Work Text:
Title: Living in a Fantasy
Author: Tayla
Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Rating: FRT
Category: Challenge
Status: Completed May 12, 2004
Archive: Yes to WWOMB/Peja. All others please ask
Feedback: Yes, please. All constructive criticism will be graciously accepted
Email: tayla36@aol.com
Authors Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/tayla36/index.html
Series/Sequel:
Disclaimers: The Sentinel and its characters belong to Pet Fly Productions and Paramount Network Television. No copyright infringement is intended. The author makes no profit and exists solely on the accolades from fellow fans.
Authors Notes: Written for the May 2004 Lyric Wheel Challenge on the MakeBelive list. Lyrics to "Living in a Fantasy" by Leo Sayer are included at the end of the story.
This is not explicit at all. I usually write slash, and in my mind this is, or maybe pre-slash. But this can be read as gen. It talks about love, but it can be interpreted as platonic, if that's the way your mind works.
Summary: This is an AU version of "Sentinel Too, Part Two". Blair does not get up from his hospital bed and follow Jim to Sierra Verde. He is in a coma.
Warnings: Wolves and Jaguars and Spirit Planes, oh my.
He was drowning.
Alex had hit him on the head and threw him in the fountain and he was drowning.
And then he was running. He was a Wolf and he was running in the jungle, but it was unlike any jungle he had ever seen. There was an eerie light that turned everything cool and blue and shadowed when it should have been lush and green and warm. And he felt terribly alone.
There was a sound behind him. A roar.
He turned to see the Jaguar chasing after him. The sight of a full grown jaguar coming after him should have been frightening.
But it wasn't.
The blue light was now warm and more alive than anything he had ever felt. He started to run toward the cat.
There was a ravine between them. Deep and wide and insurmountable. But the Jaguar was waiting for him on the other side, so he leaped. The cat leaped too, and they met and merged in a great flash of light.
He was drowning again, not in water, but in love. The Jaguar's love filled him until he thought he would burst with it. And he loved the Jaguar with a depth of feeling he didn't know he possessed. He felt more alive than he ever had.
*******************
He opened his eyes and the world was white instead of blue. The whirring and beeping of machines and the antiseptic smell let him know that he was in a hospital. He heard voices.
"...can't believe you're leaving while he's still unconscious."
"Joel, you know I have to go after the bitch that did this to him."
"Let someone else go after her. You should be here when he wakes up."
"I have to do it."
"Fine. Go have your revenge, then. But you know it's quite possible that he won't wake up if you're not here."
"What are you talking about?"
"Henri told me what happened at the University. He said that Blair was dead, and that you brought him back. You have to finish the job. You can't leave him in a coma."
"You don't really believe all that nonsense, do you Joel?"
Feeling vaguely hurt, he let himself drift away, back into the blue dream, where he was a Wolf and the Jaguar loved him.
They frolicked together in the blue jungle for an unknown amount of time, although occasionally the Jaguar would be distracted by the distant roar of another jungle cat.
*******************
He was wrenched away from his jungle dream and found himself in the white room again. There were voices, but he didn't recognize any of them, so he drifted away again.
*******************
He found himself in the jungle again, walking along a path, on two legs this time instead of four. The forest around him was dim and dark, but there was a bright light on the path up ahead. He followed until he broke through the trees into a clearing at the edge of a cliff.
Jim was sitting there, with his legs dangling over the side.
Jim heard him and turned his face toward him. For a moment, the image of the Jaguar was superimposed over Jim, and then it was gone. Jim smiled at him and he was filled with the same feeling of love and life that he had felt when the Wolf and the Jaguar merged.
He went over and sat next to his partner, also dangling his legs over the edge. They sat there for a time in companionable silence, staring down into the gorge before them.
Jim gave him another smile, a sad one this time.
"I think I really screwed up here, Chief."
"Why do you say that?"
Jim snorted. "Well, we're dead, aren't we?"
"No, I don't think we are. I woke up a few times in the hospital. But I went back to sleep and found myself here. I think this is some kind of spirit plane.""
Jim just grunted.
He continued "Where were you before you were here?"
"Simon and I followed Alex to Mexico. We followed her through the jungle...a real jungle...to a temple."
He grinned at Jim. "You think this jungle isn't real? It might just be more real than that one in Mexico."
"I'll have to take your word for it. You're the Shaman."
"What happened in the Temple?"
"Alex got the drop on me. There was this grotto, and two pools. She put me in one of the pools and gave me this potion to drink."
"Potion?"
"She said she found the recipe written on the walls. She said it enhanced all her senses."
"Probably some sort of hallucinogen."
"Yeah well, I had visions. I saw Incacha. He told me to find my light."
"Your light?"
"I kept seeing your face."
"Aw, that's so sweet, Jim."
Jim laughed. "Anyway, when I got out of the pool, we got the gas away from her. Then she had some kind of meltdown. Like the drugs fried her circuits. I thought I was okay. She had twice as much as I did."
"So, what happened?"
"I remember sitting there, waiting for Simon to finish up with the local authorities. They had taken Alex away already. I was just staring off into the jungle. I thought I heard a cat roar, and a wolf howling, and then I was here."
"Sounds like a zone. Maybe a zone, maybe a spirit walk."
Jim sighed. "I guess Joel was right. I shouldn't have left Cascade. I should have stayed with you."
"You're here with me now. That's what's important."
"Where ever here is."
"It's not so bad. Kind of peaceful, actually."
"So we just stay here?"
"For now."
"How do we get back? Can we get back?"
"Don't know yet. But don't worry, Jim. We'll figure it out when we need to. For now, let's go play."
"Play?"
He grinned as he stood, offering his hand to Jim to help him up. Then he led his Jaguar into the jungle.
********************
"What happened Simon?" Joel asked as he watched the orderlies get Jim settled into the bed next to Blair's.
"I don't know." Simon exclaimed, chewing angrily on the end of an unlit cigar. "We caught Barnes and retrieved the gas. She went nuts. They strapped her to a gurney and hauled her away in an ambulance. I thought Jim was fine, but I went to get him when the jeep was ready, and he was like that." Simon gestured towards the still figure in the bed, his eyes open but unseeing. "The doctors say he's catatonic. I had a bitch of a time getting him released from the hospital in Mexico so I could bring him home. How's Blair?" he asked, shifting his focus to the figure in the other bed.
"No change. He opened his eyes a few times, but he wasn't really awake."
"What are they going to do to bring him out of it?" Simon asked.
"I don't think there's anything they can do. They probably won't be able to bring Jim out of it either."
Simon looked at Joel, horrified.
Joel smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. They'll come back when they're ready."
"I hope so. I miss them."
The End
Living in a Fantasy
By Leo Sayer
You -- you are my reason to live
You make me shine -- with all the love that you give
And when i think of you -- i keep driftin' away
Little by little -- i love you more ever day
I lay in bed but i just can't sleep
I close my eyes and you're all that i see
I can't believe that it's happening to me
Living in a fantasy
Ever since you came to me
Living in a fantasy
Drowning in this luxury
Ever since you came to me
I'm living in a dream
Oh, i know -- there'll be storms up ahead
We'll blow them away -- bring back the sun again
For love conquers all -- the gloom and despair
Nothin' can go wrong -- just as long as you're there
I see a light on the path up ahead
I know you'll wait on the cliff where you said
I'll hold you close 'till we're right on the edge
Living in a fantasy
Oh you're too much -- too soon -- too strong
But I wanna drown in your touch
Don't keep me floating too long