Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The scene sets with the sun shining down on a sandy beach, slowly being eroded by clear blue water lapping the warm shore. The tide hangs lower than usual and backs away as a woman with sheening blue skin steps forward, several towels slung over her shoulder as her wings buzz behind her.

A small group follows her, a handful of teenagers and a smaller gaggle of little children trailing in the back with pails of beach toys.

A boy with blue skin and a purposefully messy mane of black hair clamors up another, flopping his upper body over the kid’s blond shag while sitting on his shoulder. “Are we there yet aunt Libby???” Atlas, the poor angel beneath this story’s sole hero, makes a faint noise beneath him. “...Unox…your arm is in my face…”

“Huh? Oh, sorry sunshine.” Unox sits back up and continues letting Atlas carry him, not like it’s causing much hindrance. A boy, or should I say a creature, calls from further back.

“Goob is READY! Goob was BORN READY!! No…yes!” His antennae curl in tight black spirals as he scoops up a second brightly colored alien boy, with shiny markings beneath his eyes and on his nose, much like a large crate over his head. “BLAST! Time to play the games of pretend!”

The kid held above his head blinks and looks down at Goob. “Yay?” Goob simply can’t help but shrug before bouncing toward the front of the group, surpassing another pair who seem significantly less excited.

“How is this going to work at all anyways? I mean, are we just gonna see everything that’s happening in our minds?” A deep royal purple dragonborn mutters, followed quickly by a scoff at the other beside him, who halfway grins.

“I think that’s what playing pretend is Dondon, yeah.” Donnie gives him a nasty look before jabbing his side with his elbow. “Yeah yeah, whatever. You’re lucky I like you.” Mad, who happens to be the lucky one’s name, grins for real and pokes him back. “So aggressive! Lighten up man. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Only so long as you don’t get “pretend” seasick.” Unox yells from ahead, whilst urging Atlas to continue forward. His carrier does not oblige, and in fact slows down to help the trio of little kids following them over the pale yellow sand.

Unox isn’t the biggest fan of not being in the lead anymore, but opts for pulling one of the boys up with him, a child no older than six or so and made up of a strange mesh of sepia paper mache in vaguely demon-esque shape.

Inky, currently an unfit name for his form, but he would grow back into it, plopped down and coiled his tail around Atlas’ arm, the curves of his paper thin tail mirroring the golden swirls of tattoos.

“Are we there yet auntie Libby?” He coos, and before she can respond he turns in his makeshift seat and reaches for one of the other littles on the ground, a spiky child with rough edges named Cyrus.

He ends up falling off his high horse, literally, and the warm sand beneath him cushions his light tumble. The third child startles backwards and covers his eyes with the ear-like wings poking out from his hair. Atlas leans down and picks him up, which gives Unox the chance to hop off his personal taxi.

Moments later Libby turns and faces her personal crew of overzealous children, each a varying degree of excited for what may lie ahead. “Alright kiddies, listen up and listen good! What we’re doing, it’s for fun but this sorta magic is nothing to be trifled with! To be safe, Inky, Cyrus, Liam? You boys aren’t gonna be in the thick of it.”

This earns a very disappointed reaction from Inky and Cyrus, who are eventually calmed with the knowledge that they’ll be just as important to the story, however Liam does not seem to mind his lesser role in whatever sort of pretend play this ends up being.

“Thank goodness, thought that’d go over way worse actually…I guess we can start before the others get here too, we won’t need 'em for a minute. You guys ready?”

The group agree mostly unanimously, so Libby continues by urging the younger group to the side, all while promising important jobs that seem to generally appease them.

Once they’ve stepped aside, and the main group has gathered a little closer, she scrunches her bright red eyes tightly as a ball of shimmering magic appears, growing between her claws into a void, home to many a horrific possibility. But it’s all pretend, isn’t it? That’s what you might be saying, and you’d be right. But so too would it be right to assume that in pretend lies truth, as the darkness swallows the unaware, and their minds fall to shambles in its gaping maw.

Chapter Text

Unox comes to in the stretches of a messy battlefield, huddled behind the debris of war gone too long and too far.

He grips his arm, fresh wounds whose origins fall hazy to his mind, before slowly straightening his back as best he can to look his crew in their many faces. His closest friends all wear the same weary confusion as he, and many troops with foggy features look around cautiously.

“Captain?” His friend, or brother by choice, breathes deep while looking around, smoke puffing from his flared nostrils. “What is our plan of attack? We haven’t won yet.”

