Here's the last chapter of this fic. Again, thoughts are in ' ' and hand words in italics. Just a couple of words are in italics and thoughts-this just means that they're emphasized (sp?) Review and tell me what you thought! This chapter is supposed to be sad, and it is my first fanfiction, so reviews are really appreciated. And I hope you like the length of chapter 5. Here's the end.
The first ray of sunlight touched the edge of the sky. Raven stirred softly, and glanced at the beautiful woman that lay in the snow beside him. She looked serene, at peace, like she always had when she was sleeping. But she was not sleeping. Her eyes would never sparkle again, her laugh would never light up her face, and her hands...they would never talk to him again, never show him a glimpse of the way others lived with their gossip and their tales of life.
And although it was Marnie lying there, it wasn't quite her. The sun showed the smooth rawness of her wrists, the deep clotted blood on her face, the blue-black bruises all over her body. It was a shell, a house for the spirit of the woman Raven loved.
You are moon-good beautiful, Raven signed to it. Come back. But she wouldn't, not then, and not ever, and Raven knew it.
He turned to watch more rays hit the sky, as they had for thousands of years without fail. Watch the sun rise each day, Raven, and I will be there watching with you. Her words echoed in his mind, and he turned to watch the sky magically transform.
From navy blue to deep red to pink to golden to a light blue it flickered, until the sun finally hoisted itself into the sky. And yes, it was magical, yes, warming to the body and the soul. And yet…
Yet Raven felt nothing. There was no sense of Marnie being there. She didn't whisper to him on the breeze, he didn't feel her gently touch or see her dancing, bewitching eyes. 'She said she'd be here,' thought Raven bitterly. 'She told me. But she's not. I'm alone again.'
He went and crouched by Marnie's body. Picking up her right hand, he kissed it, looking at the brass wedding ring she always wore on her right hand, because it was the hand used for her words to Raven. Picking up her left hand now, he looked at the scars on the palm, still there from that terrible ordeal that seemed to have happened centuries ago. She'd survived so much, suffered so much, yet in the end it didn't matter. A cruel twist of fate had taken her, and would never give her back.
Suddenly Raven dropped her hand, backed away, and began to run. Just run, away from his hurt and his grief, away from that cold frozen place with its secrets and its memories, away from her with her unearthly beauty and radiance. When his legs gave way, he stumbled along the road, blinded by grief and guilt at leaving her.
Yet it didn't seem to matter how far he went or how hard he tried to forget. His memories of her pursued him. He remembered her shy blush, her laughter, the graceful movements of her body as she danced, the way she made him want to hold her and never let go. The more he ran, the more she surrounded him and the more he needed her to come back to him. His thoughts chased him until he was in an open space. Snow-covered trees were on the horizon far behind him, and in front of him lay a sheer drop off a cliff face into the unforgiving ocean.
He walked to the edge of the cliff, panting, and watched the sea. The sky had clouded over and it began to rain heavily.
He turned his face up to the sky, tasting the rain, feeling it cleanse him. Below him the sea crashed upon treacherous rocks, grey and menacing and cold.
'She loved the sea,' Raven thought, trembling. 'But then it was warm and beautiful. Now, everything has changed."
No sign of Marnie had been given to him as he stood there. He still did not feel her presence, and he found no peace. She had forsaken him.
He looked again at the sea and the rocks. 'Never give up,' he thought, but he had no strength left, nothing to fight the world's prejudice and judgement with. She had always been his source of strength, ever since that first day.
'I'm sorry. I love you too much.'
He shifted his weight forward until he was falling. His arms stayed by his sides, his eyes gently closed, his mind numb. He made no effort to stop himself.
His body lay broken on the rocks, with foamy waves tugging urgently at it. His soul was gone; he had become forever silent, as silent as the grave. Yet his spirit did not find hers, and even in death he found no peace.