Archive of Our Own

the darkest version of me

Set from 2x07 onwards

Ricky Owens:

The day Professor Pericles came back to his life was the best and worst day of his life, Ricky Owens decided. He looked at the picture from when they were young. Before he got the scar (how did he get that, Ricky always wondered. Did it happen when they were all on their own? Was it the Freak who did it? ), before the Freak, before the abandoned church. Before the planispheric disc had ever come into their lives.

Ah, he was in it now. He grumbled to himself as he stood up, shuffling over to the room he had built for himself in this underground bunker of his. He wished he had let Pericles talk to him earlier. Despite the betrayal still feeling fresh as a new wound, he had a soft spot for the bird.

He wondered if his life would ever be normal again. A CEO who could just live his life in peace. Ricky (Mr. E, really. He had expected the kids to realize it right away, but they were dumber than he thought. Even Velma) went over to the room and lifted a small floorboard. He hid it like he was still a child hiding sweets under the floorboard in his closet (which Pericles had found in about two of being in his room).

He blew off the dust off the old photo album.  It was one of the few things he was able to snag in the twelve hours the Freak had given them to get out of Crystal Cove. Opening to the first page, it was a picture of the five of them. Brad, Judy, Pericles, himself, and of course, Cassidy.

The sight of her filled him with both anger and...sadness. She was better than him. He knew it. Why hadn’t she stayed consumed like the rest of them. The treasure was always in the back burner of his mind. But it seemed she had broken free of the curse. Or at least she had hidden that she wasn’t.

It almost made him laugh. They had both been living in Crystal Cove for the past 15 years again. Never being able to stay away. They had both silently came back after five years of their exile, under names that would disguise them. He became an entrepreneur, starting Destroido for better or for worse. She had become a DJ, and a radio show host.

When he had seen her for the first time, it was three years after they had come back. The voice on the radio always sounded eerily familiar, but he had never put his finger on why. He was too busy growing Destroido, too busy planning on how to get the disc. He had seen her crossing the street, in the clothes she always said she hated, and he recognized her instantly. Their eyes had locked and quickly looked away.

A few months later he knocked at her door. He couldn’t help himself. He knew he should’ve stayed to himself, carry out his plan, and get the treasure like he deserved, but he couldn’t. At the end of the day, he wasn’t Mr. E as he had branded himself once he came into business, he was Ricky Owens. A boy who missed his friends, who missed the parrot ever on his shoulder, and someone who missed Cassidy Williams.

It wasn’t unlike the first time they met. He came over to her and she turned away immediately. She slammed the door in his face after saying it wasn’t safe.

But neither of them could stay away for long.   Ending sourly as it had ended before when it had started so sweet.

He still remembered when they were locked in the salon. Warning her that Brad and Judy were coming back for Fred and the disc. Admitting that he once loved her to no response from her. She had said that the kids were better than them and in that moment he knew she knew everything. Only about to storm out when they were locked in together for a couple of hours.

She had started panicking silently after a few minutes of being unable to get out and Ricky had felt himself soften. It reminded him of the days before they were consumed and their most worrying things were a test at school tomorrow. He had said her name with more kindness than in the past twenty years.

(“Angel,” he had said out of habit.

“Cassidy,” she said with gritted teeth, trying to force the door open, calling for help but none came. “I’m not hiding anymore.”

“Okay, just move away from the door, something hit it. It’s not going to move,” he said, keeping his voice oddly even. Curse the soft spot he kept for her.

“Then you do it,” she spit out, and in the moment he couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear that was in her voice. She never liked small spaces.

“Someone’s gonna come eventually, stuff like this always happens in this cursed town, doesn’t it?”

“Stuff like employing kids, right?” she shot back at him.

“I wouldn’t have to if you would get close to them. Face it, Cassidy, you still want this as much as I do.”

“Have you ever thought that we shouldn’t give into every urge that comes to us? You’ve become Pericles.”

It struck a nerve and he glared at her, the lights dark around them. “No. I haven’t. I just haven’t lost my nerve like you have.”

“Not nerve, obsession.”

“You were always quick to judge, weren’t you?” he said, annoyed at how quickly he let himself become irritated. “Perfect little Cassidy who’s never done a wrong thing in her life like the rest of them.”

“You always thought I was naive, even after the quarry, but I know what you did at the lighthouse. And Brad on the cliff.”

He blinked. “What?” Brad on a cliff? The lighthouse was something he hadn’t thought about in years, admittedly, but he never heard of something with Brad on a cliff.

She scoffed. “I’m not doing what you want. I doubt those kids will be your pawns anymore.”

“They’ll do what I want,” he said, rolling his eyes. He may have lost Velma, but he had other spies. “I own this town. Godforsaken as it is.”

“So why did you come back?”

The question surprised him, much like she looked surprised when she asked if. She slumped against the door, wrapping her arms around her knees like she did when she was a teenager and they were watching a horror movie together. He sank to the floor too, feeling too old. About to reply with a sharp retort, but felt the fight leaving him. She knew why he came back, why they all came back. Why Fred never met his real parents, the reason for this insanity. He answered truthfully for perhaps the first time in a long while.

“Where else was I supposed to go?” )

It was their first real conversation since their friendship turned into something worse in the past years, and it ended with her storming out and him wishing he could follow.

Ricky sighed, flipping through the photo album again.

He remembered when he had met her. They had both been going to Crystal Cove high. In sophomore year, before they had even met Brad and Judy.

Brad and Judy had always been friends, the people that everyone knew were going to get together but never did. They had been amateur mystery solvers with their traps, but for some reason they were drawn to Ricky and Pericles for a reason they couldn’t discern.

It had started so innocently. Brad and Judy needed help with a mystery solved. Something about stolen test answers.They knew they couldn’t solve it themselves, apparently. Ricky had a bit of a reputation for being clever, if not a bit dorky. Professor Pericles was always on his shoulder, always flying around school, waiting for Ricky. And so, they roped Ricky into their schemes. Ricky had brought in Cassidy, who, cautious as ever, still joined.

E sighed. He shut the photo album, slipping it back under the board. If only he had known that Fred Jones would such a problem later. If only he knew Pericles had stolen the book Jones was writing about the treasure and had told Ricky and Judy and Brad and Cassidy.

He knew that while Pericles would deny it to his dying breath, he was their friend. He was never in it for the long game until the end. He had accidentally brought them together, stealing a sitting manuscript. But even as he knew about the treasure, he helped them and even laughed with them while they solved their mysteries. He had named the Enigma Engine, he saved Cassidy, he was just as part of their group as anyone.

Ricky took a long look at the photo still up on his screen.

Cassidy Williams:

The moment she saw Ricky Owens in the street she knew she made the wrong choice coming back here.

Thrown back into high school, college, the caves all at once. The day Ricky Owens had approached her in the library with his parrot on his shoulder, she should’ve known her life would never be the same.

She refused to talk to him at first, of course. She knew how white boys could be. Cassidy was the only Black student in that whole school. She knew that they were not meant to be trifled with.

Then she met the others. A mystery easily solved as it was committed by their own friend: Professor Pericles. But after that, a bond had been formed. The five them slowly began to spend more time with each other, investigate the various mysteries of their hometown. They couldn’t be separated. It was like something held them together.

They wanted to investigate the treasure supposedly beneath their feet.

Cassidy’s mother warned her of them. No good could come of all this mystery solving. Even when Cassidy got a scholarship to Darrow University did her mother continue to warn here. These people were no good, especially for Cassidy. She straightened her hair to fit in, changed the way she spoke in subtle ways, but kept herself.

Maybe that’s why she succumbed the most. She had kept it quiet, never being as vocal about the treasure. Or the mystery itself.

The treasure had always seemed appealing to her, but she wanted to solve the mystery more than anything. Maybe it did consume her, maybe she did want to know, but she would never show it. She saw the direction Pericles was going in when they were in their freshman year of college. He was their friend and had been for years, but once they had left the Darrow mansion, something had clicked in all of them. It was a longing. A desire. They had to know what and where it was.

Ricky always thought that she was better than him, but she wasn’t. She wanted to solve the mystery just as much as him. She left her studies, no matter what her mother told her. She almost lost her scholarship. She was so entranced by the mystery, about why the universe had seemed to have chosen them. To have chosen her. Cassidy wanted to know. She convinced herself she deserved to know. She and Pericles had worked on the calculations for the disc for ages. Ricky helped them and provided plans. Brad and Judy could trap anything.

Together, they were unstoppable.

Her mind never left Ricky though. As she wrote in her diary every night, deep under the covers, in hopes that if they failed someone would carry on their work. She knew it would happen. She observed the patterns with Pericles.

This had all happened before.

She knew Ricky was just as entranced as she was. Living with Pericles certainly didn’t make that any better.

As she sat in her radio station, she once again thought of the time she saw Ricky for the first time. She had been crossing the street, just getting groceries when she saw him.

The first thing she thought was lord he looks different. His hair was shaggier than before and he had on a purple coat. She didn’t even know he owned a coat that nice.

He looked empty without Pericles on his shoulder. Staring at him across the way until they locked eyes.

And she ran.

He came back three days later, wanting to make amends. They could work together again.

She slammed the door in his face. It was too dangerous. Fred Jones was still around. He would know. God knows what he would do.

When she was forced to leave Crystal Cove, she didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse. But she knew what led her back here was pure evil.

Professor Pericles:

I was drawn to him.

He helped me and I couldn’t bear to say goodbye. I became his pet, his friend, his confidant. I did that with all of them. I was drawn in. It seemed so perfect when we were all together. The little things were there. Ricky and Cassidy, Brad and Judy, their love slowly blossoming.

I betrayed them.

I never regretted it.

I remembered our first mystery. Our first taste. While Brad and Judy had seemed strange, it felt right to be with them. Cassidy’s wit and Ricky’s cleverness. Brad and Judy’s cunning.

It was normal. I had heard about the treasure and the groups of people before but I never thought I would be part of it. It was almost sacred. Abigail Gluck had told me and I had been learning throughout that time.

It was when the Freak came to me. I snapped in two and for the better. Nothing mattered more than the treasure. More than whatever lied beneath Crystal Cove.

