Ficlet: G is for Ghost
Title: G is for Ghost
Character: Archie
Pairing: Archie/Horatio
Author's note: This ficlet is set in LKU. Written for the Archie Kennedy Alphabet Soup Challenge, which bred a hundred plot bunnies in my mind. Arrrrgh. *head explodes* And don't forget to read the letter T ficlet after this one!
G is for Ghost
Horatio knew that Archie was alive. Mr Bracegirdle had somehow persuaded Pellew to let him know that Archie was saved and was now living in London in his brother’s house. Bracegirdle himself had come to visit Archie a week ago to tell him that Horatio knew. And that Horatio was in town, too.
Yet Captain Horatio Hornblower, as he was now, had not come. The pain of his wound and the laudanum that the doctor fed him to ward it off did not help a man think clearly, but Archie could not help but wonder if Horatio had forgotten him, or had left him behind as a man would abandon his childhood sweetheart once she had become a burden, a distraction to be got rid of when one had outgrown the naïve infatuation of youth.
If Horatio would not come to him, Archie was determined that he would not seek him out either. Disgraced though he was, he still had his pride. He would never beg for Horatio’s return like some poor, penniless woman would her cold, estranged husband.
Spending most of his time in bed, Archie dreamt of Horatio often, especially of the time they had spent in the Spanish prison, when he had been weak and desolate, a ghost of himself, when Horatio had been so gentle with him and made him believe that life was worth living. Horatio had coaxed Archie into sipping that mouthful of water. He had shyly kissed him with his beautiful lips and touched his filthy, emaciated body with awkward, gentle fingers. He had washed him, fed him, he had held him close and let Archie take him. Horatio had whispered to him that he loved him and that he would not survive if Archie died. He had brought Archie to life.
And now Horatio was a newly promoted commander, he was going to be standing on the deck of his new ship. Hearing the wind in the rigging.
And here he was, alone, forgotten.
To Horatio, he was probably nothing more than a ghost banished to another world - an Eurydice, having died her second death. Only that, this time, his death would not be mourned.
Not even by his Orpheus.
He felt a stab of pain in his chest, and he closed his eyes against the morning sunlight, willing sleep to come again.
* * *
Character: Archie
Pairing: Archie/Horatio
Author's note: This ficlet is set in LKU. Written for the Archie Kennedy Alphabet Soup Challenge, which bred a hundred plot bunnies in my mind. Arrrrgh. *head explodes* And don't forget to read the letter T ficlet after this one!
G is for Ghost
Horatio knew that Archie was alive. Mr Bracegirdle had somehow persuaded Pellew to let him know that Archie was saved and was now living in London in his brother’s house. Bracegirdle himself had come to visit Archie a week ago to tell him that Horatio knew. And that Horatio was in town, too.
Yet Captain Horatio Hornblower, as he was now, had not come. The pain of his wound and the laudanum that the doctor fed him to ward it off did not help a man think clearly, but Archie could not help but wonder if Horatio had forgotten him, or had left him behind as a man would abandon his childhood sweetheart once she had become a burden, a distraction to be got rid of when one had outgrown the naïve infatuation of youth.
If Horatio would not come to him, Archie was determined that he would not seek him out either. Disgraced though he was, he still had his pride. He would never beg for Horatio’s return like some poor, penniless woman would her cold, estranged husband.
Spending most of his time in bed, Archie dreamt of Horatio often, especially of the time they had spent in the Spanish prison, when he had been weak and desolate, a ghost of himself, when Horatio had been so gentle with him and made him believe that life was worth living. Horatio had coaxed Archie into sipping that mouthful of water. He had shyly kissed him with his beautiful lips and touched his filthy, emaciated body with awkward, gentle fingers. He had washed him, fed him, he had held him close and let Archie take him. Horatio had whispered to him that he loved him and that he would not survive if Archie died. He had brought Archie to life.
And now Horatio was a newly promoted commander, he was going to be standing on the deck of his new ship. Hearing the wind in the rigging.
And here he was, alone, forgotten.
To Horatio, he was probably nothing more than a ghost banished to another world - an Eurydice, having died her second death. Only that, this time, his death would not be mourned.
Not even by his Orpheus.
He felt a stab of pain in his chest, and he closed his eyes against the morning sunlight, willing sleep to come again.
* * *