Written for a @astrangersummer.
Week #8 Prompt: Ocean Waves | Word Count: 228 | Rating: T | POV: Billy | Characters: Billy | Pairings: None | CW: S3 Finale | Tags: Canon Compliant, Set During The Battle of Starcourt
He hears fireworks. Sees them, behind his eyes. Smells gunpowder, feels the heat. Senses the inhuman power crawling beneath his skin, tangled along every nerve, pulsing, keeping him under its thumb.
He's caught in a riptide unlike any other he's ever experienced.
But beyond that, lapping at the edges, is the ocean. Cool, blue, and reaching far beyond what the eye can see.
The summer breeze, the smell of salt, the grit of sand under his small, bare feet.
The water, his surfboard, gliding across the ocean.
And he's little, and she's still here. Smiling, beautiful.
There's a hand on his face, and it's not his mother's, but if he closes his eyes, he can pretend. He can let the tears fall, can let them rejoin the salty water flowing endlessly beneath his feet.
He can run along the surf, can catch a wave, can soak up the warm, summer sun.
He's back in California. Before.
It's all there, just beneath the surface, lapping at his mind in waves, crashing over him, engulfing him after spending so long buried deep.
He feels love, remembers being loved.
And he has only one thing left to do now, and that's to be the wave that he is, and sink back into the ocean.
He hears fireworks, seagulls, and his mother calling him home.
If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @astrangersummer and follow along with the fun! 🌊
Notes: I've been obsessed with Container by Fiona Apple since the moment I heard it. I've always wanted to write something for it, to it, about it. It's not a full song, so it's fitting that this isn't a full fic. It's not on Spotify or anything, but you can hear it on YouTube as the theme to The Affair.