Lucket AU „The Queen's Gambit"

Title: The Queen's Gambit

Fandom: Terra Nova

Pairing: Lucas Taylor/Skye Tate

Rating: T

Chapters: One Shot

Setting: Set after Season 1

Note: This took a litte longer to write thanks to real life obligations keeping me busy. I didn't go much into detail of the game. Despite having played (sort of) as a kid I actually never really learned chess strategies, so I kept it short and simple.

Inspired by and title taken from the Netflix show which I recommend watching if you haven't already. I really enjoyed it.

Also because there can never be enough stories with Skye and Lucas playing chess. Sadly we never got to see them play on the show. I think that would have been very exciting.

English is not my primary language, so I apologize for any mistakes in advance.

Thank you for reading and enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Terra Nova or the characters, only my poor imagination.

"I need something to occupy my mind while I'm stuck here. Otherwise I'll go insane ... actually more insane and who knows what my mind will come up with left on its own. You wouldn't want that, would you, Bucket?"

The words echoed through her mind as Skye made her way over roots and branches towards Lucas Taylor's current hiding place, leaving the safety of Terra Nova and its strong fences once more to follow an uncertain path deep into the thick foliage of the jungle surrounding the colony. With a bag full supplies slung over her shoulder and a chess set tugged under her arm.

She never planned to go looking for him while the rest of colonists tried to fix the damage he'd inflicted on the colony with his delusional quest for vengeance, determined to leave him to his well-deserved fate.

But then her guilty conscience rose its ugly head...

Despite the odds or maybe thanks to a cruel twist of fate she stumbled upon Lucas' hideout, finding his unconscious bloody and bruised body not far from the spot where she'd shot him, more dead than alive. She patched up his wounds as best as she could and that should have been the end of the story, yet here she was making her way back to his den once more.

Carefully, to avoid the unwanted attention of the predators lurking nearby she trudged through the dense jungle, moisture sticking to her skin and her neck. It hasn't been difficult to sneak OTG with the commander and his soldiers being busy taking care of more essential tasks than keeping an eye on the former Sixer spy. In a lot of ways it was easier to sneak away than before, thanks to the holes in the fences left by the occupation, though the lump of betrayal lurking in the pit of her stomach felt the same ...

Lucas' hideout, nothing more than a pit in the ground hidden undeneath a fallen tree trunk, nestled between thick roots and boulders and covered with fern leaves to provide shelter against the weather, was located so close to the colony that it seemed like a miracle no patrol had stumbled upon it, making Skye wonder whether a twisted part of Lucas secretly hoped to be caught.

"Hello Bucket," he greeted her with a narrow smile and watchful eyes the moment she entered the little canope through the thorny undergrowth that hid the entrance. He was lying on a makeshift cot made from branches and palm leaves in almost the same position she left him the last time she visited him, like he's been waiting for her all day without moving... or he just wanted her to believe he wasn't healed enough to move yet. "I didn't think you would be back. You keep surprising me."

She couldn't tell whether his words were meant as a compliment or an accusation, his voice flat, his face expressionless.

Exhausted from the hike she dropped her sachet on the ground and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her jacket. Her gaze wandered through the little camp to avoid Lucas' persisting examination, studying her like one of his physics problems. "Your bandages need changing. I have gauze and painkillers," she told him.

"How sweet."

Ignoring his sarcastic comment she rummaged through her bag until she found a set of clean bandages which she'd stolen from the infirmary with a guilty conscious. With the medical supplies starting to run low at the colony she wasn't able to bring some of the more fancier stuff. No ISO-scanner, no medical spray. Lucas would have to settle for the good old fashioned way.

He titled his head to the side, watching her with lazy eyes while she unwrapped the steril bandages. "Do you think a few nice words and gestures will make me forget everything that happened and make up for your betrayal? Do you think you can protect Terra Nova and the Commander this way? You're not that naive, but by all means, go ahead. Let's see where your unexpected display of benevolence will take you." He waved her off and gingerly began to unbutton his ragged shirt, slowly exposing his scarred and bandaged chest.

Skye hesitated before she stepped closer, reminding herself to be cautious as she knew better than to underestimate an injured animal. She didn't have her sonic pistol anymore which had been confisicated by Taylor after finding out she was the Sixers' spy, but a knife was tucked in her belt ... which Lucas could steal from her any moment if she wasn't careful enough.

"If this was about protecting Terra Nova I would have let you die on the jungle floor," she replied gruffly, though her voice lacked the level of harshness she intended.

"Which you didn't," Lucas remarked raising his eyesbrows. "Neither did you tell the old man about me, otherwise I would be in the brig by now. Why didn't you tell him? Scared of what he will say about you helping the enemy again?"

