Embers (A Songfic)

soundtrack: embers by owl city

There were days when each hour was a war I fought to survive

It had been the worst three years of his life.

Three years that began with terrible months of lostness, of meaninglessness.  

Those days, Robert Callaghan wished that he could disappear off the face of the earth completely. 

As Abigail had.

For what was the point in going on when his daughter, his joy, his entire world was gone?

There were nights full of nightmares and I dreaded closing my eyes

Those nights, Robert stayed wide awake, for instead of blessed numbness he found monsters that waited in his sleep to snatch his daughter away from him.

There were skies that burst open with a downpour to drown me alive

Those weeks, those months, those years, he felt interminably caught in a paralyzing cycle of grief and anger and helplessness and nothingness.

But the world took a spark like a match in the dark

Then he found something.

Or, perhaps, someone.

Someone responsible for what happened to Abi. Someone who had visited a fate worse than death upon an innocent woman. Someone who had taken the only thing a widowed father had left. 

And someone who had escaped scot-free, until Robert Callaghan finally found something to fight for.

And the fire brought me to life.

~~~

It had taken a while. For years more he allowed the desire for justice to simmer in him, and waited like a tiger in the shadows. Waited for his chance.

In two years Alistair Krei would open a brand-new facility: a sprawling, state-of-the-art, spectacular new building for Krei Tech. It would firmly cement his position as an influential innovator and businessman of San Fransokyo. Guests from every corner of the world would come to celebrate his unprecedented success.

What better time than this, then, to take it all away?

~~~

And you'll find there'll be mornings when the ashes and embers are cold

For years more Robert watched and waited. Sometimes it seemed an eternity to wait. 

He formulated plan after plan, and he abandoned plan after plan. His brain, racing in front of him, seemed determined to find ways in which each scheme would fail. 

But you'll fight with a passion

Yet the thought of giving up never even crossed his mind. He was doing this for Abi, who deserved far better--deserved justice, vindication. 

Krei had murdered an innocent girl, a girl who still had so much love and life in front of her. And instead of a sentence, banishment to the only place he belonged, he had received the approval and applause of the world.

What happened to consequences? What happened to punishment? What happened to justice?

Thankfully, he, Robert Callaghan, was here to ensure that everyone got exactly what they deserved.

And you'll never stop 'cause you know

Yeah you know, it gets better

Abi would finally find a peaceful rest.

And her father would find closure. The knowledge that Krei would be where he could never hurt anyone again. The peace of mind to move on, to live on.

And your story is yet to be told

Soon the truth would be out. The truth that Krei wasn't the hero and bringer of light everyone made him out to be; he was an evil man of evil deeds.

Every push, every shove, every war, every love

How was Robert going to do it?

The timing couldn't be more perfect. Many times he had attempted to build something that would ensure Krei's destruction, but each plan had either been discovered or fallen flat.

But then came the Institute's showcase, a dazzling concentration of tech from the best and brightest young minds of the country, of the world. And he found it. He found the last piece in his puzzle of deliverance--a simple, small object developed by a young genius.

He called them microbots.

