Disclaimer: I do not own Camp Catchem'all or any of moscowmoocow's characters. Only Jessica and Tyler belong to me.
PaintShipping One-Shot: Permanent
There is no hope now, is there? It's all over now…
Jessica lay motionlessly on the cold floor, listening to the taunts from the Team Orion members. She could hardly hold onto consciousness, but the moans and cries of pain of Tyler were enough to keep her awake. The salty taste of blood continued swelling inside her mouth, but she would still give anything to take Tyler's place.
Leave him alone. Why won't you stop?
The nearly hairless teen struggled against her bindings to get closer to him, help him, do anything… But she had not the strength to even open her eyes. What could she do against armed, healthy adults?
"He isn't going anywhere. We ought to leave now. Neither is going to live long, and their camp should be arriving soon…" A voice chuckled. She recognized it as Betelgeuse's before a body was thrown next to hers and a door slammed.
Is that… Tyler?
Jessica coughed up more crimson liquid but managed to mutter in a rasp, "Tyler…?"
He responded with a groan. "I'm here."
She sighed, then wheezed, "We can get free. They said… Camp was coming."
He touched her shoulder, and she wriggled along the floor to get nearer to him. "Yeah. Don't worry, Jess, we'll be fine." A sharp grunt of pain gave Jessica a large twinge of doubt.
"Tyler, that doesn't… Sound… Good." She spit more blood on the floor. Tyler shifted, wincing. But she didn't see that.
"I'm okay. I just want to make sure you are."
A weakened smile curled onto her lips, and she cautiously opened her eyes. She gasped at the condition of the boy, but suppressed the urge to cry again. "Tyler…"
He stared into her eyes. This situation was scaring him to death, and the pain from being beaten had helped him not at all. Yet he pressed on, not wanting to upset Jessica. "Mmm?"
"What are we going to do?" She shivered, feeling the full impact of the situation becoming clear. What Betelgeuse said was true, she realized. They were both on death's door.
"All we can do is wait. They'll make it here in time. Don't fret, okay? It's going to be okay…" His words were mostly to ensure himself, but she didn't need to know that either. They both held on desperately to the hope of rescue. The camp's counselors had gone through a war and had gotten a hard-earned victory. This would be a simple mission for them.
Jessica stayed silent for a moment. Thinking about death made her body freeze. "Tyler, I don't want to die." She shook her head despite the pain exploding in her cheek. "No… I don't want to die!"
Tyler stared at her as she writhed on the floor, his mind racing. She seemed to be losing her sanity. The pressure was getting to her, and it was creeping up on him now, too.
"Calm down, calm down! Worrying only makes it worse, Jess! It's okay. Jess!" he shouted to her. She was facing him now, her eyes pleading into his.
"I… I'm scared," she managed to whisper, tears rolling down her cheeks. They made clean rivers through the fresh blood on her chin and neck, and the sight made Tyler fill with rage.
Tyler clenched his fists. "So am I. But we gotta hope. Don't lose hope."
Jessica spat quietly away from the bruised boy. She closed her eyes again, the tears sticking to her eyelids. Tyler grasped a small thought, one that he had been pondering since he had gone to camp. Suddenly, he didn't see a reason to hold back anymore. This could be his final chance.
He leaned forward until his lips touched hers, waiting for her to recoil in pain or disgust. She made no movements.
He brought her into a pained kiss, trying not to put her into any more agony than she was already experiencing. She kissed back, unrestrained. Happiness and dread mixed in both of them. Was this their last moment together?
After a few seconds, Jessica broke away, staring into his eyes. She shot him a weak smile. "I haven't said this before. I haven't felt like this before." She shuddered. "But, Tyler, I… Love you." She chuckled to herself, feeling stupid from this inarticulate confession, but a wheezing cough cut her short.
He smiled back. Through her pain and anguish, he had caught the genuine truth of her words. "I love you, too."
Tyler, still unbound, wrapped his arms around the girl as her sobs strengthened. He felt that this was the end, but he still felt responsible for making her feel somewhat safe. If that was even possible anymore.
