Finished Masters of the Air. Cried through most of it. A truly excellent watching experience throughout. Everyone is perfectly cast. The writing is strong. The story is breathtaking. It breaks your heart 500 times.
Fandom: Spy x Family
Word count: 1.9k for this chapter | 66k in total
Rating: T
Warnings: Non-permanent character deaths, graphic violence
Summary: Twilight wakes up. He works on his mission. He dies. He comes back and does it all over again. Each time a little different. (Inspired by the film Happy Death Day)
AO3
Read from the beginning: Tumblr | AO3
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Chapter 15: Finale
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BORF!
Pulled from sleep, Loid squeezes his eyes tighter.
No, no, not again! I solved it! I caught him–
Wait, didn't that borf sound a little louder than usual?
He hears a low yawn from his left, and then a small hand rests on his arm.
He opens his eyes.
They're there. Anya and Yor, lying next to him. Yor scrunches her face as she stretches her shoulders.
Bond is also on the bed, resting down with his head up.
Loid sits up with a gasp.
He did it. Tomorrow is here.
Then what's wrong with him? He feels happy, relieved. Why are tears streaming down his face? Why does he feel a sob make its way up his throat?
“Loid?” Yor asks as she sits up as well.
Anya rubs at her eyes as she opens them, immediate worry on her face.
“I—I don't know what—” he starts, words cut off from the sob that finally escapes. “I made it. I'm so happy, but...”
“It's okay,” Yor whispers, resting her hand on his back.
“Mama told me that sometimes you can be so happy you cry,” Anya says, in a voice that sounds too sleepy for the weight of her words.
He leans in on himself. More sobs come, and he finds himself unable to say anything else. They hold him, and Bond lies down, resting his head on Loid’s knees.
This can’t be a dream. He can not be imagining this.
He opens his eyes and looks at the alarm clock. Quarter past seven. He looks away then back again. Quarter past seven.
“It’s real…” he whispers through trembling lips. He leans his head sideways and onto Yor’s shoulder. A wave of warmth spreads through his limbs when he feels her leave a soft kiss at the top of his head, then brush her fingers through his hair.
Anya picks up his hand and kisses the back of it. His lips pull up in a shaky smile as he thinks that she probably also wanted to show her love.
Love. He’s loved.
He sighs and sniffles. “Thank you, both of you,” he says. “I don't know what I would have done if the day had reset again. Thank you for being here.” Anya nestles her face against his side, and he takes her hand in his, petting Bond’s head with the other. “Thank you too, Bond.”
Bond makes a soft, almost humming borf.
They stay with him as he calms down. It’s Anya who breaks the silence with a “Papa?”
“Hmm?”
“Anya has to go potty.”
Both Loid and Yor laugh quietly, and they pull back so she can climb down the bed. Loid watches her as she walks out into the hall and he half expects her to bump into the wall.
He smiles when he only hears the bathroom door open and close. He wipes the tear trails off his cheeks and sighs again. He looks at Yor.
The smile on her face feels like a bright, warm light that reaches right into his core. His lips part as she slowly leans towards him.
Her lips touch his and he closes his eyes, the warmth now spreading all inside him. He’s almost too scared to move, to break the moment, to abuse the trust she’s so freely giving him.
She pulls back too soon. He could stay kissing her like that forever.
Her hand caresses his cheek. He opens his eyes and he notices her cheekbones rise with a smile.
“Can you stay?” she says. “With us, I mean.”
He purses his lips. “I… I can try. I want to.” He pulls back to look at her, and her hand follows him. “It will be easier now that you know, but if something happens and I am compromised…”
“I can try helping you again.”
“Yor…”
“I don’t want to lose this, all right? I don’t want Anya to lose you.”
“I already feel selfish for wanting to stay. It could put you both in danger and I feel reckless for ignoring that possibility.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. And I can protect Anya as well.”
“But…” He sighs. “None of you deserve this.”
“Let me decide what I deserve for my own. As for Anya… we do what? Give her up?”
