Title: Listening
Author: alliterator
Summary: "With its Phantom chased for evermore,/By a crowd that seize it
not,/Through a circle that ever returneth in/To the self-same spot" E. A. Poe,
The Conqueror Worm.
Disclaimer: All the characters within this story belong the Joss Whedon, Mutant
Enemy, and Fox; if I owned them, there would be way more action figures.
Spoilers: Up to "Conversations With Dead People."
Feedback: Oh yes.
I can hear them talking. They're right above me, talking in hushed voices, over my dead body.
"What do we do know?"
"You need to drain him."
"What?"
"To work, almost all of his blood needs to be on the seal. I need you to make sure that happens."
"How do I need that?"
Click. The sound of metal resonates through the empty basement. "Use this. Turn him to the side so that his blood spills on the seal."
"O-okay..." I hear Andrew walk up to my body and then I hear a ripping sound, and suddenly I don't want to be here anymore, but I can't move. All I can do is listen.
"On the seal, Andrew!"
"I'm trying, Warren, really. It's going all over the place."
"Make sure the rest of it goes on the seal."
"A-alright. It's just, m-my hands are sticky with blood and I-I can't really hold the knife with my hands sticky like..."
"Just do it. After you do it, everything will be alright."
"Okay." More ripping sounds and suddenly there is a deep clank. The sound of metal hitting bone.
"I think... I think I hit his ribcage."
"Good. Now turn him over slowly. Gently, just like that."
"So, afterwards, what's going to happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, this seal... what does it do?" Silence answers. "Warren?"
"It can bring back the dead, Andrew. It can bring me back."
"I thought... I thought that..."
"What? That I was alive? No, I'm not totally alive, but the seal can bring all of me back. And then I'll be even more powerful."
"Like Gandalf? You know, when he comes back from the dead as Gandalf the White and..."
"Yes, like Gandalf."
"And then?"
Warren, or whoever or whatever looks like Warren, doesn't answer, because just then all my blood is now on the seal, lining the deep carvings in the surface, pooling in the cracks and crevices.
"Very good, Andrew."
"T-thanks. So... what now?"
"We wait."
"Oh."
I suddenly feel a very coldness around me. I had noticed that after I died, I didn't feel anything, but now I feel like I'm freezing. Problem is, since I can't move, I can't get warm.
"Is it... is it working?"
"Just wait."
I try to look up, but having no eyes I'm unsuccessful. I don't know why I can hear without any ears, but I can.
"What's... what's happening?"
"It's working."
I suddenly realize that I won't be able to see anybody. I don't know why this didn't bother me before, but it suddenly bothers me now. If I can't see anybody, how can I ask them to forgive me? It gets colder all of a sudden and I wish that I could see. I wish I could see anyone, even Andrew or Warren or the thing that wears Warren's face. I wish I could see the moon. I know the eyes of my dead body are open and I wonder if I go back inside if I can still see.
Inside my body, it's even colder. My eyes are open, looking up at something. I try to look with them, but they don't work. I push and push and finally, I'm able to see something. I see... light. Pure white light, shining and blinding. And then everything goes black. I retreat from my body and wonder about what I just saw.
"What happened?"
"It worked."
Their voices fade away. I can't hear them anymore and part of me is glad. Hearing them talk was pretty bad. But now, there is nothing. Just me. I'm alone.
