A/N- Hey guys, sorry about the gap between chapters, I wrote this one, but then I lost it, so I had to rewrite the whole thing again! So frustrating! But anyways, I was reading over the last chapter I posted and I don't really like how I wrote it, but I won't change it for the time being. Hope you all had a merry christmas and a very happy new year! Please review, Happy Reading!
Sophie was dressed in her finest day dress. It wasn't as pretty as Mrs. Branwell's, Miss Tessa's or Miss Cecily's, or Miss Jessamine's old ones for a matter of fact, but it would have to do. It was striped blue and yellow downways, the form-fitting top corset and full skirts, almost brushing the fresh grass at her feet, hinting at her feminine figure. The sleeves were short and light, only just covering her slim shoulders.
She touched the necklace on her neck. Gideon had presented it to her only a few nights ago. Like all his other gifts, she had tried to refuse it, saying she wasn't worth the trouble, but, like all his other gifts, he had insisted until she gratefully accepted. It sure was lovely though. The thin, delicate chain was made of silver, weightless on her skin and making lovely shapes where it touched her collarbones. The pendant was even lovelier still. It was a red diamond, rich in colour, trapped in a frail, elegant cage, which caught the sunlight and threw it back in rainbows. Sophie would never forget the way his strong hands shook as he clasped it on her neck, she'd never forget how surprisingly soft his skin felt against hers, how sweet the kiss he had placed upon her lips.
Charlotte had kindly offered Sophie an extra day off, so she'd used it to satisfy Gideon's request to have lunch. That's where she was now, in a charming, deserted green park. There was a small fountain in the middle, and ancient trees scattered everywhere.
Looking up, she saw the man she loved coming towards her, with a straw basket in one hand. He was wearing casual but very handsome attire. Gideon wore beige fitted trousers and a white polo shirt which showed off his wide shoulders and muscular arms.
It was a very unusually lovely day for London, the sky was clear, only a few white clouds could be seen, the sun shining strongly in the sky, with the cold wind keeping it in balance. But she had to admit, the sky was always a little bluer and the birds always sung a little more sweetly when Gideon roamed her thoughts. The sandy-haired boy reached her, and, before uttering a single word, he bent at the waist, captured her small, feminine hand in his big, strong one, and placed an ever-so-soft kiss right in the middle of it.
"Hello, Sophie", said Gideon. Sophie could only smile, but she could also feel the redness of her face, and, upon touching her cheek with her free hand, felt the heat of her skin. Gideon looked up at her with those big, green eyes, the kind one could never get used to.
"I really do love the way you blush. Your cheeks get red, like apples and then it spreads all the way down your neck to-", and suddenly, Sophie wasn't the only one blushing anymore. Gideon shook his head at the ground and looked back up at the hazel-eyed girl.
"Anyways, I thought we could have ourselves a nice pick-nick, how does that sound?", he asked. There was a hint of worry in his tone, as if she would decline. How could this man still think she did not love him? It should be the other way around. Sophie still sometimes had a hard time believing him when he told her she was beautiful, she would touch her scar and look to the floor, and every time she did, Gideon would tell her he loves that scar, because it's part of her, and now part of him too, and that gave her the smallest sliver of hope that maybe this boy really did love her, a human.
"It sounds wonderful,", she whispered. Sophie wasn't used to people doing things for her, so she was surprised when Gideon began setting up a makeshift table on top of the blanket he had produced, using the straw basket. He had thought to bring water, cups and napkins, and had even gathered sandwiches and green salads for them to eat. He set everything down beautifully, and took Sophie's hand to pull her down until she was sitting on the blanket across from him. This was a hard task considering her skirts.
