alexs_storybook (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alexs_storybook) wrote2018-06-07 10:22 am
alexs_storybook) wrote2018-06-07 10:22 am
FIC: Seven Deadly Sins (Babylon 5)
Title: Seven Deadly Sins
Author: alexcat
Fandom: Babylon 5
Type: Gen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I profit from the use of these characters.
Character(s): Londo, Vir, G'kar, Lennier, Cartagia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex's Story Book
Summary: Seven deadly sins, B5 style
~~~
1 - Lust
"There comes a time when you look into the mirror and realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it, or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking into mirrors."
~ Londo
*
Londo Mollari stared into his glass. The Brevari was exquisite, the best money could buy. He had it stocked here just for himself. He liked for everything to be the best money could buy. His drink, his food, his clothes, his women…
Where had it gotten him?
He was here on a space station light years from his beloved Centauri Prime with too many humans and other aliens to count. Smelly humans and aliens at that.
This is not how it was supposed to be.
He wanted…
He wanted so much. He wanted so much that the real work had been swept away by his desires. The real work was to restore the glory of the great Centauri Republic, wasn’t it? He looked up at the dancer on the stage. She was a beautiful Centauri woman, young enough to be his granddaughter but he would have her tonight after she was finished dancing.
He would have her simply because he wanted her.
Vir would disapprove in that humble way he had, a way that drove Londo mad, mostly because only Vir could make him feel shame for the things he did.
Feeling shame wouldn’t stop him, though. He apparently had no shame. People laughed at the funny old Centauri flirting with the pretty young dancers, but he was the one who took them to his bed, wasn’t he?
There was always something missing, but what? He often asked himself if that’s all there is. When did life become so – dull? Meaningless? Had it always been this way and he’d been too busy chasing women and pleasure to notice? Pleasure could go a long way toward making a man forget his ambitions. He was living proof of that.
Oh well, those questions would not be answered tonight.
He waved for another drink and scribbled a note for the dancer. When she danced closer, he slipped it into her hand. She glanced at it as she twirled and gyrated. She gave him an imperceptible nod and danced away. She would come to him after her show and he would forget all his troubled for a few hours and pretend he was twenty again and chasing beauties with his friends.
Who needed love? Who needed meaning?
He was already anticipating the things he would have her do, the things he would do to her. Sometimes a man simply needed to give in to his urges and enjoy the ride, to live in the moment.
Other things could wait, couldn’t they?
The music ended and the girl took her bow.
~~~
2 – Gluttony
Vir Cotto: Ah! He has become one with his inner self!
Michael Garibaldi: He's passed out.
Vir: That too.
*
The Centauri Celebration of Life was Londo’s favorite holiday, mostly because it was a chance to celebrate and indulge for a week.
Honestly, he indulged more than he should all the time, but especially during this time of the year. He was hosting a banquet for his hosts on Babylon 5 this year. Vir was very excited, but then Vir was always quite excitable.
“Has the spoo arrived?” He asked Vir.
“Yes, we have ten cases of it.”
“Ten? Is that enough?”
“Londo, humans don’t like spoo. We have some more palatable dishes for them. Roopo Balls seem to be a favorite.”
“More for me then!”
That evening, Vir was very agitated when he arrived at Londo’s quarters. “Londo, one of the cases of spoo is gone! Who would steal spoo?”
“Well, for once, we won’t accuse G’kar since the Narn eat it fresh.” Londo shivered in revulsion.
“Shall I report it to Mr. Garibaldi?”
“No, Vir, we still have nine cases, after all.”
The preparations went on. Several Centauri wines were brought in as well some non-alcoholic beverages for Delenn and Lennier.
Whoever heard of people who did not drink alcohol? They only had one sex organ, too, Londo had heard. How dull!
It was two days before the banquet when Vir came running into Londo’s quartes yet again and in a panic.
“Londo! Londo! There is another case of spoo missing! What shall we do?”
“We are fine. No one will be eating it but you and me anyway. Vir, before you go, I need you to take my clothes to the tailor. My brown waistcoat is too tight. It must have drawn up when you had it cleaned.”
“You haven’t had that cleaned, Londo. It’s new.”
“Well, it shrunk in my closet then.”
Vir nodded. Londo was Londo and it was easier to just do as he wished than it was to try to reason with him. He got the waistcoat out and for good measure, he grabbed the white shirt that Londo planned to wear. When he pulled the shirt out, he noticed the box hidden in the back of the closet.
