[Challenge #04: Phase Table of Doom]

[agirlnamedluna]

#
Prompt
Format

#01
Nothing Serious
500+ words

#02
All the Essentials
Story 1K+

#03
Just Another Summer's Day
no dialogue

#04
The End of the Lane
500+ words

#05
Love Charms
500+ words

#06
Burnt Toast
Story 1k+

#07
Tiptoe
any form of poetry

#08
As Far as the Eye Can See
present tense (500+)

#09
Let Me Down Slowly
1st Person (500+)

#10
Lost
2nd Person (500+)

#11
For Our Lives
Science Fiction 1k+

#12
Ride On
498 words exactly

#13
In the Closet
Child Narrator (500+)

#14
Written in the Stars
Story 1k+

#15
Hold my Hand
past tense (500+)

Title: Doubts
Prompt: Nothing Serious
Word Count: 508
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Chelsea thinks her concerns are nothing serious, until a conversation with Elisa validates them.

“What’s wrong?”
The question lingered, but Chelsea did not feel like answering it. It was nothing serious anyway, or at least, that was what she was trying to tell herself.
“Come on, Chels, you can tell me. I already know half of what is going on.” Elisa knew she was prying, but since the night when The Colonel had overheard Chelsea sharing her new plans, she had been more and more involved in the science projects herself, and she split her time between her guard duties and continuing her education, something she had never been opposed to, unlike Chelsea.
“Let it go.” Chelsea sighed, falling back on her bed. “It’s nothing. Nothing serious anyway.”
“You know you want to tell me anyway, and maybe we can do something about it.”
“It’s the new classes. Something seems wrong about it.”
Elisa cocked her head, one eyebrow raised. She had not been able to partake in those yet - she didn’t even know whether she’d get clearance for it. Right now she was still working on basic skills, something she really needed to do anyway.
“It’s ... The Colonel told us that the goal was to find a cure, but that at the same time we needed to find new ways to make agriculture more rentable to keep feeding everyone, right? To organise hunting parties first, but in such a way that they double as exploration.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’re working on right now,” Elisa acknowledged, “There is some doubt about it, but so far we’re making some progress. It’s just hard, with the limited resources.”
“Right, well...” Chelsea’s voice trailed off while she tried to organise her thoughts.
“Well what?” Elisa stood up, looked left and right in the hallway, assured herself no one was there, and closed the door.”
“It’s a guy named Kellan Warren who is working with us,” Chelsea explained, “Do you remember him? He used to be a sergeant on the guards.”
“Yeah.” Elisa shivered, remembering the brutal, cold-hearted killer. “What is he doing teaching?”
“Something about tactics in the field, it appears he’s a war veteran from before the epidemics,” Chelsea continued, “He had some PTSD, but who hasn’t after the epidemics, right?”
“So, what about him? He was a pig when in the barracks, that I remember. I can’t believe they picked him, there were other military.”
“He keeps going on about destroying everything,” Chelsea ignored her friend’s question, “He is not interested in saving anyone. I figure it’s just him, that he’s just making worst case scenarios or something, but still ... others are starting to talk the same way.”
“You need to alert The Colonel.” Elisa jumped up, opening the door. “The guy has always been nuts. He’s often told me that he wanted to blow up the whole place.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?” Chelsea in turn questioned her friend, “If you knew he was crazy.”
“He seemed harmless and intent to kill himself, and when he disappeared, I thought he had,” Elisa defended herself, “Let’s go find her, now.”

Title: Packing
Prompt: All the Essentials
Word Count: 1075
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage):/
Summary: Chelsea and Elisa pack for a trip when Kellan surprises them with a very unexpected request.

