makingthisupasigo | And the stars look very different today...

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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.

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Peter's expression hasn't changed much after he returned. But he waves a hand, and the tendril suddenly releases Jones, and disappears back into the ground.

"How are you doin', pal?" It's sarcastic. Sneered. "The way I see it, is that you figured out how to disrupt my light. That means you hate the light, right? Wanting to destroy my connection between my planets?" He makes a tsk sound and shrugs one shoulder. "Then again, it will get pretty lonely around here without you around. So lemmie ask you this. Do you sleep?"

Ezekiel drops to the floor with a pained grunt but it barely registered because the light is gone and even though his body is still aching the relief is overwhelming.

His fingers dig into the ground, it's so great to feel something again, something solid and tangible after the bright, floating nothingness of the light. Gasping for air as if he just came up from deep waters he pushes himself up but his arms tremble and he falls back on his back and elbows.

"W-what?" He stares up at Peter, utterly terrified. Again the shock sits too deep to think, to maneuver, to wonder what the best answer would be and the words just come out. "I... sometimes." His voice is small, hitching with suppressed tears and he rubs at his eyes, embarrassed. Ever since Flynn cursed him with immortality he doesn't need to sleep – one of the reasons he could work on the ray gun in intervals without Peter noticing – but it's hard to break the habit and it just feels... right. "Sometimes I take naps or sleep just because, I-I just like it."

"Huh. Interesting." He paces a little, seemingly distracted. Then he snaps his fingers.

"Here's what we're gonna do. When I'm asleep, you're gonna work on a way to get me connected back to the other planets. And when I'm awake..." A ball of light crackles in his hands. "That'll be your punishment. For now, anyway. If we can't connect in a few days they'll die, so..." He doesn't want to think about that, even if it's the likely outcome. "I'm gonna ask Flynn for help, too. Anyway, even if that happens I still need to reconnect."

He trails off, talking to himself mostly. "Too small. Everything's too small, need to be...more."

Ezekiel winces back from the ball of light, instinctively trying to crawl backwards and as far away from it as possible. "No!"

The terror is eating him alive because he knows he can't fix this, the biggest part of his work had been figuring out an air-tight, fail-save way to make sure he can't. He almost cries that out to Peter but he's too terrified of the potential repercussions, of getting staked by the tendrils forever once the Celestial figures out that he isn't lying, that he really can't reverse the process, that not even Flynn might be able to.

"You don't need to do this!"

"I don't?"

He extinguishes the ball of light, and lets his hand drop.

"You didn't need to destroy my plants. You didn't need to destroy my connection, my network."

He sighs, and seems genuinely put out by what he says next.

"You could have been my friend."

"You were killing billions of people!"

Again he runs his sleeve over his face. He doesn't want to cry in front of Peter but it's getting harder and harder when the first shock of the cut connection fades, leaving him and his body in the aftermath. Ezekiel starts shivering uncontrollably, his muscles still burning from the light and draws his knees in close to his chest, trying to come to terms with what had happened.

"I couldn't just sit by and watch! I know you think they're not important, but they are! This is what I do, I save people!"

"Mortals!" Why does this keep happening!? "They're mortals, they're gonna die anyway? You and me, bro, we're forever. A normal human's lifespan is like--" He snaps his fingers. "Gone in a second. You can't think of them as people anymore."

He was starting to think he should have a speech prepared on a little card because it was just like Flynn from last time.

"This isn't what you do anymore. Give it a hundred, two-hundred...a thousand, ten-thousand years. You'll see what I'm talking about."

"That's just an excuse!"

It's like he's split in two. There's a part of him that's yelling at him to stop talking, he needs to STOP talking. But he can't, too shaken from the torture, unable to say anything but what pops right into his mind.

"We've been friends with an Immortal for a very long time! And you know what? He's a great guy! And he protects mortals! And he thinks of them as people! So no! It's not your Immortality, it's you! You wanna destroy the universe, fine! But at least have the guts to take responsibility and that it's you!"

That just gets the driest look.

Really, Jones?

"So let me get this straight. You know I'm pissed at you, and then now you're telling me what to do?"

He shakes his head, and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Jones, Jones, Jones. Between you and Flynn, man. I mean, I admire your spirit, I really do. But I'm gonna have to break it."

Ezekiel freezes.

No.

No, no, no, that is what he has been working so hard to avoid, all these horrible days of playing along so Peter wouldn't... The idea of becoming something different like... like Flynn--

"What? No! No, you, l-let's not be hasty, I mean, that's really not necessary!"

