Story [Multifandom] As the World Shuffles Along - July '12 update 6/30/13

Hi there everyone! Long time, no see, I know. DRL is crazy and has a tendancy to consume me.

So, I'm kicking off my New Years resolution of writing more with stories with a response to the http://boards.theforce.net/non_star_wars_fan_fiction_resource/b10809/32029586/p1/?39]Mod's[/url] Shuffle Challenge!

In addition to the challenge rules, I set myself an extra challenge. Because I've dabbled in many fandoms over the years, I tried to limit myself to the fandoms I haven't written in yet (or only done a couple of small things).

Without further ado, I present

As the World Shuffles Along

Genre: General
Rating: PG
Time Frame: N/A
Characters: Various
Fandoms: Once Upon A Time, Ranger's Apprentice, Firefly, Hunger Games, Avatar: The Last Airbender


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Parental Failings
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Character: Emma Swan
Theme: Mother Knows Best - Tangled Soundtrack

Mother knows best,
Listen to your mother,
It's a scary world out there.
Mother knows best,
One way or another,
Something will go wrong, I swear!

~~~

Tossing around in the unfamiliar bed, she struggles to settle into sleep, the events of the last couple of days catching up with her and making her head spin.

She'd never really thought about what had happened to that baby boy from ten years ago. She had, maybe naively, placed her trust in the adoption agency to find him a good home away from the mess that was her life at that time. She'd certainly never thought about the possibility of the kid searching her out, let alone knocking at her door on her birthday wanting her help.

Emma let out another unhappy sigh. What drives a child to leave everything he knows to go on a wild goose chase to hunt down the woman who gave him up without so much as naming him? At first, she convinced herself she was taking the kid-Henry-back to get him out of her life, and away from the memories, the responsibility.

Then Regina came into it. She control the poor kid's life to the extreme, and the lack of love or even comfort in his small world of Storybrooke struck a chord in her heart. She'd never thought of herself in any way, shape or form to be maternal. So why was she so reluctant to leave this boy?

Regina?s manner that only she knows best for Henry...

Emma knows damn well parents make mistakes. Hell, she's never really gotten over the mistakes of her own parents. And she doesn't want to remember the things that the foster system taught her about bad parenting.

Henry was being crushed by his adopted mother. And she couldn't leave him now. She was far from perfect, but surely she could still try to protect him, couldn't she? Even though it terrifies her.

Turning back over again, she eventually settled into an uneasy sleep, her dreams haunted with shadowy figures of knights and running through the woods.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Ashes to Ashes
Fandom: Ranger's Apprentice
Character: Halt O'Carrick
Theme: The Burned Out Village - Mulan Soundtrack
~~~~

Halt was stony-faced as they passed through another empty village, signs of the raider's fire marking the buildings. He was glad to hear silence from his two companions, who had tried to talk his ear off earlier.

He was in no mood to talk.

While he has considered Araluen home for many, many years, the tug in his heart for the place of his birth remained. The country and villages around Dun Kilty had been the settings for his childhood adventures. A lot of hiding from tutors, as well. To see Clonmel in this ragged state hit him harder than he had thought it would.

Not to mention how mad it made him. Tennyson's people had clearly been able to waltz in, Halt saw no evidence of even token protection offered by the King. Although, considering said King, Halt wasn't necessarily surprised.


Underneath the cowl of his Ranger’s cloak, a deep scowl etched itself into his face. Logically, he knew that the local knowledge he had of the area, outdated as it may be, made him the perfect choice for this mission. But the thought of stepping into Dun Kilty again wasn’t a prospect he relished.

And as to Ferris’ reaction...

Well, he guessed he would find out that reaction soon enough.

Maybe he could kidnap his younger twin and toss him into the ashes of one of the local villages to make his point. Halt smiled grimly. That, at least, had potential.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Strange Medical Cures
Fandom: Firefly
Characters: Wash, Simon
Timeframe: Intra-series
Theme: Yodelling Veterinarian of the Alps – Veggie Tales
~*~
Some would stand in silence
While some just scratched their scalps
For the curious ways
Of the yodelling veterinarian of the Alps.
~*~

“You’re lying.”

“No! My hand to God! Geese were juggled!”

Simon’s face was distrusting as he listened to the outrageous stories Wash had collected.

“But... Why?”

The pilot shrugged. “Beats me. I think they were just really, really bored...”

Simon hit his head against the table, and Wash heard a quiet mutter from the doctor.

“I’ll never understand people out here.”

Wash just laughed quietly. “Most of the time, I don’t think anyone understands the other motivations of others,” he gestured expansively with his hands. “Besides, there are stranger things out there.”

Simon scoffed, “What, aliens?” sarcasm heavy in his voice.

The blonde pilot just grinned. “Who knows? Maybe there is. But I was thinking of the planet where their medicine was... we’ll call it singing.”

“Singing,” Simon repeated, scepticism etched deep on to his face.

“Well, no. It’s really an insult to singing to call it that. It was some horrible sound they called yodelling,” Wash shuddered. “They claimed it was an old tradition from Earth-That-Was, but it just sound like a horrible racket to me...”

He wasn’t surprised to see the doctor’s head slump to the table again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Swiftly Goes the Day
Fandom: Hunger Games
Characters: Peeta Mellark
Timeframe: Train to 74th games
Theme: Twenty Four – Switchfoot
~*~
Twenty four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
Twenty four drop outs
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago
~*~

That first night on the train, Peeta spends most of the evening sitting near the window, aimlessly staring at the dark landscape.

Logically, he knew he should probably get as much rest as he could, but that was easier said than done. And the rich food had made him queasy to boot.

He wasn’t sure if he loved or hated Katniss for what she did. On one hand, he admired her protection of her sister, but on the other hand he would rather be against anyone but her. He didn’t know what to do about her. She at least was oblivious to his feelings. His embarrassment would only be complete if she found that out now.

And to think this time yesterday, he was having what would end up being his last meal at home, worried, but not truly believing that his name, or his brother’s would be called out. And he’d happily been watching Katniss Everdeen from afar.

Now they were hundreds of miles from District 12, forced together on the way to their deaths.

Well, he amended, at least one of us is.

He would not be surprised if Katniss was the one to scrape through a District 12 victory after all these years. Peeta Mellark, on the other hand, he rather suspected would be out of the Games before too long.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Stranger in a Familiar Land
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Character: Prince Zuko
Timeframe: Pre-“Day of the Black Sun”
Theme: This is Where it Gets Complicated – Doctor Who Soundtrack (series 5)
~*~

Walking around the palace grounds again was something he still had not readjusted to yet. He pretended it was nothing, because despite Azula’s strange generosity in regard to him, he knew she would see it as a weakness which she could exploit.

She was losing her mind. He’d always wondered as a child, but that was the joking contempt that a brother had for the antics of a younger sister. That had now been replaced by a sinking dread.

Why couldn’t he have been born into a simpler family? One that didn’t have a history of backstabbing and what was shaping up being a sizeable streak of insanity combined with too much power.

Wandering back towards the quiet spot in the gardens where he had been with Mai earlier, Zuko tried to school his thoughts into some form of order. He had all ready realised it was time for him to leave, but the details needed more work. He still only had a vague idea of how he was going to be able to get Uncle out of his imprisonment, and where they would go after that.

