Quinto Formaggi
Written by Anakin McFly
« Chapters 1–5
« Chapters 6–9
« Chapters 10–13
« Chapters 14–16
« Chapters 17–19
People were ignoring them for the most part, too concerned with getting out to care about anything else. Angry voices and conversation played from the speakers; something about a moronic architect who had designed in fire exits as per building regulations, providing everyone with a way out the moment a small fire broke out on one of the floors.
Some dazed fellow in a scruffy beard and half his hair torn out gazed blankly at Smudge as he passed by.
Smudge looked warily back at him.
"Bisexual," the stranger concluded in a low, drawn-out mutter, and continued past.
"HEY!" Smudge yelled, but the other guy did not look back, and was soon lost in the crowd.
"What about Sylar?" Tony asked as they pulled back into a deserted corridor, waiting for the crowds swarming up the stairwell of Block J to lessen enough to join without being constantly shoved about.
"What about him?" Adam asked.
"Did he get his powers back? Is he going to come after us?"
"I don't know," Leo said.
"It may be a better option to wait until almost everyone is out," Spock suggested, as another passerby gaped at his ears.
"That'll just make it easier for Sylar to find us," Smudge said.
"Not if he expects us to join the crowds," Adam said. "He could be out by now."
"What floor is this?" Leo asked.
"Sixteenth," Adam said. "It's a long way to the roof."
"We could take the elevator," Smudge suggested.
"It's stopping on every floor," Tony pointed out. "Everyone has the same idea."
"Hence my suggestion to wait," Spock reiterated.
"Want to go back to the seventeenth?" Leo asked. "It's just one floor up, and I don't think anyone's going to be waiting for us in this mess."
So they briefly rejoined the crowd and re-emerged back on the seventeenth floor.
The door shut, muting the noise outside.
Dried blood stains on the wall, 'DEAD PEOPLE + SERIAL KILLER' on a door. It almost felt like home.
Smudge wandered quietly off to the common room, leading the trail as the others followed behind. He went through the door and stood by the empty couch. A pang of pain shot through his heart. He bowed his head.
The last time he had been here... well, the last time he'd been here was when they had come to get Tony... but the last time he had really been here, Sasan had been here too; Smudge next to him on the couch, wanting to go back to sleep, not wanting to run away...
Would Sasan have died if they had stayed? Smudge wondered. If they'd stayed here, barricaded the doors, waited it out...
Leo patted him on the shoulder as he passed by.
Adam picked his empty coffee cup up from the table and threw it into the trash.
"This place still smells like roses," Leo murmured.
Tony was opening cupboards at the kitchenette and looking into them. He pulled out a bunch of snacks – potato chips, cookies, chocolate bars, gummy bears – and carried them over to the table, where he dumped the lot.
"If you need a change from sandwiches," he said, tearing open a packet of potato chips.
Spock picked up the gummy bears and pondered the objectification of life. He beheld in his hand the transformation of a fierce creature into a tiny, squishy candy. The possible malnutrition one might encounter by eating nothing but gummy bears for a week. The-
Tony gave him a weird look. Spock put the gummy bears down.
"There might have been more people here," Leo said, "not knowing about the rest of us, or-"
"Or maybe Sylar found them and killed them," Adam said.
"I don't think so," Leo said, and then more quietly: "I don't remember that."
Silence. Smudge had progressed to sitting on the couch, staring wistfully off towards the television set.
"What happens next?" Leo asked.
Adam shrugged and grabbed a handful of chips from Tony.
"Getting out of this place won't get us home," Spock said. "In fact the machines that brought us here are located in this facility. Running away from them would seem... counterproductive."
"We're trapped, we escape," Tony stated.
"For all we know, going out there will just get us killed," Spock said. "We may be welcomed with weapons instead of freedom."
Freedom, thought Smudge. He used to have a guinea pig by that name. It got run over by a steamroller. He didn't have a guinea pig anymore.
"There's only one way to find out," Adam said.
"Their experiment failed," Spock pointed out. "Faced with a mob the most likely reaction would be murder. From Sasan's information we know that they don't think of us as real. There would be little to stop them from cleaning up the mess and starting over, if we are indeed nothing more than easily-replicated pieces of information stored in their database."
"And then what, it all starts over?" Adam asked.
"Not necessarily," Tony said. "There's chaos theory and all that."
Silence.
"If they're starting over, staying here won't help us," Leo said. "They'll find us eventually, but if we get out, there's always a chance... We have people with superpowers here. I don't think they have that in this world. We could put up a good fight..."
Spock nodded.
Eventually the crowd petered off and they left the corridor for the lift, which had a handful of others in it but was large enough to accommodate them. The lift stopped at several floors on the way to the roof, always too full to take in any more, and eventually they reached the top.
A large hole had been punched in the ceiling through which shone a steady black. Furniture and shelves and boxes formed a crude (but sturdy, held together by someone's magic) stairway up, and they climbed up and out onto the surface of the roof.
They stood on an islet of white concrete. The other blocks formed similar patches of white in the encompassing blackness; it was not dark, not exactly, for it was bright enough as a well-lit street at night, but the void of nothingness stretched out all around them.
Leading from the roof was a staircase to a patch of rectangular light. A door. They went on up; until finally they emerged in the sunlight, in some dodgy alleyway made less dodgy by the amount of people in the vicinity-
There was a sound. The portal changed. They looked back to see the door leading into an ordinary corridor, and then the sound of gunfire finally kicked in.
Screaming in the distance.
"They're shooting-"
A helicopter rushed by overhead as they watched.
"You were right," Leo said to Spock; and then hordes of screaming people were upon them, pushing back as the helicopter shot out plumes of greenish gas down at them-
"GET BACK!" someone yelled. In the distance, they saw people falling unconscious-
Adam stumbled as someone shoved him on the way back to the door. The helicopter turned towards them, still spraying gas.
Adam pressed himself against the wall as someone fell against him, collapsing to the ground; he looked up, and in the panicked rush realised that he had lost the others-
Leo grabbed his arm. "We've got to get out of here."
"Where are the others?" Adam asked.
"I don't... I don't know..."
His mind suddenly hazy, Adam thought he saw a pair of pointy ears collapse as the helicopter came round again. And then the gas got to them, and they fell unconscious onto the ground.
#
"Where are they?" Smudge asked, pressed into the corridor.
Tony gave him a frustrated glare. "I said I don't know!"
