A/N

Song for this chapter: The Waiting Game by Kalandra

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Erin awoke a short time later, unaware she had even fallen asleep. The soothing rhythm of Uncas' breathing, the comforting steady thump of his heart, had lulled her into slumber. She was instantly aware she was not curled against his chest, instead the soft cool mossy ground hugged her body. It took her more than a moment to dispel the sleepy feeling and slowly she rose to a sitting position, rubbing at one eye in an attempt to see past the hazy dreams that still clung to her senses.

Erin mused groggily on how exhausted she must have been to fall asleep so readily.

She allowed herself to feel the waves of drowsy contentment that still ebbed through her, the pleasure and sore tenderness that her body still felt from her recent intimate encounter. Somehow, Erin knew this night would never have an equal, this would always be a painful longing for something she could never regain, and yet she felt no remorse. She found she couldn't regret a moment spent with him, even if it was to be their last. It gave her a strange fragile hope, to know at least she could keep some part of him with her, even if only in the gossamer of memory.

It was a mystifying thing to find any kind of true peace with, to know someone she felt so strongly for was never meant to have a permanent role within her life, and yet everything fitted into place like an intricately made puzzle, the truth slotting so easily together. She would return home to loving arms and her whole heart ached at the thought of it, of finally being home. The world would settle back into a rhythm, a pace, that didn't contain him.

Uncas would live his life here, in this world, in this wild wilderness where he belonged and time would flow forward. Perhaps they would find others to love, others to love them in return. Erin knew life often had a way of making even the most devastating losses wear away like sea glass, the sharp points rounded and blunted, but the whole still there. Clouded and less clear, but somehow still beautiful even if it had lost its lustre. Transformed into a different shape.

She wondered if that would be her fate, to be a dulled piece of glass, never fully able to shine as brightly without that reflection of the sun... of him, of the intensity of what she had felt in these short few days.

'Useless', her mind gently pushed forward the word, for once the intent seemed to be nothing but comfort, and she took it, nestling it softly against her bruised heart, hoping it would somehow cushion any further blows. Maybe whatever it was between them being so fleeting made it somehow more beautiful, maybe the fragility made it more precious, it could never be tainted by arguments and cruel words or even a cruel life. They would always be that strange perfect blip that had occurred when they were both still young enough in their discernments to enjoy the wonder of each other.

It felt like a fable to soothe fears, a folklore to weave into the bleakness of life that gave sadness a tale of morality. A way to see the harsh truth of what would come as picturesque.

Erin shook herself out of her feathery thoughts, allowing them to drift away as she fully came back into the world. Her mind no longer clouded from sleep and bitter rumination, but here, with him.

Her eyes searched for a brief moment but found Uncas quickly. She could see his silhouette in the unencumbered moonlight up ahead, it suddenly seemed so bright and ethereal as if some celestial body had picked out this clearing with a hazy spotlight.

Erin glanced up, seeing dark indigo sky and sparkling crystalline stars. The clouds had passed. It was beautiful, this place could be so beautiful, and so was he, and both mingled within her mind, creating a heady and emotional memory that she knew would cause her to choke back tears once she was home. She watched the sky, her eyes searching for the faintest star.

Her gaze drifted back to his outline and she watched him a moment in voyeuristic appreciation as he splashed fresh spring water upon his skin, the droplets glinting like tiny falling diamonds. She noticed his shirt was lying in a crumpled mess nearby on the bank along with his leggings, breech cloth and moccasins, that meant...

Erin's eyes were upon him again, gaze lingering admiringly upon what she could make out in the dimness, traveling over water dewed skin, plains of muscle and strength. His long hair was fully unbound and as he moved the lustrous strands caught the light, catching her breath too, dark as a fairy-tale night. Erin's chest ached with wistful yearning for a future that could never be.

Her ears pricked at a noise, he was speaking very softly as he cupped another handful of water onto his chest and Erin strained to listen. It was a breathless prayer she couldn't fully hear, a chant, almost a song, strains of melody wrapped into a deep low lament.

Erin rose quietly to her feet, not wanting to disturb his private moment but unable to help herself, curious to see more. She assumed if he caught her he'd laugh, finding her lusty behaviour very amusing. Perhaps he'd chastise her with that stern look he sometimes got, when she did something unanticipated and unladylike, his eyes telling her how she never really acted the way any society in this time expected. He would then smile at his teasing, pull her to his naked form and envelop her in a deep kiss that would leave her gasping and breathless, and she would return it with one of equal intensity. Then they'd tumble back into the soft embrace of the moss and passionately make love once more.

