#ive gotten zero likes on things and gone “huh that sucks” and that..that it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ladylynse · 4 years

Text

Part IV of Down the Rabbit Hole for the lovely @lumanae, even though they’re currently drowning the Merlin fandom. *grins* Sometimes distractions are needed, right?

Wirt had heard a lot of stories about college, but somehow, he still wasn’t prepared for one of his roommate’s crazy friends to smuggle a hatchet into their dorm room.

(Previous) Also on FF and the AO3.

-|-

Wirt knew Danny wasn’t in the washroom, but he stepped inside and looked in every remotely feasible spot anyway, including the medicine cabinet that sat above the toilet which would be hard pressed to hold a small child.

He just…. He didn’t know what else to do. There wasn’t anywhere else to go. It’s not like Danny could have crawled out the tiny window, and he definitely hadn’t slipped past Wirt and out into the hallway. It was like he’d gotten sucked into the same black hole as most of Wirt’s socks, except obviously that didn’t exist, but—

Wirt pulled out his phone and started to type a message to Jazz, but how could he tell her he’d lost her brother? He certainly couldn’t explain it. He had no idea where Danny was. Or how he’d gotten there, wherever there was.

Wirt half-hoped Danny would text Jazz and Jazz would text him, but he never heard anything, and he couldn’t find the words to say anything about this to Jazz. He’d find Danny first. Then, if Danny hadn’t already told Jazz, he could pretend this had never happened.

He could get a proper explanation from Toby after he figured out what the heck had happened to Danny.

Wirt locked the room behind him and set off at a quick walk, looking around and weaving past anyone he saw without slowing. Danny couldn’t have gone that far. If he had somehow slipped past him—

Maybe this was a prank. Danny liked pranks. And Jazz had as good as warned him not to leave Danny by himself.

Except Danny was gone, disappearing as easily and completely as the ghosts he had apparently grown up surrounded by, and Wirt couldn’t see a sign of him anywhere.

He did, however, find Wendy.

Sitting cross-legged under a tree in the shade.

Apparently doing nothing except enjoying a cup of coffee.

Wirt slowed to a stop in front of her. “Hey,” he said, though he already had her attention since she was looking up at him with a smile. “Have you, um, seen Jazz’s brother anywhere?”

“Danny? Never met him.” Wendy rose to her feet in one smooth movement. Wirt rather envied her gracefulness; he certainly couldn’t do that, at least not in the shape he was in now. “Jazz has a psych exam today, though. You won’t see her till it’s over.”

“No, I…know that. She’s out now, anyway, but still busy.” Probably. Maybe Danny had texted Jazz to get her to text him, and she just hadn’t because she was catching up with some other friends of hers after the exam. She had to have other friends, right? They could have ambushed her right after she’d texted him and Danny. “What about Toby? Have you seen him?”

“Should I have?”

Wirt bit his lip. “I just saw him and Claire.”

“Claire’s visiting?”

So Wendy didn’t know either. Not that that meant much. Claire’s visit might’ve been unexpected. Or maybe Toby had told both of them and they’d been too busy to listen? He could believe that of himself more than so Wendy, who had a surprisingly good memory. At least compared to him, who was hard pressed to remember what he’d had for lunch the day before. Or what day of the week it was. Or what he’d been doing five seconds before, when things got really crazy.

Wirt just nodded. “Yeah. She came to help with costumes for Toby’s play. Do you know when it is?”

Wendy raised her eyebrows. “Since when was Toby in a play?”

“He’s in drama….” Wirt didn’t add isn’t he? but he was pretty sure Wendy knew it was there.

“Uh huh.” Wendy sounded like she didn’t believe it, but what other explanation was there? If it was cosplay, Wirt definitely wasn’t familiar with the source material, and he couldn’t think of what else it could be. No one went around in a getup like that just for the heck of it. And it’s not like Toby would think he needed to lie about making a cosplay for something. He already knew Wirt thought he was weird and didn’t judge him for it. He thought that was funny.

For that matter, so did Wendy and Jazz.

It was one of the reasons Wirt was so convinced they were involved in some giant conspiracy to troll him. Because they’d kill themselves laughing over it. They’d find it hilarious, and they knew he’d be laughing in the end, too. Assuming he got to the end of whatever this was.

