The Covenant
A one shot, because I'm bored, have just finished Half-Blood, want more and can't start Pure yet if I want to stay emotionally stable, so I'm writing this.
Nellie (my own version of Alexandria – different personality traits, not raised as a half-blood, but otherwise the same) is practicing with Aiden, as usual, when she suddenly feels a burning pain in her wrist, but when she looks, her wrist looks completely normal. Then she finds out Seth's disappeared, and that no one has seen him in hours.
"Better", said Aiden. "But you still have to work on …"
I interrupted him. I'd heard this a million times already, I didn't need to hear it again. "Yes, yes, I know. I am working on it, but it will definitely take more than two months to change the habits of a whole lifeti—" I broke off suddenly, feeling a familiar, burning pain in my wrist.
I gave a little squeak, and fell to my knees, gripping my wrist.
Aiden was at my side blindingly fast, and if I hadn't been concentrating so hard on not crying out I would've been shocked.
"Nellie?" Aiden said, concern coloring his voice. "What happened?"
I bit my lip in concentration, focused on not crying out. It was harder than it sounded.
Not until the pain faded did I dare to open my mouth. I took a deep breath before I answered. "I don't know", I said. "It just …" Before I could finish that sentence, the doors burst open, revealing a Marcus and Lucian. They both looked stressed, unlike how I'd ever seen them before.
"Nellie, Aiden", said Marcus, sounding as stressed as he looked. "Has any of you seen Seth?"
I frowned in confusion. "Yeah, we spoke a few hours ago. Why?"
"Not more recently?" said Lucian.
"No, I've been here ever since", I said.
Only then did they notice that I was on the floor, Aiden beside me.
"What are you doing on the floor, Nellie?" Marcus asked sharply. "You won't get any training done from there."
I didn't even know how to start explaining that to them. Aiden was a different thing – I trusted him. Lucian and Marcus – not so much.
"That doesn't matter right now", Lucian said, clearly annoyed. "Seth has gone missing, no one has seen him in hours, and—"
I never found out what he was going to say, because in that moment, his words were drowned by my yell of pain. I bit my lip almost instantly, stopping the yell, but it was enough to make everyone stare at me.
It took a few moments before the pain faded, on my shoulder this time.
Then the pain faded again, and I blinked away a few tears. I knew it wasn't my pain – that kind of pain could only be caused by one thing – and a theory that I did not at all like started to form in my head.
The pain wasn't my pain, but it was very unlikely for me to feel someone else's pain, with one exception. Since I and Seth were, according to Lucian, almost like the same person, it was very likely that we could also feel each other's pain.
The thought almost gave me a hysterical break down, but I calmed down. If my theory held any truth to it, then we had no time to lose.
I raised my head, looking at Lucian. "What did you mention the other night, about me and Seth being connected?" I tried to keep my voice even. There was no time for hysterics now.
Lucian looked confused for a moment, before it dawned on him. He drew in a sharp breath. "You don't think …?"
"It's the only reason I can come up with", I said.
Aiden and Marcus seemed a little confused, so Lucian quickly filled them in on the basics. I was still trying to grasp the fact that I could literally feel what Seth was going through right now. I was feeling sick, and some other feeling I couldn't quite place.
"We have to go now", said Lucian when he was done, voicing what I'd been thinking all along. Except for what Seth was feeling, I was worried.
I nodded, and Aiden helped me stand up. Even in the circumstances, my skin buzzed where he touched me. That was all I could think about for a moment, but when I stood up properly, and Aiden released me, a sudden wave of nausea came over me, and I stumbled.
Aiden caught my arm, holding me upright. The nausea passed quickly, but I was still feeling a little dizzy, undoubtedly what Seth was feeling.
"Do you think you can find him?" asked Marcus, looking slightly concerned.
"I … think so", I murmured between the waves of nausea.
Next thing I knew, Aiden helped me into a car. I concentrated then, trying to find Seth. Somehow I knew exactly how to do it – it was instinctive.
I gasped when I for a moment saw what he saw – a dark room, completely empty, except for the bed he lay in, and one other person – a daimon.
Then the daimon tagged him, and the vision blurred and faded. However, the pain didn't, and since I had been concentrating so hard on finding Seth, I didn't have time to stop the scream from emerging.
"Nellie!" yelled Aiden, and bit down on my lip so hard I started bleeding. The scream stopped, however.
When the pain disappeared, I concentrated on Seth again, and this time, I saw the place from the outside. It was a large house in the middle of the woods. I concentrated even harder, and saw a sign, saying Winnabow.
My concentration broke, but I'd gotten what I wanted. "Winnabow. The forest", I muttered, but then I was struck by a headache that felt like my head was being ripped apart.
I gasped, and slumped against Aiden, unwillingly, but I couldn't think. The pain was blinding.
"Nellie?" Aiden said with concern.
"My head", I muttered before drifting off for a moment. When I gained consciousness again, Aiden was looking at me, concerned, and Lucian had turned around in his seat, also concerned.
"What happened?" Lucian asked.
I blinked a few times before answering. The headache had faded a little, now only a dull ache that I could ignore. "I think I concentrated too hard", I said, my voice a little shaky.
Lucian was about to reply, but he was interrupted by Marcus. "We're here", he said, and pointed out the window. "Is that the house, Nellie?"
I looked out the window, and recognized the place immediately. "Yes", I said.
"Alright", said Lucian. "Nellie, you stay here, okay? Don't leave the car, okay?"
I didn't even have time to respond before they exited the car and closed the door in my face. But I wasn't going to stay in the car and do nothing.
I opened the door and jumped out, a little unsteady on my feet, but standing.
Aiden swung around. "You're supposed to stay in the car, Nellie", he said sharply.
