Seeing as how my two current Librarians stories don't seem to be going over so well, I figured I'd try something else. Maybe it's the way the others are being written that's the reason, or the Librarians fanfiction archive is in a rut.
Anyway, this little idea popped into my head when I was trying to sleep last night. And I must warn you, it will be dark. Hopefully T is rated high enough. There will be a happy ending, but first they must suffer.
Enjoy.
"Ow, son of a…"
"Baird? That you?"
"Stone?"
"Yeah." Jake groaned as he sat up, or at least tried to. He didn't really feel like he was on solid ground, it more felt like he was… "Are we floatin'?"
"Yup, pretty sure mate."
"Jones?" Jake called out into the dark. "Where are you? I can't see squat."
Jake suddenly felt a foot kick him in the side, just before a hand grabbed onto his shirt. A moment later, Cassandra's voice reached his ears. "Sorry, Jake."
"It's fine." Jake reassured her. Going by the feel of her hand, Jake maneuvered them so that they were linked arm in arm. Last thing they needed was to float away from each other. "I got Cassie, where's everyone else?"
Baird again yelled in pain, just before Jones voice sounded. "Found Baird."
"Anybody got a flashlight or somethin'?" Jake asked.
"Hold up." Jake felt Cassandra moving before a small light appeared in her hand. The cell phone flashlight lit the both of them up, but not much more. They were not in impenetrable darkness, but were still floating around in a dark room. How the hell did they get here anyway?
"Hey, I see you guys." Baird spoke from nearby.
Cassandra squealed in alarm when Jake felt something grab hold of the redhead.
"Hey, hey." Baird said. "It's just me."
"Oh. Sorry." Cassandra mumbled meekly taking hold of their guardian much like she did Jake. Her makeshift flashlight lit up both her and Jake, but barely shinned on Baird. Jones was still completely shrouded in the inky blackness.
"Anybody know where the bloody hell we are?" Jones queried from the other side of Cassandra.
There were three variations of 'I don't know' from the two librarians and guardian.
"Okay… what's the last thing anyone remembers?" Jake asked next.
"I was about to swipe that idol thingy." Jones explained. "Actually…" A sound like jingling keys came from his voices direction. "Yup, got it right here."
"Great… you know what this means right?" Baird sighed.
"That I set off some kind of ancient boobytrap?"
"Exactly, Jones."
Almost everyone groaned at that.
"I hate traps!" Jake growled.
"Agreed." Baird sighed again.
"At least no mummies this time." Cassandra, as always, tried to find a silver lining.
"Hey! How was I supposed to know some ancient jerk decided to sucker-punch us?" Jones attempted to defend himself.
"Well hopefully we didn't get shoved into another dimension, again." Baird fumbled with her own pockets in the dim light before producing her own phone. "Maybe if we still have service I can call Jenkins."
"Yeah good luck with that." Jake scoffed. Knowing their luck, they were in some fancy parallel dimension far away from any and all…
"Hey quick question Jenkins."
Jake had to do a double take. "You actually have signal? What the hell?"
"Uhh… okay what is that supposed to be?" Baird spoke into the receiver. "Hello? Hello, Jenkins? Crap."
"What happened?" Cassandra did a poor job of hiding her worry.
"Lost the signal." Baird answered. "Let me try again…"
Baird never got the chance to. Just as the guardian redialed the number, it was like the nonexistent floor was yanked out from under them. Out of nowhere, they suddenly felt the rush of air that accompanied a swift drop.
Cassandra was so startled, she both let out a horrified scream and lost her grip on Baird. As a substitute, she latched onto Jake with both arms and clung to him like a life preserver. Jake wasn't sure if he was yelling too or not. Jones definitely was, his and Cassandra's screams drowned out whatever noises Baird or Jake might have made.
Still unable to see, Jake had no idea where or why they were falling. But at the rate they were going, any sudden stop was going to be fatal. He couldn't even shift himself to try and break Cassandra's fall, he didn't even know which way was down!
As quickly as their descent had started, it stopped. Baird felt herself smack straight into a wooden floor, at least if felt like wood from what she could tell. Oddly enough, they were falling for a bit, they should have been turned to paste on impact. Instead, it felt more like a fall from a countertop.
"Damn magic traps. Hey Jones, you…" Baird's voice trailed off when she realized the thief in question was no longer with her. There was no way she could have lost him on the way down, she had a vice-like grip on his arm. Not only was Jones gone, Stone and Cassandra were missing too. Knowing the two of them, they would have had their own death grip on each other.