And assuming he could find Danny.

Seriously, how he could have lost Danny?

Maybe he was in on all of this, too. Maybe—

“Earth to Wirt,” Wendy said, waving a hand in front of his face. “Did you hear me?”

“Um…no? Sorry.”

“I wanted to know if Toby’s talked to you yet.”

“About what?” It couldn’t be the play if Wendy hadn’t heard of it.

Wendy rolled her eyes. “Please tell me you’re just playing being clueless or you will die if we reach an apocalyptic situation.”

“Uh…pretend I was living under a rock and fill me in?”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Wendy muttered. Louder, “Something’s up. You know that, right?”

Was she finally admitting that they were playing a massive prank on him? Good. It had taken long enough. Wirt nodded, and Wendy relaxed. “Great. Then you’ll understand why I’m absolutely certain that Toby’s not actually in drama?”

Or not.

“Uh….”

“Seriously, this isn’t a game. College might not kill you, but there’s stuff out there that will if you’re not careful.”

The hatchet in his dorm room could technically kill him, but Wirt was pretty sure Wendy would just dismiss that if he brought it up. Or nag him about his nonexistent self-defence skills, since he hadn’t signed up for a class despite her not-so-subtle suggestions.

Wirt glanced around, but no one was close enough to overhear their conversation. That was probably Wendy’s plan. He met her eyes again, seeing no trace of a smile behind them. “You’re my friend,” she said, “and I don’t want to lose you.”

She might lose him as a friend if she kept on like this. He could only be expected to put up with so much, right? If she really believed this, maybe she needed to talk to someone. Someone who could actually help her. Which wouldn’t be him. He had zero training in that area. He’d think Jazz would be ideal if she weren’t encouraging this. Whatever this was.

“Okay, look,” Wirt said, trying to get a handle on this situation again, “if you want to be serious for a moment, why don’t you just tell me why you’re so wrapped up in all of this? Why you think I’m wrapped up in all of this?”

Anger and hurt flashed across Wendy’s face before she schooled her expression again, and Wirt knew she felt that was uncalled for. “Because I’m not stupid,” she said, her tone carefully even, “and because this isn’t my first rodeo. And because whatever you want to pretend, that Unknown of yours isn’t just a story. You wouldn’t care about all of this so much if it were, and I don’t need Jazz to tell me that.”

“You’re back on that again?”

Wendy frowned. “Fine. Keep pretending. But you can’t ignore the truth forever, Wirt. You have to know that. And even if you think it’s just to humour me, it’d be nice if you played along and prepared yourself for the day you can’t.” She pulled a small notepad out of her pocket and held it out. “Dipper transcribed some relevant spells. At least take a look at them before you throw it out.”

Wirt knew better than to ask if she was kidding. He pocketed the notepad without looking at it, and Wendy turned away without saying goodbye. He felt like a fool, but what was he supposed to do with that? If she was delusional, telling her the Unknown was real wasn’t going to help matters.

And if she wasn’t delusional….

He didn’t want to think about what it would mean if she wasn’t delusional.

He didn’t want to think that there might be more out there than what he’d faced in the Unknown, that that experience hadn’t been a fluke, that finding out Jazz had grown up hunting ghosts wasn’t going to be the strangest thing he discovered about his friends.

He didn’t want to lose the control he’d have if it turned out the Unknown was only a tiny piece in everything that was unknown.

And now he felt horrible for what he’d done to Wendy.

Sighing, Wirt pulled out his phone and dialled Toby’s number. If he could at least find out more about this play while he looked for Danny, it would prove that the world wasn’t going crazy.

XXXXXX

Toby didn’t answer.

Wirt actually walked into the drama building, poking his head into any room that didn’t have an ongoing class, and found nothing. He even tried looking around education, in case the rehearsals were in that building instead, and he couldn’t find so much as a poster advertising a play—or at least not one that would require fanciful armour.

Danny, of course, never turned up anywhere.

Wirt circled back and checked the food court, thinking Danny had probably found it and bought himself a snack, but no matter how he scanned the shifting crowd of people, he couldn’t convince himself that Danny was there.

