand. It is coming from the opposite side of the room, just like I knew it would. Once my eyes have adjusted enough, I drop my hand and look back to the door. There is a silhouette there, just standing.

“I see you have had the pleasure of getting acquainted with Robert,” the voice says and I am confused for a second until I look down and realize that there is a body lying in the middle of the floor. It is half decayed and the skin seems to be sliding off of the bones a bit. I notice that there is a gaping hole in the middle of the stomach and when I look down at my arm, it is almost black in color due to the blood and whatever else was resting inside of Robert. The sight makes me gag but thankfully there is nothing left in my stomach to throw up.

The noise is still pounding in my skull and it makes my vision blurry. Everything is blurry. I feel like I am going to pass out But I cant do that. I cant. I may never way up again.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I want my voice to be strong and hard but it comes out weak and broken and laced with fear at the sight of the body in front of me. Is that going to be soon? Is that how the others are going to find me? Half decayed with a hole in my stomach? Or will they even find me at all?

“My name is Dr. Orlov,” I can hear the Russian accent now. Subtle but still there. He takes a step inside, switches on a light, and bathes the room in a yellow glow. Everything in this room is gray. Gray tiles and gray concrete. All the way to the gray body lying in the middle of the room. “And you have something that I require,” he smiles at me.

“And what would that be,” I spit back at him, and before I know it, he has crossed the small room and is kneeling in front of me. He pulls a small machine out of his pocket and attaches it to my forehead. This device causes small bursts of electricity to shoot through my body every couple of seconds. He hits another button that stops the horrible noise, but I still cant use my power because of this stupid electricity.

FUCK ME.

“I require the code to my asset. And it seems that you are the one that has it,” he leans back and I cant help the look of pure confusion on my face. How the hell does he know about that. There is no way that he could possibly know about the code. I erased it from every person’s mind in the world. The only way that he could remember was if he wasn’t on the planet when I was erasing things… But that’s not possible. “Ah, I can see the little wheels in your head turning. So many questions. But don’t worry your pretty little head about that. We will have plenty of time to talk and discuss how I know the things I know while you are telling me the code,”

“I will never tell you the code,” I hiss back at him, feeling myself lose consciousness once again.

“Torture is a powerful thing Ms. Y/N. Never say never,” he smiles at me.

Taglist:

@jacks-on-krack @tbetz0341 @haleypearce @buckybarnesappreciationsociety @zestygingergirl @geeksareunique @jemjem-chan @rachelmc97 @fesslasuisse @vvonder-lands @ran-randomness @m4df4n

#bucky x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes #avenger #avengers #marvel #romance #love #action #writing #multipart #part 9 #saving #kindaromanceifyoulookatitright #imagine #series #sebastian stan

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mechanicswichita · 3 years

Link

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Vehicle Backup System Installation

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Wichita KS: So you want to install a backup system on your trusty, but outdated, ride. Great idea! These helpful tools have made such an impact on the automotive industry that they’re now mandated as necessary safety features. But dealership rides aren’t the only way to get back up cameras.

Backup cameras are now readily available as aftermarket parts that anybody can install on older vehicles.A1 Mobile Mechanics Of Wichita,On brand-new vehicles, a backup camera comes fully integrated into the electronics, so the system’s components are hidden. That’s the goal when installing a custom aftermarket setup, as well.

With a few tweaks to the car’s rear and a couple of wire connections, you’ll never have to crane your neck backward to check if little Timmy is practicing Big Wheel donuts at the end of the driveway. The A1 Mobile Mechanics Of Wichita’s crack How-To team is here to help walk you through the process.

What Is a Backup System?

A backup camera, when built into a car’s systems by the manufacturer, displays a small, live view from behind the car when the vehicle is put into reverse. This gives the driver a clearer picture of what’s behind him or her and helps to ensure Fido doesn’t get a deep-tissue massage from your tires.

Here is a list of the types of cameras, as well as the types of displays commonly used.

Types of Cameras

● Bracket-mounted: The camera is attached to but separated from a bracket that can be mounted on the car’s surface.

