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tigriswolf Title: phoenix ascending
Fandom: X-Men movies
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU somewhere between the first two movies
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 175
Point of view: third
Prompt: Author's Choice, any/any, wildfires
The world burns, roaring and hissing, heat blasting him from all sides.
He stands in the midst of a wildfire, commanding it to burn, burn it down, burn it all.
He watches, letting the flame caress him, moving into the touch, dancing.
burn
The monsters who made him, who took him and broke him, who wanted a weapon and got one beyond all control.
burn it down
Everybody who stood back and watched, who let it happen, who walked on by and ignored his cries, his pleas, his corpse on the ground.
burn it all
From the flames, he rises.
In the fire, he laughs, and lashes out, and he is inescapable, he is endless, he is fire and he is burning burning burning the world.
(They call his name, those who let him go. They call his name, and they cry, and he smiles, he roars, because the boy they call to is dead and burnt beyond recognition, and a predator, a master, stands in his place.
Long live the phoenix. Burn it all.)
Title: something inside trying to fly out
Fandom: Chuck
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton
Warnings: pre-series
Pairing: pre-Bryce/Chuck
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 215
Point of view: third
Prompt: Chuck, Bryce/Chuck, It was days like these, lying spread eagled on campus green, basking in the spring sun beside Chuck that Bryce could forget he'd been washing another man's blood off his hand last night.
It's a quiet morning. Chuck dragged him out before the heat of the day, to a far corner of the quad, and no one's there but them. Chuck spreads out their books, handing Bryce his history text (easy A, a subject he likes, something that hasn't been ruined by his double life, not yet).
Chuck delves into his computer programming assignment, detailing out what he needs to do on a small notepad, tearing out the pages and sticking it throughout the book. Bryce watches him, instead of opening his own book.
The boy is beautiful. Funny, smart, and kind. When he smiles, Bryce can almost forget that he's not the dumbass kid Chuck met a year ago.
"What's wrong?" Chuck asks, looking up, tilting his head. "You okay, Bryce?"
"Yeah," Bryce says, flipping through his book, looking for the right page. They just started the War of 1812. Fascinating stuff. A tornado saved DC from burning.
(Chuck's like a tornado sometimes. Bryce is pretty sure he won't be saved from being burnt alive.)
Chuck's smiling at him again. The sun is warm, the breeze gentle, and they're so young. Bryce can almost think he'll survive, and be able to keep Chuck safe, and one day, he'll tell Chuck the truth and Chuck will love him anyway.
Title: they sicken of the calm who know the storm
Fandom: Highlander/Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dorothy Parker
Warnings: pre-series for both; a smidge AU for Supernatural; mentions of torture, character death, and slavery;
Pairings: implied Gabriel/Methos
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 635
Point of view: third
Prompt: Supernatural/Highlander, Gabriel + Methos, five times Methos meet him and one time Gabriel told him he was an angel
o
i
He has been walking for so long it's all he remembers. The light comes and goes, and he walks. He walks and walks and walks, until his four legs become two as he rises, and he walks and walks until he sees other things like him.
Similar, but not the same, though he won't realize that for some time.
"Well, aren't you a treat?" a pale, winged thing says. "Haven't seen one like you before."
He keeps walking. The thing leaves.
ii
He is attacked on the edge of the territory. His attacker is young; he sees that at a glance. Wielding a stick, the boy swings again and again, but compared to the four-legged beasts that have been trying since before his memory begins, the boy is disappointingly slow.
"You'll have to take his head," a carrion-eater says, ears pricked forward.
He puts the boy on his back and hits his throat with a good-sized rock until his head pops off.
"Remember that feeling," the carrion-eater says, slinking forward. It licks its chops, mouth open in a toothy grin. "You'll need it to survive."
He leaves the carrion-eater to his feast.
iii
He is Death on a Horse, Methos the legend, Methos the monster, Methos the mask. His brothers are so young and think him the same, and they ride and they rule, out of the sun into the horizon.
One captive watches him with a smirk. "My lord," he calls to Methos, and Methos turns, Kronos following his gaze. "My lord," he says. "You've come a long way."
Methos just looks at him, at his toothy grin and the shadow of wings at his shoulder.
"You don't know your place," Kronos growls. Methos doesn't stop him from punishing the captive; the next day, another corpse is left on the dirt as they ride.
iv
He is nameless, slave to the cruelest master in the land. It isn't penance; he was bored. So far, he hasn't learned anything he didn't already know, when it comes to dealing pain. His master is a babe in arms compared to who he once rode a pale horse.
A pretty slip of a thing curls up against him in the slave quarters. "I'm frightened," she whispers. "Can you help me escape?"
He looks into her eyes, seeing white and gold and a dawn he can't remember. "Just start running," he tells her softly. "Don't ever stop."
She touches his cheek, finger tracing a scratch that healed the moment he got it. "Haven't seen one like you before," she says, and kisses his forehead.
In the morning, she's gone. No alarm is ever raised.
v
He is Benjamin, on trial for witchcraft. A dozen have already been executed by burning. He really hates burning.
Out the corner of his eye, he keeps seeing a shadow.
He is found guilty, of course, sentenced to die at sundown.
When night comes, they prepare him. Before the fire catches, a shadow rushes through, grabbing him.
"Silly man," the shadow says, setting him down by the ocean, far from any town. "You should be more careful."