Yeah, the coals are beginning to glow.

~~~

So I'm fanning the flames to climb so high

The crowds began to stream out of the hall. Robert took the coals of grief and anger and desire for justice he had been harbouring ever since Abi was taken, and he fanned them into a tall, all-devouring inferno.

'Cause there's no other way we can stay alive

He had to do this. For Abi. For himself.

Don't let the fire die

Standing in the middle of the blazing Showcase Hall, he picked up the transmitter that controlled the microbots and set it on his head.

It gets better

As if by magic, the tiny robots rose to surround him, forming a hard, impenetrable shell around the man as the rest of the Hall fell to pieces.

Just don't let the fire die, no

In minutes he could no longer see the flames through the maze of microbots. He turned his thoughts elsewhere, and the robots begin drilling a hole to the basement for him to make his escape.
And though the embers are new
Whatever you do, just don't let the fire die

It was time. Soon all would be set right.

Don't let the fire die.

MBTI and BH6 Quotes

ISTJ: "Just get to the point."
ISFJ: "You will be alright. There, there."
ISTP: "Use those big brains of yours to think a way around the problem."
ISFP: "The only limit is your imagination."
ESTP: "Let's do this!"
ESFP: "C'mere c'mere c'mere. You're going to love this!"
ESTJ: "Tadashi Hamada was our best friend. We're in."
ESFJ: "What do you need, little man? Deodorant, breath mint, fresh pair of underpants?"
INFJ: "I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble?"
INTJ: "My brain hates my eyes for seeing this."
INFP: "Are you satisfied with your care?"
INTP: "I've been trying to get Honey to develop a formula that will turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will, but she says that's 'not science.'"
ENFP: "TADA! It's pretty great, huh?"
ENTP: "I like where this is heading!"
ENFJ: "I'm not giving up on you."
ENTJ: "I will laser-hand you in the face!"

Disney Music Fic Requests

Can You Feel the Love Tonight--The Lion King

is this a joke
the answer is yes

"Hey." 

Honey glanced up in surprise as Tadashi threw an arm around her and rested his sharp chin on her shoulder. Then she laughed, turning back to gathering up the boxes left over from their Friday night pizza party. 

"Here, let me help you with those," he said, taking half the boxes from her and following her out of the house towards the bins, grinning. The night was still and quiet aside from the occasional roar of a faraway car; the rest of the group had headed back into the house for the video games that Fred had brought.

As they turned back to the garage, Tadashi drew in his breath. Despite her tousled hair from the earlier impromptu pillow fight, Honey was dazzlingly beautiful in the moonlight. Noticing him staring at her, Honey looked down at Tadashi, raising an eyebrow quizzically. "What?" she demanded, blinking hazel eyes. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, you're perfect," Tadashi said easily, and she rewarded him with a startled little smile. Walking through the garage door, their hands brushed, pinkies interlocking, and they let them stay that way. The moment was beautiful, until--

"AND WITH ALL THIS ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE..." A loud, melodramatic voice came from behind the sofa. The two whirled around, taken aback. "Wha-?"

"DISASTER'S IN THE AIRRRRR." Suddenly Hiro popped out from under a desk, obviously a little high on gummy bears. Emerging from behind the sofa, Fred clutched his shirt in lovelorn agony, closing his eyes as he and the fourteen-year-old bellowed out a very off-key duet.

"CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT--" they began, and then Tadashi and Honey were forced to stand through the entire song, delivered with more gusto than talent.

Well, there goes the moment. Tadashi would have been annoyed, except that Honey was giggling uncontrollably, hands clasped over her mouth, and she had the cutest laugh--so he joined in the laughter too.

"IN SHORT, OUR PAL IS DOOMEDDD."


Part of Your World--The Little Mermaid

The Hamada brothers growing a little distant pre-SFIT kills me inside
*weeps for a thousand years*

I used to be your entire world. Why am I struggling now to be part of it?

Hiro sat alone on the couch, swaddled in a too-warm blanket, plucking forlornly at a bowl of popcorn.

Tadashi had warned him that he probably wouldn't make it back for their Friday night movie, but still, Hiro had hoped.

Ever since Tadashi had entered SFIT he'd been too busy. Too busy for dinner, too busy for dating, too busy for everything. 

Oh, he tried to make time for his kid brother, but it just wasn't the same. Tadashi was caught up in a world of professors and papers and projects, and Hiro had no desire to be part of that--he just wanted his nii-san back.

It was pointless to blame the school, of course, but he couldn't help scowling at the SFIT sweater Tadashi had left hanging on the coat rack. What right did the Institute have to take his brother away from him?

He waited half an hour more. Then he gave up, kicking off the blanket, scooping up his battle bot, and heading into the back alleys of San Fransokyo where he would be sure to find company.

~~~

Tadashi arrived home too late, hanging up his satchel and calling into the hallway. "Hiro, I'm sorry I'm so late, but I did tell you I'd probably have to stay back--"

There was no response. Frowning, Tadashi walked into the living room, where the blanket lay abandoned on the floor. Hiro wasn't usually asleep this early--well, relatively early for his bedtime. 

He picked up the blanket and absently set it back on the couch, then headed upstairs, tapping on the wall. "Hiro?"

In a few minutes it became apparent Hiro was nowhere near home. Only then did Tadashi notice his missing hoodie and sneakers--and the open botfighting webpage on the computer.

He ran a hand down his face, frustrated. Hiro's late-night escapades had become more and more frequent; all too often Tadashi caught him coming back home at an unearthly hour, sweaty and overexcited, a wad of cash shoved into his pocket. 

Ever since Hiro had discovered botfighting he'd changed. He'd become rebellious, alarmingly flippant, no longer the little boy Tadashi once knew. Perhaps it was just a side effect of growing up, but Tadashi missed his otouto.

Tadashi had never imagined himself growing acquainted with the world of battle bots and betting and brawls, but he had to, for Hiro's sake. To keep him safe like he'd vowed to do.

He waited half an hour more, but Hiro didn't return. Finally he stood, throwing on his jacket and starting up his moped, determined to find his brother and bring him back.

I used to be your entire world. Why am I now struggling to be part of it?


Let it Go--Frozen

Hiro had never been good at letting go.

Not so with Tadashi; grievances for him seemed to disperse as quickly as mist in sunshine. But Hiro remembered, remembered and resented. Even now, contented and comfortable at his new school, he still recalled with bitterness the insults and blows and isolation that had marked his high school years. Every word and sneer remained perfectly clear in his mind.

Which was why, as he read the article about the arrest and trial of the man who had killed his brother, he was angry--still angry, despite everything he and his friends had gone through.

He tensed up, muscles tight, fingers vice-like as they gripped the flimsy paper.

No, he didn't want to kill Callaghan anymore, but the anger still boiled up in him, an anger deep and primal that seemed to shut out all else. And though he knew Tadashi wouldn't want him to bear that anger, he wasn't quite ready to let it go. It was something to hold on to, something that felt better than being sad, something that let him pretend he was in control.

He wasn't Tadashi, couldn't be Tadashi. Couldn't treat Callaghan the way Tadashi had treated the person who had caused the accident that killed their parents, with kindness and grace. Not when Tadashi was--had been--his only family left in the whole world.

Tadashi. It was all for Tadashi, wasn't it? 

Yet, if it really was for Tadashi, what Tadashi would have wanted was for Hiro to forgive. As he forgave: openly and without condition.

Hiro bit his lip, torn. Slowly he folded the paper and set it down, his fingers stained black with ink.

You wouldn't give up on me, would you, nii-san?

Even if he couldn't forgive, yet, if ever. He leaned back into the sofa, closing his eyes, trying to keep down the confusing chaos of thoughts that swarmed in his mind.

Maybe he couldn't do it, not all at once. But for Tadashi, he could at least try.



I'll Make a Man Out of You--Mulan

Tadashi Hamada was going to die.

He didn't regret taking Fred's dare to steal Go Go's phone (come on, aren't you a little bit curious what she listens to all the time when she's working the track?). Now, though, she was staring him down. Or rather up, since she was several inches shorter. But her eyes were fierce enough that he was just a teeny-weeny ittle bit scared.

Thankfully, he had blackmail bait. 

"I can't believe you listen to Mulan," he snorted, holding her phone high in the air so she couldn't reach it. She didn't make a move.

"I mean, what happened to the whole tough-girl image?" he went on, his laugh faltering slightly under her intense gaze. "Disney? Wait till our friends find out."

"Go ahead, Hamada," she said, popping her gum in his face. "But don't forget that I'm in charge of gym today."

Whoops. He'd somehow forgotten that very important detail. Now he was really going to die.

Go Go allowed herself a small smirk, knowing she had him bested. "You think I'm not tough just because I listen to Mulan? Let's see if I can make a man out of you."

She glanced him over, teasing in her tone. "Might be a little difficult." 

Then she snatched her phone back out of his hands.

~~~

As Tadashi arrived in the gym, he knew from the dangerous glint in Go Go's eye that she meant business.

Indeed, she greeted him with a deadpan, "Let's get down to business," and then ordered him onto the track.

SAY GOODBYE TO THOSE WHO KNEW ME.

"All right, nerds, ten laps," she yelled, and the college students took off. Tadashi thought he was doing pretty good, somewhere in the middle of the pack, until a voice at his ear made him jump a foot in the air.

"BUCK UP, HAMADA, MY GRANDMOTHER RUNS FASTER THAN YOU," Go Go called. Having met her grandmother, Tadashi somehow didn't doubt it.

He had no time to ponder on the speed of elderly ladies, however, because Go Go was running alongside him, making it seem almost too easy. She snickered as he attempted for another burst of speed, his muscles screaming to stop. But he wasn't going to let her win this one.

~~~

He was in a very different frame of mind by the time gym was over. Go Go had pushed him through fifteen more laps, forced pushups and chinups and lunges, the bane of his existence, and then nonchalantly informed the class that Tadashi was the reason they were having it particularly difficult today. As he rubbed his damp hair with a towel, he glared at his friend and slave-driver.