We had two pieces of the disk. The Darrow house was useless and we couldn’t get it. Danny Darrow was being driven mad.

We found the scroll, we did our calculations. We had to find it. I had to find it. I could see the rest of my incorporated becoming consumed. Even Cassidy if she wouldn’t admit it. She had helped me with the calculations more than I cared to admit.

Of course it was Fred Jones. It made perfect sense. We worked together to betray my incorporated.

I felt a little sting as I did. So tiny I barely notice it’s there. A twinge of regret, guilt maybe ? I’ll never know because before I could leave with the disks, the Freak betrayed me.

He gave me my scar. He was the reason I didn’t have my treasure. I didn’t have my incorporated. I didn’t have my disk.

I can’t wait to see Ricky. It will be a perfect beginning. He has become a pawn in my game and I am the king. I will rule all.

I bided my time well, and as I wait for Ricky to contact me, I know exactly what to do.

Ricky Owens:

As Ricky contacted his old friend, he sighed. Pericles was the one who convinced him to go up to Cassidy in the first place that day in the library. Two weeks and three days before Brad and Judy approached them. Four years, three months, two days before they discovered the scroll. Five years, nine months, 26 days before they disappeared. Perhaps if he hadn’t approached her they wouldn’t be in this mess (this wonderful wonderful mess that was going to get him what he deserved), perhaps if he hadn’t suggested asking Cassidy Williams for help to Brad and Judy, something he could never tell her, they would be okay. They would be happy together instead of an uneasy alliance mixed with an uneasy rivalry.

He knew the best thing would be to just get rid of her. He could’ve arranged it. But he never did. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he still loved her. He still—

That’s enough. Ricky didn’t think about that. He hadn’t known if he did it because the treasure was driving him insane or if it was because of Cassidy.

(maybe it was just Cassidy. maybe he didn’t care about the treasure as much as them at first. maybe he just cared about them. maybe it was the evil inside all of them coming out. and making itself known in that moment. it would make him care. it only grew after he left Crystal Cove, leaving him with a hunger he finally understood.)

Pericles knew. And he realized Cassidy knew too, but the parrot saw Ricky. The gang had thought a man had found the piece and decided to give him a chase. He had been terrorizing the beach front, dressing like a sea monster. Ricky was supposed to lead him into a trap on top of a lighthouse and something went wrong.

He heard Cassidy yelling for help before, the man deciding to push her into the sea as an attempt at a distraction. He pushed her harshly, and not being able to swim, she didn’t know what to do. Brad and Judy had stayed behind, trying to get her back but Ricky kept running.

She’s better than I am , he thought, taking out the champagne for him and Professor Pericles, waiting for him. She wouldn’t have...she wouldn’t.

But time makes you bolder, and even children get older, he realized. The lens came off. Or maybe a different one slipped on. Cassidy would have done the same thing. She was better than him, yes, but she was still part of them. She was entrapped in this, too.

But she had chosen the wrong side.

The doorbell rang, and he put down his keytar and went to open it.

Cassidy Williams:

She sat in her radio station, doing nothing but missing the past. She wished she could go back, she wished she could do it over again.

She had wondered what happened at the beach that day. Cassidy knew that Ricky chased the man who had almost drowned her into the lighthouse, but never what happened after until much later when she put it together. Pericles was vague, and Brad and Judy didn’t know. In hindsight, it was obvious, but at the time—she didn’t want to believe Ricky would do something like that.

It reminded her of when she saw Brad doing something. They were following a lead and the others were off doing something she didn’t remember. Cassidy saw Brad chase someone in a trap, putting them in a cage. They thought they had information about the piece and about the treasure.

The man had laughed in their face. Calling them crazy, insulting them all one by one. He hated them, having known them since high school. He accused them of all sorts of things that might have been true. Saying the things he would do to them if he got out. The things he would do to Judy.

Cassidy saw something overtake Brad in that moment. A look in his eye that seemed to never leave him now. The cage was being held by the Enigma machine (Ricky always insisted on calling it the Enigma engine ) over the cliffs overseeing the water. Brad pushed a button.

The man’s screams were heard all the way down.

Cassidy never told anyone. Constantly wary of Brad afterwards, though. At the time, she thought it meant she could trust him even more.

Looking back on it, she realized that look in his eye had never truly left.

Ricky had the same look in his eye when he came back from the lighthouse.

When she first left Crystal Cove, she hated it. She didn’t want a life of her own. She wanted a life with her friends, with the mystery, with the disc piece that that Godforsaken Freak had taken from them. She took only her diary, her clothes and a picture or two before she disappeared. Her mother wouldn’t think anything of it for a while. There wasn’t much of a way to contact her while she was in college anyway. Cassidy Williams would fade into obscurity as just one more student at Darrow university. Just like the Freak wanted. She lost the spark in her eye she didn’t know was there.

It was only when she came back she thought it might be for the better. But she didn’t look twice when she saw the owner of it, anyway. Five years away from Crystal Cove had let her mind clear. A step back from what she let consume her life for the past eight years. She forgot about Brad, Judy, Professor Pericles and moved on from her life and with it. She finished her education, became a radio host after working in a law firm for two years.

