( authors note: AU set in a futuristic run-down world - world building isn't done much here as these are vignettes creating one larger story. most pairings apply here with an emphasis on blair and serena, as always, the true heart of the trash show. book based characterisations mixed in with show based ones. this will be an on-going series of these vignettes. )
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On Friday morning the world dives straight into Hell. Somewhere, someone failed to save the day; a portal was opened and everything everyone ever knew died with that opening.
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( Dan )
Chain-smoking in the face of the End of Days is not the way Dan expected to go out - he's imagined himself going out in a blaze of glory, drunk with a mid-life crisis and a string of pretty blondes who forgot about him as soon as they were finished fucking; holed up in a Scottish castle somewhere where he wrote dark, misery poems about the meaning of life and love and how it all leads nowhere. Dead six months before someone finds him, someone passing by the castle who decided to break inside, possibly.
Instead he's sitting at home, curled up in his bed, earphones on, chain-smoking and drinking coffee as he writes and drowns out the noise of his dad and little sister fighting. He's seventeen and has never had anything of his published except for a short-story that was published at the bottom of a Geographical magazine, his name spelt wrong. He's a spectacular failure, or a success yet born. But the Brooklyn loft he's lived in all his life crumbles underneath him, his families soft screams heard from the other room.
Fire dances inside of the room, from a dragon breathing it from outside of his window. Idly, he wonders if he's cigarette has been laced with LSD.
It hasn't.
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( Blair and Nate )
For as long as she could remember she'd been friends with Nate, their parents always joking about the two of them ending up together. Ever since they were little - four or five or six. Photos of them were scattered of each of their houses, lined up in digital photo frames that rotated a lifetimes worth of memories. Once she hit fourteen, she started to see him in a different light, the way their parents joked about them getting married started to appeal to her.
Until he broke her heart.
In the middle of the first out-breaks of war when the robots started to malfunction, the photos she'd had hanging up in her room of them had been burned by her robot D. Blair watched as D lit them all aflame, aghast but unable to comprehend what was happening enough to stop it. Robots knew the truth, the secrets kept buried underneath.
"Miss Blair," Robot D had said mimicking the voice of Dorota, their old maid, the one they had when Blair was still a baby, before robots become house-hold items for the rich. "Mr Archibald is not good for you." She threw a picture of Serena and Nate down on Blair's lap, all the dots connecting into place in Blair's mind.
It was that act - her robot destroying her pictures and the two most important relationships - that was the first sign of the End.
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( Dan and Nate )
He meets Dan twenty-six days into the ordeal. Both his parents are dead. Serena and Blair are missing and hate him anyway. His other friends were swallowed up in the middle of the Lacrosse game that was happening when the portal opened. He's all alone and Nate doesn't know how to be by himself.
It's been something he's longed for - the constant attention, the spotlight directed away from him - but he doesn't know the first thing about being by himself or taking care of himself. Especially in the middle of a war-zone. Maybe if he was out at sea...but the sea swallows those who venture out into it, now-days.
Dan's a skinny teenager who smokes at least seven cigarettes a day, a stack of cigarette packets with him to last the next three months. "Once they're gone, I'm gone." Dan jokes when Nate asks about them, looking at the tiny cartons lined up in the small broken space Dan has made his.
He thinks Dan looks vaguely familiar, a scrawniness to him that he feels like he's seen before. Dan offers a cigarette out to Nate, in a gesture that Nate thinks is really kind since they don't know each other and it looks like Dan really needs them. He plucks it out of his fingers and wishes it was weed instead of tobacco.
"Do you go to St. Judes?" Nate asks, exhaling smoke. He thinks this kid was in his English Lit class.
"Yeah." Dan replies. "We had English Lit, Biology and French together."
"Oh." Nate replies sheepishly, embarrassed. "I'm Nate."
Dan looks at him for a long second, eyes taking in his full-body appearance appreciatively in a way that makes Nate's stomach drop in a familiar way, before extending his hand out to him. "Dan."
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( Serena )
She curls a finger around the ribbon attached to the door of an old bookshop and tugs on it gently until it comes loose. Her hands quickly tie it up in her hair, before she leans in closer to the door, pressing her body against the wood to peer inside through the peep-hole. It's vacant.
Roughly, she grabs a hold on the handle of the door and pulls on it with all her might; she's much stronger than she appears. It doesn't budge, sighing she plucks her last bobby-pin out of her hair and sticks it in. Twisting it until the door clicks. Serena slips inside soundlessly, locking the door behind her. It's the first time she's allowed herself to breathe since her train stopped five minutes from Grand Central Station and a dragon gobbled up half the passengers on board.