“Do you have everything?”
“I think so … at least the essentials.” Elisa looked up from her pack, grinning. “Rifle, gun, my second set of underwear, grenade, spirit to make Molotov cocktails, matches, ammo, rations, water bottle, some good old whiskey I scavenged …”
“You didn’t!” Chelsea’s eyes grew wide, and she licked her lips. “Where did you find that beauty?”
“There’s a stash. On the outskirts, where they made the new wall. There was an old house there that was falling apart, and they blew up that neighbourhood to build the wall. The cellar … it had lots of alcohol and I happened to pass by.”
“Did anyone see you?” Chelsea looked over her shoulders, hoping that no one overheard that conversation. She did not want to share such a precious liquid.
“Did you pack everything?” Elisa bounced the question back, “I see an awful lot of paper in that bag of yours.”
“Eh, I’m supposed to make notes,” Chelsea shrugged, “And I’ve been too busy learning useful stuff for this expedition to pass by demolition sites and find buried treasure.”
“I was only there by accident,” Elisa confessed, “Sheppard asked me to find a guy named Peter’s crew. One of his men was the brother of the guy that was killed last week when we ventured out. Sheppard only just found out he had a brother, so I had to bring him in.”
“Sad,” Chelsea shrugged, “His brother was an idiot.”
“How so?” Elisa raised an eyebrow. It was not Chelsea’s habit to talk badly about people, especially not the ones on her own team.
“He is the sort of guy that forgets all the essentials: stay with the group, don’t make yourself known, cover yourself at all times, stay in contact with the others. He thought he saw something, without saying anything he ran ahead and checked it out, only to turn around and face a wolf man.”
“Oh boy. Did he shoot?” Elisa closed her eyes as she imagined the scene.
“Nope, not even. He stiffened and let the thing rip him apart. We weren’t fast enough, because we were too far behind, we had seen mutants trek along, so we stayed together. By the time we reached where he ran off too, he was changing, so Shep put a bullet through his heart and head.”
“Well, no wonder it took him a week to find out about the brother,” Elisa shrugged, “The guy was indeed a moron.”
“Anyway, make sure you got everything ready in an hour, and put away that bottle. We don’t want anyone to catch us with that, do we.”
“No one’s going to throw us out for that,” Elisa laughed, “Imagine if they kicked out everyone who found a cache here and there.”
“Imagine Kellan and his gang finding that in your bag, or seeing you with it. Alcohol is as essential to him as breathing is,” Chelsea warned her friend, “He’s tried to steal often enough, and when that didn’t work, he’d just take it.”
“Why hadn’t anyone ever reported him?” Elisa immediately realized how stupid her remark was. “Never mind.”
“Did you pack flares?” Chelsea took everything out of her bag again, to check one last time. “Did you pack goggles, and that compass we got?”
“Check, check and check,” Elisa affirmed, “I even found some old maps.”
“Not sure those will be very useful,” Chelsea laughed, “It’s not like the roads can still be used.”
“We can use them to check positions, and orientate ourselves,” Elisa shrugged, “Plus, it can serve as base for new maps.”
“Good point,” Chelsea acknowledged, “Pack them.”
“I don’t want to travel too heavily though,” Elisa complained, “I can’t run with a heavy pack.”
“Drop it and run,” Chelsea shrugged, “That’s what I saw most people do.”
“We’d love valuable material,” Elisa remarked, “It’s not like we have an infinite supply, is it?”
“Well well, if it isn’t our women warrior club,” Kellan leered as he burst into the room, “Have you packed your essentials ladies? Your delicates and perfume and nice dresses for the ball?” He laughed loudly at his own joke, clapping in his hands.
“Someone’s found alcohol, I see,” Chelsea dryly remarked, “What do you want?”
“I want to come along,” Kellan blurted out. He held himself up at the table, and came standing in front of Chelsea. “I want you to get me a ticket to come along.”
“No.” Chelsea rejected him right away, “You are not coming.”
“Please.”
Shocked, both Chelsea and Elisa stared at Kellan. He had never said please before - in fact, they had speculated he simply missed that part of his brain that learned the word, along with many other words.
“No.” Chelsea refused again, crossing her arms and looking him directly in the eyes. “I don’t want you to come.”
“Please,” Kellan insisted, “Don’t make me beg you.”
“Why would you be interested in coming along anyway?” Elisa sounded exasperated, tired of dealing with the moody man.
“Hear me out,” Kellan pleaded. He sounded vulnerable, more wounded than drunk, and Chelsea suspected the drunken stupor was actually a means of forgetting something. “I want to help you out finding a cure. I know I’ve got a temper and I’ve been an asshole, but I want to help, and I can.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Chelsea spat, “You threatened Julie and because of you she was outside the wall when she was attacked. Don’t come here crying about finding a cure now or helping.”
“You don’t understand,” Kellan cradled his head in his hands, “I know I’m guilty about Julie, and I wanted to make it right, but … Grace, she fell in the afternoon. I need to find her, and save her.”
“Good for you to know what it feels like.” Chelsea couldn’t help but rub it in. Kellan hadn’t cared about Julie - in fact, at the time he had thrown in a “good riddance”.
“I’m sorry, alright?” Kellan surprised the duo even more by apologizing, “I’m sorry. I was being mad because Julie … it was all my fault. First Julie, now Grace. Please let me help.”
“Fine,” Chelsea conceded, “Fine. One step in the wrong direction though, and I blow your brains out.”

“Fair enough,” Kellan accepted, “Thank you.”
“What just happened?” Elisa asked Chelsea as the crying soldier left the room, “What the fuck just happened?”
“I don’t know,” Chelsea shrugged, “I better go find The Colonel.”

Title: Rest
Prompt: Just Another Summer’s Day
Word Count: 222
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (Story of Alfhildr)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: After a victory, Alfhildr takes a day off to pretend everything is fine

There was nothing more to do, and that was a welcome change. For once, she could pretend it was just another summer’s day, and that she was far away from wars and travels between worlds and trying to fight a danger that she had trouble to even try and understand.
She knew it was ancient, and she knew it was after her, but she still had so much to learn that it became overwhelming. Her grandmother had tried to prepare her, but she hadn’t been interested, and Edda had admitted that she had been preoccupied by other worries, thinking she would have much more time.
Now, she was used to living on the run, when her village had been destroyed by her own brother, and she was grasping at straws, trying to find a way to fight back. Not today though. Today she lay in the sweltering sun, soaking up the sunshine to heal her bruised and battered body. Their victory the day before was close, but it was a victory nonetheless, and she was determined that today, she would take her mind off the losses they sustained and the aches and burns she had collected over the past few days of battle. Nothing would distract her - and she knew she needed the rest badly if she wanted to continue this fight.

Title: The imaginary boy
Prompt: The End of the Lane
Word Count: 585
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Recently moved, Angie finds a new friend at the end of the lane

