Challenge # 78 - All Apologies
Challenge: #078 - Six Degrees of Crossing Over
Disclaimer: I did not create nor do I own these characters.
Title: Oops
Word Count: 200
Fandom: BtVS/Firefly
Buffy looked at the spilled noodles in dismay. She’d been stranded in this dimension long enough to know that real food was precious out in the black, and on Serenity long enough to know that the floor was not clean enough to eat off of. Yet she’d managed to spill the entire pot of the last fresh noodles they were likely to see for weeks. Mal is not going to be happy.
As if her thought had summoned him, the captain came wandering in. At the sight of the he fen swirling the floor, Mal pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in the futile hope that maybe if he didn’t look, it wouldn’t be true. How does such a graceful girl manage to be such a disaster in the kitchen?
Buffy cringed sheepishly.
“Would it help if I said I’m sorry?”
“Won’t help the noodles none, but I’d take it as a kindness all the same.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t doubt that you are.”
Buffy brightened, relieved to have gotten off so lightly.
“But you’re still the one who gets to break it to Jayne.”
She should have known just saying sorry wouldn’t be enough.
Title: If
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Firefly/Saving Private Ryan
Mal knew how it would play out even before the horror hit him. He’d had this dream often enough. Each time was just as bad as the first.
Another unit had come to tell him his brothers were dead. He went from being a relatively unworried soldier fighting for what was right to a shattered boy who could only think about the devastation back home.
“How did they die?”
“They were killed in action,” came the reply.
“No, that can’t be,” he replied, hope warring with fear. “My brothers are still in grammar school.”
“You’re James Ryan. James Francis Ryan from Iowa?”
“James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota… wait, does that mean my brothers are ok?”
“Yeah, I’m sure they’re fine,” the captain said. “I’m sorry, this has all been a big mixup.”
For Mal, the worst part of the dream wasn’t that James Frederick Ryan of Minnesota thought his little brothers had been killed, even though he knew well enough what that felt like. No, it was that Private Ryan’s brothers were still alive. His home would be waiting for him unscathed when his war finished, provided he survived. He had gotten the reprieve Malcolm Reynolds had so desperately wanted.
Title: Captain Jones
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Saving Private Ryan/Indiana Jones
Jimmy Ryan hadn’t been feeling right ever since that Captain Miller and his unit had swung through. Mail call wasn’t exactly a regular feature of the day “somewhere in France”, and no matter what that man had said, he wouldn’t rest easy until he heard from home that all was well with his kid brothers.
It was fortunate that the Germans had retreated and he could walk around without fear of snipers. In his haze, Ryan ran smack into the man coming out of the bombed out church that served as his company’s sleeping quarters. He realized with a sinking feeling that this man also had a captain’s insignia. He hoped this captain would be less trouble for him than the last one.
“Sorry, didn’t see you, sir.”
“Don’t worry about it, kid. Go get some sleep, looks like you need it. In fact,” his eyes flicked to Ryan’s sleeve, “make that an order.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nice to be ordered to do what he’d been hoping to do anyway. But who was that officer, and where had he come from? Ryan had heard of officers taking prizes off captured or dead Germans, but who the heck carried a bullwhip?
Title: Any Port in a Storm
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Indiana Jones/PotC
He had thought he was a goner when the sub he was supposed to rendezvous with didn’t show. Out in the middle of the stormy North Atlantic in a glorified dinghy, he knew his odds weren’t good. He wouldn’t give up hope until he was actually dead, of course, but he was pretty sure that swig from the Grail didn’t protect him from drowning.
The sudden appearance around midnight of a wooden ship startled him. A lesser man might have freaked out. But Indiana Jones had seen stranger things than a ship he was fairly sure wasn’t of this world rising up from the deep.
A rope swung down and he scrambled up the side, unwilling to question help no matter how unlikely its provenance. A man leaned down to give him a hand over the rail.
“Indiana Jones. Am I glad to see you.”
The man frowned at him.
“Captain Turner!”
Indy wondered what was wrong.
“Problem, Mr. Turner?” called a younger man, who looked to be Mr. Turner’s son.
“Sorry, but it seems there’s been some sort of mistake. This man’s still alive.”
“That’s a problem?” Indy asked.
“On the Flying Dutchman it is,” Captain Turner replied.
