Charlie - Victims of Fate
Nov. 5th, 2007 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sapphire_childI know I know! I should be doing my NaNo but...IT CALLS TO ME. THE FANFICTION!
Preciousssss...
Title: Victims of Fate
Rating: PG
Summary: “Sometimes winning a fight can be worse than losing it.” Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
lostfichallenge #59: you win
Words: 807
Spoilers: up to the very end of season three
Disclaimer: Lost is belong to ABC. The lyrics in the cut are belong to Placebo.
~*~
“Don’t fight with your fists if you can help it,” Megan Pace told her sons as she tended to their battle wounds. Like all young lads, they were inclined to come home from time to time with blacked eyes and – in the case of Charlie this particular day – a bloody nose. Megan just wished that they could learn that it was alright to walk away from a fight. “Always fight with your brains first. Fists are an absolute final option. And if you can walk away – then do it. Sometimes winning a fight can be worse than losing it.”
Charlie took her words to heart and he kept them with him his entire life. Growing up a scrawny, timid child, his sarcasm all too soon became a force to be reckoned with. Grim humour became a defence mechanism far stronger than his body could ever – and would ever – be.
It was a rare occurrence that Charlie became angered enough to use his fists and of these, few had been true victories. On the mainland he’d had a handful of punch ups with his brother and once or twice when he had been deprived of his drugs he’d found someone to vent his frustrations on. On the island he’d only hit Sawyer (deservedly so) and Sayid once.
But when fate started to play with his mortality, Charlie suddenly found that there were no fight tactics for him anymore. He couldn’t beat fate up for targeting him and he couldn’t try to talk his way out of the situation either. All he could do was hope and pray that Desmond didn’t get bored of trying to save him.
Charging down the hill in Hurley’s resurrected van had been the closest that he ever really got to thumbing his nose at fate. For almost a week after that he’d been wild with elation, thinking that maybe he’d beaten it at its own game.
That illusion was shattered when Desmond warned him, completely out of the blue, that if he helped Claire to catch her seagull then he would invariably die. It was then that he began to realise that the flashes weren’t going to stop. His days were numbered. And no promise that either Claire or Desmond made to him was going to change that. Either way, eventually, fate was going to get him – there was nothing left for him to do now but try to live his final weeks, days, hours as well as he possible could.
Living in the moment certainly takes on a whole new meaning when you find out that you’re going to die and there’s absolutely nothing that you can do about it. But still, when Desmond told him that this was it – this was the day he was meant to go, Charlie was terrified. There were still so many loose ends he hadn’t tied up, so many things he wished he’d done and so many things he never got to say and never would get the chance to say.
It seemed that the irony Gods were in cahoots with the fates too.
But really, how could he keep on pretending that he wasn’t a danger to himself? That he wasn’t a danger to the people that he loved? What if in order to keep himself alive he had to sacrifice somebody close to him? How could he live with himself if one day Claire or Hurley or Desmond were gone because he had been too cowardly to face his fate like a man? His mother’s words came back to him all in a rush. Maybe this was one of the battles that he wasn’t supposed to win?
And so he laid all of his arguments aside, took a deep breath and let go. There was no point in fighting it anymore. If this is what was meant to happen then he couldn’t very well stop it. And really, who was he to question the reason for his death? He was only one small, insignificant soul in a world that clearly didn’t want him in it anymore. He’d tried and failed to beat fate at its own game and it had merely come swinging back around when he’d least expected it to. It wasn’t ever going to stop. Charlie didn’t want to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life for the one bully that he knew he was never going to be able to beat.
Strangely enough, at the end, it was comforting to know that this was where he was meant to be. As Charlie pushed away from the door he shut his eyes and crossed himself.
And his final thought as the last of his precious air left his lungs and the water flooded in to drown him, was to whoever had assigned him this cruel fate.
“You win.”
Preciousssss...
Title: Victims of Fate
Rating: PG
Summary: “Sometimes winning a fight can be worse than losing it.” Written for
lostfichallenge #59: you winWords: 807
Spoilers: up to the very end of season three
Disclaimer: Lost is belong to ABC. The lyrics in the cut are belong to Placebo.
“Don’t fight with your fists if you can help it,” Megan Pace told her sons as she tended to their battle wounds. Like all young lads, they were inclined to come home from time to time with blacked eyes and – in the case of Charlie this particular day – a bloody nose. Megan just wished that they could learn that it was alright to walk away from a fight. “Always fight with your brains first. Fists are an absolute final option. And if you can walk away – then do it. Sometimes winning a fight can be worse than losing it.”
Charlie took her words to heart and he kept them with him his entire life. Growing up a scrawny, timid child, his sarcasm all too soon became a force to be reckoned with. Grim humour became a defence mechanism far stronger than his body could ever – and would ever – be.
It was a rare occurrence that Charlie became angered enough to use his fists and of these, few had been true victories. On the mainland he’d had a handful of punch ups with his brother and once or twice when he had been deprived of his drugs he’d found someone to vent his frustrations on. On the island he’d only hit Sawyer (deservedly so) and Sayid once.
But when fate started to play with his mortality, Charlie suddenly found that there were no fight tactics for him anymore. He couldn’t beat fate up for targeting him and he couldn’t try to talk his way out of the situation either. All he could do was hope and pray that Desmond didn’t get bored of trying to save him.
Charging down the hill in Hurley’s resurrected van had been the closest that he ever really got to thumbing his nose at fate. For almost a week after that he’d been wild with elation, thinking that maybe he’d beaten it at its own game.
