I just realized each Chapter for the new fic has it's own vibe
Zoey's chapter has been the hardest so far
I've never written survivor's guilt before so this is a new experience but damn does it make me chest ache a little. (my tumblr dad wants to hug and hold her)
I'm not not even on Mira's chapter yet and I already know it's going make me cry. (It made my friend cry just telling her)
Rumi's chapter is going to hit home, probably def gonna have to take a lot of mental breaks for Rumi (my younger sister wants to murder after hearing about hers)
I'm building a playlist for this Au though so it'll all be shared on Spotify & Applemusic if you guys are interested when it comes out on Halloween (10/31)
Fandom: Ben 10
Pairing: Vilgax x reader
Rating: safe
Warnings: character death mentioned, appocalypse, basically kidnapped, science experiments, experimenting on humans
Somethings are meant to never happen. Your 'escape' was never meant to happen. And Terra is very angry one of its most powerful nodes is leaving. Punishment is due to be delivered.
You learned the hard way not to mess with what is not yours. Some parts of the ship were out of reach for you both phisically and rule-bidding. Vilgax must’ve loved his privacy for him to be so adamant about not letting you pass certain corridors – or maybe he just didn’t want a sticky fingers where he keeps his most important weapons, docs and what nots. After some time, you and your father got used to Vilgax’s weird ways of “carring for the immune humans” as he put it. Immune… Maybe in the past you would’ve bragged about how you never caught chicken pox when your whole school was under lockdown because of it, or how you’d always heal faster than others if you scratched your knee. But an immunity to this horrible thing? This wasn’t a brag, this was about survival of the human speecies.
You became a science experiment, with each passing second understanding what animals go through with testing. Some testings were varying from invasive to hellish. Thankfully, the warlord was always theere to stop the mindless drone in hurting you further, taking you to the cockpit with him. Most times, your father was not allowed there, yet you were. It was a safe spot for you filled with a red hued light and the air around stuffed with beeps and pings of incomming rifts. Rifts? Yes, you passed countless tares in the universe that looked like they could suck you in, but they weren’t black holes. They were worse: the remnants (or the lack of remnants) after different wars and planetary destructions by the Chimeran army. Vilgax always passed through deserted or ‘friendly’ trails in the universe to not risk an attack while you were on board.
Snooping around the main frame and cockpit of The Hammer, you found some documents and testimonies from other planets that experienced similar things. Similar, not the same. And they weren’t as violent as yours. The harshest one was on a planet called Kirima-Betta. The speecies there was extinguished in the span of 2 human years and was classified as Appollion 9/10. Did you know what that was? No. Did you think It was some danger level? Yes. Did the warlord tell you Earth was experiencing a 13/10 on the Appollion scale? Also yes. Maybe what aliens were saying about humans was true, maybe humans were some terrifyingly strong but not longevive beings. Because Earth was very much still there and there were countless humans still not infected by whatever this anomaly was.
You were sitting on some improvised spot near a screen, or window – you weren’t sure what that thing was exactly but you always got scolded for sitting around alone. What if you fell through it and into the endless cold void of the space. And weren’t you going to the Moon? Why was the journey so long? The Moon was so close to the Earth that you’d actually be closer to it than any other human if you stood in Point Nemo. Maybe Vilgax didn’t know where he was going.
“You are thinking about something, small one. Speak.”
“About why… us”
The warlord sighed and leaned on the screen, and sighed deeply. You weren’t telling him the whole truth and neither did he tell you his side of the truth. Unicronus Terra – as he said Earth was known as in the Universe was taking back what humans kidnapped. But what? He never said. “If you wish to know why, you should just listen to me and help me. Your father already complied and is tinkering with a teleportation gateway in the head of The Hammer.” Your father working with Vilgax… well this was something you never thought you’ll see in this or any other lifetime. It seems that planetary viruses were what it took for your old man to go against his bleieves.
It has been some time since you were on the Hammer and people can change their aliences during difficult times to make sure their loved ones are safe. You already both lost too much – you could not blame him for trying his best keeping both of you alive. Especially after being taken in by one of the most terrifying creatures in the known universe. He destroyed entire solar systems for people doing less havoc than you did since embarking. The thought that Vilgax could easily kill you at any point after achieving his goal. But what was his goal here -
“Vilgax-”
“Ah, do not worry. It is to travell faster and to mask your scent from the Core. And stop staying on the sill of the glass screen, please!”