Unox looks at Donnie first and nods, grit filling his mind as he speaks. “Listen closely now, or we’ll never make it back home. Now’s the time to say your prayers, my friends, this war has stretched for years on end and there is no time left to kneel and hope for sanctuary. No, what happens here and now is our own doing, and I plan on getting home and dragging every one of you with me. I won’t leave a man behind.”

With the nods of comrades to fill his vision, hope is not yet lost and neither is will. He balls his fist tight and points outward, the enemy gore staining the soil.

“Our enemy lies yonder, we kill and we ravage for what they’ve done to us, keeping us here from our families all these years. We stay trapped in this game. Game? Of hurt and death, but if you follow me I will make sure you reach your home before it’s too late. Goob, clear our path, and Blast make sure our wounded make it back to the ship. I need this from you.”

An alien of lime green hue darts out from behind the hiding spot, dragging a weapon that seems too heavy for his body along with him, his antennae pinned back as he tries to draw bloodlust from his memories. It’s hard to get into the mindset, even after a decade of war he remains too soft to survive. Unox turns back to his friends as groups of the foggy crew limp and follow Blast quietly.

“Donnie and Bunny, I need you two to survey the area. Make sure Goob gets back to the ship, and if you spot any of our own survivors get them back post haste.” Donnie frowns, stepping forward. “Captain, we don’t have any-” “Check. I need to know…just how many have truly been lost.”

Donnie stares at him for a long moment, and it’s hard to make out the look in his eyes, but not after too long does he gesture for a stout girl with stark white hair to follow him away as his wings unfurl and beat.

Unox turns and looks to the rest, gesturing them away. “Go, my comrades, go and remember what you fight for, who you fight for, let your will be your own deity and pray to it you make it back to our kingdom in one piece.”

This works on all but a bronzy angel warrior who looks forward, fear coating his vision. “...Unox…how did it get this bad…when did we get so bloodthirsty…” They whisper, once everyone has moved off to their stations.

It’s a waste of precious time, but it hurts to see his terror, so Unox steps forward to take her hand. “Atlas, it won’t be this way forever. We’ll make it home, you and I, and someday we will laugh at how we stared such horrors in the face together. We’ve not far left to go, my dearest friend. All we have to do is survive.”

Atlas simply looks at him like he’s crazy, but before he can respond Unox stumbles to the side, crying out in pain as a sharp sear burns through his mind.

A hardy voice or some kind of cry echoes through his brain, crawling outwards and burning the far edges of his sight as a picture, nay, a vision blooms in his mind’s eye.

A grotesque sort of flower, being reduced to gore by a man who towers over himself with sword or a spear or a bow ‘n arrow, a man whose features are hard to place, but he can’t help but feel it’s familiar. And important. When his vision clears he’s being propped up against his friend, whose own fear is replaced with intense worry.

“Captain? Are you alright?” Unox can see his lips moving, but his voice is too far away to make out, so he pushes himself up instead. “I…have to…go find it…I have to…” Atlas tries to catch his wrist, but it’s no use as Unox pulls away. “Atlas…my friend…go to the ship. We’ll make it home.”

He can’t hear what Atlas says, whether it may be encouragement or luck or the proclamation that he is being very, VERY stupid, all would be appreciated and none are received.

He follows the voice to the end of the line, listening to his and hers cries of prophecy and bloodshed. He had to make it home, and whatever enemy this god was warning him of, they would not see the next sunrise.

That much was foretold.

Chapter Text

The voice never let up, in his head and in the stifling air around him for what felt like hours, strides he’d run to be here now, to survive this experience and know his love and son would be safe in their home when he returned.

Expecting an enemy, someone with too much violence all trapped in their eyes, someone he could rip into and relieve his barn-sorry aggression on, he was met with the opposite.

A baby, in a wooden cradle with one soft blanket protecting it from the chilling air, there was no reason for it to be out here.

Up on this ivory wall, blocking the enemy kingdom from stretches of land all stained dark from bloodshed, there was only him guarding this place. The very small boy reached up and babbled at him, and Unox stepped back a little.

“You’re…just a child…a baby, no older than my own when I saw him last…this can’t be right. I can’t do this, you couldn’t make me if you tried.”

He turns away from the bassinet, looking up at the clouds like someone up there is playing a sick joke on him. “Tell me this is not why I’m here! I won’t do it!” The heavens make no move to say they’re kidding. That he’s found them out. In fact, the booming voices playing as one in both ears double down.

“You know what you must do, Unox. It’s him, or them. You can’t have both, and if the decision is too taxing, you’ll have neither. Think about it. Your crew, your family, the son you live for and the husband you’d die for. You’d really give them up for this boy? His blood runs the same as your enemy, you’ve already stained so much of the earth with it, what’s one more?” Unox waves his hands helplessly at the sky.