"Oh, it's totally necessary, bro. See, I can't have an immoral thinking like a mortal on my planet anyway? So...yeah."

He shakes his head.

"I really thought you were cool."

Edited 2018-04-22 22:32 (UTC)

"I'm not? I'm not thinking like a mortal! I never thought like a mortal! I am way more awesome than any mortal anywhere could ever be?!"

He's babbling, his usual cockiness coming out rushed and panicked. "I'm Ezekiel Jones, I'm awesome! And cool, definitely cool! There's no need for--"

Breaking my spirit.

"--for any of that!"

"Yeah, used to be cool, maybe still potentially awesome, but still thinking like a mortal. Trying to save lives." He rolls his eyes. "You actually think it matters."

A sigh.

"You'll be cool again. Once I get done with you."

"Like you did with Flynn?"

Oh yeah, hi, he knows. And suddenly the panic mingles with rage and the bottomless mourning sorrow overcomes him once again. Some of the tears make it past the barrier and he wipes at his face.

He's gone.

"Like you destroyed the real Flynn?!"

He knows?

Peter sets his jaw, his eyes seeming colder, more dangerous, if that was even possible at this point.

That is a very, very sore spot. The ground beneath them shakes, a few cracks with glowing light appear.

"Do you really wanna piss off the guy who's trapped you on his planet and has creative ideas on how to make you spend your time for the next 10,000 years?

He doesn't.

He really, really doesn't.

But he also has no energy to pretend anymore, too far gone at this point, too overwhelmed by fear and pain and sorrow. "You killed him!"

It comes out as a ragged cry and a sob, all the suppressed pain of hanging out with the man who took Flynn from them finally catching up to him. "You killed our friend!"

You killed him!

Peter actually looks stricken for a moment, all the confidence and bravado and anger and malice disappears and there's a very lost look on his face. He trembles slighly, his mouth opening as if he's going to say something but the words die before they can form.

He shuts his eyes tight for a second and then opens them again, they were clearly reddened and teary. And then he's yelling back--

"You don't think I miss him too?! You have no idea what it's like! To see your best friend die over and over and over and over again and there's nothing you can do to stop it! And when you, somehow, miraculously can stop it, guess what?! You mess things up even worse and it's all your fault and now he's--" He can't say it. The planet is shaking, large cracks from nearby, storm clouds are boiling overhead, lightning strikes in the distance.

Ezekiel cowers, pure instinct in the face of the sheer force of nature he suddenly finds himself confronted with. When the planet trembles and breaks open he ducks, protectively placing his hands above his head.

Clearly he touched a nerve there but he didn't experience the things Stone did and can't bring himself to feel sympathetic towards Peter. Not right now, not after the light, not after the Expansion, not after Flynn. Flynn, with his exasperated face whenever Ezekiel yanks his chain, Flynn with his insufferable know-it-all always-right attitude, Flynn who is -- was -- a part of his family.

"So you're just gonna do it again?" he yells back, not even sure if he can be heard over the roaring wind and menacing thunder. "It won't change anything! Even if you break me, even if you turn me into a jerk! Maybe I'll be a jerk but I'll still be a jerk who stops you!"

"You've left me with no choice!"

Always no choice.

More cracks, more thunder, more wind.

"You're not gonna stop me, bro! Look around you!" He throws a hand out indicating the wild elements visible around them, outside and above them.

Edited 2018-04-24 10:30 (UTC)

"Uh, pretty sure I already did, mate!"

He presses himself into the floor, struggling to keep his head and body up against the raging winds.

"Like, that's literally what just happened!"

"Just a temporary setback," he says through gritted teeth. "You haven't stopped me. Not for real."

He raises another tendril of light, as it hovers behind him like a snake.

And just like that the flash of bravado goes out with a rush. At the threat of the tendril Ezekiel brings up his arm defensively, trying to crawl back at the same time but the roaring winds force him to stay in place.

"Wait! N-no! No, no, don't! I-I'll see what I can do!"

There's a pause, and lightning crackles.

"...what can you do? Are you stalling? I've pulled that move so many times. I think you're stalling."

"I'm not! I'm not stalling!"

Never has there been a bigger stalling attempt in the universe.

"Right now I think I can't but I-I'm a genius. I, I mean I work for the Library, so maybe I can surpass my own design and beat me at my own game!"

...totally stalling, bro.

But! You've piqued his interest.

"...okay. Okay, let's say I believe you. Prove it to me, right now. Give me something, anything that might work. Any ideas?"

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