expanse

December 24, 2017 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @specialagentartemis

From: @dornishsphinx

Merry Christmas, @specialagentartemis! This got a little out-of-control word count wise, but I hope you enjoy!

expanse

Not even having the energy to close his eyes all the way, Junpei let his head loll back against the headrest. His awareness of the landscape outside the car faded away, desert sun and sand mixing themselves up together into a yellow blur. There was nothing keeping him alert anymore, or at least nothing pressing enough to ward off the tiredness. Even the initial spark of mortal terror brought on by Clover’s driving had faded away after the first few accident-free hours.

He almost didn’t notice it when the scenery started changing, the car drifting to a halt, or Clover contorting herself around to shout at the backseat.

“C’mon! Shopping time!” she said, waving her hand in his face.

Unwillingly, Junpei found himself blinking into focus. Beside Clover, sitting in the shotgun position, Lotus – she’d still not mentioned her real name and honestly, at this point it would have felt weird to outright ask – was digging through the front compartment, counting out a stack of dollar bills that had been stuffed in there along with maps, water and non-perishables.

“Don’t forget about getting us actual food, okay?” she said, with the commanding tone of voice that, now that Junpei thought about it, ought to have marked her as a mother from the start, “And don’t go overboard, got it? We don’t want to run out. And be careful–”

“Okay, okay,” said Clover, “Let’s go, you two.”

“I think it would be best if I stayed with the car,” said Light, sitting on Junpei’s right.

“Ugh, you’re just too lazy to go shopping, aren’t you?” said Clover.

“Oh? Insults now?” said Light, not denying it.

“Whatever, spoilsport. Junpei, you’re coming with me!”

“What?” said Junpei, startled at the conversation turning to him, “Why does he get to make an excuse?”

“You want to go exploring, right? Because you’re cool, unlike my lame-ass brother over there. Right?”

Really, it shouldn’t have worked. Junpei consoled himself with the knowledge that he’d wanted to go all along as he dragged himself out of the car alongside Clover and made their way into town.

“So,” he said, exercise starting to wake him up a little, “This is America, huh?”

He supposed it was scenic, in a bleak way, nothing but desert and sky for miles past a few square buildings dotted around on what was barely a town square. It was hardly what you imagined from the movies, though.

“Well, the complex had to be off the grid,” mused Clover in response as she ducked into one of the less dilapidated buildings, “But you know, apparently Las Vegas is in this state. We should totally go.”

Junpei imagined it as he followed her in.

“That… does sound like fun,” he admitted, “Though I don’t think we have the money.”

She barked out a laugh. “Pff. Yeah. You think they’d have left us more as recompense, considering what they put us through.”

The past day flashed through his mind. He took in a shaky breath. Akane was alive because of it. At least there was that. It it would have been nice to confirm it with his own eyes, though, be able to talk to her — be able to get some answers. It seemed that some things were impossible, though.

“Junpei!” cried Clover.

Junpei whipped around, ready to face any threat – now that he thought about it, it was unlikely he’d not be on edge for at least the next few months – before quickly taking a step back to avoid the small, dark object Clover had decided to swing at his face.

“Whoa! What the—hey!”

He snatched it out her hand before bringing up whatever it was to his eye level. It turned out to be a keyring with a spiky cactus attached; it had the sort of demented grinning face that you’d be forgiven for expecting to only appear on Hallowe’en memorabilia.

“Get this, there’s a whole line of them,” said Clover, stepping to the side and revealing the shelf behind her with a flourish, “Sad cactus, angry cactus – uh, constipated cactus? And – jeez, I don’t even know what this one’s supposed to be. Existential dread cactus maybe? Betrayal cactus?”

He stared at the rack of tack before him, glorious and green.

“I need ten of everything.”

“Not nine?” said Clover.

At the look he sent over at her, she shrugged. “I hear laughing at trauma helps with the healing process?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to wait more than—” He checked his burner phone and counted in his head, before groaning.

“…Nine hours?”

“Shut up.”

Clover grinned, all her teeth showing. “Oh, man, you just make it too easy.” She dragged out the last consonant, like the thin whine of a siren. She gasped before Junpei could come up with a suitably witty repartee. “Is that—it is! Junpei, check out the angel one! Aw, it even has a little harp—I so need to get it for Light!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Oh! Uh. Never mind, I mean—”

But then she looked at Junpei, a flash of resolution in her eyes. “Ah, screw it. Light’s a harpist, a really good one – you should come to one of his shows sometime!”

For a moment, Junpei felt warm inside. He reflected on how much this odd little friendship of theirs had blossomed since they’d met, disoriented and scared, on the deck of that fake ship. Maybe it wasn’t much; something that, under normal circumstances, would really be nothing at all. Yet after all this, the fact she was talking like she was expecting their relationship to continue on, no longer a necessity and now a choice—

Well. It was nice.

“So, hey, uh, can I ask you something?” he asked as he moved his way towards the neighbouring novelty clothing rack.

“Yeah?”

“I mean, I didn’t say anything before, since I just thought you were still keeping it under wraps, but—”

“Argh, just spit it out already,” she said, in a tone of cheerful exasperation.

“So, you really just used your real name as a code name?”

It wasn’t really worth getting petty over, but goddamn, Junpei had actually come up with a really good one before being denied its use.

“Hey, everyone else was coming up with all these super clever number-based codenames. You know how stressful it was, trying to think of something that didn’t sound dumb beside them?”

“I don’t think it would have been that hard to come up with something less dumb than ‘Santa’, honestly.”

Clover considered this. “I suppose it does seem a little contrived now that I think about it. And jeez, he had more time than anyone to come up with it as well! What a dick.”

“Wow. Take that, guy who isn’t here.”

“Hey, maybe we should make a voodoo doll of him out of one of these cacti and hurt its feelings. Like this one!” She grabbed an ornament of a woodcutter in the process of cleaving a cactus into pieces, crosses painted over its black eyes. “Looks painful enough.”

Junpei grinned, but it drooped a little as memories floated into his head, memories of that other doll and that hilltop far across the world from here and young Akane Kurashiki’s smile.

“Junpei!” said Clover. “Hey, space cadet. Earth to—”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Junpei, “Shouldn’t it be soft, though, for all the needles?”

“Emotional barbs can affect – uh, whatever this is made of – just as much as some felt doll. And it has more than enough needles stuck in it already, doncha think?”

Junpei laughed: no matter the situation, he was duty-bound to find puns hilarious.

“So, hey, can I ask something else?”

Clover groaned, but since the smile never left her face, Junpei thought he was good.

“Ugh, what is it now?”

“How come Light,” he said, plunging his hands into a black hole of t-shirts, “Didn’t come with us? I’d have thought he’d not want to leave you alone after—everything.”

Clover’s face turned serious. “Oh, that. Light’s making sure that he doesn’t escape.”

It was obvious who she was referring to.

“Ah, yeah. That’s a good idea.”

“Yeah,” said Clover, quietly. “Though that’s not the only thing. He’s also keeping an eye on that mummy woman.”

“I know we’ve all bonded or whatever, but you might want to ask Lotus before deciding—”

“Argh, you know who I mean. Alice-All-Ice.”

“Oh, did he tell you through—” He extricated one of his hands to make a vague motion in lieu of delving into the psycho-babble his brain was still holding off on acknowledging as real.

“Mm,” said Clover, noncommittally. “There’s something off about her. Like she’s acting nice and unassuming, but I feel like she’s planning something.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno. Something.”

Junpei supposed she’d probably know better than him. This was only his first foray into the world of kidnapping, morphic resonances and pseudo death games, after all – though now that he thought about it, maybe it wasn’t the most encouraging sign that Clover and Light had got caught up in it twice now.

Eh, whatever. He put it out of mind and, after that, the shopping trip passed by quickly. It was strange: he’d only met Clover a day ago, yet she was so easy to be around, laughing and joking and making disparaging comments about overpriced merchandise together. They eventually ended up picking up twelve of the keyring cacti – in all honesty, there were only eight that they’d particularly wanted out of the lot of them, but the feeling of vindictive satisfaction that came in avoiding the number nine while still managing to fully take advantage of the 3-for-2 deal was worth the extra five dollars.

“Hey!” said Clover, when they finally arrived back at the car, punting the angelic cactus through the open window into Light’s surprisingly dextrous hands, “Look what we found!”

Light felt the object with a frown. “Well, it certainly feels like a felt toy,” he said, “But other than that—” He broke off as he got to the little harp and stroked around to feel the wings. “Is this an angel?”

“More like a prince,” said Junpei, fully aware that nobody would understand the joke and not really caring at this point.