He sounded exasperated. Well, it was normal – it was the 9th time today that he told you to stop snooping around the cockpit. Or delete random files from his main frame… You swore it was an accident, but he still put you in confintment for 2 days for deleting a peace treaty between the Chimera sui Generis and Chimera sui Iterium – the two main races of his people that had been at war for thousand of google of years. And you just voided the whole treaty in 0.01 seconds. You were lucky he knows how to forge countless documents and official anouncements.
But even Vilgax had his limits and seeing you weren’t moving away on your own, he grabbed your waist with one hand and put you back on the ground himself. It was an oddly good feeling to have his hand around your waist, making your heart stop for a jiffy and making your mind run to an ‘what if’ scenario. You shook your head as this was not the time for some meaningless banter and needs of the soul. You were in an apocalipse. And not one like you would see in some high-budgeted movie; but the kind you’d see a film student from no where make as a project. Rough, terrifying and disgusting were too kind to describe whatever the Earth was now dealing with.
You wondered back around the ship – this time in sectors you were 100% allowed and would not allert his robotic guards, making you end up in a stasis pod for a few hours… again. You went to the medbay again, the sterile smell of medical grade alcohol and unknow medicine filled your nostrills, but was not met by repultion anymore. You grew to enjoy the small room, inspecting everything around thought unknowingly as most labels and warning stickers were written in some alien tongue you yet to learn. Even so, anyone in their right mind seeing a big red triangle with an exclamation sign plastered on it knows to keep themselves in check around said apparatus or substance.
You climbed on an examination table, much to the disdain of a drone that beeped and mumbled something incoherent. Was it its hate of flesh, of humans, or simply of someone that could potentially dissrupt its working cycle? Stay tuned to find out on Y/N’s wild Hammer Rush – only on chanel XYZ of Interplanetary External Network, I-Extra-Net.
-----------------------------
The smell of burnt clothes and sweat disrupted you after hours of rearanging bottles and viles in the medbay – much to the displeasure of the medibot inside the medbay. Your father walked in, his hair tussled from whatever work he was doing for the giant evil octopus man. Or squid… Narwhall! Kidding, but you catch my drift dear reader. Your father looked tired, it was clear as day he was working hard to make the inner teleportation bridge work, a payment for Vilgax’s “rescue & retrieve” mission.
“What happened?”
“Neutrons messed up again some problems with inter-chains and… borring nerdy stuff, sport. Don’t think too much about it, we’re landing to the moon in T-80. So uhhh, you might wanna stay put somewhere. I learned he’s not a soft lander.”
Perfect. The corridor to the safespot was long and running across it was a small death wish in this case. T-70, T-50, T-30. You both rushed to the cockpit and secured yourdelves to emergency seats, as the warlord laughed. “It is only a landing, not some hazardous bombing.” Surprisingly, he was right- Vilgax landed somewhat smoothly. As smoothly as an elephant can dance ballet inside a teacup. At least you were still intact: nothing broken, nothing inside you jumbled. But you had a weird feeling once the warlord turned off the gravitational field around all around the Ship.
You whipped your head to your father, who was equally as confused as you. “Not in my 20 years of working with the plumbers have I ever seen this.” Vilgax shot him a glare, silently asking him to shut his bitch ass up. Apparently, the Moon entered an anti-spin phase triggered by the anomaly back on Earth. Maybe this was the reason for the aimless flight and how long it took to find the Moon in the first place. The uncertainty was killing you; you wanted to know, you wanted to scream just to know something was real.
You pit on a safety suit your father gave you from the pile of things he packed in a rush when you two left Bellwood. It wasn’t really an astronaut suit, but it mimicked it to a fault. He put his own on and helped you in yours, making sure you were completely secure inside. We don’t want our precious immune human to go floating in outter space frozen to death in 0.01 seconds, do we my dear? Just imagine the cold and purple hue your skin would have, something similar to cobold blue maybe devoided of any reds and warmth it once had. And a last frigid breath being pushed out of your lungs from the pressure your frozen organs would have on your poor lungs. You would look magestic.
