[log] Into that good night [closed]

[bookofnope]

Characters: Beckett and House, then Beckett and Haurchefant sadpire double feature
Location: Buildings 58, then 50
Date: Night 111/Day 112
Summary: Beckett catches House, gets too angsty to do anything useful with it, has to get caught by Tol Elf in turn.
Warnings: Death talk, self-harm and suicide ideation and plans, SERIOUSLY this one will be bad.

Comments

Night 111, building 58

[bookofnope]

[It's a risk he's taking, Beckett knows, gambling on House going for the hospital morgue instead of the funeral home. The former is closer after all. But House's last round of tying himself up for NIMA was at the hospital, and replicating the experiment properly requires replicating as many conditions as possible. A rational method, however irrational the intent is...

And it is, surely, though he's sure that if he does catch up, the good doctor will have a thing or two to say about hypocrisy. And maybe he wouldn't be entirely wrong. How is Beckett on any moral high ground here? It shouldn't bother him, such things rarely do, but the thought turns in his head all day nonetheless. He'd done just what House is planning to do, if for different reasons - were they different reasons? All day, these thoughts, and the memory of the morgue - the real one, and the one in his dream, the darkness and the familiar hands.

Not real, but not leaving him alone, either. Why did I do it? He'd been desperate, he told Clayton. Why was I desperate? NIMA had taken Angel's form in the morgue, Lucita's in the dream. Merciful hands, strangling the life out of him. Why do I want to die?

It's a considerable relief when reaching the house at the tunnel opening offers a concrete distraction. It's a loud, creaky building, not good to hide in, and as he comes near the door he's reasonably sure he can hear someone inside already. Time to stop thinking in circles, make plans, act on them. He stops to carefully, quietly withdraw the wrench from his backpack. A steadying slow breath - don't want to start coughing now. And then it's in through the door, as silently as he can, to whomever is inside, his prey, or another predator. He's more than ready.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House is currently just rummaging in the small building, looking around for whatever there might be to find. His pack is stuck in a nearby corner, his natural paranoia getting the better of him with the noises in the place. Everything creaks and groans too much. There isn't really much of a draft, though, which is the only thing that has him turning to see the door coming open and someone appearing with some sort of weapon in-hand. It's incredibly dim, and House can't make out exactly who it might be, but he lunges for and immediately takes up the wooden croquet mallet he'd collected earlier and brings that up like he would a lacrosse stick.]

Back off, asshole. It's House.

[And hopefully, 'asshole' will identify themselves quickly. He really hopes that's not Beckett, but has a sinking feeling that it is.]

[bookofnope]

[Well, isn't it just.

Beckett has the decency not to cackle with glee, at least. He can't quite make the other figure in the gloom too well, either, but that voice and confirmation are all he needs. House is holding some kind of weapon himself - looks like a decent one, too - but Beckett has come in ready to pounce. He's got momentum on his side.

Just have to make sure he doesn't accidentally kill House, if they're going to go at this armed. That'd be the height of irony.

He keeps moving almost with the same gesture of opening the door, barrelling at the other man with a blow meant to knock whatever he's holding out of his hands. Just take care of that and the rest should be easy.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House can scrap, but he's still not a fighter, not really. It's easier to just take a beating and have it done with. Curl up, don't let them get the most vulnerable areas, and you'll be fine, eventually. In this case, he's not inclined to risk that.

It's Beckett. It has to be Beckett. The only other person he can think of is Jack, and he seems like the sort to let you know ahead of time that exactly who you're being beaten by.

Instead of side-stepping, House just drops full to the floor, then sweeps the mallet, trying to knock Beckett off his feet.]

[bookofnope]

[It's a good move, and if they hadn't fought before, Beckett knows he might not have been prepared for it. As it happens, he's just fast enough to step away from the sweep, though it forces him to open some distance between House and himself again. So much for the momentum of the first strike.

He's undeterred, though. House being low means he can go for the hand-to-hand moves he prefers over using the wrench, anyway - or the foot-to-stomach move, as it happens, a swift snapping kick. After all, he realizes, he doesn't even need to incapacitate House - just keep him in the house until lockdown. Not long now.]

I owe you a lot of punches, if I remember right. [Might as well speak up now. House would've figured out who he's fighting. And it might just be satisfying.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House tries to pull back, but the kick catches him in the ribs, and he topples over onto his back. Fuck. Well, if Beckett wants to kick, he can return the favor. If the vampire tries to step in, he'll have to deal with a heel getting aimed at his kneecap or his groin. The closer he gets, the more likely House will go for the groin.]

How about you suck it, Fangs?

[It's Joker's nickname for the vampire, but it's a good one.]

[bookofnope]

Is that the best - [Not close enough for the groin shot, thankfully, but the kneecap shot is plenty cheap enough. Beckett falls awkwardly, barely catching himself on both hands and his good leg, which means the wrench has dropped within House's reach. Not good.

Can't let him get the heavy weapon. Can't let him get up and run. They're both down. He goes for a grapple, trying to get on top of House and force him to stay on the floor. Just until the doors lock. Damnit, his leg hurts. Broken, the shrapnel, after the shadow-storm, and Rayzeel - what?