“It’s a cactus angel,” cackled Clover.

“With halo and all!” Junpei chimed in.

They grinned in unison before bursting into laughter.

Light’s mouth quirked into a smile. “I take it you picked this out for me, then?”

“Yep!” said Clover. “And that’s not all!” She extended her arm out, revealing a bag crammed full of so many bits and bobs that the shop’s owner had near cried tears of joy while they paid – apparently, tourists didn’t come out to Nowheresville, Nevada very often. “C’mon, c’mon! Take your pick!”

As Light delicately explored the contents of the bag, somehow still managing to look refined while elbow-deep in cactus memorabilia, Junpei pulled out the next gift from another, smaller bag.

“Hey, Lotus!”

In the front, Lotus looked up from the map in surprise.

“You got something for me too?”

Suddenly, a wave of embarrassment hit Junpei for some reason.

“Well, I mean. Yeah. We got you a shawl,” he said, handing it over. “I mean, I know my arms got super sunburnt when I went to Tottori one time, and uh. Well, you’re, uh. You’re wearing less than I was at the time, so—”

“That’s surprisingly thoughtful of you,” she said, thankfully interrupting him. Lotus let it tumble out of her arms, her smile turning to bewilderment and then to outright suspicion as everyone took in the green monstrosity of a pattern.

“This isn’t some round-about way of calling me prickly, is it?”

“Nah,” said Seven before Junpei could save himself with a quick denial, “He’s told you to your face more than a dozen times already, I don’t think he needs to.”

Seven yelped as Lotus took her revenge in the form of a pinch. It looked far more half-hearted than the other attacks she’d launched during the game, but Clover still interjected before the situation could escalate: “That’s not all though!”

“Really? This is more than enough for little old me, you know—”

But Clover had already launched Lotus’ cactus into her lap. Lotus peered down at it, uncertain. She picked it up, pinched between two long fingernails. “What—” she managed to get out, before pausing. The rest of the passengers took in the furious little techie cactus sewn onto a plush replica desk chair, needle-fingers extended onto a little plastic keyboard and monitor.

It was a strange choice, Junpei knew, but somehow it had called to him more than the others when considering getting a joke present for Lotus. His fingers had hovered over it, wavering in confusion, something telling him that this would be perfect despite having absolutely no evidence that was the case. Clover had come up behind him, regarding the situation for a long moment, before picking it up for him. “It just works that way, sometimes,” she’d said, quietly, and then Junpei had realised why, that a switch in his brain had been permanently flipped, and did that mean his life would never be the same again—

Lotus cleared her throat, then, and Junpei snapped to the present. “Thank you,” she said, still clearly a little freaked out. “But, hey, isn’t Seven looking rather plain over there on his lonesome?”

“Wha—” said Seven.

Junpei immediately jumped on the hook: “Oh, but we can’t leave you out! You’ve done just as much for us, you know!”

“All part of the job, you know,” said Seven, just as fast, though it was too late for him. He and Clover moved in tandem, almost like the two of them were actually the ones with the morphogenetic link, one pink-nailed hand swiping Seven’s hat off his head while the other slapped on a bright green baseball cap in its place with all the precision and speed of a slam-dunk.

“Ah,” said Light, tilting his head towards the scene, “I must say it suits you.” His small smile widened as Clover giggled.

“What the—” Seven said loudly, patting his new headpiece, before angling himself towards the rear-view mirror. He paused, a considering look on his face. “Actually, this does look pretty good.”

“Oh, really? I’m glad to hear it,” said Light, airily.

“Now then—hand over the rest of the goods!”

“Oh, but of course, officer,” said Light, still with an amused tilt to his head. Seven turned out to be far less graceful than he had been, rooting around the goodie bag like a golden retriever digging up a bone. As he did so, Lotus made a few derisive comments, though she did lean over to pick things out things he’d unearthed from time to time.

“Hey, Alice,” said Clover. Alice, who had been taking in the scene with bemusement, looked startled at being addressed. She pointed at herself with a raised eyebrow.

Clover nodded, flicking her head towards the bag. Alice looked at her with confusion before her expression shifted to something like—maybe being touched?

“Thank you,” she said, haltingly, waiting her turn before hesitantly peering into the bag. Junpei and Clover both watched her carefully as she picked up a novelty bracelet, little cacti in a circle pressing their branches together in a facsimile of clasped hands, with a smile. She didn’t seem to notice the mummy cactus they’d put in there, though with the mountain of goods Seven had laid to the side, she should have.

Was it possible that she wasn’t…?

Junpei glanced over at Clover, who gave him a minute shrug. It was clearly meant to be carefree, but she was still biting her lip. He placed a hand on her shoulder, unthinkingly; she jumped a little, then huffed at him, but nonetheless patted his hand with her own before leaping back into the verbal fray.

“Hey, Seven!” she said, in mock-shock, “Are you really taking all of those? You know you’re supposed to share, right?”

Junpei snickered as Seven protested that he was the most generous person he knew, and, in what he hoped were still the private recesses of his mind, he found himself hoping this wasn’t just a brief moment of two people traumatised by a death game coping together, but something that could last for years. Maybe even the buds of genuine friendship. He didn’t bring it up, obviously, not wanting to sound like a sap, but still – he couldn’t help but hope she felt the same.

As the group devolved into friendly bickering, Lotus, now beshawled, started up the engine, the car slowly making its way back onto the desert highway. Alice surveyed the rest of the group, playing with the bracelet uncertainly, uncomfortably aware of the man they didn’t think she knew was tied up in the back of the car and now even more unsure of what sort of people she was riding with, while somewhere else in the desert, at some other time, a girl sat in the seat of her own getaway car, eating strips of jerky as it drove in the opposite direction.

“Are you alright?” Aoi asked her, still on tenterhooks, unable to quite believe she was properly, physically there, unable to quite believe everything had worked out. Well, there had to be at least one timeline where it had, Akane mused to herself, since that was the entire point of the exercise.

Despite his worry, Aoi’s hands remained steady on the top of the wheel. She could sense the worry beneath his deliberately calm veneer; it was like he was a kid trying to get close to a wild animal, trying to follow the common adages to be still and collected, no matter what, otherwise it would run away, vanish into the woods—

Become a mass of ashes, floating through other times, other timelines—

Hm. Maybe it was only fair to let him act that way. It had been mere chance that he was the Aoi Kurashiki who existed within the successful timeline, after all. There were a multitude of other Aoi Kurashikis: grieving Aoi Kurashikis; Aoi Kurashikis watching their plan of nine years fall through; dead Aoi Kurashikis.

She’d never liked looking at those ones. Not at all.

“Akane,” said Aoi, softly, no doubt presuming she was reflecting on her own trauma rather than his, “You should get some rest.”

“You know there’s work still to do,” said Akane, “We’ll need to be ready.”

“Exactly,” he said, in that parental tone of voice he never should have needed to learn so young, “You should get rest now, while you can.”

“Aren’t you tired, too?” she asked. Aoi made a grumbling noise; she interrupted him before he could make an excuse. “Do you know what percentage of traffic accidents are caused by tired drivers?”

Aoi groaned. “Can we stop with the numbers. Just—just for a little while?”

“So you are tired,” said Akane, triumphantly.

Aoi clamped his mouth shut.

“I guess,” he said, after a little while. “There’s been a lot to do. A lot at stake. There still is.”

“Some of it’s done, at least,” she said, realising at that moment he needed to hear it. “I’m really here now. You don’t have to go it alone.”

Aoi’s smile turned beatific. The sun pouring in through the car windows illuminated his exhausted, kindly face as it turned towards her, as though he were a stained-glass depiction of one of the early martyrs come to life.

“You’re here,” he said, soft in the real way now.

“I am indeed. So how about we fuck up some bad guys now, hmmm?”

A scandalised look replaced the affectionate smile. “Wh—”

“Oh my, you’re not going to tell me not to swear now? Not when you’ve been doing nothing but for the past nine hours.”

“First of all, it’s already been nine hours since I stopped,” said Aoi, “And I was being in character.”

Akane scoffed. “Oh, like you don’t swear all the time when you’re not around me,” she said. Before he could protest, she proffered the pack of jerky he’d insisted she eat to keep up her strength until they got to shelter. “Want some?”

Aoi glared at her, but then sighed and relented. “Let’s fuck up some bad guys,” he grumbled, “But first, get some sleep.”

Compromise won, Akane leant back in her seat, glancing over at the clock where it was placed in between them.