Her love for Ricky never faded.

Maybe that’s why she came back.

That’s because it was real. So many things about her life weren’t. She didn’t know if her friendship with Brad and Judy was real. She was especially suspicious of Pericles. He had betrayed them all. And for what ? A treasure that might not even exist. Pericles was going mad and God knows what he would do if they let it continue. Cassidy knew what he was doing now.

She and Ricky were real. Two tangible human beings who found each other in this long line of groups. She missed her friendships with the gang, but she soon realized what they were going to become if they didn’t leave. How far they had already went. What they had done for this treasure. Even Cassidy herself. Ricky knew what she did, but she knew he would take the secret to the grave. Because they were real. They had been real.

She sighed, hopefully finished dwelling on the past. What happened had happened. Whatever friendships and relationships she had were gone.

Cassidy put her lips to her microphone, and spoke the truth, spoke her warning for all of Crystal Cove.

Professor Pericles:

I was not surprised when dear Ricky contacted me again. It was only a matter of time until his spark matched mine. He finally cared enough. He had power that I could use. It was the perfect playing board.

We heard Cassidy’s voice play through the radio and I saw Ricky falter for half a second, sipping his champagne.

When I say we must silence her, he knows what I’m implying. He looks directly into my eyes and nods, agreeing with me.

I was a little surprised. I never thought he would betray his dear Cassidy. However, I knew exactly why. It was worth it. What was love in favor of the treasure ? What was love when I could have the whole world ? Ricky would serve his usefulness and then I would simply dispose of him. He should know better than to trust an old friend.

We started to work immediately. I contact Brad and Judy, slowly beginning to get everyone back together. I hate that I need their help. But using them would simply make everything so much simpler.

There is the issue of Cassidy. She could be so much more. With her help, this could go a thousand times faster. She was clever, sometimes cleverer than I was. I decided to pay her a visit one day, unbeknownst to the knowledge of the others.

I rap on her door as Ricky sleeps, unknowing is what is to come. Cassidy could be a great asset, but fooling her into thinking the treasure would be ours and not mine would be a feat to pull off in in of itself.

The lights are still on and she opens the door. Closing it as she sees me right away. As I expected. I call her name out, the same way I used to when we were kinder and wait.

I hear her pacing and she opens the door five minutes later. She asks what I want, and I simply say a cup of tea. She was always more for tea than champagne. Ricky used to be, too. But he had changed in ways she hasn’t.

Cassidy obliges, apparently a fool for old times’ sake. She doesn’t say anything until the tea is finished and we are sitting. She says the same thing, asking what I want.

I tell her she’s clever. She’s the cleverest of the lot and how my incorporated would be nothing without her.

(maybe there’s a little bit of truth to it. maybe pericles missed his friend. she was like him, they knew how each other thought. it was always them in the backseat of the enigma engine with ricky. it was always supposed to be them. them three.

when they had broken into the Darrow family mansion, the thought of this was only solidified. the three of them without brad and judy against that troll. they had made it out together. they found the others and solved the riddles of danny darrow and made it out. a bond they would never truly forget. even when pericles went through the doors with the keys, even after cassidy’s inevitable death, there was a tiny part of him buried so deep in his tiny bird body that regrettted it. that regretted everything. that just wanted his incorporated back.

and now he was back here. sipping tea with an old friend after drinking champagne with another. they were always so good together. pericles himself had convinced ricky to go up to cassidy in the first place. they were tied together by some force unknown and it made them stay together.

even when he betrayed them for the freak he felt guilt. he pushed it down, deep down. with the rest of his feelings and emotions for the humans. they weren’t important something in his head had screamed, overpowering the regret he felt. the treasure was yours yours yours. they did not matter. it was all for the disc.

even when the freak betrayed him he never let go of his sight for the treasure. he never would. cassidy was an asset at best now. not a friend, not an old part of his life, a simple asset waiting to be used. just like ricky.)

She doesn’t believe me. Or perhaps she does and that’s why she doesn’t agree. But it doesn’t matter. Clearly, I let the little sentiment I have left for my incorporated get the better of me. I have Ricky and soon will have Brad and Judy. There’s no need for her.  My robots will come from her soon.

I bid Cassidy farewell for what I feel will be the last time with no regrets. It’s time for my plan to unfold. To find the treasure that belongs to me under Crystal Cove.

Ricky Owens:

As he watched Pericles leave for the night (where did he live? did he go home to a tree everynight? did he ever miss the little bed in a shoebox Ricky made for him when he was young?) he couldn’t wish that Angel—Cassidy (how strange it was for a new name to become the normal when she never stopped being Cassidy) was planning with them. They’d done it before, and again. What was one more time? Wasn’t it worth it? For the treasure?

Wasn’t he worth it?

He knew it was a miracle that she even came back to Crystal Cove. He had kept up with her, discretely of course. But it took him five years to gather up the courage to try to bring her back, to try to work with her again. He knew he couldn’t get the disc alone, it wasn’t possible like he thought it would be. Especially once those kids got involved. No, he would need someone.

