Whumptober No. 5: Alternate Prompts: Time Loop & Survivor's Guilt

fragglesesamemuppetz2 asked:

Time Loop/Survivor's Guilt Thunderbirds/Captain Scarlet crossover where after the Mysterons trap everyone in a Time Loop, Scott sacrifices himself to save everyone whilst finally stopping the Mysterons [and may or may not have survived, I like having ambiguous endings] and everyone including Scarlet having to deal with the fallout.

Characters: Scott Tracy, Paul Metcalfe, Gordon, John, Virgil, Alan, Adam – Movements-Verse AU

Warnings: MCD, Mentions of death, Suicide

'You can't!'

'I think you'll find I can.'

'No, Scott. I – I can't let you do this. This is my job…'

'Paul, we've spent the last 10 days killing you every which way we could think of. It's obvious that the Mysteron message about only escaping by death doesn't apply to you, and I'm not letting anyone else take the risk.'

'But Scott…'

'But nothing. I've no idea how the Mysterons managed to trap us all in a time loop anyway. There's always the possibility that dying here doesn't mean dying in real life.'

'But what if it does?'

'Then that's a risk I'm willing to take. For my brothers. For all my brothers.'

Scott placed an arm on Paul's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

The conversation had been quietly had – neither wanted to wake either the Colour Captains or the Thunderbirds up, it had been an horrific time and by now the only reason any of them were sleeping was down to pure exhaustion.

'Paul. I'm sure of this and I've already made peace with it.'

'But your brothers…'

'My brothers will mourn and be cut up with as much guilt as you and my fellow captains will be, but at least you will all be safe.'

'And if it doesn't work?'

'Then I'll be alive tomorrow and we will need to come up with another plan.'

'Fair point.'

They sat there a short while in contemplative silence, watching over everyone. They had no idea how the Mysterons had trapped Scarlet, Blue, Cobalt and Xanthic, but their surprise had only grown when minutes later John, Virgil and Alan had also appeared. They had spent some time searching for Kayo, Penny and Parker but they never materialised. Scott had been thankful for small mercies.

The Voice of the Mysterons came seconds after his brothers had appeared, a riddle as usual. 'To flee the circle, Death must choose.' It wasn't as ambiguous as most of their words, but after Scarlet had tried 10 different ways over the last 15 "days" to "choose Death" it was becoming apparent that he was not the one. Not that that surprised Scott any, or Paul for that matter.

They had dropped the code names almost immediately – they all knew each other anyway and hadn't seen another soul all day – but had held out for three days before Paul killed himself.

When they awoke the next morning, not that sleep had been refreshing – indeed, none of them could actually remember sleeping at all – Paul had been the rather eloquent one:

'Bugger.'

And so he tried a number of ways while they all tried to work out 1) where they were, 2) how had they got there, 3) how were they "falling asleep" and 4) was there actually an escape?

The horror of watching Paul that first time would leave them all with nightmares, and while Paul made sure his subsequent "deaths" were unwitnessed, it was still trauma piled onto trauma.

Paul didn't know how he could face Scott's brothers if his plan actually worked. The guilt was already curdling in his stomach and was bitter on his tongue. Dying was his job, not Scott's or anyone else's for that matter.

But Scott was also right. However the Mysterons had rigged this, the death was not meant to be his – yet another layer of guilt to add to the ones he had already, from every death of every fellow Colour Captain from Brown onwards.

Some days Paul hated being a survivor. Why had he been lucky? Why couldn't it have been someone else, someone more deserving? Then he would think about what he had been through…and he couldn't honestly wish this on another human being. Not even Conrad.

Glad and honoured that Scott had chosen to speak freely with him, Paul found himself remembering some of the times when the younger man had been there for him, some of the times they had shared. His most memorable was the time that they had been kidnapped, strapped to poles in the water waiting to drown. The injuries that Scott had done to himself trying to get to Paul when he'd known there was no way he could…Paul would never forget that.

Happier memories – their many escapes from Medical, the threats from Fawn, the ridiculous scrubs they had both been made to wear – crowded out the harsh ones and Paul sighed and nodded to Scott.

'Let's give us a day together, no one dying, before we discuss this again, Scott. What do you say?'

Scott looked at him quizzically but gave one sharp nod. Paul returned to watching his friends sleeping and thinking of what he could say or do to stop Scott from sacrificing himself. It had come as no surprise that Scott was the first one to suggest himself instead of Paul, the man had self-sacrifice in his blood. So he thought hard about what to do to stop him, and reluctantly Paul concluded that the only way to stop him would be to tell his brothers.

Only his brothers had any hope of saving Scott from himself on this occasion.

Decision made; Paul relaxed.

And that was when Scott struck.

He'd seen the play of thought crossing his friend's face – Paul was definitely more tired than usual, he could usually mask his thoughts much better than this – and so he'd know when that smile had fleetingly crossed his friend's face that he would have to act.

