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schizoauthoress_libraryTitle: What Has Been Will Be
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: R
Spoilers: based on Terminator 3's future, with characters and concepts from the comics!verse "Tempest" and "One Shot"
Warnings: major character death, low-key crossover of 'universe' within the Terminator continuum
Prompt/Fill: apparently vaguely related to a Yuletide prompt I can't find anymore...
Word Count: 984
Summary: John Connor has known for nearly 30 years how his life would end.
Note: originally an untitled ficlet posted to my Livejournal. Slight formatting changes (mostly paragraph breaks) in this version.
What Has Been Will Be
He's known for nearly 30 years how his life would end.
John Connor, leader of the Human Resistance, glances at his seventeen-year-old son Robert as the two of them walk side-by-side down one of the access tunnels. Robert was told last year that John would not be with them much longer. He notices his father's glance and silently replies with a soft, sad half-smile.
Today is July 4th, 2032, and John Connor is being escorted up to the surface by his son.
The reprogrammed Terminator said that it had infiltrated the base -- was allowed to because of John's emotional attachment to the Cyberdyne Model-101 organic covering -- but he won't allow anyone to be caught in the crossfire. Robert moves to take cover, the Electro-Mech Fazer held firmly in his hands.
John speaks to him in a low voice, the voice of a commander to his soldier, "You know what you have to do."
Robert nods. He knows. He knows that he must allow one of the hated Terminators to attack and kill his father, in order for his father to survive Judgment Day in the past. And though his heart aches, though he wants to stop it from happening, he will do as he has been ordered.
"Robert..." John says, and this time, he speaks in the voice of a father, "I am so proud of you. I know that you'll get through this. You'll see the end of this war; you and your sister and your mother."
"I promise." Robert replies. "I'll protect them, Dad."
"All of them." John says firmly. The Resistance is more than one man. It has to be. Or humanity dies with him.
Knowing what this means, knowing that he's taking the mantle of leadership with his next words, Robert answers, "All of them, sir."
John closes his eyes, drawing in and letting go of a deep breath before he nods. He claps his hand to Robert's shoulder one last time -- they've said their goodbyes, hugged their hugs, and cried their tears already -- squeezes gently, and turns to walk away. Robert hunkers down on the far side of the access tunnel opening, behind a camoflaguing slab of concrete.
John is alone now. There are sentries posted, of course, but they are quite a distance away. John goes about the usual rounds checking for (but not finding) any sign of Skynet scouts near the base. His radio crackles slightly -- the familiar voice of Lee Hearst, the north-northeast sentry, reports the approach of a recovery team heading in from the direction of the nearby camps.
The deep bass bark of one of the Resistance screener dogs carries on the still, chill air. John speaks quietly into his radio, telling Hearst to let them all through anyway.
'We'll meet again...' John thinks to himself, hearing in his thoughts the faint echo of the Terminator's voice. 'Yes, we will. And I know... I know...you're not Uncle Bob. You're not the Terminator who was my friend when I was a child. But...'
He sees them then. Most of them slink toward the entrance to the Resistance base, toward him, clearly terrified. John sees Billy Wisher, who is holding a phased plasma rifle in a tense grip, glaring at him beneath his dark knit cap, which is pulled low on his brow. He wishes he could tell Billy that this is all part of the fate that he's made, but there will be no time for it. He sees Mary Randall working her lower lip in her teeth, eyes darting between the ground in front of her and the tall man in the center of the group. She isn't carrying a weapon. She always carries a weapon...unless she passes it off to someone being liberated from the camps. John is sure that she's regretting that action now.
John lets out a shuddering breath. For several seconds, memory and reality blur for him -- he's both eleven and forty-seven, in a mall corridor and standing among the shattered asphalt that used to be Civic Center, there is smoke in the air and roses on the ground -- and a familiar Terminator is closing the distance between them.
"John Connor." The Terminator speaks in a voice out of his memories, and John feels a rush of terror, longing...and strangely, relief. He raises his head to meet the Terminator's soulless gaze.
"Thank you..." John says quietly. 'All humans die...and this is enough. This is enough for me...'
The Terminator sweeps aside the blanket that he wears like a poncho, revealing Mary's plasma rifle. The Resistance fighters move to stop him, and John shouts his last command, "No!"
The world dissolves into blue light -- Robert cries out, shooting at the same time that the Terminator does; Billy is screaming obscenities and firing his weapon -- and John Connor falls. A moment later, the T-850 wearing Uncle Bob's face locks up, going completely rigid and motionless as white sparks from the Fazer shot play over its form. It keels over backward, the flaming remnants of blanket and clothing falling away from it as it hits the unforgiving ground. John Connor closes his eyes, never to open them again.
Robert Connor steps forward. "Get my mother," he says to Billy, "she knows what to do."
"He knew..." Bart Lukens breathes. He gets up, helps Mary to her feet -- he'd covered her when the plasma bolts started flying -- and stares down at the still face that used to belong to John Connor.
"It was necessary. Believe me when I say that the explanation is headache-inducing." Robert replies, holstering his unwieldy weapon. He crouches beside his father's body and looks up at the others. "Will some of you help me get him inside?"
The others realize then, without being told in so many words, that mourning will have to come later. Duty is first. And they all have a duty to survive.
The Resistance keeps moving.
