FIC: Shriek - 1/1, PG, Aliens

[fadedink]

Title: Shriek
Author: Jo (jo@fadedink.com)
Fandom: Aliens
Pairing: Ellen Ripley/Alien Queen
Rating: PG
Word count: 281
Summary: It's the sound that gets to her first.
Disclaimer: Fiction, folks. But if you believe this really happened, I've got some prime real estate I wanna sell you…
Author's Notes: The 'seventh day of Christmas' for caras_galadhon, who also

Comments

[caras_galadhon]

Oh, wow, this is so amazing! Thank you so much, Jo!

It's the sound that gets to her first.
From this very first line, I felt a chill go up my spine. Perfect opening.

This whole piece is so amazingly atmospheric. I can hear the grinding, clanging, screeching, screaming of the metal as you describe it, and each sound is so very distinct.

But the memories always return, ripping through her like razor, sharp and bright
That is an amazing, amazing line. ♥ I could not love it more. I love how sensory it is, how sharp, how biting.

there is always a point where the memory diverges from reality, and the metal shrieks, bending and buckling in slow motion under the questing claws of the Queen.
Eeep! Not only is it perfect how the dream diverges, but the fact that it slows down so she's caught in the whole thing longer is just so very chilling.

I love how Hicks is right there, calming and quiet at the end of her shriek, and I love how that shriek echoes the scream of the metal itself.

when it does, Ripley spends the hours until dawn staring at the ceiling, ears straining in the dark for the sound she dreads she'll hear again.
Freaking amazing. That is just such a great ending, from the image of Ripley keeping watch over her own dreams (and any bleed into reality), but also the cold dread it engenders, the way it suggests an unending, inescapable loop. This is so fantastic, Jo! I am so very much in love with it, and thank you so, so, SO much for it! ^_^ *hugs tight*