She ignored his jab like the last time he attempted to rile her up with his questions and focused on changing the bandages swiftly with as little skin contact as possible instead. Briefly her eyes took in the firm muscles of his stomach that trembled beneath her touch before her focus snapped back to the task at hand. Despite the warm temperatures her fingers felt cold against his skin.

She could feel his gaze linger on her face, studying every twitch in her features and filing them away. She shook her head. "You're in no shape to hurt anyone. Especially not your father."

"Not yet," he mused darkly, his eyes drifting off for a moment, calculating something only his mind could comprehend before settling back on her.

She paused as she met his gaze, dark and illuminous and full of dormant danger, like lightning waiting to strike, and she wondered once again what possessed her to help the man who has brought so much misery to the people she cared about. She should be in Terra Nova, safe with her mother and her friends, instead she was here and suspected the reason for it to be the same that had made her strike a deal with Mira. The same reason that made her jump from the top cliff of Snakehead Falls time and time again, seeking thrill and adventure in breaking the rules...

Skye cleared her throat. "You also said you need a distraction so you don't get stupid ideas."

Lucas looked at her amused, a spark of interest lighting up his ruggish features. "I never have stupid ideas, but what do you have in mind?" he asked. His lips curled into a sly grin, though his enthusiasm dimmed visibly when she presented the chess set, the pieces rattling in the wooden container.

She sat down cross legged on the floor across from Lucas, placing the chessboard on the ground in front of her and adding the figures on the dark and light squares.

The set was a gift from Taylor on her 16th birthday. The pieces made by hand by the Commander himself in a sturdy yet elegant design… but he was no longer interested in playing with her. Most days they didn't even talk to each other apart from the required courtesies when they ran into each other on the marketplace. She wasn't sure their relationship would ever be mended fully, leaving her in a similar emotional limbo like with his son.

Despite the complicated history with both Taylor men, in a strange way it felt right to share the gift of the father with his son, even with both of them being unaware of the connection.

Lucas craned his head in her direction from his makeshift bed with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity crossing his features, before he let out a deep sigh. Her mouth twitched but she forced herself to keep a straight face as she noticed him taking the bait and struggeling to sit up. With clenched teeth he joined her on the floor. The chessboard sat between them like an insurmountable, invisible protective barrier. His gaze followed her hands as she assembled the last pieces on the squares.

"My father always played as white," Lucas mused with a furrowed brow, noticing the colour of the pieces she's assigned him. For once there was no malice in his voice when mentioning Taylor. "Did he teach you?"

Skye nodded and dropped her hands in her lap, waiting for Lucas to open the game.

"Do you still play together?"

She hesitated to answer, her heart growing heavy. "No. Not for a while."

His eyes narrowed as she caught his gaze briefly. "You mean since he found out you betrayed him?" His voice was getting irritatingly softer with each question, sounding sympathetic, almost mimicking a lullaby trying to lull her in. Evoking the false impression that they were connected. Like they were friends or companions or something equally ludicrous. "I told you he will never fully forgive you."

That he did. At the bar, the evening he'd invited her to join him for a drink, though calling it an invitation was far too flattering. She barely had a choice when the Phoenix soldiers showed up at her doorstep to escort her.

Involuntarily her mind summoned the memories. The glint in Lucas' eyes as he sat across from her at the table. The disarming smiles. An unexpected moment of vulnerability and openness shattered by the impact of a serving tray.

Back then, she had hoped Lucas was wrong about the Commander, that he misjudged his father due to his obsessive hatred and that she could find a way to fix their broken relationship, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

Shooting his son didn't work in repairing the damage, she wondered if saving him would...

She shook off the memories while Lucas kept talking. "The old man holds his grudges like-"

"You?" Skye interjected and smirked. "Like father, like son."

The words slipped of her tongue before she could help it and she froze, knowing immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Noticing Lucas' shoulders tensing and his hands balling into fists with his knuckles turning white she expected him to lash out in a fit of rage. Fire burned in his eyes, his pupils darkening to emerald, but the eruption never came. Instead he ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath. He gave a hollow laugh.

"Are you trying to anger me so you can beat me? Back to your dirty tricks, I see."

"I don't need tricks to beat you. It's your turn." She indicated his pawns with a nod, feeling herself relax again despite the company she was in.

Lucas studied the board while Skye studied him with matching intensity, recalling Taylor's lessons during their games. In order to win, knowing your opponent was just as important as knowing yourself, and if she wanted to beat Lucas she needed to stay one move ahead of him at the very least.

He leaned forward on his bend elbows, his eyes absorbing every angle of the board. He took more time than necessary for the opening and Skye suspected that he intended to put her patience to the test, to see how far he could push her before she would cave, that this was more than a simple game of chess...

His eyes flitted restlessly across the chessboard, almost like he was mentally playing through every move in advance. Maybe he did. She could almost see his mind spinning behind his pale green eyes like gears in a clockwork. Maybe it was a genius' curse that his thoughts never stood still. Maybe it was the reason why he thrived on obsession...

