The Wheel side ficlets

[new_kate]

Because I am a dork Short story long, these are ficlets set between the parts of The Wheel. They don't fit with, uh, stuff, but here they are anyway. Gratuitous and worksafe, spoilers for the whole of the fic.

Many thanks to hibem for the kickass beta!



Several months after part 1

“Well, do you think it’s a good idea to invite him? I mean, he’s – you know.”

“Didn’t think they bothered you,” shrugged Constantine as he carefully cracked another egg into the bowl. The cake could probably be made with egg powder, but they only had enough sugar and lard for one baking experiment, and he didn’t want to take chances.

“Not that,” said Dima angrily. “I’m talking about the triple homicide he’s gotten away with. Do we want a man like him near your sister?”

Constantine paused with a measuring jug in one hand and gave his sergeant a quizzical look.

“I know, I know,” sighed Dima. “He - he just creeps me out a little. I keep telling Marina he’s not the right guy for her, but she never listens.”

“Yana asked me to invite him,” explained Constantine. “If you want to say no to her, be my guest. I’m not doing it.”

“Yana? Oh, girl, good luck getting past Marina,” snickered Dima. “Hey, have I told you how hot you look in this apron?”

“Not in the communal kitchen, sergeant, anyone can walk in,” said Constantine, blushing heavily. “Sift the flour, please.”

“Can we go to your room? I want to – that thing again, what you did when…”

“When the cake is in the oven,” Constantine said firmly, vigorously beating the eggs. Dima leered, dropped the sieve in the sink and draped himself over Constantine’s narrow back, breathing into his neck and watching his hand move quickly and rhythmically.

“Will you keep the apron on?” he asked.

“Don’t push it.”



Ten years after part 1, or why is Rishi younger than Eugene

His first conscious memory is about blood.

He vaguely remembers what happened before: bright, nice day, their laughs echoing down the empty street, ball bouncing off the pavement. He ran after it and saw something huge and dark from the corner of his eye, coming at him fast, too fast.

“Gene!”

Someone shoved him, hard, and he rolled across the road, grazing his knees and hands raw. Car brakes screeched behind him like a wail of a monster, and then he saw – and then many voices screamed at once, all around him, inside his head.

He forgot the name of that boy but could never, no matter how hard he tried, forget his eyes and all that blood on his still, triumphantly smiling face.



Several years after part 2

Eugene Sykes took another sip of coffee and turned a page, quietly smiling.

Holden’s books were his guilty pleasure. Whimsical, witty, off-beat, they probably weren’t Pulitzer Prize material, but he liked them anyway. The last one even got good press, especially from those snooty critics who couldn’t bring themselves to praise anything that sold well. Holden didn’t care – he wrote only because he couldn’t teach any more, after being outed; it was just something for him to occupy himself with.

Actually, there would be definite commercial potential, if not for the disastrous marketing strategy. Holden was obsessed with dragons, and everything remotely dragon-related automatically landed in the fantasy section, to which the books weren’t suited at all. Well, at least Eugene didn’t have to support Holden’s penniless ass any more, now that that idiot slut Todd had gotten so obscenely rich.

The slut in question stumbled out of his bedroom, ruffling his long hair and yawning. Eugene quickly hid the book under the New York Times.

“Mornin’. Hey, we’re buying a new car today, wanna come?”

“You’re determined to squander all your fluke money and beg me for pocket change again, aren’t you?”

“I wish. Holden’s making me invest! Bastard,” Todd stretched slowly, lean and tall, glowing after whatever the two of them got up to last night. “You’re just jealous that I’m more loaded than you now.”

“Yeah, right. You’re one step above a porn star, if that. I’m sure all those women buy your exercise videos just to stare at your package.”

“And I would have a problem with this – why? Oh crap, is that a hickey? I have a filming today!”

“The makeup will cover it. You can’t even really see the scar on the TV.”

“Gene…” gasped Todd. “Do you watch my show?”

“Rishi does,” said Eugene quickly. “Shut up. Go wake up Holden, I want my breakfast.”

“You know, we talked about that,” said Todd, grinning. “And we both don’t mind if you go wake him up yourself.”

Eugene gave him a glare of death and turned back to his newspaper.



After part 3 or me = reading too much Good Omens.

It all went terribly wrong.

The end of the world was planned for April, 2100. Everything was coming along nicely, until a relatively small rain of fire and destruction – an accident, really - was blown out of all proportion by the trigger-happy and paranoid, and waters turned red way ahead of schedule.

War scorched the earth black; man-made plagues rolled across the globe, tainting and twisting all that survived. The four were forced to ride at an undignified gallop, trying to keep up. During this mess, the righteous and the wicked somehow banded together, fleeing death and fighting it, and separating them became too cumbersome a task.

The red harlot had fallen in love with the dragon, and they were sleeping together now, next to the fake messiah and the failed one, under the warm blanket of glowing dust. The beast was all alone, hiding in a cave somewhere, crying his eyes out like the little boy they taught him to be.

The last battle had to be postponed yet again. It was starting to get embarrassing.

After a long while the beast wiped away his tears, crawled out of the cave and looked straight at the sun. It failed to blind him.

“They’ll come back for me,” he said. “I know they will.”



After part 4

In the heart of the elf lands there lies a hidden underground fortress, a relic of the dead civilisation, a well-preserved piece of arcane culture lost forever. Only a few know of its location; it’s one of the best-kept secrets of the Council. The wisest elfish sages spent their entire lives in the depths of the fortress, studying the mysteries of the ancients, piecing together what knowledge they could decipher.

The current Head of Research was a little controversial, but everybody had to agree he was making great progress. Also, nobody wanted to speak against a wizard of his calibre.

The wizard jiggled the card inside the slot, frowned at the monitor and turned the computer off. Latest batch of components was mainly damaged goods, but that had to be expected. The idiot mob had torn beautifully crafted machines apart, played with parts like with marbles, and restoring it all wasn’t going to be easy. He switched on the sauntering iron, leaned back in his chair and decided to read while the tools were warming up.

The notes he found recently were fascinating. He read and reread them, giggling to himself.

“Oh, Tadashi, so clever,” he muttered, “How did you figure out so much, with your small human brain, with no comprehension of magic…”

The alarm went off, and he glanced up at the monitor.

The elf, the halfbreed and the boy didn’t interest him, but the priest could be kept alive. He'd always wanted to know how exactly humans could channel magic, and the facility had a medlab he could use, as well as some sturdy holding cells.

“Wielding divine power my ass,” he snickered, picking up his weapons. “Gods may exist, of course, but it doesn’t mean I have to believe in them.”

Somewhere, a deity nodded:

“That’s probably wise.”

Comments

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oh, squeeeee! The part 2 one is adorable - Todd's own aerobics show! Holden's books! I wonder if Eugene goes to wake Holden up one day?

The Good Omens one is amazing, funny and painful and just so good - I love it. The last one hurts too, but I get the feeling some divine intervention may be on its way. Heh.

Thank you - these are just so enjoyable.