Happy Birthday Isaac Asimov!
Title: Spade, Diamond, Club, and Heart
Author: Darth Spork
Pairing: John/Paul and George/Ringo, eventually
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Disturbing/macabre imagery, violence, language, sexual situations, alternate universe
Chapter: Three/?
Summary: Richard is the King of Hearts in the land of dreams, Wonderland - a land of death, blood, and horror, which he controls absolutely… or so he’s told. Will he be able to save himself and the previous Kings, Spade, Diamond, and Club, from an eternity in hell?
Disclaimer: I own neither The Beatles, who belong to themselves, nor the inspiration for the idea, which belongs to… Yamaha, I think, I couldn’t find too much detail on it. If you know, tell me.
Prologue.. Chapter One.. Chapter Two
A/N: Sooo… yes. Happy 2010! Pronounced either ‘two-thousand ten’, ‘twenty-ten’, or… um, ‘oh-ten’, as I’ve heard in several places. (I feel justified in calling my fellow Americans weird in this.) And many many MANY thank-yous to alexwolfchan for... well, teaching me how to link. Yes.
- - -
The words still echoed in his head as he ran down the corridor, blindly taking turns and searching desperately for an exit, screams and gunshots from far behind him seeming to follow him.
Diamond, in the distance, yelling what sounded like “Let go of him,” rage clear in his voice.
Spade, screaming “I don’t want to go,” hysterically.
Club, making no noise.
And Richard ran.
Just half an hour before (maybe more, maybe less), he had still been in the library with Diamond. Confused and scared, yes, but… not like he was now. Not terrified for his own life.
“What is this place?” Richard asked, eyeing the dusty leather chair opposite Diamond but not sitting. The other didn’t seem to care much; he was busy messing with his firearm, his eyes trained on the silver metal.
“It’s a dream, but I’m sure you already know that,” Diamond said calmly. “I probably don’t have much time to tell you this, and by all rights I should be panicking, but my emotions don’t work right anymore,” he added, almost thoughtfully, finally putting the gun down.
“…why?” Richard asked, finally sinking into the chair. As he did, he realized how exhausted he was. “It… if it’s a dream, I’ll wake up soon, right?”
Diamond stared at him before he started laughing. There was no humor in it, but there was no bitterness, either. Richard had never heard a laugh so emotionless, and he reflexively sank back into his chair to get away from the other male.
“You can’t wake up. Weren’t you listening?” Diamond asked when he stopped laughing. “We can’t wake up. None of us can. We’re trapped in this place forever. There’s nothing you can do to leave except make the best of it and hope you don’t lose favor with the Dream like we did.”
“Wh-what do you mean, lose favor with the dream?”
“Have you heard a voice? Guiding you, talking to you, one in your head that no one else can hear?” When Richard nodded, Diamond tilted his head slowly. “What did you think that was? That is the Dream, guiding you where it wants you to go. And when you lose favor with it, it will begin to change you like it changed Spade, like it changed me, like it changed Club. It couldn’t kill us, but it could change us enough that we killed ourselves.
“As far as what the whole world is… as I said, it’s a dream, but not like one you’ve ever had… or, rather, like every dream you’ve ever had,” he said as he leaned back in his own chair, gesturing towards the window. “Wonderland is a land made up of dreams and nothing else. The land is vast and almost never-ending, made up of individual, unrelated worlds connected by doors. Each land represents a dream, or a nightmare.”
“…h-how…”
“How large is it?” Diamond supplied when Richard didn’t finish his thought. “How many dreams have you had? How many nightmares have you had? Have I had? Have Spade and Club had before they were dragged into this festering hell? Every dream you or any of us have ever had is represented in a world out there somewhere, even dreams you don’t remember. There’s no way to tell how big it is because of this.”
“Why… why do you… not have… much time to tell me this?” Richard asked after licking his lips, the dryness of his mouth beginning to hurt as the sheer reality of this began attempting to sink in. It couldn’t be right. There was no way…
“Because it doesn’t want you to know,” Diamond said, tapping the table with his gun as he said each word for emphasis. “Because, while you’re the King… while you’re ALIVE… you have the ability to break out, somehow. You can do what we can’t. You can leave, if you can find a way. And it doesn’t want you to know that because if you can get out, you can get us out, too. You can find a way to kill the Dream.”
