Firefly/OZ crossover for trillingstar

[cmk418]

Fandom: Oz/Firefly
Character/Pairing: Said, Book
Prompt: introduction, messenger
A/N: I don't know how on target I am with the prompt, but this is what came up



One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…

Derrial stared at the candle. The Alliance doctor assured him that this was the next phase in his development. He wanted to be the best leader the alliance had ever seen, and if that meant submitting to the seemingly ridiculous, so be it.

Eighty-two, eighty-one, eighty…

Past-life regression. Derrial was not a religious man by any means. He had no time for God or faith. He believed that he was the only one in control of his one and only life, and that there was nothing before or after this lifetime. Obviously, his beliefs did not influence the Alliance.

Sixty-six, sixty-five, sixty-four…

The candle flame seemed to spread and grow. A warehouse on fire. Somewhere else. There was the sound of sirens and then…

“Count!”

…Derrial found himself in a cell block, surrounded by men, prisoners like himself. He was named Kareem Said, prisoner number 97S444. This Said was a leader in a religion that was practiced on some of the Rim worlds, and seemed to be a bit of a radical.

But there were things about Said that Derrial gravitated toward, that most men gravitated toward – his confidence, his passion for his cause, his thirst for justice, and, amazingly enough, his faith.

There was violence in this man as well. Always lurking under the surface, but flashes of the other man’s life brought them to the forefront. Blowing up the warehouse, the murder of another prisoner, a fight with a group of prisoners to protect another, the brutal treatment of his cellmate – all these things seemed to both contradict and work together with the proud man of faith. It was the faith that brought him through these crises of conscience.

Perhaps it was possible to find a balance between the two.

A quiet voice penetrated his thoughts. “Time to move on now, Derrial.” The scene dissolved and became another.

Twenty-two years later as he began his life as a Shepherd, Derrial Book thought back to this moment and silently thanked Kareem Said.

Comments

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Bold! Bold! Bold choice. Bold crossover. Bold pairing. Bold concept.

Yeah! Lovin' the bold.

[cmk418]

Well, trillingstar is the one who came up with the pairing. I had a lot of fun making it work, though.

If you want to prompt me, the details are here.

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Oh! Cool! I don't think I've ever prompted anyone before ... Now I'm all a'buzz. ;-))

[cmk418]

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[trillingstar]

I'm not sure why I keep asking you for Book prompts, but when you deliver things like THIS, I'm so glad I DID! This is wonderful. I felt both prompts shone through from this bit of writing: Book's introduction to Said through regression/past lives and that their lives would connect in part because of their roles as messengers. I had several vague ideas of their similarities that I couldn't quite put into words, and you could & did, perfectly! The concept - and the line - about the possibility of finding a balance between faith and crises of conscience is *awesome*. The thought that one of Book's past lives could include Said is just... I love it! You're awesome. Thank you.

Also I adore that in the beginning, Book is headstrong and pooh-poohs the whole regression thing, along with religion, and then the ficlet full circles to beginning his life as a Shepherd. It makes me think of Said's stiff self-righteousness in the beginning, and then over time he mellowed some, and began to see & accept different interpretations and was overall more open-minded in some ways.

As my icon says... to sum up, Wow. :D

[cmk418]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments here! I actually find it ironic that the Muslim and the Christian are related through something that neither face embraces.

Glad you enjoyed it. (I'm going to post responses to some of your other prompts soon.)

[ozsaur.livejournal.com]

Very clever! You brought both of these characters together without going too AU for either canon. And I can't believe I didn't see the parallels between Book and Said before now. I love this - especially how Book doesn't have faith until he finds it through Said. Wonderfully done!

[cmk418]

Thank you. Book's past is such a blank slate that it was fun creating parallels between the two of them. I enjoy the idea of exploring faith in stories - it's something I get to do far too seldom.

Glad you enjoyed this!