when in doubt, quote Swinburne (tainted4life) wrote in terzarima, @ 2009-03-09 15:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | fandom: gungrave, post: drabble, rated: e |
[Gungrave] [Grave, Mika] [Rated E] Last Midnight
Title: Last Midnight
Fandom/Pairing: Gungrave; Grave, Mika
Rating: ESRB Rating of E for Everyone < depressing lack of mature content >
Summary: The night before Bear Walken challenges Grave to a duel, Mika does some midnight reading. Grave probably just wants her to shut up.
Notes: Okay, originally the poetry fragment was supposed to be, "Ah and alas, all my loves are dead but one / And he I prepare to slay," and it was supposed to be something Edna St. Vincent-Millay could have written, but then I found Jaroslav Seifert's poem, "Canal Gardens". All excerpts come from Seifert. (Drabble title, by the way, comes from a musical number by Sondheim.)
At first, there is nothing, only rippling, floating darkness like the play of sunlight on the surface of a pool. Then there is sound: the slow, soft murmuring of a child reading in cadence.
The count is dead, the countess is dead, the poet is dead. The musicians are dead.
For once, it's easy to open his eye, to let his gaze drift down to see what she is doing.
Mika's head is still pillowed against his chest, but this time, her eyes are open. She holds a slim little book in her hands. He catches sight of the letters SEIFERT, but they are meaningless to him.
"All my loves are dead," she says clearly, unaware of the way his false-beating heart goes still in his chest, "and I myself am getting ready to go."
Where did she find this slim volume of poetry? How and why did she come across it, and why is she choosing to read it now? His mind races to come up with answers, but he can find none. He does not think like a traumatized thirteen year old girl.
Perhaps she is simply trying to lull herself to sleep.
"How sad," she says, closing the book softly and setting it down as far away from herself as she can manage without shifting too much in her spot. "That's just too, too sad."
Sad. Yes. He remembers sadness. Grave closes his eye and allows himself to feel the profound sorrow that any living person would feel in his position. All the people he once loved are dead. Even Harry and Bear Walken, despite the fact that they physically live on.
What happened to the blue-eyed boy who ran in dusty golden streets? The boy Brandon Heat once laughed with? When did he begin to drown in blood?
Grave puts his hand on Mika's head and draws her closer, adjusting his jacket to cover them both evenly again. It's a gentle reminder that they need to sleep. If she's going to survive this, she'll need to be well-rested.
As for him, well. It's not like he doesn't enjoy watching nights blur into mornings. He'll let her rest, and move when he needs to.