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realitymods ([personal profile] realitymods) wrote in [community profile] shifted_logs2010-07-13 12:00 am

The Seventh Match

Characters: Gene, Diva, Spectators
Location: The Coliseum.
Time: Two days after the last fights.
Summary: The seventh of the death matches.
Warnings: Character death warning.





Today, Weber had let in a visitor early. With his coffee cup balanced on the seat between them, he was all smooth smiles, a performance designed for one.

The Doctor wasn't happy with Weber, but his conversation with Ten reminded him that he still owed the man a cup of coffee. So he brought him one, and got right down to business. "Tried to find the Emperor, but he never showed up. Any tips? Or are you gonna point a revolver at my head for interfering?"

Weber startled. He almost dropped his cup. Then he drew his revolver, not to point it at the Doctor, but to aim for the head of the man in sable robes who had appeared behind the Doctor, the one known to Naminé merely as the king. Weber got to his feet. “My liege.”

The king returned the smile. “My liar.”

Weber’s gun hand was severed from his wrist in the flash of the king’s sword. Silver blood fell from the wound, but Weber didn’t hesitate. He was forward in a moment, his other hand swinging up for the king's face, but the king caught that and twisted, forcing Weber to the ground.

“Oh, your most glorious majesty.” There was no stopping Weber’s smile, even as he cradled his injured arm to his chest. “How the sight of you brings me to my knees.”

“Were it that you would learn your place there.” With Weber now held down, the king offered the Doctor a brief flicker of his attention. “Another victim, my liar?”

The Doctor rose from his seat—no, the Oncoming Storm rose from his seat. "Let him go. I'm nobody's victim, and neither is he." He stepped forward, placing a hand on Weber's shoulder. "This ends now, your Majesty. I gave you a chance, and you've lost it."

“Doctor, don’t—”

Weber’s shout was pointless. In a gesture too easy and too familiar, the king shoved his sword through the Doctor’s chest and twisted.

The Doctor gasped, both in surprise and pain. His jumper was stained with blood as he collapsed to the ground, and he knew he was dying again. "Time to be a real boy, Pinocchio," he whispered, only for Weber to hear.

The two immortals watched the Doctor die. Then the king drew a card from his robes. As the Doctor's body dissolved into nothing, so too did a gold bracelet on the king's wrist. He drew out another card. One of his gold rings thinned, almost imperceptible to anyone at a distance. The king released Weber and offered him his hand.

And Weber, with his now-regrown hand, took it, sweeping his fallen hat up from the floor and putting it back on his head. “The fight, my liege?”

“Of course.” The king took the Emperor's throne with the arrogance of born royalty. Obedient, the man in the silver-stained cravat sat at his king's side. They were decadence and dissonance, gold jewellery and black fabrics, one's clothing from the West, the other from the East. They had held thrones like these so many times before, and each fell easily into the familiar parts.

The king waved a callous hand. “Gene Hunt.”

Weber gave a sad smile. “Diva.”

The king said, “Get on with it.”

The sand in the hourglass fell, unable to reach the black and silver blood lingering beneath its frame.

[identity profile] madamemoiselle.livejournal.com 2010-07-17 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Diva didn't know the first thing about how to put out a fire other than water, but there wasn't any around. She suddenly regretted bringing only beer instead of water. She was in the dirt, trying to pile it on herself in a frenzy to put out the flame, but it wasn't stopped at all.

But she could still see Gene. She cried out for him, when he grabbed the blanket and let out another cry when she saw him stumble. The fire was agony, like every pain she'd ever been through had suddenly come back to her all at once. It was engulfing her, and she was afraid. The first time she had really, truly died, there wasn't any pain at all. She had crumbled into dust and had her time to say goodbyes. She wasn't afraid, then, because it hadn't hurt at all.

She couldn't stay standing, despite how quickly she had jumped up, and she crumbled in the dirt with her hand reaching out for Gene as she burned.

[identity profile] theguv.livejournal.com 2010-07-17 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
His feet felt like lead and every step sent stabbing pains through his chest, but Gene didn't care. He couldn't, because Diva was burning and he had to save someone. He couldn't let his team down, not now. Not ever.

How he managed to make it to her he didn't know, but Gene collapsed beside her, teeth gritted as he shoved the blanket over her, trying to pat out the flames. He could feel the heat through the fabric and sucked in a breath that lodged in his throat; he gagged, hacking up phlegm and blood and what looked like pieces of lung. Oh bloody hell.

"Always causing me trouble," he wheezed quietly, patting desperately at the flames. "Never did know when to quit, did you?"

[identity profile] madamemoiselle.livejournal.com 2010-07-17 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry, but now she couldn't help it. It was so hot, and she was begging it for it to be over in her mind, whatever over was. If she lived or if she died, it didn't matter because then it would be over.

She heard his words, but couldn't respond. It was hot to do that. It was like the fire was burning away all her thoughts, the tears on her cheeks and everything she could see. It was so hot.

And it was so funny, so she laughed. What else was there to do but laugh? She could feel the flames roasting her flesh. She couldn't bear it unless she was laughing, but she just cried more as she laughed, since it was impossible. She was immortal. She wasn't dying. And Gene was trying to save her. That was funny too, wasn't it?

I don't want to die. Not now, not when things were getting better. Not now, when Sam was back--oh, she hoped he wasn't watching. And she couldn't think about Gene, because it burned, it hurt and she was dying.

She couldn't laugh anymore. She could only scream with her dying breaths as her flesh cooked from a fire that wouldn't go away, no matter how much Gene tried to save her. There was a last breath crying out for help, and then--

It was cold.

And then it was nothing at all.

[identity profile] theguv.livejournal.com 2010-07-17 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
"No!" Gene yelled, watching as the flames licked through the blanket, as Diva's flesh cracked and smouldered. "I won't let you die!" He couldn't. He couldn't because Diva was part of his team and goddamnit if he let them down what good was he? But the flames weren't listening and his fingers were covered in blisters, red and angry and bubbling across his flesh like puss-filled sores.

The blanket was all but gone and Diva had fallen silent, leaving Gene alone, and he fell back, hacking and choking on his own blood. His vision blurred and he fought to stay conscious, turning his attention back to the emperor's box and the bastards sitting there. After a moment he couldn't see them, but Gene knew they were there and he kept his eyes trained on that spot until the hacking grew so bad he doubled over, clawing at the ground and his chest to stop the pain.

Blood covered his hands and the ground beneath him, pieces of gore smattered among the red stains. Gene stared, gaping like a fish out of water, until the darkness enveloped the world and, eventually, his thoughts, leaving him in blessed, painless silence.