Fic: Phantoms
Title: Phantoms
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1182
Characters/Pairings: Steel, Silver
Warnings Um. None/More weirdness than usual?
Summary: One way or another, Steel and Silver are going to become the thing they fight. (Prompt 93: steel & silver - Presumed dead & Bad boys)
seriesfive took me up on my invitation to borrow a prompt and used #93 to write this fascinating fic. Of course, then I had to write my own take, and here it is.
***
Everything he can see is grey. It’s a garden, but there’s no colour anywhere. Like at night, or at least more like that than being in a black and white film, but this isn’t either of those things.
Steel turns his head and looks at the one other real, colour thing in this grey place: Silver. “Well?”
“Well what?” Silver is pretending to straighten his jacket, then tugging at the end of his waistcoat, playing with his fingers - anything but looking at Steel. And there’s an irritable edge to his voice. He’s afraid. Steel can feel that now; it’s the only thing there is to sense outside himself.
“Silver, where are we?”
“Don’t you know?” says Silver, and he looks up, but outward, not at Steel; the grey of their surroundings reflecting in the grey of his eyes. “We’re not anywhere. Or perhaps you could say we are somewhere, but we don’t exist.”
“If we didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be here.”
“In the conventional sense,” said Silver. He gives Steel a quick, sad smile. “We’re outside. Outside everything.”
And that scares you?
Silver actually jumps at the unexpected contact and then glares at him. “No. Yes. Of course it does.”
“How do we get back?”
Silver laughs, then but without much amusement.
Silver?
The fear is stronger again; Silver’s gripped by it and Steel can’t quite get a hold on what it is and why. He strives to ignore that; it won’t help.
“We’re… here where we shouldn’t be. Hanging on outside of time.” Silver looks at Steel as if he expects him to understand.
Steel thinks about it. The entity, the thing that had sent them here had been powerful, malicious, strong… He itches to get back and stop it. He knows how, was on the point of doing so, if it hadn’t twisted things against them and cast them out here. Outside, he thinks, and then glances across at Silver with a slight curl to his mouth. “That’s what it wants us to do? Break back in?”
Silver nods.
So they can let it defeat them by staying here, or they can help it by forcing themselves back into time, into full existence - creating their own time break. Yet Steel frowns. Silver’s fear is more than that, more than fear of what Steel will do, although that’s there too.
”And if we don’t?” Steel asks, pushing for more information. “If we stay here, refuse to do what it wants? They’ll send someone else to stop it.” He’s grudging about that, unsure anyone else would manage it but he acknowledges they’d try.
“Then we’ll eventually be mere… mere things waiting outside to get back in.”
“No,” says Steel, who is always and only himself.
Silver gives another small smile. “We’re nothing, nowhere. We will fade. We’ll just be…” He stops, failing to find the words and pulls a face instead, and waves his hands in lieu of adequate description. “Even you, Steel.”
The first frost of fear reaches him then, but again he ignores it and considers the options. He keeps an eye on Silver and wonders if the technician isn’t already looking faded or if that’s the odd light or lack of it. Steel moves nearer and grips Silver’s arm, causing him to glance across and give a half-hearted smile.
“Then we’ll have to break back in,” Steel says in his ear.
“Steel!” Silver’s outrage is almost amusing, Steel thinks, given the circumstances. “You know what it is you’re saying, don’t you?”
Silver. Steel keeps hold of him and leans forward. “You’ll find the point where we’ll do the least damage. Or can’t you do that?” He’s learned precisely the note with which to challenge Silver; it never fails.
“Of course I can!”
Steel nods. “And we can seal it again on the other side. That’s something we can do.”
“Yes, but -”
You’d prefer to stay here?
“No.” Silver gives Steel an affronted look and as Steel releases him, reaches in his pocket for a pen-like torch and shines it about them, though Steel doesn’t know what he’s looking for or why he even needs a light.
After far too long wandering about alongside a ghostly wall, Silver halts. “Aha!”
Then he kneels down beside it and starts fiddling about with one of the bricks, even though it looks the same as all the rest to Steel. It takes long enough, Steel thinks. Too long. He paces up and down this nowhere place, barely making an impression on the grey grass, and then still winds up threatening to push their way through by brute force if Silver doesn’t get on and finish sooner.
