Down Among the Dead: Epilogue

[nightdog_barks]

Epilogue


He left the little room because of the scent, an unusual and seemingly long-forgotten aroma. Roast beef, rosemary -- it didn't (oddly enough, although of course he had no body, so perhaps it wasn't odd at all) make him hungry. It simply made him wistful, and more than that, curious.

Wilson stretched himself upward, downward, outward until he could see through House's eyes, slip his fingers into House's hands as if he were putting on gloves, and his feet into House's sneakers as if they were Wilson's own. Not that Wilson would ever be caught, even dead, in those awful garish things.

He found himself in the kitchen, standing above the range. The fragrance was coming from the oven.

You're cooking? Has Hell just had an ice storm?

"Nope," said House, "it's been sunny all day. With a fifty percent chance of psychosis, apparently, since I'm now talking to myself."

Pretend you're not.

"I don't play pretend anymore, Jimmy."

Then play 'What If?' Humor me. Anything, anything at all to just get House to talk to him. Wilson had believed that his chest would never ache again, but it did, quite suddenly.

"You don't deserve it. You left me."

I never wanted to, and I didn't. I didn't. You won't believe me, but I'm here. I've been here the whole damn time.

"You're a sorry son of a bitch, you left me, and I hate you." His voice -- and it was suddenly hard to remember whether it was House's voice or Wilson's -- began to crack like the ice on a pond. "You left me. You fucking left me, you God damn fucking bastard son of a bitch."

The complaints and curses were the sweetest things Wilson had heard in all the time -- however long it had been -- since It Happened. The first words, as far as he knew, that anyone had really said to him. His hands -- House's hands -- went to his face, and his face was wet.

"I was supposed to be the loser who up and fucking died. Not you."

Yeah. Life's kind of a bitch like that, isn't it? House? You're not going to do anything monumentally stupid, are you?

"You mean more stupid than talking to a figment of my damn imagination?"

You know what I mean.

"No. I'm not going to off myself just because my best friend was an asshole who got out of buying my lunches by buying the farm."

I love you too, House.

"Oh God." The break, the real break, was such a thing that he could feel it. "Wilson."

And then they were sitting on the floor, the two of them, one inside the other, holding on as best they could with only one set of arms.


~ fin.


By blackmare_9, 4/7/08.

Comments

[cindy-lou-who8.livejournal.com]

That was so beautiful. *sniffle*

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, but I do appreciate the feedback.

This scene was an almost immediate reaction I had to reading Down Among the Dead; it practically wrote itself, in the way I wish more of my things would.

[idonmatrix.livejournal.com]

I just read nightdog's piece and now yours. I love it. I just don't how you all do it - write so beautifully. Your words are like music. I just can't quite find the right words to express how your writing makes me feel. Just awesome.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Hi there Idon! Thanks so much. I don't know what it is about Nightdog ficverses -- they spark things for me, quite often, and drag me in. Sometimes against my will.

I guess I hear that music, and I have to dance, too. :-)

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

This is so lovely. I love the sweetness of it all, and that last line still makes me wibble. And House is in rare form with those insults -- the one about "bought the farm" makes me laugh -- but it's no defense against Wilson's love, against the break that's needed to come for such a long time.

[brynnamorgan.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear.

That was unbelievable. Thank you for this.

:getting all sobby:

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Oh, I cried like an idiot when I wrote this, so I hope you don't feel too alone.

Thanks for the reply. :-)

[genagirl.livejournal.com]

Well I didn't totally lose it until your epilogue. Damn, both you and nightdog can pack so much love into a small package. I don't know what else to say except - you two are at the top of this fandom's amazing writers. Thank you.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

*blushes*

I've posted nothing in so long that I barely consider myself active anymore as a writer. But leave it to a Nightdog story to rope me right in and make me do something.

And I lost it when I wrote this thing. Became a Kleenex-wielding mess. These characters will just do that sometimes.

[chowrie.livejournal.com]

You made me cry. Well done.
I just felt so sad for House. He wants something so bad that he goes as far as bringing to life a figment of his imagination. That Wilson is actually there doesn't help House much. For all he knows, it's his own survival instincts talking to him.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

What happened was that Nightdog set up this scenario where the actual tragedy of the thing didn't hit me until a few minutes after I'd read the story. And there was this scene that came sort of fully formed, so I had to write it down, and it made me cry, too. Which I rarely do.

And I felt so awful for both of them in this situation.

[alemyrddin.livejournal.com]

I think the last sentence killed me.
So beautiful. *wipes tears*

[dangomango.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

:-)

Thank you. It was painful but necessary to write, and I'm very happy to know you enjoyed it.

[niicelaady.livejournal.com]

This:

I love you too, House.

"Oh God." The break, the real break, was such a thing that he could feel it. "Wilson."

And then they were sitting on the floor, the two of them, one inside the other, holding on as best they could with only one set of arms.

may be one of the most beautiful exchanges I've ever read in fanfic, or in any work of fiction, period. But if I were to quote everything I love about this story, I'd end up quoting the whole thing. Thank you so much for writing it.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for writing it.

You're very welcome. The scene formed in my head just a few minutes after I read Nightdog's brilliant little story, and I had to write it, right then. Made me cry like a fool, too, which is ... rare for me. :-)

[petrichor-fizz.livejournal.com]

Wow. The end of this is absolutely incredible. I love the final image, and I think that the moment of realisation - "the break" - is brilliantly done.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Hi there! Sorry for my delay in responding here, but thank you so much. Nightdog has a peculiar gift: she writes things that make all sorts of sparks in my brain and compel me to write in response.

This one practically wrote itself, which I wish would happen more often. :-)

[angelcat2865.livejournal.com]

Great!

[blueyeti.livejournal.com]

...wah.

Loved this. Great last line, especially. And the bitchiness of the not-quite-one-sided conversation.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*g*

This was all blackmare_9's doing -- she's so amazingly talented, and I'm so glad to have her as one of my writing partners.