Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When she stepped off the bus, Jupiter was immediately assaulted by the scent of burning incense, rotting, weather beaten wood, and a heaping helping of too much fresh air. The asphalt road stops abruptly, and a rugged looking dirt path takes its place. The camp is nowhere in sight.

“Where are we?” She asks. “Where’s the-”

The bus driver, a scruffy middle aged man, whose shirt is embroidered with the name ‘ Ichabod’, scratched his stubbly chin and sighs. “Sorry kid, can’t take the bus off road, it’ll ruin ‘er wheels,” He points up the path. “You’ll ‘ave to walk the rest of the way,”

Jupiter glances at the path again. “How long a walk?”

Ichabod starts up the bus again, the engine tittering slightly before roaring to life. “‘Bout two miles,”

She hangs her head with a huff, briefly, before looking at the scraggly gentleman once again with a polite smile on her face. “Thank you for driving me up, here sir. Have a good day,”

He nods curtly. “You too,” Then closes the bus doors. Jupiter watches with defeat as her only means of escape from this wretched camp slowly backs up. She would wave him down, tell him to bring her home, but she can’t. That’s not what good girls do. She snaps her hair tie against her wrist.

It’s only when the bus is as good as gone that Jupiter turns on her heels and starts the long trek towards the camp, and ultimately, her prison.

~~~~~

Jupiter walks along, sweaty, worn out, and completely done with the shit that was shoved into her life unwillingly. She passes trees, both dead and somewhat alive, hoards of undermanaged brush and vines, and dark, menacing shadows, cast by the trees, like hands reaching out to take something precious from her. The incense smell gets stronger with each step she takes, it’s prominent odor making it hard to breath. She hopes she’ll get used to the awful stench during her time at camp, but something tells her she won’t. Her determined steps soon turned into half-hearted shuffling as she fatigued more and more. She doesn’t know how far she’s walked, but hopes she’s at least somewhat close.

That’s when she hears it. Her ears perk up when she hears the sound of a strumming guitar, followed by a voice that she can tell is extremely offkey. Jupiter both internally groans and cheers at the realization that she’s almost there. She trudges along the final few meters until she reaches a clearing and a large decaying wooden archway.  There appears to be words engraved at the top of the arch, but most of them faded away, all except for the faint remnants of the word ‘God’. Jupiter shivers. She urges herself to walk forward, but she’s stuck in her place, eyes glued to her ‘holy creator’s name’. Minutes, hell, even hours seem to pass before she’s snapped out of her trance. Someone was calling out to her. Jupiter’s eyes drift down until the reach a tall, stupid looking  (she snaps her hair tie) man, waving at her and shouting something incoherent. Her legs feel like lead, but she moves anyways

As she gets closer, she can finally make out what the man is saying.

“Hey there camper! What were you doing standin’ out there? I’d been yellin’ at ya, but you weren’t movin’!”

Jupiter gives the man a tight lipped smile, and her fingers itch to snap at the hair tie.. “...Just lost in thought,”

 “If ya say so! Well, welcome to the Summer Scouts! Everybody calls me The Captain, what do they call you?” He asks, in a not so thoughtful manner.

“...Jupiter…” She says slowly.

“Alright, Jupiter ,” She detects sarcasm in his voice when he said her name. “You’re a few minutes late and missed cabin placement, but that's no problem, we’ll find you somewhere to go,”  The Captain sets a heavy hand on Jupiter’s shoulder, and it takes everything she has not to wince. “Come on, let’s walk and talk, eh?” He doesn’t give her a choice, however, and starts guiding her along with him.

~~~~~

“Do you know why you’re here, Jupiter?” The Captain asks as they walk along a dirt path. Jupiter hasn’t seen any other campers outside. It was quiet, except for the wind whistling through the branches of the trees and The Captain’s voice.

“...Because I’m a bad kid?” She says.

“I don’t really like the term bad kid, but yes. God feels that the way you are goes against what he believes is right, so you were sent here. He believes that we will fix you, make you a better person,”

“Uh, yeah…”

“So Jupiter, why do you think God has it out for you, hmm?” He looks down at her, and it’s hard not to laugh at his idiotic face (she snaps at her wrist). “Why are you such a bad kid?”

