grav_ity: (declan - making hay while the sun shines)
[personal profile] grav_ity
AN: Best thing about Sanctuary stories? Writing them out of order. This fits in with the rest of Long Road Home, Begin Again and Enter Athene.

Spoilers: Into the Black

Disclaimer: Not mine, donate to S4K

Rating: Teen

Characters/Pairing: Declan Macrae, James Watson, implied James/Declan

Summary: The whole first year after James’s death, Declan feels like he is being haunted.

+++

To The Letter

The whole first year after James’s death, Declan feels like he is being haunted. He finds notes everywhere, letters from beyond. It’s not that James doesn’t trust him, it’s just that he’s insufferably meddlesome, and wants things run his way even after he’s died. Declan discovers instructions written in James’s clear hand tucked into every corner of the lab, observations written in a cramped, but no less efficient script, lacing the margins of the scientific journals in the library, and a whole series of coded notes it takes him four months to decrypt in the wine cellar, during which time some sort of alarm mechanism prevents anyone from entering the room at all (and traps the resident muris pulchrum so that the staff have to feed the poor creatures by throwing bread and cheese through the laser grid).

After a while, the volume of letters peters out, and Declan has to admit it makes him a bit sad, like even the pieces James left behind are leaving him. Still, he finds something new every other week or so as he reorganzies and archives and digitizes more than a century’s worth of records. Occasionally, he finds things James wrote that are not work related at all, involving neither creatures nor medicine nor murder. Some he feels guilty for having read, as they are clearly meant to be private, but there are more than a few he thinks James might have written to him, even if they were never sent. It’s the ones intended for Ashley that truly break his heart, though, and Declan hasn’t the nerve to forward them to Magnus.

He gets the letter about the dragon egg, and then there is nothing for months. He didn’t mourn very much in public, of course, and it feels dissonant to channel grief for someone as industrious as James into anything so unproductive as reading old notes by lamplight. So he does his best to forget (once he frees the fairy mice, of course, and gets back into the wine cellar). There’s plenty to do, after all, and it isn’t until after Carentan, when he finds himself left sleepless by thoughts of the past and the messages it can’t send, that he turns to the messages again.

At first they are as patternless as he first thought, left randomly around the Sanctuary for anyone to find. Except, he realizes, he’s the only person who ever found them. They were always in places that he was first to look. James cannot predict the future, but Declan has to admit that there are few people who have ever known him better, and it’s possible that James reasoned out where to put the letters so that Declan and Declan alone would find them.

There has to be a reason why. James did, on occasion, do things with no purpose behind them, but Declan didn’t think that extended to actions after his own demise. There must be something else. So he goes back to poking in corners, picking places he thinks James might have guessed he picked, and trying not to think too much about relative causality because he doesn’t need the headache on top of everything else.

He gets his answer on a day when the world is coming apart at the seams. He finds the letter in James’s sitting room, under his pipe in the box on the mantlepiece. Declan has been meaning to clean it out, but he hasn’t yet because once he does he’s not sure where he’ll go to think. He doesn’t know who keeps the dust cleared off of James’s knick-knacks (though he has his suspicions), and he pretends not to notice that more and more of James’s belongings seem to siphon themselves out of the room, taken by those who loved him as much as Declan had, though not always in the same way.

He’s only meant to go in for a moment, just to collect his thoughts and figure out what he’s going to do next. There isn’t much he can accomplish here in London, but he’s been on and off the phone with various government organizations all day, and that makes him feel he ought to be doing something. He just needs a moment to figure out what that is.

His phone vibrates as he reaches for the pipe box, not for any real reason, but just because the smell will remind him of quieter days. He flips the latch and his phone goes off again. By the time he’s holding the pipe, by the time he sees the small, yellowed piece of paper in the bottom of the box, his phone is humming as new messages constantly fly in.

He checks the list. Henry, Whitehall, Will, Will, Will, something about plate tectonics and then Will again. He unfolds the paper as he selects Henry’s message. Something about a volcano, but his attention is on the page, not the screen. Helen will be back, it says. Don’t let them panic.

When Henry calls moments later, frantic, Declan is calm and collected.

+++

finis

Note: Thank you, Declan, for ensuring that James is going to be part of this story. *head desk*

Gravity_Not_Included, June 23, 2011

Date: 2011-06-23 08:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jemster.livejournal.com
Very nice. Loved the ending. Someone needs to be the level-headed one in the Snctuary Network once Helen is slightly delayed coming back.

Date: 2011-06-23 08:25 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (declan - making hay while the sun shines)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
In my head, she's about an hour out at this point. She just has to make sure she doesn't overlap. ;)

Thank you! I wasn't sure if it would just be a tag or if it would be part of the series, but apparently James has plans. *sighs*

Date: 2011-06-23 09:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] artaxastra.livejournal.com
Oh James! You've thought of everything!

(Hey, what if they bring James forward from the past to after his own death....)

Date: 2011-06-23 09:09 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (declan learned this from sherlock holmes)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
As much as I am generally against two way time travel, I would be a fan of that. Double standards, I have them. ;)

Yeah, James decided he wanted to be part of this (and sneakily too! Using Declan as bait like that. What's a girl to do?), but I think his involvement will still be very, very minimal. Fortunately he can work with that.

Thanks for reviewing (and reading the last one first! Oh, time travel! How you do go on!).

Date: 2011-06-23 09:55 pm (UTC)
lferion: (HL_Methos_MGift_Shadows)
From: [personal profile] lferion
I love this a whole lot. I'm loving this whole series a lot.

