Key -- Brigit's Flame Entry (Just For Fun Wk 2)
Title: Key
Summary: A prompt-based ficlet from my own imaginary world
Rated: PG-13ish
Warnings: None.
Ana met him in the rain, as she was about to board her regular bus. His shoulder brushed hers as he was walking down the stairs and he mumbled “Excuse me,” so quietly that she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. By the time the bus pulled away, her nose was buried in a book and she’d forgotten him completely. He watched her until she was out of sight.
The second time they met, Ciernan was sitting alone at her usual table in the dining hall when she arrived. He could see the deliberation in the narrowing of her eyes: would she sit with a stranger, or share a table with those she abhorred? He watched the straightening of her spine as she chose him, and he admired her for it. The smile that spread across his face was accidental and delighted when the first words she spoke to him were “Who the hell are you?”
* * * * *
The first time Ana called him, it was to get the notes for a class she’d missed. Ciernan assumed she’d been busy with her Craft, but didn’t ask. He gave her the information she needed, and an hour later they were heatedly debating the winner of a hypothetical battle between worlds: Bram Stoker’s Dracula versus Satan in Paradise Lost. They had all the passion and moral superiority you’d expect from college kids, and the battle was still ongoing when they met for coffee later that week.
He’d known her for two months, one week and four days when he kissed her. He’d expected her reaction, which was as challenging as it was guarded. He hadn’t expected his own reaction, which stopped his heart for a second when she kissed him back. For almost thirty seconds after that, he forgot who he was and what he was doing. At that moment, he’d known of her for two years, three weeks and 6 days.
* * * * *
Ceirnan told her that he loved her for the first time after a night of horrible movies on DVD and really good Chinese food. He meant it, and that eased the guilt that plagued him when Ana pinned him to the couch and confessed that she loved him too. He would always remember that she said it just that way: as if it were a sin to be confessed, a weakness to be ashamed of.
* * * * *
She told him that she hated him approximately four minutes after he told her everything. He watched as her eyes burned a darker shade of blue than he’d ever seen them, and he knew she meant it. He refused to leave, insisted they talk this out, and she pushed him out of her apartment using only the power of her mind, slamming the door like the period at the end of a sentence.
The next time he saw her, he said all the wrong things, and Ana couldn’t hear what he was trying to explain-- that she was the only person he’d ever really trusted... that he’d been raised for only one purpose... that he was sorry.
* * * * *
She was the most beautiful person he had ever met, and she walked away without looking back, because she was the key to a lock that had eluded his ancestors for centuries. She was a Guardian.
Summary: A prompt-based ficlet from my own imaginary world
Rated: PG-13ish
Warnings: None.
Ana met him in the rain, as she was about to board her regular bus. His shoulder brushed hers as he was walking down the stairs and he mumbled “Excuse me,” so quietly that she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. By the time the bus pulled away, her nose was buried in a book and she’d forgotten him completely. He watched her until she was out of sight.
The second time they met, Ciernan was sitting alone at her usual table in the dining hall when she arrived. He could see the deliberation in the narrowing of her eyes: would she sit with a stranger, or share a table with those she abhorred? He watched the straightening of her spine as she chose him, and he admired her for it. The smile that spread across his face was accidental and delighted when the first words she spoke to him were “Who the hell are you?”
* * * * *
The first time Ana called him, it was to get the notes for a class she’d missed. Ciernan assumed she’d been busy with her Craft, but didn’t ask. He gave her the information she needed, and an hour later they were heatedly debating the winner of a hypothetical battle between worlds: Bram Stoker’s Dracula versus Satan in Paradise Lost. They had all the passion and moral superiority you’d expect from college kids, and the battle was still ongoing when they met for coffee later that week.
He’d known her for two months, one week and four days when he kissed her. He’d expected her reaction, which was as challenging as it was guarded. He hadn’t expected his own reaction, which stopped his heart for a second when she kissed him back. For almost thirty seconds after that, he forgot who he was and what he was doing. At that moment, he’d known of her for two years, three weeks and 6 days.
* * * * *
Ceirnan told her that he loved her for the first time after a night of horrible movies on DVD and really good Chinese food. He meant it, and that eased the guilt that plagued him when Ana pinned him to the couch and confessed that she loved him too. He would always remember that she said it just that way: as if it were a sin to be confessed, a weakness to be ashamed of.
* * * * *
She told him that she hated him approximately four minutes after he told her everything. He watched as her eyes burned a darker shade of blue than he’d ever seen them, and he knew she meant it. He refused to leave, insisted they talk this out, and she pushed him out of her apartment using only the power of her mind, slamming the door like the period at the end of a sentence.
The next time he saw her, he said all the wrong things, and Ana couldn’t hear what he was trying to explain-- that she was the only person he’d ever really trusted... that he’d been raised for only one purpose... that he was sorry.
* * * * *
She was the most beautiful person he had ever met, and she walked away without looking back, because she was the key to a lock that had eluded his ancestors for centuries. She was a Guardian.