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.