Quietly shuffling a little so that he was slightly behind Paul, Scott suddenly sprang into action the second he saw the man relax. Leaning forward quickly he grabbed Paul in a sleeper hold and held on tightly.

They trained for this on Cloudbase, how to get out of such a hold, but both men were tired and weakened by the time loop and Scott had a far greater determination than Paul. They fought quietly and Scott held his hold throughout, counting for 10 seconds before laying the man out and disappearing.

Scott wasted no time. He ran on silent feet, through the tiny wood they had encamped in and out to the cliff. The surf was crashing gently on the rocks below it. Without a step of hesitation Scott took a flying leap off the cliff.

At least he could feel the wind and fly one more time…

It was Gordon who woke up not two minutes later, his squid sense telling him that something was wrong. At first he couldn't place it, but on looking around he could see that Scott was missing.

Paul and Scott were supposed to be on watch. That neither of them were within clear sight was worrying, but as Gordon moved to the edge of the clearing and saw Paul asleep on the ground his stomach sank.

With a shout to the others he knelt down beside his friend. Paul was just coming around. He looked up into concerned amber eyes and swore like the military man he was still at heart.

'Scott! Where's Scott?!'

Gordon didn't need to know anything more, he took in Paul's fearful expression and turned to look at the way Paul was staring over his shoulder. With a curse of his own he took off down the small beaten track. He knew where it led, and he knew exactly what had happened.

He burst from the trees in time to see Scott make a perfect swan dive off the cliff. His brother's name died on his lips before it could be screamed, and Gordon sped up as much as he could. He wasn't stupid enough to dive straight after Scott, he carefully leant over the cliff and looked.

The body of his brother was splayed over the rocks at the bottom.

It looked like he was smiling.

Sounds came back to him. Other feet running his way, and Gordon quickly got to his feet and grabbed Alan, holding him tightly so he couldn't see. He had no chance in stopping John or Virgil, and Gordon knew that they would have to see, but he could spare their baby brother from the sight.

Paul held back from the group, unable to believe that Scott had managed to not only get the drop on himself, that Scott had carried out his plan before Paul could stop him.

Guilt bloomed, threatening to overwhelm him, and for the first time Paul realised how his brothers felt every time he got himself killed. Did they feel just as guilty as he was feeling now when he threw himself in front of them?

He did not like this feeling. Nor did he like the cluster of brothers in a pile on the clifftop, sobbing their hearts out.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and Paul flinched. But Adam was having none of that and pulled Paul into their own hug as they watched the Tracy brothers change positions so that Alan and Virgil were in the centre.

John looked up at two of Scott's other brothers and held his arm open. Paul's heart shattered at both the look and the invitation, and it took all of Adam's strength to pull him over.

He had no idea how long they sat on the clifftop. Eventually though they made their shaky way back to base camp, Paul hanging back slightly. He couldn't get over the fact that he'd let Scott go.

Paul hadn't noticed he'd stopped until Gordon touched him on the shoulder. He offered his fellow Captain a wan smile.

'It's not your fault.'

'It is, but thank you for saying that.'

'No, Paul. I mean it. This is not your fault. Scott – Scott would have done anything to save us all – including you and Adam, you know that. If you would have stopped him this time he would have found another way.'

'Yeah…'

'We don't blame you. Not at all.'

'That means a lot. Gordon…'

'Yeah, Paul?'

'Should we try and retrieve his body?'

Gordon paused. That thought had been plaguing him too. It couldn't hurt to take a look to see if there was a safe route down to the rocks below. The idea of Scott there, alone…he couldn't suppress a shudder.

'Yes. Yes, I'd like that. Please – help me to bring Scott home to us.'

'I will.'

It took the rest of the day to make their way safely down, carefully wrapped Scott in their Colour jackets and Paul carried Scott over his shoulder while Gordon helped him climb back up safely.

They laid him in the clearing. Scott's eyes were open and staring at the sky, a smile on his face but Gordon gently closed them, bestowing the tenderest kiss on his brother's forehead. His Cobalt tunic was over his torso and Gordon's Xanthic one covered his legs. The damage to the back of his head was hidden by Paul's Scarlet tunic being used as a pillow and Adam's Blue one surrounded it so it looked like Scott's head was encompassed by a blue halo.

The campfire they lit that night served as a focal point for the quiet and sombre group, the events of the day on top of the last few once more sending everyone to sleep.

John awoke with a start. He looked around his room…he was back on Five. Wait – he was back on Five!

'EOS?'

'Yes, John?'

'How long was I away?'

'Away? You went to sleep less than an hour ago.'

If EOS was confused then John was doubly so, but he wasted no time contacting Virgil and Alan. Both brothers woke up and both were just as disorientated as he was.

Now all three were online together John wasted no time calling Gordon. The fact that Gordon was with Paul and Adam spoke volumes and John ploughed straight on…

'Where's Scott?'

The looks he got back spoke volumes.