A sparkle caught his eye in the grass. Mai’s hair slide winked back up at him, and Zuko’s stomach twisted in guilt. His departure would not go down well with her, but at least her rage should protect her from Azula taking it out on her.

Grasping the slide gently in his hands, he prayed that Mai would distance herself from Azula before she too fell victim to the Princess’ madness.

 

My favorite part of this whole challenge is that I'm discovering that I'm not the only one likely to write Firefly and Hunger Games to a soundtrack that includes Veggie Tales, Tangled, and Doctor Who...

Brilliant work. The Firefly one was my favorite. Man, I miss Wash!

 

These were all SO good! I can't pick a favorite!! And you chose some great fandoms Continue to write in them; you have eager readers!!

 

Thanks MJ! I've written a couple of short things for Firefly before, and a couple of short vigs for Ranger's Apprentice before, but the others were new. I'd mostly just been lurking in those fandoms previously!

I agree with OUAT for the win! I'm always left at the end of an ep going 'More! Give me more!' The fairytale world backstories are probably my fave though. I was a little worried that I hadn't captured Emma's voice, but I'll take your comments as a good sign!

And Strange Medical Cures was probably my favourite snippet as well. When Veggie Tales silly songs popped up on my list, Wash seemed like the perfect conduit to carry it off, and then the dialogue just flowed from there.

ATLA is a fandom I?ve only lurked in before, but Zuko was always a character I?d keep coming back to. His loyalties are torn so many ways by series end. I?m glad you think I captured him well.

Yeah, I started laughing so hard when Veggie Tales came up... I?ll admit, I?m a sucker for most Disney soundtracks, and a whole heap of instrumental movie soundtracks. I was actually surprise that only 3 soundtrack songs came up on my list of ten!

Glad you enjoyed it! (And I miss Wash as well... poor Wash)

Thanks! The intention is to write more this year (and at least one of these gave me a larger picture idea for a fic...)

 

?Well, no. It?s really an insult to singing to call it that. It was some horrible sound they called yodelling,? Wash shuddered. ?They claimed it was an old tradition from Earth-That-Was, but it just sound like a horrible racket to me...?

lol and we call it American (or other location) Idol

I liked the first a lot as well.

 

Parental Failings -You captured Emma's feelings for Henry perfectly!

Aww, Peeta.

Great sets.

 

...We're back? YAY! (Even if it has eaten over half the initial post so far, and put in unnessecary question marks...)

So, I've been trying to keep up with a shuffle challenge a month (I'm currently behind again) for the whole year, but I was too lazy to cross post to the temp boards, then repost here again.

So, I'll post what I've got each week until I've caught up again. I missed this place....
I might wait til they've sorted the coding issues though before I post.

 

So... Time for me to get off my lazy bum and post the rest of these drabbles. Successfully managed 5 drabbles a month, across... *counts* ..32 fandoms. Hmmm. Not sure what that says about my attention level within fandoms, but there you go.

The February offerings I wrote include offerings from Bones, How to Train Your Dragon, X-Men: First Class, NCIS and Percy Jackson.
No recent spoilers, considering they were all written over a year ago.

~*~*~*~


Title: Infinitis (203)
Fandom: Bones
Characters: Jack Hodgins, Angela Montenegro, Michael Hodgins
Timeframe: between series 6 and 7
Theme: 100 years – Five for Fighting
~*~
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy, time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
Fifteen I'm all right with you
Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got hundred years to live
~*~

Jack Hodgins looks around him and realises that this is one of those perfect moments that he wants to freeze and hold in his memory forever.

He and Ange had decided to bask in the glorious weather that this weekend had bestowed upon them by having a picnic in the nearby park. So, they’d packed up lunch, bickering good-naturedly about what foods they were packing in the process, slathered Michael in infant sunscreen, and headed out into the sunshine. At two months, Michael couldn’t really appreciate the outdoors yet, but the new parents could definitely do with a break from the house. Besides, the outing was made perfectly worthwhile, in Jack’s eyes at least, by the proud smile on his wife’s face (and no doubt echoed on his own) every time someone stopped to admire their young son.

After all the worry and anguish they had shared before Michael’s birth about his eyesight, and the sleepless nights that followed the birth of their bouncing baby boy, these carefree moments were so precious.

Angela looks over their son’s head at him, a bright smile lighting her face, and the familiar wicked twinkle in her eye.

Jack Hodgins is convinced he is the luckiest man on earth.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Regrets, Mistakes and Healing (260)
Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon
Characters: Stoick, Hiccup
Timeframe: Post battle
Theme: Father and Son – Tron Legacy Soundtrack
~*~

Hiccup is far too still.

Stoick keeps his vigil next to his son, reassuring himself by watching the boy’s chest rise and fall with each breath. He studiously tries to ignore the flat space beneath the blanket where the lower part of his left leg should be. Far too young to be losing limbs. The village Healing Woman had removed the damaged remnants of the lower leg, dosing the unconscious boy with hemlock before she went to work.

Stoick hadn’t been able to watch.

She has assured Stoick that the leg was healing well, and that Hiccup would wake up ‘When he was ready’.

He wouldn’t be happy until he saw the boy up and talking again.

Hiccup had never been a still child. Quiet, yes, but not still. Always getting into something new, and even when sitting, he was always fidgeting, drawing, asking questions. As a baby, he would squirm in his sleep all night long, and watch everything intently through the day.

It unnerved the Chief to see his son lying so still and quiet after two weeks.

He wonders if Hiccup will be able to forgive him when he wakes.

Every time Stoick dozes, he is greeted by memories. Yelling at Hiccup, casting him aside after the disaster in the ring. Hiccup risking his life for that dragon, and the battle with that monster. Hiccup falling, with nothing Stoick can do to help him.

He knows he hasn’t been what Hiccup needed for so long, but when Hiccup wakes, he intends to try and correct those mistakes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Shattered Homes (222)
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Characters: Unnamed Apollo camper, 1st person.
Timeframe: Battle of the Labryinth
Theme: Courtyard Apocalypse – Deathly Hallows pt 2 soundtrack
~*~

At camp, we train for battle.

For some, the skills learned here are a matter of life and death on a frequent basis in the rest of the world. For others, the need is less dire.

Some of us are lucky enough that the monsters largely leave us alone outside of the Camp’s borders. We figured our training would be enough to overcome what came our way, no problem.

I remember Chiron saying that true battle is an orgy of chaos and destruction. I didn’t really understand it until tonight.

That another demigod is leading the monsters to their homes cuts to the bone, and most campers are torn between pity and betrayal when they look to Cabin Twelve. It’s not their fault, but it hurts still.

The monsters are everywhere, and I recognise that I will run out of arrows long before the battle is over. There is no time for me to even see if my arrows have hit their mark before reloading.

Please let my arrows fly true, Father, Aunt Artemis.

Draw. Aim. Fire. Repeat.

One of Mr D’s twin sons is down, and a scream to my left reveals a fellow archer has been picked off by the Titan forces.

The camp is tainted with blood, and our safe haven is never going to be the same again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Missing Broken Things (216)
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Characters: Charles Xavier, Raven Darkholme/Mystique
Timeframe: Post “First Class” movie
Theme: Believe - Skillet
~*~
I'm still trying to figure out
How to tell you I was wrong
I can't fill the emptiness inside
Since you've been gone
~*~

He still half expects to see her when he enters the kitchen each morning.

