[Winter Contest Entry 2021] Fates Tied
2
xninebreaker
FAKKU Writer
Fates Tied
“So you’re back.”
“Yeah, I’m back.”
There was a long pause that permeated the white void the two of us found ourselves seated on the floor in. The weight of the words were heavy enough to crush both of us.
He was the first to speak again. “Why? Why can’t we be together? I just want to keep my promise." His face contorted as he whispered, pain and helplessness coating every word he spoke.
“That’s how it works. That’s how Fate works, Peter.”
“Screw Fate!” He screamed, slamming his fist into the ground. The tears streaming from his face was a sight I could never get used to no matter how many times I’d seen it. “I didn’t sign up for this. She didn’t sign up for this. Can’t you do something about this, Than?!”
“You ask this every time. I’m already doing everything I can to help you two. You know that.”
“I—I know…” He stammered, realizing the difference in volume and control in both of our voices. “I’m sorry, Than. I know you’re doing everything you can as well.”
“No, I’m sorry I can’t help you two more.” Though I was calm, I was filled with regret. Just how many times had I seen both Peter and Vy like this? “So what will you do?”
Yet another silence, heavier than the last, permeated the air. I knew what he was going to say, and both of us knew it, but we also knew what it meant.
“Do it. Send me back, Than.” His words were paradoxically both resolute and filled with anxiety and fear.
“Alright.” I simply nodded as I looked at him with sadness knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop him. “You know how it goes. You won’t remember anything until you are back here. Good luck.”
“Goodbye. And Than, take care of yourself, okay?”
And with those words, I blinked, and he was gone.
“You can’t do it, Peter.” I let out a sigh into the void. I’d long since cried all the tears I had left. “You and Vy both are just idiots.”
Left alone once again in the vast, endless whiteness, I laid down and fell into a deep slumber.
It is through the dreams of my sleep that I learn more. I learn about my role, about the world, and about Peter and Vy and their journey. The two of them were bound by something I eventually called Fate. Not once, or twice, but dozens upon dozens of times, I would watch over the two of them reincarnate and gravitate towards each other. Even if they were in different times, or places, and of course they were born in different bodies, they would find each other. It would never last for long though. Eventually the fabric that binds the two of them together rips apart violently.
Over and over the two of them take turns as they bear witness to each other’s deaths before they could ever fulfill a promise lost to time, and something I’d witnessed between the two of them when I was still living—the promise of their marriage. Though they have no recollection of such a promise when they are sent back, the two of them often bring it up once their souls reach me again.
The both of them are never sent together; likely a testament to the Fate of separation the both of them share. Peter usually doesn’t talk much, though he always wears his emotions on his sleeve. Vy tends to chat for quite a while about her experience, and though she tries to hide it, her emotions bleed into her words. Eventually, the both of them leave me, or rather I send them back, and the cycle repeats once more.
The first few times were anguishing. I remember I bawled my eyes out watching the two of them being unfairly separated by things beyond their control. Watching the two of them chipped at my soul. With every attempt, I became more accepting of the circumstances. I stopped trying to escape the void, and I stopped crying for the only two people that visited me. I began to think that maybe that’s just the way things were. And maybe I still do.
“Than. Are you alive? Hey, wake up!” A voice of a woman called out to me, shaking my body and violently waking me from my sleep.
“Alright, I hear you Vy. I’m awake. I see you are still incredibly rough.” Usually I wake up before they arrive as I’m watching over the two of them while sleeping so I know if they are coming, but occasionally this happens as well.
“Good.” She waited for me to sit upright before sitting herself in front of me. “You look good today. Did you get a haircut?”
“It’s probably been hundreds of years without a change. I’m amazed that you can even manage that kind of compliment.”
“Well, I was down there looking for Peter for the last 30 or so. I haven’t seen you in a while okay?” She laughed as she gave me a slap on the shoulder.
The two of us made small talk, or rather had a really long talk as she spoke about her new life. Every time she spoke about Peter, she seemed to pause and give it a thought before continuing though—it was an obvious tick of hers.
