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#multiple timelines
goldengirlgalaxy · 11 months
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(Cracky DP X DC AU I thought of)
Tim made plans with Danny, his loving boyfriend, the night before for the two of them to have another date the following day. However, when he woke up the next morning, checking his phone to make sure he remembered the time and place of the date, he found Danny's number was no longer on it and all of their pictures together were gone too.
Thinking it was one of his siblings playing a prank on him, he went to breakfast mildly annoyed. But annoyance turned to confusion when he noticed that all of his other siblings were in a bad mood. And when he asked Bruce if he had Danny's number, the man questioned who Danny was.
Eventually, the tension between the siblings broke out into a fight. Through the yelling, Tim was eventually able to determine that everyone was upset because they believed someone else had hacked their phones to erase all traces of their boyfriend. Their loving boyfriend, Danny.
It didn't make sense! Between all the Batkids, there was too big an age gap for it to make sense for all of them to believe Danny was dating them. Eventually deciding to look Danny up, Tim was horrified to discover that Danny Fenton was a man older than Bruce!
Something was going on here, and Tim knew it was bigger than just some soap opera drama.
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brittlebonesdavid · 4 months
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Hey! I know there was probably a bit of panic at MQ while i was gone, and I just want to apologize and just explain a bit why i couldn’t get there! Last night a timelord showed up at my house in his tardis, which was stuck in the form of a wardrobe. After sobering up, he took me to another planet and when returning back to our time he accidentally put in 12 hours ahead of where we came from instead of 12 minutes!!
Haha, just kidding. My motorcycle died a tragic death and i held a funeral for her. Sorry i left with no warning but snorkie was important to me. 😭😭
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kilodelart · 9 months
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DELNORIS Enter the Uni-noris.
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amaliadillin · 1 year
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Did you know you can pre-order the 10th anniversary special edition hardcover of FORGED BY FATE from Barnes and Noble right now???
An additional 4000 words, PLUS Tempting Fate and Brice Price in the back, PLUS a pretty new interior and the book is fully revised (that 4000 additional words is over the starting wordcount but I did some solid rewriting where it was called for, too.)
PLUS, it is a beautiful dust-jacketed hardcover for your shelf! And look at that new cover art!!!
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arthurflecksgirl · 1 year
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Every morning I have to start my day in the wrong reality and its getting unbearable.
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iwonderwh0 · 1 year
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I need an advice from experienced Tumblr/ao3 users about tumblr etiquette + some more questions
What I want to do is to post a fan fiction, but the catch is that it is not linear. Instead there are a couple different branches of story reader can choose from that'll lead to different outcomes. So my question is, what is the best way for me to do so?
I thought of posting every branching piece separately as posts and connect them via links to those different posts on Tumblr. This looks like something that'll work. The drawbacks of that method is that it'll create a bunch of posts under the same hashtags and I'm not sure if it's okay think for me to do (is it?). Should I just abandon the hashtags on most of them to reduce their number on the feed under those hashtags?
Now about AO3. I've never ever used it to post anything and have no idea what it allows writers to do. If you know anything about how it is possible to realise branching story on ao3 please tell me, because I have no clue.
Currently I'm just writing everything in .md files so it's not a problem to connect them in a meaningful easy to follow way. I'm thinking of leaving a link to the whole fic as a folder, but this one method is so niche I don't believe anyone would like to actually use it as it requires some extra steps.
Please help
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freerspirit · 2 years
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Merging Your Multiple Timelines
Merging Your Multiple Timelines
Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash Hey, how’s it going? Is life a chaotic, crazy mess right now, or what? How’s your time management? Are you forgetting things you normally wouldn’t? Do you find it difficult to form words when you’re trying to speak? Are you losing items, and then finding them in places you already checked MANY times? How about receiving news that you could have sworn already…
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achronicleofblasphemy · 2 months
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Here is the Prologue to the book I'm publishing piecemeal online!
It's titled "A Chronicle of Blasphemy" and is a fantasy based in two worlds, one modern day urban fantasy, the other more medieval fantasy. The world is extremely queer friendly. Discrimination due to sexuality and/or pronouns is non-existent.
Hope you enjoy!
A Chronicle
Of Blasphemy -
Prologue.
Notes on Final Research By Absalom Wren.
