Work Text:
Time loops have consequences. The Woods knows that, of course they do, and yet, it never really hit them just how hard time loops can hurt until they saw the other side.
The Woods finds Jane interesting. It’s a simple fact, that’s why Carter and Jane were pulled in in the first place. The Woods likes interesting things. When they find something interesting, they want it for themselves. Maybe that’s selfish, but The Woods don’t care. They want, so they get.
The Woods likes to watch her as she tries and tries again to break the loop and leave the woods, as if that was still possible. She always does human things, make mistakes, and have emotions that The Woods can’t understand. The Woods feels they won’t ever get bored of living the loop again and again.
Until she does.
She gets bored. She gives up. She gets tired. Eventually, she goes again. But the emotion is no longer there. She’s starting to grey out, die down. She redoes the loop in silence, no change in her face, no energy.
And it’s boring.
The Woods knows that humans can be predictable, but they still thought they were more interesting to watch than this! They hate being bored. So, they look for what is still interesting in this time loop before they move on to something better.
The Woods watches the loop a few times before they realize they know what they want to see, and it technically exists outside of the loop Jane and The Woods know.
There is a moment that happens every time the loop resets. Jane walks through the portal, sent back to the beginning of the loop, where Carter greets her. Except that isn’t the same Carter that she leaves back behind the portal, and The Woods wants to know what that Carter does.
The loop approaches the end. Jane begrudgingly goes through the motions, opening the portal, arguing with The Woods, telling Carter goodbye. The Woods doesn’t jump to the other side of the loop just yet. They stay back, their eyes on Carter curiously.
Carter watches Jane go, a moment of silence drags on until Carter bursts into tears.
The Woods jumps back in surprise. Humans are much too emotional. Carter crumbles to his knees, shaking. Alice sits up holding her head. She sighs.
“Carter, Im sorry.”
Carter rolls in on himself, now sobbing into his folded arms.
Alice pats his shoulder. She locks eyes with The Woods, shooting daggers.
“All you do is tear people apart. I hope you’re happy.” She says, before storming out of the watch tower.
The Woods contemplates. They aren’t necessarily happy or sad, just curious. The Woods creeps closer to the devastated Carter. Carter tries to wipe his eyes, tries to take deep breaths, but each one leads into another breakdown. The Woods doesn’t care for this, seeing some one in this much grief. Sure they like trouble and mischief, but this is just misery. And it’s not very interesting.
“Carter.” The Woods tries to break him out. Carter cries.
“Caaaar-teerrrr” The Woods sing-songs. Carter weeps.
The Woods sits down in front of him, takes his face between his hands and lifts his head. “Carter!”
Carter gasps, trying to catch his breath as he looks at The Woods.
“Stop crying.”
“What?” Carter asks, his voice breaking.
“Can you stop crying? I don’t like it.”
“Oh. Oh you don’t like it? Well how about this, I don’t like being here. I don’t like that I am now here alone forever. I don’t like that I told Jane to go live her life knowing damn well I was going to die here without her. And I don’t like you!” Carter spits out at him. He starts breathing heavily, losing his composure.
“Carter. Don’t do that. It’s no fun. This isn’t fun.” The Woods is getting aggravated. And yet, this is something new, and different.
Carter pushes The Woods away from him, curling back in on himself.
The Woods rolles their eyes. They needed a different tactic. What was it that humans used? That Alice tried to do? Comfort? Empathy?
The Woods reached out their hand to Carter, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Carter was warm, something The Woods couldn’t really convey.
“This isn’t the end.” The Woods said simply. Carter lifted his teary eyes.
“There are other timelines, and in most of them, you are still by her side.”
Carter sniffled. “Really?”
“Of course. Time is endless, just like friendships.”
Carter laughed miserably. “Friendship.” He hands his head.
“You’ve stopped crying.”
“Yeah. I guess I feel a little better knowing that somewhere, in some time, we’re together.”
The Woods smiles. This was more interesting. They realized they were still holding Carter’s hand, but they didn’t want to pull it away. It was warmer than when they first touched. The Woods had not felt something like this before. They’re used to the warmth of the sun, but this felt different.
The Woods likes different.
——————
The Woods decided they liked this timeline. Somewhere, Jane’s torture continues, and a different version of themself is there with her. But here, The Woods watches Carter wander around, lost.