Richard stared at him. “H-how… if it’s my world, c-can’t I just…”
“No. You can’t just… just order it dead. If it was that easy… the world is yours, yes, but you can only do what the Dream allows you to do, unless you find a way around its power. But without finding a way… even with the Dream right in front of you and all the power in Wonderland, you couldn’t harm it.”
"But... y-you said the Dream brought me here, but if it doesn't want me to talk to you then..."
Laughing hollowly, Diamond shook his head. "It probably expected you to panic and cast the three of us out, which I have no doubt you would have if you had known what you could do. And for now, it's not paying atten-..."
There was a crash down the hallway and a screaming noise. Diamond leapt up as though he was going to run, but stopped, looking at Richard and now speaking very fast.
“Spade, Club, and myself were all rulers once. We could do what you can do - we could control the world - but there were other things that we could do to. Spade could control anyone with the touch of his blade, Club with his eyes, and I with my voice. You can do that too, Heart. I don’t know how. But you need to find out what you can do and use it to your advantage. But you must remember this and this is very important, do not kill anyone. Ever,” he said firmly. “Do you understand me?”
“I-I…”
“Do you understand me, Heart?”
“Y… yes… I do,” Richard said, glancing nervously behind him.
“Good,” Diamond said as he raised his gun and cocked it. “It knows I’m talking to you,” he muttered before bolting from the room. Unwilling to be left alone, Richard got to his feet and followed after him.
The trip back to the throne room was neither as slow or as quiet as the trip to the library had been. The screams were getting louder, and as they burst through the doors it was clear why. There was a huge shadow that was covering the East wall, and from that shadow hands were emerging, snaking along the floor and the walls.
“Club!” Diamond yelled as he dove for the man in question, who was being dragged along the floor without much resistance, though from the terror on his face it was clear he was everything but passive. Diamond latched onto Club’s wrists and began attempting to pull him back, but the shadow hand around his ankles didn’t seem to want to let go.
Spade was the one screaming; he still had his sword in his hand, but there was a shadow hand around his wrist squeezing it to make him drop the blade. Another had grabbed his ankle and one was grappling for his throat.
Blindly and clearly with a lack of anything else to do, Diamond raised his left hand and began shooting at the blackness, but there was no evidence that it made contact with anything. “Run!” he screamed at Richard, turning his head to face him. “Run, you fucking idiot!”
As he left the room, the last words he heard were, “And you’d better not forget what I told you!”
And so Richard ran.
Spade’s screaming had stopped; he must have been silenced, or pulled completely into the shadow, or both. The gunshots still rang out, but they were far distant, like they were coming from across a large field.
But Richard didn’t dare stop. He could barely breathe, and a stitch had formed in his side that made him feel nauseous, but he didn’t stop until he reached a dead end. Slamming hard into the wall and practically hyperventilating, he stared behind him.
The screaming had stopped.
The gunshots were gone.
“I want to go home,” Richard said, panting heavily and shaking his head. “I want to… I want to go home, I don’t want to be here, I don’t like this place!” Closing his eyes, he slammed his fist against a wall.
And then he woke up.
Sitting up in his bed, he stared around, breathing heavily. But everything was… the way that he had left it, he thought. There was something strange, yes, but… no. It had to have been the nightmare he had.
Spade, Diamond, and Club… hah. Ridiculous, really. Collapsing back against his pillows, he let the warmth of reality wash over him. There was nothing wrong with his world. It had just been a dream.
There was a small knock on his door, and he sat up again, calling, “Come in.”
A young man entered the room, carrying a silver platter with breakfast dishes. He managed a small bow without spilling anything and mumbled an embarrassed, “Good morning, Your Majesty.”
And Heart smiled at him.
And Wonderland was a golden land of peace for one hundred years as the King of Hearts ruled the land, bringing peace and prosperity with a touch of his hand.
A silver sword with a gold and red hilt hung on the wall behind the throne, a sword no one knew the origin of and was made inaccessible by the glass case surrounding it.
And Heart forgot his dream.
And Heart forgot about Spade, Diamond, and Club, save for that he read in the histories of Wonderland.
And the Dream continued to thrive.
- - -
It would suck if the story stopped here, wouldn’t it? (Don’t worry, it doesn’t.)