Then the corridor vanished from beneath their feet, and they were back in the void again. But in place of the stairs were pieces of unknown black material below them, floating far away from the roofs of Kenselton Hotel-
Tony grabbed hold of Smudge as the thing they were standing on bucked violently. Smudge stumbled under his weight but managed to keep his footing as the thing cracked into two, separating them from the few others who had come in with them.
Tony cast a panicked look around. They were drifting away. All the little floating islands were drifting apart, further and further into the void...
"...What's going on?" Tony asked, suddenly scared.
Smudge was staring wide-eyed at everything. "I don't kn-"
Their floating island dissolved and they fell into the void.
#
Dark.
Tony blinked. Then again, several times, holding his eyes open and closed for longer periods, but finding no difference.
"Smudge?" he called out. His voice echoed faintly.
"Here," Smudge said. "I can't see anything."
A small wave of relief washed over Tony. He hadn't gone blind. "Me neither," he said.
Tony tried to move towards Smudge's voice, and then a new horror came over him. He couldn't move his left foot. It was stuck in something...
"Can you... can you come toward me?" he asked. "I think my foot is stuck..."
"I'm coming."
"Yeah... I'm on the ground, don't step on me or anything."
"Okay." Nearer now, possibly close enough to touch. Smudge crouched down, trying to feel his way-
"Yeah, that's my leg," Tony said. "Any idea what's up with my shoe? I can't get to it from here..."
Smudge blinked reflexively, trying to get some light to his eyes. Nothing. The ground below was rocky beneath his shoes. He felt his way up Tony's leg-
"Okay, less groping," Tony muttered. "I know you're bisexual, but this is really not a good time-"
"Do you want me to help you or not?"
"...Sorry."
End of his jeans. Sock. Shoe... rock. Smudge frantically felt the area around it again, and came to the same conclusion: the shoe was embedded in the rock wall.
"...I think your shoe is stuck," he revealed.
"I know that. Can you get it out?"
Smudge did an experimental tug. Nothing. He hesitated, running his finger along the spot where shoe met rock. "It's stuck in the wall," he said.
"In the wall?" Tony asked.
"I think they teleported us here. I guess it wasn't a completely empty space and your foot got merged with-"
Tony swore. He tugged at his shoe in panic.
"You could try just taking your foot out," Smudge suggested. "It might just be the shoe that's stuck-"
"Can you feel the shoelaces?"
"Yeah."
"Loosen them."
Smudge was halfway there, feeling his way, pulling the laces loose. "Okay."
Tony pulled again... and this time his foot came out, leaving the shoe stuck in the wall.
"All right," he said, voice shaking with relief. "I'm out."
Smudge touched the empty shoe.
"Where are we, a cave?" Tony asked. He rubbed his eyes.
"I think so," Smudge said.
"HELLO?" Tony called out. "Anyone there?"
Faint echoes, again.
"Grab my hand," Smudge said, reaching out in the dark. "So we don't get separated or bump into each other."
"Oka- ow!"
"Sorry."
"That's not my hand!"
"Sorry."
They finally found each other's hands and held on.
"...wait," Tony said. "My watch has a light..."
He let go of Smudge. Seconds later, a pathetic blue glow emanated from his direction. It was barely enough for them to make out each other's faces, and near-useless beyond that. Tony held it up, trying to see as much as they could...
It looked like a cave. A small one, a semicircular concave area cut into the rock, perhaps large enough to seat twenty people; and opposite them:
"There's water," Smudge said.
"Where?" The light came on again.
Smudge pointed. "There."
Tony cautiously broke away from Smudge and moved closer for inspection. The light on his watch blinked on and off intermittently every few seconds as he tried to see where he was going.
It was a tiny, still, strip of pond. Beyond that was more rock. Tony walked slowly along until he reached the rock wall; he put a hand on the rock as he circumnavigated the place, looking for a way out, ending back on the other end of the pond.
He shone his light as close as he could to the rock wall on the other side of the pond, looking for a crevice or anything that might be a potential exit...
"See anything?" Smudge asked.
"No."
"We could wait here," Smudge said. "Whatever brought us here might bring us back..."
"You know what? I don't trust anything that almost teleported me into a wall." Tony let the light off.
"So we're just going to stay here until we die?" Smudge asked.
Silence.
"That water has to come from somewhere," Tony said.
"It could drip down from the-"
"I don't think so," Tony said. "I don't see any stalactites. Well okay, maybe there are, or maybe this isn't limestone or something soluble like that and water drips down anyway, but... I don't think so. The walls are too smooth; they look water-eroded, like this whole place used to be filled with water at some point and then it receded to that pool there..."
Silence.
The light came on again for a second. Tony committed the brief scene to memory and made his way to the water's edge. He crouched down. Light again. He stuck a finger into the water, and pulled it out. Cold.
Smudge came over and crouched down next to him.
"...there might be an underwater tunnel," Tony said hesitantly. "It could be how the water gets here. Maybe... maybe it goes out..."
He held the light on. Tony glanced back around the cave of smooth unbroken rock. He let the light off and faced the water again.
Smudge didn't think he liked where this was going. "We could wait-"
"No one's coming, you understand?" Tony burst out, glaring at Smudge, unseen in the dark. "Whatever happened back there looked like an accident. I don't think anyone knows we're here, and if we just stay here we're going to die, you understand that? The most we can hope for right now is that there's some underwater tunnel down there big enough to go through that leads out to a lake or something that we can swim to-"
"I can't swim," Smudge said quietly.
Tony buried his head in his hands.
"Sorry," Smudge added.
Silence.
Tony finally stood up. "Stay here," he said firmly, kicking off his remaining shoe. "I'll go in and see if there's a way out."
Cold, he thought, his eyes squeezed shut. Cold...
Tony lowered himself back into a crouch.
You've got no other choice...
He steeled himself and slid into the water, and yelped as the cold enveloped him in piercing wetness.
"Tony?"
Tony gasped, splashing in the pitch blackness, gulping in sharp intakes of air as he treaded water, turning the light on briefly to get his bearings-
"I'm okay," he managed to say, shivering violently. "I'm... okay, just... so cold..."
Cold cold cold cold cold cold cold
Tony forced himself to stay still long enough to take a deep breath and plunge his head into the near-freezing water. He kicked off towards the wall. Needed light. Tony grabbed for the button on his watch, the water stinging his eyes as he opened them. Pressed the button. The small blue light came back on.
Rock wall. More rock wall. But then, further down, a crevice yawned, black against the rock.
