Chapter Text
The Fall Fair. All year, every year, everyone in Uranium anticipated Wonderville’s event to come to their little mining town and make the town look just a little brighter, even if only for a short week in September. Everyone except the local high school’s chamber choir. The eight students who had somehow managed to fuck up enough to lose to themselves last year.
They had just finished their little number at the Kiwanis International Singing Competition, and, unsurprisingly, had lost…again. Now, the choir was standing in a messy clump in line for a shitty fortune telling machine, and had to deal with everyone staring and knowing that they were absolute losers.
“Hey, everyone, put a little pep in your step!” Ocean, the choir captain, exclaimed in her usual overly peppy tone. “As I said at the concert, the loss had just gone to show the high standard of excellence at Kiwanis. Even in competition against yourself—“
“You can still walk away a loser. We all heard you say it, Ocean.” Noel huffed, not even bothering to glance up at her. He was too busy picking at his already chipped nails, a habit he’d developed ever since his Mother had instructed him to “dial it back” with how he presented himself.
“Well, Noel, I was thinking that maybe you could use a little encouragement. You look down.” Ocean replied, the frown evident in her voice as the line moved up slightly. Noel looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. Of course he was down—the entire choir had just absolutely bombed their chance at ever being seen as a halfway okay choir, and it’d been broadcasted to the entire town.
“I mean, it’s reasonable…” Constance piped up, but her voice died right down as Ocean cast her a glare. “…but Ocean’s right, Noel. You should have some fun, okay?” Constance ended the sentence with a small smile, which Noel knew was more directed towards Ocean than him. All he could reply with was a scoff as he turned back around, now taking a look at the fair and the people around him to distract himself from what his mind really kept directing him back to…the highly anticipated Cyclone rollercoaster.
The coaster was a beast of a thing, standing higher than Noel could estimate and looming over the fair with its creaky wooden tracks that jutted out like claws, claws that were reaching out for him and dead set on tearing out his guts. He felt his stomach twist and wrench just at the thought of that, the awareness that this was Constance’s favorite ride and that, despite how worrying and dangerous it looked, they would be riding it. His eyes traveled back to the coaster against his brain’s better judgement, trailing along with the cart currently zooming down a drop, ears filled with the screams of the people in the cart, a vision of that same cart flying right off the tracks in his mind’s eye, the choir in that cart—
“Yo, Noel.”
Noel blinked a bit too hard as Mischa’s voice cut clean through his thoughts, snapping him back to the present. The present where the whole choir was looking at him, fortune slips in hand, waiting for him to take his own from the machine—The Amazing Karnak.
“Are you all good?” Mischa asked, a slight frown of concern on his face. The fact that Mischa was looking up from his phone long enough to be concerned for Noel brought a soft smile to his face.
“Yes. I’m fine.” Noel replied stiffly, not wanting to say he was scared of the rollercoaster in front of everyone. Especially not in front of Corey—he’d never hear the end of it. Luckily, Mischa didn’t question it. He just nodded and turned back to his phone, which somehow made Noel feel worse. He shook the thought off, turning back to the machine and inserting a coin. He listened as the coin spilled down into the mechanism, causing the gears to turn and stretch as the mechanism came to life before him, its mouth stuttering open as gears whizzed loudly behind its glowing eyes. However, it didn’t say anything. Besides the quiet whirring, the machine was silent. Not even a paper slipped out before its mouth shivered and snapped closed, shortly followed by its body jerking forward and its eyes flickering back to a translucent white.
Noel blinked, eyebrows furrowing as he stared at the machine, confusion and mild frustration bubbling up in him. Sure, all he’d lost was a quarter, but it still felt like a waste. He huffed and turned back to the group, stirring up dead leaves beneath his feet as he trotted over to the rest of the choir, all paired up and showing each other their fortunes. Hank and Trishna giggled together while reading over theirs, Mischa and Corey seemed to be arguing about theirs, and Ocean preached the lack logic to a slightly disappointed-looking Constance while Ricky and…the other girl, whose name Noel couldn’t recall, just sat down on a bench next to each other, not speaking. Noel pursed his lips for a moment before walking over to join them—but was intercepted by Corey.
“Hey, Noel? What did you get?” He asked, looking to Mischa for a moment before turning back to Noel. “See, he got something stupid, but thinks the machine has it out for him. Dumbass.” Great, Corey, being Corey, was getting all excited about insulting Mischa, as the two were always at each others’ throats.
“Well, I didn’t—“
“EVERYONE!!!” Ocean’s sudden interruption caught Noel and Corey off guard, prompting them both to (reluctantly) direct their attention towards her. Noel didn’t like when Corey and Mischa had their little one-upping each other spats, but judging by Constance’s big smile. he knew what Ocean was about to say, and he didn’t want to hear it.