Rising to her knees, Baird found herself back in the annex. But she knew better. If adventuring alongside Flynn and the librarians had taught her anything, it was that magic traps loved to conjure an image of a safe place as a way to get under your skin. Baird's apartment, the annex, even the Library itself, all of these were fair game.
Okay, what information did she have? Before the line was severed, Jenkins managed to warn Baird that their predicament sounded a lot like something called a Nightmare Trap. Unfortunately, she'd lost the caretaker before he could elaborate on what that was. The name alone didn't exactly inspire feelings of sunshine and rainbows.
"Cassie? Stone?" Baird yelled to the annex, her voice echoing among the old walls.
Rising to her feet, Baird was about to try again when she just what state the room was in. Books and assorted items were scattered every which way. Tables were turned over or just plain turned to splinters. It definitely looked like a fight had torn through the place, and a big one at that.
It took a moment for it to register that spread all over were her librarians.
Jones was the closest, so Baird rushed to his side first. The younger librarian was on the floor, laying on his side facing the main table. The guardian's first action was to roll him over onto his back. He seemed to be out cold, but on reflex Baird brought her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse.
There was nothing.
"Jones! Come on wake up, we can nap later." Baird scolded as she shook him. All of her years of training told her no pulse meant gone, but Baird couldn't bring herself to accept that. "Ezekiel! Get up or I'm making you clean the whole annex top to bottom. No squirming away this time!"
No response.
Forcing her panic down, Baird moved to the next librarian. Cassandra was on her back upon their table, her legs hanging off the edge. Unlike Jones, Cassandra's eyes were wide open, her features etched with a look of pure terror. As if it could get any worse, a knife protruded from the center of her chest, blood having stained her clothes a darker shade than her hair. How Baird had missed the knife she didn't know. Baird knew there was no point in checking for a pulse there.
"STONE!" Baird found herself screaming at the top of her lungs, breathing becoming near impossible. Her heart racing so fast it could explode any moment.
A frantic search for the missing third of their ground led Baird to the entrance of the room. The doors were smashed in, leaving glass shards everywhere. Standing in the middle of the doorway was one Jacob Stone. Baird had seen some severe beatings in her time, but none of that held a candle to this. Fresh blood drenched his face and clothes, his arm and leg were twisted at wrong angles, and his face itself was almost unrecognizable. Clutched in his hand was the sword he always used as a go-to weapon when something threatened the annex. Even the weapon was covered in blood.
"Jenkins! Where are you?" Baird yelled into the silence. If the annex had been attacked, Jenkins would have been here. The caretaker was always here, he lived in the damn place!
"No… no no no no no." Baird could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. They couldn't be dead! They couldn't!
Baird rushed to each, checking again and again for any sign of life. No pulse, no breath, nothing but cold stillness. The guardian could feel her sanity crack with each attempt.
The tears were coming now, and there was not a thing Baird could do to stop them.
"I'm sorry." Baird choked back a sob as she found herself standing over the unmoving body of Cassandra. There was nothing Baird could do but close the younger woman's glassed over eyes.
"Oh, there you are." The voice made Baird's head snap up.
Sitting at her desk was Flynn, completely intact and uninjured.
"Oh, Flynn thank god." Baird dashed over to the senior librarian to throw her arms around him. At least one of them was alright. It didn't make her feel any better, but it was something.
Flynn was oddly stiff in Baird's arms, he didn't even return her embrace. His gaze stared past her at the three fallen librarians. "How could you Eve?"
"What?" Baird pulled away flabbergasted.
"You were supposed to protect them." Flynn's words were like knives piercing Baird's heart. "Some guardian you are."
"Flynn, what are you…"
"You let them die, Eve." Flynn eyes turned onto Baird, she already felt herself withering beneath that look. "You let them die."
"No! No I didn't…" Baird tried to defend herself, but she couldn't deny him. She should have been here, maybe she could have saved them…
"They looked up to you, Eve. Not just as a guardian." Flynn snapped as he sat up from his perch. "You were the closest thing Cassandra ever had to a mother who cared, just like Ezekiel. And Stone believed in you to look after everyone else when he couldn't."
"Flynn…" Baird choked on the word, unable to say more.
"They died screaming for you." Flynn snarled as he took a step closer to Baird, his eyes burning with hatred. "Even as Stone held his ground screaming for the others to run, they just knew you would come for them. But you didn't."
"Stop, Flynn…"
"Even as Cassie was pinned to the table and stabbed again and again." Flynn advanced on Baird until her back was pressed against the nearby wall. "She cried for you while choking on her own blood! But where were you!"
