Justin and Gabrielle in a Bottle, Part 5
Here is the next chapter of Justin and Gabrielle in a Bottle. You might remember in the last chapter they were snatched from the arms of Brian and Xena, respectively, and ended up back in the bottle while Brian and Xena knelt peering at them through the glass. They're both naked and fainting in the bottle, too, it's really really sad and also weirdly erotic, don't you think?
Anyway.
This is partly based on a plot bunny from
sixpackokittens and I wrote it for the qaf_crackfic commmunity and even though they may wish otherwise, it's dedicated to my beta,
gmta_nz, who did not, in fact, beta this, and to my banner goddess KT (WHO HAS HER OWN LJ ACCOUNT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, resistance IS FUTILE), who did, in fact, design the banner.
Still and all, it would be wrong to pretend anyone should be held accountable for this travesty other than me.
No executive assistants were harmed in the writing of this fiction, but Brian and Xena are showing a little strain and Justin and Gabrielle are not real happy right now either. And ummm, Kinnetik’s kind of all messed up.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Justin and Gabrielle in a Bottle, Part 5
by Xie
Gabrielle emerged from a fog of unconsciousness to the sensation of something cold and hard beneath her, and the quiet sound of someone sobbing in her ears. She sat up, knowing from the greenish light all around her that she was back in the bottle that had been her home and her prison for more years than she could count but was at least several hundred, possibly more.
The sobbing was coming from Justin, who was lying curled on his side, pressed up against the glass, knees tucked to his chest, crying into his folded arms. She frowned.
“Justin, what happened?”
The blond lifted up his head and looked at her, tears showering out of his blue eyes, lower lip trembling. “I… I don’t know. Brian and I were…” He blushed. Gabrielle frowned again. “ And then I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach and the next thing I knew I was here. Again.” And the tears overflowed from his eyes once more.
Gabrielle got up and started pacing around the bottle, suddenly realizing she was naked and had bubbles on her shoulders. She brushed them off and went back to pacing. It’s not like there was something she could do about the naked part, and she’d actually never seen Justin clothed so it’s not like he had any right to complain. She did miss her pole, though. Or stick. Or whatever it was.
She couldn’t believe she could just be snatched out from under Xena like that. Or that Xena didn’t seem to remember her. Or that she was back in the bottle with that… that... irritating blond. Sniveling about Brian. She crouched down and snapped at him, “Oh SHUT UP! We have to DO SOMETHING!”
Justin sat up. He’d have loved to do something, but Gabrielle had been snapping that at him for all the days or weeks or months or years or however long it was that he’d been in this bottle and there was never anything they could do.
He was suddenly aware that the blonde was naked, and felt himself blushing and averting his eyes. But not before he realized she had a dragon tattooed all over her back. As he looked at it, it seemed to move or glow a little, but then he blinked and decided it had been the effect of the tears swimming in his blue eyes. Gabrielle turned around again and started pacing in the other direction, and he put his head back down and closed his eyes.
In the Kinnetik office, Xena and Brian were beside themselves. Brian wanted to try breaking the bottle, but even though Xena agreed it made sense, her insides turned to ice when she thought about doing it. Twice he lifted the bottle to strike it on the edge of the table, and both times at the last minute her hand had shot out and grabbed his wrist and stopped him, without her knowing she’d do it.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” Brian growled at her. She shook her head, feeling dizzy and not like herself.
“I don’t know. I just… I know if you do that, something terrible will happen.”
Brian paled. “To them?” he asked.
The tall architect shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
Just then the main lights in the office snapped on, and both Brian and Xena whirled around. Brian’s eyes narrowed and Xena’s hand went, unconsciously, to her waist. Someone came to the conference room door, and pushed it open.
It was Cynthia.
“Brian, I saw your car outside, what the fuck are you doing here at this hour?” Her eyes registered confusion when she noticed Xena standing next to him. Then she saw the bottle. “Where are Justin and Gabrielle? What’s going on?”
“They’re back in the bottle,” Brian said glumly. “I have no idea what happened, Justin was just there one minute, then he seemed like he fainted, and then he vanished right out from under, er, vanished.”
Xena nodded. “That’s exactly what happened with Gabrielle, she was there and the next minute she was just gone.”
Cynthia frowned, and walked over to the bottle and picked it up. She peered at it and saw the two little figures inside. She tried to pull out the stopper but it wouldn’t budge for her any more than it had for Brian and Xena.
“You realize,” she said slowly, “this is the most ridiculous and impossible thing I’ve ever heard of or seen.”
Brian and Xena looked at each other and then back at Cynthia, and shrugged.
