20in20 Drabbles

[katleept]

The following drabbles are all for a gameofcards land comm challenge. If you join, be sure to tell them Kat Lee of Team Hearts sent you!

Preceding each drabble is the song and artist that inspired the drabble, then the fandom, pairing, and rating. Titles are the cut tags. All drabbles are AT LEAST 100 words, but several are over the word count. Much thanks to everythingshiny for not being concerned with that!


Fort Vanessa Elisha, XXYYXX:

Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena/Gabrielle, PG-13/T



Their souls speak to each other as they circle round. They slide closer together, skin they know as well as their own sliding over the other's. In other towns, people have stared. In other countries, they've tried to stop them, tried to kill them, but they can not be stopped. They can not be stopped, because they are love.

That love shines brightly tonight. There are people who stare, people who gawk, guards who come. Xena deflects every single one of them without ever taking her eyes from Gabrielle's. Gabrielle also never looks, because she knows she's safe with her, safe in their love. They kiss and are one again.



You There, Aquilo:

X-Men, Charles/Erik,G/K



The record spins, and he wheels backwards as he walks around him. "Can we go back, Charles?"

Charles' head is held as high as ever, but his smile is the brightest Erik has seen in a very long time. "Only if we truly wish, love."

"Take me back," he pleads quietly, feeling every bit of his age and this war they've been fighting forever.

Charles lifts his hand, and Erik takes it. He spins him across the floor, and with his mind caressing his, Charles rises. They are young again. They dance again, side by side, cheek by cheek. They kiss, and for a time, the world, the war, their dreams, everything just stands still as they kiss and cry and long for this to last forever.


The End


Back Shore, ESCPE:

Charmed, Penny + Charmed Ones, PG/K+




She hears their laughter from the yard outside and looks down as the wind chimes swing. She sways as music plays, and she watches her granddaughters. They're so young and free now. She wishes they could stay that way forever, but she knows that can not. Time will come. Demons will come. She needs to be able to protect them. She needs to teach them, but she must respect their mother's wishes. Still, as long as there is life left in her body, Penelope will watch over them and protect them.

Time does pass, along with generations. Again, she stands by the wind chimes, listening to their twinkling music. She's glad no one's ever taken them down. There's a new generation of children to watch over now, but at least their parents are teaching them right. Still, the Demons come, and they're not always there to guard their children.

She waves a hand, and another Demon is vanquished. They won't touch her children, as long as she's there.

The four granddaughters who started it all stand behind her now, each smiling gently in her own way. "Did you ever do that for us, Grams?"

"What?" she asks innocently, spinning around and sending a rush of air through the attic.

"Protect us without our knowing." Phoebe's eyes still twinkle, despite the fact that they're all only ghosts now.

Penelope smiles. "Always," she answers honestly, opening her arms and enjoying the way they all rush into them to hug her tightly, "my children, always."

The End

Losing U, Chrome Sparks:
Smallville, Clark/Lex, PG-13/T



I'm losing you. He wants to scream the words. He wants to shout them from the sky. He wants to fill the world with them. He wants everybody to hear his cry. He wants him to understand what it means.

"Lex, please, don't -- "

But he knows he will. He wishes he could stop time. He wishes he could stop the world. He wishes yet again he could stop the darkening of the soul of the man he loves.

"There's no other choice, Clark."

"There is! Give me the gun," he pleads. He's crying now, and he doesn't care who sees it. Let the world see their hero fall apart. Let them understand that he could never be the man he is without the friendship of the man he's losing, without his love.

"He'll just come back, Clark. They always come back. He'll hurt you again. He might kill your family. He might kill you."

You're killing me. If you don't stop, you'll kill us!

"We need to do the right thing, Lex, or we're no better than he is. We'll hand him over to the police. They'll take care of him."

"His lawyers will have him out in a day, and he'll be back after you."

"No."

"It's the only way."

"Lex, you're better -- "

BAM!!!

Clark closes his eyes as tears fill them and run over his face. He wants to drop to his knees; he almost does. As their enemy breaths his last, the world thinks Superman is crying for the life that's been taken, but he's not. He's crying for the soul he's lost. "Lex."

Lex simply shakes his head and lowers his smoking gun. "You're better than all of us, Clark. I'm not. But he'll never hurt you again now."

