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artificialqueens · 4 years

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Not Nineteen Forever (20) (Branjie/Scyvie/Ninex) - Ortega

a/n: hey hey! thank u so much if u gave a lil note or sent a bit of love my way for ch19. it was really my fav to write so far so i’m so glad it resonated with at least somebody!! there is only one more chapter to this whole fic after this and i’m emosh. after the rollercoaster ride we’ve all been on, i hope u enjoy this fun lil chapter as much as i loved writing it!

please note: this fic contains young adults often behaving in irresponsible/unadvisable ways with regards to alcohol, drugs and sex. if you are someone who feels as if they could be heavily influenced by fic and incorporate what happens in the plot into ur own life, pls steer clear!

summary: Brooke, Yvie and Nina are three flatmates who forged a friendship in their first year of university and picked up some other waifs and strays along the way. Now in their final year, there are feelings that need to be unravelled and confessions to be made whilst navigating drunk nights, hungover mornings, takeaways, group chats, library meetups, cafe gossiping, and the small matter of getting a degree.

last chapter: Brooke, Nina, Silky and Vanjie were locked in the library, and Brooke and Vanessa finally talked things out like adults.

this chapter: exams are over, dissertations are submitted, degree classifications are being allocated and the girls are nervously waiting for adult life to hit them like a freight train. what better way to avoid thinking about responsibilities than to go to the beach?

***

The day had started, as most of Scarlet’s days often do, with a message to the group chat.

Well, no, that was a bit of a lie. Scarlet’s day had started with her making breakfast, talking to her Mums over facetime as she ate it, and reassuring them that no, she hadn’t found out her degree classification yet and when she did they’d be the first to know. It was hard beginning each day with her heart in her mouth, frantically checking her phone to see if the website had been updated and then trying to relax when she found out it hadn’t been. Scarlet tried not to think too much about it, post-Uni life that is, but with each passing day it became an unignorable fact that she had to face. Graduation season was a mere month away and Scarlet didn’t want to face it but she had to, because the reality was that Scarlet didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. Not a single clue. Gone were the days of six-year-old Scarlet, who spent the mornings being an actress with a short break at lunchtime to develop her career in the veterinary sector and finishing the day off creating new play-dough recipes for her Michelin-star restaurant. High school had been so good at pushing everyone into a university-shaped mold but now that Scarlet had completed her three years there she felt a little like the aquarium fish in Finding Nemo once they had escaped their glass box: stuck in a plastic bag bubble, thrown out into the vast, unexplored ocean, and simply asking herself now what? Really, what could she do with a Philosophy degree? Everyone asked her the same question when she’d been making her UCAS choices and now here she was asking herself the same thing. She wished she could remember what 18-year-old Scarlet had replied. Her Mums had been surprisingly supportive of the whole endeavour, but then again they had probably been happy to have their pouty, whining teenage daughter out of the house. Funny how times change, Scarlet thought to herself as she squeezed a generous dollop of washing-up liquid onto the sponge and dunked her empty plate into the hot water she’d filled the sink with. Her Mums had just been on the phone encouraging Scarlet to move back home while she decided on what to do next. It was tempting, but the prospect of being back in the country all isolated and away from her friends and Yvie and the exciting busy-ness of the city didn’t exactly fill Scarlet with glee.

Hearing her phone buzz against the counter, Scarlet almost smashed her newly-dried plate in her haste to read the notification just in case it was an email about her classification. It wasn’t. It was, however, a message from the girls. Nina, to be precise.

Kim Kardashian-West: GUYS it’s meant to be the SUNNIEST day today and Monet’s flat are all going to the beach!!! we should all go too!

Scarlet frowned, looking at the decidedly grey sky. It didn’t exactly inspire much hope.

Yvie’s bitch: Are you sure you’re reading the forecast for today? It looks a bit grey outside xxxx

Kim Kardashian-West: Scarlet I’m a primary teacher. A basic knowledge of the days of the week are kind of an entry level requirement

cursed SatNav voice: Am I FUCK going to sit freezing my ass off on the sand watching the rain piss down all around me!!

cursed SatNav voice: If i wanted to get soaked I would just call Brooke xoxo

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: No.

cursed SatNav voice: Ain’t that right @Brooke Lynn Hytes

Maple Syrup: you know it bby xoxo

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: Hell. I’m in hell.

Scarlet snorted a laugh. Akeria could well have been joking or deadly serious. Looking up and out of the tiny little window that was positioned beside the sink, Scarlet swore she could see a small ray of sunshine fighting through the clouds. She tilted her head, considering Nina’s offer.

Okay Then: yes i am absolutely down to get blackout day drunk today

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: Bitch it’s 11am who hurt you

Okay Then: listen this is perhaps the only time of our lives where we have literally no responsibilities at all. i’m getting drunk

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: I sent off nine masters’ applications yesterday.

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: No responsibilities my ass

Okay Then: well as huge as it is, i’m sure even it could use a little sun xo

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: WHY ARE YOU HOES ALL SO SENSIBLE AND GLOOMY? I’M WITH PLASTIQUE LET’S GO GET DRUNK

Maple Syrup: Ooooh now you mention it a fruity cider would go down so well right now

Yvie’s bitch: Yeah go on then, I’m down!! Xxxxxxx

Scarlet’s bitch: Scarlet it’s literally 13 degrees outside you’re insane

Scarlet’s bitch: but admittedly you are also my girlfriend who i love very much

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: EW

Scarlet’s bitch: so if you’re down i’m down

Akeria Sainsbury’s Bag for Life: UGH fine i’ll go if all you idiots are too

Kim Kardashian-West: AAAH you guys this makes me so HAPPY!!!

Kim Kardashian-West: We only need Vanjie for a full house

Maple Syrup: Vanjie if you come I’ll let you suck my dick

cursed SatNav voice: How big is it

Maple Syrup: 2.75 inches when fully erect

Maple Syrup: Invisible to the human eye when flaccid

cursed SatNav voice: Hard pass

Scarlet’s bitch: Jesus Harvey Christ

cursed SatNav voice: But you bitches convinced me so i’m in

It turned out that most of the girls were still in their pyjamas, much like Scarlet, so they were given an hour to shower and make their way there. They were lucky that the city sat on the coast, and although much of the coastline was dedicated to harbours and pebble beaches there was one little beautiful strip of sand that lay about a half-hour bus ride out to the suburbs. Yvie and Brooke were getting a lift from Plastique and so they offered the last seat to Scarlet, but Scarlet didn’t want to take the girls out of their way. Besides, the sun was peeking out a little stronger now, and if it was to fully appear then it would be perfect weather for earphones, a summer playlist, and looking out of a bus window pretending she was in a music video.

Stepping outside of her flat, Scarlet was glad she’d ended up choosing dungaree shorts and a plain white t-shirt. It was definitely warmer than it looked, and she had to sweep her hair up into a ponytail to stop her neck getting too hot. She stopped off at the corner shop for a four-pack of cider (Brooke’s message had made her want some) and then walked over to the bus stop, where she managed to get one after not too long of a wait and sat on the top deck, letting the growing rays of sun fry her through the window. Once she was off the bus, she checked her phone for the meetup point. Nina, Monet and her flatmates were sat on the sand “around 10 metres in front of the chippy. But Monet has no concept of measurement so it’s anyone’s guess, really.”. Scarlet didn’t mind a small walk to find them. The promenade was packed with people all dressed in Summer clothes, the pavement giving off that smell of hot gravel which always reminded Scarlet of hot days and happy memories. The platinum-white sun cast its rays over the deep blue of the sea so that little diamonds sparkled against the waves, all tumbling over each other lazily and every so often giving a satisfying crash which mingled with the sounds of dogs barking and children giving happy cries. Scarlet found the chip shop but couldn’t see the girls amongst the mass of bodies laid out on the golden sand, so she shot Nina a text. As she waited for a reply, Scarlet took a deep breath and was hit with the unmistakable smell of the sea and chippy batter combining at once. She was a Winter person- she preferred frosty mornings and dark twinkly nights and getting cosy with a searing hot coffee and her duvet, but she loved how happy Summer seemed to make everyone, the sense of community that came with a hot, sunny day. Once Nina had given the other landmark of “there’s a guy with an inflatable sofa to our immediate right”, Scarlet managed to find the girls with no trouble and she was soon dashing towards them excitedly and letting out an embarrassingly childish squeal as she reached Nina and crashed into her in a hug.

“Scarlet!” she greeted her cheerfully, much of her face obscured by a huge floppy woven sunhat. Breaking out of the hug, she turned to address Monet’s flatmates. “Guys, you remember Scarlet, right?”

There was a chorus of welcoming noises as the other girls greeted her, some more distractedly than others. Cracker was busy rubbing her arm with a thick streak of white sunblock which seemed to have the same consistency as double cream, Bob was laid out against a bright pink beach towel with a set of huge sunglasses over her eyes, and Monique was trying her best to remove the cork from a bottle of cava. Monet was by Nina’s side, her head resting against her girlfriend’s shoulder as she stretched her legs out and buried her feet in the sand.