Why hadn’t Jazz given him Danny’s number? That would have made finding him so much easier. He should have asked for it, but it hadn’t occurred to him that they’d get separated when he’d been asked to spend time with Danny.

Maybe this was just one of Danny’s practical jokes. Jazz had said he was a joker. Wirt couldn’t really think of any other way to explain his vanishing act.

Although, considering where he had disappeared from, Wirt wasn’t sure even being some kind of magician-in-training would explain Danny’s disappearance. It’s not like he happened to be in the one dorm room that had a secret passage hidden somewhere in the bathroom. There was no trick to it. And he couldn’t imagine how Danny had gotten past him, even though he must have.

Wirt couldn’t remember which building Jazz’s psych class was in, so he couldn’t see if Danny had gone to meet her there. Not that that would help him much, since Danny and Jazz would probably be long gone if they had met up, but he was getting desperate, and Jazz hadn’t texted him to ask why he’d ditched Danny—or whatever story Danny might’ve told her about what happened. He did check his dorm room one more time—in the vain hope that Danny would be hiding in there, maybe sitting on his bed with a big grin on his face, waiting for Wirt to come back and realize Danny had never left—and then went to Jazz’s. He rang the buzzer.

“Yes?”

Wendy. “Um, it’s me.”

“Danny’s not here, Wirt. Neither is Jazz. Do you still want to come up?”

“Uh, no, thanks.” He wasn’t ready to face her yet. He figured he’d read whatever Dipper counted as spells before talking to her again. Granted, knowing Wendy, she’d just do a phenomenal job of pretending the conversation had never happened, and he’d feel like even more of a fool.

“Good luck with the search, then.”

Now he really felt like an idiot. Wirt headed back to campus, not even sure where he should look next.

He walked through the food court again, standing on his tiptoes in the hopes of spying Danny among the shifting crowd of students, and eventually gave up. He checked his watch again, his stomach churning as he realized he’d been running around for over an hour. He should just phone Jazz and tell her to phone Danny and find out where he was. He could swing by and pick him up and then meet her. And then be done with this.

Of course, that would mean admitting he’d managed to lose her brother in the first place.

Hopefully, she’d just chalk this up to Danny’s love of practical jokes.

After more dithering, Wirt finally made the call. Jazz picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Jazz, um, I’m calling instead of texting because this is kinda an emergency? I might’ve, uh, lost your brother, and I don’t—”

She let out a sigh. “Don’t worry about it, Wirt. I’ll text him my location and he’ll find me. He has a bad habit of disappearing sometimes. And if he pulled this on you…. We should really talk. Meet me at the library.”

She hung up without waiting for an answer, not clarifying which library, but that was fine, because Wirt knew exactly which one she meant. And he didn’t plan to blow her off after what he’d done. Should he be flattered her brother felt it appropriate to pull a disappearing act on him? Did he only do it with family friends? She’d sounded exasperated enough that it really couldn’t be uncommon, but….

Jazz was at her favourite table in the library when Wirt arrived, the one off in one corner and half-hidden behind the shelves to the point that was hard to find if you didn’t know it was there. He slid into the chair opposite her, and she frowned at him as her eyes flicked over him. “Do you remember everything that happened? Can you tell me?”

That was…an odd first question. But this was Jazz, and she asked weird questions. And if Wirt tried to figure out why, he’d somehow wind up in a deeper hole than whichever one he was going to dig for himself anyway, so he decided to just go with it. “Yeah? We were in my dorm room. Surprised Toby and Claire— Did you know that she was in town? Or that he’s in a play?”

“My question first, please.”

Wirt blinked. “Um, right. Well, we surprised them, I guess. Toby must’ve cut class because Claire was in town to help him with costuming, and then they went to show everyone else in the group. And then Danny, uh, said he had to use the bathroom, except he didn’t come back out, and when I finally checked it, it was empty.”

Jazz rolled her eyes. “Of course it was,” she muttered. “Because that’s not at all suspicious.”

“Um.” She thought it was suspicious, too? What did that mean? “I, uh, never saw him leave, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t sneak by me. I mean. He must’ve. Because he wasn’t in there. And it’s not like he could go anywhere else from the bathroom.”

Jazz just nodded. “Well, I didn’t know Claire was in town, or that Toby was claiming to be in a play, but I suppose I should’ve guessed it earlier.”