Title: Family Reunion
Word Count: 200
Fandom: PotC/HP
Will wasn’t expecting much. Ten years at sea, one day ashore. Elizabeth had long ago joined him. Their son had come faithfully every ten years until his death. Their grandchildren had kept up the tradition. But as the decades had passed, fewer had come. Captain Turner and Elizabeth the Pirate King had passed into legend, and like many legends, were on their way to being forgotten. Ten years ago, there had been no one at all.
He was surprised to see a wispy blonde waiting on the beach.
“Captain Turner? You look surprised.”
“A little. No one came last time. I wasn’t sure if there were none left to come, or if it was just that no one believed the legend of the Dutchman anymore.”
“My mother was the last of her family. She died not long before your last landfall. It’s just luck she told me her family history first.”
“We don’t always hear of family deaths,” Will said sadly. “Not unless they happen at sea.”
“Yes, you would know about those,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry, I can’t seem to place you,” Will told her.
“That’s all right, you wouldn’t know me yet. I’m only twenty. Luna Lovegood.”
Title: The Ministry of Magic are Morons
Word Count: 200
Fandom: HP/BtVS
Buffy had been furious. She did not take kindly to being referred to as a “magical beast”, no matter how much the stupid wand-wavers insisted it wasn’t meant to be insulting. Her fellow Slayers were no more amused than she was. No wonder the Ministry of Magic had felt the need to deputize an ambassador of sorts.
Said ambassador had been in for a terrifying reception, since she had been responsible for bringing the Slayer to the Ministry’s attention. Luckily for Miss Lovegood, before her arrival Giles had sat the Slayers at Council Headquarters down for a firm talk about not permanently injuring the Ministry’s flunky.
Luna, however, proved to be something other than what the gauntlet awaiting her had been expecting. She was no older than any of the Slayers, for a start. And she was excited to meet them.
“It’s so fascinating to meet a real Slayer, let alone a dozen. I’m looking forward to hearing all about demons!”
The Slayers exchanged surprised glances. Giles coughed expectantly.
“Oh, yes, I’m supposed to apologize about the Ministry classification. They’re really quite horrible, you know. Minister Shacklebolt is trying, but so many positions are still held by wizard supremacists.”
Disclaimer: I did not create nor do I own these characters.
Title: Oops
Word Count: 200
Fandom: BtVS/Firefly
Buffy looked at the spilled noodles in dismay. She’d been stranded in this dimension long enough to know that real food was precious out in the black, and on Serenity long enough to know that the floor was not clean enough to eat off of. Yet she’d managed to spill the entire pot of the last fresh noodles they were likely to see for weeks. Mal is not going to be happy.
As if her thought had summoned him, the captain came wandering in. At the sight of the he fen swirling the floor, Mal pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in the futile hope that maybe if he didn’t look, it wouldn’t be true. How does such a graceful girl manage to be such a disaster in the kitchen?
Buffy cringed sheepishly.
“Would it help if I said I’m sorry?”
“Won’t help the noodles none, but I’d take it as a kindness all the same.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t doubt that you are.”
Buffy brightened, relieved to have gotten off so lightly.
“But you’re still the one who gets to break it to Jayne.”
She should have known just saying sorry wouldn’t be enough.
Title: If
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Firefly/Saving Private Ryan
Mal knew how it would play out even before the horror hit him. He’d had this dream often enough. Each time was just as bad as the first.
Another unit had come to tell him his brothers were dead. He went from being a relatively unworried soldier fighting for what was right to a shattered boy who could only think about the devastation back home.
“How did they die?”
“They were killed in action,” came the reply.
“No, that can’t be,” he replied, hope warring with fear. “My brothers are still in grammar school.”
“You’re James Ryan. James Francis Ryan from Iowa?”
“James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota… wait, does that mean my brothers are ok?”
“Yeah, I’m sure they’re fine,” the captain said. “I’m sorry, this has all been a big mixup.”
For Mal, the worst part of the dream wasn’t that James Frederick Ryan of Minnesota thought his little brothers had been killed, even though he knew well enough what that felt like. No, it was that Private Ryan’s brothers were still alive. His home would be waiting for him unscathed when his war finished, provided he survived. He had gotten the reprieve Malcolm Reynolds had so desperately wanted.