Tony swam towards it, pushing aside the instinctive fear that sprung up at the sight of the gaping blackness; fighting the thoughts that said to get far away from it, right now, not closer-
He grabbed the sides of the crevice and tried to peer in; released his grip to turn the light on, saw the beginnings of a tunnel of unknown length, and knew that he would be going in there.
His heart hammering in his chest, Tony let go and went back up to the surface for air.
"There's a tunnel," he told Smudge as he treaded water, his teeth chattering from the cold. "I... I'll go see where it ends, and... and you just... stay here..."
"You don't have to do this," Smudge said. "If we're going to die we don't need to-"
"I have to," Tony said. "It's... the only way we... might ever... get out...
If you have to die, you might as well die trying, he thought. Tony took several deep breaths of air, held them in, and went back under. He flashed the light to see the way, deliberate strokes through the water towards the crevice; and he pushed himself in.
Flashed light. The tunnel was narrow. He swam on, focusing on the end whenever panic tried to get in the way, forcing his limbs on in the subterranean water...
Brushed past smooth rock in narrow bits. Flashed the light again. No space to turn around unless he really had to, and already his chest was growing tight with lack of air.
Turn back now, he thought, his mind whirling. Or you'll never make it back before you're out of air-
No, he thought over that. Then I'd just have to try again, because I'm not going to just sit there with the bisexual guy and die waiting for help that never comes.
He pushed himself on with renewed determination, his lungs starting to strain for air, flashing the light again and just seeing the same tunnel.
Don't panic; you'll just use up more oxygen, he thought desperately.
His strokes grew more frantic, wild, survival instinct kicking in now, propelling him forward; need air need air need-
Out.
Tony felt the pressure change. Half-blinded from oxygen deprivation, he felt the water rushing him upwards...
He broke the surface, gasping, drinking in mouthfuls of air as fast as he could...
Tony's finger hovered over the light button and stopped. There was already a light. Faint, but there, somewhere in the distance slightly above him.
Tony blinked water away from his eyes and swam towards it.
The water grew shallow and he stepped out into rock, stumbling at the sudden return of full gravity. He turned his watch light on again; this cave was larger, and up above he saw the small opening. Starlight? Moonlight? Tony scanned the area below it. This rock sloped upwards; they could climb-
They. He still had to go back for Smudge.
Tony's heart sank at the thought of repeating his underwater ordeal twice, and the last time with someone who couldn't swim.
What're you gonna do, leave him? he thought angrily to himself; and for a moment he was tempted to. Just continue on, climb out, let Smudge assume he had drowned or something, and maybe if he got out there would be people who could help, and maybe they could save Smudge, if he was still alive by then and hadn't tried coming in after him or...
Tony grimaced. He went back into the water, took in all the air he could, and went back down.
He panicked a second as he flashed his light and saw two crevices instead of one. Then he realised that one was too small to go through, and that it had to have been the other one that he'd come from. He grabbed the sides and pushed himself in.
He had some sense of the length of the journey now, and sped up as much as he could. Stronger strokes; faster, using the sides of the tunnel to push himself along at the more narrow bits, playing a song in his head to keep his mind off the cold and wet and the fact that he couldn't see a thing-
Out. He surfaced with a splash and spat water out his mouth.
"Smudge! Get in!"
He heard Smudge give a start at his voice. "Hey, you're back-"
"There's a tunnel... it goes to another cave and there's some sort of opening there which I think goes outside-"
"I can't sw-"
"I know; just hold on to my leg or something, it's just a tunnel and you just need to push yourself along-"
"Where are you?"
"I'm coming over," Tony said, flashing the light. "I'll bring you there. Just get in the water, Smudge!"
Smudge swallowed.
"Smudge!"
Smudge looked at the water. He looked at Tony, now close to the edge, waiting for him-
If I die, I'll get to be with Sas again, he thought.
It comforted him. He took his shoes off and mourned their loss; then he climbed into the water, and Tony grabbed him before he sank, his soaked clothes hanging like a dead weight on his body,
"Okay," Tony said. "When we're in there, you've just gotta kick to speed up, and just pull yourself along, all right?"
Smudge's legs flailed in the water, trying and failing to find purchase in the liquid. He tightened his grip on Tony's shoulder.
"You don't need to stay afloat," Tony said. "Just let the water take you down, and then when we're in the tunnel we'll just go through that and we'll be fine, all right?"
In the dark, Smudge looked at him in panic. "Don't let go of me-"
"I'll have to when we're down there. You grab my foot; it'll slow us down but there's no other way, and then just kick, okay? And use your hands to push yourself along... Remember that, okay?"
Smudge trembled in the cold. "Okay."
"You get used to the cold after a while." Tony flashed the light to check their position. They were right above the tunnel.
"On three, take a deep breath, on four we're going under," Tony said. "Ready? On three. I'm not going to say three or four."
"Okay."
"One... two..."
Three. Smudge took a breath.
Four. And they plunged into the water.
Smudge fought the sudden panic that came over him, reminding himself to keep his mouth closed, not to let the air out, as he felt Tony pulling him downwards; saw the flash of light that showed them the tunnel entrance; saw Tony turn briefly and hold out his leg; Smudge grabbed on, dodged a kick, and then they were in the tunnel and it was dark and Smudge felt his air running out already.
With his free hand he tried to help them along, fingers slipping off the side of the tunnel, and kicking wildly as much as he could; his eyes smarting from the water, so he closed them since there was nothing to see anyway, past the single-minded thought of getting out...
I need air, Smudge thought, and wanted to cry.
Up front, Tony struggled with the added weight and loss of the use of one leg. He pulled himself onwards, desperate, his arms straining under the effort.
You've done this twice, he told himself. Just one more time...
But he was moving much more slowly than the previous two times, and was starting to think that maybe he should have left Smudge there and gone to seek help instead. Then, at least one of them would be alive, rather than risking both their lives down here-
And then he felt Smudge's grasp loosening on his ankle.
No, he thought. No, no...
As best he could, Tony tried turning around as they entered a wider part of tunnel. He flashed the light to see. Smudge was floating behind him. His eyes were closed. Probably unconscious.
The sight of Smudge's face stirred something in him; strengthened that curious bond that linked them together, and Tony knew then that he couldn't leave him behind.
Smudge's hand slipped off completely. Tony braced himself against the wall, did a half-turn, grabbed for Smudge's hand, caught it, and pulled it up as close as he could, holding on tight as he continued on.
There was no space for the two of them side by side. Half-doubled over, his brain screaming for oxygen, Tony yanked Smudge's hand and continued on in a semi-crawl, his left hand pushing him along as fast as he could.