“We must stay focused on our objective, humans. Tellurium crystals. That’s what we need the most at the moment.” His voice was serious all the time but now it sounded even more commanding and emotionless. He treated you and Leonard like you were soldiers in his army or guards in the Knight Hood, not allies… Alies, with the Chimeran Warlord… life was fucked up for sure if this was happening.
Once out of the ship, you tried to stay as close as you could to the two men, but you were slower. No, not slower; just more cautious and afraid. You’ve never been in outter space before, you never roamed foreign lands on Earth, let alone on another cosmic body. It was a very uncanny feeling to jump instead of walk and to feel a slight pleasurable pressure in your lower back. It was almost the same as the feeling one has when going downhill fast in a car and not having your seatbelt on. That moment when you felt a shudder run down your spine and in that moment… you’d float. You called out to them, asking them to slow down. But there wasn’t any time because-
The Moon Stopped Spinning
Suddenly, the whole moon stopped its already slow rotation and the Earth started to look bigger and bigger each passing second. “Quick, back to The Hammer!” In a few seconds, you were picked up by your father and he ran to the ship. In a few moments he also got picked up with you still in his arms by Vilgax, and the alien managed to get all of you in the ship as fast as you can say ‘candy cane’.The scene would have been worthy of a silly low-budget comedy have it not been so terrifying in the moment.
The warlord assumed his spot in the cockpit once more and booted up the systems, and emergency started a flight command. “It caught onto our plan, we cannot go any further with it. Buckle up… I’m not waiting to fall down now-” Someone once told you light speed was the fastest speed to ever exist. Well today you learned panicked huge alien squid speed was faster. The work your father had put in the teleported payed of as it crancked up right when you were about to fall back into the atmosphere. The engines got full power, trusters burning hot and accelerator going past any past limit. This was the end, this was pure adrenaline. This was your life now.
“Y/N…? Sweetie…? Where are you?”
That was not your father’s voice, it was much too distant to be his, voided of any care or actual panic. It was like he knew where you were, he knew you were safe. But the question remains. Indeed, where were you? It was dark and damp and it smelled like rotten fish. It suddenly became warm as you felt a hand, big, caloused, grab you gently as to not slash you open with the thick tallons it possessed. It was warm, it was surprisingly gentle with you as it pulled you out of whatever place you were in. It was him, yet you weren’t afraid. Not anymore, at least.
You would have never thought that you would someday somehow screw the zombie virus over when everything fell. You also never would have thought you'd help set up a utopia as said zombie either...
Life, and death, is beyond crazy it seems.
~ ~ ~
“ALPHYS!!! HOLD ON!! I’M COMING!!
“U-undyne don’t! Please g-go!! I love you! Go!!”
“ALPHYS!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
ALPHYS!!!”
...
Sometimes, in your own sense, you dream about that day.
How could you not? The heartbreak of those two helped you gain the courage in your muddled mind-numbing stupor to act. They gave you enough determination to break your bloodlust and fear to fight back against your monstrosity and that of one hell of a sentient. Though it was built like an elephant in both mass and strength, their devastated pleas were enough to break through to your mind and shatter your hesitation.
They deserved to live, and you were the only one capable of helping them against him and his horde.
You were able to fight back.
Amazingly, against all odds and with a bit of magical help from the fish Undyne, you defeated the goliath, gaining not only his life energy but all his special abilities and the horde of dead that he commanded. The sheer amount of energy gained from consuming his tainted and decayed life force had burned, pooling in your sockets and melting what was left of rotting flesh from your bones. It filled in missing pieces of yourself, pushing the corruption back and clearing your mind further than you ever thought possible.
You gained a semblance of life back.
They got to keep their life.
You can remember quite vividly the look the fish woman had given you as you slowly pulled back the horde. Your sockets, still burning bright with that newfound energy, had locked with hers as she pulled her lover from beneath heavy rubble. You didn’t dare move until their friends had finally arrived and began to fire, thankful for how the fish held them back as you left.
How long had it been since then?
You have yet to find another with your level of awareness that hasn’t been consumed by the overwhelming corruption. None of the others you have run into had figured out how to combat the darkness from their life energy, nor wanted to…
It didn’t matter.