“Hey, congrats for finishing uni, Miss Scarlet,” Monet smiled at her, Scarlet smiling back despite the fact she was being reminded of adult life hurtling towards her like a bullet train.

“Thanks! Congrats to you both too. How does it feel to have an actual certified genius for a girlfriend?”

“Like I’m horrifically inferior and will never amount to anything.”

“Shut up!” Nina battered her on the arm, outraged as Monet and Scarlet shared a laugh. Nina had received a mark of 95 on her dissertation, a number that the girls had considered impossible to attain at university, but Nina had managed it. It was quite revolutionary as far as undergrad research went; a study into how well-prepared teachers felt to support transgender children in schools, with recommendations as to how to do just that within its conclusion and a call for councils to give further money and resources to the cause. “Your diss was amazing as well.”

“Yeah, what do you mean that more research into ability groupings in maths isn’t groundbreaking?” Monet rolled her eyes, laughing again as Nina protested.

“Who knew so much effort went into a primary teaching degree? I always thought your dissertation would be to…I don’t know, write a children’s book, or make a picture out of pasta spirals and glitter, or create a nursery rhyme or something,” Cracker piped up, Bob giving a snort beside her. Monet looked ready to defend her degree angrily when Nina sat up straight and fixed Cracker with an intrigued look.

“Oh, a nursery rhyme? Like…there was a young girl named Cracker, who was an incredible slacker. Her degree was dumb, so she tried to make fun, of her friends who decided to smack her.”

Scarlet let out a screech, as did Monique and Bob. Cracker could only burst out laughing and throw her hands up in defeat as Monet grabbed Nina’s face and pressed an emphatic kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek.

“Oh my fucking God, babe, I love you so much,” she laughed, wiping away a tear of mirth from her eye.

“Love you too!” Nina smiled happily, just as Monique finally got the cork out of the bottle with a satisfying, hollow pop.

“Aw, you hoes got champagne on arrival? How fancy.”

The girls turned around at the familiar voice to find Silky, Akeria and Vanjie all making their way towards them from the promenade. Excited again, Scarlet ran to hug them, namely Vanjie who she hadn’t seen since their final exam. They hadn’t spent too much time together but it had been enough time for Vanessa to elaborate on the story she’d told the girls in the group chat of how she, Silky, Brooke and Nina had all somehow been locked in the library overnight. Scarlet knew that had had something to do with the fact that she and Brooke were friends again. She didn’t know whether they’d fucked their frustrations out or actually talked like adults, but whatever they’d done Scarlet was glad about it. Whether or not they were reconnecting with a view to getting back together or not, Vanessa and Brooke were back to flirting on the group chat like high schoolers, and all was back to normal.

“Right, who’s wanting some of this? I’m not sure I got enough for everyone, though,” Monique asked loudly. Scarlet didn’t miss the way Vanessa stayed silent as the other girls clamoured for some fizz. She knew Vanjie had broken things off with Monique, whatever “things” were, and Scarlet somehow didn’t think she was enjoying being on the other side of a breakup much either.

“Did you even bring cups?” Bob asked, sitting up and quirking an eyebrow at her flatmate. Monique groaned.

“Ah, fuck, cups.”

“You absolute idiot sandwich,” Cracker rolled her eyes at her. Her eyes darted quickly to Vanessa before she stood up and grabbed her purse from her backpack. “C’mon. I’ll come to the shops with you and we can get some.”

The two girls walked away as Silky, Akeria and Vanessa all laid out what looked to be a duvet cover that they’d brought with them in lieu of a towel or blanket. Scarlet didn’t even think to question it. She knew it had been Silky’s idea without needing to ask.

“I feel like a dick,” Vanessa jerked a thumb towards Monique’s retreating frame.

“Don’t,” Monet and Bob said in unison, Nina letting out a small laugh.

“Y’all are The Shining levels of creepy,” Akeria frowned, digging out three huge bottles of beer from a shopping bag and giving one to each of her flatmates.

“Well, we’re right! You were friends with benefits, everyone knew that. It’s not Monique’s fault she caught feels but it sure as hell ain’t yours either,” Bob shrugged, ever the blunt but honest friend.

“So what is going on with you and Brooke now?” Monet asked, leaning forward and propping herself up on her elbows. Vanessa fixed her with an unimpressed look.

“Gee Monet, whatever happened to so how’ve you guys been, or how was exams, or literally any other small talk?”

“Yeah, and whatever happened to it’s none of our business?” Nina side-eyed her girlfriend disapprovingly.

“Well, girl! We’ve been in dissertation hell for a month and a half. Shit kinda got boring,” Monet shrugged semi-apologetically. “Anyway Vanjie, Monique’s away and Brooke’s not here yet and I doubt you want to talk about it when either of those two are here in front of you? And I’ve been trying to grill Neens about it but she keeps using lame excuses like we shouldn’t be getting involved and shouldn’t you be thinking about your classroom, so c’mon, bitch, spill.”

Vanessa smiled slightly, gesturing as if it was obvious. “Well, she knows I love her. And she loves me.”

Monet let out an “aaw!” at the same time Akeria let out an “ugh”. Vanjie ignored them both and continued.

“But she hurt me, so I ain’t lettin’ her get back in my good books that easy. Of course I wanna be with her, more than anything else in the world, but we need to get that trust back before I even entertain the idea.”

“So have you…y’know…had any kinky, passionate reunion sex yet?” Monet winked at her. Vanessa looked at her flatmates, a humoured smile playing on her lips.

“Akeria’s threatened to kick me out the flat if I even so much as think about it.”

The girls howled with laughter as Akeria tried to suppress a smile. “She thinks I’m joking.”

“I really don’t,” Vanjie raised her eyebrows at her, Akeria playfully shoving her onto the fluffy sand beside her and causing her to get it all up her side. “God fucking damnit, now I don’t even get to look nice when she arrives.”

“Oh, here she comes now, actually,” Silky said, nonplussed. Vanessa scowled at her.

“Quit playin’.”

Scarlet followed Silky’s gaze. “No, Vanj, she actually is.”

As Vanessa muttered a shit, Scarlet waved excitedly at Plastique, Brooke and Yvie, smiling when the latter pulled a goofy face and waved back. Plastique seemed to be carrying something huge and wooden underneath her arm.

“Lord Jesus, what the hell is she doing,” Silky shook her head as the girls came closer into view. Scarlet jumped up happily to hug her girlfriend, Brooke muttered a soft hey as she sat down next to Vanjie and hugged her, and Plastique, after she’d greeted the others, unfolded a multicoloured striped deckchair.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Scarlet let out a laugh, unsure whether to be impressed or exasperated by Plastique’s levels of extra.

“What?! It’s a sunny day, we’re at the beach, this is literally what deckchairs are for! Have fun getting sand in every possible orifice, losers,” she stuck out her tongue at them as she sat back and gave a happy sigh.

“Ariel not joining us today?” Nina asked.

“Nah, she’s gone home to see her parents. Why the hell you’d want to go home now when you could be dragging out your last month of uni life is totally beyond me, but hey.”

Yvie gave a deep laugh. “Plastique, your family have a townhouse in London, a chalet in Chamonix with membership to a private ski resort, and a literal penthouse in Dubai with an outdoor pool on a balcony. Why the fuck are you here?”

The girls all exploded with laughter, even Plastique conceding with a smile and a self-aware shrug that she was a rich bitch.

“Hey, I’m moving back in after graduation and won’t see you guys for ages, let me enjoy your shitty company.”

“You could fly us all out,” Brooke smiled hopefully, cracking the top off her bottle of cider with her keys.

“Yeah, lemme borrow twenty grand off my Mum real quick,” Plastique snorted sardonically.

Bob reached across to Monique’s cava, giving a small sip. “I’m moving home too. Gotta save money.”

“At least you both know what you’re doing,” Scarlet rolled her eyes, trying not to sound too bitter and accidentally just coming out with the verbal equivalent of black coffee. Luckily, Brooke held out her bottle and nodded emphatically.

“We can’t all have Akeria’s serial-killer levels of ambition or just walk into a job like Monet and Nina.”

“Hey! It’s a probationary year that we could literally fail if we screw up, stop thinking we have things easy,” Nina protested.

“How could you possibly fail being a teacher unless you literally boot a child in the face?” Yvie laughed in disbelief. Seeing Monet and Nina gearing themselves up for a verbal sparring match, she gesticulated wildly. “I’m kidding, ladies, I’m kidding! You work very hard and kids are little shits and you don’t get paid enough. Happy?”

“Very,” Monet rolled her eyes, accepting the cava that Bob held out to her and taking a swig before passing it to Nina.

“What’re you guys doing after uni?” Bob asked, then instantly cringed hearing the groans she got in response. “Sorry, sorry, I forgot that question is basically Satan incarnate.”

“Well, I applied to a bunch of newspapers. But the journalism industry is a shitshow anyway, so fuck knows what I’m doing or if they’ll even accept me,” Silky sighed. Her mood was decidedly flat. It was rare for her to be anything other than high-energy, volume turned all the way up to 100.

“Well, your classification might help!” Bob said comfortingly. Scarlet looked at Silky to gauge her reaction. She didn’t know if she’d been given hers yet, but the girl’s embarrassed face soon gave her an answer.

