~1~

SO COLD

Darkness. Cold, lonely, merciless darkness. And oh, was it lonely. So very lonely. And how much longer would it be like this? Forever and always? Or perhaps until this cruel world had done away with him, too. After all the trouble Dustfinger had gone through, after all the trouble he himself had gone through to get Dustfinger back, now they were seperate again. Apart. And all he could do was lay on the cold ground and sulk about it.

Well, okay, so that wasn't all he could do. Sure, he could go back to Roxane's farm and stay with Dustfinger there, and watch him laugh with her, kiss her, live his life with her, but...he wasn't so sure he could. He didn't want to. He wasn't sure if he even could. He didn't like seeing Dustfinger with Roxane. He hated it. And what more, Roxane hated him. And he wasn't too fond of her, either. Whenever he was near her he could almost feel her icy gaze on his back, her dark eyes glaring daggers into him. And whenever their eyes met, she gave him a look that almost made him feel bad about himself. Like he was doing something wrong. Like he didn't deserve to be anywhere near Dustfinger, like he didn't deserve Dustfinger's love. And that was indeed what she thought. Even if she didn't say it out loud, he knew that was what she was thinking. And now she, not Farid, was the one snug in bed with Dustfinger.

Not that Farid had ever been snug in bed with Dustfinger. And not that he wanted to. He didn't want to. Or at least...he didn't think he did. Farid sighed as he rolled onto his back and stared up at the night sky. There were lots of stars shining, but no matter how many stars there were it still seemed dark. He was still cold. Alone. Well, Jink was with him, but Jink was no Dustfinger.

He often tried to convince himself that he didn't actually miss Dustfinger that much, but he knew he did. And he missed Meggie, too. But he was determined to manage by going from town to town, just like Dustfinger used to. He wanted to be like Dustfinger. In his mind Dustfinger was perfect, amazing. In his heart, Dustfinger was...

...well, he loved him. He had for quite some time now, although he did not know if Dustfinger was aware of that or not. Probably not. He was too fixated with Roxane. Farid sighed and blinked back a few tears. All Dustfinger would ever think of him as was a son. Nothing more. And the thought of that made Farid's heart tear. It was tearing in two, he could feel it. It had been for a while. It tore more and more whenever Dustfinger was with Roxane. That's why he had left. He couldn't take seeing them together, and he loathed it. And Dustfinger was so oblivious. So completely oblivious.

Farid wondered, as Jink suddenly ran up to him with a dead bird, if Dustfinger even realized that it had been a whole year since they had seen each other. A whole year since Silvertongue had written the three words in the white book and the Adderhead had died, a whole year since Her Ugliness--or Her Kindliness, as they were now calling her, had become ruler of Ombra, a whole year since both Dustfinger and Meggie had broken his heart. What did Doria have that he didn't have? What did Roxane have that he didn't have?

Farid supposed he couldn't exactly blame Dustfinger. After all, Dustfinger was straight, wasn't he? It just wasn't fair. Farid couldn't help it if he loved Dustfinger, and now he was getting punished for it. He wished Roxane to the bottomless pits of hell. He wished she would just go away. He wished Dustfinger would love him the way he loved Dustfinger. But he knew he never would. He couldn't. He loved Roxane too much, and he didn't love Farid enough.

A shiver ran through Farid's thin body, and he pulled the large trench coat he had managed to smuggle from someone closer over himself. Well, it was that time of year again. And man did it get cold here! Not that he knew exactly where 'here' was. He was in a field somewhere, a large field. There was frost growing on the wheat surrounding him, and there was a small pond nearby. It almost looked like the field he and Meggie had appeared in when they first arrived in the Inkworld. And wasn't there a forest nearby...?

He felt the tears threaten to come again as he let out a shaky breath. When he and Dustfinger were in the other world, the world Meggie and Silvertongue came from, Dustfinger had told him about this field. He told him it used to be one of his favorite places to go, to be alone. Farid almost laughed. Now I'm alone here, he thought bitterly, furrowing his brows at the bittersweet ironicness (?) of the situation. Heh, not to mention that when Meggie and him were in this field, she still loved him...

...alright, enough sulking and feeling bad for himself. He needed to get some sleep. The arabian boy rolled onto his side and curled up into himself, trying to get warmer. Rubbing his hands together and then blowing into them, he tried to create a small fire, but only a few sparks appeared. He tried again, whispering to it, trying to convince it to dance for him, create some warmth, but the fire was not cooperating. He hadn't been able to make it listen as well lately. He thought it might be because he hadn't been around Dustfinger for a while, and his heart was sad. His heart was sad, and he couldn't make the words he whispered to the fire sound convincing. It wouldn't listen. It didn't want to dance for him, it would only burn for Dustfinger. A year ago Farid had almost been better than Dustfinger, but now...

Black hair fell into his face as he closed his eyes tight and buried his nose into his shoulder. He had grown his hair out again, it was about shoulder-length. Dustfinger seemed to like it better that way, even though he had never actually said anything out loud about it. And Farid liked it better that way, too. Meggie liked it short.

He dreaded to think of it short now. It was already cold enough as it was. At least with his thick hair long he could be a bit warmer. I would be warmer if I was Roxane... he thought sulkily, imagining her and Dustfinger snug as a bug in bed together. He then began to imagine what it would be like to be in Roxane's place. To have Dustfinger's arms around him, to hear his harmonious laugh, to feel Dustfinger's warm, fiery lips atop his own...

A smile snuck its way onto Farid's cold lips, and he could almost feel Dustfinger's warmth next to him. He could almost hear him breathing, hear the crackling of his fire. But when he opened his eyes to look, it was just Jink eating his prey. His face fell in disappointment, andhe scolded himself mentally. Of course it wasn't Dustfinger. He couldn't be at Roxane's farm and then suddenly be right beside him. Farid was just being stupid.

