Fic: Boy Soldier (Firefly: Zoe, G)
Boy Soldier, G, 379 words
For invisibleshrew; Firefly, Zoe--choices.
She'd watched too many die like this.
~~
"Sir, I'm sorry. It got me bad. Came at me, like somethin' wicked outta the black. Got me bad..."
The kid was babbling. Eyes half-closed, sweat slick upon his face; she held him, and she waited. They were the words of a boy, overwhelmed with fear and pain. He was only a recruit. Hadn't heard her cry out, and now he'd been hit and was growing quiet in her arms, and she hated them both for being here.
Zoe thought she could hear the echo of battery fire; she knew there were others nearby--in this place, friends and enemies shared quarters of the same broken ground. The shots were somewhere close, but she found that she had to think hard to place them. Maybe her sense of recognition was becoming disoriented, numbed by sheer repetition. She'd watched too many die like this.
"You believe me, don't you, Sir? I had no choice."
"Yeah." She forced a smile. He was drifting to the thin edge of consciousness, and from there, Zoe knew, time was merciful and short; soon it would all turn to black, what his body wanted. "I believe you."
"Xièxie...That's good. For a moment there, I was...kinda worried."
His eyes stilled. He was focused on her now, gaze direct, lucid. Past the pain, awake, poor kid, but no longer awake to the real world. Zoe felt a jab of sadness reach deep inside; let it exist, but for only a moment, one moment, and no more. She rested one hand on his cheek, shifting against the rock to get a better position; as she moved her gun jerked into the soft flesh above her hip, making her wince, and she pulled it away, clear into the open.
Zoe waited. Held him, and waited.
When Mal returned, he saw them scarred and bloodied, and he said nothing. Only had to look at Zoe, meet her eyes and take her hand away, to understand her silence.
They shouldered the kid between them; he had died, perhaps even as he'd spoken in brief thanks to Zoe, feigning the brave soldier in a half-smile, hoping she'd forgiven him his exuberance and foolish choices. As they left, the fight--distant now, the shells of another battle--blazed in cold twilight over Hera.
~~
For invisibleshrew; Firefly, Zoe--choices.
She'd watched too many die like this.
~~
"Sir, I'm sorry. It got me bad. Came at me, like somethin' wicked outta the black. Got me bad..."
The kid was babbling. Eyes half-closed, sweat slick upon his face; she held him, and she waited. They were the words of a boy, overwhelmed with fear and pain. He was only a recruit. Hadn't heard her cry out, and now he'd been hit and was growing quiet in her arms, and she hated them both for being here.
Zoe thought she could hear the echo of battery fire; she knew there were others nearby--in this place, friends and enemies shared quarters of the same broken ground. The shots were somewhere close, but she found that she had to think hard to place them. Maybe her sense of recognition was becoming disoriented, numbed by sheer repetition. She'd watched too many die like this.
"You believe me, don't you, Sir? I had no choice."
"Yeah." She forced a smile. He was drifting to the thin edge of consciousness, and from there, Zoe knew, time was merciful and short; soon it would all turn to black, what his body wanted. "I believe you."
"Xièxie...That's good. For a moment there, I was...kinda worried."
His eyes stilled. He was focused on her now, gaze direct, lucid. Past the pain, awake, poor kid, but no longer awake to the real world. Zoe felt a jab of sadness reach deep inside; let it exist, but for only a moment, one moment, and no more. She rested one hand on his cheek, shifting against the rock to get a better position; as she moved her gun jerked into the soft flesh above her hip, making her wince, and she pulled it away, clear into the open.
Zoe waited. Held him, and waited.
When Mal returned, he saw them scarred and bloodied, and he said nothing. Only had to look at Zoe, meet her eyes and take her hand away, to understand her silence.
They shouldered the kid between them; he had died, perhaps even as he'd spoken in brief thanks to Zoe, feigning the brave soldier in a half-smile, hoping she'd forgiven him his exuberance and foolish choices. As they left, the fight--distant now, the shells of another battle--blazed in cold twilight over Hera.
~~