Their getaway car would approach the Nevada border at the exact same time as the other one did, though on the exact opposite side; she’d seen it, while scouting out this particular route to the future. She’d not planned it that way, which she liked. It felt almost like the universe synchronising itself to her goals, like it wanted them to succeed.

The last digit flipped over from 26 to 27. She counted each second as it passed, eighteen of them. The two cars passed over the border. She traced it in her mind, that imaginary line, thinking of it connecting Aoi and her to the rest of them, and to Junpei Tenmyouji most of all. A moment—then it had passed.

It was only then that she allowed herself to lean back and close her eyes. There would be no nightmares of the past, she decided, only dreams of the bright future she and Aoi would build, both for the world and for all those they’d used and sacrificed.

“Aoi,” she said, meaning to tell him to wake her up when he got too tired so she could drive, but like a wave, all those nine years coalesced around her, sleep coming with them.

FIN

——-

I hope you enjoyed it! I ended up combining two of your prompts, though the first one became a bit more “developing best-friendship” rather than actual best-friendship wrt Junpei and Clover and the second one with Aoi and Akane ended up being slightly less cool-masterminds and a bit more sleep-deprived-masterminds than you asked for, haha.

Again, Merry Christmas when it comes!

sudden loss of air, impressions in despair

December 24, 2017 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @chainek (galagaleeny)

From: @nursedianaklim

Tried to fulfill all the prompts… might have gotten a bit too ambitious, but I wanted to fulfill your whole list.

Ao3

“Junpei!”

“How was I supposed to know it was on? Why would a store have a blender plugged in? It’s not like people come in here to try them out.”

He took her hand and it sent shivers up her spine, for the umpteenth time. The other customers were still staring at them, some chuckling with amusement, others frowning in disapproval at the ruckus they had created. But Junpei was right – it didn’t make sense for Williams Sonoma to have blenders plugged in right on the display so people could turn them on. He had been so startled by the noise that he fumbled in trying to press the off button and knocked it to the floor. Luckily it didn’t seem broken, and nobody was demanding they cough up the $899.99 for the Vitamix Professional Series 1020 Blender.

“Do we really need any of this stuff, though?” he asked as they moved into specialty electronics. Akane ran her fingers over the cool metal of a Zojirushi Rice Cooker – on sale for $449.99 – and it brought up a brief flash of memory. Aoi said their mother never used rice cookers; always on the stove. She thought she could recall watching her stir it, wooden spoon in a big red pot.

They had only ever used rice cookers in the institution they had lived in, after. Good people, but too many abandoned and orphaned and lost children and not enough adults to provide for all their needs. Even before Aoi had officially become her legal guardian, he had watched over her and kept her safe. Made sure she got up for school, did her homework, ate healthily, and slept peacefully.

“You okay?”

She met his concerned eyes and nodded. Junpei didn’t look convinced, but eventually shifted his gaze to the appliances just ahead. “Four hundred dollars for a toaster?”

“Probably for people with big families or who entertain.” She could imagine the two of them having friends over. Their wedding rings clinking against the plates as they brought tempura out for dinner. Sneaking secret smiles at each other as Light or Aoi or Sigma or Phi chattered on about their new lives, before they moved into the living room. The house she and Aoi had rented when they were doing research in Washington had a fireplace, and she loved the idea of sitting with Junpei around the hearth.

There were times back in the institution when the space heaters would run out of kerosene, so Aoi would take her and their blankets down to the laundry room. They would bundle up with the warm sheets until they went cool, then swap them out with hot ones fresh from the industrial-sized dryer, so they could get through the cold nights.

“I could buy four toasters for sixty bucks at the Family Dollar and I bet they work just as well,” he scoffed. “I can’t ask our friends to buy something like that. Besides, you and Aoi have a ton of money.”

Akane could feel her face morphing into a mirror of Junpei’s frown. “We won’t list only expensive items. But … this is about creating our own home.”

“They have a wine club?”

Although she had seen signs for it before, but couldn’t remember sommeliers ever being present in the store for wine tastings. He sauntered over to where a smiling blonde was offering him some merlot.

“Should you really be drinking?”

He knocked back the wine and tossed the glass behind him. “Of course I should be. I need something to forget everything you’ve done to me.”

“J-J-Junpei?”

More wine, another glass. This time, he glared at her as he threw it to the ground. “You ruined my life, Kanny. Why would I ever want to marry you?”

“This is a dream, isn’t it?”

The lights dimmed until she could barely see his face. He took her hand again, but without the gentleness of before. “We’re both in the field. I’ll remember this, too. Another disapp-”

She woke, but kept her eyes closed; as she wasn’t entirely disengaged, she could still feel his phantom touch on her skin. She could smell him, although his usual comforting scent was tinged with the stench of beer.

Aoi’s frustrated grunts and rapid key-tapping told her he was still awake and something was happening with the market. The TSE, probably, at this time of night. Unless she had slept for longer than she thought.

When she had shaken off the last bit of Junpei’s mind, Akane opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. The only source of light was his laptop, which he had dimmed and angled away.

That’s not our future, she assured herself. That’s not his future. I’m going to make sure of it.

* * *

She might have been dislocating Clover’s shoulder, but better that than her being dead. Alice yanked, roughly, ignoring the other woman’s screaming. She would break her arm, rip it off, do whatever she had to do to get Clover back on this side of the cliff. She knew her pants were ruined, that her knees would be bruised and bloody.

“I’m going to kill him,” Clover roared as she finally made it back up onto firm ground.

“Not if I get to him first.”

Even once they were both safely away from the edge, Alice held on tight to Clover, ignoring the wind and the rain. When they both started to shiver, she got them to their feet and headed north, keeping a firm grip on Clover’s hand. They were easily a good mile from their car. Clover’s gun was somewhere at the bottom of that ravine; Alice was out of bullets and had lost her spare clip.

“Don’t you ever run off like that again.” Because of the weather, she had to yell back at Clover to make sure she was heard.

“He was getting away.”

“He got away regardless!”

“But you said he might have information on your father. I couldn’t let him get away!”

That got Alice to stop in her march back to the car. She thought Clover had gone after Bozeman to get revenge for him kicking her in the face. A raindrop splashed into her eye and when she wiped it away, she felt the false lashes come off.

“You don’t do something like that again, you understand?!” There was a volume and an edge to her voice that had nothing to do with being heard over the pounding rain. Clover didn’t respond, or more accurately, probably grumbled something under her breath that Alice couldn’t make out.

After what felt like a million years, they made it back to the car. She had to dry off both the sensor and her thumb twice before the door would unlock. The leather seats felt horrible against her soaked clothing and skin. As soon as Alice hit the ignition, Clover pressed the radio presets in the order that would turn off the internal camera – activated automatically by weight in the seats – and surprised her by grabbing her head and kissing her, hard. Their cold and trembling lips slid against each other for only a moment before Alice pulled away.

“What did I say? Not in the field.”

“Nobody can see us.” How Clover could manage to look like she was pouting and glaring at the same time, she’d never know. She gestured angrily at the rain slanting heavily against the windshield, obscuring the outside world. “And you saw me shut down the camera.”

“Not at work. We agreed.”

Alice’s hands shook as she set the heat as high as it would go. Clover grabbed the first aid kit from under her seat and then slumped back against the lumbar support. She treated her scrapes as Alice drove as quickly as she dared.

“We have to be careful,” Alice said finally, when she felt her voice wouldn’t waver.

“I know.”

“They would split us up if they knew. We could even get fired. Fraternization is forbidden.”

“I know.”

“I can’t lose … my chance to find who killed my father.”

Although she could feel Clover staring at her, she stayed focused on the road. The rhythmic swishing of the wipers was the only sound for the longest time.

“I know.” Softer, this time. “I understand.”

Not everything had to be spelled out explicitly.

* * *

“It’s just me!” she called out as she stepped inside, swiftly moving to the alarm keypad. Diana’s car had been in the garage, so Rebecca knew she was here, but when she didn’t get an immediate response, she started to worry. Diana’s purse and keys were still on the table in the hall – right next to pepper spray and a panic button – and she could smell the chicken fettuccine in the slow cooker.

“Diana?”

No response from upstairs. Down the hall, the back door was open, but she tried not to jump to conclusions. And sure enough, Diana was safe and sound, kneeling in the dirt, tending to the poor, neglected flowers there. Gardening was one of those skills that Rebecca wanted to have, but didn’t seem capable of learning. Even talking to the plants – as Diana had suggested, as she was doing to them right now – only seemed to encourage them to commit suicide.

“You’re home early,” she said when she glanced up to see Rebecca.