"You don't even know where to look for him", I said.
Marcus and Lucian had stopped, and turned around to face me.
"She's right", Lucian said after a while. "We don't know where to look. Do you think you can find where?"
Everyone looked expectedly at me. I sighed. "Maybe. If Seth has seen it, probably, but if he hasn't …" I didn't finish that sentence. I concentrated again, trying to find Seth. I saw a long corridor, and the cold told me it was probably underground, and there were no windows. There were only one door.
"On the bottom floor", I said. "There must be a staircase somewhere, or something. It looks like it's underground. There's only one door."
Lucian nodded, and then they walked into the house. I didn't climb into the car, and I ignored the headache when it attacked in full force again, concentrating on staying conscious.
After what felt like years, the door burst open, and I turned quickly, afraid it was a daimon.
It was Seth. He stumbled out of the house, and he seemed so unlike him I nearly broke down again. He was unsteady on his feet, pale, with wide eyes.
I hurried to his side to help him, and pulled his arm around my shoulders, helping him stand. The weight of him nearly knocked me down – I was still dizzy and had a headache from Hell – but I needed to get him to the car.
When I was just about to open the door, the doors to the house burst open again, and this time it was Aiden.
He looked worried when he saw us, but before he could say anything, it became too much for my mind, and I fainted.
XXX
When I woke up, I was in a light, unfamiliar room. My head still ached, but it wasn't as sharp as before. Except for that, and the exhaustion that seemed to fill me, I was okay.
And Aiden was sitting beside me.
"Nellie", he said when he saw I was awake. "Oh, thank the gods. We were starting to worry you would never wake up again."
I smiled faintly, but I was too exhausted to put in much effort. "How long have I been out?"
"Three days", said Aiden. "Are you feeling better?"
I nodded. "Yes. I'm not as dizzy anymore, and the head's bearable. I'm just tired." A thought hit me. "How's Seth?"
"Seth is just fine", said a voice from the door, and I tried to sit up to see him, failing completely.
Seth came and sat down on the other side of the bed. "But you look like crap."
Aiden stood up. "I'll leave you two to it", he said. A moment later I heard the door close.
I turned to Seth. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt, half open, revealing his chest. His arms were covered in crescent-shaped scars, like the one on my neck and his eyes were full of concern and something else that I couldn't identify.
"Nellie", he said, and he managed to fill my name with so many emotions I didn't know how to react. "You're so …" He paused then, trying to find a word that fit. "Incorrigible", he finished.
"Um", I said. "What did I do now?" I honestly was a little lost. I'd thought he'd be grateful, feeling like kissing me or something.
The thought made me blush, and I looked away quickly, hoping he didn't catch it.
I tried to sit up, but it didn't go very well until Seth put a hand behind my back and helped me. After a few moments, when I could sit up without help, he dropped his hand.
He sighed. "I understand that you only tried to help, but it wouldn't hurt if you thought about yourself for a moment every now and then. You didn't have to put yourself in a coma for several days."
I blinked at him. "Wait … I didn't know …"
Seth sighed again and grabbed my hand. "I know", he muttered. "But what if something serious had happened? You didn't know what you were doing; you could've seriously injured yourself …"
I interrupted him. "I did know what I was doing", I said. "I mean, I don't know how, it was like following some instinct … I don't know I don't get it, but …" Seth took my chin gently and forced me to look at him. I met his intense amber eyes, and suddenly forgot what I was about to say.
"I know", he said again. "But what Aiden said was true. You scared the hell out of us; you scared me." He broke off, suddenly realizing what he was saying, but it didn't matter; my heart was already beating twice as fast as usual.
What was he implying? Did he really care about me more than because I was the other Apollyon? Or did he mean that he'd been worried that he wouldn't get my powers when I turned eighteen?
What did I mean to him?
I think he heard my hearts loud thumping; he almost smiled for a moment, I don't know why, and then he guided my hand – the one he was holding – to his chest, right above his heart, as his eyes softened. I could feel it beat as fast as mine did.
My eyes widened at the touch and my breath hitched, which gained me another of those almost-smiles.
"What do you think that means?" he asked me with a soft voice.
"Um", I said, the proximity making my head feel like honey, completely stopping me from producing any comprehensible thoughts at all.
This time, he smiled. "You forget I can sense what you feel, Nellie", he said, still in the same soft voice. "I can't read your mind, and I don't have to." Then he didn't seem to have more words, and leaned forward, slowly enough for me to be able to push him away. I didn't. I sat shock-still with anticipation, and it took too long time before his lips finally met mine. He really just caressed my lips with his, then he pulled away.
Still with my hand against his chest, I leaned forward, and our lips met again. The kiss was soft, and it left me breathless. With the arm that didn't hold mine against his chest, Seth pulled me against him, careful not to hurt me. Then he let go of my hand, traced my arm, and made me shiver. His hand tangled in my hair. With the other hand, he traced patterns on my arm, and I moved the hand that wasn't still pressed against his chest to tangle in his hair.
And then we broke apart, both breathing heavily.
"Was that answer enough to your question?" Seth said after catching his breath.
I smiled brilliantly at him.
We didn't say much after that. Seth moved to lie down beside me, and I fell asleep with his arms around me, my head resting against his chest.
And that was that! I will write more Covenant fanfiction when I've come a little further into the series, probable using the same OC, since Nellie is a person I really like. I don't think I could entirely make Alex justify if I did write with her, and not Nellie, and I just feel would be insulting towards Alex if I tried, so I'll keep Nellie. This was just a little thing I was inspired to do when I finished Half-Blood.
Anyway, R&R, and I'll try to post my new Covenant fanfic ASAP.
MHC
