A/N: Okay, so I'm feeling a little bad about not posting a chapter for "Reconciliation". This has been sitting around on my hard-drive. It's short, but I thought it was all right to share. Enjoy.
Original Sin
He falls and he remembers.
The half-picture of Ellie, torn in a moment of anger, of spite. He'd tucked it into his pocket before…when? His mind can't find the right time frame, is too exhausted, is only along for the ride.
Wind whistles past his ears, a roar and rumble of a whole planet cracking to oblivion under him. Chunks of rocks soar around him, so close he reaches out and lets his fingers brush the roughness. A fitting end, he thinks, as he holds up her beautiful face between two fingers.
He can't remember how it had started. The end, he means. The end of them. It had come too swiftly, almost on cat's paws, invasive and dark and simmering. They'd escaped EarthGov, Unitology, but somehow, they'd cut themselves deeper than they'd anticipated. They had become her and him. They had become separate people, with different goals. Different lives.
He'd been stupid. Hadn't he promised himself he'd be different? That he'd love Ellie like he hadn't loved Nicole?
And that had been the confusing part. He'd loved Nicole. Really, truly loved Nicole. But he hadn't been able to save her or even protect her. He hadn't loved Nicole enough. With Ellie, he should've loved her enough, and in his fear, he lost sight of what he had in his hands. Until it was gone. Until she was gone.
He should've given everything he had to Ellie. Everything he had left to offer her, however insignificant, however broken. He should've been with her.
Man is not punished for sin; he is punished by it. That had been written in blood somewhere, and it sticks to him even now.
Selfishness had been his sin. He'd held back what he should've given and he'd argued and cowered when he should've been braver and faced the fear that had choked him and clogged his mind on those sleepless nights. Ellie had been right. She'd told him he'd have to fight it whether he wanted to or not, that he'd have to bear up under it.
It had been his selfishness that had turned him away when she pleaded, begged him, to go with her because she needed him to help her. That should've been enough. But he had turned away from her and he'd been punished by it. The guilt punished him.
Ellie, you were right. About everything.
She'd forgiven him, at the last second, even when he didn't think he deserved it. And he finally earned it.
He falls and he remembers.
A/N: Leave me comments or concerns, guys. I definitely hope to have the rest of "Reconciliation" posted by the end of May. Hopefully. Cheers. =)