Magistrate of The Sacred Circle. Second Hand of Grand Master Theylis Ophram. Beneficed Theologian of the Church of Divine Order.
             I am not myself. Not as you've known me. Just as the eternity I entered millennia ago has changed, I am no longer what Transcendency has created me to be. I do not believe I can escape what it is I have become. Not escape, that does not seem right. I should be careful what I say and who I portray myself as in this exposition. I suppose that is what I am trying to relate. In accordance, it would be wise to note my feelings on Ealheim’s blasphemy, before relaying my methods in my research. Since his desecration of The Tabernacle, the violation of stepping foot in the holiest of holies without the permission of The Divine has left its taint in the minds of us all. It had never seemed possible. If anything, because we could not imagine it, it wasn’t. The mar of it has ired the faces of our brethren. Which I now must look upon with a seed of suspicion taking root with every passing glance. I have looked upon the feelings of doubt and violation in their faces and felt mistrust. This veiled paranoia has scarred me with a ruin I cannot come back from. Few of us were righteous before we began our journey in the afterlife. Even if millennia had made us forget that, the memory of it now breathes a new life in the planes of divinity.
What was thought impossible is now possible. I believe this is a good place to begin. The Divine seeing it fit to place Ealheim’s thread of life into The Baptismal Pools, was seen as an act of grace after his annihilation. We could finally witness his movements through the different planes of existence firsthand. After his escape into the Mana Wastes from The Realm of the Profane we had seen mere shadows of his actions. How he was able to survive in the Mana Wastes for so long remains a mystery, but our suspicion that he carried an aura of interference from it was confirmed. Seeing his life first hand allowed us to fill in the gaps and cement the understanding of his influence throughout the centuries. I will not reiterate what we all found. We are all aware. It lives in us now. Feeding the seed of mistrust among us.
After this shift in spirit, I set my sights back on the instigators we had been previously studying in our most recent research. With this newfound knowledge of Ealheim’s influence, it allowed me the opportunity to fill in the gaps of Cyrano and Evie’s present actions. I had offered them my whole attention before Ealheim. It was to be a petition to The Divine to reopen the channels of Transcendence to the Afterworld of Serenity. Therein those who accomplished nothing of any repute in the living world, would again be able to transcend through the hierarchy of the Afterworld. Since Jaimor’s subjugation of it millennia ago, and after his children consumed him and began their chaotic rule, I had repeatedly pleaded with The Divine in my supplication to deal with the treachery. Despite my efforts, The Divine never saw it fit to respond to my supplications. A result, I see now, to be expected. In response to Ealheim’s Blasphemy they have repeated the same castration. All Channels of Transcendence between the Afterworlds of Divine Order are severed. Something I feel needs repeating.
It is the first decree of the Clergy of Divine Order to not concern ourselves with the emotive discourse of the past and present lives we document. These fleeting feelings cannot fathom the eternity that awaits them, and in the end, are tempered away by the steps of transcendence to higher realms of eternity. When I returned to the reflections of Cyrano and Evie's lives, my view of their movements held the knowledge of Ealheim’s intent. The pain of now knowing their naive culpability tore at me. Looking over their lives and the lives of their comrades, their innocence wounded me. Or rather, pressed mercilessly against the wound of Ealheim's blasphemy. For the first time since my bare feet touched the warm earth of this church, I questioned The Divine's intent. 
I must tread carefully now. While I do not intend to stay within the safety of The Divine Realm, I am fully aware of the reach of The Divine’s influence. However, I will not go back and remove what I have stated previously. It is important this seed of doubt be known so you may understand why I have cataloged this research in the manner it is presented. It is not chronological. It is also not removed from the emotive transference that exists in living souls. When I returned to Cyrano and Evie, I allowed myself to be enveloped in their mortal understanding. Or maybe, I was swept under? Truthfully, I am uncertain. What I do know is after allowing myself to be immersed in their mortal lives I felt the touch of time again. A memory burned away millennia ago. Their urgency became my own, and their feeling of loss and triumph reconnected the threads I had long allowed to be severed. I felt shame.
            After reliving life through their eyes, I removed myself from the church to a quiet and nearly unused section of the Baptismal Pools. In an act of disobedience, I relived my own life. I ate. I slept. I celebrated and mourned with my tribe. I remembered my name, Ishraq.  I saw my children and remembered my love for them. All my successes and failings came back to me. Including the knowledge, I did not know where my children were within the planes of eternity. So, I followed them. I do not know how long I spent in the pools, but several lifetimes passed through me, and I ached with longing for them all once I left. In my mind, scattered in thousands of memories, I felt my family as a part of me again. I forgot Ealheim. Strangely, I did not forget Cyrano and Evie. My theory is the familiarity of their love for each other, as chosen siblings, weaved itself into the pattern of my blood.
            I fear by publicly admitting to the cardinal sin of reliving my own life in The Baptismal Pools I have forced my intended exile. Even if I may survive existing within the chaotic ether of the Mana Wastes, I fear I may no longer be welcome on the holy grounds of the church. My reasoning in this act was my own I suppose. Removed from the single goal of the church to document Divine Order within the ever-evolving workings of creation. Despite my inescapable suspicions of my brethren, I have become the one to sever my right as a member of this church. I will enact my own punishment in the hopes that my journey through the unshaped ether of provenance may reveal to me what is left after this willful act of disobedience. As a last act I present to you my findings of the events leading to Ealheim’s desecration of our most sacred realm of eternity. Within them the presence of time and the fragility of a living soul remains intact.
            It should be mentioned before I end this final entry that there was an anomaly in my research. While someone managing to stay hidden from the oversight of The Divine is well known during the years Ealheim escaped to the Mana Wastes, a being having the ability to exist wholly outside the will of The Divine has never been known before. How this being has managed to do so and whether it is an act of their own accord I cannot say. It appears as they reached a certain level of being they have managed to remove themselves from the curtain of Divine Omnipresence. What they are and how they came to be I do not know for certain. All I can gather is that if they are possible, there are wonders of creation we have not yet known.
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psynoidal · 4 months
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Hello, fellow writers and artists! I'm looking for an interactive fiction writing platform with a 'choose your next adventure' option like TypeKita (since it's already closing T-T )
Preferably accepts PG stories since I have difficulties staying at GP (general patronage) particularly when I'm pissed, and I write better when I'm pissed Any suggestions? I plan to continue writing STRONGER there 😁
btw, Stronger by Psynoid Al is still available in TypeKita: https://bit.ly/3OuBMfo
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ancientroyalblood · 5 months
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Exploring Non-Linear Narratives: Writing Out of Sequence
In the realm of storytelling, the traditional sequence is but one path to follow, a well-trodden road where events unfurl one after another, much like dominos carefully aligned, ready to fall. Yet, in the shadows, there exists another path, a web of narratives intertwined, where each word, each sentence, is a piece of a puzzle not yet complete. This exploration seeks to dissect the notions of…
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frvescent · 1 year
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brittlebonesdavid · 2 months
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timelines huh? into the braddavid-verse...
@inspectorabed could explain it better then me!! Or even @squ1dpee but im not rlly supposed to reveal why he knows bcuz hes just a random tumblr user and not a timelord haha
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theunknowntako · 1 year
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In the spirit of Halloween, I've decided to post something a bit more spooky this time around. This is Chapter One a fic I've been working on for a little while called 'Consequences of Your Actions'. There's a bit of Poly Threat in there, but only in the later chapters so I won't tag it.
I can't promise regular updates.
Word Count: 2,775
"Alright, we're getting close to the facility. We'll be dropping off in about 20 seconds." The voice in Henry's earpiece notified them, prompting him to get up from his seat and grab a parachute from the helicopter wall. He glanced to his right, seeing Ellie following suit, and he glanced to his left, seeing Charles flick off some of the switches from within the cockpit. Henry tried his best to take a deep breath, but it came out shaky and unsure.
Everything's going to be fine, he reminded himself. I have my team, we have backup, and it's an easy in-and-out mission. Everything's going to be fine.
He felt his heavy eyelids droop, felt his fatigue threatening to pounce before he jolted back upright, awake and alert. He shook his head, as if he was shaking all the exhaustion off him, when all it really did was give him a headache.
Everything's fine.
