Sorry all, I wasn't feeling very good Monday & Tuesday, so the story didn't get out until now, and I only partially edited it, but I still hope you enjoy!

Word: New Start

Death, violence, some explicit death scenes

5k words

You know, most people didn't really think about how much electricity is around them in a day, invisible or not.

Your microwave, for example, or the outlets you plug your computer or phone in. Those are kinda invisible, aren't they?

Dakota would do anything for invisible electricity, especially if it wasn't as dangerous as the situation they were in right now.

"Uh...Dakota? What do we do now?" Cavendish's voice was shaking just as bad as he was.

Dakota couldn't answer his question, though. He just kept staring at the bright blue and purple strands of electricity that blocked their path, mesmerized. In a scared way.

"Dakota?"

"I don't know, Cav." His voice was just as high, just as nervous, as Cavendish's. It felt quiet in comparison to the electricity that made a horrible shrieking sound every time it jumped.

Dakota may have dealt with a lot of deaths, but this was certainly new. He wasn't even completely sure how they'd gotten here in the first place. One second, they were trying to replant a few pistachio trees that were growing dangerously close to an electrical plant, the next, they were caged in by bright blue and purple coils that jumped from one strange looking metal pole, wrapped in brown and green something, to another. The poles shaped a square around them, and literally boxed them in with the overpowering electrical current.

He swallowed, his mouth feeling as dry as his skin was, hair literally standing up wildly. Nausea built up his throat, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the electricity or the situation.

Probably both.

"Just...don't move for now. Someone will surely notice and turn it off, right?" He mumbled to Cavendish, ignoring his own advice and shuffling half a step closer to Cavendish, not even noticing when his partner did the same.

"Perhaps...but how long will that be?"

Dakota flinched as another piece of electricity shot across their vision, the horrible noise practically deafening to him.

"I don't know Cav. Just don't-"

His words died in his throat as a scream split the air next to him.

And when he whirled around, Cavendish was crumpled on the ground, something smoking from underneath his back. He forced himself to hold back rising bile at the view of charred and burning flesh.

Though to be fair, he didn't know what he should have been expecting. There was absolutely no way that Cavendish was going to get out of this one safely.

He sighed, sitting on the floor next to the body, pressing his fingertips against his much too warm neck hesitantly, although he already long since knew the answer. Sure enough, there wasn't a pulse. The electricity had shocked his heart. What a shocker.

"Damnit, Cav." He groaned, and carefully placed his arms around his knees. He watched as the electricity jumped from one pole to another, listening to the deafening sounds. At least he could go back, once someone turned this wretched thing off. And Cavendish wouldn't even have to deal with horrible flashing or god awful sounds that he saw made him uncomfortable. He'll stop it before it even has a chance to happen.

He could make a fresh start, one without horribly triggering light flashes.

And if the new Cavendish, the one not scarred by the nasty lights and sounds, noticed his increased sensitivity to bright and flashing lights, and sounds louder than a tv turned on to lull a toddler, he didn't say anything.

Because he didn't know better. That's what the fresh start was for.

Chains.

This time, it was chains.

Dakota sighed, flinching as the sound of rattling chains hurt his sensitive ears just a little too much. The last death, which wasn't even that long ago, had involved a deafeningly loud motor that had greatly hurt his ears. Thankfully, Cavendish didn't have the same problem, thanks to the fresh start.

But, well, for him it was different.

He sighed pointedly, glancing over at Cavendish, who was rattling the chains around his wrist, which bound him to the ceiling in an attempt to make something happen.

"Doing the same exact thing over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, you know." He said in the empty chamber they were in as Cavendish continued to rattle the chains.

"And not doing a single thing to attempt escape is called laziness, you know!" He quipped back.

"Pretty sure it's just called 'not insanity'."

"Will you just help me with this?"

"And do what?" Dakota frowned, bobbing his overhead chains back and forth a little. "Do the exact same thing you're doing? Didn't I just explain what that was?"

"It's still better than being a lazy arse!"

"Woah, easy on the swears there." Cavendish rarely cursed, so it was always amusing to Dakota when he did. But this one felt a little personal. He frowned.

Cavendish didn't seem to notice though, and kept tugging on the chain relentlessly. Dakota shrugged and watched as his partner did so, a sudden movement from above forcing his gaze up.