“The meeting didn’t take quite as long as we thought. Simmons didn’t try to fight it. Turned in his keys and cleaned out his locker in silence.”

“Oh, good.” Diana gave her an almost-smile. She missed seeing the real ones, the bright, beautiful, beaming ones brought on by an adorable puppy or a happy child or a patient making it safely through their trip to the ER. The ones that started to appear less frequently after their marriage and had mostly disappeared, nowadays.

“Are these new?” There were bright purple flowers in her garden, leaning over as if they planned to eat her. The bottom part of it even looked like a tongue on the inside.

“They’re called ‘fairy slippers’. It’s uncommon that they’d be blooming this early. Or at least, that’s what the woman at the nursery told me.” Diana ran a finger over one of the one of the petals.

“You’ll have to stop by more often to make sure I don’t kill it.”

The almost-smile faded completely away and Rebecca felt like someone had injected ice water in her veins. It was silly, stupid. She was the one who saw the ad. She was the one who brought it to Diana’s attention. She was the one who kept asking her to consider it. She wanted Diana to do it.

“You’ve decided, then?”

Diana nodded, stood up and dusted the dirt off her pants. She tossed the gardening gloves in the bucket and headed towards the house, her hand brushing Rebecca’s as she passed by.

It was the best decision for Diana to make. She knew that. The money would give her the freedom to go anywhere. Get away from him. No more threats left on her voicemail, no more nasty messages keyed into her car. No more making sure every new security guard they hired could recognize her ex-husband on sight.

But it meant once this Mars simulation was over, there was a chance the last time Rebecca would see Diana was when she came back to pack up her stuff and move far, far away. And if that happened, all she would want to do is pack up her own life and follow her, even if that ended up being actually to Mars.

“It does something called ‘pollination by deception.’” Diana was paused in the doorway and Rebecca realized she had been staring at the new flowers.

“Hmm?”

“It pretends it has nectar, to get bees to come in and pick up the pollen. The bees visit but get nothing in return. So they learn to stop visiting. Or at least, the smart bees do.”

“Diana…”

A sad smile, this time. “I know. I’m not … I’m not. I’m going to check on dinner.”

Rebecca tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she wiped away an escaped tear. As much as she didn’t want to lose her best friend, Diana couldn’t go on living like this. The money would give her freedom and security.

And no matter how much special fertilizer or garden tools she had to buy, no matter how many YouTube tutorials she had to watch or special classes she had to attend, she would make sure Diana’s fairy slippers thrived.

* * *

“Are you seriously saying you think Matiyasevich was wrong?”

Aureline paused, halfway through removing Phi’s shirt. “Uh, you want to argue about this now?”

“The theorem has been around for fifty-eight years, and you’re saying there’s a flaw in the logic?”

“Right now, I’m saying fuck Diophantine equations.” She resumed her task and chucked Phi’s tank top behind her before pushing her back on the couch.

Phi seemed to let herself get lost at first when Aureline kissed a path down from her nose to her collarbone. This fantasy had played out in her mind more than once since she had noticed the cute girl with the platinum hair in the back row in Mathematical Methods in Nanophotonics. Now they were here, after dinner and a Nonlinear Optics lecture, on Phi’s couch, half-naked and –

“But all Diophantine sets are effectively enumerable –”

– she couldn’t stop talking about an off-handed comment Aureline had made on the way back to the apartment.

“I’m not saying the conclusion is wrong,” she replied, sliding her hands up Phi’s legs, underneath the turquoise and black skirt. “I’m saying the way he got there has errors.”

“So you think you’re smarter than … than …”

Pushing aside her underwear and slipping a finger into Phi seemed to be pretty effective at derailing her train of thought. Aureline planted sloppy kisses on her knees, her thighs, until the unmistakable sound of a crash outside startled her into raising her head.

“Oh god, that sounds bad,” she said as she hopped up and went to the window. Not caring about her bare chest or who might see, she pushed aside the blackout curtains. It looked like an SUV had plowed into three parked cars.

“What happened?” Phi asked. She had put back on her tank tops before joining her to survey the scene.

“Shit. I think someone hit my Mazda.” Aureline bolted for the door, stopping only when she remembered she was naked from the waist up. The first garment she snatched up was Phi’s sleeveless, pale blue jacket, and she tossed it aside in frustration, accidentally hitting the other woman in the face.

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry, I just … fuck! I have to get down there before he drives off.” Finally locating her shirt, she pulled it over her head, realizing that it was inside out and backwards but not having the patience to fix it.

“Even if he does, there are cameras covering the outside of the building and the parking lot,” Phi assured her as straightened her necklace and grabbed her boots. “But go, I’ll be down as soon as I get these on.”

For some reason, Aureline glanced back into the apartment before she shut the door. The black flower in Phi’s hair had come loose and she was pinning it back up.

–

It wasn’t until after she had exchanged insurance information with the driver – a Japanese exchange student who wasn’t drunk, but had apparently had a seizure – and surveyed the not-as-bad-as-she-thought damage to her car that Aureline realized Phi had never come down. She should have been almost right behind her; all she had to do was throw on those ridiculously tall boots of hers.

Confused and a little angry, she skipped the elevator and dashed up three flights of stairs to apartment #306. The door was cracked, even though she was sure she had pulled it closed. When she pushed it open, white smoke escaped and she stepped back, expecting to see a fire. But it didn’t smell like something was burning – more chemical, like a hospital.

She tugged her sleeve over her hand and covered her nose and mouth, but it was too late; she could feel herself start go get woozy. Time felt like it slowed as she tipped forward and hit the floor.

A black figure moved past her and she tried to reach out and grab its leg before succumbing to darkness.

(fin.)

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @morisninethlion

From:@tonearms

for @morisninethlion! happy christmas!

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

to: @thefireinthewire

from: @crashkeyes

happy holidays @thefireinthewire!!

i always thought (and hoped) that after the events of ztd it would be sean who takes care of gab, so when i saw your prompt about that, i knew i wanted to draw something with them!
i hope you like it ♡

(image description: in the picture are sean and gab from ztd. sean has one arm around gab, hugging him and holding him close. they are sitting outside in the snow; it is also still snowing. in the background is a dark, cloudy sky)

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

to: @tonearms

from: @digitalisc

I had a hard time coming up with something I liked, but I really fell in love with Light playing the harp and having a good time!! Bonus sketches, too, because I felt like Clover needed more face time. 🙂

Merry Christmas, I hope you have a great new year!! 😀

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @theeyeofthetigger

From: @falselyprofound

And so, the hubris of trying to over-decorate a tree takes another of Santa’s helper elves. At least that kid has an interesting photo now. (Fullview available here.)

Happy holidays, @theeyeofthetigger!

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @schrodingersorrow

From: @kurohawt

this is the first time i’ve participated in a Zero Escape Secret Santa and it was really fun 🙂

This is for @schrodingersorrow!!

Prompt: Diana realising Phi is her daughter (with hugs!!)

Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy your gift!

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @gavinnersroadie

From: @theeyeofthetigger

I was a little unsure of which of your prompts I wanted to do, but then I saw the clothing/hairswap one, and I LOVE doing stuff like that.

So have Kurashiki swaps, including…semi hairstyle swap eyy~

December 23, 2017December 13, 2018 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @sense8lotuses

From: @waitingforztd

Merry Christmas sense8lotuses! Hey look, it’s Q team with its amnesiac robot child, its big boobs brainy lady and its “would-make-harsh-decisions-to-win-loved-ones’-approval” guy… Nothing’s changed here.

So yeah, I really liked your “ZTD but good” prompt, it gave me a good laugh. 😉 It would probably have been done better as a fic, but alas, I am no good writer. I hope you enjoy your gift anyway. Have some nice holidays. 😀

The Storykeeper

December 23, 2017 ~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @silvershoelaces

From: @morisninethlion

I was super excited to get to work on this one! The question of what happened to Alice and Clover after VLR has been on my mind since i first finished, and got even more strong after I played ZTD, so I was super pumped up to finally have reason to write something out for it! I hope you like it, and I hope you have a great holiday season 😀

Ao3

It had been a few hours after Sigma’s consciousness had gotten traded with the Doctor’s when she and Alice were approached by Akane inside the lounge, Clover stiffening up almost immediately. Everything about this situation was frustrating– after all the crap she’d lived through, she and Alice were now stuck forty-five years in a future without anyone they knew. They’d been completely left behind- and even Phi, who should’ve been in a similar situation, had closed herself off completely.

