Primeval fic: Epiphany - (very belated) birthday fic for x_bellaitalia_x

Dec 30, 2013 14:54

Title: Epiphany
Author: knitekat
Word Count: ~930
Characters: Tom Ryan, Claudia Brown, Nick Cutter
Rating: 15
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N 1: For x_bellaitalia_x birthday and her prompt: Could I prompt Claudia/Ryan, 'ghosts'? Not sure if this is what you meant, but I hope you like your (late) birthday fic. Thanks go to Fred for the beta, cheers m'dear.
A/N 2: For my Primeval Bingo card prompt: Character Death.

Captain Thomas Ryan had no idea where he was... no, that was a lie. He had a fairly good idea, it was just that he didn't want to think about it. The last thing he remembered was pain, the look of regret in Cutter's eyes and the realisation that the skeleton they'd discovered on their first trip through an anomaly had been his all along.

He shook his head, knowing there was little point reminiscing about things he couldn't change, and set out to discover where he was. He appeared to be surrounded by... white fog, although now he stared at it, he could swear it was thinning and he could almost see the misty forms of... was that people? He stepped closer to see who they were when the ground faded beneath his feet and he was falling into darkness.

When he woke, Ryan was somewhere rather familiar. It looked like the bloody Forest of Dean and he was all alone. His men wouldn't have left him... oh fuck! He really was dead. Now what did he do? Haunt the project?

Ryan spun, crouched low as he heard something. Faint, almost impossible to hear. Was that a cry for help? He might be dead but he would be damned before he ignored someone crying out in pain and fear. He raced towards the sound, swerving to avoid the trees until he accidentally clipped one and fell through it. Right, ghost and he took off running, wincing as he leapt through the trees as he still expected to hit them hard. It was an odd feeling as he passed through them, almost as if he was falling once more until he emerged out the other side and carried on running.

The voice calling out became more and more distinct and Ryan slowed as he recognised it. She couldn't be dead? Could she? He stepped out into a clearing and saw her, looking so scared and lost and then she saw him. He opened his arms just in time to embrace her, holding her tightly as he murmured, “I've got you. Everything will be OK now.”

Claudia looked up and dashed the tears from her eyes, a wavering smile on her face. “What happened? Where is everyone else?”

Ryan shook his head. “I don't know. I...” He paused but she had the right to know. “I died, Claudia. I think we're ghosts.”

Claudia just stared at him before slowly nodding. “I remember being scared something would happen if Nick went through the anomaly. Waiting beside Sir James and... then I felt faint and I was falling. I was alone when I woke up... but I don't remember anything else” She looked around the clearing before turning back to Ryan with a determined look on her face. “Right, no need to stay here. Back to the Home Office and then we can decide what to do.”

Ryan saluted. “Yes, ma'am.”

***
Claudia turned around, her day had started oddly with yet another dream of Gorgonopsids and feeling as if she was fading away. She'd had the feeling something would go very wrong all day, it was why she had begged Nick to stay behind, it was why she had kissed him as feeling it would be her one and only chance had filled her and had snapped at Lester as the wrongness filled her.

She remembered feeling faint, of the world turning around her and falling and then... nothing. When she'd woken up she had found herself all alone and no matter how much of a bastard Sir James Lester was, he wouldn't have left her out here by herself. So where was everyone and what had happened?

Claudia had cried out in fear as the trees wavered and dimmed around her, and then Ryan was there and holding her as she tried not to fall to pieces. The news that he was dead, that he thought they were both ghosts was unexpected, especially as she didn't remember any attack or dying, but Ryan did. She nodded thoughtfully before deciding their best chance of finding out what was going on would be to find Nick and go from there.

The fact that once she'd made the decision and Ryan had agreed they both found themselves in a strange building was disconcerting to say the least. It also gave added evidence to Ryan's assertion that they were ghosts.

She spotted Nick talking to Connor, declaring that the world was wrong, that they had worked with a Claudia Brown and now... she had vanished. She reached out, the words, 'I'm here' on her lips and her hand passed through him.

Oh bloody hell, they really were ghosts.

***
Nick shook his head, trying to understand what had happened, what had changed the world he had returned to. His warning of changes went unheeded, only Connor willing to listen and considering he believed in aliens... Nick suddenly shivered, feeling as if someone had walked over his grave and somehow knowing it was Claudia Brown.

He paused, feeling so lost and empty, already missing Claudia's warm smile and quips about Lester, missing Ryan's firm and steady presence. He regretted so many things, leaving Ryan behind when he could have tried to bring the man's body home for a descent burial, not listening to Claudia when she had warned him not to go into the past.

He shook his head, time to mourn later, for now he had to learn all he could about this world and figure out if he could ever get home.

claudia brown, nick cutter, angst, tom ryan, bingo fic, deathfic, fic

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