Work Text:
==> Heir: Rise.
The sun’s beams crack through the blinds you forgot to close last night. You groan and wince at the light blinding your sleep-dappled eyes. Lordy, you wish you remembered. You don’t get to sleep in on a Saturday now, now that you’re all groggy and kinda half-awake. You’re already off to a bad start.
Wait, no. Stop. Let’s take this back a second. You pap yourself on the face a couple of times. Let’s get our bearings, shall we?
Your name is JOEY CLAIRE. You live just on the cusp of HAUNTSWITCH, NEW YORK in a VERY LONELY MANOR. You are, in an order that makes sense to your tired brain, an AVID PUZZLE SOLVER, a PRETTY DARN GOOD DANCER, a SEMI-ORPHAN, a WORK-IN-PROGRESS VETERINARIAN, and a BIG SISTER. You have currently just woken up at a time you did not wish to wake up at, even though you have SISTERLY DUTIES to attend to. Regardless, you throw the sheets off of you which invites in the drafty October air onto your Pajama’d body. You also forgot to close the window last night. Uuuugh. Okay, whatever. No use crying over spilled milk. You hop out of bed, and begin a good amount of stretching. Being a dancer helps with knowing all the good tricks for making your joints not suck. You hear a lot of pops. Guess you twisted up a lot in your sleep.
Which you guess tracks because of the weird dreams you’ve been having as of recent.
They always start out the same way. You wake up on some strange golden place, sitting in the middle of some crowded street with a bunch of people. And every single time, no matter which place you go to, it always ends the same way.
An eerily familiar girl appears in front of you.
You look strangely alike in some aspects. Or rather, she does with your brother Jude. Round glasses, beady green eyes, a pair of protruding buck teeth, and a hair parting that looks way too similar to one of the photos hanging in your hallway. And everytime you look at her, she just… poofs. And that’s when you wake up, finding yourself in your room the same way it was left, the golden searing tinge of the medieval buildings towering into a black void with only a hovering blue sky with clouds above gone from your feeling and vision. Only the faint memory of it all is left.
It’s kind of depressing. You wish you could stay there longer. Or say something to that girl. Like just a simple “ hey, who are you and why do you look so weirdly familiar? Is that a weird thing to say? i’m sorry, i say weird things a lot . ” But it always cuts you off right before you want to act. You can’t do anything.
It feels too weird to be so broken up about just a dream, but it still weighs in your gut like a lead brick.
You make your way over to your door after rubbing your eyes a little too hard. Your hand flinches a little on touching the cold metal of the doorknob, but you are unwavering in your act of opening the door. You swing it open and are greeted with an empty, quiet hallway.
The cool October air pierces your thin Pajamas easily. The sun has not yet reached the windows, as you’ve shut the blinds out here this time. Your recently adjusted eyes make out the dark blueness of the lightless room. You don’t even bother to turn on the lights. You can see just fine, even without your TRUSTY FLASHLIGHT. You still don’t know where it is, but you don’t mind. It’s not like you’re gonna be STRIFING anytime soon.
You creep over to Jude’s room, very obviously marked by CAUTIONARY TAPESTRIES and various CRYPTOZOOLOGY MEMORABILIA dotting the door. Your hand hovers over the doorknob, intentionally being as quiet as you possibly can to not startle your brother awake. He’s always so paranoid, and you’re pretty sure he has some weird HOME ALONE traps set up some times to “CATCH THE MOTHMEN OR TUNNEL FOLK OFF THEIR GUARD WITH A CLEVERLY PLACED DART TRAP” or some silly little brother stuff like that. Plus you did it once and he almost pooped his pants because he was so scared, so you’re extra careful not to do it. (He didn’t actually almost poop his pants. You just say that to rile him up.)
You turn the handle and open the door, it creaking like an old house in a horror movie. You open it just enough to peek your head inside. You can visibly see a tripwire that holds the trigger of a foam dart gun. You groan mentally. You also see him sleeping soundly in his messy bed. You stifle a chuckle at his - admittedly funny - body pose, and shut the door as quietly as you can. You turn away from his room, tripping over a toy, as you make your way down the old stairs. They let out old groans as the ancient hardwood sags under your feet.
You enter your garish living room and immediately turn over to the front door. Mail duty is one of your biggest sisterly duties, always looking for bills just in case they aren’t already mysteriously paid. You rifle through the wad of mail you plucked out of the pile at the door. Magazines, magazines, magazines, leaflets, scam ads, paid bills, blah blah blah… but something jumps out at you. Striking and bold, covered in green glitter pen. There’s no name on it, but it has your address on it. You break open the seal and pull out the fresh paper from the inside. It’s still warm. You glance down at the same garish green text, and your breath hitches.