“Well I got a 2:2, so. Probably not,” she shrugged, Bob trying to backtrack apologetically. Scarlet felt bad for Silky. There was nothing wrong with a 2:2 and a degree was still a degree, but she knew how much Silky believed that despite her grades not being great, she’d still pull it out of the bag in the end, maybe manage one essay that pulled her marks up. Even though the girls were all still proud of her, it was another thing for her to let herself down.

“We’re still proud of you, Silky. You worked fucking hard and you got your degree, and that’s something to celebrate,” Nina smiled affirmingly, holding the cava out for Silky to drink. She smiled gratefully at the girls around her before accepting.

“Thanks, ladies,” she said quietly, before taking a swig. The cava seemed to return Silky back to normal, and she cried out after drinking. “An’ besides! 2:1s are boring anyway. Go hard or go home, bitch, and I’m goin’ the fuck home!”

The girls indulged Silky in a laugh. They sat for a while, chatting easily and passing the bottle of cava around, the lack of cups now not so much of a problem as it had seemed previously.

“Hey, anyone want a paddle?” Brooke asked suddenly. Scarlet gave a snort of outrage.

“You’re insane. That water’s got to be minus five.”

“Oh, come on! It’ll be fun! Vanj?” Brooke asked, her voice hopeful. Vanessa shrugged easily, casting the girl a quick smile and then dragging Akeria and Silky to their feet.

“To be fair, I am getting really warm. Getting my feet cold might be nice,” Nina reasoned out loud. Monet jumped up with her cheerfully. “Yvie, you coming?”

“Nah. Think I’ll stay here with my girl,” Yvie squeezed Scarlet’s hand, Scarlet smiling back at her happily.

“Awww, Yvie! You’re too cute,” Plastique cried sarcastically from her deckchair, the other girls laughing. She was too busy sunbathing to paddle, but Bob decided she’d follow Monet’s lead and join the others in the water. Scarlet laughed as she watched her friends tear down to the sea like children, the white spray flying into the air as they all hit the water at once.

“We’re friends with actual kids,” Yvie laughed, Scarlet nodding in agreement.

“God, we really are,” she smiled affectionately, watching Akeria take a step into the sea then jump back as if it was made of molten lava and not freezing cold water. Just as the girls had left, Scarlet became aware of two sets of footsteps approaching behind them. It was Cracker and Monique, back from the shops with a plastic bag twirling around Monique’s hand.

“Hey,” Scarlet greeted them cheerfully, then added, by way of explanation, “They’ve gone into the sea.”

“Oh, fun!” Cracker beamed. Monique picked up the bottle of cava and rolled her eyes. There was a shot-sized dribble at the bottom.

“You sons of bitches are nothing if not predictable,” she laughed, fishing a brand new bottle out of the plastic bag along with a set of cups. Yvie held her hands out apologetically and Monique shook her head, letting her know all was forgiven. Scarlet looked out to the water again. Bob had Monet on her back and Vanessa was leaping on Brooke’s, Brooke unable to catch her from the amount she was laughing. It looked as if they were about to do some sort of race or fight. Vanessa finally got onto Brooke’s back, her arms looping around her shoulders like a bush baby.

“So. That’s that then,” Monique gave a little sigh as she looked out to sea. Scarlet did a double-take as she looked at her. Her expression was mostly hidden behind her huge mirrored sunglasses, but Scarlet could see the small frown on her face. She knew who her gaze had fallen on. Scarlet felt bad for the girl.

“Hey, don’t take it personally. Vanjie thought you were great, she really did. She told me all the time,” Scarlet said reassuringly, Monique giving her a little smile of gratitude. “You know that way when you’re still hung up on someone you love. That’s all it is.”

Monique rubbed her arms, wrapping them around herself in a hug. “My own damn fault for catchin’ feelings.”

“Happens to the best of us, girl,” Yvie piped up. Cracker smiled at the pair of them gratefully, squeezing Monique’s shoulder supportively.

“We’ve been trying to tell her that.”

Monique laughed suddenly as she saw Silky chasing the girls with a huge, slimy-looking clump of seaweed she’d fished out of the water. The smile remained on her face as her laughter died down and she looked at Scarlet and Yvie inquisitively. “Brooke’s gonna treat her nice, right?”

Scarlet thought about Brooke’s helplessness after her and Akeria’s birthday weekend, her heartbroken confession of love in the toilets of the grubby karaoke bar. She watched how tightly Brooke was holding Vanessa on her back, as if to let go of her would be a crime. Scarlet smiled at Monique. “She will. I know she will.”

Seemingly satisfied, Monique kicked her sandals off and turned to Cracker. “You wanna go paddle?”

“Girl, I thought you’d never ask.”

Scarlet was satisfied staying with Yvie on the sand. They turned to Plastique only to find her napping in her deckchair, her skin beginning to take on an ever-so-slightly pink hue. Deciding to avoid Plastique’s potential wrath if they woke her up, Monique and Cracker dashed down to the ocean to join the other girls. Scarlet sat quietly with Yvie for a moment, taking in the scene of their friends all clowning around in the water.

“You still looking for jobs?” Yvie asked her. Scarlet sighed. She didn’t mind talking about post-uni life with Yvie, didn’t mind being honest about how scared and unsure she was with the person who loved her and she loved back.

“Yeah. It’s hard applying without my classification, though. And, I guess, even harder when you’ve got no idea what the hell you want to do with your life.”

Scarlet gave a self-deprecating laugh which Yvie gently joined in with. Yvie laced her fingers around Scarlet’s and gave her hand a squeeze. “You’ll figure it out, babe. There’s no time pressure on these things.”

“I know. It’s just hard when…hell, you’ve got Monet and Nina about to start their entire careers. I mean they’ll be in charge of a whole class of kids. Akeria knows what she wants to do and she’ll get there. Hell, even if Silky’s classification wasn’t as good as she wanted it, journalism is at least something she wants to go into. And Vanjie’s decided on events management. You know you want to at least do something with criminology,” Scarlet sighed, suddenly feeling so small. “It’s so hard trying to figure out what you want to do with your life when everyone around you seems to know. How the hell are you meant to know yourself?”

“Listen,” Yvie brought her thumb up to stroke Scarlet’s knuckle, calming her instantly by about 80%. “The great thing about your life is that…it’s yours. Nobody else’s. Just yours. Say you decide on a job and you hate it. Do you think you have to stay because the pay’s good and it’s something steady? No! You leave, because you can get another job. You don’t like it? You change. You want to go back to uni to doss about for another year? Do it! There is no rule to life that says you need to live it a certain way. And fuck yes, it’s scary! I’m scared! I don’t know if I’ll like any of the jobs I’m applying for, they could be so different in reality to what they are on paper. But you know I’ll support you whatever you decide.”

Scarlet’s voice was quiet as she watched the waves crash around her friends. “I just don’t want to disappoint my parents.”

“Scarlet, your parents love you unconditionally. And I’ll say it again- it’s your life. Yours. Not theirs. You can do whatever the hell you want to.”

Scarlet nodded, Yvie’s words a small comfort to her in the world that now seemed so big and scary. Yvie’s voice was quieter as she spoke again. “So…you’re going to live back home once all this is over?”

“I guess so. I don’t really want to, but I don’t want to live alone either. And it’ll help me save money, although if I don’t have a job I guess there’s not much money to save,” Scarlet snorted a laugh. She didn’t want to think about any of this, but Yvie was asking her so she gave an honest answer. Scarlet didn’t miss the way her girlfriend fell silent, nodding her head, a sad little frown on her face. She didn’t want to move away from Yvie. She didn’t want to return home. Yvie was her home.

Suddenly there came a splash from the water and Scarlet’s gaze was jolted away from her girlfriend and down to the sea. Silky had somehow fallen into the water and the girls were all howling with mirth as she screeched and tried to splash them all. Scarlet couldn’t help but join in with the laughter as she watched Akeria help fish Silky out of the water, the girl sitting in the wet sand and laughing so loudly that Scarlet could hear it even from farther up the beach. As Scarlet composed herself and her laughter died down, she turned to see Yvie looking at her, a dopey little smile on her face.

“What?” Scarlet laughed, touching her hair self-consciously. Yvie looked down at the sand, then back up to meet her eyes.

“Move in with me. After we graduate.”

Scarlet’s eyes grew suddenly wide in shock. Yvie was still holding her hand and Scarlet’s grip on hers had tightened. “Really?”

Yvie’s face was earnest, and Scarlet could see her gulp as she nodded quickly. She took a little gasp of air before explaining herself. “I mean, we both already basically live together. You’re at mine so often anyway, we know what we’re like to live with. We’ve not spent more than a full week apart since…fuck, I don’t know. I would do long distance for you, Scarlet, but I don’t want to. I want to go to IKEA and build flat pack furniture and make slow cooker casseroles and fucking…pay council tax with you. I hope you don’t…think I’m being too intense. Jesus, we’ve not even been together a year, fuck, sorry, this was a shit idea-”

“Well when you know, you know, right?” Scarlet smiled at her girlfriend, squeezing her hand. Yvie smiled back at her, reassured and happy, and Scarlet could hear the seagulls in the air and the crash of the waves and the laughter of their friends. She wouldn’t have had any other soundtrack to accompany the moment. “Yes. I’m in. Let’s get a flat together. Just the two of us. I don’t know what the fuck I want to do with my life, but I know it’s going to be a lot easier if I’m doing it with you.”

Relieved, Yvie leaned in and met Scarlet’s lips, kissing her once, twice, three times before pulling away and squeezing her hand. They met each other’s eyes and smiled, breathlessly giggling a little. Deciding to move in together didn’t seem to be the huge, relationship-changing milestone that society had hyped it up to be. It made sense to Scarlet: they loved each other, enjoyed the other’s company, they’d practically lived together for the past however-many-months. Okay, they hadn’t really hit any real speed bumps in their relationship really, but Scarlet trusted Yvie and she trusted herself. They were a team, two puzzle pieces that fit together. Whatever the crazy, scary, mixed-up adult world had in store for them after graduation, they would face it together.

Just then, Scarlet’s phone vibrated. She picked it up from its place underneath a carefully-folded corner of her towel. Opening it and reading the email, her heart dropped.

“Oh my God,” she said, her heart thudding uncontrollably.

“What’s the matter?”

“My classification’s through.”

Scarlet’s fingers were shaking and her palms were sweating as she frantically logged onto the uni’s intranet.

“Breathe. Just breathe. It’ll be fine,” Yvie reassured her, but Scarlet could feel her blood racing in her veins. She didn’t want to look. She did want to look. As the page loaded, she squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing had ever seemed so catastrophically life-defining before. The page loaded, Scarlet blinked, then she screamed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Plastique flinch in her deckchair. Yvie’s face was expectant. Scarlet could hardly get the words out.

“A FIRST, I GOT A FUCKING FIRST!” she screeched, Yvie practically tackling her into the sand as she hugged her. Scarlet felt like her heart was about to burst. The three years had all been worth it and she felt like the biggest weight and worry in the world was finally lifted off of her. This was, admittedly, contrasted with the feeling of Plastique piling herself on top of the two girls, screaming excitedly the whole time. Scarlet suddenly batted them off of her, grabbing their hands and tugging them towards the shore.

“I wanna run into the sea! Can we run into the sea and tell the girls?”

Nodding excitedly, the three friends tore towards the coastline screeching like banshees. Scarlet could feel the wind in her hair, the sun beating down on her, and the sand shifting underneath her feet with every step she took.

She had never felt so conscious of her own mortality and yet as if she could live forever all at once.

48 notes · View notes

ellewritesfix05 · 4 years

Text

Beyond the Sea

Characters: Dean, Sam, Cas, Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, Fluke, OFC Oliver

Word Count: 5.4k

Warnings: Weird shenanigans (I guess?) This is fairly PG

A/N: This fic is written as my submission for @deanwanddamons and @impala-dreamer ‘s “I Do Understand That Reference” Challenge. It was super fun and quite challenging to write but I sure hope y’all like it!

Here’s my full Masterlist if you’d like to read more!☺️

Dean opened his eyes slowly, head throbbing with the sound of his own heartbeat ringing in his ears. As his eyesight regained focus, Dean noticed that he was surrounded by what seemed to be brightly colored trees. Except these trees were moving - no, swaying.

Even though it was somewhat dark, he could see light streaks around him, almost as if there was a plastic film across his eyes. Confused, Dean tried to get up from the cold, bumpy surface upon which he found himself only to fall sideways as his legs gave way to a gentle, wave-like motion underneath him. He looked down at his feet only to find that they weren’t there. In fact, Dean could see no body parts at all. Patting himself down, Dean realized that his body felt quite round and slimy, a feeling that reminded him of days off at the lake, fishing with Sam. Eyes widened in realization, Dean looked down at his hands only to see two large orange fins staring back at him. He flapped them around frantically, suddenly propelled off the hard floor.

Dean looked to his surroundings once more, the swaying anemones and brightly colored corals confirming his feared suspicion.

A fish; somehow, somewhere, Dean had been turned into a fish.

24 hours earlier

“I don’t know, Sam. This feels too clean to be witches, we haven’t found any hex bags and the vic isn’t spewing gross bodily fluids,” said Dean, running a hand down his face in frustration.

“True, but what else can make a person stuff themselves with popcorn to death? It’s not like famine is back, and even if it was, we have his ring. No way he could do something like this without it,” replied Sam, “Maybe we missed something, why don’t we go back to the theater tonight, it’ll be less crowded so we can do a better hex bag sweep.”

“Fine, but I still don’t think it’s witches,” Dean grumbled under his breath.

Later that night, the brothers headed down to the local movie theater where the security guard had been found dead, belly full of popcorn. Upon arrival, they got out of the Impala, Dean still muttering about his disbelief in witches being to blame for the guard’s death. Walking across the street to the neon-lighted entrance, Sam and Dean looked around the vicinity in search of any unusual activity. Sam stopped in his tracks and motioned at Dean towards a dark figure entering the theater from a side door. Quickly, the brothers headed to the door, glancing around to make sure no one saw them. Once inside, they split ways to each take a row of auditoriums looking for the mysterious individual that had snuck into the building before them, Dean taking the rooms to the right while Sam checked the rooms to the left.

A soft whistle caught Dean’s attention. He turned around to see his little brother pointing at the entrance of an auditorium adorned with a light blue frame, signaling the movie showing as Finding Nemo. Dean rolled his eyes and walked over to Sam, both entering the room as inconspicuous as possible to avoid attracting attention from the scattered crowd inside. As they walked down the dimly-lit aisle, Sam touched Dean’s arm and pointed at a person in the very front row, doubled over the seat as if holding on to their stomach. The brothers approached the figure slowly, not wanting to give away their presence when a bright blue flash illuminated the entire auditorium. Sam and Dean covered their eyes with their arms, a cold wetness overtaking them being the last thing they felt.

Present time

Coming to terms with his predicament, Dean flapped his fins gently to propel himself forwards, finding Sam the only goal in mind.

“Sam!” Dean hollered, “Sammy!”

He swam his way past the anemones and corals, following the strange rock beneath him until he came to a large blue emptiness just past the cliff created by the far end of the rock.

“Dean?” said a squeaky voice behind him, “Dean, is that you?”

Dean turned around to see a small clownfish staring back at him, “Sammy? Why do you sound like that?”

“Why do I sound like what? Dean, what the hell is going on?” said the tiny fish.

“I think you were right. I think the dude in the theater was a freakin’ witch and it looks like we’ve been turned into fish. And your voice dude, you sound like a scared mouse,” replied Dean.

“Have you heard yours, Louis Armstrong?” said clownfish-Sam in a sassy tone.

“What? My voice is fine. Whatever, how the hell are we supposed to get out of… whatever this is?”

“Honestly? No idea, but I might know where to-” Sam stopped suddenly as the sea around them turned pink, large creatures with long, slimy tentacles surrounding them completely.

“Are those…” Dean started.

“Jellyfish,” confirmed Sam. They turned around, backs to each other, taking in the gravity of the situation. Dean reached out behind him, gently pulling a much smaller Sam under his fin to protect him from the deadly stingers.

Frantically looking around to find a way out, Dean saw a flash of blue and orange to his right. Faint sounds of a conversation alerted him to the fact that they were not alone in the jellyfish forest.

“Boing! Boing, boing, boing!” sang a quirky, yet familiar, voice.

“Dory!” said the accompanying raspy voice.

Dory? Dean thought to himself, realization hitting him like a freight train.

“Sam… I think we’re in Finding Nemo,” Dean whispered. Coming out from under his fin, Sam looked up to his brother in confusion.

“What? Dean, this isn’t the time for your crappy jokes. We’re going to die stung by jellyfish!”

“Shh.. listen!” said Dean, placing a fin over Sam’s mouth. Swallowing his protest, Sam focused on the sounds around him and heard the voices his brother was talking about.

“‘Cause you’re about to eat my bubbles!” someone yelled in the distance.

“Sam, there’s no time to explain. Just trust me on this; I need you to follow me, hop on the tops of the jellyfish and avoid the tentacles at all costs, got it?” Dean ordered his little brother.

Sam nodded, and Dean twirled to face the direction in which they had seen the other clownfish zoom past. Taking a deep breath, Dean looked back at his brother one last time before propelling himself toward the top of the jellyfish in front of them. Bouncing off the soft, spongy surface Dean jumped forward, closely followed by Sam. From one jellyfish to the next, fear of electrocution pushed to the back of their minds, Sam and Dean hopped towards the edge of the jellyfish forest. Although they had started slowly, trying to avoid the tentacles, the brothers soon found themselves zooming past the pink creatures, laughter emanating from their gills as panic turned to thrill, feeling like children in a bouncy castle.

Before they realized, the brothers were out of the forest, wide smiles on their faces as they took in large gulps of sea water in relief. Coming down from an adrenaline high, Dean looked to his surroundings hoping to see the fish they had heard earlier. He felt Sam’s small fin touch his own and turned around to see him looking up astonished. Dean followed Sam’s gaze and saw a large current, although that was clearly not what had caught his little brother’s attention. In fact, Sam was focused on the hundreds of sea turtles the current was carrying. Dashing past at impossible speeds, the turtles smiled and waved at the brothers; some seeming as big as space shuttles in comparison to their own measly clownfish sizes.

Snapping out of the shock and awe at the view, Dean looked down to see a rock formation peppered with sea cucumbers and other small sea creatures. He was about to suggest following the turtles’ path to Sam when a deep voice coming from the rock formation caught their attention.

“Dean? Sam? Is that you?” said familiarly gravelly voice.

“Cas?” both brothers replied, looking for the source of the questions.

“Yes. I’m down here,” said Cas. Sam and Dean swam down towards the rock, looking for their friend, “Not that way, over here to your right”

The brothers stopped in their tracks when they found their friend, disbelief in their faces.

“Cas? Uh, are you a clam?” Sam asked the old, rusty-looking creature in front of them.

“Uh, I suppose I am. I cannot see myself in this form,” said the clam, jaws opening and closing comically as it spoke.

Unable to control their reaction, the Winchester brothers burst out in laughter, copious amounts of water entering their mouths.

“This isn’t funny. I need to give you a message before the connection breaks. I’m burning through a significant amount of my already-limited grace to talk to you,” Clam-Cas said frustrated. Clearing their throats, the brothers looked at each other, then to the talking clam.

“Sorry, Cas. It’s a bit funny,” Dean chuckled, “do you know where we are though? How do we get back home?”

“I need you to listen very carefully, although some of what I say won’t make much sense.” replied Cas, “It seems you’ve been cursed by a very powerful witch who has transported you into some sort of alternate reality. I believe you’re currently experiencing events from a children’s film. I can pull you back but only from certain frames in the film, so I need you to get yourselves to a place called Sydney, in Australia I believe. Once there, head towards the opera house where I’ll be able to retrieve you.”

“You must hurry,” Cas continued “it’s a very limited window of opportunity and if I don’t get to you in time you may be lost to me forever”

“Great, tell us how to get there,” said Sam.

“That I do not know,” replied Castiel “you must figure it out on your own.”

Dean looked to his brother, determination on his face, “Don’t worry Sammy, I got this.”

“Perfect, I will meet you at the rendezvous point,” said Cas.

“Wait, wait, wait Cas,” said Dean “how come your voice doesn’t sound all funky like ours? You’re a freakin’ clam”

“Uh, I’m an angel, Dean. Now hurry, there isn’t much time,” Clam-Cas turned around on his bottom shell and hopped off the edge of the rock, leaving a confused Sam and Dean behind.

“So, Finding Nemo huh?” Sam teased as they swam upwards toward the current they had seen earlier.

“I watched it once, a while ago,” Dean mumbled, avoiding Sam’s mocking face, “Shut up, Sam”

“Hey, I was just asking. Anyway, it’s probably a good thing. It’ll help us get to Sydney faster,” Sam chuckled.

They reached the edge of the current where the last turtles of the nest were swimming past. Waiting for instructions, Sam looked at Dean who was watching the current, carefully coming up with a plan.

“Well,” started Dean, “from what I remembered they didn’t show how Dory and Marlin entered the East Australian Current but I’m thinking we can just swim straight in and it should be fine.”

Sam bit back a smile, “sounds like you really know what you’re talking about”

“I said shut up about it, Sam.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Sam and Dean swam backwards, preparing to plunge head first into the Current’s liquid wall. They flapped their fins forward in a rapid motion, closing their eyes in anticipation of a painful impact. Except that the impact never came, just a light slapping motion as their clownfish bodies entered the water tunnel. They opened their eyes to find themselves walled in by majestic turtles talking and laughing with each other.

“Duuuuuudes! That was awesome!” said a small turtle behind them. Sam and Dean turned around to see a large group of baby turtles beaming at them in admiration.

“Dean. Is that tiny turtle talking to us?” asked Sam in trepidation. Even though they were talking fish in this universe, the fact that all other animals could talk and hear them shocked the brothers into silence.

Snapping out of it, Dean smiled at the excited group of turtles running their mouths a hundred miles an hour as they twirled and bobbed in place, “Hey kids, is there maybe an adult we can talk to? Mom or dad maybe?”

“Yeah! Come on, I’ll take you to my dad! He’s the coolest dude on the planet!” replied the tiny turtle that seemed to be the leader of the pack. Dean nudged a still bewildered Sam to follow along with the pack, not wanting to lose his tiny clownfish brother in a sea of turtles. They swam towards the very back of the nest, where yet another group of baby turtles was huddled on the shell of a much larger turtle, completely engrossed in the story being told by a familiar goldfish. The baby turtle huddle made Dean stop completely in his tracks, causing Sam to bump into his large, slimy fin.

“Dean, what the hell?” said Sam, angrily swimming around to face his brother. Dean, however, was staring ahead, an excitedly nervous smile tugging at his scaly lips.

“Dude, it’s her. It’s Dory!” Dean exclaimed. Sam turned around to see what Dean was so excited about and noticed a Pacific blue tang, barely visible among the baby turtles.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean’s reaction and turned around to urge his brother to keep following their tiny tour guide, who had stopped to talk to a much bigger turtle swimming alongside the one upon which Dory and her friends were sitting. Hesitantly swimming forward, Dean followed Sam towards the large turtle that now sported a huge smile directed at them.

“Hey dudes! Squirt here tells me you did an awesome flip coming into the current! That so totally rocks!” said the reptile enthusiastically. Taken aback by its laid back demeanor, Sam hesitated before responding

“Right. Uh, thank you, Mr. Turtle, sir,” Sam stammered.

“Oh no, dude. Mr. Turtle is my father. Name’s Crush,” said the turtle.

“Oh, uh, okay Crush. Could you maybe help us? We need to get to Sydney, Australia and were told to take the East Australian Current,” explained Sam. Dean simply nodded in agreement, too starstruck to say anything.

“Well, whaddayaknow! Marlin and Dory here are headed that way too!” Crush replied excitedly. He turned over and pointed to the orange and blue fish that were still talking to the group of baby turtles. Upon hearing their names, Marlin and Dory turned to look at Crush and the Winchesters.

“You called, Crush?” asked Marlin, swimming towards them with Dory close on his tailfin.

“Hey jellyman, guess what? These dudes are also going to Sydney!” Crush gestured toward the Winchesters.

“Hi! I’m Dory!” exclaimed the blue tag, as she swam hurriedly towards Sam and Dean.

“Hi, Dory. I’m Sam, this is my brother Dean,” Sam looked up to Dean who was treading in place, his lips moving in an attempt to form words.

Dory looked at Dean curiously, “Hey Dean! Wanna come play hide and seek with us?”

Dean mustered up enough courage to nod, swimming alongside Dory, leaving Sam behind with Crush and Marlin. They headed towards the large group of baby turtles that Dory had been playing with earlier, Dean looking over at her in disbelief.

Hide and seek with Dory? Awesome, he thought.

Suddenly, Dory began swaying side-to-side while muttering what sounded like an address under her breath. She looked in Dean’s direction and grinned, sticking her fin out for him to shake, “Hi! I’m Dory! Wanna play hide and seek?”

Dean was confused for a moment, until he remembered Dory’s inability to remember most things. He shook her fin with his own and smiled sheepishly, “Hi Dory, I’m Dean. Hide and seek sounds great!”

“Yay! This is going to be so much fun! Okay, I’ll count, you go hide!” said Dory as she dropped down on the shell of another large turtle who simply winked and smiled. Dean looked around for a place to hide when his little brother came into view, waving him over. He sighed and swam towards Sam in defeat, He’s no fun.

“Where the hell have you been? I talked to Crush and he told me how to get to Sydney. Apparently we have to take something called the-”

“The swirling vortex of terror?” Dean interrupted.

“Yeah. How did you..? Never mind, I forgot you’re a child. Listen, the vortex is coming up and we have to take it together, otherwise we’ll lose each other and miss our chance to meet Cas.”

Dean rolled his eyes at Sam and nodded, pouting as they swam back towards Crush and Squirt, who was giving directions to Marlin and Dory. They reached the group quickly as the current speed began picking up and Dean grabbed Sam under his fin, the vortex visible in the near distance.

“Okay, Sammy. Just hold on tight!” Dean yelled, the sound of the current around them growing louder as they neared the exit.

Dean waited for Squirt to kick off Marlin and Dory before jumping towards the water tornado. As they were about to enter, however, an unexpected wave slammed into Dean and forced him further into the current, causing the brothers to miss their exit.

“Dean! What are you doing? Now we’ll never get to Sydney!” Sam screamed in frustration as they saw Marlin and Dory exit the vortex. Crush remained behind, swimming against the current to yell goodbye to the fish before turning around to see Sam and Dean struggle to stay in place against the current.

“Awe dudes! You missed the exit!” groaned Crush as he threw both front fins up.

“Wait, no! We can go back! H-how do we go back, Crush?” stammered Dean, angry at himself for missing the exit.

“No can do, compadre. You’re going to have to wait for the next exit and swim back.”

“Great! Now we’ll never get back to Cas and we’ll be stuck as animated fish forever!” exclaimed Sam.

Dean ignored his little brother as he fought against the current to catch the blue tang’s attention “Wait! Dory! Trust the birds!”

Unable to hear him, Dory simply smiled and waved, “Bye, Liam! Bye, Sean!”

“Dean! Focus! How the hell are we supposed to get back?”

“Shut up, Sam! There has to be another way to Sydney,” Dean racked his brain for possible exits or alternatives but came up empty. It was all seeming bleak for the brothers until Crush swam towards them, an idea in mind.

“Alright, listen dudes, Squirt here has an idea but I gotta ask. How do ya feel about flying?”

“Flying?” the brothers asked in unison.

“Little buddy here’s got some fish friends, who have some sea lion friends that know some pelicans that can take you to Sydney,” explained Crush.

Sam and Dean exchanged worried looks.

“Pelicans? I don’t know, Dean. What if they eat us? Or drop us somewhere?” asked Sam. Dean frowned at his little brother, weighing their options.

“Dammit,” Dean started, “I don’t know but it may be our only chance to get to Cas in time.”

Sam sighed as he nodded and turned around to face Crush.

“Okay, Crush, we’ll do it.”

“Sweet, we’re coming up on the next exit. Wait here for Squirt to come back, he can give you the low down on the new plan.”

The brothers nodded and swam along with Crush, worried about the new plan and their chances of actually making it to Sydney alive. Squirt came back quickly, giving them directions for the risky plan. Although it was hard to hear him with the current noise picking up once more, the brothers nodded along as the small turtle twirled around in place, detailing how to properly exit and where to go once they got out.

“Okay dudes! Water Tornado of Destruction coming up!”

“The what now!?” exclaimed Sam. He looked to where Squirt’s fin was pointing, mouth dropped open in shock at what lay ahead.

Coming up in the distance was the biggest tornado-like current Sam and Dean had ever seen. Swirling upwards for what seemed like a thousand feet, the vortex moved violently from side to side. The younger Winchester looked to his brother, who was staring at the exit, fear apparent in his wide, green eyes. Even the laid back turtles surrounding them called to their little ones to protect them from the vacuum created by the terrifying exit.

“Dean? I don’t think we’re going to make it.”

Dean looked down at his little brother, who looked so small and fragile it reminded him of that fateful night when his father put six-month-old Sam in his arms and told him to run out of the house as the place filled up with smoke from the fire raging in the nursery. Swallowing the knot at the back of his throat, Dean nodded in determination and grabbed Sam once more, reassuring the small clownfish, “It’ll be okay, Sammy. I got you.”

“Okay dudes! Time to go!” yelled Crush as he pushed them towards the Tornado’s mouth.

“Good luck dudes!” Squirt’s voice was barely audible as the Winchesters were sucked into the liquid twister. An invisible, yet blunt, force pushed them upwards in a rotating motion. Dean barely managed to hold on to Sam, taking the hits as they were violently thrown around for another minute until, finally, the vacuum let go and spit the clownfish upwards and out of the water. Unable to hold on any longer, Dean let go of Sam as they fell back down towards the ocean, two soft plops signaled their landing.

Disoriented and nauseous, Sam looked around to where he saw Dean last. He glanced down and saw the older Winchester swim downwards. Except he wasn’t swimming, he was falling into the depths of the sea, unconscious from the beatings received while in the tornado. Sam dove quickly towards his brother, praying that Dean would wake.

Luckily, Dean regained consciousness before Sam reached him and, feeling himself sink, he flapped his large, orange fins upwards.

“Dean! Are you okay?” Sam hollered as he struggled to close the distance between them.

“Yeah,” Dean replied, groggily. “Are you?”

“Yeah, I am.” Sam sighed in relief, “We need to get the hell out of here.”

“You don’t say,” Dean rolled his eyes dramatically. At least they were both okay.

“We have to find the sea lions, Dean. I don’t think we have much time left.”

Dean looked to his brother and nodded in agreement. They swam up towards the surface and searched for the sea lions, a small archipelago visible in the distance. Switching glances with each other, the brothers headed towards the nearest island. As they grew closer, the loud sounds of flapping caught their attention. Instincts kicking in, Sam turned around and came face to face with a large sea lion. Wide black eyes and long whiskers pointed straight at him.

“Uh, Dean?” whispered Sam, slapping at Dean’s side. The bigger clownfish turned around to see what Sam wanted to show him and pulled him back, swimming in front to protect his little brother.

“Say, are you two the fish that need to get to Sydney?” said the sea lion, with a British accent.

“Who the hell are you?” growled Dean.

“Woah, no need to get tough, mate. I just heard about two clownfish needing a ride to Sydney, thought you might be them.”

Sam swam around Dean, “Actually we are. If you could help us, we’d really appreciate it.”

“Of course, lads. That’s what we’re here for. Now wait just a moment,” The sea lion turned away from the brothers and began squawking at the air, the shrill noise loud enough to startle the Winchesters.

Holding his fins over his ears, Dean looked up in search of their ride, while a confused Sam stared at the shrieking sea lion. Soon, the shrill sounds of birds replaced the sea lion who stopped making pelican calls when he saw the squadron of white birds arrive. They dove downwards towards the brothers and landed harshly, creating waves that carried Sam and Dean in opposing directions.

“Hey Fluke! Where are the little fish that need to get to Sydney?” said one of the pelicans.

The sea lion, Fluke, replied, “Where’s Nigel? I thought he was the one who volunteered?”

“Yeah, no. He went off to help that Marlin fella. Sent us here instead.”

“Alright well, here they-” Fluke stopped in his tracks as he saw the Winchesters were nowhere in sight, “where did they go?”

“Here! Under the pelican!” yelled Sam from under the belly of one of the pelicans. Dean, on the other hand, emerged from under the sea where he’d been thrown when the birds landed.

“Ah! There we go! Two clownfish, ready for transport,” said Fluke.

“Woah wait, how do we know this is safe?” asked Dean, as he swam to Sam’s side.

“You gotta trust us, mate. We’ll get you to Sydney, fair dinkum” replied the leader of the pelican group.

“Fair dinkum? What the hell does that mean?” Dean whispered at Sam.

“I think it’s like Australian for like the truth or something like that.”

“Of course you’d know that,” Dean shook his head and turned his attention to the Aussie pelican, “Alright then, how are we gonna do this?”

“Well, ya gotta jump in my beak here. But don’t worry, I won’t eat you.”

“Woah woah woah, and we’re just supposed to trust that? Listen here, uh-” Dean hesitated, realizing he hadn’t even asked the pelican’s name.

“Oh, Oliver, mate. At your service.”

“Right, Oliver. How can we be sure you won’t just use us as a snack?”

“You’ve got to trust them lad, it’s the only way to get you there quick,” Fluke interrupted.

“Dean, I don’t think we have a choice here,” said Sam, “we’ve gotta get to Cas.”

The elder Winchester was unsure once again, but agreed to trust the pelicans. After all, the one that helped Marlin and Dory didn’t eat them, and Oliver seemed to be friends with him. They lined up in front of the large pelican, who had opened his beak wide enough to let them jump in.

“You better not be lying, Oliver. You try to eat us and I’ll kill you,” Dean threatened. Taking a deep breath, the brothers looked forward and swam quickly at the pelican’s beak, jumping as hard as they could to land in the puddle that had formed in its mouth.

They landed softly and swam straight to the edge of the bird’s beak, quickly holding on to it to avoid falling into its throat.

“Alright lads! Now hold on, and good luck getting to Sydney!” Fluke waved at the brothers as Oliver extended his wings and pushed upwards, swiftly and smoothly lifting off the surface of the ocean and up toward the blue sky. He continued a flapping motion until they reached a height at which he could glide without much movement, small drops of water sloshing out as they went.

Sam, while somewhat alarmed, was mesmerized by the view in front of him. A vast, cloudless canvas stretching for miles on end. The wind blew softly in his face, while the sun provided a warmth that he had not felt in a long time. The combination of all these sensations made Sam feel exhilarated, as though there was nothing in this world he couldn’t do. For the time being, he could forget about his life. Forget about hunting; angels, demons, and all other monsters flew out of his mind, carried by the soft breeze. For a moment, he even forgot he was a fish; the only thing that mattered was the impossible peace that settled within him.

Dean, on the other hand, was praying to all kinds of gods that the bird would not fail. His fear of flying kicking in, he shut his eyes to avoid seeing how high the pelican had taken them. Every sound a reminder that at any moment, something could happen to this bird, pummeling them down to their death.

“Aaaigh, weehe aahoss heehe,” Oliver struggled to say something to the Winchesters.

“What the hell did he say?” yelled a petrified Dean.

“I think he said we’re almost there!” replied Sam, earning a muffled “Uh-huh” from Oliver.

Suddenly, Oliver dove eliciting terrified screams from Sam and Dean who were now holding on to the pelican’s tongue for dear life. As quickly as he dove, Oliver evened out as he looked for a place to land. Dean glanced over the bird’s beak, hoping to spot the opera house. To his left, the white arches of the opera house peeked over surrounding buildings. He tapped excitedly on Oliver’s tongue as he yelled, “There! Go to the opera house!”