You may have lost your living life a long time ago, but that one choice helped you gain back and understand your humanity. You owed those two strangers a lot, wherever they were.
~ ~ ~
Somewhere in a compound far away…
The old goat queen sat clad in stained battle armor, several maps spread out in front of her on an old desk in an office. The evening Sun filtered through an open window, breeze rustling a few of the papers. At a knock on her door, she rose to meet her summoned guest.
For a brief moment, it felt like old times deep under their mountain, her captain standing as ready as ever to do her bidding. Huffing, she turned her good eye away and down to her maps.
She had put her tyrannical ways away upon reaching the surface. Just like the child had taught them, kindness was the only way to keep her people united, safe, and loyal up here amidst the madness. The new bonds that had been made proved such…
She wasted no more time, straightening her back to reinforce her seriousness.
“I have received word from the council. We won’t be able to sustain ourselves here much longer, similarly, the other clans' representatives have claimed to be in similar circumstances. The suggestion to merge clans and join forces has been brought forward. I have agreed. There is safety in numbers and some of the others have knowledge that would benefit us all.”
She took a breath, eyeing the captain when he remained silent.
“For such things to happen… there have been rumors of an area to the east near Tale territory large enough and rich enough in resources to potentially support multiple clans indefinitely. However, rumors have also claimed that those particularly nasty fallen roam in higher numbers around there. With this in mind, I have also agreed to send a team to join with those of Fell to look into these rumors and dispatch any needlessly unwanted threats.”
Making several marks and notes on the top map, the queen gingerly rolled it and handed it to the captain. With a knowing look, he accepted it but still held his tongue.
“I am tasking you, Black, to be point on our team. I trust no one more capable than you to take on such a feat. Do I have your support on this? Captain?”
Grinning, the skeleton monster in front of her bowed. “WHATEVER IT TAKES TO FURTHER AID YOU AND OUR PEOPLE, SO IT SHALL BE, YOUR MAJESTY.”
She couldn’t help but snort. He hadn’t changed at all. Still as sturdy and loyal now as back then. More so since her change in antics.
It was reassuring.
“Good. Ready yourself. You leave first thing in the morning. Scar will give you the necessary information for your meeting with the Fells.” Hesitating, she allowed herself to put a paw on his shoulder. “May the angel grant you success on your mission. My friend…”
No I don’t watch rwby. Yes I have lost my mind. Someone I follow is obsessed with it and it’s all I ever hear about anymore, so I felt the need. This is kind of a gift to them, think of it that way.
"Let me see the files on the exact rhythmic movement again," I said to my coworker who handed over the file.
I sighed looking through the file and typing away at my computer what I thought about the information in the file that I might have missed. I must've been sitting for at least 7 hours. I was part of a classified operation working with a potential new disease found in a recently deceased person. It was new but nothing to worry about, just seemed as though the body was still processing death. I looked at another file looking at the reports of the breathing pattern of the person that was once alive.
"I wish I wasn't picked for this," my coworker said. "The pay isn't worth the stress"
"I think this is just the body still trying to die, he died two months ago and nothing has happened," one of my coworkers said. "I don't get why they suddenly had us research something like this, the breathing pattern of death went through as it should."
"I know but everything we submit gets sent back wanting more information" Another spoke. The bickering against this project was bigger than any other I've seen. "We can't find everything with just these files."
"Complaining isn't going to help" One snapped being in a place with each other for too long is driving some people crazy. "You're giving me a headache"
"I'm heading to get some coffee" I announced standing up and grabbing my keys and purse. "I'll be back"
"Hurry up so we can get this project done I'm sick of it," One of my coworkers said typing away annoyed.
"I know I will I'll bring back some for everyone," I said taking my lab coat off and walking out the door. "Finally some fresh air"
I decided to walk to the Coffee Shop instead of driving considering how long I've been sitting. I looked around the city for the coffee shop still getting used to the environment I was transferred to. I found the shop and walked inside. There was a small line which was fine with me, the more time I could have to myself. I looked around the shop observing people and their movements hoping it might possibly help our case. Once it was my turn I ordered the drinks and paid. I stood waiting for the coffee sighing at the fact that I had to carry 6 drinks back with me. The lady smiled and gave me the tray filled with coffee cups. I thanked her and went back to the lab I was working at.
