FIC: Risen (Chapter 4/?)
Title: Risen: Chapter Four. (4/?)
Fandom: Real People / 30 Seconds To Mars.
Pairing: Jared/Shannon.
Prompt: Table 2; #9 - Night. (100_situations)
Word Count: 1610.
Rating: R.
Warnings: vampirism, slight mind control (or mind-fucking, if you will), light violence, incestual tones.
Overall Summary: In the words of Supernatural -- what's dead should stay dead. But what happens when it doesn't? Is it the same individual, or an entirely different incarnation of them?
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three.
Author's Notes: It's short, yes, I know. I held out on posting it because I at first felt it should be longer but every time I went to it just didn't feel right. The next chapter should be a good deal longer, or so I hope, since I have it partially fleshed out in my head. I apologize for the long wait on this too.
The flashlight was shaking in his hand and Shannon wished more than anything that he had thought to bring Judas with him. He took a deep breath, the stream of light becoming steady once more, and stared down at the gravesite.
He knew what it looked like. What it was supposed to look like. Could see in his mind the cemetery workers starting to shovel dirt back into the rectangular hole as he and the dog walked away, having to fight not to look back. Had it been a day since, or was it two now? Time seemed out of his grasp anymore. The past days, nearly a week, had been full of moments that seemed in slow motion and others that went far too quickly. It all combined to leave him disoriented, and tonight was the worst.
It was dark when he came to; face covered in dog saliva, with Judas nudging at his shoulder and pawing his chest, an insistent whine filling his ears. He had been prepared to write it all off as a horrible dream, another nightmare in this series of near-daily nightmares. And he would have, if not for the condition he found himself in. If not for the otherwise unexplainable weakness that caused him to blackout once on the drive over, and the dull ache that caused him to all but limp.
He wanted it to be a nightmare.
Except... if it was a nightmare that meant his brother was still dead, and he wasn't quite sure which outcome was really the worst.
Kneeling down, he took a handful of dirt with his free hand, careful not to grasp it too hard as he felt splinters of wood poking at his skin. Even though he knew his brother had been laid to rest here -- had seen the coffin lower, the same coffin he saw his brother's body in, had helped close and carry across the somewhat uneven ground -- it was just as clear to him that his brother was no longer there. Pieces of the coffin were mixed up in the dirt and sod, the ground appearing churned up, as if something had emerged from beneath. Not something: Jared. He shook his head, pressing one hand to his temple, and wished he hadn't left the bottle of painkillers on the counter back at the house.
The headstone was in pieces too, granite smashing the flowers that had been placed against it when it was whole. He couldn't believe no one had seen this mess. This was a nice cemetery, or at least it was supposed to be. Didn't they have security guards or caretakers that checked the graves to make sure they were left undisturbed? What if this was due to a grave robber, or an overzealous obsessed fan that wanted a piece of his brother?
He laughed then and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes as the laughter brought tears. His supposedly dead brother had visited him the night before and here he was getting upset because his brother's grave wasn't being looked after.
"What's so funny?"
A voice startled him and he dropped the flashlight, the light flickering but not dying when it connected with a piece of the headstone.
"I didn't think it was funny. Waking up and finding out I was apparently dead."
"Jared..." His brother was little more than a shadow in the minimal moonlight, not one of his features clear though he stood only a few feet away. Shannon reached for the flashlight, wanting to see him. A pale hand quickly covered his and he spied dirt and something darker caked under the nails before it moved away.
He couldn't help but gasp when the flashlight was flung away from them, bouncing violently against the ground and a nearby headstone before the light went out. "Do you know what it feels like to wake up in pure darkness... alone?"
The last word was a hiss that scratched his ears like sandpaper and he fought the urge to cover them. As it was he had to raise his hands quickly to shield his face against dirt and debris, vaguely aware of Jared beginning to dig. He wanted to look, to see what exactly his brother was doing, but he feared blindness and eventually turned his face away, eyes squeezed shut tight.
It seemed like only moments before he was forcefully grabbed, arms flinging out wide for balance. "I was trapped, Shannon. Trapped and left to die." His mind didn't immediately register what he was feeling but then he was coughing as dirt fell in his face. The air was briefly knocked out of him when his back and head connected with something hard, vision swimming, and then he found himself staring up at his brother, who seemed strangely far away.
"What are you --?"
"Do you want to know what it's like, big brother, to be dead?"
Then, it clicked. Oh my god, I'm lying in his coffin.
He scrambled to grab on to anything, to try to pull himself up. The ground shifted as Jared moved, crouching and reaching down to fist both hands in Shannon's shirt, holding him down as his weight made the dirt start to cave in. Coughing more, he kicked out with his legs, not realizing he was only making it worse, starting to panic. His eyes found once-familiar blues and they burned dark with anger and something he couldn't distinguish. He suddenly had a hard time breathing, lungs starting to burn as if he couldn't get air, and he clutched onto his brother's wrists so tight he half expected to hear bones crack. "Jared, stop! Please!" The moonlight created a halo effect around his brother's head, or maybe it was the lack of oxygen. It was hard to tell when he couldn't look away.
Something shifted in those eyes, almost like ripples changing direction, and then Shannon found himself gasping, feeling damp grass on his face and hands. It felt like several minutes passed before his breathing slowed and his chest no longer burned. There was an ache though, as if someone had ripped out a piece of him. When he rolled onto his side, not yet trusting himself to be able to sit up, he saw Jared sitting on what was left of the headstone, his back to him. He tried to speak, couldn't, then cleared his throat and tried again, voice cracking but able to get out his brother's name.
When he didn't move or respond he drew in a slow breath, summoning his strength to get up off the ground. All he could manage was getting to his hands and knees, and he slowly made his way over, silently wincing when splinters cut into his hands and poked through his jeans. It seemed to take far too much effort than it should to close the distance between them but he ignored that for now. He started to speak, not entirely sure of what he was going to say, then Jared looked to the side at him and he once more found himself lost in twin oceans.
He was barely aware of lukewarm fingers touching his face, brushing the smudges of dirt from his skin. His only reaction came when they pressed lightly to the side of his neck, the pressure on the healing wound sending tingles of pain through him that caused him to grimace. Then he was staring up at the sky, feeling the grass tickle the back of his neck a moment before warm breath tickled his skin.
"I wish I could taste you again but... but I think that might kill you." Lips scraped across his skin, followed by wetness sliding over the wound, having bled enough the night before that a scab covered the bite mark. He couldn't help a soft noise of pain when the tongue applied more pressure, starting to pull at the scab. The noise almost seemed to stop the movement, and instead a kiss was pressed to his healing skin. "I don't know and I need to find out. Have to find out how much I can take. But I can't test that on you, now can I? I can't risk losing you."
Hands slid under his arms and Shannon was lifted to his feet, grunting quietly when he was forced to start walking. That sickly sweet scent from before came to him, but beneath that he swore he could smell Jared's favorite cologne. The journey to the car was a blur, only aware of his arm draped across his brother's shoulders and feeling thin arms wrapped around him. Was he sick? Was that why he kept having such trouble with his memory, such trouble thinking? As he was laid down across the back seat he finally managed movement on his own, reaching out to grab his brother's arm as he started to crawl out of the car. His hand was patted before being slowly removed and set to rest on his stomach, and the car door was shut before he could try to move again.
The engine started to life, sleep tugging at him as he felt the car start to move. "Jare..."
"Shhh... just rest. We have more to talk about and I need you well."
He wanted to ask what for but he felt too exhausted to even speak and merely found himself nodding, letting his eyes start to close. As he fell asleep, a memory came to him from when they were children, him chasing after Jared with his brother calling out over his shoulder that everything would be okay.
Fandom: Real People / 30 Seconds To Mars.
Pairing: Jared/Shannon.
Prompt: Table 2; #9 - Night. (100_situations)
Word Count: 1610.
Rating: R.
Warnings: vampirism, slight mind control (or mind-fucking, if you will), light violence, incestual tones.
Overall Summary: In the words of Supernatural -- what's dead should stay dead. But what happens when it doesn't? Is it the same individual, or an entirely different incarnation of them?
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three.
Author's Notes: It's short, yes, I know. I held out on posting it because I at first felt it should be longer but every time I went to it just didn't feel right. The next chapter should be a good deal longer, or so I hope, since I have it partially fleshed out in my head. I apologize for the long wait on this too.
The flashlight was shaking in his hand and Shannon wished more than anything that he had thought to bring Judas with him. He took a deep breath, the stream of light becoming steady once more, and stared down at the gravesite.
He knew what it looked like. What it was supposed to look like. Could see in his mind the cemetery workers starting to shovel dirt back into the rectangular hole as he and the dog walked away, having to fight not to look back. Had it been a day since, or was it two now? Time seemed out of his grasp anymore. The past days, nearly a week, had been full of moments that seemed in slow motion and others that went far too quickly. It all combined to leave him disoriented, and tonight was the worst.
It was dark when he came to; face covered in dog saliva, with Judas nudging at his shoulder and pawing his chest, an insistent whine filling his ears. He had been prepared to write it all off as a horrible dream, another nightmare in this series of near-daily nightmares. And he would have, if not for the condition he found himself in. If not for the otherwise unexplainable weakness that caused him to blackout once on the drive over, and the dull ache that caused him to all but limp.
He wanted it to be a nightmare.
Except... if it was a nightmare that meant his brother was still dead, and he wasn't quite sure which outcome was really the worst.
Kneeling down, he took a handful of dirt with his free hand, careful not to grasp it too hard as he felt splinters of wood poking at his skin. Even though he knew his brother had been laid to rest here -- had seen the coffin lower, the same coffin he saw his brother's body in, had helped close and carry across the somewhat uneven ground -- it was just as clear to him that his brother was no longer there. Pieces of the coffin were mixed up in the dirt and sod, the ground appearing churned up, as if something had emerged from beneath. Not something: Jared. He shook his head, pressing one hand to his temple, and wished he hadn't left the bottle of painkillers on the counter back at the house.
