Tymbal (Septendecim AU)
Warnings: Body Horror, Suicidal Ideation, Use of a Gun.
Adam and Jonah make it back to HQ. They are not the only ones to do so.
1,538 words. Sequel to Exuvia.
"We're here," Adam's voice calls, startling Jonah out of his half-awake haze. The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon, washing the world in a dull blue light. They blink, everything coming back to them in a flash: Adam needs medical attention, badly, and Jonah needs to get him into the apartment.
They unbuckle their seatbelt, fumbling around with one hand until they hear a click as it releases, fighting until they are unrestrained by it. He leans forwards, bringing up a hand to claw at the car door until he finds the handle, yanking on it and toppling out of the backseat. Maybe they should have been a bit more graceful, the movement aggravates his headache, the dull ache rousing into a spike of pain as their head spins. They catch their balance, and brace both hands on their knees to keep steady, taking a moment to wait for the world to stand still. He heaves out a sigh, and straightens, using an arm to brace himself against the car as he trudges to the driver's side.
He almost does a double-take as he sees Adam's actual face through the reflections of the car window, but as they make their way over to the window, their own shadow obscures the light bouncing off of the glass, and he can once again see the grotesquely distorted image of his best friend. That is not him, that is not Adam. Adam is dead. He sighs, rubbing his temple with a wince. it was… disconcerting to see he was still hallucinating, but it was useful to know certain things could break the illusion.
They shake the musings off, they had more important things to worry about. They tug on the handle of the driver's side door, grimacing at the nagging pain that flares up in protest.
---
Adam does not want to get out of the car. If he gets out of the car, then he has to move its his disgusting body. If he gets out of the car, then he will have to tell Jonah the truth. Despite this, when Jonah opens the car door, he twists his body so he is facing the outside world, and tentatively paws at the ground with its his left leg. Although he had walked on it before, he's still surprised when it manages to hold his weight instead of buckling and sending him sprawling to the floor. The bones creak as they lock together, and the feeling of it sends shivers up his spine, but there is only a muted ache of discomfort rather than pain.
Jonah offers out an arm to Adam, who grasps it as he tries to haul his body up and out of the driver's seat fully, swinging his right leg forward.
He stumbles, and Jonah strengthens their grip, bringing their other arm to rest on Adam's back. The rest of its his right leg follows him like a revolting shadow, trailing on the asphalt as it he shuffles forward. Ever since he had woken up, it seemed his body could not decide whether he was in pain, completely numb, or in some sort of state of not-pain, but agony nonetheless. He grasps Jonah's arm and shoulder like a lifeline as they slam the car's door closed, then readjust to help Adam to the front door.
Each step to the apartment is its own circle of hell, and by the time Jonah is fishing the keys out of his pocket, it Adam wants to shove himself away from them and scream. It he cringes as the key turns in the lock, the sounds of it reminding him of bones breaking and distorting, slotting into places they shouldn't. He holds onto Jonah tighter. The door opens, swinging inwards, and Jonah beelines for the couch, heaving Adam towards it as its his limbs trip over themselves in an attempt to move. They finally reach it, and Adam simply lets itself himself fall forwards, collapsing on it face-first.
"Shit, man, be careful! You said you have broken bones, you can't just do that!" Jonah yelps, off-balance from the unexpected shift in weight.
"Jonah--," Adam starts, but is quickly cut off.
"I mean, seriously, i know you're probably exhausted but you have got to take better care of yourself. We can't go to a doctor, and I don't know anything about medical care! And unless Sarah has some secret medical degree, I don't think that we--"
"Jonah!" Adam shouts, a sharp jab of anger clouding his thoughts, before fading as quickly as it materialized. It he gives up on trying to get comfortable on the couch, slumping into the cushions.
"…Yeah?"
"…It doesn't even hurt. None of it does," Adam says, voice barely above a whisper. He isn't lying, the 'pain' that isn't really pain at all has stopped, if only for a moment.
Jonah seems to misconstrue the implications of Adam's statement, "Shit, okay, you must be in shock, just let me get Sarah's laptop and--"
"Jonah. We both know that's not true," Adam cuts in harshly. This has gone on for long enough, he can't keep pretending like this. He pauses, taking a breath to center himself, and asks the question he dreads knowing the answer to, "You… can see me, can't you?"