"Uhh...Cav?"

"Will you be quiet?! Honestly, Dakota, if you're not going to help, then you can at least keep quiet as I work!"

Dakota eyed the piece of concrete that was growing looser with every tug that Cavendish gave.

"Okay, but, Cav, I think you should really-"

"I am being quite serious! It's nonstop with you, and I swear, it's like-"

Dakota never got to know what it was like to be with him, because the piece of concrete cracked away from it's foundation with a quiet sound- and hit Cavendish over his head. He flinched as Cavendish collapsed, and let the back of his head hit the wall behind him with a quiet sigh.

"Damnit, Cav. I was trying to tell you to stop…"

With another sigh, he looked back, groaning as a small pool of blood occupied the area underneath Cavendish's head. Great. Now he had to deal with the psycho that locked them up here alone. That was going to be fun.

At least he could go back again, and make sure this conversation didn't happen. At least, not the way it did. He knew, with the way Cavendish saw him, that he wouldn't ever be good enough.

But at least he'll get a fresh start to try again.

"I think it'll be fun." Dakota grabbed another handful of popcorn, stuffing it into his mouth. It was better than he expected it to be. The high schoolers knew what they were doing, he'll give them that. "Have you ever been to a baseball game?"

Cavendish sighed, gingerly taking a single piece of popcorn and chewing on it thoughtfully. "No, I can't say I have. Well, not live. I have watched a game or two on the telly. I was never all that interested in the sport…"

"Me either." He shrugged, grabbing another handful from the bucket, hand already sticky from the butter. He frowned. He didn't really like much butter, because it got too sticky later, but he knew Cavendish liked it, so he got it. Oh well. He could clean off later. "But, we've got some time to kill, so why not?"

"Indeed. I'm surprised that this went so well. Typically, we'd have an incident before we can complete our, ahem, objective."

He hummed in agreement, eyes darting from side to side instinctively to spot any hints of danger. He couldn't see anything too deadly for the accident prone man beside him though, so Dakota relaxed a little.

After all, they did have some off time right now. Sent back to the past, in the twenty first century to sell a few bags of pistachios at a kids' baseball game. It went surprisingly well, both adults and high schoolers were calling them over. In no time, they were out of their pistachio snacks.

It was a welcome surprise to the usual failed pistachio missions, so they decided to sit back and enjoy the game awhile until they had to return to give Block a nice turn of news.

"So, erhm, who's turn is it?"

Dakota keyed his attention back onto the Varsity game, noting that the purple team were pitching, and the red clad team were batting. "Depends on which way you look at it, I guess. Red's batting- they gotta get as many people round the bases as possible- I think? Dunno, never was really interested in baseball. Purple's trying to strike them out and get on the bases as quickly as possible."

"Who are we cheering for?"

"I dunno."

He grinned while Cavendish rolled his eyes, stretching out the hand with the popcorn to tempt Cavendish into some. Cavendish wordlessly complied, letting his eyes watch as the pitcher wound up, and threw a lightning fast ball.

"Damn. Kid's got talent. He'll probably go onto the Big Leagues." Dakota mumbled, watching as the umpire called a strike out.

"Indeed."

They watched for the next few turns, as some balls were striked out and some were hit, team members running to catch the ones they could, and staring in disbelief at the ones that went too far.

"Dakota, did you already eat all the popcorn?"

The voice snapped Dakota out of where he was watching Big League kid wind up another throw, back on the pitcher's mound. His eyes dropped to the bucket he was holding, a nervous chuckle slipping out of him when he realized that, yes, the bucket was empty.

"Oh, whoops...yeah, I guess I did. Sorry, Cav."

Cavendish rolled his eyes. "My word...that was supposed to be for both of us for most of the game, you know."

"Yeah...I'm really sorry, Cav." He stuck out his hand in a half shrug apologetically. A crack sounded in the air as the bat hit the fastball.

"You always apologize! Yet you make no effort to reel in your plaguy stomach! Honestly, it's a tad frustrating at times…"

Woah, what was up with that? Dakota shrugged, trying to stay nonchalant about the small rant that managed to hurt him. He didn't mean to do it. He didn't even notice it!

"Look, I'm really sorry...here, I'll go get another one."