I love him… But why did I say that now, when it's nearly over? She thought to herself. Her mind was lost, gleefully away from the horrible situation, when the door forcefully swung open.
"Let's not get too close, now, should we?" It was Betelgeuse again. The sinister laugh beside him was recognized as Bellatrix's. "Besides, your friends are here to claim you again."
Both of their hearts jumped, but then immediately dropped again. The way he said it was entirely negative, as if it was another source of sick entertainment for him. Which, of course, it was.
Bellatrix stepped over Tyler. "You poor thing, all beaten up! Need your girlfriend to kiss it better?" she mocked.
Jessica's eyes widened when she kicked Tyler again, smashing the breath out of his lungs. "Leave him alone, you sick a-hole!"
The Team Orion member tilted her head at Jessica. "Oh, I'm sorry. Your boyfriend can't defend himself. But you can, right?" She hopped over the boy's body and placed her foot on Jessica's stomach. The bound camper could do nothing but gasp for air, attempting to shriek expletives but not having enough breath to speak.
"Stop. Bag them and follow." Bellatrix gave him an unhappy look for ruining her fun. She made a point by throwing Tyler's broken body into the sack, making sure he landed in a painful manner. He tried his hardest to suppress the groan, but Jessica heard it nonetheless. Not long afterward, she was also tossed into a burlap bag.
On the way up, Betelgeuse was in charge of Tyler. Every time he tried to speak (usually groaning), the harsh man would pick up the bag and slam it onto the floor. "Silence. We don't want to announce our arrival too quickly…"
For a while, they stopped. Jessica sat silently in her bag, struggling to breathe and trembling in the dampness of the sides. It didn't occur to her that she was sitting in her own blood.
Suddenly, they heard Betelgeuse's voice again, talking to somebody. The two campers heard a gasp, a shout, a scream, and various other jeering noises. They were barely staying conscious, but they struggled on.
"…your handiwork," Betelgeuse's voice finished. A rough tug on the sacks thrust Jessica and Tyler out onto the ground. Her vision was blurred from the blood loss, but she could still view the horrible state of her fellow kidnapped camper.
She slowly lifted her head, seeing the surrounding group of Camp Catchem'all campers. The terrified faces made her shy away. Do we really look that bad? she wondered absently. Tyler groaned, and she tried to inch her way nearer to the dying boy. Her heart filled with fear; this time, it was for Tyler's life.
A firm hand grabbed her jaw, and pulled her into a straightened position. Betelgeuse parted her lips, and blood spilled out. He began speaking, but her senses were failing. Her only thought was, Get to Tyler… Put me down, you horsefaced pig…
"…not so lucky…end his suffering, shall we?" Jessica squinted with the effort of deciphering his words. Whose suffering? Oh, no! Tyler!
The man held onto Jessica by her shirt collar and pulled out a grubby knife. She squirmed away from the blade, but his intentions were not toward her. He picked up Tyler, the boy moaning in agony. She caught a final glance at him: pale, weak, eyes glazed over. However, he managed one final act. His lips moved silently, almost invisibly, saying to Jessica, I love you.
She caught his words, trying to respond, but it was far too late. The life blinked out of Tyler's eyes as Betelgeuse finished him off.
So she wept. Wept with the loss of her friend, the loss of her love, the loss of her will to live. The world became still and silent around her, despair ruling her wrecked frame. Betelgeuse met her final stare, her most devious and pained glare. He smirked at her.
Tyler…
She choked on her breath. Dozens of eyes stared, distraught, at Jessica, but she barely noticed. Her hands twitched, reaching for the place where Tyler's body had just been taken away.
It really is over, Tyler.
She stared at Betelgeuse, willing him to disappear and bring back the boy she had loved for so short a time. Her eyes flickered over to the campers, their expressions revealing pure horror.
A mist descended over her sight. Something clicked in her mind, breaking the flood of fear in her heart. Death didn't seem so terrible anymore.
As the world darkened, she whispered three words. Love you, too.
xXxXxXx
"Choose wisely, Jessica Cooper."
