So once fezwearingjellybananas sent me a prompt asking for Clara x Trip (which has since been named Sunshine and Souffles) with a sentence that I no longer remember. I did it, but I fell in love with this pairing. And I've never been over Trip, even though he's got someone tying him now for the death that has broken my heart. So I started headcanoning that Clara saved Trip from Diviner Limbo and he became a companion because these two are so sweet and lovely human beings who are too good for this world.
And you all have fezwearingjellybananas to thank for this. There are some spoilers for the Season 3 finale, but nothing incredibly major.
The place he was in, this limbo, was awful. It was bleak and dark and empty. Miles and miles of gray rocky landscape surrounded him. There were also arms there too. That part was weird. Trip had a feeling he knew how they got there, but he didn't want to dwell on that thought for too long.
After the Obelisk shard did its work on him, he ended up here. Everything had been black, and then it was gray. The whole world became a black and white movie to his eyes. There was not a color to be found in the landscape. The only ones he saw were black and shades of grey, the lightest of which was similar to the color of concrete.
Trip found that he wasn't alone in the limbo. There were others too, men and women of all ages. Their clothes had no color, and looked to be from all sorts of time periods. They must have been victims of the Obelisk too. He walked up to a few and tried to talk to them. They didn't seem to notice he was there as they shuffled past him, mumbling soundlessly under their breaths. Some others were on the ground, mumbling too.
He didn't know how long it took for him to find someone who would look at him. It could have been hours or days. Time felt like nothing here. But the man he found, Jacob, explained everything to him. He told Trip about the Inhumans, about the Diviner, about Limbo. The people here were not Inhumans, and died on contact. Jacob had been the brother of an Inhuman, and thought he was one himself until he touched a Diviner.
"You don't move on when you're here," Jacob told him bitterly. "You can't see the world you came from, or go to whatever comes after life. Eventually, you just go insane, like these other people. They've lost the will to do anything, and just mumble the names of the people they've loved."
"Is there a way out?" Trip asked. Becoming a mindless zombie in Limbo-land was not appealing to him.
Jacob exhaled slowly. "There are people who went in search of a portal. It's just a legend, but it claims that it can bring those here back into the land of the living. But the ones who go rarely come back. The ones that do have become empty shells."
Trip was willing to take the risk. He did not want to spend eternity here. It sounded torturous. If there was a way out, he was willing to take it. He missed his families, both blood and team. He missed the Playground. And he missed color. Out of all the things he longed to see again, color was at the top of the list. The first color he saw when he left would be his favorite forevermore.
He said farewell to Jacob, and started his journey. The landscape was flat for the most part. Trip continued to pass by more Limbo residents, all silently muttering to themselves. He encountered one of the many arms he would find scattered throughout Limbo as when he climbed a ridge. A little part of him wondered if it was Hartley's.
However much time passed by eluded him. As he walked, he didn't get tired. There was no hunger or thirst here. His mind ran continuously as he trudged across the dusty grey land. Pain did not affect him either. As he climbed up a canyon wall, Trip noticed a dark gray-black smear on the dirt where his hand had been. Turning his hand over, he saw there was a large cut on his palm that was slowly closing shut. He'd never even felt it.
There were less and less victims as he kept going on until it was just him in the landscape. It didn't seem like there was an end to the Limbo, but Trip would not give up. He had people to see, things to do, colors to see. Sometimes he would think about the colors he knew. The blond of Bobbi's hair. The red of the bricks in the Playground. Skye's brown eyes. Trip hoped that she was okay. The cocoon meant she had undergone the transformation, according to Jacob, and she's have powers now.
Finally, after what felt like weeks, there was a change in the landscape. Something was nestled in the side of a mountain ahead of him. It looked to be a portal of sorts, glowing white. The color looked so harsh to him after seeing nothing but gray and black. But this was it. He had finally found his way out.
Trip climbed up the mountain. There was a brief moment where he almost lost his footing and fell, but he managed to stop himself in time. Once he had climbed up to the plateau where the portal roared and glowed, a smile spread across his face. There was no point in looking back at the wasteland he had been for…well, he had no idea. Right now, there was just moving on, whether he would be returning to the world of the living or whatever was supposed to come after death.
As he placed on foot forward into it, there was a strange wheezing noise. A hand reached out toward his. Trip found himself grabbing it as he stepped through the portal.
Then there was darkness again.
"It's been days, Clara. He's not waking up."
"Hush. He'll make it."
"I don't know why you wanted to save him in the first place."
"Because there is so much more for him in the universe. This is not his ending."
Trip blinked his eyes open slowly. Harsh lights blinded him, and he squinted.