Logically, Charles knows she’s gone. He saw her leave with Erik that day, admitted that he no longer had much to offer her. But Raven had been a part of his life for over fifteen years. Her place in his life was not so easily overlooked.

Simple things like her puzzle scattered around the library, her favoured breakfast cereal still in the cupboards.

He hasn’t mustered up the heart to deal with her room yet. He knows he’ll have to at some point, especially with the plans for converting this place into a school moving forward. But not yet.

He missed the vague awareness of her mind lurking around too. She’d always been a soothing cool presence in his mind. It had evened his own chaotic mind somewhat. He hadn’t realised how much until now.

Did he do the right thing telling her to go? Charles no longer knows. He spent so long trying to protect her, without letting her have her own say. He would have been selfish to ask her to stay. With him a cripple, and her own philosophy falling more in line with Erik’s.

Regret still taints his thoughts though, and he desperately wishes things had gone differently.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Title: Family (310)
Fandom: NCIS
Characters: Ziva David, Team Gibbs
Timeframe: Post season 7
Theme: Crash and Burn – Savage Garden
~*~
When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like
the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief
and people can be so cold
~*~

The first months back in D.C. after Somalia are harsh.

Ziva finds herself jumping slightly at little things when she is alone. She does her best to pretend that things haven’t changed when she’s with the team. She knows that they don’t believe her for a minute, but none of them have called her on it, which she is grateful of.

The therapist she had been to assigned to was better than she had expected, and slowly, she was making some progress past the backlog of hurt and trauma.

Nevertheless, there was still an emptiness that lingered on the periphery of Ziva’s mind. She’d never had many people close to her. Her family, who should have been closest, was a mess. Her mother and sister long dead, a traitorous brother whose blood was on her hands, and a father that only seemed to remember he had a daughter when it was convenient for him to use her for the job. She was sick of his manipulations, but now in cutting herself free of the never-ending games, she had isolated herself from the last family she had.

A soft knock at the door interrupts her thoughts, and a quick check through the peephole reveals Tony, Abby and McGee standing at her door. Putting on a smile, Ziva lets them inside.
Abby immediately hugs her, and Ziva’s question for the reason of the visit is muffled somewhat by the scientist’s embrace.

“Movie night,” Tony answers simply. “It’s been ages since we’ve had one.”

He’s holding up a small stack of DVDs. A warm light starts to fill Ziva as the team falls into a familiar routine: bickering over the movie selection and who gets to sit where, rummaging for snacks, and eventually the running commentary of snark through the movie.

This was her real home now. This was the family she chose.

~*~*~*~*~*~
Thoughts always welcome. I'll post the rest of my 2012 drabbles by month over the next few weeks.

 

Here's the March 2012 drabble offerings, and the start of what I term 'obscure fandom alert'. (and I may have snuck a short SW drabble in here too).

Fandoms: Borderland Trilogy (book), Sally Lockhart (book), Star Wars OT, A:TLA, Tomorrow When the War Began (book)


~*~*~*~

Title: Things Past By (285)
Fandom: Borderland Trilogy (by Rosanne Hawke)
Characters: Jasper Pemberly, (Jaime Richards)
Timeframe: Post Trilogy
Theme: The One That Got Away – Katy Perry
~*~
In another life
I would make you stay
So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away
~*~

The college campus is lying under a coat of fall leaves, and Jasper finds himself slumping over a desk in the library, staring out the window and already resenting the coming winter.

American winters in the North-East are not his thing. Not after Pakistan. Winter had been bitterly cold in the mountains, for sure, but somehow it was still a different cold. Though he wonders if that memories distorting over time.

He’s been back in the US going on three years now. He’d spent another nine months in Pakistan after his ‘cross-border adventure’. Partly because he didn’t fancy changing schools again for his senior year, but mostly because his father’s reappearance had meant piles of paperwork before he was allowed home, and Jasper was loathe to let him out of his sight.

He’s managed to keep in contact with Jaime though, this time.

It’s one of her emails he’s read that put him into a funk. Not that he really want to admit that.

She’s engaged. Some farmer’s son she knew in Adelaide with a property in the outback (Jaime assures him it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s “beyond the black stump”). She’s still writing stories, studying journalism as well.

Really, he’s seen this coming for months now. But was still childishly hoping that it wouldn’t happen. Because he’s never let go of her in his heart. Everything they shared growing up, and everything they lost as well.

No girl in his has ever measured up to Jaime Richards.

But now he has to smile, say he’s happy for her (and he does want to see her happy), and watch her move on.

Damn, it was going to hurt to reply to that email.

~*~*~*~*~

Title: Harsh Light of Day (277)
Fandom: Sally Lockhart Mysteries (by Philip Pullman)
Characters: Sally Lockhart, (Fred)
Timeframe: Shadow in the North, morning after the fire.
Theme: Penthouse – Hunger Games Score
~*~

All she wanted to do was crawl into a little ball and wish this nightmare away like a child.

Except this was no nightmare. There are stinging burns on her hands, her lungs are sore from the smoke she inhaled, and her nightdress is covered in soot. But it’s her aching heart more than her aching body that reminds her that this is real.

The sun is shining, and she feels like the watery rays are piercing her soul. Webster and Jim have been beside her through the night, caught in the same state of shock and grief. She can feel Webster’s hands shaking as he clasps her hand.

She has an appreciation for Isabel’s heartbreak.

But she still hates the woman in a bitter corner of her heart. She wants to blame her. Her stubborn refusal to stay and die in the inferno has cost her Fred.

It’s easier to blame the girl. Because underneath that, she blames herself more.

All the time she spent pushing Fred away. All the time she spent figuring out she loved him, coming to the realisation that he only made her better. Even in his overbearing moments, he only wanted to help her. Her stubborn pride just caused her to push him away.

Sally had finally sorted out her feelings, and then this.

The fire-fighters are removing his body, and she barely remembers walking over and asking them to stop. Webster is shaking like a leaf behind her as she kisses Fred goodbye, letting the tears fall.

“I have to go,” she chokes out.

This was no accidental fire. Axel Bellman heaped this on them. And she will end him.

~*~*~*~*~

Title: Inferno (197)
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Characters: Firelord Ozai
Timeframe: Pre Sozin’s Comet
Theme: Prince of Darkness – Immediate Music
~*~

There is a crackling under his skin, he can feel it down to his bones.

It’s the approaching comet. The power is building in his system and he craves more. The comet itself is still a couple of days away, but there is a crackling in his blood calling for destruction.

Idly, Ozai wonders how Fire Lord Sozin managed to be content with the mere power of firebending under one sun, after experiencing the exhilaration of the power of a thousand suns. Can one really be content with the ordinary after experiencing the extraordinary?

The thought is brushed aside. Everything would change with the comet. The Earth Kingdom peasants will be decimated, the world pacified. And as to the Avatar, well, no doubt the idiot child would challenge him. He will be the one to finish the work his great-grandfather started in destroying the Air Nomads.

And the destruction of the little group of friends would be easy enough. That weakling son of his would certainly be no challenge.