He had reached out through Ed Machine to offer her a job at the radio station, one owned by Destroido, but one he was willing to give her control of so she would return. He thought she would definitely turn it down, she was working at a law firm last time he checked, and seemed to be getting along nicely a couple of towns over. Far, but never too far.

When “Angel Dynamite” responded that yes she would take the job, but wondered why they asked her when she was in such a different field. He sent Machine back with the truth, part of it anyway, that the recruiter heard the work she had done for her college and high school radio shows, and how they wanted her for this.

He didn’t see her until three years after they both came back to Crystal Cove. He had forgotten about her a little, intent on building Destroido up, and the little side project he had slipped his mind. If he grew Destroido, he could increase his search for the disc.

But he still needed help, which he remembered when he saw Cassidy walking down the street. After she refused his attempt to make amends, he had left. Maybe content to search for the disc by himself. He brought her back here, but it has been her decision to stay.

It was—surprisingly—by chance that they met in a coffee shop a month or two later. The town was small, he supposed, and Ed had called out sick that day so he went to get himself coffee. It was nothing like the little café he and Mystery Incorporated would go to. Now it was some overpriced and burnt coffee that they could never even make in a good amount of time, and yet.

Cassidy was at the front of the line, laughing with a barista who he was sure they went to high school with. He couldn’t help but try to listen in, but she wasn’t saying anything of interest. For a moment, he felt a stab of guilt. She had had a good life before he sucked her back to this hell hole and now wasn’t even using her for the purpose he pulled her back in.

She sat at a small two person table in the corner, still preferring her own company to others’ even if she pretended not to now. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to sit down across from her.

He almost did, though. If the story was even true.

“I said no, E,” she said with such venom he didn’t know was possible for a single letter.

“I know you did, Angel,” he said, sipping his burnt coffee. “Am I not allowed to sit with an old friend?”

“No,” she said, not looking up from her magazine.

“C’mon, why’d you come back here in the first place? Don’t you want—“

“I don’t want anything,” she said.

It reminded him so much of when they first met, except instead of the library it was a coffee shop. And instead of a book on dead languages it was a fashion magazine.

“Fine,” he said, unsure why he was bothering in the first place. “I’ve got to get back to the security measures at Destroido.”

She snorted as he stood up and he turned around, raising an eyebrow.

As usual, she read his expression without a second thought. “Is that what you’re calling them? They’re hardly security.” She sounded so unlike how she did on her radio show and how she did back then.

“Is that so?”

“Even I could get through.”

“You did have a knack for that.”

“Mmhm.” She looked back down, and maybe he should have left it at that.

He couldn’t stop the next words from escaping him. “Then prove it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Tonight, break in.”

“Nice try, E.”

Cassidy Williams:

She broke in.

With relative ease, she might add. She didn’t do it that night, because that would be obvious. She made it through his lasers, and his stupid moat. It was like he was trying to get her here.

Which would have been plausible. She had checked the contract she’d been given when she was opening her radio station and she realized Destroido was behind it. She wished she could bring herself to care, to care that the only reason she was back in Crystal Cove was because of Ricky.

While she crawled through the vents, she realized she would’ve come back here either way. Ricky was right. Pericles was right. They were bound here, and they would always come back. Even when the Freak was threatening them, she never thought it would be permanent.

She wondered why she was even bothering. She knew she couldn’t help him, that’s not what Angel Dynamite did. She got her mystery fill from that girl, Velma, who seemed to be in a group eerily similar to her own.

“Hello, Angel,” he said, catching sight of her from behind. “Is my security really that lackluster?”

“Worse than I thought,” she said. “Now, I think I’ll make my way out.”

“Stay awhile,” he said and she stopped. “Just once, for old times’ sake.”

Cassidy still doesn’t know why she stopped. It seemed so innocuous, so innocent. It reminded her of the times she would break past his parents’ security alarm to meet him. It was like high school all over again. This time without Pericles constantly by his side.

But the curse had turned him into something worse. Manipulative bastard.

A part of her hated herself for falling for his tricks. An awful voice crooned in her head that this was what she deserved, what she deserved for doing all those things in her youth. For what they all did. She thought maybe they could repent, help those kids out with what they needed. And at first, it had started like that. But Ricky wasn’t as innocent as he was before he left. No more were the days of climbing organs to get to Pericles, but the days where he would pretend he cared about her again just to get the stupid, cursed treasure that they didn’t even deserve.

Naive , he’d said. She sat in her radio shack, listening to the news of the clown that trapped them in there being caught by no other than the kids she wanted to protect. Old news now, but they still stuck on it despite the Burlington Manor news. But he didn’t know about the woman in the quarry. Was she the only one of the group who felt guilt for what they’d done? What they thought they had to do?

