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English
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Published:
2022-03-02
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1,422
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1/1
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we're starting over

Summary:

Space Force is unable to stop the asteroid from obliterating Earth, forcing Angela, Chan, and Tony to reflect on their lives as the clock ticks down to their impending doom.

Notes:

title from i want you by mitski. also yes i know it’s unrealistic for a large asteroid to move quickly enough to hit the earth in a single day, but if the space force writers don’t have to explain how angela came back from the moon then i don’t have to explain anything either

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

It isn’t supposed to end like this. 

But there’s no stopping it — the end of the world is inevitable. When Space Force first discovered that the asteroid hurtling towards the Earth like a deadly football on steroids, they attempted to figure out how they could stop it, desperately cooking up calculations and insane plans as the doomsday timer ticked down. 

Angela really tries to help, but as the estimated impact time narrows down to a mere hour, she, along with the rest of the people at Space Force, recognizes that their efforts are futile. There’s no way to stop the asteroid. There’s no chance to bargain with fate as no desperate pleading could force the hand of the clock to still. 

Shockingly, she’s holding up well, unlike some people who desperately fled the base with a few hours to spare before the end of the world. She doesn’t blame them; they deserve an ice cream cone or maybe a nice bike ride before humanity is wiped from existence forever. 

Though Angela could easily join them, she doesn’t, partly because of her pride and partly because there isn’t much of a point to attempt to fly to Hawaii to say goodbye to her family. She would probably only make it across California before the impact of the asteroid obliterated everything. Instead, she joins a video call with her family, choosing to call in a hallway where she can’t see the giant clock ticking on the control room’s ridiculously large screen. 

“Hey Mom, hey Dad,” Angela waves to her parents on her phone and breaks into a grin when she notices her younger sister in the room. “Hey, Sis! How are you guys doing?” 

The next ten minutes fly by as Angela talks to her family about their day — it feels trivial to only focus on a small time frame in the grand scheme of things, but there isn’t much to say. Angela knows that her weekly calls with her family are more than enough to remind them how much she loves them, and there is hardly time to waste talking about what she already knows.

“Well, we should go now. We promised to stop by your aunt’s house before…” Angela’s mother trails off, her eyes glazing over as she stares off to something in the distance. She quickly snaps back to attention to offer an apologetic smile. “Just know that we love you very much.” 

“I love you guys too. Take care, okay? And say hi to Aunt Alicia for me!” Angela waves before the call ends. As her family disappears from the screen of her phone, she closes her eyes and exhales a shuddering breath. It’s hard to imagine how that’s probably the last time she’d talk with her family, but for now, she tries to avoid latching onto that thought, knowing that mulling over the thought would only drive her into a state of existentialism.   

“Hey, how are you holding up?” 

Turning around, Angela notices Chan standing next to the vending machine, watching her with an inquisitive look. She forces a smile and shrugs. “I’m doing surprisingly well.” 

“Really?” Chan raises an eyebrow in surprise, or maybe doubt. 

“Yeah,” Angela nods. She pauses before she repeats in a more resolute tone, “Yeah, I’m good. I don’t really know how. I guess it’s just I thought I was gonna die on the moon surrounded by a bunch of people I don’t know, but now that I’m here on Earth, I got to say goodbye to my family, and I’m around people I care about, so, y’know, it’s not all that bad.”


As she reaches into the pocket of her jacket, feeling the outline of the fabric patch she took from her spacesuit, her smile widens as she realizes that she really means it. Even if the entire world is ending, she felt like she already lived a lifetime. After all, Angela went on the moon, and even if she didn’t always want to be remembered as a hero, she knew that at least she would never be forgotten. 

—

Tony can’t stop bouncing his knee up and down as he sits outside the control room, watching the clock on the giant screen tick down from 10:10 to 10:05, and finally to 10:00. Ten minutes left until the end of the world, and he still hasn’t done anything with his life. He can’t even bring himself to call his dad because frankly, what’s the point? 

It isn’t like his dad suddenly will tell him he loves him because the world is ending. Oddly enough, accepting this makes Tony’s shoulders feel a little lighter, even if it took a planet-wide catastrophe to make him realize that he would never mend his relationship with his father. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony catches sight of a familiar scientist and breaks into a smile for the first time in what felt like ages. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I just talked to Angela. She’s doing really well, actually,” Chan informs as he sits down next to the social media manager on the bench facing the control room. Tony grows keenly aware that their shoulders are pressed together even though there’s nobody else sitting on the bench. “And… I don’t know, I just felt like being with you.” 

Even though Chan replied with such nonchalance, Tony feels a wave of emotion hit him like a storm but holds back his tears. He gulps down sentimentality in favor of handing out humor. “I always thought the world was gonna end with a zombie apocalypse or something, but a giant asteroid works too.” 

“A zombie apocalypse? You watch way too many sci-fi movies,” Chan chuckles, folding his hands over his knees as he draws them up to his chest. 

“You’re the one always recommending them to me! But I mean, I can’t complain. They’re always really good,” Tony admits as he watches Chan stare at the timer through the glass walls of the room. 

They both fall silent for a moment, and the only sounds that can be heard are the muffled conversations from inside the control room of defeated scientists and generals. The once constant background noise of planes and helicopters flying above the base is absent thanks to the requirement for all flights to remain grounded until further notice. 

In the blue light glowing from the control room, Chan looks younger, the freckles sprinkled on his face more prominent than ever. Tony may not have done anything with his life, but Chan has so much he could do if he just had the time. Instinctively, Tony reaches across to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Chan’s ear. 

The scientist turns to face Tony, his hazel eyes searching Tony’s face and finding hints of worry etched in his expression.

“What’s wrong?”

This is the part of the movie when the hero would confess their undying love, throwing all their cards onto the table because there would be no more opportunities for them to do so. This is the part of the play when the hero who hasn’t known love finally learns that they are capable of love and that the person they’ve been looking for is right in front of them within arm’s reach. This is the part of the story when-

“Nothing.” Tony shakes his head, pulling his attention away from Chan. He gestures towards the timer. “Hey, it looks like we have five minutes left. Let’s go join the others.” 

—

“Should we hold hands? I feel like we should hold hands,” Brad nervously frets as he along with Mallory, Angela, Chan, Tony, Naird, and Erin stand in front of the big screen as the timer blinks red, only less than a minute left. 

“No, that’s so cheesy.” Erin rolls her eyes, crossing her arms as if to prove to herself more than anyone that she’s perfectly fine with being independent. Her resolve crumbles when Angela holds out a hand to her, and she graciously takes it and holds her father’s hand in her free hand. Chan accepts Angela’s hand and offers a hand to Tony, who smiles sadly as he places his hand in Chan’s. 

With a mere ten seconds left, Tony glances over at Chan, completely ignoring the flashing numbers on the screen. He doesn’t know what comes next but he knows what he wants his last memory to be. 

Chan closes his eyes, remembering what it felt like to be alive. 

It wasn’t supposed to end like this. 

 

Notes:

anyway the reason tony is looking at chan at the end is bcs to him loving chan is how it feels to be alive