And memories weigh heavier than stone
A Revolution fic (Blackout AU): Sebastian (Bass) Monroe/Charlotte (Charlie) Matheson; Charloe, Miles and Rachael Matheson, Aaron Pittman, the Nano & the Patriots… Set after 'A holiday in New Xanadu' Bass and Charlie are back on the road to Willoughby – only things are a little (try a lot…) different this time…
Rating M…
Author's note: Thanks so much for reading. I found after I'd written the last chapter that the story wouldn't let me go, the following chapter kept going round and round in my mind until I was dreaming it, I think because I didn't really want the power to be on – because like a lot of people living in the Revo world, power had brought mixed blessings and people had sort of gotten used to living without it…. The characters I'd invented here also seemed to want another chance at life, so here it is…I really hope you enjoy it….
I don't own any part of Revolution – I continue to love it though and I find Charlie and Bass endlessly inspiring… Cheers, Magpie
Chapter 10: epilogue…
People were calling it the second surge and it lasted for sixteen hours…
The cloud of nanites, with Nano guiding them, had been visible, sheeting and coruscating like the northern lights for many, many miles around in the skies above Willoughby, Texas, then, after it disappeared, vanishing in a streak headed upwards… the power had come back on…
Some had thought that it was, finally, the real end of the world and had panicked, hiding away as best they could, then watching in amazement as lights and machines that had been dormant for more than sixteen years suddenly came back to life, flickering, stuttering but alive again…
Children who had been born after the blackout were frightened – of the strange things that moved on their own… of pictures that moved and spoke on small screens, lights that suddenly flared in forgotten corners…sounds that came out of nowhere and watching their parents, neighbors and older siblings burst into tears only made them more confused…
As with the first surge, people cried… but then they waited, their anxiety building as the four minute mark of the last surge went by… The first surge had brought the bombs and the Patriots, war and disease with it; and they waited, looking to the skies, for what new disasters this one might bring… As time passed though and the power stayed on, people started to relax just a little. Those who'd kept their phones and computers, just in case, ran to find them - and a very, very lucky few actually made contact with loved ones and friends far away… Many more didn't though; it was way too late…
But then people celebrated… Music blared from loudspeakers and cd players on every street corner and out of every bar… People turned lights and fans and hairdryers on just because they could… Small appliances still seemed to work but larger things – unless they'd been cared for and maintained, didn't; batteries were flat, parts had been scavenged for other uses… Fires broke out all over the world as power ran through lines that were broken or eroded and shorted out, sparks flying as machines overloaded and flew apart…
People danced, partied, regardless of explosions and fires… Jerry rigged cars, motorbikes and trucks appeared everywhere, careening along roads in cities and country, filled with joy riders whooping and yelling, no speed limits applied…although no one was quite brave enough to fly anything yet…
The power stayed on for sixteen hours… Then it simply stopped, just like before… although for a while, everyone held their breath, waiting… but then, when nothing else happened, most people shrugged and went on with their lives…
So the second surge came and went; people talked, argued and mourned, articles appeared in broadsheet newspapers speculating on how and why it had happened, but only a few of them really knew what actually happened…
…
In Willoughby, Texas, Aaron sat with his head in his hands as his dreams shattered into a million pieces one more time... There had been always been the chance that this could happen, that somewhere enough nanites remained, quietly hidden, to start the whole thing off again… He'd been really hoping that it wouldn't though; he sighed heavily, picked up his pack and headed out the gate… He was going to find Priscilla and Grace – and Peter, and he was going to try to convince them to travel to Xanadu...
Miles and Rachael were in Willoughby with Gene, waiting until his court case came up… there was a chance that Texas would demand the death penalty…
Bass and Charlie had started back on the road to Xanadu almost as soon as Nano left. Willoughby wasn't what they wanted for themselves, or their coming baby, and they both wanted to get back to their hidden paradise before Charlie got too much farther along… Charlie was a little sad at leaving Miles but knew that he wanted to be with her Mom; besides he knew where they were going… Rachael herself didn't really figure in Charlie's plans though, her mom hadn't been a mom for a long time now… Charlie wanted her life to be with Bass - and now that Nano had gone, Thea's mission to bring Rachael to Xanadu to help William had gone too. So Thea and her Scouts were acting as escorts for Bass and Charlie, going home...
They'd taken their wagon and the horses; Bass wasn't ready to trust the power quite yet, and besides Charlie was still slightly freaked out by cars and electricity in general – especially when she saw the crazy things that people were doing… So, they were going the slow way, and didn't actually realize that the power had gone out again until they came upon some stranded would-be motorists, sadly making plans to walk back the miles they'd driven…
Once they'd commiserated with the travellers, said their goodbyes and were sitting on the wagon ready to set off again, Bass pulled Charlie into a hug, her body warm and so wonderfully familiar against his…'do you mind about the power Charlie?'
She shook her head…'Fuck no… everything was so noisy, and smelly' her nose wrinkled… 'I don't know what you all got so excited about…'
He chuckled and clicked the horses on… Thea and the Scouts trotting beside them; it was a beautiful day and the only things flying in the sky were birds…
….
AN: this was short, but it does mean that I can take them back to Xanadu sometime… yay!