( they had been trying to find her for weeks. a woman they were sure who had information about the disc. not to mention who had been terrorizing the quarry disguised as a sea siren, luring some to death, even. they had split up, but it was different. ricky wasn’t there with them. she, him, and pericles had been running from her, who seemed to be chasing them full speed. ricky got separated from them and now it was just her and pericles, who back then flew with her and not ahead. he caught sight of one of the traps brad had set earlier. lure her over here, he had said. i’ll go in to set it. he flew ahead, dropping a piece of glass he had found in her hand just in case.

she lured her where they needed. the shard of glass cutting the woman by accident. pericles said he would get the others.

cassidy wasn’t an angry person, especially not to someone she accidentally shivved two minutes ago, but it was like something had addled her brain. the look in brad’s eye, the look in ricky’s. maybe it was in hers, too. the woman, who seemed to be a former teacher at crystal cove high, sneered at her. told her how her friends were just using her, and that they would drop her the moment she stopped doing their homework for her. that was how it always worked for students like her, and how that she would never find the disc. it wasn’t in her blood, she could never earn it. throwing a slur at her to get her to react.

but she didn’t. she kept perfectly quiet. the woman laughed at her, said she had no guts. that her friends, her, were nothing. they were all nothing, and they would never find the treasure. not if she had anything to do with it.

the trap was made out of a stretchy material, easily cuttable, she leaned forward, making it seem like she was about to retort to the insults that were thrown at her, but she said one word.

goodbye.

cassidy dropped the shard of glass near the blood blossoming in the deep water. make it look like an accident. she didn’t feel remorse right away. no, that would come later. further down the line, when she realized her addled brain from the disc couldn’t justify a single thing any of them did. these kids were better than them, they were stronger.

she turned around, flicking off the bit of dried blood on her dress, and saw ricky staring at her with pericles on his shoulder, his large eyes staring into her soul.

i thought you went to find the others, she’d said.

i was going to, he’d replied, but i heard what she said.

and you didn’t say anything. cassidy raised an eyebrow.

i didn’t have to, did i?

the look in her eye didn’t fade for a long time)

Pericles later told her he was proud of her, and she didn’t know why that made her so happy at the time. It was like she joined another club, they were all bonded with an experience like this. While the rest seemed to stay proud of their success, Cassidy retreated into herself. She wouldn’t join them. Not again. Not Pericles. Not even Ricky. He was too far gone. Maybe a part of him still loved her, and maybe a part of her still loved him, but it wasn’t enough.

She wondered if her words were. A warning for Crystal Cove, but also to Ricky and Pericles. To Brad and Judy who refused to listen to her. Why was she putting their own son before her, but they refused to do the same.

She shut off the radio, now going on about the Graveyard Ghoul. With the visit from Pericles, she could use a break from mysteries for once.

Cassidy just didn’t know if she would be allowed one.

Professor Pericles:

I give her one final chance.

It’s unlike me, and not deserved. When she told me that my plan wouldn’t work because it was no longer our time, and missed it. That it was the next generation’s turn, and the cycle would continue. Over and over again as the sun sets and rises.

Cassidy was always clever, but she was wrong. Perhaps she could convince herself, convince the kinder , that she was changed. This had all happened before, but their time was taken away from them. The new generation needs to learn that. And if the only way that is is through death, then what am I to stop the cycle ? Turning around over and over and over again until someone finds it. Until I find it.

I put pressure on the release button. The timer stops ticking, the robots stop. I cannot see, but I know. I croon her name once more, like I did when we were so young. When she and Ricky were still in love. I know they think that Brad and Judy have the purest kind of love, what everyone expects from them. Especially in a group like this. But I know the truth, I know what her and Ricky had (have? I wonder sometimes how far their love still goes)

I offer her her life. To make this all stop, and for her to join my incorporated. Our incorporated. I may need her, a voice in my ear whispers. She can be an asset. That is the only reason I give her the option. The option to live, and continue the work that she was meant to do. The cycle repeats and repeats, but why not try to stop that. Why not win the cycle, win over our predecessors and successors. They have not put in the time, the work, the lifetime, to deserve the treasure they now seek if only to stop us.

She tells me to go to hell. I laugh and tell her one thing before I take pressure off of the release button, letting the water and robots resume.

We all will eventually, Cassidy. But as usual, you’re a little quicker than the rest.

…

…

She is gone. And I have already moved on.

Cassidy Williams:

It killed her down there. Seeing them all working together, working a mystery. There’s a pit in her heart that she knew would never be filled again. She saw herself in them all a little, but right now, she knew exactly how Daphne was feeling. She knew she would never have it again, not in this world. Her time was over, and she was the only one out of her incorporates that could see it.

Cassidy knew she was going to die. The moment she stepped into the base, she knew she wasn’t making it out. Maybe she was content with it. It was getting harder to live with herself, to live with what her friends had become. The bond they had was indescribable, and it was difficult to say why she felt so uneven once everyone had turned against her. She knew her place in the cycle that would keep going, and she was okay with her part ending. With all their parts ending. But they were all greedy, with no respect to the predecessors before them.

So, yes, she was okay with dying. Cassidy knew her place was with her incorporated and she refused it. They had all gone mad, and they would all hurt anyone who came in their way. Including their own son. Including her.

What she and E had was a long time ago, what she told Daphne was true. But it didn’t change the fact that she missed it so. She thought she had it back for a short while, and maybe she had. A moment or two when they came back, before Pericles returned, between them might have been real. Again. But nothing was as real as the past. Nothing they did now counted, nothing was for the right reason anymore. Nothing in the world was right, and perhaps dying saving the new kids might save her. Maybe it was her repentance. It’s what she deserved, and what they all deserved. The only thing she could hope was that, despite it all, it would be enough for the rest of them.

