Title: Meeting of the Hearts

Author: Lady Silvertongue

Pairing: LS (looks a lot like my initials don't it? ;)/WP

Summary: It has been one year since that dreadful day and Lyra is facing her first real visit to the stone bench. But something happens that she doesn't expect...

A/N: Yay! At last I have finally made a fanfiction for the book that is my entire reason for delving into the wonderful world of fantasy novels!!!! Okay, I don't want to say much about this fic, because really there isn't much I can say.
The only thing I want you to do (besides reading it of course) is just think really briefly about the end of the Amber Spyglass...just to get in the mood before you read this. Because I am very serious about this fiction and I hope that you are serious about reading it.
Okay well, onto the story I guess...hope you enjoy.

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Meeting of the Hearts

It was finally the day. It was at last the day she had been yearning for, yet still, the day she had also been hoping would never come. Today was Midsummer's day. A promise of one year ago was waiting to be fulfilled. A promise that had plagued her dreams and her every waking thought since she had made it. He was all she could think about. Every second of every day was a parade of repeated memories running and ripping and tearing asunder through her mind. It hurt so much. Every time, she felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. She hoped he didn't hurt. She hoped he had moved on, even if she hadn't. The last thing in the world she wanted was for him to suffer. Just like she had suffered. Just like she still suffered.

Lyra hung her head as she walked slowly down the small shaded path. She stared intently at her feet through a pool of tears threatening to spill from her puffy lids. She had waited so long for this day, and now she wasn't even sure she wanted it to happen. It was all just so unfair. She had done everything that had ever been asked of her. She had done everything, given everything to help bring the world at peace, yet in the end her reward was being denied the only think she asked for. She was denied forever the one and only true love of her heart. Her fist tightened, as the familiar anger began to engulf her again, like it had so many times before. Why the hell couldn't she be with him? Why did this all have to happen to her? Why her? But then her hand loosened, and her lower lip began to tremble. It wasn't just happening to her; it was happening to him too. Will was suffering every bit as much as she. He had been demanded just as many sacrifices as herself, and he had willingly given them just as she. They were so much alike in spirit and heart. It was as if they were destined to be together from the moment they had met, yet still destined to be apart from the moment they fell in love. Lyra sniffled meekly.

Pantalaimon was draped around her neck as was his usual preference. He felt every bit of her wrenching sorrow and he wished desperately that there was something he could do. Pan nuzzled the girl's jaw affectionately. "Be brave Lyra," he whispered, and with another push against her neck he added a soft, "I love you."

Lyra's throat was clenched too tight for her to manage an answer. So instead she dipped her head and kissed his fuzzy ear. She looked up, and all of a sudden, there it was. The little stone bench sat innocent and inviting under the plush green leaves of a wide Oak tree, its gray-washed granite surface reflecting the writhing, molding shadows of the branches above. Two little brown swallows landed suddenly on the arm of the bench. The pair tweeted and gibbered excitedly, clicking their hard yellow beaks as they bounced along on their spindly legs. A lazy breeze drifted by causing one of the tiny birds to flapped his wings furiously following immediately with a routine shake of the head and tired chirp. The other swallow watched her mate, beady black eyes appraising him warily and her dainty feathered head at a curious tilt. The wind picked up, announced by the soft rustle of leaves. And then, just like that, the two darling creatures were gone. They were swept into the wind and carried beyond the treetops still tweeting and chirping back and forth, weaving in and about each other with playful grace and fluidity.

Lyra sank tentatively down onto the hard stone. She turned sideways and drew her knees into her chest. She desperately tried to choke back her tears as she slid one arm around her legs while resting the other on the back head of the bench. Pan mewed softly, cuddling closer against her warm skin. Lyra took a deep, long breath, letting it blow out slowly through her parted lips. She glanced over at her hand fingering the designs in the granite of the bench head. But when she took a breath to speak, her throat began to clench and tears sprang again to her eyes. "Hi Will," was all she could manage before bursting into wracking sobs. Lyra pillowed her head on her arms as she wept, the sighing wind tugging playfully at her golden locks.

It was a good while later when Lyra at last got a hold of her of herself. She gave a mighty sniff and wiped her hand beneath her nose.

"It's okay Lyra," Pan said. "Go ahead; I'm sure he's listening."

Lyra nodded as she knuckled her eyes. "I know," she whispered. "I'm okay. I think I can do it now." Another soft sigh escaped her lips as she hooked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyway...Will, I know you can't really hear me or anything, but for some reason this just feels like the right thing to do...I want you to know that I'm trying really hard at school. I really am, you would be proud of me Will, I know you would. I even found some new friends to sit on the roof with me, you know, like I did with Roger before...before..." Her voice cracked, and she quickly switched the subject. "Well there is this guy too. He likes me Will. He thinks I'm pretty and tells me all the time. He's pretty good looking I guess, but not near handsome as you Will. There isn't anyone in the world handsome as you." Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped gently from her chin as she chattered on. "He's nice too. He really is. I don't know what to do when he is around. He's always the one helping with all my mischief and so far, we've been loads of places I had never even thought of before. He makes me laugh a lot, like you used to Will. He is perfect...but..." It was getting harder and harder to maintain control of her sobs. Her stomach ached from holding it all in. "But it's too soon!" She wailed. "I know it's been a whole year, but it's too soon! I want to move on Will, I do. I'm trying so hard!" She was fighting to get her words out before she dissolved again into a pitiful puddle. "I can't stop loving you Will! I can't! I try so hard, but....I just...can't stop loving you...."