That illusion was shattered when Desmond warned him, completely out of the blue, that if he helped Claire to catch her seagull then he would invariably die. It was then that he began to realise that the flashes weren’t going to stop. His days were numbered. And no promise that either Claire or Desmond made to him was going to change that. Either way, eventually, fate was going to get him – there was nothing left for him to do now but try to live his final weeks, days, hours as well as he possible could.
Living in the moment certainly takes on a whole new meaning when you find out that you’re going to die and there’s absolutely nothing that you can do about it. But still, when Desmond told him that this was it – this was the day he was meant to go, Charlie was terrified. There were still so many loose ends he hadn’t tied up, so many things he wished he’d done and so many things he never got to say and never would get the chance to say.
It seemed that the irony Gods were in cahoots with the fates too.
But really, how could he keep on pretending that he wasn’t a danger to himself? That he wasn’t a danger to the people that he loved? What if in order to keep himself alive he had to sacrifice somebody close to him? How could he live with himself if one day Claire or Hurley or Desmond were gone because he had been too cowardly to face his fate like a man? His mother’s words came back to him all in a rush. Maybe this was one of the battles that he wasn’t supposed to win?
And so he laid all of his arguments aside, took a deep breath and let go. There was no point in fighting it anymore. If this is what was meant to happen then he couldn’t very well stop it. And really, who was he to question the reason for his death? He was only one small, insignificant soul in a world that clearly didn’t want him in it anymore. He’d tried and failed to beat fate at its own game and it had merely come swinging back around when he’d least expected it to. It wasn’t ever going to stop. Charlie didn’t want to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life for the one bully that he knew he was never going to be able to beat.
Strangely enough, at the end, it was comforting to know that this was where he was meant to be. As Charlie pushed away from the door he shut his eyes and crossed himself.
And his final thought as the last of his precious air left his lungs and the water flooded in to drown him, was to whoever had assigned him this cruel fate.
“You win.”
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 02:55 pm (UTC)First off I have to ask where you got that gorgeous Dom picture? I've never seen it before. It makes a beautiful banner!
I loved these lines (I've no idea how to use italics on LJ like everyone else so I'm putting them in quotation marks...)
"Maybe this was one of the battles that he wasn’t supposed to win."
"Charlie didn’t want to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life for the one bully that he knew he was never going to be able to beat."
I think you're right that Charlie was too humble and felt so insignificant and worthless that he wouldn't fight this battle just to save himself (even though he wanted to live). His concern for his friends was his priority. Still it makes me sick that the 'bully' won. Charlie had the moral victory and rose above his abuse, but how can anyone feel positive about 'fate' when it was so cruel and merciless towards one man?
Great piece! Good luck with the challenge.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 03:11 pm (UTC)It's actually a Charlie promo shot from early early days that I've flipped! It's from waaaaay back in season one. There were a couple of shots taken of him in his Charlie stuff onset in black and white. There was also a selection of three shots that were put into the Honolulu Bulletin or something I think (I had to laugh, looking at those ones the other day. His shirt says "we are not prisoners of fate"! *ironic laughter*)
To do italics you put
It's actually a Charlie promo shot from early early days that I've flipped! It's from waaaaay back in season one. There were a couple of shots taken of him in his Charlie stuff onset in black and white. There was also a selection of three shots that were put into the Honolulu Bulletin or something I think (I had to laugh, looking at those ones the other day. His shirt says "we are not prisoners of fate"! *ironic laughter*)
To do italics you put <i*>whatever text you want to be italicised</i*> and then take out the*'s. It's the same coding with <b>bold</b> except it's a "b" instead of an i, <u>underlined</u> is a "u" and <s>strikethrough</s> is an "s". So there y'go =)
This fic wrote itself like I'm accepting of the fact that Charlie in turn accepted his fate. I'll admit that Charlie is definitely accepting of his fate (as you said, he doesn't feel that he shouldn't fight to save himself because he doesn't think that he's worth it) but I most certainly am not! Goddamnit why did Darlton let fate win? *dramatic sigh*
<i>Charlie had the moral victory and rose above his abuse, but how can anyone feel positive about 'fate' when it was so cruel and merciless towards one man?</i> - too true. I feel like he was targeted unneccesarily. I mean really, how much crap did he go through and for what? To be bumped off just when things were looking a little brighter for him.
Here's to fanfiction eh? Thank you for reading and reviewing as always Cappy dear.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 03:13 pm (UTC)http://gallery.lost-media.com/displayimage-31-1.html
no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 11:25 pm (UTC)I had to laugh, looking at those ones the other day. His shirt says "we are not prisoners of fate"! *ironic laughter*)
Yes, that is ironic. Painfully so.
I don't really see Charlie's acceptance as him giving up. I think he came to the conclusion that his death was inescapable, so his only choice was to go out gracefully and make his final moments count. Even if he did want to save himself, Desmond had told him that his death was required for everyone elses rescue. So that must have had Charlie thinking that saving himself would be a selfish act. It's horrible to think that Charlie was bullied and emotionally blackmailed into giving up his life...but in a sense that is what happened.
And yes, his death WAS unnecessary. If the flashes had been all just a test to build up Charlie (and Desmonds) courage so they would carry out their mission in the LG, then this would make more sense. I still hope pacejunkies portal theory is correct because then I could feel so much better about the 'fate' force in the show. I could say that fate chose somebody who was capable of making the ultimate sacrifice so that they could be sent to Penny as a messager to bring her to the island. That would be the fate that they deserve - Charlie surviving and Desmond getting Penny (and his honour) back.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-06 01:03 am (UTC)If they don't bring him back on the show...well I've already lost a lot of faith in these writers abilities as is. I suppose a little more won't do much more damage than has already been done. Sigh.