“...Uh...I d-don’t know sir...I…” Jupiter trails off.

The Captain is silent for a moment before he looks away, muttering something to himself. He Looked back down at Jupiter with a smile so obviously fake it made her cringe. “Alright Jupiter. Most of the cabins are already filled up, but I know there's one cabin that you’ll fit right into,” The grip on her shoulder tightens as The Captain speeds them towards an isolated cabin on the far side of the clearing, neatly tucked into a grove of  smaller trees. It doesn’t look to dilapidated much to Jupiter’s relief, but the over structural soundness is questionable. As the two get closer, Jupiter sees that the screen door is hanging off its hinges, revealing the inner portion of the building, and from what she  can see, it doesn’t look too pleasant.

“This here is Group West’s cabin, which is the group you’ll be apart of,” The Captain says as he slows down a bit. “I think there’s one other group member so far, the last has yet to arrive, but when they do come, I’ll direct them over here,”

“Okay,” She says, fighting the urge to shrug him off her shoulder.

He eventually does, but only for a second as he turns you around to face him with his other hand. “Listen up camper. You’ll be required to where the camp uniform while you're here, so I’ll be taking-” He grabbed Jupiter’s duffel bag out of her hand. “-this,”

“Oh, um okay, yes sir? ...But what about toiletries or, um, underwear?” She asked.

“We’ll have a counselor return them to you after going through your bag, okay? Okay. Have fun getting settled in, and see you at the bonfire later tonight!” Then he’s off, Jupiter’s belongings in tow. She wants to run after him and take her things back, but she decides against it. There are bigger fish to fry anyways, like dealing with her possible troublesome cabin mates. She turns toward the rundown cabin and takes a deep breath.

This was going to be a long summer.

Chapter Text

Jupiter listened to the eerie wind whistling through the gaps in the wood of her new home away from home. The broken screen door clattered against the door frame; that’s gonna cause a headache later on. It’ll be impossible to fall asleep at night with all of that racket. From what she could see, there were no windows, but that really didn’t matter, because the gaps in the wood were so large you could stick your hand through them. Whoever constructed this cabin must be an idiot, because no one in their right mind could have EVER thought that a structure such as this could be lived in.

Jupiter guesses the Captain built it..

Through the spaces in the wall, she could see a faint outline of someone sitting on what she thinks is a bed. They seem to be hunched over, their head hanging low. Jupiter takes a deep breath, and mentally prepares herself to meet her cabin mate. “Time to make a good impression,” she whispers. She started towards the cabin, the loose dirt on the slightly overgrown path made little dust clouds around her feet. She gripped the door handle firmly, and opened the door.

She pulled a little too hard.

The already broken screen door became more broken, and no longer attached to the frame. Jupiter staggered backwards at the sudden give of the door, and fell on her ass. The door fell beside her with a soft thud, like a dead end domino.

“O-oh my gosh, are you okay?” someone asked. Jupiter looked up to see the fluffiest hair she’s ever seen. Standing in the (doorless) doorway was a girl with white hair that was so goddamned fluffy, she just wanted to reach out and pet it. Her face was innocent looking, with large blue doe eyes that would make any hardcore deer hunter feel guilty. Clutched protectively against her chest was a book, which she must have been reading before Jupiter had so rudely interrupted her. Jupiter just stared, sort of dazed by this girl’s beauty, and sort of dazed from falling.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Jupiter finally said as she started to get up.

“You sure?” The girl asked, her grip on the book loosening.

“Yeah, yeah, totally fine,” Jupiter said, now fully on her feet. She glanced down at the door. “Sorry about the door.”

The girl’s eyes drifted down to the fallen object. “It’s okay. That thing was getting on my nerves anyway... I was going to fix it later, but…” She trailed off, her eyes scanning the ground. An awkward silence fell over the two of them.

“I’m Jupiter,” She blurted out suddenly. The other girl jumped, obviously startled by her sudden outburst.

“Ah, um, I’m Venus,” The girl says, followed by a tight lipped smile. “It’s nice to meet you, I think,”

“You think?” Jupiter asks, eyebrows raised.