"Okay, you win," he admitted. It wasn't hard to admit. If she called him spineless, pale, and pathetic again he'd lose his mind.

"Good." She'd done everything the students had, but had barely broken a sweat. How did she do it? And she was laughing at him, the sadist.

Tadashi gave her a resentful version of the puppy-dog face, leaning his head into the bench. "Wow, I'm tired."

Watching him smugly, Go Go shook her head in mock disapproval. "C'mon, Hamada." She leaned in and whispered--he'd been asking for it, hadn't he?

"Be a man."

Just Around the Riverbend--Pocahontas

wow I haven't written much Frozen let's hope this is in character

The scene before her was beautiful, but Elsa was in no mood to enjoy it.

As the fleet of small, elegant ships made its way down the fjord, she started to fiddle with the long sleeves of her dress, before quickly folding her hands in front of her to keep from fidgeting.

She sort of missed her gloves.

Anna, on the other hand, was practically running from one side of the ship to the other in a state of nervous excitement, skirt swinging, braids flying. It took her a good hour of gaping at mountains and cliffs and woods and everything before she calmed down enough to take a seat next to her sister.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Anna exclaimed, sweeping her hands out in a wide gesture as if to embrace the whole world. "The water, and the fjords, and the big blue sky..." She trailed off as she noticed Elsa obviously did not share her enthusiasm. "What's wrong?"

Elsa smiled briefly. "Nothing. I'm just a little apprehensive. I haven't been out of the castle proper in ten years, Anna."

"Well, neither have I, but I'm not wasting my time moping," Anna said bluntly. Then her expression softened. "It's scary for you, isn't it? Don't worry. You'll be fine."

The young queen stayed silent. A few more turns through the great winding fjord and they'd be at the first stop, the estate of one of her many nobles. A short visit, and then the next estate, and the next. For Anna this was a purely pleasurable trip, but for her--she had to reestablish relationships with the subjects she'd ignored for so long, determine where their loyalties lay. She'd grown accustomed to putting on a mask of dignity over her emotions, so no one, not even Anna, could have guessed how frightened she was.

But she was very frightened.

"Come on, Elsa!" Anna was leaning into her face, her bright blue eyes wide and open as a child's. "Aren't you even a little bit excited what lies around the riverbend?"

"What?"

Anna shook her head and took her sister's hand, leading her to the front of the ship. "There. Look. That bend there? Anything could be lying behind it. Fairies, treasures, wolves..."

"Or just more trees," Elsa responded as they rounded the bend. She was right, but still Anna next to her drew in her breath--from this section of the fjord one could see the white-capped tops of the mountains, looming large and sombre against the sky.

And so they went on, each bend presenting a new section of river and fjord with a beauty all its own. Anna's excitement was infectious, and eventually even Elsa grew appreciative of the wild charm of the high cliffs, the biting gusts of wind, the limpid quality of the water. Turning one bend they saw a group of herdsmen shouting to their reindeer, great lumbering creatures with intelligence in their deep eyes. Turning another they watched a pack of wolves tumbling in the forest in a rare burst of peaceful play. Anna even swore she saw a troll, hiding between the trees.

By the time they returned home it was evening, Anna nodding against her sister's shoulder. 
Tired, Elsa suppressed a yawn, then deftly re-braided a part of Anna's hair that had got mussed. She smiled slightly as she patted her sister's hair back into place.

It hadn't been so bad after all, not with Anna beside her. And she was just a little bit excited for what lay around the riverbend for them next.

Routine Check (An AoS One-Shot)

Set right after the season two mid-season finale.

This kind of got more intense than I was expecting.

Is it even canonically consistent I don't even know.

Hunched over her laptop in the little glass cubicle she had called her home for the past few days, Skye glanced up as someone entered the room. Through the glass she could see her friend Simmons, the biochemist wearing a bright, false smile, clutching her clipboard tightly to herself.

"I'm just doing another routine check!" Simmons informed her with forced cheerfulness, looking down at her clipboard and not at her patient. Despite her megawatt smile there were bags around her tired eyes.

Routine is right, Skye thought to herself, sitting down on her cot with a big whump and tucking her feet underneath her. Three checks a day for the past how many days, now?

