DustfingerxResa

Author: I swear Dustfinger is Inkheart's whore. In my mind he ends up with OCs, Farid, Resa, Mo & maybe Meggie.
Anyways, my muse has run off on me & I have moved, again. I own nobody, but I wish I owned Dustfinger.

"Get in there!" Cockrell snapped. Resa stumbled and gasped as pain shot up her leg from the half-healed snake bite.

"Here she is. The silent little witch." Magpie laughed. Her bright eyes narrowed as Basta walked over and ran his hand over her cheek. Instinctively she slapped his hand away.

"Maybe I should mark your face like I did to the fire dancer." he growled.

"NOO!" came a angry shout. Dustfinger, already bleeding from his lip and nose, tackled Basta a second later. The two went sprawling to the ground nearby. Several Black Jackets grabbed Dustfinger and pulled him away from their knife wielding companion.

"Leave him alone! I didn't ask him to hide or help me!" she screamed silently as Basta hit him again, knocking him to the ground.

Dustfinger snarled as his shoulder connected with the cement. The four Black Jackets who had pulled him off Basta had backed away when his clothing had grown too hot to touch. He rolled up to his feet and rubbed his hands together as he did. The familiar burning glow of magic formed in his palm. With a devilish smirk he snapped his fingers and fire erupted to life. Even as it began to burn, he felt no peace. The fire had no tongue to speak with and a will of it's own. They weren't in their story where he could talk to fire like a lover and call it to him in a heartbeat. But most of all he missed the change in his own body that took place when he had called fire to him in his story. He missed the heat that would always flood his veins and wrap around his heart, soothing him. When that happened his senses were more acute: the colors were a thousand times more vibrant, sounds many times louder, everything he touched was an open book to him and he could taste every subtle flavor of the world. However all he could smell at that point was the scent of fire and smoke that he wore like a second skin.

Basta yelped as a stream of flame missed him by maybe an inch. Dustfinger was a coward but extremely dangerous. The fear of fire had been put into him by the fire-dancer many years ago. When he had slashed the man's face, he had screamed out and fire had erupted around them, burning to death the two men who had been holding the other down. A second stream hit the ground at his feet as he flicked his knife open.

Dustfinger's eyes flashed as several things happened at once, starting with Basta flicking his knife open. Resa screamed silently and pointed over his shoulder fearfully. He spun, dropping to one knee and blowing a plume of fire into the air behind him. The Black Jacket that had snuck up behind him got caught in the blast and staggered back ablaze. As he sucked in a breathe for one last stream of fire, another Black Jacket rushed up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the rifle butt as it connected with his already aching shoulder. The pain that came with it brought him to his knees. A second hit, this one between his shoulder blades and a kick to his stomach from Basta made his cough out the last of the chemical he used to assist the fire along. He had found a man in a city who made small packets that he could keep in his mouth and break with his teeth when he needed it. He spat out the pair of empty plastic packets on the ground.

"Take them to the crypts!" Magpie shouted.

"Hope you like the dark." Flatnose laughed as he and Cockrell shoved them into the tiny room. Resa stumbled and almost fell when Dustfinger was pushed in roughly behind her. The fire-dancer caught her as she lost her balance and allowed her to lean against him. Basta sneered at them before disappearing out of sight with the other two Black Jackets.

"Bastards." Dustfinger muttered softly. She sank to the floor and leaned againest the crypt. "Are you alright?" he asked, kneeling on the floor next to her. Gently she took his hand in hers and put it on her steadily swelling ankle. He sighed and whispered, "I know. If we weren't in here, I could take care of it better." She smiled and patted his cheek. From inside the backpack Gwin chattered. Resa held out her fingers to him and was rewarded with a sniff but no bites. "Little bugger must love you." Dustfinger muttered. She giggled as he coughed softly.

Dustfinger groaned as he shifted his position to stretch his legs. His stomach, shoulder and upper back hurt like hell. His nose and lip had finally stopped bleeding but he could still had the salt/rust taste of blood in his mouth.

"Are you ok?" Resa spelled into his palm.

"I'm sore all over." he admitted.

"You didn't have to help me." she told him.

