comment_fic 551-555: SG1, SN, Inception, mythology

[tigriswolf]

Title: separate what they signify from what they are
Fandom: SG-1
Disclaimer: only the General is mine; title from Adrienne Rich
Warnings: future!fic
Pairings: none stated
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 210
Point of view: third
Prompt: Stargate SG-1, any; a ceremony to retire the designation SG-1.
Note: I haven't seen much of the later seasons, and I only know Vala&Mitchell from fanfiction and SGA.


The day Teal'c goes through the gate for the last time, General Evans retires the designation SG-1. Colonel Mitchell has been dead for eight years, General O'Neill for ten, Doctor Jackson for twelve, and Colonel Carter for seventeen months. Vala left half a decade ago.

There will never be another SG-1. General Evans folds up four American flags; they'll be delivered to the appropriate places by young officers who never actually knew the heroes represented by a lacking piece of cloth. He says a few words, about honor and integrity and greatness—Jackson opened the stargate, O'Neill led the way, and Carter was one of the best minds of her (or any) generation. Mitchell reunited them. Vala and Teal'c each helped saved worlds not theirs, and showed all the power of Washington that allies would always be there.

There are no words to describe what the universe lost with each of their deaths, but at least Teal'c is still out there, helping the Jaffa rebuild a society worth fighting for. At least Vala is still conning her way across the galaxy.

General Evans asks for a moment of silence. An entire mountain quiets. When he raises his head and nods to the officers with the flags, life goes on.



.




 

Title: the desert wind is rising
Fandom: Supernatural/mythology
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Adrienne Rich
Warnings: pre-series; AUish
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 375
Point of view: third
Prompt: Supernatural, Gabriel/Sam, he's more Trickster than angel

 

Gabriel is different from other every angel (fallen and not) for a very good reason: he isn't one anymore.

o0o

It's not just the pranks. No matter what Zachariah and Uriel and all the other fun-lacking douchebags say, there is humor in Heaven. Look at giraffes and platypuses, for Father's sake.

Michael and Lucifer used to pull the funniest shit, back Before. Gabriel watched in awe, wishing he be could half so good.

He's better, now. It still hurts.

o0o

Coyote taught him, right after he first left. Treated him like a pup and showed him the ropes. Sent him off to Anansi for the final lesson. He didn't quite manage to trick the Spider, but he came damn close. Closer than anyone since Coyote left for his own territory, back when the world was young.

We are old, Anansi says, spinning a web. Older than you pretty birds think. Old as the land, as the sky. This is our world, the dirt and the water. When the time comes, warn your flock, little bird. Warn them.

Anansi is terrifying, sometimes. When the time comes, Gabriel forgets.

When the time comes, he hasn't been Gabriel in longer than he was.

o0o

Gabriel slips under the radar until the Winchesters. He's famous as Loki, trickster of the north. He does lunch with Coyote and Anansi twice a year. He's had an on-going relationship with Kali for three thousand years, and it's about to end in fire.

He wants to hate the Winchesters. He really does. And looking at them, at Sam's earnest expression and Dean's true regret (the first meeting), he realizes that no matter what anyone says, no angel can hate them.

Not even Zachariah, though he'll say otherwise.

o0o

In the end, Gabriel reclaims what was his in the beginning. He is an angel, one of the greatest. But he is so much more than that, and Lucifer… he is still an angel. Fallen, yes. Smart, oh yes.

But Lucifer is not a trickster.

Coyote howls and Anansi spins a web, and Loki pulls off the greatest trick yet: he makes Lucifer believe he killed his younger brother.

o0o

Kali summons every god left. Loki attends the meeting.

Lucifer killed the Archangel Gabriel.

Loki is no angel.
 

.




 

Title: Your time is a flat sea that doesn't stop
Fandom: Inception
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton
Warnings: somewhat disturbing
Pairings: Eames/Arthur
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 120
Point of view: third
Prompt: Inception, Arthur, addicted to dying

 

 

He dreams alone sometimes. Fashions impossible worlds and peoples it with everyone he's ever known. He goes through and massacres entire cities, and then he turns to the hordes following him and throws wide his arms and lets Death have him.

