Fic: Another blink in time - Prologue

[anarion]

And LJ gets another entry that starts with 'This is all verity's fault!' :D
Seriously though, it is! I had this thought for a story in my mind and she said I should write it. I had no idea how to start and then she showed me the beautiful 'dreamboy' picture from Br0-Harry and said she wished someone would write it's story. And suddenly the muse started poking me and here we are.
In fact it's apparently twice your fault, sweetie! ;)


Title: Another blink in time
Author: anarion
Words: 749
Warnings: angst, dark thoughts
Pairings : Sherlock/John eventually
Beta: the wonderful verityburns
Disclaimer: Sadly the characters are not mine and no money is made (that would be sooo cool!).



John never woke up. Oh, he slept and he drifted in and out of sleep at the appropriate times (i.e. evenings and mornings) but he never felt awake. It was as if some part of him was asleep, refusing to wake because it hadn’t been activated yet or wasn’t needed. But that couldn’t be. You cannot walk through 30+ years of your life with a part of you sleeping, can you?

John never dreamt. Not once in his lifetime. Oh, he had daydreams and lifetime dreams. But he never dreamt at night. It was as if his subconscious was hiding something from him. He never told anyone, because when you tell people that you never ever dream, that your nights are just blank, they start looking at you in a strange way.

So that night in the desert, when John lay in his ranger grave and stared at the clear night sky with stars so bright and seemingly close to reach like you only find in a desert, that night he knew that it wasn’t a dream. Because John Watson did not dream. This was something else entirely.

Suddenly he felt a body pressed to his from chest to toe, a very warm and very naked body. A deep voice said, “There you are,” and John could feel the other’s breath ghost over his face before a soft kiss was pressed to his lips. He noticed that his hands were buried in soft curly hair which he couldn’t remember doing. But it felt good so he left them there. He could not really see the other man’s face, because he seemed to be made out of starlight, his pale skin sparkling and his features merged with the night sky. How could he be so warm when he was a piece of the starry night? The voice spoke again and John felt the words vibrating in his own chest. “I missed you.” He felt a forehead leaning onto his, hair caressing his brow and closed his eyes.




John always had the feeling that he was incomplete, that he was missing something, something other people had. He thought that something was wrong with him, had been his whole life. Maybe that’s why he never connected to people. Oh sure, they liked him. He was very likable. But no one ever came close. And he never showed them that he wished they would.
But right there in the desert in a foreign country holding a complete stranger in his arms, John Watson felt complete.

The stranger was kissing along John’s jaw now, which felt astonishingly good and his hands clutched John’s arm as if trying to pull him closer. When he was speaking again, his voice had a raw sound to it. “Soon,” he promised and, though John had no idea what he was talking about, he felt happy.

Then the atmosphere changed and the voice sounded sad, the whispered, “I’m sorry” was barely audible. John opened his mouth and spoke for the first time, “Why?” It came out broken and frightened. This must be how it feels to be in a nightmare, he thought. All at once a cold wind blew and made John shiver. But not as much as the next words he heard. “It will hurt this time.”

John’s eyes snapped open as he felt the fingers dig into his arm, he stared into piercing eyes for a few seconds and then he was suddenly alone again, the weight and the warmth gone and so was the night sky.

Instead there was heat and noise and blinding light and pain. Oh God, so much pain!
The sun was up, but John’s vision was blurred, there were people and he heard a cacophony of sounds, screams and gunfire. A hand pressed on his shoulder and it HURT. John tried to push the hand away without success and then thankfully everything went black.

Over the next days there was darkness, which was familiar, and there were flashes, pictures of people and scenes. Some of them John recognized, most of them he didn’t. It felt like watching other people’s lives drifting by. Underlying all of this was a realisation of what he had been missing all this time, but he couldn’t quite grasp it yet, it was barely out of reach.
When he opened his eyes the next time, he was in a hospital. And, he realized with a gasp, he was - for the first time in his whole life – awake.

______________________________________________________________

A.N. The original picture 'dreamboy' from the incredibly talented Br0-Harry can be found here on deviantart


First chapter here



.