"Are you trying to read my mind?" he asked as he must have noticed her staring, but he didn't look up.

She averted her eyes. "Certainly not," she mumbled.

"I never liked chess," he continued while finally settling on his first move. He ran a hand through his hair, failing to make it look any less disheveled. "But father insisted that I learned how to play and for that I hated him even more. Because it was his game. Because he used it to demonstrate his superiority. To point out all my weaknesses."

"Maybe he just wanted you to have something in common. Something to bond over and spend time together," Skye suggested. Lucas grimaced like it was the most ridiculous idea. She pressed her lips together and and made her return.

Once more it was Lucas' turn and again he took his time, weighing his options – or at least pretending he did while he kept the conversation going, maybe in hope to distract her.

"Did you ever beat him?"

"Occasionally."

Taylor's face flashed through her mind – the look he used to give her when she beat him, like a proud father...

Lucas gave her a long thoughtful look, almost resembling a similar appreciation. "I was never able to beat him." His fingers toyed with his rook for a few moments. "Eventually I stopped trying. Instead I focused on beating him in the real world where he wouldn't see it coming."

"Didn't work out the way you hoped, did it?"

Lucas smirked. "Thanks to you."

He made his move and Skye countered, taking his rook off the board which didn't seem to bother him too much. The game unfolded with both of them testing each other, trying to outsmart each other. The familiar sounds of the jungle, the low cries of the Howlers flying overhead and the noise of rushing water in the distance, seemed miles away, creating a bubble of peacefulness in the little hideout. Like she was sitting in a protective cocoon, making her forget for a moment where she was and in who's company.

It was almost enough to pretend that this was just an ordinary game of chess with an old friend on a lazy sunday afternoon...

At some point Lucas broke the silence again with another gush of questions, making her wonder if he tried to turn the chess game into an interogation. Maybe she should have taken points since she wasn't sure who was winning right now.

"So, you brought the set because you have no one else to play with at the colony?" It sounded less like a question and more like a statement. "That is sad, Skye."

She frowned when he used her real name instead of the old petname he seemed so taken with. It reminded her how much she got used to being addressed by him as Bucket without realizing it. It was never his place to call her that way in the first place, but him using her real name instead... it felt odd though she didn't know why. Like there was something wrong...

She rolled her shoulders which felt slightly stiff from sitting on the floor so long. Craning her neck she massaged the knots from the muscles until she noticed Lucas' staring at her mesmerized. Dodging his piercing eyes she let her hand drop and concentrated on deciding her next move.

Pawn or rook?

Rook or knight?

Attack or retreat?

Play at risk or play it safe?

"I already told you I brought the set because you said you need a distraction," she reminded him while she got a little disconcerted by his state of undress. His shirt was still hanging open and Skye wished he would button it up again. The sight of his bare chest started to irritate her in a way it shouldn't have.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "And because you need someone to play with! Someone with more than two brain cells. Did you try to play with young Shannon and break him?"

Skye laughed. The high-pitch sound just burst out of her chest without warning, seemed to startle Lucas for a moment, almost like he didn't hear a genuine laughter in years and wasn't used to it anymore. He blinked at her slowly, drawing his eyebrows together and waiting for an explanation.

"Josh is not made for chess."

Wistfully smiling she recalled the morning she had tried to explain the rules to her friend which resulted in him almost throwing the chess set out the window. Maddy, though smarter and faster in learning than her brother, has shown no desire in playing either just like the rest of her friends ... those who still talked to her.

"Well isn't that a surprise?" Lucas snorted, not even trying to hide his sarcasm or dislike of the sheriff's son.

"Just keep playing," she sighed, sobering up quickly.

They continued to play and soon it became a battle of wits with both of them stealing pawns and trading off pieces. Both being on par in playing each other off and countering each other's every move, maintaining a delicate balance. Piece by piece, the board emptied until there was only a handful of pieces left and they started to move in circles. Every time Skye got close to checkmate, Lucas would find a way to block her, but whenever there was an opportunity for him to win he withdrew...

Additional to this she started to notice that there was something quite ... unsettling and stirring about watching Lucas play. The way he touched the chess pieces, almost intimately, almost sensual in the way his long fingers caressed their shape with great delicacy, reminiscing a lover's touch...

She furrowed her eyebrows, a nagging feeling spread inside her. She started to get more and more frustrated by Lucas' seemingly non-existent strategy - none of his moves made sense if he wanted to beat her.

"What are you doing? You could have won five moves ago. Do you have any strategy at all?" she burst out and ran her fingers through her curls, messy from crawling through the undergrowth.