He ends up turning around again though, just…to get a better look. He carefully picks up the infant and holds him beneath his arms, whispering beneath his breath.

“You remind me so much of my boy, do you know that? The way you’re smiling at me right now. He looked the same way, I remember it even after so long. I can’t believe I had to leave him like that, but he didn’t know any better…neither do you, I suppose.”

The baby adds little to the conversation, besides cooing and babbling and reaching to touch Unox’s claws.

His features fade out, though his eyes remain the clearest in the fog, a deep rich brown that shines gold from the setting sun. Unox stares at him for a moment longer, and thinks of readjusting to relinquish his hand, but his mind burns with the knowledge that if he does now he might never let go.

So he just carries on talking, and moves instead to support his head. “Close your eyes, little one. You don’t deserve to see this carnage, you never even got to do anything…”

He moves forward and sets the baby back down in his cradle, whispering softly.

“I would never want to hurt you, you know…of course you don’t know, you don’t even know who I am. The blood of your people coats my hands, it resides under my fingernails like a cruel, guilty trophy. But all of them fought me back, and you can’t. A voice told me that someday you would grow up to kill mine, and I would never see them again. You don’t know this about me yet, but I am very willing to make hard decisions in order to see my home again. My husband and boy again. Does that make me more of a monster than any of our enemies could hope to be?”

The child only giggles, his features foggy to Unox’s eyes, but he can make out the way his eyes scrunch up when he smiles. It’s naive, and it hurts, not just because it reminds him of his own son, but he thinks too hard about this boy’s own father, who is currently enriching the earth far below with his body.

At least half of this child’s blood stains Unox’s own blade, or was wiped off on the grass hastily a while back. Either way, no one would be coming to find him up on this wall anyways.

Unox leans over the cradle again, and he once again very gently plucks the infant from his bed. He holds him further this time, at arm’s length to create distance as he continues his previous thought.

“Maybe.” The difference between a man and a monster, is that man hasn’t had to choose yet. And perhaps he never will.

The voices in his head sear again, rearing up as they leave him with his mission.

“Blood will forever remain on your hands, little king…all you can change is if it’s your own, or the enemy’s.”

Chapter Text

The living of the crew gather across their many ships, steady expressions set on sailing home. Not nearly as many were lost as they’d thought, and home was in their grasp. Ten years had they fought, had they suffered, and soon it would all be over. Unox found himself at the front of the ship, looking outwards on the sparkling blue water.

“Full speed ahead my comrades! For years now we have managed, and our kingdom is just barely across these waters! I’ve carried you through the war, now we must survive the sea, and soon we will savor hot meals in our warm homes, and it will not be in vain.”

A chorus of affirmation follows his words, and seaspray hits the sides of the boat, glimmering as the sun dances across its surface.

Goob looks down from the crow’s nest, squinting many yards below himself at the wood of the deck. He drums his fingers along the railing before hopping off and sliding down the ladder all the way to the ground. “”As anyone seen Blast? He went to see if we have’s provisions to last, but Goob hasn’t seen him back since.”

An increasingly more gloomy second-in-command frowns, shaking his head whilst gently rubbing the back of a sort of green looking Mad. “Course I haven’t Goob, stupidity will eternally be your downfall. We’ve no food left, and our captain can’t be bothered to stop. I swear he acts like hope fills our empty stomachs.”

Donnie purses his lips at the face Goob makes at him, somewhere between hurt and acceptance, before he turns around.

“He should just be down below, in storage. You go find him, and I will spend my time like an idiot, encouraging our faulty captain to pay attention to what lies on his own ship. Will you be alright Mad?” He turns to look at Mad, who swallows before nodding.

“Yeah, yeah, never been better…I dunno why I ever agreed to this…” Donnie reaches up and pats his head gently. “You didn’t, you were drafted. Good luck though, for everyone’s sake I hope he has a plan.” He walks off to the head of the ship, and Goob gives Mad a helpless expression before skittering away to find another.

Mad just groans and sits down, back to the railing. “I hate this…game..?”

At some point Goob finds himself in the cellar, curled on the floor behind a half empty barrel as red dances across his vision, gripping his personal cannon like it will successfully keep the pain from gnawing at his gut. It hurts, and it hurts LOUDLY, and when he’s found, it's by Atlas carrying Blast on his shoulder.

