Work Text:
Shattered
Set in the Thunderbirds Are Go Universe (Two months after Jeff Tracy’s disappearance and before the events of the show)
The device was strange. Scott thought it was strange anyway. Virgil had explained what it was but the info dump had just gone straight over his head. Something to do with electricity?
They had retrieved it from their latest rescue and were bringing it back for Brains to have a look at.
Right now, Scott was sitting in the co-pilot's seat of Thunderbird Two, turning the small black rectangular box over in his hands.
“Scott, did you hear me?” Virgil asked from just over his shoulder.
“Oh uh- no sorry, what did you say?” Scott turned his head to look up at him as he fidgeted with the device.
“Are you okay?” Virgil softly asked. “I’mean, really okay?”
“Sure,” he gave him a smile. His thumb flicked over something on the device.
BUUUZZZZZZ!
Scott screamed as the electricity surged through his body again and again.
Then finally mercifully stopped.
He dragged in ragged breaths through clenched teeth and looked to the floor that was so close yet so far away. Above him, his wrists burned where the metal handcuffs held his whole body weight.
“I see you are very strong my friend,” an intrigued foreign voice said somewhere behind him. The rough man stepped around in front of him and studied him like a fascinating object. “Perhaps you need a better persuasion to tell us what we want to hear?” He snapped his fingers and whatever was holding Scott up let go.
Scott dropped and his knees instantly bucked under him on impact, sending him to the freezing stone floor.
A heavy boot landed in his stomach. “Get up strong one!”
Scott wheezed and curled in on himself. Awkwardly holding his still cuffed hands to his stomach.
“I SAID: GET UP!”
The next boot landed on his back, making Scott whimper.
The man said something in his language and suddenly hands were grabbing at Scott and hauling him up.
His half limp body was held up between two people and the man approached with a terrifying grin plastered on his face.
He roughly grabbed Scott around the throat, and slowly turned his head from left to right, studying him. “New plan.”
“What?” Scott croaked.
“You will be mine.” Then he let go, turned to one of the men and said something Scott couldn’t understand.
Darkness exploded all around him.
The next thing Scott knew he was in a lavish room, then next was a dining hall full of many foreigners. No in a dimmy lit bedroom and an overpowering smell digging itself into him. No taste? Horrible vile, that’s what it was. Now somewhere else; people, they were everywhere. But that man was there and everywhere the most.
And pain, all through him, never ending.
The world had turned to a blur now, Scott felt broken, no, shattered.
“Scott, I’m here.”
No he can’t be, not my little brother, no no NO! Why is he here? He shouldn’t be here!
Scott’s heart felt like it wanted to explode as he watched Virgil walk up beside the man that was standing over him.
But- what was his brother wearing? It looked like a uniform, but like nothing he’d ever seen - or had he? Scott was dragged in by the color of the baldric Virgil wore over the uniform. His brother’s favourite color, the color of nature, of life, harmony, hope, healing, all things his brother was.
“Scott,” Virgil gently said as he crouched down to eye level. “I don’t know where your mind is now, but please try and come back to the present.”
“Virgil, wh-“ Scott couldn’t seem to find the right words. “You can't be here, he’ll want you too, I-I can’t let him get you too. Oh the horrible things he'll do!”
There was a low growl from just behind Virgil and suddenly the evil man disappeared, the room turned into a grassy clearing in a forest and a massive green ship - the same color as Virgil’s baldric - appeared just behind him, over his shoulder.
Scott stared wide eyed at the ship then looked to his brother. “V-Virgil,” his voice trembled.
“That’s right,” Virgil kept his voice calm as he inched forward on his knees.
“W-where are we?” Scott quickly glanced around his surroundings. “I-.. I thought we were in Thunderbird Two’s cockpit.”
“You kind of uh.. acted.. erratically and were begging me to let you go?”
Scott sucked in a breath as a memory hit him. He made a pained noise, wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned his elbows on his crossed legs.
“Scott; something happened while you were captured when you were in the Air Force, didn’t it?” Virgil tentatively asked.
Scott swallowed down whatever he’d last eaten. “It’s nothing… It’s- … it was horrible.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
Scott looked up at him, he was only inches away. Those eyes, that soul grabbing gaze. Dad - the only other person who knew exactly what happened - was no longer here. But Scott still had Virgil, he had from the time his little brother was born. But could he open up to him about what happened? Scott didn’t want to hurt Virgil by telling him, he didn’t want him to have the weight of the knowledge placed on him too.
But those eyes, that posture; and Scott could see the green hulking mass at the edge of his focus, still just over his brother’s shoulder. Virgil was now more than just the little boy Scott had grown up alongside.
“I do need you,” he whispered, then slowly climbed into Virgil’s open arms that protectively wrapped around him.
All of a sudden everything came crashing down on Scott, he cried out and clung onto his brother. His body turned into an un-coordinated mess and why did it seem like there wasn’t enough oxygen all of a sudden?
