to be perfectly honest, I don't exactly know what this is. i got the idea last summer and fleshed it out, but I never planned to post it. and then the show to cancelled. so i just decided to post it. but i don't really know what it is. i guess it's just a quintis first meeting AU in a weird situation. *shrug*
please don't read this only to be offended by an afterlife i created in my head. everyone has their own beliefs and may I remind you this is a work of fiction. i hope no one will but I'm saying this just in case. thank you.
The last thing Happy remembered was the electricity coursing through her, the most painful thing she ever experienced. Energy running ramped across her limbs, holding her fingers in their position, unable to segregate. She'd felt it in her core, her nerves abuzz with a shocking kickstart.
Where the hell was she now?
She couldn't see anything except the endless black. Little light radiated from her own body, though it didn't allow enhanced vision on the blackness in front of her.
Not a single breath passed through her body. Not a single heartbeat thumped against her chest. She felt so light. Airy, flimsy, like there wasn't anything there at all.
Didn't make any sense.
She waved her hand, and it merely glided across the black's surface. Not even a slight gust from the movement brushed her transparent, shiny skin. Nothing. What the hell?
Maybe she passed out from the electric shock, and now she was just dreaming.
Yeah. That was logical.
Something shimmered ahead of her, falling on the outskirts of her vision.
And a guy she'd never seen before appeared.
He was tall and scrawny, with scruff along his jawline and under his nose.
But that's not what caught her attention.
What looked like another layer of his body, yet something hidden behind a hologram projector, consisted of intricate layers and layers. Connected just below was a train of interweaved moving photographs. Or something. She couldn't exactly tell. Excluding the guy in front of her, there were three people appearing throughout the images woven together like a pattern, moving the way his body moved, as if they were really just below the surface. Two women shimmered with some sort of dark edge to them, pushing their figures forward against the backgrounds. It was difficult to see what they looked like, since the images remained hazy, despite shifting. But Happy noticed an object glistening on the ring finger of the younger woman in each place she popped up. Like a single star on the blackness of the night sky. Possibly a ring.
With the man, she could tell he held a bottle or what seemed like a slip of paper or something wherever he surfaced. In each one, he was holding something.
She also caught plenty glimpses of framed degrees, money falling to the ground, and numerous bar room brawls.
It was more detailed than the inside of any machine she'd ever come across. Layers strewn together over each other, but somehow molded into one solid shape, endlessly flowing and moving like a river. They interlocked together seamlessly, resembling beads on a string, bending and curving with the flow.
She tried to step back. It was surprisingly easier than she expected. She just sort of...glid. Even though there wasn't anything to glide on. Like her hand had just a second ago.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Dr. Tobias M. Curtis." He stuck out his transparent hand. "But you can call me Toby."
"Who the hell are you?"
Toby's faint eyebrows shot up. "Did I not just tell you?"
Her tone sharpened. "Dude, I don't need to ask again, do I?"
Folding his hand at his hip and putting the other behind his back, he bowed. "Toby Curtis."
Ignoring his repeated answer, she pressed on. "Where the hell am I?"
He raised himself, giving the blackness a wave. "M'lady, welcome to the afterlife."
"The what?"
Toby shrugged simply, like the answer was obvious. She was definitely dreaming. "Afterlife." He pointed at her. "Sorry to inform you, but you're dead."
Confusion knit her brows. Weirdest dream ever. "When you die, you die, buddy. You're toasted. Done. An afterlife doesn't exist."
He wagged the same finger that was already in the air. "Oh how wrong you are."
"A body is just matter that decomposes after someone dies."
Toby crossed his arms, somewhat of a smug expression on his face. The images across his torso had to readjust to his new position. "Then how do think you got here?"
"I don't know," Happy said. "but it sure as hell isn't because of some afterlife."
"So, you don't think you're dead?" Toby replied. Not argumentatively, calmly.
Her head shook, but that didn't stop it from starting to spin. Words danced across her tongue. Atypically, she wasn't sure which ones were right, and she wasn't sure what to say. Communication was never her strong suit, but she did know how to be snarky when the time called for it.
This guy didn't look like he deserved anything else.
Except, she didn't know how she'd gotten into the endless tunnel of darkness that appeared not to have a door nearby. One minute, she was fixing the lights in her apartment, the next, she opened her eyes, and she woke up here.
"No, no. I think I remember dying-"
"Do you admit you're in the afterlife?" Toby retorted. "Which, might I add, you don't seem too upset about it."
The muscles in her jaw fell victim to shifts of annoyance. "I didn't say that-"
"Ah, but you did."
"Hey, don't put words in my mouth, jackass."
"I'm just reading what's below the surface."
This guy was really starting to piss her off.
"Screw off." She huffed, waving her fingers. "Scram, pal."
Toby grinned. "I can't. I'm your tour guide to the world of the afterlife."
"Yeah, like I'm going to believe that BS."
"Believe it or don't. But I'm your tour guide. I'm going to lead you through your journey."
Happy spread her hands flat in front of her hips. Not normal, where bone and muscle met, but like touching a beam of light and feeling its intangible, airy warmth. "Hell no. First off, like I told you, there's no such thing-"
He flashed a palm. "You can fight it all you want, Happy. But whether you like it or not, You died about an hour ago. And now your spirit," Toby motioned at her, "is passing from the world of the living, to the dead. I," he pointed to himself, "am here to help. Everybody has a guide when they first come."
"How do you know my-"
"We have some time for questions before we embark on this journey together. Got any?"
"Who the hell do you think you-"
He smiled again. "You're feisty. I think we're gonna have a lot of fun together."
Happy, irritated, crossed her arms. "What are those things?" She nodded towards his body.
"Memories. Important people, places, things from my life. Things that make up your soul. You'll learn how to achieve them," he answered.
She finally glanced down at herself.
The last time she ever saw her father, sparkling, like it was some kind of prize to behold, while that was so far from the truth. Her hollowed out figure, without organs or blood or anything, looked just like Toby's, minus the puzzle pieces. A shiny empty shell. Like a person shaped beam of light. She could see straight through.
Find her a good home.
"I don't want to achieve anything."
Toby flattened his hand inches in front of his chest. "Oh trust me, I didn't either. I'll be frank with you, my life was the crap underneath the world's worst pile of crap. But," he shrugged, "since we've got nothing else to do for eternity, we complete a bunch of tasks, soul searching, finding meaning in what we had, get some BS rewards," he gestured at the memories, "then help other people do the same thing." He pointed both at himself and her.
Happy reached to push him away.
Their fingers touching wasn't exactly the effect she expected.
A ripple effect, like when an object grazes the surface of water. "What the-"
"Come on. I've got a lot to teach you."