The not-legit stuff I wanted to write ~ Sentinel/Indigo/ShadowSong

Indigo - Zoe & Red

Somewhere in the books after Indigo...

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Not-legit chapter - Zoe & Red 

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Zoe tip-toed up the final steps and pushed the old style door open with her fingertips.

The city below was about as quiet as it usually was at midnight, which was to say not at all. The sounds of people crowding around Sirah's newest club and going about their buisness carried on the night air that kissed her face, but she felt its promise. Up here, on top of the forgotten scraper that didn't fit the others around it, they wouldn't bother her. 

Zoe kept forward softly, unable to break the bubble of serenity that encased the empty rooftop and its singular occupant who sat on its ledge, feet dangling over the edge and arms stretched out behind him.

Four steps from him, Red spoke. 

"Knew you'd find me if I told you," he said, taking another swig from the near-empty bottle in his hand. "Don't know why I did, hones-ly. This is my spot, y'no."

Zoe's heart clenched, hearing his usual articulate manner reduced to this. "Do you want me to leave?" she whispered. 

Red turned his head so she could see the side of his face, appearing to consider it before he snorted and turned back. "Nah. I wouldn't have told you about it if I didn't wanna hope that you'd turn up."

Tentatively, she sat down beside him, wary of the concrete carpeting the ground at sucha distance that the people on it looked like ants. 

"Why's this your spot?" she asked. 

Red shrugged. "D'no. Always has been. Always will be. Even after the Wardens wiped my memories, I could remember it. No idea why. It just stuck, and they couldn't get rid of it." He lifted the bottle to his lips again, and as they rested against the glass, murmured, "Why'd you bother t' show up?"

"Couldn't leave you alone after what happened," Zoe said, her eyes following some couple on the ground. "Shift can be... difficult, when it comes to Athira."

"He can be difficult about whatever the hell he feels like."

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. "At least he doesn't come up on a roof and get himself drunk."

"To each their own!" Red declared. He held the bottle out towards Zoe, the last bit of liquid slinking around in its depths. "Let's make a toast, shall we? To the Spectrum, and the complete mess we've damned well made of everything!" 

He laughed and downed another mouthful before holding it out to Zoe, obviously expecting that she do the same. Zoe gingerly took the bottle and, after deciding whatever was in it wouldn't kill her, threw her head back and swallowed the remaining liquid. It burned her throat on the way down, causing her to gag and send the empty bottle rolling back behind her.

"What in the seven colours was that?" she said, trying to bring her expression under control. 

Red staggered so much from his laughter that Zoe half expected him to fall off the building. "That, my little naieve glow worm, was something of my own concoction several years back! Pulled it out special, just for tonight!" 

Zoe squeezed one eye shut, struggling to keep the other one open. "And what's so special about tonight, exactly?" 

Red threw a hand in the air. "Why, you have to ask?" His palms slapped the roof beside him. "Well, everything's gone to the Sins, of course! Our Prism's run away, the Spectrum is about to be torn apart because her boyfriend can't keep it together, and while those two are off doing whatever the hell it is they do at night, the Wardens are back breathing down my neck, and I don't have an Owl to protect me from them!" Red cackled. "Yup, what isn't there to be absolutely joyous about, Zoe?" 

Zoe tilted her head. "You called me Zoe." 

Red blinked, his mania reined in as quickly as it'd begun. "So what?" His chin dropped to his chest. "Might not have a chance to say it again anyway, if the Wardens bring me back in."

"You'll get another chance, Red."

"Always the optimist, aren't you?" 

Zoe reached over to Red, hooking her fingers around his furthest shoulder and drawing him towards her. To her surprise, he didn't resist, letting her hold him against her chest and even resting his head under hers. She stayed silent, listening to his breaths against hers, feeling his colour soothe within him. Their moment froze as the city continued to bustle in another dimension below them. 

"I don't want to go back with the Wardens, Zo," murmured Red. 

Zoe threaded her fingers through his hair. "We'll figure something out, I promise. After the months of convincing it took to get you to even talk to us, I'm not about to let them brainwash you so easily again." 

"Mmhmm," said Red. "Still wasn't brainwashed, y'no."

"Right. That's why you set up ambushes to try and catch us out."

"Shut up."

They stayed like that, Red against Zoe's chest, his eyes closed and words mumbled through half-numb lips as the night marched on, talking about things that most people would have considered normal. There were no more mentions of the Spectrum or prophecies, no thoughts of the apocalyse they somehow had to stop despite the wrath of a fallen titan against them. 

Just her and Red, sitting too close to the edge of a scraper, passing words between them that morphed beyond their individual definitions and into tiny balls of hope that sat snug inside her chest. 

*+*+*+*

A/N - I felt like writing this after seeing a picture, so here we go. 

As you probably guessed, Red is the red Spectrum member that was in the sleeper-gas room with Zoe at the Warden's HQ. He uh, has a lot of issues and doesn't get along with people very well. 

But you know Zoe.

There's no stopping her.