You can't give up now. Not now, not here. You're getting out even if it kills you.
He had no free hand to operate the light now. Tony continued on in pitch black darkness, the weight of water pressing down on him, feeling his way forward one push at a time-
His head throbbed with pain.
You're not going to faint, he told himself angrily, making an effort to stay conscious. You're going to get out-
And then they were out.
Smudge weighed him down. Tony made a quick decision, let go, and burst to the top for air. Swallowed it in, feeding his lungs, easing the pain... then took another deep breath and went back down to grab Smudge. He flashed the light and saw the outline of a hand. Tony grabbed him and pulled him upwards, pushing him towards the surface and out.
"Smudge... Smudge!"
Tony shook him to no effect.
Get on land.
The faint light above was visible again. Tony dragged Smudge out of the water. He laid him by the edge, used his watch light to quickly inspect him, and slapped Smudge about the face a few times, trying to get him to wake-
"Smudge! Don't die on me, you bisexual freak! Wake up..."
Tony checked his pulse. Still there, but faint.
"SMUDGE!"
CPR, Tony thought. 100 compressions per minute, 2 breaths after every 30, hope he doesn't wake up in the midst of that and think I like him that way...
Tony winced. Don't think about that, he thought as he started pumping on Smudge's chest, counting under his breath-
...29, 30.
Flashed the light to see where to aim. Held Smudge's nose closed, blew two shots of air into his mouth, went back to the compressions...
Tony paused, tired. Out of the water, the cold was getting to him again, seeping through his soaking wet clothes and into his skin. He wanted to just lie down somewhere... rest his limbs from the swim, get warm and dry again-
Not now. Not yet.
He went back to the CPR, punctuating it with frustrated, weary shouts and the occasional insult that made over-liberal use of the word 'bisexual'.
"SMUDGE!"
Smudge coughed out water. He blinked in the darkness and sat up, Tony's hands falling off him.
Tony flashed the light to ensure that Smudge was really alive and he hadn’t just imagined it.
"...what happened?" Smudge asked.
"You nearly drowned, I saved your life, and I hate you," Tony said.
"...Thanks."
"Let's... let's get out of here."
"Okay."
They moved towards the light above, Tony turning on his watch's one now and then to better see the way.
The ground sloped upwards towards the light, enough for them to climb on and make their way up on hands and knees. Bits of fallen rock lay scattered in their paths, pricking palms and scuffing jeans-clad knees; and then they emerged out through the hole onto a stretch of rock and sandy grass, and looked up to the starlit sky, the moon casting enough light for them to see each other's tired faces.
The glow of a town shone in the distance. Tony pointed towards it. "That way," he said weakly, and they started walking. His head felt strangely light; and tired, so tired.
You got out, Tony told himself. You got out. You're alive. You got out...
He rubbed a hand across his eyes and blinked. His vision was going weird and blurry. He stopped walking, taking ragged breaths of the fresh air, trying to steady himself-
Smudge looked back at him. "...Tony?"
Tony raised his head to meet Smudge's gaze and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
And then he collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as exhaustion finally caught up with him.
#
Isn't it nice? Adam heard a familiar voice say as he slowly woke up to see grey concrete floor beneath him. We're all together again.
Adam slowly sat up. Bars. A cell. Sylar, leaning casually against the bars, smiling cheerfully at them.
Leo was already up, looking stunned. Adam couldn't tell what Spock was thinking, but he hoped it had something to do with considering the best Vulcan military strategy for taking out psychopathic serial killers with super powers.
Adam warily turned away from Sylar to Leo. "Where's Smudge and Tony?" he asked.
"I don't know," Leo said, still not daring to look away from Sylar, although he didn't appear to be doing anything particularly suspicious at the moment.
Adam glanced around. There were other cells near them, some close enough for him to see the people inside.
"What is this place?" he asked.
"It seems to be some sort of holding facility," Spock said. "We may have to stay here until they decide what to do with us."
Sylar rolled his eyes. He turned around and telekinetically sliced through a section of the bars. They fell through, and he strolled out.
An alarm sounded. Semi-robotic guards rushed over. Sylar continued walking, raising his hand to blow them away-
...and nothing happened.
Sylar hesitated. He turned and experimentally lifted one of the bars into the air, and it moved fine; tried it again with the guards, to no avail...
One of them grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, the other coming up right behind.
"We know about your tricks, Gabriel," the first guard snarled. "They don't work with-"
Sylar angrily jerked a few bars into the air and flew them right at the guards, knocking them over.
"My name is SYLAR!" he yelled.
"Go," Adam said in a hurried whisper. "Let's get out of here while they're distracted-"
Spock grabbed Leo's hand and the three of them exited through the gap, running off down a randomly-chosen corridor as Sylar continued his battle with the guards, who weren't going to be defeated that easily.
"Where are we going?" Leo asked.
"I don't know," Adam said, glancing up towards the ceiling where crude signs hung over each cell door. "The cells are numbered. We could try getting to the beginning of them-"
"Guards," Spock warned, and they slipped down another corridor as the patrol passed by.
"So we just keep running until we find something or get killed?" Leo suggested.
"Yeah," Adam said, "Find out who's in charge of this place... there has to be some control centre of some sort. They might know where Smudge and Tony are."
"I saw them go back through the portal," Spock informed him. "They may be back at Kenselton Hotel, or somewhere else."
"Only one way to find out," Adam muttered.
"What way is that?" Leo asked.
"...I don't know," Adam admitted. "Let's just find a computer."
"All right," Leo said. "Good start."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Tony?"
Smudge crouched down by his side in the grass and shook him, to no avail. He heard shallow breathing – still alive. Smudge shook him again, got nothing out of it, and tried to lift Tony up, but the weight was too much to bear.
Smudge let him back down and looked at the lighted town in the distance. Perhaps someone there could help...
"I'll be back," he promised, and ran towards the town, grass and grit poking his feet through wet socks. He glanced back now and then, committing to memory Tony's position, and hoping that he would still be there, alive, when he got back.
There were two moons in the sky. The sight disconcerted him for a moment, but he pushed on, and finally he entered the town.
The roads were trenches dug into the ground; buildings of unfamiliar architecture rose on slopes upwards on both sides, dark against the sky. Streetlamps punctuated the way: tall, thin structures with pulsating globules of light balanced on their tips.
The road was deserted and still, but Smudge saw lights on in a few of the buildings. Cautiously, he entered one of the sloping breaks in the trench wall and walked on up to what looked like a door or opening of some sort.