● Flush-mounted: A camera that is made to blend with the surface of the vehicle as much as possible.

● License plate frame: The camera is embedded within a license plate frame.

● License plate bar: The camera is centered in a bar that stretches across and attaches to the top of a license plate.

● OEM-specific: If you have a newer used car, it might be compatible with a specific part, such as a latch handle, that has a camera built in for a clean factory look.

Types of Displays

● Integrated OEM: A factory unit that comes with the car and sits in or on top of the dashboard.

● In-dash aftermarket: An added infotainment stereo with a screen that fits flush with the dashboard

● On-dash aftermarket: A stand-alone monitor that can be placed on top of the dashboard.

● Rearview mirror: A monitor is built into the rearview mirror. Sometimes the screen is half of the mirror, sometimes it is full-length. When not in use, it just looks like a mirror.

● Wired vs. Wireless: Wired backup cameras require a physical wire connection to get the video from the camera to show up on the display. Wireless options, however, use a signal and receiver method and do not require a wire.

Buying a Backup Camera System

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Wichita KS: Many car audio and electronic businesses, as well as some of the big box electronic stores, sell and install backup camera systems.

People can buy back up cameras as an aftermarket device by installing a small camera on the back bumper or license-plate holder. A video recorder, meanwhile, can be installed in a replacement rear-view mirror, on a screen that mounts to your car’s dashboard or can be integrated into a video screen that already exists on the vehicle.

Everything You’ll Need to Install a Backup System

We’re not psychic, nor are we snooping through your toolbox or garage, so here’s what you’ll need to get the job done.

Tool List

● Flathead screwdriver

● Phillips screwdriver

● Trim/panel removal tools

● Wire strippers

● Cordless drill

● 3/32 to ⅛ drill bit

● Automotive Multimeter

● Wire connectors such as Posi-Taps

● Electrical tape

● Zip ties

● A friend

Parts List

● Rearview camera

● Wire cluster

● Monitor or infotainment unit (if necessary)

● Rubber grommet

How to Install a Backup System

Let’s do this!

Adding the Camera

● Make sure the vehicle is turned off.

● Safely disconnect the vehicle’s battery terminals.

● Remove the license plate if necessary.

● Position the camera to the desired position on the vehicle.

● With a marker, mark where the camera’s cord hits the vehicle.

● Depending on the type of vehicle and where the camera will be located, you will likely need to remove an interior panel from the interior portion of the door, hatch, or tailgate. On a bumper, this might not be necessary.

● Make sure there are no wires, cables, or trim pieces that could be damaged when you drill a hole through the exterior of the car.

● Determine which size drill bit bores a large enough hole to accommodate the camera’s wire and rubber grommet. A simple visual inspection is usually all you need.

● Using the selected drill bit, drill a hole where you made a mark.

● Add a rubber grommet into the hole to hide the rough metal edges and protect the wire.

● Run the camera wiring through the hole.

● Attach the camera to the vehicle either through the supplied hardware or the hardware you purchased separately.

Begin Wiring Installation

● Connect the provided wire cluster to the camera wire. This will split into a video wire, a power wire, and possibly a reverse signal wire.

● For the cleanest look, look for the existing manufacturer wiring loom, and try to pair and route the wiring next to that.

● Identify a power source for the camera, likely either a reverse light or a license plate light.

● Identify the positive and negative wires from the light source using a multimeter.

● Link the positive camera wire to the positive light wire and the negative camera wire to the negative. This can be done with a splice or a Posi-Tap connector.

Splicing a Wire

● If Posi-Taps are not available, then you will need to splice your wires together. For ease, we recommend a military splice, as it does not require soldering.

● Using a wire stripper, hold the positive light wire and remove a section of the plastic coating to reveal the copper.

● Split the exposed section of copper into two.

● Feed the positive camera wire through the hole between the copper wiring.

● Wrap and twist the wiring positive camera wire around the light wire to establish a sturdy connection.

● Shrinkwrap and/or tape up the connection for security and protection.

● Repeat for the negative wire.

