Hard times: a fic series by yours truly

Seeing as i cant draw as much as i used too without getting too much pain, i have taken a bit of a liken to writting fiction sometimes!! 

so i will start posting small fics i write here and there!! this one is the first chapter on a series based around my characters from wild ride 2!! 

consider this ones canon until i manage to get to the publishing of that webcomic!! 

here is chapter 1: 

ALFREDO:

The afternoons inside the resistance quarters were usually boring, the cold air of the harsh winter outside the barriers of the citadel, Sky can still remember the first climate collapse being the direct opposite, winters with no snow at all, droughts, people almost on the brink of mass extinction

Now the second climate collapse is entirely frigid and cold, almost no one could survive outside the infrastructure that the rebel bases offered, to confront winter at its maximum rage would be to die alone and cold, as your mind would trick you into believing you were boiling, and with each layer of cloth you removed in the crazed caused by the temperatures, you would leave this earth on a slumber

Indeed, the inside was much safer, although there wasn't much to do most of the time, between missions and meetings that Sky has been invited too, for which he care not a god damn bit, to the stagnation of his own self serving mission, he was bored most days

His only source of entertainment somedays was watching his roomates, his younger (although at one point, the eldest) brother Luke, and the petty god that Luke just so happen to attract with his neurodivergent swag, Jax

Entertainment was too high of a word, as he felt more like the chaperone of the both of them, not like they couldn't handle themselves, but the lack of things to do always pushed Sky to do his favorite bit, third wheeling and annoying the living shit out of his brother’s friends (partners??? With luke one could never truly know)

But sometimes he liked to be alone, sometimes he enjoy spending the day looking at the ceiling, more importantly, he liked it when his roommates were not around because then he could finally address his best friend, the imaginary fragments he had pulled together and willed into sentience inside his mind by pure madness and a never breaking stubbornness

The name of this insane trick, although still a bit of a person, his name is Micke and he has been mega death for 800 years

He was sky’s best friend during his early adulthood, tho that had also taken place 800 years ago, you might wonder then, how fucking old is this sad man?, the answer is 36 and he has been 36 for many slutty depressing years

This afternoon it's also a wednesday, it's also around four, the winter sun is starting to fade away, and dinner should had started to be cooked two hours ago, today is one of those lonely days, which actually fills sky with more will to live than other ones

“What haven't we had this month?” he asks to the air, as the messy concrete colored apartment only haves him inside, he walked towards the kitchen which was not far from their sleeping beds “i know i shouldnt worry about variety, luke can always just eat a sandwich, and at the end he is the only one i care about but like… jax fucking dare to say that my cooking is boring” he rubbed his temple, were the early signs of his receding hearline were becoming a bit more clear, he covered them with his hair, baldness would be something he would worry about more if jax hadnt froze his aging, the only silverlining to the entire ordeal after 800 years

“No way had they say that” answered the red haired man, that lives inside sky’s imagination, he is imaginary sitting in the not imaginary counter, he looks the same age as sky, short curly hair brightly orange in hue (but slightly towards the red side of the spectrum), his build was regular, not fat, not thin, he wasn't particularly muscular, not that one could notice really as he was sporting a pastel yellow hoodie and some joggers, however if anyone but sky could see him, they would immediately point out that he is the exact opposite of the bulkier man

“I know right!” said sky, still annoyed by the remarks of the nineteen year old against his culinary skills “they know i cook blandly because their damn boyfriend hates anything with spices, like do they really think i'm such a fan of chicken nuggets??? I started to despise them after the first 200 years!”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Micke, pulling one knee up resting his body on it while the other swung on the counter “what recipe is your ratatouille heart desiring?”

