The Fantastic Journey Fic: Wrong Turn
Jun. 12th, 2026 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Wrong Turn
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Jonathan Willaway, Varian.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1054
Spoilers: Nada. Set after the series.
Summary: Somehow, Jonathan and Varian have become separated from their friends. What should they do?
Written For:
sarajayechan’s prompt ‘Any, any pairing, I think we're alone now / there doesn't seem to be anyone around,’ at threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters.
This, as far as Jonathan is concerned, is absolutely perfect, and completely and utterly wrong. He shouldn’t be so happy, although he is, but he’s also worried, and confused, because there are five of them (and a cat), but right now, three of their companions (and the cat) are nowhere to be found, and they were right there a minute ago. Or a few minutes, but time on the island can sometimes be deceptive, a bit hard to measure, so it’s difficult to be entirely sure…
More than once, they’ve stepped through a gateway between zones, going from full daylight to unexpected night. Who’s to say that time, even within a zone, is always completely consistent? Jonathan comes up with new theories regarding the various time zones every day, but as interesting to think about as they usually are, they’re no help right now.
“Where’d everyone go?” He has to ask, even though part of him is sort of glad they’re not here, and he’s alone with the one person he would choose to be alone with, given the choice. “They were right there, following us, and now…” Well, he’d thought the others were behind him, but he’d been following Varian, and his attention had been on the tall, slim figure in front of him rather than on what might be happening behind him as they threaded their way through the thickly growing jungle vegetation, and… somehow he’d lost track of their friends
“I don’t know.” Varian looks as confused as Jonathan feels, which makes Jonathan feel obscurely guilty, even though he hasn’t DONE anything. Their friends vanishing isn’t his fault, although perhaps if he’d spared the occasional thought for those behind him, made sure he and Varian didn’t get too far ahead, then Scott, and Fred, and Liana, and even Sil-El would still be with them instead of mysteriously missing…
Varian walks past Jonathan, backtracks a few yards down the trail, frowning, shouting their friends’ names, but there’s no response. “I don’t sense them.” He turns to Jonathan, worry furrowing that high forehead. “I don’t understand. They couldn’t just… vanish! I thought…” He trails off, shaking his head.
“Well, we know we didn’t get caught in a vortex storm. Those things aren’t exactly subtle. We would have seen it coming, or at least felt it, even with all…” Jonathan waves at the surrounding plant life. “This.”
“So where did they go?” Varian asks.
“Search me.” Oh, please, do. Search away. It almost certainly wouldn’t find their missing travelling companions, but it could be very enjoyable… Jonathan forcibly stops himself from thinking along those lines. Time and place! Although this might be the perfect time, with no one else around, and that crystal clear pool just down there, in the clearing they were approaching before they realised they were completely alone, only each other for company, is certainly an appealing setting. “There are so many trails in this jungle, they must have taken a wrong turn.”
Varian looks troubled. “Perhaps we should go back and look for them.”
“But they’re almost certainly looking for us, so what good would that do? We could go in the wrong direction and end up completely missing each other. They could be twenty feet away and we wouldn’t be able to see them.” Jonathan is trying to be logical and helpful, even if his heart isn’t in it as much as it should be. After all, the missing people are HIS friends too.
“But we’d be able to hear them, and I’d be able to sense them, which I’m not.”
“What’s your range for… ah… sensing alpha waves?”
“I’ve never really measured it. A hundred feet, maybe?”
Willaway stands, hands on hips, using his analytic scientist’s mind to think the situation through logically. “Look, we were ahead of them, we’ve left enough of a trail that Fred at least should be able to see where we went. If we go back after them, we all might end up wandering around in circles and keep missing each other by just enough that you don’t sense anything. They have to come this way, more or less, if they’re still travelling east, so perhaps we should just sit down and wait for them to catch up. Once they’re close enough for you to sense, we can go round them up, but until then, chasing around the jungle would be counterproductive. We can’t see more than a few feet in any direction. We’d just be wearing ourselves out for no good reason.”
“I suppose you’re right; I just worry that one of them might be injured.”
“You worry too much. Fred’s a doctor, he’s more than capable of dealing with any injuries; he’s got his medical bag.”
“Alright, we’ll wait, for a while,” Varian agrees. “But if they don’t catch up soon, we might have no choice but to go looking for them.”
“We can sit by that pool over there. If nothing else, the sound of the waterfall might be enough to guide them to us.”
Varian nods. “That’s a good idea.”
“I’m not just a pretty face, you know.”
That gets a smile. “No, you’re not. You have a brilliant mind as well.”
Oh! Jonathan suddenly feels a bit flustered. Could Varian actually find him attractive on some level? It’s not something he’s ever let himself consciously consider, although he knows the tall man appreciates his intelligence.
“Jonathan? Are you alright?”
“What? Oh, yes, I’m fine. It’s just… Well, I suppose I wasn’t expecting you to agree with me.”
“You can be very strange at times.”
“Oh, look who’s talking.” And Jonathan really wishes Varian would stop talking, and perhaps kiss him, because here they are, completely alone, in a very pleasant setting, and it’s all going to waste because he has a damnably inconvenient crush on a good friend. A good friend who thinks he’s… pretty, maybe, but definitely thinks he’s brilliant. “Not that being a bit strange is a bad thing. I rather like that in a man.”
