[✐fanfic challenge] ygodrabble: the first week
Challenge Name and Number: #034, Generation
Drabble Title: The First Week
Word Count: 415
Warnings (if applicable): Allusions to canon violence.
Summary: On the first day the egg waited. Test drive of an AU I currently adore.
On the first day the egg waited, its nest the shadows where the boy had, unknowingly, left it. Insects came for what remained of the bodies, began their work. There wasn’t much left to do.
On the second day the boy returned, hungry and sandy with scabs on his knees, calling for people who couldn’t return. The egg waited, and this time, the boy found it. He knelt by it, felt its smooth surface, wondered if he could eat it, hugged it when he discovered it was warm. He crouched with it in the shadows where it’d been born, that had saved his life.
On the third day the boy huddled around the egg, too tired to move. The egg almost seemed to hum, and though the first of the rats arrived, the shadows kept them back. The boy listened to the scuffling and hugged his egg. He hadn’t found anything else untouched.
On the fourth day the egg hatched. The boy stared at the cracks first in horror, then in absorption. He started peeling the splinters away. The snake that had been in the egg wriggled in his lap. He picked it up. It nosed the blood that had dried on his cheek. The snake had wings.
On the fifth day the rats brought their friends, swarmed the chamber. The boy chased them with a stick. The snake watched. The boy’s vigilance could only do so much. What the insects couldn’t finish, the rats attempted. They ate the bodies. The snake kept watching.
On the sixth day the snake ate the rats. The boy shoved raw grain into his mouth, went to the well. The well smelled sour. He came back down in the chamber with his stick, but the remains lay untouched. The snake, bloated, sprawled across the chamber floor. It was satisfied. The boy was proud.
On the seventh day the boy packed as much food as he could carry, and stuck his stick into his belt for protection. He came back down to the chamber one last time. The snake nosed his foot. The boy knelt. It wound around his arm. The boy and the snake left the village.
On the eighth day the boy and the snake waited.
But the world would stay broken until the boy and the snake ran out of days.
Drabble Title: The First Week
Word Count: 415
Warnings (if applicable): Allusions to canon violence.
Summary: On the first day the egg waited. Test drive of an AU I currently adore.
On the first day the egg waited, its nest the shadows where the boy had, unknowingly, left it. Insects came for what remained of the bodies, began their work. There wasn’t much left to do.
On the second day the boy returned, hungry and sandy with scabs on his knees, calling for people who couldn’t return. The egg waited, and this time, the boy found it. He knelt by it, felt its smooth surface, wondered if he could eat it, hugged it when he discovered it was warm. He crouched with it in the shadows where it’d been born, that had saved his life.
On the third day the boy huddled around the egg, too tired to move. The egg almost seemed to hum, and though the first of the rats arrived, the shadows kept them back. The boy listened to the scuffling and hugged his egg. He hadn’t found anything else untouched.
On the fourth day the egg hatched. The boy stared at the cracks first in horror, then in absorption. He started peeling the splinters away. The snake that had been in the egg wriggled in his lap. He picked it up. It nosed the blood that had dried on his cheek. The snake had wings.
On the fifth day the rats brought their friends, swarmed the chamber. The boy chased them with a stick. The snake watched. The boy’s vigilance could only do so much. What the insects couldn’t finish, the rats attempted. They ate the bodies. The snake kept watching.
On the sixth day the snake ate the rats. The boy shoved raw grain into his mouth, went to the well. The well smelled sour. He came back down in the chamber with his stick, but the remains lay untouched. The snake, bloated, sprawled across the chamber floor. It was satisfied. The boy was proud.
On the seventh day the boy packed as much food as he could carry, and stuck his stick into his belt for protection. He came back down to the chamber one last time. The snake nosed his foot. The boy knelt. It wound around his arm. The boy and the snake left the village.
On the eighth day the boy and the snake waited.
But the world would stay broken until the boy and the snake ran out of days.