Embers | PG | Sense and Sensibility
Title: Embers
Prompt: Directly after the scene where Edward arrives to visit Elinor, and Lucy is there. Let us say Lucy and Marianne have left, leaving Edward and Elinor to speak.
Fandom: Elinor/Edward, Sense and Sensibility (movie version)
Requested by: kitnkabootle
Rating: PG
Word Count: 381
Disclaimer: Not mine. Wish they were. Please don't sue.
Author's Note: I ignored the second half of the prompt (blame the muse). I found myself drawn towards what Elinor might be thinking during that awkward exchange and chose to focus on that. I hope you don't mind! While I wrote this, I was thinking of Marianne's quote from early on: "to love is to burn, to be on fire." Enjoy!
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"Mr. Ferrars."
"Miss Dashwood."
The formality of their bows allows Elinor a moment to place a bracing hand to her breast. The slow cadence of her heart quickens within her chest, beating loud enough to alert everyone within the house. It may very well break through the barrier of her chest. It's as though it's attempting to reunite itself with its true home: beside Edward Ferrars'. Her morbid thoughts force her to wonder whether he'd keep it or hand it back to her.
Surely there's little room for her heart when Lucy's resides beside his own.
"What a pleasure to see you."
"Miss Dashwood, how can I--"
He stands but a few feet from her, though she can feel his heat as though she were standing before a wildfire. She imagines her cheeks to be heightened in color. She cannot allow him to continue. She can feel the intensity of his gaze, the weight of unspoken words upon his tongue, and she cannot permit him to speak as he would without Lucy Steele as an interloper on the conversation. "You know Miss Steele of course." She refers to the young woman standing behind him and watches, curiously, as his face falls and he blinks back the shock upon recognizing her. His pleasantries would never suggest that they've been secretly engaged.
The entire exchange is exceptionally strange. Elinor invites him to sit in the parlor and can feel the air as it shifts upon his further entering the room. The energy about Lucy Steele vibrates as though she'll start at any moment, and Edward appears rather…crestfallen. Elinor seats herself not because she is following course, but because her legs can hardly support her small, lithe frame.
Marianne's exuberance is painful and constricts around Elinor's heart. It's not her younger sister's fault for her ignorance regarding the attachment between Edward and Lucy, but Elinor feels faint just the same. Inside, she is screaming.
He is in the room for but a few minutes before he takes his leave, escorting Lucy with him. She cannot stand to watch him go as his arm is hooked with his sweetheart's.
Marianne calls her cold but, as Elinor sits once more upon the loveseat, she feels her face as it burns with shock, sadness, and love.
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