A Far Green Country
Title: A Far Green Country
Summary: She had cried a little, then...
Genre: Drama, Romance, Angst, Character deaths.
Rating: K
Spoilers: Post series finale. Spoilers for Daybreak II.
Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing. If they had been mine, this would have ended up rather differently (shameless plug). That having been said, I (mostly) love how it all ended though. Though I could have done without the last few minutes. Anyway, here's my little tribute.
So long in coming, it had still been unexpected, her death, she thinks, as she sits down on the bow of the boat and dangles her feet above the water. One moment sitting there in that Raptor, with Bill, her love, the next, the spray in her face, the wind in her hair, her hair, and her people, her many dead, waiting for her on the shore.
As she waves at them all, her parents, her sisters, Billy, Elosha, Emily, so many other faces besides, Laura Roslin finds herself crying tears of joy; to see them, yes, but also because she will have a chance to tell them , I got to see our people’s new homeland and it was all we could have hoped for and more.
That had been a surprise, that she had been granted this gift, that the powers that be had afforded her a glimpse of the promised land where the prophecies so clearly stated the dying leader would not live to see it, had been wholly unexpected. Then again, Elosha, her irreverent priest and friend, had told her the ancients got a lot of things right, but they got a lot of things wrong, too. She was glad this was one of them, glad that before she died, she got to spend a little time reveling in the abundance of her people’s new home with her extended family right by her side. They’d come to pay their respects, one by one, Kara and Lee, Tyrol, Ellen and Saul, Doc and Ishay, the Agathons, Gaius even and Caprica, bringing her blankets and field glasses and the bounty of the land, fruits and fresh water and venison and even though the thought of food made her nauseous she had nibbled at their offerings and smiled and thanked them as they had said their goodbyes.
She had cried a little, then, after the last of them left and it was just her and Bill under that tarp. Throughout their journey, her one overriding fear had been that her death would turn out to be meaningless, Bill, that magnificent bastard, her love, had called her right on that. It had taken her 4 long years and plenty of heartbreak to figure out that no one’s death is ever meaningless, least of all to the people left behind. That prophecies and destiny are important but love and family is what matters, other people are what make us human.
And if, in the end, her death had been a quiet little death, that was okay. She had done what she had set out to do for the love of her people, for the survival of her species, not for anything grander; it was enough. She had never wanted accolades or monuments built in her honor, and anyway, while she had indeed succeeded in guiding the caravan of the Heaven’s to their new homeland, she had by no means done so alone.
What she had done, the one thing she could take wholehearted, unreserved, credit for, in the end, was making that first decision, to go out and save as many survivors as she could. It was that which had ultimately ensured there were people left to populate that fabled new homeland in the first place.
That her people would now be afforded that chance, that they had survived to be happy and prosper and multiply upon the land; that would be her legacy.
Earth, would be her monument.
At the thought of how Bill just cavalierly named their new home Earth, just because they deserved it, how she had just happily agreed, Laura cannot help but smile; even though the thought of having left Bill behind weighs on her, it is a weight she can bear, now that all her other burdens have been shed.
As if to prove it, she bounds to her feet and goes to meet the cluster of family and friends, patiently waiting for her on the shore; it is with no surprise whatsoever that she recognizes Kara and Sam standing amongst them. They nod at her and she nods back, and then the crowd inundates her. A glad smile stretches her cheeks as she hugs them all, each in turn, and lets them lead her away from the shoreline. She will know when it’s time to come back here to welcome her love home. Something in her knows she will not have to wait long, that he will get here in his own time and they will be together again and the wait will not be so terrible, here, surrounded by her loved ones.