FAKE Quadruple Drabble: A Hard Climb

[badly_knitted]

 


Title: A Hard Climb
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Following a difficult and frustrating time at work, Dee and Ryo head for the mountains to pit themselves against nature.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Climb’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Quadruple drabble.
 
 


It’s a hard climb, both Dee and Ryo are too out of breath from the effort to talk much, but they keep going, determined to reach the ridgetop, never mind how steep the slope is. There’s probably an easier way up, but they don’t care, because neither of them wants to do things the easy way, not today. That’s why they’re here instead of somewhere with lower ridges, shallower slopes. They wanted to challenge themselves, and that’s what they’re doing.

 
It's probably crazy, but sometimes, as Dee has learned from his partner, pitting themselves against nature and succeeding can restore a guy’s confidence in his abilities, and after the trainwreck of the court case last week, they badly need to win at something.

 
It wasn’t even their fault, they did their jobs, gathering all the evidence against a murderer, presenting it clearly in terms the jury could understand. But the prosecution messed up, a vital piece of evidence turned out to have become contaminated, possibly an inside job, another piece of evidence was declared inadmissible, although it shouldn’t have been, and a witness changed their testimony.

 
The killer got off.
 

So, with a couple of days off, they’d dumped Bikky at Carol’s house before heading for the Catskills, and the most rugged terrain they could find, hoping the fresh air and exercise might clear their heads and give them a better outlet for their frustrations than yelling at each other.

 
It’s working, at least for Dee. The strenuous effort of climbing the steep slope where there isn’t even a trail to follow is satisfying, and it requires all his concentration. He has none to spare for brooding, or endlessly replaying the trial in his head, trying to think of something, anything, he or Ryo could have done differently.
 

They’ve lost cases before, but never one that’s stung so badly, or felt so personal. The murder victim had been an off-duty cop, not someone either of them knew well, but that was hardly the point; he’d been one of their own, and his family deserved justice they hadn’t gotten. Well, there’s nothing to be done about it now.
 

Dee pauses momentarily, looking upwards, only perhaps a hundred yards from the summit, and gathers himself for the final push, scrambling over the last few rocks to join Ryo at the top, savouring their victory and the spectacular view.
 

Well worth the effort.
 

 
The End