"...Hello?" he called out tentatively. After seconds of no response, he raised a hand to knock-
-and his hand went right through the door.
Smudge pulled his hand back in shock, his pulse racing. The door was some gelatinous half-liquid material. He could probably go right through. And then end up in some strange alien lair, and possibly get eaten...
He hesitated.
Tony risked his life for yours, Smudge told himself. The least you could do is try.
...And maybe they don't eat bisexuals, he thought hopefully.
He tried to imagine Sasan there by his side, and it made him feel safer.
Smudge steeled himself, and then he stepped through the door.
#
"Guards," Spock said again, and they slipped down another corridor until the guards had passed.
"You're really good at this," Adam commented.
"It is basic military training-"
A voice whispered at them. "Hey."
They turned. A young woman in one of the cells was clinging on to the bars and staring at them.
"Do you know Mike?" she asked.
"...Yeah," Leo said.
"How is he?"
One of her cell mates poked her from the midst of starting a game of Bridge with a convenient pack of cards. "Elle. Three clubs."
"Three spades," she said, then turned back, searchingly.
"He, uh, shot himself," Leo said. "Suicide."
"Oh no."
"I'm sorry."
Elle nodded, and gave a sad, apologetic smile. "It was because of us, huh?"
"I don't know."
Silence.
"There were... more of you guys," she said. "I think they may have been killed. Not by me, but... we were told to shoot on sight. Just in case."
"What good would that have done?" Adam asked. "Sylar can't die."
"I guess it's the same principle of throwing someone into water to see if she drowns, because then she's innocent, but if she floats, she's a witch..."
Silence.
"I'm sorry," Elle said. "Mike was a good guy. And... and I'm sure the others were too."
Silence.
"Are you escaping?" Elle asked.
"We're trying," Adam said.
"Try that door," Elle said, pointing at one adjacent to the last cell in the corridor. "I've seen official-looking people go in there."
"Thank you," Spock said, and so they went to check it out.
"Jackpot," Adam said as he stood in the open doorway. The small room was similar to the one in which he'd first unbanned Sylar from Kenselton Hotel. Electronics filled one wall, and hooked up to that was a desktop computer, which Adam gladly went over to.
"Guard the door," Adam said, sitting down.
Leo shut the door and held it there.
"Do you require my assistance?" Spock asked.
"Not yet," Adam muttered, lost in concentration. His fingers flew over the keyboard, seeking out databases, parsing them for information, locating the bits that pertained to them...
"Found us," he said. "Same coordinates under location for the three of us and Sylar; another set for Sasan and the... other dead people. Smudge and Tony are somewhere else." He paused. "Far away somewhere else. I don't think they're in this universe. Got pen and paper?"
They didn't.
"What do you need to write down?" Spock asked.
"Coordinates. Here. Can you memorise-"
Spock nodded. "Yes." He did so.
"Can you bring them back from here?" Leo asked.
"I don't kn-"
"HEY!"
They jumped. Then the door flew open and two guards stormed in looking angry.
"Got out, did you?" one asked, as more identical semi-robotic guards rushed over. "What were you trying to do?"
The guard glanced at the computer screen and frowned.
One day I will understand technology, he decided. "Take them back to their cell," he said.
Some guy looked up from behind bars as they were dragged past. He stared. "...Spock?"
Spock turned his head towards the voice. "Captain-"
And then they were past.
The bars had been replaced on their cell and a force field had been erected around it. Sylar lay inside, unconscious.
The guards threw them in and locked the gate and re-established the force field. Leo looked sadly at it.
Adam sank down onto the bench. "Now what?" he asked after a while. "They're just leaving us here to die?"
"That's the worst case scenario," Leo said.
Spock could think of far worse scenarios, but decided that this was not the time to say so.
"And, naturally, we're the only ones with a force field," Adam said. He glared at Sylar's unconscious form and cursed the name of Quinto.
Leo winced.
#
Light bloomed out and faded to a dull glow as Smudge emerged on the other side of the door. His breath caught. A collection of... creatures were looking at him; at least he thought so, for they had no visible eyes amidst the fur that covered most of their humanoid bodies.
"I-" he started to say, when they broke into a low conversation amongst themselves in a language foreign to any human tongue, and Smudge took an instinctive step back when one of them separated from the others and approached him.
The alien said something. Smudge shook his head slowly. "I don't understand..."
A hand-like appendix extended itself and touched him on the forehead. Smudge shrank back; but then his mind was filled with a soothing warmth, and he shut his eyes as he felt some connection made through the soft brush of fur against his skin.
"Tony is hurt," he said, and this time he felt as though they understood. "He needs help... please..."
And he felt the wordless response as the other spoke again in words that automatically translated themselves in his head: Lead us there.
#
Adam got up and stared at the force field, which was making low buzzing noises. He reached out a hand-
"Don't do that," Leo said. "You don't know what might happen."
Adam decided he had a point. He bent down, picked up Sylar's hand, and used it to poke the force field.
It went BZWAP! and disintegrated the tips of three of Sylar's fingers. Adam dropped the hand in shock. The fingers regenerated themselves.
Leo thought of saying I told you so, but didn't. He wondered if this might be a good time to get his clothes back from Sylar, then decided he couldn't be bothered, and settled for just repossessing his wallet.
He sat down on the bench with it and flipped idly through the notes.
"Ten bucks says we die in here," Adam said. "If we die, you owe me ten."
"All right," Leo said.
Spock looked deeply confused and vaguely tormented by the logic of this bet.
Adam sat down next to Leo and glared at the floor. After a period of time he looked up at Spock, who had spent the last few moments standing thoughtfully by the bars.
"Was that Kirk just now?" Adam asked.
"Yes."
Adam went back to staring at the floor.
#
The aliens lay Tony down on a hammock-like bed strung across two walls of a room as Smudge hovered around anxiously.
It's all right, one of them said, touching Smudge's arm. Your brother will be fine.
"He's not-" Smudge started to say, then decided that it didn't matter. He sat down and stayed on in the room as the aliens left, and watched Tony in his sleep. Perhaps when he woke, they could get out... somehow. Or maybe they'd never find a way to leave, and would have to stay here for the rest of their lives...
Smudge pushed the thought aside. It was too soon to come to conclusions. He sat back, leaning his head against the wall, and returned for a while to memories...
They lie together on the couch in silence, gazing up at the ceiling.
"Who's Sylar?" Smudge asks.
"I don't know," Sasan says.