Date: 2011-06-23 10:53 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (declan - making hay while the sun shines)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Thank you! I am having fun. :)

Date: 2011-06-24 12:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] darthanne.livejournal.com
So typically James and I love the way that he is a part of this :)

Date: 2011-06-24 12:10 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (elementary my dear...oh shut up)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Thank you! He did sort of worm his way in. I'm not really surprised. ;)

Date: 2011-06-24 03:37 am (UTC)
shadadukal: (SFA : Nikola & Kansas State Glee Club)
From: [personal profile] shadadukal
I'm confused as to whether it was James or Helen who wrote the letters. Because you didn't have Helen meet anyone, so it would feel strange that it was James. But maybe there is something I didn't catch.

But yes, Declan needs to be involved. I've felt Will and Henry were saying too much to Lee and Villanova and should have been calling House Heads instead.

Date: 2011-06-24 03:56 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (helen - on the side)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
James sent all the notes and letters except the dragon one, which James wrote in "Chasing the Dragon" and Helen mailed just before "Chasing the Dragon...Again". Helen hasn't met James yet (from her end. From Declan's she obviously has). This is series is written out of order, so the next installment will come after "Enter Athene" and before this. This section is probably the last part (chronologically), but since we already know how it ends, I don't have to do it in order.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJfK-xU8oc0&feature=related>Timey whimey, goes ding when there's stuff</a>. ;)

Date: 2011-06-24 04:01 am (UTC)
shadadukal: (SFA : Nikola anticipatory smile)
From: [personal profile] shadadukal
Yeah, I figured the dragon one was from Helen seeing as you mentioned it in one of the other fics. I thought you weren't going to have rerun Helen meet with any of the Five in the past though; that's why I was confused.

Date: 2011-06-24 04:04 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (james - serious business goggles)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Well I hadn't planned on it, but I think she needs to run into at least one of them once, and briefly, and James is the most likely to put it all together with the least amount of information (and also Declan decided to do this fic, which sort of took the decision out of my hands). I have a few other "near miss" ideas up my sleeve...but that would be telling. ;)

Date: 2011-06-24 04:10 am (UTC)
shadadukal: (SFA : Nikola at Oxford)
From: [personal profile] shadadukal
Well, you know that I think James is the worst of them she could speak to, John expected obviously. ;)

Oh well, I have all summer to write my own fic. Deadline should be similar to the one for [livejournal.com profile] sfa_bigbang. Doable.

Date: 2011-06-24 04:12 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (Default)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Out of curiosity, why?

I'm not sure they'll talk. We'll see.

Date: 2011-06-24 04:18 am (UTC)
shadadukal: (SFA : Nikola awakening)
From: [personal profile] shadadukal
I think James would think he can see and understand all of everything to change things for the better, control the outcome, because of his ability. Whereas Nigel would be all "I'm not getting involved in this crazy stuff. Leave me out of it" and just carry on with his life (though he might help with something if she asked). And Nikola could be persuaded to do as Helen says because he has some kind of blind faith in her, despite their arguments at time.

Date: 2011-06-24 04:21 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (Default)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
See, that's why I'm reasonably sure Nigel will be the actual help, and James will be more of a "Wait, why did a b and c happen? Therefore, d." without actually being told anything directly. And let's face it...there's no way I am going to be able to resist Nikola.

(But honestly, I am most looking forward to writing random behind the scenes things, one of which I'm so proud of I think I might burst and that is all I'm saying!)

Date: 2011-06-24 04:31 am (UTC)
shadadukal: (SFA : Nikola back awakening)
From: [personal profile] shadadukal
I'm afraid James would go one step further and think "If we change A, then E will happen, and E is better than D, so let's do this."

But I understand the lure of having Helen running into people.

Date: 2011-06-24 04:36 am (UTC)
ext_1358: (Default)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Honestly, I'm just making it up as I go along. None of what I've just said might end up happening. :)

Date: 2011-06-30 03:47 am (UTC)
ext_2131: picture of a fish with lots of green (Default)
From: [identity profile] holdouttrout.livejournal.com
Ooooh. That is so fabulous and cryptic and wonderful! :-)

Date: 2011-06-30 12:51 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (Default)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Being Cryptic is probably my favourite part about this series! I can't wait until my feet are on the ground again and I can poke at the four (or five) next parts...:)

Date: 2011-08-30 04:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] death-ofme.livejournal.com
Really, really lovely. I was just watching Endless Nights 1 and thinking about what it must have been like for Declan to be Watson's protege. I love the idea of Watson leaving him all these clues and letters (every bit Holmes even post-humously!), and this is ends with such an impact of "ISN'T THERE MORE??!!!" haha.

Date: 2011-08-30 05:49 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (declan learned this from sherlock holmes)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
I really, really hadn't planned on James. Or Declan, really. And yet. ;)

But yes, there is more! Even though this one is chronologically last (uh, so far), it still fits in, all pieces of the puzzle.

Time Travel! Who knew?

Date: 2011-09-11 10:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] querulouspeg.livejournal.com
Cool! Love it. Love the bittersweetness of finding the letters and the way you get across the enigma that is/was The Five.

Date: 2011-09-11 11:33 pm (UTC)
ext_1358: (declan - making hay while the sun shines)
From: [identity profile] grav-ity.livejournal.com
Yeah, this one pretty much guaranteed "Hazy Shade of Winter", which is my favourite so far! :)

Profile

grav_ity: (Default)
gravity.not.included

October 2022

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
910111213 1415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 21st, 2025 06:42 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios