fic: Nightmare
Title: Nightmare
Series: (1/4) part 2 part 3 part 4
Fandom: LotS
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.
Summary: Cara wakes Kahlan from a bad dream.
A/N: I made it! Happy IDoF everyone!
“Seeker.” Cara’s tone was sweet, too sweet. It was the super syrupy voice she slathered over her acidic bite of annoyance. It was the voice that meant whatever he was doing was not only wrong, but mortally stupid, and she’d rather be explaining his mistake with her agiel.
Richard straightened up with a sigh and flexed his cramping fingers. “Yes, Cara?” he asked in what he hoped was a patient tone.
She crossed her arms and glared at him, the camp fire lacing her hair with red and gold shimmers. “What do you think you are doing?”
Richard glance down at the Sword of Truth that rested across his lap, then back up at her one eyebrow quirking. “Sharpening my sword.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not that.” She uncrossed her arms and waved one in the air. “That!”
Richard’s eyebrows furrowed and he glanced around the camp; Cara sitting on the other side of the fire and Zedd and Kahlan asleep on either side. “What?”
“That sound,” she pronounced the second word like it was something she found on the bottom of her boot.
“Oh!” Richard shook his head and grinned. “I was humming.”
“Are you trying to get us all killed? Between the fire and the Wizard’s,” Cara pronounced “wizard” the same way she had pronounced “sound” before. “Snoring half the D’Haran army should have found us by now and we would neither see nor hear them coming!” Cara’s lip curled in disgust. Beside the fire, Kahlan shifted restlessly in her sleep. “But clearly this isn’t enough and you have to make more noise.”
Richard grinned at her. He couldn’t help it. “Kahlan likes my humming,” he teased.
Cara rolled her eyes. “Oh well then,” her voice finally rising in her annoyance, becoming louder than the humming had been. “If Kahlan likes it, then of course you must…”
Cara broke off as the woman in question whimpered. Both her and Richard’s heads whipped around at the soft sound.
“Kahlan,” Richard hissed at her quietly, trying to wake her.
Cara dropped her arms to her side in defeat. “You’re both going to get us killed,” she said in a half disbelieving tone as Kahlan groaned but didn’t wake.
Richard turned his head to glare at her. “She’s having a nightmare.” He set his sword aside and scooted towards Kahlan. “Kahlan, wake up.”
Cara sighed. Her own memories of nights spent trembling, with only Dahlia to shake her out of remembered horror, stopped the instinctive scathing comment at this latest display of weakness.
“Kahlan,” Richard hissed again.
“Oh for the Creator’s sake,” Cara rose swiftly, telling herself she was only doing this to stop the racket, though the memory of soft arms around her clung to her as she knelt at Kahlan’s side and grasped the woman’s shoulder to shake her.
“Cara! No!” Richard stretched out his hand uselessly as Kahlan’s eyes opened, already pure black, and her hand found Cara’s throat.
For an instant they stayed frozen like that, although Cara had already begun to jerk away and in the next moment had fallen backwards.
Kahlan’s eyes cleared and her face changed into a look of absolute confusion. “Cara?” she whispered, staring at the fallen blonde.
Quickly Cara jerked herself into a sitting position slid back to Kahlan’s side. “Command me Confessor,” she whispered, bending her head.
“Cara?” Kahlan’s voice quavered as she sat up, her hair in disarray around her face. “Oh Cara,” her hands cupped the Mord’Sith’s face. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”
Tears spilled down Kahlan’s cheeks and Cara whipped them away with her gloved hands. “Don’t cry,” she pulled Kahlan into a hug and the confessor clung to her, weeping in earnest now. “Please don’t cry Mistress.”
“Sorry Cara,” Kahlan muttered into blonde hair over and over. “So sorry.”
Across the fire, Zedd jerked awake. One hand rubbing his head, he blinked rapidly. “What happened?”
Richard’s voice was hoarse and a few tears of his own shinned on his cheeks. “Kahlan confessed Cara.”
Zedd stared at the entangled pair. “When?” was all he managed to ask.
“Just a minute ago,” Richard told him.
“Oh.” Zedd was silent a moment. “Shouldn’t she be dying?” he asked finally as Cara and Kahlan continued to hug.
Richard’s head titled in confusion. “Ah, ladies?” They didn’t let go, but Kahlan did glance up at him. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but, um, shouldn’t she be dying?” he pointed at Cara.