The headstone was in pieces too, granite smashing the flowers that had been placed against it when it was whole. He couldn't believe no one had seen this mess. This was a nice cemetery, or at least it was supposed to be. Didn't they have security guards or caretakers that checked the graves to make sure they were left undisturbed? What if this was due to a grave robber, or an overzealous obsessed fan that wanted a piece of his brother?
He laughed then and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes as the laughter brought tears. His supposedly dead brother had visited him the night before and here he was getting upset because his brother's grave wasn't being looked after.
"What's so funny?"
A voice startled him and he dropped the flashlight, the light flickering but not dying when it connected with a piece of the headstone.
"I didn't think it was funny. Waking up and finding out I was apparently dead."
"Jared..." His brother was little more than a shadow in the minimal moonlight, not one of his features clear though he stood only a few feet away. Shannon reached for the flashlight, wanting to see him. A pale hand quickly covered his and he spied dirt and something darker caked under the nails before it moved away.
He couldn't help but gasp when the flashlight was flung away from them, bouncing violently against the ground and a nearby headstone before the light went out. "Do you know what it feels like to wake up in pure darkness... alone?"
The last word was a hiss that scratched his ears like sandpaper and he fought the urge to cover them. As it was he had to raise his hands quickly to shield his face against dirt and debris, vaguely aware of Jared beginning to dig. He wanted to look, to see what exactly his brother was doing, but he feared blindness and eventually turned his face away, eyes squeezed shut tight.
It seemed like only moments before he was forcefully grabbed, arms flinging out wide for balance. "I was trapped, Shannon. Trapped and left to die." His mind didn't immediately register what he was feeling but then he was coughing as dirt fell in his face. The air was briefly knocked out of him when his back and head connected with something hard, vision swimming, and then he found himself staring up at his brother, who seemed strangely far away.
"What are you --?"
"Do you want to know what it's like, big brother, to be dead?"
Then, it clicked. Oh my god, I'm lying in his coffin.
He scrambled to grab on to anything, to try to pull himself up. The ground shifted as Jared moved, crouching and reaching down to fist both hands in Shannon's shirt, holding him down as his weight made the dirt start to cave in. Coughing more, he kicked out with his legs, not realizing he was only making it worse, starting to panic. His eyes found once-familiar blues and they burned dark with anger and something he couldn't distinguish. He suddenly had a hard time breathing, lungs starting to burn as if he couldn't get air, and he clutched onto his brother's wrists so tight he half expected to hear bones crack. "Jared, stop! Please!" The moonlight created a halo effect around his brother's head, or maybe it was the lack of oxygen. It was hard to tell when he couldn't look away.
Something shifted in those eyes, almost like ripples changing direction, and then Shannon found himself gasping, feeling damp grass on his face and hands. It felt like several minutes passed before his breathing slowed and his chest no longer burned. There was an ache though, as if someone had ripped out a piece of him. When he rolled onto his side, not yet trusting himself to be able to sit up, he saw Jared sitting on what was left of the headstone, his back to him. He tried to speak, couldn't, then cleared his throat and tried again, voice cracking but able to get out his brother's name.
When he didn't move or respond he drew in a slow breath, summoning his strength to get up off the ground. All he could manage was getting to his hands and knees, and he slowly made his way over, silently wincing when splinters cut into his hands and poked through his jeans. It seemed to take far too much effort than it should to close the distance between them but he ignored that for now. He started to speak, not entirely sure of what he was going to say, then Jared looked to the side at him and he once more found himself lost in twin oceans.
He was barely aware of lukewarm fingers touching his face, brushing the smudges of dirt from his skin. His only reaction came when they pressed lightly to the side of his neck, the pressure on the healing wound sending tingles of pain through him that caused him to grimace. Then he was staring up at the sky, feeling the grass tickle the back of his neck a moment before warm breath tickled his skin.
"I wish I could taste you again but... but I think that might kill you." Lips scraped across his skin, followed by wetness sliding over the wound, having bled enough the night before that a scab covered the bite mark. He couldn't help a soft noise of pain when the tongue applied more pressure, starting to pull at the scab. The noise almost seemed to stop the movement, and instead a kiss was pressed to his healing skin. "I don't know and I need to find out. Have to find out how much I can take. But I can't test that on you, now can I? I can't risk losing you."
Hands slid under his arms and Shannon was lifted to his feet, grunting quietly when he was forced to start walking. That sickly sweet scent from before came to him, but beneath that he swore he could smell Jared's favorite cologne. The journey to the car was a blur, only aware of his arm draped across his brother's shoulders and feeling thin arms wrapped around him. Was he sick? Was that why he kept having such trouble with his memory, such trouble thinking? As he was laid down across the back seat he finally managed movement on his own, reaching out to grab his brother's arm as he started to crawl out of the car. His hand was patted before being slowly removed and set to rest on his stomach, and the car door was shut before he could try to move again.
The engine started to life, sleep tugging at him as he felt the car start to move. "Jare..."
"Shhh... just rest. We have more to talk about and I need you well."
He wanted to ask what for but he felt too exhausted to even speak and merely found himself nodding, letting his eyes start to close. As he fell asleep, a memory came to him from when they were children, him chasing after Jared with his brother calling out over his shoulder that everything would be okay.