Author's Note: Wow, thanks for anyone who reviewed. I'm honestly not that great of a writer cuz I'm like failing English so never did I expect so much response. I look back on it now and notice stupid little technical grammatical errors and spelling mistakes and I could just kick myself.
IMPORTANT: Before Sunrise has a sequel, Before Sunset. It came out 2004 and I haven't seen it yet. NOW the important thing is, should I write a sequel? Respond now or wait til the fic is done to reply.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or Before Sunrise.
Chapter 14 - the MORNING Chapter 14 -
Morning finally came; Gar and Raven were walking down an anonymous road. Both dreading the inevitable, both dreading their goodbye. Yet they were making small talk, as if trying to cram as much conversation they could in whatever time they had left. They walked hand in hand down the small cobblestone steps. Gar with a slight bounce in his step, Raven had to keep pulling him back so as to not get ahead of himself. His backpack slung carelessly over his shoulder, his muscle shirt rumpled a bit. Raven was wearing his large jean jacket, the sleeves were folded at the ends yet you could barely see her hands. Her hair was back in a bun with a few hairs straying across her features. He would say something stupid, she would punch him on the arm and they would laugh. They were surrounded by aura; there was a lingering morning haze and somewhere off at a distance, too far to pinpoint where but close enough to hear the faint echoes, there was a haunting melody played on a harpsichord.
"I'll probably go pick up my dog," he said, "He's staying with a friend of mine."
"You have a dog?"
"Yeah, I love animals," he turned to her and started walking backwards in front of her, "'Bout you? What's the first think you'll do when you get back to Paris?"
She thought about it, "Call my parents." Raven didn't notice when he stopped walking so she walked right into his arms and they both laughed. Suddenly the harpsichord stopped and clock rang somewhere at a distance. Dong, dong, dong. Eight times. Eight o' clock. Raven sighed, clenched her eyes closed and rested her head on his chest.
"Shit, we're back in real time." He looked at his watch. Yep.
Gar lifted his chin and rested it on top of Raven's head, "I know, I hate that." He removed his head from hers, lifted her shin gently with his hand and kissed her. Still holding her hand he dragged her over to a water fountain. He put his bag down and sat. Raven followed lying down beside him, her head on his lap. Gar smiled down at her, removed her hair clip and combed his hand through her hair. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, soaking in the sun, the feeling of her on his lap, the sound soothing sound of gently rushing water behind them.
"And the years shall run like rabbits," Gar stated in a deep Scottish accent. Raven, who had also closed her eyes, jolted them open and raised and eyebrow up at him.
"What?" He opened his eyes and looked down upon her with a smile.
"Nothing," he shook his head, "Nothing. I have this, uh, recording of Sean Connery, reading a W.H. Auden poem. He's got a great voice. You know just... It's like, uh...
But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time."
The haunting words of the poem rang around them, a slap in the face of their delusions.
'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.
'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day."
The two stayed there. The words of the poem resonating in their minds, the relevance, the irony. Time was their enemy, their constraint. Raven looked deep into Gar's emerald eyes with longing, sorrow and…
My God, Gar thought as he caressed her cheek, she's amazing. And I'll never see her again. But... I have to. Have to tell her. Gar lifted Raven up in his arms and looked into her eyes. He opened his mouth and began, "Raven…I--"
Raven interrupted with two fingers on his lips. Tears playing in her eyes. She shook her head, "Don't say it. I know what your thinking, don't say it. I don't want to hear those words." Raven looked away and sighed, fighting back tears.
"It'll hurt too much when we…," she turned back to him, "Gar." Her eyes bore into his, pleading. "Gar, it's bad enough as it is. Please don't say it."
He nodded and wrapped strong, protective arms around her, holding her close. She just kept talking, as if it were the only way to keep her together.
"It seems ridiculous doesn't it? We've hardly known each other 24 hours," she chuckled nervously, "And look. It seems impossible. Like a dream. I feel like I'll wake up any minute now, alone on the train. I'll find out that I fell asleep reading a novel or something and dreamed this whole thing up. It's like a fairy tale, y'know? Like an urban legend. The romantic sappy stuff you see in indie films or cheap dime-store pocket novellas."
He chuckled in her hair at the analogy, but he knew it was true. He himself was afraid. Afraid that this was all just a figment of his over active imagination. An aftermath of too much sugar before dozing off. Afraid that she might be nothing more than an image, no more real than unicorns or faeries. A concoction of his mind, its way of dealing with a horrible break up. Afraid of waking up and knowing this was just some kind of beautiful dream.
A/N: This is sort of the morning after kinda thing. I kinda wanted to make it dreamy and suddenly, jerk them back to reality. There, as I promised another poem. This poem was actually in the movie, but just a clip of it. I wanted a bigger chunk of it cuz it was so relevant, scary how haunting its words are, not just for the characters in the story but for anyone in general. It's a pretty modern poem and fairly straightforward. Of course Gar would know every connotation behind all the poems he recites; I just love how poetic he is (err, well at least how I made him). We're nearing the end and there will another two poems in the last chapter.