“Uh, well, I don’t know you yet,” Venus says. “For all I know, you could be some sort of masochist, or a terrorist, or a terrible person in general, or a…” Again, she trails off. “Sorry, I’m rambling,”

Jupiter smiles. “It’s fine, I do it too. And don’t worry, I’m not a masochist, terrorist, or a terrible person. I think,”

This makes Venus laugh, Jupiter doesn’t know why, but she smiles nonetheless. The silence soon returns.

“Ah, um, would you like to come in?” Venus asks. Jupiter nods awkwardly and follows Venus into the cabin.

It’s even worse on the inside then it is on the outside.

The floor is deteriorated heavily, with boards missing from some places. A single, moth eaten rug is in the middle of the room, and it’s the color of shit and sorrow. A bare lightbulb hangs from the ceiling, casting harsh light on the small room. There are four beds, all pushed into different corners of the cabin, and only two of them have pillows. The threadbare blankets spread out on the mattresses are a pumice grey, except for one, which is a slightly pinker than the rest. Venus has already claimed the bed with said blanket and a pillow. Set on each bed, except Venus’s, is a pair of black slacks and a white shirt with a cross embroidered on the breast pocket, which is what Venus is currently wearing, and a black covered book. Judging from the cross printed on the front flap, it’s probably the holy bible.

“So um…” Venus says. “...what do you think?”

“It’s awful,” Jupiter says sitting on the other bed supplied with a pillow.

“Yep. But it could be a lot worse,”

Jupiter shrugs and picks up her uniform. “So are we really required to wear these?”

Venus nods. “Yeah. I already asked the Captain.” She watches Jupiter unfold the clothes. “Oh, um, I can turn around if you’d like…”

Jupiter laughs dryly. “Yeah s-sure,” She snaps her hair tie as Venus turns away, then pulls on the supplied clothing. As she starts to fold up her discarded jean, she tells Venus she can look again. To her dismay, the shirt is a little too large, and the pants are a little too long, but it’s nothing that she couldn’t handle. She slips on her military jacket, not caring if the Captain doesn’t approve of it. She’d rather die than have someone take away her precious jacket.

“These clothes smell like incense. Why does everything smell like incense?” She asks.

Venus shrugs. “I don’t know, but it kind of makes me nauseous,” She clutches the bible against her stomach.

“Just don’t puke on me, alright?” Jupiter says with a smirk as she leans back on her bed.

Venus laughs nervously. “A-alright.”

The cabin goes quiet. Jupiter glances up to see Venus was hunched over, her head buried in the bible. She lets her head fall on the bed again. She stares at the ceiling. The lack of rafters make the roof look unstable, like it could fall on them at any second. A spider web is hanging above Jupiter. It doesn’t seem to be finished, for it’s quite small, but it already looks intricately made. The spider is nowhere in sight. Jupiter wishes she could be a spider. To make a web so beautiful would be so satisfying. She’d find someway to fuck it up though. She always fucks things up.

“You asleep over there?” Venus asks.

“Just about,” Jupiter murmurs without looking up.

“You should nap then. I can wake you up when it’s time to go to the bonfire,”

“That’d be great thanks,” She shuts her eyes.

“No problem,” Venus says. “Sweet dreams,”

Chapter Text

She woke up to a bright flash, blinding her even though her eyes were closed. It was as if a picture was being taken.

Jupiter's eyes flutter open, and her heart almost stops. An angel is standing above her, the harsh lighting casting an ethereal glow around her. Her dark skin looked smooth, her ombre hair soft looking, and her eyes....fuck... (if she wasn't frozen in place, she would have snapped her hair tie against her wrist hard enough to bleed).

"Status update. Stuck in this miserable camp, in the middle of miserable nowhere, in a miserable cabin, stuck with miserable looking people. Can't wait to spend all of my days with these losers." She says, in a gorgeously gravelly voice.

She looks down at Jupiter, a bored look in her eyes. "That better not be the only other fucking pillow."
Jupiters entire body seems to go numb, but after a moment, she finally works up the nerve to babble something totally unintelligible.
"Uh, I- who? Wha-"

"Hello? Habla usted Inglas?" She shouted, her hands on her hips. She turns around. "Is she okay?"