“Okay, guys, it’s time for the first ride of the evening!” Ocean grinned, clambering up onto a bench to look taller. “As per Constance’s request, we will be riding the Cyclone first.”
Noel’s heart dropped right into the pit of his stomach. He knew it was coming, but hearing the words out of Ocean’s mouth increased his worry about the rollercoaster tenfold. “…Why?” He asked reluctantly, really not wanting to hurt Constance’s feelings, but his gut was churning too much to keep the word down.
“Why not, Noel?” Ocean retorted, grabbing Constance’s hand. “She wants to ride it, and it’s right there. C’mon, Noel! Let’s have some FUN!!!! We don’t wanna be down in the dumps all evening!” She practically shouted, pumping a fist in the air.
“Yeah, Noel. You aren’t scared, are you?” Corey grinned, tugging Noel’s sleeve. “Don’t be a pussy.” He stretched out the vowel of the last word, his grin getting wider as Noel rolled his eyes and shrugged him off.
“Okay, fine. Let’s go.” Noel sighed, watching Ocean jump down from the bench and squeeze Constance’s hands. His gut wrenched harder as the group began walking to the rollercoaster, all except that girl and Ricky creating casual banter. Noel watched as Ocean consulted the carny operating the ride, noticing that he was clearly not exactly sober, which only caused his stomach to hurt more and his head to spin faster—fast enough that, by the time Ocean was handing them all tickets, he felt very dizzy, and was quite convinced he was seeing things as his brain focused on a small rabbit flickering in and out of view as it dashed through game stands.
“Are you okay, Noel?” Ocean asked as she handed him his ticket, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. Noel managed a nod as he took the ticket, knowing that Ocean would just guilt him back into getting on the ride if he even tried to put up a fight. Ocean smiled and nodded at him, quickly moving over to hand Mischa his ticket. As they finally began to board the coaster, Noel filed in next to Mischa, knowing that at least being next to him would provide some semblance of comfort.
“Yo, Noel? You all good?” Mischa asked, tilting his head at Noel, who offered him the same almost robotic nod he had given Ocean. Mischa hummed and appeared to buy it, turning back around to face forward. Noel’s head was swimming as the carny cleared his throat and mumbled some rules from a sheet of paper, rules that Noel didn’t even bother to hear as he curled up on himself, trying not to heave. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, muffling out all other sounds as the bar descended over his and Mischa’s laps. He lifted one shaky, slightly sweaty hand and placed it on the cold metal of the bar, then another. He was riding the Cyclone, whether he liked it or not. The lights of the fair seemed to bore into Noel’s brain brighter than usual as the rollercoaster began to move, beginning a slow ascent up the first drop, and emitted a slight screech that rang in Noel’s ears like a chapel bell as it began to pick up pace.
Mischa laughed and let out a “whoop!” next to Noel as the car reached the top of the drop, lingering for a moment before zooming down the ramp, taking the car and Noel with it, but he was very convinced he’d left his stomach as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes from the cold wind whipping at his face and hair. The car began careening forward, whipping around small corners and turning fair lights into blinding beacons, lights all around Noel that made him feel even more sick every time they rounded a corner with a jolt. As the loop began to come into his immediate view, Noel’s hands left the bar and reached for Mischa, grabbing him tightly as if he was his one life force. Mischa’s eyes darted to him for a moment in slight confusion, but he didn’t seem to mind, which only worried Noel further. Something bad was going to happen, he could taste it—and he was the only one able to tell.
As the car started on the loop, it suddenly made this sort of screaming sound, shaking and bouncing uncontrollably as the excited screams of the choir quickly turned into those of horror. “What’s happening!?” Noel could hear Ocean yell over the chaos, further fueling the terrified fire in his stomach as they reached the apex of the loop-de-loop, everyone holding on for dear life, anticipating the drop—but they didn’t drop. At least, not in the way they were expecting. Something snapped, causing the screaming noise to sound again as sparks shot into the air from the front of the car where Ocean and Constance were located, before suddenly, the screaming and the sparks ceased…they were floating. Noel took in a sharp inhale as time seemed to freeze around him, the coaster suspended in midair for what felt like much longer than it was supposed to. It was almost relieving. Yet, the moment stopped as soon as it ended, and suddenly, the coaster was flipping over, and everyone was screaming again as sparks shot flew the air, mixing in with the flashing lights of the fair as the coaster spun round and round and round, and round and round, round and round, and round and round, round and round, and round and round—Noel tried to scream, but it caught in his throat as Hank and Corey shot out of the car, bodies seeming to just snap as they made contact with the tracks on the other side of the loop, splattering a show of cherry scarlet all over the wood.
