AN / Set After Carpe Corpus (6) but before Fade Out (7) – simply because I haven't got around to reading it yet =D and just some random stuff based on one of my two favourite characters.
Wandering through the corridor, she heard the most heartbreakingly beautiful notes float towards her. She stopped, her breath no longer bursting from her lungs; it was caught in her throat. Closing her cat-like eyes she opened her ears. The heavenly tune drifted to her and a tear slipped from her eye. It had been so long since anyone had played such beautiful music within her hearing. Drifting her fingertips along the wall to guide her, she kept her eyes closed and continued her walk.
Practicing and preparing for his appearance on stage in under an hour, Michael played a few songs for Eve, Claire and Shane. They sat on boxes of coffee in the storage room of Common Grounds and the blissful peace remained unshattered for a tiny bubble of time.
"That was beautiful." Claire said once he had stopped. Eve just looked at him with that heady mixture of pride, devotion and I-want-to-eat-you whilst Shane held Claire's waist and smiled. For a moment, everything was perfect and Michael had never experienced such pure happiness. He wanted to cry it was almost so overwhelming. Instead, he plucked another string and began the next melody.
"It isn't very difficult to see why / You are the way you are / Doesn't take a genius to realise / That sometimes life is hard / It's gonna take time / But you'll just have to wait / You're gonna be fine / But in the meantime" She couldn't help it. She flitted into the room and stood in the shadows, watching as the golden vampire played. Words drifted from her lips, barely loud enough to hear. The breezed across the room and the blonde boy stopped playing; it was only for a moment but the pain that it caused was almost unbearable.
"Carry on." That Goth girl said. The boy frowned slightly but picked up where he left off.
"Come over here lady / Let me wipe your tears away / Come a little nearer baby / Coz you'll heal over / Heal over / Heal over someday " She couldn't say how she put the words to the melody. She had never heard the tune before and the boy had obviously never heard any words to it but the song engraved on her soul fitted perfectly. This time, her words were louder, stronger, and even the humans heard them. They looked up, trying to place where the mysterious singer was.
"No, don't stop." The vampire-wannabe said as the musician went to stand, "keep playing, she obviously wants you to." So Michael carried on playing the tune and they listened for the harmonious voice with unknown lyrics,
"And I don't wanna hear you tell yourself / That these feelings are in the past / No it doesn't mean they're off the shelf / Because pain's built to last / Everybody sails alone / Oh but we can travel side by side / Even if you fail / You know that no one really minds" The smaller girl stood up and cocked her head slightly as the signing continued. She began to walk slowly towards the corner to the right of the doorway. Right where the singer stood. With the speed of a frightened deer, the singer flitted past her and past the doorway to stand on the opposite side of the room. She couldn't bring herself to leave, not yet. Even when she knew she was about to be seen. Even when she knew Oliver was about to walk in, she couldn't leave.
"Come over here lady / Let me wipe your tears away /Come a little nearer baby / Coz you'll heal over / Heal over / Heal over someday."
Oliver strolled in and almost hit Claire squarely in the chest. He opened his mouth to scold her but she pressed a finger to her lips and he listened to Michael's playing.
"Don't hold on but don't let go / I know it's so hard / You've got to try to trust yourself / I know it's so hard, so hard" The words hit him hard. He gasped,
"No. No, that can't be." Claire, Eve and Shane looked at him in astonishment – was the great Oliver finally losing his cool? He had backed into the wall and he searched the room for the source of the words,
"Come over here lady / Let me wipe your tears away / Come a little nearer baby / Coz you'll heal over / Heal over / Heal over someday / Yeah you're gonna heal over." As Oliver entered the room she almost lost her nerve. Seeing him after all this time sent the pain coursing through her again. He was searching for her. He knew her voice. He knew those words.
"Elisabeth." He whispered. There was no way out other than past him so she stepped shyly into the small circle of light from the lamp the musician had been playing by.
"Oliver." He looked oh so handsome. She almost cried with the heart-wrenching agony that coursed through her.
"No." He whined, trying to back against the wall. This couldn't be happening. The world narrowed as he ignored Claire, he forgot Shane and Eve and Michael. He became oblivious to everything other than the woman stood before him. Her long black hair hung exactly as he remembered. Her striking cat-like eyes held so much sorrow that it hurt to look at them and her willowy figure seemed stronger than before. He pulled his wits back from their distant hiding place and held his hand to her, pleading.
"I...Lizzy...oh Lizzy." She allowed another tear to fall,
"Oliver. I would say it's a pleasure after all these years but, you told me never to lie to you." She was lying now. Seeing him again, even just once made her long long life worthwhile. She had missed him so much.
"I've missed you." He whispered, as though reading her thoughts. That broke her, she fled into his arms and nestled her face in his neck,
"I missed you too Oliver." Shane, Eve, Claire and Michael shared bewildered looks. Who was this girl and what on earth did she see in Oliver? Who was this Oliver?
The feel of her in his arms again filled the whole in his heart. For the first time in centuries he felt...complete. He pulled back and looked into her eyes,
"How?" He inhaled her woodland scent – she hadn't changed. No, she had hardened. "How did you...how are you...I saw you...how?" She pulled away completely, breaking away from his embrace and he immediately felt her absence this a festering wound re-opened.
"After the Battle of Maldon, Myrnin saved me. He...changed me. Even though he didn't want to. He..." She faded of but Oliver knew what she was going to say,
"He couldn't lose you." She rubbed her hands over her arms as if cold, but everyone in the room knew that she felt no temperature,
"Yeah. But he lost me anyway. He had to go running after Amelie. I couldn't stay so I...left. I thought you were gone. I thought you didn't care until I ran into Francois and he told me a high tale of vampires and Texas. I had to come and see. But the music...side tracked me." Oliver wrapped his arms around her,
"I spent three days examining every corpse on that battle-field praying that I would find you and you still be alive. I couldn't bear the thought of having lost you. You already belonged to Myrnin, I couldn't have you die too. The fool never spoke of you to me and it took me so many years to build my existence around your absence. Now you return and I find you singing our song." She turned in his arms,
"The song you write for me. It stayed with me forever." She looked away and her eyes landed on Claire, "Oliver, I've done such horrid things. And I'm so hungry." She looked to him in naked desperation, "help me...please." She kissed her, with all the longing of centuries and guided her to his fridge,
"This way my love." She kissed his neck,
"My love."