* * *
8/8 - Epilogue:
//An old curmudgeon named Andy Rooney once said "I don't believe in the
inevitability of death. I secretly believe there must be some other way out."
Now, I know he was being facetious, but I'm wondering if he wasn't closer to
truth than he knew. All I'm certain of, though, is that Port Columbia rocked my
assumptions about life and death harder than Simon Cole ever did.//
Darien walked out of the elevator and down the thin hallway. Once he'd had the
address from Claire, he hadn't needed the apartment number. A look at the
broken window on high gave the former thief all the visual cues he needed.
//"You're going alone?" Bobby had said, incredulous. "That guy...he's..."
Bobby tapered off
"You don't know, do you? What he is?"
"Thought I did, partner. Thought I did. But in this business you learn to be
afraid of the unknown, too."
"I'm going. Trust me, okay?"
Hobbes had looked at Darien, and replied, "Always."//
Fawkes knocked on the narrow door. A second later, it opened, and Fawkes
stepped into Eric's loft. The black-haired man was holding a black guitar by
the neck, and he leaned it on one of the low steps leading to the broken round
window.
"Cold in here," Fawkes said.
Eric fixed him with a long look and then walked to the fireplace. "I don't
generally notice."
"Yeah, why is that, exactly? After all this crap, and Kevin...//God,
Kevin//...I think I deserve some answers."
"I can only give you answers if you're willing to believe them."
Fawkes sat on the steps and looked across the room. "Like the man said, 'I want
to believe.'"
Eric struck a match and tossed it on the tinder inside. As the fire caught, he
turned and crouched. The flames backlit him, and even in the bright, spare
apartment, his face seemed shadowed. "You know the story, right? I got the
impression you'd been doing some research."
"Oh, yeah. But it says you either faked or survived that." Darien motioned at
the window behind him.
"Easy answer. I didn't."
"Didn't which?"
"Didn't both." Eric shook his hair out of his eyes, then tilted his head down
and looked up. "You know what you felt, what you saw. You know it was real.
There's more than one kind of restless soul. Sometimes, only sometimes, they
come back as Crows." The black bird sailed in on those words. "Do you mind?"
he asked it, as it walked between the two. "I'm trying to make a point here."
The bird hopped to a chair top and preened. "That's it. Believe it or not."
"Why you? And why...why was Kevin like that?"
"Death changes you," Eric said simply. "I was pretty pissed when I got back.
Killed a few people, killed the man who did this to me. Just kept setting me
back. I've been used, too, for some pretty evil stuff."
"I know what it's like to be evil. And to be used."
"I saw." Eric watched Darien. "Look, believe them or not, those are all the
answers I've got."
"Not all." Darien Fawkes took a deep breath and got down to it. "I want you to
show me Kevin. Like you did with Jessica's key, with what she felt."
"Fawkes, I see from what I've touched. When I touched you I got his death."
Eric's clear dark eyes held pain. "That's all I've got for you."
Resolve hardening his voice, Darien replied, "Then show me that."
Fawkes stood, walking forward, and Eric unfolded himself. Fawkes extended a
hand. Eric clasped it in his own. Head jerking up and sideways, Eric found the
moments of Kevin Fawkes imprinted on his brother. //You were always smarter
than me.// He held the pain back, and only let go the love and regret. Darien's
eyes widened...
And Eric stiffened again, going hot and cold by turns. Kevin was back, was
within again, so suddenly that he had no defense. But this, this was different.
No anger, merely sorrow, and guilt.
//I'm sorry.// The voice resonated between them. //Sorry I used you. Both of
you. Love you, little brother... be seeing you ...// No threat, just promise
and suffusing warmth, melting away the chill, then fading.
Darien let go, trembling, panting. He focused on what his brother had taught
him about finding calm, and it came, slowly. He looked at the dead man in front
of him, and tried to find the words.
It might have been a moment or an eternity before Darien could whisper "Thank
you."
