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booshslashhavenTitle: Enigma Variations, Coda, 3/?: Critical
Summary: Saboo knows that Vince doesn’t have much time left
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Length: about 920 words. I am dealing this story in bite-sized chunks
Spoilers: Naboo thinks he knows how to help
Disclaimer: these characters aren’t mine, more’s the pity, and I make no profit from writing about them
Notes: I’m not entirely sure the shamen’s magical reasoning makes sense. But it is magical, after all...
Enigma Variations, Coda, 3/?: Critical
‘How’s he doin’?’
I turn my head, startled. Deep in my own dark thoughts, watching Vince’s bone-pale, wizened face for any sign of the change I knew wouldn’t come, I hadn’t heard footsteps. But Naboo is standing beside me, with an empty teacup and an anxious expression.
No point lying. Not to him. ‘Badly,’ I say. ‘How’s Howard?’
‘Asleep. Poor old sod’s completely knackered. But it’s nothin’ a cup of tea, a good kip an’ a dose from the Fountain can’t fix. Not like this...’ He bites his lip, staring at the motionless stick-figure in the bed. ‘Anythin’ I can do to help?’
‘I'm sorry. I don't think there is.’ I shake my head, fighting back the tears there’ll be plenty of time for later. ‘I’ve done all I can, but I’m afraid Vince is... he's very weak, and the cancer... it’s in his bones.’
‘I’ll get the vial, then. Water of youth, that’s what he needs.’ Naboo takes a step towards the kitchen.
I put a hand on his arm, to stop him. ‘It’s too late for that. It won’t work.’
‘It always works,’ he says stubbornly.
‘Not for this. It can’t wind the clock back.’
‘But that’s exactly what it does do.’
I sigh. ‘Not exactly, no. The Water of Youth makes your body physically younger, but it can’t rewind your lifeline.’
‘You mean, it can’t undo all the stuff that’s happened to you,’ Naboo says slowly. The grief in his dark eyes breaks my heart.
‘No, it can’t.’ Perhaps if I go on telling him the truth, I’ll come to accept it myself. ‘It can’t make Vince not have had this disease. He’s very old, and very sick. He doesn't have much time left. All that’ll happen if he drinks the water – assuming he survives the shock – is that he’ll be younger, and still very sick. He still won’t have much time left.’
‘But I promised Howard –’
‘You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.’ My tone is sharper than I meant it to be; Naboo flinches.
I try to soften my voice; soften the blow. ‘Listen, I’ve texted Dennis, asked him to convene an emergency Board meeting and get back to me, just in case there’s a temporal work-round I’m not aware of...’
Naboo is staring down into the teacup.
‘You won’t find the answer there,’ I tell him.
‘P’raps I will.’ He tilts the cup towards me, to show me the wobbly tealeaf words.
YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE.
‘An’ I’m prepared to let you do it.’
Cold horror grips my heart. ‘No. No, little one, you can’t ask me to do that to you, do you have any idea – the pain it causes –’
‘I don’t care.’
‘Well, I do.’
‘You did it before.’
Only the Head Shaman has the power to rip time from someone’s lifeline and add it to someone else’s: to wind the clock back. And yes, I have done it before, only the once. Once was enough. I took a day from Methuselah and gave it to Dennis when he had that terrible skiing accident. The one that would have left him a twisted, helpless cabbage...
I shudder. I don’t want to think about that.
Naboo’s eyes are boring into me. I tear my gaze away. ‘That was a single day. We’re talking twenty years at least, here. And I can’t do it.’
‘Won’t,’ he mutters.
‘Can’t, you plum. I swore I’d never hurt you again, remember?’
Vince lies unmoving and unknowing, pale and silent and old, as Naboo fights on. ‘This is different, it’s not breaking your promise, I want you to do it, I want to give him a chance, please...’ He’s crying in earnest now. ‘The tealeaves have never been wrong, and I can afford the odd twenty years.’
‘When it comes to the crunch, you can’t afford the odd twenty minutes. In your present state, it’d kill you. No way am I being responsible for that.’
‘We have to do it, he’s come all this way for us to help him...’
Naboo’s still fighting. But in his eyes I can see that he knows it’s hopeless.
‘Little one.’
He shakes his head; I can feel his pain even though I’ve withdrawn my mind from the link between us, shutting myself off from him as much as I can bear to.
‘Little one... There are some things you can’t fix, not even with magic. And this is one of them.’ I put a hand on Vince’s forehead, feeling the spark of life just barely there. ‘Let him go in peace,’ I whisper. ‘Don’t make him struggle any longer. At least he’s among friends.’
‘He doesn’t know it.’ Naboo sniffs, and wipes his nose on the sleeve of his robe. ‘He thinks he’s still lost in time and space...’
‘We can wake him,’ I say. ‘It’ll be the last time, but at least he’ll have a chance to say goodbye to you.’
‘An’ Howard. At least wait ’til Howard wakes up.’ Naboo chokes back a sob.
I nod. ‘Alright. We can wait a little while longer. And maybe the Board will...’
‘Fuck the Board.’ He turns savagely away from my outstretched hand; turns his back on the bed, as though he can’t bear to look any more. ‘I’m not holdin’ out any hope there. Just... Fuck.’
The empty teacup falls to the floor and shatters. Naboo stumbles out of the garden door, his shoulders shaking.
Oh, little one. I wish I could make this easier on him, but I can’t...
I put my hand back on Vince’s cold, bare forehead.
There’s not much time.
I know what must be done.