“Goob? What are you doing back here?” Blast jumps down to meet him, pushing the wooden keg to the side and pulling his heavy artillery away from his chest. “Look at me, where are you right now?” Goob yanks at his antennae, whispering because they’ll hear him if he doesn’t.

“So many, we killed so many, Goob slaughtered them beneath my hands and his teeth and he felt them die and they’re gone forever. War hurts, and we weren’t even the ones who lost!” Blast scoots close and Atlas sucks in a breath watching.

“Oh man…okay, let’s just stay here a while. You and me, okay? It won’t hurt forever, if..that helps…” Goob grips the sides of his head, his voice reaching an urgent shrill. “Goob cannot see where are you where are you where-!!!”

He stops when Atlas reaches down and gently presses his palm to his cheek, his voice low and soft. “There there, Gooby…it’ll be okay. Our captain has a plan, and we’re going to make it home. All of us. You won’t die here, I’ll make sure of that. Blast…” He looks down at his comrade and whispers. “Stay with him, please…though I feel I don’t need to ask you twice.”

He gets a solemn nod in response as Blast goes back to trying to calm Goob’s racing heart and mind, as Atlas walks back up to the deck and towards Donnie and Unox.

Donnie throws his hands up in his captain’s face. “Captain, we’re starving! Hopes and dreams don’t fill our bellies, they barely fill our minds! It’s bad out here!” Unox puts on hand up. “I know that, Donnie, but you have no reason to fear. I will lead you all to safety, you just have to put your trust in me.”

Donnie puffs smoke from his nose, hissing. “I’ve survived putting my trust in very few people, Captain. Tell me why you deserve this luxury, now while we sit and we starve.” Unox turns away from him, watching the water below and the gulls above, on a steady course to an island in the distance that glows in the dark.

“You haven’t died yet, have you? See those birds? They’re looking for food just like us. We follow them, we find it. If nothing else, trust me on this.”

Donnie stares at the back of his head for a couple moments before muttering. “Yes…Captain. Full speed ahead.” Unox nods, but doesn’t bother to meet his eye. “Ay ay.”

Soon after Donnie leaves, dissatisfied but left with no argument, Atlas walks up behind Unox. “Captain..” Unox’s weary expression brightens considerably as he turns to look at him. “Atlas! It’s good to see your face! I know, I know, the people are hungry, we’re working on it. We’ll hunt on this next island, do you see here?” He points ahead, hope filling his expression.

Atlas looks onward. “I see it. It glows, a fire, maybe people there. The chances they’d be willing to help us are enticing, aren’t they?” The captain’s eyes follow his gaze, toward the island that faintly glows with the now oncoming dusk.

“I see it, my friend, but there’s no smoke, and that light is too big. We don’t know what lies ahead. Do you think it’s worth the risk?” He looks up at Atlas, who bows his head.

“Anything with you is worth the risk, Captain. I say we try it, and if by sunrise we don’t make it back our crew is quite capable of coming to our rescue. Do you trust me?”

Unox brushes strands of jet black hair from his face and his tail curls against his leg, blinking with its own set of eyes. “Atlas, I trust you more than I trust myself sometimes. Comrades!!” He steps around Atlas to call to his army.

“Comrades, we stop at this island ahead of us, and me and Atlas will scope it out! Come looking for us if we are still gone by the time the second sun meets tomorrow's horizon!” The sound of heavy hunger and weary hope meet his ears before he turns to the sea. From further back, closer to the wheel, Donnie watches while shaking his head.

“For all of our sakes Captain…I hope you’re right about this.”

Chapter Text

Our captain and his dearest friend leave the boat behind on the shore, now shrouded by foliage that doesn’t strike either of them as being familiar. Unox’s reaction is to clasp the hilt of his sword in his hand, eyeing his surroundings warily.

“Atlas, stay close, we don’t know what could lie ahead. Even if they are people, people are cruel.”

Atlas smiles gently and regards the strange leafage around themself with care and wonder in her eyes. “You worry too much, my friend. We’re safe here, I can feel it in my bones. You have to relax, this kind of stress can’t be good for you.” Unox sighs after a second, glancing up at him. “Don’t say that, you don’t know- ugh…we’re at war, Atlas, we’re not safe anywhere.”

He goes back to gripping his sword, fear and guilt clouding his vision until Atlas puts their hand on his shoulder, his voice low. “Captain…Unox…I know what you must be feeling.” Without skipping a beat Unox responds. “You couldn’t possibly imagine, you don’t know.” “I know you.” He responds just as fast before loosening his grip. “You can relax, my friend. At least for right now, here, you’re not only my captain. You’re my friend, and if nothing else I’ll make sure you get home.”

