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section7mfu2016-08-22 04:49 pm
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"Sapphire and Gold" (Short Affair Challenge 8/15
Short Affair 8/22
Prompt: Yeild
Color: Blue
Title: Sapphire and Gold
Author: Rose of Pollux
Word Count: ~1000 (went slightly over, sorry...)
Illya and Napoleon’s Old West doppelgangers, Kid and Lionheart, are from my fic “The Moonlit Gulch Affair,” which this fic references. Cora and Leopold Solo are from a previous Short Affair piece.
Mrs. Cora Solo was the proudest new mother that the hospital staff could ever recall seeing. She spent long hours carrying her new son as she wandered around the hospital, refusing to yield to the notion that she had to remain resting in her bed, showing the child off to everyone she came across while her husband, Leopold, struggled to keep up. She often outdistanced him, and on one such occasion, had ended up in a bright, window-filled corridor where an old man in a wheelchair was looking out at the view.
“Oh, look at that…” Cora breathed, walking over to the windows so that the baby could see. “It’s snowing! Look, Napoleon!”
The old man in the wheelchair glanced in their direction.
“Napoleon?” he repeated, sounding slightly amused.
Cora’s cheeks went slightly pink.
“It wasn’t my idea,” she said. “They’d given me something to reduce the pains, and… somehow, in whatever haze I was in, I agreed to my husband’s idea to name our only child after a short, French emperor.” She sat down in a stationary chair beside the old man. “I’m Cora.”
“I’m Kid.”
Cora blinked.
“…Kid?” she repeated.
The old man managed a wan smile.
“Once upon a time, Ma’am, the name did fit me,” he said. “Made a name for myself back in the 1870s—me and my partner, Lionheart. It was a lifetime ago.”
Cora smiled.
“I feel better about my son’s name now,” she said. “Is Lionheart here, too?”
Kid’s face fell.
“I lost him at the beginning of this year.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Cora said, softly.
“He lived a long and eventful life,” Kid said. “But, even so…”
“Of course,” Cora said, holding Napoleon close as he began to fuss. “I’m really sorry--”
“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am,” Kid said. He blinked as the baby continued to fuss. “Hmm, maybe this’ll cheer him up…”
Kid pulled a gold ring set with a blue sapphire on it; the ring was around a small chain, and Kid held the ring a few inches over Napoleon’s face. The baby’s brown eyes looked up at the ring, crossing comically as he struggled to focus on the blue stone.
“Well, that helped!” Cora said. “Thank you!”
Kid managed a wan smile again.
“This ring belonged to Lionheart; I’ve been carrying it with me ever since he passed.” He looked to Cora. “I’d like for your son to have this ring.”
Cora’s eyes widened.
“I couldn’t accept that…!”
“Ma’am, Lionheart had no family, and I don’t have any, either,” Kid said. “I know Lionheart would have wanted his ring to go to someone, rather than it being buried with us. I know my own days are numbered--”
“Don’t talk like that!” Cora exclaimed. “You never know--!”
“I appreciate the good thoughts, Ma’am, but a man knows when his time is up. Take the ring; give it to the boy when he’s older. That ring belonged to a good man, Ma’am; I’m sure the boy will grow up to be worthy of it.”
Cora tried to protest, but, in the end, took the ring. Napoleon’s gaze followed the ring for a moment.
“You like it?” Cora asked, softly. She held the baby so that he could see Kid. “Napoleon, thank the nice man who gave you that ring.”
Napoleon’s way of conveying thanks was a long stare, but it amused Kid all the same.
“Cora!” Leopold exclaimed, finally finding her. “There you are! Honey, come back to your room; the doctor says you need to rest! …What’s that?”
As they went back down the corridor, Cora explained everything. Leopold looked back at Kid with a grateful wave, which he returned.
“Well, that’s one heck of a birthday present for our boy,” Leopold mused, quietly. “I wonder how much it’s worth…”
“Leopold!” she chided.
