Lost Fic: Hopes of High Talk With the Departed Dead (Miles)

[ozmissage]

Title: Hopes of High Talk With the Departed Dead
Characters: Miles, Richard, Jacob
Rating: PG-13
Words: 1,059
Warnings: Mentions character deaths (some not canonical), language
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Richard and what’s left of the rest of them were looking at him like he was their last chance.
A/N: Written forelliotsmelliot who asked for Miles and séance. Title from Hymn to Intellectual Beauty by Percy Shelley.

Miles watches as Richard draws a ring around them with ash. He doesn’t have the nerve to ask him where it came from (he tries not to think of the last ones they lost---Sun, Frank and Jim or Richard’s maddeningly calm voice assuring Miles, It’s too dangerous to bury them. We can’t risk them coming back.)

How many times has he done this? Around Halloween he would get five, six calls a year. Every Z-list celebrity in Los Angeles thought calling up the spirit of James Dean was the epitome of cool. Miles had spent a nauseating number of nights in gaudy mansions that stank of pot surrounded by squealing porn stars and washed-up pop singers trying to hold onto their five minutes by throwing high-class keggers with a theme.

He gave them a show. Made the table shake, orchestrated a cold breeze here and there and then he would deliver a message---always fake---from the dead celebrity of their choice; always ignoring any real ghosts that might be whispering in his ear. He was there to get paid and that group never paid for the truth. He wasn’t a fan of the theatrical bullshit; it made him feel cheep and fake (and god, how he wished he were sometimes) but over the years he had figured out the stupider the person, the better the pay and most of the time he needed the money more than he needed his dignity.

But this is different. This is real. Richard and what’s left of the rest of them were looking at him like he was their last chance. That Ilana chick kept tossing around phrases like “the chosen one” and it made Miles’s stomach churn. He wasn’t Luke fuckin’ Skywalker and he didn’t want to be anyone’s only hope. This thing he could do (Gift, Ilana insists) was at best a parlor trick.

“I listen to the dead. I can’t call them up and ask them to come around for a chat,” he had said.

Richard had just smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Just do your best.”

So here he is, standing inside of a giant foot in the middle of an ash ring with a dude who never ages and a corpse that looks like someone confused it with a rack of ribs at a barbeque. It’s times like these that he really misses Encino.

Richard wants him to bring Jacob back (just for a moment, just long enough for him to give me some instructions.) Miles can already hear him; his last thoughts echo through the place just as loudly as his and Richard’s footsteps on the stone floor.

He changed the rules and I failed and something foreign, Latin maybe that Miles doesn’t have to understand to know it’s not going to help them stop Smokey from ripping them all to shreds.

“He’s not saying anything useful,” Miles says. He nudges the corpse with his foot and arches an eyebrow when Richard winces. “Can’t blame the guy though; I’m surprised he had time to think anything other than “Ow” and “are you fucking kidding me?” after what he went through.”

Richard clears his throat and gestures for Miles to sit. He does and Richard sits across from him with Jacob’s body between them in the circle. Richard holds his hands out to Miles and Miles tries not to smirk when he takes them in his own.

“Jacob isn’t like us. He’s not a man, not mortal---“

“Neither are you,” Miles interrupts.

“I’ll die one day; it’s just going to take me longer than most. Jacob doesn’t have that luxury, he’ll always exist in one form or another, which means he’s still here and you can bring him back to us.”

Miles takes a deep breath.

“Whatever you say man, but when your buddy here doesn’t sit up and start telling us how not to die on this damn island don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Richard nods and Miles reluctantly closes his eyes.

There’s none of the usual pomp and circumstance; there’s no furniture to wobble or buxom blondes to screech. The whole place is quiet except for the sound of Miles breathing and Richard muttering something (a prayer, Miles thinks) to himself. He lets his mind focus on the sound of Jacob’s voice inside of his head, his screams, his pleading, his guilt until it’s the only thing he can hear.

Then Jacob’s voice begins to fade and Miles opens his mouth to say, “I told you so,” but something strange happens. He feels a shiver start at the base of his spine, like ice water pouring up instead of down. The coldness creeps through him, it numbs him and then he hears a voice coming from far away and he’s only vaguely aware that the sound is coming out of his mouth.

He can see Richard across from him, see his mouth moving, see tears streaming down his face (and if he wasn’t so fucking scared he would wonder what the hell that was all about), but he can’t make out any of the words. It’s like his head is under water, like he’s slipping away.

It only lasts for a few minutes, then he hears a voice inside his own head loud and clear, You can do more than listen, Miles, and then a shock, a pop and he’s on his back, drenched in sweat with Richard looming above him with a look of triumph on his face.

