plant_alchemist: (Serene)
The fireball had blazed overhead and Russell had watched, standing alone in the broken street, until he could stand no longer.

He slumped against the beanstalk, taking a while to compose himself.

He hadn't had the heart to destroy the beanstalk yet, and he entertained the notion of just leaving it. As a monument and a reminder.

It would eventually get cut down anyway, Russell finally decided, reaching up to cut one of the leaves off. He scratched a quick array to shrink the plant completely back into the ground, sending it back under the broken stones of the road.

Russell glanced up and down the street.

Time to move forward.

&&&


Months passed.

Putting Central back together would be a huge task and it still looked liked it would be years before things would be back to normal. Russell and Fletcher helped as much as they could, until it became evident that not much more could be done.

The brothers went back to Xenotime for a short while, staying until Russell's restlessness led them to do some traveling.

Their traveling, which lasted for far longer than first planned, involved touring the country, researching, working, and never staying in one place for too long.

Not once since the disaster had he found the door back to the bar. He held out hope that it would appear one day when he needed it the most, and that maybe, maybe, there would be someone there waiting for him. He never stopped looking.

Russell didn't much talk about why he felt the need to keep moving, that was something only he felt he understood completely. Anyway, he wasn't quite sure he could explain how he was both following and searching for something. Or maybe it was simply a way of keeping busy.

When the time came for them to return to where they had started, three years had passed.

Three years that had gone by in a stop and start motion that somehow seemed to match the pace of their journey. But being back in Central calmed Russell down quite a bit and he settled in easily.

And even if Russell sometimes had a far away look on his face as he drifted off, he was home and he was content.
plant_alchemist: (Calm before the storm)
There had been an earthquake weeks earlier. It had frightened the citizens of Central and had been talked about for days. But it was mostly agreed that something like that wouldn't happen again for a very long time.

It seems that they were wrong.

The day the second one struck, Russell had worked out in the back garden in the morning, had lunch with Fletcher and, for someone unknown reason, had ended up visiting a familiar church.

It had been a nice day outside, by all respects, and Russell had just come back from his chance meeting with Al. He was contemplating taking his dinner in Milliways after talking with Fletcher.

It just so happens that Russell wouldn't make it back to Milliways for a very long time.

Quite suddenly, as these things happen, the floors and walls and windows - the entire world, it seemed - began shaking violently.

Beakers fell from the table to the floor, windows panes shattered, and Russell pushed Fletcher out of the way as one of the bookshelves that lined the wall crashed forward.

Neither had time to spare a look at their ruined experiments, broken microscopes, and fallen plants, as they ran outside.

It is a narrow street, lined with shops and homes, most of them more than one floor.

And they were all crumbling.
plant_alchemist: (Calm before the storm)




***
plant_alchemist: (SO SERIOUS)
The Cathedral still looks the same as the last time he had been there. Russell isn't surprised. The door was still missing though, of course. He had made sure to close it behind Ed all that time ago, it was dangerous to leave something like that around for anyone to find.

He's still not sure why he decided to come today; maybe for the memories, maybe on a search for answers.

Answers for all the strange things that had been taking place over the past month.

Or maybe he was just looking for someplace quiet, to think.

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plant_alchemist: (Default)
Russell Tringham

February 2008

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