Chapter Text
“...Tired.”
That was the only word I could manage to speak before I fell to the ground, gasping for air again. My vision blurred; the only things I could make out were the silhouettes of buildings and the golden-yellow light speeding through the air in the far distance, destroying everything in its path. My bugs skittered across rubble and dead bodies, the numbers of my swarm lessened to a measly couple of hundreds.
We were never gonna win, were we?
My eyes closed as–
“Taylor!”
My eyes shot open at the sound, as I looked to see Lisa run towards me with determination on her dirtied face. Her suit was torn, tattered, and dirtied with blood and mud. I couldn’t stop the smile forming on my face–at the very least, I might have someone to hold while in death, the last of the four people who changed my life, who I fell in love with. Alec’s death to Behemoth to this day had left a… burning void in me; Rachel left me screaming as she pushed me out of harm’s way, and Brian had made me numb as I’d watched him fall to his knees and just… give up.
“Hey, Lis,” I said, looking into her beautiful green eyes, more vibrant than ever–unless I was hallucinating her due to lack of sleep. When was the last time I slept? We’ve been fighting him for so long that I’ve lost track of time.
“Lovebug, you okay?” She spoke as I felt her hands take hold of my face–not a hallucination, lucky me.
“Better than ever with you here,” I said, weakly chuckling to myself before a small sound of surprise left my mouth, quickly silenced by Lisa’s lips on mine. The faint taste of metal and apple chapstick mixed together quite nicely as I was able to finally feel at peace for a single, solitary moment. That said moment ended too quickly for me as I let out a small whine of disappointment. God, was I always this needy?
“Yeah, you are,” Lisa said, chuckling to herself–honestly, sometimes I wonder if she actually was a psychic and just liked fucking with everyone. Lisa sighed as a serious look took hold of her face. “Listen, bug, I’ve got something that… might be able to let us win this.”
“You sure?” I said. It felt bad to doubt her, but at a certain point anyone’s belief has a limit.
“Well, after our other plan went and killed herself out of grief–fucking Panacea–this was our next best crack at it,” Lisa said, helping me up to my feet. “Frankly, even now I’m not sure I can trust the fucking Simurgh of all… things to have this work out, but we’re all dead either way, so eh, fuck it, right?”
“So… what is it?” I said, bitterness filling my words at the mention of that fucking bird.
“Well, the big old bird bitch figured out time travel.”
…
“Really?”
“Again, we’re all dead anyway, so not like it matters, right?” Lisa said as we made our way to some sort of machine. “Hell, even she’s dead–least she left me instructions.”
“Wow, the Simurgh didn’t fuck us over?” I said, clinging tightly to Lisa’s body as she cackled a little at my joke–kind of like Alec. God, leaving them was so fucking stupid of me, all for a dumb plan that we didn’t even get to use, and for my loves to die one by one.
I’m such a fucking re–
“Oi! Game face on, lovebug! None of that!” Lisa said, bonking me on the head before giving me a quick peck as we stood in front of the machine. It was big and blocky, looking more like something out of a low-budget sci-fi flick than tinker tech. “Well, it’s no DeLorean, but it’ll do. Wish Contessa could do this shit instead, but the bitch was a no-show.”
Had Contessa given up too? I wasn’t sure if no-show was implying she was dead or not. But I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it?
“So how are we going to do this?” I said, looking up at Lisa. Her face grew pensive, her tongue lightly sticking out of her mouth as she stared intensely at the machine before us.
“Well, sweetie, you’ll be getting in first,” Lisa said, walking me up to the machine. “We’re gonna have to do some stuff on both sides, and then… I’m not sure, really. Still, we’ll be the first to ever travel through time, eh?”
“Better than dying, I guess,” I said with a mirthless chuckle as I began climbing inside. The interior was, unsurprisingly, pretty confusing: a red seat with some pieces of paper, contrasting with the high-tech smorgasbord in front of me.
“Right, so just do what’s on the papers, in order, when I tell you to do something, got it?” Lisa shouted from the outside.
“Right.” Taking a deep breath, I began to do as Lisa instructed, turning nonsensical dials and switches, hoping nothing blew up in my face. Lisa climbed up the machine, passing me some papers. Getting ready to let her in, I only then noticed that… there was barely any space for another person. “Uh, Lisa, how are we gonna–”
The machine closed, and my heart dropped.
“No, no, nononononon–NO!” I could hear my own heartbeat in my head as I stared at Lisa, looking back at me from the outside with a small, sad smile. “Lisa! Please, for the love of god! GET IN! You can’t… You can’t do this!”
I couldn’t lose her too.
“Lovebug, you gotta listen to me,” Lisa’s spoke, her cracking voice muffled from the fucking glass between us as I banged on it.
“NO! NO! GET IIIIINN!” I wailed, my throat going hoarse as my vision blurred. “Please! Lisa, please, please, pleaaaseee! Don’t… don’t leave me!”
Lisa let out a gentle shushing noise as she caressed the glass–it should be me. “Taylor, I… I might’ve lied a little, about the not fucking us over part. But please, trust me, one last time.”
“No! Not ‘one last time’! Get in here! I don’t care how much you lie to me, how much you hurt me! I–I will still love you!” I begged. “I love you!”
“I know! Dear god I know!” Lisa shouted, looking at me with tears in her eyes. “Just listen to me… please?”
“I…” I should’ve fought back, should’ve kept yelling, screaming–maybe one more ‘I love you’ would convince her. But I could see it in her eyes; I had already lost the moment I sat in this… fucking thing. “Okay… okay.”
“I’ve got the time and coordinates set; just keep doing as the instructions say,” She said, taking a deep breath. “Inside, there will be two items. If these damn instructions are correct, you will make both Scion and his… whatever the hell, crash down, and then you can kill them both. Then get back in, and you’ll end up back at this time.”
“But won’t that–”
“Yeah,” Lisa said, her foxy smile rearing up again, the one I fell in love with since I first saw it. “When you find… whatever version of me is on the other side… tell her Reginald likes his pasta sauceless–in a really dumb British accent, like the Beatles. She’ll probably get it.”
“What?” I said, unable to keep myself from laughing–from what? I wasn’t sure anymore. “Are you sure this other version of you will even like me?”
“If she somehow doesn’t fall in love with you, I swear to whatever higher power exists that I will find a way to exist again, even if only to kick her shit in.” That seemed a bit extreme. “Oh, shut up, bug, as if any possible version of me wouldn’t fall in love with your martyrdom-obsessed ass! Same with the others! I ain’t letting another version of me exist without falling in love with all four of you idiots!”
I burst into a full cackle as my tears began to dry up. Taking a deep breath, I looked into her eyes. “I love you so much.”
“Love you too, bug.” She said, pressing a kiss onto the glass. “See ya later.”
And the universe whizzed by.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
“Ugh,” I groaned into my pillow as I stretched my hand out, smacking the alarm clock and shutting it off. “I should really throw it away.”
I moaned with a long stretch, smacking my chapped lips. I looked out onto my studio apartment, the light of the sun flowing in through the windows.
My apartment was quiet.
As it always is.
…
“Welp,” I sighed as I got up from my bed. “Time to get to work.”
And so I spent my morning alone.
As it always was.