Title: Captain Jones
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Saving Private Ryan/Indiana Jones
Jimmy Ryan hadn’t been feeling right ever since that Captain Miller and his unit had swung through. Mail call wasn’t exactly a regular feature of the day “somewhere in France”, and no matter what that man had said, he wouldn’t rest easy until he heard from home that all was well with his kid brothers.
It was fortunate that the Germans had retreated and he could walk around without fear of snipers. In his haze, Ryan ran smack into the man coming out of the bombed out church that served as his company’s sleeping quarters. He realized with a sinking feeling that this man also had a captain’s insignia. He hoped this captain would be less trouble for him than the last one.
“Sorry, didn’t see you, sir.”
“Don’t worry about it, kid. Go get some sleep, looks like you need it. In fact,” his eyes flicked to Ryan’s sleeve, “make that an order.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nice to be ordered to do what he’d been hoping to do anyway. But who was that officer, and where had he come from? Ryan had heard of officers taking prizes off captured or dead Germans, but who the heck carried a bullwhip?
Title: Any Port in a Storm
Word Count: 200
Fandom: Indiana Jones/PotC
He had thought he was a goner when the sub he was supposed to rendezvous with didn’t show. Out in the middle of the stormy North Atlantic in a glorified dinghy, he knew his odds weren’t good. He wouldn’t give up hope until he was actually dead, of course, but he was pretty sure that swig from the Grail didn’t protect him from drowning.
The sudden appearance around midnight of a wooden ship startled him. A lesser man might have freaked out. But Indiana Jones had seen stranger things than a ship he was fairly sure wasn’t of this world rising up from the deep.
A rope swung down and he scrambled up the side, unwilling to question help no matter how unlikely its provenance. A man leaned down to give him a hand over the rail.
“Indiana Jones. Am I glad to see you.”
The man frowned at him.
“Captain Turner!”
Indy wondered what was wrong.
“Problem, Mr. Turner?” called a younger man, who looked to be Mr. Turner’s son.
“Sorry, but it seems there’s been some sort of mistake. This man’s still alive.”
“That’s a problem?” Indy asked.
“On the Flying Dutchman it is,” Captain Turner replied.
Title: Family Reunion
Word Count: 200
Fandom: PotC/HP
Will wasn’t expecting much. Ten years at sea, one day ashore. Elizabeth had long ago joined him. Their son had come faithfully every ten years until his death. Their grandchildren had kept up the tradition. But as the decades had passed, fewer had come. Captain Turner and Elizabeth the Pirate King had passed into legend, and like many legends, were on their way to being forgotten. Ten years ago, there had been no one at all.
He was surprised to see a wispy blonde waiting on the beach.
“Captain Turner? You look surprised.”
“A little. No one came last time. I wasn’t sure if there were none left to come, or if it was just that no one believed the legend of the Dutchman anymore.”
“My mother was the last of her family. She died not long before your last landfall. It’s just luck she told me her family history first.”
“We don’t always hear of family deaths,” Will said sadly. “Not unless they happen at sea.”
“Yes, you would know about those,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry, I can’t seem to place you,” Will told her.
“That’s all right, you wouldn’t know me yet. I’m only twenty. Luna Lovegood.”
Title: The Ministry of Magic are Morons
Word Count: 200
Fandom: HP/BtVS
Buffy had been furious. She did not take kindly to being referred to as a “magical beast”, no matter how much the stupid wand-wavers insisted it wasn’t meant to be insulting. Her fellow Slayers were no more amused than she was. No wonder the Ministry of Magic had felt the need to deputize an ambassador of sorts.
Said ambassador had been in for a terrifying reception, since she had been responsible for bringing the Slayer to the Ministry’s attention. Luckily for Miss Lovegood, before her arrival Giles had sat the Slayers at Council Headquarters down for a firm talk about not permanently injuring the Ministry’s flunky.
Luna, however, proved to be something other than what the gauntlet awaiting her had been expecting. She was no older than any of the Slayers, for a start. And she was excited to meet them.
“It’s so fascinating to meet a real Slayer, let alone a dozen. I’m looking forward to hearing all about demons!”
The Slayers exchanged surprised glances. Giles coughed expectantly.
“Oh, yes, I’m supposed to apologize about the Ministry classification. They’re really quite horrible, you know. Minister Shacklebolt is trying, but so many positions are still held by wizard supremacists.”