Oneshots, etc.

Fantasy Fallout AU: The Meltdown

A/N: This one is... dark. Just keep that in mind. Anyway, I wrote this thing. It's the same AU I'm making a fic for, but I wanted to write out this whole scene and I don't know how I'd incorporate it into the actual fic, so. Yeah. Have this. It's technically backstory.
On another note, there should be more of the Destined AU on the way soon, along with the final two or three parts of the Darkened City AU and the second chapter to the fic this is set in. So, if you like my AUs, there's stuff to look forward to.

TW: Death, blood, murder (implied), inaccuracies (A.K.A.: me not knowing how radiation actually works because google will not give me a proper answer).

He woke up to the sound of the alarms. They screamed over the thuds of bunker doors slamming, as citizens locked themselves away.

Mario bolted upright, practically throwing himself out of bed and down the hall. He nearly burst into Bryan's room when he reached it, but then he remembered that Bryan had moved out of the city a few days prior, to go live with his husband overseas. It was fine. His brother was safe. He continued down the dark hallway.

The moon shone through the windows as he threw open the door to his best friends' room.

"Xylo, get up, we need to go!" he yelled, yanking the blankets back to reveal... nothing.

The bed was empty. Xylo was gone.

"Damnit." He hissed. Mario knew where he'd gone; He mentioned it earlier. The tower in the middle of the city. He was selected for... something. Immortality, he said? Why couldn't Xylo warn him before disappearing? Or wait until morning?

It was too late now. He needed to find him.

Cursing under his breath, he lunged into the living room, pulling on his shoes. He yanked his jacket haphazardly over his pyjamas, already fumbling with the lock on the door. Shoving it open, he sprinted down the corridor, heading towards the stairwell since the elevator would take too long. The door to the apartment swung behind him for a moment, then slammed shut with a bang.

He took the stairs three at a time as he felt the temperature rise. Why had he put his jacket on? He knew the radiation would heat everything up-

He shook his head. There wasn't time to worry about that. He needed to find Xylo.

He stumbled into the lobby, nearly tripping over the carpet as he hit the floor. Through the glass doors he could see the Barrier forming overhead, as those who could escaped into the sky in a flurry of wings.

It was too late. He was too late. They were all too late. There weren't enough supplies in the bunkers, despite what everyone said. The radiation wouldn't die down soon - that was impossible. They were all trapped.

They were all doomed.

That didn't matter right now though. He needed to find Xylo.

He pushed at the glass doors to the outside. They didn't budge, having been locked for the night. Normally, Mario would've taken the back door if this happened, but there wasn't any point. He would be dead soon anyway, and he needed to make sure his friend was safe first.

Gritting his teeth, he flung himself at the door shoulder-first, ramming it until the glass shattered and he fell onto the pavement outside. The heat hit him in a blast of air as he stood up, brushing broken glass from his clothes. Which way was the tower again? Left, or right?

He glanced around for a moment, then saw the building in the distance. Right.

Turning on his heel, Mario took off running down the street, past abandoned cars with the keys still in the ignition. People were sprawled on the asphalt around him, coughing up blood as their organs failed, and he winced, feeling his lungs ache in sympathy.

His legs burned as he ran towards the tower in the distance. The barrier was completely up now. He could feel his skin charring, starting to slip off his body as his flesh began to boil. He wouldn't make it.

Coughing up blood, he stumbled and his legs gave out. Reaching shakily for a nearby signpost, he pushed himself back up and tried to move once more. He got a few steps before his legs collapsed beneath him and his muscles went limp. He felt something leaking from his eyes, and when he reached up weakly to wipe it away, he discovered it wasn't tears, but blood. His eyes were bleeding.

Isn't that interesting? He thought deliriously, right before his vision went dark and he saw no more.

All he felt was a blur of pain as his flesh cooked and his fat melted off his body, and he couldn't do anything. It hurt more than anything he'd ever felt before.

Until it didn't, and he felt nothing.

--------------

How long had he been here? He didn't know.

Who was he? He didn't know.

Where was he? He didn't know.

Why was he still here? He... knew. He knew that. He had to find someone. A... friend? A friend. Where was his friend? He knew, he thought he knew, he knew he knew, but he didn't. He didn't know.

He stared down at his grey, ashy hands, and through them, towards the concrete floor. How long had he been doing this for?

Years, his mind told him.

Days, his mind said.

He wasn't sure which part of him to believe.

In the corner of his eye, he saw a decomposing hand. Human, he thought, but not his own. That had been long since picked clean by those left outside.

Was the hand there because of him? Vaguely, he remembered screaming, some of it his own, most of it not. He remembered flesh searing beneath his hands, blood running through his fingers, as he searched. For who?

My friend, said his mind.

But why? He asked his mind. It didn't answer.

Had they... been in the way? Yes, they must have.

He tried not to think of the hand, that hand, the one he saw, stretched out hopefully towards him as its owner smiled encouragingly.

They had all just been in the way.

He curled back in on himself, back into the haze of his mind.

--------------

Mario floated in the air next to the tower, scowling. He stared through the enchanted glass wall separating him from his friend, and slammed a hand against it in exasperation. He then pressed his other hand against the glass, watching the green liquid flowing from his eyes drip onto it and evaporate.

Behind it, he could see Xylo, peacefully asleep and looking the same as ever. Technically, Mario looked the same too, but for very different reasons.

With a huff, he started bashing his hands methodically against the indestructible barrier between the two of them.

The thuds stirred Xylo a bit, which had happened before, but not often. He blearily opened his eyes for a moment, mouthing,

"Mario?" before his eyelids fluttered closed.

"IDIOT!" Mario yelled back through the glass, feeling something warm and fond curl in his chest.

He ignored it in favour of kicking the glass as hard as he could, and took great pleasure in the slight cracks that spread along the metal framing above it.