#fff104

A/N: Here’s my entry for this week’s @flashfictionfridayofficial​ prompt. I’ve been in a Doom Patrol mood lately, so here’s chaos from a disaster crew from my WIP, Blasted Scorn. Featuring pirates and knights reluctantly working together and tired dread pirate, who didn’t sign up for this bs. Plenty of friction going and they have no idea on what to do about it.

Word Count: 908

TW: None

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Across the steady seas, a large pirate ship sails across the waves. On the wooden walls of the corridors, arguments are getting thrown as the voices raise high with anger and panic. More on panic actually.

For Flash Fiction Friday 104 - Stronger Together Inspired by Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets, but also not too far from Thunderbirds either, and possibly applicable to a bunch of others.

440 words.

@flashfictionfridayofficial

“You can’t keep doing this. You have to trust us.”

“I do trust you. I just . . .”

“You think that if you take on every mission yourself, then you won’t have to put us in danger. What you’re forgetting is that we always have your back. One of us, or all of us will always run right on in there after you to save your sorry behind when you end up in trouble.”

“Good to know you have so much faith in my ability to get out of trouble on my own.”

“Let’s face it, without us you’d be dead ten times over.”

“And where would you guys be without me?”

“Exactly my point! You’re our leader, our commander. We need you. I need you. I can’t lead the way you do. We follow you because –“

“Because it’s what you’re trained to do, what you’re ordered to do.”

“Well, yeah. But we follow you because we trust you. We put our lives in your hands because we trust the decisions you make. That doesn’t mean I won’t question your decisions from time to time – someone’s gotta keep you on your toes, put you straight when you get tunnel vision, pull you up when you wanna go all sacrificial hero on us. Like today.”

“I saw an opportunity and I took it. And I’d do the same again if it meant saving the rest of you from needing to put your lives on the line.”

“We know what we signed up for. Every one of us knows the stakes here.”

“I know. It’s just that . . . like you said, your lives are in my hands. I’m responsible for bringing you all home safe from every mission.”

“And what would happen if we lost our commander on a mission because he was too scared of losing us to send in the right person for the job?”

The question pulled the commander up short for a moment before his second continued.

“There’s a reason we were created as a team of five. Each with specific and specialised skills, talents and knowledge, five specialised vehicles each with their own unique capabilities, but at our greatest strength when we combine as one. We are stronger together. Five acting as one.”

(Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial​‘s prompt: FFF104. TW for suicide mention. This is unrelated to any of my other pieces but because this prompt reminded me of the Singapore COVID... rallying... thing... I decided to write something more local to me. Anyway, enjoy!)

Don’t play play. My mother said. Sekali the hantu come for you.

             If only my mother could see me now.

             I draw upon the water, breathing in the humidity as the sky prepares for the storm to come. The field behind the old campsite is full of grass overgrown and old glowsticks long since extinguished. The banana trees and the palms sway in the breeze, rustling gently in the wind. I look down the concrete steps. Then, wrapping my fists in the threads of air, I begin to go down into the field.

             The smell of frangipani hits almost as soon as I step fully onto the grass. I prepare.

             The pontianak herself doesn’t look different from the other beings of the spirit realm that I’ve encountered. Her long black hair reminds me a bit of the lang suir, and I am reminded of the kuntilanak that I once met while visiting the Changi barracks. She looks pale, although I’m not sure how much of that is my expectation and how much of that is the dim glow of the lamplights.

             She speaks in a rasping quiet voice. “Why you come here, girl?”

           I step back, bowing my head slightly. “To thank you. And to ask for a favour.”

             I internally cringe at my own accent. The pontianak looks at me.

             “What you want?”

           I prepare myself. “They said you gave them the answers to the exam. I’m here to thank you for that.”

           The pontianak stares at me. I take a deep breath.

             “Help me settle the ghosts from the old Raffles Institution campus.”

           The pontianak says something in Malay, but she doesn’t look like she’s going to attack me. I continue.

           “There’s been a…disjoint. And several new deaths on top of that. But anyway. The new deaths along with the shift have made the new school’s energy go senget.” I gesture, trying to gather my thoughts. “I need your help and I want to ask if you’re willing to share this place with the younger ghosts.”

             The pontianak speaks again, in that raspy, quiet tone. “Why you ask me, girl? I’ve heard… of you.”

           “You’re old enough that you have a connection to the land.” I say. “The newer ghosts—they don’t have a land. And they’re young. Teenagers. You used to be a mother.”

             I brace myself, and in fact, her face does twist at that. But still, she does not attack.

             I continue, lowering my voice in an attempt to soothe her. “The ghosts are young. Please just sayang them until they get used to being dead.”

           “Mati?” She asks me.

           I close my eyes, pressing back and reminding myself that I could not have done anything for the living.

             “Suicide, Auntie.” I say quietly. “One of them was my friend.”

           The pontianak steps forward, and I tense, feeling the cloying smell of frangipani around me. But all she does is hold me.

             “Sayang sayang.” She croons softly. She murmurs something in Malay to me. In spite of myself, I relax and hold her, feeling her dress bunch beneath my fingers.

             “I help you.” She says, after she lets me go. “You so young, sayang. My daughter is older than you.”