*-*-*-*-*
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: R
Spoilers: based on Terminator 3's future, with characters and concepts from the comics!verse "Tempest" and "One Shot"
Warnings: major character death, low-key crossover of 'universe' within the Terminator continuum
Prompt/Fill: apparently vaguely related to a Yuletide prompt I can't find anymore...
Word Count: 984
Summary: John Connor has known for nearly 30 years how his life would end.
Note: originally an untitled ficlet posted to my Livejournal. Slight formatting changes (mostly paragraph breaks) in this version.
What Has Been Will Be
He's known for nearly 30 years how his life would end.
John Connor, leader of the Human Resistance, glances at his seventeen-year-old son Robert as the two of them walk side-by-side down one of the access tunnels. Robert was told last year that John would not be with them much longer. He notices his father's glance and silently replies with a soft, sad half-smile.
Today is July 4th, 2032, and John Connor is being escorted up to the surface by his son.
The reprogrammed Terminator said that it had infiltrated the base -- was allowed to because of John's emotional attachment to the Cyberdyne Model-101 organic covering -- but he won't allow anyone to be caught in the crossfire. Robert moves to take cover, the Electro-Mech Fazer held firmly in his hands.
John speaks to him in a low voice, the voice of a commander to his soldier, "You know what you have to do."
Robert nods. He knows. He knows that he must allow one of the hated Terminators to attack and kill his father, in order for his father to survive Judgment Day in the past. And though his heart aches, though he wants to stop it from happening, he will do as he has been ordered.
"Robert..." John says, and this time, he speaks in the voice of a father, "I am so proud of you. I know that you'll get through this. You'll see the end of this war; you and your sister and your mother."
"I promise." Robert replies. "I'll protect them, Dad."
"All of them." John says firmly. The Resistance is more than one man. It has to be. Or humanity dies with him.
Knowing what this means, knowing that he's taking the mantle of leadership with his next words, Robert answers, "All of them, sir."
John closes his eyes, drawing in and letting go of a deep breath before he nods. He claps his hand to Robert's shoulder one last time -- they've said their goodbyes, hugged their hugs, and cried their tears already -- squeezes gently, and turns to walk away. Robert hunkers down on the far side of the access tunnel opening, behind a camoflaguing slab of concrete.
John is alone now. There are sentries posted, of course, but they are quite a distance away. John goes about the usual rounds checking for (but not finding) any sign of Skynet scouts near the base. His radio crackles slightly -- the familiar voice of Lee Hearst, the north-northeast sentry, reports the approach of a recovery team heading in from the direction of the nearby camps.
The deep bass bark of one of the Resistance screener dogs carries on the still, chill air. John speaks quietly into his radio, telling Hearst to let them all through anyway.
'We'll meet again...' John thinks to himself, hearing in his thoughts the faint echo of the Terminator's voice. 'Yes, we will. And I know... I know...you're not Uncle Bob. You're not the Terminator who was my friend when I was a child. But...'
He sees them then. Most of them slink toward the entrance to the Resistance base, toward him, clearly terrified. John sees Billy Wisher, who is holding a phased plasma rifle in a tense grip, glaring at him beneath his dark knit cap, which is pulled low on his brow. He wishes he could tell Billy that this is all part of the fate that he's made, but there will be no time for it. He sees Mary Randall working her lower lip in her teeth, eyes darting between the ground in front of her and the tall man in the center of the group. She isn't carrying a weapon. She always carries a weapon...unless she passes it off to someone being liberated from the camps. John is sure that she's regretting that action now.
John lets out a shuddering breath. For several seconds, memory and reality blur for him -- he's both eleven and forty-seven, in a mall corridor and standing among the shattered asphalt that used to be Civic Center, there is smoke in the air and roses on the ground -- and a familiar Terminator is closing the distance between them.
"John Connor." The Terminator speaks in a voice out of his memories, and John feels a rush of terror, longing...and strangely, relief. He raises his head to meet the Terminator's soulless gaze.
"Thank you..." John says quietly. 'All humans die...and this is enough. This is enough for me...'
The Terminator sweeps aside the blanket that he wears like a poncho, revealing Mary's plasma rifle. The Resistance fighters move to stop him, and John shouts his last command, "No!"
The world dissolves into blue light -- Robert cries out, shooting at the same time that the Terminator does; Billy is screaming obscenities and firing his weapon -- and John Connor falls. A moment later, the T-850 wearing Uncle Bob's face locks up, going completely rigid and motionless as white sparks from the Fazer shot play over its form. It keels over backward, the flaming remnants of blanket and clothing falling away from it as it hits the unforgiving ground. John Connor closes his eyes, never to open them again.
Robert Connor steps forward. "Get my mother," he says to Billy, "she knows what to do."
"He knew..." Bart Lukens breathes. He gets up, helps Mary to her feet -- he'd covered her when the plasma bolts started flying -- and stares down at the still face that used to belong to John Connor.
"It was necessary. Believe me when I say that the explanation is headache-inducing." Robert replies, holstering his unwieldy weapon. He crouches beside his father's body and looks up at the others. "Will some of you help me get him inside?"
The others realize then, without being told in so many words, that mourning will have to come later. Duty is first. And they all have a duty to survive.
The Resistance keeps moving.
*-*-*-*-*