* * *
It was the same cab that picked Fawkes and Hobbes up at the Motel 6, taking a
sober pair of Feds back to the airport. The cab stand where he stopped was
nearly deserted; the two had another redeye back. Hobbes took the bags out of
the trunk and headed towards the terminal. Fawkes hung back, sitting in the
passenger seat. He glanced at the brown-haired driver.
"Chris, I met Eric. I...know about him, okay?" Darien took a deep breath. "You
didn't come back while he was alive, did you?"
"I was in jail when he got killed," Chris said. The cabbie turned to face him.
"It's the damndest thing. Sometimes they die on you. And sometimes, they come
back."
Fawkes sat for another few seconds in the seat of the taxi. Airplanes shuddered
in the dark, and headlights striped the darkened terminal with transient
brightness.
"Fawkes! Time to go!"
"Right! Coming!" He swung his long legs out of the cab and followed his
partner home.
--
END /TMF
* * *
Author's footnote:
You thought I forgot, didn't you? Remember the Author's Note, "This 'fic takes
place approximately one month following the events in the Crow series finale (?
- more on this later)"
It's later.
I'll be honest. For two years, including most of the time I spent writing this,
I've believed that this one-season show died, really died, with no producer-
crows able to bring it back. Imagine my surprise (okay, shock,) when this May,
I went to the Scifi B-Board and a post by our favorite insider Davron, which
said that it looked like a new season would happen, possibly this year, and that
if it did, Marc Dacascos would again star.
From http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/1831/8028:
"* The Crow: Stairway to Heaven: Appears to be making a return in 2k1. Despite
the good rating when cancelled, Edward Pressman says they will take the show in
a much darker direction. Draven will still be the driving force. Mark Dacasco is
ready to return and has been contacted about the role. Due to return in the fall
of 2k1. Getting the rights from Universal is taking forever."
Thud
Granted, this is almost unheard of. How many shows go on hiatus for this long?
But if Davron says it could happen, it's at least possible. Keep a good thought
for our boy in black and white, y'all.
It can't rain all the time.
--
'Mad
8/8 - Epilogue:
//An old curmudgeon named Andy Rooney once said "I don't believe in the
inevitability of death. I secretly believe there must be some other way out."
Now, I know he was being facetious, but I'm wondering if he wasn't closer to
truth than he knew. All I'm certain of, though, is that Port Columbia rocked my
assumptions about life and death harder than Simon Cole ever did.//
Darien walked out of the elevator and down the thin hallway. Once he'd had the
address from Claire, he hadn't needed the apartment number. A look at the
broken window on high gave the former thief all the visual cues he needed.
//"You're going alone?" Bobby had said, incredulous. "That guy...he's..."
Bobby tapered off
"You don't know, do you? What he is?"
"Thought I did, partner. Thought I did. But in this business you learn to be
afraid of the unknown, too."
"I'm going. Trust me, okay?"
Hobbes had looked at Darien, and replied, "Always."//
Fawkes knocked on the narrow door. A second later, it opened, and Fawkes
stepped into Eric's loft. The black-haired man was holding a black guitar by
the neck, and he leaned it on one of the low steps leading to the broken round
window.
"Cold in here," Fawkes said.
Eric fixed him with a long look and then walked to the fireplace. "I don't
generally notice."
"Yeah, why is that, exactly? After all this crap, and Kevin...//God,
Kevin//...I think I deserve some answers."
"I can only give you answers if you're willing to believe them."
Fawkes sat on the steps and looked across the room. "Like the man said, 'I want
to believe.'"
Eric struck a match and tossed it on the tinder inside. As the fire caught, he
turned and crouched. The flames backlit him, and even in the bright, spare
apartment, his face seemed shadowed. "You know the story, right? I got the
impression you'd been doing some research."
"Oh, yeah. But it says you either faked or survived that." Darien motioned at
the window behind him.
"Easy answer. I didn't."
"Didn't which?"
"Didn't both." Eric shook his hair out of his eyes, then tilted his head down
and looked up. "You know what you felt, what you saw. You know it was real.
