Dancing into the Light
Category: Firefly, 2008 ficlet
Title: Dancing into the Light
Chapter: Complete
Word count:1008
Genre: Romance, Angst, Death, Survival
Rating: PG - 13
Summary: Companion to Memories of a Broken Dancer. As seen from the Dancers eyes. Rayne Implied.
Disclaimer: Characters are Joss's. I only borrow them to tell the story.
Dancing into the Light
The woman looked at the big man. She watched him and he was unaware of her presence. She watched and remembered all the reasons she loved him so.
He was always more concerned for her needs than his own. It showed in his every action. He denied her nothing, and would forsake his own needs to meet hers. She was loved with a depth she had not known before she met him. Other men had loved her beauty but not the woman inside. They tried to keep her as a possession and not let her be herself. When the big man voiced his concern for the disparity in their ages, she had told him this. The big man never tried to change who she was and indulged her as one would a favourite child.
All she wanted was hers for the asking. He would hold her hand as she skipped child like to purchase handmade chocolates from the old candy store down the street. Not a ballet came within sixty miles that he did not take her to unasked. And more than a few she didn't know were coming. He learned to dance more complex dances and took her places they could do them together often. His only thought was to please her and see her smiling and happy
She had one moment of weakness during their time together and allowed the hands of another to touch her. She altered her daily actions through guilt, and to avoid it happening again. She was certain that the big man knew, but not once did he treat her differently or say anything. As a surprise on a day known for love, he cleared the dining room in their home for her. He made her a place her own where she could practice dance as she no longer went to the studio. He could sit in the other room giving her space but still watch her as she flowed like water when she moved.
She taught him how to hold her so she could dance in ways she could not alone. The big man knew he moved without grace but saw her joy and reveled in the movements she made. And soon the two became one.
She worried more for the big man than she did for herself. And was his muse when the urge to create was upon him. Their devotion was mutual and came before all else. He was not a man of voicing empty words and pretty falsehoods. And he had always kept his every word to her.
Time passed as it always does. And she felt tired more often. He made her see doctors in his concern. But in the end medicine held no cure. He cut off his hair when she lost hers, telling her he wanted to match. And he still shaved it every day. Gave up a job he loved to spend all of their last time together. She could see the silent desperation and helplessness in his eyes, afraid that every day together would be their last. She held her pain close and tried to smile even when she didn't want to. The time they spent in each others arms was a precious gift soon to be stolen from them.
But time the thief stole on quiet feet the days from them. And that night he made her promises he could not keep and she knew, but loved him even more for making them. They shared passion at her insistence, gently that night.
She stayed with the man who could no longer see her with his eyes. She watched helpless as he grew empty without her, his heart turning to stone. Some times he would turn to look when she spoke to him, but his eyes could not see her anymore. And too soon he no longer heard her. He aged quickly; fed by his grief she was certain. She watched as he held her slippers and cried, knowing they were his only broken promise to her. Seeing his pain she cried out his name and he raised his head to look at her.
But the man didn't see her. What she made him see was more important. When he looked at her he saw the image of a woman dancing like she used to on the screen behind her. As he watched, she saw the stone of his heart shatter and break. And she watched as the sorrow spilled from him. And saw him as he performed a familiar ritual in her memory. Tonight she would dance for him again in a dream knowing he would finally release her. So she could dance. She knew he would stand strong as she heard him say.
"Dance my darling girl, Dance into the light".
Authors note:
This is for Kassie.You still dance in my heart. You always will.