             I force myself to step away, forcing myself to return to my place as an intermediary “Terima kasih, Auntie.”

             “No need.” She says, reaching one hand out to hold mine. “Child.”

Alright, I know I’m late with my entry but giving this a shot. I’ve never done this before but I hope I do and get better at writing.

@flashfictionfridayofficial​ prompt - Stronger Together

The lunch table was loud with gossip and laughter. Querell watched as the school’s most popular group of girls and boys bantered among themselves poking at the food halfheartedly while the rest of the cafeteria stole glances at them. Some wished to be a part of this ‘cool’ group, others despised them, some didn’t want anything to do with them whereas some others wanted to be them. Be her. For now she was part of the gang as well. Sitting, laughing and eating next to them.

Up until a few days ago, Querell belonged to the lot from the other end, who wondered what it was like to be a part of this gang. She had watched them from afar, eating her lunch in silence, alone. And then, her life changed overnight.

She made news when she jumped into the pool that day, rescuing her classmate from drowning. The girl she hauled out of the water happened to be the school's sweetheart, Chu. Querell received praises from the entire school and just like that, her popularity rose. The same girl who had been treated as invisible throughout her entire school life was now one of the popular kids. Her classmates no longer mocked her or looked down on her. No more whispers in the hallway about the ‘weird girl who talked to herself’. She had random strangers coming up to her now, warming up to her like they’ve been friends all along.

Querell liked the sudden attention. She hadn’t longed for it but had always been curious. She was now enjoying the perks of her new life, everything she never knew even existed in her old lonely, dull life. 

‘So you’re coming right?’ A girl with pretty strawberry blonde curls spoke. Her big, blue impatient eyes were fixed on Querell’s. 

Querell had forgotten her name again. She quietly nodded, hoping it wasn’t something too important worth remembering. If it was, well Chu would speak about it the whole day and catch her up to date. Nothing to worry too much about.

The bell rang, the warning before the end of the lunch break. Everyone around the table groaned as they collected their half empty plates and dragged their feet. Querell took her time emptying the bottle of water in her hand. She watched as they made their way to the exit.

‘Is she the one?’

Querell nodded lightly.

‘Something different this time?’ 

Querell nodded again. She looked outside the window to avoid being caught.

‘I don’t want to wet my clothes again please,’ She spoke softly to herself.

‘Got it,’

She could sense a grin with the reply. She couldn’t help but grin either. At the end of the exit, she saw Chu waving to her, beckoning her to catch up. Querell smiled back, motioning that she’d join them in a minute.

She couldn’t help but be amused at how fast Chu’s behavior towards her had changed. In middle school, Chu bullied Querell to complete her assignments and spread about rumors, making sure Querell never had friends. Fast forward to now, she acted as if all that never happened, addressing her as Que, warming up to her.

Querell closed her eyes as she remembered the day at the pool. Those few extra minutes where she watched Chu struggle to reach the surface and catch her breath. Querell had waited, savoring the suffering, imprinting the memory onto her brain. 

And next to Chu was the strawberry blonde, who had filled Querell’s locker with rats as a ‘prank’ last year. Of course, now she feigned ignorance as well.

‘I told you, didn’t I?’ Querell grabbed her plate and dumped the waste into the trash. ‘We’re stronger together,’

inspired by the turtles ‘happy together’

imagine you and i, i try to dream about you every night, i cannot lie but it’s not alright to cry we’re stronger together

if i should see you there, looking divine i remember how you let me down, i lost my mind i’d try to find it but when i’m sad i rhyme we’d be stronger together

please don’t say you’re leaving me here alone for all my life

please don’t step down from your golden throne for all my life

me and you and you and me it was never just us two, there was three but Devils they’re very rarely seen we’d be stronger together

i had smoke filled lungs, a violent cough a thousand thoughts inside a skull, told to a moth you’d turn them out, now do you see we’re stronger together.

i can’t see me loving nobody but you for all my life

Another @flashfictionfridayofficial -inspired fic [ #FFF 104 Stronger Together ] that I matched up with a @stb-bingo square [ Avengers Movie Night] that I’ve kinda-sorta taken a dark turn with.

Fandom: MCU/Marvel — Rating: General — Pairing: None (Tony & Steve) — 207 words

They were stronger together; Tony Stark knew this. Their raid on Strucker’s base was the latest example, even if the Maximoff twins had thrown a wrench into the operation. But Tony also knew that someday, as strong as they were, The Avengers wouldn’t be enough.

The team could take on homegrown bad guys (normal and enhanced) all day long -- and probably would, as, it seemed there were more every time they turned around -- but the mere existence of Thor and his damned brother Loki was proof that there were other beings out there just as aggressive and power-hungry as humans, but more powerful.

The vision he’d had in Strucker’s lab played through Tony’s head every night like a damned 3D movie with Sensurround. A movie that he couldn’t rewind and couldn’t turn off. He was on a cold empty world, surrounded by the flying leviathans they’d fought in New York. His friends -- and yes, he considered them friends after all they’d been through -- dead or dying as he watched helplessly. Steve’s accusing words: “You could have saved us. Why didn’t you do more?”