"And leave you out there to die from that snake bite?" he asked. In the dim light he saw her shrug then touch her ankle. "Leave it alone Resa." he told her. She touched his lip and nose, frowned and ripped a piece of fabric off her dress.

"Stay." she said. Resting his head against the crypt he allowed himself to relax a bit. Resa returned a short minute later and touched the now cold and wet fabric to his face. He opened his eyes slightly, earning him a small smile. She took his face in her free hand as she wiped the dried blood from his lip and nose. He leaned gently against her shoulder. "I thought you didn't care for people." she teased.

"I care for you." he said, kissing the inside of her wrist where her pulse was strongest. A slight shiver went up her spine.

"Do you really?" she asked.

"I swear it." he breathed, pulling her to him. She gently buried one of her hands in his hair as he kissed her. One of his arms went around her back and the other hand rested on the back of her neck. This kiss was not like the one they had shared in the woods prior to their capture: sloppy, rough and hurried. They had been almost a decade without intimate contact with anyone else and could barely remember what it was like. This kiss was calmer, slower, more intimate than desperate.

She slid into his lap as his hands ran over her face and neck, learning the texture of her skin and worshiping it at the same time. A soft sound like a purr rumbled from his throat when she stroked his hair.

"Like a kitten." she spelled against his cheek.

He nodded and whispered, "One of my few weak points." She watched as he slid out of his coat and laid it on the ground. "I wouldn't have you laying down on dirt with who knows what crawling around." he told her. Smiling, she lay down, shifting slightly to get comfortable. He moved to hover above her on his hands and knees. "You're beautiful Ressie." he whispered. She pulled his face down to her level and touched her lips to one of the scars over his eye. He turned his head away from her.

"Even with these, you are still handsome. If woman stopped seeing the scars and saw who you really are, they would be falling at your feet." she mouthed, forcing him to look at her. Even in the faded light he could see her eyes lit with love. "I love you Dustfinger." she said. The fear in his heart shattered like glass and he kissed her deeply. One of her hands buried in his hair and the other clutched his arm. He slid one arm around her neck as he slid his free hand down the side of her dress, memorizing her figure.

Resa's eyes went wide and she gave Dustfinger's hair a sharp tug. He hissed in pain and stared at her in a mix of surprise and anger. A second later his surprise went away and his anger was redirected towards the mix of footsteps and cruel laughter coming down the stairs. Resa sat up and arranged herself on the trench coat to look as if she was simply sitting on it. Unfortunately she could not ignore the wetness between her legs or her bruised lips.

As Basta, Flatnose and Cockrell appeared, Dustfinger felt his pulse behind to pound in his ears and couldn't help but notice that it ironically kept beat with the throb in his pants.

"Enjoying the crypt with your little songbird?" Basta asked.

"It's lovely, why don't you come in and join us?" he growled. Basta shifted uneasily as he glared at the fire-dancer. Dustfinger smirked in the shadows and asked, "Or are you too much a coward?" The knife wielding Black Jacket dashed at the door, tugging at the locked bars.

"Give me the keys." he snapped. Dustfinger moved quickly, shoving Resa to the back of the crypt and snatching his jacket up, digging through his pockets. His fingertips brushed a packet which he quickly put in his mouth and bit down on. The harsh sour taste of chemicals hit his tongue, almost making him gag. The plastic found it's way to the inside of his cheek as he rubbed his hands together. Basta finally found the key to the door and the moment he stepped in, Dustfinger blew a small fireball at him. The Black Jacket dodged away, grabbed him and hauled him out of the cell by his hair.

"Dustfinger!" Resa screamed silently as Cockrell slammed the door shut again and locked it. Basta shoved the fire-dancer to the floor and gave him a kick in the ribs.

"Don't Capricorn want him alive?" Flatnose asked.

Basta hauled him up, again by the hair and growled, "One more fireball and I'll mark your pretty song bird like I did you." Dustfinger looked at Resa with a look with fear in his eyes.

"Get going." Cockrell said, shoving him forward. He jerked out of the Black Jackets' grip and squared his shoulders. His eyes hardened as he shoved his hands in his pockets and went to go meet Capricorn, again.

Author: I've been working on this for a while. And yes everything Resa "says" is either mouthed or spelled.