DO PACEM
Author: moonhowl
Rating: PG for issues of mortality and strong subject matter
Catagory: Episode tag, angst, drama, character death
Warnings: Deals with the death of a major character, spoilers for the
episode Price of Nobility
Summary: Do Pacem: To grant peace. Taylor finds hers.
Feedback: Please review!!!!
Posting: Just let me know
*******
She knew.
Even before she saw the look on Leu's face, even before the flames roared with sudden fuel. She felt the horrible vibration of something about to give, in her knees, pressed hard against the warm metal of the hood. In her stomach, in the trembling that ran through the center of her to her heart and clenched it like a fist. She was holding the old woman's hand, a gesture intended to give comfort. Now she squeezed it tightly, searching for what she had given.
She knew.
She was going to die.
There was a flash, an overwhelming heat, and she felt the old woman's hand torn from hers. Something left a stinging trail accross her cheek. The air was sucked from her lungs, and a great, invisible hand punched her between her ribs and hips. A sudden burning numbness overtook her lower body. She didn't even know she'd been falling until she hit the ground, the back of her head connecting sharply with the pavement, her arms flung wide.
Blue sky above her, spinning away forever.
She turned her head. Someone's legs landed in her view with the sickening, limp thump of flesh and boot heels hitting asphalt. Someone was hurt. She tried to move, to help, but nothing worked. She couldn't even blink, her eyes locked on someone's legs, someone's feet, *her* boots.
Oh. Her boots. Her legs. Hers. Her head rolled back to center, and blue sky swung into her view again. Someone was yelling her name.
She was suddenly gripped with terror. This was wrong, *wrong*, she felt scattered, displaced, her conciousness flung over the whole scene - the heat was too intense, the sky too bright, the aimless wailing of the injured too sharp. But.... there was no pain. Maybe... maybe they could fix this. Someone, *fix this*!
"How am I doing?" she called, and her voice sounded horrible to her own ears. The air she'd used to form the words left a gaping vaacum in her chest, and her eyes slid accross the canvas of the New York skyline. Then Carlos was kneeling over her, his face gentle and calm.
"It's alright." he said, his voice even. "Everything's going to be alright."
But she saw it in his eyes, the truth laid open before her, unavoidable. She felt a moments anger, a brief flash of fear, a powerful wave of grief that twisted her face and curled her fingers where they rested somewhere above her head. She saw her father's face, and then, over that, her mother's eyes the day they pulled her husband from the ruins of the towers.
"My mother..." she gasped, and felt more of her life escape with the words. "Tell her... it didn't hurt..." God, she was slipping. She stared into Carlos' eyes, clinging to his gaze, and saw something incredible, a deeper truth than her impending death.
He hadn't lied to her - it *was* alright. Her heart surged with a sudden peace, relief so strong it carried her up into blue, blue sky, into waiting arms and her father's smile.
Everything was going to be alright.
She knew.
FIN
*******
She knew.
Even before she saw the look on Leu's face, even before the flames roared with sudden fuel. She felt the horrible vibration of something about to give, in her knees, pressed hard against the warm metal of the hood. In her stomach, in the trembling that ran through the center of her to her heart and clenched it like a fist. She was holding the old woman's hand, a gesture intended to give comfort. Now she squeezed it tightly, searching for what she had given.
She knew.
She was going to die.
There was a flash, an overwhelming heat, and she felt the old woman's hand torn from hers. Something left a stinging trail accross her cheek. The air was sucked from her lungs, and a great, invisible hand punched her between her ribs and hips. A sudden burning numbness overtook her lower body. She didn't even know she'd been falling until she hit the ground, the back of her head connecting sharply with the pavement, her arms flung wide.
Blue sky above her, spinning away forever.
She turned her head. Someone's legs landed in her view with the sickening, limp thump of flesh and boot heels hitting asphalt. Someone was hurt. She tried to move, to help, but nothing worked. She couldn't even blink, her eyes locked on someone's legs, someone's feet, *her* boots.
Oh. Her boots. Her legs. Hers. Her head rolled back to center, and blue sky swung into her view again. Someone was yelling her name.
She was suddenly gripped with terror. This was wrong, *wrong*, she felt scattered, displaced, her conciousness flung over the whole scene - the heat was too intense, the sky too bright, the aimless wailing of the injured too sharp. But.... there was no pain. Maybe... maybe they could fix this. Someone, *fix this*!
"How am I doing?" she called, and her voice sounded horrible to her own ears. The air she'd used to form the words left a gaping vaacum in her chest, and her eyes slid accross the canvas of the New York skyline. Then Carlos was kneeling over her, his face gentle and calm.
"It's alright." he said, his voice even. "Everything's going to be alright."
But she saw it in his eyes, the truth laid open before her, unavoidable. She felt a moments anger, a brief flash of fear, a powerful wave of grief that twisted her face and curled her fingers where they rested somewhere above her head. She saw her father's face, and then, over that, her mother's eyes the day they pulled her husband from the ruins of the towers.
"My mother..." she gasped, and felt more of her life escape with the words. "Tell her... it didn't hurt..." God, she was slipping. She stared into Carlos' eyes, clinging to his gaze, and saw something incredible, a deeper truth than her impending death.
He hadn't lied to her - it *was* alright. Her heart surged with a sudden peace, relief so strong it carried her up into blue, blue sky, into waiting arms and her father's smile.
Everything was going to be alright.
She knew.
FIN