“That he’s secretly a drama nut and didn’t want any of us to know?”

“No. That he might be the one I need to worry about more than you.”

Wirt raised his eyebrows. He knew Jazz was a worrywart, but that was ridiculous. “Are you kidding? He’s at least passing Wendy’s weird apocalypse classes with flying colours.”

“Which is what should’ve been my first clue.”

“Clue to what?”

“That he’s involved in something.” The answer came from behind Wirt, and he jumped. He caught a fleeting look of Jazz’s thoroughly unsurprised face as he twisted to look at Danny. How long had he been standing there? “Jazz, uh, we should talk. Not here.”

“It might have to be here, Danny. Wirt’s Toby’s roommate.”

“Uh….” Chances were Danny was right and he didn’t actually need to be here for whatever the impending conversation was going to be. Chances were—

“Yeah, but does he even believe in ghosts?”

—it would just make him feel like the only sane person in the entire world. Which he knew was an exaggeration. It just felt like an appropriate exaggeration.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Wirt burst out. Seriously, was Danny as crazy as Jazz? Okay, he probably was, but still. This obsession with ghosts was weird, even considering their parents studied it. And it’s not like Toby was involved with drugs or something bad. It was just a drama club or something like that. Wirt was planning on going to see the play, whenever it was, once he got the date and time and place out of Toby. To support his roommate.

He was really thinking he shouldn’t ask Jazz to join him. Maybe not even Wendy.

“Shh. Library, remember?” Jazz said as Danny sat down next to Wirt.

“I hate this,” Wirt muttered. He didn’t mean it, but was it too much to ask to have a couple of normal friends? He had a few acquaintances from various classes, but no one he hung out with beyond Toby and Wendy and now Jazz.

…Greg was right. He really needed to get out more. He got stuck in his own little world too often to make friends easily, and he didn’t want to think what it said about him if the only people you were friends with tended to be remotely like-minded. Becoming friends with Toby had been inevitable, and it was through his association with Toby that he’d wound up friends with Wendy and Jazz—almost without realizing it.

Except that Wendy really hadn’t given him a choice in the matter.

And he was pretty sure he still counted it as friendship now even if their first few interactions had seemed more like he’d been coerced into it.

“That’s a no, isn’t it?” Danny asked, looking between Wirt and Jazz. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his sister. “Why do you, of all people, think this is a good idea? You were pretty much skeptic of the year when we were growing up until I, uh, until Phantom started showing up regularly.”

Jazz just crossed her arms and stared at her brother.

Wirt didn’t know what that meant, but obviously Danny did. “C’mon, Jazz. He’s not overshadowed. I checked. I don’t think he’s…involved.”

Involved? In what? And what did Danny mean by overshadowed? How the heck did he check for that, whatever it was? When did he check for that?

“And Toby?”

Jazz should not be treating this like a normal conversation. It was not a normal conversation.

Danny shook his head. “Not a ghost thing. The hammer, the armour, whatever it is. That’s…something else.”

“I’ll have to check with Wendy and see if she knows anything about it,” Jazz murmured. Wirt decided against telling her that Wendy also said she hadn’t known anything about a play. Mostly because he didn’t want her to phone and invite Wendy to this conversation when it would mean explaining everything to Jazz about how he’d acted and she’d psychoanalyze him or something. As if this weren’t bad enough.

“But the girl—Claire, I guess—has a staff. Not like Freakshow’s, so don’t panic, okay?”

Wirt didn’t want to ask. Well, he did, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer, so he thought it best to keep his mouth shut. Why would Danny panic about the prop Claire had been holding for Toby’s play? It was just a prop. And he didn’t even know them.

“I caught her using it. It makes portals, Jazz. Into or through the Ghost Zone. I didn’t follow them because I wasn’t sure I’d make it back and I still can’t do that, but….” Danny shrugged. “I could check with Frostbite and Clockwork. Frostbite might have heard of it. Clockwork would know, but he might not tell me.”

“Check with Dora, too, if Frostbite doesn’t know anything.”

Fine, now Wirt was tempted to ask. “What you mean by portals?” Jazz had told him about the Ghost Zone, but a staff that was capable of making portals to the afterlife or whatever didn’t make sense.