It's taken her twelve days to find shelter. An old rusty bookshop that she's never seen before. She runs her fingers along the spines of the books and wonders, not for the first time, where all her friends are. Hazel Williams had been the first person she'd recognised on the fifth day, her red blouse torn. On a second look, the blouse hadn't been red to start with. Together, they'd hiked through burnt down department stores. Serena, confused and scared. Hazel, bleeding and delirious.
Hazel was dead by the next morning and a scaly-creature was chasing Serena out of the department store. The only information Hazel could offer up to Serena was that Blair was safe. Serena pressed for more information, panic flooding through her at not being able to find Blair, but Hazel was silent, unable to speak as she bleed out onto Serena's hands.
Serena pauses in the bookstore, plucking a book off of the shelves. Armageddon. Maybe it'll tell her why her world has been banished into Hell.
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( Minions )
Kati shakes under the thin blanket laid on top of her. Isobel curls into her, trying to provide her more warmth. Penelope sits at the other end of the hallway, sending daggers at Nelly Yuki.
"When's Blair getting back?" Penelope asks, snapping the question out with ferocity.
Kati's teeth chatter in the silence that follows.
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( Vanessa and Jenny )
"Your brother is a fucking idiot." Vanessa spits out as they trudge along the snow. It's been twenty-nine days since the War began. It's what Vanessa has taken to calling it, despite the lack of soldiers and presence of other-worldly creatures. It's been eighteen days since Dan decided to go for a short trek to find more cigarettes and hasn't returned.
Jenny rolls her eyes, rubbing her hands up and down her arms for warmth. "He could be dead, V." Jenny replies quietly. It's a thought that should stir more emotion up inside of her but she watched Rufus burn to the ground in the middle of their loft - his skin flaking off in ash before burning and then leaving organs lying on the lofts floor. Death doesn't stir much emotion other than disgust inside her now.
"It'd be his own bloody fault." Vanessa bites back.
Jenny knows not to argue with Vanessa when she's like this - hot-headed and angry and desperately sad. It's better to agree until the anger has faded away. Tonight, she'll be sobbing into Jenny's arms at wherever they end up.
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( Blair and Carter )
On the thirtieth day of the End, Blair flees the small compound her and the other girls have secured. A second longer and Blair would be offering herself to the flesh-eating man that sits across the road. During the school year they're tolerable companions but for the end of the world they're annoying nuisances who demand too much of her time.
Luck's on her side though because she spends an hour wandering the city by herself before someone wraps their fingers around her wrist and tags her into what used to be a luxury hotel. On the outside it looks ruined but on the inside, it's still intact. Her mouth opens in surprise, ready to hit whoever has taken her in here to be killed, only to find Carter Baizen smirking at her.
Blair rolls her eyes, "Hello, couldn't do it?" She huffs out, moving away from him to inspect the hotel. It's dirty in places but nothing like the flames and ashes of the world outside. Water damage looks to be the worst of it.
"It's bars fully stocked, too." Carter winks. Blair lightens considerably at that.
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( Serena )
Her book offers her no answers and she exhausts all the other potential resources - none of which brings her any closer in finding out what's going on. She could kill for a drink, or a line of coke.
It's lonely and sobering being trapped. It's not feelings she's grown to like; she longs for the comfort of her bed and the company of her friends. Blair could be anywhere, could be dead. Serena doesn't like to think about Nate. The guilt rises in her throat whenever she thinks about him, about what they did.
Did he tell Blair? He's never been able to keep a secret. If she ever found Blair would she even take her in?
God, she could kill for a bottle of pills.
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( Nate )
He pushes his face into the cold water. Counts to ten. Doesn't think about Dan.
One. He thinks about Blair, how her skin feels when he kisses it. Two. Serena, her skin against his, the two of them drowning out the world together. Three. Blair and the time she went down on him in the bathroom of his grandparents house in the middle of a family dinner. Four. Serena's legs wrapped around his waist. Five. Penelope Shafai drunkenly kissing the curve of his neck the weekend Blair was in Scotland. Six. Dan's hand slipping underneath his boxers—
His face shoots up out of the water. He didn't make it to ten.
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( Lola and Ivy )
Ivy shivers in the L.A. coldness. Rain pouring down all around her. Lola grabs onto her hip, guiding her to shelter.
"We're safe." She promises, pressing her lips against Ivy's in a gesture of comfort. It's a nice thought, we're safe, but ultimately not true.
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( Blair and Carter )
Blair slips from the bed with Carter's shirt falling off of her shoulder, she plucks one of his cigarettes from out of the carton and slips it between her lips. Lights it with the blue lighter on the drawer stand. She walks towards the window, opening the curtain just far enough that she can see outside. Monsters roam the city, alien tentacles meeting her eyes as she watches. But she's not out there; she's safe. Blair wonders if Serena's safe, decides she doesn't care as Carter's arm slips around her waist and he nuzzles her shoulder.
