Poison Garden
Series Metadata
Listing Series
-
Tags
Summary
Zanka’s breaths are short and wet– he’s not long for this world. Without his mask and with that gaping wound in his chest, anyone can see that he’s not going to survive more than another minute or so. Jabber sits beside him, giddy with anticipation as he waits for Zanka's inevitable death.
Jabber gets trapped in a time loop where Zanka dies, over and over. It doesn't bother him- he loves the look on Zanka's face as the light fades from his eyes- until he comes to a few realisations about himself, and then it really, really does.
Series
- Part 1 of Poison Garden
-
Tags
Summary
To the Cleaners, their bond doesn’t make sense— they don’t know, likely won’t ever know what they went through together, how Jabber initiated and Zanka, in an unhinged rush of stress, pain and desire, met him halfway.
They’re too similar not to have ended up like this, he thinks bleakly. Maybe it was bound to have happened, one way or another.
After the loop, Zanka recovers. But recovery is not a steady slope, and before the healing process can begin, all infected areas must be purged. The question is: once all the ugly bits are cut away, how much of Zanka really remains?
A continuation of Larkspur.
Series
- Part 2 of Poison Garden
-
Tags
Summary
“This,” Zanka snarls, thrusting his broken weapon in Jabber’s direction, “Is what happens when ya do things that’re best for me!”
Jabber is silent, staring at the crack in Assistaff as Zanka steps toward him with fury running hotly through his veins like fire. What he must be feeling, Zanka doesn’t know— he’s starting to find he doesn’t really care.
Jabber struggles to cope with the foreign weight of his own emotions. Zanka searches desperately for a way to save himself, but there's only so much his heart can take before he succumbs to his long-accumulated anger.
Series
- Part 3 of Poison Garden
-
Tags
Summary
It was never fair from the start, was it? Jabber thinks, and he’s not sure whether to be envious or so deeply endeared to Zanka for it, but, You always had that upper hand. You were always going to win, weren’t you?
Zanka, unconscious, cannot answer to his thoughts. Jabber scrunches the cotton sheets in his hand and wonders why he feels so sick in the stomach.
After a brutal fight, both Jabber and Zanka must learn how to heal. For Jabber, it means coming to terms with his own desires. For Zanka, it means forgiveness- and perhaps acceptance, too.
Series
- Part 4 of Poison Garden
-
Tags
Summary
No-one needs to see this. This can be Zanka’s secret– no-one will need to know until he’s fixed the problem himself.
Refusing to let others see his weakness, Zanka inadvertently seals his own fate when he attempts to fight his battles alone.
Or: The bad ending, following from the end of Hemlock.
Series
- Part 5 of Poison Garden