The Dawn of Hope
by Gingerspark
Story Notes
Author: Gingerspark (formerly known as niennaainur)
Contact: Gingerspark.Brassblade@gmail.com
Pairing: original non-canon characters
Rating: PG-13 –
Summary: In the beginning there was chaos, and from chaos emerged dreams and hope…
Warnings: none, this is a bit tame… and possibly mildly introspectively emo.
Disclaimer: All the pretty Wraeththu, as well as the world they live in, were created by, and belong to, Storm Constantine, who (bless her!) is gracious enough to allow fans like me to take them out and play with them occasionally. No copyright infringement is intended.
Beta read by: bigunen & louiscypher2000
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Human death came in quick flashes from the muzzle of the gun. The echoes continued to reverberate around the old garage for longer than it took for the bodies to fall; some gambles don’t pay off, we should have known we were pushing our luck. We’d gambled and we’d lost.
Civilization had crumbled to the point of non-existence; civilization wasn’t very civil anymore. The city was a burned out war zone; a shell. Those humans with means or influence had fled to safe fortress-like gated communities and we, the lost and disenfranchised, found safety of sorts in gangs that fought for survival against other gangs of humans; and we all fought ‘Them’. We all feared ‘Them’ – they called themselves ‘Wraeththu’, but we had other names for them. They were strange terrifying beings: faster, stronger, wild and unpredictable, and far more deadly. Sometimes they made their presence known, winning strategically impressive assaults against human strongholds and sometimes they appeared out of nowhere, silently dispatching their victims and then disappearing without a trace.
We’d lost this one; we’d fallen into a trap set by the group of these strange creatures that our gang had been harrying for a few months.
More shots rang out; one by one more bodies fell. I felt nothing other than a hopeless sense of resignation. These were not my friends, these were my fellow gang members; humans thrown together as there was strength in numbers. In this part of the city it is almost certain death on your own so membership is a gang was essential and I feared them as much as we all feared these strange creatures. I was last and being held firmly by two of them. I hadn’t fought; it seemed pointless.
Their leader approached me, sneering. “Been watching? If you got anything to say – Better say it now.”
“Goodbye cruel world?” The insolence of my tone and words certainly didn’t match what I was feeling.
He threw his head back and laughed. “You’re a pretty thing. You’d make a good little plaything.”
He grabbed my hair and kissed me roughly. I fought then. I know what happens when they “play”; I’d rather be shot.
There were a lot of them, kicking and punching, one of me – I lost, fast; balled in a fetal position, I prayed for a quick end.
Forever Wraeththu 