Kid smiled as he watched the little family leave, and then glanced back out the window. The old man’s face seemed lighter, as though a weight had lifted from his soul.
“I’ll see you again…” he murmured.
34 Years Later…
Sunlight sparkled off the sapphire on the gold ring that Napoleon Solo wore on his left pinky as he paged his way through archives that were nearly a century old.
“Nothing out of the ordinary in regards to Moonlit Gulch,” he announced.
“There wouldn’t be,” a blond Russian said. “It was normal back then; the whole point is that the town appears to people now as it was then. I would not have believed it had we not seen it—or those two who looked uncannily like us. I don’t suppose there’s anything about them?”
“Lionheart and Kid?” Napoleon asked. “Other than some old court dockets where they’d provided testimony, there’s nothing. Well, there is this one picture… It’s eerie, Tovarisch—two people who lived that long ago looking exactly like us?”
“It’s not as though we haven’t dealt with doppelgangers before,” Illya said, walking over to look at the picture Napoleon held up. “There was that double of yours that THRUSH tried to switch with you. And then Colonel Nexor, of course, for me…” He trailed off as he noticed something in the picture, and then used a magnifying glass to confirm it.
“What?” Napoleon asked.
“It’s incredible…” Illya murmured. “The ring that Lionheart is wearing in this picture… It’s the same as yours, Napoleon!”
“What…?” Napoleon took a look at the ring in the photograph, and then at the ring on his pinky. “…Huh. You know, Ma gave me this ring when I was 18, just before I had to go to Korea; she said that some random benefactor bequeathed it to me a few days after I was born.”
“Sounds like a movie plot.”
“What’s that they say about truth being stranger than fiction?” Napoleon asked. “Well, never mind; as much as I’d like to continue our research, we need to head to Phoenix in time to catch that flight back to New York. We’ll pick this up the next time we’re out here.”
Illya nodded and helped him put away the archives they had been searching through. And as they headed out the door, Napoleon took one more look at his ring.
Whether it meant something in the grand scheme of things or not, he didn’t know. And with Illya by his side, it didn’t really matter.
Prompt: Yeild
Color: Blue
Title: Sapphire and Gold
Author: Rose of Pollux
Word Count: ~1000 (went slightly over, sorry...)
Illya and Napoleon’s Old West doppelgangers, Kid and Lionheart, are from my fic “The Moonlit Gulch Affair,” which this fic references. Cora and Leopold Solo are from a previous Short Affair piece.
Mrs. Cora Solo was the proudest new mother that the hospital staff could ever recall seeing. She spent long hours carrying her new son as she wandered around the hospital, refusing to yield to the notion that she had to remain resting in her bed, showing the child off to everyone she came across while her husband, Leopold, struggled to keep up. She often outdistanced him, and on one such occasion, had ended up in a bright, window-filled corridor where an old man in a wheelchair was looking out at the view.
“Oh, look at that…” Cora breathed, walking over to the windows so that the baby could see. “It’s snowing! Look, Napoleon!”
The old man in the wheelchair glanced in their direction.
“Napoleon?” he repeated, sounding slightly amused.
Cora’s cheeks went slightly pink.
“It wasn’t my idea,” she said. “They’d given me something to reduce the pains, and… somehow, in whatever haze I was in, I agreed to my husband’s idea to name our only child after a short, French emperor.” She sat down in a stationary chair beside the old man. “I’m Cora.”
“I’m Kid.”
Cora blinked.
“…Kid?” she repeated.
The old man managed a wan smile.
“Once upon a time, Ma’am, the name did fit me,” he said. “Made a name for myself back in the 1870s—me and my partner, Lionheart. It was a lifetime ago.”
Cora smiled.
“I feel better about my son’s name now,” she said. “Is Lionheart here, too?”
Kid’s face fell.
“I lost him at the beginning of this year.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Cora said, softly.
