Archive of Our Own ^beta

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"Mintha valami... Kozmikus rovarirtóval fújták volna le a várost, úgy ment egyik a másik után. Kollégák, barátok, a testvéreim... Volt, nincs. Csak én maradtam Sonnyval, az is csak a puszta véletlen műve. Mondjuk így utólag belegondolva... Nem tűnik ez nekem annyira véletlennek. Ki tudja, lehet hogy más is maradt rajtunk kívül. Bár nem tartom valószínűnek."

It's been so long since the apocalypse started that everyone has lost track. Sorrounded by nothing but death and destruction, no one really cares about anything other than survival. It is this world that Kertész Eleonóra and Sonny Evans find themselves in, with no one to lean on but eachother. Little do they know, just a bit eastward are their future allies— Colette "Coppernob" Bury and Darius; the god of death himself, looking to stop his sister, Claudia,from ending yet another world she sees as"imperfect".

Eleonóra is the last remaining member of her family. Having watched her three siblings die in horrific ways and losing an arm and most of an ear to the Not Yet Lived hordes herself, she has lost any and all hope she might have had left, living on out of nothing but spite and a thirst for revenge. She spent the early days of this worldwide catastrophe hiding out in what was once her home above the eastern part of what was once the island of Sodor, saving her friends over and over again, but to no avail. They all dropped dead eventually, their limp, lifeless bodies either consumed by the wave of gold or falling out of the sky to be eaten by scavenging animals. She fights with her late brother Endre's axe, one of the few things that still remind her of what she lost to thiswar againt The Lady and her army.

Originally from above the west coast is another survivor, going by the alias "Sonny Evans". Having lived a life of crime, he's more than used to living life on the run, using anyone and everyone to his advantage. Forced to relocate almost every other day, Sonny has never really established the same sort of relationships his reluctant partner in survival did on the east, thus not feeling the same need for vegeance. For a good while since the gods went to war against one another, he's been hiding out on the west of the island, until he had to flee to the east due to a gang of Not Yet Lived finding his previous hideout, dissolving everything their gold dust came in contact with. Given the life he lived before all hell broke loose, he managed to get his handson quite a few firearms, with the ammunition to power them. His most used one is a pistol on the smaller side,  given its portability.

In the once bustling cloud city above Barrow-in-Furness is still one living soul: Colette "Coppernob" Bury. Having lost her lover, the once renowned cabinetmaker Marlon Gresley, under mysterious circumstances, she is doing everything in her limited power to find his spirit and bring him back to life. Her desparation led her to an alliance with none other than Darius, god of death and destruction. She rarely fights, preffering to stay behind or gather supplies for the gang. But just in case, she has a crossbow and arrows within arm's reach.

Contrary to popular belief, Darius is nowhere near as violent as academic and religious texts claim him to be. His original duty was to watch over the spirits in the afterlife and keep them from going to war against one another, but ever since his sister Claudia decided the world was no longer worthy of existing and sent her Not Yet Lived army to destroy everything they possibbly can, he found a new purpose: keep Claudia's army from causing even more damage and protect the ones who haven't been caught by his sister's army or even worse— Claudia herself. 

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The sunrise would be so beautiful, if only that orange light wasn't shining down on the barely recognisable remains of the city I once called my home. If only I could wake up with Marlon still next to me. If only all this mess never happened. But alas, you can't have whatever you want when you're witnessing the end of the world.

Darius has been complaining about his sisters again— not to me necessarily, but I can still hear it- hell, I could hear them arguing from miles away! Claudia, trying desperately to defend herself while Darius berated her, Christina occasionally chiming in, only to be shut down by both of her siblings. I felt terrible for her, I can't lie.

But I can't dwell on my feelings too much— I have to get my hands on enough food and water to survive the week, and both are only getting more scarce with each passing day. I had to resort to distilling whatever clouds I can get my hands on after seeing the rivers and lakes on the ground below were contaminated by gold dust left behind by the Not Yet Lived. Good thing I spent so much time reading up about them when I was younger, I'd probably be part of the hive mind by now if I didn't do all that research back then.

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Today's hunt wasn't the most successful, but I can make-do with what I got. I'm about to make my way back to Darius, Christina and my hideout when I notice two silhouettes approaching the island. They can't be spirits, they aren't leaving pretty much any gold dust behind them as they fly and eventually land on the cloud. "Maybe they're harpies, or birds perhaps," I think to myself, getting ready to load my crossbow, maybe getting myself some actually filling food for the next few days. But before I do, I take another look at those two creatures. Turns out they aren't harpies or birds but rather, they're wingmen like myself. I wouldn't mind some company, I'll be honest. Things have been pretty lonely since Marlon passed and everything happened. The two wingmen introduce themselves as Sonny Evans and... Kertes Eleanor...? She has a strange name but seems nice enough, other than the gold dust covered axe in her one remaining hand. The things these two must've seen...

