VA Collection

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WIP

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＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩ ̩͙*˚＊


WIP

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TW: Illness, death

"Moving on, moving on,
It doesn't really matter,
My brain follows a pattern.
Forget about it.
Breaking up, breaking down,
You think it'll get better, but it never does."


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"Here, Danny, I want you to have this."

"But it's yours. Won't you want it when you get out of the hospital?"

"...Well, you can give it back when I'm better."

"Okay." He pulled on the hoodie, which was at least three sizes too big for him. He didn't mind it, though. His sister grinned at him. "It looks good on you," she said. Daniel couldn't help but grin back, rolling up the sleeves to regain the use of his hands. "You think so?" he said, plopping down on the edge of the bed to sit next to Autumn. She winced, but Daniel didn't notice, because he was too busy pulling his DS Lite out of a backpack that looked like it had been dragged through hell and back.

Well, technically it was Autumn's DS, but whatever. He turned it on and the familiar boot-up sound played through the crappy speakers. Autumn sat up, leaning forward to stare over his shoulder at the screen, and Daniel carefully scooted over so she could see better. The opening cutscene to Pokemon Emerald was playing, but Daniel skipped it.

"Can you help me beat this gym?" he asked Autumn, and she shrugged. "Sure."



The sun had begun to set, and Daniel was packing his bag to leave. If he wasn't home by sundown, their Mom got upset. "See you tomorrow," he told Autumn, who had sunk back down into her pillow. Daniel hated how pale and tired she looked, drained from just a few hours of chatting. He watched her for a moment, expecting her to return the goodbye. Instead, she took his hand in her own, holding it tight. It was cold and clammy. Daniel watched her, confused. She had a grim look in her eyes.

"Danny," she said seriously. He swallowed. "The doctor talked to me a while ago. A really... really long while ago." He was confused, but she didn't explain. Only hesitated, then said, "I love you."

"You're scaring me," Daniel whispered. They'd promised not to lie to each other. Autumn attempted a smile, but like Daniel, she wasn't very good at concealing her true emotions. "Don't be scared." She closed her eyes, and he gripped her hand tighter. "Autumn," he said, quivering. He hazarded a glance at the screen of her heart monitor, and it was still beeping. Not much, but still beeping nonetheless. "B-be a good kid, got that?" Autumn said shakily, and Daniel leaned down closer to her. "Be good to Ma, be good to her..."

"Autumn, this sounds like a goodbye," he interrupted, tears welling in his eyes. He blinked them away, because, "Autumn, you're gonna get better, Mom told me-"

She shook her head. "No, Danny. Don't w-worry though... I'm not afraid."

They were both crying now. "I'm sorry, kiddo," Autumn mumbled, and it was clear that she was struggling. Despite it, she chuckled weakly, and Daniel hated it. This wasn't supposed to happen, she was supposed to get better, that's what the doc had said, that's what Mom had said, but they'd lied, hadn't they? They'd lied, because here she was, dying, and he couldn't stop it.

Her hand went limp and there was a sudden shriek from the heart monitor, immediately followed by a shriek from Daniel. "AUTUMN!" he screamed, throwing his backpack to the ground, grabbing her shoulders and holding her tight, in what could be called a sort of half-hug half death-grip (which was a bit ironic considering the situation). "Wake up, please wake up Autumn," he wailed, and suddenly the door flung open. Men and women in white coats flooded into the room, and Daniel clung to his sister as tight as he could.

People were talking and shouting and Daniel screwed his eyes shut because it was just too loud, too bright, and then there were hands on his shoulders and he screamed again because they were taking him away, away from Autumn, away from his sister. The hands let go of him and a man bent down to tell him something, but he wasn't listening, he was looking past the man at Autumn's bed, where doctors and nurses were crowded around her, and Daniel looked away, back at the man.

He was still trying to get through to him, but Daniel still didn't hear, didn't process, he was backing towards the door now, shivering, crying, not thinking straight, dreaming. The man advanced on him, still talking, reaching for Daniel's shoulder, and that was it, this was too much.

Daniel ran out the door like the devil was after him, flying down the hall and out the main Hospital door. There was a forest just beside the parking lot, so he veered left and continued sprinting in that direction. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew he had to get away. Now that he was out of that loud bright frightening overwhelming room, sobs were managing to rattle out of his throat, which felt raw from all the screaming he didn't realize he'd been doing earlier.

He ran and ran until his legs gave out and he was gasping for breath between sobs, leaning back against a thick tree trunk and sliding down into a sitting position. He hugged his knees to his chest, burying his face in his arms and sniffling. The hoodie still smelled like Autumn. He cried a little harder.


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(woopsies this feels a little rushed, sorry not the best quality kept loosing all my progress and motivation )

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obviously based on this YouTube short


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The door swings open and slams into the wall, waking Emperor Malachor up. He jolts into a sitting position and spots his Personal Assistant, Orion, standing in the doorway. A millisecond too late, the ex-soldier shouts, "WAKE UP, Emperor, sir!" Malachor lets out a disgruntled yell and then shouts back, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR BUNK!?" At this point they probably should have gotten past the "what are you doing here" stage of greeting (this has become an every-other-night ordeal) but Malachor doesn't like change and still hasn't gotten used to such a lowly organism not being afraid of him.

"Francis and I are going on a date, sir!" Orion explains, far too cheerful and energetic for this hour (or any hour), gesturing to his wife who stands behind him, who looks reasonably embarrassed. "Hello," she says politely, saluting. At least she has some manners. Malachor gets up out of his bed (which is of no better quality than the ones servants and soldiers sleep on) and throws his hands in the air for lack of anything to throw at the wall. "It's 3am and raining outside!! What kind of date is that!?" he bellows, but Orion just grins.

"It's gonna be super romantic sir," he says, clasping his hands together and twirling further into the room. "We're gonna kiss under an umbrella in the moonlight!" Behind him, Francis turns red and looks away, covering her face with her hands.

Malachor gagged. "What the hell does that have to do with me!?" he demands, no longer shouting. He's only mildly infuriated, now.

"We need you to babysit your godson, sir!" Orion says, and a little boy just barely knee-high peeps out from behind his father's legs. Orion kneels down, putting a comforting hand on the child's shoulder. Malachor, disgusted, stumbles backward. "Wh-what!? WAIT-!" he starts, but too late; “Goodbye, sir!" Orion says, already closing the door as he steps out of the room, leaving the Emperor alone with this child whose name he doesn't even know.

This is stupid. Orion shouldn't be able to do this to him, nobody should. He should fear me, Malachor thinks spitefully, but he knows that time has passed. There's something stopping the ex-soldier from being afraid, and Malachor is determined to figure out what that was and fix it. But for now…

He looks at the kid, who he remembers Orion referring to as Malachor's godson. Wait, what? He crosses his arms, not wanting to think about that, so instead he focuses on keeping this weird kid in line. The aforementioned kid is currently sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring at the Emperor with wide, innocent eyes.

Malachor frowns, hesitates, unsure of how to handle this situation. Then, "So, uh… You like war, boy?"

The little boy grins and nods, and Malachor squeals.

"THAT’S MY BOY!" He picks up the child and spins in a circle, swinging the boy along with him.


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And that's how Orion found a free babysitter.