AN: Hey everyone, this is the fourth chapter, just a few chapters before the real action begins. Hope y'all like it. Comments and criticisms are welcome. :)
Murphy and Cleo settle into a routine quite easily. Cleo doesn't comment on his habit of replaying the video clips. Murphy doesn't comment on her stiffness whenever she looks toward the screen. They take turns making breakfast. Their only meal. Cleo doesn't mind his drinking. She'd even join him at times.
The clip of Becca and A.L.I.E. together makes Cleo irrationally angry. Murphy doesn't pay any attention to her but has his eyes transfixed on the screen.
"The world ended because of human greed." Cleo says, expression blank.
"Yeah?" Murphy doesn't look away from the screen. He continues to watch the creator and her creation interacting.
"We were another kind of savage. We sucked the life of every place we've gone to. Exploited everything 'til nothing was left." Cleo takes the glass from his hand and pours herself a drink. Murphy observes her as she'd spoken.
"Well don't worry, the people now aren't that different." Murphy assures in a joking manner.
"That'll be our downfall." She giggles. "Guess why the human race got wiped out?" She questions him.
"They were assholes?" He quips, taking the glass from her hand and downing the remaining alcohol.
"No," she takes the glass again and pours more alcohol. She downs half of the drink. "Because they're idiots and they never learn." Cleo laughs to herself.
"Assholes and idiots, that's 99% of the world." Murphy adds and he takes the glass yet again, downing the remaining half.
"Consider me 99%," Cleo whispers and doesn't bother taking the glass from him anymore and just drinks straight from the bottle. Murphy laughs. "I'll have to agree." He doesn't let her finish drinking and he takes the bottle for himself.
"One, you're an idiot for taking my drink. And two, that was an asshole move." She chides.
"You're not getting drunk alone, idiot. You'd be an asshole to leave me sober while you get wasted." He throws the words right back at her.
"Good point," she's slurring her words now but lets him have a drink. Then she grabs it from under his nose and drinks some for herself.
"Wanna watch a movie?" He suggests, he's more than tipsy too but rather more stable than Cleo. She gives him the bottle, rather pushing it to his chest as she giggles uncontrollably.
"You mean the end of the world?" Cleo queries drunkenly as she stumbles toward the television and shuffles the stuff lying around.
"Yeah let's get wasted with these home movies," Murphy raises the bottle and sinks on the couch. Cleo shoves a small chip into the player and sits right next to Murphy. They keep a distance but it disappears soon as Cleo passes out and rests her weight on Murphy.
Before he could move her, the video starts playing. He shifts slightly and ends up having Cleo on his lap. He releases an irritated sigh but he doesn't bother budging anymore but rather begins focusing on the video dated all the way back on the 23rd day of March 2051.
"Hey Chloé!" Short blonde hair whips and a sharp glare is directed at the camera. Murphy is sure that it was Cleo, with her necklaces and clad in a gray shirt and black sweatpants. She looked a little younger too. She's sitting by the balcony of a rather big house.
"Shut up, Julie." She hisses. The person behind the camera laughs. It was a deep chuckle, too deep to be a girl's anyway.
"Okay! Okay! Seriously Cleo, do you have to short circuit every time I mess up your name?" He says it exasperatedly.
"You do it intentionally, Jules, of course I'd lose my shit." She vents out, pushing her blonde hair out of the way. So the person behind the camera had been Jules.
"You look really good flipping that hair away. When are you switching colors again?" Jules comments as he shifts the camera. "Probably around May or so, we'll see." Cleo returns to her work, while Jules changes the angles again.
"What are you working on, by the way?" He focuses it on a bunch of papers.
"Stupid focus," he grumbles under his breath.
"Schematics, blueprints, plans to rule the world, just everything under the sun." Cleo says the last bit dryly.
"Oh of course, Cleo the Great, ruler of worlds and the queen of everyone, whatever shall I do?" Jules exaggerates every word while Cleo tries stifling her laugh.
Jules shifts back the camera to Cleo who'd already been standing. "Well, there's one thing you can do." Cleo smiles lightly, eyes twinkling with mischief. Then the video ends.
Murphy stays still for a few minutes before letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Cleo had had a normal life. He's jealous of it. But her normal life had disappeared and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl. Who'd ever expect to be awake after 97 years of freeze therapy?
The sound of Cleo's breathing brings him back. The girl with him is the same as the girl from 2051. But at the same time it isn't. Knowing that everyone she loved had died affects her. Murphy could definitely see that when he'd seen her 2051 self. What he sees of her now is definitely different from before but the sense of familiarity is present.
Cleo stirs slightly, grabbing Murphy's shirt. She mumbles something indiscernible before passing out again and this time, her head's resting on his chest.
"Night, Cleo the Great." He jokes. He shifts his weight a little to help him be more comfortable. He doesn't sleep for a while. He focuses on the girl lying on his chest for a minute. She had a button nose, a few freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks, a pair of full lips on her heart-shaped face. She looks so innocent asleep.
His mind flashes back to when she'd smiled at Jules long ago. It was far from innocent. Then he thinks of the time she'd smiled at him. It was warm and kind.
And even as Murphy hates to admit to himself, he wanted to see that smile again. He wants to see her smile like that for him again.
AN: The next chapter will feature Jaha and A.L.I.E., I'm very excited to write about that. From then on, the events of S3 will be au-ish but I will try to keep some of the original plot line.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Cleo.