[m] - blackbird singing in the dead of night

Gabriel de le Poer · 01-15-2011, 01:59 PM

[html]

SSWM: 500

Once upon a time, a prince and a princess had traveled to a distant land and stolen the treasure of a pirate-king. The story had ended there, but in truth, it had not. Both of these children were perhaps cursed by this treasure, or by their blood alone, to suffer greatly. Pain and fear had come from all parts of the world, from monsters with yellow eyes and crooked teeth, or from men who were supposed to love and protect and instead abused their power. Destiny wove and twisted and destroyed the light that had kept them pure. The prince, once golden, had grown as dark as the charred remains of the worlds he had been set to burn. Now king, he was bound to the path of war and of such terrible things. She, though her scars were few, had been rotting from the inside from that despicable touch.

So it came that the two once again met, twice over, and once more the prince saved the princess. Now, though, they were no longer children. The monsters were just as real and just as terrible. They too, perhaps, had become infected by such things.

Gabriel had been running for years. He still ran. He ran from feeling, ran headlong into battle because it was there he was capable of tasting what it was he lacked in life. Nothing made him content anymore. He lived, but he did not exist without such things. Blood and fire were as much a part of him as his own thought. Delicate fingers, those destined for the calling of a healer, touched him and set his skin aflame. A shudder caused his skin to ripple like a horse’s, and Gabriel knew then what his body had known since he had first touched her.

They would not save each other, but they needed to make each other understand. Gabriel could not tell her with frail words what she needed to hear. Alaine could not explain her hurt. The devil was inside of them both, but they would need to face the darkness together to conquer it, even if this was only temporary. He did not love her, but once he had—once he would have saved her if only he had known what destiny lay in store for them.

His hands moved to her back and he lay her down, this time without force. There was no true romance in Gabriel anymore, for another woman had stolen this from him. Yet his eyes were soft for her even as he knew that he might break what was left of her heart. His absence, his inability to be there, it might destroy her. It had done so to another woman. Gabriel lowered his face to the side of her own, seeking to breathe in her scent and know her without walls.
He parted her gently and with grace, finding her warmth now necessary and his own body demanding.

Somewhere in the dark, an owl hooted mournfully.

Login




Remember me Lost Password?