Who: Charlie Archer What: After slipping into a coma during the virus outbreak, Charlie finds himself in a familiar place Where: Fable heaven When: Some time after the virus, some time before now. Warnings: Nothing major
It took awhile for Charlie to actually realize where he was. Everything was a jumbled mess inside his head, still only able to remember bits and pieces of the world he'd left behind. He remembered getting sick, because of how bizarre it'd seemed at the time. Fables weren't usually prone to the sort of maladies that plagued mundies. It took a lot to even kill a Fable, Snow had survived a gun shot to the head at point blank range once. But this had been different, somehow. A virus that had found its way in and slowly but surely ate away at him, destroying him from the inside out.
The next thing he knew, he was here. Surrounded by a vast forest that was both unfamiliar to Charlie and extremely familiar to Bigby. Bigby had been here before, once. There seemed to be no end to the rich, dark woods, full of other monsters like him, only different. Charlie didn't know when he'd shifted forms, or if he'd arrived here in this place like this, but he raised his nose to sniff the air and let out a low howl into the abyss, launching from his hind legs into a dead run through the trees.
He was starving. Charlie didn't know how he could be so hungry in a place that he was almost positive was some version of heaven. Weren't you supposed to not want for anything, in the ultimate paradise? Not that this was probably the ultimate paradise. This was heaven, but it wasn't the only one. There were plenty of other heavens, all connected to each other in some way presumably, but this one was his. This was where monsters like him went after they died.
Charlie had caught onto the scent of something that had made his mouth start to water. He was speeding fast through the woods now, paws thundering heavily on the earth, echoed only by the soft sound of the wolf's panting and the distance sound of birds teasing his hungry belly. He was almost upon it, Charlie could practically taste the animal he was pursuing, but the sound of a hunting horn and the sight of a familiar figure made him stop short. Charlie was so shocked that the raw, animal hunger immediately left him and he immediately sat back on his hind legs in surprise, the scent of the man almost more familiar than his face.
"... Byron?"
He still had that same sandy blonde hair and mischievous twinkle in his eyes, the lines of his face telling the story of a weary former hero who had only wanted the quiet life. After a moment the man, his friend that Charlie hadn't seen in years now, gave him a small wave and spoke. "Hello there, old chap."
It was fitting that Byron was here, when it had been Boy Blue who had come to Bigby in his own wolf heaven. Charlie felt a sharp pang of sadness in his chest at the sight of his - of their old friend, both tragically deceased. Blue never did have the best of luck, even in reincarnation. Charlie cocked his large, furry head, before jumping forward and shifting from wolf to man in mid-leap, landing on his own two feet close enough to Byron that he could reach out and embrace him warmly. "It's been awhile. You look good."
Byron returned the embrace before stepping back and flashing Charlie a sad smile. "And you've seen better days, I think." He was probably referring to the horrifying deadly virus that had managed to take down one of the most powerful fables in history, but if those events had taught the world anything, it was that a virus was even capable of killing a god. Byron looked him over quietly for a moment, as if he was trying to decide something. "You do know what comes next, don't you?"
Charlie vaguely remembered something. Bigby had needed to make a choice, when he was here in his woods. A choice of whether to stay here for all of time or to go back. To decide whether he was done being a hero, or that the world wasn't done with him yet. Charlie had never thought of himself as a hero, but he wasn't the terrible monster that he'd been meant to be anymore than how Bigby had turned out. Blue had warned that the choice to go back would be one of the hardest things Bigby had ever done, and he hadn't been kidding. Bigby had come back feral, a monster through and through again before the sight of his own children had brought him back to himself. But not before he'd killed many people, some that he'd considered friends. Charlie would have said no instantly, except that the thing making him pause had been the same for Bigby. Snow. No matter what, Bigby and his reincarnate were always fated to fall for the same woman, and to become better men because of it. Charlie had never been as monstrous as Bigby had been, once upon a time, but even knowing Abigail as briefly as he had, he had felt changed.
"I can't leave them. I can't leave her." Before joining Camelot, Charlie had never felt much loyalty to anyone, but now he couldn't imagine leaving them all behind. Leaving Abigail behind. He would risk anything, for the chance to be with her again. Bigby Wolf had always been intended to be one of the great destroyers of the world, and so then had Charlie, but neither of them were any match for Snow White. There was something poetic in that, something that Charlie didn't quite understand, but he didn't need to. All he knew was that he needed to get back home, and he was willing to risk anything in order to do that. "I know the risks. But men like us, Byron... we never choose the easy route, do we?"
Byron nodded, flashing Charlie another sad smile as he clasped a hand on Charlie's shoulder and squeezed gently. "No we don't, my old friend." Charlie wanted to ask him a million questions, about how long he'd been here, what he'd been up to since dying, why he hadn't chosen to come back himself - but Charlie didn't need an answer to that last question. He knew deep down that Byron and Blue would always choose the road less traveled. Trade in the heroic, adventurous life for the quiet, peaceful life every time.
As Charlie opened his mouth to say something, Byron shook his head and spoke for the last time. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. My time here in your woods is up. It won't be easy, but when you've decided... when you're ready, you'll be able to find the way back. Be well, Charlie." Then Byron disappeared through a white light, leaving Charlie alone in the forest with his thoughts.