𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 ━ five hargreeves

5│WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BEACH AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE, PT. 2

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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚ ▎❛ 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ❜ ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ
ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ
ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴇ, ᴘᴛ. 𝟸꒱


❝ YOU'RE RIGHT. I REALLY
DON'T LIKETHE END OF
THIS STORY AFTER ALL ❞

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iii. [ depression ]

The second Dolores landed back in her prison, the fight left her. She was so stupid. How could she have thought that she stood a chance against an all-powerful being? She had no power. Nothing she did mattered. She could run and run, only to end up in the same place. She could throw a fit, only to have everything magically restored. She could travel Voids, only to be put back in her place— literally.

She was stuck. Five wasn't coming for her. Lila wouldn't pull through. Maybe the little-girl-god was right: her body had ceased to exist on Earth. Maybe, with that disappearance, everyone's memories of her had been erased, too. Her life had turned out to be meaningless, vanished in the blink of two apathetic eyes. What was the point of defying that anymore?

The brunette went over to the lazy chair and sat down, slumping in it so her legs stretched out in front of her. Her eyes were glassy but no tears fell; she didn't think she'd cried since the first apocalypse. She was exhausted: tired of fighting, tired of surviving, tired of everything. It would be nice to just sit and watch TV. Even though she wasn't hungry, she sort of wished she had that half-eaten pizza from her neighboring Void.

There was a faint pop.

She turned her head and, miraculously, that same pizza had appeared on the side table next to her. Huh. With one hand, she reached for a slice while the other patted the chair cushions for the remote. In her real home, it had been forever getting lost in the cracks. She located it and pressed the power button, wondering idly if there was satellite in the Void. Apparently, there was. The screen flickered to life with brilliant HD color, better than the service her parents had had.

"Rhett! Rhett, oh, Rhett!" Scarlett cried, sobbing as she fled down the stairs after the man she loved. She stopped him just as he stepped out the door, grabbing onto his wrist with two hands. "If you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"

He turned to look at her, his eyes cold. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Rhett walked off into the misty evening, disappearing as the fog closed around him.

Dolores changed the channel.

"I've never asked a guy out before!" Rachel protested, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"You've never asked a guy out before?" Phoebe exclaimed, shocked.

"No. . . Have you?"

"Thousands of times!" the blonde declared. She paused as the words registered. "That doesn't make me sound too good, does it?"

"I don't even know how I would go about it."

Joey turned towards her to give his friend a demonstration. "Oh, oh— what I do is, uh, I look a woman up and down and I say. . . hey, how you doin'?" He gave her a suggestive smile.

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"This tape will self-destruct in five seconds."

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