This is being posted in the Post-a-thon.
Merry Christmas!
The sun was diminishing quickly from the sky, retreating to the safety that lay on the far side of the land. Its recession dyed the sky in brilliant colors of orange and red… one of the many tints in the cloudless sky was very close to the shade of blood, she shuddered, and it was a color she knew all too well. The sky is reflecting the goings-on around this particular barn. She thought bitterly. The sky decided to be the backdrop for the battle that was to take place, for there had to be a battle… the sheriff's men surrounded the barn… the best of the sheriff's men if she recalled correctly. She knew that they would soon get tired of waiting to attack, just like she knew that none in the barn would just die without taking some of the mercenaries down with them. There had to be a battle, after all the colors in the sky were battle colors… she wanted to laugh at the irony of it all.
When she was growing up she only knew one of option in life. In the Holy Land there was only one way it could be. Only one lifestyle she could follow. She had to confine and cover herself in veils. She had to keep her hair long, even though there was no one who would be able to see it. She had to stay that way, at least until marriage. She hated it… but at the same time she loved it. She hated that she had to keep herself hidden away from the outside world, she hated that she could never show herself in her appearance and in her actions… she hated that she always had to have an escort. But she felt safe. She could smile disbelievingly at a suitor as he asked her father to marry her (as she knew well that her father would always say no), knowing that this suitor would not see her, she loved knowing she could say something and having her face say the opposite. The confinement was comforting, but at the same time, it was unsettling.
Then the war came, and the world of one option and only one way collapsed all around her she witnessed murders and lived through things that she never want to live through again. She saw choices being made from endless possibilities, ones that could kill or save lives. She was faced with her first choice when she saw her own family being killed from her hiding place under the floor, she choose quickly and in no less than a minute had killed, in cold blood, every man who had dared walked into her home that was, until then, a haven from the war outside, and made the choice to kill her family. She soon after chose to be a man, she then chose to learn medicine from her father's books, and choose to join Saladin's army as a doctor. Although she could feel her heart growing cold and hard, and she could feel herself slipping away like the sands of the desert, she felt, for the first time in her life, free. Then her new world and understanding of things came crumpling down again when she was captured and brought to the homeland of the ones who killed her family. In England, she was brought back into the strict options in life. But she found that in England there were only two ways to be and two things to choose: good or evil, kind or vindictive, rich or poor, enemy or alliance, man or woman. There was a strong, bold line that separated everything into two separate parts. She was back in the world of confinement, where there was no unbiased opinion no common-ground, where there was only my way or yours, where there was no such thing as neutral.
However, she found that England was where she was truly free, she could say what she wanted, and do what she liked… and liked who she liked.
Will Scarlett was someone she liked.
She felt closeness to all members of her new found surrogate family, but she always felt a 'special' closeness with Will. She had never disliked someone so much when she first met him. He looked at her with unease, as if she were a wild animal. And whenever she looked back, she saw straight into his eyes. Whenever she gazed upon his brown eyes she felt a feeling bubbling up inside her, she knew exactly what it was: vulnerability. She hated that feeling of being powerless… where she had no choice in the matter… and most of all she hated that this particular man sent this feeling coursing through her very veins, her heart would speed up and she became too hot for her very skin. It bothered her to no end.
But as time went by she felt that she was wrong about both the man and the feeling, she found that neither were unpleasant. Will Scarlett, she found was a master of hiding his emotions, comfortably wearing a mask making it so that the only way to see the real him and what he was really feeling was through his eyes. She penetrated the shield and shattered the mask he created, as she always looked at him straight in the eye. Although she herself did not know this, he was unnerved by it when he first met her, but as time went by, he realized his feelings. He never thought that someone who never showed emotions herself, would in turn show him how to feel.
They warmed up to each other… occasionally he would even join her for her for her walks through the forest. She used walk because she loved going somewhere without an escort, but the reason changed whenever he went with her, it became an activity for conversations about each other's homes and families. Most of the time though, they would just walk, enjoying the silence… an each other's company.
She knew now what the feeling was. The realization of knowing brought about fear. But she realized and knew deep down what it was. She knew just as sure as she knew that she would soon be killed, along with everyone else. She took a breath and decided, once and for all to make a choice, "Will?" she said, addressing the man across from her, deep in thought himeself.
When the broke apart from their kiss she found that the sky had turned a dark shade of purple, the battle colors were gone. The sky was now dark and the only light came from the moon and the torches of the mercenaries outside. Had that much time really past? She was under the impression, ever since Will's lips had touched hers that it had stood still. At that moment she felt that she would get through this night… they would, she decided, together. She smiled down at their entwined hands. It was the best choice she had ever made.
So there we go! Finally the edited version! I know tis very choppy and that it didn't flow very well, but YOU! yes! YOU! could help with that, press that purple/blue/silver button and give me some FEEDBACK!!