The little AU: Vignettes: Sliding Doors. Autumn.
The little AU: Vignettes: Sliding Doors. Autumn.
Will, Viggo. by poetic_self
~~
The meeting is somewhat unexpected.
Viggo walks through the woods.
Walks and stops and lights a fire and sits down.
Sits there for a while. Sits there on his own. The night and the forest around him.
He wouldn't have expected anyone to be around at this hour in this place, and if he would, he wouldn't have thought of the one who finally appeared in the nightly shade of the fir trees.
Viggo looks up. Tired. Exhausted, not just mentally.
Surprised. Deeply, utterly surprised.
He thinks about getting up, but then doesn't.
The other nears with a gentle step, taking care not to disturb the branches lying on the ground.
Viggo looks at him.
"Did I call you?"
"I don't think so," says the other. Politely remaining standing until it has become clear that he's welcome. Even at this hour. At this place.
Then sits down, bringing with him a smell of tang and salt. The wrong element in this place which smells of old green and bark, and if you stir, spreads the odour of rotting trees.
The question is obvious, but neither of them raises it.
"You used to tell me each night would come to its end." Explains Will, finally. Viggo remembers. He's still watching him with the attention you give to someone who arrived unexpectedly and whom you want to make sure of being really there.
Will gives a small shrug.
"Thus, I'm here. To remind you."
"That goes not for this night." Says Viggo. Meaning this road. "This road will have no morning." This road. The Road.
Will repeats the gesture again.
"The road I don't know about. But I know about this night."
And sits just to sit, and be. Company for the cold hours of the night. One to make sure you won't fall asleep and never wake up again.
Viggo watches his figure at the small fire, the leather coat wrapped around him. Leather boots. No gloves. The shine of the fire in his dark hair.
Everything blurs. Becomes vision. Becomes sleep. Becomes dream.
He wakes to Will shaking his shoulder, Viggo stiff from the cold, aching in bones that don't know about the mystery of an immortal life.
The hand that cups his skull for a moment is icy. Immortality doesn't prevent from the cold, it seems. Will draws back the moment he realizes. The gesture is comfort. The touch is not. Not at this hour.
He instead turns Viggo around, so that they stand shoulder to shoulder and nods, pointing into the direction of the bleak dark sky.
"There", Will says.
Time freezes - not even the hours themselves are immune against coldness - and then a perfect ball of blazing fire explodes in the East, creeping up the horizon with an almost supernatural speed.
"Sun's up. - Time to go."
Viggo walks to the end of the forest without once turning around. As he does, at its edge, just beneath the last of its trees, Will is gone.
"Who was that? The one you've been talking to?" asks Kodi later.
"You've seen him?" asks Viggo, after a while.
"Not really." Admits the boy. "More - felt him. But he was there, wasn't he?"
"Yes", says Viggo. "Yes. He was."
~~
[Poster's note: Sliding Doors refers to the movie, with Gwyneth Paltrow. Doors have slid in The little AU from time to time- this bit just came to p_s, and has been very graciously offered to be posted. The doors between worlds do open in unexpected ways, from time to time. Thank you for this.]
previously: six
next: seven
Will, Viggo. by poetic_self
~~
The meeting is somewhat unexpected.
Viggo walks through the woods.
Walks and stops and lights a fire and sits down.
Sits there for a while. Sits there on his own. The night and the forest around him.
He wouldn't have expected anyone to be around at this hour in this place, and if he would, he wouldn't have thought of the one who finally appeared in the nightly shade of the fir trees.
Viggo looks up. Tired. Exhausted, not just mentally.
Surprised. Deeply, utterly surprised.
He thinks about getting up, but then doesn't.
The other nears with a gentle step, taking care not to disturb the branches lying on the ground.
Viggo looks at him.
"Did I call you?"
"I don't think so," says the other. Politely remaining standing until it has become clear that he's welcome. Even at this hour. At this place.
Then sits down, bringing with him a smell of tang and salt. The wrong element in this place which smells of old green and bark, and if you stir, spreads the odour of rotting trees.
The question is obvious, but neither of them raises it.
"You used to tell me each night would come to its end." Explains Will, finally. Viggo remembers. He's still watching him with the attention you give to someone who arrived unexpectedly and whom you want to make sure of being really there.
Will gives a small shrug.
"Thus, I'm here. To remind you."
"That goes not for this night." Says Viggo. Meaning this road. "This road will have no morning." This road. The Road.
Will repeats the gesture again.
"The road I don't know about. But I know about this night."
And sits just to sit, and be. Company for the cold hours of the night. One to make sure you won't fall asleep and never wake up again.
Viggo watches his figure at the small fire, the leather coat wrapped around him. Leather boots. No gloves. The shine of the fire in his dark hair.
Everything blurs. Becomes vision. Becomes sleep. Becomes dream.
He wakes to Will shaking his shoulder, Viggo stiff from the cold, aching in bones that don't know about the mystery of an immortal life.
The hand that cups his skull for a moment is icy. Immortality doesn't prevent from the cold, it seems. Will draws back the moment he realizes. The gesture is comfort. The touch is not. Not at this hour.
He instead turns Viggo around, so that they stand shoulder to shoulder and nods, pointing into the direction of the bleak dark sky.
"There", Will says.
Time freezes - not even the hours themselves are immune against coldness - and then a perfect ball of blazing fire explodes in the East, creeping up the horizon with an almost supernatural speed.
"Sun's up. - Time to go."
Viggo walks to the end of the forest without once turning around. As he does, at its edge, just beneath the last of its trees, Will is gone.
"Who was that? The one you've been talking to?" asks Kodi later.
"You've seen him?" asks Viggo, after a while.
"Not really." Admits the boy. "More - felt him. But he was there, wasn't he?"
"Yes", says Viggo. "Yes. He was."
~~
[Poster's note: Sliding Doors refers to the movie, with Gwyneth Paltrow. Doors have slid in The little AU from time to time- this bit just came to p_s, and has been very graciously offered to be posted. The doors between worlds do open in unexpected ways, from time to time. Thank you for this.]
previously: six
next: seven