Of course, neither did the fact that an entire town had wound up there.

Wirt really wished that had been a joke newspaper, but—

“Doorways,” Danny said flatly. “Holes in the fabric of reality. Exactly what you’re picturing.”

He shouldn’t have asked.

“Um, why do you think the staff does that, exactly?”

Danny stared at him. “What part of ‘I caught her using it’ did you not understand? I saw it with my own eyes. She’s either skipping into the Ghost Zone whenever she wants—risking Walker’s wrath and whoever else’s—or she’s taking a shortcut through it somehow, like a condensed version of the Infi-Map that she can actually control.”

Okay, he was going to pretend this conversation wasn’t completely insane. “How do you know it’s connected to the Ghost Zone?”

He expected one of them to say something along the lines of ‘what other dimensions do you know?’ or something that would make it very clear that they figured the Ghost Zone was it. Instead, Danny said, “I just know.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“I can feel it, okay?”

He could—? “That’s even less of an answer!”

“No, it’s not, and keep your voice down. I am not about to be kicked out of my favourite library.” Wirt groaned but held his tongue as Jazz asked, “You’re sure it’s the staff and not something else?”

Danny nodded as if that were the most normal question in the world. “I don’t know how she got her hands on it, but yeah. If I can get some of Mom and Dad’s tech to Tuck, he might even be able to make something that’ll pick up on where she’s been using it. We could figure this out that way.”

Right. So now Danny and Jazz were completely convinced that Toby’s friend Claire was some dimension hopper. Like it was normal for people to jump through dimensions.

This definitely explained why all his friends kept bringing up the Unknown. They really didn’t think it was just a story. But he’d sound like an idiot if he changed his story now, right? He could at least wait until they brought it up again. He didn’t have to volunteer this information right away. Especially not when Jazz’s brother was around—because even if he would clearly believe it, he didn’t need to know everything.

“How did you get past me in the dorm?” Wirt asked.

For once, Danny looked uncomfortable. He rubbed the back of his neck and slouched. “I just sneaked out when you weren’t looking,” he mumbled.

“I was still standing in the hallway when you went into the bathroom,” Wirt said, “and then I went into the room and closed the door and you weren’t….”

“I’m…good at illusions?”

It wasn’t even a good lie.

“I ducked around you when you weren’t looking. I used to do it to Jazz all the time before she left for college. It’s not a big deal.”

Wirt expected Jazz to chime in with support, but she didn’t.

He swallowed and looked at her. “The truth’s gonna sound like a story, isn’t it?”

“A story for another time,” she said by way of agreement.

He would’ve preferred silence. What the heck was really going on here? What was Toby involved in? What was Danny not saying? If the Ghost Zone and the Unknown were somehow connected, and he definitely didn’t know if they were, and if Claire and Toby could access it, why would they need armour? The Unknown might’ve had one room schoolhouses and paddle steamers and stuff, but it wasn’t so far off their own time that anyone required medieval armour.

Not that Wirt actually knew if it was supposed to be medieval armour.

Not that he was completely abandoning the idea that Toby was really in a play, either. Because he certainly could be. That would make so much more sense than all of this. He couldn’t believe he was going along with this. He shouldn’t be. And yet even Wendy had said—

Something’s up. You know that, right? This isn’t a game.

You can’t ignore the truth forever.

“I don’t know if Wendy knows anything about Toby and Claire,” Wirt said slowly, “but she definitely knows something.”

This time, Jazz read something in Danny’s expression that Wirt missed and shook her head. “She’s not overshadowed. I’m confident in that much or I would’ve had you check her out, too.”

Wait.

Wirt pointed at Danny. “Is that why you wanted me to babysit him?”

“You weren’t babysitting,” Jazz said at the same time Danny exclaimed, “I don’t need a babysitter!”

“So you’re not denying that the entire reason you wanted me to hang out with him all day was so he could check me out for whatever this overshadowing thing is?”

“Wirt—”

“What did you even do?”

“Library,” Jazz hissed, and Wirt rolled his eyes.

“Just tell me the truth! Then I’ll be quiet.”

“You want the truth?” Danny asked. “When you aren’t even telling them the truth?”

“Seriously? Is there anyone you haven’t told about that stupid assignment?”

Jazz narrowed her eyes. “Yet you’re the one who keeps mentioning it, Wirt. Not me.”

Right. He’d walked into that, hadn’t he? Fine. “You want to pretend it’s not just an assignment? Then let’s pretend it’s not just assignment. Let’s pretend it’s real. I went to the Unknown with my brother. It’s another dimension. I faced demons and made friends and nearly died trying to get home. Your turn.”

Jazz’s expression didn’t change. Danny looked around, maybe to see if anyone was looking their way after his earlier outburst. Jazz’s favourite little nook was fairly secluded, but there were tables nearby, equally as hidden, and the seclusion was more artificial than anything else. Still, apparently they hadn’t disturbed anyone, since Danny was grinning when he faced Wirt again. “I’m the tragic victim of a lab accident,” he said. “Safety wasn’t exactly our parents’ highest priority, but like I said, it was an accident.”

Wirt raised his eyebrows. “So?”

“So that’s how I got past you earlier. And that’s how come I know you’re not overshadowed. And that Claire’s staff has ties to the Ghost Zone.”

Wirt glanced at Jazz, but her face betrayed nothing. Danny was a lot easier to read. He was having fun with this. There was a definite note of sarcasm in his tone. But he also looked perfectly sincere, even though Wirt had no idea how a lab accident was supposed to explain all that. “So you, what, burned yourself on a Bunsen burner? Accidentally smashed a couple of test tubes of chemicals and stepped on the glass? And that made you the annoying prankster you clearly are?” He could think of several more choice words to call Jazz’s brother, but it was safer to stick with Jazz’s words. If Toby really was wrapped up in something, Wirt didn’t intend to burn all his bridges before he could help his friend.

Jazz snorted.

Danny’s grin widened. “Not exactly,” he said.

And then he disappeared.

He just…disappeared.

Wirt was staring at him, and then he was just gone. He didn’t move. There was no distraction to catch Wirt’s attention while he ducked under the table or hid somewhere in the stacks. He was just there. And then he wasn’t. And this was a bloody library; it didn’t have mirrors or whatever else would’ve been needed to make an illusion. And Danny had pulled out the chair to sit down, so it wasn’t some kind of high-tech hologram, and—

“I’ll call Wendy,” Jazz said, “and warn her that we’re going to reconvene at our place. You can think of exactly what you’re going to say as we walk over.”

-|-

(see more fics | next)

43 notes · View notes

americaswritings · 6 years

Text

Special

Prompt: Gif

Summary: You are locked in a cell when Steve finds you. For months scientists have experimented on you, stealing the memories of your earlier life in the process. But maybe this is not the only thing they did; maybe they made you special.

Words: 2.2k (I got carried away)

Warnings: angst!, fluff

Pairing: Steve x reader

A/N: This is for @shitty-imagines-95‘ writing challenge.

I had zero ideas for this image, but finally I found a plot and the story basically wrote itsself. Also the summary sucks, I know 😅

Tags are open! Only through asks!

You were woken up by loud sirens. Red lights flickered through the hallways, filling your small cell with light for the first time in days.

You couldn’t remember when you had last seen the daylight, since they kept you in the cell and only took you out for the experiments. They always brought you into another room with no windows.

White, cold light would shine down at you, putting you on full display. Then they would blind you with their small flaghlights and measure your heart rate and blood pressure. But that was still the best part about it.

The imagination of what procedure followed after that popped into your head and the memories made you groan in pain.

You were sick of their torture, sick of their experiments on you. They wanted to give you special powers, but you felt nothing but pain and exhaustion.If only you could flee from this horrible place.

You had tried, many times and had failed each one. You had gotten better at it, but they had always caught you and punished you until you felt like your lungs would explode and your body was a trembling mess.

You heared people yell in the corridors and got up to get a look at what was happening. Maybe one of the others tried to break free.

Your knees were shaking and you grabbed the bars for hold.

Voices were coming closer, but they didn’t have the russian accent you were used to. “Second floor is clear!”, you heared a mans voice cracking through a radio. “I think they keep them in the basement”, somebody answered him, this man coming closer and closer.

“I will send Natasha down to help you. Tony and I will follow when we have knocked off all the guards”, you heared voice through the radio again. The man thanked him and then it went silent.

