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tamingthemuseFandom: Watchmen
Title: Ashes
Characters: Nite Owl II/Daniel Dreiberg
Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tamingthemuse 144 sunrise, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
weekly_watchmen 0007 nostalgia
Word Count: 541
Rating: PG
Summary: Movie-based; Dan returns to New York City after the events at Karnak.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Obviously.
The flight back from Antarctica is long, and it seems even longer because of the silence filling Archie’s hold. Laurie had tried talking to him when they’d left Karnak, but Dan had only stared blankly ahead, his hands gripping the ship’s controls as if they were his only lifeline to the world. Eventually, after an hour or so of failed attempts at conversation, Laurie had decided to rest her eyes for a few moments.
A quick glance over his shoulder assures Dan that she is still sleeping, curled up on a pile of blankets in the back of the ship. He experiences a few twinges of guilt for feeling relieved that he doesn’t have to discuss what had happened, at least not yet. His mind is still trying to process everything (as if it’s even humanly possible to comprehend this).
The navigation system flashes a notice that he’s approaching his destination, and Dan’s lips narrow into a thin line of determination. The clouds hovering over New York City are thicker than usual, as if the city is trying to shield its wounds from prying eyes. The sun’s bright rays are beginning to peek over the horizon, and for a brief, painful moment, Dan thinks that he’s only returning from a routine patrol. His knuckles ache not from pummeling Adrian, but from fighting criminals. It is Rorschach, not Laurie, in the ship’s hull, probably munching on sugar cubes he’s filched from Dan’s kitchen. The city may be dangerous and dark, but it’s still whole, and he and Rorschach will clean it up, together…
And then Laurie murmurs something in her sleep, shattering Dan’s nostalgic illusion. Rorschach is dead and his remains are scattered in the snow in Antarctica; Adrian is a mass murderer, and an unrepentant one at that; and Dan, who has lived in New York City for most of his life, has no idea if he’ll even recognize the city once he brings the ship below the cloud line.
His hands tremble as he nudges Archie lower. Part of him doesn’t want to look, but the other part of him needs to, and it’s that second part that wins the internal struggle.
The south side of Manhattan looks much as it did when Dan had last left New York, but he can see a dark gray mist hovering over the area of Times Square, and he wonders just how much of the cloud cover is really ashes. Ashes of buildings and people and hopes and fears and life…
(He thinks of stories of Nazi camps and aunts and uncles and cousins he'll never meet.)
As he steers the ship towards home (will his building still be standing?), he can’t tear his eyes away from the devastated cityscape before him. The sun has managed to feebly penetrate the darkness enshrouding the city, and though Dan has seen plenty of sunrises in his life, he’s never seen one like this. The rays seeping through are red, bathing the remaining skyscrapers in the color of blood, and it looks as if the city is hemorrhaging from a mortal wound.
Dan fumbles with his goggles, finally snapping them in place, although he knows that the tears filling his eyes aren’t from the sun’s glare.
also posted here
[week 13]
Title: Ashes
Characters: Nite Owl II/Daniel Dreiberg
Prompt:
tamingthemuse 144 sunrise, weekly_watchmen 0007 nostalgiaWord Count: 541
Rating: PG
Summary: Movie-based; Dan returns to New York City after the events at Karnak.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Obviously.
The flight back from Antarctica is long, and it seems even longer because of the silence filling Archie’s hold. Laurie had tried talking to him when they’d left Karnak, but Dan had only stared blankly ahead, his hands gripping the ship’s controls as if they were his only lifeline to the world. Eventually, after an hour or so of failed attempts at conversation, Laurie had decided to rest her eyes for a few moments.
A quick glance over his shoulder assures Dan that she is still sleeping, curled up on a pile of blankets in the back of the ship. He experiences a few twinges of guilt for feeling relieved that he doesn’t have to discuss what had happened, at least not yet. His mind is still trying to process everything (as if it’s even humanly possible to comprehend this).
The navigation system flashes a notice that he’s approaching his destination, and Dan’s lips narrow into a thin line of determination. The clouds hovering over New York City are thicker than usual, as if the city is trying to shield its wounds from prying eyes. The sun’s bright rays are beginning to peek over the horizon, and for a brief, painful moment, Dan thinks that he’s only returning from a routine patrol. His knuckles ache not from pummeling Adrian, but from fighting criminals. It is Rorschach, not Laurie, in the ship’s hull, probably munching on sugar cubes he’s filched from Dan’s kitchen. The city may be dangerous and dark, but it’s still whole, and he and Rorschach will clean it up, together…
And then Laurie murmurs something in her sleep, shattering Dan’s nostalgic illusion. Rorschach is dead and his remains are scattered in the snow in Antarctica; Adrian is a mass murderer, and an unrepentant one at that; and Dan, who has lived in New York City for most of his life, has no idea if he’ll even recognize the city once he brings the ship below the cloud line.
His hands tremble as he nudges Archie lower. Part of him doesn’t want to look, but the other part of him needs to, and it’s that second part that wins the internal struggle.
The south side of Manhattan looks much as it did when Dan had last left New York, but he can see a dark gray mist hovering over the area of Times Square, and he wonders just how much of the cloud cover is really ashes. Ashes of buildings and people and hopes and fears and life…
(He thinks of stories of Nazi camps and aunts and uncles and cousins he'll never meet.)
As he steers the ship towards home (will his building still be standing?), he can’t tear his eyes away from the devastated cityscape before him. The sun has managed to feebly penetrate the darkness enshrouding the city, and though Dan has seen plenty of sunrises in his life, he’s never seen one like this. The rays seeping through are red, bathing the remaining skyscrapers in the color of blood, and it looks as if the city is hemorrhaging from a mortal wound.
Dan fumbles with his goggles, finally snapping them in place, although he knows that the tears filling his eyes aren’t from the sun’s glare.
also posted here
[week 13]
