For allbingo
Dec. 28th, 2019 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Patchwork
Summary: An exercise in resurrection.
Prompt: Resurrection
Author’s Notes: Warning for some gory details. I’ll be getting back to fic as well; I’m just pacing myself.
Neil wasn’t an expert at this. He knew as much. If anything, the process of reconstructing the body of the woman that he loved wasn’t a perfect one. The limbs that she had lost in the accident, for example, reconstructing bits and pieces of skin. Modern technology could be miraculous, he couldn’t help but think. It could do things that far in the past, in the Middle Ages, people could not do.
They’d tried to talk him out of it. Said that playing God wasn’t in his domain. Neil couldn’t say he cared, really. There was an emptiness where Carol had been, and he wasn’t about to just let it fester. Especially when that accident was his fault in the first place.
He thought of malfunctioning equipment, flashes of blinding light. The accident that had required him to get artificial implants. Metal in his skin. He thought, absently, of how Obi-Wan Kenobi had described Darth Vader. He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil... Of course, Neil thought, Obi-Wan was always a fucking asshole.
And speaking of Star Wars references, there was something Vader-esque about how he was reconstructing Carol. Metal limbs. Skin grafts. Reconstructing bits of hair that had been lost in the explosion. Anyone who looked at the body would be repulsed, but Neil couldn’t say he cared. It was Carol, after all. He would love her, no matter what.
Eventually, the project was done. Neil, tired, scrubbed at his eyes. He could already feel tiredness settling over him all too well, like a shroud. Coffee. He needed coffee. He couldn’t leave the creation though. Not really.
Starting up the machine was just a flick of a switch. Neil almost wondered if shouting, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” was appropriate. But the woman on the table wasn’t an “it”, but a she. Carol. His wife. His partner in his many instances of foolishness.
Carol’s body convulsed. For a moment, just a horrifying moment, Neil thought that the pieces of metal were going to shoot off, dislodge. But they didn’t. And when Carol’s eyes opened...
Dear God, her eyes... There was something so wrong in them. Like she had seen things, somewhere far beyond, that no one else should see. The wonders of the afterlife? The horrors? Both?
She sat up, looked at him. Neil was aware that she was naked, but what would normally be a source of arousal had a highly unsettling effect, especially with her metal implants, everything that seemed like patchwork. She seemed more like a patchwork human than anything else. Neil supposed he’d get better at this. Fixing people. He’d gotten into this business out of a desire to fix people, fix the galaxy. It wasn’t like they were good at fixing themselves.
“Neil.” It was Carol’s voice, confused, bewildered. “Where am I?”
“The lab,” Neil said. His voice cracked. “Carol, sweetheart, you’re home...”
“Home from where?”
Neil paused. How could he possibly explain to a woman of science what just happened? “I got it right,” he finally said. “I...there was that explosion, but I got it right. It works this time.”
Carol paused. Then, "I remember. That flash of light..." She swallowed. “So you reversed what happened?”
A nod from Neil.
“You could have just left me. Meddling with life and death...”
“Why not?” Neil said. “If I could do it with you, who knows how many others I can do it with? I mean, mothers who lost their children young. Victims of suicides. Anyone! We went into this process to make people better.”
“They won’t come back unchanged.” Carol paused. “I’ve seen things, Neil. So many things. Monsters...twisted red monsters. Time loops. They’re all in my head.” A beat. "I know my body’s not the same...”
“I won’t love you any less for it,” Neil said. “Truly.”
There was a sadness in Carol’s smile. "They’ll come for you,” she said. “Some barriers can’t be broken.”
"Let them come.”
And somehow, Neil thought, he wondered if he’d gotten in over his head.
Summary: An exercise in resurrection.
Prompt: Resurrection
Author’s Notes: Warning for some gory details. I’ll be getting back to fic as well; I’m just pacing myself.
Neil wasn’t an expert at this. He knew as much. If anything, the process of reconstructing the body of the woman that he loved wasn’t a perfect one. The limbs that she had lost in the accident, for example, reconstructing bits and pieces of skin. Modern technology could be miraculous, he couldn’t help but think. It could do things that far in the past, in the Middle Ages, people could not do.
They’d tried to talk him out of it. Said that playing God wasn’t in his domain. Neil couldn’t say he cared, really. There was an emptiness where Carol had been, and he wasn’t about to just let it fester. Especially when that accident was his fault in the first place.
He thought of malfunctioning equipment, flashes of blinding light. The accident that had required him to get artificial implants. Metal in his skin. He thought, absently, of how Obi-Wan Kenobi had described Darth Vader. He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil... Of course, Neil thought, Obi-Wan was always a fucking asshole.
And speaking of Star Wars references, there was something Vader-esque about how he was reconstructing Carol. Metal limbs. Skin grafts. Reconstructing bits of hair that had been lost in the explosion. Anyone who looked at the body would be repulsed, but Neil couldn’t say he cared. It was Carol, after all. He would love her, no matter what.
Eventually, the project was done. Neil, tired, scrubbed at his eyes. He could already feel tiredness settling over him all too well, like a shroud. Coffee. He needed coffee. He couldn’t leave the creation though. Not really.
Starting up the machine was just a flick of a switch. Neil almost wondered if shouting, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” was appropriate. But the woman on the table wasn’t an “it”, but a she. Carol. His wife. His partner in his many instances of foolishness.
Carol’s body convulsed. For a moment, just a horrifying moment, Neil thought that the pieces of metal were going to shoot off, dislodge. But they didn’t. And when Carol’s eyes opened...
Dear God, her eyes... There was something so wrong in them. Like she had seen things, somewhere far beyond, that no one else should see. The wonders of the afterlife? The horrors? Both?
She sat up, looked at him. Neil was aware that she was naked, but what would normally be a source of arousal had a highly unsettling effect, especially with her metal implants, everything that seemed like patchwork. She seemed more like a patchwork human than anything else. Neil supposed he’d get better at this. Fixing people. He’d gotten into this business out of a desire to fix people, fix the galaxy. It wasn’t like they were good at fixing themselves.
“Neil.” It was Carol’s voice, confused, bewildered. “Where am I?”
“The lab,” Neil said. His voice cracked. “Carol, sweetheart, you’re home...”
“Home from where?”
Neil paused. How could he possibly explain to a woman of science what just happened? “I got it right,” he finally said. “I...there was that explosion, but I got it right. It works this time.”
Carol paused. Then, "I remember. That flash of light..." She swallowed. “So you reversed what happened?”
A nod from Neil.
“You could have just left me. Meddling with life and death...”
“Why not?” Neil said. “If I could do it with you, who knows how many others I can do it with? I mean, mothers who lost their children young. Victims of suicides. Anyone! We went into this process to make people better.”
“They won’t come back unchanged.” Carol paused. “I’ve seen things, Neil. So many things. Monsters...twisted red monsters. Time loops. They’re all in my head.” A beat. "I know my body’s not the same...”
“I won’t love you any less for it,” Neil said. “Truly.”
There was a sadness in Carol’s smile. "They’ll come for you,” she said. “Some barriers can’t be broken.”
"Let them come.”
And somehow, Neil thought, he wondered if he’d gotten in over his head.
