comment_fic 816-820: original, Charmed, HL
Title: flames arising
Original sci fi/fantasy
Gen, PG
Prompt: Any, any, push the button.
It's always there, buried deep in Isazika's mind. When she's in class, listening to the teacher, taking notes, laughing at Mallory's muttered comments, nodding sympathetically to Darren's complaints, eating the subpar lunch Tate packed (like lunch can make up for taking her away from Mom), riding the bus home and sitting next to Yelena because they live two streets from each other - it's always there.
Tate looks at her sometimes like he knows. He probably does. Mom had it, too.
That's no reason to take her away. Mom would've never hurt her. (Mom couldn't.)
Mallory is a smartass and Darren is kind. Yelena is wise, in the way some latchkey kids are. The teachers have no idea how smart Izzy is, or the fact that that's not her name. Tate calls her Izzy, she's registered at the school as Izzy, everyone knows her as Izzy and assume it's short for Isabel or Isabella, but it's not. Her name is old.
Her name is legend.
Tate isn't short for Tatum either. She doesn't know his real name, or even Mom's, but her name is a secret, and the schoolchildren jabbering around her have no idea -
It's always there.
Don't worry, sweetling, Mom had whispered, that night Tate found them, with a mark carved into his skin that Mom couldn't break. I'll come back for you. Until then, wait. Bury it all and wait for me.
Eight years and Isazika is still waiting, in the back of Izzy's mind.
Tate looks at her like she's dangerous, like he might have to put her down. If he tries -
Well, Isazika is a legend's name, and those are big shoes to fill. They'll fit, though.
Yelena comments on the 21st century history test while Darren complains to Mallory about their literature quiz (some old book called Harry Potter; Izzy didn't really like it), and Izzy, as always, plays her part perfectly.
Mom told her to wait. She still has time. But if nothing has happened by graduation, she knows where to start.
(Tate's always watching her, and he has to know.)
Title: yes, you were brave
Fandom: Charmed
Disclaimer: title from Animorphs
Warnings: mentions of violence
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 140
Point of view: third
Prompt: Charmed, Chris, what if he fails in his mission.
He dreams in shades of red, blood on his hands and in his eyes, blood burbling in his mouth, dribbling down drip drip to the floor, where it sizzles and burns.
He dreams of happy times, of laughing and smiling, of his brother (dead, never was, gone) spinning him around with his hands and his magic, of their baby sister and their cousins, of their parents and aunts and uncles, of Grandpa - dead, never was, gone.
He dreams of the future, after he's won, when the world is healing and his brother (everything, I miss you, I love you even now) saved, when he has a life and a family again.
He dreams in snatches, never for long, never enough.
He's dreaming as he's dying, and he wonders if the brother he once knew will meet him on the other side.
Title: untitled
Fandom: Charmed
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 65
Point of view: third
Prompt: Charmed; Melinda and P3; Wyatt isn't a Halliwell and Melinda was the one who went back in time to change the future.
"Be smart about it," her little brother cautions, at the last possible minute. "Don't get caught, either."
"Chris!" she hisses. "Just..." she sighs, leaning against his shoulder. "Tell me it'll work out. That I'll find where he came from, that I'll stop him."
"It'll work out, Mel," he promises, kissing the top of her head. "You'll find him and you'll save us."
"Yeah," Mel breathes. "I will."
Title: Where we have immortal stay
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Donne
Warnings: AU; character death
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 450
Point of view: third
Prompt: Highlander, Methos, he was using the Watchers to hunt
The Watchers were created to be a hunting ground. Of course, they do not know that. Every few hundred years, Methos (Benjamin, Adam, Pierce's son, Matthew, Bartholomew) slips in and culls those who are weak and those who are strong. Every few hundred years, a dozen or so immortals go missing. The world is a big place, though.
The world is a big place, and there are always other immortals to Watch and record and remember.
.