The end of the lane was just that - it was meant to be a cul-de-sac, but really, the road just ended abruptly and then the fields started. There were cows there, and the occasional chicken pecking at the grass on the sides.
It was a fairly uneventful lane, as well. I always imagined lanes to be glamourous, with tall trees giving shade, but here, the trees were only recently planted, so they did not give any shade at all yet.
Still, as disappointed as I was by the street where my parents had recently moves us to, I like to walk to the end of it, to walk towards the pastures, and disappear behind the meadow, where I could find the peace and quiet to read my book.
It was there that I encountered him one day. He was older than me, he said, and normally he did not play with little girls, but because I was almost taller than he was, he still showed me how to catch butterflies and dragonflies over the little creek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” I shouted every night, as I returned to the lane when the twilight started to set in, my sign to return home for dinner.
But the next day, my parents forbid me to go out, and instead they took me to the city, to the office of a man in a three-piece suit. He wore a toupee - even I could see that - and his small, round glasses made his eyes seem really small, so I was a bit scared at first.
“Hello, Angie,” the man said, shuffling some sheets of paper, “How are you today?”
I didn’t answer right away - the man had ignored me while he talked to my parents first, so I didn’t know why he suddenly wanted to talk to me.
“Angie, answer the mister’s question, please,” my father prodded me, his face the red colour he was always had when he became slightly unnerved as I embarrassed him for one thing or another. I had a knack for that, and so did my brother and sisters.
“I’m fine,” I shrugged, scraping the tip of my patent Mary Jane’s on the floor. I did not wear them often - they were reserved for special occasions and family functions. They were a bit too small too - they had belonged to my oldest sister, then to my middle sister, and when she could wear them, they would go to my younger sister.
“Have you been enjoying your holidays?” Again, I shrugged. I had, since I met Tom at the meadow, but I didn’t really want to tell him that.
“Your mom told me you made a very special friend.” I sat up straight, my eyes wide open. Then I looked at my mom, and at my dad, but they both looked away. How did they find out? I hadn’t told anyone about Tom, and I had not seen anyone else at the end of the lane, either.
“I didn’t tell anyone about Tom,” I blurted out, then crossed my hands over my mouth to avoid saying anything more.
“Oh God,” my father groaned, and then the mister in the suit sent me out of the room to wait in the hallway. I pressed my ear against the door, to hear what they were saying.
“Tom Sipher was a boy who drowned in the creek,” I heard the strange man say, “But it could just be a coincidence that is the name of her imaginary friend.”

Title: The market
Prompt: Love Charms
Word Count: 520
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (Those Who Wander)
Pairings (if any): Rose/Thalia
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Rose receives a charm from a strange old woman on a market

“Love charms, really?” Rose held up the craft works, made from twine and beads and dried flowers.
“They are very potent,” the old woman grinned, “I’m sure you could use them to your advantage.”
“No thank you,” Rose huffed, scanning the crowd for Thalia, “I have a girlfriend, thank you very much.”
“They do not exist only to attract a partner,” the old woman shook her head, “They make people like you. “
“Hmm,” Rose hesitated, thinking back to some unpleasant encounters over the past few days, “Maybe I should start wearing one.”
“Love charms?” Thalia laughed as she put an arm around Rose, “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“You are this one’s girlfriend?” the vendor asked, one eyebrow lifted. Thalia nodded with a radiant smile. “You’re a brave one, you are.”
“Hey now,” Rose protested, but Thalia giggled as she acknowledged the truth in that statement. “I resent that!”
“You should buy her some,” the old woman nudged Thalia, “She can use some. People do not like her, no they don’t.”
“We’ll be fine,” Rose frowned, irritated with the woman’s insistence, “You don’t know me.”
“Oh I know you well, I do, I do,” the woman started putting together twine and beads, hesitating here and there as she looked at them pensively, “Wait there, wait right there.” She turned around and disappeared in the hut behind her stall, and they heard her bustling around in there.
“What a strange woman,” Rose whispered into Thalia’s ear, “I want to go.”
“Let’s go,” Thalia took Rose by the hand and lead her away, “”Let’s go find Alice.”
“Good idea.” Both women wandered over the market, in search of their companion. They had arrived in the morning, and Alice had taken advantage of the place to stock up on some supplies both Rose and Thalia had no knowledge of, but which Alice always seemed to stock somewhere, in order to pull them out of nowhere when she needed them.
“What is this place?” Rose wondered more and more about their destination. The more stalls they saw, the less it seemed like a regular market. There were barely any vendors with fruit and vegetables, like you would expect, or with any other food, which reminded Rose they had not eaten yet either.
“Okay, where is she?” Thalia at long last asked, leading them to a higher up vantage point where they hopefully would be able to overlook the market.
“I don’t know, but I want to go,” Rose groaned, “I’ve had my fill of this market.”
“There you are!” The old woman came running towards Rose, and pushed a small charm into her hand, folding her fingers over it, “Take this, free of charge. Tell your friend Alice I looked out for you.”
“What is she on about?” Rose sounded irritated, but Thalia shook her head as the woman disappeared again into the crowd, “Is she a friend of Alice? She could have told us that.”
Opening her hand, she looked at the little charm. It was pretty, and yet, Rose did not know why she felt so uneasy holding it.

Title: Advertisement
Prompt: Burnt Toast
Word Count: 1031
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (Those Who Wander)
Pairings (if any): Rose/Thalia
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Rose stumbles upon an inter-world ad section

“Really, again?” Thalia padded into the kitchen, on her bare feet. The tile was cold against her feet, but after making another mental note about buying new slippers, she focused on the disaster in the sink.
“I don’t know what happened,” Rose sheepishly confessed, “Just all over sudden, it started to smoke.”
“I told her not to put the toaster on 7,” Alice rolled her eyes from her place at the kitchen table, “Did she listen? Of course she did not listen, and then she even told me that it shouldn’t have done that.”
“You’re hopeless,” Thalia shook her head, waving Rose over to sit next to Alice at the table, “Pour yourself some juice and please try not to flood the table.
Alice giggled as Rose was being reprimanded, earning her a slap on the arm.
“No slapping,” Thalia warned, “Stop it now, and let me make breakfast in peace. There isn’t even coffee yet.”
“I tried to make it over to the coffee maker,” Alice laughed, “But I wasn’t wearing my protective gear.”