“Ohhay!” responded the pelican, leaning sideways to turn towards the target. He flapped his wings softly, gliding over the crowds while Sam and Dean searched for Castiel. A task that proved unexpectedly easy since the angel was the only person wearing a large, tan coat in 100 degree weather.

“There he is! Oliver, take us to the guy in the trench-coat!” Sam yelled excitedly. Oliver turned and headed towards their friend, squawking to get his attention.

A perplexed Castiel looked up to see a large, white bird headed straight for him. Eyes widened in bewilderment, he raised his arms in an attempt to block the impact but was unsuccessful as the bird hit him with incredible force, managing to knock the wind out of the already weakened angel. The tourists around them scrambled to get the bird off the confused man, Castiel holding its beak at bay, unaware that Oliver was simply trying to drop the Winchesters off in his palm. With another loud squeal, Oliver was able to distract the humans, and Castiel, long enough to lean down and spit out the clownfish he’d been carrying in his mouth. By sheer luck, the Winchesters landed next to Castiel’s head, who then turned to look at them, and without a second thought picked them up.

“Cover your eyes!” ordered the angel, prompting Sam and Dean to shut their eyes just in time to avoid the bright light that emanated from Castiel’s chest, showering the entirety of Sydney in luminescence as a familiar coldness washed over the brothers before they lost consciousness.

“Dean, wake up!”

The deep voice barely registered in Dean’s mind as he regained consciousness once more. Keeping his eyes closed, Dean reached up to his chest, expecting slimy scales but met by soft, dry material instead. His eyes fluttered open as they tried to adjust to incandescent light emanating from the cheap motel lamp.

“Hey, he’s awake, Cas!” said Sam, sighing in relief.

��What happened?” Dean groaned, pain slowly spreading throughout his body.

“It seems the injuries you received while in the animated ocean traveled with you. I tried to heal you but I was too weak. I am sorry,” said Cas, regretfully.

Dean attempted to sit up, an action that only caused the pain to multiply. He groaned in pain and laid back down, “I feel like I got run over by a damn truck.”

“Yeah, well pretty much. This was probably caused by that stupid tornado of destruction or whatever,” Sam got up from where he’d been sitting at Dean’s side to get his brother a drink.

“The… what?” Castiel cocked his head to the side, wondering what Sam meant.

Dean chuckled, “Nothing, Cas. Thanks for getting us out of there.”

“Yeah, thanks Cas. Also for taking care of the witch that sent us there. Although, I’m not sure Dean would’ve suffered much if we stayed a little longer. After all, he didn’t get to say goodbye to his ultimate idol,” Sam said, biting back laughter at Dean’s bitch face.

“Hey!” Dean’s voice dropped an octave as he growled in pain, “You know what, I’m not gonna apologize for loving that fish. Not to you, not to anyone.”

“Dude, relax. I’m just playing,” beamed Sam, shaking his head. He sat back down on his own bed and placed a glass of whiskey on the bedside table, close to Dean.

“Whatever,” Dean replied, “just promise me; no witches for the next year, at least.”

Knocking back his own drink, Sam agreed, “Alright, no witches for the next year.”

Dean Sweethearts Taglist

@lyarr24 / @akshi8278 / @pillowjj / @stoneyggirl / @wiserainbowgirl / @attackonnat

Sam Darlings Taglist

@austin-winchester67 / @supernaturalgrandma / @stoneyggirl / @wiserainbowgirl

Forever Loves Taglist

@deanwanddamons / @hobby27

#i do understand that reference challenge #dean winchester fanfiction #sam winchester fanfiction #castiel fanfiction #finding nemo #spn x finding nemo crossover #spnfanfiction

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ladyfenring · 5 years

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finishing a giant fic that i’ve devoted so much time and energy to always makes me feel like that stinger at the end of finding nemo when the fish escape from the dentist and then just sit there in their plastic bags like now what

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harryswanderlust · 6 years

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Carnival

warnings: fluff

requested: nope

masterlist

“We should name him Nemo,” she says, holding up a plastic bag with an orange goldfish swimming around in the middle of it. She’s smiling as she admires the tiny pet that she has won for herself.

She and Harry had decided upon going to a carnival a few miles outside of town for their one year anniversary, wanting to try and do something a little different. They had been talking about it for weeks before she suggested the idea, almost bursting from so much excitement. A small town, makeshift carnival wasn’t Harry’s first choice for how they could celebrate, in fact he would have loved to have had a quiet night in, just the two of them. Maybe snuggle underneath a few blankets together and watch a silly rom-com or two, but Harry doesn’t mind. Truthfully he’ll go anywhere she wants as long as it entails him getting to be with her.

“I think nemo’s already taken, love. What about Kevin?” Harry suggests, reaching out to lace his fingers with hers. The ones that aren’t grasping the fish that’s captured almost all of her attention.

Harry’s not entirely focused on the moment either though. His mind keeps taking him back to when he first kissed the gorgeous girl standing next to him and how he already knew he was in love with her. They were sitting in his car, the atmosphere slightly awkward as their first date was coming to an end, and Harry knew he had to kiss her. He just had to. She was wearing an old hoodie of his that he’d been meaning to get rid of for while, but never got around to it. He had given it to her to wear when he noticed that she was a bit cold that night and told her to go ahead and keep it when she tried to give it back. “Looks better on you, love,” he had told her. That’s when decided to kiss her.

Harry doesn’t believe in love-at-first-sight or even love-at-first-kiss for that matter, but she just had a certain effect on him. Harry can’t complain though. She’s unlike any girl he’s ever even dreamed of.

“What if I named him Harry? Harry The Fish. I think he might be a lot cuter than you,” she teases. Harry laughs and gently pulls her into him. He rests his hands on her waist.

“He doesn’t give better kisses than me,” he argues, planting one on the side of her head. His grip on her tightens a little as she laughs at him.

“Absolutely not,” she says before pushing herself up on her tiptoes to gently connect their lips. Harry could kiss her all day if she’d let him. He swears he can never get enough of her. Swears she always leaves him wanting more.

“You know, I totally let you win. Could’ve easily used more strength to win that fish for ya if I wanted to.” Harry smirks, watching as she rolls her eyes and pulls away from him to give him a light shove. He’s cold now that she’s stepped out of his embrace, despite wearing a sweater, but it is nearing the end of fall, and winter is right around the corner. Another reason why he wanted to stay in. Y/N is always warm and he wouldn’t mind keeping her as close to him as humanly possible.

“Sure, Harry. I won because you let me, and not because your girlfriend is capable of kicking your ass,” she says sarcastically.

Harry shakes his head, but he smiles. “Nope. I was only being a gentleman.”

She arches a brow before she starts giggling at him. Harry’s heart melts as the sound rings through his ears. He watches her intently, the side of his mouth curling upward into a gentle smile. He’s rather smitten with her and believes she’s the most wonderful girl he’s ever been lucky enough to meet. He loves the way she makes his head spin and chest ache to be with her. The way her eyes shine so bright, as if they hold every good thing in the world, and he loves the subtle creases by her lips from smiling all the time. Harry makes sure she’s smiling all the time. He never wants to see her upset, which is why he can't stand it when she gets frustrated from all the studying she’s always doing. Although, he does have to admit that it’s the cutest thing in the world when she pouts as a result of it. He can’t help but steal a kiss from her when she does that.

Her hair falls in front of her face a moment later and Harry reaches out to brush it behind her ear. He wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side again, before asking, “You wanna ride the ferris wheel, love? You mentioned it earlier.”

She shakes her head, leaning into his chest. “I’m actually pretty tired, H. I think we should go. We could head back to your place and watch a movie for the rest of the night,” she says.

It’s somewhere between ten o’clock and eleven, and the two of them arrived a little after seven so it was understandable that she was starting to feel drained. They have been around the whole park playing games and eating food, even trying some strange ones. Y/N tried funnel cake for the first time and it’s beyond Harry how she’s been alive all this time without trying the popular fried dessert. They have done everything they planned to do except for one thing, which has apparently slipped Y/N’s mind. Harry was reluctant about the carnival at first, but he’s been looking forward to the firework show after closing time ever since they agreed to stay for it.

“What about the fireworks, baby?” He asks as they sit down on a nearby bench to rest. She doesn’t answer him, and he thinks she’s falling asleep on him. He kisses her forehead to get her attention, which causes her to stir.

“I’m so tired,” she murmurs. Harry sighs as she moves her body closer to him, and shifts in an effort to find a comfortable position. She settles for laying her head back on his chest, her eyes fluttering shut.

He wants to give her what she wants. There’s no doubt that Harry wants to take her home and be able to hold her. To cuddle her. He loves when she’s lying beside him, with one or both of his arms draped around her somehow, while the tv or random music hums in the background and they enjoy each other’s presence. They won’t be saying anything, only sharing a few kisses here and there as they briefly fall in and out of sleep. It’s not that he doesn’t like listening to her talk or appreciate having a conversation with her, no. Frankly he could listen to her talk for and never find it boring, but he loves just being with her as well. The silence between them is just as comfortable to him as all the other romantic stuff they do.