Ozai’s eyes glanced far into the distance, not seeing the horizon, but instead his new world.

A new order built from ashes in his image, the Phoenix King.

~*~*~*~*~

Title: Fears and Sacrifice (230)
Fandom: Star Wars
Characters: Owen Lars, Beru Lars
Timeframe: A New Hope
Theme: Crewe & the Soldier – A Little Princess soundtrack
~*~

Owen is still looking for Luke when he spots the procession heading for the homestead, and his blood runs cold.

The Empire, like the Republic before it, has never bothered with Tatooine much. It’s been a periphery presence compared to the more tangible Hutt rule on the planet.

So stormtroopers on Tatooine are pretty much unheard of.

He’s racing back towards home, to Beru, and he feels like his nightmares are coming true. He can only think of one reason for Imperials out here.

Luke.

He’d harboured this fear for nineteen years, ever since Kenobi had arrived with the infant. He couldn’t say no, though. Not to Beru who had held Luke with such tenderness, the boy soothing the wounds in her soul of her inability to carry a child of their own. He couldn’t say no to the boy, innocent and peaceful, who was Shmi’s grandson.

So he had accepted his new role of Uncle. And he loved the boy, more than he knew how to express, despite all the stubbornness and arguments he gave him.

He’s at the homestead only minutes ahead. Beru looks at him, a sad acceptance in her eyes. They know that this is their end.

“Thank Stars he’s not here,” Beru murmurs as Owen holds her close.

Owen’s agreement is non-verbal, not trusting himself to speak.

The first firebomb is launched at the homestead.

~*~*~*~*~

Title: Into the Abyss (224)
Fandom: Tomorrow when the War Began (by John Marsden)
Characters: Kevin, Corrie
Timeframe: Movie-verse, after blowing the bridge
Theme: O-Negative – Breaking Dawn soundtrack
~*~

This was never meant to happen. Not to them. Not here.

Kevin supposes that all people say that when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, though. But really, who expects a war to suddenly land on them?

The plan was crazy. It was almost a worry that Homer had thought about this before. This night has been moments of boredom, with only pure terror and adrenaline keeping them going. But somehow, it looks like it might actually work.

Then Corrie gasps in pain, and Kevin’s sees the blood as he moves to put Corrie in front.

He’s never prayed so hard until this moment.

On inspection of the wound, it’s so much worse. The bleeding won't stop, and she's losing consciousness. He knows what Homer’s saying is rational, but he can’t leave her. He already did that once, and he swore he’d never do it again. Ellie, he knows, agrees with him, and he sees the forgiveness in her eyes for that earlier discretion when he says he's taking her in himself.

He knows that driving into Wirrawee is a one way trip. But if he can spin a convincing story, a remote farm accident for instance, Corrie can live.

He wonders if he’ll see any of the group again.

But to him even the slightest chance of life had to be taken.

~*~*~*~
So, the 3 book fandoms are pretty obscure, I know. But hey, if you're looking for a good read, I highly recommend any of those series! Also, that's the first time in about... 4 years? that I've written any SW stuff. It was nice to return for a little.

 

These are all really lovely, DreamingIce. It's always a pleasure to read a multifandom fic - it's like going to a buffet and there's always something as a surprise dessert! (... I feel like that was kind of a bad metaphor, but I hope you know what I mean! ). I'm looking forward to more.

 

Thanks Idrelle I'm glad you're enjoying the fandom jumping... I had fun going through all the different fandoms while I was writing them, especially the smaller fandoms and the fandoms I haven't written in for a while.

April 2012 Fandoms: Tortall, The Secret Countess, Doctor Who, Deltora Quest, Tangled
More book fandoms ahead...

~*~*~*~

Title: Bets and Pride
Fandom: Protector of the Small (Tortall)
Characters: Domitan of Masbolle
Timeframe: First Test
Theme: Dumbledore’s Army – Order of the Phoenix
~*~

Dom was feeling a little in over his head. Joining the King’s Own had seemed like a good idea at the time.

However, two months in, he realised that it was going to be harder than he ever thought. This last week has been one of the first times that he’s not been coated in mud and covered in bruises. And now they were about to head out again. He really hoped that Qasim was right and it was a false alarm.

So stopping to watch the pages start their tilting was fine with him. If he happened to see his cousin knocked off his horse at the same time, well... it might make him feel better to see smart-mouthed Neal take a walloping. Neal didn’t get more than a light whack from the dummy though, and Dom was almost disappointed.

“Look at the size of that gelding,” one of his squad members exclaimed quietly.

“The page doesn’t look big enough to be on a monster like that,” Dom head someone else say.

“Is that the Girl?” came from behind.

Sure enough, the page on the monster of a horse was Keladry of Mindelan. Dom had already heard much about this girl from Neal’s letters.

It wasn’t hard to see that her tilting run was going to be disastrous. “Bet she doesn’t stay on,” the men quickly started a pool.

“Don’t think she’ll even hit the target at all.”

“I think she’ll stay on,” Dom interjected. The men stared at him, the shrugged. No doubt figuring that if the newbie wanted to lose his money, it wasn’t their problem.

From what he knew, Keladry seemed like a stubborn girl, and for all Neal’s dramatics, the meathead was generally a good judge of character.

The horse reared, and Dom winced along with everyone else. Then grinned as she recovered, still in her saddle, quickly trying to hide behind the rest of pages as Lord Raoul entered into conversation with Lord Wyldon.

He decided he rather liked this girl page.

~*~*~*~

Title: Freedom
Fandom: Secret Countess (A Countess Below Stairs) by Eva Ibbotson
Characters: Lady Westerholme/Mary Frayne, Cyril Proom
Timeframe: Immediately after the failed wedding
Theme: River Runs Through It – Doctor Who series 5
~*~

The household was currently between a sense of relief and shock. Muriel had pack her belongings most hastily, or rather, ordered her Swiss maid to pack, and had vanished along with Dr Lightbody.

Downstairs, Louise has suggested fumigating Miss Hardwicke’s room just to ensure there wasn’t any more of the woman’s toxic presence still lingering there. Proom indulges her with a rare smile, and Mrs Park fusses over Wyn with an gleam of satisfaction in her eyes as the events are related to her.

Lady Westerholm calls Proom into the sitting room, and for a while just stares at the faithful butler.

“Thank you,” she says softly, after studying the aging man.

“My Lady,” he responds, not sure of what else to say.

Mary Frayne sighs, “It was underhanded, that ploy, and had every potential to blow up horribly. But I thank you,” she looks away for a moment. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to Mersham financially, but I think any options ahead of us are still better than being under the thumb of that girl.”

“We all agreed that as well, My Lady.”

“And I don’t think I could have beared to see her destroy Rupert. And she would have.”

Proom just nodded.

Silence reigns for a moment before the older woman asks one last question.

“Do you think we can find a way to get Anna back up here?”

~*~*~*~

Title: Risk Taking
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Jackie Tyler
Timeframe: somewhere in season 2
Theme: Aquarius – Within Temptation
~*~
They say I'm seeking out the danger.
That one day you won't let me go,
I’ll drown, you’ll take me down.
~*~

Jackie Tyler is by no means a stupid woman.

She isn’t academically gifted, but her knowledge of people has served her well during her life.