Baird couldn't even bare to look upon her librarian anymore. All she could do was close her eyes and take the verbal barrage. Each like a hammer blow to Baird's heart and soul. She could no longer speak, but in her head she was begging for Flynn to stop.
But the librarian seemed to have no intention of stopping.
"And Jones." Flynn was inches away from Baird now. "With Stone and Cass dead, he didn't even try to run. He just stood there as his neck was snapped like a twig."
Make it stop… make it stop… make it stop… Those three words were all Baird's mind seemed capable of thinking anymore. She would do anything to make it so.
At some point, Baird hadn't a clue when, she'd drawn her gun. Feeling the familiar weight in her hand, Baird's gaze turned down to the weapon.
"Good idea." Flynn smiled, a twisted and mocking thing. "You're nothing more than a waste of life. There's no point in going on anymore. Just end it."
Baird slowly raised the gun…
And promptly fired a bullet straight into Flynn.
Flynn stumbled backward, coughing up blood and clutching his chest. His eyes looked at Baird in alarm. "E… Eve…"
"SHUT UP!" Baird roared, firing a second round into Flynn. The librarian was knocked back another few steps, but remained on his feet.
"Why…"
"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird had never yelled so loud in her life.
"E…"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Bang, another shot.
Baird's entire body was shaking violently, but she managed to keep the gun level with 'Flynn'. All the words he had been forcing her to hear tore through her brain like a sick music track. Only now it no longer fueled her grief, it powered her anger.
"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird repeated, with even more force.
'Flynn' said not a word more, instead he held tightly to his chest as the blood spread across his suit from the two bullet wounds. His eyes never left Baird, the sight of those orbs always brought great comfort to Baird. Now they summoned forth nothing but pure rage.
"You wouldn't be here saying this to me!" Now it was Baird's turn to advance on 'Flynn'. "You'd be crying your eyes out over them!" Bang. "I'd have to pull you away and tell you it was going to be alright!"
"Our family!" Bang.
"Our boys!" Bang.
"Our son!" Bang.
"Our little girl!" Bang.
Baird had pulled the trigger until all she could hear was the repeated click of an empty magazine. Even so, it took many pulls before Baird was able to register it was empty in the first place.
"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird yelled for the third time. "THIS… ISN'T… REAL!"
The instant those three words left her lips, the world froze. Before Baird's very eyes, everything around her began to crack before shattering like glass. Leaving nothing but a black void around the guardian.
Before she could do anymore, Baird once again felt herself falling.
"Miss Cillian?" The voice snapped Cassandra from her daze.
"I'm sorry?" Cassandra shook her head to clear some of the cobwebs away. She must have been daydreaming again.
"It's alright, many have to take time to process when given bad news." With a little of her focus returning, Cassandra noticed that the speaker was a doctor. The redhead was seated in his office.
When did she get here? Last thing she remembered… was nothing. It was like a blank spot had appeared in her mind.
"I must have nodded off a little there." Cassandra smiled nervously. "What were you saying?"
The doctor, an aging bald man with glasses, gave a warm smile. "As I said, it's quite alright." That smile instantly faded. "I'm afraid we were saying your condition has worsened."
Cassandra felt her blood run cold. "How… how bad?"
"We originally thought you had years still, but after the latest batch of tests we had to revise the timetable." The doctor explained as he produced several charts and x-rays.
Cassandra could feel the bile rising in her throat as she looked over the documents. Her tumor had grown, several times larger in fact. Any day now she was going to start losing functionality, the headaches and nosebleeds would grow in intensity as well.
"How long?" Cassandra couldn't hide the shake of her voice.
"A month at most." The doctor delivered the news as gently as one in his profession could.
Cassandra in that instant felt her world come crashing down. No… this couldn't be the end! Not now!
"Is there anyone you would like to call?" The doctor asked softly.
"N… no. I think I need some air." Cassandra sniffled quietly as she rose to her feet.
Something about what the doctor said reminded Cassandra about something. Why was she alone? The others never let her go to these appointments by herself. They were a slightly regular occurrence, but at least one of them always accompanied her.
Ezekiel would complain about nothing valuable to steal or that the place was boring and too quiet, but Cassandra could see his attempts at distracting her a mile away.
Stone would make some small talk, but his presence always did more for her mental state than any words ever could. It was his presence she valued the most.