Reverse Signal Wire

In order for the display to show the video feed, it needs a signal to alert the system the car is in reverse. In some cases, the infotainment unit will have automatic signal sensing that detects the presence of an incoming video signal. If this is the case, skip this step.

● Using a friend, identify a signal source this is any wire that holds a positive 12 volts while the car is in reverse. People often use the wiring for the reverse light, but some aftermarket stereo wiring harnesses have a connection built in.

● Tap into the signal source with a splice (repeat steps above).

● Pair the signal wire with the video wire and prepare for routing.

Routing the Wiring

● Depending on the type of vehicle, determine whether you want to track the wire under the floor of the vehicle or through its headliner.

● Remove or partially detach any trim pieces, carpeting, headliner, or door rubber needed to discreetly run the wire.

● Tuck the two wires out of view, and run them to the front of the vehicle.

● Reattach the trim pieces you’ve removed.

Connecting the Display

Once the monitor is in place, be that in the dashboard, on top of it, or in the rearview mirror, it’s time to connect it to power, video, and the signal wire.

In some cases, the monitor power cord can be linked straight into the fuse box with a spliced-on adapter.

● Use a multimeter to determine an appropriate spot and attach the power cable.

● Make sure the fuse turns off when the ignition is off, or the connection could drain the battery.

In other cases, the power wiring can be hooked into the existing stereo unit.

● Remove the trim piece to reach the stereo wiring.

● Find the power cables for the stereo.

● Connect positive to positive and negative to negative.

● Connect the reverse signal wire to the reverse trigger wire.

● Connect the video wire.

● Reattach the trim pieces you’ve removed.

Wrapping Up

● Safely reconnect the battery terminals.

● Start the car.

● Put the car in reverse to see if the monitor switches or turns on and displays the rear video feed.

● If it works, turn the car off. If it doesn’t, return to the steps and check your work.

● Tidy up any superfluous wire with electrical tape, zip ties, and velcro.

● Reinstall the stereo head unit, if necessary.

● Reinstall any removed interior parts, panels, or coverings.

TIPS

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Wichita KS:

● Pulling stubborn tangled wire throughout a car can be frustrating, so it’s best to be prepared with tools that can make the process easier. Use a wire feeder or puller to get those wires through tough spots.

● Commercial Camera extensions should not exceed 100 feet. If experiencing signal loss with a standard definition cable (TE-CEX), upgrade to a high definition cable (TE-HEX). The TE-HEX cables have a thicker copper cabling that helps with the signal loss and allows for the distribution of high definition signal.

● If after a camera is installed you experience a rolling line, check your ground. The most common cause of this would be the grounding of the camera itself. The second cause would be a loose or broken ground in the RCA itself; this would require a replacement of the camera.

● If after a camera is installed you experience a black and white image, check your ground. Check the ground on the monitor and the camera. A bad ground will not allow the processor to turn on fully, which results in a black and white image.

COST

How much does it cost to get a backup system installed?

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Wichita KS: Count on $400-$600 for labor. If your car doesn't have a screen, there's additional cost, of course: $150-$200 for a screen alone and $500-$1,500 for new head unit with a screen.

How much is a backup camera installation?

Count on $400-$600 for labor. If your car doesn't have a screen, there's additional cost, of course: $150-$200 for a screen alone and $500-$1,500 for new head unit with a screen. Back-up camera systems come in three basic types: Camera-only systems that can be added to a car that already has a stock in-dash screen.

How Much Do Backup Cameras Cost?

● The first involves installing a 3.5-inch portable screen and backup camera for around $350, including installation.

● The next involves replacing the old rearview mirror with a new one with a video screen for about $450 to $800. This option can run more expensive, for example, if you’re replacing a rear view mirror with OnStar capabilities. Taking a rearview mirror with OnStar down will deactivate the technology and cause the engine light to illuminate.

● If you already have a screen in your car, technicians can integrate a new backup camera into the existing video monitor for about $500 to $1,000.

● The final option entails installing a new video screen on a vehicle that has a standard radio. This can cost $700 to $3,000, depending on all the options available such as navigation technology. The cost of a backup camera system can increase by adding technology, such as a backup sensor, which beeps when something is behind the car.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Will installing a backup camera system void my vehicles warranty?

