A/N: This fan fiction is dedicated to PeanutButterII, for giving me my first review and inspiring me to write this piece. I hope you enjoy reading the His Dark Materials fan fictions, please carry on doing so!
Will sat on the bench at the botanical gardens in his Oxford. It had been a year since he had been parted from his darling Lyra. That year had been one of the hardest of his life. It was impossible to forget her, and just as hard to fit back in to the world he had left behind, with all that he had since experienced. But he was finally beginning to get himself back together, although his heart remained broken. As he sat there, with Kirjava curled up on his lap purring, he thought he could feel her again. For a few moments he felt whole again, and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Although he couldn't see her, he knew she was close by, and he could feel the strength of her love within him.
Kirjava also felt this surge of love. Her dear Pan was close by, she could feel him. She opened her eyes and snuggled up close to Will, feeling his heart beating like a drum in his heart. She could tell he was feeling the same emotions as she was, and could see, for the first time since they had parted, true happiness in his eyes. Although he could not see her, he felt her presence for those few precious moments, and her love filled his heart once again. Then she was gone.
Slowly, agonizingly, her presence disappeared once more, and his soul filled again with sorrow. For a few minutes, he sat there quietly, letting the tears welling in his eyes flow freely down his face, with Kirjava rubbing softly against him, trying desperately to comfort him and ease the pain they were both now feeling. It felt as though they had parted all over again. It was worth that pain, as he had once again been able to share their love, and he knew that his sorrow was not for nothing, for she still felt love for him in her heart as he did for her. For those few precious moments, they had become one again, and his heart was mended.
He finally composed himself, and pulled a small leather pouch from his rucksack. He tipped the remnants of the Subtle Knife in to his hand, and looked at them. What if that knife had never come to him? What if he had just stayed, hiding, in Cittagaze until the children had found him and drove him out, back to his own Oxford to be caught by the police and separated forever from his dear mother? Would he still feel this pain? He turned the metal pieces over in hand as he considered these questions. Maybe he wouldn't be feeling this way now, but wasn't it supposed to be better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? He decided that although their time together was short, he would not change it for the world, even if it meant he no longer felt this pain. She was too precious to him, and that bond between them was one of those rare things that a lot of people spent their whole lives searching for, a bond not to be wasted or wished away. So he was glad he felt this pain, for at least he had found his soul mate, and he knew their love for each other would last forever, despite all the barriers facing them.
Lyra sat on the bench at the botanical gardens in her Oxford. A year ago, she had said her last goodbye to her darling Will here, and the window between them had been closed for the final time. It had taken her months to begin to again have some kind of semblance of a normal life, but it was a life without Will by her side, and so it was in some ways an empty one. She had begun again to learn to read the alethiometer, with the help of her new teacher at college, Dame Hannah. She was glad of this, a form of distraction, but when she was alone she often thought of him, and the pain of her broken heart intensified. Maybe one day it would begin to mend, but for now, although the pain was not so raw, it remained firmly broken. She sat there with Pan on her lap, and sighed softly. Then she felt it.
She felt Will, felt his presence as though he was beside her, as though if she reached out her hand she would be able to touch him, he felt so close. Most of all, she felt him reach out to her, his love for her overwhelming. For a few glowing moments, her heart was whole again, as their souls once again connected, filling the gaping hole within her heart that their parting had left. She could feel his love, and it was pure, comforting. Then she could no longer feel his presence, he was gone, and slowly the hole in heart opened once again. For those few minutes she felt as though they were together once again, but once again they were cruelly torn apart.
She sobbed quietly in to Pan's soft fur, willing for him to come back for her, reach out once again. Pan shared her pain and her grief, for he had lost his dear Kirjava all over again. She sat there for what seemed an age, although it was only a few minutes, just thinking of Will. Although she felt this pain, part of her felt comforted by the fact that although they could no longer be together in body, his love for her remained strong in his heart. They had, for those few moments become one again, whole. So despite the pain she was feeling, she knew that was worth it to know their love remained just as strong as it was the day they parted.
She pulled out the alethiometer from her rucksack and gazed silently at it. The instrument used to seem as though it was a part of her, and it was this instrument that had told her to trust Will, and to help him in his quest to find his father. She had fulfilled that task, and that was when their love for one another began to bloom. What if she had chose to ignore it? She was a stubborn girl, and part of her must have considered just leaving Will to his own task and carrying on with her own. But something had held her back from doing this. Maybe somewhere inside, she knew that this was the person she would fall in love with, her soul mate, her everything. She was not sure of this, but she was sure that she loved him completely, as she always would. Their love would last forever, undying.
They both left their respective benches, and returned once again to their homes, back to their normal lives. Were they normal though? Both of them had been through so much together and had both been touched by love. So would their lives ever be normal while they remained apart? Perhaps not, but this meeting had given both hope that one day their souls would connect again and never be parted.