"The Not Yet Lived found our previous shack out in the middle of nowhere above the island of Sodor," Sonny tells me, gesturing in the direction of the island, still trying to catch his breath.
"So we're looking for somewhere to stay, even if only for a short while."
I can't help but feel bad for the two. They probably haven't slept properly in months. Eleanor in particular is drenched in gold dust, like she's one injury away from certain death. And to make things even worse, she doesn't really seem to care, almost waiting for her demise.
"You can stay with me," I offer, and I see their eyes light up with the tiniest bit of hope.
"Just don't be alarmed, alright?" The two nod, though they seem a bit puzzled. With that, we get going to my and Darius' hideout. Well, Christina's too, but she's not around all that much lately for whatever reason.

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I try to make small talk to pass the time on the way back to what was Marlon's and my home back before everything happened. "So... What happened on this Sodor place that you had to leave?" I ask awkwardly, hoping I'm not crossing any lines. Eleanor shrugs dismissively.
"Rövidre fogva a történetet, Frankie valami oknál fogva feldobta a talpát és mindenki ment utána a süllyesztőbe. Ja és a drága Élendők meg leromboltak mindent és mindenkit kicsináltak akit, amit csak elértek. Az a Nő meg csak nézte, hogy nyírjam ki egyszer." She seems so... Nonchalant about it, whatever it is she said. To this, Sonny lets out a mildly annoyed sigh.
"I think what she meant to say was that this Frankie died under mysterious circumstances and all of a sudden, everyone was dropping like flies. Oh and the Not Yet Lived destroyed everything and killed everyone in their path, while The Lady just watched and did jack shit about it. Before you ask, I have no idea who this Frankie person is or was."
"Well, hearing how their death led to all hell breaking loose, they must've been some sort of important figure, that's for sure." Eleanor gives us a half-hearted thumbs up, but doesn't say anything.
"I'm gonna just take that as a yes," I mutter to myself, noting how Eleanor doesn't seem all that keen on small talk.
 
All the while, Eleanor seems rather disinterested in the conversation, seeing how she keeps staring off into the distance, probably taking in the sight of the wreck left behind by the previous Not Yet Lived waves. I turn to Sonny, curious.
"Does she not speak English?" At that he simply laughs.
"Oh she can speak English—"
"I just don't want to." Eleanor cuts him off briefly before turning away once more, now humming a tune under her breath. He seems quite surprised, so I guess this isn't something she does often.

The rest of the journey is relatively quiet, except for the occaisonal murmur between Eleanor and Sonny. I can't quite make out what they're saying, but it doesn't seem to be too important. It doesn't sound like they're talking about me, at the very least.

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The moment my newfound companions spot Darius, they stop dead in their tracks, looking like they're ready to get out of here at a moment's notice.
"There's nothing to fear," I try to reassure them,
"He won't kill you, I promise!" Darius doesn't say anything. He seems preoccupied with... Something. Probably trying to come up with a way to talk some sense into Claudia's head. So the three of us decide not to bother him.

Christina is nowhere to be seen. She's gone more and more often as the days go on, but we have no idea why or where she's off to. She only shows up late at night most days, and I can't help but feel at least a little bit suspicious. But hey, maybe I'm just overthinking things. I hope I'm just blowing it out of proportion, I don't need this to deal with on top of everything else that's already going on.

Regardless, I show Sonny and Eleanor where they can stay for now, and they get as comfortable as they can when the end of the world is almost inevatble. They still seem wary of Darius but that's less than surprising, considering how he's been dubbed Guardian of the dead and all that. Regardless, I'll do my best to convince them he's actually not the malevolent killing machine they might think he is.

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It's so interesting how differently the two go about "furnishing" their spaces. Sonny's room is almost eerily tidy, like he never moved in; just the bare essentials, no more and no less. He doesn't seem to have carried much of anything with him as he moved from one wrecked shack to the next, which I understand but still find heart-wrenching for some reason, like this life never gave him anything he thought worthy of keeping. It's cold and purely functional— bare bed, bare walls, nothing but his pistol within arm's reach. Something tells me he never got to settle for long periods of time, not even before the apocalypse started, but I have no right to judge or ask questions, I don't think.

In this regard, Eleanor is the polar opposite: her room is much more chaotic and messy, filled with memories and experiences of a lifetime. What those memories are, I may never find out, but she seems to have lived an eventful life even before things went downhill as much as they did. What catches my eye is a handful of feathers poking out from the inner pocket of her coat— different shades of blue, green, and the odd red and brown. Who or what those those once belonged to, I might never know. Whatever the case, they seem to be important to her.