No, installing a backup camera system or any aftermarket accessory or device will not void your vehicle's factory warranty. In fact, it is illegal for a car dealer to deny warranty coverage because you have installed a backup camera system or any aftermarket accessory or device. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection, has issued a bulletin that explains your protections under the law (The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) and legal rights. Click here to view FTC Bulletin

Will your backup camera systems work on my vehicle?

Yes, Our Premium Backup Camera System will work on any Car, Minivan, SUV, Pickup Truck or Commercial Vehicle.

Can I buy your systems without installation?

Yes, all of their products are available without installation. In fact, Online purchases qualify for FREE Nationwide Ground Shipping

Can I install the backup camera system myself?

Although we recommend professional installation, our products can be installed by the DIY’er with a basic knowledge of automotive 12V systems and the right tools (12V tester is a must)! Click Here For Installation Instructions

How long will installation take?

Professional Installation by Backup4safety.com of a backup camera system will typically take 2 - 3 hours (complex installations can take longer) and can be performed at your home or office for maximum convenience.

Do you warranty your installation?

Yes, Backup4safety.com stands behind our installation services and will correct any problem directly relating to the product installation, for the product’s warranty period.

Why do I need a Backup camera module?

Backup camera module allows you to add a rear view camera the built in screen that came with your vehicle

Do I get a warranty for the Backup camera module?

The warranty on our modules are the same high quality 1 year warranty we provide on all of our products.

CALL FOR US:

● Vehicle Backup System Installation Service Near Wichita KS

● Backup Camera Installation Service

● Backup Camera Installation

● Car Backup Camera Installation Service

● How Much Does It Cost To Install A Rear View Camera On A Car

● Toyota Backup Camera Installation Cost

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● Who Installs Backup Cameras

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BEST VEHICLE BACKUP SYSTEM INSTALLATION SERVICE IN WICHITA KS

MOBILE MECHANICS OF WICHITA

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION. CONTACT US NOW!

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mobilemechanicsabq · 3 years

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Best Vehicle Backup System Installation Service and Cost in Albuquerque NM | Mobile Mechanics of Albuquerque

More information is at:

http://mobilemechanicalbuquerque.org/vehicle-backup-system-installation-near-me/

Are you looking for Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Albuquerque NM? Mobile Mechanics of Albuquerque,Backup System are now readily available as aftermarket parts that anybody can install on older vehicles.Cost? Free estimates! Send us a message or call us today. BestTowing Service around Albuquerque NM. Albuquerque NM Vehicle Backup System Installation Service specializes you with fast service, so you don’t have to wait for long.We serve Albuquerque NMand other areas. Get a Free Quote Now!

VEHICLE BACKUP SYSTEM INSTALLATION SERVICE IN ALBUQUERQUE NM

ALBUQUERQUEVEHICLE BACKUP SYSTEM INSTALLATION

Vehicle Backup System Installation

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Albuquerque NM: So you want to install a backup system on your trusty, but outdated, ride. Great idea! These helpful tools have made such an impact on the automotive industry that they’re now mandated as necessary safety features. But dealership rides aren’t the only way to get back up cameras.

Backup cameras are now readily available as aftermarket parts that anybody can install on older vehicles.Mobile Mechanics of Albuquerque,On brand-new vehicles, a backup camera comes fully integrated into the electronics, so the system’s components are hidden. That’s the goal when installing a custom aftermarket setup, as well.

With a few tweaks to the car’s rear and a couple of wire connections, you’ll never have to crane your neck backward to check if little Timmy is practicing Big Wheel donuts at the end of the driveway. The Mobile Mechanics of Albuquerque’s crack How-To team is here to help walk you through the process.

What Is a Backup System?

Here is a list of the types of cameras, as well as the types of displays commonly used.

Types of Cameras

● Bracket-mounted: The camera is attached to but separated from a bracket that can be mounted on the car’s surface.

● Flush-mounted: A camera that is made to blend with the surface of the vehicle as much as possible.