“Jesus… it's been centuries since that movie hold any relevance” sky laughed a bit, then his face turned a bit bitter as he remember he saw the live action remake and how they manage to bastardize a damn rat “honestly, i'm glad you are here, who else would understand those obscure pop culture references if not me”

“Maybe luke would” said Micke, smiling, content with his joke having landed “tho i doubt he would be that happy to know i exist” he said sadly, in his imaginary sadness, Sky is not even sure how he managed this level of delusion, but he hardly could ever really know what Micke was really  thinking or where he was going to pull the conversation

He started this twisted habit after Micke’s death, the real physical Micke, he was not there for the funeral, he was not there for the prayers, nor for the incineration, he was not there in general, it wasn't that sky didn’t love the guy, in fact it was the opposite

Sky had never loved anyone as much as he had loved Micke, the love he felt was so strong it could had destroyed the two of them, so Sky decided in one of his most brilliantly stupid ideas that he needed to let Micke go and let Micke have a good and happy life, one where Sky’s emotions didnt get on the way

Micke lived a long life considering most things, he reached to his 60’s, tho the anxiety and trauma he had carried from his early adulthood started to take a toll, he passed away peacefully while sleeping, or at least that's what Luke told Sky, but Sky knew his brother to not be that much of a reliable narrator, so he asked Jax for the truth

Jax only said that it was indeed more peaceful than expected, tho they were not comfortable sharing more than that as they ‘didn't really paid attention at all’ to the conversation, so Sky decided to settle with that

The heart is a crazy thing, isn't it?, one can be ok with building a distance for years to come, one can be ok with staying away from the object of one’s affection if it means that person would be happy, but when that distance is final, when the other person is not really there anymore, and when the reality that they will never be there anymore sets, suddenly that distance is too much to bare

It started as a grief exercise, Sky just wanted to deal with his own hurt feelings in a way that was not intrusive to others, maybe he just wanted to apologize for not being there, then it became more of a comfort ritual, a compulsion even, he would talk to Micke whenever he felt lost in life, whenever he felt like the weight of the world was crushing him senseless

Then Micke started talking back, moving, expressing himself, it got to the point that Sky could actually physically see him there, but it was not the usual psychosis, he had seen psychosis before, this was still on his reach, he could still react normally to his environment, if someone where to interrupt him he would not have any problems reverting to the reality of the situation, it was a neat trick

And then Micke started to be conscious on his own, unreadable to sky, Micke would not go away sometimes, even if Sky wanted him to go away for a second, he would however just stay quiet, aware of his position as just a ‘figment of imagination’, tho he would have opinions, and he would have disagreements about it

In a way Micke was really a person there, one that Sky couldn't control, nor did he even wanted too, Micke had his own beliefs and ideas, and he was not scared to disagree with Sky, nor that anyone was scared to disagree with him anymore, he didn't had the wild temper he had in his youth, he was more or less a pathetic mess nowadays, at least to those close to him, and he had few that were

“Luke knows you exist” Sky said, trying to be reassuring but also a bit embarrassed that he was being honest “he is just not comfortable addressing you, or… our particular situation”

“Mhmm” said Micke, still just sulking on his knee, imaginary as it might be, the sadness was palpable “i miss him sometimes too, you know”

“He has a second lease on life Micke” Sky said matter of factly “an eternal lease might i add, but you know… he is doing his most to just get used to it”

“I miss when it was the three of us tho” Micke said “now i'm just a ghost, you two talk and joke and live, i only get to talk to you and be ignored at best by him” Micke switched legs, as the one hanging was getting numb “not that talking to you isn't fun, but you know… i can't help but feel nostalgic”

And Sky did know what he meant by that, sometimes he tho to himself that maybe this Micke was just his inner feelings and subconscious trying to speak to him, maybe he was just a personification of all his turmoil and feelings realized in the figure of the person Sky is most likely to listen too, but it was just one theory of many that he had landed in the many years this had been going

At the end Sky settled to make pasta, a mean alfredo broccoli one, he wanted to be extra with it, to knock the shit out of Jax and their petty comments, if Sky knew anything, it was how to be petty

His plans were going to work, even if it meant to sneak into the kitchen to steal a damn chicken for his dinner special, by god is he going to get a compliment today or he is going to make Jax choke on that pasta at least

The clock was marking five thirty in the afternoon, the sun already not visible inside the corridors that led to the kitchen, it would be closed sure, as the communal dinning room only served two meals a day, one at six in the morning (breakfast) and one at three in the afternoon (lunch), everyone was left to fend for themselves if they wanted dinner, as more resources were saved just with this two meal plan

