saving june.

"and you, wh—wh—w—damn!—what the hell is up with you?" slurred, alcohol and fatigue. toby rears his elbow back into xeno's ribs, but there isn't any force behind it.

why am i here ? she doesn't miss this . recoils at the quiet stillness of an empty stage . it smells like lemon polish . an attempt to disguise dusty velvet and old wood . it’s familiar . her mind convinces her she can smell the crushed rosin and hairspray . stale copper lingering in the air too .

but this isn't the ballet theatre . it’s just an empty stage . and yelena's only here because alcohol coaxed her through the front door . at least that’s what she thinks . it convinces her she longs for a place that no longer exists . did it ever exist ? sometimes she wonders .

the moment is fleeting . thankfully so . too aware of her surroundings , she catches her . the girl sitting alone . she's distant , makes yelena wonder just how long she'd been here like this .

but does she see her ? it doesn’t seem like it . yelena shifts , assessing her . not a threat , just lost . physically she’s here . mentally she’s somewhere else . she approaches her nonetheless . yelena’s features soften , uncharacteristically so , when she asks if she’s real .

Eridu was essentially flattened by a natural disaster (probably a catastrophic earthquake as that seems to fit better with what we know happened). Just like in canon (or what’s canon to this blog, anyway), Wise and Belle get separated from their adopted mom, Carole Arna, in the chaos. Wise ends up leading them both (and then carrying Belle) to safety before they both succumb to their injuries and the trauma. The two siblings are rescued and Carole is listed as missing, but Belle and Wise believe she is alive and are searching for her (hence the hacking interest). Wise takes over the raising of both of them and they’ve mostly been on their own ever since, finally coming to settle at Random Play.

ㅤㅤshe's not the least bit surprised when she finds @malka-lisitsa in her living room, making herself at home on the couch. ❛❛ i see you got my text, ❜❜ she observes as a greeting, tone light and teasing. ❛❛ you ready for movie night? oh and also for your cake and present, of course. ❜❜

ㅤㅤwhile likely true, the words still bring her some sadness. elijah is certainly her favored mikaelson, the one she feels most at ease around. despite that, she can't help but feel as though she would be wasting his time if she ever contacted him outside of when necessary. he simply has an air of importance about him that is oddly both comforting and intimidating in equal measure, leaving her rather unsure of her standing with him. what true interest could he have in her life and what she's up to? she pulls at the hems of her sleeves almost nervously, dark gaze focused on him. ❝ can i talk to you for other reasons, elijah? ❞ she ventures, her tone geninuely inquisitive rather than accusatory. ❝ you always seem like you have enough on your plate already without me contacting you about something meaningless. ❞

For those of you who don't know, the 28th century leader of the Suliban Cabal, dubbed 'Future Guy' in fanon, and 'Shadow Boy' by me, had Enterprise been renewed and had they pursued the Temporal Cold War arc (seasons 1 and the first half of 2) instead of the Xindi War arc (the second half of season 2, season 3, and season 4), was going to be revealed to be none other than Archer himself. This has been confirmed by Brannon Braga.

What led Jon to become Shadow!Archer is that the Enterprise went down with all hands and he alone survived. He blames himself, and is all but debilitated by grief. He has lain in wait for centuries, undying, and causes the Temporal Cold War to rewrite that history.

Having sat around and watched the prime timeline (the timeline comprising of the Original Series, the Next Generation / Deep Space 9, Voyager, and culminating in the version of the 31st century Daniels is from), he is incredibly disappointed how things played out, and will stop at nothing to make a better future.

Given the Trek universe and the many reboots / soft reboots / things changing behind the scenes without an in-universe explanation, I reckon that Shadow!Archer has reset the timeline at least three times but it could be a lot more.

The first reset results in the timeline consisting of Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Picard, and the 'bad future' 32nd century Archer and Daniels go to in "Shockwave."

The second reset results in the AOS timeline.

The third reset results in the 'final' timeline or the 'best' timeline, a timeline where the Xindi War doesn't happen, the Kelvin survives, the Burn doesn't happen, Captain Pike either lives (AOS) or is disabled but lives well (TOS / DIS / SNW), there's no Dominion War, and Voyager doesn't get stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

As a result, Shadow!Jon is ancient, jaded, and ruthless. He does not consider himself to be Captain Jonathan Archer, maintaining that Captain Archer died on the Enterprise with his crew. Though he loves deeply, fiercely, and all-consumingly, he could not care less about time, the universe, or himself. He is incredibly angry, eaten alive by guilt, and feels that what's happened is his fault to the point that he will remake time to his own design. He has nothing to lose, and he both doesn't care at all and cares so much to the point it destroys him. His best ending, he knows, is getting erased from history so that normal!Jon can live his life as he always should have, so if things don't work out this time, that's alright.

He's patient.

ㅤㅤhis eyes roll, irritation bubbling up in him. ❛ mikael hated me simply for being born what i am; i repaid katerina for ruining what would have freed me from nearly five centuries of being cursed, and signing me up for five hundred more years of the same. ❜ there's no sympathy in his voice, the punishment fitting the crime in his mind. ❛ if i am some boogeyman comparable to mikael in katerina's mind, that is of her own making. my father actually ruthless hunted me and my siblings for centuries, whereas, truth be told, i barely searched for her. she seems to believe i was haunting her every footstep, when in reality, she was running from her own imagination. ❜ his shoulder lifts in a careless shrug. ❛ i settled the score by wiping out her little family - i was not about to waste five centuries following her around. ❜ he chuckles. ❛ i know it is difficult for the vain little creature to consider this concept, but i do not feel strongly about her; certainly not to the level of hate, nor seeing her as a sort of reflection of myself. ❜ his lips curl into a smirk, dark ocean gaze taking on an arrogant hue. ❛ though i must say, i do feel a tad flattered at the obsession the legendary katherine pierce clearly has with me. ❜