There's more than one kind of restless soul. Sometimes, only sometimes, they
come back as Crows." The black bird sailed in on those words. "Do you mind?"
he asked it, as it walked between the two. "I'm trying to make a point here."
The bird hopped to a chair top and preened. "That's it. Believe it or not."
"Why you? And why...why was Kevin like that?"
"Death changes you," Eric said simply. "I was pretty pissed when I got back.
Killed a few people, killed the man who did this to me. Just kept setting me
back. I've been used, too, for some pretty evil stuff."
"I know what it's like to be evil. And to be used."
"I saw." Eric watched Darien. "Look, believe them or not, those are all the
answers I've got."
"Not all." Darien Fawkes took a deep breath and got down to it. "I want you to
show me Kevin. Like you did with Jessica's key, with what she felt."
"Fawkes, I see from what I've touched. When I touched you I got his death."
Eric's clear dark eyes held pain. "That's all I've got for you."
Resolve hardening his voice, Darien replied, "Then show me that."
Fawkes stood, walking forward, and Eric unfolded himself. Fawkes extended a
hand. Eric clasped it in his own. Head jerking up and sideways, Eric found the
moments of Kevin Fawkes imprinted on his brother. //You were always smarter
than me.// He held the pain back, and only let go the love and regret. Darien's
eyes widened...
And Eric stiffened again, going hot and cold by turns. Kevin was back, was
within again, so suddenly that he had no defense. But this, this was different.
No anger, merely sorrow, and guilt.
//I'm sorry.// The voice resonated between them. //Sorry I used you. Both of
you. Love you, little brother... be seeing you ...// No threat, just promise
and suffusing warmth, melting away the chill, then fading.
Darien let go, trembling, panting. He focused on what his brother had taught
him about finding calm, and it came, slowly. He looked at the dead man in front
of him, and tried to find the words.
It might have been a moment or an eternity before Darien could whisper "Thank
you."
* * *
It was the same cab that picked Fawkes and Hobbes up at the Motel 6, taking a
sober pair of Feds back to the airport. The cab stand where he stopped was
nearly deserted; the two had another redeye back. Hobbes took the bags out of
the trunk and headed towards the terminal. Fawkes hung back, sitting in the
passenger seat. He glanced at the brown-haired driver.
"Chris, I met Eric. I...know about him, okay?" Darien took a deep breath. "You
didn't come back while he was alive, did you?"
"I was in jail when he got killed," Chris said. The cabbie turned to face him.
"It's the damndest thing. Sometimes they die on you. And sometimes, they come
back."
Fawkes sat for another few seconds in the seat of the taxi. Airplanes shuddered
in the dark, and headlights striped the darkened terminal with transient
brightness.
"Fawkes! Time to go!"
"Right! Coming!" He swung his long legs out of the cab and followed his
partner home.
--
END /TMF
* * *
Author's footnote:
You thought I forgot, didn't you? Remember the Author's Note, "This 'fic takes
place approximately one month following the events in the Crow series finale (?
It's later.
I'll be honest. For two years, including most of the time I spent writing this,
I've believed that this one-season show died, really died, with no producer-
crows able to bring it back. Imagine my surprise (okay, shock,) when this May,
I went to the Scifi B-Board and a post by our favorite insider Davron, which
said that it looked like a new season would happen, possibly this year, and that
if it did, Marc Dacascos would again star.
From http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/1831/8028:
"* The Crow: Stairway to Heaven: Appears to be making a return in 2k1. Despite
the good rating when cancelled, Edward Pressman says they will take the show in
a much darker direction. Draven will still be the driving force. Mark Dacasco is
ready to return and has been contacted about the role. Due to return in the fall
of 2k1. Getting the rights from Universal is taking forever."
Thud
Granted, this is almost unheard of. How many shows go on hiatus for this long?
But if Davron says it could happen, it's at least possible. Keep a good thought
for our boy in black and white, y'all.
It can't rain all the time.
--
'Mad