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smallfandomflshTitle: What Isn't Said Yet
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars
Character/Pairing: Bucky/Jenny
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
smallfandomflsh #162: Frangible and #161: Effulgent
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 1,177
Date Written: 21 November, 2015
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
They think he is the bravest Captain to ever fight in this war. His exploits and rescues are legendary. There have been songs written, and hundreds of stories told, about the lives he has saved, how brave and strong he is, how the Toads can never catch him -- or, when they do, can never hold him for long. He is one rabbit who's always been a hop in front of them, one man they can not defeat, or so some of the songs go. But no one knows just how frangible he really is.
They don't know how he hurts. They don't know how he cries, when he's alone at night, for the lives he hasn't been able to save, for those entire races he's seen wiped out by the Toads. He knows firstpaw how cold their species is. He knows how ruthless they are. They care for no one, not even each other, in their quest for total domination of the cosmos.
But it is not with fear that he shakes even as their chains hold him. His betraying, puff of a tail quivers but never with a thought of what they might do to him. It's never himself for whom he is concerned. Perhaps that is why the galaxy thinks he's so brave, but they're wrong. Bravery has very little to do with what he feels or why he does the heroic things he does. It's not bravery or fear that dictates the way his torn ears wriggle or the fact that his ragged whiskers perk when he hears a sound.
He knows he must be dreaming. He hopes he is dreaming, for her sake, for theirs. They should not come here, but he knows they will. None of them will ever leave another behind, even when they're ordered not to follow. He knew it would only be a matter of time before they reached him. He heard the shots begin earlier, but he's been unable to focus on the sounds of his battle, his mind nearly as worn as his body.
His ears lift as the sound of heels click-clacking on the floor enters the room in which he is being held. There are more gun shots; the ship quakes more. She can not withstand much more, but they will not stop coming. They will not stop coming until they are stopped, and it is that knowledge that makes him quiver. He's not afraid for himself. He's never worried too much for his own self. But for them, and especially for her, he's scared to within an inch of what remains of his life.
He's been beaten. He can't see out of one eye; one ear's been torn half off. Chunks of his green fur have been ripped out all over his body. He knows he'll never walk again without help. He wouldn't care if they killed him, but such mercy is beyond any Toad he's ever known. But still, he cares not for himself but for them, for her.
And it is her scent that reaches his nose now. Her aroma pulls to him, lifting him slowly out of his subconscious. She is the first thing he's smelled beyond his own blood for days. And yet, still, he hopes against hope that when he opens his one, remaining eye, she is not there. She is not bent before him, reaching for him, touching his face now with such gentle, healing hands . . .
But she is. He's never seen anything sparkle the way she does in his blurred vision. No emerald has ever shone so brilliantly as her effulgent eyes, and still, therein, he can see her tears. "Jenny." He tries to talk, tries to say her name, but all that will leave his cracked, dry lips are more droplets of his own blood. So he thinks instead, knowing and trusting that she will hear his thoughts in her mind. Jenny, he thinks to her and almost slips and calls her his love. Jenny, you shouldn't have come.
"Strip me of everything if you will, my Captain, but you know we could never stay away. Deadeye and Dogstar have the Toads on the run. Now it's time to take you home."
He falls into her arms as she undoes his chains. He wants to say more, wants to scold her, wants to command her to say away from the dangers both all around them and the danger that he knows he is to her. But he can not speak and even his thoughts are akin to a whirl of slugs. He can not hold on to any of them, but the last he thinks, as she lifts him in her arms, is that there's no need to bring him home for he's already home. He's with her, and that will always be his home just as he'll always love her though he'll never say the words.
Jenny smiles as she carries Bucky toward the Indignation. Deadeye, Dogstar, and yes, Mimi Foxx, too, are covering her every move. No Toad can even hope of touching her or their cherished Bucky again, not that they would dare attempt now. Bruiser bellows and slings another twenty Toads off into the cosmos again. Perhaps she should care that they will die out there, but tonight, she can not. Tonight, all she can do is be thankful her Bucky still lives.
She's already started the healing process on him. She knows every spot hurts. She knows he started craving his own death two days ago. She knows no one else could have withstood such pain as he has this time, but he's done so, though he'll never admit it, out of hope of seeing her one more time. Her tail whisks at the thought as she passes Mimi. The Foxx can keep wanting her Captain all she wants, but Bucky will never look at her.
He loves her. Though he tries to hide it, she knows. She has known for a long time now, since the first time he rescued her from the Toads. She read it in his thoughts then. She reads it in his thoughts every day they are together. She loves him, too, but this is a war they are fighting. There is so little time for love in these chaotic, stressful days. But when they win, and win they will, she'll finally speak her love and then she'll keep showing her Captain how much she loves him, as she already has every day for so many years now, until the day they finally sleep into the beyond, old and gray, side by side, and hand in hand as they've always been destined to do.
Her smile is a mixture of reflection, relief, sorrow, and joy as she lays Bucky down onto a cot in the med wing. She leans down and lets her lips brush softly, briefly, over his green brow. Here, alone, she whispers, "I love you", but one day, she vows, she will say the words aloud and so will he.
