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moogle_workshop2011-07-22 07:21 am
Without Words [Fic]
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mako_lies Class: White Mage
Title: Without Words
Summary: Maqui remembers the Purge all too well. Minor spoilers for the entire game.
Characters/Pairings: Yuj/Maqui
Word count: 489
Rating/warnings: PG-13 (for violence and PTSD)
Yuj comes in at about midnight and sits on the bed beside him. “Maqui?” he asks quietly, “You okay?”
Without a word, Maqui leans into Yuj, and Yuj reaches up to gently stroke his hair. Somewhere outside, another shot goes off and Maqui flinches, a choked breath leaving him as fast as it can—
(He can remember her face, blood-splattered and eyes still staring. Her kid sat down beside her, sobbing, clinging to her limp hand, “Mommy! Mommy, wake up, please wake up!” and he’d lunged, tried to pull the boy away, but PSICOM bullets had beaten him there, and the kid had fallen, mid-sob, mouth still open, and there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do.)
“It’s okay,” Yuj murmurs, exhausted, because he hasn’t slept in days, trying to make sure Maqui’s safe.
But they haven’t let up; those civilians from New Eden still come here trying to get rid of everyone here, even though Snow and the others aren’t L’Cie anymore. No one really seems to care, just looking for someone to blame for Cocoon’s crash landing. They hear Lightning’s gunblade fire and then all is silent.
Maqui turns his face away from Yuj and shuts his eyes tight—
(The gun had leveled at him—panic, oh, oh, shit, panic—and fired and there’d been this horrible second of nothingness, where he knew what was coming but it hadn’t quite gotten there yet, and then fiery pain ow, and then everything had spun out, till emptiness.)
There are no more gunshots outside of Maqui’s mind, but he reaches his hand up and traces over his scar, feels it catch against the rough cloth of his shirt. Yuj pulls him tighter and rocks him and tightens his grip in Maqui’s hair, pulling, but it feels good, feels like companionship, and Maqui remembers what being alone felt like, felt like pain and sorrow and loss and bullets. Sleep comes dragging and haunting, until his eyes are half-lidded and his forehead’s resting on Yuj’s shoulder, and Yuj is murmuring words that don’t make much sense, but are probably really sweet and reassuring, because he’s always been that good.
(Waking up after being shot had been a world of fire and confusion, but Yuj and Lebreau and Gadot had been there, all of them with worried eyes but smiling mouths. “Glad to see you,” they’d said, and that had been more real than anything before or since.)
When he wakes, his head’s on Yuj’s lap and Yuj is dozing, leaning against the headboard. His eyes snap open when Maqui tries to move and he murmurs, “No one was hurt.”
And sometimes, Maqui wishes that didn’t mean that no one from New Eden was hurt as well, because then maybe people would get the message and leave them alone. But they won’t ever understand, because blame and anger are easier than adaptation, and bullets get meaning across in far fewer words.
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POINTS
~I love this fic...it was quite touching. There's a tenseness to the story, but as was said above my comment I really liked that how the idea of safety's embrace was covered in the fic. It's always great to see more Team Nora-centric fics: Maqui was written really well here, as was Yuj! Great job, as always. ♥
Re: POINTS