Then there was Baird… she would regale the redhead with embarrassing stories from her time in the military. Things Cassandra knew the guardian hadn't told anyone else.
Even Flynn had come with her sometimes, whenever he by coincidence appeared in the Library. The eldest librarian would treat it like an adventure. Often times, like Baird, he would tell her stories about his time as the only librarian. They were always so fascinating to hear.
So why was Cassandra all alone now when she needed the people the most?
Whatever the doctor said as Cassandra made her exit went in one ear and out the other. She found herself aimlessly wandering among the halls of the hospital. All she could think about was that the time had come.
She was ready, Cassandra had repeated that to herself more times than she could count. And before joining the Library, she had very much been ready. But now…
Cassandra wasn't ready, not even close. She didn't want to die, she wanted to live! Life wasn't fair, wasn't meant to be, but it couldn't do this to her now. She finally had a place she felt she belonged, a family who actually cared for her. And maybe someone she could see herself…
At some point in her wanderings, Cassandra had found herself on the roof.
Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Cassandra let her eyes be drawn to the sunset. It was quite a pretty sight to lift her spirits just a little. If Jake were here, he would appreciate the beauty of it a lot more than her. 'Sunsets are paintings made by nature in the sky', he had once told her.
Thinking about Jake made that feeling in the pit of her stomach even worse.
They would respect her wishes, Jake and the others. If Cassandra wanted her… final day, to be now, they would accept it. There would be a lot of attempts to talk her out of it, but they would allow her that freedom. And if she didn't want to bring a speedy end to her torment, they would be with her every step of the way. Even as her body and mind degraded, they would be right there holding her hand right up until the end as she died in her bed. Unable to even recognize them or herself anymore.
It was a vain hope she knew. That after learning magic was real, Cassandra could find something, anything, to save herself. Maybe even something to just give her more time.
Pulling out her phone, Cassandra briefly considered calling the others. How would they react to learning she had less than a month to live?
Ezekiel would find some way to joke it off. But that was his way, jokes and distractions to keep her occupied or entertained. Something Cassandra only now understood the true value of.
Baird and Flynn both, having lost people before, would take it. They would be greatly upset, but would find a way to push past it. Even if it was for Cassandra's sake, they would do anything in her power to make the last month count.
Jake… Jake would be beyond devastated. Cassandra wouldn't be at all surprised if he went on some personal quest across the entire world or the whole Library to find something they could use to save her. Even though he always preached the danger of using magic, part of Cassandra wondered if he would go that far to save her. Would he use what he always warned against?
He would… Cassandra knew that.
The phone in her hand fell to the rocks at her feet with a soft thud. Calling the others would be pointless, she was at the end of the road whether she liked it or not.
Closing her eyes, Cassandra weighed her options. She only had the month, nothing could extend that, but what could she do? Any time now she was going to start losing herself, and that terrified her more than almost anything.
Gazing out across the horizon, Cassandra couldn't help make the comparison to her own life. This was her own sunset. She got to have a beautiful life for a time, but like the setting sun, it was her time to disappear.
It suddenly dawned on Cassandra that she was standing right on the edge of the roof. Only an inch or two separated her feet from the empty air of a several story fall.
Cassandra was deeply ashamed of it, but she considered jumping. It wouldn't be fair to the others to make them suffer through her final days, for that is exactly what she would do to them, make them suffer for her own sake.
The tumor had caused enough problems for the librarians, she had caused enough problems. It might be difficult at first, but they would adapt. They would move on without her, maybe even for the better.
"Goodbye." Cassandra whispered as she stepped over the edge.
She was less than an inch away from falling when Cassandra stopped her foot.
How could she be so selfish? Just leaving all the people she loved without any goodbye? Letting them discover she'd fallen to her death… no, she couldn't do that to them. She couldn't do that to Jake.
Wait… Jake… something didn't add up.
Cassandra had come to her appointment alone, yet didn't remember the drive. Of all the people who kept her company for these appointments, Jake did it the most often. The only times he didn't was when something physically stopped him, or he let one of the others go in his place for their sake. He even skipped a new art discovery once just so he could keep her company. Ezekiel joked hell would freeze over before Jake missed such a thing!
Stepping away from the edge, there was a sound like breaking glass as the world fell away. Cassandra felt the ground at her feet vanish and before she knew it she was falling, but into an empty void instead of to the ground.
This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I underestimated it. The words just flowed a lot more easily than I expected, so it's going to be a two-shot instead. This one is Baird and Cassandra, while the next will be Jones and Stone.
Reviews would be greatly appreciated, thank you.