30 Days R2/S2 - Day 9 Mourning dead gods
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lilfluffThis a Flashfic based on a prompt from aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme
My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page
Day 9 – Prompt: mourning dead gods
Universe: My own only vaguely developed superheroes setting. It's been said that superheroes are the gods and demigods of modern mythology. And sometimes when they fall they don't return in the next issue.
I had a partially written version that I might have used for Day 30 of the previous set, so when I decided to dust it off and try again it came together pretty quickly. Almost 800 words (that's shorter than the already written #10 that will be posted shortly).
Content warning: See the prompt above, the title below? It's a funeral. It's not a happy story. (But hopefully not overwrought)
Scene under the cut.
Title: Sacrifice
Memorial Grove
South shore, Skylark Crater Lake
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
It was raining as the service began. Charles stood in the front row not feeling the cold. He felt nothing more than the weight of his son clinging to his side and the raindrops that were somehow reaching his cheeks.
A slow drumbeat sounded on the umbrella he held overhead. The light rain not falling hard enough to drown out the words of each speaker. Honor, duty, the only word they said that he could understand now was sacrifice.
He thought he'd understood the word before. Kitree would be gone for days, sometimes weeks, when she was on missions with the Sentries. He would keep Tad entertained and talk about all the good things she was doing when Tad would wonder where his mother was.
This time she wasn't coming back. Somehow he would have to become the strong one again. He would have to find where he had put the strength that got him to his doctorate and tenured job. Tad would need him to be strong.
The speeches finally came to a close and he stood, holding Tad close while others started searching through the rows of gravestones. He looked at the papers he'd been given, clutched in the same hand that held the umbrella, looking through the names that covered it.
They wandered through the rows until he found the one he was looking for. Blinking away the raindrops that kept getting to his eyes. He read the gravestone, looking down at it for a minute that seemed an eternity. A gentle tugging on his jacket pulling his eyes back to his son.
Nothing came the first time he opened his mouth. Pulling his boy closer he brought the umbrella lower, to try and block raindrops that were falling to his head.
"Syd." He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Uncle Sydney's resting here. He's who first introduced me to mother."
"Were going to momma?"
Charles closed his eyes holding Tad close. Standing there frozen in place until a hand squeezed his shoulders. Opening his eyes again he found Miguel, who most of the world knew of as Obsidian and one of the few surviving original Sentries. The man gave his shoulder another squeeze with his left hand, his right arm still bandaged and in a sling even a week later.
"Mister Forschen? I thought I recognized you from the picture Kitree passed around after Thadeus was born."
Charles nodded, giving a little smile at the way Miguel ignored that Thadeus stood out as the only half-human half-alterran on earth.
"If you wish I can lead you to the memorial."
He nodded again and followed the other mans lead. Holding Tad tighter when he asked the man, "You'll take us to momma?"
For a moment Charles and Miguel simply stood there, neither certain what to say. Finally Miguel gave another nod and simply said, "Yes, I will."
Slipping out of the rows of gravestones they headed back towards a stone arch. Looking around at the hills and the green of the trees and grass.
"She would liked it here. The trees, the animals, it's everything she said she once hoped to give to her own people."
Two stone archways rose over the cenotaph holding up a dome in to keep out the weather. The words, For Those Who Could Not Return, were carved deep into the stone. A man in uniform stood from where he had been reading the side of the stone block that served as a cenotaph beneath the dome. The man started to leave, then paused and quietly offered to hold Charles' umbrella.
Miguel lead them around the stone, its surface divided into sections for each who had left no body to bury. Halfway along he found what they were looking for.
Eklan-Forschen 'Solar Vix' Kitree
d. 25 September 1995
Wife, Mother, Hero
Cast out out from the world of her birth,
let not this world forget her sacrifice.
Charles knelt before the stone, reaching out to touch her name. Barely hearing Miguel when he spoke again.
"If she and Refraktor hadn't done what they did, everything else would have been in vain. Charles, if you ever need anything call us. We don't forget our own."
His fingers traced along her name. Remembering the woman who had become the cornerstone of his life. Blinking away the tears that couldn't, that mustn't be tears. Trying to remember how to be strong for his son.
"Poppa?"
Charles pulled his son close. His cries echoing off the stones as he tried to find the right words to say, tried to explain that she would never be coming back, tried somehow to find his strength again.
* * * * *
The days so far:
1) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station (LJ link)
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings] (LJ link)
4) prompt: one for the road (LJ link)
5) write a story using an imaginary color (LJ link)
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called "The Long, Dirty Afterwards." (LJ link)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ link)
10) write a story set in three different time periods (LJ link)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written (LJ link)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ link)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ link)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ link)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip (LJ link)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ link)
18) prompt: a step too far
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM
20) Write the end of the story "The Purple Bag."
21) Roll a d20 twice (Random.Org). Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers
22) prompt: knight in shining armor
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn
24) prompt: founding fathers
25) write a story set in a library
26) prompt: elemental
27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all.