Tenmyouji- no, Junpei– and Quark were waiting in the B. garden for their shuttle to earth to be prepared, and Luna had been watching over Kyle while he slept. Dio was locked up somewhere, but Clover didn’t care about him. No, it was just her and Alice trying to figure out what in the world they could possibly do, when Akane walked in.

“Good afternoon.”

“Oh, uh… hey.” She still didn’t really know how to talk to Akane like this, honestly. She seemed too dignified (and not to mention old), and it was hard to really think of her like the same girl from the nonary game. “Were you looking for Junpei, or something? He’s not here, he’s-“

“No, I came to speak with the two of you.”

“Huh?” Raising an eyebrow, Clover quickly looked over to Alice, who only seemed to be sharing the same guarded confusion. “Why would you want to talk to us?”

“I have information I believe will be of interest to the two of you.”

Clover quickly tugged at Alice’s hand, the both of them turning aside from Akane to speak together for just a moment. Neither of them were really sure if they could trust her- but could it really hurt to listen at this point? There was nothing more they could possibly lose, not at this point. Eventually it was Clover taking the lead again, looking back to Akane.

“Alright then.”

Akane seemed almost vaguely amused with herself- or perhaps Clover was just reading her entirely wrong? Honestly, it was impossible to tell what Akane was thinking.

“To start, I can imagine you aren’t pleased with your situation, but-“

“Not pleased? Not pleased?” Clover rose to her feet with a huff, clenching her fists. “You bet your ass I’m not pleased! You drag us out of our own time just to dump us like this- and you think we’d be pleased with this?! You made me play another nonary game! You, of all people, should know that I am EXPLICITLY NOT PLEASED WITH THIS!”

There still wasn’t any readable change of expression on Akane’s face, but she had taken a step back- it’d seem like not even she saw Clover’s outburst. She felt herself calm slightly when Alice placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her- but she could feel the same anger from Alice, just calmer. More refined.

“I do apologize, Clover. But your presence was necessary for our plan-“

“Well fat lot of good it did us! Doesn’t the fact that we’re here mean you already failed?”

“…..yes. However, that is not what I wanted to talk with you about.”

“Then what did you want to talk about?”

“A chance for you to regain your lost time.”

Clover was knocked speechless at such a ridiculous-sounding statement, so Alice began speaking instead.

“What are you talking about? Isn’t that impossible?”

“No, it is not. On earth, there’s a machine- with its use, it is possible for you to return to your lost past.” Akane shook her head gently, lacing her fingers together as she spoke. “However, there are conditions to it before I tell you more.”

“Alright then, what are those?”

“Firstly, you must accept the results given to you. You may return to the past, or you may continue on this time- your existence will continue from both points in time, so your consciousness might not be the version that moves to the past. Second, you must not abuse this machine. Continued use could have the potential for unforeseen side-effects, that not even I could understand. Finally… you cannot leave this timeline.”

Stomping her foot in frustration, Clover cut in.

“What? I thought the entire point of this was to get us off this timeline!”

“No. You must agree to simply move to a far earlier point on this same timeline- The day the outbreak began.”

“Why would we ever agree to something like that? I don’t want to live on a timeline like this-“

“It is not because I want you to suffer. It is simply because this is the only timeline where your existence will not cause a contradiction.”

“…what?”

“In past uses of this machine, people always went to timelines where the selves that originally existed there had already died. As a result, there was no potential for contradiction. I only know of one person who didn’t follow this logic- a rather foolish man, who simply avoided his past self for a year of his life.”

Despite her words, there seemed to be a slight hint of amusement behind Akane’s words. Whoever this ‘foolish man’ had been, it would seem like Akane didn’t think poorly of him- or perhaps Clover was just misinterpreting things again.

“So, you’re saying that if we moved to a different timeline and saw ourselves, time would get screwy?”

“I don’t know.”

“….what?” Clover stared blankly before looking over to Alice, who only shrugged. “What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“I mean, this isn’t something I have ever experimented with. The results could be entirely harmless, or it could result in an entire timeline’s collapse. The chances are high that you wouldn’t live through the encounter- I doubt the morphogenetic fields would know how to process the information of such a meeting.”

“So…. If I saw my double, I’d run the risk of destroying the entire world?”

“Potentially, yes.”

“…okay. Okay, sure.” Frustrated, Clover folded her arms. “So you’re telling me you know of some sort of nondescript time machine that can send us back in time, but we can only use it to move back to this timeline, otherwise we might accidentally destroy a world or something.”

“Yes, that’s how to put it simply.”

“Are you serious?” With a huff, Clover finally sat herself back down. “How could we possibly believe something like that? It’s insane!”

“You believe us about the earth-“

“That’s different! I can see that with my own eyes- it’s hard, but it’s real. This, though? There’s no way any of that’s real- just… just go away. Stop messing around, Akane. We played our part, helped you guys out… so just leave us alone. Stop doing this.”

“Well.” Seeming to realize she was no longer welcome, Akane gave a slight shrug. “I suppose I expected as much. Still, I would’ve expected you to be more the type to take the chance.”

She walked out, leaving Clover and Alice alone. The older woman sat down beside Clover, and the mood only seemed to get more depressing.

“Alice… do you think she was lying?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I can’t say it at all sounds plausible… but I didn’t think cryogenic freezing had been perfected either. And yet, here we are…”

“Yeah… but a time machine?”

“It doesn’t sound too realistic, does it…”

“No, it doesn’t.” Clover started to wring her fingers in the way she often did when nervous or thinking about things, eyes scanning the floor for nothing in particular. “It doesn’t make any sense at all, but… does she really have any reason to lie?”

“…at this point, not really.”

Both of them sighed in unison, taking a moment to pause and just think.

“Alice… I… I know I just yelled at her, but… it wouldn’t hurt to at least learn more, right?”

“The worst that could happen is nothing happening, as far as I can tell. I hardly imagine she’d plan to throw us into another game.”

“Yeah…”

“Then… do you want to talk to her about it?”

“I… I do. This might… be my only chance, after all.” She didn’t want to say it, but she hadn’t been able to get in contact at all with Light. She’d just been hoping that it was due to the resonance effect- but the chance that it wasn’t and that something bad had happened to him was all too terrifying. “I just… even if it’s a cruel joke, I… want to at least have a chance at knowing……”

Finding themselves once again at a reluctant consensus, they both got up- they’d just have to find Akane, and get more information out of her. And hopefully this all wouldn’t turn out to be some sort of horrible, horrible joke.

–

It was in this method that they’d found themselves joining Junpei and Quark on the shuttle back to earth, after having gotten plenty of detailed instructions written out by Akane, as well as precise coordinates of where they were supposed to go. They’d asked her why she wasn’t coming with them- but she’d just waved it off with an ‘its not my place anymore’, leaving both Clover and Alice to assume she simply didn’t want to be trapped in a shuttle with Junpei for many long hours.

It’d seemed like Junpei didn’t want to talk much himself, though- he’d sat down in his seat fairly quickly after takeoff and not said a word since, outside of a few words to Quark that’d been too quiet for Clover to make out.

Still, despite the somewhat awkward mood, Clover still found herself fascinated by the trip. After all, this was space– certainly not something she’d ever expected to experience! It was almost surreal to watch the moon grow smaller behind them as the ship flew, the red earth on the other side of the horizon growing slowly bigger.

“So, Quark, what was it like living with Junpei?”

“Huh? Oh, Grandpa’s great!”

Quark had gotten out of his seat to look out of the window with Clover, both of them holding onto a railing to keep from floating aimlessly.

“I still find it hard to believe… I mean, not just Junpei being old, but him actually having kids…”

“Oh, actually, Grandpa adopted me.”

“O-Oh? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s okay. We’re still a family.” His smile was large, although it couldn’t stop Clover entirely from feeling bad. “So, you and Alice are coming to live on earth too?”

“Well… it’s a bit more complicated than that. But… kinda, yes?”

“…okay!”

If it worked, they’d go back in time and live through the end of the world. If it didn’t, then they’d… well, probably just hang around Junpei and Quark. There was the option of going back to the moon, yes- but it was… a little awkward. Phi had shut herself off, Luna seemed to be far more awkward and reserved than she’d been before, and there was the obvious problem of Akane and Sig- Doctor Klim being around. It just wasn’t a situation that had sounded enjoyable to either of them to remain in, even if living on earth hardly sounded pleasant either.

The trip was largely uneventful, broken up only by low conversation and the sounds of Junpei snoring at the five hour mark, having fallen asleep. Alice stayed in her seat a majority of the time, but Clover found herself just fascinated by watching the window. This was… space. She’d seen pictures and videos as a kid, heard things about the space stations and stuff out there- but it had never even crossed her mind that she’d be able to actually go to space.