“I’m sorry you died that way. Peter was trying so hard to help you.”
It was a line I had said at least a few times by now, but she paused to give it thought all the same.
“Sometimes, it’s just like that, Than. We can’t do anything about it.” She wore a solemn look as she spoke. It felt like she was looking far, far away from me when she spoke those words.
“Then, why don’t—”
“But, we have to keep trying. We can’t give up, Than.” Her voice was firm and resolute, and her gaze once again locked into my eyes with a deadly seriousness.
Just like Peter, the two of them had the same look. Even after dozens and hundreds of attempts, watching and witnessing each other being pulled away, they still always come back with the same look in their eye. I wondered how they could do it because I could never.
“I’m sorry. I know.” I apologized. She already knew what I was going to suggest, and I knew I was wrong for it.
“No, it’s okay, Than. You’re the one working the hardest.” Her voice tinged with a sadness and sympathy that caught me off guard.
Before I could respond, I was tackled in an embrace and she continued talking. “All of this watching, you’re watching the both of us all alone. We selfishly come back and ask you two give us another chance. And we can’t give you anything back. If anything, we’re the ones that are sorry.”
I wanted to deny what she was saying. I wanted to tell her that they were the ones that were under the most pain, and that I was the one that had long given up. I wanted to speak, but the only thing that would come out was a weak sniffle. Tears began rolling down my cheeks—tears that I thought were long gone.
I sat in her embrace for a long time before I could finally say something. “I’m fine now.” I gently pushed her away.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry for worrying you, Vy.”
She gave me a gentle smile. “Thank Peter. You know he’s bad at this kind of thing.”
I gave her a thoroughly confused look. “What do you mean? How could he remember? How could he tell you?”
“He said he saw you in a dream. He didn’t know who you were while down there, but he told me it was important. Of course I didn’t know either, but it all made sense once I got back here.”
I was speechless. I wasn’t even aware that such a thing was possible. So I simply sat in silence trying to pie it together.
She continued, “We haven’t forgotten you, Than. We never did and we never will.”
Tears began to form as the two of us sat in silence once more. Then she grabbed my cheeks with both of her hands and squeezed my face. “Did you really think we’d forgotten about you? It’s going to take a lot more than this to stop our friendship!”
Her enthusiasm and optimism was absolutely impossible. It was unthinkable. I laughed out loud breaking free from her grasp. It was the first time I’d laughed since I was sent to this place. She eventually joined in as the two of us went into a laughing-crying fit for a while.
Once we’d calmed down, she looked at me again with the same resolute eyes from before. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” And this time, I’d meant it.
“Good.” She gave me a reassured smile. “So…”
“I know. Let me guess, you want to be sent back?”
“Ah, you know me so well!” She gave me another rough slam on the shoulder.
“Okay, okay. Don’t break my bones.”
“You need to eat more.”
“I’m going to ignore you. Anyways, you know the drill right? You won’t remember anything †˜till you get back here.” I could see her pout a bit.
“I know.”
“Okay. Good luck, Vy.”
“See you later, Than.”
“You two are idiots, you know that?”
“We know!” She gave me the brightest smile before she vanished in the blink of an eye.
I didn’t know if I still believed that they would ever fulfill their promise, but I did know they wouldn’t stop until they did. And I wouldn’t stop supporting them until they did either. Fate be damned, we would fight for as long as it took.
“So you’re back.”
“Yeah, I’m back.”
There was a long pause that permeated the white void the two of us found ourselves seated on the floor in. The weight of the words were heavy enough to crush both of us.
He was the first to speak again. “Why? Why can’t we be together? I just want to keep my promise." His face contorted as he whispered, pain and helplessness coating every word he spoke.
“That’s how it works. That’s how Fate works, Peter.”
“Screw Fate!” He screamed, slamming his fist into the ground. The tears streaming from his face was a sight I could never get used to no matter how many times I’d seen it. “I didn’t sign up for this. She didn’t sign up for this. Can’t you do something about this, Than?!”
“You ask this every time. I’m already doing everything I can to help you two. You know that.”
