Haven Fic: Septentrional [Audrey/Nathan]
Author: siricerasi
Fandom: Haven
Characters/pairings: Nathan/Audrey
Rating: T
Word count: 607
Warnings: None
Spoilers: General season 3 spoilers, nothing too specific after 3.02.
Story Summary: SEPTENTRIONAL - MEANING: Northern. ETYMOLOGY: From Latin septentriones, literally the seven ploughing oxen, a name for the seven stars of the Great Bear constellation that appears in the northern sky.
Author's Notes: For hc-bingo prompt "sacrifice".
This is set before they know about the barn, after Audrey has pushed Nathan away. Very vague and completely non-canon speculation on Audrey's fate.
“So, that’s it.” He sounds so calm, so unaffected, but his usual monotone is laced with an icy hardness that chills Audrey to the bone.
She shivers, nods. “Orion, the Hunter,” she murmurs, looking at the night sky where he’s staring. Orion’s Belt, three stars that always caught her eye before this; now they burn like living prophecies, searing her retinas.
“We could go,” he says suddenly, not looking at her. “Try to keep ahead of it.”
Audrey smiles a little, sadly. “Nathan, there’s nowhere it’s not visible at night. And I’m not spending the rest of my life on a plane.”
“Not Orion, the meteor storm,” he counters almost absently, as though they’re talking about the temperature of his coffee. “It can’t last forever, and it’s only visible in the north.” Audrey raises an eyebrow and he looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “I did some research,” he admits, almost sheepishly.
For a moment, Audrey seriously considers it. Could it be possible? Could she really outrun her fate? Could she really leave all of Haven behind?
She shakes her head slowly. “I can’t leave,” she tells him softly, apologetically. “I belong here. And there’s too many unknowns, I don’t… we don’t know if the Hunter is the cause or just a coincidence, if it matters whether or not I’m in Haven. I can’t just abandon everyone here for a random chance it might work.”
Nathan stares at the ground, hands in his pockets, and she knows he’d already guessed her answer. But the anguish is there on his face anyway as he whispers, “At least it’s a chance,” and something inside her chest just tears open. She leans against him, rests her head on his shoulder.
“We’ll find another way,” she murmurs. He slowly raises his arm to wrap around her waist, tucking her against his chest when she shivers. He’s warm, so solid, a beacon of stability in her increasingly chaotic life.
He nods and she hears him swallow, looks up to see his eyes burning in the moonlight. She’s never said it, she realizes. She’s never told him how desperately she wants to stay, to stay with him. She’s never said a word about trying to figure out a way to beat this, only about finding the Colorado Kid or the Bolt Gun Killer or Sarah or a thousand other things that aren’t her. She never even lets herself think about it, because once she does she realizes how badly she wants to stay, and the grief and anger and fear are so intense it’s paralyzing.
Still, it hasn’t been fair to him. She’s been selfish, and she knows it, trying to protect him but also herself. And the cost for both of them has just been too high.
She nuzzles his neck, wraps her arms loosely around his waist and closes her eyes. He smells like the ocean, like salt and sand (and Chinese food). He smells like home.
“I want to stay, Nathan,” she mumbles into his shirt. “I want to stay.”
He kisses the top of her head, wraps his other arm around her and pulls her flush against him, burning out the cold she’s felt since Duke had first told her about the Hunter. They can do this, together. They’ve always been stronger as a team, and she’d been stupid to think otherwise.
And maybe, when this is over and she’s not about to vanish on him, they can be more than that.
For now, though, she’s beyond content to stand with him in the dark and let his warmth burn out those three taunting stars.
Fandom: Haven
Characters/pairings: Nathan/Audrey
Rating: T
Word count: 607
Warnings: None
Spoilers: General season 3 spoilers, nothing too specific after 3.02.
Story Summary: SEPTENTRIONAL - MEANING: Northern. ETYMOLOGY: From Latin septentriones, literally the seven ploughing oxen, a name for the seven stars of the Great Bear constellation that appears in the northern sky.
Author's Notes: For hc-bingo prompt "sacrifice".
This is set before they know about the barn, after Audrey has pushed Nathan away. Very vague and completely non-canon speculation on Audrey's fate.
“So, that’s it.” He sounds so calm, so unaffected, but his usual monotone is laced with an icy hardness that chills Audrey to the bone.
She shivers, nods. “Orion, the Hunter,” she murmurs, looking at the night sky where he’s staring. Orion’s Belt, three stars that always caught her eye before this; now they burn like living prophecies, searing her retinas.
“We could go,” he says suddenly, not looking at her. “Try to keep ahead of it.”
Audrey smiles a little, sadly. “Nathan, there’s nowhere it’s not visible at night. And I’m not spending the rest of my life on a plane.”
“Not Orion, the meteor storm,” he counters almost absently, as though they’re talking about the temperature of his coffee. “It can’t last forever, and it’s only visible in the north.” Audrey raises an eyebrow and he looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “I did some research,” he admits, almost sheepishly.
For a moment, Audrey seriously considers it. Could it be possible? Could she really outrun her fate? Could she really leave all of Haven behind?
She shakes her head slowly. “I can’t leave,” she tells him softly, apologetically. “I belong here. And there’s too many unknowns, I don’t… we don’t know if the Hunter is the cause or just a coincidence, if it matters whether or not I’m in Haven. I can’t just abandon everyone here for a random chance it might work.”
Nathan stares at the ground, hands in his pockets, and she knows he’d already guessed her answer. But the anguish is there on his face anyway as he whispers, “At least it’s a chance,” and something inside her chest just tears open. She leans against him, rests her head on his shoulder.
“We’ll find another way,” she murmurs. He slowly raises his arm to wrap around her waist, tucking her against his chest when she shivers. He’s warm, so solid, a beacon of stability in her increasingly chaotic life.
He nods and she hears him swallow, looks up to see his eyes burning in the moonlight. She’s never said it, she realizes. She’s never told him how desperately she wants to stay, to stay with him. She’s never said a word about trying to figure out a way to beat this, only about finding the Colorado Kid or the Bolt Gun Killer or Sarah or a thousand other things that aren’t her. She never even lets herself think about it, because once she does she realizes how badly she wants to stay, and the grief and anger and fear are so intense it’s paralyzing.
Still, it hasn’t been fair to him. She’s been selfish, and she knows it, trying to protect him but also herself. And the cost for both of them has just been too high.
She nuzzles his neck, wraps her arms loosely around his waist and closes her eyes. He smells like the ocean, like salt and sand (and Chinese food). He smells like home.
“I want to stay, Nathan,” she mumbles into his shirt. “I want to stay.”
He kisses the top of her head, wraps his other arm around her and pulls her flush against him, burning out the cold she’s felt since Duke had first told her about the Hunter. They can do this, together. They’ve always been stronger as a team, and she’d been stupid to think otherwise.
And maybe, when this is over and she’s not about to vanish on him, they can be more than that.
For now, though, she’s beyond content to stand with him in the dark and let his warmth burn out those three taunting stars.