mhalachai: (Default)
[personal profile] mhalachai
For the odd crossover drabbles request last month.

Ghost in the Machine
I own nothing.
500 words
For [livejournal.com profile] houses7177: Dawn/Zelenka
If you think I'm inferring a certain thing about Dawn's origins, good for you :)


~~~

He thinks he sees her in Atlantis, but he knows it cannot be so.

After all, he has seen many things in his life, but he has never before believed in ghosts.

Not until Atlantis.

~~~


He saw her only once, in Prague, before he returned to the Antarctic. She was young, hardly more than a girl, with long flowing brown hair and the most atrocious Czech as she tried to order a coffee in a cafe.

He stopped to watch her. After she finished her order, she slumped back in her chair. Her expression startled him. Such old eyes in a young face, hardened and alert and so, so tired.

A strange feeling crept over him as he looked at her. It was as if he should know her, as if he had known her for a long time and now he couldn't remember her name.

Then she looked at him and the spell was broken. He realized he had been standing in a busy street staring at a girl half his age, and he was embarrassed.

Someone joined her then, and as he walked away, he heard the other woman call the girl "Dawn". Although his English was not good, he knew that word, after long months in the dark in Antarctic.

Dawn. Sunrise.

When he returned to the Antarctic, he was reminded of her every time he looked at the Ancient machines. He told himself he was stressed from working fifteen-hour days, and he worked harder, but the memories would not leave him alone.

Then Major John Sheppard arrived and no one had time to think of anything else, as they barrelled inevitably towards the Pegasus Galaxy and the Ancient City of Atlantis itself.

~~~


The first time he sees the sun rise over the oceans on Atlantis, he thinks of her. When McKay and Sheppard coax the city into miracles, he remembers the feeling he had as he stared at the young girl on the Prague street.

As time goes on, the feeling only grows. With every day that passes, he becomes more convinced that she should be here, with them on this floating city of legend.

Should be, is.

Atlantis hardly makes a distinction any more, and if he were to see her here, drifting through the corridors, he would think that Atlantis has finally let a lost daughter come home.

He wonders if he is haunted. He wonders if he is obsessed.

He wonders what the rest would say if he told them of this ghost of his imagination.

~~~


After years on the city, he no longer differentiates between his brief memory of her and the city itself. They are both she, and he knows he is obsessed, knows reality cannot be so, but he has seen death, seen too many marvels, to tell himself that ghosts cannot exist.

If, one day, he were to turn a corner and she were there, he would not be surprised.

Perhaps he is mad.

The city, she does that to people.

end

Date: 2007-08-21 08:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] houses7177.livejournal.com
*sniffle* That was beautiful. It works so well, both from what we know of Zelenka and speculation of Dawn's origins. I love it! [I have no Zelenka icon, so I've got to go with Rodney.]

Date: 2007-08-23 04:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
I'm so glad you liked it! I was trying to think of some way to pair those two up, but I wasn't able to get over the age difference... until I made things twisty.

And now I have a wonderful idea for Dawn's origins and Glory being a fallen crazy Ancient and all kinds of good times. And I have you to thank for the idea :D

Date: 2007-08-21 08:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladybeth.livejournal.com
interesting. There are alot you could do with Atlantis and BtVS:)

Date: 2007-08-23 04:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
There certainly are. I have a soft spot for Dawn origin stories, as she's so malleable. And green.

Date: 2007-08-23 04:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladybeth.livejournal.com
I never quite got into BTVS (I got into Angel as it was ending) so I don't know enough about Dawn.

Although I now have a random plot bunny where Slayers were originally created as supersoldiers to fight Wraith...

Date: 2007-08-23 04:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
Oh, I like it :)

Date: 2007-08-21 09:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catherinecookmn.livejournal.com
She's a floor wax! She's a dessert topping!

Seriously: This is lovely. And really, considering it's Dawn we're talking about, entirely possible within the Jossverse.

Date: 2007-08-23 04:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
I'm glad you liked it :D I like to play with Dawn's origins as she can really be put into any strange and exciting new universe.

Or make her 5 years old, same diff :P

Date: 2007-08-21 10:31 pm (UTC)
ext_60814: (Buffy Quote2 - earth logic)
From: [identity profile] thekams.livejournal.com
Oh, the possibilities! =) This was excellent.

Date: 2007-08-23 04:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
I'm glad you liked it :D

Date: 2007-08-21 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] shallanelprin.livejournal.com
Oh...interesting. Nice ficlet.

Date: 2007-08-23 04:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
I'm glad you liked it :)

Date: 2007-08-22 03:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] penyn-1600.livejournal.com
Very interesting. Especially considering what Dawn started out as.

Date: 2007-08-23 04:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com
I know! Amorphous balls of green energy, can be BtVS, can be SGA, or anything! Poor green little green engery girl ;P

Date: 2007-08-22 04:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cissasghost.livejournal.com
Oh, intriguing. Do love the well-adjusted crazy folks - which Radek usually isn't (though I love him anyway), but you've turned him that way very well.

Profile

mhalachai: (Default)
mhalachai

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234 567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 21st, 2025 08:53 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios