My Muse...is into fanfic...
So, I was trying to do NaNoWriMo last month, and it failed horribly until halfway through I started playing Overwatch again and I was introduced to the new tank, Sigma. Well, like most of my Special Interests, I started doing research on wikis and wading through fan art and all sorts, and a story came to mind that I started writing down that became my 1/5 attempt to NaNo. I didn’t make it, didn’t expect to, but my muse had returned...
And it had me writing fanfic.
This particular fanfic has Siebren having a family, and the POV centers around either him or his granddaughter. I’ll leave one of my more recent scenes if any other in the Tumblrverse is interested. If I generate some interest, I might post more, but as it is horribly fragmented at the moment, it’ll be a slow process.
Apologies for not putting under cut. I only have access to mobile right now.
They walked along, enjoying each other’s company, a few precious moments away from their four-year-old son, Ravi. One of Selene’s coworkers had been gracious enough to take him for the night so they could have an actual “date night”, something they hadn’t had since he was born. Their breath came out in great puffs from the cold, but neither cared. The gardens at Christmas had always been special for them: the first true off-campus date they had, then Siebren walking in freezing temps with a frozen knee from asking for her hand in marriage, culminating in their wedding at noon on Christmas Day.
Street musicians serenaded, children giggled and yelled and ran, chasing the snowflakes that had begun to fall again.
The young couple purchased a cup of cocoa each before walking over to an empty bench, Siebren brushing the seat clean with his scarf, folding it and placing it down on the wood so Selene could sit. She sat, and when he did, she leaned over and kissed his lips. They sat and people-watched until Selene wrapped her arms around one of his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Are you happy?” she asked, voice hardly loud enough to hear over the noise, but she knew he heard her; he always heard her, even if he wasn’t fully paying attention to what she said.
“Happier than you can imagine. They couldn’t put words or notes to express, nor equations to quantify how happy I am. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing big, really. I was just asking.”
He nodded, kissed the top of her head, and took a sip of cocoa before returning to people-watching, chuckling as children attempted to play fetch with their dog, the poor thing losing the snow “ball” in the piles on either side of the sidewalk.
“How many stars are in a binary system again?”
“Two,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Bi means two. Surely you learned that in elementary school.”
“I did.”
A return to sipping and sightseeing, broken again by Selene.
“I was wondering if you were able to get days off from your lab and your teaching assignments yet.”
Siebren adjusted his position so he faced his wife entirely. “I’ve had days off available since I started. Are you attempting to hint at something that I’m clearly missing?”
She laughed. “As badly as that poor dog is missing that the ball they’re throwing is made of the same stuff he’s crunching through.” She kissed him, lips soft, the feeling briefly warming their chilled skin. “Do you think Ravi would like a little brother or sister?”
“Oh, I suppose not at first, but I’m sure it’ll…” he stared at her blankly, realization filling his eyes, a nervous laugh escaping. “Are you? Really?”
“The campus doctor confirmed it at lunchtime. Don’t be mad at me for waiting this long to tell you.”
“Mad? As a hatter! Positively delirious!” He pulled her close and kissed her, a long, lingering kiss. “That’s wonderful news! Two!” He jumped to standing, climbing up onto the bench, arms stretched wide. “I’m going to be a father! Again!”
Many shouts of “congratulations!” and various blessings came from everyone around them, Siebren bouncing off of the bench, wrapping his arms around Selene, pulling her up with him and twirled around. “Another son!”
“Or daughter,” she proposed as he set her back down.
“Or daughter,” he conceded. “Do they have a due date yet?”
“Siebren! I just got it confirmed! I haven’t been to the OB/GYN yet!”
“I’m sorry.” He simply stared at her, grinning from ear to ear.
They sat there, discussing various things, from names to colors to if they should have the new baby share a room with Ravi when they were older, before the cold finally won and they started walking to the car.
Explosions rocked the air, shattering the streetlights above. Siebren quickly threw himself over Selene, brushing glass shards out of her hair as they stood. He told her to stay put while he walked out to the street, seemingly the epicenter of the chaos.
A second explosion sent the crowd rushing back into the park, he trying and failing to move any further towards the street. He used his height to his advantage, catching glimpses of moving machinery marching closer.
Omnics.
He had heard on the news that several cities had been attacked by the “sentient” machines, casualties numbering in the hundreds before that battle was silenced, only to have another one break out a country away. But that would never happen here…
Until now.
He turned back to the park, trying to force his way back to where he had left her. “Selene!” He spun around. Had he gotten pushed off course by the stampede of frightened citizens?
“Siebren!”
Behind him. He spun on his heels and forded through the throng, stooping to help up a child and hand her to her hysterical mother—
Automatic fire. Machine guns.
He dropped to an awkward crouch as the chaos swelled, his forward progress agonizingly slow.
“Selene!”
No answer.
Or was there, her voice simply lost in the discord, his exceptional hearing unable to filter out anything in the din of shrieks and gunfire?
“Selene!” he tried again.
Still nothing.
The crowd thinned enough to where he could see the bench they had just been sitting at, a shadow on the ground not far away. He ran forward, foot catching on a discarded backpack, he scrambled forward on all fours, fingers numb when he finally reached her. “Selene!” He pulled off a soaked emerald glove with his teeth, checked her over, hand coming back covered in crimson. “Selene, stay with me!”
“I was thinking of something maritime based this time for names,” she stated, unaware of her wounds.
“No, that’s good, that’s good. What were you thinking, exactly?” His eyes searched in vain for someone in uniform. They were too far away from the street, no one would reach them in time.
“I was thinking…maybe a split room. At first. Then give them…space…” Her breath came in labored gulps, growing more shallow by the moment.
He used his gloved hand to try and push away the tears in his eyes, to keep them from freezing his eyes shut. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Selene. But I need you to stay here. I need you with me.”
Flashing lights. Sirens.
“Over here!” he bellowed. “Help! She’s been shot! Help me!”
“Siebren?”
He looked down at her, beautiful blue eyes somehow closer to gray. “Yes, Selene?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. I love you more than the stars in the sky. Don’t go.”
“I’m not going anywhere…” she said with a smile. Her chest rose and fell one last time.
“Selene!” He shook her. “Selene!” He rested his forehead against hers.
The light in her eyes…it was gone.
He stayed knelt over her, believing that his own failing body heat would inspire hers to return. His head slid off of hers into the snow, he finishing the motion, coming to rest in the snow beside her. He wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her close.
There.
Together in the snow. How he had always suspected it would be. Together.
Ravi.
For his son. He had to.
He pushed himself to sitting as boots crunched through the snow towards them.
“Stardust to stardust…”