The sirens stopped, only the red lights continued to flicker. You could hear footsteps coming closer and one part of your brain told you to hide in the shadows of your cell, but the other made you stay where you were.

You were too mesmerized to move. Maybe this was somebody, who was here to free you. But you rejected the thought. You couldn’t dare to hope such things. You had realized that there was no future for you long ago and you had accepted your faith.

The steps stopped next to your cell and you looked up to see a figure gazing at you. The man was wearing a uniform. He was carrying a big shield with a star on it in his hand, but put it on his back in a swift move.

His blonde hair was tousled and his face sweaty from the heat that lingered in the whole building. For a second you mustered him up and down, then you suddenly felt the panic flood you. What if he would hurt you? What if he would do something even worse than they had done?

You backed away until your back hit the wall. The impact made your knees give away and you sunk to the cold floor.

“You don’t have to be afarid”, the man spoke. He rose his hands in surrender, showing you that he had no intentions to hurt you. “I’m gonna come in now, okay?”

You didn’t react to his question, but since you didn’t protest either he unlocked the door and opened it.

Then he walked into the cell, careful to make slow and small steps so he wouldn’t scare you.

“Is it okay if I help you get up?”, he asked softly, but you immediately shook your head. As if you would believe he was here to help you.

“I need to get you out of here, okay? We are here to save you, all of you and I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want.” His voice was forceful but gentle and he crouched down next to your body.

You hugged your knees even tighter when he did that. “I can’t help you, if you don’t let me.”

He was right, he couldn’t help you, but he couldn’t hurt you either. But if he had the plan to harm you, wouldn’t he had done it by now?

“How can I know that I can trust you?”, you whispered. To hear your own voice freightened you. You hadn’t heared it in ages, only when you had screamed out in agony. It sounded dull and hoarse, not like the voice you were used to hear before all of this happened.

Your memories were gone, but the image of your voice was clear in your head.

The man thought about your words for a second. “I was an experiment as well.” The words surprised you and you gazed up at him. “I know you feel like you don’t belong anywhere, but trust me you do belong. I felt the same way and I found a good life.”

You clung to every word he said. Maybe, he could really save you.

He held out his hand and you stared at it for a moment, before you put your hand in his. Compared to his your hand felt small and while he was calm, you were shaking from the lack of sleep and food.

The man didn’t move any further, he only held your hand and squezzed it gentle. His eyes were locked with yours and slowly but surely you started to gain confidence and courage.

“Natasha and I have the others. Can you return to the quinjet?”, the voice spoke through the radio again. It made both of you jump and you let go of his hand. The man seemed unpleased about the interruption, then grabbed his radio from his belt.

“We are coming.”

He stood up and held out his hand again, but this time to pull you up. You didn’t want to be anymore of a burden, so you grabbed it and let him steady you until you stood again.

Your body was still trembling and it required all your focus not to stumble. At first you rejected his help, but while you were walking out of the bulding you realized you couldn’t make all the way on your own.

So you let him support you until you reached a big metal door. The sight of it made you both reliefed and frustrated. You had never come this far, never made it through the door.

Now it was different. You would see the sunlight again, feel the fresh air fill your lungs and the wind play with your hair.

You had lost tracks of the day and you didn’t know whether it was summer, winter or any other season.

The man noticed your hesitation and gave you a minute to brace yourself for the next steps. Patiently he watched your features until you gave him a little nod.

He pushed the door open, but before you could see the light, you felt your body falling and you blacked out.

When you came back to consciousness you were lying in a soft bed. A steady beeping filled the room and you felt something was sticked to your upper arm.

You tried to open your eyes, but had to blink a few times before you could take in your surroundings. You were in a white room, a window front on one side of it, leading to a hallway.

A needle was stuck in your arm, which lead to an IV bag. Next to it where monitors, one showing your steady heart rate. You didn’t know what the others were for.

On your left side was a nightstand. You were suprised to find a bunch of flowers. It made you wonder if they were a part of the basic equipment of the room or if somebody had brought them during a visit.

But who would visit you? Maybe someone from your past life?

The door to the hallway was pushed open and you could see someone in a white coat entering.

When you spotted the white coat your mind went blank. Your body tensed and you heared the heart monitor start to beat rapidly.

“Hey calm down, I just want to check on you.” The womans voice seemed to be miles away. You squeezed your eyes shot, trying to fight the panic that filled your body, but you couldn’t.

The next time you opened your eyes, the woman was holding a needle in her hand. The sight encouraged your terror even more and you struggled to get the needle, which led to the IV bag, out of your skin so you could flee from the doctor.

“Stop!” The voice made both you and the woman look up. It belonged to the blonde man, who had saved you. You weren’t sure if he was speaking to you or the woman, but when he signaled her to leave the room, you knew he had meant her.

You were still with one half of your body on the bed and with the other out of it, not daring to move.

“I knew this was gonna happen, but they didn’t listen to me”, the man sighed and pulled over a chair. He sat down next to the bed and when he didn’t move near you, the heart monitors beeping started to decrease.

“Why don’t we start with easy things, huh?”, he suggested and you slowly moved back into the bed. “I am Steve. You may have heared of me as Captain America.” You shook your head and he chuckled.

“What is your name?”, he asked and you debatted whether to trust him or not. But from all the people you knew, he was the only one who hadn’t tried to hurt you.

“I’m (y/n).” He smiled at the mention of your name and you blushed a little. “Can you tell me something about you? Perhaps where you come from?” You thought about it, but your head was empty. There were no memories.

You shook your head and Steve nodded in understanding. “You said you were an experiment”, you whispered and he blinked in surprise, hearing you speak without him having asked another question.

“Yes, yes I was”, he mumbled, visible in thought.

“It made me strong and all of what I am now. But it also threw me out of the normal world”, he explained. “I am not like other people”, he added and gave you a small smile.

“How did you adjust? To the world after-”, you trailed off, not knowing what words to use.

“I used my new powers for the good. I fought for my country and now I am trying to save people. Whether the missions are about stopping terrorists or saving others like you, I do everything to protect the people as best as I can.”

“And you think I could do that too?” Your voice displays your insecurity and you hate to be so weak in front of him.

“I believe you can do great things for the people.” You stared at him again and although you knew you had to stop, you couldn’t break eye contact. He was just too full of good to avert your eyes.

“But how?” The desperation was clear on your face and Steve grabbed your hand in ressurance.

“We are here at the avengers headquarters, a place for people with special abilities and the will to save the world. You would fit in perfectly. We’re going to build you a new life, based on new memories we will create and you will learn to control your powers and accept them. They are a part of you now and maybe you feel like you are overpowered, but I promise you it will get better. And before you can even blink you will have control over them and an amazing team by your side.”

You teared up at his speech and you didn’t know what you were doing when you leaned forward to hug him.

He embraced you and for the first time in months you felt safe. You knew that you had to open up about what they had done to you eventually, but you trusted Steve enough to do it. He was the light that filled the darkness, which surrounded you like a shadow, and you welcomed it.

The warmth of the hug and the protectivness you felt, made your whole body relax for the first time in ages.

When you let go, you had stopped trembling and the pain had eased a little. Instead you felt a wave of energy flod your body and when you opened your eyes to look at Steve you could feel something was different.

You couldn’t describe the feeling, but you knew that one of your eyes had started to glow a little. Steve watched you with a proud grin on his face.

“My powers”, you whispered, still not believing what was happening and Steve nodded. He gave you a mirror that was lying on the nightstand and held it so you could see yourself.

At first you were shocked by how pale you were. Dark bags were under your eyes and your lips weren’t as bright as they usually were. But what caught the most of your attention were your eyes.

One was shimmering golden and you had to smile at the image.

“It’s beautiful”, Steve whispered and you couldn’t agree with him more.

Perhaps you could really start a new life.

Maybe your powers were a part of you now.

Tags: Permanent Tags: @capkilljoy @white-chocolate-mocha-fan@justanotherfangirl272 @theshortegg @not-reptilian @breezy1415 Marvel Tags: @iamwarrenspeace Steve Tags: @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

#jojos2kchallenge #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers images #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #captain america #captain america fanfiction #capatin america images #captain america x reader #writing challenge #chris evans #mcu #marvel images #marvel steve rogers #marvel captain america #marvel fanfiction #marvel #my own

113 notes · View notes