It doesn't matter. You just killed us! He sobs and watches helplessly as Lex grabs a ladder dropped from a helicopter and flies away, out of his life, out of his reach of help, but never out of his heart.

The End

With Me, Cashmere Cat:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Faith/Buffy, soft R/M




She's always been able to hear the music of the night, ever since she was a little girl. She can hear it singing in her veins even now, hear the rhythm of the town, small though it is, thumping in her pumping blood. The sun's just setting. The night's just beginning, but it's going to be theirs. She knew that from the moment she woke in the daylight. The night is always theirs, or are they the night's?

They're creatures of the night, she and B. They might be supposed to be daylight children, but they've never really fit in with the kids with whom Buffy likes to hang. They're a breed apart. They slay the night creatures, but they are every bit as much with the night as the Demons and Vamps they slay.

She can feel it in moving with them, moving in them. She feels it as they fight, feels it as her back slides against B's, feels it when the dust rains down and she flips the blonde Slayer over onto her back again. She feels it as she goes down on her, and as she fills her, the night fills them, too.

The End


This Is Gospel, katcandozat:
X-Men, Victor and Logan, R/M



He watches him cry at his grave. Logan knows he's there; Victor saw him sniff the air. They can smell each other for at least a hundred miles. But today, he's not letting it bother him. He'll fight if he attacks him, but he's hoping he leaves him alone. For a change, Vic does just that, opting instead to watch him and puzzle over what he's seeing.

He knows Wolverine's gone soft, but his tears take him aback. He didn't expect him to have gone that soft. He didn't expect him to cry. At Red's funeral, yeah, but at the old man's? He didn't cry for his father. Hell, he'd killed his own dad and would again if the bastard ever showed back up, not that he couldn't for Creed had ripped apart everything that had once been his dad.

But then, maybe that's it, he thinks, leaning forward with a soft growl. He never cried for his dad; his pop never deserved his tears. But his old man never loved him like the Professor loved Wolverine. The punk got all the lucky breaks. With a snarl, Creed attacked. There would be no more tears today, only savage cuts and bloodshed, just the way Creed liked it.

The End

Riptide, Vance Joy:
Smallville, Clark/Lex, Soft R/M



He remembers when he first met him, he was so shy and stammering. He tripped constantly over his words. There was nothing bold about him except for his heart. But that was so long ago.

Now he lays, looking up through blood that runs in his eyes at the man he's loved for years holding a gun down on him. "Do it, Clark." They both know he won't. "I'd shoot you if we were reversed."

"No, Lex. You keep trying to conquer the world, but you've never really tried to kill me."

"How can you say that?"

Clark's lips tremble as he smiles. "If you'd really tried, I'd be dead. You know me too well for that, Lex, and I know you too well."

"Kill me, Clark! Shoot me!"

"I never will." Clark lowers the gun and offers him his hand, but Lex won't take it.

He looks away, ashamed and hurt, tears running in his blue eyes now as well as the blood. But you'll also never love me.


The End

Angel with a Shotgun, the Cab:
Supernatural, Sam/Dean, PG-13/T:




He surveys his arsenal. He has knives, daggers, and swords, every kind of gun imaginable, weapons to which he can not put a name but knows will destroy a whole building with one use, and everything in between. He has bottles upon bottles of holy water. He has enough weapons to take down a whole army of Demons, but it isn't an army he's facing.

Sam hangs his head and tries again not to cry. He pleaded with Dean not to do this, not to give everything to save him again. He begged him to protect himself, but he wouldn't do it. Now he has to, and there's only one way he can. The tears spill down his face again. It doesn't matter how many weapons he has. The truth is, even though he told him differently, he'll never be able to kill Dean. This is one war from whence he doesn't know how he's going to save his brother, because he can't kill the man he loves.


The End

Please Don't Say You Love Me, Gabrielle Aplin:
Dawson's Creek, Pacey/Andie, PG-13/T




She remembers before they ever said, "I love you", for the first time worrying that he would say the words or she would slip up and say them first and he wouldn't reciprocate her feelings. She had been scared to trust him, scareder still to love him. Now she understands: Her feelings were real. Not just her love for him, but her fear of him as well.