Then, Gideon did something unexpected, after what seemed like a moment of thought, he took a deep breath and moved the basket so it was no longer placed between them. He moved a little closer to Sophie and took her hand. She felt a shock run through her bones and settle in her heart, making it beat faster. Gideon was looking into her eyes as if he never wanted to look away, and she to him,
"Sophie, I wanted to ask you something, something I've been wanting to ask you for quite a while now actually,", she loved the way he said her name. It was a whisper on his lips, a lullaby,"before I ask you though, I want you to know that I love you. I truly do. You are a strong, amazing woman and I can't imagine my life without you anymore, ", Gideon's voice shook, he seemed nervous, but Sophie couldn't phathom why. She smiled warmly at him and placed her other hand on his cheek, causing him to lean into it,
"And I you, Gideon", he smiled, the smile that made her heart stop but beat a thousand times faster at the same time,
"So, my love,", Gideon said as he motioned for her to stand, while he kneeled at her feet, still holding her hand, Sophie gasped, he couldn't possibly be doing what she thought he was doing, but she would never forget his next words to her, the words that changed her life forever,
"Sophie Collins, will you marry me?", she stopped breathing, where his voice had shaken before, it was now even and smooth, his hands were steady, and though his eyes held hope and happiness, they also held doubt for her response, like there could ever be more than one answer,
"Yes, Gideon, yes of course I will!", she said, letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She knelt to his level, throwing her arms around his neck. He put his arms on her waist and kissed her passionately. Before she knew it, they were standing, but she wasn't touching the floor, Gideon had stood, lifting her with him, leaving her feet six inches off the grass.
Gideon set her down with a bright smile and even brighter eyes. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a beautiful ring. He slid it smoothly on her ring finger, before sofly kissing every finger tip. Sophie couldn't love it more. The band of the ring was thin and gold, and seemed to vine around her finger, making her hand look even more slender than it was, but the diamond in the middle is what took her breath away. It was a large, beautful stone, glittering in the sunlight, so bright, she imagine it would glitter in even the darkest of places. There were tiny precious stones around the centre diamond, intricately carved and detailed to make it look an exquisite flower. It looked natural and perfect, like it had dropped from the sky like a raindrop. She had never seem something so captivating in all her life,
"I hope you're not too upset, normally I would give you my family ring, but I gave that back to my father when I walked away from him, I had this made for you, it's not nearly as beautiful as you are, but I think it really suits you,", this was true, it did suit her, almost as if she had been born with it attached to her finger. Every aspect of her person was staring at her from within the ring itself, making her feel like she could shine just as bright as this diamond and look just as beautiful,
"Gideon, I-I don't know what to say,", she stumbled for the right words to express her happiness,"this is absolutely amazing, it's perfect, more perfect than anything I've ever seen, I'm not upset at all, the word has no meaning for me right now, and I dont think it ever will again,", she looked up at his shining green eyes, rich in colour,"I love you, Gideon", forgetting all propriety and appropriateness, she reached up and kissed him again, more lovingly and intensely than she ever had before, putting every emotion she was feeling into it, there weren't enough words to describe what she was feeling. She felt worth it, she felt whole.
It could have been ten seconds or ten minutes when they finally broke apart, she didn't know. She placed her chin on his shoulder and stared off into the trees behind him, imagining their future together. She would become a Shadowhunter now, what she'd always wanted, but she'd happily become a dung beetle if it meant she could spend the rest of her life with the green-eyed, sandy-haired, kind-hearted man, her fiancee, in her arms.
An odd movement in the trees caught her eye. There seemed to be people walking between the cluster of trees not too far from where they were standing, strange, because last time she'd checked, there had been no-one in the park but her and Gideon. She looked a little closer and felt the blood drain out of her face, because she recognised the movements, she recognised the awkward and almost robotic way in whch those "people" moved. The fact is, they weren't people at all.
"Gideon,", she whispered,"move slowly, you need to look in the trees behind you", at hearing the tone in her voice, the smile instantly slipped from Gideon's face, and he went right into defense mode, he slowly let her go, then turned his body to face behind himself.
"You have got to be joking,", Gideon whispered, "automatons."
The things were walking towards them now, if you could even call it walking, it was more like twitching. But these weren't like the ones that had attacked the Institute on that awful night, they looked considerably more like human men. They had features and proper clothes, no chainsaws or blades instead of arms. But she was all too familiar with their kind, so there was no mistaking what they really were.