I'll leave them be for the night, they've probably been travelling nonstop for days by the time they got here. They're going to need all the rest they can get if they want any shot at keeping the Not Yet Lived at bay. Though considering where they come from, they're more than likely used to it by now.

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Eleanor and Sonny don't really talk to me or Darius all that much. Probably because they're still scared of him, maybe of me too to some extent... Hopefully they'll come around soon. He's really nowhere near as violent or malicious as we were led to believe, and I have no idea where that even came from. Okay him being the god of death and all that comes with it didn't help, but still— I can't help but wish people read a book or paper or something, anything. But here we are, in a world where the few survivors are so horrified of death just because they think it's the end of the road, or there's nothing afterward. But then again, it's not my job to convince others to change their beliefs, I'm not a prophet; at least not to my knowledge.

As of right now, Sonny and Eleanor feel more like a separate group rather than all of us being on the same "team" so to speak. Though whatever it is they're doing, they do it way better than I do— I'll have to ask them about it, that's for sure. I need to know how they manage to find so many supplies in the wreckage. From what they told me, but moreso from what I overheard, this Sodor place got it even worse than we did over here, due to Claudia being more active there. Though knowing her, she's probably nowhere near as present as she should be. Whatever she did over there must've been horrific, considering how the mainland is in absolute shambles. And to think they came fleeing from the Not Yet Lived... I didn't even think that was possible! But I digress. For now, what matters is making sure Claudia and her council don't find us out here.

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It's been a while since I've seen Christina... A month or so, probably, as I took Eleanor and Sonny under my wing about three weeks ago, and the Legend disappeared a couple days before that, if my memory serves me right. None of us know where she’s off to when she disappears like this. I have a feeling she’s somehow plotting against us, but I can’t explain why. I’m probably just overthinking anyway, but it feels different when someone finally shares the same feelings…

Eleanor still doesn’t talk much, let alone in English, but from the little I’ve heard her say, I’m mostly convinced she feels the same way. I don’t think Sonny shares her, and by proxy my opinion, but he appears to feel that way about most things his… Acquaintance’s thoughts. I’m not sure why he keeps brushing her off, I say he should at least hear her out before telling her how wrong she is. But hey, to each their own.

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It’s my turn on the night watch. Us mortals rotate in 3-hour shifts on one side, while Darius keeps an eye on the other. It is during one of these shifts that I finally see it, that greenish gold glow of the Lady of Legend herself.

I’m not sure why she’s trying to be sneaky when the glow of her Gold Dust gives her away from so far off. Regardless, she sneaks by our… Current headquarters, not noticing me as she floats by.

A few seconds of eerie silence follows the Legend everywhere she goes- is it respect? Perhaps fear? Maybe a mix of both, but all I can really focus on is the unintelligible sounds of what must be Darius and Christina arguing.

Gods can choose who they allow to understand them, from what I’ve read- and they can change this anytime they please, at least for the most part, as this doesn’t seem to apply to those they’ve brought back from the other side, who can understand them whether or not the gods want them to. Usually I’m in the lucky few able to converse with our gods, but not tonight, it seems, as all I can hear is very loud gibberish from the two, which seems to alert the other residents.

Eleanor is the first to make her presence known, shouting something I know makes sense but I don’t understand. Probably something to the effect of “Why do you have to do this in the middle of the night” or something. Regardless, the sheer volume of her voice seemed to alert Christina, who quickly fled the scene. Odd behaviour coming from her, even if she is known for her cowardice. We all just stare at her as she flies off, not unlike how one would flee from a particularly mean harpy or a horde of Not Yet Lived.

Eleanor looks up at Darius, dead inside as ever. “What did she even want?” she asks him, in perfect English. She has an accent, sure, but it’s still understandable. He’s the only one she doesn’t just speak what I assume is her native language to, though I don’t think he has a problem understanding her either way, given how folks from all sorts of cultures worship the same god.

He merely shakes his head. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he tells her. We’re finally able to understand him again, so he probably didn’t want us to hear his sister’s nonsense earlier.

Eleanor nods without a word, heading back inside, as it isn’t her turn for a good few hours. Sonny gestures for me to follow, and soon enough, it’s just him and Darius out in the dead of night. I can hear them talking about something, but I can’t really make out what. Eleanor is by the window… Well, the window frame, watching, listening.

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“You can go back to sleep, you know,” I tell her, walking up to her.

She just shrugs, as far as I can tell with how her wings shield her figure for the most part. “Minek? Úgyis én vagyok a soros.”

I assume she doesn’t really see the point in trying to go to sleep again, which is understandable on one hand, but on the other, we need all the rest we can get in order to fight off Claudia and the Not Yet Lived.

