[tms] july 20 - tom krause quote
NOTE: Takes place on Friday night. Zee is zee_ali and is used with permission as well as lots of love.
Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.
=====
The entire city of Las Vegas had turned out to bear witness to the death of hope.
That was what it felt like, anyway, and the only thing Ziyah could think about as she stood against the barricade and stared up at where Tommy stood. He was flanked by two figures that held shape in her eyeline, but couldn’t hold her attention. She was staring right at them and felt like someone had drilled a hole in her head, draining their faces from her memory in the same instant…
Ignoring the two soulless figures, unsure of how or why they served The Darkness, she gave Tommy her attention with a sick feeling low in her stomach. He was already pale, a fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead, which was bare with his recently shorn hair swept back from his face, wet with perspiration and held in place by a bandanna. A faded t-shirt and loose pair of track pants were his only costume, a set of lock picks hanging from his neck while a timer was clipped to his front pocket.
The picks and timer had been given to him by the figure posing as a police officer, the same one displaying a pair of handcuffs for the crowd and the second shapeless figure pretending to be a spectator. The voice that came from the police-thing sounded normal enough, but didn’t matter enough to her to be comprehensible. The sound of it made Tommy wince, which made her wince for him in sympathy.
It was a waking nightmare to listen to him speak into the mic clipped to his shirt, the voices coming over a loudspeaker rushing past her like water while her own heart hammered in her chest and the memory of another implosion filled her with dread. She’d been there too late to help last time, and now she was here before the fact and could do nothing…
* * * * * * * * * *
“If I thought I could talk you out of this, I would…just for the record.”
Tommy tensed as she hugged him tight, the press of power at his back stifling even with Zee in his arms. The two figures were supposed to be security, but they both knew better. They were his guards…and the moment he walked away, he was going to be a prisoner. This was his Green Mile to walk, his final journey before the end.
“I know.” he breathed, pressing his lips to her temple as he slid his hand into his pocket and removed a slim object, pressing it into her hand. “We have one shot at this, Zee, and you have to be sure. You have to be able to let me go.”
When she drew back, his neck felt damp…she was weeping. Staring into her face, he took it between his hands and held her gaze.
“You have eternity.” He whispered. “I have every lifetime you will ever know. We’ll see each other again…I’ll make sure of that.”
She swallowed hard before nodding and leaning up for one last kiss.
“Promise you’ll break something or someonefor me.”
With a small smile, he pulled her close for a moment and nodded. “I’ll even leave you a slice. Swear it on the shackles that bind me.”
As he released her and stepped away, a frission of tension went through them both as he walked backwards with a faceless Bringer on each side of him, rapidly sapping his energy.
“I want to be Mrs. Karras, damn you! Don’t you forget that!!!”
Grinning, Tommy raised a single fist into the air, his left hand that still bore the black crown tattoo on his ring finger.
“When this is all over, I promise…you will be!”
* * * * * * * * * *
Those were the words that died in his memory as Tommy watched both Faces of the Darkness descend from the balcony on a cherry picker. His wrists burned with cuffs forged by Fear, and as he stared out at the audience he was half-blinded by a sea of mixed faces and blurry outlines, unseen and unnoticed by the humans before him.
Not a single avatar was anywhere within his field of vision. They all hovered just beyond his senses, far enough to be safe and close enough to swoop in if he died. Damage control was the name of the game tonight.
It took him several long moments to pick her out, to find Ziyah in the mass of humanity at the front. She was a speck this high up, but she glowed in a sea of shadows only he could see. She was the one clear spot, the one shining star in the night.
The Darkness had supplied his tools…all but one.
“Whenever you’re ready, Tommy, the countdown will begin!!”
The clipped human voice of the mortal hosting the event, a man he couldn’t even name, shook Tommy from his haze of weakness, heat fatigue, and pain that already had him at a gross disadvantage. In spite of himself, in spite of the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he had to lean against the railing for support.
“Tommy…are you all right? Pardon us, folks, Tommy seems to be having a little trouble with--”
“No trouble.” He croaked, his voice ringing out over the loudspeakers. Focusing his gaze on Zee, he nodded. “I got it…I got it.”
“…if you’re sure, Tommy, on your cue.”
Taking a deep breath, he found less than enough air to satisfy him. Reaching up to catch the picks in his hand, he drew them to the cuffs, knowing he’d never get free. This whole thing was useless, pointless.
He had no way out.
“GO!!!!...GO!!!”
The energy closed in, choking him…instantly, Tommy dove for his secret weapon.
Dropping the picks, he opened his hand before the last of his power left him and called forth the switchblade in his pocket, levitating it into his grip. Sagging to his knees, he fumbled with the switch to pop it open and clumsily sliced into his own wrist.
“The circle is the shackle that binds us.” He whispered, shutting his eyes as his own blood ran down his arm, barely warm. “Serve the power, serve the mother. Serve the mother, serve the Fates. Serve the Fates, serve the gods. In our service, defy their will…”
* * * * * * * * * *
“...and in our defiance, serve the power.”
Ziyah breathed the words, staring at her own wrist with switchblade in hand and marveling at the fact that the cut wasn’t sealing. It had started, seconds after she sliced her own skin, but when she began to speak it stopped and the blood ran free, warm against her skin…too warm, too hot…
She could share the heat.
Staring upwards at Tommy, on his knees and gasping for breath, she grit her teeth and extended her bleeding wrist skyward as he’d taught her, heart hammering hard enough to beat red life through the broken flesh and into the night air.
“Till death and dark shall take us both, we so swear.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“On love.” He breathed, staring at the floor of the balcony and waiting. The words weren’t his to speak aloud anymore…
On faith.
He couldn’t hear her voice, but somehow he knew they were there.
“On justice.” He continued, his eyes falling shut. It was so dark, so hot…
* * * * * * * * * *
“On the blood that binds Hope and man, we swear.”
It was the last breath for them both.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 1,284
Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.
=====
The entire city of Las Vegas had turned out to bear witness to the death of hope.
That was what it felt like, anyway, and the only thing Ziyah could think about as she stood against the barricade and stared up at where Tommy stood. He was flanked by two figures that held shape in her eyeline, but couldn’t hold her attention. She was staring right at them and felt like someone had drilled a hole in her head, draining their faces from her memory in the same instant…
Ignoring the two soulless figures, unsure of how or why they served The Darkness, she gave Tommy her attention with a sick feeling low in her stomach. He was already pale, a fine sheen of sweat covering his forehead, which was bare with his recently shorn hair swept back from his face, wet with perspiration and held in place by a bandanna. A faded t-shirt and loose pair of track pants were his only costume, a set of lock picks hanging from his neck while a timer was clipped to his front pocket.
The picks and timer had been given to him by the figure posing as a police officer, the same one displaying a pair of handcuffs for the crowd and the second shapeless figure pretending to be a spectator. The voice that came from the police-thing sounded normal enough, but didn’t matter enough to her to be comprehensible. The sound of it made Tommy wince, which made her wince for him in sympathy.
It was a waking nightmare to listen to him speak into the mic clipped to his shirt, the voices coming over a loudspeaker rushing past her like water while her own heart hammered in her chest and the memory of another implosion filled her with dread. She’d been there too late to help last time, and now she was here before the fact and could do nothing…
* * * * * * * * * *
“If I thought I could talk you out of this, I would…just for the record.”
Tommy tensed as she hugged him tight, the press of power at his back stifling even with Zee in his arms. The two figures were supposed to be security, but they both knew better. They were his guards…and the moment he walked away, he was going to be a prisoner. This was his Green Mile to walk, his final journey before the end.
“I know.” he breathed, pressing his lips to her temple as he slid his hand into his pocket and removed a slim object, pressing it into her hand. “We have one shot at this, Zee, and you have to be sure. You have to be able to let me go.”
When she drew back, his neck felt damp…she was weeping. Staring into her face, he took it between his hands and held her gaze.
“You have eternity.” He whispered. “I have every lifetime you will ever know. We’ll see each other again…I’ll make sure of that.”
She swallowed hard before nodding and leaning up for one last kiss.
“Promise you’ll break something or someonefor me.”
With a small smile, he pulled her close for a moment and nodded. “I’ll even leave you a slice. Swear it on the shackles that bind me.”
As he released her and stepped away, a frission of tension went through them both as he walked backwards with a faceless Bringer on each side of him, rapidly sapping his energy.
“I want to be Mrs. Karras, damn you! Don’t you forget that!!!”
Grinning, Tommy raised a single fist into the air, his left hand that still bore the black crown tattoo on his ring finger.
“When this is all over, I promise…you will be!”
* * * * * * * * * *
Those were the words that died in his memory as Tommy watched both Faces of the Darkness descend from the balcony on a cherry picker. His wrists burned with cuffs forged by Fear, and as he stared out at the audience he was half-blinded by a sea of mixed faces and blurry outlines, unseen and unnoticed by the humans before him.
Not a single avatar was anywhere within his field of vision. They all hovered just beyond his senses, far enough to be safe and close enough to swoop in if he died. Damage control was the name of the game tonight.
It took him several long moments to pick her out, to find Ziyah in the mass of humanity at the front. She was a speck this high up, but she glowed in a sea of shadows only he could see. She was the one clear spot, the one shining star in the night.
The Darkness had supplied his tools…all but one.
“Whenever you’re ready, Tommy, the countdown will begin!!”
The clipped human voice of the mortal hosting the event, a man he couldn’t even name, shook Tommy from his haze of weakness, heat fatigue, and pain that already had him at a gross disadvantage. In spite of himself, in spite of the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he had to lean against the railing for support.
“Tommy…are you all right? Pardon us, folks, Tommy seems to be having a little trouble with--”
“No trouble.” He croaked, his voice ringing out over the loudspeakers. Focusing his gaze on Zee, he nodded. “I got it…I got it.”
“…if you’re sure, Tommy, on your cue.”
Taking a deep breath, he found less than enough air to satisfy him. Reaching up to catch the picks in his hand, he drew them to the cuffs, knowing he’d never get free. This whole thing was useless, pointless.
He had no way out.
“GO!!!!...GO!!!”
The energy closed in, choking him…instantly, Tommy dove for his secret weapon.
Dropping the picks, he opened his hand before the last of his power left him and called forth the switchblade in his pocket, levitating it into his grip. Sagging to his knees, he fumbled with the switch to pop it open and clumsily sliced into his own wrist.
“The circle is the shackle that binds us.” He whispered, shutting his eyes as his own blood ran down his arm, barely warm. “Serve the power, serve the mother. Serve the mother, serve the Fates. Serve the Fates, serve the gods. In our service, defy their will…”
* * * * * * * * * *
“...and in our defiance, serve the power.”
Ziyah breathed the words, staring at her own wrist with switchblade in hand and marveling at the fact that the cut wasn’t sealing. It had started, seconds after she sliced her own skin, but when she began to speak it stopped and the blood ran free, warm against her skin…too warm, too hot…
She could share the heat.
Staring upwards at Tommy, on his knees and gasping for breath, she grit her teeth and extended her bleeding wrist skyward as he’d taught her, heart hammering hard enough to beat red life through the broken flesh and into the night air.
“Till death and dark shall take us both, we so swear.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“On love.” He breathed, staring at the floor of the balcony and waiting. The words weren’t his to speak aloud anymore…
On faith.
He couldn’t hear her voice, but somehow he knew they were there.
“On justice.” He continued, his eyes falling shut. It was so dark, so hot…
* * * * * * * * * *
“On the blood that binds Hope and man, we swear.”
It was the last breath for them both.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 1,284