Actually a double word prompt this time, but that doesn't really change anything. I actually got the idea of autumn and hows its colours are really just a distraction from another fanfiction which I can't remember the title of, and I thought 'huh that's actually really clever'. I've been wanting to write a story focusing around that concept but I never really got around to doing it until now. Also, if you don't realise this, the part in between the '~;~' is a flashback. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
Fiery Colours
Fire, the most passionate of elements. It's the symbol of heat, the heat of the moment, the heat of emotion, the universal sign of showing someone that you're feeling something powerful.
So how is it that autumn gains the status of fire? By far, autumn is the most deceptive of seasons. It is the time when the leaves on the tree wither, they lose their ability to photosynthesise and drop off the branches in their multitudes, curled up and dead.
They have died, and yet they embody one of nature's most lively and energetic elements.
Spring is more straightforward, its the green of life, of new life, with a haphazard arrangement of blues and purples and pinks to add a little variety and spice.
Winter, just as simple, it's absence of colour makes up its colour. The white of snow, or merely the transparent shimmer of raindrops, all accompanied with the bitter chill of wind and ice convey to the world that it is cold, that this is a time of hardship and trial, that is a time when people die.
But autumn? Autumn is complex, autumn is different. Autumn is ashamed. Autumn is ashamed of its weakness, of its death, because in nature only the strongest survive, and anything showing the slightest hint of weakness is killed.
So to distract the eye they change their colour, morph into spatters of red and orange and yellow, in a vain attempt to pull the attention away from their crumbling bodies.
They are ashamed, and so they hide, they cower beneath a facade of bluster and fervour in order to prevent the world from seeing exactly what it is that's shivering behind the flame.
...
Puck fingered one of the leaves, twirling it between his thumb and forefinger. Running his finger down the spine there was a row of small crackles, like kindling in the hearth, and a series of tiny lines spiderwebbed out from where his fingers had been. A cold breeze swirled around him and he breathed in deeply, wincing slightly as the cold air pricked the inside of his nostrils, but it soon lifted and he smiled.
No use frowning about it, he thought I might as well enjoy it when I can. He remembered the incident days ago, and the quiet words of Cobweb as he looked up from his sheet. "Twelve months to live" he had said, and Puck kicked at the ground moodily. 4000 years of protecting myself from dragons and in the end the one thing that gets me is poison.
~;~
He had been in Faerie when he had received the mortal wound, pushing back a sudden wave of rebels who had sworn personal vengeance on the royal family. A fairy had got him with a well-aimed arrow, and he had dropped from the sky like a stone. When he came to the cut had been dressed, but the grave look on his brother's face told him that his troubles were far from over.
"A cocktail of drugs, magic, and luck. You're living on borrowed time." Mustardseed told him "We've managed to hold the poison at bay, but the cocoon we held you in only delayed its spreading. Within a year your last magical barriers will fail and the poison will kill you. You'll be dead within seconds." He had paused after this, as if the words he were going to say next were harder to say than announcing his brother's imminent death. "Would you like me to contact Sabrina?"
Puck had shook his head quickly, lifting up both hands almost as if in an act of surrender. "No. No way. If you do she'll freak and start yelling at me and crying and I... I don't want to see that. No she'll know when it happens."
Mustardseed bit his lip, and looked at his brother doubtfully "Are you sure it's right? Hiding it from her like this?"
Puck shook his head again. "Yeah."
~;~
She can't know, he thought, as he paced moodily If she finds out... something bad will happen to both of us. He nodded, almost as if he was trying to convince himself It's better I keep it from her. Yeah. Yeah it is. His mind made up he dropped the leaf to the ground and walked home, whistling a false tune as the first drops of rain started to fall on his head.
Three months later
"Come on I want to show you something." Puck said, dragging her outside into the frigid air. The snow crunched underneath their boots, and Sabrina fiddled with her blindfold.
"What is it?"
"Well it won't be a surprise if I tell you now. Just stop fighting and keep walking."
She wrinkled her nose. "I don't like this. If this isn't a good surprise I'm going to punch you in the face."
"So violent." Puck chuckled and pulled her down the street and into a nearby park. "Ok," he instructed "stay still and don't move while I get the surprise ready." He moved away and Sabrina was left standing, alone with her thoughts.
A few seconds passed. It's awfully quiet. Shouldn't Puck be making a lot of noise tromping around like that? But if it's quiet it means he's trying to be sneaky. Which means- her thoughts were cut short as something horribly horribly cold was heaped on her beanie and she whipped around, shaking snow from her shoulders and head and tearing off the blindfold.
"Puck!" she yelled at the grinning fairy standing in front of her, mittens wet and expression innocent.
"Yes?" he asked "I'm right here no need to shout."
"I'm going to... I'm going to..." At a loss for words, Sabrina ended her sentence by drawing back her fist and slugging him in the gut.
He doubled over, still laughing weakly, and bent low to the ground, sneakily grabbing a handful of snow.
"I'm so... I'm so... You're going down." He said in between breaths, head facing downwards to conceal his grin.
She folded her arms. "Oh really? How?"
"Guess." he said sneakily, and threw the snow into her face before running away, cackling. Sabrina recoiled, but as the coldness stung her face she was suddenly reminded of a childhood memory, of her and Daphne and Puck running around throwing snowballs, and she grinned, scooping up a handful of snow.
"Bring it!" She gave chase and he fled, both of them chortling maniacally as they threw ball after ball of snow at each other.
Soon it was the other way round, with him pursuing her, and she was laughing so hard and having so much fun that she didn't notice the pained expression that occupied his face for a few minutes. Nor did she notice his quick decrease in speed, or sudden moments of fatigue. She didn't notice because he hid it well, and it was because he hid it well that it was such a big shock when it happened, such a big shock when everything around her came tumbling down.
Three months later
"You want us to go do what?" she said disbelievingly
"Go for a walk in the park. Since it's spring and all." He said, shrugging his shoulders
"Are you ok? Are you sick?" she said, putting her hand to his forehead, and he hurriedly pulled it off, suddenly nervous for a second.
"I'm fine. But come on let's go."
"Puck, you know we'll both hate it."
"It's either this, or have Marshmallow constantly pester us about how we never go on anything romantic for the rest of our lives."
She hesitated. "She does have trouble letting go of these stupid ideas."
"Exactly. So we just do our time now and get it over and done with."
"Since when did you become so mature?"
"Since your little sister called me last night and nagged at me to take you out somewhere nice. It wasn't very fun."
"I'll bet. Well... alright I suppose, if it'll get her off our backs. When do you want to go?"
"Now. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave." And without another word he picked her up and flew away.
All things considered the walk wasn't that bad. The sun was out, the flowers were in bloom, and a cool breeze slinked in occasionally to cool them off. They talked and walked, talked and walked for hours, their attention focused not on the vibrant plants around them but on the person moving beside them, and a wide grin slowly built on their faces.
This was how it went: she laughed at a joke he made, he faked hurt and placed a hand over his heart when she said something particularly biting to him, she rolled her eyes, he winked at her (or sometimes the other way round), he casually draped his right arm around her shoulders, she curled her left arm around his waist.
She was so content, so relaxed and peaceful, that not once did she notice the short burst of laboured breathing he would suffer through after every laughing fit. Nor did she notice the lack of sparkle in his retorts, or the infrequent tremors in his left hand. She didn't notice because he hid it well, and it was because he hid it well that it was such a big shock when it happened, such a big shock when everything around her came tumbling down.
Three months later
"What is this?" Sabrina asked, her nose wrinkling as she walked out into the backyard.
"It's a trampoline, duh." Puck said, smiling as he lay spread-eagled on it.
"I got that thanks." She retorted, sarcasm dripping off the last word in that sentence "What I meant was why do we have a trampoline?"
"To bounce on."
"Puck, it's the start of summer and we can barely fall asleep at night it's so hot. What makes you think we're going to be able to bear doing exercise in this heat?"
"Oh you're thinking about this too much. Stop analysing everything and just do something for the fun of it."
"I'm not analysing it, I'm just stating the- hey!" Without warning Puck jumped down and picked her up, flying her to the top of the trampoline.
"There." He said triumphantly. "You're on it. Now you have to bounce."
"Will you lay off if I do?"
"Yes."
"Well fine. If it makes you back off..." she started jumping hesitantly, lifting herself a few centimetres off the surface, and Puck shook his head.
"No, like this." And he leapt into the air so high and dropped so hard she shot up suddenly, screaming as she came back down. He continued leaping, and she continued bouncing, until finally her screams faded, and turned to giggles. It was very out-of-character for her but she couldn't stop it, she felt like a little girl again, and soon she regained the use of her legs and began to jump herself.
"Not so bad is it?" he asked, panting.
She didn't reply, merely shook her head as she continued jumping, him bounding along beside her. Eventually they got tired and lay down on the stretched black surface, breathing heavily as a patch of dense clouds covered the sun, creating some reprieve from the-now-amplified heat. A drop of sweat ran down his forehead and he turned to face her, grinning.
"So you want to keep it?"
She nodded. "Yeah, let's keep it." She smiled and rolled back onto her back, arms thrown wide as she revelled in the patchy shade. She hadn't had so much fun in so long, not on something so ordinary, and she almost buzzed as the high continued to surge through her.
She was so happy, so otherwise occupied, that she didn't notice the quiet hisses he made every so often as he changed position. Nor did she notice the small spasms in the muscles of his leg, or his almost painful breaths as he continued sucking in air. She didn't notice because he hid it well, and it was because he hid it well that it was such a big shock when it happened, such a big shock when everything around her came tumbling down.
100 days later
"I hate you," she muttered fiercely "I hate you so much. I can't believe you. I can't believe you'd do this to me!" She leapt up and stamped at the ground, kicking up great clods of dirt with her shoes as she started yelling at the slab of stone in front of her. "Why?! I can't... You can't... You lied to me! You said you were alright! You said you were fine! You said that, that's what you said! And now... and now... Now you're not fine! I hate you!" There was no response, the air was silent, and suddenly it was as if all energy left her body, and she fell to her knees, in front of that unmoving rock stuck in the dirt.
The mud splashed up around her legs, soaking her jeans, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she wept. "I miss you," she whispered quietly, sounding like nothing but a breath of air almost "I miss you so much. I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you that enough, and now I can't and I just... I love you. I love you so..." She couldn't finish her sentence, as now even words failed her. Her head dropped and she cried, small sobs escaping her lips, and up above a tree rustled, and from a branch fell a leaf.
A blood-red autumn leaf dropping gently to the ground, in between the cold tombstone, and the crying girl beside it.
I know Sabrina was a little ignorant in this story but I had to do that if I wanted the story to end like it did. I tried to keep them as in-character as much as I could, or give reasons for any out-of-character behaivour, but I'm not entirely sure if I succeeded. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.