Darkness Challenge- Adaptation, by Rokeon

[rokeon.livejournal.com]

Title: Adaptation
Author: rokeon
Notes: The second of two possible futures- 'darkness' sort of turned into darkfic, here.
Summary: It should hurt, but it doesn't. He's gotten used to it.



It should hurt, he thinks.

The palmprint on his chest is pale and cold. It should hurt, but it doesn't. The Wraith are careful with the things they can't replace- they take just enough to weaken him, just enough to keep him compliant, never enough to give him more than a few new wrinkles and gray hairs. There's a permanent ache in his chest, like cracked ribs that never fully heal, but he doesn't care. He's gotten used to it.

They keep him in Steve's cage, and he wonders if they understand the irony. If they understand irony at all. They feed him food he recognizes from old supply reports, give him clothes with patches he tries not to recognize at all. Every two or three days they take another taste off his life, every two or three weeks they put him in the chair and drain him until all he can think of is how much he wants to go home. Atlantis makes the course corrections automatically. Energy conservation keeps their speed to a minimum, but progress is steady.

It should hurt, but it doesn't. The ache in his chest is permanent, like a knife in his heart, but he doesn't care. He's gotten used to it.