Chapter Text
Paradise city faded into the horizon as the boat bobbed out to sea. The deserted crumbling skyscrapers slowly blurring into the clear evening sky.
Soon it would all be gone. All the horror and pain that had seeped into the city's foundations would become distant memories in a few years time.
The past few months were entirely pointless in the end.
Too much loss for so little gain.
Flux remembered the hope that had burned, itching beneath his skin when he had first arrived at its abandoned streets.
The chance of making something out of his miserable life could be found in the vine-covered paths, the secrets that hid in the withered cracked concrete held the answers he coveted.
That hope was quickly shattered.
He was lucky that he managed to escape the cities clutches.
People had lost more than just friends and false dreams to it.
He still had control over his mind and body, not left to become a mindless drone to the parasitic infection. That he was grateful for.
The echos of ragged grouns still prickled in his ears.
Flux slowly peeled himself away from the side of the small boat, where he had been standing for the past couple of hours. Black tattered boots scraping along the uneven floor boards below.
His bones felt unnaturally fatigued as he moved. Joints cracking quietly as he attempted to think of anything but of the recent months .
He knew it wouldn’t last long.
Above him, soft brilliant colours painted the sky. Gentle shades of orange taintined the few tumble of clouds, igniting the sea as it reflected back from its surface.
It felt wrong seeing such beauty after everything.
Living didn't feel right either.
He was a nobody once again. The bus ticket to Paradise was his one chance of getting out of the town he had grown up in, to have a chance at becoming something more than just a petty thief.
A sigh escaped his lips. The past few months had gained him nothing but the shadows of the deceased.
It could have all been prevented.
Everyone had lost too much to Paradise city.
Wind brushed his cheeks gently, the cool air moving across the surrounding waves. His inky black hair curled around the light breeze.
The atmosphere felt so peaceful compared to the endless roaring in his head.
The boat drifted further out into the ocean and the world seemed to freshen around him.
It did not lighten the guilt that gripped onto his soul.
Thomas still refused talking to him fully. Flux couldn’t blame him for it.
He had left them, abandoning his family the hostel out of anger and self-pity.
The blind boyish admiration Thomas' eyes once held had been replaced with blatant distrust for the black-haired man.
Flux regretted many things in his life but only a couple had latched onto him as much as losing the connection to them all.
If he hadn't left he could have at least done something to help.
He would have found a way to fix everything, to cure Magic.
He would have somehow been able to.
He should've stayed.
While the sun made its languid descent into the distance, Flux collapsed into one of the half-rotted benches that lined the boats rear.
The outdated engine buzzed steadily beneath the damp wooden floor boards. The calm lapping of the waves so different from the eerie gurgles and moaning of the infected he had grown accustomed to.
He had survived the city but what would he do next?
Every time he closed his eyes he can see the jerky movements of a stone-cold corpse. The feeling of decomposing flesh ripping at his skin, trying to spread the fatal disease, continued to linger. The putrid stench of decay still licked at his nose.
"I can't believe we actually got out." Stella sighed, breaking through the sudden memories.
Pulling herself up to the surface from the sleeping quarters below, she walked out into the salty late-evening air, cradling a worn object under her elbow. Broken nails gripping tightly onto its rigid shape.
Her vivid-green eyes bore into him, pupils filled with a confusing sense of pity as she beheld his defeated state.
She had been way too forgiving.
Apart from a few sharp comments, she had acted as if the tension between the family hostel was simply temporary.
That if she pretended for long enough she could one day move on from Flux's departure from them.
He knew better.
He only lazily hummed back in reply.
As silence once again returned to the deck, Flux’s gaze froze onto the woman’s fingers, finally realising what she had been carrying with such intensity.
Saps’ The doctor's journal.
Its stained aged cover displayed an array of burns and slashes. Multiple pages hardened from spilt chemicals that had soaked into the haunted paper.
Every page was filled with smudged ink letters, a tangled spillage of experimentations and diary entries that spanned back years.
