pipe dream | fury road au
“The Wastelands are no place for a woman.”
Darcy exhaled slowly, her breath releasing in a soft hiss as she continued sorting through the bullets in her lap. “And what would you know of women?” she said lowly, scoffing as she kept her eyes down. Red, brass, and tarnished grey – the metal casings winked at her, the low sun reflecting off the rounded surfaces in bright pinpricks of light.
His boots stopped beside her, and she could see his shadow falling over her shoulder, stretched long across her legs and the dirt. “I know enough.” He squatted down, elbows balanced on his knees, and his gaze was heavy and intent on her face. “I know you’re not supposed to be out here.”
“Let me guess – Steve sent you.”
“He worries,” he said roughly, and when Darcy laughed bitterly she could practically feel the disapproval radiating from him. “You shouldn’t laugh.”
“Shouldn’t I?” Darcy bit down the familiar ache that threatened to crawl up her throat and tongue, forcing the hurt away with a careless flip of her hand. “He told me I should leave. So I did.”
“He didn’t mean it.”
“Sure he did.” Darcy clenched her jaw, “He just feels guilty that I’m alone, not because he’s worried.”
“He is worried.” A gloved hand reached out, catching her wrist gently, and Darcy finally looked up, locking eyes with a sun-worn, tired face. Even then, James’s eyes, shadowed by his hair, were gentle. “He wants you to come back.”
She closed her eyes. “And what if I don’t want to?”
“You know he’s just going to send someone else.” He sighed, and she felt him lean up beside her against the door of her car, settling into the sand. “… What did he do?”
Darcy pulled her hand out of his grip, letting her arms hang heavy into her lap. The bullets warmed the backs of her palms, comforting and smooth. “He asked me to stop looking.”
“Ah.” She ignored his sidelong look. “You know why, though, don’t you?”
“Because I’m wasting good water and bullets, chasing a pipe dream?” She snorted, but she was the only one laughing.
“Do you really want me to say it?” The weight in his words made her smile fall away, and when she looked up to see the patient look in his expression she flinched.
“You’re wrong,” she said quietly.
“You know I’m not,” he said gently, and she shook her head.
“Do you know what he said to me, before I left?” She shoved the last shotgun cartridge into the barrel of her gun, closing the chamber and folding up the rest of the casings in the cloth pouch. “He told me to go ahead and leave. He said that he couldn’t care less about whether I died out here.”
He was quiet, absorbing the words as the wind howled around them, and swallowed. “I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, well.” Darcy smiled wryly. “Now you do.”