Junpei was woken up by a little announcement coming on that they’d soon be re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, giving a warning to buckle up as if this was a simple plane ride across the country or something, and not through space. She did as the voice said, sitting herself down and buckling herself in, looking over to Alice nervously.

The landing was rough compared to an airplane, but still smoother than she’d expected. Quark and Junpei didn’t even look too horribly put out- Quark was just bouncing in his seat, presumably from excitement.

He was the first one off the shuttle when the announcement said it was safe, jumping out of his seat with the amount of energy she would’ve expected from a kid around his age and running outside. Next out was Junpei, just pausing for a moment to see if they were following.

When they finally stepped out onto the pavement of the landing area, everything seemed to stop for a moment.

There had been a degree of plausible deniability from the shuttle, and from the moon. They could just say that the visors were faked, or the window was really a screen- but no. No, looking up at the sky with their own eyes proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that what had happened to the earth was no lie. The world truly had ended.

Junpei didn’t say anything for a while, silent as Quark ran off towards an old-looking pickup truck a short ways off. There was nothing that could truly be said to someone experiencing this for the first time- and Clover could only imagine what it had been like to live through the things that had brought the world to this point.

They stood in silence for what felt like hours until finally Junpei called them over, standing outside of the old pickup.

“I’m driving this time, Clover.” There was a grin on his face when he spoke, as if attempting to break the tension heavy in the air. “Can’t have you busting this thing up like you did that poor Jeep.”

“Hey! I didn’t break it- it just got a little dirty!”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I trust your driving.”

Clover turned to look to Alice for support, but she only chuckled and gave Clover a pat on the back. She wasn’t that bad- yeah, maybe she’d gone a little fast, but that was just because there was no speed limit in the desert! She’d drive more carefully with a kid on board… but to be honest, she didn’t really want to drive. She didn’t know this place at all, and… well, she wanted some time to take it in. Really absorb what she was looking at, because just a few moments wasn’t nearly enough.

The drive away from the landing pad was about three hours, being mostly silent as all the passengers just looked out the windows at the passing scenery. Skyscrapers were destroyed, houses and apartments collapsed in on themselves… the buildings that weren’t ruined showed clear wear and tear from the years, with weeds and shrubs overgrown and pushing through cracks in pavement.

It was a bit surprising how many plants there actually were– but then again, Junpei had said the nuclear winter was seven years long, so it had to’ve ended a long time ago… there were plenty of dead trees and bushes, but not all of them were dead.

The only real noise inside the truck, outside of the rumble of the engine, was when the sound of the radio picked up. It seemed to be something generic, talking about something to do with a place Clover didn’t recognise the name of- Junpei let out a slight grunt of acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything more. Perhaps that was where they were headed, then? She hadn’t really thought about it, but the place probably had a name… but she wasn’t going to be staying there.

After a while the truck started to slow, entering a run-down looking town area. Clover didn’t pay much attention to the turns they were making until they pulled into a driveway to a rather small house, turning the truck off and getting out.

“Well? We’re here.”

“This is… the place?”

“No, this is my house. I’m tired, I’m not driving you there today.”

“Aha.. fair enough.”

Despite the look on the outside, the inside of the house was… strangely normal. Sure, the paints and wallpapers were faded, and some parts of the house looked like they had a permanent layer of dust to them, but it was just… a normal house. A place that people lived.

“I, uh, I’ve only got one guest bedroom, but I’ll sleep on the couch-“

“No, it’s fine.” Alice smiled, shaking her head. “I’ll sleep on the couch. I couldn’t impose on you like that.”

“It’s not really…” He paused when he saw the look on Alice’s face, before just shrugging and scratching at the back of his head. “Alright then. I’ll grab a couple blankets for you though, it can get cold at night.”

“Thank you.”

He left the guest room at that point, Clover seated on the bed and Alice standing by an old-looking desk.

“I could’ve taken the couch, Alice.”

“Nonsense. I’m not going to let my subordinate take the couch while I get a bed, that would hardly be fair.”

“I… Alice, I don’t think we really need to talk like that anymore, do we?”

“Hmm?”

“I mean… is there any point to it? At this point, SOIS is… gone for sure.” She sighed, shoulders heavy. “I don’t work for you anymore, not really.”

“I… suppose.” She paused, looking aside. “But still, I’m not going to let you take the couch.”

There was a long silence, eventually broken by Quark knocking at the door and announcing that there was food. The meal itself was short and simple, and they all went to sleep directly after- even if there were countless things swirling in Clover’s mind, she couldn’t bring herself to ask anything. So instead she just stared up at the ceiling until sleep finally came for her, pulling her under.

–

They were all up fairly early the next day- despite how fast Clover’s mind had been she’d ended up sleeping well, but that didn’t stop her from being up far earlier than she normally was. Junpei had already started on breakfast by the time she was there, yet another simple meal that they ate quickly, before Junpei and Quark left for about a half-hour. Quark wasn’t with him when Junpei returned- he’d dropped Quark off with a friend, it seemed. Clover couldn’t blame him for it, if she’d had her kid go through a nonary game, then she’d be taking no chances.

He’d looked… frustrated when he seemed to realize where the coordinates Akane had given them led, and Clover couldn’t say she was too fond of returning to the Nevada desert herself. It somehow looked more barren and desolate than she even remembered… and in the middle of it all was what seemed to be a hole in the ground.

“Of course it’s here…”

“What’s here?” It looked like Junpei hadn’t wanted either of them to hear it, but that wouldn’t stop Clover from asking. “Have you been here before?”

“Yeah… once. This is…. Well, this isn’t where the Mars simulation took place, but it’s where I ended up.”

“Wait, what? I, uh… back up a little there, Junpei.”

“This is where everything… the end of everything started here, from what I gather. This is where radical-6 got out.”

“And Akane wanted us to come back?”

“Apparently so.”

Junpei stopped answering questions after that, only giving halfhearted grunts in response to whatever they had to say. It was pretty clear that there was no point in saying much more- so they all stood in silence as the platform they were on started up, acting as a lift and taking them down, down, down into the depths.

Everything about the place down there looked… off. One of the walls was just a pile of collapsed rubble, another was a gaping hole where a large metal door looked like it’d been blown off- and it was faint, but along the ground were what looked like bloodstains. Junpei paid them no real mind, continuing to walk forwards, but it was clear he was bothered by something.

The instructions told them where to go inside the place, staring at the large walls of what was clearly some sort of shelter.

“Tenmyouji, what is this place?”

“I’m… not sure. I don’t remember.”

“You don’t- are you just kidding around?”

“No, I’m not.” His face grew dark for a moment, before shaking his head. “I can’t remember a thing. I’ve been trying to remember for fourty-five years now, but still… I don’t. I don’t remember a thing.”

“Oh…”

They went silent yet again, walking through the dust-covered halls. There was something decidedly uncomfortable about the place to Clover, almost as if it were a memorial, or… a tomb. But no- that was silly. Just silly.

They reached a room that seemed even more off than the rest, with the same tall structure and weird ‘pods’ that Akane had described in her letter to them. They went through the instructions that she left and got the device to power up… but was this really a good idea?

No, there was no real turning back now. They had to do this.

“Hey, Junpei?”

“Mh?”

“Thanks. For taking us out here- you didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it. I really do.”

He simply shrugged and nodded, waving as Alice and Clover got into the pods as per the instructions. She couldn’t shake the anxiety, it was insane– but they had to do this. If they were going to reclaim those last forty-five years, then they would do this.

Closing her eyes as the pod around her started to grow bright, Clover let that be the last thought in her mind before things went dark.

–

“Clover? Clover, are you okay?”

“Mnnh… huh?” Clover blinked when the door to the pod opened up, realizing something off- she was in the export pod… right? Yes, there was no doubt about it, she most certainly was. “Alice, did it work? Are we- is this the past?”

“From what I can tell, yes… at the very least, this place doesn’t look nearly as dusty.”

“Well then, let’s…”

Anxiety was gripping tightly at Clover’s chest, but she shook it off. They both did- they made way back outside, back out past the collapsed wall and the blown-off door… and out to the currently fresh bloodstains.

“What… the hell happened here?”

There was a lot of blood, enough to imply that people had most certainly died. Were they… had they been the first radical-6 victims, perhaps? Or did they have something to do with that collapsed wall… no, there was no point dwelling. They couldn’t let themselves dwell.

