Title: Awakening
Author: Lady Silvertongue
Pairing: S/T (though I think that would be rather obvious...)
Summary: Sabriel died, but just as suddenly she's been returned to life. Touchstone confessed his love, but she has yet to be sure about hers. What happens when Sabriel at last wakes up?
A/N: Ugh been a while hasn't it?! Sorry sorry, I know, it's just that Finals are upon me and time has reared its ugly head.
Oh the cruelty of the world.
Anyways this is just a short little fic on one of my MANY favorite fantasy book series. The book is obviously titled "Sabriel" and it's by a wonderful author named Garth Nix (but you guys already know that by now don't you?)
Basically I was just having a little fun with this, and if you are human at all I'm afraid you shall be very frustrated at the end...The sad thing is, I think I'm going to leave it how it is. This was mainly just for kicks, and a way to pass some time. I am very proud of the writing in it, but I don't have a real plot or anything. I just wanted to try my hand at a little romance. If you get the chance, please tell me how I did Oh, and if you do want me to continue TELL ME please! I said I wasn't sure I was going to continue, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it! If I am encouraged, and I mean REALLY encouraged (because for some reason this turned out to be pretty time consuming) than I will continue! Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it ;)
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Awakening
Then, with what felt like the greatest effort of my life, I gradually eased my aching eyelids open. I could just feel them creak and groan, like they hadn't been open for years instead of just...hours? Days? How long had I been asleep? As my eyes slowly became accustomed to the light, a worried face swam into focus...Touchstone! Oh how glad I was to see those childishly tight blonde curls and gorgeous grey eyes! He was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen! I blinked and my heart skipped a beat as I noticed one of his hands resting lightly upon mine, his other, gently cradling my cheek. Was my skin supposed to tingle like that?
Touchstone gasped and lurched forward in his chair as his eyes fell upon me and saw that I had awakened. "Oh Sabriel!" he cried, his voice thick with what sounded like an awful cold. He flung himself down upon my limp body and enveloped me in a desperate and somewhat tight embrace. My body flared with pain at such forceful contact, but I ignored it. There was no where else in the world that I would have rather been at that moment than in the arms of my beloved...or at least who I thought was my beloved. I wasn't quite sure about that little bit yet. My emotions were too jumbled and battered to really comprehend anything other than the fact that I was unimaginably happy to see him, and that I never wanted him leave my bedside – not for anything. Did that count as love? I hadn't the slightest idea, but I wasn't really in the mood to find out either. I was content enough to just lay back and bask in Touchstone's obviously undivided attention.
"Oh thank the Charter! Thank you! Thank you!" he mumbled over and over again as if he had just been given the greatest gift of his life. I started to wonder again just how long I had been asleep. "Touchstone," I said softly...or at least I meant to say it softly. My throat was parched and raspy so it instead came out as more of a husky croak. But all the same, Touchstone pulled back and looked at me as though it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
"Thank the Charter Sabriel! I was so scared...I was beginning to think you might...well, at least you're awake now." He smiled and my stomach did a painful flip-flop. Great Charter but he had a handsome smile.
"Do you need anything?" he said quietly, as though he just decided I was incredibly fragile...which I probably was, but would have marched barefoot across a mile of broken glass rather than admit it.
"I could get you some water," Touchstone continued when I had forgotten to give him a response. "Or ask one of the Sendings to cook you something to eat. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."
It was then that I actually realized where I was. Abhorson's house...or rather, my house now, I thought sadly. Then, with that simple realization, suddenly what seemed like a thousand memories came crashing back to me at once and I scrunched my eyes tight against the pounding headache that they brought. Images flashed by so quickly, I felt like I was watching a picture show stuck on fast-forward. My father taking the bell and Abhorson's sword with trembling hands; Touchstone's clouding eyes as he slipped into death from the mournful echoes of Astareal; The two twin Clayr standing silently next to the Paperwings; Colonel Horyse and his squad approaching with their weapons drawn; Touchstone gazing fondly at me with his warm, mist-gray eyes and telling me he loved me; A bronze sarcophagus being drawn from atop Docky Point hill; A ring of Wyverly students and Charter mages joining hands in the Great Hall; Kerrigor advancing upon me, his dry, rotten lips, grazing my cheek...Then, I remember dying – pinned there to the floor with Abhorson's own sword rammed through my gut. I remember floating down the ice cold river of death, only to be pulled to my feet and urged back into life by dozens of white figures clad in blue surcoats emblazoned with silver keys. All the former Abhorsons. They had sent me back to life...they had said I was the last of them. I couldn't die; the Old World needed an Abhorson, I had to be there. And so I lived. I had opened my eyes and fully committed myself into a role that I had so naively thought that I would never have to fill. I was the new Abhorson.
I blinked. Touchstone was looking at me, concern masking every corner of his handsome face. I think I had forgotten to respond again.
"Well maybe you should just go back to sleep," he said. "You look very tired...I'll go, so you can rest." He turned to leave.
"No!" I blurted suddenly.
To say that Touchstone was surprised would have been an understatement. He froze mid-step and turned to stare at me with a very startled expression. Why was he so confused? How could he not understand that I wanted him here with me? He had only taken one step but even that small distance felt painful to me. Slowly I reached out to him, wincing as stabs of pain shot up and down my arm. "Stay with me please," I whispered.
He was by my side in an instant, taking up my pale, slender hand and cradling gently between his own.
"Of course," he said, brushing the back of his knuckles against my cheek. "Just go to sleep...I'll be here."
Now thoroughly contented, I settled back into my pillows and smiled happily. "Thank you," I murmured, before sleep finally claimed my poor, battered body.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
It was the dead of night when I woke again, and unlike last time, consciousness came to me as suddenly as if someone had screamed in my ear. I opened my eyes and looked down the length of the mountains of blankets that someone had stacked on top of me. I smiled warmly as my eyes fell upon a crown of golden curls. Touchstone lay sleeping at the side of my bed, my hand still captured in his and the side of his cheek lying heavily against the crook of his arm. I think I could have watched him forever. He looked just like a sleeping Angel. My Guardian Angel, I thought wistfully, and had to suppress a giggle at how ridiculous that would have sounded to anyone but me. My whole body sang with the knowledge that Touchstone was alive and well, and that he cared so much for me that he would stay so diligently by my side. But suddenly my musings were cut short by a painful rumble. My stomach was reminding me that I hadn't eaten for...Curse it! Did I still not know how long I had been asleep?
Sighing heavily to myself, I gently pulled my hand from under Touchstone's limp fingers and cautiously peeled back the mound of sheets. I had to stifle a yelp of pain though when I moved my legs. They were stiff as boards and tingled sharply like a thousand needles were being thrust into my skin. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I thought to myself. I glanced over at the sleeping man at my bed side. Though I hated to admit it...maybe I did need a little help. A second later my stomach gave another painful growl and I set my face with a determined scowl. Oh no, I was going to do this myself, and Charter be damned if I was going to wake up Touchstone just to get a little food. So with that thought in mind, I swung my aching legs over the side of the bed, stood up, and promptly fell over. With a squeak half in surprise, and half in pain I snatched wildly for something to anchor myself with. Unfortunately that "anchor" turned out to be my bed sheets. They held fast for a scant second until with a soft whoosh they slipped from under the mattress and sent me crashing to the hardwood floor. I heard a startled snort and another crash as Touchstone was thrown from my bed.
"Sabriel?" he said weakly. Then there was a frantic scrabble as I heard Touchstone trying to regain his footing. "Sabriel?!" He sounded a little more panicked this time, and for some reason I had the outrageous desire to laugh. I couldn't explain why, but all of a sudden I found the entire situation...funny.
Not surprisingly, Touchstone immediately heard the racket I was making and hurried over to where I lay. I was on my back so when he stood over me I was looking at him upside-down. This only seemed to encourage my outrageous giggling.
