Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be…
Thankyou to imjuzakyd for editing this story!!
Shalimar Fox stood trembling as the heavy rain soaked her clothes. She was confused and in pain; she didn't know where the pain had come from or what it meant. She just used her feral hearing to listen carefully to the conversation. No words made sense, but she saw the hole and the dark, red blood.
She had heard the gunshot not long ago, but she just turned her back and continued fighting the enemies. She saw a man leaving the warehouse where her friends, family, had disappeared into. She felt a tear trickling down her thin cheek. The man had the gun.
She would not believe it; she has to see the hole, the blood, to believe it.
Her walk broke into a run. She didn't care about the men whom she decided to spare until the end; she let them run. She didn't care whether her legs were screaming with pain. She didn't care, although she couldn't move her arm because of the pain that a long, bleeding wound brought to her.
She entered the lonely warehouse quickly and raced towards the boarded doors, crashed through it, pushing away the thought of the splinters of woods that cut deep inside her. She stood inside the warehouse, looking and watching the surroundings; nothing was out of place. It seemed like any other warehouse -- dirty. Again, she looked around the room, holding back the fear that was building up inside her. Shalimar's eyes rested on the door that had the sickly smell of blood behind it. She hesitated briefly, with her hand on the door knob, before entering the room of doom.
Her eyes danced around the room, searching for the signs that turned her world upside down. Suddenly she saw what she had been looking for.
The body lied by the wall, the shape and the clothes. She let out a sob before glancing at the spray of blood and the bullet holes that was scattered above the body. One bullet became lucky and hit its target -- the head. She reached out but pulled back her hand, she didn't want to touch him. She just cried and held her self. She rocked herself in a dark corner, watching the body for any sign of life. It was true, Brennan was dead. Her lover and best friend was dead.
How could she be so stupid? How could she let him go after three skilled mutants with guns all alone? Why didn't she go after him? Her mind filled with guilt as she thought that it was he who was lying there and not she.
She refused to believe it, but she had seen the body, the blood and the hole. Yet, they offered her no answers and even less comfort.
She crawled over to the body, sobbing. She held his head in her lap. Footsteps filled her ears but she didn't move, why should she? She promised him that she would die a day before him so she would never have to live a day without him.
The door swung open but she didn't look up. She wanted Brennan's face to be the last thing she sees, not her killer's.
"Shalimar?"
Her head shot up and, standing in the doorway was Brennan. Her eyes opened wide, and she began to shake. She ran to the corner once again. Her mind was playing tricks on her.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into those eyes and she saw her man.
"Shalimar," he spoke again, "That's not me. I shot him earlier. He looked like me, sure, I mean his face is messed up and everything."
"Brennan," she cried, suddenly feeling all the pain that had been caused by the fight.
"You're hurt!"
"I' m fine, why did you leave?" Her eyes were filled with questions. How could he do such a cruel thing, let her think that it was him lying there?
"It was the snow." He simply said.
Shalimar glanced at him; she scanned his face repeatedly, desperately seeking for more information.
Finally giving up, she stood up and walked away, yelling as she went. "Oh that explains everything, does it!?"
She paced around the room, repeating the words softly to herself over and over, "it was the snow, it was the snow, it was the snow."
Shalimar looked at Brennan who was looking at her hopefully.
She gave in to her anger, "so it was the snow? You made me believe that you were dead! For some freaking snow! How could you be so selfish?"
Brennan wrapped his arms around her, hushing her. He laid his head on top of her. He was surprised how well their bodies fit together as if they were made for each other.
He reached inside his pocket and took out a necklace.
"I want you to have this, Shalimar."
"You've got to be kidding me! You love that necklace, I can't take that." she protested while giving him a puzzled look.
"You have to take it Shalimar. I want you to have it. I love you so much." He insisted as he thrusts the necklace towards his lover.
"So, the snow? Care to explain that?" she asked hopefully, now was a good time to ask.
"Yeah it's snowing outside. It was beautiful, nearly as beautiful as you. Flakes gently falling from a winter sky covering the landscape in a blanket of white. The trees gleaming softly as the sun reflected off of their icy branches. It was really coming down. I had to stay and look at it, the world becoming white and so pure, pretty much like you. Shalimar, have you ever felt like it is snowing inside you?"
"What do you mean?" Her head was spinning and she didn't want to think. She just breathed in the scent of her best friend as she listened once again.
"Do you ever feel like it is snowing inside?" Brennan continued, the smile gone from his face. "Like it is snowing inside of you and everything is cold and hollow. You're alone and someone or something has removed every light, every hope, and every chance to be O.K. You can't feel anything; everything inside you is just... empty, white."
Shalimar suddenly felt as if she had just woken up from a dream. All the pain she was feeling suddenly disappeared. She never knew Brennan felt like this.
"Yeah, when I was in the mental hospital, I suppose. Brennan, it was snowing so hard inside me, I thought there wasn't any light in my life, till I met you."
"Me too Shalimar. You brought light back into my life. You brought hope and faith to my heart. You made me believe once again. I don't have to paint a smile on my face anymore. Before I don't know what love meant, but now I do. It's something that naked eyes can't see, but the heart can feel it so deeply. It's something that the brain doesn't understand, but the heart knows yet it can't explain the feeling. I love you so much."
Shalimar was dumbfounded for the very first time in her life. She allowed Brennan to pick her up and carry her. His hands were strong and huge but yet he held her so gently. She just held him more tightly before whispering in his ears, "I love you too Brennan."
She closed her eyes, worn out from the battle and decided that maybe she had found what she was seeking in the warehouse with the hole and the blood -- love.
Ok, imjuzakyd say to me 'Wow girl, you sure like morbid stories with lots of blood in it… sheesh! You almost gave me a heart attack! In any case, it's a sweet story, although I had a hard time connecting the fight with the snow… so Brennan walked out in the snow in the middle of a fight? scratches head Sorry, didn't get that part clearly.' So I am going to tell you, pretend that he killed all of the bad guys and then went out or uses your brain, I don't care. As long we got that out of the way!
Please review?