when the music is right. pipravi

one.

august 2020

it was day 697. six-nine-seven. the six hundredth ninety-seventh day the final verdict for the crown vs. max hastings dropped.

pip knew it was, she'd been counting days of her exile as if she were a prisoner, just waiting for her release.

it was horrible. every single one of those days were horrible. her nightmares kept getting worse, and she had swore to never use drugs again after she saw that look on ravi's face when she told him about how she never got better, and how she'd used xanax to get the sleep necessary for her to keep living.

it was a silent promise from her to him.

she'd eventually figured to just exhaust herself enough to just to get some rest – physically or mentally – whichever she felt like that day. and each time she'd feel six gunshots in her heart, blood in her hands, or duct tape on her face, she'd talk to everyone who lived in her head.

because it had been too late now, she was sure they hated her after she cut them off as soon as she'd reached college.

it was never easy for her, and even when she is approaching day 700 soon, never a day goes by without her thinking of them; talking to them.

in fact, that was all she did at all, but after so many days, she was afraid that she got their voices wrong.

she would still talk to her family, she was obliged to. but that was only ever on text, because she was afraid that they'd see through her.

it wasn't like she felt guilty for her crime, her guilt was reserved for if her friends would ever have to pay for a crime they didn't commit because of her.

the reason why she had sat alone in her room at all times with no one to talk to but the people in her head, because ravi and her parents were under duress, afraid of what she might to do them if they didn't obey her, and nat, jamie, connor, cara and naomi all had plausible deniability, unaware of why their friend had asked for their help.

a fine story if she ever were to get caught, which even though she was sure she would not, the other voice in her head told her she would.

'i suppose if you were ever involved in something like this, you'd know exactly how to get away with it.'

hawkins' voice echoed in her head each time she would hear the police siren ring in her ears, a reminder that she is a criminal on the lose.

even if they deserved it.

he'll come find her when he's done.

...

"holy shit, there's no way that bitch said that," echoed the voice of viola mccoy through the small walls of the common woman's restroom, followed by and exaggerated gasp.

pip shifted in her stall and fake-coughed to let her presence be known. the bile rose in her throat as she paused through her reading of the verdict.

she felt viola's eyes on her, even though the door was closed, falling down at her converse shoes peeping outside, and pip shrunk, afraid that if she occupied too much space she'll be caught with jason's blood on her hands.

a hum escaped viola's mouth, then a second — a more frustrated one.

her heels clacked against the marble floor of the common women's restroom.

one. four.
two. five.
three. six.

six steps until viola's voice was no longer audible to her.
six gunshots.
stanley's blood on her hands.
farmhouse on fire.
broken ribs.

no, just sweat. and a notification.

pip saw the pixels form words on a screen.
refusing to accept them as true.

it had been 3 minutes, only 3 minutes since the verdict had dropped, and her heart rate had too, when she read what it said, over and over again, in her head, in his honey voice.

hey sarge, remember me?

she let out a sob, a loud one, filled with happiness and relief. tears emerged from her eyes and she made no attempt to stop them.

she wasn't crying because she was sad — no, not right now, she was the happiest fucking girl alive because she wasn't dead girl walking anymore.

unlike what little kilton had tried to manifest for her.

heavy sighs escaped her, a tearful smile — no, a grin erupting.

pip's braincells rushed to calculate what was happening, and she quickly found the answer to that.

she had made it. they had made it.
team ravi and pip. they succeeded. yet again.

for the first time in years, pip breathed.

her breath wasn't interrupted by jason's death mask or the flames from the burning farmhouse at sycamore, or even the rohypnol that becca bell had snuck into her tea.

a real fucking breath.

pip closed her eyes and leaned her hair to the bathroom wall.
and she laughed.
an ugly laugh. but that didn't matter.

nothing mattered more than him.

she sunk from the toilet seat down to the floor, the stupid grin only escaping her face when she realised no words could ever express what she was feeling. how much she loved him. how grateful she was that that he waited all those long days for her, 697 days of what could've been used for ravi to heal, find someone better, maybe even turn pip in.

but he didn't. he waited for her.

and the rest of her living days would now be dedicated to being the pippa-fitz amobi who deserved ravi singh.

bur for now, the question was, what would she write to him?

she started typing something along the lines of — You're a bit hard to forget, Agent Singh. — yeah, that was good. the grin made it's way back to her moist face as she pressed send.

six seconds. no gunshot.

That I am.

her screen lit up with an incoming call from a number she had learnt by heart. and she hadn't wasted even a second in answering.

"hello?" her voice was so fragile she wasn't sure if he had heard her. "ravi?" this time, she spoke a bit louder, her mouth quivering as she spoke each syllable of his name, to him.

there was shuffling at his end, and a sniff, and pip heard him breathe again. his voice was soft and broken.

"hey, trouble."

and at that, pip broke down. how could someone be capable of bringing glee to a person so sad and miserable like she?

it was a few seconds later when he spoke, as her sobs calmed down.

"we made it, sarge."
"we did."
there was a moment of comfortable silence as they both took their time to soothe themselves in the other's presence, letting it all sink in.

and even then, it felt surreal, that even after all that, he still waited for her. and she, of course, would always wait for him.

him or no one.

her or no one.

it would always be team ravi and pip.

word count: 1182

a/n
not me writing ANOTHER alternate ending :o
tragic endings just find their way to me i fear

23.09.23
update: i decided to make this a oneshot since im not exactly sure i want to go down the road and put together the pieces of how pip's life progresses. i added the call from chapter 2 at the end to complete it 😭 i will continue writing pipravi oneshots though just maybe not a full fledged fic

coffeehaesoo 2023