“I—I know…” He stammered, realizing the difference in volume and control in both of our voices. “I’m sorry, Than. I know you’re doing everything you can as well.”
“No, I’m sorry I can’t help you two more.” Though I was calm, I was filled with regret. Just how many times had I seen both Peter and Vy like this? “So what will you do?”
Yet another silence, heavier than the last, permeated the air. I knew what he was going to say, and both of us knew it, but we also knew what it meant.
“Do it. Send me back, Than.” His words were paradoxically both resolute and filled with anxiety and fear.
“Alright.” I simply nodded as I looked at him with sadness knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop him. “You know how it goes. You won’t remember anything until you are back here. Good luck.”
“Goodbye. And Than, take care of yourself, okay?”
And with those words, I blinked, and he was gone.
“You can’t do it, Peter.” I let out a sigh into the void. I’d long since cried all the tears I had left. “You and Vy both are just idiots.”
Left alone once again in the vast, endless whiteness, I laid down and fell into a deep slumber.
It is through the dreams of my sleep that I learn more. I learn about my role, about the world, and about Peter and Vy and their journey. The two of them were bound by something I eventually called Fate. Not once, or twice, but dozens upon dozens of times, I would watch over the two of them reincarnate and gravitate towards each other. Even if they were in different times, or places, and of course they were born in different bodies, they would find each other. It would never last for long though. Eventually the fabric that binds the two of them together rips apart violently.
Over and over the two of them take turns as they bear witness to each other’s deaths before they could ever fulfill a promise lost to time, and something I’d witnessed between the two of them when I was still living—the promise of their marriage. Though they have no recollection of such a promise when they are sent back, the two of them often bring it up once their souls reach me again.
The both of them are never sent together; likely a testament to the Fate of separation the both of them share. Peter usually doesn’t talk much, though he always wears his emotions on his sleeve. Vy tends to chat for quite a while about her experience, and though she tries to hide it, her emotions bleed into her words. Eventually, the both of them leave me, or rather I send them back, and the cycle repeats once more.
The first few times were anguishing. I remember I bawled my eyes out watching the two of them being unfairly separated by things beyond their control. Watching the two of them chipped at my soul. With every attempt, I became more accepting of the circumstances. I stopped trying to escape the void, and I stopped crying for the only two people that visited me. I began to think that maybe that’s just the way things were. And maybe I still do.
“Than. Are you alive? Hey, wake up!” A voice of a woman called out to me, shaking my body and violently waking me from my sleep.
“Alright, I hear you Vy. I’m awake. I see you are still incredibly rough.” Usually I wake up before they arrive as I’m watching over the two of them while sleeping so I know if they are coming, but occasionally this happens as well.
“Good.” She waited for me to sit upright before sitting herself in front of me. “You look good today. Did you get a haircut?”
“It’s probably been hundreds of years without a change. I’m amazed that you can even manage that kind of compliment.”
“Well, I was down there looking for Peter for the last 30 or so. I haven’t seen you in a while okay?” She laughed as she gave me a slap on the shoulder.
The two of us made small talk, or rather had a really long talk as she spoke about her new life. Every time she spoke about Peter, she seemed to pause and give it a thought before continuing though—it was an obvious tick of hers.
“I’m sorry you died that way. Peter was trying so hard to help you.”
It was a line I had said at least a few times by now, but she paused to give it thought all the same.
“Sometimes, it’s just like that, Than. We can’t do anything about it.” She wore a solemn look as she spoke. It felt like she was looking far, far away from me when she spoke those words.
“Then, why don’t—”
“But, we have to keep trying. We can’t give up, Than.” Her voice was firm and resolute, and her gaze once again locked into my eyes with a deadly seriousness.
Just like Peter, the two of them had the same look. Even after dozens and hundreds of attempts, watching and witnessing each other being pulled away, they still always come back with the same look in their eye. I wondered how they could do it because I could never.
“I’m sorry. I know.” I apologized. She already knew what I was going to suggest, and I knew I was wrong for it.