I love you, Ricky , she whispered as the room filled with water, the robots shot at her. He would never hear it, no one would. But still, after all this time, after all the death, destruction, manipulation, cursed pasts and presents and futures, it was still the truth.

Cassidy Williams died content.

Ricky Owens:

He’d lost his mind.

Not Ricky, of course. He was quite proud of himself for not losing his mind. Cassidy might call him crazy—

might had called him crazy.

Professor Pericles. He was the one who was losing his mind. He’d gone too far, he’d gotten too many ideas about who’s really in charge here. He built this corporation from the ground up, he did all the work (with Cassidy by his side, breaking into his building more than once to insult his security system and share a cup of tea or a glass of wine), and now Pericles couldn’t just waltz in and take what he had made. They wouldn’t have lost the pieces if he had figured out the kids’ plan earlier. Ricky had been so loyal to him for so long and for what? For him to take over their operation that he started again? None of them would even be here if it wasn’t for him (and Cassidy).

Pericles was coming for it all, and he had a feeling he didn’t plan on including him, Brad and Judy, in the treasure.

Ah, Brad and Judy. Ricky had to admit, he’d missed his old friends in the time they had all went their separate ways. But now that they had returned, they seemed…off. Something wasn’t quite right about them. They’d always done that thing where they finished the other’s sentence, but it seemed constant now. As if they really were one person. But Ricky could see them start to break at the seams, and couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they snapped. Maybe he didn’t miss his friends, maybe he missed who they used to be . Who they all used to be.

Idiot. He typed in a few things on his keyboard, meaning to check some financial records. He still did run a company, and the way this was supposed to be going. That was all there was to it. Pericles had gone mad, and he couldn’t be in power anymore. Ricky deserved it more, Ricky had more reason to have it. Stopping Pericles from being in charge wouldn’t be enough, he has to kick him out of the group. He wasn’t the sweet parrot who made himself his pet anymore, and Ricky wondered if he ever even was.

Pictures of Cassidy flashed onto the screen, how did that happen? How did they even get there? He sighed, looking up at them with sad eyes, his task forgotten. Were they ever even young? Was her death at his hands…inevitable?

He destroyed everything he touched, didn’t he? It was why the name of his company was so apt, and why everything it did seemed to end in destruction. Sometimes he intended if, and sometimes he did not. But Ricky knew that he destroyed everything he touched. In a way, maybe he was to blame for the Freak finding them and kicking them out of Crystal Cove. When he knocked over the organ, leading Brad to the map.

Why would Cassidy be any different? She made him feel different, like he wasn’t bound to this town, bound to this curse. This endless cycle that would keep turning and turning until he won. Cassidy told him about the research she had done. How everything had happened before and that they were just the latest in a long line. Their time had ended, she told him, once before she died. He still remembered her voice, but he wondered if in time he would forget it. She told him it was the next generation’s turn, but he couldn’t pull away.

He had been lying to her from the very beginning. Ricky— Mr. E— never wanted to help the kids. He wanted to know what they knew, he wanted them to be like they were. Had to make sure of it. He would use them to find the disc pieces instead of helping them. Cassidy was right, they were better than they were. But it didn’t mean they were right.

Except about Pericles. He was too far gone, Brad and Judy would agree when he tells them. He needed to go. That was it. Power mad and a bird for God’s sake.

The pictures of Cassidy stared at him. They almost seemed to blink if he stared too long. Pericles told him he had given her a chance to join them again, to gain the treasure they were meant to have, moments before her death. But she had refused, choosing death instead. It made Ricky hate and love her more at the same time. She had a chance to come back to him and she didn’t, but at the end of the day, he knew she wanted to be rid of this curse. None of them could move on except in death.

He wondered what would have happened if she stayed alive. The Enigma Engine felt so empty without her in it, felt so wrong with him driving it and Brad and Judy in the backseat. He couldn’t help but wonder if they even cared for Fred a little. They were so at ease with betraying their own son, betraying him.

If Cassidy was alive, would she actually join them? Or would she forever be trying to take herself out of the cycle, out of his life.

Or would she come back for him?

Whatever the answer was, Pericles had to go. That was one thing that was clear in the murkiness that had invaded his life, so much so, he couldn’t quite see anything else, anymore.

Pericles slapped him and his vision grew less murky.

Brad and Judy betrayed him and his view grew clearer.

Professor Pericles, his friend from the beginning. The one who had stuck with him even when he had the option to fly away and leave him like so many would, but he stayed. Why had he stayed? What were they bound by? Madness? Greed? Power?

Professor Pericles betrayed him, and Ricky could finally see.

But perhaps it was Cassidy who cleared his vision first, he was just too blind to see it.

Professor Pericles:

Mine. Mine. Mine.

It would all be mine. The treasure, the power, all of it. Nothing mattered anymore except the treasure. Master. Master. Master. I am coming for you. I am coming to set you free. The others are dispensable, they are nothing but stepping stones for my plan. I have the disc, the kinder have the keys. I will win. I have won. It is so close.