“Have you thought about breaking the bottle?” Brian started to tell her they were trying that, when Xena suddenly felt that same icy coldness settle over her entire body, and she found her heart was pounding and she’d broken out in a cold sweat.
“NO!” she cried. Startled, Brian and Cynthia looked at her. She shook her head, confused, but certain. “We can’t break the bottle. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know.”
“Smart girl,” purred a voice from the doorway. “Since if you break the bottle, your little blonde girlfriend will die instantly. Not to mention the little bit of blond boy ass in there with her.”
The three of them turned around and caught sight of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black leather miniskirt, thigh-high black boots, and a midriff-baring black leather halter top. She was smiling a happy smile and her black-lined eyes had a strangely psychotic glow to them. Xena felt the most overwhelming sense of foreboding, and every hair on her body stood up. Brian unconsciously stepped nearer to the bottle, trying to put himself between the newcomer and Justin’s little green prison.
“Who are you?” snapped Cynthia. The insane-looking blonde barely glanced at her.
“My name is Callisto, although I don’t expect that to mean anything to you.” She shifted her gaze to Xena, and her smile grew even more psychotic. “Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Xena? A crawling sensation on your skin? Cold feeling in the pit of your stomach? Anything?”
The tall architect felt her fists clench, but she shook her head. “Do I know you?”
The blonde laughed, vastly amused. “Oh yes, my dear, you know me, even if you don’t remember. I’m sure your little blonde girlfriend will remember me very well when she’s out of that bottle. And the next time that happens, I’ll be right there to make up for all the many, many years of time we’ve lost from our special friendship.”
“What about Justin?” Brian hadn’t known he was going to ask, and he cursed himself for the fear he heard in his voice. His heartburn was back, too. He swiveled his hazel orbs around to the blonde in black leather, and her eyes met his narrowed gaze.
She shrugged. “Your little pretty boy is someone else’s special project. If he gets hurt while I’m getting re-acquainted with Gabrielle, well, these things happen. Boys will be toys, you know. And sometimes toys get broken.”
Brian felt the bile rise in his throat at her callousness. Xena seemed paralyzed next to him, and Cynthia was still sitting at the table, looking perplexed. But she didn’t say anything.
Callisto smiled and said, “Well, I’ll be getting what I came for,” and reached out her hand for the bottle. Brian stepped firmly between her and the table.
“No.” That was all he said. She just smiled and in a flash, her leg kicked out and connected with his ribs, sending him flying backwards into the table. The pain was blinding, and he sank to the ground, his sides heaving. But he still kicked at her legs as she stepped up to take the bottle, trying to knock her down. She just gave a high-pitched laugh and kicked out at him again, this time hitting him in the jaw. Brian slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Callisto was just about to pick up the bottle when Xena felt… something hot and primal and powerful sweep over her. She knew in that instant that if Callisto touched that bottle, Gabrielle would die as surely as if she were shot, hung, fed to hungry wild animals, crucified, or any number of other gruesome deaths that were suddenly playing out in Xena’s mind like some strange and hideous horror movie. Also, although she didn’t know Justin personally, he was an innocent young boy, although she suspected not as innocent as he’d been when he first came out of the bottle. And as she reacted and moved to stop Callisto, she suddenly KNEW. Knew who Callisto was, and what she wanted, knew who Gabrielle was and what she meant to her, and knew who she herself was. Xena. The Warrior Princess. And Callisto’s sworn enemy. Although she still had no idea who Justin was and why he was in that bottle.
“I don’t think so,” she said, and with a yell she launched herself into the air, landing lightly on her feet between Callisto and the bottle. And she grinned, a smile almost as crazy but not even remotely as psychotic as the one on Callisto’s face.
Callisto didn’t really seem surprised, and her smile, if anything, got bigger. “Xena. After all these centuries. What’s new, pussycat?” And she launched herself at the tall brunette, a war cry coming from her lips.
Xena’s feet and arms moved in a blurred whirlwind as she and Callisto struggled. Glass tables and partition walls fell as they kicked and hit and sent each other flying. The desk, the computer, the two conference room doors. Broken glass and shards of wood were everywhere. And the two women faced each other in the center of the chaos.
Xena smiled tauntingly at the blonde. “What’s the matter, Callisto? Heaven didn’t agree with you after all?”
Callisto smirked. “Not really. I guess some of us were just reborn to be bad.” And she launched herself at Xena once again, this time connecting powerfully with her jaw. The architect suddenly felt weak and for a moment wondered who she was and what the hell she was doing, fighting with this lunatic over a bottle, using moves from some bad Hong Kong martial arts movie. And then she slumped to the ground, unconscious, lying in a heap next to Brian.