Author: Darth Spork
Pairing: John/Paul and George/Ringo, eventually
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Disturbing/macabre imagery, violence, language, sexual situations, alternate universe
Chapter: Three/?
Summary: Richard is the King of Hearts in the land of dreams, Wonderland - a land of death, blood, and horror, which he controls absolutely… or so he’s told. Will he be able to save himself and the previous Kings, Spade, Diamond, and Club, from an eternity in hell?
Disclaimer: I own neither The Beatles, who belong to themselves, nor the inspiration for the idea, which belongs to… Yamaha, I think, I couldn’t find too much detail on it. If you know, tell me.
Prologue.. Chapter One.. Chapter Two
A/N: Sooo… yes. Happy 2010! Pronounced either ‘two-thousand ten’, ‘twenty-ten’, or… um, ‘oh-ten’, as I’ve heard in several places. (I feel justified in calling my fellow Americans weird in this.) And many many MANY thank-yous to alexwolfchan for... well, teaching me how to link. Yes.
- - -
The words still echoed in his head as he ran down the corridor, blindly taking turns and searching desperately for an exit, screams and gunshots from far behind him seeming to follow him.
Diamond, in the distance, yelling what sounded like “Let go of him,” rage clear in his voice.
Spade, screaming “I don’t want to go,” hysterically.
Club, making no noise.
And Richard ran.
Just half an hour before (maybe more, maybe less), he had still been in the library with Diamond. Confused and scared, yes, but… not like he was now. Not terrified for his own life.
“What is this place?” Richard asked, eyeing the dusty leather chair opposite Diamond but not sitting. The other didn’t seem to care much; he was busy messing with his firearm, his eyes trained on the silver metal.
“It’s a dream, but I’m sure you already know that,” Diamond said calmly. “I probably don’t have much time to tell you this, and by all rights I should be panicking, but my emotions don’t work right anymore,” he added, almost thoughtfully, finally putting the gun down.
“…why?” Richard asked, finally sinking into the chair. As he did, he realized how exhausted he was. “It… if it’s a dream, I’ll wake up soon, right?”
Diamond stared at him before he started laughing. There was no humor in it, but there was no bitterness, either. Richard had never heard a laugh so emotionless, and he reflexively sank back into his chair to get away from the other male.
“You can’t wake up. Weren’t you listening?” Diamond asked when he stopped laughing. “We can’t wake up. None of us can. We’re trapped in this place forever. There’s nothing you can do to leave except make the best of it and hope you don’t lose favor with the Dream like we did.”
“Wh-what do you mean, lose favor with the dream?”
“Have you heard a voice? Guiding you, talking to you, one in your head that no one else can hear?” When Richard nodded, Diamond tilted his head slowly. “What did you think that was? That is the Dream, guiding you where it wants you to go. And when you lose favor with it, it will begin to change you like it changed Spade, like it changed me, like it changed Club. It couldn’t kill us, but it could change us enough that we killed ourselves.
“As far as what the whole world is… as I said, it’s a dream, but not like one you’ve ever had… or, rather, like every dream you’ve ever had,” he said as he leaned back in his own chair, gesturing towards the window. “Wonderland is a land made up of dreams and nothing else. The land is vast and almost never-ending, made up of individual, unrelated worlds connected by doors. Each land represents a dream, or a nightmare.”
“…h-how…”
“How large is it?” Diamond supplied when Richard didn’t finish his thought. “How many dreams have you had? How many nightmares have you had? Have I had? Have Spade and Club had before they were dragged into this festering hell? Every dream you or any of us have ever had is represented in a world out there somewhere, even dreams you don’t remember. There’s no way to tell how big it is because of this.”
“Why… why do you… not have… much time to tell me this?” Richard asked after licking his lips, the dryness of his mouth beginning to hurt as the sheer reality of this began attempting to sink in. It couldn’t be right. There was no way…
“Because it doesn’t want you to know,” Diamond said, tapping the table with his gun as he said each word for emphasis. “Because, while you’re the King… while you’re ALIVE… you have the ability to break out, somehow. You can do what we can’t. You can leave, if you can find a way. And it doesn’t want you to know that because if you can get out, you can get us out, too. You can find a way to kill the Dream.”