I can’t help but notice how Eleanor is eyeing Sonny. It feels like she’s suspicious. I mean, it’s reasonable, you can never be too sure who’s your friend and who’s your enemy with the way things are right now. Still, I wonder…

“Something caught your eye?” I ask the woman standing next to me, following her gaze. I know I won’t get an answer that makes sense to me, but with the way she gestures with every word she says, I can decipher her words pretty accurately.

“Valamit rejteget ez előlem. Előlünk. Nem tudom mit, de valami nagyon nem gyere be.” She motions to Sonny, looking him up and down. I know she doesn’t hate him per se, I’ve seen her do some pretty ridiculous things for him. Still, she appears wary of him, and I can see why, he’s quite the… Peculiar fellow, from the little I’ve seen and heard.

Sonny, much like Christina, seems to disappear for considerable stretches of time, though it’s only days instead of weeks or months, like the Legend, and he always returns with something useful, like food or ammunition, and while he may aim to ease our nerves about the whole thing, Eleanor seems more and more cautious around him the longer we’re in this mess.

“Én a helyedben rajta tartanám a szemem, biztos ami biztos,” she whispers to me, checking if he heard her, which doesn’t appear to be the case.

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The rest of the night is mostly a blur. Eleanor, Sonny and I rotate every 3 hours, like usual, Darius keeps watch as best he can, and after the whole thing with Christina, nothing noteworthy happens.

By the time the sun rises, Sonny is gone again and I can’t find Eleanor either. The former will be back by either tonight or tomorrow, but the latter? She rarely leaves the house- base at all, let alone by herself. I’m about to panic when I hear it- that same accent from last night, unmistakably Eleanor’s. She’s talking to Darius again.

“I don’t know why he’s so secretive- okay that’s not what I mean, I do know why, but why… with me? We’ve known eachother for years, maybe decades? Long before this whole mess started. He knows, he should know I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t use his own words against him, you get what I mean?” I’m still not used to hearing her speak English, but I’m not really complaining, even if she’s not talking to me specifically.

Darius doesn’t answer her directly, but there seems to be some sort of understanding between the two, which is a nice change from how she was around him just a couple days or weeks ago. It’s nice to see the two… Bonding, I guess you could put it.

The two keep “talking” (honestly it’s more Eleanor monologing with Darius nodding along, but hey) like that for a short while, until the woman notices… Something, something so unnaturally bright, it feels way too intense in its glow, be it alive, dead, or anywhere in-between.

Eleanor swings her axe at this… Thing without a second thought, as she normally goes about doing things. Normally, I’m sure this sort of tactic is used by the Lady’s army to distract someone, but there’s no golden wave in sight, thankfully. Instead, what we see is the one bright thing split up into… Six, the spirits speaking in unison. I’ve read about this sometime in the past, some spirits can apparently have such a close bond in life that their spirits end up inhabiting the same body after death! I didn’t know that could happen to so many individuals…

“Hey! What was that for??” the six snap at Eleanor, who lowers her weapon and… Stares.

“Na jól van, most mi az istent csináltam?????” she laughs, looking down at her axe and then the spirits floating in front of her. She turns to Darius, and myself.

“Are you seeing this or have I officially gone insane?!”

“Godred,” is all Darius tells her. I’m pretty sure I read that name somewhere before. “Who sent you?” He asks them.

“Proteus, blacksmith of the gods,” one spirit answers quickly.

“He has an offer for you, and your… Clan,” another adds.

“Does he now? Or was he told by my dear sister to say that so I’d be more likely to listen?” Neither I nor Eleanor have heard him shut someone down so fast before, in all honesty. “You know the blacksmith has no authority to do such a thing without being ordered to do so.”

“I say we hear them out,” Eleanor chimes in suddenly, “And then decide what we should do with them.” Both of us agree, and the six spirits are free to give us their offer.

“It’s less an offer and more… A request,” a third one adds. “To hide the lamp, if you can.”

“ That lamp?” Darius asks, skeptical. The spirits nod, mutter something like “yes, that one”, or agree in some other way. The god shakes his head.

“If we ever take you up on that, she’ll find us in no time-” Eleanor shuts him off with a simple answer.

“Not our creation, not our responsibility. No.” Honestly, I don’t think either of us would’ve even thought of being that blunt about it, but we do both agree with her.

The six spirits seem less than pleased, but they let the whole thing go, unable to argue with Eleanor’s reasoning. They disappear as quickly as they showed up, leaving the three of us puzzled beyond words. I’m half expecting a horde to show up any second now, but nothing happens. We go about our day with our guards up, looking behind our backs every few minutes, just to be safe…