169 Interlude: Nice Christmas Poe

Oakland, California, December 24th, 19:47.

"-Listen, all I'm saying, is that if you 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 sleeping with her-" "Which I'm not," "-right but if you 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦, then that would be totally okay! So she's a little quirky, and maybe a little obsessed, but she could be worse, and frankly you're getting too old to be picky."

Sighing at his old friend's words, Poe continues his patrol, wondering if a PRT Director should really have so much free time that she can bother his comms with teasing.

"I'm surprised you're even supporting her, I thought you'd hold a grudge. Besides, you're older than me." Poe's words get a soft snort from Simmons, who soon responds, sounding oddly wistful.

"Well, maybe I did a little bit at the start, but she really warms on you, you know? I actually put myself through M/S screening just to be sure, but it's just that she's so earnest and honest in everything she does; like a puppy."

There's a brief pause as Poe acknowledges that he can definitely see where Simmons is coming from with the comparison, until he abruptly snaps his head to the side, as if struck.

"AND DON'T CALL ME OLD!!" Simmons yells into his ear, making him cringe and reel.

"Woman, must you be so loud? You're right in my ear, what if I get tinnitus?" Poe complains, knowing it won't do anything, and sure enough, her response is just about what he expected.

"Then maybe you would learn to take a break for once, you've done enough, we can handle things without you doing a patrol every day. Take a day off, see a movie or something, get a hobby, it's christmas time for Christ's sake."

However, for once instead of blowing off her words like usual, Poe actually pauses mid-flight to consider them.

Looking out over the city below him, memories of how it used to be overlap with what he sees now.

A lot has changed.

Walls are no longer covered in gang tags, trash doesn't line the street and everything looks well maintained. A lot 𝘩𝘢𝘴 changed. He thinks of a certain woman, waiting for him even now.

Apparently she has a surprise waiting for him once his shift ends today, an early christmas celebration on account of him still working tomorrow. She seemed sad that he would be busy even then.

Maybe, maybe he could slow down a little bit.

"Poe? You didn't hang up on me again did you?" Simmons' voice brings him out of his ponderings, and he finds a slight smile tugging at his lips as he continues his flight at a leisurely pace.

"You know, I think you might be right."

"You do? I mean, of course you do!" Simmons says, making Poe chuckle.

"Of course. I think I'll take tomorrow off. It'll be a nice surprise for Selene, though I'm not sure what I'd do with a whole day on my hands." Poe can practically 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 his friend's raised brow once he finishes speaking, and the temptation to just hang up almost overcomes him.

"Well if you're already planning for your first day off in years to be with Selene, then I think I have a good idea of what you'll be doing for the whole day, or rather, 𝘸𝘩-" Decisively hanging up the call, Poe doesn't let her finish her sentence, even if he knows that she'll be cackling in her office like she isn't in her sixties because of it.

He has an idea of what Selene's 'surprise' for him tonight will be after all, so he's even less keen to hear his friend's teasing now that it is likely to be true.

He never expected that he'd fall for her, certainly not so quickly, but while he wouldn't be so quick to label his feelings as love, he would be lying if he said that he hasn't grown to care for her these last few weeks.

It would be harder not to really, with the love and devotion she constantly expresses to him. Everybody wants to feel loved, and to love in return, so why bother to push it away?

And it's as he's having these thoughts that Poe's alarm goes off, signalling the end of his day's patrols, following which he wastes no time in flying straight to Selene's house.

As she said she would, her back door has been left open for him to walk through, right at eight o'clock as promised.

He walks inside, closing the door behind him, and moves through the dark building carefully, slightly nervously, until he makes it to the one room with a light on, the kitchen.

He doesn't make a sound as he enters the spacious kitchen, not wanting to make her jump and at the same time, simply enjoying the sight of Selene happily humming to herself as she crouches in front of the oven, staring intently at it's contents while dressed in only a slightly see-through nightie and underwear.

Smiling softly to himself as Selene starts bobbing around to the music in her head, Poe watches as she eventually mutters to herself before putting on an oven mitt and opening the door, allowing the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies to fill the room.