“Very funny,” Rose rolled her eyes, “ You could have helped.”
“I offered to,” Alice shrugged, “Then you looked like you were going to kill someone, so I retreated behind my paper.”
“Knock it off,” Thalia warned again, “Who wants eggs?”
Both Alice and Rose nodded their approval at that offer.
“Anything interesting in the paper?” Rose asked of Alice, who shoved it towards her.
“Nope,” she shrugged, “It’s just all the same old.”
“I’ll make new toast,” Thalia announced as she opened the windows to let the stench out, “These are inedible.”
“I’m surprised you’ve only come to that conclusion now,” Alice dryly remarked, “Anything Rose touches, becomes inedible.”
“That’s not true,” Rose protested, “I used to make food.”
“You used to heat up noodles,” Thalia shot that down, “Now stop talking before you embarrass yourself any further.”
“She’s in a bad mood this morning,” Alice commented behind her hand, “I’d shut up if I were you.”
Rose rolled her eyes and concentrated on the paper.
“Alice, what is this?” She suddenly asked, startling Thalia who nearly dropped the pan of eggs on the floor.
“It’s some sort of inter-world section, if that makes sense,” Alice looked over the column Rose pointed out to her, “Why, does something seem familiar to you?”
“This advertisement, here,” Rose frowned, “Someone is looking for their daughter.”
“That happens a lot,” Alice crushed Rose’s sudden hope, “Lots of people are looking for relatives who got lost at switch points or who took a wrong switch somewhere.”
“I almost thought…” Rose sat back in her seat, disappointed.
“Aw, honey, don’t feel sad,” Thalia put a fresh cup of coffee in front of Rose, and made her a plate with toast and eggs, “You know, it might be worth looking into.”
“Alice is right, this isn’t about me,” Rose shrugged, “It’s a young girl they are looking for.” In her excitement, she hadn’t read the rest of the advertisement, which made it very clear they were looking for a little girl.
“We could put an ad of ourselves in there,” Thalia suggested, “Maybe someone who reads it, knows more?”
“That is not a bad idea,” Alice acknowledged. Since they had moved into the small house, Alice and Thalia had been getting along better, especially after a few spectacular fights in the very beginning.
“Why thank you,” Thalia snipped, “We could ask for anyone who has information about Rose’s home world, or maybe about her mom.”
“It is worth looking into,” Alice nodded, poking Rose. “Come on, don’t be so disappointed. It’s true I never thought of using this, and it’s a really long shot but it can’t hurt to try.”
“What should we put then?” Rose grabbed a pencil and paper, “It needs to be short and to the point, not too vague but I don’t even really know where I came into the inn.”
“That could be problematic, yeah,” Alice thought for a moment, but then suggested to mention the inn, the hotel Rose had been staying at, and the cave systems.
“Maybe someone who is familiar with the switch points there will come across the ad,” Thalia smiled, “You never know.”
“If anyone was familiar with them, you’d think there would be a trace of them,” Rose shrugged, “There is not a single trace of it.”
“It is possible that it was a really brief switch point,” Alice sighed, “It might have collapsed on itself.”
“More people disappeared there, I know at least that,” Rose shook her head, “And even if it disappeared after I left, you told me that every single world should be connected, right?”
“I said should, not was,” Alice sheepishly said, “Some worlds go into hiding, or disconnect, or there just never happened anything there that lead to a switch point. Who knows how many are out there that we don’t know about.”
“Point taken,” Rose sunk back in her chair. “Maybe I should just give up.”

“Drink your coffee and eat your eggs and toast before they get cold, both of you, ” Thalia chided her, “Hurry up.”
“Yes mom,” Alice quipped, then cringed as she realized what she just said in front of Rose.
“It’s fine,” Rose despondently waved it away, “Don’t worry about it.” Silent, she starting eating her eggs, pushing the paper away from her.
“So, that ad,” Thalia relaunched the conversation as all three had finished off their places, “What do we put in it?”
“I don’t know,” Rose groaned, “I don’t think this was a good idea after all.”
“Listen, we are pretty much out of options right now,” Thalia sternly reprimanded her, “So we can at least try this. If it turns out to be nothing, then it is nothing, but we will have at least tried it. If you don’t want to, then let’s resign ourselves to never finding your own world again, and let’s find a place to go to. But none of this hesitation and despair, all the time.”
“Yes mo-“ Alice started again, but Thalia’s glare stopped her right there.
“Okay fine, let’s write that ad,” Rose agreed, grabbing her pencil and paper again.

Title: Nature
Prompt: Tiptoe
Word Count: 11
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: A haiku

Nature tiptoes
‘Round the cycles of the sun
Another year goes

Title: Dawn
Prompt: As Far as the Eye Can See
Word Count: 516
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: A year after losing Julie, Chelsea is on a risky expedition to try and find her friend.

Finally dawn comes, and my group is waking up. I’ll be glad of the companionship, although it doesn’t make the situation seem any less bleak. I’ve sat the last guard, even though even before that, I couldn’t sleep. There is something about the permanent danger that keeps creeping up on us, that is always at the edge of our consciousness.
As far as the eye can see, there are plain grasslands in front of us. Here and there, a patch of bushes or a lone tree cut through the monotone landscape, but other than that, there are waves and wave of long grass. It makes us nervous - anything can hide in there, and we won’t have a clear vision without heat sensors until we have passed these lands.
Not all of us are equipped with the goggles - Joe’s broke after three days and Anne lost hers in a struggle. My own are not working perfectly. For night duty, we share the goggles, but during the day it’s each on their own. They stick in the middle of the group, but I can sense the nervousness. Not knowing what is waiting for you is playing tricks on the mind.
The sun is above the horizon now, so I rouse the troops as silently as I can. We all know what we have to do - cross the prairie as fast as we can. Today, there won’t be any rest, and there will barely be time to eat and drink. We will move like one, with eyes on our backs. Too many creatures out here are out to kill us.
A short while later, we are ready to go. We have three compasses, and some old maps from before the epidemics. It feel strange to know that we are the first non-mutants to pass through these lands since the survivors retreated in big walled cities. There are tunnels connecting some of them, but we are unsure what happened to the cities that did not have tunnel systems or were simply too far away.
Right now, our mission is to explore as far into enemy territory as possibly, while we still can. During the day, we should be relatively safe. A grand majority of the mutants lives at night, but not all of them. These are the ones that we are so afraid of. For the most part of the last twenty years, we have contented ourselves with simply keeping them out of our gates, and they have retired in the cities that could not be saved, or live in the vast nature that has reclaimed the land. Now though, they are coming back to our cities in droves, and we are forced to do something.

