Title: Remembrance
Author: Xehra ( xehra1@hotmail.com )
Rating: PG for morbid reflection
Setting: At the end of 'Retribution'
Summary: Horatio angsts... that's about it
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to, the characters of Hornblower. I'm just borrowing from CS Forrester, and promise to return them mostly unharmed...
Feedback: Please! Always appreciated
Archive: FF.net
Warning: Please note the *SPOILER WARNING* attached to this fic. If you haven't seen 'Retribution', you'll get spoiled for who dies. Also - unbeta'd.
~Remembrance~
Silence. Not even the steady whisper of a sleeping man's breath. The very stones of the prison cell where Horatio sat seemed to be mourning, their silence a tribute to the great man that had just passed within their walls.
The Lieutenant himself sat in the same spot as he had when he had first entered. But the bed was now empty of its occupant - Archie was gone.
After he had breathed his last, Clive had come with some others to take him away. They had all studiously avoided looking at him, carrying out their task with efficiency and due care.
Horatio hadn't paid them much attention. His best friend was already gone, though he would have liked to sit and look upon those peaceful features a while longer. Remembering. Keeping watch over the physical body, though the spirit had fled, would have kept his mind from the dark paths it now wandered.
He found himself trapped in a black world, a place from whence no future stretched. Strangest of all, he felt not compunction to leave. Here, he was numb. Here, he could cling to those last shared moments, those last few breaths when he had looked into Archie's eyes and finally accepted the gift he so selflessly offered.
Understanding, and love, had passed between them then, and Horatio had been overwhelmed. And then he was gone. Dead.
This last he shied away from, afraid that its acknowledgment would bring harsh reality crashing down around him. And so he sat, silent, on the bed where they had exchanged their last words. Where his world had changed forever. Lost in a half-dream so that he did not have to face the pain of a life without Archie Kennedy.
Purposeful footfalls came eventually, breaking his reverie. Horatio drew a deep breath, eyes closed. It would be Pellew - the only one who would dare to come and speak to him at this time. And probably the only person he would talk to.
Deep in his heart, Mr Hornblower steeled himself to face reality again. Though he could not yet see how it would ever be bearable again.
END
Author: Xehra ( xehra1@hotmail.com )
Rating: PG for morbid reflection
Setting: At the end of 'Retribution'
Summary: Horatio angsts... that's about it
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to, the characters of Hornblower. I'm just borrowing from CS Forrester, and promise to return them mostly unharmed...
Feedback: Please! Always appreciated
Archive: FF.net
Warning: Please note the *SPOILER WARNING* attached to this fic. If you haven't seen 'Retribution', you'll get spoiled for who dies. Also - unbeta'd.
~Remembrance~
Silence. Not even the steady whisper of a sleeping man's breath. The very stones of the prison cell where Horatio sat seemed to be mourning, their silence a tribute to the great man that had just passed within their walls.
The Lieutenant himself sat in the same spot as he had when he had first entered. But the bed was now empty of its occupant - Archie was gone.
After he had breathed his last, Clive had come with some others to take him away. They had all studiously avoided looking at him, carrying out their task with efficiency and due care.
Horatio hadn't paid them much attention. His best friend was already gone, though he would have liked to sit and look upon those peaceful features a while longer. Remembering. Keeping watch over the physical body, though the spirit had fled, would have kept his mind from the dark paths it now wandered.
He found himself trapped in a black world, a place from whence no future stretched. Strangest of all, he felt not compunction to leave. Here, he was numb. Here, he could cling to those last shared moments, those last few breaths when he had looked into Archie's eyes and finally accepted the gift he so selflessly offered.
Understanding, and love, had passed between them then, and Horatio had been overwhelmed. And then he was gone. Dead.
This last he shied away from, afraid that its acknowledgment would bring harsh reality crashing down around him. And so he sat, silent, on the bed where they had exchanged their last words. Where his world had changed forever. Lost in a half-dream so that he did not have to face the pain of a life without Archie Kennedy.
Purposeful footfalls came eventually, breaking his reverie. Horatio drew a deep breath, eyes closed. It would be Pellew - the only one who would dare to come and speak to him at this time. And probably the only person he would talk to.
Deep in his heart, Mr Hornblower steeled himself to face reality again. Though he could not yet see how it would ever be bearable again.
END