Calling the elevator back down with held breath, Clover and Alice waited for what felt like the hundredth time that day until they were back at the surface. They were taken aback at what they saw- multiple emergency services vehicles were present, with police and ambulance and firetrucks. Before either of them could react they’d been swarmed by about ten different people at once, asking questions and demanding answers- Clover stepped back a bit behind Alice; who was far better at talking in a situation like this. She managed to clear the air on what was going on and got them a ride back to the nearest city, but now wasn’t time for that for Clover.

[Light? Light, are you th-]

[Clover! My god, Clover, what happened? Where are you? Are you alright? I’ve been trying to contact you, but-]

[It’s… it’s a long story, Light. I’m alright now, I’m with Alice, but… that’s not the thing we need to be worried about now. We need to find some place safe.]

[…safe? Clover, what are you talking about?]

[Light… it’s the end of the world.]

[No… does that mean, Free the Soul…?]

[Yeah… we were too late to stop it. What we need to do now is find someplace safe, and take care of whatever survivors we can.]

[I… I see. I’ll get in contact with the others.]

[Thanks, Light. We’ll be back soon, okay? I promise, I’ll explain everything. I promise.]

–

The two of them had gotten on a flight almost as soon as reaching the city, making way to SOIS headquarters and all of the others that they worked with. Clover ignored the concern from everyone else, though- what was most important was that she found her brother. She didn’t even wait to say hello before she’d launched herself into his arms, sobbing and holding him close.

“I’m so glad… I missed you so much, Light…”

“Clover… I’m glad you’re safe.”

“I’m sorry I worried you…”

“What matters now is that you and Alice are back. And, that we have time to figure out what will happen next.”

“Yes. About that, actually.” Alice interrupted the reunion, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. It was currently just them and the other kids from the first nonary game (sans Akane and Aoi, of course) gathered around a table, Alice standing at the head. “We need a plan. According to this, we have a general timeline of when things will happen. Our deadline is April 13^th, 2029.”

She laid out the note they’d gotten from Akane, and all at once everyone was speaking on top of each other.

“How can we trust that?”

“Where did it come from?”

“Where were you guys?!”

“Is the world really going to end?”

“How could you know this, but not know how to stop it-“

“Everyone, please be quiet.” Light’s voice cut through the noise, calm and collected as always. “I don’t think there would be any reason whatsoever for Alice to want to lie about this, no? And even if that message is wrong, is preparation really a bad thing? We either be prepared for an apocalypse that doesn’t happen, or stand unprepared for one that does. And one of those options certainly sounds more pleasant than the other.”

Nobody really had grounds to argue him on that– after all, it was true. If there was even the slightest chance the note was true (as Clover and Alice knew it was), then they couldn’t take the risk. It was just too dangerous.

The meeting went on for a while after that, trying to figure out exactly what they could do. SOIS and the government had shelters prepared for the worst, in case things went wrong, so they’d decided that’s what they’d do. Each shelter would have one transmitter and one receiver to keep contact flowing in a ‘network’ of sorts… it meant they would all be split up from their siblings, but it was a pain that they would have to deal with. Besides, the shelters weren’t terribly far apart- so long as they had cars, once the worst was over, they could reunite. It would be seven long years, but… they could do it. They could handle this.

–

“Light, you… please be careful, okay? Take care of yourself?”

“I will, Clover.”

“Alright…”

She’d told him everything about the game and about the end, but she’d never mentioned one particular fact- the fact that she hadn’t been able to contact him. As far as she knew… Light would die. But so long as he lived through these seven years, it’d be fine- she just… she wanted to be there. At the very least, she figured she could deal with it if she was there.

“You’ll be careful as well, right Clover? I doubt Akane would do anything considering she has you and Alice in this timeline as well, but… don’t be careless.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Light turned to go to the supply van that was going to take him to his shelter for the next seven years, but was stopped short by Clover throwing her arms around him one last time, hugging him tight and holding him close.

“Be safe, Light. You’re the best brother in the world, you know that? I love you. Be careful.”

“Clover…” He sighed, patting her hair for a moment. “I will, I promise. I will be fine. I’ll see- well, not me, but you’ll see me again when it’s safe again. The time will go by faster than you think, I’m sure.”

“I… Alright.” Finally letting go, Clover let him start walking away. “I will see you again, Light! I will!”

Ignoring the doubt that sat in the bottom of her mind, she let herself just believe in that. It had to be true. She’d… she’d see him again.

–

The ride to her own shelter felt long, too long, accompanied only by nervous fidgeting from Nona and he sound of Clover tapping her fingers again the armrest of her seat, while Alice drove. The thing had been stocked full as it could go, and apparently the shelter itself was already well-stocked… this was more personal belongings. Lotus (no, Hazuki) and Seven (when would he give them a real name?) had ended up at different shelters, Lotus with Ennea and Seven with Light. She was glad they’d at least be safe- but even knowing that Junpei would be alive, that didn’t mean she didn’t wish that they’d been able to find him. It seemed unlikely that he’d make it into a shelter from how he’d spoken, but still… well, she’d told everyone else to make sure it got to her if a ‘Junpei Tenmyouji’ entered any of the shelters. That was enough.

Entering the thing after arriving felt… final. There were all sorts of radios and communication devices set up, a power generator that would last for (according to Alice) at least fifty years, and walls upon walls of preserved food and huge tanks of stored water, as well as things for purifying air and… well, a ton of other things Clover didn’t entirely get but was certain they were important too.

The three of them set up pretty quick inside of the place, and then just… got ready to wait. People would find out about this place sooner or later, and they’d have to filter out the sick ones… but they could do this. Even if these shelters only ended up saving a handful of people, it was something– so she’d take it.

–

There were only 12 people in their shelter the day the reactors went off- all of the other ones had far more, from what it sounded like, but their was apparently in a bit of an odd location for people to reach. They’d had the radios going when everything got loud, and then cut to static. The whole shelter was dead silent at the knowledge of what’d happened… this was really, truly the end. Even with the knowledge that it wasn’t over, the world would recover, it would never be the same. The earth as they knew it was gone now- you’d have a better luck of finding something similar on the moon eventually, from what she understood.

[Light… you there?]

[Yes. This is… it, right?]

[Yeah… yeah, it is.]

[Are you holding up alright, Clover?]

[I’m fine. I was… I was prepared for this. Are you alright?]

[As alright as I can be. I’ll be fine Clover, you know that.]

[I do. I know. How’s Seven?]

[He’s doing well. People listen to him well- turns out he’s rather good at dealing with people. Never would’ve expected that.]

[Aha, yeah..]

[How’s Alice?]

[She’s doing well too. She’s a lot better at keeping the peace than I am, at least..]

[I’m sure things will be fine, Clover.]

[Yeah… yeah. They’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later, okay Light?]

[Okay, Clover.]

As easy as it was to say, that didn’t make things any easier in reality. But things would be alright- they’d all make it through this. Things would be fine.

–

They’d made it up to 26 people after the first year, and 45 by the third. Less and less people seemed to show up with time, probably because they were… well, they were dead, or they’d gone to the moon. A handful of people had left at one point when the notifications about the Lunar Extraction Program went live, attempting to make it into the Rhizomes… and they’d never been heard from after. Clover could only hope that they’d managed to make it in, and not ended up dead… she didn’t have much reason to believe they were alive, but she had to have hope. So long as she could cling to that hope, then she could pull through.

And the years did pass by far more quickly than she’d expected them to, even within the confines of the little shelter. Times got tense far more often than she’d like, nobody was ever happy with their situations, but they could pull through. They had to pull through.

It was December of 2035, December second to be exact- the day that Clover had moved her birthday to, so she could share it with her brother. Nobody gave gifts or anything, but she still liked to keep it in mind- she and Light would always spend the day talking back and forth a little more than usual, trying to keep in good spirits. This year she would turn twenty-five, a whole six years after the explosions… and soon, it’d be seven years. Soon they’d be able to get out, to see the world for what’d happened… she’d be able to see her brother again. Things would turn out alright, they had to turn out alright.

“Clover, there you are.” She turned her head to look at Alice, moving to get up from her cot but stopped by Alice waving a hand. “I didn’t meant to interrupt your thinking. I just wanted to talk.”

“Oh… okay.”

“Well… happy birthday, Clover.”

“Yeah… thanks.”

“We’ll be able to get out of here soon. And everyone will be able to see their families again… we’ll be out of here soon.”

“Mmmh… hey, Alice?”

“Yes?”

“About… hm. Do you ever wish you’d gone to one of the other shelters?”

“Well, I mean, I wish I could check in on everyone. But that’s why we set things up like this, so we could stay in contact-“

“No, I mean… are you… you picked to stay with me and Nona. Why?”