"Listen, Sophie,", Gideon leaned his head a little closer to Sophie's to whisper into her ear, "I don't know what's going to happen, but you need to be ready, when I tell you to run, you run, okay? I don't care what is happening, you need to leave without me, Ceryl is in the carriage just outside the park's gates, get help, but get yourselves safely back at the Institute, understand?", Sophie hesitated.
She'd seen what these creatures could do, what they did to Thomas and Agatha, and she couldn't let that happen to Gideon, not a million years, she frowned at him,"Sophie, you have to. No time to argue, run only when I tell you to,", the creatures were very close now, they weren't running, just walking casually, Gideon's voice was low but urgent, he looked at her firmly,"you need to trust me on this", and she did, she trusted him with her life, so, tentatively, she nodded one quick nod.
The automatons came to a very sinchronized, abrubt stop at about four feet from where Sophie and Gideon were standing, side by side, hands clasped together fiercely. Suddenly, the machine in the middle jerked his hand up and pointed to Sophie's chest,
"We are here to collect her, will you come with us?", his voice was so humanly that it was off-putting, but he was speaking in a complete monotone, like these words had been programmed into him,
"What if she doesn't?", Gideon said, tensing and slowly releasing her hand so he could take a slow, measured step forward, so that he was standing partially in front of Sophie, blocking her from the automatons,
"We will not spare either of your lives, she is replaceable." Sophie felt a shiver go up her spine. Gideon crouched forward, obviously ready, just like he had taught her to do when preparing for a fight, be ready, on your toes, assess every single movement from the enemy, assume every move is an attack, he had told he this duing one of their training sessions, thank god for those, because now she knew exactly what to do. In a split second, she measured the distance from where she was to the gate, and ultimately, the carriage, her shoes were comfortable enough to run a short distance, and thankfully, she had brought Jessamine's electrum laced parasol, Charlotte had given this to her not long after Miss Jessamine had left, saying it was for protection. God bless Charlotte branwell. She bent her knees slowly to pick it up, and three horrible things happened simultaniously.
Her hand came in contact with the parasol, two of the clockwork machines sprung soundlessly towards Gideon, the other two towards her, and Gideon yelled, "RUN!".
Sophie watched for a sixteenth of a second as Gideon reached down to his sock and pulled out what looked like a blade, before hurdling himself towards the machines, but she had to do what he had told her to. She hopped up and leaped backwards, the automatons both landing where she had been standing milliseconds earlier. With the parasol still clasped firmly in her hands, she bolted to the park's gates, she could hear matallic clincking behind her and groans, she resisted the urge to look back with much force, she had keep running. But she could sense the machines were much too close behind her, she could never make it, so shehad to think fast.
With surprising momentum, she dug the foot in front of her into the ground and used her other leg to swing back around, just as one of the automatons was about to grab her. She lifted her arm, and, using her momentum, swung the parasol around and hit the side of the machine's head, taking it right off. The clockwork machine collapsed on the floor, still twitching. The other one was a fair few feet behind her, so, instead of running for the gate which was much too great a distance away, she ran to the thick cluster of trees which was considerably closer.
She finally reached it and began weaving in and out of trees in an attempt to get away from the loathsome thing behind her. She briefly considered climbing one of the trees, but her skirts would mae it far too difficult, and that's assuming the machine couldn't climb, which she doubted. But, as the creature closed in on her and she turned halway around to look at it, her dress caught on a branch behind her, making her trip over her full skirts.
She quickly put her forearms in front of her face and tried to absorb the fall in her shoulders like Gideon had taught her. Sophie rolled onto her back and grabbed parasol, but the machine was at her feet. She saw the scene as if it were in slow motion, the automaton fell forward with one arm outsretched towards her face, about to hit her, and she lifted the electrum laced parasol, holding it at her stomach, the tip pointing up towards the sky. The machine, instead of landing on her, landed on the oustreched parasol. It sliced through where its heart should have been with a horrible screeching sound. The automaton stopped falling and got jammed on the parasol, leaving it convulsing from the electrum. She lay there, motionless, before feeling a crushing, sharp blow to her temple. She saw red for a second but then felt nothing, heard nothing and saw nothing but black, endless emptyness.