tigriswolf | drabbles: Sky High/F13 and "House"

Title: we wed the forest

Fandom: Sky High/Friday the Thirteenth 2009 remake crossover

Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun.

Warnings: spoilers for both movies; AU for Friday the Thirteenth

Pairings: none stated

Rating: PG13

Wordcount: 520

Point of view: third

She hasn’t used her power in three years, not since she ran away and only looked back in dreams. She’s never used her powers defensively(except that one time) and doesn’t have the reflexes that might save her, now. It’s easier to just flee, with Clay, to let him make the decisions and fight.

Mom would be so disappointed. She wishes Warren were here, or Will. Either of them would find it no hardship at all to stop whoever the killer is, the monster that killed all her friends.

Clay’s sister is terrified. So’s Clay. And Jenna just follows them, hearing the voices she’s ignored for three years(I used to be Layla, Mother Earth reborn—)

She’s never wanted to fight, to hurt. But this monster killed so many people she cares about, and if she dies, she’ll never see her mother, or Will, or Warren, Ethan and Zach, Majenta. Why did she run? All the reasons seem pointless now.

He’s so close behind her; the voices are screaming for her to call on them, to act, but it’s not reflexive and she’s never been a fighter.

Clay finds a way out and pulls Whitney after him; Jenna(not Layla, not since she ran and never called home) is about to slip in when white-hot pain shoots through her, the spike in her shoulder halting her. She meets Clay’s eyes and the voices shriek—

And Jenna closes her eyes, but Layla opens them, singing Take him now.

She has never been a fighter, but Layla isn’t ready to die and the monster screams as roots tear through the earthen walls. Clay’s eyes are wide and Whitney is sobbing behind him, and Layla’s shoulder burns in the worst pain she’s ever felt. The voices roar and howl, and she’ll survive this, she’ll go back, she’ll call Mom and Will and Warren…

“Jenna?” Clay asks, reaching to her, pulling her into the little tunnel. She lets him cradle her, gently remove the spike. His hands tremble.

She turns and watches the monster writhe, trying to escape.

“Let’s get out of here.” Clay’s voice is shaking. “Jenna, Whitney—come on.”

Layla has never killed. She tells the voices, Bury him. Tear him apart and bury him deep.

Clay shepherds Layla and Whitney in front of him, and Layla never cries for her first kill. She listens to the voices all the way to the road, to town, to the hospital and back home. She clings to Clay, who hasn’t let go of Whitney’s hand, until Mom comes, sobbing and so very beautiful.

“Mom,” she says calmly, “can you ask if the monster died?”

Mom doesn’t understand, but she asks and says, “They say he hasn’t come out of his burrow. The rats feasted.”

Layla closes her eyes and falls into Mom’s arms, finally crying in relief. She tells Clay, who has Whitney curled in his lap, “He’s dead and gone.”

Whitney hasn’t said a word since they left the forest, but Clay is clear-eyed and he says, “Thank you, Jenna.”

Safe in Mom’s arms, the voices crooning assurances and lullabies, she replies, “Layla.”

Title: I am looking always for the sea

Fandom: “House, MD”

Disclaimer: not my characters; just for fun. Title from Denise Levertov.

Warnings: spoilers for up to season four

Pairings: canon

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 310

Point of view: third

The last few months of Mum’s life, Robert spent most of his time out of the house. He couldn’t stand the pathetic woman Mum had become, dependent on alcohol from morning till night, so he went to school and to work, no longer expecting Dad to swoop in and save them. He also went to the neighbourhood pool and swam until he could barely stand it, till he gasped for breath and his lungs ached for air.

The last few months of Mum’s life also cost Robert his faith in God and salvation. He prayed every morning and every night, but Mum kept drinking and Dad never picked up the phone. Robert threw himself into school so that he could get away. His teachers loved him and offered letters of recommendation; the year Mum died, Robert graduated at the top of his class. In the same week he buried his mother and got Dad’s call of congratulations.

The night of graduation, four nights after Mum died, Robert finished off the alcohol in the house. It was the first and last time he ever got shit-faced.

The last few months of Dad’s life, Robert didn’t know Dad was dying. The night after he learned Dad had died, he went running. He’d have preferred swimming, but he got off work too late.

When Dr. House fired him, Dr. Cuddy offered him a position with slightly more pay and the choice to make his own hours. It’d been almost fifteen years since Mum died. He was a world away from her grave. He’d forgotten what her voice sounded like. He couldn’t remember her favorite color or her favorite song.

After his first night in intensive care, after he’d saved five people and called time of death for three more, he drank a gin and tonic for Mum and then went to bed.