“He lived a long and eventful life,” Kid said. “But, even so…”
“Of course,” Cora said, holding Napoleon close as he began to fuss. “I’m really sorry--”
“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am,” Kid said. He blinked as the baby continued to fuss. “Hmm, maybe this’ll cheer him up…”
Kid pulled a gold ring set with a blue sapphire on it; the ring was around a small chain, and Kid held the ring a few inches over Napoleon’s face. The baby’s brown eyes looked up at the ring, crossing comically as he struggled to focus on the blue stone.
“Well, that helped!” Cora said. “Thank you!”
Kid managed a wan smile again.
“This ring belonged to Lionheart; I’ve been carrying it with me ever since he passed.” He looked to Cora. “I’d like for your son to have this ring.”
Cora’s eyes widened.
“I couldn’t accept that…!”
“Ma’am, Lionheart had no family, and I don’t have any, either,” Kid said. “I know Lionheart would have wanted his ring to go to someone, rather than it being buried with us. I know my own days are numbered--”
“Don’t talk like that!” Cora exclaimed. “You never know--!”
“I appreciate the good thoughts, Ma’am, but a man knows when his time is up. Take the ring; give it to the boy when he’s older. That ring belonged to a good man, Ma’am; I’m sure the boy will grow up to be worthy of it.”
Cora tried to protest, but, in the end, took the ring. Napoleon’s gaze followed the ring for a moment.
“You like it?” Cora asked, softly. She held the baby so that he could see Kid. “Napoleon, thank the nice man who gave you that ring.”
Napoleon’s way of conveying thanks was a long stare, but it amused Kid all the same.
“Cora!” Leopold exclaimed, finally finding her. “There you are! Honey, come back to your room; the doctor says you need to rest! …What’s that?”
As they went back down the corridor, Cora explained everything. Leopold looked back at Kid with a grateful wave, which he returned.
“Well, that’s one heck of a birthday present for our boy,” Leopold mused, quietly. “I wonder how much it’s worth…”
“Leopold!” she chided.
Kid smiled as he watched the little family leave, and then glanced back out the window. The old man’s face seemed lighter, as though a weight had lifted from his soul.
“I’ll see you again…” he murmured.
Sunlight sparkled off the sapphire on the gold ring that Napoleon Solo wore on his left pinky as he paged his way through archives that were nearly a century old.
“Nothing out of the ordinary in regards to Moonlit Gulch,” he announced.
“There wouldn’t be,” a blond Russian said. “It was normal back then; the whole point is that the town appears to people now as it was then. I would not have believed it had we not seen it—or those two who looked uncannily like us. I don’t suppose there’s anything about them?”
“Lionheart and Kid?” Napoleon asked. “Other than some old court dockets where they’d provided testimony, there’s nothing. Well, there is this one picture… It’s eerie, Tovarisch—two people who lived that long ago looking exactly like us?”
“It’s not as though we haven’t dealt with doppelgangers before,” Illya said, walking over to look at the picture Napoleon held up. “There was that double of yours that THRUSH tried to switch with you. And then Colonel Nexor, of course, for me…” He trailed off as he noticed something in the picture, and then used a magnifying glass to confirm it.
“What?” Napoleon asked.
“It’s incredible…” Illya murmured. “The ring that Lionheart is wearing in this picture… It’s the same as yours, Napoleon!”
“What…?” Napoleon took a look at the ring in the photograph, and then at the ring on his pinky. “…Huh. You know, Ma gave me this ring when I was 18, just before I had to go to Korea; she said that some random benefactor bequeathed it to me a few days after I was born.”
“Sounds like a movie plot.”
“What’s that they say about truth being stranger than fiction?” Napoleon asked. “Well, never mind; as much as I’d like to continue our research, we need to head to Phoenix in time to catch that flight back to New York. We’ll pick this up the next time we’re out here.”
Illya nodded and helped him put away the archives they had been searching through. And as they headed out the door, Napoleon took one more look at his ring.
Whether it meant something in the grand scheme of things or not, he didn’t know. And with Illya by his side, it didn’t really matter.
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What an intriguing idea! Thank you for sharing it.