isabrella

this isn't how it happens (384 words) by isabrella
SqWA / Tumblr
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Orphan Black (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Beth Childs & Alison Hendrix
Characters: Beth Childs, Alison Hendrix
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat 2022, Trick or Treat: Trick, Character Death In Dream
Summary:
Alison dreams of Beth almost every night. Sometimes, it's like this.
Notes:
This is pretty dark, and includes reference to Beth's suicide.
Originally written for EleosEpistrophia on AO3 for the Trick or Treat Exchange 2022.

“You know it’s the only answer, Alison.” Beth grasps the handrail tightly, wind whipping her hair back and forth.

This is all wrong, they shouldn’t be here. “Beth, just come away. Come home with me. Donnie’s away, it doesn’t matter. We just can’t… can’t be here.” Alison’s voice squeaks a little bit and her face twists into even more of a frown.

“They’ll never stop! Don’t you see?” Beth is crying again, now, knuckles white on the rail. How did they get up here? Alison struggles to remember through the fog.

“We’ll stop them. Together! But you have to come with me now. Home.” Alison forces herself to take a step towards the edge, vision swimming unhappily.

“There is no home,” Beth says. “Don’t you know… everyone, they’re all watching us. Paul, Donnie. Watching.”

“This isn’t how it happens,” Alison says determinedly. “This isn’t how it happens!”

And she’s right, and she’s wrong.

Beth takes a step off the edge of the balcony, the railing dissolving as she falls. Without thinking, Alison rushes to follow her, teetering on the edge. As she falls away from Alison, arms outstretched, black dress clinging to her body, Beth dissolves too, and Alison is left alone.

There’s a gun in her hand now, heavy and dark, and she turns to face whatever’s behind her.

Beth’s voice sounds in her ears. Hours of lessons together. “Line the shot up. Finger off the trigger until you’re ready. But be ready. Okay. You see her?”

It’s another clone. Another Alison, another Beth. She has orange-y blonde hair, a sharp bob cut. Make-up sharp enough to cut someone. Just another funhouse mirror version of herself.

Alison can’t do this. Her hand shakes as she raises the gun.

Beth again. “Safety off. Be sure of where it’s going to end up. Breathe in…”

Alison breathes, imagining the line of the bullet to this clone’s chest. It’s all her fault, Alison knows it. This isn’t how it happens, but it’s going to happen now.

She lines up the shot, hand no longer shaking. Alison’s finger moves to the trigger, ready, and now she’s staring at Beth, Beth who just disappeared, Beth who taught her how to shoot, Beth who left her.

Her voice is fading now, but Alison hears the last, whispered instruction.

“…fire.”