Transparent
Author's Note: I wrote this one-shot a few years back and strove to capture the complex feelings between Eragon and Arya and a melancholy sense of timelessness. I started reading Eragon a while ago, but given my tendency to skip and skim-read I didn't end up finishing it (guilty look), so I am not that familiar with the actual story-line or the characters and as a result, the story sits in a strange 'between-worlds' place lol =)
o0o
He moves in circles, absently, his mind lost to the dim swirling mist and pounding rain. He can't remember when he last got up or how long he has been out here, the rain droplets on his face, his hair dripping into his eyes, his cloak sticking, cool, water-logged to his skin.
He walks… savouring the beautiful wetness, the glory of being renewed, soaked to the bone in rain that is so healing, soft, forgiving…
He lifts his face to the sky in surrender, tears so close to the surface… there is so much he still needs to do… so much… and the weight of it all crushes him beneath the rain.
He is filled with fragmented images of faces; pale in the blurring rain, whispers of voices...
and Arya…
He often thinks of her in this twilight world between waking and dreaming… the only time when his heart can revel in its love for her…
Wearily, bone-tired he sinks underneath the old tree, bearing down underneath the rhythm of the rain, beating away his fears, his pain… his failure.
Numbing him to the world…
His mind is alert to all the senses of the night, the cool pattering of rain on the pine needles, the plod as it hits the still earth… and faintly, faintly… a sound of approaching footsteps… or rather a warmth and light of another presence.
He opens his eyes slightly, seeing her there, the last person he would have expected, silhouetted by the mist.
Her calming presence overwhelms him.
He closes his eyes tightly willing her to go away… she knows this is hard on him… he cannot deny his feelings for her, they burn as bright as a fire…
He keeps his eyes shut, alert to her every movement. She is so close now… he can feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek.
She touches him, a shiver of coldness against the side of his face.
It's an intimate touch, a knowing touch and in that moment he hates her for it…
He grabs her wrist.
"Arya… don't do this…" there is anger and desire etched in his voice.
For a moment brown, pain-filled eyes meet luminescent green ones.
She trembles slightly, but with determination touches his face again, her cool fingers sliding over his brow, his cheek, his mouth…
"You told me you loved me once…" the words are whispered, her eyes bright with tears.
"I still do… that will never change Arya…" His mouth is almost dry. He's never remembered seeing her so close, so vulnerable…
"You know why we can't be together Eragon…" her words send him back against the tree in defeat. He stares at her in disbelief. He stands hurriedly.
Gods. Why does she enjoy tormenting me so…?
"Then why did you come here?"
He can hear her breathing, fast and desperate… but there is a light in her eyes that he doesn't understand. A fierce light. And she looks at him boldly, a gaze that makes him shiver. The rain casts a perfect halo around her, the rain plastering her light dress to her body, her hair a shiny dark river down her back. Her gaze fills his body with heat. He can barely breathe for the emotions she rouses in him.
She comes towards him, her hands slipping beneath his shirt.
"Because…" her hands are burning ice and fire in the rain.
"They needn't know...not tonight…"
And he's lost, soaring above the earth, above the world, his soul bare and transparent, lost to the sensations of her lips, her hands, where her body meets his, passion burning like a bright flame in the rain.