● License plate frame: The camera is embedded within a license plate frame.

● License plate bar: The camera is centered in a bar that stretches across and attaches to the top of a license plate.

● OEM-specific: If you have a newer used car, it might be compatible with a specific part, such as a latch handle, that has a camera built in for a clean factory look.

Types of Displays

● Integrated OEM: A factory unit that comes with the car and sits in or on top of the dashboard.

● In-dash aftermarket: An added infotainment stereo with a screen that fits flush with the dashboard

● On-dash aftermarket: A stand-alone monitor that can be placed on top of the dashboard.

● Rearview mirror: A monitor is built into the rearview mirror. Sometimes the screen is half of the mirror, sometimes it is full-length. When not in use, it just looks like a mirror.

Buying a Backup Camera System

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Albuquerque NM: Many car audio and electronic businesses, as well as some of the big box electronic stores, sell and install backup camera systems.

Everything You’ll Need to Install a Backup System

We’re not psychic, nor are we snooping through your toolbox or garage, so here’s what you’ll need to get the job done.

Tool List

● Flathead screwdriver

● Phillips screwdriver

● Trim/panel removal tools

● Wire strippers

● Cordless drill

● 3/32 to ⅛ drill bit

● Automotive Multimeter

● Wire connectors such as Posi-Taps

● Electrical tape

● Zip ties

● A friend

Parts List

● Rearview camera

● Wire cluster

● Monitor or infotainment unit (if necessary)

● Rubber grommet

How to Install a Backup System

Let’s do this!

Adding the Camera

● Make sure the vehicle is turned off.

● Safely disconnect the vehicle’s battery terminals.

● Remove the license plate if necessary.

● Position the camera to the desired position on the vehicle.

● With a marker, mark where the camera’s cord hits the vehicle.

● Make sure there are no wires, cables, or trim pieces that could be damaged when you drill a hole through the exterior of the car.

● Determine which size drill bit bores a large enough hole to accommodate the camera’s wire and rubber grommet. A simple visual inspection is usually all you need.

● Using the selected drill bit, drill a hole where you made a mark.

● Add a rubber grommet into the hole to hide the rough metal edges and protect the wire.

● Run the camera wiring through the hole.

● Attach the camera to the vehicle either through the supplied hardware or the hardware you purchased separately.

Begin Wiring Installation

● Connect the provided wire cluster to the camera wire. This will split into a video wire, a power wire, and possibly a reverse signal wire.

● For the cleanest look, look for the existing manufacturer wiring loom, and try to pair and route the wiring next to that.

● Identify a power source for the camera, likely either a reverse light or a license plate light.

● Identify the positive and negative wires from the light source using a multimeter.

● Link the positive camera wire to the positive light wire and the negative camera wire to the negative. This can be done with a splice or a Posi-Tap connector.

Splicing a Wire

● If Posi-Taps are not available, then you will need to splice your wires together. For ease, we recommend a military splice, as it does not require soldering.

● Using a wire stripper, hold the positive light wire and remove a section of the plastic coating to reveal the copper.

● Split the exposed section of copper into two.

● Feed the positive camera wire through the hole between the copper wiring.

● Wrap and twist the wiring positive camera wire around the light wire to establish a sturdy connection.

● Shrinkwrap and/or tape up the connection for security and protection.

● Repeat for the negative wire.

Reverse Signal Wire

● Tap into the signal source with a splice (repeat steps above).

● Pair the signal wire with the video wire and prepare for routing.

Routing the Wiring

● Depending on the type of vehicle, determine whether you want to track the wire under the floor of the vehicle or through its headliner.

● Remove or partially detach any trim pieces, carpeting, headliner, or door rubber needed to discreetly run the wire.

● Tuck the two wires out of view, and run them to the front of the vehicle.

● Reattach the trim pieces you’ve removed.

Connecting the Display

Once the monitor is in place, be that in the dashboard, on top of it, or in the rearview mirror, it’s time to connect it to power, video, and the signal wire.

In some cases, the monitor power cord can be linked straight into the fuse box with a spliced-on adapter.