The shadow leaves. He waits by the water till dawn, and then he starts walking.
vi
"Well, now," a voice booms out behind him. "Ain't you a treat."
He raises an eyebrow, turning. The man grinning at him is short with dark hair and dark eyes, and he has wings of shadow. "I know you," Methos says.
"We've never been formally introduced," the man says, stepping forward. "I'm Gabriel." His grin broadens. "TheGabriel."
The wings flare out, filling the room. Only Methos sees them.
"Your daddy's got a message for you," Gabriel says. "You'll probably find it interesting."
"Yes," Methos muses, reaching for the closer wing, smirking at Gabriel's surprised sigh. "I suppose I will."
Title: we strain to hold a bridge between them open
Fandom: Sherlock BBC
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Denise Levertov
Warnings: preseries
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 125
Point of view: third
Prompt: Sherlock BBC, Mycroft, why he got into government
Mycroft knew from the first time Sherlock spoke a complete sentence that the world would never accept his brother. Sherlock would be ostracized for his intelligence, for his strength, for his refusal to yield to others.
Mummy and Father did their best with two impossibly difficult children. Mycroft learned to blend, to hide. Sherlock attempted and then steadfastly refused. For all his intellect, he could not understand what he gained by compromise. Throughout his childhood, the two years it took to complete university - Sherlock stood alone.
Mycroft did not try to change his brother. He knew that Sherlock was unique, and while not perfect, he was perfectly astounding. Mycroft would not change his brother.
Instead, he vowed to change the world.
Title: the people's princess
Fandom: Cinderella
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: spoilers for the fairy tale; a bit of fluff
Pairings: Prince/Cinderella
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 550
Point of view: third
Prompt: Fairy tales, Cinderella, life's not all balls and glass slippers.
The first year is spent breathless, clinging to her husband's hand, listening to everything her tutors and mother-in-law have to say. She is not a fool, but she has been a servant for the past ten years and now - one day, she will wear a crown and sit on a throne. She must be prepared, and bright, ready for all sorts of calamities that a little cinder girl could not even comprehend.
The people love her. The courtiers, not so much.
But her husband – he is patient, he is kind, he dances with her around their chamber and kisses her so fervently she can finally believe this is no soon-to-be-woken-from dream.
0o0
The second year, the queen suffers a fit during her morning walk and dies before the doctor can reach her.
A month later, the king succumbs to a wasting disease that everyone knows is a broken heart.
When her husband is crowned, the people's princess is crying. When she is crowned, she is crying still.
0o0
She is not ready. How could she be? Not two years ago, she was cleaning out the fireplace.
Her husband kisses her hand, smiling the gentle smile he wore when her foot fit the slipper and their hands recognized each other.
The people love her. The courtiers give her painted smiles. She speaks to the servants like they have thoughts, and she visits the marketplace weekly, taking only one guard, without her crown or royal gown.
She had been a noble's daughter, but she was a slave for longer, and if she is to ever look back with pride, then she must be the people's princess. The commoner's queen.
She explains it to her husband during the night, their fingers tangled and her head on his chest. She knows that life is more than balls and gowns and parties, expensive food and jewels and cloth. He listens and looks at her and tells her that she is the queen and to do what feels right.
0o0
She holds her head high and buys a flower from a girl in dirty rags. She smiles and orders a bolt of cloth from a stall staffed by a tired woman. She speaks to a tavern owner about the best way to get rid of smoke's stench and asks a young pickpocket if he has a roof over his head at night.
Her guard follows her with a scowl, but he stands back as she speaks to the people, keeping one eye on the roofs and one on the crowd.
This is only the first year of her reign, the second since the ball. None of these commoners know who she is, yet. They talk openly, not censoring the truth about how they feel, how they think their new king and queen are doing.
But she is the people's princess, the commoner's queen. Soon, they will all recognize her.
0o0
When she is old and grey, she well still sneak away to mingle. Few will not know her then, but they will all let her think she succeeds in fooling them.
Her husband will listen to her tales of the marketplace and the streets, the flower girl and the pickpocket, the rough meal she laughs her way through.
She will die still called the people's princess, the commoner's queen.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-21 05:26 pm (UTC)probably THE BEST after 'the end' fic i've ever read on Cinderella)
" Your daddy's got a message for you," Gabriel says.
Death?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 02:17 pm (UTC)Thank you for reading!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 08:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 02:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 09:59 am (UTC)That Highlander bit was again awesome, especially the part about moving on fours first *grin* :)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 02:18 pm (UTC)Yeah, my personal canon is that Methos is so old he didn't start out looking human.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 04:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 05:53 pm (UTC)Yeah.
"Instead, he vowed to change the world."
You go, Mycroft. Make it all different. If anyone can do it, you can.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 12:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 02:19 am (UTC)Thank you so very much for sharing.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 03:56 am (UTC)Fandom needs as many crossovers between these two shows as it can get. Thanks for writing a new one.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-23 08:51 pm (UTC)Methos and Gabriel. Good idea. (Now wondering about the other Immortals.) I would love to read more of this one if you feel like it.
Mycroft on Sherlock. I loved that last line about changing the world. It makes a good reason for Mycroft to want to become Supreme Ruler of the Known Universe, and there's something too cute and sweet in Mycroft wanting to change the world for his brother.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-24 03:41 am (UTC)