It's
Wednesday which can only mean one thing: another Wednesday Brief! For now, this will be the last part of Constants and Variables that will be posted on this blog. I'll be taking some time to finish the whole beastie, edit it as one piece, and eventually link to it off-site. Look forward to the conclusion, and in the meanwhile, enjoy the newest island adventure of Desmond Hume!
Constants
and Variables (Part 7): LOST, Desmond
Hume-centric, PG-13, prompt - “The world is a circle without a
beginning, running out of time”
Canon
note: AU take on seasons five and six, with
an emphasis on Desmond Hume and Daniel Faraday. Endgame ships:
Desmond/Daniel, Juliet/Sawyer, Jack/Kate. Turns AU during the events
of "316". Spoilers for the entire series of LOST, mainly
the last two seasons. In these recent chapters, events will run
concurrent with the events of "Whatever Happened, Happened"
and "Dead Is Dead" in season five.
Plus:
Eloise Hawking gets a
scene in this one! Namaste!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Jacob!"
Desmond
turns over the blond man's body onto its back, hoping to find a sign
of life. He wonders how badly he's just possibly screwed all
possibilities of getting to the radio station and to finding Daniel.
Jacob's
eyes are closed and he looks like he's taking a nap, a long nap from
which he doesn't plan to wake. Desmond checks for a pulse, but the
body is unresponsive to his touch. He's reaching the limits of his
medical education. Should he do CPR? Does he have time?
He
decides that yes, he has time. Desmond places his hands in position
where Jacob's heart is located. "Come on, brotha, don't leave
just yet," he breathes. He locks his arms, ready to begin
resuscitation.
Before
Desmond can even make a move, Jacob's eyes open. "Surprise."
For a microscopic second that feels like eternity, his skin is the
color of the sun and life itself and his breath is the dust of time
escaping his lungs.
Jacob
blinks, the moment passes, and Desmond falls back onto his ass, eyes
as wide as the stones they were only moments ago chucking at the
barrier between civilization and jungle. "Bloody hell!" he
sputters. "You—you
were dead. Right?"
"Wrong."
Jacob stands, dusting himself off from the fall before helping
Desmond to his feet. "To be honest, you were the only one in
danger from being hurt from that fence coming on."
"So
you're—"
"Not
dead, but intense electric shock will knock me out for a few
seconds." Jacob shrugs. "It just can't kill me."
"Are
you a god?" Desmond asks.
Jacob
smiles. "I'll tell you when I figure it out."
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Back
at the Lamp Post, Eloise Hawking is watching the Foucault pendulum
swing back and forth in its respective chamber. Her face is calm but
her thoughts are troubled.
In
another universe, a parallel world to her own, Eloise would be
visiting Hume and the Widmore daughter in the hospital. She would be
getting into a fight with Widmore himself, getting upset over her own
son—their
son, Daniel.
But
that universe is not this universe. And in this universe, Eloise is
thinking about the variable known as Desmond Hume who days ago
crossed through time with Jack Shepard and the others on Ajira Flight
316. She is thinking about the day years ago, when she told a very
confused Hume that pushing the execute button in the Swan hatch would
end up being the most important thing he would ever do.
As
Eloise watches the pendulum swing, she knows that her words back then
were a lie. It's something she learned from Charles Widmore, lying so
perfectly. But she could never tell Desmond that his greatest act on
the island wouldn't come until thirty years ago—or
that it would involve saving the life of her son.
The
universe has a way of course correcting, Eloise thinks, and death
cannot be avoided. But the courses of Daniel Faraday and Desmond Hume
were now beyond the scope of what the universe expects. The constants
had become the most dangerous variables in the world.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Unfortunately
for Hurley, his map does not come into much usage once Jacob joins
the party. He has a clear understanding of where everything man-made
or not is located on the island, and that includes the Dharma
Initiative's radio tower. A few hours of walking later, they are well
on their way to the tower, evading the Others' traps on the way.
Jacob
doesn't talk much. And when he does, he speaks in vague, sweeping
statements. When he's asked where he came from, he says that "I've
always been here. The island is my starting and ending point."
His explanation for surviving certain death? He does not believe in
death.
"Then
how do you know how everything is going to end up?" Desmond
argues. "You make it sound like you're some kind of psychic."
Jacob
passes under a low-hanging branch with annoying ease. It nearly
smacks Desmond in the chest. "Because I'm clever and time is
meaningless."
"Say
that to people who sell clocks," Desmond grumbles. "How can
time be meaningless?" He's tempted to mention his own
experiences with time, but figures it isn't the appropriate occasion
to do so.
Jacob
spares a glance over his shoulder at his companion. "Because
whatever happens will always happen. Life is a series of patterns and
everything has a beginning and an end, except for myself."
Desmond
stops. "So, you can't die."
"My
life is a circle without beginning or end." Jacob shrugs. "So
yes, I can't die. Ish."
"Ish?"
"Yes,
ish." Jacob
smirks, and even Desmond has to admit it becomes him. "Richard
taught me that one. The path to the radio tower is up ahead."
Jacob
is right. Desmond vaguely recognizes the path from when he watched
Jack plan the survivors' trip to the tower, thirty years in the
future. It was the same time period in which he would lose Charlie
and find Penny again. Technically, it has not yet happened, but the
memories of Charlie's hand pressed against the Looking Glass window
and the sound of Penny's voice from across the sea is enough to make
him feel like it is already taking place.
"I'll
leave you here." Jacob's voice jolts Desmond out of his
melancholy reverie of events to come. "I shouldn't have come
this far anyway."
"Jacob?"
"But
first," Jacob says, "I'll leave you something to remember
me by."
The following bloggers are also flashing this week:
No comments:
Post a Comment