Somewhere behind this girl, Venus stammers an apology. "U-uh, I don't k-know Neptune, I mean, we've hardly talked, and she broke a door, and fell asleep-"

"Great, two useless bastards." She mumbled, going to sit on one of the beds, sticking her nose straight into her phone.
Jupiter had no idea what was going on - she was still dazed from her nap. She looked at Venus, who looked on the verge of a panic attack. At this point, Jupiter thought she might have one too.

They said nothing to each for nearly an hour. The girl sat on her phone, Venus eventually pulled out her bible and started reading versus under her breath, and Jupiter twisted her hair tie around on her wrist, making it tighter, tighter, cutting off her blood flow, and tighter still.

"So, you two are gay right?"
The girl had broken the silence, with this...unnerving question.

Venus was the first to respond, sputtering with confusion. "What? Wh-what is that supposed to mean why are you assuming-"
"Well this is a gay conversion camp after all, right?" She says, nonchalantly leaning against the rickety headboard. "They sent you here for being 'bad' right?"

"Yes." Jupiter says dryly. That's what her mother had said. She was bad bad bad, not her little girl, bad twisted evil awful, just like dad-
"Oh, so she does speak." The girl says with a smirk. "So why are you bad, huh? Who decided that you were awful enough to be sent here?"
Jupiter's throat suddenly felt like it was full of sand - she could barely breath. "Uh..."

"Wait no, lemme guess." She says, sitting up, a devilish grin on her face. "Hmm okay, so your just a baby dyke, straight out of the closet, right? You've always been mommy and daddy's good little girl - going with them to church every Wednesday and Sunday. But then you get the urge to kiss this cute little christian girl in the pew a few rows ahead. You try to make a move, she tells her parents, suddenly your mommy and daddy's little disappointment, so they send you here, want you to get fixed up right." All while she's talking, she's looking directly into Jupiter's eyes, unwavering.
Jupiter blinks. "Th-that's not exactly what happened." So far from the truth, but at the same time, not wrong at all.

The girl leans back again. "No kidding? Damn, what other fucked up shit could you have done?" She doesn't wait for an answer, and instead looks at Venus, who cowers under her intense gaze. "What about you huh? Murder? Drug trafficking? Making out with a girl?"

Venus started stammering nervously, but before she could answer, our good pal the Captain knocked on the door frame of our now doorless cabin.

"Hay hay group West! I see you all are here now! Fantastic! Our very first bonfire will begin in just a couple of minutes, and followed by that will be movie time! I don't want you all being late now!" He made direct eye contact with every one of us, stopping on Jupiter. His eyes burned holes into hers, and she looked away. "Or you'll be pretty sorry!"

With that he left, his heavy footsteps fading slowly away. The girl stuck her middle finger up to where the Captain was previously standing. "What a fucking buzzkill." She mumbled, pulling her phone out from under her thigh - she must have been hiding it from the Captain.
Venus was wringing her hands nervously. "Uh, do you think we should leave? I m-mean, he said bonfire was in a few minutes...and I don't wanna find out what would happen if we're late..."
"Oh come on Venus, the Captain is bullshit and can't do anything to actually hurt us." The girl says. "He's bluffing, and clearly too much of a pussy to actually do anything."

"I mean..." Jupiter says meekly. "..a bonfire and movie is better than this." She gestures to the crumbling roof and deteriorating walls.

The girl seems to think for a second before sighing dramatically. "I GUESS your right. We're gonna have to sleep here, and I wanna spend as much time away from 'here' as possible."
Suddenly, she stands up, and like clockwork, Venus and Jupiter stand up too. "Let's go, chop chop, we only gotta few minutes until the captain tortures us with shitty half-assed threats."

Venus is out the door like a shot, her bible in hand, dreading what the captain had said, even though the girl had reassured her that he was bluffing. Jupiter is about to follow, when the girl grabs her arm, stopping her heart and her gait.
"I'm Neptune." She says softly, before stepping through the door and joining Venus on the path.

Jupiter's stomach is full of tiny angels - her heart too- cuz it can't stop fluttering. The place where she - Neptune - had touched her burns cold, like ice, but in a good way. After maybe a second, she snaps out of this love struck daze and stiffly walks down the path as well, snapping her hair tie enough times for a thin strip of blood to appear underneath it.