There’s a different part of him telling him that they should stay. It’s telling him that if they make it a little while longer, they won’t regret it. Harry knows it’s not going to be anything like a Fourth of July show, but he wants to do it all with her regardless. They’re celebrating tonight and he doesn’t want to leave a single thing out, especially not something he was looking forward to. Even if it might not be that big of a deal.

“I know you are. I am too, but we really wanted to see the fireworks. Please?” Harry pleads. He rests his chin on top of her head, giving her a soft squeeze.

“Yeah, okay,” she yawns, shutting her eyes.

Before long, lights everywhere are starting to shut off as workers close down their booths, and the excited laughter and screams coming from all around the park begin to dwindle as everyone makes their way home for the night. Or if they're like Harry and Y/N, heading to the front lawn for even more fun.

She’s still cuddled into Harry’s arm, fully asleep. Harry shifts on the bench causing her to stir awake and groan at him. Harry playfully rolls his eyes at her.

“Time to go, sleepyhead.” He lifts himself off the bench.

She doesn’t budge. Instead she holds an arm up as if she’s telling him to carry her. Harry sighs at his girlfriend, almost having trouble believing how ridiculous she is. He picks her up anyway, taking her by her arm for her to wrap it around his shoulders and swiftly sweeping her up by her legs. She giggles as she pecks him on the cheek. It’s a little sloppy given her tired state.

Soon they’re outside the gates of the park, joining the other people standing around and waiting. Harry sets her down and she immediately lays herself down on the ground. Harry scoffs before decided that he’ll go ahead and join her. He lays right beside her, a twinkle in his eyes from the moon as he scans over her features. She so beautiful, and she’s all his.

“I think I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you,” he whispers just above her ear.

“You only think?” She aks, starting to giggle again. Harry adores it.

“I am definitely going to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says.

“What makes you so sure?” She turns her head, rolling on her side in the process.

“Because I’m going to marry you someday,” he answers, face completely serious now. No grin, no signs of a smirk. He means every single word.

“And what if I say no?” She quirks one of her eyebrows, challenging him. She moves, throwing one leg over him and resting on his legs.

“Then I’ll do this,” he says, flipping the two of them over so that he’s now on top of her. A shriek emits from her mouth as Harry bends down and starts tickling her. Her laughter is uncontrollable as her arms swat at him to get him to quit.

“Harry stop!”

“Tell me that you’ll say yes,” he teases.

“Okay, okay, I’ll say yes! Just stop!” She squeals. Harry stops his actions, pulling himself off of her and flopping back down on the cold grass.

“We’re only seventeen, Harry. There’s no need rush things,” she tells him, panting out the words because she hasn’t caught her breath yet. She’s not looking at him or where their hands are fitting together so perfectly that the two of them swear they were made for each other, but rather at the stars. They both hear fireworks begin to go off and paint the sky in an array of pretty colors and while she is enraptured by it, Harry’s busy staring at her. She’s the prettiest thing underneath the night sky.

“I know, but whether we’re seventeen or eighty-two, I’ll always love you,” he says, before planting soft kisses into her hair and eventually her lips, the entire world falling away from them.

Feedback is appreciated & requests are open! All the love xx

#harry styles fluff #harry styles au #harry styles imagine #harry styles #harry styles blog #one direction #harry styles angst #harry styles blurb

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natsubeatsrock · 4 years

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What should our heroes do next?

For my eighth grade graduation, my school speaker invoked the end credits scene for Finding Nemo and I haven't forgotten it since. If you don't remember the movie, there's a plot-line involving store-bought tank fish trying to escape into the ocean. Their plan involves getting their tank dirty, being put into plastic bags, and rolling into the ocean. While their plan wasn't successful during the actual run of the movie, they end up making it work after the main events of the movie.

When we get to the scene in question, the last fish from the tank is rolling off the pier and getting into the ocean. And, to the cheers of the other fish, it reaches the shore. Once the cheering stops, one fish asks an important question: "Now what?" We don't get to see much of them after that scene, but it's clear that there wasn't much thought put into the plan once they got past being bags in the ocean. This is a pretty big deal considering accounting for getting out of the bags seems like an obvious hole in the plan.

(insert discussion of their future that likely is dependent on me actually watching Finding Dory here)

Of course, you go through a lot of fiction and it feels like the same thing is at play. The main goals are accomplished, the big bad is defeated, and the ships have sailed. However, there's still that pesky matter of actually ending the story.

To a lot of writers, the fact that the main plotlines are over means the story is over. Roll the credits and send people off. While I can understand that as a writer, I can't help but think that's a lame way to deal with a story I'd have to experience. Like, could you imagine if, at the end of Return of the Jedi, they blew up the second Death Star and cut immediately to credits? That would be totally unsatisfying. What happened to everyone? Is the universe going to be okay after the credits end?

About the only story that I know actually did this well was Mother 3. The only reason that it does work there, and only arguably so, is because you're able to check on the other characters whom you learn are all fine and wondering how you, as both the avatar and player, are given everything that's happened. And that only works because Mother 3 is a video game, which means the player has input in the actions taken in a narrative. The Mother games are weird like that. (This also happens before the credits roll.)

That example gets at an interesting point. If you've gotten to the end of a series, you've seen the characters go through all kinds of crazy events. You've formed a sort of emotional bond with them. It would be a shame to not know that, after they reach the end of their goals, they're going to be fine once the story ends. It's probably why we have the saying "and they all lived happily ever after".

So, let's back up a bit. How do we get to the end of a story?

If you're wondering about what the end of a story ought to be, you should have a good idea of the beginning and middle of the story first. Consider what's at stake for the characters to get to the ending and what it would mean for them to fail. From there, work out an ending that uses what's already been established as true and wraps up loose ends.

If you're dealing with something like a book or movie, then the audience should have a good idea of when a story has to wrap up and their mind starts to wonder how things will conclude given the situation of the story. You only have so many chapters or minutes to wrap the story up. However, this also works the other way around. If a few minutes pass and the story looks as if its almost over, that's rarely a sign that the true ending is nearby. Either the goal will be moved away from the protagonists or the real goal will be something else.

Things get trickier in my line of work when writing about more episodic stories. Unless you know the length of the story upfront, it's hard to tell when and how a story will end. Though, it's not as if there aren't hints that you can pick up something is reaching its end. There are obviously big things like "the final battle" or "the great war" type situations that show that the end is coming.

However, there can be more subtle things to clue you in. I could tell Fairy Tail was on its way out around the time we learned more about how Lucy's mom fit into the greater story of the series and we only had few mentions of her before then.

Once your story ends, we get to the question we faced at the beginning. What will your characters do after their main arc is over?

The best thing to do is show how the events of the story shaped them into a better person. If a cynical person went through a bunch of shenanigans with their friends, maybe we get to see them be a nicer person with a more optimistic outlook at the end of the story. If the story is about reaching a goal, maybe we should get to see what they decide to do next.

One of the most disappointing things to see in an ending is a lot of interest and thought put into the end of the main storyline but little thought put to the side plots, such as minor character arcs and romances. One of the more popular offenders of this has been Bleach. I'm sympathetic to Tite Kubo considering he had health issues during the series run. Though, it would have been great to have even a couple of chapters in between the chapters that mark the end of the final arc proper and the epilogue chapters. That we don't know the status of certain minor characters is kind of disappointing.

Though, depending on how much you can, it might be fun to continue the story. Instead of telling us that characters lived happily ever after, actually show us what that happily ever after looks like. (To his credit, we did get this from Kubo.) This can be a double-edged sword. Just because we want to see more of these characters, it doesn't mean they'll be in a story we love. For every Clannad: After Story, there is an epilogue that misses the mark of what made the original series special.

It's worth mentioning that much of this should also be the case for story arcs. You start the characters in one place, have them go through events for a reason, show why they needed to happen, and get them ready for the next arc. Though, after a certain point, the overall story should be wrapped up as well.

To end this post, I do have to address one point often made about endings: writers should have the ending of their series in mind before they start the series. In theory, it helps to have a basic idea of what will happen overall in a series and many story endings fail precisely because of a lack of planning on the writer's part. In practice, especially from my experience, plans change and the story you envision at the beginning of the writing process isn't always what you end up with near the end of it.

It's generally best to be flexible and continually evaluate how you are working towards the ending you envisioned. However, especially if you have to make major changes from your original plan, recognize when you could work towards a better ending.

It is always interesting to see what the original ending for a series was or could have been. If you've seen My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, then you got an idea of how Horikoshi originally planned to end the series, and even hearing some of the things that happened, it would have been a crazy ending. As I've said several times on this blog, Fairy Tail was originally planned to end after the Phantom Lord arc, which adds up to about 70 chapters and 30 episodes in the anime.

To be concluded... (Wait, this wasn’t the end?)

#not fairy tail month: crisis on infinite fandoms #our heroes #only one more #just to be a bit more meta #this was originally going to be the end #then i decided to make one more post #which will be the true end #and i think it's better #more fandom stuff after tomorrow

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