“No, it’s okay, Than. You’re the one working the hardest.” Her voice tinged with a sadness and sympathy that caught me off guard.
Before I could respond, I was tackled in an embrace and she continued talking. “All of this watching, you’re watching the both of us all alone. We selfishly come back and ask you two give us another chance. And we can’t give you anything back. If anything, we’re the ones that are sorry.”
I wanted to deny what she was saying. I wanted to tell her that they were the ones that were under the most pain, and that I was the one that had long given up. I wanted to speak, but the only thing that would come out was a weak sniffle. Tears began rolling down my cheeks—tears that I thought were long gone.
I sat in her embrace for a long time before I could finally say something. “I’m fine now.” I gently pushed her away.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry for worrying you, Vy.”
She gave me a gentle smile. “Thank Peter. You know he’s bad at this kind of thing.”
I gave her a thoroughly confused look. “What do you mean? How could he remember? How could he tell you?”
“He said he saw you in a dream. He didn’t know who you were while down there, but he told me it was important. Of course I didn’t know either, but it all made sense once I got back here.”
I was speechless. I wasn’t even aware that such a thing was possible. So I simply sat in silence trying to pie it together.
She continued, “We haven’t forgotten you, Than. We never did and we never will.”
Tears began to form as the two of us sat in silence once more. Then she grabbed my cheeks with both of her hands and squeezed my face. “Did you really think we’d forgotten about you? It’s going to take a lot more than this to stop our friendship!”
Her enthusiasm and optimism was absolutely impossible. It was unthinkable. I laughed out loud breaking free from her grasp. It was the first time I’d laughed since I was sent to this place. She eventually joined in as the two of us went into a laughing-crying fit for a while.
Once we’d calmed down, she looked at me again with the same resolute eyes from before. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” And this time, I’d meant it.
“Good.” She gave me a reassured smile. “So…”
“I know. Let me guess, you want to be sent back?”
“Ah, you know me so well!” She gave me another rough slam on the shoulder.
“Okay, okay. Don’t break my bones.”
“You need to eat more.”
“I’m going to ignore you. Anyways, you know the drill right? You won’t remember anything †˜till you get back here.” I could see her pout a bit.
“I know.”
“Okay. Good luck, Vy.”
“See you later, Than.”
“You two are idiots, you know that?”
“We know!” She gave me the brightest smile before she vanished in the blink of an eye.
I didn’t know if I still believed that they would ever fulfill their promise, but I did know they wouldn’t stop until they did. And I wouldn’t stop supporting them until they did either. Fate be damned, we would fight for as long as it took.
2
Yanker
I read hentai for plot
I'm a bit confused by what's happened in this story. I understand Peter and Vy are recurring characters from your previous works? And Than, the narrator is some godlike entity?
A great chunk of the piece seemed to just be the narrator's musings on how Peter and Vy were destined to be star-crossed lovers. This sheds some much needed context on the situation but could be shown better rather than exposited. Also, the story seems to just be about Than sending Peter and Vy back in time to keep trying to reach their happy ending. I guess it serves its purpose as a vignette of sorts.
There's also a lack of description and dialogue tags which makes it hard for me to picture what's happened, though most of the action is in the dialogue. There is a complication (Peter and Vy) but no resolution; looking at the main character (Than) from start to finish, it seems that nothing much has developed - at the start he curses Fate and at the end he hopes once more for the couple's happy ending, there's no real moment that causes him to have an epiphany or anything which makes the story seem kinda empty - like nothing really happened.
Just my two cents!!
A great chunk of the piece seemed to just be the narrator's musings on how Peter and Vy were destined to be star-crossed lovers. This sheds some much needed context on the situation but could be shown better rather than exposited. Also, the story seems to just be about Than sending Peter and Vy back in time to keep trying to reach their happy ending. I guess it serves its purpose as a vignette of sorts.
There's also a lack of description and dialogue tags which makes it hard for me to picture what's happened, though most of the action is in the dialogue. There is a complication (Peter and Vy) but no resolution; looking at the main character (Than) from start to finish, it seems that nothing much has developed - at the start he curses Fate and at the end he hopes once more for the couple's happy ending, there's no real moment that causes him to have an epiphany or anything which makes the story seem kinda empty - like nothing really happened.