Callisto turned to take the bottle, and gave a furious cry. It was gone.
And so was Cynthia.
Continued here…. I can’t kid you, this thing is gonna go on. And on. OMG.
Anyway.
This is partly based on a plot bunny from
sixpackokittens and I wrote it for the qaf_crackfic commmunity and even though they may wish otherwise, it's dedicated to my beta,
gmta_nz, who did not, in fact, beta this, and to my banner goddess KT (WHO HAS HER OWN LJ ACCOUNT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, resistance IS FUTILE), who did, in fact, design the banner.
Still and all, it would be wrong to pretend anyone should be held accountable for this travesty other than me.
No executive assistants were harmed in the writing of this fiction, but Brian and Xena are showing a little strain and Justin and Gabrielle are not real happy right now either. And ummm, Kinnetik’s kind of all messed up.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Justin and Gabrielle in a Bottle, Part 5
by Xie
Gabrielle emerged from a fog of unconsciousness to the sensation of something cold and hard beneath her, and the quiet sound of someone sobbing in her ears. She sat up, knowing from the greenish light all around her that she was back in the bottle that had been her home and her prison for more years than she could count but was at least several hundred, possibly more.
The sobbing was coming from Justin, who was lying curled on his side, pressed up against the glass, knees tucked to his chest, crying into his folded arms. She frowned.
“Justin, what happened?”
The blond lifted up his head and looked at her, tears showering out of his blue eyes, lower lip trembling. “I… I don’t know. Brian and I were…” He blushed. Gabrielle frowned again. “ And then I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach and the next thing I knew I was here. Again.” And the tears overflowed from his eyes once more.
Gabrielle got up and started pacing around the bottle, suddenly realizing she was naked and had bubbles on her shoulders. She brushed them off and went back to pacing. It’s not like there was something she could do about the naked part, and she’d actually never seen Justin clothed so it’s not like he had any right to complain. She did miss her pole, though. Or stick. Or whatever it was.
She couldn’t believe she could just be snatched out from under Xena like that. Or that Xena didn’t seem to remember her. Or that she was back in the bottle with that… that... irritating blond. Sniveling about Brian. She crouched down and snapped at him, “Oh SHUT UP! We have to DO SOMETHING!”
Justin sat up. He’d have loved to do something, but Gabrielle had been snapping that at him for all the days or weeks or months or years or however long it was that he’d been in this bottle and there was never anything they could do.
He was suddenly aware that the blonde was naked, and felt himself blushing and averting his eyes. But not before he realized she had a dragon tattooed all over her back. As he looked at it, it seemed to move or glow a little, but then he blinked and decided it had been the effect of the tears swimming in his blue eyes. Gabrielle turned around again and started pacing in the other direction, and he put his head back down and closed his eyes.
In the Kinnetik office, Xena and Brian were beside themselves. Brian wanted to try breaking the bottle, but even though Xena agreed it made sense, her insides turned to ice when she thought about doing it. Twice he lifted the bottle to strike it on the edge of the table, and both times at the last minute her hand had shot out and grabbed his wrist and stopped him, without her knowing she’d do it.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” Brian growled at her. She shook her head, feeling dizzy and not like herself.
“I don’t know. I just… I know if you do that, something terrible will happen.”
Brian paled. “To them?” he asked.
The tall architect shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
Just then the main lights in the office snapped on, and both Brian and Xena whirled around. Brian’s eyes narrowed and Xena’s hand went, unconsciously, to her waist. Someone came to the conference room door, and pushed it open.
It was Cynthia.
“Brian, I saw your car outside, what the fuck are you doing here at this hour?” Her eyes registered confusion when she noticed Xena standing next to him. Then she saw the bottle. “Where are Justin and Gabrielle? What’s going on?”
“They’re back in the bottle,” Brian said glumly. “I have no idea what happened, Justin was just there one minute, then he seemed like he fainted, and then he vanished right out from under, er, vanished.”
Xena nodded. “That’s exactly what happened with Gabrielle, she was there and the next minute she was just gone.”
Cynthia frowned, and walked over to the bottle and picked it up. She peered at it and saw the two little figures inside. She tried to pull out the stopper but it wouldn’t budge for her any more than it had for Brian and Xena.
“You realize,” she said slowly, “this is the most ridiculous and impossible thing I’ve ever heard of or seen.”
Brian and Xena looked at each other and then back at Cynthia, and shrugged.
“Have you thought about breaking the bottle?” Brian started to tell her they were trying that, when Xena suddenly felt that same icy coldness settle over her entire body, and she found her heart was pounding and she’d broken out in a cold sweat.