Summary: Saboo knows that Vince doesn’t have much time left
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Length: about 920 words. I am dealing this story in bite-sized chunks
Spoilers: Naboo thinks he knows how to help
Disclaimer: these characters aren’t mine, more’s the pity, and I make no profit from writing about them
Notes: I’m not entirely sure the shamen’s magical reasoning makes sense. But it is magical, after all...
Enigma Variations, Coda, 3/?: Critical
‘How’s he doin’?’
I turn my head, startled. Deep in my own dark thoughts, watching Vince’s bone-pale, wizened face for any sign of the change I knew wouldn’t come, I hadn’t heard footsteps. But Naboo is standing beside me, with an empty teacup and an anxious expression.
No point lying. Not to him. ‘Badly,’ I say. ‘How’s Howard?’
‘Asleep. Poor old sod’s completely knackered. But it’s nothin’ a cup of tea, a good kip an’ a dose from the Fountain can’t fix. Not like this...’ He bites his lip, staring at the motionless stick-figure in the bed. ‘Anythin’ I can do to help?’
‘I'm sorry. I don't think there is.’ I shake my head, fighting back the tears there’ll be plenty of time for later. ‘I’ve done all I can, but I’m afraid Vince is... he's very weak, and the cancer... it’s in his bones.’
‘I’ll get the vial, then. Water of youth, that’s what he needs.’ Naboo takes a step towards the kitchen.
I put a hand on his arm, to stop him. ‘It’s too late for that. It won’t work.’
‘It always works,’ he says stubbornly.
‘Not for this. It can’t wind the clock back.’
‘But that’s exactly what it does do.’
I sigh. ‘Not exactly, no. The Water of Youth makes your body physically younger, but it can’t rewind your lifeline.’
‘You mean, it can’t undo all the stuff that’s happened to you,’ Naboo says slowly. The grief in his dark eyes breaks my heart.
‘No, it can’t.’ Perhaps if I go on telling him the truth, I’ll come to accept it myself. ‘It can’t make Vince not have had this disease. He’s very old, and very sick. He doesn't have much time left. All that’ll happen if he drinks the water – assuming he survives the shock – is that he’ll be younger, and still very sick. He still won’t have much time left.’
‘But I promised Howard –’
‘You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.’ My tone is sharper than I meant it to be; Naboo flinches.
I try to soften my voice; soften the blow. ‘Listen, I’ve texted Dennis, asked him to convene an emergency Board meeting and get back to me, just in case there’s a temporal work-round I’m not aware of...’
Naboo is staring down into the teacup.
‘You won’t find the answer there,’ I tell him.
‘P’raps I will.’ He tilts the cup towards me, to show me the wobbly tealeaf words.
YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE.
‘An’ I’m prepared to let you do it.’
Cold horror grips my heart. ‘No. No, little one, you can’t ask me to do that to you, do you have any idea – the pain it causes –’
‘I don’t care.’
‘Well, I do.’
‘You did it before.’
Only the Head Shaman has the power to rip time from someone’s lifeline and add it to someone else’s: to wind the clock back. And yes, I have done it before, only the once. Once was enough. I took a day from Methuselah and gave it to Dennis when he had that terrible skiing accident. The one that would have left him a twisted, helpless cabbage...
I shudder. I don’t want to think about that.
Naboo’s eyes are boring into me. I tear my gaze away. ‘That was a single day. We’re talking twenty years at least, here. And I can’t do it.’
‘Won’t,’ he mutters.
‘Can’t, you plum. I swore I’d never hurt you again, remember?’
Vince lies unmoving and unknowing, pale and silent and old, as Naboo fights on. ‘This is different, it’s not breaking your promise, I want you to do it, I want to give him a chance, please...’ He’s crying in earnest now. ‘The tealeaves have never been wrong, and I can afford the odd twenty years.’
‘When it comes to the crunch, you can’t afford the odd twenty minutes. In your present state, it’d kill you. No way am I being responsible for that.’
‘We have to do it, he’s come all this way for us to help him...’
Naboo’s still fighting. But in his eyes I can see that he knows it’s hopeless.
‘Little one.’
He shakes his head; I can feel his pain even though I’ve withdrawn my mind from the link between us, shutting myself off from him as much as I can bear to.
‘Little one... There are some things you can’t fix, not even with magic. And this is one of them.’ I put a hand on Vince’s forehead, feeling the spark of life just barely there. ‘Let him go in peace,’ I whisper. ‘Don’t make him struggle any longer. At least he’s among friends.’
‘He doesn’t know it.’ Naboo sniffs, and wipes his nose on the sleeve of his robe. ‘He thinks he’s still lost in time and space...’
‘We can wake him,’ I say. ‘It’ll be the last time, but at least he’ll have a chance to say goodbye to you.’
‘An’ Howard. At least wait ’til Howard wakes up.’ Naboo chokes back a sob.
I nod. ‘Alright. We can wait a little while longer. And maybe the Board will...’
‘Fuck the Board.’ He turns savagely away from my outstretched hand; turns his back on the bed, as though he can’t bear to look any more. ‘I’m not holdin’ out any hope there. Just... Fuck.’
The empty teacup falls to the floor and shatters. Naboo stumbles out of the garden door, his shoulders shaking.
Oh, little one. I wish I could make this easier on him, but I can’t...
I put my hand back on Vince’s cold, bare forehead.
There’s not much time.
I know what must be done.
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Date: 2013-10-08 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-22 03:20 pm (UTC)let's take it as read that I am ready to curl up in a corner and cry my eyes out. I was actually thinking something similar about the fountain of youth for a story I will hopefully write. Howard has a mustache as a baby and Vince has a femullet, so I think your logic is right. They get younger, but they don't go back to what they were like the first time around. It makes me happy you had the same thought because you are really smart and creative! It must be a good idea!