The Woods loves making people feel lost, but they don’t even have to try this time. He walks through the woods and he sleeps at the trunk of a tree. The Woods watch from afar, hanging on Carter’s every move. As soon as he stops being so sad, who knows what he will do? Maybe his grief will lead him to wreck havoc, and that would be so fun.
Carter mopes about. The Woods would normally be fed up with so much human emotion, but something about Carter makes The Woods not want to look away. Carter spends another whole day meandering. He stopped in a clearing to watch the sunset, and that’s where he fell asleep.
It gets cold in the woods at night, and for some reason, The Woods is worried about Carter.
The Woods watches the night tick on into the colder temperatures. Carter begins to shiver in his sleep. The Woods stands over him, feeling something inside them that makes them want to help.
They demand that the woods bend into a shelter for him. Trees bend and snap into a small hut and mud flows out from the ground to bind and fill the gaps. Straw and grass roll together into a roof, and finally, The Woods snaps his fingers into a fire which he sets on the ground near Carter. They watch the boy as he begins to warm up with a smile spreading on his face. They feel a warmth inside them that is entirely different from what the fire is emitting.
The Woods doesn’t understand what’s happening inside them. They never help, or pay too much attention to a human, or feel…whatever it is they feel.
Carter’s eyes flutter open and he sits up with a jerk. He notices The Woods first, then the fire, and finally the hut. He turns back to The Woods.
“What’s this?”
“Humans don’t prefer sleeping on the ground, do they? And you were doing that shakey human thing that means you’re cold.”
“Shivering.”
“Right.”
“So, you built this for me? And gave me fire?”
The Woods smiles, a small nod.
“Why?” Carter asks, but he scoots closer to the fire.
“I…didn’t like seeing you shiver, is all. The Woods takes care of its inhabitants because I like them. Why else would I choose to keep them here?”
“You, like me?”
The Woods contemplates this. “Yes. I like you. You can be very fun to watch. And you have that human warmth.”
“I have the what?” Carter asks, wide eyed.
“You know, the…” The Woods has trouble describing it, so instead they sit down in front of Carter, knees touching. The fire lights up their fronts, their faces, and their hands, the rest of the woods beyond this bubble of light. The Woods grabs his hand and places their palm to it. It’s warm, like last time.
Carter, eyes still wide, looks from their touching palms to The Woods face and back to their hands. His brows furrow in the flickering light, which make The Woods remember even more why they love humans. Humans have cute faces, that’s why The Woods made their physical manifestation to look like them.
“I don’t understand.” Carter finally says, “You aren’t warm?”
The Woods takes his hand and places it squarely on the front of his chest. It feels like nothing. It feels like smooth bark on a tree, hard and cold. Carter tilts his head.
“Hm.”
“What is hm?”
“Hm? Oh, just a filler word. The way I said it just expresses that I am kind of surprised and intrigued. Americans use the Hm sound a lot to express confusion—but I’m rambling now.”
“You say hm because you weren’t expecting cold.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“So you prefer warm?”
“Uh, yeah I guess?”
“Warm human skin?”
“You sound really creepy right now, like, more than usual.”
“I’m sorry. I just want to understand. Why would humans prefer other warm skin when they are warm too?”
“Well if it’s really cold we use each others body heat to stay warm by sleeping together. But most of the time, it’s not so much about the temperature as it is about the touch. It’s a connection.”
“Connection. So,” Starts The Woods, lacing their fingers with Carter and watching him blink down at their hands, “when our fingers are locked, we are, in a way, connected.”
Carter looks tense, grimaces, then pulls away from The Woods completely, walking over to the hut entrance.
“Carter, did something happen?”
Carter looks back at The Woods and now he seems angry, the shadows exaggerating his tense eyebrows. “Yes. I lost Jane, that’s what happened.” He says before disappearing into the hut.
The Woods stays sat by the fire, looking towards the hut where Carter went. They try to work through in their head why Carter got so angry so quickly and why he was still upset about Jane, but they can’t easily work through human emotions. Carter’s emotions were now unpredictable.
And The Woods loves unpredictable.
——————
The Woods spends the night watching the more night owl creatures move about the woods. They see the inhabitants go in pairs and groups to their different locations, parties, and shelters. The woods aren’t all that bad, they think. They watch as humans and other creatures alike do things like dance, and hug, and hold hands, and occasionally kiss.
A connection.
The Woods likes many creatures, and they like to pull them into their dimension, own them, and watch them.
But to like something enough that they want to touch, to connect, has never occurred.
Except now, The Woods finds themselves haunted with memories of Carter touching their chest, laced fingers, touching knees, and even touching gazes. The Woods tries not to think about him to distract themselves from wanting more. It doesn’t help. They find themselves outside of the hut by dawn, feeding the falling fire as the morning dew lays over the field.
“Lovely. You’re here.” Carter says as he steps out of his hut that morning.
“I watched the fire for you.” The Woods said.
“Wooooow, thaaaanks.” Carter says sarcastically.
The Woods frowns, angry humans don’t touch each other except to harm. The Woods wishes Carter wasn’t angry.
“Isn’t this a good thing to do? Watch over you? Protect you?”
“I don’t need any of that.”
“Why not? You can die for good in the woods, you know.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Carter says as he begins gathering the softest grass and hay and dragging it into the hut.
“Why doesn’t it matter?” The Woods says, feeling hurt.
“I died when Jane went through that portal.” He says.
The Woods wants to roll their eyes again, but Carter’s voice broke when he said it, and something broke inside The Woods too.
The Woods goes to the door of the hut and looks inside. Carter made a makeshift bed of sorts and is laying on it, his eyes are open.
“Can’t you just leave me alone?” Carter says, not even looking at The Woods.
“No.” The Woods says with a sigh.
“Yes, you can. Please.”
“I can’t. The woods is a place for creatures to have a second chance at life, and you aren’t living it.”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“Because…” The Woods tried to come up with an answer that makes sense, “I don’t want to watch you die. I pulled you here because I like watching you live, not die. That’s no fun.”
Carter says nothing, staring straight ahead.
“If I gift you food, will you eat?”
“No.”
“If I gift you water will you drink?”
“No.”
“If I—“
“No! No! Why can’t you just fuck off somewhere!”
The Woods looks for a moment more before turning and leaving. They decide they’re going to bring him food no matter what he says. He is human, he will get hungry.
The Woods snaps their fingers and kills a deer a few miles away. They use the wind to bring them the deer and begin cleaning it. In moments, The Woods has deer meat cooking over the fire. The Woods doesn’t need to eat ever, but even they know that this smells tasty.
As the scent fills the field around The Woods, they find themselves looking towards the hut again and again. They realize they’re looking for Carter, hoping he comes out. The Woods wants to be in his presence again.
The minutes drag on, the meat almost fully cooked, and The Woods was ready to just leave the food for Carter and go check on the rest of the woods. But just as they were about to leave, a sleepy-looking Carter peeks out of the door to where The Woods is skewering the meat.
Carter stood in the doorway looking at the food, rubbing his eye and squinting in the afternoon sun.
He looks…cute. The Woods is startled at how fond they feel looking at this sleepy boy. They don’t understand how they feel.
He is still looking at the food. The Woods holds out a meat skewer to him. “Would you like some?”
Carter looks at them, then back at the food. His stomach rumbles loudly. The Woods grins.
“Your stomach spoke for you. Here, it’s for you.” The Woods says handing it to him. Carter accepts and sits cross legged opposite The Woods.
“Did you sleep well?” They ask.
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad.”
“But I woke up and I’m still here.”
The Woods didn’t know what to say to that. They watched Carter eat in silence.
“Why did you do this.” He asks.
“I already told you. I like you.”
Carter looks at them over his skewer. “Stop saying that.”
“Saying what?”
“Saying that you like me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not…human. You don’t know what it implies.”
“Then explain it to me.”
“…no.”
“Why not!?”
Carter sighs. “You can’t like me in the way humans like other humans.”
“I think I can. I think I do.”
“Fine. Explain to me why you like me and I’ll tell you if it’s the same.”
“Uh, okay,” The Woods starts, looking at Carter and contemplating all the aspects that they like, “I like your emotions. I like your choices. I like your wisdom. I like your interest in things. I like your excitement. I like your wonder. I like your intelligence, and your ignorance. I like how you look cute—“
Carter chokes, coughing and turning red. “What!?”
“What?”
“You—why did you say that?”
“You asked me to.”
“I didn’t expect you to call me…to call me cute!”
“Oh, okay.”
“No, not okay!”
“Should I not have said it?”
Carter looks at The Woods with wide eyes, searching all over their face. “I really don’t understand you.”
The Woods smiles even brighter, scooting closer to him. “I don’t understand you either, that’s another reason that I like you.” They say, only inches away now.
Carters face turns red, his palms sweaty and he tries to understand what is happening between them.
“You’re turning a different color. Humans are like magic.”
“I…” Carter starts, but he doesn’t seem to have any words.
The Woods wants to touch Carter again, to have that connection that he explained humans have. Holding hands was nice, and they want that again. Maybe then a hug. Maybe more.
“Can you show me again how humans connect?”
Carter gulps. He sets the empty skewer down into the grass, glowing amber with the beginning of the sun set. He looks at The Woods’s hands.
“We did just this last time, right?” Carter says, grabbing one of their hands in his.
“Yes. And this.” They say, bringing a hand to their chest. Carter looks into their eyes.
“Okay. Well, there’s a thing called a hug.”
“Yes! I think this is the cutest. Humans make little arm pretzels around each other!” The Woods says, grinning. “Show me?”
Carter chuckles in disbelief. “You are so odd.” He says before quickly putting his arms around The Woods. The Woods feels like all the air leaves them as they are pulled close to Carter. Their head falls in place over Carter’s shoulder. The Woods sighs into it, a warm feeling seeping into them. They want this all the time. They want this connection, and they don’t want it with just any human, they want it with Carter.
They pull away and Carter is looking at them with a look The Woods doesn’t understand. Carter’s hands are still on their shoulders. He drops his gaze.
“I don’t want to feel the way I do about you right now.” Carter nearly whispers.
“Why not?” The Woods asks, leaning in closer.
“Because it’s too soon after Jane left and I feel like I don’t even know you and I don’t think it’s even possible for me to feel the way I do about you as a celestial being. But I don’t know what the fuck to do with it.”
“What is it? What do you feel?”
Carter looks up at The Woods again. He leans forward, slowly. The Woods gasps as Carter leans in all the way and touches his lips to The Woods’s own.
It’s gentle. And yet, it sets off a spark.
It feels like a thousand bird wings fluttering inside the heart of The Woods. It melts over them, warming them up on the inside like sun rays that shine through the leaves of the canopy of trees. It’s soft, softer than velvet vines that climb the bark of the birch. And it sparks, like rock hitting metal.
Carter’s lips slot between The Woods’s and press forward. Carter’s eyes have slipped closed so The Woods closes theirs. Carter’s mouth moves minutely, twisting his head and pursing his lips onto The Woods’s. The Woods slides their hands up to his chin, holding him close.
They pull away after a moment, only a few inches between them. Carter looks lovely, eyes hazy and lips pink.
The Woods sighs. They have never felt anything quite like that.
“A connection, right?” The Woods asks.
“R-right.” Carter responds. He slides back to sitting cross legged and The Woods settles back onto their hands. The sun is nearly fully set, filtering through the line of trees at the far end of the field. The Woods focuses on that in their nervousness. They have never felt nervous around a human before now.
Carter breathes out all of a sudden, then flings back onto his back, laying in the grass. The Woods watches him for a moment before laying down with him, beside him.
“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Carter says, looking to the sky.
“Me either.” The Woods says. “I’ve never even seen this possible timeline. I have no idea what comes next.”
“That must be scary.”
“No. It’s new, so it’s fun. It gets way too boring knowing what’s going to happen. It’s endless, and I love endless.”
“You can love?”
“Sure. I love lots of things. Birds, humans, creatures, morning dew, syrup.”
“Syrup?”
“It’s the best kind of tree sap.”
Carter chuckles.
“I love that too.”
“What?”
“Laughter. I learned it from humans. I learn lots of things from humans. I love them so much I created a physical body to look like them.” The Woods runs their fingers through their hair.
Carter pauses, just looking at The Woods. “You’re more human than I thought you’d be.”
The Woods’s heart leaps. That made them feel very good about themselves. “And is that okay?”
Carter smiles, his eyes shining in the last rays of sun. He scoots closer and The Woods feels his hand slip into theirs. It’s always so warm.
“I love it.”