* * *

Farid wasn't sure when, but at some point that night he must have fallen asleep, despite the cold, because he woke up to Jink licking his nose. He reluctantly opened his eyes and immediately stared into the ones of his little companion. Slowly, Farid sat upright, but Jink remained on his lap. The boy's teeth were chattering, and his whole body was shivering from the cold. He licked his chilled lips and rubbed his hands together, breathing into them just like the night before. He hardly even got a spark this time, and he sighed defeatedly.

Standing up, he wondered how people could stand this cold. Well, he supposed it wasn't quite as bad for other people. For his whole life he had been used to sand and desert, heat and beatings, stealing and doing whatever it took to survive. But about two years ago that all changed. He was so thankful to Silvertongue for reading him here. He wasn't sure if he would even still be alive if he hadn't.

Farid shivered in both disgust and fear as he thought about what the forty theives used to do to him. He quickly cast that thought out of his head, however, and stretched, although it was hard to get the will to do so when all he wanted to do was curl on the ground and get as warm as he could. When he had finished stretching his eyes got caught of something. Mountains. White, far away mountains. Didn't they say the giants lived there? And a certain human being, if he was still alive...

Orpheus.

The demon from Silvertongue's world. He had rejoiced the day he had been able to get away from him. Him and his obnoxious bodyguard: Oss. Farid's dark eyebrows furrowed as he thought about the tall, strong, yet stupid man. The thing's he used to do to him...the ways he used to abuse him, cause him pain. He loved to cause him pain. It was his favorite activity.

Farid sighed sadly. It was almost like the world was out to get him. First the forty thieves, then Oss, then both Dustfinger and Meggie got taken away from him. Actually, now that he thought about it, Dustfinger had gotten taken away from him more than once. Was there something wrong with Farid? Was he cursed? Or was he just unlucky? Basta, the bastard Dustfinger used to be so scared of, had believed deeply in ghosts and curses, spells and the supernatural. And luck.

The arabian's face went from helpless to angry. Whenever he thought of Basta he wanted to hold Dustfinger. He wanted to protect him, keep him safe, not let Basta, or anyone else threatening, near him. Of course, Dustfinger had told him that Basta was gone for good, that he had destroyed the man who had become a Night-Mare once and for all. But how could he be so sure he was really gone? They thought he was gone twice already, had thought they not, but he had come back every time! What if he came back this time? What if he hunted Dustfinger down, and the White Women took him away, and didn't let him go again this time?

Farid scolded himself mentally. Enough of that. He was just trying to scare himself so that he would go to Roxane's farm, be with Dustfinger even if all they could ever be was friends, even if Roxane was there and she liked to shove the fact that Dustfinger was her's right in Farid's face. But he wouldn't go back. Not yet.

The boy, now almost 17 years old, glanced back at the mountains again. He couldn't stop thinking about them. And what man they might now be the grave for. It was an odd feeling. No matter how far away his thoughts drifted, they kept going back to the mountains. To Orpheus. He wanted to go to them, see if Moonface was still there or not. Everyone said that he was dead, that he had frozen to death when he had tried to escape to the mountains. Or rather, they hoped that was what had happened. But what if Orpheus was still alive? What if he was still posing a great threat to them all? Farid couldn't just let him live! Or at least, not without letting the others know that he still existed in this world. In any world at all.

If only he could find out...find out if Moonface was still up in those mountains. If he was, Farid could run back and tell the others, warn them, and then he would look like a hero. He was sure Dustfinger would be proud, and maybe he could even get Meggie back! Maybe she would see how brave and heroic Farid was and she would forget all about that Doria boy!

An excited smile spread across Farid's face and he immediately began heading for the mountains. He heard Jink follow close behind him, but he didn't slow down for the marten. Besides, he didn't need to. They were speedy little creatures, and their speed was quite compatible with Farid's own.

--

Disclaimer: I, orgymoogle, do not Inkheart, Inkspell or Inkdeath, or any of the characters or creatures in it. Nor do I own their plots, storylines, or any of their other geniusness. I am merely an obsessed fangirl writing a fanfiction.

A/N: FINALLY! You don't know how long I've been waiting to write this! I told myself, once I finish reading the whole Inkheart trilogy I will write a fanfiction and put it on so that there will be at least one fairly-good, chaptered Inkheart fanfiction on here! And I've finally done it!

Now, first of all I just wanna say something about the title. The title, 'After Death', it doesn't mean that the story takes place after they die. Y'know how the last book is called Inkdeath? Well...yeah. So, I decided, my story would be called 'After Death', because it takes place after Inkdeath.

Also, this story was originally supposed to be very long and epic and start before after Inkdeath, BUT...yeah. I changed my mind because I honestly don't feel up to that. So...yeah.

I hope this chapter was okay. I wasn't sure if it was too long or too short, but...I wrote it all in one shot so I was like 'wow!'. But yeah. As you can see, this chapter is from Farid's point of view. The chapters might vary in size, depending on who's point of view its in. That will also vary. I'm hoping to get an Inkheart-y feel to this story throughout...well, this story lol

Unfortunately, I do not have a beta reader for this story. :(

Thanks to all who are R&Ring! And also to anyone who alerts/favorites, or just plain reads. I'll try to update soon, so please be patient! Thanks again!

P.S. I did actually look over this, and correct a few things, but that copy is on the laptop...and I'm not posting this while on the laptop, so there are prolly some errors/etc. Not that there won't be errors...I'm not a professional! xD Also, on the original document on my comp, its written the way Inkheart is with the longer paragraphs and not seperated into all these little ones and etc., but the site like...makes them like that, so...yeah. :( Sorry

~orgymoogle