It had been the doctor's prized possession, apart from his viles of swirling concoctions and defected 'cures' he would mutter about endlessly.
When he was still welcome in the fam— hostel, Flux would hear him frantically scribble into the book at night while the rest of them slept. The scratching of half-dried ink drifting across the roof and into the star-filled sky.
He could still remember how he would perch on the very edge of the collapsing building in an effort to not disturb any of them.
His desperate sporadic mumbles were so different to his warm caring demeanour he wore like a piece of clothing during the day.
The contrast was so incredibly interesting unsettling.
Flux would listen to him for hours. Curled in on himself with soft white hair falling into his face and a half shattered pen locked into his hand while he tried to hide the fact that he was awake. He could never rest on those nights.
Just the thought of those few, almost uneventful, times made his lungs constrict. He had taken it all for granted.
Despite Flux blaming Saps the man for what became of Magic, his chest still tightened when his mind eventually raced back to him.
The doctor had just been using people for his research, he needed experiments and Paradise city provided them.
He never truly care about Flux anyone.
"Why do you still have that?" The words tumbled from his lips before he could stop himself.
Stella took two large strides and fell into the seat next to him. Bright red hair spilling over the backrest in two identical braids. Her eyes moved downward to the object in her hands.
"I miss him."
"I don't." Lie. He replied, voice unwavering.
Glistening eyes met his own. Her mouth opening is exhaustion as she let out a deep breath.
"He forgot everything, Flux." Her tired voice sounded almost begging, "He was just scared. All he could feel was the guilt of something he couldn't even remember being responsible for, just hopelessly apologising to anyone he could.”
The words spill out of her. He noticed he fingers shaking slightly as her grip on his journal intensified.
The scolding claws of regret tightened around his ribs at her words. He shouldn’t feel like this. The doctor was niave. A selfish idiot whose dedication to a lost cause hurt them all, he was better off gone.
He didn’t deserve to occupy Flux’s thoughts, to have this power over his emotions.
Yet he still continued to.
—
Saps’ white coat crumpled over the rough concrete next to Flux. Their legs dangling together over the building edge. The night was so quite despite the chaos hidden im the streets below. Cold air reddend their noses as their breaths became visible in the moonlit darkness.
He could hear the scientists quiet breathing beside him as they both gazed out over the decrepit city. The rest of the hostel slept peacefully behind them. It had been a long day after all.
“Do you think it will actually work, Flux?” The scientist whispers to the man beside him.
He wanted to lie to him. To say that it would work without a doubt. The little bottle of swirling liquid had consumed Saps’ life for the better part of two years. It was the only chance they had. He didn’t know how many more failures he would be able to take.
“I really don’t know if it will.” He sighed, confessing anyway, his eyes moving downwards to avoid the others stare.
To Flux’s surprise, instead of a reply, the other man simply chuckled quietly and leaned back onto his palms.
“It has to I guess,” he offered, his voice light,“Trust me, this is the one.”
How can he laugh after everything. He was so very stupid, they both knew they probably wouldn’t survive till next week, yet he was still able to find himself humourus.
“Sure,” Flux scoffed, “ and after your cure works what will you do then?”
Saps’ turned to stare at him, his lips curling up into a contented smile.
He was beautiful. His golden cat-like eyes glowed in the night like glittering pools of sunlight, reflecting through his glasses. White messy hair curled gently on his head like a crown.
It was unfair.
How he managed to make Flux speechless with nothing more than a grin.
“I’m going to find a way to bring everyone who has already turned into one of the infected back.” His voice suggested that he didn’t truly believe that it would happen.
He was hopeful, not ignorant. He knew that there was not a chance that they would live long enough for that.
“Obsessive idiot. And what after there is nothing left for you to cure or to treat?”
The scientist’s head tipped to the side. Obviously taking Flux’s teasing question seriously.
“I— hmm,” long scarred fingers tapped the buildings edge, “look for something else to discover I guess.”
Of course. What else should he have expected from the mad man.
