Inspired by The Climb map made by Holly in the Spring Collab 2020, if you haven't play it yet, do yourself a favor and do it, it's totally worth it.
Madeline rubbed her hands on the steering wheel of her car, as she mentally prepared herself to get out of her car. She tried to calm her doubts by holding a light yellow scarf that she now carried with herself, every year she had worn the same clothes, the same backpack, the same everything. That scarf was the first thing that changed since she started these journeys.
Her hand rose above the key stuck in the ignition switch, doubtful with temptation to turn around and driving away, not do it this time. In the end, she clenched her hand into a trembling fist and wrapping her other hand around it before mustering the willpower to get out of the car and into Celeste Mountain.
Her solitary steps extended in the snow while walking through the trees and occasional cliffs and pits. Just before she fully embarked on her journey once more, Madeline searched in the ground for two small rocks that would fit in her hand and shoved them into her backpack. She let out a long breath and could see her breath in the air.
Her footsteps in the snow changed to echoing footsteps in metal, announcing her arrival in the forsaken city and it was not long before she discovered the path she always took, collapsed because of a building in ruins, she would have to take a new route.
That shouldn't be so difficult.
She settled her backpack over her shoulders once more and dived herself into the city before glancing behind her, expecting to see Badeline appear.
"Fine, suit yourself." She blurted out in an irritated tone.
Madeline strolled through abandoned buildings, streets and any path she could find, but all of them led her to dead ends, until she found the frozen sewers of the city, but going down was of little use because all the roads were either collapsed, or blocked by a thick wall of ice.
All but one tunnel with one of its walls collapsed that led to an ice-covered cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Before she could enter the cave, the cave did it for her, breaking the ice floor under her feet and rolling down a small hill.
Madeline groaned, and as soon as she got up, a tremor caught her attention, and she raised her head to the ceiling of the cavern, the dozens of stalactites hanging from the ceiling began to fall on her, she had no choice but to start running between the cliffs and narrow paths, while behind her everything started to fall apart.
Loud roars echoed after their impacts, the cave was collapsing sharp and sudden, Madeline was keeping up only by the seconds. Just as she reached the end of the cave, she spotted one small flash of light,"An exit!" She thought.
Madeline stumbled for almost every step she took. She continued running dodging the debris all around. As she got closer the cave got smaller and smaller, to the point her way out became the size of a burrow, leaving her with no choice but to crawl before the cave collapsed upon her.
Shortly after she got into the hole, the rumbling finally stopped, and Madeline proceeded to continue crawling until she got out, or rather, inside of an abandoned store, the only light coming from the windows, some fogged by the cold, most broken in its entirety. Before leaving Madeline looked to see if there was anything she could take with her, but the place was empty.
She left the store onto the street, searched in the surroundings for some sort of address or direction, just to find none, she wandered aimlessly until her path was shortened by a giant hole in a bridge. Reaching the other side was her only option, that's it if she didn't want to wander even more for hours without end, until she ends up frozen in a God-forsaken corner of this city.
She explored the surroundings and found what appeared to be the remains of an old collapsed bridge. It wouldn't do.
Going down into the hole was not an option, she did not know where it would take her and she could not see the bottom of the hole or how to get down safely.
Her only option was a crane flopped in an abandoned building under construction. Madeline had the idea of using it as a bridge, when she reached the top of the crane, she would just jump into a building high enough in the other side.
Easy enough, right? With her mind on it, Madeline accommodated the scarf in her neck and kept moving.
Her first idea was to climb the crane through the metal bars, due to its inclination she thought it would be much easier, but as soon as she tried that it, the crane jolted and she almost fell off.
As an alternative she entered the building, quickly discovering the stairs would be of little use, due to being little to nonexistent, Madeline had no option but to climb from the outside of the building.
As Madeline started to rise from the lower floors, orange tints began to paint the sky and the sun began to rise above the horizon. After Madeline to climb one of the windows and reached a floor filled office cubicles, after climbing and wiped the sweat from her forehead and she decided to rest on that floor.
After prowling for a while, she discovered that it was a floor office full of cubicles, most were empty, except for an occasional article office, until one cubicle caught her attention, someone had left under a photo of a man cooking on a campfire, with his expression absorbed in the fire and written in the photo she could read: "Never change W."
Could one envy a photograph? Madeline asked herself while she rubbed her hands as she tried to warm herself.
She continued climbing until she reached where the crane had collided with the building, leaving a large hole in the wall that allowed the light of the rising sun to enter.
She made her way among the debris and rubble all over the floor and climbed the crane all the way to the top on the jib with the wind bumping against her hair and face, Madeline advanced the last few flights swinging down the metal beam, when suddenly the crane had tilted even more, causing Madeline to stumble, almost falling for a few moments, if not for the fact that she managed to hold onto the metal poles.
She walked around it and could see how several debris from the building detached from the part where the crane was supported, falling countless meters and on impact creating a small echo.
