tucky | ♻ 007

I need to go to Zero. Right now.

[There's the sound of hurried footsteps in the background; she's on her way to the stairs.]

I didn't do nothing and I don't plan to, but I have gotten confirmation that the demons and dark creatures here are after me. I ain't crazy or imagining things, and I ain't looking for signs and messages when there aren't any-- I got told straight out by Doctor Facilier that I pissed 'em off and I'm a goner. I don't know if any place is safe for me now, but I heard Zero's better than most.

[She takes a moment to catch her breath; she's still half-running.]

Please let me down. I wouldn't ask if it weren't an emergency; more important than life or death. It's not my body that's at stake, it's my immortal soul.

[She turns off the public feed and records a series of private messages, partially intended to be goodbye notes if things go badly. She knows people come back from the dead-- but she doesn't know if they come back from having their souls corrupted by creatures from hell.]

[filtered to Cambridge]

I'm gonna have to miss therapy for a while, I think. Unless you can come down to do it.

I know lots of people don't like you, and maybe some of 'em have good reasons; I don't know. But you were good to me and I think a lot about the things you said.

[filtered to Dillon]

You were the first person here who was as nice to me as you were, and that will always be real special to me. For as long as I live, I will never forget that you saw all I was but still liked me anyway. You were right about all the ugly stuff in me, but I been trying to be a little better, and that's because of you.

[filtered to Dillon and Simon]

I need your help-- please. Please. I don't know what to do. Is there a way to get rid of them? Can we cleanse the ship?

[filtered to Iris]

Can you come and visit me sometimes? I think I might be down there for a very long time, and I'm gonna miss you. More than anyone, maybe. If something happens to me, I want you to know that some of the people here have been nicer to me than anyone's ever been, and you were a real big part of that. And I didn't end up hating the Barge, even with all the terrible things.

[filtered to Mason]

In case I don't see you again for a while, or in case they get to me, I hope you don't forget what I said about you being good and being worth a lot-- 'cause I meant every word. You are the best inmate here and one of the best people too, and I won't forget all you did for me.

[filtered to Merlin]

I'm sorry. I tried. I didn't go after 'em again, but they found me anyway. I wanted to do right by you, I really did, but I don't know what's gonna happen now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'E's been the wrong end of a lot of supernatural nasties, mind you, but no - Dean's as human as you are, lovey.

This is the second version of 'im we've 'ad here and all. The one we got to know 'ad won most of 'is fights against the odds. This one - this is the one that fought just as 'ard and lost.

[She frowns, trying to figure out how that would work.]

So he... won a lot, then went home and lost a lot? And then came back?

Kind of. The guy who was here before, you might as well consider him a different kid than the one here now. That's how he wants it.

Anyway the first guy, he was my Warden. Good guy. Tough as nails, but confident that he could win the day, you know? This one's tough as nails but he's convinced that he's in hell. Literally. So there's no reaching him 'cause he thinks he's already damned.

This isn't hell.

[She's very quick to say that.]

And I don't-- we're not damned. Not just 'cause we're here, anyway.

Our Dean - Cain's warden - 'e used 'is deal to stop some of the things that went wrong in 'is future. This one that's 'ere now is the one that didn't 'appen for. 'E's the version of the story with the bad ending.

And no, you know that and I know that. But Dean's been in Hell; 'e knows 'ow they can lie and mess with your 'ead and there's not a shred of trust left in 'im. 'Cause 'e just assumes if this is Hell we'd obviously all say that anyway, wouldn't we?

If he was in hell, how could he be here?

[She's stuck on hell being a place for vile, irredeemable people. How could someone who deserved that also deserve the Barge?]

[Cain doesn't have specifics to give her, and probably wouldn't if he did--it's a story Dean should be sharing. But he'll tell what he does know.]

He got pulled out. Rescued, I guess, by the Admiral. I mean he was only in Hell in the first place 'cause he was trying to do some good. I don't know--if the Admiral brought him here then he's still a good man, there's still some hope for him, at least that's what I try to tell myself. Gets hard to believe sometimes.

[Tiffany looks down at her lap, head still resting against Iris's arm.]

... That don't make sense at all. Hell isn't a place where people who're trying to do good go.

[Iris, who literally picked Dean's brain for information on dealing with his own brand of supernatural enemies, knows a great deal more than the current Dean would have wanted to her, and she suppresses a twinge of irritation at Tiffany's dogmatic certainty.]

You'd be surprised, my darling. But I've never been there either, so I'm prepared to believe what I know about Dean and 'is life. I don't know all the ins and out and I wouldn't break 'is confidence if I did, but I do know it got pretty bloody messy in 'is world.

[She falls silent at that, thinking. She still believes that her heaven and hell are a universal thing; that even if people are from other worlds, they all end up in the same place at the end. She wants to believe that getting into heaven will be cut and dry: believe in the Lord, do what he says, and be a good person, and you're set.

She doesn't want to believe that you can do everything right-- or everything that you think is right-- and end up in hell anyway.]

His was a special case. Not the norm, even he'd agree.

[Cain doesn't know all the details, but he knows enough to know that much. There's a lot about Dean that's "special" but in his world that mostly just means he gets fucked over at every turn.]

You're not gonna end up anywhere like that.

You're sure?

[Her voice is small; her tone needy. She wants to be reassured and told that no, there's no chance she'd ever end up in hell.]

I'm sure. I'd bet my life on it.

[He doesn't quite believe in a hell out here, where the Barge exists; maybe there's one where she's from. If there is, he can't see her belonging there.]

Thanks.

[Easily reassured, she believes him.]

♻ 007 | audio

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