He rolled his eyes, almost affectionately at the reply. He knew this wouldn’t be enough for him. Saps had been obsessively searching for a cure for the majority of his life. Would a person ever be able to just stop after that?
Would he consider just staying with him?
Flux snapped himself out of his thoughts. He was being ridiculous.
He looked over at the white-haired man beside him. Saps’ was just staring at him. A playful expression of delight gracing his face.
“Okay Mr Flux,” he teased, using the name Thomas and Stella called him,”what will you do once we escape from this city?”
His mind raced over the endless possibilities.
Apart from the family he had nothing. No possessions. No home. No responsibilities.
He could go wherever he pleased. Escaping to an isolated island sounded heavenly. Or maybe he could stay with his family and spend the rest of his life with people the people he truly cared about. He could leave everything behind and have nothing once again if he desired.
He had so many options yet he replied with none of those.
“After I leave with all the riches I WILL find here, I am going to sell all of them and become so incredibly rich.
Then we are going to run away to the countryside. Where it is peaceful and where I don’t have to see anyone else. There will be no infected, no coughing and I will never have to step foot into another city.” Flux’s voice was airy, the words spilling out. They were simply a dream he knew would never come.
Despite this he could still pretend he had a future outside of Paradise. Just for a little bit.
Saps just raised an eyebrow in surprise, his grin widening.
“Oh will ‘we’ now?”
Oh.
What he just said eventually registered in his brain.The implications that they would stay with one another made Flux’s cheeks flush a bright red in mortification.
He tried to hide from what he accidentally let slip by turning to face the dull lights emitting from ground below. His wide eyes training on the obscured shapes in the darkness.
He was going to jump off the building.
“Shut up.” The panicked words came out rushed.
“No you can’t take it back now, Mr Flux.”
“Don’t call me that.” He snapped his voice carrying his embarrassment.
The scientist made a miserable attempt at muffling his laughter in his hand. His body shaking as he tried to swallow his amusement.
“Aww don’t be like that, you know I would love to run away with you”
The black-haired man shoved his shoulder hard in retaliation to his teasing as Saps once again erupted into giggles.
Despite how embarrassing his mistake was, the scientists reaction was not the worst outcome.
—
His nails dug into the splintered wood below. Every breath made his ribs tighten its grip around his lungs. He felt like he was dying.
“He didn’t remember anyone?” His voice was barely above a whisper. It was so unlike him.
Stella turned to face him fully. An uncomfortable feeling fluttered over his skin as she stared into his soul.
“He was infected.” she spoke gently as if Flux needed to be comforted. He loathed it. ”He was desperate enough to drink his own cure and it worked but….”
“He lost all his memories.” He finished.
“Yeah”
Silence settled over them once again. Stella’s fingers roamed across the journal, brushing over the dark leather.
Saps He had actually done it.
His cure finally worked.
Yet he would never know that it did.
Flux already knew what had happened to him. It was so obvious.
The way Stella’s eyes shone with unshed tears. The man’s sudden absence from the city when he had returned to the hostel. His journal being on the boat with him, instead of clutched in the scientists hands while he scribbled in new theories.
“And now he’s dead?” The voice that spoke wasnt his own. It was almost scared.
A sob broke out from the woman next to him yet her voice was steady despite the salty water gathering in her eyes.
“Magic had one of her moments while he was with us. She started to become violent. Thomas and I tried to get to him but—,” she took a deep breath, “we were chased away before we could take him with us.”
Flux nodded slowly as the words sunk in.
He was going to be sick.
She carried on.
“His journal is the only belonging of his I have left,” She offered the book out to him, waiting for the man to pull it from her grasp, “You can look through it if you want.”
No he did not want to look at it. He didn’t want to think about that idiotic man every again.
If anything he deserved to be forgotten.
The past few months would just become an old memory in a couple of years. Paradise city was just an unfortunate tragedy that could be left in the past. He could be left in the past.
If only Saps had seen his point of view.
