Three Ways to Betray

[triedunture]

One.

Omission.

Jeeves entered the flat, shaking his umbrella so that the flecks of rain fell into the carpeted hallway and not the pristine foyer. The thunderstorm outside was behaving viciously; his trouser cuffs were completely soaked, and it would be a pleasure to change out of the damp pinstripes and morning coat and into something dry.

Lightning flashed through the sitting room window. Jeeves cocked his head, listening to the silence of the flat underneath the patter of raindrops on the windowpanes and the low rumble of thunder as it crawled through the city streets.

Of Mr Wooster, there was no sign or sound. 'Sir?' Jeeves called, placing the umbrella in its stand and shutting the door. 'Are you in, sir?'

No answer. Jeeves removed his hat and walked toward his lair, where he could hang the bowler to dry on a peg and then divest himself of his rain-spattered suit.

He opened the door to his rooms and found Mr Wooster kneeling on the floor, beside a hole where the loose floorboard had been, a pile of papers in his hands. Letters, yellowed photographs, documents and certificates, small tokens pressed between the pages of an old journal.

'Sir,' Jeeves gasped. 'Those are my private effects!'

'I didn't mean to go snooping,' Mr Wooster said quietly, almost to himself, as if in a dream. 'I only meant to peek in here; had never seen it before, you know. Stepped on this creaky bit in the floor and-- Well.'

Bertie didn't look up from the photograph in his hands. The sadness in his eyes was overwhelming.

'I--' Jeeves attempted.

The photograph was held up between two nimble fingers so that Jeeves could see it, a young woman with an alabaster face and light hair. 'Where is she now?' Bertie asked. 'Where is your wife, Jeeves?'

Jeeves cast his eyes down at his feet. He spoke in a low voice: 'She is where I left her, sir.' The thunder roiled through the room once more, and Bertie placed the artifacts back in their hiding place with ill-concealed disdain.


Two.

Calculated.

She knows from the beginning of time itself how this will end. They are lovers, yes, but ultimately they are the supreme destroyers. And she knows that Shiva will always be the lesser warrior; after all, all things are mirrored pairs: the sunrise with the sunset, the flower's bloom with the naked branch, the heat with the cold.

One thing cannot exist without the other to provide its balance. The creator and the destroyer. The Mother and the Oncoming Storm. Shiva cannot give birth as she can, try as he might, and so he can never know the sweet taste of death as compared to the stinging light of life. So let him dance, she thinks, while I sharpen my swords.

The battle is fierce and she completes it by standing on his blue neck, her belt of human skulls clack-clacking at her waist, her many blades raised to the sky in her many arms as her scream of victory rings over the Himalayas. There is smoke and ash falling from the sky, sent by her avatars, her army of goddesses.

"We were destined to destroy this world together," Shiva chokes out, his godlife draining from his eyes, where she can watch planets dying as he, too, dies.

She allows her tongue, soaked red with the blood of her enemies, flick out at him. "This world belongs to Kali now," she says. "I'm through watching you dance. Now I will burn."

And so begins the Kali Yuga.


Three.

Folly.

'I'm ready for this war, Thete,' he told the Doctor. 'I've been waiting for this my whole life.'

The Doctor watched from a perch on a nearby railing: the frenzied movements of his friend's hands, the manic gleam in his eye, the way his lips jerked spasmodically from a grim frown to a toothy snarl.

'I'll send the Daleks straight to Hell,' the Master swore, setting the final line of code into his beautiful machine. The thing that he and the Doctor had built together. The thing that might be capable of blowing an entire race from the clutches of existence, time, and space.

Or perhaps two races, the Doctor mused silently.

'The counsel will see what I've done and they will praise the day they freed me from my cage,' he continued.

Or, the Doctor amended his thoughts, it could annihilate two races and have some spare energy left over to distill the essence of a Time Lord into a safe container and hide the body.

Brilliant machine, the Doctor told himself as he fingered the cool steel pocket watch in his hand.

'Thete?' the Master asked when his companion's silence became noticeable. 'Theta, are you having second thoughts about this insane plan?'

'No,' the Doctor said softly.

'Well, then.' An over-excited gesture of an arm. 'Let's start this baby up and--'

The Doctor stood. Opened the watch. Keyed in the activation code at the panel before him. 'I'm sorry,' he said.

The Master's wild grin slipped. 'What are you--?'

'I'm so, so sorry.'

A flash of light, a scream as a soul was ripped from a body and a body was transmogrified into something it wasn't supposed to be. A pocket watch slipped into a now-human hand, a boy's hand, small, trembling, and confused.

The Doctor leaned in to whisper he supposed would be his last words to his old friend: 'But I can't let you die here too.' And with the flick of a switch, he sent him to the ends of the earth.

Comments

[pinglederry.livejournal.com]

Aww... :(

Lovely writing. *sniffle*

[chaoschick13.livejournal.com]

Delightfully depressing, all of them. Deserving of applause.

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

Chilling, all of them. But the first one, good lord! I'm fascinated. I know it gets old to have people going RITE MOAR at every little thing, but holy lying valets, Batman, the imagination runs wild.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

It surely does. I was thinking about something...someone...said. (I'm rubbish at keeping track of these things.) Anyway! Someone's plot bunny of Jeeves being an international jewel thief and having this bizarre double life/secret past. I just thought, you know, wouldn't it be awful if the valet of all valets had only become one to run from his boring, normal, married life?

I don't think I could do that in longform though. It's just too ooky to contemplate!

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

Gads, that is ooky. I'd been thinking of some angst-fraught don't-love-you-anymore parting, or that they couldn't stand each other to begin with, or even that she died (even though I was sure you didn't intend that) or that their kid died and they couldn't get past it. (Um, and would you mind terribly if I ran with one of those at some point?)

But just 'bored now, see ya'? Ooer, I don't want overmuch of a Jeeves that would do that (but would read raptly in between peeking out from behind my hands anyway). Mostly 'cause I can imagine it totally working.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Oh no, absolutely you should run free with this idea if you'd like! I myself didn't see it as a "bored nao bai!" parting; more of a very painful, "we never loved each other and were forced into this marriage for some reason" parting. Jeeves would STILL be a cad, of course, if that were the case. Oh man, though, I can't even BEGIN to fathom the possibility that it was the death of a child.

OH! This would make Jeeves' aversion to children even more heartbreaking!

PLZ write this. I just couldn't bear it. But I would want to read it.

[thirstyrobot.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be all itchy to write this now, EEE. I don't think I could do the subject justice in one of these itty-bitty things I've been writing. Still, I think work begins on it pronto.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

SQUEEEEE!

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I may have to want to have your puppies..

The Lady 529

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

*barges in rudely*
See, now, my brain went down the 'he left her dead' path with the 'because he's the one that killed her' *GASP!* sidecar!! *shrill scream in distance*

You know, tricked into marriage, she was eveille, and something happened where he had to kill her -- self-defense? Buhhhhuh? *helpless shrug*

Thing is - I couldn't write it and I dunno if I'd even WANT to read it. *hides under covers*

[lady529.livejournal.com]

You do realise you're two steps away from Jeeves' wife being an evil vampire that tried to suck the live out of him, and so he staked her to the wall of her vampiric mansion, and the dust she left behind when she died is still there, right?

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

*wanders back into room and is shocked to see all these people here* Hullo! This is the last time I write some vague Jeeves!past thingummy! (No it isn't.) You all come up in here with accusations of murder and children and it's just crazy. (No it's not.) I mean, do you REALLY think Jeeves capable of killing a woman? (I would rather not test that theory! The man will biff a cop over the head without batting an eyelash.)

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I did NOT come up in anywhere with ANY accusations of ANY murders or children or any crazy!

..just a vampiric wife..

The Lady 529

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

OMFG! AH AH AH! Mixing Jeeves and vampires!???

I'm going to have to grovel in adoration at your kneecaps now, k?

[lady529.livejournal.com]

..yes, mixing Jeeves and vampires.

By all means, grovel ahead. I'd no idea my kneecaps were of such interest to people X D

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure there was a sort of vampire!Jeeves fic...somewhere...a very old one, I think. Before my time. Maybe I'm crazy? But I remember Jeeves having a love affair with a vampire as a young man.

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I'd not be surprised, the idea of Jeeves and fangs at the same time is rather tantalising..

The Lady 529

[pinglederry.livejournal.com]

*poke* Who's the guy in your icon? *curious*

[lady529.livejournal.com]

It's David Hodges from CSI:Vegas, played by Wallace Langham. He doesn't usually have fangs, that's sort of an inside joke between me and a friend : )

The Lady 529

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

*blase tone* Of course, darling; when it comes to grovelling, kneecaps are the new feet.

;p

[lady529.livejournal.com]

Of course..

*mutters under breath* These Americans and their new fashioned ways..

<3

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding? In America, kneecaps are the new aerosol cheese.

[lady529.livejournal.com]

You call Bertie 'Mr. Wooooster', so I'm not surprised..

I'm not even going to comment on the aerosol cheese.

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

HEY I am trying very hard to say it as Wuh-ster now! You'll see in my next podfic...I think it's getting better.

....I do try very hard. ;.; But my flappy American mouth has such a hard time going WUH. *tries* Woooooo! You see? I am only capable of making stupid American noises!

[lady529.livejournal.com]

Aw *patpat* I'm sure you'll get there soon : )

Think 'Wuhsssssssssssster', that's how my mum managed to get it right. Same thing goes for Wodehouse, it's not 'Wodehouse', it's 'Woodhouse'.

The Lady 529

[dorothy-notgale.livejournal.com]

How very "Rebecca"... Fortunately we actually know Bertie's name, though now I want to try that as a writing exercise.

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

I know, but you know how those classics lurk in your subconscious.

Oh, and lurv that icon. What's the character from, if you don't mind my asking?

EDIT: btw - I think if you wrote that sort of thing I WOULD read it, 'cause... y'know... it's you.
;)

[dorothy-notgale.livejournal.com]

Character is Lord Dorian Red, Earl of Gloria, aka notorious art thief Eroica, of the very hilarious manga "From Eroica With Love". Above is Klaus, the military man he loves, whose pants he's not yet gotten into after a good 30 years of trying :(. The quotes are from Skippy's List.

I would read this too, is triedunture wrote it... *pokes w/stick*

[sweet-fallacy.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord in heaven! How could you do this to me? The idea that Jeeves could possibly have some stain on his past... And to offer it in so short a form! Shame on you!

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I love it. Them. In general. Yes. Shiva/Kali thingy esp. surprising and brilliant. All love though.

Off to get food now.

Love.

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to any Hindus that might think that was offensive! I just love the goddess stories too much, and when I thought of the prompt "betrayal" I immediately think of religion. Religion totes has lots of betrayal in it!

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I equally hope I'm not offending anyone, but I've studied Religious Science (Hinduism included), and I loved that ficcy thing to bits.

And yes, yes it does.

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, I studied Hinduism for a while too. We analyzed south Indian art at one point, and there's this iconic image of Kali standing over Shiva with her foot on his neck (a BIG thing in a culture where feet have weird significances attached to them) and Kali's mouth is wide open. When asked what the image represents, modern Hindus are split depending on their affiliation. If they ascribe to goddess worship, they'll say it represents Kali defeating Shiva in battle and screaming her victory. Those that don't participate in goddess worship view it as a cautionary tale, that Kali accidentally stepped on a prone Shiva and is gasping in shock.

RELIGION IS AWESOME AND WEIRD.

[lady529.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I remember that image from the lectures on Hinduism! Love our Swedish Rel.Sci. professor: "Given that she's got her mouth open and has her foot on his neck, if that was in Sweden, he would have eaten her chocolate during the wrong week of that month. I'm supposedly an expert on this, and if that's the best I can come up with, no wonder Hindus aren't unanimous in their interpretation."

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

LOLZ, I dunno, it seemed sort of cut and dry to me. I mean, the lady's got some swords out! Some skulls on her belt! She bathes in blood and lives in the burning fields for Christ's sake! I'm pretty sure it wasn't, like, a friendly love-tap.

[lady529.livejournal.com]

Yeah, some of us pointed that out to him, the fact that she's got swords and skulls and stuff all over the place, all we got was "Hence the menstruational reference. Now.."

I must admit I'm leaning towards those who believe Kali's screaming her victory. You don't brandish swords and stuff if you accidentally happen to step on someone.

At least I don't.

The Lady 529

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

ARGGGH! I'm sooooo sorry I stepped on you. Here, lemme help you up with MY GIANT SWORDS.

(Geez, I am sorry, Hindus! Please feel free to make fun of our beliefs too. I mean, a virgin birth? That's just stupid.)

[lady529.livejournal.com]

I like the Torchwood explanation to virgin birth: Shape shifting alien dad who has bitten a human woman and thus impregnated her with his and his shape shifting female mate's wee shape shifting baby-thing.

You must admit, not too bad an explanation. I've heard worse.

The Lady 529

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

gasping with shock
Pull the other one - it's got more skulls on, apparently.

Pft.

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

My. Goodness.
Three assorted flavors of amazing. Dark and well crafted, m'dear.

*bows*

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

I like how drabbles like these inspire people to write longer pieces. While I love anything Jooster-related, I think I like the second one best. Hindu gods are so very colorful and vivid.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

I KNOOOOOW. I am jealous because they have all the best creation stories. A boat made of snakes? An ocean that goes on forever? A flower from your navel!? This stuff is crazy great reading!

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Wow. That first one was intense.

Actually, when I first read it, I had a major déjà vu moment about my rotten story where B. discovers the letter beneath the floorboards of J's bed. Not that I would for one moment dare to suggest any sort of comparison between my dribbling and your polished prose. But, well, perhaps it will put me back on track for writing? Someday?

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Oh, I KNEW I had scammed that image from somewhere in my brain. While writing I was thinking, "Didn't this happen before? This floorboard thing?" But Christ, I can't keep anything straight these days. I think I might have used it in reverse at one point too...a ficlet where Jeeves hides some stuff not to keep secret while he's there, but to come back for after he quits or something.

Floorboards are nifty, is what I mean to say.

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that last idea. Very much. I think it needs elaboration.

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

Which would you rather: elaborate floorboard shenanigans or hot manservant-on-manservant action? I mean, it's up to you. (It's actually not; I'm already doing the latter.)

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Can I pick both? :D