It was a wooden crate.
A wooden crate exactly like the crates that spoo was delivered in. And there was a second one beside it. He moved them. Both were empty.
It was no wonder that Londo wasn’t worried about the spoo theft! He was the thief! He picked up the shirt and waistcoat and returned to the sitting room.
“Londo, are you sure you don’t want to wait a few more days before having these let out?”
“Whatever for, Vir?”
“If you eat the other eight cases of spoo, they’ll need to be let out several sizes more. I was just thinking of saving time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I found the empty crates in your wardrobe.”
Londo smiled his oily smile, the one he used when he was lying through his teeth. “Would I do such a thing? Someone must be playing a practical joke on me. They all know what a wonderful sense of humor I have.”
Vir, who really was very diplomatic sometimes, smiled and nodded. He had the clothes let out three sizes anyway.
~~~
3 – Greed
*
Emperor Cartagia: The trouble with being infallible is that you have to deal with everyone else making mistakes.
Londo never considered himself a bad man. He, in fact, believed himself to be a patriot, a loving son of the Centauri Republic. When the old emperor died and Cartagia took his place, Londo knew the younger man was not worth much but he had no idea of his depravity. He and Lord Refa had done a great disservice to their world in allowing this monster to rise to power.
Cartagia showed Londo the shadow cabinet, the heads that he had taken and now he talked to them on a regular basis. They certainly didn’t argue with him or oppose him now, did they? Cartagia detailed to Londo how, by allowing the Shadows to destroy the entire world in a rain of fire, he will ascend to being a god himself.
Londo knew that his own actions had caused this. He, Londo Mollari, was responsible for what had become of the Centauri Republic. In his misguided greed for power, for respect, he had sold his own soul and the soul of his people to the Shadows, who had promised a madman his heart’s desire, godhood.
And he was the one to fix it. Wasn’t he? Could he do it? Was he capable of the sacrifice?
Cartagia, with complete madness in his eyes, said, “Let it burn, Mollari. Let it all end in fire.”
Well, not today. Not this time.
~~~
4 – Sloth
*
Londo Mollari: But this - this, this, this is like being nibbled to death by... what are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet... go 'quack'...
Vir Cotto: Cats.
Londo Mollari: Cats. Being nibbled to death by cats.
*
“’Vir, get my clothes out. Vir, draw my bath. Vir, cut my food up for me!’ He has to be the laziest man who ever lived,” Vir mumbled to himself as he laid Londo’s nightshirt out on the bed, but not before turning down the bed so Londo could just fall right in with NO effort whatsoever.
He was not done with those tasks when he heard Londo. “Vir, come here. There is a bug on the floor. I need you to kill it.”
Vir mumbled again. “Maybe if I leave it, it will eat you and no one will even notice that the Centauri ambassador is now a bug!’
Vir stomped the bug, swept it up and tossed it in the trash. He turned to go back to the bedroom to finish with Londo’s bed and nightshirt. The nightshirt must be ironed. Great Maker, he couldn’t sleep with a WRINKLE!
“Vir, come, sit and talk to me.”
He pretended he didn’t hear Londo until he was done with the ironing. He put the iron away and finished his tasks then he returned to the sitting room.
“Were you ignoring me?”
Vir was the picture of innocence. “When?”
“I asked you to come sit with me.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“it’s just as well. I am ready to go to bed now anyway.”
Vir hung up Londo’s clothes and put the dirty ones in the hamper in the closet and set out a pair of already shiny shoes for tomorrow. He would shine the ones Londo took off while Londo was out, yelling at someone else to wait on him.
Finally Londo was asleep. Vir could hear him snoring. He turned off all the lights, locked up behind himself and went down to a bar in the Zocalo.
“ A Shirley Temple and keep ‘em coming,” he told the bartender and sat back to enjoy a few minutes of quiet.
~~~
5 – Wrath
*
We should have wiped out your kind when we had the chance. –Londo Mollari
*
G’kar felt rage so deeply and completely that he did not believe that he would ever breathe again without pain. Londo had taken everything. Everything. His world was in tatters but even that was not enough for Mollari. He was set on destroying G’kar personally as well.
But his fury and anger could not fix anything.
Nothing at all.
They, coupled with his own hubris, was costing Narn lives every single day.