The first hints of fear creep up on them. The laughter has gone.
At lunch they venture out to eat again, but something has changed. There seem to be more people recognising them than before, and some of the faces hold not so much fear as open hostility.
They hear the name Sylar again. Someone shoots a beam of light that bursts right through the wall behind them in a near miss too close for comfort.
Sasan and Smudge run for their lives.
They return to the seventeenth floor, where it is safe, and they shut the door to the stairwell and pretend for a while that there is nothing else out there; that the only thing that matters at the moment is the world within these rooms, and them, and no one else to interrupt that.
#
On the ground, Sylar blinked and sat up. Spock went almost instantly to his side, hand in position to do the Vulcan nerve-pinch.
"Get your filthy alien hands off my neck," Sylar snarled.
"No."
"I'm the only chance you've got of getting out of here, and you know it."
"That is unlikely," Spock said. "They are aware of your abilities. You have witnessed first-hand that they are immune to anything you can do. The only people you will be capable of harming is us and our fellow prisoners, as you have demonstrated countless times in order to fulfil your misguided notions of superiority. As such I believe that it is safer this way. You may be assured that I do not enjoy this any more than you do-"
"Oh, shut up, pointy ears."
"I do have a name," Spock reminded him.
"Hi," said Dem, appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the cell and startling them. "Absolute time is running out on Opposite Day, which is already really long but after going through everyone else in this facility I'm kind of rushed and it'll be a wonder if I can finish all the Zs even with all the short cuts and time warps. So if you want to go home, you'd better hurry before I stop wanting to be nice to people." He opened up a crude portal in the middle of the cell.
They stared.
"All right," Dem said. "Since there are so few of you and we're short on time, I'm doing this the quick way."
Dem went over to the bench where Adam and Leo were sitting. He took out a scary cutting device. "Give me your hand."
"Why?"
"Do you want that tag on you for the rest of your life?"
"..." said Adam, and gave him his hand. Dem snipped off the wrist tag and stuck it into a slot on the portal. The space between shimmered and changed. Adam saw his apartment beyond.
"You're sending us home just like that?" Leo asked.
"It's Opposite Day," Dem said, as though that explained everything. "Ultimately all I want to do is to destroy the multiverse with excessive interdimensional travel, and sending a whole lot of people back to their universes will only hasten the process." He smiled. "Get in the portal, Kaufman."
Adam stared at it.
"And when you're through, see that small device thingy on the other side of the frame? Take it. It's an Interdimensional Travel Device Thingy. ITDT for short. It'll let you teleport to visit your friends here whenever you want. You know, speed up the destruction and all."
"What about Sylar?" Spock asked.
"What about him?" Dem asked cheerily, with a huge smile. "You're all friends, aren't you?"
"No," Adam stated.
"Awww," Dem said. "Well, I'm sure you'll all learn to get along in time."
Sylar smiled at them.
"...He'll kill us," Leo said.
"Some optimism would be nice," Dem suggested. "Do you want to get home or not? We don't have all day."
"What about the others?" Adam asked. "Smudge and Tony... they're in another universe."
"Do you know where?" Dem asked.
"I have the coordinates from the database," Spock said.
"Just program them into the thingy and go get them." Dem tossed Leo another copy of the cutter thing and two ITDTs. "Pass those to them. Now get in," he said to Adam.
Adam glanced at Sylar to make sure he was out of hearing range. "Meet at my place once you get back," he murmured at Leo and Spock. Then he stepped into the portal and was home.
Dem pointed at the ITDT. Adam took it, and made final eye contact with the others. Then the portal closed up, and he was alone.
Adam turned the ITDT on. Names appeared; he scrolled through them. Some were unfamiliar. He fiddled around with the device, working out how to edit coordinates under a name or add a new location, trying to ignore the fear that at any moment Sylar might pop up and kill him.
You're home, he thought, but couldn't fully register the fact. It wasn't over yet. He wasn't safe yet...
Leo appeared some distance away.
Adam looked up. "Still alive, huh?"
"Yeah."
"We'll go find Smudge and Tony and send them home and then we've got to work out what to do about Sylar."
"There are others in the list," Leo said, holding up his ITDT. "Should we tell them they're in danger?"
"We can't warn everyone."
Spock appeared.
Adam selected the new entry function on the ITDT. "What are the coordinates?" he asked, and keyed them in as Spock recited them.
"All right," Adam said. "Let's go get them."
#
They emerged in a trench street under a dawning red sky that cast the buildings in crimson light.
"SMUDGE!" Adam called out. "TONY!"
"They could be anywhere," Spock said.
"There aren't many places they could be," Leo said, looking down the single street.
"These buildings could merely be the entrance to an underground city," Spock said.
"SMUDGE!" Adam yelled.
Inside one of the buildings, Smudge woke. He cast a glance at Tony, still asleep, and stumbled to his feet.
"Someone called me," he said as one of his hosts sent a curious vibe his way; and then he burst through the door to see the others in the near distance.
"I'M HERE!" he shouted, and they heard, and turned, and rushed over.
"Smudge-"
"Where's Tony?" Adam asked, giving a wary look at the furry alien who had just joined Smudge.
"He's inside, he's resting, we had to swim through this underground tunnel..."
Tony was up by the time the four of them came into the room. He regarded them weakly from the bed.
"You're going home," Leo said, cutting his wrist tag off. "We all are."
"Not yet," Adam said, while Smudge hugged their hosts and thanked them. "We've still got to deal with Sylar-"
"There's no need for Tony to come along," Spock said. "He isn't in any state to-"
"I'm fine," Tony said, but didn't sound it.
"We were in this cave," Smudge rattled on, "and we had to swim out, and I nearly drowned but he got me out and saved me-"
"What's the plan?" Leo asked, snipping off Smudge's wrist tag when Smudge wasn't watching. "We're safe here for now; Sylar doesn't know about this place."
"He could be going down the list and killing everybody else," Adam said.
Leo passed an ITDT each to Smudge and Tony and explained what they were.
"The only way to stop him is to take the device away from him," Spock said. "That way we can ensure that he won't be able to leave his universe, short of finding another method to do so."
"Yeah, but first we've got to find him," Adam said. "He could be anywhere. And we'd need weapons or something."
"Are we going to kill him?" Leo asked.
"I don't know," Adam said.
"Why not?" Smudge demanded. "He killed so many people! If we let him go, he'll just kill more..."
"There are criminals in every universe," Spock said. "It is not our place to mete out justice on all of them."
"What planet is this?" Leo wondered off-topically.
Smudge shrugged.
"We could just move," Leo said. "Go home, but find somewhere else to stay for a while where he can't find us. We can't keep running."
"He may not even come after us in the first place," Spock said. "His initial motive is gone. We no longer present a threat to his ego; if he genuinely wants to be completely unique he'll have to take on potential millions of alternate universes to wipe out all variant incarnations of himself, and I doubt he will be up to the task."
"So we go back," Adam said.
"We still need to tell Mike's parents about his death," Leo said. "Give them some closure."
Adam nodded. "What about the others?"
"I'll tell them about Sasan," Smudge said quietly.
"Okay," Adam said. "I'll go with Leo."
"I could come too if-" Spock started.
"Nah, I think seeing an alien might be too much of an added shock for them. Go back to the Enterprise. They need you there."
"What do we do if we see Sylar?" Tony asked.
"Hope you don't," Leo said. "The moment you get back, move; something as simple as moving to another room, and hope that Sylar isn't in the mood for hide-and-seek."
And so they went their separate ways, and left the alien planet.
#
"How are we going to do this?" Adam asked as he and Leo arrived in Mike's room. The curtains were drawn on the windows through which sunlight dimly peeked; staleness hung in the air over the unmade bed and scattered belongings. Posters on the wall. They heard the faint sounds of people beyond the door. Hints of conversation.
"We just go out there and say to them, sorry, your son killed himself?" Adam continued.
"And then they'll ask, who the hell are you? And we'll say..."
"Friends," Adam said. "Sort of."
Leo went over to the desk. Bits of stationery. Books. Papers scribbled with handwriting – their handwriting. Odds and ends. A framed photo of Mike and his mother.
"Just open the door and take it from there," Adam said.
"Okay," Leo agreed.
Neither of them budged, but they noticed the conversation outside come to a sudden halt.
And then the door was opened, and they found themselves faced with gaping people.
"...Hi," Leo said, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Sorry," Adam said. "Your son killed himself."
"Who the hell are you?" demanded some guy who looked like he could have been Mike's father.
"Friends," Leo said nervously.
"Sort of," Adam added.
#
Sasan's home.
Smudge stood for a moment in silence, taking it in. The quietness. The sense that something had been missing here for a while.
He sat down on the bed, fingers clutching the bedspread. He took a breath.
"Sas..."
Smudge got no reply. He got up, went over to the closet and opened it; fingering Sasan's clothes, taking in their smell, feeling like a bit of a creep, and stopping that.
He looked towards the closed door.
Smudge went over and opened it slightly. He peeked out.
He heard agitated conversation in a language he did not understand; saw plush hallways that looked as though they belonged to a large house.
This could have been his home, too, if only...
A woman came around the end of the corridor and Smudge could tell by the sudden shock on her face that she had seen him.
He wanted to shut the door, go back in the room, teleport away... but found himself paralysed where he stood, not daring to move as she came towards him with increasing speed, shouting something – he heard more hurried footsteps in response – and then she threw the door open and Smudge stumbled back in fear as she faced him down with a mixture of anger, love and confusion-
"Where's my son?" she cried. "Who are you? What have you done with Sasan-"
Other people rushed into the room. Smudge backed away to the bed, overwhelmed by the scrutiny of the group of strangers...
"He... Sasan died," Smudge said, forcing back tears amidst the uproar that met his words. "He was killed... I was there..."
"Who are you?" another woman asked, gazing upon the younger, scruffier, bisexual version of her best friend.
"...I'm Smudge."
"Why would anyone kill Sasan?" his mother demanded, close to hysterics.
Smudge blinked back tears. "I..."
Then the second woman hugged him, and Smudge broke down and cried.
#
"Hello, Quinto."
Zach dropped the fughat in shock. That voice...
Slowly, he turned around. Sylar was casually leaning against the doorway of his room, propped up on one leg. He raised his hand and telekinetically grabbed the fughat off the floor.
Sylar raised an eyebrow. "Were you seriously going to put this on your head?" he asked, with more than a touch of disgust.
"Sylar." It came out in a whisper.
"Yep." Sylar tossed the fughat onto the bed. "Hi."
"How... I told them to ban you..."
"Adam Kaufman seemed to be of the impression that I could help them escape- Hey, you have a doggie!"
Zach heard Noah growl. "Leave him alone," he said quickly.
Sylar turned back around and grinned.
"What... are you going to kill me now?" Zach asked.
Sylar shrugged. "I'll think about it."
"What did you do with the others? Adam and-"
Sylar lowered his leg from the doorframe and sauntered over. "Some of them were in my way. Let's just say they no longer are."
"You killed them."
"If you want to put it that way."
Noah had followed him in, still growling.
"It shouldn't matter," Sylar continued. "They're not real. Neither am I."
He smiled and flicked two fingers. Zach flew back and slammed against a wall, hyperventilating, his glasses knocked askew.
Noah barked and lunged at Sylar; Sylar twitched his fingers and sent him through the air to join his master, yelping.
"You're pathetic," Sylar said, his hand still raised, keeping them there.
"I made you," Zach said desperately.
Sylar laughed. He picked up the fughat and tossed it at him. It hit Zach's leg, bounced off, and landed on the floor.
"...That doesn't mean I need to worship you," Sylar said.
He released his hold and walked out. They fell off the wall.
Smudge was outside in the living room, troubled from the conversation he had heard, still red-eyed from crying, and he stared numbly at Sylar.
"Why are you here?" Sylar asked. "To see him?" He smirked. "You're an embarrassment to him, Smudge. Probably just some job he had to settle for just so he could afford lunch."
Smudge blinked.
"He doesn't love you, Smudge," Sylar said casually, taking out his ITDT and scrolling through the names. "No one does."
And Smudge opened his mouth to retaliate and say that, no, Sasan loved him, he'd said so, in a dream... but then Sylar was gone, and he was alone in the living room.
The door opened. Zach stumbled out, still winded, and their eyes met.
"...Smudge?"
A pang of pain hit his heart. Zach said his name the same way Sasan used to.
Smudge trembled. He wanted to do something, say something; wanted to run towards him or away from him; didn't want to have to go through this...
He stepped back. Zach didn't make a further move.
He doesn't love you.
Smudge swallowed. He stuck his hand back in his pocket, feeling for the ITDT... and his fingers closed around the flash drive in there.
Smudge hesitated. Then he pulled it out, and put it down on the kitchen counter. He saw Zach's eyes go towards it.
And then Smudge activated the ITDT, and he went home.