"hi! im jade! and....i think we might be related? this is the address of my grandpas p.o. box so...well whoevers reading this, please let my grandpa jake harley know that i really really miss him! hes been gone longer than usual and i hope you can tell me hes ok! he never takes this long on his adventures, so i’m really worried!! if this went to the wrong person, please get this to hauntswitch new york!!"
Reading the bright text on the white paper makes your stomach churn for multitudes of reasons. You feel dizzy. You need to sit down. Now.
You haphazardly stumble onto the couch facing the darkened TV. You look up at your reflection in the dark glass. You look mortified, angry, and sad all at once. …But not really, though. That’s just how you feel. You just look shocked. You don’t feel like it matches properly.
Jake Harley. Jake Harley. Jake Harley. Your pa’s name bounces around your head like the world’s most mentally taxing game of ping pong. The idea of this being some type of prank is ruled out almost immediately. Nobody would take this much time to bully you. That doesn’t take the sting away, though. The fact that this is really someone who knew your pa is… it hurts to think about. And “Grandpa.” “Grandpa”. He.. he couldn’t have, could he?
Could he really have left behind another child?
You don’t even know why that’s a question in your brain. Of course he did. Of course your Pa left another child in the dust. Even with the love of his life, he was always so flighty. He never wanted to stay in one place. It’s just like him, the stupid goddamn old man killing animals and scattering them around the houses that once used to house loving families fuck him and fuck his stupid-
You stop the spiral of angry thoughts when you hear the paper of the letter crinkle under your hands. It wrinkles at the edges of your temples. You almost ripped it. While it would have seemed like a good thing at the time, it… doesn’t deserve that. This kid doesn’t deserve that. They have no idea what their Grandpa is really like!
The note stays in your hands, equally uncrumpled as it is crumpled. You sit there and just stare at it, not even reading it, just staring.
You don’t know what to do. There was no proper return address on the letter, and you don’t think you’ll get a lead on anything if you try to just go down to the post office and ask for Jade Harley.
Jade Harley. Why did she have to be so seemingly far away? What’s the point?
You sigh. You don’t think you’ll find out.
Something… compels you, though. To write something back. You’re not sure you’ll be able to ever send the thing, but something about it feels… innately comforting to accomplish. Like, even if they don’t know it, they would exist and be recognized by someone who they weren’t looking for.
The idea that this girl will continue to exist by your means alone steels you as you climb back up the creaky stairs and slip into your room. You lift your computer’s keyboard off of its resting place and place it on top of the monitor, and lay down a sheet of blank paper. You pull out a nice sky-blue pen, and press it down on to the paper.
Your… mind goes blank almost instantly.
Not out of lack of trying, of course. You still want to write the thing, but you just… can’t think of anything to say. It’s like that girl in your dream. You just… can’t say anything. But instead of being zapped away, it’s in front of you and you just can’t do anything.
A million words running through your head, sentences you all want to say, but don’t know where they’d fit and how they’d sound. Maybe you should just… start with a word. You take a breath, and clear your head. Something simple will work.
“hi there! this probably isnt the response you were hoping for, but, it’s the one you’ll be getting. wait, that sounds rude. aaagh, why did i write this in pen!! whatever, dont look at that!! the point is, your grandpa isn’t here. and he’s…”
You bite your lip. Shit, this is the hard part.
“…i don’t think he’s coming back. i’m sorry.”
You pause for a moment, thinking of what you want to say here. What you want to say is just drag your Pa for the next few sentences. Detail all the horrible things he’s had you endure for all of your adolescence. Oooh, do you want to just let it rip onto the paper so badly.
But… no. No, that doesn’t feel right.
For the first time in god knows how long, you feel bad for being angry at your Pa.
Jade won’t worry about being angry at him if you don’t say anything. She won’t ever have to feel as bitter and angry as you do. Why would you wish whatever you’re feeling on someone else? You have every right to be mad at your pa, but… she doesn’t deserve that.
You swallow the feelings welling up, and begin writing again.
“he’s… a really busy guy! if it’s that long, he’s probably made some type of amazing discovery and can’t come home! digging up some… riches? or whatever? okay to be completely honest with you i have no idea what people actually do when they’re adventuring. all he did was leave dead animals and pictures of blue ladies around my house! anyways, i’m sure he’s fine! and, hey! maybe he will come back! who knows?”
You sigh. You really hope that last part miraculously comes true.
“i hope things go nicely for you! if you ever read this, that is.”
