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Afterlife Meme - Clanker

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   “It’s all my fault…”

The voices are familiar, as she makes her way through the dim hallway of the house she only half-recalls. It’s been no more than half an hour since she woke up in that cold, dark room in a building she didn’t recognise, shrugging off the white sheet draped over her, and following the call of some vague memory back to this little house.

  “It…it ain’t your fault. It…it ain’t nobody’s fault this happened. It...it just did. We’ve gotta accept that.”

Her body feels strange, different to how she remembers it. Lighter. Less solid. It’s odd, but somehow, it feels better than how she last remembers feeling. Somehow, it’s almost a relief.

  “But…but I’m the one that left the batteries lying around. I…I’m the only reason you had them in the house in the first place. If…if I hadn’t been here, she wouldn’t…she wouldn’t have…”

Pain. Yes, she remembers pain. White hot pain, exploding in her mouth and pouring down her throat. Pain when she tried to scream. Pain when she tried to breathe.

  “Shh, it…it’s okay. It ain’t your fault. It’s me. I…I should’ve known. Why…why didn’t I just stop and think for a second? I knew. I knew she was always taking bites out of stuff she shouldn’t! I knew those things were full of acid, full of real nasty stuff. Damn it, Popcorn, why didn’t I put two and two together? Why didn’t I just take five minutes to stop and warn her?”

Curious, she continues through the hall, into the dark living room. There’s a deep, dark mark staining the carpet. Blood.

She remembers the blood.

  “You…you didn’t know, Cobalt. We didn’t know it was going to happen. It’s like you…like you said. It’s no-one’s fault.”

She remembers panic, unfamiliar faces, being carried out into the cold night air. She remembers white hallways and the smell of antiseptic.

   “She’s gone, Popcorn. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

The voices sound sad. Familiar, but so, so sad.

  “At least…at least it’s not hurting her anymore.”

A light flickers dimly in the kitchen, and she makes her way towards it, towards the voices. They’re so sad, stuttering and spluttering with tears, and she feels like she knew them, once. Perhaps she’ll remember, when she sees them again.

  “I wasn’t there. If I’d just gotten up 10 minutes earlier, I could’ve stopped her. I could’ve…I could’ve been there when it happened. Not when I heard her scream. Not…not when it was too late.”

Besides, it feels like she’s been wandering in the dark for far, far too long.

  “We…we did everything we could.”

She drifts through the dark living room, towards the light.

  “I…I would’ve done anything, Popcorn. I would’ve fought an army to keep her safe. If I could trade places with her, then I wouldn’t hesitate. I...I got her halfway across Parai. I got her somewhere safe to stay, got her a place with a guild. She was safe. Happy. So much ahead of her. Then…then she bites through a 12-volt battery and dies.”

There’s a Joltik and a Sableye sat at the kitchen table. The bare bulb swings overhead, and in the harsh, flickering light, she can see how the Joltik’s fur is matted down with tears, how the Sableye’s mouth is stretched into a quivering line of pain.

  “It…it’s alright, Cobalt. We’ll…we’ll g-get through this. W-we’ve just got to be st-strong, that’s all. I…I think that’s what sh-she would have wanted.”

  “I…I know. I’m sorry. I know.”

  Quietly, carefully, not quite sure of her new body yet, she pushes the door open.





Ah, the good old Afterlife Meme – the perfect excuse to write melodramatic “what-if?” stories that kill off your beloved characters. Rest assured, Clanker isn’t actually dead, and Team Troglodyte hasn’t become two-thirds ghosts – I just felt like writing something quick n’ miserable.

I did some research on just what swallowing a battery can do to someone, even without them biting through the casing first.

Top tip: if you want to sleep at night, don’t research what swallowing batteries can do to someone.




Popcorn belongs to :iconteamninjabug:.

Clanker is from Team Troglodyte

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Senri-Sei's avatar
Don't do acid.