"You good, Henry?" Concern lacing Ellie's face. It wasn't common to see her like this, with her thirst for chaos and devil-may-cry attitude typically taking center stage. But every now and then, there were quiet moments like this, held in private between the trio, where she would show the thoughtful, caring soul underneath.
Henry gave her a thumbs up, even though he knew Ellie wouldn't believe it. He just wanted to end the conversation now so he wouldn't have to risk opening up about the why. Besides, he got 5 hours of sleep last night. Sure, it wasn't ideal, but it was definitely better than usual. Better than being forced to stay up all night with his only company being his nightmares and his worries. Those thoughts that he only knew were there for his self-preservation, but were now only acting as a hindrance.
Because, the truth was, he had a bad feeling about this mission. He had a bad feeling about every mission. He could never fully trust anything, never fully be on board with any plan, never fully believe what his fellow soldiers said. Because he was constantly reminded how anything could be a trap, how anything could go horribly wrong, how any word someone said could be a lie. He couldn't even fully trust his own team, who he cared for more than anything. Of course, he knew the tight bonds that held the three together made them unbreakable. But there were doubts. Doubts if Ellie would be able to adjust to law-abiding government life. Doubts if Charles truly meant it when he said he didn't care about his criminal tendencies.
Doubts if he even deserved such a rank in the government.
But he tried his best to keep those thoughts out of his mind, for fear of going delusional. He instead turned his focus to the mission currently unfolding in front of him. The helicopter door opened up, unveiling the 'Toppat base' that lay on the ground below. It was an abandoned building that had been torn in two thanks to a recent earthquake, revealing the many stories underground the building had truly gone, which was already suspicious enough. But Galeforce wanted to be extra sure that it wasn't some normal, trashed up office building, so he sent a couple teams on a scout mission to get a feel for the area. He also heard some rumors that the building was holding a recently dug up, strangely large gemstone within the facility, the Arcane Amethyst. Likely the reason he brought the team with two master gem thieves on board.
"Team 'Triple Threat' is in position." Charles notified the rest of the team, giving the two a thumbs up. Henry let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, waiting in silent, yet deadly anticipation.
"Team 'Triple Threat', you've got the all clear." Their commandant responded.
 With a silent nod to each other, Henry and Ellie leaped from the helicopter, wind whipping their faces as they came closer, closer, the details of the building coming even closer into view.
With a sudden *Fwip!* their parachutes opened up, the sudden lurch from the extreme change in speed caused Henry to feel disoriented.
And before they knew it, they were now on the top floor of the building. Up close, it seemed as though nature had been trying to reclaim it, but upon further inspection of the mass of leaves and stems, it appeared to have been trimmed back.
Someone had been here. Recently, in fact.
Ellie didn't seem to notice, starting to dish out orders, "I'll go through the vents. Henry, you get a lay of the land." She pointed down at the exposed chasam. It felt oddly surreal to see those opened up half-rooms, organized evenly like bricks in a wall. Although he knew this building was once normal, he couldn't shake this feeling, like he was standing on some sort of ancient ground, a large catacomb no one was ever meant to uncover.
He tried to ignore it, like he tried to ignore everything else, but as he used his trusty grappling hook to slowly lower himself down, there was still an unease in his subconscious. The higher levels appeared standard, at least for things you'd find in a Toppat Base, a meeting hall, an armory, an area full of disguises, but the further he went down, the more peculiar the rooms became. An empty dungeon, some form of laboratory, and tall, blinking servers stacked end-to-end. Looking down, he could see a blinking light in the dark depths of the cavern, one that possibly fell down that was somehow still functioning.
As he was getting closer to the bottom of the building, the two halves of the base seemed to be getting closer together. Henry tried to shake the thought of the building closing up on him, the earth swallowing him whole. It was getting harder and harder to see. Henry jumped down to one of the half-split rooms, worried his trembling hands would fail him. With the flick of a switch, a light came on from his headset. He held down the button near his mic, the small *Blep!* in his ear confirming that the rest of the team could hear him.
"I'm in what appeared to be a safe room. Could be where the amethyst is. Over." He informed them. It took a few seconds for them to respond back.
"Wow, already? That's some pretty impressive spying on your part!" Charles complimented him, his voice hard to hear over the whirring of the helicopter. But despite that, Henry could still feel the warmth from those words, echoing in his chest.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Try to find some way to bust the lock!" Ellie quickly suggested.