Touchstone stooped down and stared me in the face, obviously worried about this un-timely and un-predicted reaction. "Are you alright?" he asked hesitantly when my cackling hadn't ceased. "Sabriel!" He shook my shoulders. "Sabriel, stop this now!"
But I couldn't stop. Oh, I dearly wanted to, but in some bizarre way I think this was my emotions finally catching up with me. My father was dead and never coming back. I was now the only living Abhorson and hadn't the slightest clue about what I was supposed to do. I suddenly felt like the entire weight of the world had just been dropped on my shoulders and I had absolutely no strength with which to carry it. I mean, I couldn't even stand for Charter's sake! Heavens, but how could this have happened?! Without any warning at all! I didn't have the training for this. There was no way I was prepared. Somehow I just knew I was going to end up being the biggest disappointment that ever lived. Everyone thought I knew what to do. They were all counting on me; Touchstone especially was counting on me; and I didn't know how in the world I was supposed to help them all.
Suddenly, it didn't seem so funny anymore. I wasn't laughing now; I was crying – bawling in fact. All of my fears and anguish and guilt just came pouring out in a torrent of tears that seemed like more of a waterfall than anything else. Touchstone instantly pulled me into his arms, running his fingers through my hair and whispering gentle words in my ear. I was so wrapped up in my own misery that I didn't even seem to notice the incredibly close proximity we were sharing and was just comforted by the shoulder he gave me to cry on.
"It's alright," he soothed. "Everything will be fine."
I felt just like a crying little child. Well I was certainly fragile enough to be one...and I was probably acting like one too, but I couldn't help myself. It just felt so good, so right. I mean I never even had a real childhood to start with. My life as a care-free youngster was stolen away from me at such a young age by the "Book of the Dead" and my responsibilities to my father, the Abhorson. It just felt so good to act like a child again. Was that too much to ask? To have something I had always been denied. Was it really such a bad thing?
"Hush," Touchstone crooned. "It's okay. It's over. Everything's alright now."
No it wasn't alright. He didn't understand. Nobody understood. I finally gave into self pity and whimpered.
It was then that Touchstone did the most unexpected thing...and kissed me. Not on the lips or anything – it was more of a brotherly kind of kiss, on the forehead, but it shocked me completely out of my sobs. I looked up at him with my eyes wide and still brimming with tears. Upon seeing his startled expression, I was amused to note that I seemed to have given him the second shock of the night.
Touchstone blushed a brilliant red and glanced at the floor. He cleared his throat nervously. "Sorry about...that," he mumbled.
To my great amazement, I giggled. That was a stupid thing to say, I thought. Did he really think I didn't want him to kiss me? I was startled yes, but that didn't mean I didn't like it. Realizing this, I said softly, "You have kissed me before you know."
Startled, Touchstone looked up at me and I got a full head-on blow of his incredible grey eyes. It was a good thing we were sitting down, or I think my knees would have given out. Well, not that they wouldn't have given out anyway, I noted wryly, remembering why I was on the floor in the first place. But for the first time, I think I fully started to realize just how enchanting those orbs of silver really were. I was completely and utterly entranced. Touchstone seemed to take this hesitation on my part as an invitation and he took his chance. Slowly, almost painfully so, he lowered his face to mine. I could feel his warm breath tingle over my cheeks, leaving a white hot trail that sent goose bumps up my spine. His hand slid up and over my shoulder to bury itself in the hair at the nape of my neck. My whole body felt like it was on fire and my bare toes curled under in anticipation.
Just another second, I thought. Just one more inch and his lips will be mine.
"Oh isn't this touching," drawled a familiar voice.
As if electrocuted the two of us jerked back from each other, both of our faces glowing a stunning pink. I whipped my head around to see a white cat, collared with a red leather band and miniature bell perched precariously on one of my bed posts. Mogget, his royal highness of Abhorson's house, had obviously awakened. Damn that cat.
Finis
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A/N: sigh Oooh Mogget, what are we going to do with you?
But anyways, thanks for reading, and please tell me how you like it if you could spare the time. Comments are always much appreciated ;)
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