“This is… a bit late to ask this question, don’t you think?”

“Please, just answer it. I want to know.”

“I picked it because… I didn’t want to just leave you all alone, Clover.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t have been alone-“

“That’s not it, exactly… I wanted to stay at your side, Clover.”

“Alice… I’m… I’m glad.” She smiled, looking off to the side. “Say… do you still just think of me as your subordinate?”

“Don’t you keep saying that those things are pointless now?”

“Aha… yeah, I do.” Clover laughed a little, trying to ignore the pink tinge on her cheeks. “So then… what do you think of me?”

“You’re very important to me, Clover.” Alice’s own face had a bit of a blush on it, although nowhere near as obvious as Clover’s face. “Of course I would want to look out for you.”

“Alice… please, just… can you just say it? I-I, uh, I don’t think I can say it first.”

There was a bit of a sly grin on Alice’s face now, leaning down and planting a kiss on Clover’s head.

“I love you, Clover. Happy birthday.”

“A-Alice… I-I, um… I love you too.” She knew the blush had to be painted brightly across her face by now, but that was fine. This was… it was something she’d wanted to say for a long time, but had just never had the words or the time. But now… now she did. “I love you a lot, Alice. I’ve loved you for a long time, and I… I don’t want you to be my boss or anything, I just… w-would you be my girlfriend?”

“Clover, I’d like that a lot.” Sitting down beside Clover on the bed, Alice put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

–

The months until it was deemed really safe to return back to the surface seemed to pass by in a flash, everything just a little bit brighter now. It wasn’t like anything had even changed– but being able to say “This is Alice, she’s my girlfriend!” just made Clover feel giddy in a way she hadn’t felt before. Not that it was a bad thing- no, she rather liked that feeling.

Stepping out into the upper parts of the shelter, behind closed doors that had managed to avoid being destroyed by scavengers, laid the van that they’d come here with once, and two Jeeps. It certainly wasn’t enough for the sixty-something people they had in the shelter with them- but despite it being safe outside, most of them wanted to stay. In the end, there was a group of four who took the van; Alice Clover and Nona took one jeep, and they agreed to leave the other in case the others needed it. About twenty people had said they were simply going to walk for a while and see where it took them… she doubted they’d ever meet again, but that was alright. They’d survived, and they’d continue to survive- the people here were survivors. All of them were.

Clover and Nona had each been in contact with Light and Ennea, telling them that they’d go to them. The trip would take a couple days, a lot of driving to reach them both, but they’d make it.

They went by Ennea’s way first, the reunion between sisters and mother and daughter enough to get Clover to cry. Then, all piling back inside they drove off towards Light’s shelter- Clover couldn’t quell her nerves, but she knew he’d be fine, they’d been talking all day.

That wasn’t going to stop her from sobbing the moment she saw him again, launching herself into his arms.

He looked older, much like she did, but he still looked familiar. His eyes crinkled up in the same way when he smiled, his hair was maybe a hint greyer and his skin (somehow) a touch paler, but he was otherwise the same.

Clover herself looked older- she’d maybe grown a bit taller (or at least she insisted she had), and her hair had long since grown back to it’s natural auburn. She’d started cutting it shorter, too- it was more manageable to have in a little ponytail, although plenty of loose curls still managed to fall out and stay in her face.

They’d changed, yes, but now they were together again- them and the Kashiwabaras and Seven and Alice were together, and they’d find someplace where they could settle in and make things work, just like Alice and Clover had seen Quark and Junpei making things work.

–

It had taken them only about a day by car to find a place where some people were living, no more than ten people taking up residence in old abandoned houses. After assuring them that they were in fact not here to rob and/or kill them they all settled into places of their own, trying to find which houses weren’t going to collapse any time soon.

The next years were rough, certainly, but they weren’t without happiness.

They’d all found niches within the community fairly quickly, attempting to find things to do that suited them well. There was certainly a lot of change, from what life had been, it wasn’t like old jobs like ‘cop’ or ‘programmer’ really existed anymore, but they’d found ways around things. Seven just naturally made people feel safe, Hazuki had started learning more about the hardware side of things in an attempt to help keep old radios and dvd players and whatever else running smooth, and the rest of them found their places as well.

For Clover thought, that didn’t come as easily. It wasn’t like she was really good at growing things, so she didn’t try her hand at helping out there, and she didn’t really consider herself intimidating enough to keep their group safe like Alice or Seven. She spent a good deal of time just drifting around, helping whoever needed it whenever needed- and she was always accumulating stories. It quickly became known that she was the person who knew everything around ‘town’, recounting the stories of friendly travellers and able to give whatever people needed to know about where someone was, or what they were doing.

The answer seemed almost obvious when Alice one day handed her a thick-looking book and a handful of pens, as if it was something Clover should’ve known all along. She wasn’t the best writer or anything- but even if she didn’t have a computer (or even a typewriter) here, that didn’t mean everything they’d go through had to be lost forever. Telling the stories over and over from person to person, and writing them down for the future, that was something she could do and enjoy.

Time continued to pass by, same as always, but life kept moving onwards. It certainly wasn’t easy, they were always on guard for the potential of drought or famine or attack; but they’d made do for themselves.

As life moved forwards for her, Clover found herself slowly growing less worried about what would happen next. Maybe it was just age, maybe it was from living in the apocalypse, but by the time she’d gotten old she was simply accustomed to life.

“Oh, Clover. You’ll never guess who I spoke with today in town.”

“Light?” She turned to look at her brother, who had something of a pleased grin on his face. “Who was it? One of the others?”

“No, no- it was Junpei. You remember him, right?”

“Of course I- wait, what?” No, that wasn’t possible… was it? But no… it was 2064… “Well, what did you say?”

“He seemed to be in a bit of a rush, something about preparing for a trip soon… and he has a son! Never would’ve expected that of him.”

“A-Aha, yeah…”

“Clover? Is everything alright?”

“Fine! Just fine!”

–

“Say… Junpei?” Clover looked down at her knees, seated back on the couch in Junpei and Quark’s place. Alice was at the other end of the couch, looking off to the side as well. “Do you… do you know what happened to my brother?”

She didn’t know why the transporters hadn’t worked for her, she hated the fact that she was stuck here like this- but maybe, just maybe, she could at least get an answer.

“Light? Oh, I think he’s… a few hours away? Yeah, it’s only about three hours south by truck- I saw him at the beginning of the year.”

“……” Clover was dumbstruck. Completely and utterly dumbfounded- what? No, that was impossible. Her brother couldn’t be alive, she couldn’t contact him– unless… no way. That was stupid– but it had to be true. The reason she couldn’t contact her brother was because she was blocking herself, right? Did that mean a version of her had found him, and was living somewhere else with her brother right now? “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Uh… no? I guess I didn’t think about it, but we could go visit him if you wanted..”

“That, um, might not be the best idea there Junpei.”

“Alright…”

–

“Clover, could you get the door?”

“Sure thing, Alice!” Even in her old age, Clover was still quite energetic- but that didn’t stop her jaw from dropping when she recognized who was at the door. “Junpei?”

“Yeah, that’s me… wait. Clover?” He seemed equally dumbfounded, staring at her with his mouth open. “How’s that- that’s impossible, isn’t it? I thought it didn’t work- you’re old-“

“You moron!” Cutting him off, Clover folded her arms with a huff. “You saw Light just last month, and you never thought to tell me about that? I spent the last 45 years thinking he was gonna die because of that little oversight!”

“I-It didn’t cross my mind! I was a little busy, Clover!”

“That-s you- augh!” With a huff, Clover eventually just shrugged and waved him inside. “Sit down, you!”

“Clover, what’s with the noise- Tenmyouji?”

“Alice, it’s good to see you.”

“Yes, it’s been a while- or at least, it has for us.”

“Yeah, I’d imagine..”

There was a hell of a lot to talk about, and they all took a seat around the place- but hey, at least they had the time now. Going to pull out one of the many journals Clover’d kept over the years they got to talking back and forth for a good few hours before Junpei finally had to leave again, with a promise that he’d bring Quark the next time so Light could meet him.

Clover’s mind was still busy when she went to bed that night, settling in beside Alice and staring up at the ceiling for some time, just listening to the sounds of the house. Seeing Junpei again after all these years… it really had been quite a time, hadn’t it? Not easy, not what she’d expected… but she didn’t regret going in that transporter. Not when she could know that her brother was alive, and she was with the woman she loved so much… it wasn’t perfect, but they’d struggled through it to find something worthwhile.

And, she thought to herself with a smile, that was certainly good enough.