“What we’re doing is bad enough as it is,” Silver reminds him. There’s still an odd undercurrent of something behind his words, inside his mind. Is it fear again? Yes, Steel thinks, it’s fear; fear and misery. He frowns, but at that point Silver looks up at him with a sudden, real smile. He’s got through. The brick is glowing now, a bright white in front of him.
Steel crouches down beside Silver. “Silver. What else is there? There’s another problem, isn’t there?”
Silver shifts away from him. “Well, it’s not… I don’t know…
Silver. I have to know.
“It’s not so much the damage,” Silver says, gesturing towards the opening he’s made, “or even what we might risk letting through. It’s what we might bring back with us… in us.”
Steel looks at him, but he understands. They’re here now; they’re on the wrong side of everything. They’re outside and outside is becoming a part of them.
“We could carry something back inside us, the same way humans do with viruses.” Then Silver shrugs. “Change ourselves. But I don’t know. Nobody knows very much about this. Whatever this is.”
“Silver,” says Steel. “Has this happened before?”
“Very probably,” Silver mutters and he’s closed in on himself, so Steel doesn’t push the matter. It isn’t important. It hasn’t happened to them before and they’re not the others. It isn’t a boast to say they’re more effective, he and Sapphire - and the three of them together even more so.
That thought causes him to smile. The answer is obvious. “Sapphire,” he says.
“Well, yes, of course I’m worried about her, too,” says Silver, the edginess apparent in his voice again. Then he stops, catches himself and laughs with genuine humour for the first time since they’ve been here. “Of course. Sapphire.”
She’ll check them, take readings if necessary. Between them they can close any break, deal with any lurking intruder, within or without. This isn’t something they should be doing, but they can make it work. Steel doesn’t think about what happens if they can’t. There’s no point in what ifs.
Silver looks across at Steel and takes a deep breath. Ready, Steel?
“Yes. Get on with it,” says Steel. Nothing’s going to be improved by waiting, is it?
Silver hesitates, then catches hold of Steel’s sleeve and together they break the rules, commit their unthinkable crime in this ghostly garden, and vanish to face the consequences.
***
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1182
Characters/Pairings: Steel, Silver
Warnings Um. None/More weirdness than usual?
Summary: One way or another, Steel and Silver are going to become the thing they fight. (Prompt 93: steel & silver - Presumed dead & Bad boys)
seriesfive took me up on my invitation to borrow a prompt and used #93 to write this fascinating fic. Of course, then I had to write my own take, and here it is.
***
Everything he can see is grey. It’s a garden, but there’s no colour anywhere. Like at night, or at least more like that than being in a black and white film, but this isn’t either of those things.
Steel turns his head and looks at the one other real, colour thing in this grey place: Silver. “Well?”
“Well what?” Silver is pretending to straighten his jacket, then tugging at the end of his waistcoat, playing with his fingers - anything but looking at Steel. And there’s an irritable edge to his voice. He’s afraid. Steel can feel that now; it’s the only thing there is to sense outside himself.
“Silver, where are we?”
“Don’t you know?” says Silver, and he looks up, but outward, not at Steel; the grey of their surroundings reflecting in the grey of his eyes. “We’re not anywhere. Or perhaps you could say we are somewhere, but we don’t exist.”
“If we didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be here.”
“In the conventional sense,” said Silver. He gives Steel a quick, sad smile. “We’re outside. Outside everything.”
And that scares you?
Silver actually jumps at the unexpected contact and then glares at him. “No. Yes. Of course it does.”
“How do we get back?”
Silver laughs, then but without much amusement.
Silver?
The fear is stronger again; Silver’s gripped by it and Steel can’t quite get a hold on what it is and why. He strives to ignore that; it won’t help.
“We’re… here where we shouldn’t be. Hanging on outside of time.” Silver looks at Steel as if he expects him to understand.
Steel thinks about it. The entity, the thing that had sent them here had been powerful, malicious, strong… He itches to get back and stop it. He knows how, was on the point of doing so, if it hadn’t twisted things against them and cast them out here. Outside, he thinks, and then glances across at Silver with a slight curl to his mouth. “That’s what it wants us to do? Break back in?”
Silver nods.