Adam Pierson exists to watch Duncan MacLeod. He's become noticeable. He's become too big for the small world immortals occupy.
Then Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, a strong contender for the Prize (a lie that's grown and grown and grown, and won't the winner be surprised when nothing at all happens [well, no, because, of course, the winner will the one who invented the story]) , walks into Adam Pierson's apartment and recognizes Methos for what he is.
Well. This could be fun.
.
Kronos stabs him in the shoulder and Methos says patiently, "Brother, what are you doing?"
A very long time ago, Kronos had been a mistake. But he'd been Methos' pet for so long that Methos had mercy and left him alive when he tired of the child. But now, Kronos has become a threat, and those Methos does not abide.
When Methos strikes, it is a move he never teaches his students, and Kronos dies with wide eyes. As he breathes in Kronos' quickening, Methos sighs in pleasure.
He does so love a good quickening.
.
Kronos is the oldest quickening Methos has ever taken, so he decides to go after Silas and Caspian. Caspian is a scrapper, like he's always been, but Silas is gentle like a lamb. He's always been devoted to Methos, and Methos has no trouble preying on that weakness.
With Silas' death, there is no one left who comes within a thousand years of Methos' age.
.
Adam Pierson is very young, and the Watchers cast him out because immortals are Watched instead of Watchers.
No matter. Give it a few hundred years; human memory is short.
.
Adam Pierson dies in his third challenge. The immortal who takes his head dies later that evening when a terrible traffic accident beheads him on the freeway.
Duncan MacLeod mourns his student and his friend; the Watchers record it avidly.
.
In fifty years, a ghost steps out of the past and strikes before Duncan can even say his name.
Methos is a hunter; Duncan has become too loud.
Duncan vanishes, no matter how fervently the Watchers search.
Methos watches the children scurry about and flips a coin to see if the time has come to burn them down.
Title: it contains the same dark bloody history
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Gerald Stern
Warnings: lots and lots of talk of death (and Death)
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount:
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any, any immortal character,
I've got nothing left to live for
Got no reason yet to die
But when I'm standing at the gallows
I'll be staring at the sky
Because no matter where they take me
Death I will survive
If Methos were to sit down at a table somewhere, pull an unused notepad close, and write down every time he has been executed, he would run out of paper.
He could list all the reasons, too, and he remembers most of them fondly. He has always enjoyed inciting a riot.
In his long life (longer than any guess), Methos has been killed in all the ways there are to die except the final. He was to be drawn-and-quartered once, but he has a way with horses and so began a new legend of the invincible man.
(Truth: if there is a legend of an invincible man, it is probably Methos in one of his guises.)
He smiles down at the notepad, putting a star next to trampled by horses. That had been an accidental execution, and one he wouldn't mind enduring again. Horses are such lovely creatures.
Every time he was sentenced to beheading - and there were numerous occasions, especially when his tongue got the better of him and told his masters of the time exactly what he thought - Methos magicked up an escape. (Not always with magic, but it was close enough for the belief to build.)
He has been a revolutionary and a criminal and a man far ahead of his time. He has had said unliked and unwanted truths, and he has lied until empires crumbled away. He led emperors to their deaths and sent thousands of peasants on the road to starvation, and one day he'll do it all again.
But for now, he caps the pen and sets it aside. Joe is at the bar chatting with a pretty customer and MacLeod is on the way with the brat in tow. And Methos drains his beer, looking down at the last item on his list - in pursuit of the prize.
There is no Prize. There is no Game. Quickenings are magic, and there are few left who speak that language fluently.
Oh, yes. The game the children play would see Methos dead, but he is no inclination to die.
"Hey, Mac! Richie, get over here," Joe calls from the bar.
Methos flicks a glance at the notepad and it disappears. He grabs his beer, refilling it with a thought only to drain it again.
No, he is not ready to die. He has lived too long a life.
(Truth: beheading will not work any better than all the rest.)
