Anna, thank you for the challenge: write a songfic without the lyrics
ZS throws down her gauntlet
I wrote this fic while listening to the song... they don't act it out, exactly, but I guess the themes are the same.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
HUGE spoiler for The Widening Gyre. If you have not seen, pass this by.
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Glad some of you made it
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Name (song by Goo Goo Dolls), a.k.a. Haven*
Mini-missing scene from The Widening Gyre. Response to a challenge on the SlipstreamBBS. I don't own anything.
by ZS
*a place of safety
I strode down the hall to the med deck, passing my bots and the much-needed repairs by. Harper was awake. His heart rate and his respiratory rate were elevated and the Magog larvae... they remained dormant. I thought of the first time Harper had graced my med deck and I wished that the cure was as simple as a topical ointment and irradiation.
I entered hesitantly. Ever since Trance had broken the news, Harper hadn't wanted to see anybody.
"Harper?"
"Go away."
He was curled on his side with his back to me. I listened to him take a shuddering breath. I touched his shoulder and his skin crawled.
"Rommie, do you ever get scared that... one day you'll die and nobody will have known the real you? That nobody will know why you find certain things funny, or sad; or why you wear certain clothes; or why you say certain things or love certain people?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Harper. You, more than even the engineers who built me, know who I am. You've been inside my head. You made me."
He ran his fingertips along the scar on his stomach. But then he jerked his hand away like he'd been burned. He turned towards me and sat up. There were broken capillaries under his eyes.
"I'm going to die," he whispered hoarsely.
"No, you're not." I put everything I had into my voice and into my eyes. I wanted him to see this massive High Guard warship that had survived more than three hundred years in a black hole, that had battled Magog and Nietzchean forces and come out on top. I used that stare that had turned many a drunken High Guard officer cowering into the brig. "I will invent a cure if I have to, Harper, I will pull one out of thin air. I promise you that we'll find a way to extract the larvae. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but-"
"-soon?" he said harshly. "Or, maybe I'll die and maybe people will cry at my funeral and maybe Beka, or Dylan, or Rev, or Tyr, or Trance will say something about me. Or maybe not."
I noticed he hadn't mention me and I didn't know why. "But... I'd like to know you."
He fumbled with the blanket. "It's too late."
"Of course it isn't."
I covered his hand with mine and squeezed gently. I curled my fingers around his wrist so I was holding his hand.
"You can tell me," I said softly. "You'll be safe. Because as long as I live, I won't forget you."
"How long is that?" he asked, eyes shining.
"The same as anybody. A lifetime."
I held his hand for a long time.
Then, in a tiny voice, he said, "My name is Seamus Zelazny Harper..."
The End
~~~~
link to the lyrics :
http://www.musicfanclubs.org/googoodolls/lyrics/ABoyNamedGoo.htm#name
------------------
ZS throws down her gauntlet
I wrote this fic while listening to the song... they don't act it out, exactly, but I guess the themes are the same.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
HUGE spoiler for The Widening Gyre. If you have not seen, pass this by.
t
h
i
s
i
s
y
o
u
r
l
a
s
t
w
a
r
n
i
n
g
*********
Glad some of you made it
~~~~
Name (song by Goo Goo Dolls), a.k.a. Haven*
Mini-missing scene from The Widening Gyre. Response to a challenge on the SlipstreamBBS. I don't own anything.
by ZS
*a place of safety
I strode down the hall to the med deck, passing my bots and the much-needed repairs by. Harper was awake. His heart rate and his respiratory rate were elevated and the Magog larvae... they remained dormant. I thought of the first time Harper had graced my med deck and I wished that the cure was as simple as a topical ointment and irradiation.
I entered hesitantly. Ever since Trance had broken the news, Harper hadn't wanted to see anybody.
"Harper?"
"Go away."
He was curled on his side with his back to me. I listened to him take a shuddering breath. I touched his shoulder and his skin crawled.
"Rommie, do you ever get scared that... one day you'll die and nobody will have known the real you? That nobody will know why you find certain things funny, or sad; or why you wear certain clothes; or why you say certain things or love certain people?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Harper. You, more than even the engineers who built me, know who I am. You've been inside my head. You made me."
He ran his fingertips along the scar on his stomach. But then he jerked his hand away like he'd been burned. He turned towards me and sat up. There were broken capillaries under his eyes.
"I'm going to die," he whispered hoarsely.
"No, you're not." I put everything I had into my voice and into my eyes. I wanted him to see this massive High Guard warship that had survived more than three hundred years in a black hole, that had battled Magog and Nietzchean forces and come out on top. I used that stare that had turned many a drunken High Guard officer cowering into the brig. "I will invent a cure if I have to, Harper, I will pull one out of thin air. I promise you that we'll find a way to extract the larvae. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but-"
"-soon?" he said harshly. "Or, maybe I'll die and maybe people will cry at my funeral and maybe Beka, or Dylan, or Rev, or Tyr, or Trance will say something about me. Or maybe not."
I noticed he hadn't mention me and I didn't know why. "But... I'd like to know you."
He fumbled with the blanket. "It's too late."
"Of course it isn't."
I covered his hand with mine and squeezed gently. I curled my fingers around his wrist so I was holding his hand.
"You can tell me," I said softly. "You'll be safe. Because as long as I live, I won't forget you."
"How long is that?" he asked, eyes shining.
"The same as anybody. A lifetime."
I held his hand for a long time.
Then, in a tiny voice, he said, "My name is Seamus Zelazny Harper..."
The End
~~~~
link to the lyrics :
http://www.musicfanclubs.org/googoodolls/lyrics/ABoyNamedGoo.htm#name
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