"…What do you mean?" Jonah asks, voice quiet. Adam sees through it, they know what he is asking.
"If this were a hallucination, then you wouldn't be able to see this too," Adam presses on, ignoring how sick the words make it him feel, "I know that you can see this."
Jonah shifts, looking away in discomfort. "I… I don't know what you're talking about. See what?"
"Jonah… what do i look like to you right now?" Adam inquires, already knowing the answer.
Jonah does not even look at him as he answers, "Normal. There's nothing wrong, you-you're fine."
"Jonah, look at me," Adam heaves out a dry laugh. "You're not even looking at me, and you want me to believe that? Just tell me the truth."
Jonah finally lifts his head to meet its his gaze, and Adam can now feel the slightest bit of fear in the air. Strangely, it is anxiety, not dread, and it is not directed towards him, but it wants it to be. It wants Jonah to be afraid of it. It shoves it down, but its own thoughts leave it feeling ill nonetheless. It does not deserve to pretend to be Adam Murray anymore, not after that.
Just as Jonah opens their mouth to respond, there is a click of a doorknob turning, and they both freeze, stiffening at the jarring sound, neither daring to make a noise. They both turn, slowly, to face the front door just as it begins to open with a strained creak. It swings outwards, revealing Sarah, hand on the doorknob and head turned downwards as she scuffs dirt and snow off her boots, not yet looking at either of them.
"Hey. Have either of you seen… my…" Sarah starts, and then trails off as she finally looks up, eyes unfocused until they land on Adam. She pauses, perplexed, trying to make sense of what she is seeing, the pieces not connecting into anything that makes sense. Until they finally snap into place, and she sees the full image in front of her. Adam can tell the moment she does, because it floods the entire room in a heavy miasma of dread.
"What the fuck is that!?" she croaks, her voice squeaking at the end, too terrified to even scream as she locks eyes with it. It almost leans towards her, to bask in the terror that radiates from her like rays from the sun, but it forces itself to stay still. It tells itself it does not want her fear, it may not be Adam, but it will not allow itself to stoop down to the level of a monster. It was still pathetically desperate to cling to its own non-existent humanity, after all. Such a shame.
"S-Sarah? Oh, wait- what?" Jonah starts, stops, starts again, and then seems to give up, head whipping back and forth between Sarah and Adam as if failing to keep up with a high-speed chase. It couldn't understand why, every moment seemed painfully drawn-out to it, making it process every detail, whether it wanted to or not.
Sarah jolts out of her stupor, and its eyes follow her hand as she reaches for something from her side with a frantic fervor.
Ah.
It knows what is going to happen before Sarah even rips her gun from the holster on her belt. It knows she never hesitates to pull the trigger, and it knows she will not hesitate this time, either. And as a flash of steel is leveled towards its head, it thinks that maybe it is better this way. Or maybe it is just a coward. It does not have time to ponder this, there is only a flash, a deafening sound it does not have time to process, and the world imploding in on itself into nothingness.
It thinks it may be screaming, but it cannot tell, because it does not exist anymore.
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it’s snippet SUNDAY...
...because i got a bit carried away and missed snippet SATURDAY, which i was actually tagged in - apologies for my habitual tardiness 😭😭 thank you very very much to @zozo-01 and @darlincollins for the tag - i hope this does the job! no tags because i’m late as usual, but for anyone who’d like to show off a wip they’re working on, consider this my tag to you 💕💕💕
under the cut: the companion cube AU returns at LAST - it’s been sucking up all my time and it’s taking FOREVER :((( it’s only at about 7.5k and i’m anticipating quite a lot more to go, so please have this to chew on in the interim!
minors dni - warnings for heavy gore, graphic violence, fatal injury, character death, and loss of bodily autonomy. we’re right in the thick of it, my loves! it’s VERY bloody and gory, so please consider yourself warned.
Most of the fighting seems to be inside the building, from what you can tell. Several floors' worth of windows seem to have been smashed out - presumably there was a Sonal Energetic running around up there at some point - and what little you can see looks like absolute hell. Crumbling walls, crushed furniture, what might have once been a potted plant by the entrance now reduced to ash. A screaming figure tumbles from a fifth floor window, disappearing behind a half-collapsed wall, and then they’re not screaming any more.
Maybe it’s best to breathe through your mouth for a little while. Caelum leads you onwards past the Spire proper, hurrying towards one of the adjoining buildings, and you try not to think about what you’re running through.
Magic really can be nasty stuff, especially when it comes to all the juice and slush that’s supposed to be inside a human being. Spit and skin and acid, hair and teeth and fingernails. A hellish collage. Your head spins, stumbling as a vampire boots what must be a Graviton Energetic through a nearby fence, only to slump lifeless to the ground as a vicious-looking Dreamwalker comes up behind him. Half-melted fat falling off the bone as the fire rages on, sizzling and crackling as an unlucky Stealth loses a fistfight with a Fire Elemental. Mmm. Delicious.
Over there!
A high-pitched voice in your head breaks your spiral, and you follow Caelum’s gaze over to what looks like the tail end of a pretty nasty scuffle by the entrance to one of the buildings. All the glass has been smashed out of the revolving door, and the lights inside flicker unsteadily through the ruined brickwork.
As a blood-soaked vampire stumbles out of the door, her eyes fix onto you, and no amount of [REDACTED] was ever going to be a match. Protectively, you push Caelum behind you, but it doesn’t matter. A split second is enough. You feel the iron beginnings of a trance forming in your mind, stiffening in your spine, racing through the bone and crawling up into your brain. Black water chokes you, thrashing and screaming in the instantaneous stillness of your body, before-
“-!!”
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alr bet!!!
eight was making their way through the metro and somehow got shrunk before they got to the elevator. themself, pearl, and marina shrugged it off for the time being, but when the elevator stopped, things went downhill. cue sani!3 attacking eight and ending up eating them, but eight manages to fight their way out after a while >:))) -pastel anon
Jack wasn’t sure how he got into his mess, and he definitely wasn’t sure how he’d get out.
Everything up to this had been poor circumstance for the runaway octoling- encountering an agent while fleeing from his old life, falling down into the metro, losing some of his memories, being forced to fight...he hated it. All Jack wanted to do was have a better life, he knew he wasn’t cut out for the army or fighting people...this wasn’t what he wanted for himself at all. But if he wanted to leave, he had to fight his way out.
Unfortunately for him, that was a hard thing to do when you were incredibly small.
The technology here was unlike anything he had dealt with at home, and a wrong move around a trap resulted in...being shrunken. It was harmless sure, but there was no way the octoling could fight his way to the surface in this condition. Unless the mindless sanitized octarians suddenly found doll-sized cephalopods endearing, Jack would have to stealth his way out of it. The idols that were helping him deduced that this would wear off in time, so maybe by the time he was out he'd be back to his original size....
Being this small made it easier to sneak around, at least. His escape thus far went off without a hitch, and thankfully the elevator up still worked despite his relatively tiny size. Just this last stretch and he'll be on the surface and free-
With a shake that nearly knocked Jack off his feet, the elevator came to a stop. That couldn't be good. Despite hating every second of it, instincts drilled into him by the military told him that danger was imminent, and he scurried his way to a spot to hide behind. Just in the nick of time too, because a familiar face made its appearance not a moment after. This was the agent he fought before, the old guy he was traveling alongside called him...Scratch? He sure seemed strong and reliable, more than he could ever be, but...
Something was wrong.
He had a large glob of that sickly glowing ink on his face, if Jack could even call it ink. Leaving him with that phone was a bad idea...Scratch had a wild look in his eyes, and was now scanning around as his target seemed to have vanished. Was he...looking for him? Jack shuddered; it wasn't like fighting him went well before, and being as small as he is would spell disaster. If he could just get this lift working again, maybe the others could help him when they reached the surface...
With this goal in mind Jack began to carefully move, keeping his eyes on Scratch's turned back as he moved. Maybe he'd be too hard to notice! Everything will be just fine-
"Target spotted."
All of a sudden, a hand came and quickly snatched up the smaller octoling, eliciting a startled cry from him. Having been so wrapped up in his thoughts he hadn't noticed that Scratch left his view, having spotted him a while ago. Attempting to wriggle free of his grip was only met with a tight squeeze as Scratch brought him up to his face and glared at him. Was this it for him? The sound of his whimpering was cut short by a different sound, barely audible to his captor but plenty audible to the little octoling.
A low, rumbling growl that came from somewhere near Scratch's middle.