He doesn't know what it is, that dizzying flash, but it ruins his balance again. The elbow he tries to force against House's throat slips, though it's not a total loss - it'll most likely get the doctor in the face instead.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House's mallet isn't exactly good for close-range combat, so he does go for the wrench when he hears it clunk against the floor. Not quick enough, though. He has Beckett on him before he can get his hand around it. When the vampire's elbow comes down hard just to the side of his nose, House grunts, knowing that's probably going to turn up as a black eye in the morning.]

I'm really starting to reconsider letting you beat me up. The clown's way better at it.

[He tries to get a knee up between Beckett's legs. If they're going to grapple, House doesn't intend to fight fair. He also still has the mallet, but that's trapped between his and Beckett's bodies. The doctor shoves up on the handle to get some space between them, if he can.]

[bookofnope]

Don't make me bite you!

[Beckett hasn't planned on getting angry. Not so early in the game. Not at all, if he could help it. But then House's second groin shot does connect, and while it might not be as devastating as it would've been for a human still fondly attached to certain parts of their anatomy, it still hurts like a bitch. It stuns him for a moment, actually makes him wince back, if not quite enough to get his weight off House. He scrambles to get a hold again, too aware of the problems of fighting to immobilize when your enemy fights to hurt, tries to get hold of House's wrists and shove his hands up over his head as a thin red haze creeps over his vision with the pain -

- seeing nothing but red and launching himself as Okulos over the ashes of Rayzeel's body, but pointless, too late -

Again a flash, a moment of freezing, dangerous in mid-fight. What the - ]

What are you doing to me?!

[rubikscomplex]

[House uses Beckett's momentary pullback to go for the wrench once more, but again, he's thwarted. He does manage to grab the handle, but then his arms are being pulled up and pinned down. This is intensely frustrating. He's bigger than Beckett. He's pretty sure he is, anyway. If these were the days when he'd been in shape...

But they aren't and he isn't.]

Getting you off, asshole!

[He twists his wrists and aims to smack Beckett with the wrench as hard as he can. It's not very hard, but it's probably enough to sting if it lands. Regardless, that's just the distraction. House makes a move to pull hard to the side with his other arm and topple the vampire so that he can roll them and get over on top of Beckett.]

[bookofnope]

[If he were fully coherent and in control, if it weren't for the pain and the anger and the fever and the flashes, that blow would've been a grazing one, nothing but an excuse to get even angrier. House is bigger, and now armed, but three hundred years of experience should tell. Except Beckett is none of those now, not in control, swiftly slipping - something's happening in his head, something's wrong - and then metal cracks against flesh and bone. Slamming into his skull just above the hairline, flooding his eyes with blood. The haze is red and and black, the cloud, the Abyssal monster, and a crowd of fragmented memories, the barrier, the dream, the Withering -

House easily gets the better of him just then. He only realizes a second too late that the tables have turned and he's the one under now, struggling to push the heavier man off. It's hard to breath and impossible to focus. In furious desperation - have to keep him down! - he snaps his head up and sinks his teeth into whatever he can find.]

[rubikscomplex]

[What he can find is House's left hand.]

Christ!

[It would seem to be his favored expletive for Beckett. Goddamn fucking Christ! In spite of appearances, House doesn't actually want to kill Beckett, just get him off so that he can get away and make a mad dash for that Victorian house.]

Nngh!

[House growls, pinning one of Beckett's hands as he can while he puts his full weight on the vampire to hold him down. He still has the wrench, so that's something.]

Get your teeth out of me or I'm knocking them out, Dracula.

[bookofnope]

[However furious he might be, Beckett does not want another wrench shot to the head. He fully believes House's threat, and being pressed down like this is making his already laboured breathing even more painful. No choice. Let go. Maybe tackle him from behind...

He opens his clenched fangs, lets House withdraw his hand, but slowly. Slowly... and just as House's hand is free, he hears the immensely satisfying thud of closing doors.

Lockdown.

Even through the dizzying cascade still going on in his mind, Beckett flashes a hideous, blood-red grin.]

Hahh... what now, Greg?

Day 112, outside building 50

[bookofnope]

[He walks through the snow and the whiteness is the only thing left of the world, flat and too close for a horizon. All there is to see. All that remains.

Half the time, Beckett nearly forgets where he's meant to go. He stops, looks around, tries to focus his eyes on anything real. Rubble, ruins, the wasted shells of human life. It would be easy to just sit down. He'll be just one more corpse in the snow, until it swallows him just as surely. He can't melt into the earth anymore, the last thing he ever did with the power of an immortal, but the snow will forgive. With a little time it will do the job for him.

He stops, but eventually he always keeps going. Make it count, House had said. It won't matter anymore than anything else will. No answers, no meaning, and no God to fling his anger or his grief at. But he might as well die as he lived, grace the search for its own sake with one more sacrifice. That might be reason enough.