The voice was powerful yet calming, young but aged. Its origin was undecipherable. Jessica paid close attention regardless.
"He is trapped in an area between here and Earth. His role as sacrifice to the beast has stripped his soul of the freedom to arrive in this place."
A strong pang of sadness and longing fell in Jessica's heart when she heard the voice speak of him. Something blocked her from remembering who he was, though. It broke her mind and heart in two, but the name still avoided her grasp. The effect was maddening.
"Your decision will influence the future. Either will alter the coming events, but I cannot say whether for better or for worse."
The last section of the statement struck a nerve in her mind. Something that had to do with someone she loved. Who was he?
"One path will aid him, and the other will leave him to his own devices. It is in your hands." A soft breeze passed Jessica's body, and all was silent.
Two hands appeared before her. The first was made of sparkling diamond and held a beautiful figurine of the great bird, Ho-oh. The colors in its feathers shimmered all around Jessica, leaving her in awe. It must symbolize something of paradise, she thought.
The second was simply forged of dull bronze. In the hand was a wooden carving of a tiny pidgey, its body streaked with faded rings from the lumber's age. The puny flying-type had black beads for eyes, and its head was tilted to the side in mock curiosity.
Without hardly any consideration, Jessica reached for Ho-oh. It had immediately caught her eye and held her gaze, but the intense need to remember his name stalled her fingers when they were inches from the bird.
She made no movements. A hole was torn into her heart, and her mind was swallowed with the necessity to know. What she did know then, however, was that she was dead. The realization made her chest tighten, but there were more important matters at hand. That was what her conscience told her, anyhow.
Suddenly, a fire sparked to life on the pidgey's right wing. There was no source to the flickering flame. She watched it inquisitively, wondering how such a thing was possible. The flame snaked its way across the bird's wing, moving in elegant patterns and leaving a glow like that of a coal.
At last, the fire smoldered out, leaving a thin trail of smoke and a diverse pattern that traversed along the pidgey's wooden body. The areas of burn, instead of black, were of glistening silver. She looked closer until the words were decipherable. Her heart jumped.
It read Tyler Mason.
She didn't hesitate to snatch the lackluster figure and cup it in her own hands. Tyler was the name. It was Tyler that she knew, loved, and missed. She wanted him back.
"You have chosen your course. Is this what you want?"
Her head nodded subconsciously. The movement felt right.
"Very well." Her bright surroundings faded away, leaving her in a foggy-gray mist. "You will be with him. But I warn you: emotions are much stronger here. Connections to the world are thin, and if your emotions get out of hand, things begin to occur that you will regret. Be careful, Jessica. Good luck."
And, again, the voice disappeared with a breeze. Replacing it, though, was a figure not much taller she. It stood firmly, its head angled downward.
Tyler, a memory whispered.
The figure's head whipped up and stared at her. She saw his hazel eyes and sandy hair. She saw the thin lips she had memorized in the dying moments.
"Jessica?" he questioned cautiously.
She smiled slowly. His body was glowing slightly, transparent almost, but she gazed at him in the same way as she had before. "Yes."
A grin that she knew well curled onto his lips. "You're with me now."
She didn't nod, nor did she speak. Instead, she dashed forward and threw her arms around him. The movements were fluid but still human.
They shared the silent embrace for several moments. Tyler then whispered into her reappeared hair, "You said it was over. Things aren't over yet. I'm still here."
In that single instant, numerous thoughts flew through her head: how he had stayed by her in the Orion base, how he had told her he loved her in the face of death, how his memory had come to her in the place before. One thing came to mind as a response, and she spoke it instantly:
"You were never gone."
A/N: Thank you to moscowmoocow for allowing me to write this. It is a spinoff/one-shot for the brilliant story, Camp Catchem'all. And thanks to Random Dramatic Comedy who, even though had no idea what was going on, tried to proofread it for me anyway. Thanks, you two!
I tried to turn the story from tragic to more upbeat at the end, but I'm not sure if it sounds believable. Romance is not my strong point, as you can see.
Tell me what you think. Room for improvement is everywhere.
Write on.
~~I.D.