14 Valentines 8: See My City Dead (Gen-could-be-read-as-slash, R)
Title: See My City Dead
Rating: R
Word Count: ~800
Warnings: Character Death.
Summary: Atlantis had died twofold.
Notes: 4 beta readers: broet-chan, houseinrlyeh, jayel_fox and liresius. So if there are any mistakes in here, one of them screwed up. ;)
This is basically gen, but the slashy undertones are pretty heavy. I guess you can read it either way.
14 Valentines Essay: Day 8: Domestic Violence
ETA: jx_walker has written a semi fix-it in the comments.
~~~
Cover by smuffster
See My City Dead
Atlantis was dying.
Dead. Atlantis was dead. No reason to put lipstick on the pig, was there? Atlantis was dead and one broken stasis pod wasn't going to change anything.
Put lipstick on the pig. Earth sayings were always strange like that, and Teyla had used to laugh about the ones that, to their ears, had been particularly stupid. Teyla was dead, too. He didn't know if she was floating somewhere in an airless room or if she'd been killed in one of the initial explosions. He only knew that she was dead. Everyone was.
Everyone but him, and he was just waiting.
The stasis pod at his back was still bleeping, lamps flickering orange. Ronon had no idea what that meant. He'd just shoved them in there and pressed buttons until the lid snapped shut and the light came on inside. Then he'd sat down, rested his blood-covered hands - arms really, the blood went all the way up to his biceps - on his raised knees and waited. He was good at that.
When Ronon had been a kid, his mother's taskmaster had often told him off for his impatience. So had Sheppard, come to think of it, and true, Ronon wasn't good at sitting around doing nothing. Never had been. But waiting for something he knew would happen? For the Wraith to come, for his prey to step into his trap, for death to find him? That he could do.
He could just open the door if he grew impatient, but he'd cheated death often enough for it to become a habit. And he didn't know what the sudden drop in pressure would do to the already banged-up pod, so he'd wait for the virus to notice that there was one room left with air. Or maybe it would switch off the ZPM. Did stasis pods have an independent energy source? Ronon went with what he knew, and what he knew was that if you put someone into stasis, they lived longer, even if their bodies were broken. He didn't know if a pod would stay on when the lights went out. He wished McKay were around to ask.
The Wraith had created a nasty critter this time. That's what Beckett would have called it. 'Nasty critter'. To be honest, Ronon hadn't been very surprised that the Wraith had infected Atlantis with another computer virus. They'd done it before with success, why not try it again? He'd just been surprised that McKay hadn't been able to shut it down. But he hadn't gotten much time to try, had he?
Atlantis had died twofold. Its death had started with fire and explosions, screams and smoke. The control room had been first (Carter, Lorne, Alvarez, dead in an instant), nothing left but corpses and rubble. Then the control chair (Sheppard, McKay, Simpson, hurt so bad dying would have been better), the second control room (Zelenka, Vogel, Miller, dead), the jumper bay (no one Ronon knew by name, but they had screamed his). The city's second death was silent, breathless, Atlantis rising from its ocean rest to fly into space. Rooms venting atmosphere when the shield had failed, little by little (Teyla, Keller, everybody else, dead).
And now Ronon was the only living thing in this city of the Ancestors, the place he'd come to call his home. The only thing aware and conscious.
He let his head fall back against the stasis pod and closed his eyes. He didn't even know why he'd taken them. Had just crashed into the infirmary after Teyla had gone silent and ripped the machines from McKay's body, had thrown him onto Sheppard's bed and wheeled them both to the only open pod he knew. Dr. Weir had told him once that she'd been in there, only older. He'd stuffed McKay and Sheppard inside, pressed the buttons, and watched their pale faces when the light had come on.
They'd both still been breathing by then, he was certain. McKay's nose mashed against Sheppard's cheek. Sheppard's arm tangled in McKay's scrubs. Maybe one day a ship from Earth would come and find them. Take them home. Maybe they'd die when the power went out. In either case, they'd leave together. Sheppard would like that. McKay, too, though he'd never admit it. And Ronon would sit vigil as long as Atlantis let him.
He wasn't sure how long that would be. But he'd wait, in his dead city, and keep safe the ones who merely slept. The ones who, if there were any gods at all, dreamed of life.