He made a movement to stand up, but Cavendish beat him to it.

"No, I'll go get the popcorn. You might eat it on the way back…"

And though the last sentence was said under his breath, Dakota still heard, and he flinched at the implication. What the hell has he done to get under Cavendish's skin like that…?

He looked after Cavendish as he stepped past a few people, and onto the aisle of the stands…

And gasped as another sharp crack echoed the sky as the batter hit the baseball, this time wrong, and it sailed straight towards Cavendish. Someone screamed, and Cavendish turned- and he was hit straight on his temple.

There was blood before he even fully fell, and screams echoing in the air.

While the stands around him erupted in panic, Dakota shouted in frustration, pressing the palm of his heels against his eyes.

"Holy shit, Cav, again?!"

And what a bizarre scene too- killed by a ball zooming 90 something miles per hour, by a high schooler.

He barely even bothered to wait as a doctor that had rushed over called him out on having no pulse.

He just ambled towards the exit, grumbling at his luck, twirling the keys to the time vehicle on his fingers.

Well, at least he's full, so he'll have a fresh start, and maybe not let the whole food conversation happen at all.

A plus to all these deaths.

He needed to look at the positives.

He'll lose his mind if he didn't look at the positives.

In Dakota's experience, both daylight and nighttime were pretty dangerous.

Death didn't have a preference, though nighttime tended to be a bit more...certain in that regard.

It was the main reason his eyes shifted back and forth expertly, nerves taking over as he twirled a hairband in between his fingers anxiously. Every shadow could hide something, every treetop could have an enemy lurking, and every cat's yowl, or dog's bark could represent danger coming their way.

It was bad enough that Cavendish, bless the antisocial man, noticed.

"Dakota? Are you alright?"

Dakota forced a smile, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jacket, one hand still playing with the hairband. He didn't look at Cavendish. "Yeah! Peachy. Why do you ask?"

"You seem nervous...and your voice is rather high at the moment."

Damn, how did he notice?

"Oh, really? Oh, well, I guess it's just...cold. Just a bit chilly. Guess summer's leaving, hmm?"

A light flickered briefly overhead as they walked by, as if calling him out on his bullshit. Damn, even so far into the future and they still couldn't keep street lights on for safety?

The streetlight flickered once more and blinked off, as if to force his statement.

Damn taxers, and their shit taxpayer uses.

"Oh, that light turned off...well, I do suppose that it is getting a bit chilly. I feel like it's getting colder faster than it has in the past few years."

"Probably global warming." Dakota muttered, letting his left hand slip out of his pocket and rather violently moving the hairband around with his fingers, creating intricate designs out of Cavendish's view. The burned out streetlight, though nice to hide his nervous habits, just made him more nervous. He knew the possibilities.

He's been through one too many deaths not to know the possibilities of a Cavendish death in this situation.

And to be honest, he was getting kind of tired of them. Mentally and physically. Well, his mental and emotional state had long been destroyed, but he was now barely keeping up physically. Not to mention that he'd definitely gotten older from some of the deaths. Some had lasted a few hours, while some had lasted a few days to go back, and some had even lasted a few weeks to return. Dakota even had a death take him a few months to get back and fix. Age wasn't even a number anymore, it was just how he felt that he determined how old he was.

And he was way too old for this shit.

It was proven when he realized that he didn't even hear the footsteps coming up behind them until they were literally grabbed, his instinct forcing him to kick and scream alongside Cavendish as they were thrown into a dead end alley. The hands let go of their death lock on his biceps, and he whirled around, intentionally stepping in front of Cavendish with a hand outstretched to protect him, glaring at their attackers.

In front of them, hidden by the shadows and lack of light, were three figures. Two were relatively thin while the third seemed bulky with muscle. All three wore various black jackets, two of them had dark blue jeans and the other had black sweatpants. The bulkier person had a dark blue cap with a dark blue cloth around their mouth, their eyes the only ones that were visible, though Dakota couldn't really see what color they were from this angle. Something dark.

The other two wore black bandannas over their mouth, one wearing a dark red cap and the other a dark green one. Red cap guy had similarly dark colored eyes, while green guy had visibly matching green eyes. Dakota lowered his gaze at them, hopefully threateningly.

