Somewhere: a post-Steelheart songfic

[FireSlayer]

I kind of wrote this in two separate sittings rather far apart, but hopefully it won't seem too choppy. The song's from West Side Story; this is set between Steelheart and Firefight, so there are the natural spoilers for the former.

There's a place for us,
 

The most impossible, impractical, far-fetched thing he could think of didn't come close to this. It was so out there not even one of his metaphors could express it (well, maybe one could, but even “farther out than the edge of the universe would be if it were a rubber band being stretched by a cosmic-sized spring” didn’t sound right and needed polishing anyway). And, suitably, it existed only in his dreams.

 

A Reckoner and an Epic. Steelslayer and Firefight. He barely dared to think of David and Megan for the ache that would start—like thinking of your dream gun at Diamond's while you were dying in the understreets after a gang attack. And that one almost made sense.

 

Somewhere a place for us.

 

He was a slontze and he knew it. Hadn't she said so multiple times? There was no way, even if she hadn't turned out to be Firefight, that whatever thing was going on between them would've worked out. So why did he still catch himself replaying conversations, trying to reword his metaphors to impress her instead of make her laugh? Why could he still picture her face so clearly, sour or grudgingly approving or, at their last meeting, confused but hard?

Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us

Somewhere.

 

He hoped against hope sometimes that she'd walk through the door and . . . what? What would she do? More importantly, what would he do? She was an Epic, confused or not. He was a Reckoner, in love or not (he still wasn't sure about that). And yet . . . he hoped.

There's a time for us,
Some day a time for us,

 

He paced the streets when time allowed. When Tia asked him why, he smiled and shrugged it off, something about mingling and trying to be David, not Steelslayer. When Cody or Abraham asked him why, he smiled a bit more wistfully but gave the same answer, no matter how much Cody threatened to set the ear daemons tracking him. Prof either didn't want to ask, or didn't have to. Probably both.

 

He was hoping again.

Time together with time to spare,
Time to look, time to care,
Someday!

 

He had to give her time, give himself time, but surely someday (however impossibly far away that was) enough time would pass. She’d see they could be together, he’d settle down and start looking before he leaped, and it would work. He believed she could change. He knew she could change. He knew she would change—given enough time. And he could too.

Somewhere.
We'll find a new way of living,
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere . . .

 

And then—did he dare dream just a bit more? Sparks, why not, impossible wasn’t exactly miles away from nearly impossible after all. Maybe when (not if) she came back, they could even move away from Newcago, out of all the steel and into some bit of the country that hadn’t been ravaged. Though if David was honest with himself, he had to admit neither he nor Megan was exactly the settling down type. They’d probably end up hanging around the city and helping out the other Reckoners around the clock.

 

But they’d be together, and that was what mattered most.

There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.

 

For now, though, he paced the gleaming avenues and fought with Epics and joked with Cody and brought Tia her Cokes and cleaned guns with Abraham and—well—tried not to upset Prof too much. It was all he could do for now, besides hope every waking hour.

Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there—

 

Because maybe, if he just hoped hard enough, if he could hope hard enough for both of them—maybe they could be more than a Reckoner and an Epic. Maybe they could be David and Megan...somehow, someday, somewhere.

 

I have other, non-Sanderson fic on FFN, if you'd like to check me out there: https://www.fanfiction.net/~mirieltolkien I'd love if you dropped by! =)

Edited July 5, 2015 by FireSlayer