Until the lights went out.
~~~
End.
Rating: R
Word Count: ~800
Warnings: Character Death.
Summary: Atlantis had died twofold.
Notes: 4 beta readers: broet-chan, houseinrlyeh, jayel_fox and liresius. So if there are any mistakes in here, one of them screwed up. ;)
This is basically gen, but the slashy undertones are pretty heavy. I guess you can read it either way.
14 Valentines Essay: Day 8: Domestic Violence
ETA: jx_walker has written a semi fix-it in the comments.
~~~
Cover by smuffster
See My City Dead
Atlantis was dying.
Dead. Atlantis was dead. No reason to put lipstick on the pig, was there? Atlantis was dead and one broken stasis pod wasn't going to change anything.
Put lipstick on the pig. Earth sayings were always strange like that, and Teyla had used to laugh about the ones that, to their ears, had been particularly stupid. Teyla was dead, too. He didn't know if she was floating somewhere in an airless room or if she'd been killed in one of the initial explosions. He only knew that she was dead. Everyone was.
Everyone but him, and he was just waiting.
The stasis pod at his back was still bleeping, lamps flickering orange. Ronon had no idea what that meant. He'd just shoved them in there and pressed buttons until the lid snapped shut and the light came on inside. Then he'd sat down, rested his blood-covered hands - arms really, the blood went all the way up to his biceps - on his raised knees and waited. He was good at that.
When Ronon had been a kid, his mother's taskmaster had often told him off for his impatience. So had Sheppard, come to think of it, and true, Ronon wasn't good at sitting around doing nothing. Never had been. But waiting for something he knew would happen? For the Wraith to come, for his prey to step into his trap, for death to find him? That he could do.
He could just open the door if he grew impatient, but he'd cheated death often enough for it to become a habit. And he didn't know what the sudden drop in pressure would do to the already banged-up pod, so he'd wait for the virus to notice that there was one room left with air. Or maybe it would switch off the ZPM. Did stasis pods have an independent energy source? Ronon went with what he knew, and what he knew was that if you put someone into stasis, they lived longer, even if their bodies were broken. He didn't know if a pod would stay on when the lights went out. He wished McKay were around to ask.
The Wraith had created a nasty critter this time. That's what Beckett would have called it. 'Nasty critter'. To be honest, Ronon hadn't been very surprised that the Wraith had infected Atlantis with another computer virus. They'd done it before with success, why not try it again? He'd just been surprised that McKay hadn't been able to shut it down. But he hadn't gotten much time to try, had he?
Atlantis had died twofold. Its death had started with fire and explosions, screams and smoke. The control room had been first (Carter, Lorne, Alvarez, dead in an instant), nothing left but corpses and rubble. Then the control chair (Sheppard, McKay, Simpson, hurt so bad dying would have been better), the second control room (Zelenka, Vogel, Miller, dead), the jumper bay (no one Ronon knew by name, but they had screamed his). The city's second death was silent, breathless, Atlantis rising from its ocean rest to fly into space. Rooms venting atmosphere when the shield had failed, little by little (Teyla, Keller, everybody else, dead).
And now Ronon was the only living thing in this city of the Ancestors, the place he'd come to call his home. The only thing aware and conscious.
He let his head fall back against the stasis pod and closed his eyes. He didn't even know why he'd taken them. Had just crashed into the infirmary after Teyla had gone silent and ripped the machines from McKay's body, had thrown him onto Sheppard's bed and wheeled them both to the only open pod he knew. Dr. Weir had told him once that she'd been in there, only older. He'd stuffed McKay and Sheppard inside, pressed the buttons, and watched their pale faces when the light had come on.
They'd both still been breathing by then, he was certain. McKay's nose mashed against Sheppard's cheek. Sheppard's arm tangled in McKay's scrubs. Maybe one day a ship from Earth would come and find them. Take them home. Maybe they'd die when the power went out. In either case, they'd leave together. Sheppard would like that. McKay, too, though he'd never admit it. And Ronon would sit vigil as long as Atlantis let him.
He wasn't sure how long that would be. But he'd wait, in his dead city, and keep safe the ones who merely slept. The ones who, if there were any gods at all, dreamed of life.
Until the lights went out.
~~~
End.