Just my two cents!!
2
xninebreaker
FAKKU Writer
Yanker wrote...
Just my two cents!!All valid criticisms. I think there was a lot to be had looking back on the story. I intended to write it so that you didn't need any outside reading, but I think I could do much better.
The epiphany you are looking for happens with his talk with Vy, but happens quickly and resolved and moved on from even quicker. Ultimately, I intended it to be a story between 3 friends, and though separated, that Than is as important to Peter and Vy as each other.
Thanks for reading though. I've much to learn!
2
Xenon
FAKKU Writer
Ah, it was good to read another story about my favorite fated couple, not to diminish your others, of course.
I enjoyed it, it shows an interesting perspective on their tragic relationship, and introduces a new element through this character, Than, a strange being with the powers of time-transportation, or perhaps reality-transportation or plane-transportation, or all of the above. I kind of imagine them as this floating cosmic human entity that just exists to lie there and answer to Peter and Vy whenever they return, as a safeguard of sorts, but it's not really mentioned that they do much else besides sleep when they're not there, beyond serve in their "role," whatever that may be, but maybe they were mentioned in your earlier works and I am not remembering at this moment.
You carried the story well in narrating through their perspective, even if the story overall seemed limited from it. I would have appreciated some more written detail about the dreams they were having of Peter and Vy. Maybe it might have been an opportunity to show some Peter and Vy interactions within the story.
For some particular reason, Than seems to remind me of you, in the sense of them being a genuine supporter of their friend's wonderful relationship. They are like a guide or watchperson, but I suspect that, thinking of it as larger than it appears, they might lead Peter and Vy into their new existences, perhaps similar to an author that crafts the beautiful sentences of a story that they, by Fate's will, are destined to write of them again and again in new and interesting ways, even if their love may be unreconciled, because there is something tragically wonderful about that element that is too precious to relinquish. But, I will lay off the conjecture. Suffice it to say that this masochistic onlooker finds great joy in reading the next step in their journey(s).
A most interesting relationship, series, and entry, xnine. A pleasure to get to see a little more from it, this year too.
Happy New Year.
Here are the errors I picked up on:
I believe you mean "to."
Probably "piece."
I enjoyed it, it shows an interesting perspective on their tragic relationship, and introduces a new element through this character, Than, a strange being with the powers of time-transportation, or perhaps reality-transportation or plane-transportation, or all of the above. I kind of imagine them as this floating cosmic human entity that just exists to lie there and answer to Peter and Vy whenever they return, as a safeguard of sorts, but it's not really mentioned that they do much else besides sleep when they're not there, beyond serve in their "role," whatever that may be, but maybe they were mentioned in your earlier works and I am not remembering at this moment.
You carried the story well in narrating through their perspective, even if the story overall seemed limited from it. I would have appreciated some more written detail about the dreams they were having of Peter and Vy. Maybe it might have been an opportunity to show some Peter and Vy interactions within the story.
For some particular reason, Than seems to remind me of you, in the sense of them being a genuine supporter of their friend's wonderful relationship. They are like a guide or watchperson, but I suspect that, thinking of it as larger than it appears, they might lead Peter and Vy into their new existences, perhaps similar to an author that crafts the beautiful sentences of a story that they, by Fate's will, are destined to write of them again and again in new and interesting ways, even if their love may be unreconciled, because there is something tragically wonderful about that element that is too precious to relinquish. But, I will lay off the conjecture. Suffice it to say that this masochistic onlooker finds great joy in reading the next step in their journey(s).
A most interesting relationship, series, and entry, xnine. A pleasure to get to see a little more from it, this year too.
Happy New Year.
Here are the errors I picked up on:
xninebreaker wrote...
"We selfishly come back and ask you two give us another chance.”I believe you mean "to."
xninebreaker wrote...
So I simply sat in silence trying to pie it together.Probably "piece."
