Work Text:
Mary did you know. ..
The snow was falling outside.
... that your baby boy...
There was just...
...would one day walk on water?
Something so chilling about it.
Mary did you know...
The silence
... that your baby boy...
The specks of silver in the dark.
... would save our sons and daughters?
Everything was so dark compared to the falling snow.
Did you know...
So loud.
... that your baby boy...
So...
...has come to make you new?
Crash
Deku jumps, eyes snapping towards the sound as his hand tightens on his pistol. A wave of cold flurries wash into the room, and a darkened figure carrying a thickly wrapped bundle stumbles through the door huffing clouds of steam. There’s the heavy thump thump thump of knocking snow off boots and then another clatt-crash of the door before the figure looks up.
This child that you delivered...
Greasy yellow eyes narrow at the seated greenette.
“You were supposed to meet me outside, D-3-K.”
... will soon deliver you
Deku rolls his eyes, waving a gloved hand towards the window and the storm outside.
Those eyes narrow further and a scowl creases the grizzled face under them as the man growls.
Mary did you know...
“You lazy little shit. Just because the House likes you enough to give you slack on the leash.”
...that your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
He huffs again, shrugging his jacket from his shoulders, one arm constantly curled around his chest and around the bundle tucked tightly there. “Well, if you’re willing to object to orders due to a little snow, then you’ll just love these next orders from the Father.”
Deku hums, eyes back to watching the falling silver outside rather than the man who’s supposed to be his ‘handler’. That is, until a faint whimper reaches his ears.
Mary did you know...
Deku turns around, green eyes widening as they fall on the bundle in the man’s arms, no, the child in his arms, and looks up at the haughty smirk on the man’s face.
“The transport for our objective dipped due to the storm front. The window is closed, and new orders came in.” the man shoves the bundled, sleeping child into Deku’s arms, smirk growing into a sadistic grin, “They want it eliminated.”
... that your baby boy would calm the storm with his hand?
“The Prophet sees this thing becoming an issue for the House if it’s allowed to mature outside their influence.” The man monster continues, eyes staring empty at the soft skin peeking from the bundle, “We can’t risk its existence now that the window for transport is closed, so the next step is to make sure it can’t mature.”
Did you know...
Deku’s mouth dries, heart beats, silence floods as the babe hums in their sleep, lips pursing and nose crinkling at the cold, “And that’s an order, D-3-K, from the Father.”
... that your baby boy...
Deku looked down at the child in his arms.
... has walked where angels trod?
Rosy cheeks against seashell skin.
Wispy curls of cinnamon colored locks feathered out from under the blanket.
Snowflakes still clung to little eyelashes.
When you kiss your little baby...
Eliminated
“No.”
... you kiss the face of God
The silence draped across the room like that of fallen snow.
“No?” something dark crackled in the adult’s voice, “This is an order,
D-3-K.”
Deku huffs, “Then you do it.”
He didn’t let go of the child.
“You know the sanction for handler interference, D-3-K. I can’t, or else I would.” Deku’s grip only tightened, the snow damp canvas creaking under his gloves as the man analyzed the boy’s stance. The shadowed face. The set of his shoulders. Then, he huffs, and crosses his arms, “Fine. If you haven’t the balls for it, just throw the thing out and let the weather deal with it. Doesn’t matter how, just get it done.”
The snow falls heavy and silent outside the window.
Flecks of silver in the growing dark.
“No.”
The blind will see
The man’s face creases in growing fury, “Listen you damn insolent—”
“This child is innocent!”
A tree bough breaks outside, the wet silver load too much.
the deaf will hear
“There is no guarantee that ruin will come of the House. We don’t even know what this child
will do with their life, we don’t even know if they are who the prophet sees. They’ve been wrong before!” a coo sounds, and Deku looks down to see blue blue blue “This child doesn’t deserve hate, not when they have yet to experience joy.”
The man’s face is almost glowing like an ornament.
His voice crunches like ashes under boot.
the dead will live again
“This is the word of the highest order, D-3-Kr-4.” A heavy boot thuds forward, “You will obey.”
Click click
The man freezes at the barrel pointed right between his eyes.
The lame will leap
A croon comes from the snow swaying outside.
“I will be an assassin,” the teen whispers, “a mercenary,” a creak from the wet glove against steel, “a slave.” A flicker of green from growing dark, “I will not be a murderer.”
The building moans under wind and weather.
the dumb will speak
The man swallows.
“D-3—”
“I will not take a life that has no choice in its fate.”
the praises of the lamb
The man’s teeth flash, “You will lis—”
“I will not take a life that is innocent of sin!”
“What you gonna do, Deku?” the man snaps a laugh, eyes cruel in the fading light, “You going to shoot your handler?”
Mary did you know?
“Stay in my way and find out.”
A sneer curdles the man’s face, then he smirks, and begins to speak.
“They will condemn him to death,”
Mary did you know?
Deku’s mind wavers with the words of the order.
thud blink thud
“and will hand him over to the Gentiles”
Mary did you know?
His gun drops and wavers.
click flicker click
“to be mocked and flogged and cruc—”
BANG
Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Deku takes a breath, steam rising from cupped hands as he crouches on the ledge of a building. His nose is red where it peaks from his scarf, and his shoulders tremble under building snow.
But he couldn’t leave.
Not yet.
Not when snow still fell and the streets were empty.
When the fields of the rundown village were blanketed with blue silver and the silence was so whole.
A village so silent and closed no one heard the babe crying in the cold.
Mary did you know...
Or saw the killer huddled in the dark.
... that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
He had wandered far from the warehouses he and his... handler had been posted, following his gut through locked doors and shuttered windows until reaching a single home.
A flickering candle lit the way.
The babe had been quiet the whole journey, blue blue blue eyes blinking up at the boy covered in blood who held them.
He’d set them on the stoop of the small building with the light, an inn for wayward travelers caught in the dark.
Did you know...
A small hand reached out to grasp at his fingers, crimson stains reaching for porcelain skin.
...that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
He’d gone before anyone could see, and the babe could keep him in his grasp.
Only a minute of a lifetime passed before the babe’s cries were answered by the opening of the door, and the elated cries and relieved sobs from within nearly melted the gathering snowfall outside.
Deku couldn’t help the small smile that graced his lips as he watched the candle go out as the child went in.
“D3Kr4. Please report the conclusion of your mission.”
Deku sighs, bones creaking as he stands from his perch and stretches in the cold. He throws one last glance at the house, a smile still warming his cheeks.
“I wish you grow to be someone not held back by expectations.”
Mary did you know?
Then he turns, the snow staining red from the imprints of his gloves.
That sleeping child you're holding...
“Merry Christmas, kiddo.”
... is the great I am
And he disappears into the silver flakes of snow.
Mary did you know?
“D3Kr4. Please report the loss of transmission for your Handler.”