A head leaned over him. Big brown eyes stared down at him, a round face framed by short brown hair.
Brown. He could see colors again! That shade of brown was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his life.
His eyes adjusted more, and he started to sit up. Trip realized he was lying on a bed, and a woman was standing over him. Another woman was further behind her, a neutral expression on her face.
"Hello," the woman who had been leaning over him smiled. "Welcome back."
"Am I dead?"
The other one raised her eyebrows. "In manner of speaking-"
"You're not," the one with the big brown eyes interrupted. "We pulled you out before you could move on, so you're still alive in a way. Your body, on the other hand…"
Trip found himself looked down, patting all his limbs to make sure they were all still there. Brown Eyes stepped forward and took one of his hands. She was tiny beside him. Her hand felt the same temperature as his.
"Take your pulse."
He did. Or tried to. It wasn't there. Trip frowned.
"Your body is, in a way, frozen," she explained. "I'm the same way, except with different circumstances. The way we pulled you out, it's a little complicated. But the bottom line is you still are alive."
"Thank you?"
Brown Eyes smiled. "You're welcome. I'm Clara, that's Ashildr."
"Me," the other girl said.
"Yeah," Trip nodded. "I get it."
"No, my name is Me."
Clara rolled her eyes. "She was born Ashildr, even though she chooses not to remember it. But she's been kept alive by alien technology since the times of the Vikings, so she's immortal. We all are actually, Antoine Triplett."
"Trip. I go by Trip."
Clara smiled again. "I kind of like that. It's a good nickname. Not that Antoine's a bad name or anything."
"So you go around the universe, seeing things and saving people?" Trip asked as she explained her story to him in the diner.
Clara nodded. "It's not just the universe, you know. We can travel through time too. Anyplace, anytime. I just have to work a little magic at the console and we're there."
"Sounds crazy."
"It is, but it's also the most incredible thing ever. The things you see, they're unforgettable."
"I bet they are," Trip said, looking out the window at the galaxy they were currently floating in. He never knew space could be this beautiful. And Clara's diner was amazing. After all the gray and black he'd been in, seeing colors again was fantastic.
"You know, you're very welcome to stay, travel with us," Clara said slowly. "The universe is full of wonders that are just waiting to be seen."
Trip raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me to travel through time and space with you, Clara Oswald?"
"If you'd like to."
When the Obelisk had killed him, he thought it was an end. He might have become one of those mindless zombies puttering around. But learning there was a way out of Limbo was what kept him going. Now, with the knowledge that he wasn't aging, that none of the passengers on Clara's TARDIS were aging, he knew his 'death' was not an ending. It was simply a beginning of a brand new grand adventure.
"Why not?" he decided. "So do we have any stops coming up?"
"We can make one. Your choice."
His choice was to meet Herman Melville. Clara made it even better by taking him to 1850 when the author was meeting with a bunch of other literary figures at the time. Trip learned that she had been an English teacher at a secondary school before she ended up frozen. She'd told him about her travels with the Doctor, who had been responsible for showing her the stars and later giving her the TARDIS in which they traveled, and how she'd met Jane Austen.
Then he encountered aliens for the first time. It was thrilling, exhilarating. Even as he was running, hand in hand with Clara as they hurried back to find Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman to stop them from walking into the trap the aliens had set, Trip found himself loving every second. He got to save the world (well, Pittsfield and some of the most important literary figures of the time) years before he was even born.
"So this is your life?" he asked when they got back in the TARDIS.
Clara nodded, her brown eyes shining in delight. "It is. Although it's also what got me killed in the first place."
Her voice was more solemn. Trip watched her touch her hand to the back of her neck. She did that a lot, but never really gave an explanation.
"I took on a Chronolock from a friend," she explained, sitting down on one of the stools. "It's tattooed to the back of my neck. Three zeroes. Time's run out for me in a way."
Trip took a seat beside her.
"I know I've told you I was pulled out," Clara sighed. "But there's more. One day, I will have to return to the moment where I died. One day I will die, and my time will be out for good. No more running around the universe for me. And I'm afraid it's the same with you."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I pulled you out before you could move on to the afterlife," the brunette explained. "You'll have to move on one day, Trip. It's your choice when you want to do it, but one day this will have to end. Because everything ends."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"I want you to know this. I'm not letting you live in the dark about this. But just because I'm telling you this now doesn't mean I'm dropping you back there now. You can stay here however long you want. But when you are ready to move on, you tell me or Ashildr."
He was glad she was telling him this. Clara's honesty was something good. There were too many secrets with SHIELD. But Clara was making sure he needed to know about his situation. She knew holding back the truth could
"Thank you," he said. "For telling me this."
