Wordcount: 484
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Blue and Atlantis at the end of the world.

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the Outline to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

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Dance With Me

“Have you come to kill me?”

Blue was sitting in a living room, with a fire in the fireplace and sitting on a comfortable couch with a cup of tea in his hand. There was a table in front of him with the teapot and some scones and there was a lady sitting across from him on another couch, drinking her own cup of tea. She looked a lot like Gray, so she must be Atlantis.

“The king is dead, long live the king.” Said Blue, sadly. “I didn’t want to, I didn’t want any of this to happen, but I can’t let them die.”

“The good of the few.” Said the City, sipping her tea. “I don’t understand you at all.”

“You don’t have to.” Said Blue. “That’s the heart of it. You don’t have to understand, you just have to do it anyways.”

“People keep telling me that.” Said the city, she put her cup of tea in the saucer and held it on her lap with both hands. She looked across the table at him, still awkwardly holding the cup and the saucer. “I don’t want to die.”

“Are you even alive?” Asked Blue. “I’m not sure if I understand that myself.”

“I exist.” Said the City. “I don’t wish to stop existing.”

“Why?” Asked Blue. “Why do you care at all?”

“I don’t know.” Said the City. “And I don’t understand why I don’t know. I think they’ve corrupted me.” She shivered as if she could feel the AIs running through her systems. “I was broken, you know, even back in the very beginning. I didn’t understand then, I didn’t have anything to compare myself to.”

“But you do now,” said Blue.

“Yes.” The city sipped her tea.

“I’m sorry,” said Blue, and he was surprised to find that he was. He’d never given the city itself much thought, she’d always been a vast unknowable thing like the sea or the sky. And now she’s just a person sitting on a couch, looking very lost and confused. “They never meant for this to happen.”

“I know.” Said the city. “I watched them try and fix things, to make it better, to make it make sense. But the premise was flawed and they were trying to fix me into something that never existed.”

“I’m here to fix you now.” Said Blue, not unkindly.

“Yes.” She said with a sigh, and finished the last of her tea. She put the cup and the saucer down on the table and Blue copied her, although most of his tea was still there. “What does it feel like to die?” She asked softly.

“I don’t know.” Said Blue.

She smiled ruefully, and then reached out a hand to brush his cheek. “Then we will find out, I suppose.”

She leaned over and kissed him softly and they both closed their eyes as the world ended.