My friend and I are completing a writing challenge that requires us to write one piece of fiction per day. Today's prompt was "Can't" with a "Drabble" word limit of 100-300 words. I'm sure you'll recognize PotC referancing in addition to the Roswell fanfic. I do not own any characters nor do I profit from then.
Greenery filled her vision, a brilliant emerald blur of trees and wild grass that parted before her. Branches reached towards her pale face one second and were gone the next, lost to the distance she ran at a speed that strained her muscles and left her panting. The cool breeze whipped her pale curls into a crude halo, nature's gentle mockery of her destiny.
A twig snapped and her muscles tensed. Concentrate. I need to disappear. She stopped, closed her eyes, but could not collect herself. Fright and desperation ravaged her mind.
"Tess." His voice was the flat whisper she had learned to fear and respect over their years together.
Her pale eyes lifted to his face. Nasedo.
"Enough of this, Tess. I've explained your destiny in rational terms. Conduct yourself like a queen."
A soft cry of hysteria escaped her. "No! What you're asking is murder! To betray my husband... I won't..."
He scowled, disgusted by her tears. "Pay attention, Tess, and remember this. The only thing that matters in this world is what you can do and what you can't do. For instance, you can accept your destiny or you can't. Now I can send you back to a guaranteed and immediate death but I can't fulfill our roles by myself. So, can you betray Zahn or can't you?"
The tears dried in Tess' eyes as her gaze rose to his hardened face. She stared at him with empty eyes, her thirteen year-old face expressionless. After a long pause, her chin lifted in a barely perceivable nod.
"Good, let's go." He turned his back to the alien queen, pausing briefly. "Don't ever let me see you cry those pathetic tears again."
She followed him from the woods obediently, as she would for years after his death.