"I've already been checked today. Fitz did it," Skye answered as casually as she could, given the circumstances. The circumstances were most definitely not conducive for casual-ness, or whatever the word was. Ever since they'd returned from Puerto Rico after some weird otherworldly experience with a Diviner and alien stuff, Simmons had been a little neurotic.

Not that Skye could blame her. Of the three trapped in the room with the crazy stone, only the ex-hacktivist had come out okay. (Or, almost okay. There was the whole maybe-earthquake powers deal-) Raina had turned into, basically, a monster, and Trip--

Skye didn't like to think about Trip, but she couldn't help it.

Now Simmons sidled up to the display on the other side of the glass, rapidly tapping in a passcode. "Pulse reader, please!" she said, her exclamation directed to the screen rather than to Skye. 

Skye obediently stuck her wrist into the machine, reflecting once again on the strangeness of the situation. There Simmons was, with that blinding smile pasted on her face as if everything was normal, when Skye hadn't been out of her glorified cage in days, when they didn't even need to open the door for an examination because doctor-y reasons, and when there was a glass wall, for crying out loud, between Skye and someone she liked to consider her best friend.

She spoke up, once again keeping her tone noncommittal. "Hey, I understand the need for quarantine, and stuff, but isn't all this a little, I don't know, excessive?" Though she wore an almost comical expression and waved a hand in exaggerated motion, Skye was serious--all this was getting extremely tiresome.

"Of course not!" At this, Simmons looked up from the display and straight at Skye for the first time. "It's anything but excessive, Skye! We need to take all the necessary precautions to protect you and everyone else on this plane." Her tone softened, just a little. "I know it's inconvenient, but just hang in--" Before she could finish, the computer bleeped and she bent over, furrowing her brow at the figures on-screen.

"Is something wrong?"

Simmons straightened. "No, no, everything's fine. Like I was saying, just hang in there! But," she added firmly, "I'm extending your quarantine for two more days."

"What? No!" Taken aback, Skye got off the bed to stand in front of her friend. "But why? You said I could get out tomorrow!"

She couldn't bear another minute of isolation; she really couldn't. Even with Internet and junk food and trashy magazines from Bobbi this was really starting to get old.

"It's just two more days," Simmons said, shaking her head, once more avoiding Skye's eyes. "I promise I'll ask Fitz to come and visit." She made as if to leave, but Skye stopped her, banging a fist lightly on the glass.

"Come on, Simmons. You know it isn't contagious!" Kind of sad that she was resorting to practically begging now, but, well, she was desperate.

Simmons turned, and suddenly seemed to lose the willpower to keep her smile on. "No, I don't!" she burst out, throwing out her hands with abandon, voice high and strained. "I don't know anything, Skye! It would help if you actually told us what went on in that cave!"

Skye stared at the biochemist. "I've told you everything I know," she said, clenching her teeth a little. A quarter balanced on the edge of her table suddenly fell to the floor with a soft clink. Alarmed, Skye glanced at it from the corner of her eye, but Simmons didn't seem to notice.

"No. No, you haven't." Simmons shook her head, unusually blunt. "You're keeping something from us, Skye. What are you keeping from us?"

"Nothing!" A pencil started to tremble, rolling also towards the edge of the table. Skye swallowed, attempting to keep her shaking hands still by fisting them by her side.

"You have to tell us," Simmons went on, her voice rising, the knuckles on her hand clutching the clipboard white. "Skye. Please. Tell us." On meeting only stubborn silence, Simmons cried, "I need your help. Trip is dead, Skye. He was in pieces."

Skye squeezed her eyes tight shut, hearing the pencils jiggle on the table. Surely Simmons heard them, too. Why couldn't she hear them? Why couldn't she see the plastic bottle in its unnatural dance? "I know he's dead," she said evenly.

"Then help me stop anyone else from dying, too."

Skye's head shot up, and she glared at her friend in incredulous horror.  "Look at me, Simmons. You really think I'm going to kill anyone on this bus? Just look at me, really look, for the first time since I've been back, can't you? Simmons. What are you trying to do? What do you want?"

Skye's words made Simmons flinch involuntarily and move back. Her face was white, drawn, pleading, her eyes rimmed with red. "I just want things to be back to normal, Skye. That's what I'm trying to do," she said softly, staring down at the ground. Before Skye should respond, the scientist turned silently and left the room.

The pencils fell to the floor, one after the other, and the bottle followed, toppling onto the carpet.

Skye sat back on her cot, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. 

She wanted things to be back to normal, too.