Peter Quill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zunesareawesome) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
makingthisupasigo2018-04-14 11:02 pm
zunesareawesome) wrote in makingthisupasigo2018-04-14 11:02 pm
Entry tags:
And the stars look very different today...
It was a way out. But it wasn't home.
Truthfully, after Norfinbury, anything would be better than that place, but the cold truth was--there was no way to find his own universe out of the endless multiverse, even if Norfinbury's busted technology had worked properly. He was stuck, here, with a megalomaniac Flynn--granted, a Flynn that managed to open up a portal out of there. Maybe that's what it took to get out of Norfinbury.
Or, Peter thought sometimes on bad days, Norfinbury only released you once you became the twisted version of yourself it wanted you to be. A specially-designed virus inflicted on countless worlds.
Besides, he ought to know something about that.
He didn't stay long on earth, he couldn't. Maybe it had something to do with the mystery of how they were revived in Norfinbury, their bodies recreated or cloned or healed, or maybe it was something that was gonna happen to him anyway, but he could feel the Light burning inside him, inside his head almost as soon as he landed. A desperate need to take to the stars. He'd managed to create a ship and took off.
Time passes, and scientists notice something odd about several exoplanets they're monitoring, especially ones marked as 'earth-like' or other planets in zones that could make them potentially habitable. Bright bursts of light and changes in the composition of the atmosphere or surface, it was inexplicable. Possible evidence of intelligent life? If they didn't know any better, especially with the rocky planets that now somehow boasted extreme changes, it was like something was terraforming them.
There was cause for alarm when Mars suddenly turned blue and green a few months later.
Meanwhile, a small blue-and-orange ship that looked suspiciously like a slightly more organic-looking Milano was racing towards the earth.
no subject
Flynn leans back, shrugging a shoulder. "So no."
no subject
"Then just let me go to Jones and Peter, then! You won't have to worry about me anymore, I'll be out of your hair!"
no subject
Flynn's tone is mild.
"Here's what's gonna happen instead, Stone. You're gonna stay right here, and you know what? You're gonna get your chance at 'protecting the good, protecting other people'. Since apparently that's what one is to do and you seem to know so much about it. You're gonna stay here and you're gonna try and try and try."
And you're gonna fail. And you're gonna know what it's like.
no subject
There's something cold and horrible twisting in his stomach.
"And you're going to stop me," he voices the implied conclusion. He's trying to keep the abject fear out of his voice, but it's not working. "Y-You don't need to do that. You can send me away. There are so many other ways to get rid of me, man."
no subject
There's something that stirs in him at the words, a memory, strong and painful and ugly and something in him is crying out in protest at using these words but he grabs and strangles that part of his soul, throwing it back into the dungeon deep in his mind.
"So unlike us you and Jones are not insane, hmm? You think you're so much better? You think you can lecture me on survival, you think you're the good guys?" He smiles icily. "When I'm done with you, you'll be ready to go after Jones on your own accord. And your stupid notions of friendship and love will be nothing but memories to laugh at."
no subject
"No--no, no--" The horror's too much, he can scarcely stand it. "N-no--you can't--you can't do that!? WHY would you do that!? Why do you even care? We're nothin' to you, right? You're immortal, it's two seconds for you and I'm dead and gone and why would you even care what I've done to Jones!? Why does this matter!?"
Think, Stone, there has to be a way out of this because he cannot--cannot allow this to happen.
no subject
Flynn's voice drops into a low, dangerous growl, eyes turning even colder than his smile. "You and Jones and your little play pretense. Your little 'frieeeendship'." Mocking air quotes. "Your stupid little games and nudging each other and protecting each other."
I despise what you two have. I despise that you gave up everything for your best friend while mine took everything from me.
"And I'm gonna show you that in the end it's all lies."
Peter is doing this to him. He doesn't care who sees him today, he just draws himself up in a corner and cries. Peter is really doing this to him.
"That in the end, it doesn't exist."
no subject
"You'd destroy our lives because you're jealous!?"
His fear is almost abated by sheer anger, because really--
"This all seems just the tiniest bit pointless when you could just enter that thought into my head anyway? What gives? You're doin' it the 'slow way' around? Gonna make me believe that Jones is somehow against me, for real this time? Well, it won't work!" He knows he's probably going to pay for his defiance, but he doesn't care. He just doesn't care anymore what happens to himself. He can't let Flynn do this. "It does exist, just like good exists, the Library exists!"
no subject
--and he's yelling at Peter and he's so angry and he'll never yield to him, NEVER, because there is GOOD in the world and there is the Library and he'll never give in, he'll never stop caring, never--
He presses his knuckles to his temple. What is it with these annoying flashes lately?