The corridor to the kitchen was a long one, concrete as most of the building is, with a huge width as a lot of people needed the space once the dining hall was open, the usual rules, whoever gets there first gets the warmest meal

When the kitchen closed, so did the lights on that side of the building, they are rebels after all, they don't enjoy luxuries that often, and they have to cut corners all the time just to live by, cutting the lights of that entire section was a sensible decision if it meant keeping the heater on in the rest of the sections, the refrigerator running on a separate electrical line, one that consume way less energy

For security, the doors were completely sealed once the energy was retired from the kitchen, they could not be cracked open until the next day when the activities on the kitchen started, not even violent attacks could bend those doors, as the metal they were made with was incredibly difficult to bend or crack

There was also the extra danger that in order to walk the corridor and get to the kitchen you would need to endure the freezing temperatures on winter, not nearly as fatal as the outside, but they weren't an easy walk on the park if you ask most people

But Sky had never been most people, His ice powers and nature had always giving him an extra edge on cold scenarios, his skin didn't really detect the cold as much as it did the heat, when the planet was burning alive, when the seas were rising and the life was fading away by the power of the sun, then he was in trouble, this harsh winter was not that phasing to him

He was also responsible, he wore a thick jacket just to get one chicken out of that kitchen, in his mind his actions were not only justified, but should be encouraged, what adult wouldn't go through all this just to shut the mouth of an overly mean spirited teenager, the only question left for him was how he would bypass the sealed entrances

“Any ideas?” he asked

“You are derange my dude” said Micke, visibly freezing as he kept rubbing his hands together, sometimes a small flame would appear from the action

“About the door Micke, about the door!” he pointed with his hand “you could had stayed in the apartment, you know?” he said even tho he knows thats a lie

“Doing what??? Fucking tugging at my dick while waiting for you to return from this sicko mission???” Micke said, the cold being his worse enemy “come on dude, just do the pasta without chicken, i had taste it before, its going to shut Jax’s mouth for sure!”

“I cannot believe you are being such a coward right now” sky said preparing his posture, stretching his arms and warming his legs a little “you are supposed to be MY best friend, not Jax’s secret card to stop me from proving them wrong” he said in a playful tone “dissapointing, really, hope you enjoy being at the wrong side of history as i make a chicken alfredo so good the fucking planet explodes”

“Oh brother, you really think that chicken alfredo is going to impress them?” said Micke, exasperated and annoyed “THEY ARE CHINESE SKY!!! THEY KNOW MORE ABOUT SPICES THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW ABOUT PASTA AND CHEESE BRO!!! YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE!! LET'S GO HOME!!”

At that sky was shocked, he had completely forgot Jax was indeed chinese, and this was indeed not going to end up in victory, the damn brat would get away once more with making fun of him, something that was getting more and more frequent now

Sky kept warming his arms, retreating was not an option anymore as his ego was more than bruised now, it was stomped and spitted on, it was not only about the pasta now, it was about proving something else, proving he is indeed more petty than Jax and that if they wanted to tango, by god is he going to tango

“You cannot be real man….” said Micke, a look of incredulity in his face, not that he wasn't used to this, Sky had always proven to be Stubborn to the point of stupidity, not that he disliked that about him, he just really really wish he was not doing this right now “what’s your brilliant plan then? Are you going to cringe your way inside that kitchen?”

Sky only repeated what Micke said in a mocking voice, as he finished his warming up, maybe it would be a catastrophe, maybe it would be a success, but with the cold on his side, maybe he could create such a massive ice avalanche against the entrance, and maybe if he really believed on himself or whatever movies always used to say, he would end up victorious this afternoon

He breath in, slowly, he counted his usual ruminations

A one to the two, to the three, to the four, exhale, then a five to the six to the seven to the eight

He repeated those for eight times, the number that brought him comfort, after the ruminations were done, he had a smirk on his face, ready for the attack

Fate is a funny thing, some people are blessed with luck being intertwined with theirs, Sky on the other hand, he was cursed with whatever seemed to be more troublesome for him