Despite the mishap, she managed to get up and go to the edge, and there she could not help herself but stare at the huge abyss between her and the other side for a few and and large seconds. Despite the cold and vertigo, Madeline took few steps back as well as she could, and began to take her run, until the crane shuddered abruptly, breaking the support it had with the building and Madeline lost her balance.
And fell she did.
Her heart fell deep in her chest like a persistent throbbing pain. Just like her body was making it to the abyss.
Until…
"MADELINE!" She heard her name. For a second a violet blast passed before her eyes as she fell and suddenly, she felt a great tug on her arm that carried her to the roof of a building on the other side of the bridge.
The next thing she felt was her body hitting the floor. She was just processing what happened when she turned around behind her and found an angry Badeline hovering above her. Looking at her, Madeline discovered Badeline had the same scarf like her in a darker yellow.
"WHAT. GOT DAMN. IS. WRONG. WITH YOU!?"
"Hi, Bads," Madeline hesitated to say hello.
"No 'Bads'! Do you hear me? You almost killed yourself again! And look what you've done!" She said pointing to where Madeline came from. The building had collapsed to the ground, and only huge chunks of metal and concrete debris remained. "Incredible! You made a building collapse!"
"Hey! This would not have happened if you had only help me from the beginning, everything would have been much easier." Madeline argued.
"I was trying to tell you NOT to try this time, but noooo." She exaggerated spreading her arms out to the sides. "You had to do whatever you wanted, as usual, because you, you never listen to me."
"You are the one who never listens, if at any rate, this time I should do this, now more than ever."
"You know that's not what Theo would want."
"DON'T you dare—" Madeline stopped herself in mid-sentence. "Don't you dare to speak for him ..."
"No, look, if Theo were here, 'd try to get some common sense into your dull head, just like me, but I guess that's expecting a lot from you. Sooner or later, the only thing you're going to do is kill yourself, and I don't want to be there when that happens!"
"But I'm doing this for Theo! We are doing this for Theo!" She pointed at Badeline. "But if you don't want to help me, fine! I'll continue on my own, it's not like I haven't done it before." She said as she got up.
"That…" Badeline was speechless for a moment, her mouth open and a puzzled expression. Madeline thought for a moment that she had finally convinced her to help her. "…It's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard you say. And boy did I hear you say stupid things. Not to mention, that's the exact opposite of what I just said."
Madeline just walked away from her in response to her, but Badeline quickly followed her flying over her.
"You cannot escape from me." Badeline continued. "And I can't escape you. I'm surprised that after so many years you think you can. I can-no, I want to help you. But first I want us to talk about, uh, whatever this is. But this doesn't make sense."
"That is the point!" Madeline screamed, turning to Badeline and she stopped in her tracks. "That's the damn point! I know, I know this doesn't make sense and still I can't help but do it! I know I shouldn't care so much, I know it's not my fault what happened. And I don't know… I don't know what… I'm afraid of what I'm going to do if I don't do this." Madeline's eyes started to water, she tried to hold back her tears and hold her ground, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hold it all inside her.
Behind it all, Badeline could see her persistent conviction to continue.
Was that determination or stubbornness? She would never know.
She let out a deep, resigned sigh before lowering herself to the ground to approach her counterpart. Madeline's body quickly tensed, and a slight but firm ferocity filled her eyes. It was the look of a soldier who is prepared for the worst.
"I guess… if I can't stop you, the least I can do is follow you." She smiled at Madeline and placed a hand on her shoulder, before she returned to the expression of her fed up with her. "And make sure you don't do anything stupid anymore." She said the last part of herself with an irritated tone.
Madeline took a long time to process her words and took much longer to let her guard down before letting out a small laugh as she wiped her tears away before spreading her arms with a crooked and awkward smile.
"Did you hit your head when I brought you here?" Badeline asked.
Madeline just stayed in the same expectant position. Badeline looked at her in disbelief, before her face fell into a defeated expression as she rubbed her face for a moment.
"Make it quick."
The two joined in a hug and to Madeline's surprise, Badeline clung on more than she expected — even resting her head on her shoulder. For a few seconds, all they heard was each other's breathing and heartbeat. Those moments when the two of them agreed on something were rare, and hell if Madeline didn't treasure every one of those moments.
"Alright, enough is enough." Badeline said separating from her counterpart. Madeline just smiled at her, to which Badeline responded with a jaded grin. "Well don't just stand there, this mountain is not going to climb itself."
And so they resume her journey, now together with a newfound determination.
Two days have passed since their reunion, now a no longer solitary pair of footprints in the snow stretched across a long path at one of the highest points of the mountain. With the sun just above them, Madeline and Badeline knew they were close when they spotted the flag at the top of the ridge, fluttering slightly in the wind.
After climbing the last few steps and helping Badeline up them, Madeline walked to the base of the flag, and after digging in the snow with her hands, she found what she was looking for: Several small piles of rocks, each with a letter painted on them.
The first pile had two scratchy and old stones with mold underneath them, both with a C painted on them but of different color, one dark green and the other lime. Next to the stone with a lime C were 2 other stones with a smoother appearance with a T of the same color.