28) write a story set in a laundromat
29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama
30) the story ends with the words "coming up."
aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 MemeMy 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page
Day 9 – Prompt: mourning dead gods
Universe: My own only vaguely developed superheroes setting. It's been said that superheroes are the gods and demigods of modern mythology. And sometimes when they fall they don't return in the next issue.
I had a partially written version that I might have used for Day 30 of the previous set, so when I decided to dust it off and try again it came together pretty quickly. Almost 800 words (that's shorter than the already written #10 that will be posted shortly).
Content warning: See the prompt above, the title below? It's a funeral. It's not a happy story. (But hopefully not overwrought)
Scene under the cut.
Title: Sacrifice
Memorial Grove
South shore, Skylark Crater Lake
Pinecone Burke Provincial Park
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
It was raining as the service began. Charles stood in the front row not feeling the cold. He felt nothing more than the weight of his son clinging to his side and the raindrops that were somehow reaching his cheeks.
A slow drumbeat sounded on the umbrella he held overhead. The light rain not falling hard enough to drown out the words of each speaker. Honor, duty, the only word they said that he could understand now was sacrifice.
He thought he'd understood the word before. Kitree would be gone for days, sometimes weeks, when she was on missions with the Sentries. He would keep Tad entertained and talk about all the good things she was doing when Tad would wonder where his mother was.
This time she wasn't coming back. Somehow he would have to become the strong one again. He would have to find where he had put the strength that got him to his doctorate and tenured job. Tad would need him to be strong.
The speeches finally came to a close and he stood, holding Tad close while others started searching through the rows of gravestones. He looked at the papers he'd been given, clutched in the same hand that held the umbrella, looking through the names that covered it.
They wandered through the rows until he found the one he was looking for. Blinking away the raindrops that kept getting to his eyes. He read the gravestone, looking down at it for a minute that seemed an eternity. A gentle tugging on his jacket pulling his eyes back to his son.
Nothing came the first time he opened his mouth. Pulling his boy closer he brought the umbrella lower, to try and block raindrops that were falling to his head.
"Syd." He swallowed and took a deep breath. "Uncle Sydney's resting here. He's who first introduced me to mother."
"Were going to momma?"
Charles closed his eyes holding Tad close. Standing there frozen in place until a hand squeezed his shoulders. Opening his eyes again he found Miguel, who most of the world knew of as Obsidian and one of the few surviving original Sentries. The man gave his shoulder another squeeze with his left hand, his right arm still bandaged and in a sling even a week later.
"Mister Forschen? I thought I recognized you from the picture Kitree passed around after Thadeus was born."
Charles nodded, giving a little smile at the way Miguel ignored that Thadeus stood out as the only half-human half-alterran on earth.
"If you wish I can lead you to the memorial."
He nodded again and followed the other mans lead. Holding Tad tighter when he asked the man, "You'll take us to momma?"
For a moment Charles and Miguel simply stood there, neither certain what to say. Finally Miguel gave another nod and simply said, "Yes, I will."
Slipping out of the rows of gravestones they headed back towards a stone arch. Looking around at the hills and the green of the trees and grass.
"She would liked it here. The trees, the animals, it's everything she said she once hoped to give to her own people."
Two stone archways rose over the cenotaph holding up a dome in to keep out the weather. The words, For Those Who Could Not Return, were carved deep into the stone. A man in uniform stood from where he had been reading the side of the stone block that served as a cenotaph beneath the dome. The man started to leave, then paused and quietly offered to hold Charles' umbrella.
Miguel lead them around the stone, its surface divided into sections for each who had left no body to bury. Halfway along he found what they were looking for.
Eklan-Forschen 'Solar Vix' Kitree
d. 25 September 1995
Wife, Mother, Hero
Cast out out from the world of her birth,
let not this world forget her sacrifice.
Charles knelt before the stone, reaching out to touch her name. Barely hearing Miguel when he spoke again.
"If she and Refraktor hadn't done what they did, everything else would have been in vain. Charles, if you ever need anything call us. We don't forget our own."
His fingers traced along her name. Remembering the woman who had become the cornerstone of his life. Blinking away the tears that couldn't, that mustn't be tears. Trying to remember how to be strong for his son.
"Poppa?"
Charles pulled his son close. His cries echoing off the stones as he tried to find the right words to say, tried to explain that she would never be coming back, tried somehow to find his strength again.
* * * * *
The days so far:
1) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station (LJ link)
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings] (LJ link)
4) prompt: one for the road (LJ link)
5) write a story using an imaginary color (LJ link)
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called "The Long, Dirty Afterwards." (LJ link)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ link)
10) write a story set in three different time periods (LJ link)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written (LJ link)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ link)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ link)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ link)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip (LJ link)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ link)
18) prompt: a step too far
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM
20) Write the end of the story "The Purple Bag."
21) Roll a d20 twice (Random.Org). Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers
22) prompt: knight in shining armor
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn
24) prompt: founding fathers
25) write a story set in a library
26) prompt: elemental
27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all.
28) write a story set in a laundromat
29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama
30) the story ends with the words "coming up."
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Date: 2014-12-05 11:47 am (UTC)