Rose is her world, and as much as she wants her daughter to be everything she herself could never be, she wants to keep her safe and protected.

The Doctor was a direct threat to her Rose’s safety. She knows that. She’s seen it in action. But during Rose’s association with the infuriating man, Jackie has seen her girl blossom into a strong minded woman with drive. And she is so immensely proud of this woman that her daughter has become. And begrudgingly, she will credit part of this change in her daughter to the Doctor.

But somewhere in her heart, she knows this can’t last. One of these days, Rose is going to step into that blue box, and she won’t see her again.

And Rose will never leave the Doctor. Jackie knows that Rose has fallen in love with him.

All she can do know is eye the lanky alien each time, imploring him to bring her daughter back to her again.

~*~*~*~

Title: Unyielding
Fandom: Deltora Quest
Characters: Jarred/Endon
Timeframe: Somewhere between “Dread Mountain” and “Return to Del”
Theme: Untitled – Simple Plan
~*~
So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can’t explain what happened
And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done
~*~

The steady drip of water entering the cell was starting to drive him crazy.

The blacksmith sighed, and tried to distract himself from the noise. He wishes his wife was here. She’d always had the spirit to lighten even his darkest moods. He did his best to return the favour when her own worried threatened to overwhelm her. Fallow had managed to let slip that she was still being her wilful self, which gave him hope.

He couldn’t help but laugh when the Shadowlord’s servant thought that it was Endon travelling with Lief. Hell, it still made him chuckle. Hard to do that when they have Endon trapped in a cell here.

It was weird hearing that name thrown around. He’s so used to answering to Jarred. He isn’t entirely sure who he considers himself to be more, the childhood friend he had adored, or the hiding king. He loved those memories of the childhood their shared. And it wasn’t the opulence that made those memories. It was the two of them, as brothers more than friends.

He prays everyday for the safety of Jarred, Anna and their child. He didn’t deserve a friend such as Jarred, though he’s strived to make that sacrifice worth it.

He can’t change the past, no matter how much he wishes it. But Leif... his precious, brave, headstrong son has the power to change the future.

That is the hope he is clinging to.

~*~*~*~

Title: Of Pain and Hope
Fandom: Tangled
Characters: The Queen
Timeframe: the years after Rapunzel was taken
Theme: We Believe – Good Charlotte
~*~
There’s a woman crying out tonight
Her world has changed
She asks God why
Her only son has died
And now her daughter cries
She can’t sleep at night
~*~

She spends hours sitting by Rapunzel’s empty crib.

It’s not healthy. She knows that. Her husband has had to carry her to bed more than once.

Food has little interest for her. Her duties as queen hold even less appeal. Her husband has offloaded as much of his official duties as he can, for the time being, onto the advisory council. He instead spends much of his time with the officers searching for their baby girl.

Sometimes, when she dozes off in front of the empty crib, she forgets for a few moments when she awakes. Her half-awake brain sees the mobile still swinging gently, and expects to see her golden-haired daughter, her miraculous little girl, beneath it.

But that blissful moment shatters, and she’s left feeling worse than ever.

She wont give up on seeing her daughter again though. She can't. They can't.

They will keep searching until Rapunzel is found.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Thoughts?

 

So... this was all written in the first couple of weeks after Avengers came out last year. I may have wasted a fair amount of money by going to the cinema to see the movie about three times... But I loved it each time, so, it was worth it, I think.

May 2012 Fandoms: Avengers movie-verse. Attempted in some form of chronological order from pre-movie to post-movie.

~*~*~*~

Title: Balance
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Characters: Bruce Banner
Timeframe: Immediately pre-Avengers movie
Theme: Rage and Serenity – X-Men: First Class Soundtrack
~*~

Bruce Banner let himself take a moment to knead his forehead in frustration. This is another one of those times where he feels like he’s pedalling backwards rather than forwards. It’s not a feeling he likes.

He’s been roving around the slums of Calcutta for three months now, acting as a doctor of sorts for the desperate souls crammed into this teeming pile of people. He knows enough to help these people on a basic level, even with meagre supplies (aspirin, antiseptic washes and soap, bandages, the cheapest broad-spectrum antibiotic he could find) that he has managed to gain access to. So his pHD was in physics instead of medicine. These people didn't care either way.

Usually, what he’s had to offer has been enough: teaching them basic hygiene, food safety, splinting broken arms and legs, etcetera. But there is always times where something nastier comes to the slums to claim the weakest. Sometimes it was dysentery, sometimes pneumonia, sometimes diseases that Bruce didn’t even know what they were. Things that needed far more than he could offer. Still, the people would look to him with hope in their eyes, so he did what he could. What they really needed was a real doctor and better medicine. But local doctors don’t come here. Not even aid groups venture into this midden much.

This was his penance. For everything he destroys when his control slips. It usually took his mind off things. Usually.

Today was going to be one of those bad days when his mind dredges everything up. All the things he had lost, and the knowledge that he can’t get them back.

He’s worked so hard to gain control over... the other guy. Worked out an internal balance that keeps him him. Figured out that simply avoiding stress wasn’t working, and pushing away the anger wasn’t enough either. The gently simmering anger that he was used, and then hunted by people he had trusted... that never really went away. So he had instead focused on controlling that. There’s still been slip-ups, but it’s been about a year since the last one.

Thankfully no people had been hurt, and Bruce had fled the country before his would be captors could arrive and put him into a position that would only endanger even more people.

“Doctor!” a cry in Hindi jolts him out of his thoughts, and he thankfully seeks the distraction.

~*~*~*~

Title: That Which is Precious to You
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Characters: Loki. Side-serve of Clint Barton, Nick Fury and Dr Eric Selvig.
Timeframe: Avengers
Theme: Learning the Skills – Hunger Games score
~*~

He had always figured on using the sceptre to exert control over certain humans. He’d relished the thought, in fact. Making these beings squirm would bring him a level of satisfaction after the role Midgard had played in his being usurped last year. He ignored that he himself had plotted against the throne in the first place.

Loki cracked a sinister smile as he imagined his broth-Thor’s reaction to his plans. He would be livid. But with the Bifrost gone, there would be little chance of Asgard knowing what had happened until he ruled this planet. He wonders how his adoptive brother would react to his mortal lover being killed. A thought he would chase up when the planet had been successfully subjugated.

Arrival brought Loki great satisfaction. The shock on their faces alone amused him. Most of the agents present were ordinary at best, but one showed courageous determination and lightning reflexes when he attacked. Him, Loki decided, he was going to keep alive.

He knew he’d chosen well when he saw the look the dark-skinned man, Director Fury, shot him when Agent Barton re-holstered his weapon. Disbelief and a fraction of fear, no matter how well it was masked. And Barton’s knowledge, from what Loki could now access, would be invaluable, both for the physical aspects of the mission as well as the psychological mayhem he planned to unleash. Taking his Fury’s own men to fight against him was a delicious bonus.

The old man he had initially dismissed while toying with Fury, until Thor was mentioned. Loki sized the man up, and found he remembered him. He was in that pathetic town Thor had been in last year. A friend of his adoptive brother.

Well, if he couldn’t take the woman, he’d still enjoy taking another friend in the meantime. And the scientific expertise would be necessary. He also enjoyed the fear in the scientist’s eyes the second before the tesseract energy consumed him.

