Fic: Dark Shadows (Inception, AU, R)
title: Dark Shadows
author: ilovetakahana
pairing: Arthur/Eames
warnings: sex, suicide, death. This quick foray into AU casts Arthur as Prince Rudolf and Eames as Der Tod [or, in so many words, Death] from the stage musical Elisabeth, and has them act out the song Die Schatten Werden Langer [The Shadows Grow Longer]. In order to help visualize the song, I've included links to three versions of this song in two languages.
disclaimer: I don't own the original stories or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: Feeling rejected by his family and uncertain about his future, Prince Arthur runs for help to the only person who's ever loved him. What he doesn't know yet is that Death must take him in order to love him.
Wikipedia page on Elisabeth, the musical
Die Schatten Werden Langer [The Shadows Grow Longer], Vienna 2005, with Mate Kamaras as Der Tod and Fritz Schmid as Prince Rudolf
Yami ga Hirogaru [The Darkness is Falling], Japan 1998 (Soragumi - Takarazuka Kagekidan), with Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Asami Hikaru as Prince Rudolf
Die Schatten Werden Langer / Yami ga Hirogaru, Japan 2007, with Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Mate Kamaras as Prince Rudolf
Arthur feels himself run, run as far as he can, as fast as he can, and he clenches his fists in the shadow of a tree, straining his white gloves. Suddenly he hates his dark blue uniform, golden braid heavy on the shoulders, red cord like slashes of blood across his chest, and he thinks of premonitions, of midnights, of need and fear.
"Do you remember me, your childhood friend? Do you remember the promises we made to each other?"
A hypnotic voice from the shadows, cryptic and dragging across his skin, frightening promises that he desperately needs.
Eames walks out of the shadows in black, wings darker than the night, black feathers like an angel of release, an angel of destruction and chaos. His hair gleams in the moonlight: a long cascade of silver and platinum, streaks of green at his temples. He is heavy-lidded, and he drags a smoke from a cigarette in an ebony holder.
"Oh, my young prince, how you've grown; I fear you've forgotten me," Eames purrs, wrapping him in his cloak.
Dead black mixed with crimson. Arthur both wants this and dreads this. And he has no voice left to reject this beautiful man, who has come to claim him.
"You? I could never forget you. Not after the promises you made to me. I have remembered them every night," and he remembers the sleepless hours, tossing and turning in the sheets, sweat sticking to his skin, desire like a silken cord slowly knotting around his throat, pulled tight in his belly and lower.
Eames chuckles, and even that sounds like the death of Arthur. "Those nights, yes, I know them all too well." He smooths his thumbs over Arthur's cheeks, over the tears that he only now notices are drying in tight, painful trails. "And who has made you weep so, hmm? Have you called me to bring your revenge down upon them? I am here to help as I always have been."
Help. Yes. Everyone looks at him as though he were weak, error-prone, plagued by fear. His mother turned him away; his father never even knew him. Gone now, both of them, pursuing and fleeing from each other, leaving him here.
With the stranger who has haunted him since childhood, the stranger whom he's longed for with breathless need.
"Take this," Eames whispers directly into his ear. Arthur falls directly into his arms, his cold embrace, his hands coming up to clutch at the black-clad shoulders, fingers brushing at his wings. This was all the reality he knew, now.
Eames presses a revolver into his hands.
"You will know when to use that. And I will be there when you do."
Arthur falls into his kiss as easily as breathing, as easily as breathing ends.
author: ilovetakahana
pairing: Arthur/Eames
warnings: sex, suicide, death. This quick foray into AU casts Arthur as Prince Rudolf and Eames as Der Tod [or, in so many words, Death] from the stage musical Elisabeth, and has them act out the song Die Schatten Werden Langer [The Shadows Grow Longer]. In order to help visualize the song, I've included links to three versions of this song in two languages.
disclaimer: I don't own the original stories or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.
summary: Feeling rejected by his family and uncertain about his future, Prince Arthur runs for help to the only person who's ever loved him. What he doesn't know yet is that Death must take him in order to love him.
Wikipedia page on Elisabeth, the musical
Die Schatten Werden Langer [The Shadows Grow Longer], Vienna 2005, with Mate Kamaras as Der Tod and Fritz Schmid as Prince Rudolf
Yami ga Hirogaru [The Darkness is Falling], Japan 1998 (Soragumi - Takarazuka Kagekidan), with Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Asami Hikaru as Prince Rudolf
Die Schatten Werden Langer / Yami ga Hirogaru, Japan 2007, with Shizuki Asato as Der Tod and Mate Kamaras as Prince Rudolf
Arthur feels himself run, run as far as he can, as fast as he can, and he clenches his fists in the shadow of a tree, straining his white gloves. Suddenly he hates his dark blue uniform, golden braid heavy on the shoulders, red cord like slashes of blood across his chest, and he thinks of premonitions, of midnights, of need and fear.
"Do you remember me, your childhood friend? Do you remember the promises we made to each other?"
A hypnotic voice from the shadows, cryptic and dragging across his skin, frightening promises that he desperately needs.
Eames walks out of the shadows in black, wings darker than the night, black feathers like an angel of release, an angel of destruction and chaos. His hair gleams in the moonlight: a long cascade of silver and platinum, streaks of green at his temples. He is heavy-lidded, and he drags a smoke from a cigarette in an ebony holder.
"Oh, my young prince, how you've grown; I fear you've forgotten me," Eames purrs, wrapping him in his cloak.
Dead black mixed with crimson. Arthur both wants this and dreads this. And he has no voice left to reject this beautiful man, who has come to claim him.
"You? I could never forget you. Not after the promises you made to me. I have remembered them every night," and he remembers the sleepless hours, tossing and turning in the sheets, sweat sticking to his skin, desire like a silken cord slowly knotting around his throat, pulled tight in his belly and lower.
Eames chuckles, and even that sounds like the death of Arthur. "Those nights, yes, I know them all too well." He smooths his thumbs over Arthur's cheeks, over the tears that he only now notices are drying in tight, painful trails. "And who has made you weep so, hmm? Have you called me to bring your revenge down upon them? I am here to help as I always have been."
Help. Yes. Everyone looks at him as though he were weak, error-prone, plagued by fear. His mother turned him away; his father never even knew him. Gone now, both of them, pursuing and fleeing from each other, leaving him here.
With the stranger who has haunted him since childhood, the stranger whom he's longed for with breathless need.
"Take this," Eames whispers directly into his ear. Arthur falls directly into his arms, his cold embrace, his hands coming up to clutch at the black-clad shoulders, fingers brushing at his wings. This was all the reality he knew, now.
Eames presses a revolver into his hands.
"You will know when to use that. And I will be there when you do."
Arthur falls into his kiss as easily as breathing, as easily as breathing ends.