Chapter Text
𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨?
Why was she calling at 3 am? Did she need something? If she needed something, why would she call the Blakes?
Okay, maybe, it would make sense if she 𝘥𝘪𝘥 come to them for help. They quite literally solved the camp's biggest problem and also saved her uncle from dying. But at 3 𝘢𝘮? Finney knew Mustang had the kindness to let someone sleep unless it was an emergency, what was so urgent for her?
And who was that voice? Why was he hearing it? He knew the dead could sometimes talk to him without the telephone, the Grabber kindly demonstrated that, but who was this man talking to him? Was he somehow related to Mustang with the way he urged Finney to answer her call?
"You there, Blake?"
Mustang's voice snapped Finney out of his thoughts. Right. He still had a call. Her voice wasn't really loud or anything, why was his heart beating so fast? He wasn't scared of Mustang so why is his heart beating so heavily?
"I'm here." He said softly. He hopes Mustang explains why she was calling so early and who that man was.
"Great." Mustang replied with the same amount of softness. Finney could feel her smile through the phone, it made him smile in return.
Mustang was a sweet person to those who weren't pissing her off. Even when she didn't know them very well. She guided Ernesto's car and also Finney to the way to the camp in the snow storm. Finney hopes he continues being one of the people that won't piss her off.
Mustang helped Gwen and defended her in front of the Christian couple, Finney only knows the second part because Barbara made it very clear what Mustang said to her, anyways even with that, Finney considered her a sweet person.
He liked Mustang..
Platonically. Of course.
"So, are you gonna tell me why you're calling at 3 am?" Finney broke the silence first, he needed answers and he wasn't gonna be distracted by Mustang's soft, warm presence.
"Did I wake you, princess Blake?" She said, more as a joke than an actual question. Finney wonders how she could be such a lively person so early in the morning, or maybe it was just him that was absolutely drenched in depression every morning and every other person was happy.
Finney smiled. "As a matter of fact, no, you did not, pirate Mustang." He could hear Mustang softly laugh from the other side of the phone.
Since when was Mustang such a funny person? Okay, maybe, he shouldn't speak because while they were all swept up in the chaos, he barely talked to her. They shared eye contact at breakfast and they may have said goodbye to each other but other than that, he barely interacted with her.
And they also may have touched heads while trying to save Gwen but Finney doesn't want to think about that because of the way his stomach feels high on butterflies!
"Blake." Her tone had turned more serious. Oh, no. Did he say that out loud? That would be out right embarrassing if he did, more embarrassing if she acknowledged it.
"Yeah?" He said, his voice a little higher pitched than usual.
Mustang let out a soft giggle. "Don't be so scared, Blake. It's not like you did anything."
"I didn't say what I was thinking out loud, did I?" He felt a small smile form on his face.
"You said nothing."
Oh, thank goodness.
He would have the embarrassment of a lifetime if he did even if he didn't know why. Yeah, maybe what he was thinking was a little embarrassing but it wasn't like he was in love with her or anything! What he feels toward her is completely platonic.
Probably.
"Okay, so to the actual point, Blake." She said, tone sharper and more serious. Finney could hear her snap her fingers on the other side of the phone.
"Yeah?" He said, his pitch returning to his original when the conversation first started.
"I called because you and your sister are experienced with this supernatural.. stuff." Her voice grew quieter and softer. "I had a dream. Like Gwen's. Except I didn't sleepwalk."
What? Mustang was having a dream the same time as Finney's? And the same type of dream? This has got to be a coincidence, right?
"What?" Was the only word Finney could muster up. He hated how he always froze in situations like this.
"My father. He appeared in my dream and he gave me a choice. To either go back in time or stay in the present and I know it sounds impossible-"
"No, I had the same dream as well.. with my mother. It wasn't her say that she used, was it..your father's say?" Okay, Finney felt a bit rude interrupting her but he wasn't gonna let her go down the same spiral of thoughts that he had.
"Wha.. What's a say?"