However, when she turns around to place the cookies on the counter between the two of them, she almost drops them as she startles in shock from my presence.

"Gah! ...I did not hear you enter," she eventually says, holding her hand over her heart as she takes a calming breath, sharing with him an amused smile, which reminds him that his helmet is still on, an issue he quickly rectifies.

"Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you," Edgar says, only for Selene to respond by stepping around the counter and wrapping him in a hug.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're here. In fact, your timing is perfect, as I have just finished preparing snacks," Selene says before giving him a quick peck on the cheek and moving back to put the cookies all on a plate, which she takes to another room, beckoning him to follow along.

When he makes it to the living room, he sees one small couch in front of a large TV with a plethora of snacks on the table in the middle, as well as a stack of movies ready to be chosen from.

Finally, his eyes fall back on Selene, who has added the cookies to the pile and turned to face him, her posture slightly shy with an ever so light blush darkening her cheeks.

"I figured that we could watch movies together until morning, and maybe see where the night takes us on the way?" She says, clearly not trying to push the relationship further by putting him in an uncomfortable position, for which he is grateful, "Do you have a preference in movie, or at least genre?"

He thinks about it for a moment, but while horror and romance are probably the go to genres in these types of situations, he doesn't want to seem forward by picking romance and due to his job, well, horror movies aren't his preferred past time.

"How about a comedy? Something to laugh at?" He eventually decides on, "you pick something and I'll just go get out of my work clothes?"

"Of course!" Selene brightly agrees, turning to the pile of movies as Edgar steps out of the room, simply taking his costume off in the hallway, revealing the casual shirt and pants that he chose to wear beneath is today.

It only takes a short moment to fold up his costume, and he chooses to take it back into the living room to deposit on one of the various counters available.

By the time he actually makes it to the couch that is only large enough for two people to barely fit on without touching shoulders, he only lets out a small smile at her choice of furniture before taking the seat besides her, resting an arm over her shoulders as she snuggles against him, sharing their warmth.

"So, what are we watching?" Edgar asks.

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have seen the series, but they made a film of it three years ago that I never got around to watching," Selene responds with a charming smile.

Edgar has also seen the series, read the books too, so the film should be good as well, especially with all of the delicious snacks prepared.

However, Edgar finds himself unable to recall the latter half of the movie, because as the night went on, things changed from simple snuggling, to a light touch here and there, to some soft groping, until he was far less focused on the movie being played, and more on spending the night being physically worshipped by the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

==(haha, fuck you, no smut ;p)==

Oakland, California, December 25th, 12:47.

Flying through the clouds, Poe is in great spirits.

His night with Selene was long and enjoyable, as was the morning after. However, he was committed to the idea of surprising Selene with a christmas gift, so he retained that he had to leave for work.

Though he did allow her to delay him for another hour.

That was nearly an hour ago, and now, Poe is returning to her house, intending to surprise her with two tickets to a theatre play that will be on later today, both as a joke because of how Pitfall especially jokes about her speech patters, but also because he thinks she will simply enjoy it.

Poe was still on the fence before, but after last night, well. Lines have been crossed that cannot be uncrossed, and now he has to take responsibility.

He doesn't know why, but he didn't expect that she would be a virgin.

Either way, he is looking forward to seeing her expression, and more so to simply spending more time with her.

However, when he lands in her backyard, carrying a proper change of clothes this time, something seems off.

First is that there are no lights on, but it's midday, so that's explainable enough, but no matter how much he knocks, no one comes to the door.

Frowning to himself at the surprise not being so impactful, he takes out his phone and tries calling her.

Only for it to go to voicemail, which is when he starts to worry.

As narcissistic as it would typically sound to say, Poe knows for a fact that Selene would not ignore his calls.

So he tries the next best thing and calls his old friend Simmons, wondering if she called in Selene for some last minute work of some kind.

Only to be sent straight to voicemail once again.

Not of his own volition, and with all the force of a bullet, a single thought, a memory, slams into his mind's eye.

𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

Selene.

His bag falls to the floor and dust kicks up into the air as Poe shoots to the sky, flying straight for the PRT building with more urgency than he has felt in a long, long time.

