Title: Bai Ma
Author: callisto24
Fandom: 24, Kieferlou
Genre: drama, m/m slash
Theme: After Season5, China
Characters: Jack, Bai Ma ( OC, LDP - look a like )
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Unbetaed, not my native language
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, no money made.

Thank you very much to Berenice for the great help. *hugs*

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Apologies for mistakes and errors, all mine, as usual. ;) Everybody welcome to beta!

Written for Xmas!
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His name was Bai Ma.
Jack had heard the other guards calling him, and he wondered if it was a nickname.

‘White horse’ didn’t sound much like a name fitting to a person working in a chinese prison.
It sounded more like the name of a Native American chief or warrior, someone riding proudly across the prairie, his long hair flying in the wind of freedom.
And strangely, Jack could imagine Bai Ma this way, saw him more in an environment like this, than in the uniform he shared with dozens of other men, making them all similar, hard to part from each other. Nevertheless there was no way to mix him up with any of the other men, pushing him around, transporting him to the places some mysterious mind decided him to be for whatever reason.
He had gone through at least five different locations, before he had stopped counting.
Obviously they took care to hide him very well, especially from the authorities.
Whatever Chengs plans might be, he seemed to act mainly on his own, paying attention to not being disturbed.
Bai Ma showed up for the first time when Jack had noticed that he wasn’t anymore in the colder parts of the country. He had woken up in a sticky cell smelling the scent of plants, hearing the sounds of insects and small animals proving to be alive even in a place like this.
Jack had forgotten to think about the time that passed. Days, weeks, months, seasons, it didn’t matter anymore.
He had lost track on the year he lived in, the events taking place in the world, never expecting, never hoping to be able to return, not wanting to be a part of them anymore.
He had given up for a while, finally reached his aim to nothing let him touch, neither emotionally, nor physically.
Nothing intruded into his world, he simply faded away, vanished from his own existence. He never ate, if he wasn’t forced to, he forgot to drink, stopped to recognize the needs of his body. Nothing could reach him, the faces came and went without him taking notice.

In spite of one.
In spite of Bai Ma’s face.
Something about this man was different, something parted him from the other guards, from the people taking him away, bringing him back, pushing him around.

He was lean, tall, with a skin which was slightly darker than the ones of the usual men around him. His eyes were calm, black and deep, telling from a foreign place Jack couldn’t see.

Jack caught himself staring at him, drifting away in his mind. He imagined the people from this country in a past far away, starting their long journey through the different continents, wandering for thousands of years, spreading and changing, creating nations and cultures wherever they rested.
It remained the only thought Jack could hold on to, the only picture distracting him, when reality penetrated his numbness.
He couldn’t remember the man ever having talked to him, just the cat-like walk, the silent movements which looked like dancing, elegant in a way, even if he did nothing else but placing the tray with food on the small table, or bringing a cup of water to his dry lips, just in the moment he needed it morst, or helping him to stand up when the weakness overcame his will to stay strong, to survive, no matter what they put him through.
The mystery of these black, almond-shaped eyes followed Jack everywhere, never left him alone, bound his thoughts, concentrated them on the rare moments when beauty intruded his desperation.


It was one day like all the others which laid behind him, a usual day, no difference between the ones passed and the ones in front of him.
The night seemed darker than expected, the lonely light throwing its poor shine through the cracks of the door dim and sad.
No use in moving, no use in hoping, in thinking.
Curled up in the position he had accustomed to spend these hours, trying to protect himself from invisible dangers around him, he lay on the cold stone floor and waited for the night to end.
No sleep, one of the nights, where sleep was impossible.
One of the nights when the darkness seemed too deep, when life seemed to stop, when the magic of a moment changed the world.
Jack lay still, waited.
His heart hurt, his loneliness grew more painful with each second.

A sharp sound.
A key turning inside the lock of his cell.

Jack pressed his eyes shut.
He wouldn’t fall for this again. He wouldn’t allow them to fool him twice, the show was over.
A scratching, the door opened and closed silently, carefully.
Jack remained in his position, lowered his breathing.

Soft steps.
Then nothing.

The sound of a match being removed from the box,
inflammation,
the scent of a fire, the smell of...

Jack opened his eyes in fear.
A small candle burned in front of him, an tiny flame moved up and down, flickered in the light breeze he couldn’t sense anymore.

Someone near him.
Bai Ma.

‘What... what are you doing here?’
No words being heard.
A deep, velvet voice spoke to him for the first time.
“It’s Christmas for your people.
You ought to remember.”
Sudden tears, silent sobs.
‘It doesn’t matter to me.’
Arms holding him.
A shoulder to cry, offering relief.
‘Can’t stand this anymore, can’t...’
Hands stroking his hair, moving down his back.
‘Can’t...’
Lips finding his, locking, spending warmth, giving love.
His body jelly in this touch.
His skin tingling, his blood boiling.
‘Can’t...’
‘Want...’
‘Need...’

Kisses like fire.
Fingers burning.
Heat rising, moving.
Desire growing, building up, turning into lust.

‘Take me... make me forget...’

Filling him, moving within him, driving him higher, making him alive.
More and more.
Faster and faster.
Harder and harder, stroke for stroke.
Sensation.
Explosion.
Perfection.

‘Never leave me... never...’

Useless pleas.
Useless hopes.

The end was near, the candle burnt down.
The magic faded away no matter how much Jack wished to keep it.
Gone.
Destroyed by the first stream of light banning the ghosts of this one night of the year.