He would enjoy watching this world squirm as he turned them against each other before the end.

~*~*~*~

Title: Live for the Fight
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Characters: Steve Rodgers/Captain America
Timeframe: Avengers
Theme: Where is the Edge – Within Temptation
~*~
So much more that you've got left to fight for
But it still doesn't change who you are
There is no fear you'll ever give in to
You're untouchable
~*~

It’s a sad fact that he’s more comfortable in the thick of battle. In the chaos of the fight, he knows what it is he is meant to be doing, and despite the rocky start the team had, even the ever argumentative Stark deferred to his leadership.

He doesn’t know much in this new world. Things are more complicated, more busy. It’s a world that he still isn’t sure of, of where he stands in it.

Even S.H.E.I.L.D was uncanny. People looked at him with awe, but were rarely able to overcome the awe to actually talk to him. Mind you, none of them knew him as the 90-pound asthmatic that couldn’t stand bullies, and was repeatedly beaten for it. They just saw the perfect soldier, a man out of his time. He was lonely.

Even with the disagreements and posturing, the mismatched team had been a relief. There were finally people who would talk to him like equals, even if it was arguing. It’s more interaction than he’s had ever since he woke up. It’s not till Loki’s force attacks that he actually starts to feel like this may be home after all.

Adversity really does make the strangest friendships.

Steve is up to his neck in Chitauri soldiers, the Asgardian Thor fighting beside him. He hopes that Romanoff made it to the top of the building, and he hasn’t heard from Hawkeye for a while.

A moment of inattention delivers an energy blast to his stomach, and he doubles over in pain. It’s tempting to just sit down, not give up. They just keep coming...

“You ready for another bout?” Thor’s words are tempered by a weariness in his eyes that Steve feels in his bones.
“What, they getting sleepy?” he tries to quip back, but the exhaustion is starting to take its toll, even on him.
But still they fight on. There is no option to just lie down.

Loki is still one of those bullies he always hated. He will not be defeated by him.

~*~*~*~

Title: Final Call
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Characters: Tony Stark, Jarvis, Pepper Potts
Timeframe: Avengers
Theme: Somewhere – Within Temptation
~*~
Lost in the darkness,
Try to find your way home.
I want to embrace you
and never let you go.
~*~

When Jarvis asks about calling Pepper, he finds his mouth has suddenly gone dry. Somehow, he manages to respond to Jarvis’ query with a steady voice. Subdued, but steady.

Pepper’s smiling face appears on the display, and Tony feels a lump rapidly forming in his throat. The realisation that this is probably the last image of her he sees is settling like lead in his stomach.

Truthfully (because there is no point lying at this point), he doesn’t know if he wants Pepper to pick up or not.

He wanted to tell her that he loved her. Tony thinks she already knows it, but if this is his last chance to say it, he damn well intends to make the best of it. He’ll also admit that he selfishly wanted to hear her voice one last time before the end, and he regrets that he didn’t give her a proper goodbye when she left for DC. A quick kiss and a distracted wave as he started reviewing the plethora of information in the S.H.I.E.L.D debrief. He wishes he’d held on to her a little longer, now.

But on the other hand, what good does calling her do? Knowing Pepper, she was already glued to a TV screen, fretting. Calling her... how was he meant to say that he wasn’t coming back? That he had a nuke strapped to his back, heading towards an inter-dimensional portal?

Maybe it was better for her that the call wasn’t going through. She could be protected for a little bit longer.

Tony took a moment to look around as the portal approached. The blue sky, the devastation below. He’d caught a glimpse of Romanoff near the Tessaract. Rodgers and Thor were still fighting together in the street, and the Hulk is about a block away. Barton isn’t anywhere to be seen.

The dark and cold assaults him as he passes through. Pepper’s image flickers and dies, as does Jarvis’ voice as he can no longer connect with the suit. He is completely and utterly alone.

He makes sure the missile is headed for the meteoroid he sees ahead before the suit loses power. All he wants is to close his eyes before the end, but he forces himself to watch, to ensure that it hits it’s target.

The fire blooms, and Tony succumbs to the urge to close his eyes.

~*~*~*~

Title: Awake and Dreaming
Fandom: Avengers movie-verse
Characters: Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Dr Eric Selvig
Timeframe: Immediately post-Avengers
Theme: The Reason - Hoobastank
~*~
I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
~*~

He remembers everything.

It makes it so much worse. If it had been a true trance-like state it might have just been a hazy distant memory. Something he could push to the edge of his consciousness. Or it could have just been a space in his mind, blank of information. He’s been through that before, after some ‘enhanced interrogations’.

Although he really shouldn’t be that surprised that Loki was cruel enough to make them remember it all.

He knows damn well that he is by no means a righteous person. He has seen the ugliest sides of battle and humanity, fought in so many battles. Has the blood of so many on his hands. He could tell himself that it was part of the job, that by taking those lives he was saving many more. But then there were others on his ledger too.

And now, there was even more.

Everyone on this newly-formed team told him that it wasn’t his fault. Even Director Fury had tried to absolve his guilt.

He doesn’t truly believe them.

While Natasha’s comment about monsters and magic may hold, he can’t help but feel that if he remembers the actions, he is culpable. He remembers planning the raid in Stuttgart, attacking the Helicarrier, taking out fellow agents in the process. The concussion meant he can’t remember the fight with Natasha, and he’s thankful for that at least.

Everyone else is resting up now, but Clint is just too wound up still. Prowling the back-up base, he’s found a rooftop where he can just sit and think. He’s spent the last two hours analysing how he breached S.H.E.I.L.D’s security, seen every name that made it on to the fatality list as a result.

Phil Coulson’s name had come as a shock.

He wishes that someone had warned him.

A scuffling sound startles him out of his sombre thoughts, sidearm already in his hands as Eric Selvig appeared, slightly out of breath, at the entrance to the roof. Sighing, Clint lowered his gun.

“Sorry Doctor,”

The older man shrugged. “I should know better than to be walking around in the dark, I guess.”

Clint made a non-committal noise in response.

The two sat silently there for a few minutes before Clint posed a question to the astrophysicist. “Do you remember it all?” he asked quietly.

Dr Selvig lets out a drawn-out sigh. He needs no clarification to what Agent Barton is referring to. “Yes,” he answers. He pauses before continuing. “I don’t know how I can face everyone, really. I nearly brought about the end of the world!” he chuckles bitterly.

“You also helped stop it, in the end,” Clint is still looking to the skies when he responds.

“So did you, Agent Barton,” the older man rebuts.

“Still doesn’t seem like enough.”

“I know.”


Will it ever be enough? The unspoken question lingers in the air between the two men as they wait for the dawn to break.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Some of the larger fandoms again now, revisit for a few of them. And I HAD to write something after the flail-inducing finale for Once. (Mind you I'm flailing over the second season finale too, now...)

May 2012 Fandoms: Once Upon A Time, Warehouse 13, Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Stargate Atlantis.

~*~*~*~

Title: Good
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Characters: Emma Swan, Henry Mills
Timeframe: A Land Without Magic
Theme: Albertine – Brooke Fraser
~*~
Now that I have seen
I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms
I cannot let go
~*~

It’s a well known fact that Emma Swan is a messed up woman. She herself is painfully aware of this, and has built these walls around her emotions to protect herself.

