A/N: Hey. Long time no write, especially regarding Gone fanfic. How long has it been? Nearly two years, I think. Anyway, I'm here with a new thing which I've felt like doing for a while, but lacked the confidence to do so. If this idea has been done before, I apologise (I've not looked through the Gone archive for a while) but hopefully my version will be different enough to keep you engaged.
Another thing to keep in mind: the first couple of chapters were written without a reference to the books, so if there are glaring discrepancies from the canon of Gone's endgame, please let me know!
And for reference, this fic will in fact go up to the endgame of the FAYZ and basically explore how the entire timeline would unfold without the presence of the two four-bars.
Buckle your seatbelts; it'll be a long ride. ;)
One minute Sam and Caine were staring each other down, palms raised, the frightened kids of Perdido Beach looking on.
The next they were gone.
Astrid Ellison screamed. Pete flailed on the sidewalk next to her. His Gameboy fell to the floor, smoking slightly. She didn't pay much attention to this.
Sam Temple and Caine Soren, fraternal twins kept separate their entire lives, had poofed at the same moment. Gone like the others that first day: the adults, the over-fifteens. Anna and Emma. Their parents.
For too many moments, Astrid's brilliant brain ceased to function. All she could do was stare at the road, lit up by moonlight and the soft glow of the street lights. A few more kids had congregated around the church. Astrid dully looked in that direction. God, why did You see fit to take Sam from us alongside his brother? Why?
Diana Ladris took a step towards the road, her skin ashen, her dark eyes wide. "Caine," she said with incredulity. Briefly, her eyes met with Astrid, but both the genius and the bitch were equally as lost. What happens when both the hero and villain are gone?
She'd thought she'd seen Sam's destiny. The brightest star in the FAYZ. Had she been wrong?
Pete made a noise and picked up his Gameboy. The beeping sounds of Pokémon grated on Astrid's ears. She turned to her brother and touched his wrist. He screamed like a cornered animal.
And suddenly, Astrid could see all the stars, everyone in the FAYZ. One by one, they grew in intensity until they had amassed themselves into a giant sun. It hurt her eyes but Astrid was powerless to look away. And then, a great black hole sucked up the sun and Astrid was looking at Pete again, who still screamed. Lightly, she touched him again.
Nothing.
Her brief power had fizzled out.
She let go, and Pete fell silent once more, as did his game. He continued to pound the buttons, absorbed in his own world.
"Astrid?" Astrid turned to see Lana walking up to her, her dog at her heel. "What's going on?"
"Sam's..." Astrid couldn't continue for the lump in her throat. "He and Caine, they..."
"Turned fifteen," Lana finished. She folded her arms, closed her eyes, and sighed. A wince crossed her face. "This isn't good."
"We need to do something," Astrid said, but her mind was drawing blanks. Sam is gone. Caine is gone. The two greatest powers of the FAYZ are gone.
"It would probably be best to stop the fighting," Lana said, oddly composed. She stroked Patrick. "It was Team Caine against Team Sam, but neither of those exist any more." Astrid looked around the plaza. Lana was right: there were Coates kids and townies alike just looking at each other. Everyone was lost.
"Then let's start there," Astrid said shakily. Lana grimaced again. "You okay?"
"I'm..." Lana trailed off, placing a hand to her temple. "Just a headache. I need to take a breather, if that's okay. Before I get an endless train of kids wanting me to heal them."
"That's fine," Astrid said. Lana nodded and walked off with Patrick towards the beach. Something wasn't right, but Astrid didn't have the energy to worry about it right now.
"Angry." Astrid looked at Pete, who seemed to be almost growling at his Gameboy. "Very angry. In the dark."
"Don't be angry, Petey," she said wearily. "Not right now."
Diana approached her. "So, I guess we're equals now," she said, awkwardly fiddling with her dark
locks. A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "So much for Computer Jack figuring out how to beat the poof." Her eyes rested on a group of boys, maybe around ten years old, with handguns. "Are we still fighting?"
"I don't know," Astrid said.
Diana smirked. "Astrid the Genius doesn't know," she said sardonically. "I guess this is the apocalypse." Astrid repressed an urge to smack Diana's perfectly constructed face.
"If we want order, we'll have to cooperate," Astrid finally said. "That means we'll have to stop everyone fighting."