A lump forms in his throat at the idea. “You’ll stay with her, if I have to leave?”
“Of course I will. But if you leave… will you be able to contact us?”
“I don’t know. I can’t promise anything. I always consider the worst case scenario, always with the thought that I may get arrested or killed at any moment.” He grunts. “I now have to get used to being back on guard. The loop was quite successful in making me lower my defenses.” He looks at her and rests his hand over hers on his cheek. “If my cover is blown, they’ll interrogate you to no end.”
“I know.”
“And? You’re just accepting this?”
She doesn’t reply.
“What exactly did you talk about with Anya yesterday?”
She lowers her gaze and moves her hand, only to take his in both of hers. “If we’re to make this work, I need you to not worry about me and my decisions.”
“Well, if we are to do this, you should know that I have a sore spot for ignorance. The need to know everything about the situation I’m in is trained in me, and not knowing makes me anxious. You don’t have to tell me your secrets, but I want to know what you base this confidence on.”
“Myself,” she says simply. “I’ve learned that when knowledge doesn’t suffice, trust can make up for it.” She looks into his eyes. “If we’re not just assets to your mission anymore, we’re going to need you to trust us, alright?”
He swallows hard. Even when it comes to fellow spies, he never fails to consider the possibility of having to depend on his very own. “It’s not that I think you’re not properly equipped to deal with this. I just don’t want you to deal with this in the first place.”
“And why is that?”
She has a small smile on that gives a different tone to her voice; it makes him think her question is rhetorical.
She brings her body a little closer to his. “I can learn to trust you, if you can learn to trust in me. Can we make this work?”
He sighs, wrapping his arms around her. His head moves almost on its own as it leans on the side of Yor’s head. “We can try.”
“Hardest assignment we’ve ever gotten, right?” He hears the smile in her voice.
He smiles back, but he turns at the familiar feeling of being watched. At the same time Yor pulls back as well, and they both look at Anya, peeking at them through the open door.
Anya steps innocently to stand by the door frame. “Anya is hungry.”
Yor turns to him. “Let’s get this new day started then, shall we?” She gives him a quick peck and stands up.
He’s just about ready to lie back down and bask in the afterglow of what he’s just experienced, until he realizes he’d better not leave Yor alone in the kitchen.
He’s halfway into beating the eggs for an omelette when the phone suddenly rings.
They all turn to look at it; it’s half past seven on a Saturday morning. A shiver runs down his spine and his jaw drops slightly.
Yor looks at him with concern, as if asking him if they should even answer.
Loid puts the bowl down and walks to the phone. His hand is rigid when it reaches for the receiver.
“Hello, Forger residence.”
“Good morning! My name is Theodora Jester, I’m calling from Allora Inc. Can you spare five minutes of your time for a poll on favourite cereal flavours?” the Handler’s voice says. What it means is “Agent Twilight, confirm your identity.”
“Positive,” he says simply. There’s no need to hide anymore.
“YOU’RE ALIVE?” the voice screams in his ear so suddenly he cringes back, pulling the speaker away.
“Should I not be?” he says as the corners of his lips pull up.
“Would you care to explain why Headquarters are picking up continuous signals that say you’re dead?!”
His jaw clenches. Of course Pollux would have planned a posthumous message boasting about his win.
“Let me guess. The signals are from a former agent?”
“They’re—what?! What do you know? And again, how did you get all that intel you sent us yesterday?”
“Check the safe houses for bugs. The perpetrator is dead, but better remove them as soon as possible.”
“They’re requesting an emergency briefing. Today. Now.”
“Oh, good morning, Yor,” he says, turning to her and winking. He can practically hear the Handler grit her teeth through the speaker.
“Find an excuse and come to safe house B ASAP.”
Oh, come on. Is that how easily they think he’d betray them?
“Papa!” Anya shouts then bangs her fists on the wall next to him. She smiles at him, then starts fake crying.
He can barely bite back the laughter before the Handler hears it.
“What. Is. Going. On?!”
He cringes back as he turns away from a fake-crying Anya. It’s not often the Handler loses her patience.