● Use a multimeter to determine an appropriate spot and attach the power cable.

● Make sure the fuse turns off when the ignition is off, or the connection could drain the battery.

In other cases, the power wiring can be hooked into the existing stereo unit.

● Remove the trim piece to reach the stereo wiring.

● Find the power cables for the stereo.

● Connect positive to positive and negative to negative.

● Connect the reverse signal wire to the reverse trigger wire.

● Connect the video wire.

● Reattach the trim pieces you’ve removed.

Wrapping Up

● Safely reconnect the battery terminals.

● Start the car.

● Put the car in reverse to see if the monitor switches or turns on and displays the rear video feed.

● If it works, turn the car off. If it doesn’t, return to the steps and check your work.

● Tidy up any superfluous wire with electrical tape, zip ties, and velcro.

● Reinstall the stereo head unit, if necessary.

● Reinstall any removed interior parts, panels, or coverings.

TIPS

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Albuquerque NM:

COST

How much does it cost to get a backup system installed?

Vehicle Backup System Installation service near Albuquerque NM: Count on $400-$600 for labor. If your car doesn't have a screen, there's additional cost, of course: $150-$200 for a screen alone and $500-$1,500 for new head unit with a screen.

How much is a backup camera installation?

How Much Do Backup Cameras Cost?

● The first involves installing a 3.5-inch portable screen and backup camera for around $350, including installation.

● If you already have a screen in your car, technicians can integrate a new backup camera into the existing video monitor for about $500 to $1,000.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Will installing a backup camera system void my vehicles warranty?

Will your backup camera systems work on my vehicle?

Yes, Our Premium Backup Camera System will work on any Car, Minivan, SUV, Pickup Truck or Commercial Vehicle.

Can I buy your systems without installation?

Yes, all of their products are available without installation. In fact, Online purchases qualify for FREE Nationwide Ground Shipping

Can I install the backup camera system myself?

How long will installation take?

Do you warranty your installation?

Yes, Backup4safety.com stands behind our installation services and will correct any problem directly relating to the product installation, for the product’s warranty period.

Why do I need a Backup camera module?

Backup camera module allows you to add a rear view camera the built in screen that came with your vehicle

Do I get a warranty for the Backup camera module?

The warranty on our modules are the same high quality 1 year warranty we provide on all of our products.

CALL FOR US:

● Vehicle Backup System Installation Service Near Albuquerque NM

● Backup Camera Installation Service

● Backup Camera Installation

● Car Backup Camera Installation Service

● How Much Does It Cost To Install A Rear View Camera On A Car

● Toyota Backup Camera Installation Cost

● Reverse Camera Installation Price

● Who Installs Backup Cameras

● Car Backup Camera Installation Near Albuquerque NM

● Backup Camera Installation Service

● Car Backup Camera Installation Service

● How Much Does It Cost To Install A Rear View Camera

● Toyota Backup Camera Installation Cost

● Backup Camera Installation

● Who Installs Backup Cameras

● Car Backup Camera Installation

● Does Install Backup Cameras Near Albuquerque NM

BEST VEHICLE BACKUP SYSTEM INSTALLATION SERVICE IN ALBUQUERQUE NM

MOBILE MECHANICS OF ALBUQUERQUE

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION. CONTACT US NOW!

24-hour Mobile Mechanic Roadside Assistance Services in Albuquerque, NM!

CALL (505) 485-1736 MOBILE MECHANICS OF ALBUQUERQUE

CALL (505) 485-1618 MOBILE AUTO TRUCK REPAIR ALBUQUERQUE

CALL (505) (505) 346-2463 ALBUQUERQUE TOWING & ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE

CALL (505) 346-2463 TOWING SERVICES OF ALBUQUERQUE

WEBSITE:

www.mobilemechanicalbuquerque.org

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SERVICE AREA:

18 Cities within 30 miles of Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque, NM - Standard ZIP Codes

87101 87102 87104 87105 87106 87107 87108 87109 87110 87111 87112 87113 87114 87115 87116 87120 87121 87122 87123 87124

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