I'd Come Undone

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by?

I folded my wings and let myself plummet downwards in a spiral heading towards the earth. My feathers ruffled and I felt free. Free from the restrains which I felt so bound to my entire life. I was so righteous, so confident all of the time, the act was wearing thin and I loved the freedom which I gained from taking flight. The wind blew against the sharp lines of my body as the ground rushed towards me. A split instant before I hit the ground I unfurled my wings and let the air carry my clear of the ground and back up the welcoming sky, my adrenaline pumping through my veins.

"Danica!"

I heard the voice clear with my raptor hearing, even through the long distance would have hampered my human ears. The voice filled my core with life and light. It made me feel like I flying when I hadn't even taken a step. I turned back to the ground and swooped across the baloney's which circled the keep. Obviously my absence had been noticed.

I felt my heart speed as I approached my room. I saw the dark figure leaning out over the edge looking at me intently and my heart skipped a beat.

As soon as it was in sight I shifted in the air right above the shady figure.

I gracefully, if such thing can be done, fell into the safe, warm arms of the man. I looked up through my eyelashes up to him and smiled, my avian reserve had long been stripped while I was in his presence. His long hair was swept back into a graceful pony tail which stuck out the side of his head. His dark eyes took on a red tinge which I now found enticing instead of the steady fear which I left me paralyzed. His light skin complemented mine and his muscles barley strained at my weight as he held me close to his body, like a cocoon his arms wrapped around me and I was pressed against him tightly.

He amazed me, he enticed me and he loved me. Even though nations, wars and society had kept us apart, he was here with me. I looked at him again closely. My eyes finally picked up the small details which I had failed to absorb moments before. His forehead was creased in a frown and his cheeks gave away the tension which he was feeling inside.

I raised a hand tentatively "Zane?" I whispered as I touched his cheek.

He suddenly pulled me into his chest tight and buried his face in my hair. Caught of guard, I swiftly inhaled and smiled into his shoulder. I remembered a time when I had thought that his contact had been almost offensive, the serpentine and the avians were different on so many different levels. My reserve had almost kept us apart.

I was used to his gentle touch, his soft lips, his hand in mine and his gentle caress. I felt normal around him. I felt love like I had never experienced before. I felt alive and

I was drawn back to present when Zane quickly exhaled into my hair before pulling away and gently lowered my legs to the floor. He brought one had to my face and the other to the back of my neck, I barley even noticed him hesitating as he felt the feathers hidden at the nape of my neck. All I cared about was him. What was troubling him? Zane was never one to hide is emotions, of everyone I new the most. So what would Zane be so desperate to hide? I could see it in his face, his eyes. His eyes trailed around my face never meeting mine and he had picked up an old habit of mine, biting my lip when I was nervous.

"Danica, I..." he paused trailing off, his voice full of an unknown emotion which I tried to place.

"Zane..." he cut me off by putting a finger on my lips before he cleared his throat and stared at me intently.

"Don't do that again," he said fiercely.

I looked at him in confusion and a taken back at his emotionless tone.

"Zane... do what? What did I do?"

He looked confused before sighing in frustration and releasing me. He walked backwards and ran his hands through his hair in frustration slightly releasing it from its restraints. He walked smoothly to the other side of the balcony as he lent out his chin perched on his hands. He stared at my face intently his eyes dark boring into my own. I thought had and finally realized what was

I shouldn't have just left him. He didn't know where I was.

"Zane I am sorry I left, I just needed a flight,"

"A flight, just a flight! Fantastic" He said to himself sarcastically.

I blinked slowly at him and looked at his figure in the moon light. I wasn't sure if I should be concerned or angry.

"Excuse me?" I said, my avian reserve slipping back up. A wall to protect my heart from any hurt I was sure to encounter.

His eyes flared with emotion as he realized the implications of his words. He made to reach towards me but I stood firmly and his hand dropped limply to his side.

"No, please don't say that, that's not what I mean... I can't explain..." he trailed off, avoiding looking at me.

"Are you having... second thoughts, I could always move back to my own room if you wish," I whispered ignoring my heart and head which wanted to do the complete opposite, but he had put his walls up first. He wasn't letting me in to him, and I in turn was denying him access to me and my emotions.

"No, NO! Not at all!" Zane said grabbing my hand in his as I made to turn away from him "Please don't put up your reserve again. It's just..."

"Zane, what's going on?" I whispered.

"When I saw you flying out there," he looked way from me and bit his lip "You just fell out of the sky and I couldn't do anything about it, I was so far away just watching. If you had been hurt, if you had been in danger, I would be uselessly waiting over here! So far away from you!"

"Zane, you know I was just playing around..." I said back to him.

"No Danica! I can't protect you! I don't know what I would do without you, you are my world now, and I can't even begin to imagine it without you,"

I narrowed my eyes. Zane was the only one who adequately protects me and we both knew that. Zane was never good at lying, as time has past I learnt to tell the signs. He blinked too often, his eyes became restless sliding across the landscape and he clenched his teeth between sentences.

"Zane, I know you too well. What's really going on?" I softly said, attempting to coax the answer gently from his lips.

"I know that you love me..." I didn't like where he was heading.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I grinned my eyes gleaming; as I attempted lighten the mood. His eyes remained somber.

"And you know that I always love you, but..." My reserve kept a soft gasp from escaping my tightly sealed lips. Instead I composed myself before his steady gaze and I replied firmly. "Yes..."

"Have you ever wished that I... that I was more like... Well more avian?" I looked at him in shock but he ignored the look on my face as he continued "Have you ever wanted someone more polite, more visually pleasing to yourself, someone who can fly with you and protect you whatever form you are in. Some one who doesn't watch from the ground, always grounded. Not there in the skies which you love?"

This was what was bothering him? He though he was not good enough? He thought that because he was serpentine and I was avian, there was an automatic unbreakable barrier between our worlds. I never understood what I did for Zane to love me the way he did, and I cherished everyday in his presence, but here he was thinking that he was not adequate. That I wanted someone else, someone more avian! I could think of nothing more ridiculous and my reserve feel away as I stared at him in shock. I wanted to reach over and stroke his hair, his cheeks and his lips. I wanted to reassure that him that he was the only one that I could ever, and would ever want, but I felt an invisible barrier keeping me from him. His own theories which, obviously, have been festering in his mind for a while-while I was blissfully unaware- formed a barrier I longed to break down. I had never felt so alone.

I clasped my hands together and forced my mind into submission and I managed to stutter out a response.

"Z-Zane, please understand when I say, that you are perfect the way you are. I don't want an avian I want you!!"

"But I could look after you better, I could, I could be there. Hell, your Mother might actually like me if I was Avian!" he retreated from me, pain flashing in his dark eyes.

"This is about my mother?"

"No, no! Its about you Danica, I don't know if I can... I don't know if you will one day wake up and wish to see an Avian in my place. Wish to feel feathers where you encounter cold skin. If you wish you could fly with your pair bond and cannot. Wish that you hadn't forced yourself into a couple of politics instead of love," He lent away from me as if he were afraid I would strike him.

"Zane!" I grabbed his cheeks firmly between my palms and angled his face towards my own "I love you, I don't care weather you are Serpentine or Avian, I wouldn't even care if you ever Falcon! I love you and you alone. If you changed, you wouldn't be the man I fell in love with!"

Zane looked way.

"Zane! Stop this! You know that you are the only one that I could and do love," suddenly a thought occurred to me and I dropped my hands. I had never doubted myself as I did now.

"You want a Serpentine?" I said my voice almost inaudible masked in doubt and sadness.

He suddenly looked up, a furious look in his eye "No!" he cried "I love you, I have to admit, I might not ever get used to the feeling of these" he ran his hand gently along my shoulders and the feathers at the nape of my neck, sending shivers down my spine "But without them you wouldn't be my Danica,"

"I would come undone for you. I would rewrite my body; I would become a serpentine if that's what you wanted. I would find a way! I would give up flying if it meant that you wanted me," I whispered, my thoughts turning morbid.

He looked at me in horror

"How many times must I tell you, you are perfect the way you are! I don't like this talk of 'Coming Undone' either."

I looked down.

He chuckled darkly "This used to be about me, now I see that the tables have turned,"

I looked up at him briefly.

"I also now see" he whispered placing my face between his hands "How stupid my conclusion is, just as yours is. I don't want you to change; I don't want you to ever change!"

"So you want me? Even if I am Avian?"

He looked at me up and down, his eyes trailing along my body and he nodded slowly, a slow grin appearing on his face. I was sure my face now mirrored his.

"I think I do," he whispered, his voice husky as he lowered his face closer to mine.

Just before his lips met mine I smiled and whispered- my lips brushing against his.

"I would come undone for you,"

"Hush, stop interrupting," he purred grinning as his lips pressed softly against my own. He continued to smile as his doubts along with mine were soon dispelled as he trailed his fingers through my hair. His cool lips on mine sent tingles down my legs and my body burned where he was pressed against me. I felt the cool breeze blow around my ankles and the crisp moon light on my shoulders.

It didn't matter if he was serpentine or I was avian. I broke away from his lips breathing hard and I pressed my forehead to his own, closing my eyes.

"Dani," Zane whispered "I'd come undone for you."

I opened my eyes and met his. The moonlight reflected across his showing amusement and a deep understanding. The corner of his lips lifted in a slow smile.

I quickly smiled back at him my eyes trailing over his face. At that moment we developed a deep understanding of each others insecurities and resolved them at the same time. We both knew that neither one of us would ever have to change. Not for anything. Not for anyone.

Because we had each other.

I am in a middle massive writers block (a thousand apologies to people who are waiting for an update) and I just need inspiration, so I decided write a short, short, short story around one of the cutest couples of all time. This is just an exercise to get my creative juices flowing so don't expect it to be any good and this has lots of OOC moments but whatever. Oh and I obviously don't own anything, blah, blah, blah etc. Review perhaps?