A year ago, I lost my best friend to the disease that makes them such monsters. I am determined to cross these lands, and find her. I am determined to bring her back, and find a cure to save her, and by extension, all the other mutants. I know she is not too far gone. But for that, I have to survive another day.

Title: Deceit
Prompt: Let Me Down Slowly
Word Count: 509
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: She should have known all along he was up to no good

It was a cold winter’s day - as far as clichés go, this was a good one - when I first met you. I was cold, despite my warm sweater and thick woolen coat, and I was trying to warm up with a coffee that I cradled between my gloved hands.
You made a remark about my earmuffs, asking me where you could buy them. I didn’t know what to say - they had been a gift when I was younger, and I hadn’t really asked where they were from. I found it strange, such an opening sentence, but at the same time I was intrigued, and I asked you why you needed to know.
“For your sister, you said, apologizing if it sounded like you were insinuating that I was childish, which I didn’t think at all - I like earmuffs, no matter what age I am. I took pity on you - you explained how she was always sick, and how she loved the snow but was not allowed much to play in it. So you wanted to surprise her with earmuffs just like mine, because they were hot pink and had a smiley face on them.

In retrospect, I should have known none of it was true. I should have known that you knew who I was, and that you singled me out because one of your friends told you about me. Chance encounters like that don’t just happen to me, they never worked out in my favour. But I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and I agreed to go drink a coffee with you and after that coffee, we shopped at the mall where we found a huge selection of earmuffs that would make any little girl happy. That should have given it away. Mine were nothing special.
But just like with those stupid earmuffs, you had a knack for making me feel special. My boring angora sweater turned into a delicate garb when you complimented me on it, my simple silver jewelry in precious treasures. My mousy brown hair in elegant locks, and the dishes I made you when you came over were exquisite cuisine if I were to believe the words out of your mouth.
I believed them, for a while. But then, I started noticing that you came around less often. I noticed you cancelled some plans, and you paid a lot less attention to me. Not to the new recipes I tried, to the more ornate earrings I bought, the clothing I tried to match better so you would find a compliment in them.
I guess, I should have seen it coming. They dared you to talk to me - and I fell for it. You let me down slowly, because you weren’t that much of jerk, or at least so you told yourself, I’m sure. I beg to differ though - the slow, spun out pain you afflicted, probably hurt much more than had you told me after that coffee, that we had a nice chat and goodbye, thank you helping me shop for earmuffs.

Title: Lost
Prompt: Lost
Word Count: 507
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Just like that, he was gone

They day you stepped into the world, was the day that I knew you would not return. There had been warning signs: you shut yourself off more and more, spending a lot of time on your own, secluded, asking yourself why. The more anyone tried to reason with you, the more you turned into yourself, and the more you looked for answers, the more you found them where you should have never been looking in the first place.
But then, one day, you were gone. Knocking on your door, it was sealed up and the windows were firmly shut as well. It was dark in your house, but there was not a single note to be found, not an indication about where you could have gone. You really did not want anyone to find you, so you took great care of covering your tracks and destroying any evidence of your searches and your whereabouts. Everything of value, was gone: in the weeks leading to your departure, you sold everything you could and gave away what was left, but not to the people who would have stopped you.
On a bright morning, you were gone. Even the house was sold, although that only became clear when new owners showed up. You didn’t leave an address with them either - all business was handled, and they had no reason to ever find you again.
We missed you, though, and knowing that you were lost to us, was quite a blow. In retrospect, of course, we all found the right words to keep you there, and the actions that would have changed your mind. We all suddenly knew what should have been said and what would have been good ideas to keep you there.
I think, that the day I met you, I already knew you were a lost soul. You wandered, in your mind, and you always asked too many questions and you always needed to know what and why. I think even you grew tired of your own quest for answers, and you decided to go seek them for yourself. I just wish you had taken us along with you. We’d have kept you company, just like we listened to you vent for so many years before your departure.
Who knows where you are wandering now. Who knows what you’ve found, and whether you will ever find your way home, or find a home at all. I can’t pretend to know anything about that, personally, but still, you could have turned to me for help, had you wanted to. You could have turned to any of us, as it was, but perhaps you understood that we did not pay enough attention, apparently.
Still, it is a big world to get lost in on your own. It probably took you courage we never suspected you possessed, and things like that. But in the end, all of that doesn’t matter. Let’s just say, I hope you have found what you were looking for, if you were looking for anything at all.

Title: More doubts
Prompt: For Our Lives
Word Count: 1012
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Chelsea doubts whether they can really save the mutants.