“Thank you,” he says before reaching out to help Miles to his feet.

“What the hell happened?”

Miles is ashamed to hear the quaking in his voice, but it’s not like the rest of him is shaking any less. Richard loops an arm around Miles’s waist to keep him upright.

“Jacob used you as a conduit. I know what to do now.”

“That’s great; just tell me it doesn’t involve time travel or atomic bombs.”

Richard smiles softly. “It involves your friend Jack and you, Miles.”

Miles shudders.

“Let me guess, I can do more than listen?”

“That’s right,” Richard says in surprise. “How did you know that?”

“Dead guy told me,” Miles replies.

As Richard leads him out of the foot, Miles can’t help but sigh. This is definitely one of those times he wished he were a fake.

Comments

perfection

[(Anonymous)]

this is fantastic. believe it or not but I had a similar idea about Miles's using his ability to talk to Jacob, or actually Jacob using Miles as a conduit! that would have been such an awesome scene in the actual show - well it's never too late I suppose, there are about 16 episodes left! God I wish you were one of the LOST writers haha. Your Miles is perfect, your Richard is fantastic and your Jacob is just spot on. this scene was just amazing: well-written,mysterious, poignant and, well, so LOST-like. loved it!

mael

Re: perfection

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

Aw, you're too kind. Thank you so much! Man, if I wrote the show I fear it would be terribly boring. Everyone would just sit around and play board games and banter all the time. ;)

[sedauny.livejournal.com]

Oh Miles, Miles, you are in for it now, aren't you? And how did Jack manage to survive if Sun, who is tougher than him by far, didn't? Oh, the injustice of the world! (That's assuming Jack did survive--Miles' shuddering suddenly hints at less pleasant possibilities.) I have great sympathy with your Miles, both the crap he puts up with for the sake of making a living, and his sincere wish that his ability was faked. He's been dumped into a situation that was barely believable to those who have been in since the beginning, and has to catch up, while all the Hostiles, er, Others, er, Crazy Cultists act like he's agreed to things he hasn't even been told about yet, and it's not like he can tell them to bug off and take the next bus to Encino. I hope Richard has the kindness to let him sit down and feeds him fish tacos and beer until he is in a more relaxed frame of mind for the next step. Yes, Richard, you may have some too--except you get rum instead of beer. It goes better with ships-in-bottles.

You have the Miles snark down beautifully, and Richard was so well portrayed I could see the (lack of) eyeliner. Well done!

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! This was the first time I've attempted Richard, he's kind of tricky to write, but I'm hoping to try him again soon.

I love the idea of Miles getting roped into the mythology next season (I just want him to have something to do that doesn't involve dying.)

[elliotsmelliot.livejournal.com]

This is so great! I loved every bit of it. The idea was so creepily in canon and in character. There were so many great details here that - like Miles past with the Hollywood Z-List, the idea the recently dead couldn't be buried less they were possessed, Jacob's fractured last thoughts, and Richard's prayer and tears. I really felt like I was there with them. So in a way your good writing works like a séance! I'm adding this to my memories.

You can do more than listen, Miles.

I love what possibilities this had, and that Jacob recognized Miles's awesomeness.

Thanks so much for writing this!

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

*Squees*

I'm so glad you liked it! I seem to be developing an obsession with fitting Miles into the mythology, so I pretty much immediately fell in love with your prompt. :)

[st-expedite.livejournal.com]

My three favorite characters in a fic together (well, kinda)? You rock.

Excellently written (Richard crying just broke my brain--in a good way), and the whole "being able to do more than listen" thing sure looks like it could be canon.

:)

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm completely fascinated by the idea of Miles becoming wrapped up in the bigger mythology of the show. And Richard + Miles is just a lot of fun to write. :)

[valhalla37.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is so fantastic! :D (That emoticon basically just sums up my face right now, haha.) There's so much to love here -- your Miles' voice, of course, Richard using him to communicate with Jacob, that he can do more than listen -- but the moments of creepiness are what really stood out for me. The ring of ash, the illusion of ice water Miles feels, Richard's tears --- ooooh, just awesome. Great work!

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :)

I'm glad the creepiness came through. I really wanted it to come across that things have went pretty epically down hill at this point.

[cut-thestring.livejournal.com]

I was directed to your journal by greedyslayer :D

Collectively, I love your Miles fics. I haven't read enough of everything else, but I think I may have read some of them, but not commented *guilty*. All your characters seem so in character! You really seem to understand them, if you get what I mean.

For this one specifically, I loved the spin on the continuation of the finale, and that Miles sometimes wishes his powers were fake. You write his snark spot-on. :-)

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you so much for such lovely feedback!

And no worries about not always commenting, I do that all the time myself. ;)