Winter's Lullaby
By Wind's Whisper.
A/n: I dunno, but I have this thing for Evanescence and Ginny/Remus shipping. I guess it's just how sad they both are. Any way, I would really, really, appreciate it if you would review!
Disclaimer: JK owns all. Evanescence owns the song (My Last Breath). I don't, so please don't sue this poor, broke student!
As she stood on the lonely plain, she could see it as if in slow motion. Screams distantly reached her through the harsh winter air, light speeding by her, surrounding her in a stream of flashes. People robed in black shot at each other, faces contorted into warped expressions. This was not the glory filled moment that she thought it would be. A brilliant red jet of light momentarily blinded her, seeming to paralyze her. Her vision cleared, and she moved on.
The field that they were stranded on had once been covered in lush grass and a few scattered clusters of wildflowers. Now it was scattered with bodies and covered in remnants of struggles and blood.
She remembered looking down at the dead as she walked by, looking at them, searching, remembering.
Hold on to me love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid
Can you hear me
Can you feel me in your arms
Looking down at the faces, some masked, some facing down, she remembered all of her childhood memories that lay with these bodies strewn about. Not only were they the remains of her friends and family, but they were the remnants of her own twisted sense of self.
As she looked down, she saw a face she had looked upon everyday, every morning, had known as no other had. Flaming, crimson hair flowed around, creamy skin even paler than normal and making her freckles standing out even more dramatically. Cupid-bow lips parted softly, and eyes closed as if resting. It was with these resting eyes that she saw her own face.
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thought of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
She stopped above herself (how strange, she thought, that I should be so calm), looked down. Looking at the scenes playing before her, she noticed that the jets of light spiraling around her seemed to be slowing, groups of people banding together from each side, concentrating on separate groups at separate times.
It was surreal. All that she had fought for she had been cut off from, now only being able to stand above herself (am I really here, is that really me?) and looked about at the chaos that was the battlefield. The fallen lay there – her mother, her brothers, her father – perhaps they were in an isolated world of their own?
It seemed to her that she was trapped behind a glass wall, looking though a distorted mirror at a dreamlike world, unable to do anything but watch.
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white frost
Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
It seemed to her that something must happen. She could feel it like static in the air, a tingling brush against all too tender skin, the whisper of a change in the atmosphere.
Suddenly a rather thin, wiry figure screamed, his cry silent to her ears. The unkempt black hair was flying about, and broken glasses rested on the edge of his quite pale nose. A green jet of light blazed from the sliver of wood so tightly clutched in his hand, aimed at the figure draped in black, the figure's red eyes glowing in the dark.
She felt the edges of her vision blur, and she felt herself becoming numb. Before she could stop it, she entered a blissful nothingness of blackness.
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thought of you
Sweet ruptured light
It ends here tonight
A man with shaggy brown robes, patched many times, scooped up the slight figure in his arms, worry and regret scrawled across his face. Prematurely grayed hair was windblown and battle mused and lines of worry prominently stood out in etched crags.
The girl's (young woman's?) red hair fanned out over his arm and into the wind around them, a banner the color of the blood that stained their clothes.
Hoping upon hope that he wouldn't be to late, he rushed towards the edge of the field towards the safe zone. Here he would hopefully get her to the healers in time.
He looked down at her with yellow tinted amber eyes and his breath hitched as he noticed that hers had become more shallow and uneven.
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there
He rushed her inside, calling out. A man reached for her, relieving him of her weight, while a nurse took care of his own wounds. There is no point, he decided, in killing myself when I have people outside so willing to do so for me.
When the nurse finally, grudgingly, allowed him to dash off in the direction the male nurse had taken his patient, he was healed to the best extent that he could have been in such a short time.
Reaching the cot that she was rested on, he sat down on the stool next to it. Nurses and doctors raced about, spelling this, reading that. He felt frozen, like he stood still in the world while another rushed and pulsed and surrounded him.
He took one of her frozen hands in his own large one, and waited for her to wake up.
Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me calling me
Calling me as you fade to black
He waited, she waited. Feeling the black slowly darkening, taking on an inkier hue, she knew that she had to make a choice. She started back towards the noise, the feeling, and was hit by an instant blast of pain. Retreating back, she felt the nothingness envelop her once more.
Was she weak for hiding from the pain? It seemed to take so much energy to get there, and she was so tiered. It seemed that a great weight had been placed upon her slight shoulders and she could not take the pressure and strain. Her body (or her mind?) could not handle it.
She smiled at the distant faded image of the man sitting beside her hospital cot. "Thank you, Remus." She whispered, and turned into the darkness. "I'll miss you."
In the hospital, Remus rubbed his thumb over her palm. As he did this, her face suddenly smoothed, becoming more peaceful and looking like the girl that she was meant to be. He brushed her long hair out of her face and kissed her on the forehead.
"I'll miss you Ginny."
He called the nurse over, and they both lifted the white cotton sheet over her, covering her face, covering her memory.
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thought of you
Sweet ruptured light
It ends here tonight