Badeline grabbed one of the stones with a T on it and put it in a pocket in her jacket.
Madeline looked a little further and found her own pile of rocks. 4 with a red M on them and another 4 with a purple B.
"You better didn't lose the stones or I will throw you off this damned mountain again." Badeline threatened.
"Oh stop it you. I made sure they were in my backpack the last time we stopped." Madeline sat in the snow next to Badeline and took out the rocks she found at the foot of the mountain and handed one of the stones to Badeline before handing her a purple marker to her and each one of them drew the initial of her name on each stone.
"Where do you want to take the photo this time?" Madeline proposed after she finished with her stone and placing it on its respective rock pile next to Badeline.
"Meh, why not here? Next to the mast. "
Madeline pulled a camera with a tripod from her backpack and set it in front of the flag. After setting it up, she activated the camera's countdown and ran to stand next to Badeline, who took out the stone that had been saved and held it in front of them so that it would appear in the photo. Madeline glanced at her and then saw Badeline and what she was holding in her hand.
"One word and I'll throw you down the hill." She said avoiding eye contact with her.
Madeline stifled a laugh and the two posed for the camera.
After the brief flash of the camera, Badeline left the stone where she found it and went to sit on the edge of the cliff, ducking her head between her knees as she hugged herself. Shortly after, Madeline followed her with the photo they had taken in hand and she sat down next to her. She passed the photo to Badeline and just stared at her as she lightly caressed the photo of them with her thumb.
"Wish you were here." Badeline said to the photo.
"Me too." Madeline agreed as she hugged her over her shoulders and rested her head against hers.
The two girls hugged each other in the snow, seeing the last orange traces of the sun hiding between the lower mountains. Madeline could hear Badeline's ragged breaths, the occasional gulp of cold breath. All that Madeline could think of to do was get even closer to her reflection and give her a full hug, just like she hugged her when they were at her lowest point–literally and figuratively–. Just thinking that they were doing the exact same thing, in the complete opposite context, caused Madeline to draw a silly smile on her face.
As she receded out of her embrace, she discovered that Badeline was shivering and that her moaning was actually a suppressed cry.
"Badeline?" Madeline asked, her skin prickling at the state of her friend. She tried to see Badeline's face but that only made her crying worse. "Badeline? Everything is fine, I'm here, just breathe ... "
"I...is..im"
"What did you say?
"I miss him, damn it!" She shouted out.
"Yeah, yeah, hey… I… I miss him too. Yes ... if it makes you feel better, I can always come back here. We can seriously consider moving into Granny's house, and so who knows? We are sure to come up with something. "
"Who knows? Do you hear yourself? If something were to happen to you…"Badeline stared at nothing. Madeline tried to keep her talking, but it was futile.
"Do you want us to continue this tomorrow?"
"Yes." She muttered.
"It's okay." She said she and gave a deep sigh, released a big cloud. "Why don't we go to the cave?" Madeline asked getting up.
Badeline didn't answer, she just got up and followed Madeline to a small cave that they had found a few years ago on their way to the summit. Along the road Madeline grabbed enough branches she found on the floor to start a fire.
As Madeline lit the fire once inside the cave, she tried to lighten the mood by talking and chattering about whatever she might think of while the two of them sat in front of the fire, roasting marshmallows that Madeline had in her backpack.
Badeline asked, "Did you bring my...?"
"Yes, she is in my backpack." Madeline finished her prayer and took off her backpack and handed it to Badeline, and she took her sleeping bag out and got in. Although her body begged her to rest, she was unable to fall asleep and she spent the next few minutes tossing and turning.
Her mind could do no more than turn over what Madeline said.
Move into Granny's cabin? Did she go crazy? If Madeline did, then she must be crazy too. They would definitely go crazy if they moved here, just like G-
...
Granny…when…when she met her. And even after she knew Granny well and grew fond of her; Although that last part would never admit it out loud, she kept thinking that she was nuts or something like that.
"But in the end and after all, she had some kind of craziness. If that makes sense," She thought.
Random ideas flew through her mind. Granny was alone for who knew for how long. With nothing but her mind and her thoughts. What would she do if something happened to her and there was no one near her? Before those doubts, she could only hold her yellow scarf with strength and trembling at the same time.
She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched at the touch of her, turned behind her and found Madeline offering her roasted marshmallows on a stick while her mouth was full of marshmallows.
Badeline realized that maybe, and just maybe, she would not be so alone, and therefore Madeline would neither be, they would have each other.
Not only she could do this.
They can do this.
Well, at least that is over now.
Before this fanfic, I had another idea to write about celeste that was going to detail about Madeline and Badeline when they came down the mountain at the end of the game, but I didn't really had much to write about it so I had to throw that idea away. A shame
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Also look for me on Tumblr, simply as "Sondrox" to know a little more about me, or my fics, there I will write posts as I publish my fanfics and some other things.
See ya!