This place is the first place she has felt... a sense of self. For once, she isn’t the anonymous drifter. First, the town knew her as Henry’s birth mother, then Graham’s deputy, then now as Sheriff and Regina’s rival. The walls have come down, almost without her realising it.

Henry has done this to her.

She never thought that this would be her. Being a mother (she actually feels like the title almost fits now).

When eighteen-year-old Emma Swan birthed her son, she was too afraid to see him, scared that she’d see the face of the man she had come to despise so much. But now, she looked at Henry, and she only saw this stubbornly good kid, with his beautiful crooked smile. He has a faith in people—in her—that astounds her.

“You can’t take them, something bad will happen!”

“Something bad has already happened.”

How had she produced this unfailingly good-hearted, untainted offspring?

He’s so still and pale in the bed, Emma wants to shake him, see him move. Tears are running unbidden down her face. She can’t lose him. She’s just fought a goddamn dragon. Henry cannot be dead.

He is the only truly good thing she’s done in her whole life. He deserves to live.

“I love you, Henry,” she chokes out as she kisses his forehead.

~*~*~*~

Title: Need to Know
Fandom: Warehouse 13
Characters: Artie, Myka
Timeframe: Season 1, post Duped
Theme: A Dangerous Mind – Within Temptation
~*~
I'm searching for answers
Not questioned before.
The curse of awareness,
There's no peace of mind.
~*~

Artie exchanges banter with the two agents, and Claudia, but then he quietly slips away, leaving Myka and Pete to bicker amongst themselves.

Myka’s words from within the mirror are still ringing in his ears.

He knows that she’s right, in many respects.

But it’s not from lack of trust.

There are so many things that he held back from Pete, Myka and Claudia. Painful, terrible things that he isn’t ready to share. He isn’t sure if he’ll ever be ready to share some of those things.

He’s kept his distance from any new agents in the warehouse over the past fifteen years, afraid someone would get as close as James did. But dammit if the trio bickering their way back to the warehouse office hadn’t worked their way under his skin. Pete with his easy-natured approach and intuition, Myka’s keen and analytical mind, and Claudia’s mad-cap hiding the hurt girl she once was—still was, really.

Maybe he has been misguided in thinking that it protects them to keep quiet. Maybe it’s been more about protecting himself.

But he still doesn’t know how to talk to any of them about the storm he fears is heading their way.

~*~*~*~

Title: Trampled Hearts
Fandom: Hunger Games
Characters: Mrs Everdeen
Timeframe: Reaping Day
Theme: Already Over – Red
~*~
Nothing left to lose
Loving you again
I know it's already over,
already over now
~*~

Her memories of her mother are sparse these days, but they are always at the forefront of her mind on Reaping Day.

Her mother only saw two of her reaping days before succumbing to the winter sickness that swept through the district that year.

“One day,” she used to say. “One day, you will understand how easily your children can trample all over your heart, even if they don’t intend to.”

Violet Everdeen knows she is far from the perfect mother. Both her girls love her still, she does not doubt that. But she also knows Katniss’ faith in her died the same day the mine blew five years ago.

Her elder daughter looks at her, and in those grey eyes, so like her father’s, she can see the distrust lurking there.

Her heart squeezes painfully each time.

Prim’s name is called, and Violet’s world shatters.

Each step Prim takes echoes painfully on her fluttering heart.

Katniss’ actions leave her shaking, only still on her feet because her baby girl is sobbing into her arms and she knows the following weeks are going to be some of the worst of her life.

Trampling all over her heart. Her mother was right.

~*~*~*~

Title: Endings and Beginnings
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Neville Longbottom
Timeframe: Post Battle of Hogwarts
Theme: Pieces – Hoobastank
~*~
I see the picture
Blurry but now it's in focus
A fairy tale I purchased on my own
I finally woke up
Everything is better
A chance for me to open up and grow
~*~

It seems like this war has loomed over them their entire lives.

Well, it has, in various forms. It’s just that the line between the memories of the First Wizarding War and the start of the Second Wizarding War are blurry.

For Neville, the transition was watching his dorm-mate reappear on the Quidditch pitch after the Third Task, distraught, bloodied and holding Diggory’s lifeless body. In hindsight, he knows things were moving towards war once again before then. The Philosopher’s Stone, that whole business in Second Year, and more besides. For others, the transition was during the year of the Ministry’s denials and persecution at Umbridge’s hands, after the battle at the Ministry.

He isn’t interested in recriminating anyone though. Not at this moment.

Neville Longbottom is simply amazed that they have made it though.

The past year, everyone at Hogwarts has been struggling, just trying to hold on to the hope that they can return to some semblance of normality again.

Now that they’re here, it’s surreal. Voldemort is dead, along with many Death Eaters, and more captured. The cost has been high, but as long as they’re still here to pick up the pieces, they can make it through.

And figure out a new goal to shape their lives.

~*~*~*~

Title: Peace
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Jeannie Miller, Rodney McKay
Timeframe: Post “The Shrine” (S5)
Theme: Reconciliation Final – Avatar Last Airbender Soundtrack
~*~

Quiet moments aren’t their thing.

The two McKay siblings have always bickered and niggled each other. In a house that was often full of arguments, it had seemed unnatural to Mer and Jeannie to be quiet in each other’s company.

It’s something that has carried over to their adult lives. They’ve toned down the volume, yes, well, when they’ve still been talking, but it’s always a constant stream of banter and/or barbs that flows between them.

So having the pair of them sitting together in the same room with silence is highly irregular.

Mer is, for once, content to just sit and absorb the quiet, while Jeannie is reluctant to stray too far from her brother. She came to close to losing him, this time. Realistically, she recognises he’s probably had many other close calls that she doesn’t know of, but then she sees Meredith as she saw on arriving on Atlantis only two weeks ago, his own mind betraying him, barely being able to recognise her. Her throat closes momentarily at the remembered horror.

It’s continued to invade her dreams, even now.

Jeannie convinced Mer to come back home with her for a little while. She isn’t sure if it was more for his benefit or hers. Either way, the time with her stubborn older brother has been surprisingly peaceful.

Maybe they can have quiet moments together after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Oh Lawdy. Equine rotation is a special kind of hell. Hopefully, I can just pass this thing, and then pretend like it never happened...
Anyways. On with the ficlets!

May 2012 Fandoms: Brave, Avengers, Tron Legacy, Harry Potter, Inception.

~*~*~*~

Title: Worthwhile
Fandom: Brave
Characters: King Fergus
Timeframe: Movie intro
Theme: Pale – Within Temptation
~*~
Have to fight
'Cause I know in the end it's worthwhile
That the pain that I feel slowly fades
It will be all right
~*~

Merida’s scream is the only warning he gets.

There’s a note of true terror in her scream that he has never heard before from his plucky lass, and when he turned back around, the shadow of the demon bear is looming over his wife and daughter.

He’s throwing himself into the fight on pure instinct and adrenaline. He sees Elinor take off on one of the horses out of the corner of his eye, before being drawn back into the reality of the fight as his sword is shattered by Mor’du.

