Wanting
By Kay
Disclaimer: YOU KNOW WHAT, YOUR MOM OWNS IT. (... if your Mom is K.A. Applegate, I mean.)
Author's Note: Gen fic with David angsting. It's what he does best, I think.
Thanks for reading. :) :) :) Really, thank you.
David has no delusions about how far he'd go for any one of the people making up their rag-tag assortment of high school students stuck in Everworld. They have nothing but each other, after all; if anything, David believes, he should be truthful with exactly how much he's willing to sacrifice. Otherwise, when the time comes to stand up, he may falter and be found wanting.
And oh god, he is wanting.
That doesn't change the answers, though. It can't, really, even though David knows-- desperately, foolishly, achingly-- that what he wants has very little to do with what he can do. For Christopher's awkward grasp of friendship and stubborn laughter during the waking of the night, he would walk blindfolded into Hel's arms. For the fond curl of April's smile, he would fight hard enough in the smolder of battle that the bodies would carpet the grass before any of them reached April's unsteady fingers still clamped onto a blade. For Jalil, who thinks deeply before leaping, and therefore misses so many boats, he would undo the sky of Africa with the blood of the woman he loves.
For Senna, David would slay dragons and become a hero. To save her.
He can't really do any of it. Not yet. But he will make himself. He will become something larger, something stronger, so tantalizingly unmovable that the earth will bend to his wishes and clouds will part and seas will sigh in his wake, and he'll never have to worry about losing anything precious to him again. And it will be worth it because David will become worth it. Right now, that goal is far before his sight, but it's only a matter of time. Until then, David is wanting, and wants, and seeks to bring an end to both.
No, David knows his limits. But sweat and the rust cake of blood are nothing compared to what he can do with a sword, with a purpose, with the weight of four people huddled so very tenderly between his shoulders.
How far would David go? That's not the real question, David realizes. He wants to know when he would ever stop.
End