He had no right to be the reason his people died. He knew he must let go the anger, the pain, the hatred but how? How could the hate of a lifetime be laid by and how could the hater move forward? He spent a great deal of time thinking.
He could not fix Mollari, no matter what he did. Even Mollari’s death at his hands would fix nothing. It would only inspire more Narn to kill more Centauri and in turn be killed for that.
What had the voice said? “If both sides are dead, no one will care which side is to blame.”
That was it.
Hated was not the key. Anger was not the key. His righteous wrath was not the key.
The cycle of hatred must be broken and it might as well begin with him…
~~~
6 – Envy
*
All love is unrequited. – Susan Ivanova
Lennier knew that it would be his undoing. He had known it since the day he realized that Delenn loved John and that she would never love him in that way.
He knew but he told himself that he was better than that.
He told himself that when he joined the Rangers.
He told himself that when he ran secret missions for Delenn.
He told himself that over and over.
He did it all for her, to make her proud, to help her in her work.
But one moment gave it all away… that one moment when he didn’t open the door. That one moment defined his entire life and left it lacking.
Envy had cost him everything. Or maybe it was just the price of love.
~~~
7 – Pride
*
They have an expression, "Pride goeth before a fall". Their pride was their undoing. I know, I was there. – Londo Mollari
*
Londo reflected in his drunken moments, moments when his keeper loosened his hold. He was more lucid drunk than many ever were sober. He knew the things he had done and he was too close to the end to lie to himself anymore.
He had always told himself that he did what he did solely out of love for his people.
He knew now that this was not all together true.
While it was true that he loved the Centauri Republic and its people more than anything else, the real reason that he had done the things he had, the one, true reason was his pride. He had made a deal with Morden out of pride and anger at the humiliation that he was subjected to by being sent among these, these aliens, just to get him out the way. He asked Morden to destroy the Narn home world out of anger and frustration that his pride had once again been battered. He had Refa killed…
He was responsible for the Shadows and Drakh and what they did to his people, to the humans. He had opened the door that let them in and gave them a platform to work from.
He expected that he was not yet done paying the price for his own hubris and that there may not ever be a time when he had paid enough for his sins.
He certainly deserved whatever befell him now.
He knew that G’kar would grant him his last mercy.
Would he ever forgive him though?
Author: alexcat
Fandom: Babylon 5
Type: Gen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I profit from the use of these characters.
Character(s): Londo, Vir, G'kar, Lennier, Cartagia
Archive: Ao3, OEAM, Alex's Story Book
Summary: Seven deadly sins, B5 style
~~~
1 - Lust
"There comes a time when you look into the mirror and realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it, or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking into mirrors."
~ Londo
*
Londo Mollari stared into his glass. The Brevari was exquisite, the best money could buy. He had it stocked here just for himself. He liked for everything to be the best money could buy. His drink, his food, his clothes, his women…
Where had it gotten him?
He was here on a space station light years from his beloved Centauri Prime with too many humans and other aliens to count. Smelly humans and aliens at that.
This is not how it was supposed to be.
He wanted…
He wanted so much. He wanted so much that the real work had been swept away by his desires. The real work was to restore the glory of the great Centauri Republic, wasn’t it? He looked up at the dancer on the stage. She was a beautiful Centauri woman, young enough to be his granddaughter but he would have her tonight after she was finished dancing.
He would have her simply because he wanted her.
Vir would disapprove in that humble way he had, a way that drove Londo mad, mostly because only Vir could make him feel shame for the things he did.
Feeling shame wouldn’t stop him, though. He apparently had no shame. People laughed at the funny old Centauri flirting with the pretty young dancers, but he was the one who took them to his bed, wasn’t he?
There was always something missing, but what? He often asked himself if that’s all there is. When did life become so – dull? Meaningless? Had it always been this way and he’d been too busy chasing women and pleasure to notice? Pleasure could go a long way toward making a man forget his ambitions. He was living proof of that.
Oh well, those questions would not be answered tonight.
He waved for another drink and scribbled a note for the dancer. When she danced closer, he slipped it into her hand. She glanced at it as she twirled and gyrated. She gave him an imperceptible nod and danced away. She would come to him after her show and he would forget all his troubled for a few hours and pretend he was twenty again and chasing beauties with his friends.
Who needed love? Who needed meaning?
