One Day's Kingdom
Rating: G
Prompt: #041 - Human
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Pairing: John Smith/Joan Redfern
Summary: They live their lives in somebody else’s dream.
Word count: 712
Note: Still in hibernation, but learning today that the lack of internet is going to continue for a week longer than expected pissed me off so much that I’m going to post all the stuff I wrote anyway. TAKE THAT, INTERNET! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!
They come in the morning, mere months after the war. Joan sees them first, and chases the children into the house, not trusting their intentions.
John meets them at the gate. There are two of them, a dark haired girl and a young man in a kilt. The girl has tears in her eyes. The man looks disturbed. He doesn’t speak a word.
The girl pleads. The girl reasons. In the end, the girl cries.
John shakes his head and sends them away.
-
Joan’s figure is never quite the same after her first child is born. John doesn’t mind, doesn’t even notice. He loves her for being her. She loves him for not being someone else.
-
They come at noon, during the second war. John has to return to his infantry the next day, and their youngest is dying of pneumonia in the ruins of their house. Joan doesn’t want him to open the door, but they wait, and wait, and wait, until the sun begins to set, and John goes down to tell them to leave without him.
“You’re not a killer,” says the small blonde woman.
“Yes, I am,” says John. There is blood on his hands now - there is blood on everyone’s hands.
“You don’t have to be,” says the red haired man.
“Yes, I do,” says John.
“Out of everyone, you are the one who has a choice,” says the brunette boy.
“You’re confusing me with someone else,” says John. He wishes it was true - he doesn’t want to kill. “Please leave.”
They leave. John returns to his wife, and together they wait with their child until it dies in the early hours of the morning. Joan clings to him, so he doesn’t slip away as well.
-
One night after the second war, John wakes from a nightmare and looks at Joan with eyes that aren’t his. “They were wrong,” he says. “I have always been a killer.”
-
She comes to them in the evening, just a silhouette at first, in front of the setting sun. She wears strange clothes and looks like Martha, the servant girl that used to work at the school. But Martha died in the war, and this girl is so much younger.
She says to John, who stares at her, “You have to take me home. You promised.”
This time it is him who leaves, and she doesn’t follow. But it takes her much longer than the others to disappear.
-
There’s grey in Joan’s hair now. John likes it; he says it makes her a queen rather than a princess. She laughs at his words, in love, and doesn’t want to lose him.
-
“This is a dream, isn’t it?” she says one morning over breakfast.
-
They come at night. There is a knock on the door, long after John and Joan went to sleep, and for the first time they don’t sense who it is. Expecting to see their son, who has lost his wife and child days before, they open the door, and the man standing outside pulls John into a hug and tells him he missed him. It disturbs Joan - they have never touched him before.
“I don’t know who you are,” John says, something in his voice that could, but doesn’t have to be, regret.
“You cannot do this.” This woman has curly hair and fierce eyes. “If you do, we will never meet. We met. You know this history cannot be rewritten.”
“I know nothing.” John turns away. “I don’t want to know.”
The man lets him go; Joan breathes again when the door is closed.
John doesn’t return to their bed that night.
-
He shakes his head. “It’s a memory. But it isn’t mine.”
-
The dreams come more often after that. One day they lie on the meadow in the sun, and she looks at him and knows he’s still sleeping. A part of him is always fighting monsters, and one of those monsters is her. She wonders when she lost the fight.
She says, “I love you.”
He looks at her, the sun in his hair and the stars in his eyes, and takes her winkled hand in both of his.
-
They kiss. It tastes of Goodbye.
August 26, 2009
Prompt: #041 - Human
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Pairing: John Smith/Joan Redfern
Summary: They live their lives in somebody else’s dream.
Word count: 712
Note: Still in hibernation, but learning today that the lack of internet is going to continue for a week longer than expected pissed me off so much that I’m going to post all the stuff I wrote anyway. TAKE THAT, INTERNET! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!
They come in the morning, mere months after the war. Joan sees them first, and chases the children into the house, not trusting their intentions.
John meets them at the gate. There are two of them, a dark haired girl and a young man in a kilt. The girl has tears in her eyes. The man looks disturbed. He doesn’t speak a word.
The girl pleads. The girl reasons. In the end, the girl cries.
John shakes his head and sends them away.
-
Joan’s figure is never quite the same after her first child is born. John doesn’t mind, doesn’t even notice. He loves her for being her. She loves him for not being someone else.
-
They come at noon, during the second war. John has to return to his infantry the next day, and their youngest is dying of pneumonia in the ruins of their house. Joan doesn’t want him to open the door, but they wait, and wait, and wait, until the sun begins to set, and John goes down to tell them to leave without him.
“You’re not a killer,” says the small blonde woman.
“Yes, I am,” says John. There is blood on his hands now - there is blood on everyone’s hands.
“You don’t have to be,” says the red haired man.
“Yes, I do,” says John.
“Out of everyone, you are the one who has a choice,” says the brunette boy.
“You’re confusing me with someone else,” says John. He wishes it was true - he doesn’t want to kill. “Please leave.”
They leave. John returns to his wife, and together they wait with their child until it dies in the early hours of the morning. Joan clings to him, so he doesn’t slip away as well.
-
One night after the second war, John wakes from a nightmare and looks at Joan with eyes that aren’t his. “They were wrong,” he says. “I have always been a killer.”
-
She comes to them in the evening, just a silhouette at first, in front of the setting sun. She wears strange clothes and looks like Martha, the servant girl that used to work at the school. But Martha died in the war, and this girl is so much younger.
She says to John, who stares at her, “You have to take me home. You promised.”
This time it is him who leaves, and she doesn’t follow. But it takes her much longer than the others to disappear.
-
There’s grey in Joan’s hair now. John likes it; he says it makes her a queen rather than a princess. She laughs at his words, in love, and doesn’t want to lose him.
-
“This is a dream, isn’t it?” she says one morning over breakfast.
-
They come at night. There is a knock on the door, long after John and Joan went to sleep, and for the first time they don’t sense who it is. Expecting to see their son, who has lost his wife and child days before, they open the door, and the man standing outside pulls John into a hug and tells him he missed him. It disturbs Joan - they have never touched him before.
“I don’t know who you are,” John says, something in his voice that could, but doesn’t have to be, regret.
“You cannot do this.” This woman has curly hair and fierce eyes. “If you do, we will never meet. We met. You know this history cannot be rewritten.”
“I know nothing.” John turns away. “I don’t want to know.”
The man lets him go; Joan breathes again when the door is closed.
John doesn’t return to their bed that night.
-
He shakes his head. “It’s a memory. But it isn’t mine.”
-
The dreams come more often after that. One day they lie on the meadow in the sun, and she looks at him and knows he’s still sleeping. A part of him is always fighting monsters, and one of those monsters is her. She wonders when she lost the fight.
She says, “I love you.”
He looks at her, the sun in his hair and the stars in his eyes, and takes her winkled hand in both of his.
-
They kiss. It tastes of Goodbye.
August 26, 2009