"I mean…" Henry hesitated. "It might be somewhat safer to get a survey of the area first. Try to find another way around." Even now, when he was smack dab in the middle of a mission, he still felt unsure.
"Alright. We'll see what we can help with from here." Another agent responded.
"Got it."
Henry immediately got to getting a scope of his surroundings. The wall held multiple high-tech safes, all conveniently labeled things like "US Currency", "Vintage Coins", and "Precious Metals". He had to go down a few doors before he saw one simply titled "Jewels". There it is. Now to find a way to break inside.
He analyzed the door very closely, but made sure not to touch it. In a way, the sight of these bank-like vaults made him feel nostalgic. Bringing back memories of being an inexperienced, low life criminal, who only stole to stay alive. He always went for those high value targets, seemingly unknowledgeable about the high risks that came with them. There were so many times where he had nearly died, and he has the scars to prove it. What he didn't know was how he always survived, despite those intensely dangerous situations. Maybe it had something to do with his odd powers, like his ability to conjure things up at will. He never fully understood his powers, and at this point he accepted that he likely never will. Or perhaps it was simply because he had been a thief as long as he could remember.
(Though, to be fair, "as long as he could remember" wasn't very far. Everything before that first heist was a blur, a mess of fragments all jostled up in his head. The most he could recognize were quiet voices, cold rooms, and the sting of betrayal. But he wasn't sure if any of it meant anything. Or whether he lost them all to some sort of amnesia or if his brain was forcefully repressing those memories. It was all something he tried not to think about.)
"Do you guys see any sort of electrical box by my location?" He asked the team.
Some time passed…
"Yeah, I think I found one." Ellie said.
"Cut the wires for the security systems."
"Alright." A few seconds after that message, he heard the *Zap!* of numerous electronics getting their electricity cut off all at once. With one strong push, the door opened out into the frigid room.
Henry slowly walked in, admiring the small glass cases holding all of the pristine gemstones. The light from behind him had been caught by those assorted jewels, scattering faint colors across the room. But the centerpiece of it all was the deep purple of the amethyst, cut into the shape of a teardrop, so alluring and yet so ominous. It compelled him, but he was still so hesitant to move.
Against his better judgment, he stepped forward, one foot in front of the other. He didn't know how long it took him to reach it. Carefully, he lifted the glass case, setting it to the side. He could just grab it now, but something was stopping him. There was a faint humming in his ear, but he wasn't sure he was imagining it. It seemed too specific to simply be his imagination. Varying pitches, it was almost like mechanical beeping. So familiar, and yet so foreign.
He could see himself, reflected in every face of the gemstone. The surface was smooth and shining, and yet, as he moved closer, it seemed there was something wrong in his reflections. His form was messy, his face strange and lacking full detail. It was only when he leaned closer that he noticed that the reflection was gradually changing. At that moment, it hardly even looked like a person. The image took up the entire frame, a meaningless mess of blurred scribbles that slowly became more clear, a far away picture that slowly came into focus.
He could see a room…
A person…no two…
Wearing some form of lab coats…
A machine…filled with strange crystals…
The image became crystal clear, his head felt a sharp pain. All of a sudden, he could hear that noise in his ear even louder than ever. All of a sudden, he could remember, clear as day.
The facility.
He was sent into a shock, almost tripping over himself in the process. And in the blink of an eye, the image disappeared from his mind, and the surface of the amethyst. And just like that, everything was normal again. Like it was all some terrible dream. But that horrible, paranoid feeling still had a hold on him, rooting him down to the floor.
Focus on the mission, he had to remind himself. Because, as much as he tried to recall what had just happened earlier, his brain was still fuzzy and not cooperating. He grabbed the jewel with both hands, lifting it off the pedestal with some difficulty. What he didn't realize was that he had made a huge mistake.
The room was flooded with red light in the blink of an eye, sirens blaring so loud he could hardly even hear Charles over the mic. Due to the shock, Henry had briefly dropped the amethyst. He quickly scooped it into his arms, running for his hookshot, his exit vector. He shot it toward one of the upper levels, but as he tried to climb up the rope, he slowly realized that the rope wasn't made to hold him and the gemstone. He had only made it up two stories before the rope began to give way.