“Breathe Scott, breathe,” Virgil urged into his brother’s ear. “You’re safe now, I promise.”
Scott made another pained noise between ragged breaths in his arms.
“Oh Scott, what did they do to you?” Virgil whispered more to himself as his heart broke.
When Scott was finally slowly calming down, Virgil sent a message to John via his wrist controller behind Scott’s back. Just to let him know big brother’s were doing big brother things and they'll be home later than expected. John would understand, Virgil could count on him for that.
Scott sniffled.
“Shhh shhh, I’ve got you, you’re safe,” Virgil cooed.
A cool breeze passed through the clearing, making the surrounding trees gently sway.
Scott shivered.
“Hey Scott, do you wanna head inside and keep all nice and warm and cozy?” Virgil softly nudged his cheek into Scott’s hair.
“Mmhm,” came the shaky muffled reply.
“Okay,” Virgil whispered, then put his heavy lifting muscles to work and picked Scott up off the ground as he too got to his feet. “I’ve got you.”
Virgil’s ship always seemed cozy and safe, especially when situations called for those things.
They had managed to get changed into their normal clothes.. scratch that, Scott was wearing one of Virgil’s flannels - and were now lying together on the lower bunk in the living quarters.
Scott breathed in the comforting smells around him as his cheek and top half rose and fell with every steady breath Virgil took below him.
“The Bereznik wanted information from me,” Scott quietly said. “I wouldn’t give it to them, I didn’t give it to them.”
“But they hurt you,” Virgil said, equally as quiet.
“They-” Scott swallowed hard. “He broke me. I-.. I don’t know how I'm still even here, Virgil,” he wiped a sleeve across his face.
The arm around his back squeezed a little tighter. The other hand kept gently running through his hair.
“You are here because you are you, you are not one to give up easily.”
“Stubborn,” Scott dryly laughed.
“Good.”
The only sounds were that of a heater fan somewhere nearby. Wait no, something else too. Scott couldn’t explain what it was, but strange tiny sounds emanated from inside the walls on occasion.
“Virgil..” Scott hesitantly said.
Virgil hummed in a way that Scott knew meant he was listening.
“I was tortured, but they never touched my face. I-.. I think the man liked how I looked and he would put me on display in front of other people. I-I think I was drugged so I’d corporate.. and he-“ he couldn’t say it as his vision blurred and his heart rabbitted.
“I understand,” Virgil supplied so Scott wouldn’t have to.
Scott felt Virgil nuzzle into his hair.
“You’re safe now,” Virgil’s muffled voice said.
Scott broke down again. He couldn’t control it. It was like a giant landslide slamming into him. Virgil knew, there was no going back now. Had he made the right choice?
“Let it out Scott, let it all out. I’ve got you, I’m here, I’ll never leave you, you’re safe.”
Scott could only barely hear the words over all the loud raw sounds. Which turned out to be coming from himself.
It felt like a building had collapsed on him, pinning him down. The man’s gleeful face was over him. “You are mine.”
Scott shrieked and shoved against him. “LET ME GO!”
The man was instantly gone and so was the pressure around him. But now he felt completely alone in the total darkness.
“VIRGIL!” He panicked.
“I’m here, I’m right here,” he sounded just there. “You're safe, I promise.”
A familiar hand picked up Scott’s and placed it on a warm cheek. “See? I’m not going anywhere.”
Scott was still encased in darkness but he shifted himself forward and his entire front came into contact with his brother again. He grabbed at Virgil’s shirt and clung on as a hand was tentatively placed on his side.
When Scott opened his eyes, his vision was blurred but he could now feel they were both lying on their sides, facing each other. “How can I go on living, Virgil?” His voice quivered.
“Live in the now, Scott,” Virgil’s tender voice said. Scott felt his brother’s hand move from his side and his thumb brush across his cheek. “The past is gone, we can’t change it. But I’m here if you need to talk about it.”
All Scott could do was slightly nod.
“I’ll help you through this.”
Scott wiped his vision clear. “You’re not mad?”
“About what?” Virgil quietly asked, searching his features.
“That I didn’t tell you?”
“No, of course not,” Virgil said with pure honesty. “This was something that only you can decide who knows about it. So therefore, I will not say a word to the others.”
Scott’s throat felt tight. “I appreciate that.” He snuggled into Virgil’s side a bit more, tucking his head under his brother’s chin.
Virgil hesitantly placed his hand on his shoulder.
It didn’t feel enough for Scott. “Hold me?”
Virgil gently pushed his other arm under Scott and wrapped it around his back. The other hand came up behind his head again and fingers ran through his hair and massaged him.
Scott threw a leg over Virgil, just to try and get closer and shifted around slightly.
Virgil must have sensed his need for affection and nuzzled his cheek against Scott’s with a humming sound.
Scott melted with a content noise of his own. He knew there would be more times later on when he’d break down; but at least he felt safe to do so now, instead of keeping it bottled up and locked in a vault at the back of his mind. The vault Virgil now had the key to.
Thank you for taking the time to read my Fic!