ficlets: Apocalysts (multifandom)
See, sometimes when I do writing memes I actually write the prompted fic. A few of these have been slightly altered from their original comment forms.

Angel

Three things Lilah Morgan did after the world ended by the destruction of all dimensional walls (for lodessa).

1. Smirk. Hadn't she written that advisory memo to Murrow at least three separate times? Pass it on to Mystic, his secretary told him, annoyed and superior like only a division president's secretary can be towards an attorney. As if the buffoons in Mystic would know what to do about interdimensional collapse even if they could find her bullet-pointed warning in the depths of their swamping inbox. Vindication didn't undo the damage, but it was still nice.

2. Profit. Territorial conflicts were getting seriously juicy now that untold dimensions that had once been discrete were now occupying the same physical space. Property law's a bore, but perpetuity employment clauses take an awfully long time to run out.

3. She didn't say anything. She didn't do research or try to find a map, as if there were any left that could be of any use. She wasn't going to be... be a person who did that kind of thing. The past, present, future, and the entire infinite multiverse of every possibility and personality that had ever been were now mingling outside her doorstep. Lilah wasn't going to find him by looking for him.

She waited for Wes, and she counseled herself that that was all she could really ever do, for the rest of unending tedious time; she had waited and she would wait, and that would have to be enough.


Three things Illyria did when she ended the world herself (for sophia_helix).

1. Illyria, eternal king among gods, felt a great satisfaction.

2. Illyria, liberator of time from its own uncomely shackles, strode 'cross the world, and felt earth shudder beneath her weight.

3. Illyria, who refashioned all to please her, and razed unto ash that which she saw to be uncouth, lay down in charred soil the shell of Winifred Burkle. It was of no use anymore, the gesture a miniscule one, but from the ground she could hear Wesley's bones crying out in relief.


Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Veronica Mars crossover)

Three things the Connor-Reese Clan did after the world ended by CASSIDY BLOWING UP RUSSIA (for liminalliz).

1. Laugh. Sarah brought her hand up to her mouth, as if to slap the heretic sound, but it was a laugh all right, no matter how she tried to choke it back. 25 years -- the prime of her life, John's entire existence stretching back to conception, longer than her old roommate Ginger had survived -- she'd spent staving off the destruction of mankind by Skynet. And she'd won, now, they'd won, by losing before Skynet had a chance to defeat them.

She sat there, shaking, feeding her fist to her giggles while Cameron labored to make her apprehend the humorlessness of the situation. It was the funniest thing she'd witnessed in a quarter of a century.

2. Nod. Okay. So this was how it was going be. Derek herded Sarah and John along, running through their collective inventory of possible fallout shelters, knowing the metal bitch would come up with some place it was programmed to consider better, not caring.

Sarah caught his eye with a questioning glance as she allowed him to lead them under the city. "At least it's variety," he said, and heard in his voice a bitter edge of hope; mostly he just tried to keep them all walking, one foot down and then the other.

3. Between them John and Cameron had pieced together every shred of information that could be found about this psychovillain guy, about Russian retaliation, about the worldwide system of nuclear warheads that were now on triggerhairs to mutually assured destruction. They'd done what they could, but this wasn't John Connor's foretold destiny, and they weren't prepared. It would take time to act. It would take time just to recover.

She extended her hand out; he clasped it out of instinct, and a moment later realized what he'd done. Maybe if he trusted a little less blindly, paid more attention, he'd have been able to catch Dr. Casablancas on his rise instead of in his spectacular and horrendous wake.

"Vital signs good? Is my pulse normal?" His throat felt tight. "Fever, probably. Happens to me like clockwork every time an atomic bomb drops, damn me."

Her small hand, soft and warm, squeezed his gently, and she didn't say a thing.


BSGRPF (Terminator crossover)

Three things Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber did after the world ended by Skynet (for mylittlepwny).

1. It was weird — the thought was hovering just inside their mouths for the first day or so, but neither of them wanted to be the one to say it. Even if they'd had a moment to chat while outrunning the nuclear apocalypse and the AI-equipped cyborgs, it would have been awkward to just come out and say. It wasn't until Jamie tripped over a beam dislodged from the Vancouver Public Library and swore, actually swore with a real live "fuck" instead of the watered-down pseudo-epithet he'd been spitting for years now, that he lost self-consciousness enough to finally grumble, "Jesus, you'd think we'd be better at this."

"God," said Katee, trying to drape Jamie's ridiculously bulky arm over her slight shoulder, "I know, right? What the hell have we been doing with ourselves all this time?"

"Talk about wasted learning opportunities. The fleet would be so disappointed in its heroes."

"Argh," said Katee, and fell down under his weight.

2. Get drunk. The complicated British Columbia liquor licensing laws had been a common source of annoyance for the duration of their employment, so walking right into one of those LDB-regulated stores and taking anything off the shelf that looked good was pretty satisfying. About as satisfying as a thing could be at a time like this, anyway.

3. Like all good Battlestar employees, quote Electric Ladyland.

Jamie'd been invited to do Bard on the Beach this year, had thought he might reprise Prince Hal. At the end of the continent with only each other, alone on an island acrid with the smoke of destruction, they walked together to Vanier Park, where the tent now stood in tatters. The city skyline had gone dark, but the sky was an eerie permanent grey-pink. They sat and watched the world disintegrate. "A merman I should turn to be," said Jamie.

"Shakespeare career's over, James."

He would have said she didn't get it, but her hand was in his hand, and when they dipped their feet into the unnaturally warm waves, he would have had to admit there was more than one way to get a quote right.

1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience


How I Met Your Mother

Three things Barney did after the world ended by the sudden and irreversible death of every woman on the planet (for ali_wildgoose).

1. Hold a moment of silence.

"Hey, this is like that comi—"

"Be quiet, Theodore."

"No, I'm just saying, there's this comic I've been reading where all the men die, and —"

"Just stop, Ted."

"I don't see what's so —"

"Good God, man!" Barney railed, an artful quaver just behind his voice. "We are facing the extinction of the human race, the loss of our dear friends Robin and Lily, every woman with whom we have ever and would ever make love, and you want to talk about comic books at a time like this? Have a little respect."

Ted gaped at him, crushed, and Barney kept his gaze fixed at the ground, rocking, until he was alone again.

Not that Barney wasn't truly reeling from this too, but did that mean he had to talk about some lame graphic novel with Ted? No wonder he had never been the match of Barney in the ways of scoring chicks. Geez, what a geek.

2. Hook up with Marshall. Nothing had gone seriously wrong yet, but when the wolves came prowling, he seemed like the likeliest bet to keep Barney safe.

Also, it had to be said, Marshall was really an excellent hugger, and not so bad at all when it came to being gay.

3. His apartment had been designed to repel women like mosquitoes from citronella, so after XX extinction, there wasn't much to adjust to there. The toilet seat still sprang right back up, the porn display case was as classy as ever, and the wall-sized TV screen was as awesome as it'd always been.

"Just dumb stuff," he said airily when Ted asked him why on the way down the corridor. "The city's got to consolidate. It's such a pain being this far away from you guys. Dollar's looking iffy, I should probably save. Running out of room for my suits, I guess it was inevitable."

"Yeah, I get lonely too," Ted replied, and put another box of Barney's shrinking life into the back of the unadorned moving truck.




Avatar

Three things Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation did after the world ended by the sudden and irreversible death of the Avatar (for ali_wildgoose).

1. Cry. He cried a lot, actually, and he'd think of Aang telling him it was okay to do that -- okay to have believed his father, okay to mourn his uncle, okay even to cry after killing his little sister. Each time was more inadequate than the last, so he may as well have stopped, but less and less did that seem like it was up to him.

2. Punch Sokka in the face, hard.

Sokka said, "Go to hell," and Toph came out of nowhere to push Zuko halfway down the mountain and make his climb back up next to impossible, but when he got back to camp they still wouldn't fight him, still acted like he wasn't there at all, and in the end his firebending was useless and all he had left to do was cry more.

3. Send the news to his father.

The note said, in part, you will not win, and he burned it on the same pyre that had consumed Ozai. Ursa stood with him, holding him tight, and he shuddered into her embrace, his face dry and stinging from proximity to flame.


Princess Tutu

Three things Fakir did after the world ended by a pissed off narrator's revenge (for ali_wildgoose).

1. Down by the frozen water there's the skeletal ruin of a jetty where he used to sit, at peace with the lake and its life, part of the world they made new together, him and Ahiru. There used to be nests hidden in crannies of the dock, and he looks for new ones even though he knows it's stupid. Being stupid has never stopped him before.

He stands on the dull, solid ice. He listens, and he listens, but hears only his own ears straining. The sky is grey and continues to be grey, and he'll sit vigil 'til he's too cold to stay. He hasn't seen a bird for weeks, but that doesn't mean he won't today.

2. Marks a grave for Charon and Rachael, not far from where his parents rest. This is also stupid — there's nobody left to mourn them but him, and their bodies were lost in the fire — but Fakir's family had died in the most melodramatic way possible, so it feels almost like a spitefully pleasant duty. He's editing the unrelenting tragedy Drosselmeyer wants him to wallow in; he may have lost, but he'll be damned if he can't change this story to at least be sweet in the wake of such sorrow.

3. Things can't get any worse, he says to himself, and he's been promising himself that for weeks at this point, but his hand still trembles when he picks up the pen.