He was already anticipating the things he would have her do, the things he would do to her. Sometimes a man simply needed to give in to his urges and enjoy the ride, to live in the moment.
Other things could wait, couldn’t they?
The music ended and the girl took her bow.
~~~
2 – Gluttony
Vir Cotto: Ah! He has become one with his inner self!
Michael Garibaldi: He's passed out.
Vir: That too.
*
The Centauri Celebration of Life was Londo’s favorite holiday, mostly because it was a chance to celebrate and indulge for a week.
Honestly, he indulged more than he should all the time, but especially during this time of the year. He was hosting a banquet for his hosts on Babylon 5 this year. Vir was very excited, but then Vir was always quite excitable.
“Has the spoo arrived?” He asked Vir.
“Yes, we have ten cases of it.”
“Ten? Is that enough?”
“Londo, humans don’t like spoo. We have some more palatable dishes for them. Roopo Balls seem to be a favorite.”
“More for me then!”
That evening, Vir was very agitated when he arrived at Londo’s quarters. “Londo, one of the cases of spoo is gone! Who would steal spoo?”
“Well, for once, we won’t accuse G’kar since the Narn eat it fresh.” Londo shivered in revulsion.
“Shall I report it to Mr. Garibaldi?”
“No, Vir, we still have nine cases, after all.”
The preparations went on. Several Centauri wines were brought in as well some non-alcoholic beverages for Delenn and Lennier.
Whoever heard of people who did not drink alcohol? They only had one sex organ, too, Londo had heard. How dull!
It was two days before the banquet when Vir came running into Londo’s quartes yet again and in a panic.
“Londo! Londo! There is another case of spoo missing! What shall we do?”
“We are fine. No one will be eating it but you and me anyway. Vir, before you go, I need you to take my clothes to the tailor. My brown waistcoat is too tight. It must have drawn up when you had it cleaned.”
“You haven’t had that cleaned, Londo. It’s new.”
“Well, it shrunk in my closet then.”
Vir nodded. Londo was Londo and it was easier to just do as he wished than it was to try to reason with him. He got the waistcoat out and for good measure, he grabbed the white shirt that Londo planned to wear. When he pulled the shirt out, he noticed the box hidden in the back of the closet.
It was a wooden crate.
A wooden crate exactly like the crates that spoo was delivered in. And there was a second one beside it. He moved them. Both were empty.
It was no wonder that Londo wasn’t worried about the spoo theft! He was the thief! He picked up the shirt and waistcoat and returned to the sitting room.
“Londo, are you sure you don’t want to wait a few more days before having these let out?”
“Whatever for, Vir?”
“If you eat the other eight cases of spoo, they’ll need to be let out several sizes more. I was just thinking of saving time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I found the empty crates in your wardrobe.”
Londo smiled his oily smile, the one he used when he was lying through his teeth. “Would I do such a thing? Someone must be playing a practical joke on me. They all know what a wonderful sense of humor I have.”
Vir, who really was very diplomatic sometimes, smiled and nodded. He had the clothes let out three sizes anyway.
~~~
3 – Greed
*
Emperor Cartagia: The trouble with being infallible is that you have to deal with everyone else making mistakes.
Londo never considered himself a bad man. He, in fact, believed himself to be a patriot, a loving son of the Centauri Republic. When the old emperor died and Cartagia took his place, Londo knew the younger man was not worth much but he had no idea of his depravity. He and Lord Refa had done a great disservice to their world in allowing this monster to rise to power.
Cartagia showed Londo the shadow cabinet, the heads that he had taken and now he talked to them on a regular basis. They certainly didn’t argue with him or oppose him now, did they? Cartagia detailed to Londo how, by allowing the Shadows to destroy the entire world in a rain of fire, he will ascend to being a god himself.
Londo knew that his own actions had caused this. He, Londo Mollari, was responsible for what had become of the Centauri Republic. In his misguided greed for power, for respect, he had sold his own soul and the soul of his people to the Shadows, who had promised a madman his heart’s desire, godhood.
And he was the one to fix it. Wasn’t he? Could he do it? Was he capable of the sacrifice?
Cartagia, with complete madness in his eyes, said, “Let it burn, Mollari. Let it all end in fire.”
Well, not today. Not this time.
~~~
4 – Sloth
*
Londo Mollari: But this - this, this, this is like being nibbled to death by... what are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet... go 'quack'...