In response, the Green guy flipped open a butterfly knife, and Dakota eyed it as they swiftly moved the blade and handles between their gloved fingers effortlessly. When they finally settled on a hold of the knife, buff Blue guy aimed a silver handgun at them, and Red dude flipped open a long switchblade.

"Hand over your valuables, no one gets hurt. Easy enough?"

Though Dakota couldn't exactly tell who was talking, he guessed that it was Green gal, because she moved the butterfly knife a little as the words were spoken.

"We don't want no trouble, hear?"

This time, it was obvious that buff Blue guy was speaking. He had a slight accent, though from where, Dakota wasn't sure. He shifted a little as Blue moved the gun slightly, and an audible click broke through the quiet air.

"We will if we have to, though."

Finally, Red spoke. He was quieter, though definitely not nervous, as he stared right into Dakota's eyes, then presumably at Cavendish.

"What are yah guys, in a cartoon? Why y'all speakin' in turn?" Dakota asked, flipping his palm up in a peaceful show. He let an accent of sorts slip through, and he tilted his head, offering a smile. With a gun and two knives, he wasn't liking Cavendish's chances, and he wanted to diffuse the situation as much as possible.

"Dakota-"

Immediately, Dakota shifted one foot back to gently step on Cavendish's toes, silently telling him to shut up. He's dealt with enough deaths to know how this one would go if Cavendish just kept quiet.

Green tilted her head, and took a step forward. And shit, that was not how that was supposed to go. She raised her butterfly knife.

"Listen, Dakota." He had to give it to her, she was a fast learner. "Wallets, phone, money, cards, jewelry. Whatever you got. We're not picky." Wonder how picky you'll be about my foot up your-

"Fine. Not 'ah problem." He mumbled. He kept his right hand up, and his left travelled to the back of his pants pocket. Before he grabbed his wallet, he gently nudged Cavendish, hoping that the male would keep his wallet and just hand over his phone. They could probably bluff that they had one wallet between them.

Green and Red raised their knives just a little higher, while Blue tilted the gun ever so slightly, a warning. He kept eye contact with Green as he presented his wallet, flipping it open to show his cards inside.

"Can I at least keep my driver's license an' state ID? Boss'll kill me if I lose 'em again and get caught by the police again…" He kept his wallet flipped open, facing her, titling his head somewhat pleadingly. Seriously, if he could get away with this…

"Fine. Whatever. Hurry up."

He nodded, and slipped out his driver's license, state ID, and the one debit card he had in this wallet, that he'd learned to keep between the two ID's for situations just like this. He kept the card perfectly in between the two ID's and slipped them into his jacket pocket, before closing up the wallet and throwing it at Red's feet. He didn't move to pick it up just yet.

"Good. Your chain, too. And you-" Green pointed her knife at Cavendish, who Dakota couldn't see behind him, nor was he willing to look back. "Wallet, phone, and whatever else you've got."

Dakota moved his hands to the clasp on his chain, heart pounding as he jumped to speak before Cavenish could even move. "Sorry, I know I might not look it, but I'm tha' man in the relationship." Dakota grinned easily, trying to make it believable. "I was the one payin' for dinner." He lowered his voice, trying to make it seem like he was only talking to Cavendish, but keeping his voice loud enough for the three robbers to hear, letting them think they still had control. "Cav, be a dear an' give 'em your phone, though. I'll give mine too."

He managed to unhook his chain and throwed it to where his wallet rested. Blue's hand moved slightly, and Dakota realized that his aim rested on Cavendish. Please let nothing happen.

He was about to grab his phone when he heard it.

A single whoop of a police siren as it sped past a nearby street.

It didn't last long, nor was it loud, but it was enough.

Blue's itchy trigger finger pulled just a little too much, and a shot rang out, making Dakota yell, covering his ears at the close proximity.

A short scream was quickly cut off behind him, replaced by the three crooks who yelled, grabbed what was on the ground, and fled.

When Dakota whirled around, collapsing to his knees next to a hyperventilating Cavendish, he quickly pressed a hand against the entry wound, too close to the heart.

Though he knew what was going to happen, he still pushed down, unwanted tears filling the edges of his eyes as Cavendish wheezed, trying to take in a breath.

At least it was a quick death.