Unox glances back at her and stares for a couple seconds. “... …Atlas, you say that like you won’t make it too.”

“Well…I know I’ll make it back one way or another, either at your side or…in your memory. But I won’t speak of such things, you have enough to plague your conscience.” Unox pulls Atlas to his level and lightly punches their shoulder, giggling faintly. “You were always the jokester, Atlas, but don’t make such ridiculous claims, lest you risk sounding like a dunce in need of a pointed cap. You’ll make it home too, everyone will, that I can vow on my own life.”

Atlas smiles slightly, although for a moment it seems feigned. “We’re in the home stretch. So don’t worry, we just need to get food and then we’ll be right on our way.”

There’s an abrupt stop to the conversation as the foliage around them rustles, the shadows thicken and part as a group of stout little buglike creatures emerge from the trees and assorted grasses, each sporting wings and a headtail that glimmers with a shiny exoskeleton and a sharp point on the end, their faces fogged out.

“Hello! Hello? hellooooo. Hullooowww…” They each in turn spout their greeting before Unox steps in front of Atlas, drawing his sword and pointing it straight at the most boisterous of the little group, practically poking their nose with the end of the blade. “Get back, whatever you are! Step back, leave us, and you will keep your lives.”

They all skitter back in a frenzy, covering their buggy eyes and hiding behind trees and leaves as Unox threatens them, frantic to ensure safety. Atlas gasps very faintly and steps between them, holding his hands out.

“Captain, no, no…relax, and breathe, they’re not going to hurt you.” Unox’s voice gets shrill. “You don’t know that Atlas, move! I’m trying to keep you safe, I need to keep everyone- ..safe..” Atlas pushes down his blade while he’s talking, stepping forward to hold his shoulders. “My friend, open your heart. I know it’s been bad…but you have to trust me on this. It’s not worth even one more innocent life.”

“..You don’t know that to be true…you have no way of knowing.” Unox keeps his sword close, squinting at his surroundings. “Atlas…” They reach down and take a seed pod they’re being offered by one of the hazy islanders, its seeds glowing from within. Unox stares at it for a few seconds as Atlas shows it to him. “See? They’re friendly, more or less, they’re sharing their food with us.”

“....Atlas…do you know what that is…” Atlas pauses in the middle of picking the seeds out. “...Do you?” Unox reaches up and smacks it from her hand. “Of course I do, those are lotus seeds. These…whatever they are, they’re being puppeted from further away. Don’t eat those, or you’ll become like them.” He gestures at the group, who are each standing in a tower to reach a branch higher up.

Atlas blinks at them for a couple seconds before calling. “Lotus eaters, I’ve a question to ask. Kindness is a brave thing, and mercy, a hero’s choice, wouldn’t you say?” They tumble to the ground, but nod from their new position. “MMMMMMMMMMMercyyyy.” He nods. “Could you tell me where there’s other kinds of foods to eat?” They all point collectively to one side, whispering in English like they’re finishing eachother’s thoughts. “That way, that way, a cave that way to sail and to find. You wants food? That-a-way!”

Atlas smiles, somewhat smugly I may add, glancing at Unox before speaking. “Do you see now, dearest? They’re not all bad. Lower your weapon, nothing will happen to you.” Unox scoffs at them. “Please Atlas, spare me. My sword is even sheathed and everything. I’m just saying, we cannot afford to think only with our hearts.”

Atlas waves him away, responding gently. “And I’m just saying your heart is under-used. You can spare a moment’s time to appreciate our lives. We’ve kept them this long, because you’re a good Captain, but you must certainly be tired.”

Unox pauses, looking up at her for a beat before carefully whispering. “I am, certainly. But we don’t have the-”

He stops as he’s hoisted up, stuck onto Atlas’ shoulders like a couple o’ crates, and grinned at by his captor. “Shush, Unox, and look around. This life is amazing.”

So Unox does look around, but where his companion sees sparkling wonder, he can’t help but see guilt. Walls built too high, kept up for too long, and creatures too naive to understand his motives. Beings too innocent to understand the longing he has for home, and his willingness to do anything to make it back. He looks back down at Atlas and smiles.

“You always were so good at seeing this kind of thing. Will you be my eyes, just for now? I don’t want to forget this.”

“Forget what?”

Unox starts giggling. “I hadn’t gotten that far Atlas. I suppose to see the hope and beauty in my surroundings? Yeah, yeah. Will you help me see it?”

Atlas looks up at him again, folding his ears a little and smiling a solemn sort of smile. “I’ll try, Captain. As long as I can.”