Dust in the Wind [Open!]

[cityship]

|| Attention, crew, Attention. All personnel who wish to attend the funeral of Howard Bassem and Cedric Diggory, please report to the Observation Deck. ||

Once again, the Observation Deck is prepared for a sending-off of the dead. A hard pod containing Howard's body sits in the center of the room, with a much smaller pod containing Cedric's wand sitting beside it. The observation window is open, showing the attending crew a stunning view of a nearby fiery red star: the final resting place of the two fallen crew members.

Before the launch, though, there are goodbyes to be said.

Comments

[splendid_roman]

He dropped her hand when they reached the Sensoriums. He just gave himself a punching bag and left Barbara to add in anything she wanted. He stood in front of it for a moment before punching it.

[first_in_time]

She watched a moment. The intensity Ian showed with his violence was hypnotising. Or she was tired. Maybe she was tired. Tired of aliens and time travel and death. She may has well have stayed on Earth with the Daleks and Jenny for all this mattered.

The walls of the room were plain, but Barbara wasn't interested in being somewhere pretty. Instead she held an image in her head, turned around, and found her bed. It wasn't the egonomical nonsense she'd slept on in the TARDIS, but a spring mattress on a sturdy frame with a simple headboard. The quilt she cherished, made by her grandmother for her when she was nine, draped over the mattress and two pillows were dressed in matching cases. A teddy bear she'd had for as long as she could remember, nestled between the two pillows.

Barbara lay on the bed, curled up on her side and hugged the bear to herself.

[splendid_roman]

Ian kept going until he was sweaty, aching and his hands hurt. Then he kicked the bag for good measure. By the time he finished he felt better for getting rid of his anger and he was too tired to feel anything but physical pain.

He needed a shower really, but he sat on the edge of Barbara's bed.

[first_in_time]

"Do you feel better?" she asked quietly after a moment.

[splendid_roman]

He sighed. "I don't know." He looked over at her. "Does the bear have a name?"

[first_in_time]

"Royal Albert," she replied and sat up, handing the bear to him for a closer look.

[splendid_roman]

"Hello, Royal Albert," he said with a small smiled. "He looks well-loved."

[first_in_time]

"I've had him for as long as I can remember. Probably explains the ridiculous name." Despite everything, she chuckled lightly.

[splendid_roman]

"And you still have him?" Ian didn't have anything that he'd had that long.

[first_in_time]

"Don't you have anything from your childhood?" Barbara asked, head tilted to the side, "books? Toys? Comic books?"

[splendid_roman]

He shrugged. "Some comics. But they were my brother's really, I just took them when he left home."

[first_in_time]

"How old were you when he left?" If Barbara was honest, she wasn't entirely sure she remembered Ian having siblings. They discussed it at some point, she knew that much but she couldn't remember the exact answer. And talking about anything was better than thinking at the moment.

[splendid_roman]

"Fourteen." But he didn't really want to talk about it. "We're going to get home," he promised her. "Howard and Cedric won't have died in vain."

[first_in_time]

Her smile was strained but at least she looked up at Ian. Why would she want go home when Daleks had overrun the place? Why would she want return to a life she hadn't seemed to have lived?

Barbara patted Ian's knee then hugged her bear. "What's something else we could imagine?"

[splendid_roman]

He shrugged. "I don't know." There wasn't anything he wanted to do, other than stay with Barbara.

[first_in_time]

"Uhmm..." Barbara thought a moment before the plainness around them dissolved into the familiar staffroom of Coal Hill School. It was the first place she thought of that they would both recognise, with its old carpet and mis-matched chairs. There was still a sense of home about it, which was what Barbara was aiming for, really.

[splendid_roman]

It reminded him of home. If he closed his eyes he could imagine the sounds of the students in the playground and the quiet chatter of the rest of the staff. He stood up, not realising the Sensoriums had picked up on his thoughts and made those sounds real. He put a hand on the back of the nearest chair and leaned on it, with his back to Barbara, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

[first_in_time]

Barbara couldn't see Ian's face, and thought that by adding the sounds of children, he was enjoying the simulation. Or it was at least making him feel better. So she concentrated, adding the smell of tea and instant coffee, the sounds of marking and page turning. She went to stand next to him, a light smile gracing her features at the memories until she noticed that he wasn't reacting how she thought.

The simulation ended in an instant, save for Ian's contributions, and she wrapped her arms around him again, enveloping him as much as she could in a warm embrace.

[splendid_roman]

Ian held onto her, his eyes closed and his face buried against her hair for a few moments. After a while he opened his eyes and moved his head enough to see that the staff room had gone, but the sounds hadn't and he stopped those.

[first_in_time]

She was here for as long as Ian needed her to be, as far as she was concerned, and when the sounds died, leaving them in absolute silence, Barbara lifted her head to see properly but kept her arms wrapped about him.

"What do you want to see?" she asked gently, "anything at all."

[splendid_roman]

"Nothing." The landscape correspondingly rearranged itself to be completely black, so it looked like they were standing on nothing, which was disconcerting. He changed it so they were standing in a field and the sky above was full of stars, although not arranged in any constellations they would recognised.

[first_in_time]

Barbara looked up to see the night sky appear above them. Countless times in her life she'd looked up to see stars. She hadn't thought much about them. They were certainly beautiful but they were always just there. For the moment, however, the atmosphere gave the stars a different feel to them. They felt sad and lost.

She hugged Ian tighter, resting her forehead against his neck so that he could hear her whisper: "we're going to do something about this."

Barbara had wanted to tell him that everything would be alright, or that he was safe but she couldn't promise either of those things. What she could promise, however, was action; something far more practical than empty promises.

[splendid_roman]

He nodded. Beneath them he imagined there was a blanket and he sat on it, pulling Barbara down with him and holding her close.