ficpost: "Glimpses of an Apocalypse" McKay/Weir + Sheppard/Teyla
Title: "Glimpses of an Apocalypse"
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairings: McKay/Weir + Sheppard/Teyla
Rating: PG
Notes: For meyerlemon in lantisficathon, where we are permitted to post our stories before the due date. Her requests are at the end
Wordcount:1,307
Summary: Their city falls into the sea while they watch.
Glimpses of an Apocalypse
Elizabeth curled her fingers around Rodney's hand, her knuckles blanching. They watched bright gold spheres of light bombard their city. She could hear Teyla comforting some of her young kinsfolk; she didn't recognize all the words, but she did recognize the soothing tones. She longed for a mother to kiss her forehead, to whisper protective words in her ear. But she was the only matriarch here, and Rodney, sitting next to her on the log, wanted her to provide comfort.
"There goes corridor B," he said, his voice eerily high. "All the results of our medical experiments. Carson will..."
"Carson would be glad we escaped. He valued people over data."
"Yeah." Rodney was unfocused, his eyes elsewhere, his voice detached.
"Where've you gone?" Elizabeth asked him.
Rodney shuddered against her; she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze that turned into a death grip. "We'll start again in the morning," she murmured, and Rodney replied with a deep sigh.
Atlantis, her beautiful Atlantis, glowed in a blaze of destruction.
++
Ford kicked the glistening walls of Jumper 3, dislodging a cable and causing a spark of energy. He was careful not to turn around as he bent to plug the cable back in, so he was facing the door when Major Sheppard appeared, stomping in anger. He had a huge sack tossed over his shoulder. Ford raised an eyebrow. "Gathering stuff for Teyla," Sheppard said. "Some sort of medicinal plants."
"Tied to the apron strings, huh, sir?"
"Forget the sir," Sheppard said, dropping his sack. "Not like we're ever getting home."
Ford tried not to think about his family as he goaded the major. "Thought you and Teyla would be setting up home pretty soon."
Sheppard gave him a look of disdain. "You doing anything tonight?"
"Not much to do, sir. Gameboy got burnt up back in the city."
"Lose the sir," Sheppard said, touching Ford's shoulder and leaving the Jumper. Ford got to his feet and got a glimpse of the city before he remembered to close his eyes.
++
"Very good," Teyla said patiently, closing her eyes to make her headache lessen somewhat. The mewls of Athosian children were annoying and unpleasant reminders of the life she had once been used to. They -- she and her new friends -- had been welcomed into the settlement somewhat reluctantly. Teyla had been immediately encouraged to take over several of her old roles, telling stories and guiding the harvest. She already longed for the excitement of trade and planetary exploration; the realization that they'd been cut off from every other world was slowly seeping through her mind.
"Teyla." Major Sheppard lounged against the willowy pole that held up the tent. "Got a minute?"
Relieved, Teyla removed a child from her lap and rose to give the Major -- John -- a brief kiss of welcome.
"That all you got?" he asked, his voice full of teasing and hints of things he never said.
Teyla smiled and kissed him again, grateful to be able to sink into the warmth of his arms and forget, for a moment, about the destruction of the city. Standing in the doorway to the tent, John blocked her view of the glowing fireballs she'd watched out of the corner of her eye all evening. She leaned into his chest, clutching at him, and pretended for a moment that she was truly blind and could not see what had happened.
++
"Ready then?" Sheppard asked after a certain amount of clinging, and Teyla looked up, eyes clear. Good. She hadn't been crying, just taking a brief moment of comfort in his manly arms. His grimace almost became a grin.
"Ready? Do you wish to do battle?" she asked. "Would you like me to find a pair of staffs, so that you may be thoroughly defeated today?"
"I thought we'd go for a walk," he said with a forced grin.
"You wish to fly back to the city, try to retake it." He nodded, knowing that lying to Teyla was pointless -- and he'd fought enough worthless battles for the day.
"I should be back there. Atlantis is taken and I'm still alive. How is that acceptable?"
"I am glad you are not dead," Teyla said, and Sheppard sighed. He planned to go, already preparing mentally for each twist of the controls that would bring him back to Atlantis, plunge him deeply into the last fray.
++
McKay tapped Sheppard on the shoulder, causing him to jump and swing a punch that he was barely able to check. McKay nodded politely at Teyla, who winked at him -- it had been two weeks ago that he'd walked from the gateroom to Teyla's quarters, arguing about the Major the whole way.
"He's never going to give you a moment's peace," he recalled saying.
"Exactly." She'd smiled, and he'd gotten the discomforting feeling he'd been exposed to too much information.
