Title: A Moment at the Start of Everything
Author: SilverAshes
Rating: K (PG)
Characters: Trin/Neo
Category: Drama/angst oneshot
Summary: Those few seconds of falling were the catalyst; the point of clarity and the moment of ultimate revelation.
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Don't claim to. Have no money. End of.
A/N: I know it's only short, but my time has been hideously limited by uni, work and gift shopping. And so I give you - my promised Christmas present to the guys and gals at TLG (my beloved home away from home). May all of you have a wonderful and safe holiday season regardless of religion, race or colour.
All suggestions for improvements are more than welcome – constructive criticism is a gift, and reviews are love.
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As she felt the helicopter crashing to the ground under her, an obscure argument between vertigo and inertia clashed in her brain, but was disregarded by her mind's eye.
Instead of focussing on the morbid fact that she was going to die in a less than ten seconds, the thoughts that raced through her head were not of self preservation, but of that kind of regret which paralyses and sickens even the bravest. She didn't register that her body had taken control of her limbs and her hand was reaching for her pistol.
The plan that unfolded here was unconscious and automatic, and utterly impossible. Between bouts of wishing she'd told him the truth in the car on the way to the Oracle, she was praying to whichever deity would listen that someone was going to be on the other end of this cable.
Her finger pulled the trigger, but it was all happening in blinding flashes of slow motion. In the fire of each spark from the bullet, she saw different futures for herself. There were hundreds of them, hundreds and thousands, and they always converged on him.
The guilt that pulsed through her veins at not telling him the whole truth the hundreds of times she had had the opportunity threatened to drown her. She was lost flailing in an ocean of regret until she felt the adrenaline buoying her and took a leap from the door of the helicopter.
The free fall should have rendered her paralysed with fear, but instead she curled her body for impact and in that moment she knew that he would save her. Those few seconds of falling were the catalyst; the point of clarity and the moment of ultimate revelation. All she had felt before now was suddenly put in blindingly, brilliantly perfect context.
Every look he had given her, every night she'd bought him dinner while he was sleeping after training, every time their hands had brushed while washing up in the mess hall. She felt everything she had suspected was sliding into place, and she promised herself that she would never let this feeling of hopeless regret rear again. He would hold that cable for her, and he would be the one pulling her up and over the ledge to safety, far above the chaos and flames below. And when he did, she would make the decision to no longer be a bystander, a teacher, a guardian. She would make the choice to be his lover.
As she stumbled upright to stand before him, his transparent eyes were so full of panic and terror and adulation she knew that time no longer mattered. Space was no object, and the only emotion she needed or wanted was that intense feeling of understanding him. She would guide him as she was destined to and, for better or for worse, today would be the day that the Oracle's prophecy would be fulfilled.
For a fraction of time that needed no definition and perhaps was indefinable, their eyes met and a transaction took place. It was an exchange of realisation, of clarity and of understanding. She vowed that today would be the start of everything.