He jumped to one of the half-rooms, the moment the hookshot gave way and tumbled down into the abyss. Guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way… He thought, holding the amethyst in one arm and his gun in the other.
"Henry! What's going on?!" Henry could hardly even hear Ellie, even though she was practically yelling, but tried to answer as best he could.
"I don't know! I must've tripped some sort of fail-safe or something?!" Henry responded, unsure if he was telling that to himself or Ellie. He was running around like a maniac, despite his fatigue, going up stairs and through doors without even bothering to get a lay of his surroundings. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye.
Toppat!
He stopped, and shot the target. But as he thought for one more second, he saw that what he was aiming for wasn't a person, but a harmless shadow, blinking in and out of existence to the same rhythm of the blaring red lights. Henry wondered if he was going delusional. Now that he was actually looking at it, the silhouette didn't look much like a human at all, much less a Toppat soldier. It was deformed, abnormally tall, and nearly skeletal in shape. Its 'hair' was short, stuck up in the middle, and looked like someone ran an electric current through it.
Henry knew it wasn't real, likely some ordinary objects casting an odd looking shadow on the wall, but some feral piece of his brain wasn't convinced. It told him that it was some monster, that it was staring at him, even though it didn't have eyes. The gun trembled in his hand.
"Henry, are you ok?!" Charles asked with a sense of panic. The red lights of the alarm were now no longer flashing, the shadow gone with it, but the screaming sirens were still echoing up the cavern.
"I…" The scary thing was, Henry wasn't sure. His head was pounding and his ears were ringing, and with every step it felt like the floor was seeping power out of him. And that was just physically, his eyes were lying to him and he was panicking and acting irrational. He felt like he needed to see a physiatrist, maybe even an exorcist, something he had never felt before.
Everything's fine. Breathe in, Breathe out-
Everything's fine. Breathe in, Breathe out-
Everything's fine. Breathe in-
Everything's fine. Breathe-
EVERYTHING'S FINE!!!
"Henry?" Charles's voice returned, quieter this time. The meek sound pained him.
"...Sorry. I'm fine." Henry finally responded, his voice scratchy and hoarse. Had he really been talking that much? He didn't know what the hell was happening to him, but it didn't matter. Just focus on the mission…"Could you bring the helicopter down here? We need to get out of here immediately."
Henry knew that bringing the helicopter down here definitely wasn't the best choice, but it felt like his only choice. One more moment in here, and he might just go fully insane. He could hear the sounds of the helicopter blades scraping and bumping into the walls of the cavern, and he was praying with every cell in his body that the chopper wouldn't crash.
Luckily, he saw the helicopter close in, the door opening just enough to let him leap in. Ellie managed to grab the amethyst before it shattered, thankfully, leaving Henry to collapse on the helicopter floor.
"You good, Henry?" Ellie asked, putting the jewel into one of the storage boxes.
"Yeah…just tired is all." Henry lied, not bothering to move from his spot on the ground.
"You've been tired an awful lot lately." Ellie effortlessly pulled him off of the floor, dusting him off a little. "Are you sure everything's alright?"
"I…don't know." Henry walked over to the bench, sorrowfully slumping down onto it. His mind was still hazy, unsure if his fatigued brain had simply made up those things that he saw, or if something, or someone had caused him to go briefly delusional. He would never know for sure.
"...do you want to talk about it?" Ellie asked.
"...no."
"We'll…we've got an hour until we're back at base." Ellie mentioned. "Should probably catch up on the old beauty sleep now, eh?"
But Ellie was too late.
Henry was out like a light.
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Why not just send Dr. Connors/The Lizard to a timeline where everyone's already lizards?
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sp0o0kylights · 6 months
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"I feel him." El insists. "Alive." 
She hasn't said his name since Will first raised them all over the walkie, but every person in the room knows who she means. 
Not that Steve can say his name either.
"But we watched him die." Nancy says gently, before Dustin properly loses it from where he sits in the corner. "Owen's even sent someone back through to check." 
"Yes." El agrees, but it's clear she's frustrated. "He died here. But he's not alive here, he's alive over there." 
"In the Upside Down?" Steve asks, and pretends his voice isn't cracking with desperation and barely concealed hope.