He won't make the school in one day, he knows, and around midday - just as the sun finally puts some pallid grayness into the world - knows he's coming on shelter. The Victorian house. He liked it when he saw it first. Now he only thinks about sleep, having done very little of it the night before. Get inside and sleep... ten yards outside the door, he falls into one of the periodic stops. Is it worth doing even that? Rather just stay outside. It would be rest enough.

It's like this, standing still and hesitant, staring at the snow that buries the world, that Haurchefant finds him.]

[silverfuller]

[Haurchefant is making his way to the tunnels when he sees the vampire standing like a statue, staring out into the gray horizon without seeming to actually see it.

The other man looks lost.

Haurchefant has seen his own soldiers in similar conditions, after dragon raids. Sometimes grief and rage can be so overwhelming that the dawn no longer seems to exist on the other side.

For a moment the Elezen wonders if he should leave Beckett to his thoughts but men in this state are known to wander off into the snows and never return.]

Hail!

[He calls out so Beckett knows he's coming and he walks up along side him.]

What troubles you so?

[bookofnope]

[The call only gets a faint start out of Beckett, and mostly a sinking feeling as he turns his head towards the oncoming figure. He'd half imagined someone would find him, though he doesn't want to be found. Most of them would try to stop him. And if they did, what would he say?

It's Haurchefant. Of all people, he'd had to be found by one of Norfinbury's most unquenchable fonts of steadfast good cheer. Not exactly someone to try to explain crushing despair to. Get away, find another shelter. And if you don't... it's no big loss.]

Haurchefant. [He gives a dull answer, a dull nod in acknowledgement.] It's nothing. Go inside, I'll be with you in a few moments.

[silverfuller]

A few moments is a few too long, I fear.

[He smiles warmly and claps a hand to Beckett's shoulder.]

I must insist you take shelter before the snow madness takes hold. I'll carry you if I must but I shall assume you'd rather I not.

[bookofnope]

[The touch makes Beckett flinch violently away, flashing fangs at Haurchefant with a hint of his normal snappish manner. He moves further away with a slower exhale, putting himself out of range of being hauled up - which he doesn't for a moment doubt Haurchefant will do if he decides to.]

No. I'm all right. Go inside, don't - for God's sake don't carry me. [He tries to make that his normal snappish kind of reply, too, but it mostly comes off tired.]

[silverfuller]

[Haurchefant spreads his arms in a shrug as Beckett draws away. His brow creases in concern.]

Very well, I shall go inside and allow you your moment of respite but I should warn that if you do not come in I will chase you down and I am told I can be insufferably relentless in my pursuits.

[He backs away a few paces and eyes the vampire meaningfully before trudging back to the house. He means what he said.

He will grant a few minutes to try and find peace, but Haurchefant cannot allow the other man to simply wander off into the snows, not in his current state.]

[bookofnope]

I believe you.

[Beckett says it to Haurchefant's back, with a bit of a sigh. Run? It's almost a technical impossibility in this weather. If there was no daylight, or if the snowfall was heavier, he might have been able to evade capture, but not as conditions stand.

Go inside. Hold Haurchefant at bay with some choice comments. Surely he could. He leans back against the outer wall, closing his eyes as he slowly slides down it. God, he's tired...

The snow falls and he ignores it. The minutes pass.]

[silverfuller]

[Haurchefant steps back outside when Beckett doesn't come in and looks at the figure slumped in the snow.

This is the shape of a broken man.

When he approaches the vampire again it's with noticeable determination. He seizes the other man by the arm and and hauls him upwards.]

Whatever plagues your spirit will not abate from you catching your death from cold.

Come.

[bookofnope]

[He ought to, wants to, tries to resist, but Beckett finds that he can't find the balance to do it. Nothing to stand on. No reason. He's shivering hard by now. The most he can do is shake his head again even as Haurchefant pulls him up.]

I'd really rather not. [His voice is flat and quiet.] Leave me alone. Please. There's nothing for you to do.

[Standing up but standing still. Passive resistance, maybe. Maybe Haurchefant really will have to carry him. Maybe he isn't even bothered by that anymore, either.]

[silverfuller]

Nonsense.

I'll not stand idly by whilst the snow claims another life.

[He tugs on Beckett's arm but the other man doesn't move.]

Forgive me, my friend, you may admonish me later if you wish.

[Saying this, Haurchefant grabs at the vampire and leans into him slightly. The movement is just enough for the Elezen to brace himself as he lifts Beckett on to his shoulder.

Beckett is heavy, but not heavier than Haurchefant's own people tend to be. This is not the first time he's had to carry what he considers a war casualty to safety, and a gnawing anxiety in his heart tells him it may not be the last.

Silently, he moves back to the door.]

[bookofnope]

[There is a distinct, if quiet sound of protest from Beckett's end, but it gets no further than that. He mostly goes limp. It's just one more defeat, and he's told House he's done with defiance.]

Do what you want, [he mutters.] Doesn't matter. [What difference does it make, dying tonight or tomorrow? The only problem, he hazily thinks, is that his taut instincts still would not let him relax enough to sleep, this close to someone else.]

[silverfuller]

[Once they're inside, Haurchefant gently lowers Beckett to the floor and closes the door.]

'Tis not like you to be so despondent. May I ask what it is that so weighs upon you?