(Lie: that he'll ever let anyone try.)
Original sci fi/fantasy
Gen, PG
Prompt: Any, any, push the button.
It's always there, buried deep in Isazika's mind. When she's in class, listening to the teacher, taking notes, laughing at Mallory's muttered comments, nodding sympathetically to Darren's complaints, eating the subpar lunch Tate packed (like lunch can make up for taking her away from Mom), riding the bus home and sitting next to Yelena because they live two streets from each other - it's always there.
Tate looks at her sometimes like he knows. He probably does. Mom had it, too.
That's no reason to take her away. Mom would've never hurt her. (Mom couldn't.)
Mallory is a smartass and Darren is kind. Yelena is wise, in the way some latchkey kids are. The teachers have no idea how smart Izzy is, or the fact that that's not her name. Tate calls her Izzy, she's registered at the school as Izzy, everyone knows her as Izzy and assume it's short for Isabel or Isabella, but it's not. Her name is old.
Her name is legend.
Tate isn't short for Tatum either. She doesn't know his real name, or even Mom's, but her name is a secret, and the schoolchildren jabbering around her have no idea -
It's always there.
Don't worry, sweetling, Mom had whispered, that night Tate found them, with a mark carved into his skin that Mom couldn't break. I'll come back for you. Until then, wait. Bury it all and wait for me.
Eight years and Isazika is still waiting, in the back of Izzy's mind.
Tate looks at her like she's dangerous, like he might have to put her down. If he tries -
Well, Isazika is a legend's name, and those are big shoes to fill. They'll fit, though.
Yelena comments on the 21st century history test while Darren complains to Mallory about their literature quiz (some old book called Harry Potter; Izzy didn't really like it), and Izzy, as always, plays her part perfectly.
Mom told her to wait. She still has time. But if nothing has happened by graduation, she knows where to start.
(Tate's always watching her, and he has to know.)
Title: yes, you were brave
Fandom: Charmed
Disclaimer: title from Animorphs
Warnings: mentions of violence
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 140
Point of view: third
Prompt: Charmed, Chris, what if he fails in his mission.
He dreams in shades of red, blood on his hands and in his eyes, blood burbling in his mouth, dribbling down drip drip to the floor, where it sizzles and burns.
He dreams of happy times, of laughing and smiling, of his brother (dead, never was, gone) spinning him around with his hands and his magic, of their baby sister and their cousins, of their parents and aunts and uncles, of Grandpa - dead, never was, gone.
He dreams of the future, after he's won, when the world is healing and his brother (everything, I miss you, I love you even now) saved, when he has a life and a family again.
He dreams in snatches, never for long, never enough.
He's dreaming as he's dying, and he wonders if the brother he once knew will meet him on the other side.
Title: untitled
Fandom: Charmed
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 65
Point of view: third
Prompt: Charmed; Melinda and P3; Wyatt isn't a Halliwell and Melinda was the one who went back in time to change the future.
"Be smart about it," her little brother cautions, at the last possible minute. "Don't get caught, either."
"Chris!" she hisses. "Just..." she sighs, leaning against his shoulder. "Tell me it'll work out. That I'll find where he came from, that I'll stop him."
"It'll work out, Mel," he promises, kissing the top of her head. "You'll find him and you'll save us."
"Yeah," Mel breathes. "I will."
Title: Where we have immortal stay
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Donne
Warnings: AU; character death
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 450
Point of view: third
Prompt: Highlander, Methos, he was using the Watchers to hunt
The Watchers were created to be a hunting ground. Of course, they do not know that. Every few hundred years, Methos (Benjamin, Adam, Pierce's son, Matthew, Bartholomew) slips in and culls those who are weak and those who are strong. Every few hundred years, a dozen or so immortals go missing. The world is a big place, though.
The world is a big place, and there are always other immortals to Watch and record and remember.
.
Adam Pierson exists to watch Duncan MacLeod. He's become noticeable. He's become too big for the small world immortals occupy.