#
"Hey, pointy ears."
Spock looked up to see Sylar suddenly standing in his room. Reflexes kicked in; his hand flew to his communicator lying on the desk. "Spock to bridge. Requesting secur-"
Sylar slammed him against the wall, holding the telekinetic grip on Spock's neck as he approached. He took the communicator from his hand, not breaking eye contact: "Belay that order. I'm fine."
Spock kicked him. Sylar dropped the communicator and fell back, taken by surprise, as Spock dropped off the wall and did a roll over to where his phaser was sitting on a shelf. He grabbed it. Sylar overturned the table on him.
Spock ducked, raising his arms to protect his head as Sylar sent his fallen possessions flying at him, and fired off a shot – missed. He grabbed his communicator off the floor. "Requesting urgent security at my quarters-"
A book hit him in the neck. Spock staggered back, winded, and fired again as Sylar sent an entire shelf down on him. It landed on his leg, trapping him. Spock yelled in pain and struggled to pull his leg free-
He fired the phaser again. It hit, this time, but Sylar only blinked and looked down at the wound, which was already starting to heal, and telekinetically snatched the phaser out of Spock's hand.
"What would you gain from killing me?" Spock asked quickly.
"Who said I wanted to kill you?" Sylar asked, going closer. "I acted only in self-defence."
"You were intruding on my private sp-"
"Hey, Star Trek is awesome. I just wanted to check out the Enterprise, but you had to call sec- Oh look, there they are," Sylar commented, as several redshirts with phasers burst into the room and gaped at them.
"Redshirts," Sylar remarked. "How cute."
They pointed phasers at Sylar.
"RAISE YOUR HANDS AND STEP AWAY!" one particularly-enthusiastic redshirt yelled.
Sylar tilted his head. He raised his hands, slowly, and in one swift motion sliced all their necks open-
Leg free, Spock lunged at Sylar, knocking him over.
"Get off me!"
Spock shoved him to the floor, grabbing on tight so as not to allow Sylar to telekinetically push him away.
Sylar glared at him.
"Live long and prosper," Spock said, with all the sarcasm that his human side could muster, and administered the Vulcan nerve-pinch.
Shouts in the corridor, presumably over the slaughtered redshirts.
Spock rolled off the unconscious Sylar and got back to his feet, limping slightly and wincing as he surveyed the damage done to his quarters.
Kirk clambered over three dead redshirts and came into the room.
"Spock-"
"Captain."
"You just got back? What happened here?"
Spock nodded towards Sylar. "My quarters were invaded," he stated. "He claimed a pretext of tourism but based on our previous encounters I believe my initial reaction of self-defence was not ungrounded."
"Uh-huh," Kirk said, staring at Sylar. He prodded him with his shoe. "Is he dead?"
"He is merely unconscious for the time being," Spock said.
"Looks like you," Kirk muttered.
Spock raised an eyebrow. "Any resemblance between us is purely phenotypical," he said. "He is a serial killer who has murdered dozens of-"
McCoy stumbled in, tripping over a redshirt but maintaining his balance. He regarded Spock with open frustration. "Back for five minutes and the Vulcan's already got a pile up in the doorway," he muttered, then squinted. "What's up with your leg?"
"The shelf landed on it," Spock explained.
McCoy looked at Sylar on the floor. "...My God, there are two of them."
"I can assure you he's nothing like me," Spock said.
"And you knock him out? We could have been friends!"
Kirk patted him on the shoulder. "He's a serial killer, Bones."
"Good. I hate cereal."
Spock regained his earlier look of deep confusion and vague torment. He was still puzzling over how Adam could get any money if they were all dead, and this was not helping.
#
Spock left Sylar in his apartment with a knife through the back of his head and took the ITDT from him.
He scrolled through the names on his own device, and dropped by to tell Leo the news.
"Sylar won't be troubling us for a while more," he reported.
"What happened?" Leo asked. Spock told him.
"Oh," Leo said. "Do the others know?"
"Not yet. I am on my way to inform them."
Leo nodded. A thought struck him. "Hey... um."
Spock waited.
"Let's get together again, a week from now," Leo suggested. "Just to see if everyone's all right. My place. Next week, this time. Could you let them know?"
"I will."
"Thanks."
Spock left to spread the news.
#
Adam sat at his desk after Spock's departure and scrolled through the names on his ITDT, hovering over each unfamiliar one. Other people, other worlds. He wondered what they were like.
Perhaps one day...
They could go together. The five of them. Him, Leo, Spock, Smudge and Tony. Perhaps they'd find new fellow travellers along the way. Home was strangely bland now; the thought of returning to work filled him with mind-numbing boredom.
He'd wanted to be home for so long, but now that he was, and knew he could get back whenever he wanted, some part of him wanted adventure. To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new universes...
To boldly go where no one had gone before.
Adam gave a rare smile, and he tucked the ITDT securely into his pocket.
One day.
#
THE END
one day i will understand technology, zach thought, waiting for his computer to boot up as he sat on his couch. he picked up the flash drive that smudge had left behind, and stared at it.
it was unmarked. innocuous. mysterious. not very flashy.
he wondered if all that had really happened. if smudge had been there. or sylar. or if they were merely people he had met in a half remembered dream. ephemeral constructs of his imagination.
boot-up complete. zach stuck the flash drive into the usb socket and waited.
a window popped up with a listing of the files in it. one png image file. one video.
he opened the image file.
it was a crude drawing of fig newtons.
"..." zach said; and then he saw the artist's signature. sasan.
a funny feeling rose in him.
the video...
a noise. zach jumped in his seat out of his lowercase reverie, and turned.
"Hi," Smudge said cautiously, not quite daring to meet his gaze.
"Smudge..."
For a moment, they just looked at each other. Creator and creation.
Smudge went forward with hesitant steps. Zach didn't budge.
He's not Sasan, Smudge told himself, but he couldn't shake the feeling or the choked, desperate longing. Zach was all of them. All of them, and none of them...
Smudge looked at the screen.
"We made a video," he said. "We thought that someone would see it and get us out..."
Zach turned back to the computer screen. "This one?" he asked, clicking on the file to open it.
"Yeah," Smudge said, and slid nervously onto the couch next to him. His gaze slipped up to Zach's face and stayed there.
He remembered a similar face on a similar couch.
He's not Sasan, he's not Sasan, he's not Sasan...
But then the video started, and grabbed all of Zach's tense concentration; and for the moment...
...For the moment, Smudge could pretend.
The story continues in Plane Between... »
#