Clara smiled back at him.
"Clara!" Trip shouted, running through the marketplace, Judoons hot on his tail. He could see the top of her head up ahead as she studied a stall.
She turned her head toward him, eyes widening as he approached her. When he was in close enough, she reached out and grabbed his hand. They weaved in and out through other aliens, trying to shake the pursuing Judoons. Their hearts no longer beat, but he was sure his would be thumping out of his chest if it was at the moment.
Finally, she jerked him into an alleyway. They stayed pressed up against the wall until the alien law enforcers passed. After they had, she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
"And I thought you said I was the one who attracted trouble."
"Aw, come on, girl," he shook his head. "It was an accident."
"I'm sure it was. Now we better get out of here before they come back."
"Are you sure this is okay to do?"
Clara nodded. "I know you want closure, and that you miss them. And you died trying to save her. If anything, she's the one who needs it most right now."
They'd landed on Earth in 2016. He'd been dead for almost two years at the point they landed. Since then, many things had happened. Sokovia had suffered a disaster a year prior. The Avengers had been split and fought each other. Inhumans were popping up now. The world was a different place than it had been when he had left it.
Luckily, he was used to different now.
Clara reached over and gave his hand a squeeze as they followed Skye. She was different now. Her hair was dyed black, and her eyes lined with dark make up. Skye looked as though she'd been through so much. Trip couldn't help but wonder if he was responsible for a little bit of it. Although with everything that had happened to the world, he was probably the last thought on anyone's mind.
When she finally saw them, they were standing in a back alley behind a bunch of stores. Her eyes widened at the sight of them.
"Skye," Trip said, stepping forward. "This is weird, but-"
His friend held up her hand, and a shockwave slammed him back against one of the walls. He could feel pressure on his throat from the waves coming out of her hand, trying to choke him. For once, being a dead man walking was paying off. No need to breathe, so no deprivation of oxygen.
"Trip!" Clara screamed, turning to Skye. "Let him go! It's really him!"
The pressure lifted, and Trip was able to get off the wall. Skye was staring at him in shock.
"You're dead," she uttered. "You died."
"I know, I was there-Ow!"
He rubbed the spot where she had punched his arm.
"What the hell happened to you?!"
He told her the story of Limboland, his trek to get out, how Clara had saved him, and what they were doing these days.
"So you're both technically dead," she said at the end of it.
"I guess so."
"That's weird."
"Not the weirdest thing. How have you been, Skye?"
"Daisy," she corrected. "I'm Daisy now. And things have been going pretty crappy."
"I'll leave you two to talk," Clara said. "There's a café down the street. I'll go grab something for us."
As she left, Daisy raised her eyebrows at Trip. "So time travel?"
"And space. It's been great."
"I'm glad you're happy," she told him, stepping forward and hugging him. "You're colder now."
"Don't exactly have blood pumping through my veins anymore," he replied. "So what's happened?"
"A lot, and barely anything good," Daisy sighed as she explained what had happened since he had died and gone to Limbo.
"Do you think you'll ever go back to SHIELD?" Trip asked when her story was done.
"I don't even know anymore."
They stood in silence for a while.
"So Clara seems nice."
Trip smiled. "She is. You'd like her. She's brave, kind, smart, incredible…"
"You like her, don't you."
He'd tried not to. Ashildr's journals that he's read had only proved to him that falling in love when you were immortal was a bad idea. The trick was not to fall in love, but he was failing at that with Clara Oswald. How the whole world hadn't fallen in love with her, he didn't know.
"You should tell her," Daisy continued. "Take a little advice from me. Don't hold back until it's too late. If you care about someone, you should tell them. Besides, I can see she likes you too."
She stepped back. "Now don't go waste any more time and let her know."
"Are you leaving?"
Daisy nodded. "For now. If you're ever back on Earth in a time I'm alive, come and see me. But also please go and see space."
She send out vibrations from her hands and shot up into the air, landing on the roof of the building on the other side of him. Trip couldn't see her from where he was, and by the time he had backed up to get a better look, she was gone.
Clara walked up with their coffees to see Trip standing in an empty alleyway. "Where's your friend?"
He turned around and she saw him smile at her. "Up, up, and away."
"Did you at least have a good talk?"
"We did," Trip nodded, taking his coffee that she handed to him. "Asked me to stop by again if I was ever in a time where she was alive. Also, she gave me a little advice."
"What about?"
"Not holding back, telling people things they need to hear."
"I've had to do that with someone too, but that was a long time ago."
Trip smiled. "And I'm going to do that right now."
Does anyone else want to hop on the Sunshine and Souffles ship train now?