Richard stared at him. “H-how… if it’s my world, c-can’t I just…”
“No. You can’t just… just order it dead. If it was that easy… the world is yours, yes, but you can only do what the Dream allows you to do, unless you find a way around its power. But without finding a way… even with the Dream right in front of you and all the power in Wonderland, you couldn’t harm it.”
"But... y-you said the Dream brought me here, but if it doesn't want me to talk to you then..."
Laughing hollowly, Diamond shook his head. "It probably expected you to panic and cast the three of us out, which I have no doubt you would have if you had known what you could do. And for now, it's not paying atten-..."
There was a crash down the hallway and a screaming noise. Diamond leapt up as though he was going to run, but stopped, looking at Richard and now speaking very fast.
“Spade, Club, and myself were all rulers once. We could do what you can do - we could control the world - but there were other things that we could do to. Spade could control anyone with the touch of his blade, Club with his eyes, and I with my voice. You can do that too, Heart. I don’t know how. But you need to find out what you can do and use it to your advantage. But you must remember this and this is very important, do not kill anyone. Ever,” he said firmly. “Do you understand me?”
“I-I…”
“Do you understand me, Heart?”
“Y… yes… I do,” Richard said, glancing nervously behind him.
“Good,” Diamond said as he raised his gun and cocked it. “It knows I’m talking to you,” he muttered before bolting from the room. Unwilling to be left alone, Richard got to his feet and followed after him.
The trip back to the throne room was neither as slow or as quiet as the trip to the library had been. The screams were getting louder, and as they burst through the doors it was clear why. There was a huge shadow that was covering the East wall, and from that shadow hands were emerging, snaking along the floor and the walls.
“Club!” Diamond yelled as he dove for the man in question, who was being dragged along the floor without much resistance, though from the terror on his face it was clear he was everything but passive. Diamond latched onto Club’s wrists and began attempting to pull him back, but the shadow hand around his ankles didn’t seem to want to let go.
Spade was the one screaming; he still had his sword in his hand, but there was a shadow hand around his wrist squeezing it to make him drop the blade. Another had grabbed his ankle and one was grappling for his throat.
Blindly and clearly with a lack of anything else to do, Diamond raised his left hand and began shooting at the blackness, but there was no evidence that it made contact with anything. “Run!” he screamed at Richard, turning his head to face him. “Run, you fucking idiot!”
As he left the room, the last words he heard were, “And you’d better not forget what I told you!”
And so Richard ran.
Spade’s screaming had stopped; he must have been silenced, or pulled completely into the shadow, or both. The gunshots still rang out, but they were far distant, like they were coming from across a large field.
But Richard didn’t dare stop. He could barely breathe, and a stitch had formed in his side that made him feel nauseous, but he didn’t stop until he reached a dead end. Slamming hard into the wall and practically hyperventilating, he stared behind him.
The screaming had stopped.
The gunshots were gone.
“I want to go home,” Richard said, panting heavily and shaking his head. “I want to… I want to go home, I don’t want to be here, I don’t like this place!” Closing his eyes, he slammed his fist against a wall.
And then he woke up.
Sitting up in his bed, he stared around, breathing heavily. But everything was… the way that he had left it, he thought. There was something strange, yes, but… no. It had to have been the nightmare he had.
Spade, Diamond, and Club… hah. Ridiculous, really. Collapsing back against his pillows, he let the warmth of reality wash over him. There was nothing wrong with his world. It had just been a dream.
There was a small knock on his door, and he sat up again, calling, “Come in.”
A young man entered the room, carrying a silver platter with breakfast dishes. He managed a small bow without spilling anything and mumbled an embarrassed, “Good morning, Your Majesty.”
And Heart smiled at him.
And Wonderland was a golden land of peace for one hundred years as the King of Hearts ruled the land, bringing peace and prosperity with a touch of his hand.
A silver sword with a gold and red hilt hung on the wall behind the throne, a sword no one knew the origin of and was made inaccessible by the glass case surrounding it.
And Heart forgot his dream.
And Heart forgot about Spade, Diamond, and Club, save for that he read in the histories of Wonderland.
And the Dream continued to thrive.
- - -
It would suck if the story stopped here, wouldn’t it? (Don’t worry, it doesn’t.)