(no subject)

[prydeful]

They enter.

That simple, no dramatics, no fanfare, just tired faces. Faith's body is covered in streaks of brown-red, the result of trying to clean off blood without time or water to do it properly, and the rest don't look much better. Dirt, sweat, blood--in some cases their own, in some others', because you can get things cleaned up, bandaged, but the long showers that get it clean in the end, that takes time. There's the scent of violence, smoke, gunpowder, ash, tears, anger, all around them, and they are tired, and dirty, but they're alive, and not hurting too badly.

They enter: Ace, Faith, Kitty, Susannah, Zoe, and the door closes behind them.

Comments

[shadowsusannah.livejournal.com]

"That we do, sugar. That we do."

And now there are tears.

[awesome_lilly]

People are back but... not all of them. Not by a long shot. Fuck. Lilly scans the group, happy to see all of them but there are so many still missing.

She approaches the group slowly, almost hesitantly. Kitty's in Edmund's arms, Ace is in Tim's... she catches sight of Eddie hugging someone who has to be Susannah. Eddie'll know. Whatever's happened to Alain, Susan, Roland, Koosh and the others... he'll know, and he'll tell her.

"Eddie? I don't mean to... what happened? Where's everyone else?"

[no-prisoner.livejournal.com]

Eddie kisses his wife again, and slides her down back into the chair. "Lilly." He runs his fingers through his hair.

"They're all okay. All alive. But Roland--" He breaks off.

"'Bert took a bullet, and he's still on the ship. Al and Sue are with him. They're gonna be fine. Roland's fine but he--"

"You know he's was from our past, right? I mean, me and Susannah's past, the others's future."

[awesome_lilly]

One surprisngly large knot of tension dissolves as soon as he mentions Al, and then another when he says that Bert will be okay and Sue's with him. It sinks in, a little, They're all okay, and Lilly sighs in relief.

And then Eddie keeps talking, Roland's fine but... and she tenses again, because no good sentences start that way. She nods.

"Yeah, I knew that."

[no-prisoner.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's where he went. Into our pasts. His future. He ended up---somehow he got back where he left from and...closed the loop."

Eddie glances down at Susannah. "I guess you saw him last, hon. In linear time, I mean."

[shadowsusannah.livejournal.com]

She nods, and looks up at the blonde girl she doesn't really know from her chair, and tries to know what to tell her.

"He was still strong, and he was still true. And he was only a few days from the Tower then. He was going to make it."

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly takes a deep breath, and lets it out.

"Well, that's... good, right?" she says, slowly. "For him, at least."

Even Lilly, who didn't know Roland for very long, knows about Roland and the Tower.

[no-prisoner.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," says Eddie tightly, and then he clears his throat. "Yeah."

"But, I, uh, I don't think we'll be seeing him again." He squeezes his eyes shut.

[awesome_lilly]

Fuck.

Lilly doesn't say anything. Roland's finally figured out a way to make her shut up. Too bad he had to leave to do it, because he'd probably really enjoy this.

She still doesn't say anything, but after a moment, Lilly reaches out and squeezes Eddie's hand.

[no-prisoner.livejournal.com]

Eddie squeezes it back, silently.