Mando didn't tell her? Now, Finney didn't know if Mando was her father's brother or brother in law but he was gonna assume if her father or mother was also somewhat supernatural with the way they could communicate with their daughter in her dreams then Mando could've known and told her. But he didn't. So now Finney's gonna have to explain the same way his mother did to him.
"When people die, they get to have a say in the real world. I had a dream with my mother, I thought it was her say that she used but she already used her say before. So was the say your father's say?" He asked with more of a sharper tone. Now Finney kind of felt bad for asking it that way but he needed answers and this was a serious situation.
"..He didn't tell me anything about any say." Mustang said. She avoided using the sentence 'I don't know', Finney noticed. So she knew there was the possibility of the say being her father's.
"Okay, fine, that's fine." Finney said that with the intention of reassuring himself rather than Mustang.
Okay, so he hasn't gotten any answers to the questions he has. That's gonna be fine. No, it's probably not but whatever.
So Mustang probably either had abilities like them or it was just the say that allowed her and her father to communicate with each other. If it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 her father's say then why did Finney get mixed up in it? Why would he get involved? And why would Mustang go back in time before it all? Had something happened to her too?
If they could just stay here with each other, that would be nice. If Finney makes the decision to go back in time, it would be nice to go back with her as well.
"Are you going back?" He asked softly, his voice as quiet as the wind.
"He said that I'd have the whole day. I'll think about it." She said, matching his volume.
Finney was used to the authoritative Mustang, the way she was around Gwen. He wasn't used to the soft-speaking, open Mustang. But it was nice. She probably wasn't used to this side of him too.
"Me, too." He whispered, letting his grip on the house phone a little more loose. "Goodnight, pirate."
Mustang let out a soft laugh on the other side of the call. "Goodnight, princess."
Then the call ended.
Now that Finney thinks about it, the man whispering in his ear was probably her dad.
Now he didn't need the telephone to talk to dead people and that made it scarier.
----
"𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴."
Mustang ended the call by putting the phone back into it's cradle. She felt the weight on her shoulders lessen. Atleast she had told someone. And made that someone who she has never seen laugh 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩.
Finney was a fun person. She had never seen that side of him in camp, probably because he had everything going on but now he sounds healthier. Well, physically healthier. Mando had told her about when he caught Finney smoking, she knew he didn't stop him. Smoking was prohibited in camp but with everything going on, what could following the rules kind of do? Anyways, about the cigarettes part, Gwen had probably threw it out and had him become clean for the next.. well, eternity.
Mustang felt relieved, kind of. There was a time in life where she had someone like that. They never stopped. So atleast Finney had stopped, the super-depressed boy who had a little chance of rehab, but then again, there was a little chance of fighting ghosts and then Gwen came along. So Finney could pretty much become clean and physically healthier by the point they defeated the Grabber. Or Wild Bill. Or Albert.
She was still in camp even after Finney left. They still had campers and kids to counsel right after everything. She doubt everything reached the news, the problem was already solved, nobody knew kids in Alpine Lake died, and they couldn't explain a supernatural fight without looking crazy.
Even after the snowstorm had calmed down, the camp events were postponed. Barbara and Kenneth needed to heal after the fight Wild Bill gave them, it was a real horror. Mando needed to give both himself and Mustang a break. They also had to clean up Gwen's blood in one of the cabins. And the lake wasn't safe yet.
So yeah, basically the events were postponed for 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.
As she stared at the telephone, she couldn't help but think about Finney. He was a nice person when people weren't pissing him off. He was also fun. She never really got to know him in camp, well, because everything else was going on but they shared a look and said their goodbyes to each other, he said his thanks and she said hers. Other than that, they had almost no interactions at all.
Finney was cute. He really was. She could feel Mando's smirk when she and Finney shared a look at breakfast. But as she reflected on the gaze they shared, she thought and wondered how anyone could hurt a person like that, because in all that anger, behind it was fear.
Mustang knew that because she had seen it in her uncle. She had seen it in Mando. But Mando had let go of that and so did Finney.