Lucas chuckled. "Of course I have a strategy. We are just pursuing different goals," he replied with a patronizing wink. "You're playing to win, I however play..." Lazily he dragged his eyes up to meet her gaze and held it while he touched one of his pawns and torturously slow pushed it across the board between the rows of her pieces. "... to penetrate your defenses." The words rolled of his tongue in such a lewd intonation that she felt every syllable crawl over her skin. Like a forbidden caress in a dark corner.

The air around her seemed much warmer all of a sudden. All of the oxygen seemed to have been sucked out of the little den. She could feel the heat coming off in waves of Lucas, could see the low tremor running through his body as he shifted closer, just an inch. Barely enough to close the distance between them or touch her, yet it was what she expected to happen. For him to reach out to tug the loose strands of her hair behind her ear like he'd done before.

A shiver ran down her spine, settling deep within her guts as her breathing became more shallow.

Her mind wandered to forbidden places, revoking the memories of her various encounters with the Commander's son, recalling the way he touched her in similar manner to the chesspieces and how her skin had tingled each time where his rough yet gentle fingertips had lingered a little too long to be called innocent.

Their eyes met across the board and Skye felt like sinking, like falling. The same rush she felt running through the jungle and jumping off waterfalls.

"To keep this game going and make you stay a little longer."

His voice was low and raw as he reached across the board. She could almost feel his touch on her pounding pulse as he took her queen, his thumb tracing the slender neck of the chesspiece made her imagine for a moment to have his fingers run along her neck in the same way, with the same gentleness... before closing around her throat...

Her head jerked back hard and she snapped out of whatever irrational feeling had possessed her. She shook her head in the attempt to get rid of the unwelcome indecent thoughts clouding her mind. She would have bet all of her Terras that he was messing with her on purpose in order to win.

He gave her a knowing smug smile and leaned back against the makeshift cot, looking far too comfortable and pleased with himself. "It's your turn, Bucket."

She felt her face flush with heat fuled by a mixture of embarrassment and stubbornness as she tried to return her focus on the chessboard. She hesitated, her fingers hovering above the chess pieces left on the squares, trying to visualize the options she got left, that was, if she had any at all...

She felt Lucas' persistent gaze linger on her. He took her queen, the most valuable piece in every chess set, but his determination made him overlook one tiny inconspicuous piece waiting in her corner...

She made her move.

The final move.

And this time there was no way for Lucas to get out of it.

"Checkmate," Skye announced, breathing in relief and allowing herself a little triumphant smile. "Didn't see that move coming, did you?"

Lucas' gaze dropped to the board, releasing her from its hold. His forehead wrinkled in grim lines while he analyzed the position of the pieces he got left, eventually settling on the same conclusion.

"You defeated me. Again," he noted while rubbing the fresh bandages covering the gunshot wounds on his chest absendly. "I should be used to it by now."

Skye rose to her feet and grabbed her bag, leaving the supplies she brought on the floor beside the cot. The food and water would last at least a couple of days. She took one last look at the genius' sitting on the ground with a puzzled, slightly somber expression, looking like he still couldn't believe that she beat him like that, before she left the camp to head back to the colony.

...

Days passed before Skye got the opportunity to return to Lucas' hiding place once more. The rainy season had started and the endless rainfalls had kept her inside the colony. She couldn't remember how many times she'd visited Lucas since finding him in the jungle, to change his bandages, replenish his supplies and keep an eye on him. Though she didn't have to do any of this and he didn't really deserve the help, she has taken care of him and at some point the reasons for doing so have blurred in her mind.

Even less she could remember how many chess games they have played since bringing the chess set with her for the first time. Some games she had won, others Lucas did. Contrary to his initial claims to hate the game, he turned out to be an excellent opponent. Had to be his genius mind or his ability to manipulate her just as easily she could manipulate him.

When she ventured back into the wilderness, the rain was still trickling through the canopy but the sky looked a little friendlier and promised better weather. The jungle was soaked with an intense musty smell and the lush green of the plants looked even more alive as she moved along the familiar path towards the hideout. The floor was slippery, mud stains coated her pants with every step.

Skye pushed through the opening in the bushes and looked for Lucas. Immediately her gaze fell on the empty bunk. There was no trace of its inhabitant. There was also neither a trace of the supplies she had left on her last visit nor of the chessboard. Both facts made her certain that Lucas hadn't just step out of the camp to stretch his legs. He wasn't coming back and she couldn't tell whether she just missed him or if he had been gone for days already.

To be honest she had expected him to leave a lot sooner and now wondered why he stayed as long as he did and risked getting caught.

She groaned, ready to leave when she hesitated. Something on the ground caught her eye. A single one of the chess pieces he left behind, standing lonely in the place where the chess board has been sitting. The black queen.

Skye picked up the figure, twisted it between her fingers, wondering what message Lucas was trying to send by leaving the piece behind. A warning or promise, she couldn't tell.

Whatever it was, she knew without a doubt that they would meet again and that their game would resume.

The end