Chapter Text
You turned on your phone for the first time in forever. The date said August fifteenth, 2016. Had it really been a year already? You could hardly believe it, in all honesty. A year of surviving on the edge, scraping by with everyone else. You and Mark were still together - of course. It had been difficult at times (particularly getting intimate. It unfortunately reminded you of what happened in Denver), but you made it work.
You sat at a small desk, updating medical records. Mandy had come in earlier, saying how she and Bob were probably going to start trying for a baby. It was exciting, to think how they wanted to bring one of the first new babies into the world.
"Hey, [Y/N]," you looked up to see Bob standing at the door to the infirmary. "You got a second? Mark wants you."
"Yeah, of course." you said, rising from your seat and dropping your pen. What on Earth could Mark want you for? You knew he'd been working on getting electricity working in recent weeks with little success - it would be nice to have some lights in the dark and the middle of the night, and hot water any time of the day. You had never really realised just how much you took electricity and hot water and everything that you had once upon a time for granted. It was surreal.
You walked into the room he was working, watching him plug in a computer. Beside him, a small fan was blasting cool air around the room, and you had to double take when you saw it. Was it... was it really moving? You watched it, you jaw hanging open loosely, your eyes following it.
"Awesome, huh?" Mark asked. You turned your eyes to him to see him grinning widely. "Got it working this morning! How did we ever deal with heat without these things, eh?" he chuckled softly as he stood and rubbed the small of his back. "So, uh... surprise! Here, come here," he beckoned you over to the computer and you were by his side in a moment. "Look." he pointed to the lower right hand corner of the screen.
"What, what am I looking at?" you asked.
"Look." four little white bars. You looked between Mark and the computer and it clicked.
"Internet?"
"Yeah." he grinned widely and you gasped.
"How?"
"A little bit of Markiplier magic, of course," he grinned cheekily. "You should check your e-mails. You don't know what'll be in there."
"Probably a fucking metric butt ton of spam," you replied, opening up the internet. It was slow, but it loaded, and there sat the Google home page. "Holy shit, I'd forgotten what that looked like. Was it always that ugly?" you snorted at Mark as he began working again.
"Yep, I'm afraid so." he replied, chuckling. "Red and green and yellow and blue. It never really was the prettiest of logos."
"No kidding." you said quietly, reaching out and gently touching the screen. You had become so used to the quiet life without electricity, without the rat-race, that it felt strange to be doing this. You swallowed softly as you opened up your e-mail and signed in, surprised that you still remembered your password. The page loaded agonisingly slowly and you tapped the keyboard impatiently. It had definitely never been this slow in life - not since you were very small, at least. You could practically hear the dial-up sound, it was that slow.
When you looked back at the fully loaded screen, your heart just about stopped in your chest. Unread e-mails, hundreds of them, but who they were from made your heart ache.
MOM It's been a year sweetheart Aug 1
MOM I hope you're doing okay Jul 25
Dad God, I miss you, kiddo Jul 12
BROTHER I wish you'd never gone Jul 6
MOM Your grandma passed today Jun 30
MOM [Y/N] we miss you so much Jun 26
MOM Why did I let you go Jun 15
There were hundreds and hundreds more and your voice choked in your throat as you looked at the e-mails. You slowly moved the mouse to the first e-mail, swallowing hard as you you opened it.
"Hey [Y/N]
It's been more than a year since everything happened. I still remember driving you to the airport as you told me all the things you and your old friends would do. As I recall, you wanted to meet a guy called Markiplier, didn't you? I hope you got to meet him - you were so excited at the mere prospect of it. Your happiness is so infectious sometimes; I miss it in these dark days.
Your brother turned eighteen this year, can you believe it? I still remember the first time you met him; you scowled for days afterwards, saying that you wanted a little sister. You warmed up to him eventually, even though you both hated each other when you were older. He misses you, you know. You may have moved out before all this, but God does that boy wish you were still here.
I... I don't even know if you're alive. Your dad says I probably shouldn't write you e-mails - I've seen the old fart do it himself, so he's one to talk, eh? I know writing to you won't ever be the same as seeing you, but... it makes me feel like you're there, sometimes. That you're alive, somewhere on this planet, thinking about us, too. I hope you have your friends with you - or new friends, either will do. Just so long as my little girl isn't alone in the world.
But I suppose I should tell you what we've been planning, hm? I know it's farfetched, I know the chances we'll die trying to reach you are astronomical, but I can't live until I see my baby girl again - I don't care how old you are, you'll always be my baby.
Your dad and I - we've been bartering with this fisherman who still has a ship, or a boat. Whatever it is, me, your dad, your brother, a couple other family members - we're going to make the trip to America. We're going to go through every damn city and state until we find you - I won't rest until I see your smiling face again, I swear. I remember the hotel you're staying at - room, too. That's where we'll go first. If... If you're dead in there, then...
But you're not dead. I know you're not! It sounds weird but I have a feeling, a feeling that you're... you're still alive. I don't know what you've been through but... I want you to know that I love you so much, and it should be a couple months - we might not even make it before winter depending on what the fisherman says, but we're coming to find you. It might take months, or years, but I just need to hold my little girl again.
I love you so much.
Love, mom
xxxx"
"[Y/N], are you... are you okay?" Mark asked, voice hesitant and quiet. You looked to him, eyes full of tears and nodded. "Oh, come here." Mark pulled you into his chest and you sobbed onto his shirt, clinging to him. "Tell me, tell me..."
"M-my family," you choked out between sobs, looking up at Mark through the tears. "They're alive! A-and... and they're trying to make it to America to find me, Mark! Th-they're fucking alive!" you buried your face into his flannel and Mark hugged you even tighter.
"Y-you have to reply to them, [Y/N]. Let them know you're alive, that you're okay - where you are! How long are they going to take?" Mark asked. You looked up and shrugged, peeling yourself away from him to stand at the computer again. "I'm so happy for you, [Y/N]. Think your parents will like me?" he joked, standing beside you.
"Oh, they will," you managed to smile. "They better! After all, I don't plan to reach a hundred with anyone else." you said as you began to type up a shaky reply.
"Hi mom!!!
I know that I have takenf orever in replyin gto you but I haven't had power since Vegas, and I never though tto check my internet. I'm obviously okay but I'm not on the west vcoast anymore! I'm in a frarm outside Cincinnati with a lot ofg ood people. You know that Markiplier I was so excited to meet? He's with me! Don't know how, some miracle probably, but he's with me and we're aliev and uh.. well I'll tell you the rset later.
I love you too and can't wait to see you
Love [Y/N]
xxxx"
You clicked send and flopped happily against Mark, who hugged you tightly. "They're alive..." you whispered. Mark smiled and kissed you.
"They're alive," he replied, stroking your hair from your face. You smiled up at him and wiped your nose. "That's why I didn't give up on this. I had a feeling, you know? I knew I'd be able to see you smile if I got this working."
"Well, you keep trusting your feelings, mister." you chuckled, standing up and wiping at your eyes.
"All my feelings?" Mark asked.
"A-yep!" you replied, turning to him. He was smiling sheepishly at you and was... was he reaching into his pocket? "Oh no you're going to make me cry again."
"Probably," Mark chuckled as he took one of your hands and got down on one knee. "[Y/N], I love you a lot and you mean the absolute world to me... Will you marry me?"