You navigate to the blank part of the paper left untouched by your light blue pen and sign your name with long, neat strokes.
“Joey A. Claire”
You drop the pen down on the desk and let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. The letter states back at you, complete. You don’t… really know where to go from here. Was this all a big waste of time? You do feel better, but it’s not like Jade is gonna read this anytime soo-
ZAP
…The note’s gone.
It’s just gone. Like it’s just vanished.
You do a double-take, and rub your eyes almost comedically. You have to be seeing things, right? There’s no…
You paw at where the letter once sat, feeling a distinct lack of letter being there. And it feels… warm. Like, really warm. Hot, even. You take your hand off and your fingertips are redder than they were before you put it on there. That’s… bizarre.
Just as you do this, you can hear Jude waking up in the other room. He groans like a zombie when he wakes up. Weirdo. You take this as a message to exit your room and start to actually get ready for the day.
As exit, you can see Jude blearily standing in the hallway, cleaning his glasses on his pajama shirt. He puts them back on, blinks a little, and turns around and shrieks upon seeing you. A blush creeps across his face as you laugh at him.
“JOEY IT IS HIGHLY RISKY TO EVER FRIGHTEN ME LIKE THAT over” Jude says, adding the “over” under his breath like he always does. “I COULD HAVE EASILY ASSAULTED YOU WITH ANY NEARBY OBJECT AT MY DISPOSAL over” You just chuckle at him, amused by his paranoid antics. “yes, jude. i’m sure you could have easily attacked me with…” You look around for the worst object possible for him to use. You pick up the weird… groucho gray horned thing hanging on the wall. “...whatever this guy is.” You chuckle, dropping it to the floor. “i’m sure it would have really hurt.” Jude huffs at you. “JOEY IM JUST TRYING TO INSINUATE THE FACT THAT YOU SHOULD NOT SCARE ME OR IM GOING TO HIT YOU WITH SOMETHING over” He says, crossing his arms. You just exhale out of your nose at him. ”alright, jude. you can believe that if you want.” You say, giving him an affectionate noogie. “miss roxy got us breakfast fixings, so i’m gonna go cook it. come downstairs when you’re ready and less willing to hit me with objects.” He just makes a grunt of agreement and you walk downstairs, through the living room, into your crowded, dirty kitchen.
You pull the fresh eggs and… oh, hell yes, maple bacon, out of the fridge and set them on the counter. You crack the eggs into a separate bowl to make an omelette for both you and Jude, and frying the bacon in the pan already. In the midst of watching the bacon sizzle and flipping it to keep it cooking, and prepping the omelette, Jude makes his way down the stairs and over to you. He doesn’t say anything, just looks at the eggs and makes an “ooo” noise as he looks at it. He then walks away over to the front door and checks on the bills that you forgot to throw away. You can hear him rustling through mail until you hear him… stop, suddenly. “JOEY? over” He says, quizzically. You turn around from plating the breakfast. “yeah, jude?”
“THERE’S A LETTER HERE FOR YOU over”
You blink at him. “for… me?”
“IT SAYS ADDRESSED TO JOEY CLAIRE IN GREEN PEN ON THE FRONT over”
You drop everything and rush over to the letter. It’s.. the same green glitter pen. Did she.. Get the letter? How?
You snatch the letter out of your hands and rip the seal off. Jude almost says something, but you shush him.
“dear joey!!”
She got it.
You don’t even read the rest before you burst into tears.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Since that day, things have been going way, way better for you.
Every day, almost, you send letters to Jade. When you get home from school, when you have free time, you talk so much with her. It never gets boring, it never gets tired.
You have a sister.
Sister. Sister. Sister. The word dances around in your mind, bringing you so much joy every time you think about it.
She’s not alone, anymore. And you aren’t either.
It’s a brisk March morning when you send over one of your letters. A more important one than usual, though.
Last week, you discussed what you felt about yourself, and your image. Jade doesn’t really care, she doesn’t have anyone to show it off to. You brought up the fact that you could. And in that same letter, to show your confidence in yourself and her, you included a picture of yourself. It’s one of those small versions of your school picture parents would put in like, their wallet, or something. They still give you like, fourty, regardless. It’s kind of excessive.
Anyways, you plant the photograph in the envelope, and seal it. You put it on the designated desk spot, now a little blackened from all the letters being sent from it - you swear you could hear Jude’s geiger counter ticking when you grabbed one of the letters - and wait. After a few moments, it zaps away.
You rush down to the front door, and wait with bated breath for the letter. With a ZAP, it appears at your feet. You delicately open it, hoping for what you want. You pull out the letter, and something else in the letter falls and flutters to the floor, face down.