Noel gripped Mischa tighter as he felt himself begin to lift out of the seat, careening to the side as Ricky and Trishna shot over him, the latter screaming at the top of her lungs as they were flung into the asphalt with a terrifying amount of force. The two boys were then sucked out the side, holding on tight, tight enough to silently comfort each other through what both knew was about to come. And it still came, and Noel felt it as Mischa was jerked away from him, his arms flailing and grasping for something, anything, any miracle that had the ability to protect him, but he never met that miracle. Noel managed a choked noise as the boy’s spine cracked on the tracks, twisting at an angle it certainly wouldn’t have been able to go before meeting the asphalt as well. The fair music blared in Noel’s ears as he curled up on himself, knowing it wouldn’t help, but if death was imminent, he at least needed to provide himself some sort of comfort. Because death had never terrified him until now. And the fact that it never had scared him the most. He felt the shadow of the tracks on him, heard Ocean’s pained scream and a terrible crunching sound as the car itself crashed into the asphalt, which Noel uncovered his eyes to watch for a moment. That was it. The girl in the back—Penny! Penny Lamb, that was her name—looked reminiscent of a ragdoll, body sprawled out over a sign…headless. Noel choked again, his brain whirling faster and faster as the moment became faster and faster, and he neared the ground faster and faster and faster and faster and-
Noel’s eyes opened, blinking and adjusting to not being caught in the middle of a whirl of flashing colors and sounds as his head snapped up and he took a quick look around. He…was back in the car? The bar hadn’t even dropped upon his and Mischa’s laps yet.
“Yo, Noel? You good?” Mischa asked again, his head tilted at Noel, the exact same way he’d tilted it what was supposed to be two minutes ago. Noel shook his head rapidly, gasping and trying to catch his breath as he stumbled out of the side of the car, head throbbing as he dropped to his knees on the cold, grassy earth. He felt eyes on him, but he didn’t care—he needed himself, and the choir, out of that damn rollercoaster.
Noel turned around and scrambled to stand, whipping round to face the choir. “You need—you need to get out,” He gasped, looking at the other seven members anxiously, praying that they’d listen. “It’s gonna derail. Please.” He stared at them even harder, face scrunching up as he tried to decipher what each teen was thinking, yet he never could tell. They all just looked at each other, whispering and casting anxious glances towards him. “Please, please, get out of the car!” Noel practically cried, rushing over to grab Mischa’s arm and shake him desperately.
“Noel, how do you know it will derail?” Mischa asked, looking up at him like he’d just grown another head. Great.
“Mischa, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but please listen,” Noel pleaded through sharp gasps, his head still spinning at record speeds as he leaned one hand on the side of the cart to keep stable. “I—I saw it. When I got in. We were riding the coaster, then at the top of the loop, part of the rollercoaster, just, just, snapped—! And then, we were flying, and you died. I died. We all died, Mischa.” By the time he was done explaining, Noel could feel bile rising up in his throat. He glanced over to notice Ricky looking at him, chewing on the inside of his cheek, then looked to Corey, who shoved Trishna out of the way to get out and stand face to face with Noel.
“Are you INSANE?” Corey half-shouted, gesturing all over Noel before turning to the car. “If you don’t want to ride the Cyclone, just say it! You don’t have to make up some batshit story! Better yet, don’t make a big deal out of it. Be a man, and ride the fucking ride!”
Noel had to grip his pocket hard enough to bleach his knuckles white in order to stop himself from smacking Corey across the face. Because, seriously? Did Corey ACTUALLY think he’d make this up? “Am I insane? Are you serious? Why the HELL would I make this up?” He hissed, settling on shoving Corey away from him.
“Because you’re DELUSIONAL!” Corey snapped back, about to raise a fist, when the carny manning the ride stumbled between them and stretched his arms out.
“Buhreak it uppppp, breakitup…” The carny slurred drunkenly. “All you, off th’ ride. Fall Fair…Fall Fair ‘oesn’t support fightin’.” As the carny said this, all the teens groaned loudly, reluctantly pulling themselves out of the seats one by one. Mischa narrowed his eyes at Noel as he passed, and Ocean shook her head, but neither of those movements stopped the wave of relief that crashed over Noel as he almost started laughing from the purity of the feeling.
As soon as Ricky and Penny had made their way off the mechanism, the carny instructed the teens to move for the next wave of people—which disturbed the tight knot in Noel’s stomach again. He reached out to tap one of their shoulders, but the words immediately died in his throat as the person rolled their eyes and shrugged him off, even letting out a “tch” sound as they boarded. Noel shook his head, backing away as the people got on the ride. Corey elbowed him as the people boarded.
“Well, now we’re gonna watch these people be fine and see how embarrassed and fucking wrong you’ll be,” He whispered, and Noel could hear that shiteating grin in his voice. “And Ocean might just kick you out of choir. What a relief. We won’t have you yelling at us every two seconds.” He punctuated the last word with a smack to Noel’s shoulder, which he was just too scared to return. These people were going to die, and there wasn’t anything he could do. At least it wasn’t the choir.
