[Fic + Art]: Amid the Falling Leaves
Title: Amid the Falling Leaves
Artist: essouffle
Author: cs_whitewolf
Beta: metacheese
Team: Angst!
Prompt: Fall
Word count: 771 words
Rating: PG/13
Warnings: character death
The touch was light and fleeting, a barely there brush against his cheek; rough like stubble and wet like the lingering of a kiss. Arthur found himself turning his face instinctively towards the contact, his lips stretching into a languid smile even before he allowed himself to be brought to full consciousness.
“Eames,” he breathed, carefully opening his eyes and blinking against the glare of weak sunlight streaming over him. He expected to find Eames lying beside him with his own early morning smile; his lips soft and pouty and all but begging for Arthur to rise up and press his own mouth against them, so that they could share long, tongue-filled kisses until their morning alarm sounded and dragged them apart.
Instead of Eames, however, he found himself alone. Alone and lying outside, the grass beneath him dew-dampened and smattered with autumn leaves in fiery reds and oranges and dying yellows. His brow furrowed in confusion as he scanned his eyes over his immediate surroundings, trying to remember how he’d ended up where he was.
His thoughts were sluggish, though, and slow to form and he found himself drifting along the edges of unconsciousness again and again. He’d return to wakefulness enough to notice the comforting heat of the sunlight as it stroked over his upper body, to hear the rustling of the leaves in the trees around him as the morning breeze blew through them, to smell the dampness of the soil and the leaves around him, before awareness would slip away once more and he’d find himself drifting again- not quite asleep but not quite awake either.
It took longer than it should have for him to feel the pinpricks of pain stabbing away at his body. At first it had felt like nothing more than a pleasant tingling, a low-level ache that was easy to ignore. Now, it grew sharper, speared deeper, piercing through the sanctuary of his unawareness and dragging him all-but screaming back to harsh reality.
He cried out, unable to bite back the sound as his body gave a sudden spasm, spikes of pain shooting through him from tip to toe, spikes of pain that kept shooting through his body with every twitch and jerk. He grit his teeth together, tears prickling unbidden at the corners of his eyes as he tried, unsuccessfully, to breathe his way through the pain.
With the pain came the clarity and he found himself desperately trying to remember where he was and how he’d gotten there. He remembered Eames… he remembered a job gone wrong… he remembered…
The trees swayed above him, a few palm-sized leaves floating almost lazily down to the ground around him. He closed his eyes, biting at his lip, his half-choked moan of pain turning to a whimper of despair as he felt the very same kiss-like touch that had first roused him brush against his forehead.
Eames, he thought in desperation, but when he forced his eyes back open he found that the touch belonged to nothing more than a burnt-orange leaf, its crisping edges causing the light scratch, the lingering dew the moistness of a kiss.
Panic set in then, overriding the pain brought on by even the thought of movement, and he forced himself to move, one arm to start with- his right- inching up to grope at the pocket of his pants, grasping desperately at the small totem he carried with him at all times. His fingers clutched the die with an almost ferocious strength as he pulled it from his pocket and forced his arm up to eye level where it fell, leaden and
shaking, to the ground beside his face.
He didn’t need to roll it to know the truth.
There was blood in his mouth.
He remembered now.
The job. The set-up. The gun fight on the stairwell that lead them to the roof. The heart-wrenching scream of his name as he dodged a bullet only to lose his footing as a result. The somersaulting of his stomach as he began to fall. He remembered with sudden, startling clarity, the way Eames’ eyes had widened in horror, his face paling even as he’d lunged towards him, arms outstretched and desperate to reach him.
He remembered the fall.
He remembered Eames falling with him, and he knew that if he were to turn his head the other way…
He closed his eyes and let himself sink back into blissful unawareness. The wind stirred the trees and the leaves danced about him. He smiled at their kisses and breathed slow and deep until the pain began to fade away.
fin.
Artist: essouffle
Author: cs_whitewolf
Beta: metacheese
Team: Angst!
Prompt: Fall
Word count: 771 words
Rating: PG/13
Warnings: character death
The touch was light and fleeting, a barely there brush against his cheek; rough like stubble and wet like the lingering of a kiss. Arthur found himself turning his face instinctively towards the contact, his lips stretching into a languid smile even before he allowed himself to be brought to full consciousness.
“Eames,” he breathed, carefully opening his eyes and blinking against the glare of weak sunlight streaming over him. He expected to find Eames lying beside him with his own early morning smile; his lips soft and pouty and all but begging for Arthur to rise up and press his own mouth against them, so that they could share long, tongue-filled kisses until their morning alarm sounded and dragged them apart.
Instead of Eames, however, he found himself alone. Alone and lying outside, the grass beneath him dew-dampened and smattered with autumn leaves in fiery reds and oranges and dying yellows. His brow furrowed in confusion as he scanned his eyes over his immediate surroundings, trying to remember how he’d ended up where he was.
His thoughts were sluggish, though, and slow to form and he found himself drifting along the edges of unconsciousness again and again. He’d return to wakefulness enough to notice the comforting heat of the sunlight as it stroked over his upper body, to hear the rustling of the leaves in the trees around him as the morning breeze blew through them, to smell the dampness of the soil and the leaves around him, before awareness would slip away once more and he’d find himself drifting again- not quite asleep but not quite awake either.
It took longer than it should have for him to feel the pinpricks of pain stabbing away at his body. At first it had felt like nothing more than a pleasant tingling, a low-level ache that was easy to ignore. Now, it grew sharper, speared deeper, piercing through the sanctuary of his unawareness and dragging him all-but screaming back to harsh reality.
He cried out, unable to bite back the sound as his body gave a sudden spasm, spikes of pain shooting through him from tip to toe, spikes of pain that kept shooting through his body with every twitch and jerk. He grit his teeth together, tears prickling unbidden at the corners of his eyes as he tried, unsuccessfully, to breathe his way through the pain.
With the pain came the clarity and he found himself desperately trying to remember where he was and how he’d gotten there. He remembered Eames… he remembered a job gone wrong… he remembered…
The trees swayed above him, a few palm-sized leaves floating almost lazily down to the ground around him. He closed his eyes, biting at his lip, his half-choked moan of pain turning to a whimper of despair as he felt the very same kiss-like touch that had first roused him brush against his forehead.
Eames, he thought in desperation, but when he forced his eyes back open he found that the touch belonged to nothing more than a burnt-orange leaf, its crisping edges causing the light scratch, the lingering dew the moistness of a kiss.
Panic set in then, overriding the pain brought on by even the thought of movement, and he forced himself to move, one arm to start with- his right- inching up to grope at the pocket of his pants, grasping desperately at the small totem he carried with him at all times. His fingers clutched the die with an almost ferocious strength as he pulled it from his pocket and forced his arm up to eye level where it fell, leaden and
shaking, to the ground beside his face.
He didn’t need to roll it to know the truth.
There was blood in his mouth.
He remembered now.
The job. The set-up. The gun fight on the stairwell that lead them to the roof. The heart-wrenching scream of his name as he dodged a bullet only to lose his footing as a result. The somersaulting of his stomach as he began to fall. He remembered with sudden, startling clarity, the way Eames’ eyes had widened in horror, his face paling even as he’d lunged towards him, arms outstretched and desperate to reach him.
He remembered the fall.
He remembered Eames falling with him, and he knew that if he were to turn his head the other way…
He closed his eyes and let himself sink back into blissful unawareness. The wind stirred the trees and the leaves danced about him. He smiled at their kisses and breathed slow and deep until the pain began to fade away.
fin.