It takes him less than three seconds to arrive, and he can immediately tell that something is wrong.

The typically bustling building, even on christmas day, seems completely abandoned of all life, yet the lights are still on, as if everyone just abruptly disappeared without reason.

"Hello!?" He shouts out as he walks through the front doors, only for his voice to echo through the empty room.

His sense of urgency reaches a whole new level as adrenaline pumps through his veins, preparing him for the worst.

With speed and agility that he rarely has to exercise, Poe ghosts through the building, flying straight up the stairwell until he reaches Simmons' office floor.

"Simmons!? Selene!? Anyone!?" Poe yells out as he jogs through the floor to her office door, which he barges through without knocking, the force of his panic almost knocking the door of it's hinges.

But all the wind being built up in his sails immediately vanishes the moment he sees what lies on the other side. A numb feeling creeps through his body as he takes a shocked step forward, falling straight to his knees as his body refuses to support itself.

Blood.

He sees blood.

He sees his friend, sitting at her desk as usual. Except it is not like usual. Her eyes are blank and glassy, her body is limp and inhumanly skinny, as if she truly is only skin and bones, with a face 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 in lines of blood, streaming down from the top of her head, which is simply gone, cut off like a scalping and missing it's brain.

He 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 to look away from the haunting visual, but when his eyes drop down he just sees how her chest has been cut open just like her head, allowing him to see with more clarity than he 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 wanted what a human looks like without any organs, muscle or tendons inside.

So lost in his shock, not a sound leaves his lips as he turns away, not wanting to see his friend in such a state and 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 hoping that this is all a nightmare.

But when his eyes turn to the side, all he sees is more of the same. More faces of people he knows, friends he trusts.

All of them are the same, with their insides removed, leaving only overstretched, loose skin to hang over a frame of bones and a pair of glassy, 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 eyes. Like a doll that hasn't yet been inflated all the way.

Their skin is too white and clammy, their faces sloughing down like they're melting.

He sees Custard, Turtle Neck, Pitfall and Shortcut. They are all together, their limp bodies wrapped together like tying knots. He sees Shortcut's arm go through Custard's chest and out of his skull, just as Pitfall's arm does to her, and Turtle Neck's hers and Custard's his, making a daisy chain of horrific proportions.

He almost vomits as the 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩 seems to suddenly hit him all at once, a stench he knows well, of blood and shit and piss and decay. But never has he experienced it in such concentration and it brings him down to his hands and knees, as if praying for this to be a 𝘭𝘪𝘦.

But he almost recoils the moment his hands touch the ground as they splash into an expanding pool of blood, covering him in the life liquid of his dearest friends. He immediately leans back, falling to sit on his ankles as he 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 tries to wipe the blood off of his hands in pure panic.

Yet in doing so, he looks to his right and sees eight small figures wrapped together, and he knows this can't be a dream. His mind could never create a scene like 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

But it doesn't make any sense.

His heart starts pounding in his chest and all he can hear is a 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 buzz slowly growing in his ears as his breathes come out in short, panicked bursts.

Why is this happening.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 is this happening.

Where is Sele-

"Tragic, isn't it?" A soft, 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 voice sounds out behind him, and a tear leaves his widened eyes as he slowly, 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 turns his head, hoping beyond hope that he is wrong.

But there she stands.

Selene.

"Why." Poe barely manages to croak out, simply feeling numb as he watches her stand tall, seemingly completely blind to the blood covering her hands, extending all the way up to her biceps, nor does she seem to care for the blood pooling around her feet.

"You know the answer to that, my dear Tragedy. It's like I said, A Hero's Fate is a tragic one. It is inevitable that something like this would happen." Her answer does nothing to calm him, only spurring the growing heat in his chest as he stares at the woman he thought he was starting to know as if she is a complete stranger.

"But why. Why you? Why them? Why now? Why 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?" He isn't even sure what he wants to ask, what he wants to know, he just needs 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 kind of explication, 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"For you," is her simple answer, only this time her airy, ethereal tone does nothing to calm him, instead he feels that heat in his chest boil over into a burning rage at her painfully honest answer.

Poe doesn't even realise he moved until Selene's body crashes against the wall behind her, held in the air by his hand around her throat.

But she is smiling.

Always smiling.

"Kill me. It's the only way to avoid tragedy my love. You are too much of a Hero. If you don't cause any tragedy, then it will come looking for you. So let your rage take over, just this once, and kill me, so you can be free."

With every word she chokes out, Poe feels his fist tightening around her throat, until she can no longer speak. Soon her face starts to turn red, and her smile finally disappears as her body is forced to involuntarily open it's mouth, attempting to gasp for air.

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳.

𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 strikes him like lightning as his own words repeat in his head, and he staggers back a step in shock, dropping Selene's limp body to the floor, instinctually following with his eyes to check if she is ok, only for her to immediately start coughing and gasping for air from the ground.

No.

This isn't how it should be done.

He is a Hero.

He would never kill anyone out of anger.

He is better than that.

His eyes sweep over the desecrated remains of his dear friends one last time.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺.

With one final deep breath, Poe takes control of his emotions, resolving himself to keep a tight leash on them for now.

He can mourn later.

And with a flex of his power, Selene's body is flung none too carefully through the office door, with Poe following shortly after and closing the door, so he wouldn't have to see the sight that will haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life any longer.

"My Tragedy, what are you doing? You must kill me. You 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵! It is the 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 way to escape your Fate!" Selene's frantic words sound to him as if she is speaking through a thick wall. Muted, distant.

But they allow him to look at her, to 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 look at her and see her for what she is.

She's insane.

Even now, begging to be killed and still believing that she is doing so out of kindness.

"Why?" He can't help but ask, even when he doesn't want to hear the answer, "why 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 too? They were just kids. 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯."

Her face flashes with confusion for only a moment before she realises what he means, and her response is the final nail in the coffin for Poe to ensure that she gets sent straight to the Birdcage, never to be seen again.

"The Wards? They weren't children silly, they were 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴. That's why they had to die. It's why you have to kill me. You have to. You 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵. Why aren't you killing me!?" Her voice, once so attractive, now feels only like acid washing through his skull, every fanatical word more she speaks making a sickness grow inside of him.

"It's like 𝘐 said. I will prove you wrong."

With that, she falls into a contemplative silence, looking like she is breaking apart at the foundations as she stares desperately at him.

But he ignores her in favour of calling one of the few friends he still has left.

"Poe? What's wrong? Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend right now?~ Or is it that you're looking for advice? Because in that case, I'd say Narwhal woul-"

"They're dead." Poe interrupts, his voice barely above a whisper and just as fragile, "they're all dead Dragon."

"Who's dead?" She asks, all traces of jest and teasing gone in response to his tone, but the question causes Poe's firmly built resolve to crack.

"All of them Dragon. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮," is all he manages to say before his voice breaks, cracking into a sob as he falls to his knees, "everyone is dead."

"Poe, I need you to take a deep breath for me okay? Can you do that for me?" She asks, and he does, "good, now I'm going to need you to explain everything to me. What happened, and what can I do to help?"

And he does. He tells her everything, only pausing to let out a sob, but doing his best to push forward and say what needs to be said.

He barely manages to catch Dragon's responses, but he get's the general gist of things.

Her trial will be tomorrow morning, and she will be the newest inmate in the Birdcage by the afternoon.

Then, and only then, will he mourn.

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Man, I sure hope none of you got attached to any of those characters, that would surely suck for you and would in no means have been something that I did on purpose, no siree, I'm a good boy who doesn't dedicate six chapters to building up a group of people emotionally just to murder and desecrate them all, leaving only one alive so he can live with the guilt and torment for the rest of his life.

No siree, that doesn't sound like something I'd do at all :)

Time to get back to the regularly scheduled show now though, I'd have done a court scene but I can't be fucked to learn what proper proceedings are or how they word shit, so next chap we're getting back to Lusia.

the real question is, is Selene Lusia or did I just do this whole thing for no reason other than to hopefully make people cry, and it's just a side-story and nothing actually related to plot? Because that would be really, really, funny if that's the case :P

Just like, "oh, while you're reading all of that, look at this terrible shit that's happening over here!"

Man, I'm so funny.

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses