Work Text:
Time is the fire
by Lilithangel
Time is the fire in which we all burn.
Except Jack was fireproof and the flames of time flickered over his skin and died, leaving him to continue living and continue saying goodbye.
He never forgot any of those he loved because that was all he had to stay human. As he changed he finally knew that one day he would die, that he would finally feel the searing burn of time.
He didn't know what he believed would happen when that day arrived. Most of the time he expected it to be the same darkness he always saw, but sometimes he hoped, dreamed there would be a familiar face and loving arms.
The pain seemed to go on for eternity. Trapped in that moment of flames and silence as his plane tumbled from the sky.
He was falling forever or just a heartbeat he wasn't sure, and then it was over.
He was standing on an empty beach that stretched out beyond his sight. The ocean was still and grey and everywhere there was only silence. He looked at his hands and there was no sign of burns or scar. Instead of his flight suit he was wearing his dress uniform again.
In the distance he saw a figure plodding through the sand which resolved into a man in a long greatcoat, with dark windswept hair and beautiful grey eyes.
"I think I've been looking for you," the man said with a smile.
"I think I've been waiting for you," he replied. It seemed right to walk into the man's arms for an embrace that his skin remembered even if he didn't.
"What do we do now?" he asked drowning in that smile.
"I have no idea," the man laughed, "let's find out together."
Sometimes fire burns and destroys, but it also brings warmth and life. Love burns just as powerfully as time and sometimes there are happy endings.
END