“Of course this is important too, isn’t it?”
Chelsea paced up and down the room, visibly agitated. She had not slept in a few days - not because the training was very hard, but rather because she kept wondering whether she had made the right choice.
“Well, I do think that anything that can make our lives better, should be pursued. I know there are people who think otherwise.” Diplomatic and pensive as always, Elisa hesitated to straight out say what she felt.
“What do you think?” Chelsea insisted, pleading for some help.
“Listen, I don’t know. Even if we find a cure, what then? They are changed, they won’t ever fit back into our society.”
“What society? The bunch of people huddled up in miserable cities that are more like ruins where savages roam?”
“It is still something … “ Elisa stopped mid-sentence, grasping for words. Ever since she was a small child, she had been raised with the idea that the small pockets of humans that remained unaffected by the plagues that swept a majority of the earth, were the highest good.
That was what she - and Chelsea - had always been fighting for: preserving the remnants of modern society of the 21st century. She had become an orphan in the plagues, like Julie - they were raised together by the many parents who lost their children. From an early age on, they were shooting targets, and learned how to defend themselves and the people around them. If anything, said the leaders quite often, the decline of civilization had brought much more equality: no one cared about skin tone or sex anymore, just about whether you could shoot or not. Practically, this was not entirely true, but every living, breathing human was a potential soldier and that made up for a lot. As such, they had not received a lot of education - that was reserved for the children who still had families. The orphans were so plentiful that they became an army.
“Maybe Julie was right when she said that we should no longer fight the mutants,” Chelsea pondered, “They seem to be better off than we are, huddled up behind debris while they roam free.”
“They also kill everything in sight,” Elisa reminded her, “That’s what we’re fighting against.”
“True, but still, what are our lives worth, living like this?”
“Maybe not much, but at least we can think, and we aren’t bloodthirsty monsters. If we can cure them, we can go outside again, even if they are deformed, it won’t kill us. Or maybe the deformations aren’t permanent. I don’t know. I just don’t see why all over sudden you are the one doubting, while you have been the one convincing me that we should give this programme a shot.”
Elisa stopped to take a deep breath after her rambled monologue, as she stared expectantly at Chelsea.
“I know, I know. “Chelsea sank to the floor, cradling her head in her hands. “I just see so much shit lately when we are trying to do research or expeditions, and Kellan’s been sabotaging us ever since he learned that we were trying to rescue mutants rather than kill them.”
“People like Kellan are rotten apples, no matter how you look at them, or no matter the circumstances. Actually, Sheppard told me he wasn’t even a soldier anymore when the plagues hit - he had been thrown out of the army for misconduct. He just saw his chance when everything was in chaos, and grabbed a gun to start bossing people around.” Elisa hadn’t shared this particular piece of information before, knowing that Chelsea already had a fierce hatred for the man.
“Why did you never tell me that?” Chelsea looked up, “We could get him thrown out.”
“Really?” Elisa sounded skeptical. “Do you really think that they would throw anyone outside the borders just for lying about their past? Look around you. No one is completely innocent here. If we want to do something about Kellan, we either kill him or bust him for something.”
“It would make our lives a whole lot easier, that’s for sure.” Bitterly, Chelsea shrugged. “Not that we ever will. He always managed to talk himself out of it. Even when he killed people.”
“He’s always played it as self-defense or accident or recently muted, I know,” Elisa groaned, “But anyway, we were talking about the cure.”
“We need to come up with something fast, the mutants are getting more and more organized. What we’ve seen on the last trip was hallucinating. Sheppard, Melea and I only narrowly escaped, and we left three soldiers there, ripped to pieces. Not even bitten to be muted. Ripped to pieces, as an example.”
“Why now? What happened that they do this? They used to storm the walls, get slaughtered and … Yeah, that’s probably why.” Elisa shrugged, “It’s evolution I guess?”
“Yeah, and if we don’t evolve something quickly, then we’re going to be extinct,” Chelsea wryly answered, “We are outnumbered. There is nowhere we can go. There have been reports that other cities have fallen. And there hasn’t been any news from the cities without tunnels for decades, it’s not like we can send anyone through to get some news.”
“What if we could build some sort of plane?” Elisa suggested, “You know, like the pioneers did?”
“You’ve been reading too many books,” Chelsea laughed, “That brain of yours is fried. How are you going to fuel them? There are actually old planes rusting a bit everywhere. It’s just, no one can fly them.”
“Fair enough,” Elisa admitted, “But there have to be ways. Maybe we need to look at it in a different way.”
“Yeah, in the meantime, let’s get back to study… who knows what’s left of the history of this planet might prove to be useful in some way.” Chelsea laughed, as if she didn’t believe it herself, although deep down she wished that to be true. It would at least be a start, rather than an ending, like more and more people were starting to fear.

Title: Escape
Prompt: Ride On
Word Count: 498
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Elisa and Chelsea narrowly escape

“Hurry!” Chelsea urged Elisa on, “Go faster.”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” Elisa shouted, “I just can’t.”
“We’re screwed,” Chelsea groaned, “We are so, so screwed.”
“We’re almost there,” Elisa reassured, “Shut up, I need to save my breath.”
Grasping for air, she pushed the pedals on the bike as fast as she could on the bumpy road. It was not easy to keep her balance - Elisa hadn’t ridden a bike since she was a child, and the one they had found abandoned was extremely rusty with burst tires. Still, it was faster than running through the rough landscape.
Finally arriving at the wall, Chelsea jumped off the passenger’s seat and started pounding on the door.
“Let us through! There are mutants after us.”
“I have strict orders not to let anyone in or out, the city is on lockdown,” the guard barked from the other side, “You’re on your own.”
“I return from The Colonel’s expedition,” Chelsea shouted, “Open up, immediately. Or do you want to explain you let two of her people die outside the walls?”
The guard cracked open the door, looking them up and down.
“Incoming!” Someone yelled from above, making the man freeze.
“Get in,” he urged them on, and both Chelsea and Elisa burst through the door, which he slammed shut behind them, barricading it immediately.
“Hold up, not that fast.” The guard aimed his rifle at them. “Bite marks?”
Both girls shook their heads no, but he still looked at them suspiciously.
“How do I know this is not some kind of trap? What were you doing out there?”
“Reckoning,” Elisa explained without revealing the true nature of their mission, “We were out scouting for The Colonel, looking at the new camps.”
“So you are out in nature, and find a bike and come back here with a pack of wolves on your tail?” The guard looked incredulous, and put that way, it sounded ridiculous to Chelsea and Elisa as well.
“We were supposed to just observe, then Smith fell out of a tree, and alerted the pack,” Chelsea shrugged, “Smith is dead.”
“And you got away.” The guard eyed them suspiciously. “Lift your shirt, and take off those pants, so I can check.”
“Seriously?” Elisa scoffed, “Oh come on, you can see we’re not infected.”
“I need to be absolutely certain before I let you come in,” the guard ascertained, “Don’t give me that look. I like guys."
“Fine,” Chelsea rolled her eyes and lifted her shirt, then took off her pants. Elisa followed her example. “Happy now?”
“Smith is dead?” The guard asked, and both nodded. “I suppose you should go find someone to declare his death to.”
“Probably,” Chelsea answered, but her voice was drowned out in the heavy pounding of the artillery from the automatic weapons aiming at the wolves outside. She heard their howling, shivering as she thought of how they could have gotten at her.
“Ride on, then,” the guard waved them on.

