Okay, okay
Here we go again...
MULTI-FANDOM FIC MEME!!!
You can choose from any fandom that I have written from before. If you are not sure, check the tags of my journal. Some popular choices tend to be Slayers, A:TLA or Shadow Raiders, but this meme is not limited to these ( Read more... )
MULTI-FANDOM FIC MEME!!!
You can choose from any fandom that I have written from before. If you are not sure, check the tags of my journal. Some popular choices tend to be Slayers, A:TLA or Shadow Raiders, but this meme is not limited to these ( Read more... )
In their lives together, Gourry had come close. He had managed to avoid a violent death by sometimes as close as a hair's width - and then laugh about it later. Lina loved that about him, loved his carefree attitude, his ability to understand that perhaps he would die badly but still he wouldn't dwell on it.
If anyone had asked him, he never would have thought he would die an old man. If asked, he would have owed it to Lina.
But he was old, Lina realised one day, standing at his side of the bed and looking down on his sleeping form. He's grown old without my realising it - no, without my admitting it.
She watched him as he slept, listened to how his breaths came out in random gusts, almost like his remembering to take them was an afterthought. He had been sick for several days, and Lina had pegged it to a simple cold brought on by the weather change.
He had laughed it off, blowing his nose loudly and sometimes showing her the result, just to hear her scream and get her to punch him. But as the days went on, he slowed down, and now, he was bedridden, unable to find the energy to even get up for the day.
His hair is so white, Lina thought numbly, her fingers going to her own hair, the colour still orange, albeit lighter. His face is so thin, and lined...Gourry, what happened to you? Why was I so blind?
She sat on the bed, placing her hand on his chest. He stirred, then opened his eyes a crack, the colour dim. With a jolt, Lina knew what it meant, and her heart stuttered and seized within her breast.
But he smiled, reached up and placed his hand over hers. "Lina," he chided softly. "It's very late, and you get bitchy when you don't sleep your usual thirteen hours." His voice was so frail, like old and dry paper, despite the familiar and comforting teasing.
Lina opened her mouth to reply, but something else came out instead, a sound like a croak, or the sound a cat makes when someone steps on its tail. Her eyes filled, and she gritted her teeth, her hand shaking upon his chest. She cuold feel his heart beating, still, but it was so faint and unevenly paced that she knew, she knew, and it was killing her inside.
Except she wasn't sure she could die anymore.
But she said it. She had to. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
Gourry sighed, the sound long and drawn out, his eyes closing for a moment. "Feels like it," he admitted.
Something sparked within her. "You can't leave," she snarled, the tears falling free. She reached down and grabbed onto his shoulders, digging her fingers in. "You can't leave! I was the one who was supposed to go first. I can't live without you!"
She was shouting desperately now, her voice a broken wail. Gourry looked at her, his eyes already so blank, his breathing already so faint. Slowly, he smiled up at her, reaching up with his hand and cupping her cheek into it. She shut her eyes, sobbing out something incoherent.
"You can live without me," he said softly. She opened her eyes, her hands going up to hold his hand onto her face, his fingers already slackening. "You're smart. You're not stupid. Don't act like it now."
She barked out a laugh, more like a sob. "And you would know what an idiot is, right?"
He chuckled softly, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I would."
She crumpled then, curling up on his chest and sobbing, clutching him close and not letting go. His hands touched her, but they were so light and so cold. She willed her won life to flow into him, but no matter how hard she prayed and hoped and cried, he was still dying and she could do nothing to save him.
And when she felt him breath out his last, felt him relax beneath her, something snapped. She pleaded into his ear, told him she loved him over and over, said that she would be a better wife and a better woman if he stayed, but he was already gone.
And everything turned red before her, and she screamed. The sound could be heard for miles, but she didn't care. She wouldn't care, not for a long time. Not without being nudged into it. Not without help.
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*googles*
EEEEEEEE!
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Yeah, that entire fic wouldn't make sense to me if it hadn't ended up this way. It's terribly sad, but it's kind of real, too, don't you think?
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ALSO, I'VE BEEN PLAYING FF13 A LOT. I'M SURE I COULD BE WRITING IN THAT TIME.
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