Comments

[ledasdaughter.livejournal.com]

aww that's very pretty despite the angst...or maybe because of it :)

and it's obuiously Verity's fault :D nearly everything grand is ;

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
Probably because of the angst (we are all very strange *lol*)

[verityburns.livejournal.com]

Oy! What's all this with the 'fault' thing? There is no fault... I'll take credit for introducing you to the awesome Vitamin String Quartet though :D

Great beginning, my favourite line is still:

And he never showed them that he wished they would.

Waiting for more... xxx

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Patience my friend. :)

Have to wrestle with the summary first. Then comes chapter 3.

[verityburns.livejournal.com]

Patience? Hmm. Not something I've ever been noted for and - let me check... no, don't seem to have any lying around. Sorry. I'll just have to keep pestering you. It's a hard life :D

[selkie.livejournal.com]

Oh, this and the picture are quite beautiful!

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's very kind. :)

Have you seen Br0-Harry's other stuff on deviantart? She is amazing!

[jerel.livejournal.com]

I am very intrigued. I can't wait for the rest of this!

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Happy to intrigue! :)

There will be more soon!

[eightnoon.livejournal.com]

Lovely imagery. I wonder if John will ever dream.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Aaww, thank you!

Yeah, there might be dreams soon. *bounces*

[kristinaa1.livejournal.com]

I have to say I love your icon. Lol hilarious and totally my life *facepalm*

[anarion.livejournal.com]

It's the best icon ever! Nothing describes my life as perfect as that. ;)

[teatotaller.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of John getting a glimpse of what he's missing even though he didn't even know it. I really look forward to where this is going to go next.

[ellie_hell.livejournal.com]

Damn! I promised myself I wouldn't start reading another WIP, but there was something about the summary that forced me to click on the link, and then there was Br0-Harry's work and I knew there was no hope.

So beautiful! Beautiful, but with a hind of sadness. It reminds me of those days when you wake up antsy because you know something grand is coming, even if you can't explain what or why.

I'll just wait here with the other readers you hooked with your prologue. Because yeah, I'm already hooked.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *happy dance*

And don't fear, I will finish this.

Since I am hooked on your stories, I think that is only fair! :)

The summary btw is not mine, credit goes to my beta verityburns, because I suck at summaries. Big time!

[atlinmerrick.livejournal.com]

"There you are"
"I missed you"
"Soon"

Simple words and few and yet you packed them with so much power. This was just damned lovely. So lovely and so perfect with the image.

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Aaww, thank you so much! That is very sweet!

Chapter 1 will hopefully be up today.

[edelweisscradle.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I really like this. It's a really nice, if slightly creepy, way to set up their friendship/relationship (: me gusta!

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Well, hello new reader! :)
Where did you stumble upon this fic?

Glad that you liked the beginning, hope you will like the rest, too. :)

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

HOW DID I NOT COMMENT ON THIS WHEN I READ IT THE FIRST TIME?
HOW?
You don't know, of course, but here I am, all shouty at you.
THIS is damned good. I could have SWORN I commented. Obviously I am wonkybonkers. However, ditzy as I am, I enjoyed this immensely.

Now to investigate that shiny linky!
*does*

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Haha, I am glad you enjoyed it so much that you even read it twice!

I am still loving the prologue immensely. It was my first fic and I learned a lot since then, so I'd probably do a lot of things different if I wrote it now. But the prologue I still think is great. (Yes, I just blatantly praised my own stuff. *ahem* well, part of it.)

Thanks for the great and shouty comment! <3

[zevbaldwin.livejournal.com]

This picture always makes me excited! And now there's a story, great!

Re: Another blink in time - prologue

[disassembly_rsn]

The opening is particularly well done, I think. John never woke up. You set up the metaphor very nicely, that John can tell something about him has never been fully active and awake, but of course he can't tell *why*, because if he knew that he'd wake up. (That itself is a good analogy to dreaming, in my opinion.)

How could he be so warm when he was a piece of the starry night?

Nice phrase.

And it seems quite logical that a near-death experience would start to awaken the sleeping parts of John's memory.

Well done.

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

How did I miss commenting on this? OMG! I suck!
This is wonderfully done! Love Br0-Harry's art (of course).
<3

[anarion.livejournal.com]

Haha, how did you end up in this old story???