Your heart skips a beat.
You bend down to the ground to hopefully pick up what is a photograph of Jade. You grab it… and…
…
…Oh my god.
The hair, the eyes, the skin, the teeth…
Jade is… Jade is the girl from your dreams.
You recognize her so well. It’s all there. It’s all there.
Were your dreams real? Did your brain somehow already know who she was without you really knowing?
It’s all so much. And you haven’t even read the actual letter yet.
Sorry, did you say letter? There’s two here, actually.
“joey, if youre reading this, that means you opened the correct letter first!!! thats so great!!! :DDD now what i need you to do is to go up to your bedroom, and then open that letter there! do that for me, ok??”
“-jade”
…That’s… a weird thing to say in a letter. But… you don’t really have any reason to not trust her. Maybe she just knows you’ll need privacy for it, or something. You carry the second letter up the stairs, admiring the photo you got sent and smiling. She looks so wonderful.
You walk into your room and shut the door behind you. You hold the second letter. It says “open this second!!!” on the front. Well, yeah. You gleamed that.
You tear open the top of it and pull it out.
“good job, joey!! now look outside your window!! :D”
…There’s… There’s no way.
You rush over to your window as fast as you can. She can’t be… here, she’s all the way across…
You look outside into your yard, and…
…Nobody there.
Was she just… pulling a prank on you?? Are you supposed to be seeing something?? You pull out the photo of Jade from your sylladex, but… nothing. Nothing at all.
You sigh, and walk dejectedly away.
But then. You hear a voice.
It’s muffled. You can barely hear it. But it’s outside.
You run to your window, and you look outside.
There seems to be… a white-haired teenager in red pajamas and… a cape? Alongside another teenager in a weird little hooded skirt-dress. With some really long socks and… some Wizard of Oz red slippers. What the hell…?
You open your window as quietly as you can muster.
“-girl listen i know youre lonely on the yeller yard i get it the fuckin salamanders and a shitty walmart brand version of me is not great company i understand but holy shit you do not understand how bad this could be for the timeline like this is more doomed than that one guy who got doomed by a puppet twice and had the two nickels and shit”
“oh, be quiet, dave!!!!!!! i know how finicky paradox space is, but i should get to have this, at least! i have powers to change this kind of thing, why shouldnt i??”
“its- …oh shit we got some viewers on this biz”
“what??” The teenager turns around to see you.
…It’s Jade.
How- How? How is she-
She looks into your eyes. Recognition. A smile. It’s her. It’s her.
You run down the stairs. Blindingly fast, panting hard, vision blurring. You almost fall. It doesn’t matter. You fling open the door.
She’s still there.
She smiles warmly at you.
“hi, joey!!”
You stand there in shock for a moment. You still can’t believe it. She’s… she’s here. She’s real.
She crouches down to your height. “you wouldnt believe how nice it is to finally meet you.” She says, chuckling through it.
You run into her arms in a hug, tearing up. The warmth of her. The feeling of her… furry hands? On your arms. It’s her. It’s her.
You sit there for a moment, half crying, half laughing. You think she’s doing the same, too.
You do that for a while.
You pull away from her for a moment, and wipe the catharsis off your face. You smile at her.
“it’s… amazing to meet you too, jade.” You say, meekly.
You both continue the hug for a while, until the man - You now assume is Dave, - clears his throat behind you both.
“not to break up this family reunion of legendary proportions and i mean honestly i have seen some in my day like you guys ever watch any of those sappy ass videos of the parent returning home from war and their kids are all happy and it's like cute for the first bit but then like you remember oh shit war is pretty fucking bad for doing this seperation in the first place and-”
“daaaave, get to the poooooint!!!”
“what i mean to say is that we’re fucking burning daylight out here and we need to bounce real soon otherwise this time bullshit aint gonna work and were gonna doom the timeline” He says, pulling a set of… floating vinyls out of his sylladex. “so lil harley mini we gotta go pretty soon so lets wrap this shit up and bounce” He hovers his hands on the vinyls.
You look up at Jade. “...i’m… coming with you?” you say, teetering on excitement.
Jade just grins with a toothy, doglike smile. “not just you, silly!!” She points up to your window. “your cute dog is already coming with, dont worry, youve just got someone else to grab! :D”
You break off of her and run. You run as fast as you possibly can, grab Jude, and explain everything to him when you get back to Jade.
And as the timestream shifts with some sick ass spins, you hold your Sister’s hand.
You wake up in a new life.
Down by the seaside.
You have a feeling it’s going to be a good day.