“NO!” she cried. Startled, Brian and Cynthia looked at her. She shook her head, confused, but certain. “We can’t break the bottle. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know.”
“Smart girl,” purred a voice from the doorway. “Since if you break the bottle, your little blonde girlfriend will die instantly. Not to mention the little bit of blond boy ass in there with her.”
The three of them turned around and caught sight of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black leather miniskirt, thigh-high black boots, and a midriff-baring black leather halter top. She was smiling a happy smile and her black-lined eyes had a strangely psychotic glow to them. Xena felt the most overwhelming sense of foreboding, and every hair on her body stood up. Brian unconsciously stepped nearer to the bottle, trying to put himself between the newcomer and Justin’s little green prison.
“Who are you?” snapped Cynthia. The insane-looking blonde barely glanced at her.
“My name is Callisto, although I don’t expect that to mean anything to you.” She shifted her gaze to Xena, and her smile grew even more psychotic. “Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Xena? A crawling sensation on your skin? Cold feeling in the pit of your stomach? Anything?”
The tall architect felt her fists clench, but she shook her head. “Do I know you?”
The blonde laughed, vastly amused. “Oh yes, my dear, you know me, even if you don’t remember. I’m sure your little blonde girlfriend will remember me very well when she’s out of that bottle. And the next time that happens, I’ll be right there to make up for all the many, many years of time we’ve lost from our special friendship.”
“What about Justin?” Brian hadn’t known he was going to ask, and he cursed himself for the fear he heard in his voice. His heartburn was back, too. He swiveled his hazel orbs around to the blonde in black leather, and her eyes met his narrowed gaze.
She shrugged. “Your little pretty boy is someone else’s special project. If he gets hurt while I’m getting re-acquainted with Gabrielle, well, these things happen. Boys will be toys, you know. And sometimes toys get broken.”
Brian felt the bile rise in his throat at her callousness. Xena seemed paralyzed next to him, and Cynthia was still sitting at the table, looking perplexed. But she didn’t say anything.
Callisto smiled and said, “Well, I’ll be getting what I came for,” and reached out her hand for the bottle. Brian stepped firmly between her and the table.
“No.” That was all he said. She just smiled and in a flash, her leg kicked out and connected with his ribs, sending him flying backwards into the table. The pain was blinding, and he sank to the ground, his sides heaving. But he still kicked at her legs as she stepped up to take the bottle, trying to knock her down. She just gave a high-pitched laugh and kicked out at him again, this time hitting him in the jaw. Brian slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Callisto was just about to pick up the bottle when Xena felt… something hot and primal and powerful sweep over her. She knew in that instant that if Callisto touched that bottle, Gabrielle would die as surely as if she were shot, hung, fed to hungry wild animals, crucified, or any number of other gruesome deaths that were suddenly playing out in Xena’s mind like some strange and hideous horror movie. Also, although she didn’t know Justin personally, he was an innocent young boy, although she suspected not as innocent as he’d been when he first came out of the bottle. And as she reacted and moved to stop Callisto, she suddenly KNEW. Knew who Callisto was, and what she wanted, knew who Gabrielle was and what she meant to her, and knew who she herself was. Xena. The Warrior Princess. And Callisto’s sworn enemy. Although she still had no idea who Justin was and why he was in that bottle.
“I don’t think so,” she said, and with a yell she launched herself into the air, landing lightly on her feet between Callisto and the bottle. And she grinned, a smile almost as crazy but not even remotely as psychotic as the one on Callisto’s face.
Callisto didn’t really seem surprised, and her smile, if anything, got bigger. “Xena. After all these centuries. What’s new, pussycat?” And she launched herself at the tall brunette, a war cry coming from her lips.
Xena’s feet and arms moved in a blurred whirlwind as she and Callisto struggled. Glass tables and partition walls fell as they kicked and hit and sent each other flying. The desk, the computer, the two conference room doors. Broken glass and shards of wood were everywhere. And the two women faced each other in the center of the chaos.
Xena smiled tauntingly at the blonde. “What’s the matter, Callisto? Heaven didn’t agree with you after all?”
Callisto smirked. “Not really. I guess some of us were just reborn to be bad.” And she launched herself at Xena once again, this time connecting powerfully with her jaw. The architect suddenly felt weak and for a moment wondered who she was and what the hell she was doing, fighting with this lunatic over a bottle, using moves from some bad Hong Kong martial arts movie. And then she slumped to the ground, unconscious, lying in a heap next to Brian.
Callisto turned to take the bottle, and gave a furious cry. It was gone.
And so was Cynthia.
Continued here…. I can’t kid you, this thing is gonna go on. And on. OMG.