Title: Grounded
Prompt: In the Closet
Word Count: 521
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Angie is grounded, but she does not know why. Fortunately her friend Tom visits her.

For days, I was not allowed to go out. So I sat inside my closet, where I put all my pillows and my stuffed animals, and sulked. I didn’t want my sisters and brother to find me - they would tease me with their stories about their friends and about the games they would play outside.
I didn’t even know why I was grounded - I did nothing bad, I thought. Yet I was not allowed to go out of my room, and my mom even came to serve me my meals upstairs.
“Come out, Angie,” she called, but I was fine where I was, so she sighed loudly, opened the door of my large closet and put the tray next to me. “You have to eat.”
“Why am I punished?” I sulked, but mom would just shake her head. Every now and then, it was dad who came upstairs. He’d open the closet door, look at me, open his mouth as if to say something, then shut it again, shake his head and walk out of my room.
Then, I heard a knock on my window, followed by another knock when I did not answer right away. My room was on the second floor, so I was sort of confused when I saw Tom standing in front of my window, but at the same time, I was really happy for the company.
“I missed you,” Tom grinned, as I lead him into the closet where I could hide him behind my large stuffed bear.
“My parents won’t let me play outside,” I complained, “I don’t know why they don’t want me to go out. It’s summer holidays and we just moved here, after all.”
“Parents are mean sometimes,” Tom shrugged, and then he suggested we play a game of cards.
“Who were you talking to?” My mom suddenly opened the closet door, and I jumped up as I hadn’t heard her enter the room. Panicked, I looked at Tom, but he just grinned at me, as he was not afraid at all.
“I’m sorry mom, Tom just came to keep me some company,” I stuttered, bowing my head as my cheeks glowed red. I knew she was probably going to punish me even more now.
“Angie, don’t say that,” mom begged me, “Please don’t say that. Tom is not really here.”
Confused, I looked up at her. I thought she was going to lecture me and then send Tom away and I would be grounded even longer, but instead, she started to cry and walked out the room, calling out for my dad.
“Grownups,” Tom made a grimace, “They never make any sense.”
“No they don’t,” I agreed, “I just hope they will let me go outside now.”
“My parents always sent me outside, every morning,” Tom told me, “They told me to explore the world, so I did. We have a nice house, at the end of the lane.”
“What house?” I asked, curious. I hadn’t seen any houses there, but then, I hadn’t had too much time to explore either.
“I’ll show you, when you’re not grounded anymore,” Tom promised.

Title: Memory lane
Prompt: Written in the Stars
Word Count: 1020
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (Story of Alfhildr)
Pairings (if any): Alfhildr/Morien
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Alfhildr takes the risk of taking a peek in the mind of her prisoners

“I can’t get any wiser out of this,”Alfhildr sighed, “He keeps repeating, that it is written so in the stars, but what is?”
“He seems crazy, but I doubt he is,” Morien pondered, “Did anyone catch him saying anything else?”
“No, but sometimes he goes into some sort of trance, and Gúdi says that when he was down in the cells, he was whispering something and Olaf answered.”
“So he is not crazy.”
“So it seems.”
“If he is not crazy, then is he some sort of seer? Can you try to get in touch with him about that? Is there like something you can try to do to get through to him?” Morien knew he would probably be shot down for even proposing such a thing, but to his surprise, Alfhildr gave it some serious thought.
“Maybe if I could get a hold of Edda, or Rind,” she hesitated, “I don’t know if I have the force to try and explore his mind.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Morien promised, “But I think he is talking about some sort of prophecy, and I really would like to know what they are waiting for. It is clear he is of great importance to Olaf, or he wouldn’t have tried to protect him so vehemently. He gave up every other of his lieutenants. Not this one.”
“I’ll try tonight, when he sleeps,” Alfhildr nodded, “Olaf has dropped enough hints about prophecies that were in his favour, perhaps they are like the ones we have heard, but reversed?”
“We’ll see tonight.”
The dark finally set in after a long day of preparations, and a nervous Alfhildr descended the stairs towards the cell blocks. She didn’t really need to be physically close to anyone to try and join her mind to theirs, but she wanted to be there in case the man suspected something or wasn’t going to sleep.
Minutes later, Morien came with her, carrying a set of candles and other supplies he had gathered.
“Let’s start?” Alfhildr nodded after taking a last look in the strange man’s cell. She was not sure whether he was the one the captured men had called Ymir, but she was fairly certain, so she concentrated on that name while Morien lit the candles in a spiral pattern, and applied oils to the floor.