The End
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars
Character/Pairing: Bucky/Jenny
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge/Prompt:
smallfandomflsh #162: Frangible and #161: EffulgentWarning(s): None
Word Count: 1,177
Date Written: 21 November, 2015
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
They think he is the bravest Captain to ever fight in this war. His exploits and rescues are legendary. There have been songs written, and hundreds of stories told, about the lives he has saved, how brave and strong he is, how the Toads can never catch him -- or, when they do, can never hold him for long. He is one rabbit who's always been a hop in front of them, one man they can not defeat, or so some of the songs go. But no one knows just how frangible he really is.
They don't know how he hurts. They don't know how he cries, when he's alone at night, for the lives he hasn't been able to save, for those entire races he's seen wiped out by the Toads. He knows firstpaw how cold their species is. He knows how ruthless they are. They care for no one, not even each other, in their quest for total domination of the cosmos.
But it is not with fear that he shakes even as their chains hold him. His betraying, puff of a tail quivers but never with a thought of what they might do to him. It's never himself for whom he is concerned. Perhaps that is why the galaxy thinks he's so brave, but they're wrong. Bravery has very little to do with what he feels or why he does the heroic things he does. It's not bravery or fear that dictates the way his torn ears wriggle or the fact that his ragged whiskers perk when he hears a sound.
He knows he must be dreaming. He hopes he is dreaming, for her sake, for theirs. They should not come here, but he knows they will. None of them will ever leave another behind, even when they're ordered not to follow. He knew it would only be a matter of time before they reached him. He heard the shots begin earlier, but he's been unable to focus on the sounds of his battle, his mind nearly as worn as his body.
His ears lift as the sound of heels click-clacking on the floor enters the room in which he is being held. There are more gun shots; the ship quakes more. She can not withstand much more, but they will not stop coming. They will not stop coming until they are stopped, and it is that knowledge that makes him quiver. He's not afraid for himself. He's never worried too much for his own self. But for them, and especially for her, he's scared to within an inch of what remains of his life.
He's been beaten. He can't see out of one eye; one ear's been torn half off. Chunks of his green fur have been ripped out all over his body. He knows he'll never walk again without help. He wouldn't care if they killed him, but such mercy is beyond any Toad he's ever known. But still, he cares not for himself but for them, for her.
And it is her scent that reaches his nose now. Her aroma pulls to him, lifting him slowly out of his subconscious. She is the first thing he's smelled beyond his own blood for days. And yet, still, he hopes against hope that when he opens his one, remaining eye, she is not there. She is not bent before him, reaching for him, touching his face now with such gentle, healing hands . . .
But she is. He's never seen anything sparkle the way she does in his blurred vision. No emerald has ever shone so brilliantly as her effulgent eyes, and still, therein, he can see her tears. "Jenny." He tries to talk, tries to say her name, but all that will leave his cracked, dry lips are more droplets of his own blood. So he thinks instead, knowing and trusting that she will hear his thoughts in her mind. Jenny, he thinks to her and almost slips and calls her his love. Jenny, you shouldn't have come.
"Strip me of everything if you will, my Captain, but you know we could never stay away. Deadeye and Dogstar have the Toads on the run. Now it's time to take you home."
He falls into her arms as she undoes his chains. He wants to say more, wants to scold her, wants to command her to say away from the dangers both all around them and the danger that he knows he is to her. But he can not speak and even his thoughts are akin to a whirl of slugs. He can not hold on to any of them, but the last he thinks, as she lifts him in her arms, is that there's no need to bring him home for he's already home. He's with her, and that will always be his home just as he'll always love her though he'll never say the words.
Jenny smiles as she carries Bucky toward the Indignation. Deadeye, Dogstar, and yes, Mimi Foxx, too, are covering her every move. No Toad can even hope of touching her or their cherished Bucky again, not that they would dare attempt now. Bruiser bellows and slings another twenty Toads off into the cosmos again. Perhaps she should care that they will die out there, but tonight, she can not. Tonight, all she can do is be thankful her Bucky still lives.
She's already started the healing process on him. She knows every spot hurts. She knows he started craving his own death two days ago. She knows no one else could have withstood such pain as he has this time, but he's done so, though he'll never admit it, out of hope of seeing her one more time. Her tail whisks at the thought as she passes Mimi. The Foxx can keep wanting her Captain all she wants, but Bucky will never look at her.
He loves her. Though he tries to hide it, she knows. She has known for a long time now, since the first time he rescued her from the Toads. She read it in his thoughts then. She reads it in his thoughts every day they are together. She loves him, too, but this is a war they are fighting. There is so little time for love in these chaotic, stressful days. But when they win, and win they will, she'll finally speak her love and then she'll keep showing her Captain how much she loves him, as she already has every day for so many years now, until the day they finally sleep into the beyond, old and gray, side by side, and hand in hand as they've always been destined to do.
Her smile is a mixture of reflection, relief, sorrow, and joy as she lays Bucky down onto a cot in the med wing. She leans down and lets her lips brush softly, briefly, over his green brow. Here, alone, she whispers, "I love you", but one day, she vows, she will say the words aloud and so will he.
The End
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