Vir Cotto: Cats.
Londo Mollari: Cats. Being nibbled to death by cats.
*
“’Vir, get my clothes out. Vir, draw my bath. Vir, cut my food up for me!’ He has to be the laziest man who ever lived,” Vir mumbled to himself as he laid Londo’s nightshirt out on the bed, but not before turning down the bed so Londo could just fall right in with NO effort whatsoever.
He was not done with those tasks when he heard Londo. “Vir, come here. There is a bug on the floor. I need you to kill it.”
Vir mumbled again. “Maybe if I leave it, it will eat you and no one will even notice that the Centauri ambassador is now a bug!’
Vir stomped the bug, swept it up and tossed it in the trash. He turned to go back to the bedroom to finish with Londo’s bed and nightshirt. The nightshirt must be ironed. Great Maker, he couldn’t sleep with a WRINKLE!
“Vir, come, sit and talk to me.”
He pretended he didn’t hear Londo until he was done with the ironing. He put the iron away and finished his tasks then he returned to the sitting room.
“Were you ignoring me?”
Vir was the picture of innocence. “When?”
“I asked you to come sit with me.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“it’s just as well. I am ready to go to bed now anyway.”
Vir hung up Londo’s clothes and put the dirty ones in the hamper in the closet and set out a pair of already shiny shoes for tomorrow. He would shine the ones Londo took off while Londo was out, yelling at someone else to wait on him.
Finally Londo was asleep. Vir could hear him snoring. He turned off all the lights, locked up behind himself and went down to a bar in the Zocalo.
“ A Shirley Temple and keep ‘em coming,” he told the bartender and sat back to enjoy a few minutes of quiet.
~~~
5 – Wrath
*
We should have wiped out your kind when we had the chance. –Londo Mollari
*
G’kar felt rage so deeply and completely that he did not believe that he would ever breathe again without pain. Londo had taken everything. Everything. His world was in tatters but even that was not enough for Mollari. He was set on destroying G’kar personally as well.
But his fury and anger could not fix anything.
Nothing at all.
They, coupled with his own hubris, was costing Narn lives every single day.
He had no right to be the reason his people died. He knew he must let go the anger, the pain, the hatred but how? How could the hate of a lifetime be laid by and how could the hater move forward? He spent a great deal of time thinking.
He could not fix Mollari, no matter what he did. Even Mollari’s death at his hands would fix nothing. It would only inspire more Narn to kill more Centauri and in turn be killed for that.
What had the voice said? “If both sides are dead, no one will care which side is to blame.”
That was it.
Hated was not the key. Anger was not the key. His righteous wrath was not the key.
The cycle of hatred must be broken and it might as well begin with him…
~~~
6 – Envy
*
All love is unrequited. – Susan Ivanova
Lennier knew that it would be his undoing. He had known it since the day he realized that Delenn loved John and that she would never love him in that way.
He knew but he told himself that he was better than that.
He told himself that when he joined the Rangers.
He told himself that when he ran secret missions for Delenn.
He told himself that over and over.
He did it all for her, to make her proud, to help her in her work.
But one moment gave it all away… that one moment when he didn’t open the door. That one moment defined his entire life and left it lacking.
Envy had cost him everything. Or maybe it was just the price of love.
~~~
7 – Pride
*
They have an expression, "Pride goeth before a fall". Their pride was their undoing. I know, I was there. – Londo Mollari
*
Londo reflected in his drunken moments, moments when his keeper loosened his hold. He was more lucid drunk than many ever were sober. He knew the things he had done and he was too close to the end to lie to himself anymore.
He had always told himself that he did what he did solely out of love for his people.
He knew now that this was not all together true.
While it was true that he loved the Centauri Republic and its people more than anything else, the real reason that he had done the things he had, the one, true reason was his pride. He had made a deal with Morden out of pride and anger at the humiliation that he was subjected to by being sent among these, these aliens, just to get him out the way. He asked Morden to destroy the Narn home world out of anger and frustration that his pride had once again been battered. He had Refa killed…
He was responsible for the Shadows and Drakh and what they did to his people, to the humans. He had opened the door that let them in and gave them a platform to work from.
He expected that he was not yet done paying the price for his own hubris and that there may not ever be a time when he had paid enough for his sins.
He certainly deserved whatever befell him now.
He knew that G’kar would grant him his last mercy.
Would he ever forgive him though?