“Ready.” Alfhildr affirmed as everything was set in place. Morien stepped outside the circle, ready to intervene should it be necessary, but leaving Alfhildr the room to breathe while she performed her magic.
“It is written so in the stars,” Alhildr heard the man she thought to be Ymir say.
“I hope you are right, Ymir,” Olaf responded, “We owe it to our Master.”
“When you set foot ashore, the darkness will guide you,” Ymir promised, “Even the moon has gone hiding.”
“I want you to keep an eye on Thorir and Hallr,” Olaf demanded, “I don’t trust the magic bounds yet.”
“They are guarded,” Ymir nodded, “There is no reason to fear their betrayal, not at all.”
“Prepare to land,” a voice shouted through the otherwise otherworldly silent night, “Careful.”
“Silence!” Olaf hissed, “Anyone who makes noise, I will bind in death, understood?”
Stunned, Alfhildr overlooked the scene as she suddenly recognized the memory. She must have anchored herself to the phrase the man repeated since his captivity, and looked around her. She was standing on the boat that carried Olaf and the man she now knew to be Ymir to her village, on the night that they raided the North in their quest to destroy the power to wield the Amulet.
She wanted to rush forward, and stop her brother, take her Amulet back from him, anything, but then she realized that it was just a memory, and as she became more and more agitated, the image became fleeting. Grounding herself, she calmed down her breathing as she vaguely heard Morien whisper soothing words into her ear. Taking a deep breath, she rooted herself on his voice, and let her mind wander towards that of Ymir.
“The prophecy is of utmost importance,” Ymir said, a solemn look on his face, “You are chosen to carry it out, Olaf, so says our Master.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Olaf stuttered, “Me? I am just a son of the North, I came here to study as my sister is the one chosen by the prophecy.”
“False prophecies, Olaf,” the man hissed, “False prophecies that predict a simple guardian can stop my Master.”
“I have read some scrolls,” Olaf confessed, “They talk about your - our - Master.”
“Then you know that what I say is true,” Ymir insisted, “You must come with me.”
“I will follow you,” Olaf promised.
Alfhildr gasped, as she tried to hang on to that thought, she wanted to hear what the prophecy was, but Olaf and Ymir stood up from the library they were sitting in, which she recognized as being in the Southern University of Truth.
“Are you okay?” Morien whispered in her ear, but in response she only squeezed his hand as she tried to dive deeper. In the cells, both Olaf and Ymir stirred in their sleep.
“Our Master knows that there are certain …. Mechanisms that were put into place when the Elders of your race fled Myrinsul,” Ymir explained, “He wants your help in breaking them.”
“But won’t he destroy the world then?” Olaf asked, but with that tone of interest that indicated he just wanted to know what was in it for him. Alfhildr wanted to walk up to him and slap some sense into him, but again she reminded herself she could not touch the memory.
“This world, yes,” Ymir grinned, “But there are many other worlds, where you can be a ruler rather than a follower.”
“I like that idea,” Olaf nodded, and again Alfhildr needed to restrain herself.”
“That was interesting,” she said as she opened her eyes, and consequently fainted into Morien’s arms. Assuring himself the prisoners were still soundly asleep, Morien removed all traces of their ritual and then carried Alfhildr to her room to let her rest.

Title: Wounded
Prompt: Hold my Hand
Word Count: 515
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Original (unnamed dystopia)
Pairings (if any): /
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/Underage): /
Summary: Julie is wounded, Chelsea and Elisa take care of the wound.


“Hold my hand please,” Julie whined as Chelsea ripped the fabric of her pants apart. Elisa grabbed her hand, trying not to look down. For as many times she had killed, she still hadn’t gotten used to the sight of blood, and it was one of the main reasons why she had a spot perched up high on the guard tower. It was there that she had gotten to know Chelsea and Julie as well.
“This is going to suck,” Chelsea mumbled, taking strips of fabric to bind off Julie’s leg, “How the fuck did you manage to get scrap metal into your leg like that.”
“I’m telling you,” Julie closed her eyes against the pain, “It attacked me, I was lucky that the metal hit me and not the claws.”
“I suppose so,” Chelsea muttered, “I have never seen mutants attack with weapons or whatever.”
“Maybe it got stuck in its claws or something,” Elisa suggested, “Did you take a good look?”
“No, Ellen’s team cleared it before I could, and then they brought me here,” Julie whimpered, “Careful.”
“Listen, it’s a nasty gash, there’s no careful unless you want to try your luck at the hospital.”
“I’ll pass,” Julie sighed, “Do it quickly.”
“I have disinfectant, and I’ll stitch it up,” Chelsea promised, “You’ll have a nasty scar, so take care of it.”
“Aye aye, Doc,” Julie rolled her eyes. She had a collection of scars on her body, most sustained in the line of duty, “Oh bloody hell.”
Chelsea narrowly avoided the kick, and she glared at Julie.
“If you’re going to kick me, I’m sending you to the hospital anyway.” She warned her friend. “Liss, hold her leg instead of her hand please.”
“There’s blood...”Elisa started, but at Chelsea glare she complied.
“How you ever managed to stay alive is a miracle to me,” Chelsea muttered, “Seriously, you’re useless.”
“She’s bleeding out,” Elisa dryly responded, “How about you concentrate on that rather than gripe about me.”
“Fuck,” Chelsea cursed, “Hold pressure on the wound, I’ll clean it out.”
“She should go to the hospital,” Elisa whispered, letting go of Julie’s hand while she applied pressure, “This doesn’t look good.”
“Neither does going to the hospital,” Chelsea shook her head, “It’s as if you’ve never been there. I do better work than they do.”
“You don’t have the supplies, do you?” Elisa looked at the needle Chelsea was holding up, drenching it in alcohol, “What if it’s not sterile?”
“They don’t have either,” Chelsea bit, “Now shut up and let me clean it.”
Feverishly, Chelsea rinsed the wound. Julie passed out, much to her relief. At least she wouldn’t have to hear the screams now, nor have to explain them to anyone.
“It looks clean, now I’m going to sew it up,” Chelsea took a swig of the other bottle, “Hold the edges together, and hold them well.”
“At least let me sew,” Elisa scoffed, “I’ve learned how to sew, I sew all my clothes.”
“Be my guest,” Chelsea laughed and grabbed the wound edges, “Give her a cross stitch or something.”