A/N: Sorry for the delay between this chapter and the last one, I've had the idea in my head for a while but I couldn't get it down on paper. This is the end, it was supposed to be a one shot originally but I had to continue and elaborate. Oh, I got a couple of reviews last chapter saying that the Heralds would not have broken the bond without asking Kertin first. True, and a good point. All I can say is that even Heralds make mistakes, and that was the Lord Marshal's Herald's mistake, one that cost Kertin his life. And I needed it for the plot Here's the last chapter, review responses:
Fireblade K'Chona: Yeah, they wouldn't have broken the bond without asking the servant first, good point. However, I kind of needed Kertin to die, and that is just one of the Lord Marshal Herald's biggest mistakes. It did cost Kertin his life, Parnit survived because he had time for his mind to accept the loss and tense up, etc. Or at least, that's how I thought about it in the story. Hope you like the end!
Lurks in Shadows: Good point. Sorry about that...see my A/N or Fireblade's response for a long explanation, I'm feeling lazy. Very good point, though, which, I admit, I didn't consider when I wrote the chap. : ) Here's the end, I hope you like it!
Herald Kelsin: Thanks!!! Yeah, Kertin did have to die…otherwise they would both be alive, and dreaming of each other, and wanting each other, but they would never have the bond…yeah, he had to die. Sorry, at least Parnit's still alive!
Wizard116: Thanks. I hope you like this chapter just as much!
Chapter 3: Endings
Parnit returned to his suite, in a state of shock. Tears were crusted in gentle patterns on his cheeks, and his thoughts were dominated by one person and a set of clear emerald eyes.
Why? Why did I have to choose to break the lifebond? Maybe we could repair it, replace it…
Parnit then remembered that he had already asked the Lord Marshal's Herald to fix it. He had said that was not possible, and Parnit sobbed endlessly, his salty tears staining the table a darker brown. Parnit left, only a mark later, to head towards his own room, but it felt like eternity.
If only I could be with the beautiful servant again…Kertin…what a beautiful name.
Parnit pulled open the door lightly, and entered the room. He saw a silhouette of a man in front of him, and the man turned. Parnit caught a glance at his face, with the sharp chin, rugged black hair, and dark brown, almost black eyes.
Tarnel…he got off early today.
Tarnel walked up to Parnit, oblivious of the overwhelming grief dominating Parnit's thoughts and mind, and began to kiss him. Tarnel's tongue touched Parnit's lips, and Parnit obediently opened his mouth slightly. Their tongues met and brushed together lightly. Suddenly, Parnit jerked away from Tarnel, turning around and facing the wall.
"Tarnel, I can't do it. I can't…"
"I understand," Tarnel interrupted angrily. "For the last moon, your heart has not been in our relationship. Ever since that night we spent together, alone in our suite, you haven't been the same. Your eyes are always distant, your mind on something else. I can't do this anymore, Parnit! I can't!" Tarnel stamped his foot angrily at the ground and glared at Parnit, challenging him to respond.
I gave up my lifebond…my life for him, and he breaks off the relationship!
Parnit suddenly felt anger and rage come over him. He swung his arms angrily, and answered, "I gave up everything for you, Tarnel, everything, to find out I can't kiss you or look at you without thinking of my true love, but we can still be together."
Tarnel looked at him in shock and anger. "Your true love?" Tarnel asked, horrified. He pounded a pillow hard with his fist, the pillow splitting and the feathers and sheets rippling on the bed, feathers landing in a gentle halo around the room. "We have been together forty seasons, thousands of marks, and your true love is another? Such betrayal, Parnit, I did not expect from you!"
More rage rushed into Parnit's mind, until the fury replaced all other feelings.
I have given him everything!
Parnit sprinted into the corner, grabbed a valuable crimson vase, and threw it to the floor in anger. The glass broke, shards of crimson scattering across the suite. The vivid scarlet stood out against the dull blue of the suite rug, causing the room to look like a horrifying battle scene.
Parnit stomped angrily onto the floor, his boots harmlessly breaking a shard of glass into hundreds of infinitesimal pieces, tiny crimson dots scattered around his dusty, brown, leather shoe. "I can't believe it!" Parnit cried. "You don't know or understand what I have given up to be with you. I see that I can no longer make love to you, as now only Kertin will be able to do that with me. But we can still be together!"
"No," Tarnel cried. "You are filled with rage, and attraction for that silly servant!" Parnit stared at him, surprised. "Yes, I saw the way you looked at that servant, Kertin, I presume. You looked at him with love you have never given to me! No, I can't have a relationship with you. You have changed, Parnit, into someone I no longer understand and no longer love."
Tarnel began to run across the suite, leaving, when a sharp, crimson shard of glass lodged itself into Tarnel's bare foot, blood creeping over the gentle crimson and pink pattern on the jagged edge. "Look what you've done to me!" Tarnel yelled, as he ran out of the room, heading towards Healer's Collegium.
"Wait," Parnit cried, chasing after Tarnel. "I broke a lifebond for you, I will never be whole, and this is what you offer me as thanks?" Parnit sprinted down the corridor, chasing after the quickly fleeting figure of his former love.
-- --
Down the corridors and halls they chased, Parnit following the bloody trail of his former love, all the way to Healer's Collegium. Tarnel threw the door open angrily, venting his frustration, and ran inside, where a Healer lay him down on a stiff mattress and gently pried the shard out of his foot, swabbing the blood with a rag.
Parnit looked down at Tarnel, and Tarnel looked away, saying quietly, "I don't want to be with you anymore, Parnit. Leave me. Go!"
Parnit turned away, passing the remaining beds in the room on the way to the exit. He glanced over a fellow soldier, injured in the last fight against Karse, a Herald, injured from an arrow wound, and a servant.
A servant?
Parnit looked over the pale, dying body of the servant, and saw the face, thin eyelids shut gently over the emerald eyes, the strong cheekbones protruding from the thin flesh masking the skull, his distinctive amber brown head of hair spreading across the pillow. Parnit collapsed to the nearest chair, in shock.
Kertin! Oh, Kertin. His gorgeous eyes will never be opened again!
Parnit grabbed Kertin's hand, the cold, pale fingers limp inside his own warm palm. Parnit felt the last remnants of their bond together break, as Kertin died, his soul floating to the Havens.
Goodbye, my love.
Parnit collapsed onto the lifeless, pale corpse of Kertin and began to cry, his sobs awakening the Healers to his plight. Parnit was lifted and carried away, his sobs rising, howling, echoing, and finally fading away, lost amidst the Collegium.
Parnit survived, but incomplete, thinking always of his love and the weak scar of the lifebond, that remained, ever present, within Parnit's mind.
Parnit died many seasons later, of old age. His soul was finally released from the weathered, scarred body, drifting up to join Kertin in the Havens, their souls finally together, but their close bond never returned, leaving only a memory and a rough scar.
A/N: That's the end of the 3 chapter Scar of a Lifebond. I titled this chapter Endings because Kertin dies, Parnit pretty much dies (he's never fully alive, really, after that), and Parnit and Tarnel's relationship ends. And it's the end of the story. I hope everybody liked this story. I have one ongoing story, Poison and Prison, and another one shot, The Death Bell, in case you want to read them –cough plug cough-. Anyways, hope you liked this story, I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for reading!
Wind to thy wings, Breezefire