“Really?” Varian’s smiling again. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
And of course that has to be when they hear Fred shouting, calling their names, and the moment passes. But something had been there, hanging in the air between them, something indefinable but real… It’s something for Jonathan to think about.
The End
More than once, they’ve stepped through a gateway between zones, going from full daylight to unexpected night. Who’s to say that time, even within a zone, is always completely consistent? Jonathan comes up with new theories regarding the various time zones every day, but as interesting to think about as they usually are, they’re no help right now.
“Where’d everyone go?” He has to ask, even though part of him is sort of glad they’re not here, and he’s alone with the one person he would choose to be alone with, given the choice. “They were right there, following us, and now…” Well, he’d thought the others were behind him, but he’d been following Varian, and his attention had been on the tall, slim figure in front of him rather than on what might be happening behind him as they threaded their way through the thickly growing jungle vegetation, and… somehow he’d lost track of their friends
“I don’t know.” Varian looks as confused as Jonathan feels, which makes Jonathan feel obscurely guilty, even though he hasn’t DONE anything. Their friends vanishing isn’t his fault, although perhaps if he’d spared the occasional thought for those behind him, made sure he and Varian didn’t get too far ahead, then Scott, and Fred, and Liana, and even Sil-El would still be with them instead of mysteriously missing…
Varian walks past Jonathan, backtracks a few yards down the trail, frowning, shouting their friends’ names, but there’s no response. “I don’t sense them.” He turns to Jonathan, worry furrowing that high forehead. “I don’t understand. They couldn’t just… vanish! I thought…” He trails off, shaking his head.
“Well, we know we didn’t get caught in a vortex storm. Those things aren’t exactly subtle. We would have seen it coming, or at least felt it, even with all…” Jonathan waves at the surrounding plant life. “This.”
“So where did they go?” Varian asks.
“Search me.” Oh, please, do. Search away. It almost certainly wouldn’t find their missing travelling companions, but it could be very enjoyable… Jonathan forcibly stops himself from thinking along those lines. Time and place! Although this might be the perfect time, with no one else around, and that crystal clear pool just down there, in the clearing they were approaching before they realised they were completely alone, only each other for company, is certainly an appealing setting. “There are so many trails in this jungle, they must have taken a wrong turn.”
Varian looks troubled. “Perhaps we should go back and look for them.”
“But they’re almost certainly looking for us, so what good would that do? We could go in the wrong direction and end up completely missing each other. They could be twenty feet away and we wouldn’t be able to see them.” Jonathan is trying to be logical and helpful, even if his heart isn’t in it as much as it should be. After all, the missing people are HIS friends too.
“But we’d be able to hear them, and I’d be able to sense them, which I’m not.”
“What’s your range for… ah… sensing alpha waves?”
“I’ve never really measured it. A hundred feet, maybe?”
Willaway stands, hands on hips, using his analytic scientist’s mind to think the situation through logically. “Look, we were ahead of them, we’ve left enough of a trail that Fred at least should be able to see where we went. If we go back after them, we all might end up wandering around in circles and keep missing each other by just enough that you don’t sense anything. They have to come this way, more or less, if they’re still travelling east, so perhaps we should just sit down and wait for them to catch up. Once they’re close enough for you to sense, we can go round them up, but until then, chasing around the jungle would be counterproductive. We can’t see more than a few feet in any direction. We’d just be wearing ourselves out for no good reason.”
“I suppose you’re right; I just worry that one of them might be injured.”
“You worry too much. Fred’s a doctor, he’s more than capable of dealing with any injuries; he’s got his medical bag.”
“Alright, we’ll wait, for a while,” Varian agrees. “But if they don’t catch up soon, we might have no choice but to go looking for them.”
“We can sit by that pool over there. If nothing else, the sound of the waterfall might be enough to guide them to us.”
Varian nods. “That’s a good idea.”
“I’m not just a pretty face, you know.”
That gets a smile. “No, you’re not. You have a brilliant mind as well.”
Oh! Jonathan suddenly feels a bit flustered. Could Varian actually find him attractive on some level? It’s not something he’s ever let himself consciously consider, although he knows the tall man appreciates his intelligence.
“Jonathan? Are you alright?”
“What? Oh, yes, I’m fine. It’s just… Well, I suppose I wasn’t expecting you to agree with me.”
“You can be very strange at times.”
“Oh, look who’s talking.” And Jonathan really wishes Varian would stop talking, and perhaps kiss him, because here they are, completely alone, in a very pleasant setting, and it’s all going to waste because he has a damnably inconvenient crush on a good friend. A good friend who thinks he’s… pretty, maybe, but definitely thinks he’s brilliant. “Not that being a bit strange is a bad thing. I rather like that in a man.”
“Really?” Varian’s smiling again. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
And of course that has to be when they hear Fred shouting, calling their names, and the moment passes. But something had been there, hanging in the air between them, something indefinable but real… It’s something for Jonathan to think about.
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2026-06-13 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-06-13 09:28 pm (UTC)Thank you!