He had to save Magic.
For once Flux couldn’t be selfish.
Not when it came to his family.
—
“Are you infected?”
Saps’ golden eyes roamed over Flux, desperately looking for any signs of harm that could be the cause of his strange behaviour.
Vines snaked across the aging roads underneath their feet. The sun shone down on the group as they quietly watched the two men argue.
“No.” The answer was almost immediate. The weight of the vile felt cool in his hands as the bright red liquid sloshed around inside its glass casing.
“So then why do you need the bottle” The scientists eyes narrowed slightly as he took a slow step towards him. Flux tread backwards carefully in response, trying to widen the distance between them.
“It’s not for you to worry about,” he spoke calmly, as if to soothe the agitated man, “but you can make more, so I’m holding onto this.”
Saps’ mouth opened in disbelief. His tongue trying to find words to spit in Flux’s direction. He knew how precious his attempts at the cure were to him. How much effort he had put in just for his last test to only slow down the infection, not kill it.
“Give me back the bottle. Give me back the vile. Why do yo— I don— this makes no sense!” His hand stretched out expectantly. Voice laced with betrayal as he continued to resist his demand.
He wanted to give in.
To prevent the inevitable.
Yet this was the end of their time together.
Flux could tell in the way his jaw tightened in annoyance. In the way he looked at him as if he was a stranger. In the way he felt like his chest was caving in with guilt.
It would be worth it.
For Magic.
For the only thing he ever truly owned.
For his family.
When he still gave no indication of giving the cure up the scientist turned to face Thomas instead, becoming increasingly more desperate.
Sap’s was shaking now despite the gentle warmth shining down on them. His golden sunlit eyes sharp with confusion as they flicked between the two people in front of him. He looked like an Angel Flux thought.
It was almost laughable how similar he could be to one. The white hair, the unnatural irises, the undying dedication to saving strangers.
He was breathtaking.
The familiar weight of guilt grew heavier.
After silence stretched without any signs of yeilding, the doctor stared at Flux, one last time.
Regret licked in his chest at his gaze. The familiar burning hot feeling of desperation buried itself under his skin.
This was not right. They were going to stay together. Saps was meant to stay with him once they had finally left and he would never let him leave.
But then he turned and walked away, muttering something that the purpled-eyed man couldn’t hear.
All words that could have saved the two’s collapsing relationship died in his absence.
—
“I can’t read.”
The words were the only thing he could muster at that moment. He truly felt pathetic. He hadn’t spoken to the man for weeks, they had hated each other.
Stella’s eyes shot up to meet his in surprise, widening at his words. She had probably expected him to adamantly decline his offer instead of giving a weak excuse.
Flux expected it too.
“I—,” she spoke carefully, “I can read it to you.”
Time slowed as the words spun around his head. The slow humming of the motor drifted into silence. The quite rocking of the boat seemed to still completely.
He couldn’t do this.
“Only if you want though. I know you didn’t like him but he was still your— friend once. I will stop immediately if you ask me to.”
He let out a shaky breath, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
Slowly he nodded.
“Go on then.”
Stella gave him a quick glance then turned the journal over in her hands.
The books spine cracked slightly as she opened it. A blurr of careful shapes and lines lay messyily on the first page.
She started reading.
“March 17th 2042.
I began today.
Not because I believe I can succeed.
Not because I am special.
But because no one else is trying.”
She read clearly as night eventually enveloped the old boat. Flux could only hear Saps’ voice through every word.
It was torturous.
As Stella went on he wanted to beg her to shut up. He didn’t want to hear what she way saying, it was the mans entire life contained in paper and leather.
Yet he didn’t dare tell her to stop.
So he continued to listen. He sat silently as he was told about every test and every failed experiment. He heard about how he had first arrived in Paradise city, about how he had brung one of his cures with him.
He was so desperate for it to finally work.
The world quietened around the two. Paragraph after paragraph drifting across the ocean.
The memory of the white-haired man carried away by the wind.