Multifandom Oneshot Book

A Fragment Of Time

Time slowed to a crawl as Nate watched as the news report detailed the plane crash. He knew Matt had been on that plane, on the way back from Ohio from seeing his family. They said it was a solar flare that had knocked out the GPS and screwed with things but he didn't care. Matthew was gone.

He looked at their wedding photo on the wall, their smiling faces, a fragment of time.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

He couldn't keep doing this. Scorch knew in his gut that Coldhearted was his friend but if he kept killing, kept freezing civilians, he'd be forced to take more permanent measures. It tore him up inside to see Will like this, to see eyes that he remembered to be full of joy so empty. He looked in the mirror and removed his mask, his own eyes lacked their usual flame, he was exhausted and chilled to the bone after their fight today. He still clung to the memories of the good days, though, to stop his growing madness from consuming him. Still clung to that fragment of time.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Matt ran. He ran as fast and as far as he could, well aware that the monster was gaining on him. This wasn't the Nate he knew. This was a demon of shadows. He could still feel the blood spilling from his wounds, he knew he was leaving a trail but still he ran. He could hear the demon's laughs getting closer. Once that laughter was kind, once it was pure, but now it was filled with bloodlust. The demon caught him. Matt felt himself get tackled to the ground and turned onto his back. Saw the glinting steel blade get closer to his face. Saw his face reflected in the blade, twisted in fear in that last little fragment of time.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

He was alone. He'd been alone for years, wandering this wasteland called Monster Gulch. He couldn't afford to trust anyone, they'd all tried to kill him. He'd had to kill his own family. He couldn't find his friends anywhere, they were probably dead. Just like Josh. He still remembered that day, even five years later. He remembered their souls fusing, he remembered feeling whole, his soul and that of his best friend working as one to defeat the one who'd killed Josh. He hadn't had the dreams since that day; the dreams of other worlds, other lives. They'd died with his red oni. But that memory of fighting alongside him for that final time was the most precious thing he owned. That one brief fragment of time.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

From the moment you're born to the moment you die,
The gifts you most treasure are fragments of time.