Title: Blood Fire (1/1)
Author: Rhiannon Langly
Rating: PG (language)
Type: The "Darkness Within" universe.
Spoilers: After the events in DW 8/8, Unusual Suspects, LGM
Archive: Countermeasures, my own site. As usual, let me know if
you want it.
Subject: The aftermath of "Darkness Within," from Byers' POV.

- - - - -
That fool.
He's been sitting there at that computer for hours, playing his
little "role-playing games." More like "escape from reality," I
think. Every few hours, he checks his e-mail to see if *she* sent
him anything.
He doesn't get it.
There was something about her from the beginning, but I thought
it was nothing. She just seemed...familiar. It wasn't until
Langly brushed me off after their little adventure over on the
Hill that I really knew what Melinda reminded me of...rather, 
*who* she reminded me of.
It was shades of Suzanne all over again.
I think about it, and I feel like I'm on fire with anger and...I
don't know what.
Hell, I'm probably wrong about Mel. She really did seem to like
us all a lot, and it's true that the Project did leave us alone
after she left, just like she said. But yet...she used us.
I can't just let it go, I can't. Frohike thinks that Melinda
needed our help, and that we did the right thing in *letting* her
use us.
"She's not the same as Suzanne, John," he says. "She'll repay
us, I know it."
Maybe. But don't hold your breath.
Women like her, they like to take you in just long enough for you
to suffer for the rest of your lives. Just like Suzanne did to
me. I've spent ten years trying to get over her, and maybe I'll
be able to, someday soon. I'm getting there.
But then again, I didn't sleep with her.
If Mel is so damn telepathic, why doesn't she feel the pain
Ringo's been emanating with every breath? Why doesn't she come
back, to save him from this angst trip he's on?
I wish I could tell him she's not coming back. Maybe she'll
*return,* but she won't be the same, and neither will he.
Why didn't Suzanne come back?
This isn't about me, got to remember that this isn't about me,
like it's not about Ringo.
It's about staying alive.
Around here, it's all we can do.
Maybe someday we'll all be happy again...
Again, I'm not holding my breath.
- - - - -

FIN

- - - - -
Thanks much to the Indigo Girls for "Strange Fire" and "Blood and
Fire," the major themes for this vignette.
-Rhi
http://www.envy.nu/langlified