[fic] light's gone, day's end
Title: 'light's gone, day's end'
Characters: Robert Capa, Martha Jones.
Notes: It's always the same dream. Falling into the sun. Capa's been in Chicago a while, but he's still dreaming of it.
Word Count: 865.
Prompt: 'Sleep'.
His face is screwed up in pain. He whimpers in the dim light, breaks the pencil still wrapped in his hand with a dull snapping sound.
Robert Capa has the tendency to sleep in places one should not normally in. It’s almost a habit. His irregular sleep pattern is the biggest cause for this. Sometimes he won’t sleep for a few days and then just collapses wherever he happens to be. It’s not that he hates sleep; he just has a few issues with it. That and he also has a problem of getting so engrossed in his work that he forgets to eat, shower or sleep. Sometimes he gets so worked up around something, everything else is lost to him. It never seems to be good though, no matter how hard he tries, he can never work out the Rift. He goes round in circles, forever going nowhere.
His problems with sleep is mostly his dreams. He’s been in Chicago a long time now, but the dreams are still always the same. The same dream he had back in his own universe. It’s frustrating because of all the research he does, he’d have thought he’d be dreaming of the Rift.
But no, he still dreams of falling into the sun.
Capa wonders if his Rift ability comes into that. He produces fire, it courses through his veins. It lives inside his being, his DNA. It’s as if sun’s part of him. Those last moments in his own world, as the bomb burned around him, as he reached for the flames, certain and accepting of death - he fused with that energy.
He’ll always be dreaming of the sun.
The noise deafens him as he falls, so loud he can barely hear himself scream. And the heat scorches his skin until he’s numb. And he falls and falls and..
He shoots from the table up with gasp, a look of terror on his face. The next thing he knows there’s arms about him and it takes him a few moments to realise. A voice soothes him, the ringing in his ears slowly subsiding.
“Hey, it’s alright. Robert, you’re fine,”
Martha.
He blinks and takes a breath. Bowing his head, he slowly settles into his usual awkwardness; it’s embarrassing that she’s seen him like this. He probably looks a wreck; the dreams are never easy for him, no matter how much time passes. Martha looks at him with concern, brushing damp hair from his eyes.
“It’s alright, you were dreaming,”
He sighs, shoulders sinking. Martha moves aside and sits in the chair next to him; keeping a hand on his shoulder, she tilts her head to look at him.
“Sorry, I just-I’m good now,” he apologises lamely, looking across at her briefly.
“No need to apologise, honestly,” she smiles warmly. “Bad dream, yeah?”
“… Yeah,” he rubs at his eyes.
“You wanna tell me what happened?” Martha is ready with words of care; she will always care about her fellow Wanderers. But Robert’s also a friend to her. “You don’t have to, though,”
Capa pauses, lips pursed, “I…” he’s quiet for a while, “I was falling into the sun,”
Martha nods once, she can sympathise with that. She’s lived with that herself, a long, long time ago now. But she knows.
“I dream about it all the time, it’s the only one I ever have. Always the same,” he says, “I dreamt about it back home, I fell into the sun. I came here, I still dream about falling into it,”
“You’ll be alright, they’re just dreams. I can understand what you’ve been through is difficult for anyone, but I do kinda know where you’re coming from. I nearly fell into a sun once,” she tells him.
“You did?”
“Yep,” she smiles, knowing she’ll never quite forget The Doctor. “Luckily I had a very brave and amazing man who came to save me.”
“Very lucky,” Capa nods.
“The dreams won’t be there forever,” she says, “Give it some time,”
“I guess so,” he rubs at his eyes, he feels more tired than he was before he fell asleep.
“You gonna try and sleep again?”
“Maybe. I could try,” he’s uncertain. He knows he’s going to be going back to that same dream again as soon as he does. Even if the dreams are going to go, it’s not going to happen right this minute. “Just… something else to dream about would be nice, I guess.” he sighs finally with the smallest of smiles.
Martha quirks an eyebrow at that, nodding. With a small smile of her own, she leans in and kisses him. Capa freezes in shock, not entirely sure, but doesn’t pull away. Because it’s sort of… nice.
When she finally does pull away, he looks down sheepishly, turning a deep shade of crimson.
“What was that for?” he asks in a tiny voice.
“Oh, I dunno. Might give you something else to dream of,” she says with a small chuckle.
She gets up, leaves her hand on his shoulder for a moment. Then with a smile, she quietly leaves. Capa watches her go, blinking curiously before he smiles a little brighter this time.
“Thanks,”