Title: Accustomed To Her Circumstance
Author: gega cai
Pairings: Sarah Connor centric, John and Kyle mentioned
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Sarah is a fighter. With all that she has been through, it is only natural she will keep going and never stop.
Disclaimer: Characters and other likely inventive scenarios based on the world created by James Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and Josh Friedman
Author's Note: Inspired by TSCC episode The Good Wound. Heavy references from T1 and T2 events, including a deleted scene from T2.
Accustomed To Her Circumstance
by gega cai
"I'd die for John Connor," their voices say together. It has become a mantra. Kyle's voice is comfort and reason. When Sarah Connor hears their voices say it together in her mind, everything makes sense.
Before Sarah met Kyle, she did not know what it was like to live for anything or anyone. But, then he came and changed life as she knew it with his warning of the future. Kyle gave her something that she never had before: A purpose; her mission.
The mission, at first, was clear and easily met with absolution. Live, learn, train, and expect anything. As the years went on, some things changed and the mission got complicated.
Their son accepted their mantra. John Connor did as his mother thought he should. He quickly graduated from children's toys to weapons of destruction. Instead of Saturday morning cartoons, junk food, and plastic toy soldiers, their son entertained himself with understanding strategic battle plans, rationing food as a means to stay alive, and hacking computers systems at their expense.
Sarah was a fighter; she just couldn't let it happen. Sarah made the mission more complicated when she convinced herself to blow up that computer company. She tried to stop it and failed. Life was taken away from her again when they took away John. They wouldn't let her talk to him and remind him what was important.
Sarah never doubted what she knew, but she began to doubt herself. The days wasted in that asylum drove her to the edge of idle madness. They had lost sight of what it was they were preparing to meet. Kyle had made it very clear. The mission was simple. The future, like he had described years ago in few, yet, effective words was real. "It happens!" Sarah screamed at them.
No one listened. They all mocked her, even John.
But not Kyle. He was always with her. His voice and figure came to her when she needed him the most. Scooping her up into his arms, he assured her that there was more to be done. She had not failed and their son needed her.
Sarah escaped and old habits fell into place. Live, learn, and shoot. The mission evolved and became even more complicated, but Sarah was a fighter. John had the strength now. "Kyle, you would be...you will be proud of our son," she thought to herself.
There is still more to be done. Live, learn, fight, and shoot is what Sarah will do until her last breath. Never mind the complications. The mission is clear.
"I'd die for John Connor."