He's jumped off mountains and out of planes. He's thrown himself into oceans. He's shot himself and been shot; he's spilled his own guts and turned into someone else's blade. He's let himself be beheaded and counted down the timer of a bomb. He's run into a fire and lit another that consumed him. He's been strangled and suffocated and tied to four horses.

He always wakes up.

If it weren't for Eames, he'd regret it every time.

.



 

Title: Summer stopped since you were here
Fandom: Greek mythology
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dickinson
Warnings: spoilers for Greek mythology; mentions of non-con and incest
Pairings: Hades/Persephone, Zeus/Demeter, unrequited Hades/Demeter
Rating: PGish
Wordcount: 385
Point of view: third
Prompt: Greek myth, Demeter/Hades, war is over

 

.


i'll never love you, she told him once, and she never does.

0o0

She is mother of a cold queen on a cold throne, and sister to the Lord of the Dead. She is the harvest being gathered and blooming flowers, the first breath of spring and the chill of winter rolling in.

She is Demeter, and he is Hades, and he stole her daughter and her daughter's innocence, and it has been eons since they played together, since the lots were cast and their roles set out, since Hades smiled at her and she laughed, dancing with him beneath the stars.

0o0

you'll come home to me,he told her once, but she never does.

0o0

Zeus commands they reach a truce. He is their younger brother, their savior, their king. Demeter loves him. Hades, too.

Persephone is released for half a year, and it is not enough. She is no longer the laughing, smiling Spring, flowers blooming in her wake. She has spent time in the Realm of the Dead, as the cold queen on a cold throne.

Demeter tucks her daughter into a warm bed with half a dozen lion cubs. A kiss on the forehead, a caress on her cheek, and Persephone pulls one of the cubs close, buries her face in his fur.

Then Demeter storms into Hades' palace and slaps him across the face, cursing him to never again feel the warmth of Spring.

0o0

Demeter had been a sister first. She is third born, so she has always been a sister. After Zeus, Hestia is her favorite. They have so much in common. Hades courted her, long ago, after Zeus and Hera wed. But Demeter vowed to never marry, and though she presides over marriage—much like Hera—she keeps her vow.

Poseidon gave her horses, and Hades empty promises, but it is Zeus who gives her Persephone, her brightest blossom of all.

And it is Hades who takes Persephone away.

0o0

i'll never forgive you, she swore once, and she never does.

0o0

Persephone returns to Hades every autumn. Eventually, she does come to feel affection for him. Eventually, the Realm of the Dead is not so dark, not so cold.

Eventually, as eons pass, Persephone forgives her husband, but she never loves him.

And her mother never again sets foot in the underworld.
 

.





 

Title: The martyr's even trod, their feet upon temptation, their faces upon God
Fandom: Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dickinson
Warnings: AUish; spoilers for season 5
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 155
Point of view: third
Prompt: Supernatural, Michael, he sides with the Winchesters


He cannot interfere until the boys return to the past to stop Anna. To do otherwise would change the flow of events, and then they might never go to the past, and then he won't realize how wrong Heaven has gotten, and then—then, bad things will happen.

Father, he calls, Father, please, answer me. I need guidance, Father!

But Father does not answer, and Dean screams in Hell, writhing beneath Alistair, the Righteous Man about to break and shed blood.

Michael longs to go to him, to destroy Alistair, to soothe the human meant for him. But that is Castiel's task, and things must happen before he can step in without unmaking eons of work. Things must happen, and until Anna goes after Mary Winchester—Michael whispers, Father, whatever Your reason… it must be worth it. I will have faith, Father.

Dean breaks. Michael watches, and waits, and does not pray again.

Comments

[averzierlia.livejournal.com]

Well one of the legends is it was Zeus cursing a king for being a cannibal, but the norse version is Loki. It's like the ultimate trick, no?