[FIC] - 31_Days Theme Exchange 2009 - Ouroboros
Title: Ouroboros
Day/Theme: 1. What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Series: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Character/Pairing: Cameron, Alison
Rating: G
“Do I have a birthday?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you have a built-day.”
She has both.
---
Her systems come online, one by one. Cerebral operation. Sensory systems. Motor function. She lifts a hand, opens her eyes to examine it.
The light is bright, and her endoskeleton is still showing. The metal gleams.
---
“What is your name?”
She knows that this is how it ends. It’s only a matter of time, now. “My name? Why should I tell you?”
“If you don’t, we’ll give you one.”
She will never give them even that smallest part of herself. The light is bright, and her head is hurting. “Go ahead. I’m dying to hear it.”
---
Cameron doesn’t sleep, but she remembers when she dreamed.
Mostly she dreamed of her mother. Of how it felt to feel safe and protected.
Often the dreams turned bad. Sometimes her mother died.
---
They are driving to the store for groceries. They are alone. It is an appropriate moment.
“John?”
“What?
He is still angry at her. Riley has been problematic to their working relationship.
“I have decided on a birthday.”
He rolls his eyes. “You weren’t born, remember?”
She remembers. That is not the point.
“There is someone I knew. I have chosen her birthday.”
He glances sideways at her. “Who?”
“Someone important to who I am.”
John doesn’t say anything. Just drives.
---
Her birthday comes, and John remembers. He buys her a cake, with candles.
Sarah purses her lips and Derek glares, but Cameron doesn’t mind. She is content for reasons she doesn’t understand. Alison would have been pleased. She liked chocolate.
Cameron eats several pieces, because she can.
---
Her mother sings “Happy Birthday”, and her father kisses her cheek. Alison has never been this happy.
Then she wakes up.
“Hello, Alison. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Day/Theme: 1. What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Series: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Character/Pairing: Cameron, Alison
Rating: G
“Do I have a birthday?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you have a built-day.”
She has both.
---
Her systems come online, one by one. Cerebral operation. Sensory systems. Motor function. She lifts a hand, opens her eyes to examine it.
The light is bright, and her endoskeleton is still showing. The metal gleams.
---
“What is your name?”
She knows that this is how it ends. It’s only a matter of time, now. “My name? Why should I tell you?”
“If you don’t, we’ll give you one.”
She will never give them even that smallest part of herself. The light is bright, and her head is hurting. “Go ahead. I’m dying to hear it.”
---
Cameron doesn’t sleep, but she remembers when she dreamed.
Mostly she dreamed of her mother. Of how it felt to feel safe and protected.
Often the dreams turned bad. Sometimes her mother died.
---
They are driving to the store for groceries. They are alone. It is an appropriate moment.
“John?”
“What?
He is still angry at her. Riley has been problematic to their working relationship.
“I have decided on a birthday.”
He rolls his eyes. “You weren’t born, remember?”
She remembers. That is not the point.
“There is someone I knew. I have chosen her birthday.”
He glances sideways at her. “Who?”
“Someone important to who I am.”
John doesn’t say anything. Just drives.
---
Her birthday comes, and John remembers. He buys her a cake, with candles.
Sarah purses her lips and Derek glares, but Cameron doesn’t mind. She is content for reasons she doesn’t understand. Alison would have been pleased. She liked chocolate.
Cameron eats several pieces, because she can.
---
Her mother sings “Happy Birthday”, and her father kisses her cheek. Alison has never been this happy.
Then she wakes up.
“Hello, Alison. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”