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justprompts: nightmare
Oct. 25th, 2009 12:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonheartNo matter how many times she left Death, it continued to be a startling experience, like waking up from a bad dream. In this case, the dream itself hadn't been particularly trying - other than the dankness, the flatness, the unnaturalness that always permeated Death, it had been somewhat of a triumphant success. She'd tracked the necromancer for hours... maybe days, weeks. Time lost its meaning there. And when she'd found him, he'd hissed and spit tendrils of roiling free magic at her, only to be defeated with alarming ease. Touchstone was going to be so proud of the way she'd handled Binder - she was beginning to feel like a real ace swordsman, and that was all thanks to him.
But now she could go home.
It wasn't really a longing for the Abhorsen House... places never had had a real way of binding her. But she could be with her fiancee again, really be together. The very hardest part about doing her job was that as much as Torrigan would never leave her side for an instant, there was one place he could never, ever follow her. Not really.
But at least she knew that he was always waiting when she broke free of those icy bindings. His warm hand on her shoulder would be the first thing she would feel, and all the emptiness of Death would be banished instantly - just that easily.
So when she broke free, she immediately sought for that warmth, turning with a smile, even as her teeth chattered against the cold.
He wasn't there.
She was on her feet in an instant, sword drawn, anger flashing through her... but it wasn't just Touchstone's absence that was different. Everything seemed...
The trees had been harboring bouquets of red and yellow leaves, she remembered vividly, and now they were barren. The ground was cold, caked in brown and white, traces of a snow. All that remained as a sign of life was a single red rose laid in front of where she had been kneeling, inexplicably.
How long was I gone? she thought, remembering how it had felt like weeks. There was no way that Touchstone would have abandoned her. He would have remained, would have woken her. This wasn't possible.
She had to have answers, so she struck off, back the way they had come, out of the wood. Her instincts told her to turn homeward, and so she took the long and treacherous path back, alone. Her haste almost caused her to trip over briars and stones that a more cautious eye would have easily avoided. She felt reckless, wavering.
Step by step she crossed over the river. It at least appeared the same, the water rushing onward through the Ratterlin, regardless of the season, unstoppable. The walls of the Abhorsen House stood unchanged as well. There was comfort in it. She gripped on to it somewhere deep down.
It was Aadi who answered the door, before she could even knock, and she stared back at Faith with eyes that seemed surprised and even... Was she going to cry? What was she even doing in the Abhorsen House?
"Faith?" she asked, and the word was colored with complete disbelief.
"Uh, yeah, it's me, what's..." Faith began but was cut off by a hug that sucked all the air right out of her. "Ooo ow. Bones."
"Faith," Aadi said. "What are you... how are you... We thought you were dead."
Well, that was quite a pronouncement. Faith's mouth opened, and then flapped uselessly. She obviously wasn't, so denying it seemed a waste of breath. "How? Why? Why would you think that?"
"Because your body petrified," she said, in what was a forcibly even tone, as if she were trying to look at this reasonably. Or break something to Faith gently. Her eyes were casting over her as if she was some kind of spectre. "We thought you were lost, and when I went into Death, you weren't there anymore. All traces of you were gone and..."
"Mom?" came a voice from behind Aadi. A strapping lad, no - a full grown young man stepped around Faith's cousin. He had River's clear strong gaze, but Aadi's bone structure. It was undeniable. Faith gawked. "Who is this?" he asked.
"Go back inside," Aadi demanded. "I have to talk to..."
"Wait a minute," Faith said heatedly, as the young man... Aadi's son, retreated back into the door. "How... Aadi, he was just a baby, how long has it... Oh gods... how long has it been?"
They stared at each other for a long moment, and Faith feared that Aadi didn't have the heart to tell her. Finally, however, she spoke, though her voice was so quiet that Faith had to strain to hear it.
She immediately wished she hadn't.
"Fifty years."
"Fif--" It was all Faith could get out. Her eyes widened, as her thoughts rushed towards one place, her stomach sinking in a wretched lurching motion. "Touchstone."
"He's alive," Aadi said immediately, as if she could read Faith's mind; as if she knew that was her first worry. But it wasn't her biggest one. "But we don't know for how much longer."
"This isn't happening," Faith said, stepping backwards, and burying her hands in her hair, yanking it away from her face, tangling it in her fingers. "All that time can't just be gone. I have to get it back. He and I have to get it back. We never had enough time in the first place. We can't lose this much of it now..." The words were growing into shrieks of fear, and horror, and she felt like yanking the hair right out of her skull.
This was all her fault.
She'd known the risks, but never dared to imagine they could run this far. She'd given up her time with Touchstone, willingly, and this was her penance for putting him second. It didn't make any sense. Didn't fate want her to put saving lives before anything else? This was wrong. All wrong.
No - worse than that. It was irreversible.
She was crying now, and screaming, and pushing Aadi away when she tried to touch her, grab her shoulders, turn her around. She was running as far and as fast as she could. Running away from time.
----------
She woke up with a gasp, teeth chattering against the cold chill of the sweats she'd broken into. Touchstone's warm hand on her shoulder had roused her, pulled her out of the nightmare. Put breath back into her lungs.
She clung to him and she refused to tell him why she cried as he held her. Why she didn't want to sleep again.
She didn't want to miss another minute.
But now she could go home.
It wasn't really a longing for the Abhorsen House... places never had had a real way of binding her. But she could be with her fiancee again, really be together. The very hardest part about doing her job was that as much as Torrigan would never leave her side for an instant, there was one place he could never, ever follow her. Not really.
But at least she knew that he was always waiting when she broke free of those icy bindings. His warm hand on her shoulder would be the first thing she would feel, and all the emptiness of Death would be banished instantly - just that easily.
So when she broke free, she immediately sought for that warmth, turning with a smile, even as her teeth chattered against the cold.
He wasn't there.
She was on her feet in an instant, sword drawn, anger flashing through her... but it wasn't just Touchstone's absence that was different. Everything seemed...
The trees had been harboring bouquets of red and yellow leaves, she remembered vividly, and now they were barren. The ground was cold, caked in brown and white, traces of a snow. All that remained as a sign of life was a single red rose laid in front of where she had been kneeling, inexplicably.
How long was I gone? she thought, remembering how it had felt like weeks. There was no way that Touchstone would have abandoned her. He would have remained, would have woken her. This wasn't possible.
She had to have answers, so she struck off, back the way they had come, out of the wood. Her instincts told her to turn homeward, and so she took the long and treacherous path back, alone. Her haste almost caused her to trip over briars and stones that a more cautious eye would have easily avoided. She felt reckless, wavering.
Step by step she crossed over the river. It at least appeared the same, the water rushing onward through the Ratterlin, regardless of the season, unstoppable. The walls of the Abhorsen House stood unchanged as well. There was comfort in it. She gripped on to it somewhere deep down.
It was Aadi who answered the door, before she could even knock, and she stared back at Faith with eyes that seemed surprised and even... Was she going to cry? What was she even doing in the Abhorsen House?
"Faith?" she asked, and the word was colored with complete disbelief.
"Uh, yeah, it's me, what's..." Faith began but was cut off by a hug that sucked all the air right out of her. "Ooo ow. Bones."
"Faith," Aadi said. "What are you... how are you... We thought you were dead."
Well, that was quite a pronouncement. Faith's mouth opened, and then flapped uselessly. She obviously wasn't, so denying it seemed a waste of breath. "How? Why? Why would you think that?"
"Because your body petrified," she said, in what was a forcibly even tone, as if she were trying to look at this reasonably. Or break something to Faith gently. Her eyes were casting over her as if she was some kind of spectre. "We thought you were lost, and when I went into Death, you weren't there anymore. All traces of you were gone and..."
"Mom?" came a voice from behind Aadi. A strapping lad, no - a full grown young man stepped around Faith's cousin. He had River's clear strong gaze, but Aadi's bone structure. It was undeniable. Faith gawked. "Who is this?" he asked.
"Go back inside," Aadi demanded. "I have to talk to..."
"Wait a minute," Faith said heatedly, as the young man... Aadi's son, retreated back into the door. "How... Aadi, he was just a baby, how long has it... Oh gods... how long has it been?"
They stared at each other for a long moment, and Faith feared that Aadi didn't have the heart to tell her. Finally, however, she spoke, though her voice was so quiet that Faith had to strain to hear it.
She immediately wished she hadn't.
"Fifty years."
"Fif--" It was all Faith could get out. Her eyes widened, as her thoughts rushed towards one place, her stomach sinking in a wretched lurching motion. "Touchstone."
"He's alive," Aadi said immediately, as if she could read Faith's mind; as if she knew that was her first worry. But it wasn't her biggest one. "But we don't know for how much longer."
"This isn't happening," Faith said, stepping backwards, and burying her hands in her hair, yanking it away from her face, tangling it in her fingers. "All that time can't just be gone. I have to get it back. He and I have to get it back. We never had enough time in the first place. We can't lose this much of it now..." The words were growing into shrieks of fear, and horror, and she felt like yanking the hair right out of her skull.
This was all her fault.
She'd known the risks, but never dared to imagine they could run this far. She'd given up her time with Touchstone, willingly, and this was her penance for putting him second. It didn't make any sense. Didn't fate want her to put saving lives before anything else? This was wrong. All wrong.
No - worse than that. It was irreversible.
She was crying now, and screaming, and pushing Aadi away when she tried to touch her, grab her shoulders, turn her around. She was running as far and as fast as she could. Running away from time.
----------
She woke up with a gasp, teeth chattering against the cold chill of the sweats she'd broken into. Touchstone's warm hand on her shoulder had roused her, pulled her out of the nightmare. Put breath back into her lungs.
She clung to him and she refused to tell him why she cried as he held her. Why she didn't want to sleep again.
She didn't want to miss another minute.