"We're lighting a bonfire," he said to the top of Teyla's head, and he noted Sheppard tensing next to him. "Ford's off gathering branches with some of the kids." He clasped at the air, and Elizabeth's hand wasn't there. Sheppard was lingering protectively by Teyla's side. "Anyhow, come join us." He thought of making a quip about their usual dawdling, but the words stung his throat as he thought them.
"Of course," Teyla said gently, and McKay hurried away to find Elizabeth, and he accidentally tripped over a tree stump when he caught sight of one of Atlantis's spires, which had always inspired him with their architectural majesty, collapsing into the sea.
++
At first the Athosians helped them, lighting the fire and nurturing it till it blazed as brilliantly as the dying city. But when Ford, hair scruffy and eyes red, emerged from the forest with a last bundle of wood, the Athosians left them to their own ceremony.
"Kate," said Ford, and that was the beginning.
"Peter."
"Carson."
"Sanderson."
"I remember Simon," said Weir, and McKay let his fingers just touch hers.
"Everyone's families," Ford said. "'Specially those who won't ever know."
"Jeanie."
Weir took McKay's hand, which had been lingering by hers, and held onto it tightly.
Sheppard, who hadn't said anything, grabbed Teyla's hand, mimicking Weir. Teyla relaxed and thought about family.
They watched the fire burning, and Teyla thought about these friends, and the family waiting for her in the village.
Sheppard wondered if it would be okay to put his arm around Teyla's shoulder, and when he did, she didn't shy away.
Ford was using every bit of resolve he had to keep his back to the city.
Weir tried to bring herself to smile when McKay reached into his pocket and said, "I had a few words I wanted to say," but the smile never reached her lips.
"I was going to talk about how we'd triumphed. I had... I'd written out the names of all the scientists who helped me figure out how to save the city. I was going to ask for a round of applause... but I guess that's out of the question now."
He let go of Weir's hand and carefully unfolded the piece of paper where he'd written his speech. Still watching Atlantis out of the corner of his eye (desperately hoping, still, that it could still be saved), he dropped the paper onto the fire, where it crumpled and burned.
Teyla and Sheppard clutched harder at each other's hands. Sheppard looked away from the fire first, and Teyla took his face in her hands and kissed him. Ford and McKay, who'd teased them for weeks, said nothing.
When Atlantis finally crumbled into the sea, Teyla looked at Sheppard's face, and McKay looked at Weir's hand, and Ford shut his eyes tightly and made a wish that could never come true.
++++
meyerlemon requested Sheyla with alpha!Sheppard, sarcastic!Teyla, and McKay setting something on fire. Um. I hope she likes it anyhow.
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairings: McKay/Weir + Sheppard/Teyla
Rating: PG
Notes: For meyerlemon in lantisficathon, where we are permitted to post our stories before the due date. Her requests are at the end
Wordcount:1,307
Summary: Their city falls into the sea while they watch.
Glimpses of an Apocalypse
Elizabeth curled her fingers around Rodney's hand, her knuckles blanching. They watched bright gold spheres of light bombard their city. She could hear Teyla comforting some of her young kinsfolk; she didn't recognize all the words, but she did recognize the soothing tones. She longed for a mother to kiss her forehead, to whisper protective words in her ear. But she was the only matriarch here, and Rodney, sitting next to her on the log, wanted her to provide comfort.
"There goes corridor B," he said, his voice eerily high. "All the results of our medical experiments. Carson will..."
"Carson would be glad we escaped. He valued people over data."
"Yeah." Rodney was unfocused, his eyes elsewhere, his voice detached.
"Where've you gone?" Elizabeth asked him.
Rodney shuddered against her; she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze that turned into a death grip. "We'll start again in the morning," she murmured, and Rodney replied with a deep sigh.
Atlantis, her beautiful Atlantis, glowed in a blaze of destruction.
++
Ford kicked the glistening walls of Jumper 3, dislodging a cable and causing a spark of energy. He was careful not to turn around as he bent to plug the cable back in, so he was facing the door when Major Sheppard appeared, stomping in anger. He had a huge sack tossed over his shoulder. Ford raised an eyebrow. "Gathering stuff for Teyla," Sheppard said. "Some sort of medicinal plants."
"Tied to the apron strings, huh, sir?"
"Forget the sir," Sheppard said, dropping his sack. "Not like we're ever getting home."
Ford tried not to think about his family as he goaded the major. "Thought you and Teyla would be setting up home pretty soon."
Sheppard gave him a look of disdain. "You doing anything tonight?"
"Not much to do, sir. Gameboy got burnt up back in the city."
"Lose the sir," Sheppard said, touching Ford's shoulder and leaving the Jumper. Ford got to his feet and got a glimpse of the city before he remembered to close his eyes.
++
"Very good," Teyla said patiently, closing her eyes to make her headache lessen somewhat. The mewls of Athosian children were annoying and unpleasant reminders of the life she had once been used to. They -- she and her new friends -- had been welcomed into the settlement somewhat reluctantly. Teyla had been immediately encouraged to take over several of her old roles, telling stories and guiding the harvest. She already longed for the excitement of trade and planetary exploration; the realization that they'd been cut off from every other world was slowly seeping through her mind.
"Teyla." Major Sheppard lounged against the willowy pole that held up the tent. "Got a minute?"
Relieved, Teyla removed a child from her lap and rose to give the Major -- John -- a brief kiss of welcome.
"That all you got?" he asked, his voice full of teasing and hints of things he never said.
Teyla smiled and kissed him again, grateful to be able to sink into the warmth of his arms and forget, for a moment, about the destruction of the city. Standing in the doorway to the tent, John blocked her view of the glowing fireballs she'd watched out of the corner of her eye all evening. She leaned into his chest, clutching at him, and pretended for a moment that she was truly blind and could not see what had happened.
++
"Ready then?" Sheppard asked after a certain amount of clinging, and Teyla looked up, eyes clear. Good. She hadn't been crying, just taking a brief moment of comfort in his manly arms. His grimace almost became a grin.
"Ready? Do you wish to do battle?" she asked. "Would you like me to find a pair of staffs, so that you may be thoroughly defeated today?"
"I thought we'd go for a walk," he said with a forced grin.
"You wish to fly back to the city, try to retake it." He nodded, knowing that lying to Teyla was pointless -- and he'd fought enough worthless battles for the day.
"I should be back there. Atlantis is taken and I'm still alive. How is that acceptable?"
"I am glad you are not dead," Teyla said, and Sheppard sighed. He planned to go, already preparing mentally for each twist of the controls that would bring him back to Atlantis, plunge him deeply into the last fray.
++
McKay tapped Sheppard on the shoulder, causing him to jump and swing a punch that he was barely able to check. McKay nodded politely at Teyla, who winked at him -- it had been two weeks ago that he'd walked from the gateroom to Teyla's quarters, arguing about the Major the whole way.
"He's never going to give you a moment's peace," he recalled saying.
"Exactly." She'd smiled, and he'd gotten the discomforting feeling he'd been exposed to too much information.
"We're lighting a bonfire," he said to the top of Teyla's head, and he noted Sheppard tensing next to him. "Ford's off gathering branches with some of the kids." He clasped at the air, and Elizabeth's hand wasn't there. Sheppard was lingering protectively by Teyla's side. "Anyhow, come join us." He thought of making a quip about their usual dawdling, but the words stung his throat as he thought them.
"Of course," Teyla said gently, and McKay hurried away to find Elizabeth, and he accidentally tripped over a tree stump when he caught sight of one of Atlantis's spires, which had always inspired him with their architectural majesty, collapsing into the sea.
++
At first the Athosians helped them, lighting the fire and nurturing it till it blazed as brilliantly as the dying city. But when Ford, hair scruffy and eyes red, emerged from the forest with a last bundle of wood, the Athosians left them to their own ceremony.
"Kate," said Ford, and that was the beginning.
"Peter."
"Carson."
"Sanderson."
"I remember Simon," said Weir, and McKay let his fingers just touch hers.
"Everyone's families," Ford said. "'Specially those who won't ever know."
"Jeanie."
Weir took McKay's hand, which had been lingering by hers, and held onto it tightly.
Sheppard, who hadn't said anything, grabbed Teyla's hand, mimicking Weir. Teyla relaxed and thought about family.
They watched the fire burning, and Teyla thought about these friends, and the family waiting for her in the village.
Sheppard wondered if it would be okay to put his arm around Teyla's shoulder, and when he did, she didn't shy away.
Ford was using every bit of resolve he had to keep his back to the city.
Weir tried to bring herself to smile when McKay reached into his pocket and said, "I had a few words I wanted to say," but the smile never reached her lips.
"I was going to talk about how we'd triumphed. I had... I'd written out the names of all the scientists who helped me figure out how to save the city. I was going to ask for a round of applause... but I guess that's out of the question now."
He let go of Weir's hand and carefully unfolded the piece of paper where he'd written his speech. Still watching Atlantis out of the corner of his eye (desperately hoping, still, that it could still be saved), he dropped the paper onto the fire, where it crumpled and burned.
Teyla and Sheppard clutched harder at each other's hands. Sheppard looked away from the fire first, and Teyla took his face in her hands and kissed him. Ford and McKay, who'd teased them for weeks, said nothing.
When Atlantis finally crumbled into the sea, Teyla looked at Sheppard's face, and McKay looked at Weir's hand, and Ford shut his eyes tightly and made a wish that could never come true.
++++
meyerlemon requested Sheyla with alpha!Sheppard, sarcastic!Teyla, and McKay setting something on fire. Um. I hope she likes it anyhow.