Master. Master. Master.

I am coming for what is mine. What I have sacrificed and done is all for you. Everything for you. The treasure, the world. I will set you free and set the world to rights. My rights. My world. Mine. Mine. Mine. Master. Master. Master.

I am coming to set you free. And this time, it is for good.

Ricky Owens:

He couldn’t win.

Everyone was tearing at the seams, Brad and Judy had gone insane. Pericles. Pericles. If only he hadn’t let him back into his life.

A thousand “if only’s” just brought him here.

Cassidy was right. She was right all along. He could see so clearly now, with the robots in his sight, death supposed to be on his hands. But whenever he tried to escape the madness, it never let him. Pericles would do whatever he wanted to him, and Brad and Judy would let him.

He was running out of time.

But maybe, just maybe, he could get out of this alive. Maybe he could save someone. Save himself, maybe?

At this point, he probably wasn’t even worth it. He’d given up his humanity for this treasure, and now he can’t think of anything he wanted less. At this point, perhaps he was just a pawn of shadows. Cassidy would hate him. She would never want to look at him again. Thank God she wasn’t here to see all of them, but especially him. He couldn’t deal with that disappointment, not from her.

The kids tried to stop him, and for one shining moment, he thought he might be free. He saw the fear in Pericles eyes and savored it for the small moment that it was there.

He walked in with him, and tried not to look back.

As he walked on, seeing his friends fall apart, all he can think about is Cassidy. His only hope was the kids now, maybe they can stop him. Maybe they could save this. Save all of them.

Hot Dog Water.

He never should’ve let her get involved. What was he thinking? How many people were he going to let die? How many kids would have to die until the world was saved, and they were called martyrs? How many times did this have to happen?

Yet, he didn’t know if he stepped forward to save Pericles, or to see what may be his end. Even now.

I guess I expected more from you.

He couldn’t stop Brad and Judy. He didn’t even try.

So did I.

What would Cassidy say? She died to save the children, and he was still alive and couldn’t save them. His words were useless against Pericles, and even now he knew he should do more, but all he did is follow. Follow, follow, follow.

It was his fault they’re all in this situation in the first place.

Around the third dimension, or whatever is happening, he realized that all of them are going to die. And he didn’t care. In fact, he welcomed it. What is a life like his, he’s wasted it. And for what? Some alien form that’s been lying dormant for so long? A false promise of a treasure? So many dead because of him, so much destruction. He saved Pericles back then and now. He could have stopped this, but didn’t. He still can’t.

Cassidy. Cassidy. Cassidy.

He went through the curtain, and couldn’t find himself caring about what happens next.

Pericles sits on his shoulder one last time, and he can’t find it in himself to find it as odd, as if nothing has ever changed. As if Pericles has always been on his shoulder and none of this has ever happened. And for a second at the end of the world, Ricky gets to be young again. For a moment, he can pretend that next to Pericles on his shoulder is Cassidy by his side.

Professor Pericles:

I want the power. I will have the power. It’s mine, it’s mine. It’s always mine. I was born for this.

It’s terrifying and wonderful all at once. I have achieved greatness like nothing else. Everything is in my grasp, it’s in my soul, it’s in my mind.

And in another second, it’s all horrible, and I am consumed.

Ricky asks for me.

It’s the last thing I ever hear.

Ricky Owens:

It’s all over, and yet Ricky runs. He thought he wanted this death, but he can’t. He runs and runs, like he’s always done.

He hides in a pile of gold. He can’t appreciate the irony at the end of the world. All this for some alien he was convinced would do something for him.

He looks up. He can hide and wait this out or die trying. But the kids. The kids. He can’t let them down without a chance. It’s the only thing he can do. The kids. It’s what Cassidy would do. It’s what Cassidy did. The only thing he’s grateful for right now is that she doesn’t have to see this. She was spared from this horrible fate.

He murders the robot, and tells them to run. There’s no saving him, anymore. It’s been too late for a very long time. At least he tried. He can say he tried.

Maybe he’ll see Cassidy again.

Ricky Owens dies, perhaps a hero, perhaps a villain, or maybe a little bit of both.

.

.

Professor Pericles:

There’s something different, I think. I can’t put my finger on it.

I don’t know if I care. I have my dear Ricky and Cassidy.

That’s all I need.

Cassidy Williams:

Sometimes there’s a part of her that thinks that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. That she was destined for something a lot worse in her life.

But she wakes up, Ricky beside her, and she decides she doesn’t need anything else.

Ricky Owens:

He knows there’s something that they’re missing.

He knows that this wasn’t always the way it was. He doesn’t know why. But it creeps into his mind deep at night sometimes. That he is lucky to be here, lucky that he and Cassidy are still together (alive?).

He tries not give it much thought.

Ricky Owens, Cassidy Williams, Professor Pericles:

They wake up.

They have never been happier in their lives.

It has always been like this.

(so why does it feel like they’ve defeated an evil?)

(why does it feel like they were part of the evil?)

(why does it feel like it never existed and never left?)

(why does it feel like they are part of something much bigger than themselves?)

Yet.

They move on.