"Niragi better not bitch on me this time about coffee," I said to myself rolling my eyes.
I came upon the lab groaning at the remembrance of what I had to go back and do. I rounded the corner and saw that the doors were covered by a protective steel cover. I approached the entrance and placed down the coffee annoyed and confused about what was going on. I tried calling one of my coworkers which brought me exactly to voicemail. I groaned banging at the door hoping they'll hear which I highly doubt. I tried calling the actual workstation which didn't work either.
"What the hell is happening" I muttered pissed off at the prank they were pulling on me.
Maybe it was karma for doing the same to another coworker. It wasn't professional and put our jobs on the line but being stuck for two months in a laboratory it gave everyone a small kick out of it. I tried calling again to be sent to voice mail again.
"Guys I'm going to throw your coffee away if you don't let me in now" I threatened as the voicemail ended looking at the security camera.
I tapped my foot looking at the barrier waiting for it to rise hoping the threat worked. I stared at the door for 2 minutes, obviously, they aren't going to let me in anytime soon. I sat on the ground next to the door annoyed at my coworker's antics. I grabbed my coffee thinking about why they aren't opening up the door. There's no way something happened when there are only files and a locked-up dead body that couldn't go anywhere considering the room it was in. I took a sip and looked around just now noticing the empty parking lot the only car being mine. I quickly stood up now thinking that something did happen. I walked to my car forgetting about the coffee. Once I entered my car I opened my phone that started beeping I looked down raising an eyebrow.
I stared at my phone in disbelief. Fear and confusion were evident on my face. The message kept replaying and I still sat there not knowing what to do. It all made sense now. The laboratory was shut down and everyone fled to see their loved ones. I quickly went to call my parents but the phone wouldn't dial. I looked at my phone and saw the service was down. I panicked texting and calling, but nothing went through.
"No no no no" I repeated trying over and over again. "The landline phones, they might work."
I hit the gas and sped to my temporary apartment. I got stuck by traffic ahead of me. I tried backing out but was blocked by someone pulling behind me. There was nowhere for me to drive.
"Damn it" I yelled getting out of the car with my belongings.
I started to run to my apartment which luckily wasn't too far away. I looked around still running and seeing what the news was talking about. I covered my mouth seeing the man get eaten across the street. I tried running faster and eventually made it to the building. I ran inside the apartment and slammed the door shut locking it immediately. I put down my stuff and grabbed the home phone. I called my parents but they didn't pick up each and every time I tried to call.
"Fuck" I yelled throwing the phone across the room making it break my breathing still trying to catch itself from running.
"You have 3 voicemails"
I looked over at the voicemail station where the phone charges and pressed the play button.
"Voicemail 1 Hey honey, we just wanted to check in and see if your okay, we know we can't get to you right now but make sure to stay safe okay? We love you"
"Voicemail 2 Y/n we are packing the van to come get you. Your sister is still at school so it will be delayed a bit just stay where you are okay? We love you"
"Voicemail 3 your father just got attacked I'm going to take him to the hospital you be safe and wait okay? We love you so much don't ever forget that. What's that? What- ahh"
"You have no more voicemails"
"No this can't be happening," I said tears trailing down my cheeks as I slid down the wall. "This isn't real this is just a bad dream"
I started to cry my mother's last words repeating in my head. The fear in her voice made everything worse. I cried on the floor for 15 minutes until I felt the ground shaking. I got up and looked out the window. Helicopters started to drop bombs in the street and gunfire went off. I grabbed my keys faster than lightning and made a run for the door hearing the helicopters come closer. I ran down the stairs my throat burning from my heavy breathing. I ran as fast as I could away from the city to avoid getting bombed. I looked behind me and saw a metal ball drop down on a building. I looked forward and kept running making sure not to look back. I slowed down when I thought I was far enough I laid on the ground out of breath looking at the sky that started to get covered by smoke. I sat up and watched the city burn
————————————————————————
Hello if you read this book when the chapter first came out I am redoing the whole thing hopefully this version is better than the first. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ✨ Remember you are perfect and worth it the way you are!! ✨