"Oh, it will work. And in the end all of your pathetic little struggles and speeches and morals will have been for nothing!"
no subject
"I'm gonna fight, and I'm not gonna stop fightin' you. You know why it won't work? Cause good is real and I'm a Librarian! We're Librarians, and maybe you don't wanna be one anymore, but Jones and I still are, and you'll never, ever take that away from us!"
no subject
--Librarian, Librarian, Librarian, Librarian, he can't forget, he can't ever forget--
"Won't I?" He approaches, reaching out via the connection, because it's all there. "I can take whatever I want, Stone. I can take your memories of the Library if I want to. Of Jones. Of the goodness you oh-so-much believe in. I own you. I own everything that makes you you."
He's yanking harshly at the both connections, his thoughts and the tattoos, bringing him down to his knees. "See what a well-behaved boy you can be?"
no subject
"Get the hell out of my head!"
no subject
"Don't get carried away, Stone. I haven't even started." He circles him slowly, looking down at him in contempt. "When I'm done with you? You won't even need me in your head anymore."
no subject
When I'm done with you? You won't even need me in your head anymore.
The fear is very real and very visible on his face, the anger being swamped by it. No--no-no-no-no--this isn't happening. It can't get worse than this.
He can't be made to hurt Jones again. He won't let it happen.
Do you hear that, Flynn!? You aren't gonna win. You can't win.
no subject
He's moving through his memories freely, pushing the good ones aside, sharpening the focus on the bad ones. The painful ones. The lonely ones.
What of this 'good' in the world did you ever actually get? Nobody wanting you the way you are. Always pretending, always alone. Poor little Jakey, all by himself. Making friends with pictures and buildings instead because there's just nobody there who wants him.
no subject
A gasp escapes him in reality as he nearly drowns in the pain, good memories fading strangely, the bad ones becoming stronger, larger--a deep loneliness fills him, and he can't stop it. Hiding from his dad and reading about Leonardo Da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin and Monet and Rembrandt and Yeats and Poe and Plato and Aristotle and hiding everything from everybody and he was just so alone--
Stop it! Get out of there! He tries to push Flynn away, tries to hang onto the fuzzy goodness--
no subject
There is no goodness. That's just what you're telling yourself because you can't stand that you don't have it. Look at yourself! Always hiding, always lying. All those names and aliases because you so desperately want to be someone else. Because there's just nothing good about being Jacob Stone, is there.
no subject
It's getting harder to hold on. It's getting harder to find the strength to fight back.
He feels so alone. So guilty for everything he's done.
What good is there about being Jacob Stone?
You're...lying. His inner voice is desperate. He's trying so hard to not let go of the good, the memories but they're being ripped away--
no subject
Flynn stops behind him, then squats down, his hand coming to rest on Jacob's back. A small gesture. A comforting gesture, for someone so utterly alone.
He smiles. He managed to do this to Peter without a pendant, nothing is going to stop him with it.
Always giving so much, but did anything ever come of it? What good is all that art and architecture and knowledge when all it brings you is pain? Why do you punish yourself so much? There's no need.
no subject
Tears spring to his eyes. He can't stop it, stop the terrible drain of sadness and loneliness he's being drawn into. As if everything good is being snuffed out. He's trying to hold on but he can't, he's dragged away from the light--
--he looks up, blearily as Flynn places a comforting hand on his back. Something to hold onto in this ocean of darkness, a small buoey to keep him from drowning.
Help me...
He can't stand it.
What good is anything he's ever done?
no subject
He waits a little longer, waits for the loneliness and despair to fester deeply, then squeezes his shoulder, leaning in. Sending a small ripple of comfort through the connection.
It's gonna be okay.
I'll help you.
no subject
But did they care about him in the end anyway? Did anyone?
He was so alone.
And then suddenly, a light in the darkness. A strange sense of comfort, and Flynn's words of encouragement.
How are you going to help me?
Could he dare hope? Was Flynn able to save him from this...this ocean of pain?
no subject
There's the promise of moving forward, away from this cage of neverending solitude. That's what you want, right, Stone? That's why you're asking for help.
You'll make new memories. Better memories. You won't let the loneliness define you any longer.
no subject
It's like a lighthouse in the fog.
A key to the locked cage.
There's a part of him that's wary, this is Flynn, but who else is going to help him? They're all gone. He failed them. And Flynn's the one who's here, wanting to help him. Comforting him.
Please help me. I need a way out of this. Please.
no subject
This next move is risky and he isn't particularly fond of it but he knows it will be worth it. Flynn focuses and then shows him some memories in return.
Of his former self, a long, a very long time ago. Before everything. Before the Library. Wide-eyed and friendly and sweet and--
--so very lonely and everything he knows is from books--
--and even the students at university call him a 'freak', not even here at the center of learning will he fit in--
He understands, Stone. He knows exactly what you're going through. And he made it out of that deep, lonely pit. And so can you.
You can be just like him.
I'll teach you how to leave the loneliness behind.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)