That's a positive he could think about when Cavendish's wheezes stopped, and he let his bloodied hands fall to his side, one finger lazily taking the pulse he already knew wasn't going to be there.

And another positive- at least he could go back, get a fresh start. A fresh start of...of…

Well, he didn't know.

There was no reason for a fresh start.

No reason for any of the deaths to be a new start.

He stood, sighing. He'll need to find a way to wash off the blood from his hands, and get his wallet and chain from the new Dakota that he'll switch places with. And as he walked towards the time vehicle, his thoughts were muddled with the idea that maybe he should stop thinking of every death and trip to the past to save Cavendish as an opportunity for a fresh start.

It really wasn't.

"Are you sure you saw what you think you saw, Cav?"

Dakota eyed the box of rat poison, frowning at the crude method. With all of Cavendish's deaths, you'd think that he'd grow desensitized to all deaths, but the thought of poisoning a poor little mouse or rat that probably just wanted some shelter or food made him sad. Sure, he wasn't a fan of them, but he still felt that it was a bit uncalled for.

"I do. I definitely saw a big rat within here, and there is no way that I am going to allow it to ruin this mission for us!"

Dakota glanced around the strange greenhouse that accompanied a few baby pistachio trees. They were ordered to protect it for a few days, to see if they could basically just plant sit for a little bit, since they kept screwing up other missions. It was a little demeaning, but it was honestly pretty relaxing from their usual pistachio related chaos, so Dakota counted it as a win.

"It just feels...inhuman, you know?" He frowned at the soil clinging to the trees' roots.

Though he didn't look at Cavendish, he could hear the man's voice soften as he placed down the poison on the small table within the greenhouse.

"I know. I don't quite enjoy it either. But we can't bring future technologies lest the farmers see them, and there wasn't any shop nearby that sold better options. This time period doesn't have the most...friendly solutions for deterring vermin from plants."

"Still…" He let his gaze wander up the still small stick, tracing the leaves that were starting to grow. Though he was honestly getting sick of pistachio related missions, he couldn't help but admire how small the tree was, with how much it provided. These types of things always had fascinated him, and as much as he hated school, he always paid attention to the AP Environmental Science course he took for credit points, his teacher making the subject fascinating, alongside his own curiosity. He smiled, remembering her unique but effective teaching methods.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Dakota turned, the smile growing a little wider as Cavendish sat next to him on the rickety bench, their shoulders touching ever so slightly. He was proud at how far his partner had come. When they met, he could barely get within three feet of him, before Cavendish would state that he was in his "personal bubble". Now, they sat comfortably close to each other, watching the tree grow invisible centimeter after invisible centimeter.

He turned back, head tilting at the row of trees. "I had this APES teacher that was amazing, and-"

"APES?"

Dakota blinked, before grinning, correcting himself. "Yeah, sorry. APES- it stands for AP- Advanced Placement- Environmental Sciences. We always just used APES for short."

"You took advanced classes?"

He laughed, nudging Cavendish with his elbow, peeking to see that the other wore a teasing grin. "Don't be so surprised! And yeah, mainly for credit and stuff. I never really cared about the stuff that we were taught in school, but I paid attention in that class. It was kind of boring, but really fascinating at the same time. How it happened, what contributed to all these problems and how they're honestly pretty reversible if people just did stuff. Plus, my teacher had this way of teaching us that made everyone listen. I think it was because she also kind of cared about us- she checked in with us daily and remembered who we were and what we liked, didn't like, that sort of stuff. She was my favorite teacher. Great at helping kids with the course, and their own lives.

"Surprisingly, I still remember a lot of stuff from that class. It's like, the only class I remember from all of high school." Dakota laughed, leaning back against the bench. High school wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either, and those few good memories made it worth. He glanced over, matching Cavendish's bright smile. "What's with that face?"

Cavendish shook his head, though the smile never wavered. "Nothing. It's just, nice to hear you talk. Like that. About school, and stuff, I mean." A pale blush flickered over his cheeks, leading to Dakota laughing, gently bumping his partner with an elbow.

"If you say so, Cav."

"I do say so, Dakota." Cavendish smiled, and stood up, walking back to where his tea laid. "Are you sure you don't want any tea or coffee?"

"No thanks, I'm good- I had a coffee right before we left, and I'm still a little buzzed. It was strong."