"No!" El snaps, before taking a deep breath and collecting herself to try again. "Through the other gate." 
"Okay." Hopper cuts in, hands waving in some kind of "stay calm" gesture. "El, honey, I think we're all still hung up about the other gate." He pauses, before adding. "And how Creel dying opened it." 
El gives him a thousand yard stare. 
"I'm getting the crayons." Joyce sighs as she stands up. In a mutter she continues, "Should have gotten them to begin with." 
Silently, Steve agrees. 
xXx Eddie xXx
It goes like this.
A bat breaks through the side of the trailer. It swoops low, teeth rattling, but it doesn't attack. 
It emits an odd, echoing screech, before  flying through the gate, to the Rightside-Up. 
"Shit." Dustin curses wildly. "Shit, they're gonna try and invade!" 
"I thought they were guarding the gate!" Eddie protests, as that echoing scream returns tenfold, coming from the mouths of too many demobats. “If they wanted to invade wouldn’t they have done that already!?” 
"No, because Vecna was focused on opening more gates! This must be his plan--to open enough gates to push an army through. We have to lead them away!"
"Dustin-!" Eddie calls out desperately, but finds himself overwhelmed by bats as more and more break through. 
He fights through them, trying to get to Dustin, trying to listen to what the kid’s screaming.
He can’t hear him.
Not over all the screeching, the beating bat wings and the thudding noises as they smack at his head. Their teeth snap, tearing into every piece of him they can reach.
Eddie doesn’t know how long he’s been surrounded, but he hears the trailer door bang open--and shut.
"Dustin!" He screams this time, voice as loud as he can make it.
The kid’s faster than he is.
He’d planned this--or at least, had thought about it long enough to get himself a solid head start, leaving Eddie scrambling after. 
Fighting through the torrents of bats. Abandoning the gate because Hawkins can burn for all he cares--but there are people who don't deserve to go down with it.
People like Henderson, who have bright futures ahead of them.
Eddie tears his way towards Dustin, unthinking, just running.
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid-!’ He thinks, but not at Dustin. 
At himself, because he knows the kid. Knows what to expect from how he acts in games. 
Steve even called it--and Eddie’s not stupid enough to think he was talking to both of them when he warned them about not being a hero. He was included purely because Dustin would fuss otherwise and they were short on time.
Dustin’s on the ground when Eddie finds him, and he whips his spear at the few dozen bats that attack him, their bodies circling, teeth biting. 
He gets in two good hits before shit hits the fan. 
To his right something explodes, flames high and reaching, a thunderous boom whipping out so loud that Eddie's ears ring. 
A shockwave nearly takes him off his feet, bandana pulled from his head and freeing his hair. 
Eddie crashes on the ground next to Dustin.
 Sees all the blood and doesn't know what to do. 
"Come on man." Eddie pleads. "Come on!" 
He doesn't get an answer. 
It goes like this.
Vecna’s dead. 
The blast that killed him was from some kind of explosion that took out all of Creel House. 
It fireballed skyward, and the Upside Down rapidly began doing….something, seconds after. 
Returning, Eddie decides, to whatever it was before the asshole got thrown in here. 
Or dying, maybe.
(This is easier to think about than the fact that no one could have survived that blast. That there's a black hole Eddie can see, and it has to wrap miles and miles around the Creel House because he's still near his trailer.
It the trees down the stupid hill didn't make it then Robin, and Nancy, and Steve--
He stops. Shakes his head.
If Eddie thinks about it, it will make it real. 
He can't let it be real.),
The monsters all fall as one, dropping to the ground like puppets with cut strings. 
Eddie had been pummeled by a few demobat bodies before he could get clear, though given how some still occasionally twitch and hop around weakly after, Vecna's death doesn't necessarily equal their own.
Madly, he crushes a few beneath his boots. 
Knows that won't bring his friends back. 
Stomps on a few more because he can't do anything about that, and he can't cry any harder.
It goes like this.
Eddie gets back topside to find Vecna's revenge in action.
 It's an act worthy of a mad god, not that Eddie would ever give him such a title. 
Hawkins wasn't split. It was consumed, with large portions falling deep into the earth that opened under it. Smoke chokes half the town from an outburst of fires, while downed trees and electrical lines make walking a chore. 