Erin bit her lower lip in apprehension, suddenly wanting very much to be caught in her snooping, to see that lightning smile and those half lidded eyes full of want and desire directed at her.

As she drew nearer the words shifted and became something she could understand.

"Great spirit... give me... strength... the will... show me the... way... the way..." His voice rose into the same wordless chant of high and low wavering notes. It almost sounded as if he were sobbing and Erin's nerves pricked.

She suddenly, somehow, knew this was something she was not meant to see. She looked away, ashamed and then back to where she had been sleeping, her mind pushing forward the idea that she should quietly return, curl up and pretend to sleep. She looked down, her hands fidgeting before her as she tried to make a decision and her body seemed to make the choice for her, she began to move back towards the moss...

'Wait!' Her mind pushed forward the word and her reaction was like seeing a traffic signal suddenly flip to a red light, her muscles instinctively pushing harshly down upon her own brakes. Her whole body froze, the feeling stilling her in place, the fine hairs on the back of her neck rippled in response, like a cold hand had reached out and gripped her nape.

None of this felt right.

She slowly turned back and took a few more uncertain steps forward, her eyes finding him again, seeing now that he was stood within the stream up to his knees. He was indeed naked, and with a physical feeling of nausea Erin realized it was not only water that trickled across his skin, it was fevered sweat. His face was beaded in it, lips trembling. Every few moments he would stop his baleful song and his body violently shivered.

"Show me... strength." He crumpled to his knees, a low moan coming from deep within his chest as the water splashed up his thighs.

"Uncas?" Erin finally found her voice.

He didn't answer but remained in a hunched position, body wracked with constant tremors. She rushed to him in alarm, water soaking into her skirts and splattering up her legs in a wave of shocking cold. She was hesitant to even touch him for a brief moment, unsure what was wrong or what she could do.

She finally placed her shaking hands about his shoulders, trying her utmost to make her touch firm but gentle.

"Come," she coaxed, "come out of the water."

He suddenly jerked his body in response to her words, his eyes staring up into her face, and Erin's grip faltered, her body swaying away, for she did not see the man she cared about shining out from his eyes, just blank emptiness, his pupils so big that his whole irises were near consumed. He shied away from her, sending a splash of water up between them.

"I do not know you," he mumbled. Erin shook herself inwardly, clutching back onto her senses and reached out to soothe him and again he pulled away. "Don't!" His voice was panicked and full of childish terror.

Then, as if he had heard something in the tree line, his head wrenched in a different direction. He balked at whatever he saw, falling into a sitting position, using his legs to push and scramble away from the invisible horrors.

"Uncas." Erin tried to go to him again but he flinched from her hand. "It's okay, you're okay." He seemed a little assuaged by her voice and finally Erin was able to place a hand back upon his shoulder. "You're sick. I think you have a fever. Remember? Cora said it could happen, you are seeing things. I'm here."

"Sick?" He repeated the words, eyes glimmering with some form of understanding. "I am sick."

"Yes, come with me. We'll go back to your brother and father. Let's go find your father." She gently eased him up on to his feet, her hand wrapped about his upper arm in a vain attempt to keep him steady.

He remained staring at her, his expression evident of just how hard he was trying to remember who she was. "I know you," he breathed in awe.

Erin smiled in frail encouragement. "Yes, you do."

"You foretold my death." His brow furrowed and he again swatted her hands away, drawing back a few steps. "Witch!" He said the word in his own tongue and it sounded all the more venomous for it.

Demon, foul, sin, wrong. The meaning to that one spat out word had so many translations. All dangerous and all full of hate.

"You have cursed me! Cursed my family!" He tried to turn away but Erin grabbed for him, hands slipping across sweat slick skin in an attempt to stop him running off and injuring himself further.

"No, look, calm down, okay!" She got a hold of his arm and tugged him back, making him stumble and turn to her. His eyes narrowed in pure loathing, fever and manic delirium blazing within the dark depths like embers within a fire. "It's me, Eri-" Before she could finish, he moved, his body lunging, knocking into hers, taking the feet from under her and the breath from her lungs.

Erin thought she cried out in surprise but she wasn't really sure if the high pitched noise had come from her or him, and then the water was around her, surrounding her, rushing into her body through airways, taking away any remaining breath she had, the sudden cold a shock to her entire nervous system.