Then Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, a strong contender for the Prize (a lie that's grown and grown and grown, and won't the winner be surprised when nothing at all happens [well, no, because, of course, the winner will the one who invented the story]) , walks into Adam Pierson's apartment and recognizes Methos for what he is.
Well. This could be fun.
.
Kronos stabs him in the shoulder and Methos says patiently, "Brother, what are you doing?"
A very long time ago, Kronos had been a mistake. But he'd been Methos' pet for so long that Methos had mercy and left him alive when he tired of the child. But now, Kronos has become a threat, and those Methos does not abide.
When Methos strikes, it is a move he never teaches his students, and Kronos dies with wide eyes. As he breathes in Kronos' quickening, Methos sighs in pleasure.
He does so love a good quickening.
.
Kronos is the oldest quickening Methos has ever taken, so he decides to go after Silas and Caspian. Caspian is a scrapper, like he's always been, but Silas is gentle like a lamb. He's always been devoted to Methos, and Methos has no trouble preying on that weakness.
With Silas' death, there is no one left who comes within a thousand years of Methos' age.
.
Adam Pierson is very young, and the Watchers cast him out because immortals are Watched instead of Watchers.
No matter. Give it a few hundred years; human memory is short.
.
Adam Pierson dies in his third challenge. The immortal who takes his head dies later that evening when a terrible traffic accident beheads him on the freeway.
Duncan MacLeod mourns his student and his friend; the Watchers record it avidly.
.
In fifty years, a ghost steps out of the past and strikes before Duncan can even say his name.
Methos is a hunter; Duncan has become too loud.
Duncan vanishes, no matter how fervently the Watchers search.
Methos watches the children scurry about and flips a coin to see if the time has come to burn them down.
Title: it contains the same dark bloody history
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Gerald Stern
Warnings: lots and lots of talk of death (and Death)
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount:
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any, any immortal character,
I've got nothing left to live for
Got no reason yet to die
But when I'm standing at the gallows
I'll be staring at the sky
Because no matter where they take me
Death I will survive
If Methos were to sit down at a table somewhere, pull an unused notepad close, and write down every time he has been executed, he would run out of paper.
He could list all the reasons, too, and he remembers most of them fondly. He has always enjoyed inciting a riot.
In his long life (longer than any guess), Methos has been killed in all the ways there are to die except the final. He was to be drawn-and-quartered once, but he has a way with horses and so began a new legend of the invincible man.
(Truth: if there is a legend of an invincible man, it is probably Methos in one of his guises.)
He smiles down at the notepad, putting a star next to trampled by horses. That had been an accidental execution, and one he wouldn't mind enduring again. Horses are such lovely creatures.
Every time he was sentenced to beheading - and there were numerous occasions, especially when his tongue got the better of him and told his masters of the time exactly what he thought - Methos magicked up an escape. (Not always with magic, but it was close enough for the belief to build.)
He has been a revolutionary and a criminal and a man far ahead of his time. He has had said unliked and unwanted truths, and he has lied until empires crumbled away. He led emperors to their deaths and sent thousands of peasants on the road to starvation, and one day he'll do it all again.
But for now, he caps the pen and sets it aside. Joe is at the bar chatting with a pretty customer and MacLeod is on the way with the brat in tow. And Methos drains his beer, looking down at the last item on his list - in pursuit of the prize.
There is no Prize. There is no Game. Quickenings are magic, and there are few left who speak that language fluently.
Oh, yes. The game the children play would see Methos dead, but he is no inclination to die.
"Hey, Mac! Richie, get over here," Joe calls from the bar.
Methos flicks a glance at the notepad and it disappears. He grabs his beer, refilling it with a thought only to drain it again.
No, he is not ready to die. He has lived too long a life.
(Truth: beheading will not work any better than all the rest.)
(Lie: that he'll ever let anyone try.)