“Give me an hour. I’ll be there, all right?”
“You’d better be.”
He can sense the impatience even in the sound her speaker makes as it’s hung up.
“Duty calls?” Yor asks, approaching him.
“Some long explanations are due,” he says and sighs deeply. As if spending almost the entire previous day explaining everything to Yor wasn’t enough.
She places a hand on his shoulder. It starts rubbing but the moment he stiffens from how painful it is, she gasps and snatches it back. “Sorry,” she says.
He looks at her and reaches for the hand that just touched him. His thumb caresses her fingers, as he thinks that the only person she’s been close enough to be physically affectionate with for most of her life was Yuri… and her physical touch was all Yuri had too, for years, so he’s used to it.
“Don’t be,” he says. “I appreciate it.” He smiles, and a cautious smile spreads on her lips as well.
“Just don’t kill him, Mama,” Anya offers.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “I can handle it… I think.” He brings the hand to his lips and kisses it. “I meant that too, what I’d said about your strength.”
She sighs in relief, her eyes glowing as they bear into his. She looks ready to kiss him again, but then her eyes drift to Anya and she retreats with a smile.
“Let’s finish breakfast, shall we?”
He watches them move into the kitchen, Anya blabbering about all the things she wants to put in her omelette – honey and chocolate sprinkles and cheese and, of course, peanuts – and Yor carefully putting a frying pan on the stove as she listens to her.
A new routine. One he cannot predict anymore, but that feels comforting to his soul nevertheless.
They have a ton of issues to sort out through. He’ll have to tread carefully with WISE, but if he could lie to civilians for the protection of peace… what’s some diplomacy with his agency for the protection of his family life?
He’s still smiling when he walks into the kitchen, picking Anya up and letting her sit on the counter opposite from the stove. He pours the beaten eggs into the frying pan and settles into the family morning.
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Final author's notes:
*Franky didn’t appear in this chapter cause he went out drinking the previous night to celebrate winning the lottery, and he’s now sleeping in. He’ll come by in the afternoon to treat the Forgers to lunch!*
And thus, my longest fic to date, a beast 4k words away from being considered a novel, is complete! I cannot tell you how happy I am that I managed to write it and publish it in full. Writing it was an experience of itself, sharing it with you every week and seeing your reactions to each chapter is something I’ll never forget!
Thank you for making that experience unforgettable, and I hope the ending felt fulfilling and satisfying.
Thank you for following my story, thank you for all your lovely feedback, thank you for reading through my frantically typed words and making me feel they were worth the effort of editing and posting them!
Grand thanks to my beta, Jak_the_ATAT/@samatedeansbroccoli, for being there with help and support when I plagued them with questions about the story and for turning my nonsensical words into sensible sentences. Even when I had procrastinated asking them my questions and needed answers NOW, they were there and words will never be enough to show my gratitude <3
About the people commenting, my god, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the experience of posting a chapter, then opening my inbox a few hours later to see more and more comments the more chapters I posted. Seeing such a positive and immediate reaction to my posting literally made my day(s), thank you so much. I may not have the courage to reply to every single one of you, but consider this a reply to all of them, present and future comments: Thank you <3
If you followed the story while it was being posted, I love you. If you gave kudos, I love you. If you read through the whole thing after the story was completed, I love you. I know I’ve said it too much, but thank you. I wrote this story for myself, but seeing this positive response on it made me feel I belong. So, thank you. I love you.
P.S. I kept a tag on my blog where I posted about the (chaotic) process of writing this fic, along with a few relevant reblogs. You can check it out here, if you’re interested!
On my gif pack server, you can access #700 gifs of the actress Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce in the fourth season of Black Lightning. Nafessa is of African American descent, please cast her accordingly. All gifs were made by me and are only intended for roleplaying purposes. Do not repost, remove my watermark, claim as your own, edit in any way, or include in gif hunts. Please reblog this post if using any gifs or if you’re an rp resource blog. Likes are very much appreciated, but reblogs are now mandatory if requesting access.