He's holding her whole world in his hands as she walks away from him. If he would only give her a second chance, only say her name, only ask her to stay a little while longer, anything, she would so gladly give it. What's happened isn't his fault. It's her own, but she can't go back and undo it. She can't take away the fear and confusion she felt in that place, and all the other things too, that made her cheat on him, but if only she could have a second chance, she'd never do it again.

She'd never wanted to do it in the first place, not really. Her actions on that night are remembered through a fog, but she knows she did it. She slept with another man when her heart has always belonged to him alone. She's crying as she walks away and begging him silently to ask her to come back, but he never does. He never will, she knows, for though she loves him, her first mistake was in ever admitting in the first place because he doesn't, and never will, love her.


The End


Glass Animals, Black Mambo:
X-Men, Storm, PG/K+



She watches the rain fall, one drop at a time sliding down the window pane. Her students are busy with their tests. She should be planning the next chapter of their learning, but she can't. She's too distracted today, too busy wondering things of a nature she wishes she never had to consider.

But she does consider it. As she watches the droplets falling and sliding one by one, she finds herself wondering if they are like the rain. They lost saw many before Charles, Thunderbird, Jean too many times to count, Piotr, Kurt . . . Why, nearly every one of the X-Men has died at least once. Charles was their greatest loss, but there are more already following him, falling like one raindrop after another.

Papers rustle, breezes rises, and suddenly the rain becomes a torrent. Ororo's lips twist into a half-smile. They may fall one at a time, but when they are gathered together, they will always be a strong force. They may not completely change the world, but they will change it. "Papers in, please."

The End

Spooky Scary Skeletons, Unknown:
Hotel Transylvania, Jonathan/Mavis, G/K:



Bones rattle, monsters croon, and Werewolves howl. Mavis turns him around again, and Jonathan keeps dancing. All around him, monsters of every kind are dancing. Other humans would run scared. Some would faint dead away, and most would try their best to turn this night to their advantage. But it already is to Jonathan's advantage. He has the daughter of Count Dracula to call his own forever love. He has better friends than he's ever dreamed. He's happier, too, than he's ever dreamed. He's grinning like a fool when Mavis pulls him close and kisses him again. He wishes he was a monster just so this could really last forever.

The End

Monster Mania, Figure:
Once Upon A Time, Regina, past Stable Queen and Outlaw Queen, PG/K+



Thunder rolls as the former Queen looks out on the town. All the other residents have shut their doors and bolted their windows as their homes are pillaged by lightning, wind, and rain, but Regina looks to the sky with unusual calm as bolts cut jagged through it again. She's been thinking all night about her fate in this life, and the weather is quite fitting. She looks again to the town, thinking of all the characters there and their twisted relationships with one another.

Some of them have said that these lives all began with a curse, but Regina has to wonder if maybe her life was cursed from the beginning. Maybe Cora, the one who killed Daniel and first took away her happy ending, cursed her when she brought her into this world. She lets the curtain drop with a sigh. Whatever the curse, whatever the reason, she is cursed now for one True Love is dead and the other, she fears, will always love another.


The End

Act As If, L.A. Kid:
X-Men, Storm, PG/K+




There's a light after every night. The sun always rises. Hope always returns. Although some may fall, there will always be others to pick up the proverbial cross of the X and keep working for a dream that too often in this day and age seems quite impossible. She has seen many come and go. Some have made other lives for themselves; she's helped to bury far too many others.

This night, as the darkness fades and light begins to grow, she walks amongst the newest group of X-Men. They are all so fresh and young. It's almost hard for her to remember when she was their age, but she knows she reached adulthood because of the people around her. She's going to do everything she can to make sure these new mutants reach theirs, as well, and their potential.

She turns into the sunlight, blinking back tears. They all survived this night, she reflects as the sun rises, but oh, how she wishes Charles, Jean, and all the rest were here to watch the new day dawn with them.

The End

Hannah Hunt, Vampire Weekend:
Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket/Groot, PG/K+



"Groot." He looks so sad, so shaken, that Rocket's heart is immediately panged.

"That's crap," he snaps, fur ruffling. He yanks the bucket that once held the sapling that became this particular Groot from his limb. "You're not just a tree, not just a plant, and I'll rip out the tongue of anybody who says different!"

A slow smile trembles its way across Groot's withered bark. "Groot."

Rocket's eyes sheen; he quickly looks away. Neither of them is just a plant, or just an animal. That's why he hates being called a raccoon. He's not an experiment, not a beast. He's a living being, and he'll kick the ass of anybody who tries to make him anything less!

The tips of a few of Groot's leafy branches gently touch his shoulder. Rocket hesitates but eventually looks back at his best friend. "Groot?"

"Ah, all right, you big lug, but make it quick!" He hides the smile he long ago learned to hide as Groot hugs him. He'll never be any less than what he is, but he'll also never stop loving this big, stupid tree.



Everything's Fine, Paisley featuring Entheogenisis
Dawson's Creek, Pacey/Andie, PG-13/T



She hears the words and knows immediately what she must do. She hangs up the phone with a chill lacing her veins, not even managing to voice her gratitude for the warning with which her brother called her. He thinks she should be happy, but she knows better. She already faced this part of her life and barely escaped with her mind partially in tact. It hasn't been completely in tact since they lost their brother and mother, but at least it's better than it was before.

At one time, she thought she could thank Pacey for that. At one time, she thought she owed her healing to him, but in the end, he was the same man who came so close to destroying her. He was the same one who tried to bring her back down, and almost succeeded. Her body still bares the marks that she left on herself to try to end the pain he caused to ricochet through her heart. It's taken years. She's still not completely over him -- she knows she never will be --, and yet now, after all this time, he has the audacity to look her up and try to make up for all the pain he's caused her.

She can't face him. She brushes the tears from her eyes, grabs a few things, and heads out. She doesn't know where she'll go, but she can't stay here. She passes him even as he's coming in the door to her apartment building. "Andie! Hey, wait up, McPhee!"

She keeps walking and smiles at the door greeter whose name she once took effort to learn. "Beautiful weather we're having today, isn't it, Monsieur Francis?" she asks him with a smile that she tries to make bright but still falters.

"Oui. Mademoiselle, your friend is calling to you."

"He's no friend of mine," she whispers, eyes darkening. She keeps walking, telling herself everything is fine, but she knows if she looks at Pacey just one more time, nothing will ever be fine again. He may have come with intentions of making up, but he'll only break her heart again. She quickens the pace and hears the door swing shut on him, and her past, just as she enters the cab. She looks ahead of her with tears filling her eyes.

"Où, Mademoiselle?"

"N'importe où. Anywhere but here." And as they pull away from Pacey, who Francis has delayed, she finally wipes away her tears.


The End

You There, Aquilo,
Smallville, Clark/Lex, G/K



He ponders why his life has always been so utterly and tragically ironic as he turns onto the gravel road. He remembers hating the place before he ever saw it when he first came to Smallville, and now he wants desperately to stay although he knows he must not. Memories flash through his head, both making him smile and filling his blue eyes with tears as he drives down the familiar lane. He doesn't go all the way to the house -- he doesn't dare lest he see him -- but stops before the car can be seen by any one looking out the windows.

Land has always been rich with opportunities, but never as much as this little place. He remembers the first time he laughed here, the first time he smiled, the first time he dared to touch him, the first time he held him, the first time he kissed him . . . , and he cries. He's tried since he was a little boy not to cry, but he can no longer fight the tears that come pouring down his face.

He has to leave him. He knows this is the right thing to do. This is Clark's home, this land as rich in strength, endurance, and innocence as he is, and Lex knows it's in Clark's blood just as much as wicked doings are in his own. His father had once planned to destroy this farmland. He had stopped him, but he knows if he stays, he will just as assuredly destroy Clark's innocence as his father would have the simple beauty of their farm had Lex not intervened.

He has to intervene again now. He has to save Clark from him. Tears still racing down his face, Lex turns his car away and floors the gas. He speeds out of there as fast as he can, because he knows if he stops, if he hesitates just one more moment, all will be lost. Clark will be lost, doomed to his darkness, and that is something he simply can not allow for he loves him far too much to ever change the man he was meant to be, the good and innocent man untouched by his corruptness. He flies away, and all the while, he cries.


The End

Fall, Nicole Millar:
X-Men, Storm, PG/K+



She stands on top of the tallest building in New York, wind whipping her hair and clothes. It howls all around her as she steps off, but the gale instantly catches her. She wishes she could let herself fall. She wishes she could stop this pain in her heart, the pain of all the losses she has endured since she came to this city that is supposed to be so full of opportunity.