Truthfully, all he remembers after that is an all-consuming pain. He doesn’t remember getting back to the castle, Elinor watching over him as he slept fitfully through the following days.

It’s a week before he woke up without the healer giving him another vile concoction. His Queen was asleep, slumped in the chair, and little Merida was on her lap, blue eyes open, staring solemnly back at him.

Seeing her little face light up, seeing both of them safe and well, that made it all okay again.

~*~*~*~

Title: Liberation
Fandom: Avengers Movie-verse
Characters: Natasha Romanoff, side serve of Clint Barton
Timeframe: Pre-Avengers
Theme: She Walked Away – Barlow Girl
~*~
Now she's driving too fast
She didn't care to glance behind
And through her tears she laughed
It's time to kiss the past goodbye
~*~

Natasha is used to being defined by her work, her reputation.

She’s got many SHIELD agents convinced that she doesn’t exist outside of missions and SHEILD headquarters. Clint may have helped her on occasion to perpetuate that, because, really, she does enjoy freaking out the junior agents. She also considers this her proof that Clint is somewhat of a bad influence on her.

But the rare occasions she gets an actual vacation, she makes sure to distance herself from everything entirely.

She leaves behind her name, her weaponry, and everything connected to SHIELD and her old life in Russia.

Under pain of torture, except maybe to Clint, she’ll never admit that there are time when she grows weary of the look in people’s eyes when they see her: the knowledge, the fear, and the judgement.

When Hawkeye first suggested distancing herself for a break, she’d scoffed, and haunted the training rooms while off-duty.

It was another two years before she actually ran with the idea.

It was surprisingly liberating. To be a person who wasn’t given a second glance (with the exception of a few lustful eyes from passing men) without inhabiting a persona SHEILD had created. She’d watched cliché movies and threw popcorn at the screen, and read a surprising amount of comic books, a newly discovered weakness.

Clint had just smirked when she returned to SHEILD with a tan, and a collection of Catwoman comics now taking up residence in her quarters.

~*~*~*~

Title: Chasing Shadows
Fandom: Tron
Characters: Kevin Flynn
Timeframe: Pre- Legacy
Theme: I See The Light – Tangled Soundtrack
~*~
All those days chasing down a daydream
All those years living in a blur
All that time never truly seeing
Things, the way they were
~*~

He dreams of Sam again.

That day he took the boy to the beach last. Sand underfoot squishing between his toes, and the bright-eyed boy with curly hair chasing seagulls up and down the beach. But he can’t see his son’s face clearly anymore.

His cheeks are damp when he wakes.

Quorra isn’t up yet by the sounds of it, and Kevin finds himself alone with his melancholy.

Sam must be nearly twenty by now. He’s done his best to keep track of the time in the real world, but it still gets muddled at times.

Still, by his reckoning, he’s been within the grid some twelve years, real world time. His parents, he knew, would take care of Sam, but it wasn’t the same.

How reckless it seemed in hindsight. He was too busy playing God in his digital world to appreciate what he had. Sam and him had had a good relationship, but Kevin couldn’t help but feel that he’d taken his family for granted.

He wondered what Sam thought of him now.

No doubt various and sundry theories about his disappearance had been put forward.

A clutter from the living room alerts him to Quorra’s wakefulness, snapping him from his thought process.

Kevin just hoped that one day, somehow, he’d be able to explain this to Sam, and to apologize. To warn him against chasing shadows when everything he needed was already in front of him.

~*~*~*~

Title: Escape (Back to the Start)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Sirius Black
Timeframe: November 1981
Theme: Fingernails - Skillet
~*~
Never reaching what I want to reach
Never being who I want to be
Blaming me when I fall and fail
All my dreams splintering
Under my fingernails
~*~

The dark cell is almost a relief.

Deep down, Sirius want to howl with despair, but it can’t get passed to layer of numb shock that has settled over him.

James and Lily are dead. Peter is a traitor. He has lost everything. And it’s all his fault.

He should have realised that Pete-Pettigrew, was the traitor. With hindsight, a string of clues clicked into place. He’d escaped when the Prewett twins were attacked, almost miraculously, managed to duck out at seemingly random times which more than once meant he had missed battles by mere moments. But Sirius, James, Lily and Remus had never questioned his loyalty. He was a Marauder.

When he’d arrived at Godric’s Hollow, rational thought fled his mind upon seeing the destroyed house. He was barely able to talk to Hagrid, but focussed on little Harry. In that moment, there was a thought forming at the back of Sirius’ mind, which would likely prevent him seeing James’ and Lily’s little boy again.

Tracking Peter had been easier than he’d thought—too easy now that he thinks about it.

In the aftermath of that encounter, Sirius found himself in hysterics. How much had they underestimated Peter? That detached part of his brain had to admit that the rat had outmaunevered him. He’d know how it would look to the Ministry, the rest of the Order, even to Remus (Sirius’ stomach lurched unpleasantly at the thought of Remus receiving the news of the last days while on his Order mission).

He would be judged on misconstrued evidence, and lumped back in with the family he’d tried so hard to separate himself from.

Sirius curled up into a tight ball against the cell wall, willing himself to cry for his friends.

He found he couldn’t.

~*~*~*~

Title: The Dream is Over
Fandom: Inception
Characters: Miles, Ariadne
Timeframe: Post-Movie
Theme: Jillian – Within Temptation
~*~
Jillian,
Our dream ended long ago.
All our stories
And all our glory
I held so dear.
~*~

It’s another month before Miles returns to Paris, his heart lighter than it has been for two years. The look on Dom’s face as he held Phillipa and James was one he will long remember.

There was a finality, almost palpable, in the air.

The nightmare had come to a close.

The scars will remain. He doesn’t know if Dom will ever stop blaming himself. Phillipa and James are going to grow up without their mother. Miles and his wife have had to bury their only child.

(He tries not to dwell on Phillipa, who has made comments that indicate she remembers Mal’s breakdown, or the ache that had gone through his heart when Dom first admitted that Mal was haunting his dreams. Or the gnawing fear at Mal’s worsening psychosis, the horror and pain that followed. The frustration of explaining again and again to the authorities that Dom did not kill his daughter, that Mal’s mental state had not been stable no matter what those shrinks had said, of watching his grandchildren waiting for their father to come home).

For now, it was enough that their family has a way forward again.

When he sees Ariadne in his classroom again, he invents an excuse for her to stay behind.

He owes this young woman so much. She accepts the thanks with a small smile. “I’m just relieved it worked out in the end,” she tells him. Miles eyes her and asks her if she thinks she’ll return to dreamscapes.

He’s relieved when Ariadne says shakes her head. “I don’t think so,” she murmurs. “I feel like creating there... spoiled me, in some ways. I want to have something tangible I can put my name to before I go back there.”

Miles is almost unreasonably proud of his student for this, and he hugs her once again before she leaves.

He’s left alone in his classroom, surrounded once again by papers, and he looks at the photo on his desk.

Mal, back in her college days. This one was taken just after her and Dom started dating. Her face was pink from the winter wind, her hair peeking out from under her beanie. Happy and full of life.


“My girl, I wish you were still here,” his voice is thick. “I wish you could share your stories with your children yourself.” He kisses the forehead of his daughter’s image. “I love you, my girl.”

~*~*~*~*~*~