Dead Guys: Cradle to the grave...
May. 4th, 2006 01:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
transemacabreMarvelfic, PG
The baby cooed in his crib, the crib with the star symbol on it. Genis hovered over the crib, eyes burning but unable to cry. All his tears were spent. "I have to save the galaxy," he whispered, "and damn myself once and for all, in doing so." He placed his hand over his son's face, and the doing so took every ounce of strength he possessed.
Genis, what are you doing? Nate Grey stared at him from the doorway, backlit by the hall-light. Genis twisted, his son's lifeless body limp in his arms. The baby's mobile swung softly to and fro.
"No, not here," Genis said, pressing Ely to his chest. "Not here. Don't stand there, watching me. Spying on all my life. Some things are MINE."
This is over, Nate said, stepping forward. This... happened in the past. Or the future. Whichever. It's not still happenin'. You're reliving these moments, over and over... His gaze lingered on Ely's tiny body.
"Shut up," Genis said, and the baby's room melted around them, Ely melted away. "Shut up, shut up! I dreamed you up, you're just a figment of my imagination. You're not real, THIS is real!" He stood in his Captain Marvel uniform, shining, a perfect hero. His father stood by his side, strong and proud, Mar-Vell the great warrior. The father he had never really known, in a world where there were still wrongs to be righted, amends to be made, sins to be atoned for.
"I can start again," Genis muttered. "I can fix it all. It doesn't have to end like that. You're nothing, I'll make you nothing. I made you, I can unmake you."
Come back, Nate said, imploring. If you go too far, I won't be able to follow.
Genis burned green, his face disappearing beneath a helmet. His body twisted and reformed, first as an Imperial Kree warrior, then as a woman (Phyla-Vell, the name came to Nate unbidden), then as the young Titan boy he was supposed to be. The world warped around them with every transformation, each time harder for Nate to follow. A cosmic game of hide-and-seek, playing out across reality. They appeared on the deck of a vast starship, Genis stood before him fully-grown once more, with long dreadlocks to the floor. Not Genis, Fredd.
"I want you to DIE," Fredd was screaming. "I'll wipe you from every plane of existence, every memory, every ghost of you. When I'm done, there'll be nothing left..."
You're lost, Nate cried out. You've lost your way, and I have, too. But we can find our way back. Together. He wrenched forward, and everything he touched melted under his fingertips, Fredd's tenuous grip on reality dissolving around them. Fredd warped again, and Genis returned, fading like an old photograph. Running scared.
"Follow you back? Back to what?! This thing we're trapped in, it's endless, we'll never break free. I'll die over and over again, kill everything I've ever loved, betray everyone who ever trusted me. My son, my own son! You, you're nothing but a genetically-engineered bomb, the biggest threat to any world you try to protect. It's better if neither of us was ever born."
Never born? Genis, we WERE born. I am still right here. You haven't uncreated me because you don't WANT to. Nate's psi-voice grew weaker and weaker. The strain was more than his body could take.
"No, no, I've never wanted anything so much." Genis' voice cracked space and time, black became white and right, wrong. He laughed when he wished to cry, and smiled when he wished to sob. A gun formed in his hand, he raised it to his temple and pulled the trigger.
*click*
Empty.
The gun clattered to the concrete floor of the warehouse, and Genis lay on the ground, curled around himself. Nate huddled, trembling, in a corner. He had never been so afraid, not even when he pulled himself apart atom by atom. He opened his mouth, and smoke came from between his teeth. "You followed me back," he said, and his voice was a rasp.
"Maybe," Genis said, and he sounded as bad as Nate felt, "maybe there's something worth coming back for."
The baby cooed in his crib, the crib with the star symbol on it. Genis hovered over the crib, eyes burning but unable to cry. All his tears were spent. "I have to save the galaxy," he whispered, "and damn myself once and for all, in doing so." He placed his hand over his son's face, and the doing so took every ounce of strength he possessed.
Genis, what are you doing? Nate Grey stared at him from the doorway, backlit by the hall-light. Genis twisted, his son's lifeless body limp in his arms. The baby's mobile swung softly to and fro.
"No, not here," Genis said, pressing Ely to his chest. "Not here. Don't stand there, watching me. Spying on all my life. Some things are MINE."
This is over, Nate said, stepping forward. This... happened in the past. Or the future. Whichever. It's not still happenin'. You're reliving these moments, over and over... His gaze lingered on Ely's tiny body.
"Shut up," Genis said, and the baby's room melted around them, Ely melted away. "Shut up, shut up! I dreamed you up, you're just a figment of my imagination. You're not real, THIS is real!" He stood in his Captain Marvel uniform, shining, a perfect hero. His father stood by his side, strong and proud, Mar-Vell the great warrior. The father he had never really known, in a world where there were still wrongs to be righted, amends to be made, sins to be atoned for.
"I can start again," Genis muttered. "I can fix it all. It doesn't have to end like that. You're nothing, I'll make you nothing. I made you, I can unmake you."
Come back, Nate said, imploring. If you go too far, I won't be able to follow.
Genis burned green, his face disappearing beneath a helmet. His body twisted and reformed, first as an Imperial Kree warrior, then as a woman (Phyla-Vell, the name came to Nate unbidden), then as the young Titan boy he was supposed to be. The world warped around them with every transformation, each time harder for Nate to follow. A cosmic game of hide-and-seek, playing out across reality. They appeared on the deck of a vast starship, Genis stood before him fully-grown once more, with long dreadlocks to the floor. Not Genis, Fredd.
"I want you to DIE," Fredd was screaming. "I'll wipe you from every plane of existence, every memory, every ghost of you. When I'm done, there'll be nothing left..."
You're lost, Nate cried out. You've lost your way, and I have, too. But we can find our way back. Together. He wrenched forward, and everything he touched melted under his fingertips, Fredd's tenuous grip on reality dissolving around them. Fredd warped again, and Genis returned, fading like an old photograph. Running scared.
"Follow you back? Back to what?! This thing we're trapped in, it's endless, we'll never break free. I'll die over and over again, kill everything I've ever loved, betray everyone who ever trusted me. My son, my own son! You, you're nothing but a genetically-engineered bomb, the biggest threat to any world you try to protect. It's better if neither of us was ever born."
Never born? Genis, we WERE born. I am still right here. You haven't uncreated me because you don't WANT to. Nate's psi-voice grew weaker and weaker. The strain was more than his body could take.
"No, no, I've never wanted anything so much." Genis' voice cracked space and time, black became white and right, wrong. He laughed when he wished to cry, and smiled when he wished to sob. A gun formed in his hand, he raised it to his temple and pulled the trigger.
*click*
Empty.
The gun clattered to the concrete floor of the warehouse, and Genis lay on the ground, curled around himself. Nate huddled, trembling, in a corner. He had never been so afraid, not even when he pulled himself apart atom by atom. He opened his mouth, and smoke came from between his teeth. "You followed me back," he said, and his voice was a rasp.
"Maybe," Genis said, and he sounded as bad as Nate felt, "maybe there's something worth coming back for."