Scratch narrowed his eyes, keeping his grip firm. Maybe it was something about the ink that drew this out of him, or maybe it was a hidden habit he had all along- Jack had no time to react as he was suddenly shoved forward into a dark, hot space, with something clicking behind him. It was hot and slick, and by the time he processed what had just happened, his surroundings shifted and tilted backwards. He was eating him! A few quick gulps pulled him down the inkling's throat, constricted on all sides and unable to so much as wriggle.
His destination wasn't any better. Spilling out into a slightly more open chamber Jack found himself in the agent's stomach, sitting in a small pool of tealish liquid. It was humid and cramped even at his size, and it grumbled loudly to announce the arrival of its new guest.
"Target secured."
Scratch's flat voice came from above, which lessened the growing panic in Jack's chest. Secured...so he was just being captured? Regardless of the truth in that he HAD to get out of here somehow, and he had no intention of sticking around to see a stomach in action. He began to kick and push around, but that only made the walls close in tighter around him, gently kneading at his form and coating him in even more slime.
How was he supposed to make it to the surface now?
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Author notes: Woke up at 4 am- couldn’t go back to sleep so reporting to you from me bedroom floor is Azi chapter 2!!
quickly, let me explain. The whole conversation from Crowley ch 2 was just very dialogue heavy and quite honestly rewriting that would be more boring then you rereading it.
SOOO Azi chapter 2 is starting directly after that (i’ll probably continue it like this from now on. I feel like when they’re together there’s not as much reason to rewrite the same scenes)
anyways enjoy!
The Reunion- Aziraphale Ch 2
Azi was at ease after their conversation, the buildup of bad communication finally starting to break down. As he walked the familiar path, Crowley at his side, he kept his mind off what he would do when he gets back to heaven.
There was hardly anyone in the park as the sun continued its descent below the horizon. Therefore, Aziraphale and Crowley would be alone, and at peace. They found their bench and sat how they usually do. Aziraphale sat up straight, his hands folded politely in his lap. Crowley sat far opposite of him, one leg kicked out as he leaned and sunk into himself.
Aziraphale didn’t quite feel awkward… actually things felt the same as they had before. It was almost disappointing. Crowley rattled off about the ducks, he told some stories about taking Muriel down here. Meanwhile Azi’s brain was spinning, and more than anything he wanted to reach out and take Crowley’s hand.
“Angel?” Crowley’s softened voice pulled Aziraphale out of his thoughts.
“Yes?” He was a little confused, but didn’t want Crowley to know he hadn’t been listening.
“Angel you were so lost in your thoughts that your eyebrows were crinkling.” Crowley laughed a light laugh, and Azi allowed himself to smile.
“Oh I’m sorry. There’s just a lot weighing on my mind right now.” Azi sighed, he wasn’t technically lying. Crowley paused for a moment. Aziraphale hadn’t even noticed that he seemed to have shuffled closer as he was talking.
Now, Crowley nonchalantly leaned back and gently took Aziraphale’s hand in his own. They quietly laced their fingers together and sat with their shoulders touching.
“You know angel, when you’re up in heaven you can always give the bookshop a call. I’m rarely out of there anyways so if you need a break…” Crowley mentioned. Aziraphale squeezed his hand in response.
“Thank you, I will definitely be doing that as often as I can.” Azi chuckled and the pair fell into comfortable silence again. Finally, his mind was quiet. Well mostly quiet. He hasn’t forgotten about how close he and Crowley are sitting or how they haven’t even loosened their grip on each others hands.
The sun officially dipped beneath the horizon, only the high hanging moon now provided light. Aziraphale was ready to go back to the shop, so he stood from the bench. Crowley released his hand and stood with him.
“Heading back angel?” He asked, but they had already started walking home. A lonely streetlight illuminated the front steps of A.Z Fell. Azi went to open the door, but he stopped.
“Everything alright?” Crowley asked, his brows furrowed with concern.
“Yes, there’s just one more thing I wanted to do tonight…” Azi said distantly. Crowley stepped up to be level with him, and they held each others gaze. Azi stepped forward.
“Angel-“
“Shh.” He took Crowley’s cheeks in his hands and pulled him down to his face. He looked into Crowley’s eyes again, a little worried now. Crowley smiled with half of his mouth, more of a smirk. He took a deep breath and before Crowley could find something witty to say…
Aziraphale kissed him.
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