So they can let it defeat them by staying here, or they can help it by forcing themselves back into time, into full existence - creating their own time break. Yet Steel frowns. Silver’s fear is more than that, more than fear of what Steel will do, although that’s there too.
”And if we don’t?” Steel asks, pushing for more information. “If we stay here, refuse to do what it wants? They’ll send someone else to stop it.” He’s grudging about that, unsure anyone else would manage it but he acknowledges they’d try.
“Then we’ll eventually be mere… mere things waiting outside to get back in.”
“No,” says Steel, who is always and only himself.
Silver gives another small smile. “We’re nothing, nowhere. We will fade. We’ll just be…” He stops, failing to find the words and pulls a face instead, and waves his hands in lieu of adequate description. “Even you, Steel.”
The first frost of fear reaches him then, but again he ignores it and considers the options. He keeps an eye on Silver and wonders if the technician isn’t already looking faded or if that’s the odd light or lack of it. Steel moves nearer and grips Silver’s arm, causing him to glance across and give a half-hearted smile.
“Then we’ll have to break back in,” Steel says in his ear.
“Steel!” Silver’s outrage is almost amusing, Steel thinks, given the circumstances. “You know what it is you’re saying, don’t you?”
Silver. Steel keeps hold of him and leans forward. “You’ll find the point where we’ll do the least damage. Or can’t you do that?” He’s learned precisely the note with which to challenge Silver; it never fails.
“Of course I can!”
Steel nods. “And we can seal it again on the other side. That’s something we can do.”
“Yes, but -”
You’d prefer to stay here?
“No.” Silver gives Steel an affronted look and as Steel releases him, reaches in his pocket for a pen-like torch and shines it about them, though Steel doesn’t know what he’s looking for or why he even needs a light.
After far too long wandering about alongside a ghostly wall, Silver halts. “Aha!”
Then he kneels down beside it and starts fiddling about with one of the bricks, even though it looks the same as all the rest to Steel. It takes long enough, Steel thinks. Too long. He paces up and down this nowhere place, barely making an impression on the grey grass, and then still winds up threatening to push their way through by brute force if Silver doesn’t get on and finish sooner.
“What we’re doing is bad enough as it is,” Silver reminds him. There’s still an odd undercurrent of something behind his words, inside his mind. Is it fear again? Yes, Steel thinks, it’s fear; fear and misery. He frowns, but at that point Silver looks up at him with a sudden, real smile. He’s got through. The brick is glowing now, a bright white in front of him.
Steel crouches down beside Silver. “Silver. What else is there? There’s another problem, isn’t there?”
Silver shifts away from him. “Well, it’s not… I don’t know…
Silver. I have to know.
“It’s not so much the damage,” Silver says, gesturing towards the opening he’s made, “or even what we might risk letting through. It’s what we might bring back with us… in us.”
Steel looks at him, but he understands. They’re here now; they’re on the wrong side of everything. They’re outside and outside is becoming a part of them.
“We could carry something back inside us, the same way humans do with viruses.” Then Silver shrugs. “Change ourselves. But I don’t know. Nobody knows very much about this. Whatever this is.”
“Silver,” says Steel. “Has this happened before?”
“Very probably,” Silver mutters and he’s closed in on himself, so Steel doesn’t push the matter. It isn’t important. It hasn’t happened to them before and they’re not the others. It isn’t a boast to say they’re more effective, he and Sapphire - and the three of them together even more so.
That thought causes him to smile. The answer is obvious. “Sapphire,” he says.
“Well, yes, of course I’m worried about her, too,” says Silver, the edginess apparent in his voice again. Then he stops, catches himself and laughs with genuine humour for the first time since they’ve been here. “Of course. Sapphire.”
She’ll check them, take readings if necessary. Between them they can close any break, deal with any lurking intruder, within or without. This isn’t something they should be doing, but they can make it work. Steel doesn’t think about what happens if they can’t. There’s no point in what ifs.
Silver looks across at Steel and takes a deep breath. Ready, Steel?
“Yes. Get on with it,” says Steel. Nothing’s going to be improved by waiting, is it?
Silver hesitates, then catches hold of Steel’s sleeve and together they break the rules, commit their unthinkable crime in this ghostly garden, and vanish to face the consequences.
***