She flailed a moment in surprise, trying to get any momentum, knowing that she had to get up and go after him. If he ran into the surrounding forest he could easily be lost or injured. She had to stop him hurting himself, he wasn't himself, she had to save him!

Her mind bombarded her with panicked thoughts, there were so many things she had to do, and yet, with a slow trickle of terrible realization, she found she could not.

Erin could not move.

A weight was upon her chest, pushing her down, down into the water. With a steady dreadful comprehension that chilled her very core, Erin knew she didn't have to go after Uncas, because he had not left, he was still with her, resolutely forcing her down, down into the water, forcing the water into her.

It was strange how until that moment she hadn't really lingered on what he was capable of, in the very real terms that he was a warrior. He had killed many people in his life, she'd seen it herself, musket shot and downward swing of a tomahawk, he was capable of ending a life, his own life often depended on it.

There was always a strange morality to it, 'kill or be killed' was a saying she assumed he told himself often, so he could close his eyes and sleep peacefully at night. But Uncas would never hurt those he saw as defenceless, those that meant him no harm, those he cared about... Never!

But that was the point, wasn't it? Right now she was a threat to his life, in whatever half-awake fevered dream had distorted reality, she was his enemy, and he was intent on drowning her and putting an end to the witch he saw as a real danger.

Erin wanted to cry out, to appeal to him, to the man she knew was there behind all the temporary mania, but when she opened her mouth only more liquid flowed in as she was forced under the water once again. She fought bitterly, muscles straining against his sheer force of strength, her arms and legs wheeling, pushing back with all her might, and for a short moment she broke the surface, taking in a spluttered gasp of air, lungs now burning. This time she did scream, it sounded thin and sharp and desperate in the still night air.

She had no chance to see him, to look him in the eyes, to bring him back to sanity, she was too focused on drawing in air, breathing, living for another moment. She had no choice but to fight back, and she did, hands flying and connecting with bare shoulders, his chest, his face. The harsh sounds of slaps against skin joined by grunts of effort as she tried to startle him, to make him let go, to stop him forcing her back into the water again... But it was a fight she was never going to win. He was a warrior, tall, strong, muscle and instinct, and she was just... Erin.

She could feel a weakness within his arms, a fluttering uncertain thing that threatened to pull all the strength from him at any moment, and hope glanced across Erin's nerves only to be overwhelmed by the truth, that he was still stronger than she, and that was all that truly mattered here and now, in this one critical wretched moment.

He pushed her back once again, the water surrounding her in moments and her lungs burned with intense pressure. She knew she'd have to take in a breath soon, it was all she suddenly wanted to do, but Erin understood the moment she did, it would all be over and water would fill her lungs. She tried to keep holding her breath, but black smudges were dancing at the edge of her vision, speckled with red and white pulses of light that seemed to throb with her own beating heart, and with a little spasm of all her muscles Erin stopped fighting, her limbs leaden, heavy and useless. The time to take that last fateful breath approached and Erin found she had strangely accepted it.

For the fifth time since she had come to 1757, Erin saw death grasping out a clammy hand to claim her.

/

A/N

Hello all. Friday again and here I am with a rather dramatic chapter. Gosh, no going back now it's posted! Was it a twist for you dear reader?

My poor friend, who I shared all this story privately with in 2020, said it gave them a heart attack :)))

It was my intent to jar you after the last chapter and lead you down a fairy path that suddenly fell away.

I know it may have been a wee bit of shock for this heel turn, but I promise it will all hopefully start to make sense as we go forward. Everything will have a reason and hopefully a meaning too. So, let's see.

I know this will turn some of you off the story and that's fine, thank you for reading this far.

I also have some lovely news! Although Spark has been the only story I've got consistent negative interaction with, it's also the first of my fanfics that someone has made fan art of! So, I guess it's all a weird balance in the end. I want to thank Lucy for taking the time to make something for Spark, I was seriously so happy that you reached out and despite your insistence that it's not really art because it was made with AI, I think it's wonderful! It's funny because apart from her red hair, I never really put much thought into what Erin would look like, so it's fun to see what my readers think and how they see the character!

Of course I am going to use this as Spark's cover photo, so everyone can enjoy it.

Again a big thank you to those reading and especially those taking time out of your day to comment. I hope to see you next time.