Noel braced himself to watch, not even noticing Ricky moving up next to him until a text-to-speech voice sounded in his ear. ‘Noel. Noel. Care to explain what you saw?’ Noel turned to Ricky, blinking. He’d never seen Ricky willingly try to communicate with really…anyone. He saw that whenever people tried to speak to Ricky, they always seemed to baby him or use him as their performative activism prop, so he guessed he understood.
“Well, did you hear me tell Mischa?” Noel replied, still eyeing the coaster. Ricky shook his head, moving between Noel and Corey carefully. “Okay, um. Basically, I was getting on, and…I saw us die. All of us. The rollercoaster derailed right up there…” He pointed at the apex of the loop de loop, tensing in fear as he noticed the car getting close to reaching the same area. Ricky readjusted next to him, gently nudging Noel to signal he needed space to move forward before pulling himself onto the sidewalk to get a better view. “Oh, shit, they’re about to derail—“
Noel was cut off by the screaming sound filling the park, the same screaming he’d heard in his vision, and shocking everyone. He noticed Mischa curse and place his hands over his ears, and the entire choir shifted slightly closer to each other. And, to Noel’s horror, the car did derail. Sparks shot into the air, lighting up the sky before the fair as terrified onlookers gathered to see just what the hell was going on, squeezing everything further together and causing Noel’s breaths to quicken even more as he tried not to press into Ricky enough to accidentally kick his crutches right out from under him. And, there it was. The screams of terror, screams that would linger in Noel’s ears for a while long after now, screams that erupted even louder as the coaster crashed, screaming, into the asphalt. The entire crowd released a gasp, ducking and backing away from the site of the crash as flames licked at the grass around the area. For a moment, it was just the people taking it all in, the choir realizing the accident they had just avoided, the carny sobering right up…then it was chaos. People began sobbing and screaming and running in all directions like bugs under a rock, calling ambulances and family members are firefighters as the choir clustered together to find Father Marcus.
“C’mon, guys! C’mon!” Ocean shouted over the chaos, trying to corral the choir into a tighter circle as the ambulances came wailing in. The world spun around Noel, his feet not feeling quite right under his legs as he stumbled absentmindedly behind the choir and replayed the memory of the crash in his head, over and over, not quite processing it. Not processing that he was alive. That was supposed to be him, that was supposed to be the choir—they’d gotten lucky. So, so lucky. “NOEL! Move it!” Ocean hissed to him, halfway snapping him out of the daze as he realized that they were now in the parking lot, standing right next to the St. Cassian’s van that Father Marcus had used to take them to the Fair.
Once they fully stopped, Noel looked around to take in everyone’s reactions. Mischa had a hand in his hair, his cap gripped tightly against his chest. Trishna was nervously pacing (occasionally stopping to hug Hank), the heels of her dress shoes clacking on the asphalt, which seemed to further annoy the already stressed-looking Corey. Constance still had her hand frozen over her mouth, tears spilling from her eyes as Ocean rambled to her in whispers. Ricky was catching up to Noel with the clear intent of talking to him, and Penny was…rather calm-looking. She glanced around, her eyes occasionally lingering on Noel. Did she believe him too?
“Children!” Father Marcus gasped, bending down to speak to Ocean as the rest of the choir filed silently into their seats. Processing. Taking in that they maybe, just maybe, shouldn’t have talked down to Noel.
‘So, you had a vision?’ Noel turned back to Ricky as the text-to-speech voice spoke in his ear again. He’d have to get used to that. ‘You foresaw the roller coaster crashing. You have POWERS, man.’
Noel’s eyes widened at that statement. It was…certainly a statement. “POWERS?” He breathed, raising his eyebrows. “I think that’s an overstatement, Ricky—“
Ricky shook his head, looking at Noel with wide eyes. ‘You can see the future. You’re the second coming of Doctor Strange, Noel. Seriously, you just saved our lives.’ Ricky’s face slightly fell, and Noel chewed on his lip. He didn’t know what Ricky was thinking, but he wasn’t sure he’d done a good thing. People still died. ‘Meet me at my house tomorrow. You have to elaborate on this more.’
Noel opened his mouth to ask about school, but quickly realized that they certainly would not be having school tomorrow. The town would most likely just gather in vigil for the losses, then move on with their lives. “Um, okay.” Noel replied, nodding. The janky van finally sputtered to a start, jolting all the children before starting down the road, back to the school. Noel stared out the window the entire time, mind swimming with questions. What the hell was happening? How did that happen? Why did he all of a sudden see the future? Why was Penny so calm? Why would Ricky believe him? But one question lingered over them all, cast behind as Noel did not want to think about it, but it was certainly still there:
Was the tragedy really over?