cedar_grove (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cedar_grove) wrote2010-12-07 02:12 am
cedar_grove) wrote2010-12-07 02:12 am
Short Fic: Do No Harm
Here's one... talk about being 'alone'
Do No Harm
It wasn't as if I was truly alone, but after what I'd done, or what I'd perceived I'd done, this self imposed exile felt good. It felt right.
It never occurred to me that I was putting myself in harm's way, or even that, at any time, I could easily have contracted the sickness from which I was trying so hard to deliver everyone.
Which I had helped to create…
Which I had assisted to perfect…
Alone: it was my mantra; the shield against dark dreams of Michael and of my own recreation; my complicity.
Alone: it was my liturgy for the loss of Perna and the hundreds of thousands of others lost to this sickness.
Alone…
…and now it was my terrifying legacy – the final, bitter irony delivered upon me as cold as revenge, and I wondered if Michael had known it would, at some point, come to this.
"What is this?" The pain of his attempt to feed faded quickly as the wraith commander crumpled to his knees. "What have you done to me?"
"It turns out you were closer to detecting the Hoffan drug than you thought." The commander toppled to the floor, fell sideways and lay gasping like a grounded fish. "It didn't take me long to perfect your blood test. Once I'd confirmed it using samples you provided, I decided to do one more test, just to be certain…"
The stricken wraith, clearly in the agony of dying, met my eyes in growing horrified realisation.
"…on me."
"You have the toxin," he rasped.
"Indeed," I said, my voice clipped, "And now, so do you."
I sighed, watching as the remnants of life swiftly escaped the confines of the commander's body, and I remained standing – culpably alone.
It wasn't as if I was truly alone, but after what I'd done, or what I'd perceived I'd done, this self imposed exile felt good. It felt right.
It never occurred to me that I was putting myself in harm's way, or even that, at any time, I could easily have contracted the sickness from which I was trying so hard to deliver everyone.
Which I had helped to create…
Which I had assisted to perfect…
Alone: it was my mantra; the shield against dark dreams of Michael and of my own recreation; my complicity.
Alone: it was my liturgy for the loss of Perna and the hundreds of thousands of others lost to this sickness.
Alone…
…and now it was my terrifying legacy – the final, bitter irony delivered upon me as cold as revenge, and I wondered if Michael had known it would, at some point, come to this.
"What is this?" The pain of his attempt to feed faded quickly as the wraith commander crumpled to his knees. "What have you done to me?"
"It turns out you were closer to detecting the Hoffan drug than you thought." The commander toppled to the floor, fell sideways and lay gasping like a grounded fish. "It didn't take me long to perfect your blood test. Once I'd confirmed it using samples you provided, I decided to do one more test, just to be certain…"
The stricken wraith, clearly in the agony of dying, met my eyes in growing horrified realisation.
"…on me."
"You have the toxin," he rasped.
"Indeed," I said, my voice clipped, "And now, so do you."
I sighed, watching as the remnants of life swiftly escaped the confines of the commander's body, and I remained standing – culpably alone.