"That'll be fun," Diana said. "They're not our people, and the leaders of the two factions faded into oblivion. It's gonna be like those playground fights for the sake of fighting, only with firearms and God knows what else."
"You're part of the problem," Astrid said frostily. "Don't speak as if you're above it all."
"But doesn't it piss you off?" Diana said. "Our boyfriends tore the town up with their brawl and now they're leaving us to pick up the pieces."
"There's nothing we can do about that now," Astrid said heavily. "We need to focus on preventing the town from descending into madness and disorder."
"Why?" Diana said sourly. "A big reader like you; I'd have thought getting the chance to live Lord of the Flies would've appealed to you."
"To extend that analogy," Astrid said, determined to not let Diana best her, "imagine what would've happened if Ralph and Jack had vanished before setting that fire."
"The convenient boat wouldn't have seen the island and the other kids would've had to survive on their own without any leader or authority figure," Diana rebuked. "Don't try and assume that just because you get straight-As on advanced metaphysics or whatever that you're the only smart one." She sighed. "I'm aware of the crapsack that we're gonna be plunged into as well as you do."
Astrid felt herself bristling, but kept her composure. "So do we have an alliance?"
"Sure," Diana said. She extended her hand. "The kings are dead. Long live the queens."
As the girls shook hands, a blur appeared in front of them. It was Brianna, a cocky twelve-year-old redhead gifted with the power to move at impossibly fast speeds. A three-bar, going by Diana's reading system. "Whoa," she said as she looked at Diana and Astrid. She held a shotgun. "What's going on here?"
Astrid cringed. Brianna didn't strike her as the person to approach first. But she'll know eventually. Get it out of the way now. "Sam..." The reality of Sam being gone hit Astrid around the face again, and she seized up.
"Caine and Sam poofed," Diana finished. When Brianna stared blankly, she added, "stepped out, gone, not here, turned fifteen. Wherever the adults went."
"Huh?" Brianna said. She blinked a few times before the colour drained from her face. "No. No."
"Please, Brianna," Astrid said. "We need to treat this issue with sensitivity whilst we—"
"They can't be gone!" Brianna shouted. She said something else, but it was lost to the wind.
"Well, hope you've got a good plan," Diana said. "In no time everyone will know their leaders are gone."
Astrid cast her mind back to the small council meeting they held maybe eight hours ago. Back when Sam was still here. They'd devised a contingency plan if Sam did step out. We said Edilio would be in charge. She thought of the boy from Honduras and felt a weight on her chest. Governing every one of the kids inside the FAYZ would potentially cripple him. But we all need to bear a burden if we're to survive.
Pete twitched at her side. Astrid looked down: he was still violently playing away at his video game. Super Mario, if her memory served well. His face was screwed up in what could only be described as distress. Part of Astrid just wanted to take Pete and run away until this was all over, but looking over the plaza and seeing kids in the first grade with gunshot wounds brought her back to reality. I can't let these kids suffer.
"We need to find Edilio," Astrid finally said.
"The Mexican kid?" Diana asked. Astrid nodded, not bothering to correct her on Edilio's nationality. "Well, Caine trusted him during his brief stint of power, and Sam was close to him."
"We'll also need a council as well," Astrid said, suddenly aware of how exhausted she felt, "comprising the most important people in the FAYZ." She was saying these words, knew why she was saying them, but Astrid felt oddly disconnected. Sam. It was always going to be Sam. "We'll need to add some Coates kids as well to make it fairer."
"All right," Diana said. "Of course, it'll be hard to find any decent kids from that place. Jack might be the only one."
Suddenly Pete howled. He curled up in a ball and began to flap one arm wildly. "Petey?" Astrid said. A chill of fear struck through her. He has power and isn't even aware of it. And this was looking like one of his meltdowns. Not now.
"What's wrong?" Diana asked.
"He's having a meltdown," Astrid explained, in the same way she had done countless times before. "He's autistic, and..."
They weren't on the road any more. They were outside the church. Petey, no...
But before Diana could ask any damning questions, the wall of one of the buildings they had been standing close to broke down, bringing with it two figures.
Orc, the monstrous boy with stone for flesh.
And Drake Merwin, who currently had his grotesque tentacle arm around Orc's throat. He looked up to the startled and horrified kids and grinned with all the malice of Satan himself.
"So what was this about the two big boys hitting the big fifteen?"
No.
