After The Fall Fic: Missing Pieces
After The Fall: Missing Pieces
AN: Becuase DarkCaster totally happened in the ATF!-Verse as far as I am concerned...and it didn’t end well, so it would seem. There are still lingering effects of it, as shown here. A sorta-sequel to handsthatsmile ‘s little fic of awesome that mentions it.
The sound of something shuffling woke Angela in the middle of the night. She warily blinked her blue eyes before sitting up and easing her feet out from under the covers and into the awaiting bunny slippers on the floor. Angela carefully stepped out of bed and walked quietly towards the door. She looked over to the oversized cushion where Marbella usually slept. The blue lynx was, oddly, nowhere to be seen. Angela’s brow knitted together. There was a quiet thud in the next room, as well as more shuffling. It sounded as though papers were being scattered. Angela frowned. It wasn’t like Marbella to play around with such things in the middle of the night. She sighed as she opened the door to her room to find something she did not expect at all.
Marbella was actually sitting on the floor of the hallway, paws under her and hair bristled. The lynx visibly swallowed and blinked her wide, golden eyes. When Angela walked past her, she got up and followed close at Angela’s heels.
The shuffling continued down the hall, accentuated by the sounds of drawers being pulled open and things falling to the floor. There was also a strange whimpering sound that Angela had never heard before.
She pressed onwards and passed by a few illuminated cloning vats whose inhabitants floated in a blue hued limbo. A trail of papers, pens, folders, and instruments littered the floor and led in a singular direction. Angela followed it. After all, if Marbella hadn’t gone after the intruder and if none of the security sensors had been triggered, there were only a few people it could be.
When Angela at last reached the source of the sound, she gasped.
The whimpering was coming from Giselle, who seemed very anxious. The older lynx fidgeted on her feet and pawed at a door and took a few steps inside, only to jump back out after a brief snap of dark light flicked.
“I told you to stay, Giselle!” Darkstar’s frustrated voice growled from the room.
Giselle’s gold eyes flickered with what appeared to be feline worry. She looked from the door to Angela and Marbella, as if to ask “Can you do something?”
“Sir? What are you doing here so late? Is something the matter?” Angela asked, gently.
She felt his energy spike in surprise. He hadn’t noticed her coming. That was very unlike him...as was shooting bursts of energy at anyone, at least in her experience, especially Giselle.
“Oh...oh, Angela. Did I wake you? I’m so sorry, little star. I’ve just been looking for something and I haven’t been able to find it,”
Angela carefully stepped inside the room Darkstar was currently gutting. Photographs littered the floor. Hundreds of happy faces stared up from fading paper. Angela carefully tiptoed around them as if they were important relics.
“What are you looking for, Boss?” Angela asked, her voice light.
Perhaps she could help him find it. It must be very important for him to have had practically overturned the entire lab looking for it at such a ghastly hour.
Darkstar sat on the floor with neither hem nor gauntlets and his blue eyes had a kind of haunted, hollow look in them that Angela had never known them to have. He looked old...tired, even. It did something in the pit of her stomach.
He paused before turning towards her.
“You are going to think me mad for this, Angela, but I don’t know what I’m looking for. I just...know it is missing. I can feel that something terribly important is missing and I just have to find it! I’ll know it when I see it,”
Angela paused and something clicked in her brain, as if she knew exactly what he was talking about and where to find it, but just as quickly, the idea faded from her mind, as if it had never been there.
Angela smiled.
“It’s not mad, Sir,” she reassured him as she knelt down and began to pick up the pictures.
“Don’t worry, Angela. I’ll clean all this up, you go back to bed and get some rest,”
He moved to take the pictures from her when Angela noticed that his fingertips were tinged with crimson.
“Sir! Sir, your hands! What happened?” Angela asked.
“Oh,” he said, as if he hadn’t noticed before.
“I must have cut myself on something rummaging around these storage containers. It is nothing to worry about,”
Angela’s heart was in her throat. The tips of his fingers were rubbed raw, some of them were moist with blood and two of them had deep
cuts, as though he had been clawing at something.
“Come on, Boss. Let’s go get these cleaned up in the infirmary. I can fix you up, no problem. Step right this way!” she invited, dropping the pictures and taking his wrist, so as not to aggravate the wounds on his hands.
He nodded and followed her out, stuffing a photo into his boot with a free hand.
The lynxes padded after the two of them as Angela and Darkstar made their way to the white clinical room.
Angela quickly disinfected and bandaged his wounds as Darkstar tried to hide the embarrassed look on his face.
“I’m sorry for bothering you at this awful hour, Angela. I just...I thought that there might be something down here,”
Angela nodded as she worked and smiled, she herself trying to hide that she was worried.
“Well, Sir, there are a lot of things down here,” she said cheerfully as she taped the final bandage.
“Yes. There are many good things down here,” Darkstar agreed, his hands closing on hers gently.
Angela smiled, relieved that his eyes no longer possessed the haunted look from before. They seemed to glitter, now that his bizarre quest was forgotten. Now he looked...happy? Relieved? Grateful? His energy signature was erratic, blending together and shifting.
Angela wasn’t sure, but she’d take any combination of those three emotions.
AN: Becuase DarkCaster totally happened in the ATF!-Verse as far as I am concerned...and it didn’t end well, so it would seem. There are still lingering effects of it, as shown here. A sorta-sequel to handsthatsmile ‘s little fic of awesome that mentions it.
The sound of something shuffling woke Angela in the middle of the night. She warily blinked her blue eyes before sitting up and easing her feet out from under the covers and into the awaiting bunny slippers on the floor. Angela carefully stepped out of bed and walked quietly towards the door. She looked over to the oversized cushion where Marbella usually slept. The blue lynx was, oddly, nowhere to be seen. Angela’s brow knitted together. There was a quiet thud in the next room, as well as more shuffling. It sounded as though papers were being scattered. Angela frowned. It wasn’t like Marbella to play around with such things in the middle of the night. She sighed as she opened the door to her room to find something she did not expect at all.
Marbella was actually sitting on the floor of the hallway, paws under her and hair bristled. The lynx visibly swallowed and blinked her wide, golden eyes. When Angela walked past her, she got up and followed close at Angela’s heels.
The shuffling continued down the hall, accentuated by the sounds of drawers being pulled open and things falling to the floor. There was also a strange whimpering sound that Angela had never heard before.
She pressed onwards and passed by a few illuminated cloning vats whose inhabitants floated in a blue hued limbo. A trail of papers, pens, folders, and instruments littered the floor and led in a singular direction. Angela followed it. After all, if Marbella hadn’t gone after the intruder and if none of the security sensors had been triggered, there were only a few people it could be.
When Angela at last reached the source of the sound, she gasped.
The whimpering was coming from Giselle, who seemed very anxious. The older lynx fidgeted on her feet and pawed at a door and took a few steps inside, only to jump back out after a brief snap of dark light flicked.
“I told you to stay, Giselle!” Darkstar’s frustrated voice growled from the room.
Giselle’s gold eyes flickered with what appeared to be feline worry. She looked from the door to Angela and Marbella, as if to ask “Can you do something?”
“Sir? What are you doing here so late? Is something the matter?” Angela asked, gently.
She felt his energy spike in surprise. He hadn’t noticed her coming. That was very unlike him...as was shooting bursts of energy at anyone, at least in her experience, especially Giselle.
“Oh...oh, Angela. Did I wake you? I’m so sorry, little star. I’ve just been looking for something and I haven’t been able to find it,”
Angela carefully stepped inside the room Darkstar was currently gutting. Photographs littered the floor. Hundreds of happy faces stared up from fading paper. Angela carefully tiptoed around them as if they were important relics.
“What are you looking for, Boss?” Angela asked, her voice light.
Perhaps she could help him find it. It must be very important for him to have had practically overturned the entire lab looking for it at such a ghastly hour.
Darkstar sat on the floor with neither hem nor gauntlets and his blue eyes had a kind of haunted, hollow look in them that Angela had never known them to have. He looked old...tired, even. It did something in the pit of her stomach.
He paused before turning towards her.
“You are going to think me mad for this, Angela, but I don’t know what I’m looking for. I just...know it is missing. I can feel that something terribly important is missing and I just have to find it! I’ll know it when I see it,”
Angela paused and something clicked in her brain, as if she knew exactly what he was talking about and where to find it, but just as quickly, the idea faded from her mind, as if it had never been there.
Angela smiled.
“It’s not mad, Sir,” she reassured him as she knelt down and began to pick up the pictures.
“Don’t worry, Angela. I’ll clean all this up, you go back to bed and get some rest,”
He moved to take the pictures from her when Angela noticed that his fingertips were tinged with crimson.
“Sir! Sir, your hands! What happened?” Angela asked.
“Oh,” he said, as if he hadn’t noticed before.
“I must have cut myself on something rummaging around these storage containers. It is nothing to worry about,”
Angela’s heart was in her throat. The tips of his fingers were rubbed raw, some of them were moist with blood and two of them had deep
cuts, as though he had been clawing at something.
“Come on, Boss. Let’s go get these cleaned up in the infirmary. I can fix you up, no problem. Step right this way!” she invited, dropping the pictures and taking his wrist, so as not to aggravate the wounds on his hands.
He nodded and followed her out, stuffing a photo into his boot with a free hand.
The lynxes padded after the two of them as Angela and Darkstar made their way to the white clinical room.
Angela quickly disinfected and bandaged his wounds as Darkstar tried to hide the embarrassed look on his face.
“I’m sorry for bothering you at this awful hour, Angela. I just...I thought that there might be something down here,”
Angela nodded as she worked and smiled, she herself trying to hide that she was worried.
“Well, Sir, there are a lot of things down here,” she said cheerfully as she taped the final bandage.
“Yes. There are many good things down here,” Darkstar agreed, his hands closing on hers gently.
Angela smiled, relieved that his eyes no longer possessed the haunted look from before. They seemed to glitter, now that his bizarre quest was forgotten. Now he looked...happy? Relieved? Grateful? His energy signature was erratic, blending together and shifting.
Angela wasn’t sure, but she’d take any combination of those three emotions.