The road is a cracked and pitted mess, littered with holes large enough to swallow entire cars. 
Passage is nigh impossible by car, and downright dangerous by foot.
It makes Eddie want to sink to his knees in despair.
There were still people around, that first day. 
There were still people around the second and fifth days too. 
But then the monsters appear. 
They're not the demobats, or demodogs or even the demogorgons that Eddie was told of. 
They're something--else.
Mutated and mutating, taking on appearances that reflect both the Upside Down and the Right-Side Up (a term coined by one of the freshmen--Eddie can't recall which.) 
Actual flowers, great purple and orange looking blooms sprout teeth and attack. Vines stick out of arcade cabinets, carting them around like a hermit crabs shell. 
Some people breathe the falling little pieces of ash and suddenly aren't people anymore.
(It was Erica, who had coined the term. The Right-Side Up. 
Erica who was also deceased, because the fucking explosion didn't just take out the Upside Down version of the Creel house, but the real one too. 
Which meant Max and Lucas and Erica…
But Eddie's not thinking about that.)  
It goes like this.
Wayne's gone.
He'd been at the plant when the Earth had swallowed it, his first day back to work because he'd used all his PTO trying to find Eddie.
The coworker who watched it happen makes sure to tell Eddie his uncle insisted he was innocent. That the old man never stopped looking.
Likewise, the trailer is gone. 
It fell barely a day after Eddie had climbed out of it, one half eaten while the other teetered dangerously on the edge.
There's cops at the borders of the city. 
They’re been commandeered by the military and the feds both, and people in heavy gear prowl around like guard dogs just waiting to be let off leash.
Helicopters fill the air, always circling and searching. Units of men and women begin parading around with guns as they escort tanks and other battle equipment through the streets. 
They're looking for something besides the monsters, and they're happy to cut the phone lines and police the survivors to find it.
No one's allowed in--or out. 
Eddie tries to escape the first few days, after he realizes everyone who knew the truth is gone. 
Thinks maybe he can get to the Byers, and that super powered girl out in California, but keeps getting cut off.
Twice they've nearly caught him, which means twice Eddie has been forced to come to terms with the fact that he's one of the things they're after.
They know him by name.
They know he was involved in Creel's takedown.
Eddie"s not just being hunted by the town now. 
He’s being hunted by the United States as a whole. 
It goes like this.
Eddie doesn't want to die. 
Can't bring himself to take his own life, forever too much of a coward. 
So he berates himself while he hides.
Wonders what the fuck his plan is here. 
Focuses on surviving, stealing food, sleeping in people he loves houses and hoping maybe some of them made it out.
(Given how Gareth's and Jeff's places are both untouched, he doesn't think they did.) 
He’s never prayed before but now he’s praying to every deity he can think of. Hoping, wishing, that if he can’t get out alive, he at least goes down quickly. 
It goes like this.
Steve Harrington walks out of the woods with a nailbat in his hands, like a blood soaked fever dream. 
Eddie doesn't care. 
He hugs him so hard his own ribs hurt and the crazy thing is Steve hugs him back even harder. 
"You're alive." Eddie sobs, face buried in Steve's shoulder.,"You're alive, you're alive…" 
Steve grips him for a moment before whispering back; "And so are you." 
He pulls away and Eddie struggles against him, not ready to let go, fingers grasping at his shirt. 
Steve strokes his hair, his stupid tangled, gross hair and Eddie looks at him, desperately needing the contact to prove that Steve is real. 
That he’s here. 
 "I need you to listen--I'm not your Steve." Steve says, and Eddie’s so desperate for contact that the words don’t register for a moment. 
Not that they make sense when they do. 
"What?" Eddie asks. 
"There’s a--okay.” Steve sighs, before saying; “I am going to absolutely blow the explanation, but I need you to trust me.”
“I do.” Eddie says, even as Steve fulfills his own prophecy, and gives a completely nonsensical explanation.
At the end of it, Eddie can’t bring himself to care. 
As long as he has Steve back--even if it’s not technically his Steve, Eddie will follow him wherever he goes.
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jorrated · 4 months
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idk why sonic fans care so much about canon timelines. classic sonic is past sonic or an alternate version sonic? who gives a shit sonic canon is the definition of fuck it we ball have fun with your blue rat
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