If Blair's going to die, she's not going to die a virgin. Carter's handsome and charming, older, experienced.
"If you want to go again," He offers, kissing her shoulder.
But just because he's all that doesn't mean she's interested in seconds. "No, thanks." Blair replies, shaking her shoulder. He takes the hint and goes to grab a bottle of whiskey from the mini-fridge, amazingly still running despite everything that's going on.
"Worried about Serena?" He guesses. Blair scoffs in response.
"Please. I don't care about traitorous sluts who fuck my boyfriend and then run away." Blair stabs the cigarette out against the window-sill. Serena's probably still at boarding school, maybe she was swallowed by a giant snake. The thought sends shivers down her spine in an unpleasant way. She kind of does hope Serena's okay.
"It's okay if you do." Carter tells her, "But I'm not gonna press the issue."
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( Jenny and Penelope )
Thirty-four days since she saw her dad die. Jenny keeps counting the days since the Start, but she's stopped counting the days since Dan went away. She walks towards the abandoned shop, slipping inside the small slit in the door and grabs all that she can carry. Bags of chips, chocolate bars, bags of prepackaged lollies, a stack of magazines, bread rolls, water bottles. She freezes in front of the milk, it goes off quickly, just like bread. Sighing she leaves it. Sour milk isn't good.
Her hands shake as she tries to push all the food into the one bag Vanessa and her have. Outside she can hear loud voices, it sounds like a fight; she squeezes her eyes shut and lines herself up against the wall, hoping against all odds that she won't be killed. Something tumbles inside the small store, blood trailing in with it. Jenny's eyes widen as she takes in the blood and the limp figure, a mass of brown hair—Penelope Shafai.
Jenny runs towards her, asking if she's okay. Penelope manages to stumble out a yes as Jenny applies pressure to the wound on her back. It's not huge, easily healed with the first-aid kit Vanessa has back at their spot.
"I can help you." Jenny says. Penelope peels open an eye.
"Jenny Humphrey?" She asks, confusion muddled in her voice. Back before this war started she used to sit at the MET steps with Penelope, on the lowest rung as Jenny did all and any errands for Blair. It surprises her to hear her name from Penelope and not the familiar nickname Little J being snickered. Warmth floods through her as she nods her head and picks Penelope up.
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( Blair and Vanessa )
Carter had left an hour ago to get supplies. Weapons. Bandages. Blair thought it was pointless if they were holed up in a hotel. There was more chance of him getting hurt out searching for protection against getting hurt than there would be if he just stayed put.
Blair can't follow her own advice, throwing a bottle of scotch across the room in frustration when he's not back. She misses her phone. And her robot. It's so fucking boring being by herself and she's terrified Carter's going to run into trouble and she'll be all alone in this hotel with nothing to do. And, she hates to admit it, but she's grown to care for Carter.
She pushes herself up off of the bed, shrugging her dress back on and walks down the stairs. She freezes on the second story, glancing outside. She was only going to find food in the hotel's kitchen but now she's tempted to go and say hello to Vanessa Abrams. Ugh, this war has turned her into someone she doesn't even recognise.
Vanessa, bald Vanessa, who she roomed with for a month last year. It's not that Vanessa's bad...it's just that pre-rooming they were always at each others throats. Vanessa went against the grain, against everything Blair liked; she denounced brands and beauty and popularity. But she was fun to hang with, the two of them squished on Vanessa's tiny bed, high and watching Breakfast at Tiffany's—a movie from way back.
It's just that Blair's been avoiding her since she moved out; since she moved out because of a drunken, foolish make-out session that Blair craved more of for weeks.
Fuck it, Blair thinks, stamping her foot a little on the ground before running down the flight of stairs and pushing open the door of the hotel to call for Vanessa.
"V!" Blair calls, cupping her hands around her mouth and motioning for Vanessa to come closer once she's been spotted.
"Blair?" Vanessa says in shock, walking inside with her. "Hey, how are you?" She asks awkwardly as she takes in the interior of the place and whistles. "Wow. It's the end of the world out there and you're staying somewhere that's nicer than the flat I lived in when the world wasn't ending."
Blair rolls her eyes. "The world isn't ending, silly."
"Yeah. It kinda is. Looked outside lately?" Vanessa retorts.
Blair shrugs. "I've been busy. Want something to drink?"
Vanessa looks at her in shock for a second, about to engage in a fight about class, or the war, or something before her shoulders loosen and she says, "Yeah, alright."
( this will be continued! )