"Mhm, yes, well, I told you that place was always strong with their coffees."

Dakota chuckled, digging the tip of his shoe into the ground, watching the dirt move atop the tip of his shoe. "Yeah, well, with a boring task like this, I'll need to stay awake."

Though, talking with Cavendish did pretty well to keep him awake. Well, until Cavendish excused himself to use the bathroom after about twenty minutes of them talking. After fifteen minutes of Cavendish being gone, worry got the better of him, and he walked towards the portable bathroom, knocking. It took two before the little sign flipped from red to green, and Dakota flung open the door, gasping at the state of Cavendish, who was kneeling on the ground, pale and shaking. A decent trail of blood spilt from his lips and nose, painting the edge of the toilet seat and floor a gruesome red.

He helped him into an upright kneel position, just seconds before the Brit threw up into the toilet, Dakota flinching at the strange pinkish brown look. Realization dawned on him as he recognized the faint whiff of poison in the mixed smells.

It took another fifteen minutes to try to drag Cavendish to where their car was, but he knew it was useless when he heard the telltale wheezes that Cavendish always gave in times like these. He gently lowered him to the ground, propping his back against his own chest, rubbing relaxing circles along Cavendish's arm. The man whimpered as the poison hurt something,

"Shit, I'm sorry, Balthy. I should've watched how you made your tea. I should've known not to let you touch the poison. Shouldn't have gotten it in the first place." He mumbled, mostly to himself, as he kept rubbing reassuring symbols along Cavendish's skin. He knew it was stupid, but he could never bring himself to just...leave. Even when he knew Cavendish was going to die. He could never just leave. He had to stay, even if it was just for a spot of reassurance that'll fade as soon as his last breath did.

"Nuh...not, yur...fault...Vin…"

Dakota's head jerked up- he was sure that Cavendish wouldn't have been able to hear him. Blood a steady stream down his lips now, staining his clothes, eyes horribly bloodshot and pupils small. Spasms and involuntary jerks of his body made him hold on tighter, still shocked at his words.

"Sud've...watch'd...doin'...luhv...yuh…"

And though it was horribly slurred and so unlike his perfect articulation, Dakota understood every word- especially the last two. He gasped, mouth wide open- before remembering his rule, don't waste it, and he hugged Cavendish tightly, whispering in his ear, "I love you too Bal."

He wasn't even sure if Cavendish heard the confession, or if his breathing stopped before or after those five words, but something strange filled him once he realized what he said.

He confessed.

So did Cavendish.

Without a sound, he stood up, laying Cavendish down gently, the traditional two fingers pressing against his neck in a confirmation that, yes, he was dead. He looked down at the relatively peaceful and uneventful death scene before him, before grabbing the keys from Cavendish's coat pocket, the latter having them from the trip for the poison.

They should've gotten a more modern poison. Something with less violently lethal chemicals towards humans. Something Cavendish wouldn't die from if he mistakenly put it inside his tea instead of his usual spoon of sugar and milk.

He should've gone with him to choose the poison. Again, they'll pick something more modern. Not just for Cavendish's bad luck streak, but also for the rats. Dakota only felt more apologetic towards them now.

It was going to be a fresh start.

…

..No.

No more fresh starts.

These deaths were not a fresh start.

That's what he kept repeating in his mind as he travelled back, switched with the Dakota there. It kept repeating itself as he convinced Cavendish to get a more humane rat trap from the future, something to drive them off rather than poison them. It kept repeating as instinct forced him to watch Cavendish make his tea, even though they bought a scaring device instead of poison now.

It forced him to make up his mind, as he recounted what he told the other Cavendish about the APES class, and laughed with him. It made him take a deep breath, remembering those final words that he and Cavendish exchanged- before speaking up.

"Cavendish. I have something to tell you."

Those three words might be terrifying, but he was done pretending like the deaths were a new start, where he could pretend he never did or said the things he did or said.

They weren't a new start, not ever.

And he was going to make sure of it.

"I love you."

My APES teacher was actually amazing. I dearly miss him, he was a great teacher and friend. But, I hope you all enjoyed the story! If you can, a review and/or piece of constructive criticism would be wonderful to read! I hope you all have a smashing morning/afternoon/evening/night and make sure that you keep your study/living space clean!