And now, about the actual thing, she was still making her choice. Going back seemed like it was weighing more than the other option. Going back was probably what she was gonna do at the end of the day.
Going back seemed like the better choice. Before the kids died at camp. Before her parents died. Before the someone she knew had.. Mando had only gone down the wrong path when her parents died. Going back would undo his wrong path too.
Well, right now, she had Finney, a redempted Mando, Gwen, and not much other than that. She would undo 6 years of her life and go through 6 more just to reach her current age right now. She wouldn't be in Colorado in the past so she would never cross paths with the Blakes.
But she'd have her family, her best friend, and everything else.
She had been staring at the telephone for a while, she just noticed. Mando's gonna catch her any time and she should probably go to sleep. Yeah, she should.
As she walked away, she thought about how when she ended that call, she had already made her decision.
----
Finney was stuck. He had never been indecisive before but these choices were really testing him.
He would understand if he was the only one given the choice because if he chose the option to go back, this timeline would most likely be erased. But if he chose to go back and Mustang chose to stay, what would happen in his world? Would he go missing a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ in their eyes? or would Mustang also be erased?
This is not what he thought about when his mom said he'd have time. Usually most people would be relieved to have time to choose something. But 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 aren't in this situation.
His math teacher, Mr Anderson, probably knew Finney wasn't paying attention but Finney always got As in math so what is Mr Anderson to care about?
Finney had been swinging his pencil between his index and his middle finger, staring off into air. His classmates were probably either judging him or was scared of him. Whatever, if they even got the balls to talk shit straight to his face, they'd get beaten up later anyway.
.. Or not. Beating up kids because he was angry was still a way of mental destruction, mentioned from Ernesto, the kid knows a lot of mental stuff. Was that how Robin kept his mentality intact? But anyways like he said, he didn't wanna be affected by his anger anymore, so he shouldn't be beating up kids who talk shit about him straight to his face.
Oh, fuck.
Not that Finney already knew but Gwen was right, he was exactly like their father.
Finney trying to heal and trying to stay clean was like Terrence on rehab. Not that Finney was on official rehab but he knows what he means.
Mr Anderson just kept teaching and speaking words Finney already knew years earlier. What he wouldn't do to skip class and smoke a..
Why is he still thinking about this? He knows he shouldn't be thinking about it, but he was almost starting to miss the rancid smell and feeling that went in and out of his throat. Okay, maybe, it was slightly okay to skip class but he's trying to stay clean. So no thoughts about smoking. No thoughts.
It was getting incredibly hard to not think about that right now. It felt like he was being tugged and pulled towards something he knows he'll regret if he lets himself get pushed off the edge. It felt like he couldn't breathe. It felt like a tug of war he was both winning and losing. He hasn't even noticed he was pressing his pencil on the desk. The desk creating a mini black dot growing larger as he pressed harder.
"Mr Blake, are you okay?"
His pencil fell off the desk as soon he let go of the tight grasp he had on it. Mr Anderson had noticed. Nothing goes his way when he wants the situation to go his way.
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Was the only sentence Finney could think of. It was actually one of the best he could think of. He could get out of the classroom and it was only 5 minutes before break so he could completely skip the last 5 minutes.
Mr Anderson nodded and as soon as Finney saw the movement of his teacher's head, he immediately got out of his seat and out the door.
He could care less if his teacher was angry about the slammed door, send him to detention for all he cares. He needed to get out of that classroom and get a break.
He actually goes to the bathroom like he asked. Not that that hasn't happened before but it was rare for him these days.
Finney goes straight to the mirrors with the sinks below it and stares at his reflection. He looked horrible, like mentally horrible. He wished Gwen was here, he wished he could just come out and no one would be in the hallways except him and Gwen. He felt pathetic, depending on the younger one.
Or maybe even Ernesto, that kid had a shit ton of mental health information, he could help. It's not like he'll be imagining Robin the whole time if he does ask Ernesto for help.
The time hasn't even reached the afternoon yet seemingly every second,
it makes him want to leave the present.