Retooled after reading a prompt for Whumptober prompt "race against the clock." What if Mr. Dog "Bond" started limping while carrying Anya to help her Papa and Anya got there too late to stop the explosion?
"Papa!"
Anya?! Her voice was coming from outside the building, maybe down the street. How could that be?!
Agent Twilight lunged from where he'd been waiting for his fellow agent to open the door and back toward the nearest window. She couldn't interfere! She shouldn't even be there! She should be looking for a puppy as a reward with Yor! How ..?
The boom shook him and the building. The floor beneath him gave way. The ceiling above him collapsed. After the cracking became rumbling, the rumbling became silence. Then the raised dust began to descend. As he lay there boards pinning his legs and one arm blinking in the dust, he had a thought. This is how my parents died …
He saw them in his mind lying in the rubble. He'd screamed back then. He'd sobbed. No matter what sound he'd made, it hadn't roused either of them. Later he would realize that was just how death was … No matter how much someone cares about someone in life … in death … its impossible to do anything for them even respond.
Would it soon take him? What would happen to the fragile peace between his country and the one he lay in now? What would happen to …
"Papa!"
No. She shouldn't see him like this. He grit his teeth to keep from making a sound.
He couldn't hear Yor calling for Anya. How could that be? Yor was so good with her! But then … Anya never did what you expected her to.
Seeing this was too extreme a punishment for running off without one of them, though, even if it was a dangerous habit. This … this was the work of a terrorist, and maybe the death of Twilight. Was this the beginning of war too? Was he leaving Anya and Yor to face a war without him? Almost certainly …
He almost sighed. His mind continued to churn. With their marriage license that Frankie-forged, Yor should get custody of Anya. If anyone could keep Anya safe and happy even in the midst of war … it was Yor. To think, after all his careful planning of everything, one of the plans he'd put the least time and thought into, marrying Yor, would turn out so well. She was not only encouraging and loving, but a fighter. She could defeat him in a one on one match without weapons … while she was drunk and he was sober. But … no one could expect suddenly formed plans to turn out like that … This one had not.
He'd only been called in hours ago to help W.I.S.E. gain information on the situation. And now … He should never have let his fellow agent open the door without checking himself.
And without him, Operation Strix was dead. Other than his wishes and maybe the Blackbell girl, Yor wouldn't even have a reason to make Anya attend Eden. Perhaps that was for the best. Anya struggled so much with her studies. Anya loved Spy Wars, peanuts, and penguins … not math and manners … A less challenging school would be better for her … if any schools remained open during the coming war. Also, current Estonia education might have gotten them into this mess. Stupid college-student-terrorists with their bombs! They would get their war! The fools! They would live to regret it! He regretted it for them now ... before he became incapable of anything.
"Pa-PA!"
Should he call to her? Maybe she could get help. But, she'd probably see him first.
Then came another thought. She and Yor would both be saddened by his death maybe for some time … Anya would be more greatly upset and for longer than Yor, but … A widow was probably less suspicious than a young single woman, so Yor should be fine on that front: the reason she agreed to their deal in the first place. Of course … if those who found his and the others bodies realized they were W.I.S.E. agents … they had nothing on them to identify themselves as such though. But, his and their being here together would be hard to explain relative to their cover stories. This was not exactly the bathroom he'd told Yor he'd needed.
Would Yor be angry and suspicious of him? Maybe Handler would manage to remove their bodies before anyone else found them. In that case, the cover story for his death was one of his patients, one with specific issues due to the war, had killed him. The details could be changed slightly based on the manner of his death. A patient with bomb-making experience from the war called him out here saying he was in crisis, but had set a bomb to explode when he arrived due to acute paranoia that manifested in a belief he was an enemy spy, which would not be far off the truth. Only, he didn't consider himself an enemy of Estonia, but a peace-keeper for it, Westalis, the world. He had failed in that ... but at least as a fake husband and father, he might seem to have died a respectable even noble death. It shouldn't embarrass or even grieve Yor or Anya as she grew up too much. Please don't let Anya find me ...
Yor seemed to respect him, like him, but they were like co-workers and roommates. They'd never even kissed. She tried to hit him once, when they'd tried to fool her brother Yuri. Yuri ... he hoped he didn't dig into this and reveal hurtful truths to his grieving sister ...
His instincts were blaring somewhere far away, too far away from his fuzzy mind, were they coming from his gut? A voice from his past warned him … something from training.
If you feel woozy, light-headed, if something should hurt but doesn't, fight, talk … pinch yourself, do anything to stay awake! Otherwise, you'll die and be of no use to Westalis!
But there was no one to talk to, but Anya … The other agents made no sound, and had been closer to the explosion farther from him ... He couldn't lift his arms or legs.
War is coming He reminded himself. That put a bit of fire in his belly, a bolt of lightning through his spine. He managed to move tried to raise himself onto his hands, and failed. Too little strength, too much weight on his torso …
Anya's voice came to him louder. "PAPA!"
That sound in her voice … It gave the motivation he'd been searching for the jolt, the fear, the burning rage at the thought of leaving something undone, uncertain. He tried again. Press down. Raise … your head … breathe! Gasp! Oh, no, that hurt!
Then he heard a whine, a soft bark. A large white fluffy head with dark eyes appeared above him. A pink slimy tongue licked his cheek … What?
Anya's pink hair, round face, and large green eyes appeared next to the furry white face above his own. Her lips started trembling and eyes began to well up. Her voice now sounded watery and soft. "Pa-pa ..."
He tried again to breathe a slower more measured breath and managed to say one thing. "Anya …I'm sorry ..." Sorry you had to see me like this. Sorry I couldn't stop the war that is coming. Sorry I made you go to a school you hate for nothing ... Sorry I kept you, dragged you into this ...
"So-kay Papa .."
He blinked. Had he said any of that out loud? Then she balled her hands into fists and yelled down at him. "Anya will get help!"
She turned and walked away. He blinked again. Well, maybe she'd get help. At least, she wouldn't have to watch him die even if she did see him like this. He sighed, relaxed his body. Ow, now he was feeling a lot more pain. It helped keep him awake though ... he would fight ... he would try to do for her, what his parents couldn't for him ... live through this Handler Pulled up in the car. Thankfully they hadn't been far away and even heard the explosion. They would look for survivors, try to remove the bodies if all the agents were dead. What new plan could they use to find the terrorist leader before ... Without Twilight even if they made it through the day ... how could they ..."
A loud high-pitched voice came from behind her. "Miss!"
She turned and blinked. No. What was 'she' doing here?
Agent Twilight's child acquired for Operation Strix ran up to her along with a white fluffy dog who was limping slightly. The girl stopped and waved her arms while staring up at her. "You gotta help my Papa and world peace!"
So, I originally had a sad ending for this. My reasoning in the beginning was what "would" Agent Twilight's last thoughts be before death would they reveal his true feelings for his "fake" Forger family. On reading the first Whumptober 2024 prompt I thought of this. It's ... a day late. Sorry, but the prompt "did" make me think of a more hopeful ending.
