Fic: Litany of the Fallen (Spooks)
20 Feb 2013 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritTitle: Litany of the Fallen
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 433
Characters/Pairings: Spooks ensemble
Notes/Warnings: angst, refs to canon character death; SPOILERS for the whole series. Spooks being Spooks.
Summary: There’s always a price that they pay.
Forbrunhilde_1013 in the 500 Prompts Meme - #395 The bitterness of mortality & Spooks ensemble. (There was no way this was going to be cheerful. Major SPOILERS for the entire series. Click on the cut at your peril if you've not seen the show.)
***
There’s always a price that they pay, those that survive and those that don’t. For those that do, it’s in a hundred small ways, and in that list of names nobody needs up on the wall when it’s engraved on their minds. Life goes on, relentlessly, and that’s a victory for the team in itself.
Harry wonders, though, sometimes, if their reward is to know how to value the moments of pleasure, or belonging more than others, if ordinary existence is both sweeter and sharper in consequence.
Even if that may be true, the litany of the fallen never ends.
***
Tom is formed from a substance that grows brittle and shatters when placed under pressure. The pieces of his life – lives – and legends fall by the wayside. What’s broken can be mended, but it’s never the same again.
***
Zoe’s leaving is a literal flight from a cage, but it’s also an irony – everyone’s happy ending at the cost of nothing but all that she is. She hardly knows how to breathe again when she makes the escape, but she thinks she might be lucky after all; she thinks she can learn.
***
Danny’s final moment is a gift. He ends with a gesture of defiance in the name of love and friendship – and civilisation, in the hope that it exists. Maybe, though, he takes more with him than he gives.
***
They fall, and they fall: Fiona, drawing Adam after her, slowly but surely, together in love and death. Colin without mercy; Zaf stolen away. Jo doing what must be done and asking what should never be asked. Tariq and Ben to betrayal, always the hardest to bear. Lucas isn’t here even before he leaves; he never has been.
***
Ros is the one who cheats death, plays goddess of the underworld, but it’s not a trick they let you get away with twice. She’s always known that, she isn’t surprised.
***
Connie knows all the rules inside out – and she knows how to break them. She’s what they all become in the end, those that survive, isn’t she? She’s not the only one. This is how it ends: death is better than the lie of life and its betrayal.
***
Ruth practices death before she tries it. She’s never sure she’ll get things right. But, as it turns out, death is easy; it was life that was always so complicated.
***
It doesn’t stop, Harry knows, though he stands and survives for the moment. There’s always a price that they pay, those of them that survive, and those that don’t.
***
Author:
lost_spookRating: All ages
Word Count: 433
Characters/Pairings: Spooks ensemble
Notes/Warnings: angst, refs to canon character death; SPOILERS for the whole series. Spooks being Spooks.
Summary: There’s always a price that they pay.
For
brunhilde_1013 in the 500 Prompts Meme - #395 The bitterness of mortality & Spooks ensemble. (There was no way this was going to be cheerful. Major SPOILERS for the entire series. Click on the cut at your peril if you've not seen the show.)***
There’s always a price that they pay, those that survive and those that don’t. For those that do, it’s in a hundred small ways, and in that list of names nobody needs up on the wall when it’s engraved on their minds. Life goes on, relentlessly, and that’s a victory for the team in itself.
Harry wonders, though, sometimes, if their reward is to know how to value the moments of pleasure, or belonging more than others, if ordinary existence is both sweeter and sharper in consequence.
Even if that may be true, the litany of the fallen never ends.
Tom is formed from a substance that grows brittle and shatters when placed under pressure. The pieces of his life – lives – and legends fall by the wayside. What’s broken can be mended, but it’s never the same again.
Zoe’s leaving is a literal flight from a cage, but it’s also an irony – everyone’s happy ending at the cost of nothing but all that she is. She hardly knows how to breathe again when she makes the escape, but she thinks she might be lucky after all; she thinks she can learn.
Danny’s final moment is a gift. He ends with a gesture of defiance in the name of love and friendship – and civilisation, in the hope that it exists. Maybe, though, he takes more with him than he gives.
They fall, and they fall: Fiona, drawing Adam after her, slowly but surely, together in love and death. Colin without mercy; Zaf stolen away. Jo doing what must be done and asking what should never be asked. Tariq and Ben to betrayal, always the hardest to bear. Lucas isn’t here even before he leaves; he never has been.
Ros is the one who cheats death, plays goddess of the underworld, but it’s not a trick they let you get away with twice. She’s always known that, she isn’t surprised.
Connie knows all the rules inside out – and she knows how to break them. She’s what they all become in the end, those that survive, isn’t she? She’s not the only one. This is how it ends: death is better than the lie of life and its betrayal.
Ruth practices death before she tries it. She’s never sure she’ll get things right. But, as it turns out, death is easy; it was life that was always so complicated.
It doesn’t stop, Harry knows, though he stands and survives for the moment. There’s always a price that they pay, those of them that survive, and those that don’t.
***
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no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Feb 2013 06:52 pm (UTC)Ros as a goddess of the underworld - I absolutely love that image. And she is, really. She's half-dead from the moment she comes back, and now I have all these Persephone ideas swimming around in my head and it's just perfect.
And then Ruth, my Ruth, my beautiful Ruth - every single word of that was *just right* and I actually teared up reading it.
In a way, Spooks is more tragic than a lot of the overtly emotional shows. It pulls you in with the promise of intrigue, and then it breaks your heart. Repeatedly. And this was beautiful :)
no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:27 pm (UTC)And then Ruth, my Ruth, my beautiful Ruth
Ruth... ♥ (Sorry. Can't help it. RUTH.)
Oh, I think Spooks is just about the most tragic show I know, really.
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Date: 20 Feb 2013 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Feb 2013 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Feb 2013 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Feb 2013 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2013 12:44 pm (UTC)Basically this is perfect and I love you forever, the end.
no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2013 05:04 pm (UTC)