Sirens blare. Screams rise even above her winds. Far down below, Ororo sees children running, children who have stolen just as she once had to steal for food. She remembers the man who saved her from that life, the man whose murder has torn apart her family. She remembers his dream and how gently he handled her, how he changed her life that day in Cairo, and how he later raised her from a Goddess to the woman she is now.

She swoops high into the night sky. The city is alive with strife. It cries out for help. The Earth cries for her, and she knows those children will cry soon, too, cry because they have no one to care for them, no Xavier to intervene and save them from their lives on the streets. There are too many like that, too many like her, for the dream to no longer matter. He raised her once. She will raise again, and she will take his dream, as she always has, for her own and will keep fighting until they finally make that dream that changed her life and saved her soul a reality.

The End

Early Bird, Andrea
Once Upon A Time, Red/Snow, R/M



Her grandmother always told her the early bird got the worm, but she's never liked to rise early. She's never liked mornings, but lately, she's been waking early. This morning is no different, but concern creases her brow when she finds herself alone. She's become pleasantly accustomed to waking to a warm, supple body curled around her own.

Sitting up, she sniffs the air and then lets her nose lead her. She hears the waterfall before she sees her, and when she steps around the side of the mountain, her breath catches in her throat. Her wolf immediately wants to howl, but she forces her down. Now isn't the time for that kind of howling.

She slips silently closer, reveling in the beauty before her. Snow is completely unaware of her approach, and although she knows she should, Red can't seem to find the will to turn away and do the right thing. She's almost in the water when the root Snow's been using with which to cleanse herself drops. Red uses the sound of its splash to mask her own entrance to the rushing water.

Snow's eyes are closed. Red grabs the soap root and watches her best friend, her only real friend, as she rinses her face. Her eyes open and blink in surprise as she finds Red standing next to her. Trying to smile, Red raises the root. Snow turns her back to her, and Red thrills silently as her bare muscles flex underneath her hands as she washes her.

When Snow turns back around again, however, seeing her in all her natural beauty, dripping wet, is too much for Red. Her mouth opens instinctively, a howl surging in her throat, but Snow steps closer and presses her lips to hers, silencing that howl and beginning another one and a whole new chapter in their life together.


The End

Vapour, Vancouver Sleep Clinic:
X-Men, Storm + Charles, G/K



He is astonished to see the woman rising above him. Her beauty steals his breath as once she stole his wallet, but there's something else different about her today. She's not quite fully grown although she carries herself as a woman, no, he corrects himself, as a Goddess. He can see why she has so easily convinced the villagers to worship her, but there's something deeper in her eyes as she locks eyes with him.

There's something more than beauty, more than regalness, more than the Storm. It's something he recognizes well. He smiles at her. He knows that fear, that concern. He should have come sooner, but he didn't wait too long. They'll face them together, and together, they'll save the world.

The End


Trinkets, Elroy 4.0 and the Kite String Tangle
X-Men, Kurt + Bamfs, G/K





He sits alone on the rooftop of the new school, his pointed, blue tail twitching like crazy with the frustration raging inside of him. He had had so many expectations when he'd come back to Earth. He'd been thrilled to see his friends again and even more glad when Amanda had reacted to his return as she had. But now he feels all alone.

Tired, blue hands run down his face. He sighs into his cupped, furry palms and shakes his head. He has no answers. Amanda has been stolen from him, perhaps forever. Ororo kissed him but has since seemed to have forgotten about the moment they shared. He'd never felt so alone as he had in Heaven, but right now, somehow, he's feeling even more alone.

He feels something tugging at the end of his pants leg and looks down into a tiny, expectant face. The Bamf who got his attention makes a clicking sound, and suddenly, three Bamfs are performing an acrobatic routine. Through his tears glistening in his yellow eyes, Kurt smiles as he watches the little fellows. He has to remember that no matter what happens, who else comes or goes from his life, he is no longer alone. He'll never be alone again. The Bamfs have done well to remind him. He reaches out to scratch their heads and reward them and then teleports them all to the kitchen. Sharing ice cream with them isn't the same as sharing it Kitty, Amanda, or even Ororo, but for this lonely night, their company will do.

The End