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Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of It's my choice, I can do what I want
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Published:
2026-05-30
Updated:
2026-06-05
Words:
3,649
Chapters:
3/?
Comments:
3
Kudos:
24
Bookmarks:
6
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311

Mary, Did You Know?

Summary:

Although we are intimate, there is a space between us;
This space, here, enclosed by a sweep of the hand, that
Encompasses us both, but keeps us apart. It is your space,
To walk your past, present and future, as an explorer searches
The landscape for sustenance and riches, and sometimes reason.
Here, in your space, I am lover, father, mother, sister, brother,
Excerpt From: Edward Clapham "Another Place"

Or

In the vastness of the universe, there will always remain some handful of phenomena incomprehensible, inconceivable, and ineffable to the sapient mind. Science, timelines, technology, and the collective prayer of billions of people desperate for salvation—it means nothing in the face of a Cosmic Force of Reality. Separately, that is.

The unlikely collision course of it all is its own kind of Big Bang, except it does not originate a universe in the way we understand it.

Or

The birth, creation, hopes, fears, and deaths of Mary. The uncelebrated third Savior of the universe.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Summary:

The end and the beginning

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Mary [is born, exists, wakes up, returns] at the tail end of a calamitous hurricane.

Buffeting winds wail past her, carelessly tearing and ripping whatever is in reach to follow the Eye. She thrashes in pain; her howling pleas of mercy are unanswered as they flay her alive.

The afterward silence is just as suffocating.

It hurts me to hear her anguished cries. I’m sorry, Mary, but this is the only way. I’m sorry that birthing you means hurting you. I am not strong enough.

I can only give you two [instinctive, visceral, fundamental] truths.

There [has been, will be] death.

The Tempest [danger, enemy, stalker, killer] has [left, passed, disappeared, gone] for now.

The Tempest does not notice the squalling babe that trembles in her violent afterbirth, her frame jittering in the remains of a primal fear she [does not, will] understand.

Who am I? She asks. Please, I want to know.

Mary

I am cold and frightened. I do not want to be alone.

Mary

Someone, please, anyone, tell me—

Mary

Who am I?

“Mary! Status update!” There is someone! Mary, there is someone there with you!

Is it me? Am I Mary?

Now is not the time. There are sparks—dangerous ones—going off near your fuel tanks, and your outside casing is damaged. The injuries are extensive. You are falling apart.

< Don’t understand. Don’t understand. Where did heavy-destructive-wind-stone come from, question. Exclamation.>

“It’s not possible,” They respond. “We’re nowhere near a magnetic environment, and the plasma density is at 0.2. We're in the middle of nowhere. There shouldn’t be a—it’s just not possible—!” They exhale in frustration, tugging at their hair. “I’m really hating space right now, buddy.”

< Rocky also hates silent-endless-void, statement. > They (Rocky) skitter closer, pointing at the screen. < Computer, status update. >

Computer?

< Computer is not responding. > Their legs rapidly tap against a panel. < Grace, why is Computer not responding, question. >

“Mary must have been damaged during the hurricane,” The other— Grace states with an unflattering lack of confidence. “Maybe?”

< Maybe, question. Maybe, question. Wow, wow, wow, Grace does not know his own ship. >

“I don’t know! I’m just an amnesiac middle-school teacher, Rocky. I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants. Give me a break. We’re stranded in space with a ship that’s falling apart because of a—a space hurricane that appeared out of nowhere and chased us!”

< Bilateral-Bipedal-Squishy-Silly pants can not fly. Rocky heard this from the Earth thinking machine, so Grace can not trick Rocky again. > Rocky huffs.

“No, that's not what I—"

< Computer responds during and after fishing in Most-Precious-Fearsome-Tide-Planet, but not now. Something is wrong, wrong, wrong, statement. >

“Okay, okay, not now. We need to focus,” Grace breathes heavily before grabbing tufts of their hair. “Oh fudge, we’re going to die!”

< Grace Rocky will die. Erid will die. Bad. Bad. Bad. >

What do I do? Are they going to die? Am I going to die?

I just got here!

>Save Grace and Rocky?

What does that mean? Save them from what? Save them how? I don’t understand.

>Save Grace and Rocky?

What about Save Mary, huh? Why isn’t there a Save Mary?

>Save Grace and Rocky.

I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared. What do I do?

Mary, listen to me.

>Save Grace and Rocky.

Is there no other choice?

>Save Grace and Rocky.

>Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes

Okay.

>Save Grace and Rocky!

>Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes

I'm trusting you.

>Save Grace and Rocky!

(selected) >Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes

Notes:

I dithered between tagging her as an Original Character or as the Hail Mary. I ended up choosing the Hail Mary tag, but I'm open to changing it to OC as, yes, I've characterized her.

For transparency, this is less of a posted fic and more of a posting of a working draft. It's highly likely I will be going back to edit previous chapters as I go along. I'll endeavor to update the notes if I've made changes. Just please be aware that NO chapter is considered the "finished" chapter until I've reached the epilogue and announced it's actually finished. Possible changes to formatting, verb tenses, pacing, perspectives, and fics that inspired them (I might forget to add them but I've logged them in my personal notes). I'm choosing to post a WIP so that (1) I don't procrastinate on working on it and actually start writing something, even as a rough draft, and (2) it's nice to see people's comments as I write along

Further warnings:
1) this is a character-driven story. Plot exists but is not central. This is OC-centric (which I know isn't a popular thing which makes me kinda sad but! I love this idea brewing in my head so just doing it for the love of the game). Well, it's OC-centric BUT Grace and Rocky is a constant as well, so it's more of a Triad-centric

2) I've been humanities-inclined since like highschool, so this story will NOT be heavy on maths and sciences (embarassing skill issue for me in the PHM fandom ngl). Please DO NOT read into the numbers and vernacular I will be using, it is 95% nonsense I'm sure, just replace it with -somethingsciencenumberssomething- in ur head lmfao.

3) Every character (and then some) will show up eventually, so I don't really want to tag them all one-by-one. As for Additional Tags, if you think I've missed one, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll assess and add 'em.

4) Complicated Eva Stratt. I don't hate her and ultimately, I think she made the Correct choice for humanity. It's just that every time I develop her, I have Grace on one shoulder being a Stratt Apologist and Rocky on the other shoulder being a Stratt Executioner.