"You don't have to."

Lyra's head shot up, tears still streaming from her crystal eyes. "Who's there," she demanded. The mysterious voice sounded almost like an echo in her mind.

"Lyra please don't cry. I don't like it when you cry."

Lyra gasped and began trembling violently. She sputtered, trying to say something, but no words came. That voice...She was dreaming, she had to be dreaming. There was no way...

"Lyra, you don't ever need to stop loving me."

"Will?" she whispered so softly even Pan had trouble hearing the word. "Will...is it really you?"

"Yes Lyra, and I –"

He was cut off as Lyra shot from her seat and looked wildly around screaming frantically. "Will! Will where are you?! Please Will, don't play games with me, where are you hiding?!"

His voice was painful as it echoed softly in her mind. "I'm not there Lyra...I'm still here, in my world...I'm sorry."

Lyra dropped back onto the little bench curling up against the arm rest. "B-but you...you're talking to me. I can hear you." Her breathing was rapid and stressed. "I'm going crazy, I've finally cracked, I – "

"Lyra!" Will screamed. "Hush," he said in a softer tone. "Hush, it's okay. Really, just settle down for a minute and I'll explain all of this to you."

"Will is that really you?" she asked again. She couldn't help it. This was just too crazy for her to believe.

He chuckled softly. "Yes, yes it really is. I promise you aren't going crazy Lyra. I'm sure that you are still quite sane, or at least as sane as you were the last time I saw you."

"Thanks a lot," she muttered, still very skeptical of the entire thing. She was just too emotionally battered to really comprehend what was happening. Her brain wasn't processing fast enough for her to be fully aware of what was real and what wasn't.

"I was kidding Lyra, you know I was...sorry, I know this is a lot to handle...here, let me just start at the beginning okay?"

Lyra nodded, only seconds later figuring that Will probably couldn't see her so she instead answered with a meek, "Okay." There was a long pause before she heard Will draw breath to speak.

"Okay, I don't really know how to explain this exactly because, well, I don't really know all the facts about how this is...." Will trailed off. "It's the Angels," he whispered simply. "I don't know how they did it Lyra, I really don't. They just came to me as I was sitting here...waiting for you on this bench."

Lyra thought she could hear him rake his hand through his dark locks, and she almost smiled...almost.

"I swear they came down from the sky just like...just like they did that day..." He paused in silence for a moment before continuing. "At first I didn't even know they were there...you know how they are, practically invisible right? Anyways, they told me that they were sent Lyra...sent by...well actually they didn't say." He sighed in frustration. "I didn't ask them...I'm sorry, I know how you like to know things, but Lyra, I was just so happy when they told me I could talk to you that I completely forgot. I didn't care who sent them because I could hear your voice in my head and nothing else in the world mattered to me. I just...oh no Lyra please don't cry again."

Her breaths were ragged and labored as she tried to stem her tears. "I can't!" she gasped. "I'm sorry Will, I can't stop. I don't know how. I swear I'm trying..." She buried her face in the crook of her elbow. She said something but her voice was too muffled to make out. Will asked her what she said, and Lyra raised her head slowly, tears coursing down her dainty cheeks and dripping from her chin. The wind whipped her golden blonde hair around her delicate face as the soft shadows rippled around her. "I love you Will," she said. "I love you so much. Why did this happen? Why? What did we do? Why must we be the ones to suffer?"

"I don't know Lyra...I don't understand either. But there is one thing that I do understand, and that is my feelings for you. They have never changed, nor will they, unless to grow in strength. I love you too Lyra. You know I do. I hold you dearest to my heart and I wish that things were different, with every fiber of my being I do...but there just isn't –"

"Don't say it!" She screamed. "Please Will, I couldn't bear it if you...if you said it so finally like that. I mean...look we're speaking now right? That means there's hope! You know we can figure something out! We can! We have to! We..." She stopped suddenly. Realization took hold of her and the cold tendrils of loneliness and despair crept over her body. "It really is hopeless...isn't it?" She heard a choked sob that was quickly stifled. She could hear Will trying to regain his composure. She could hear everything he did. It was amazing really. She could hear him breathing, moving...and if she really listened, she could even hear his heart beating. Oh how she missed that heart beat. How she missed the feel of her face against his chest as they lay by the river on that wonderful night, his heart pounding beneath her cheek. How she wished to be encircled in his powerful arms again, his tender hand stroking the hair from her brow and his handsome face smiling down into hers. "Will I –"

"Let's just..." he took another deep breath. "Can we just talk about something else for a little while?"

"Yes we can," she said softly.

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A/N: Well that's it for Chapter one. Chapter two coming soon...are you excited?