Title: Heaven's White-Hot Gates
Characters/Pairings: Bella, Leah ; Leah/Bella
Author's Notes: For Kaiwynn at the Twilight Uncanon Drabble Request Meme at my writing journal.
It was hard to keep a placid face, but Leah was nothing if not a great pretender. Billy Black's words slurred into the smoke and disappeared. Everyone was rapt, but the majesty of their ancestry had left.
Through the flames, Leah saw the sun. The girl was curled into Jacob's side, eyes glassy and wide as she listened. A knot formed in Leah's chest, tugging her over. Down her arms and legs, her muscles roped tight to keep her in place, to hold her heart inside her ribs.
Walk through the coals, flint and tinder. Bury both your feet in ashes and the world will burn, burn.
Every detail was more vivid: her doe brown eyes, chocolate hair, the tiny little freckles along her cheeks like sprinkles of cinnamon. Pearl pink lips, broken and flimsy nails, tiny French frame buried beneath sweaters and jeans. And her heartbeat – Christ, Leah could hear her heartbeat. It was rough and raucous, a weathered tune.
Sam glanced over a moment. His face was as flat and humorless as usual, with the same undertone of guilt. This time, it didn't break Leah's heart. This time, she barely even noticed.
Billy stopped talking, and everyone let out a collective breath. Leah tore her eyes from the girl across the fire-pit and pretended she had been listening.
Gravity doesn't move – it simply ceases to exist. She's become the glow around which you orbit, weightless and helplessly drawn. She's become the flame that keeps you warm – that blackens you from the inside out.