Kahlan glared at him until the steady presence of a very alive Cara in her arms sunk in. She pulled back from the hug slightly, dropping her arms to Cara’s waist so she could study the Mord’Sith. “Cara?” she asked again.
“Yes Mistress?” Cara responded immediately, relieved beyond telling that Kahlan had stopped crying.
Kahlan stroked Cara’s cheek, her fingers brushing lightly against the skin, eyes wide. “Why aren’t you dying?”
“I love you,” Cara said simply and Kahlan recoiled as if she’d been struck, pulling out of the loose embrace. Cara watched her retreat with a look of resigned horror.
Richard’s eyebrows felt like they were trying to merge with his hair. “You aren’t dying… because… you love her?” He rubbed his forehead.
“She’s confessed,” Kahlan snapped. Unlike Cara, Kahlan spoke rapidly and tersely when she thought he was being an idiot; same underlying meaning though. “She loves me because she’s confessed,” the old pain and self recrimination was clearly displayed on Kahlan’s face.
“No!” Cara’s hand shot out and grabbed Kahlan’s wrist, making Kahlan’s eyes go wide. “I’ve been in love with you for months now,” she stared into Kahlan’s eyes as the pulse under her fingers sped up. “I knew there was never a chance. Richard…” Cara blinked rapidly as tears of her own started to make there way down her cheeks. “I didn’t want you to find out. I knew you’d be disgusted. I’m sorry Mistress.” Kahlan stared at Cara, unmoving, lips parted in shock.
“Cara,” Zedd had finally risen to his feet and was picking his way around the bedrolls to them. “What does your… love… for Kahlan have to do with your still being alive? When confessed, Mord’Sith are destroyed by the crushing guilt of all their victims.”
“That’s what we let you believe,” Cara didn’t look away from Kahlan as she answered Zedd’s question. “Because we knew if we let you know our real weakness you would try to find another way to use it against us.”
Zedd nodded slowly, “All attempts to replicate the effects of confession did fail.”
Cara sighed. “The confessor’s magic is based in love, it strips a person’s emotions away until all that is left is love for the confessor. The Mord’Sith can’t love, its one of the emotions we are trained to purge,” her head bent in shame. “When a Mord’Sith is confessed we are left with nothing, so we die.”
“But you love?” Zedd prompted.
“Yes,” Cara whispered.
Neither man said anything more, they just stared. Richard’s mind whirled in confusion, replaying moments of Cara’s interaction with Kahlan. She never smiled, her genuine broad happy smile Richard had only seen a few times, when the other woman wasn’t present, he realized.
“Cara?” Kahlan freed her hand from Cara’s grip and used it to gently tilt the blonde’s head back up. “I’m glad you love me.”
Cara glowed. There was no other word for it. In that instance she seemed to shine with happiness.
“This is very important,” Kahlan continued, swallowing hard. “I order you not to stop me and not to revive me until after you are yourself again.”
Richard jerked out of his musings but it was too late. For a second time that evening he watched, horrified, as time seemed to pause. “Kahlan! No!”
Cara caught her body as Kahlan crumpled over, one of her daggers protruding from her chest, blood once more soaking into the red leathers. With an angry tug Cara pulled the dagger free and bent to cover Kahlan’s mouth with her own.
This time Richard wasn’t too late, he grabbed Cara’s arm and pulled her back.
“You heard her, if you bring her back too soon her sacrifice will have been for nothing!” he shouted into the distressed Mord’Sith’s ear.
A lightening fast strike to his head knocked him backwards, blood singing in his ears. “I won’t let her die for me!”
Cara tried to get back to Kahlan but stumbled halfway there, black swirling over her eyes. She staggered as the magic released her and fell at Kahlan’s side.
Hurriedly she placed her lips over Kahlan’s, exhaling the life giving wisp into the confessor’s mouth. “Come on Kahlan,” she pleaded.
Kahlan’s body jerked as her chest expanded and she coughed rapidly. “Cara,” her voice was weak. “Did it work?”
Cara glanced back at Richard, her face once more unreadable. “Yes.”
“Thank the creator.” She relaxed in Cara’s arms, gazing up at the blonde.
“Well!” Zedd said briskly, with false cheer, startling the other three. “We’ve certainly had an eventful night, haven’t we? Why don’t you all,” the Wizard continued, not fully meeting anyone’s gaze. “get some sleep, I’ll keep watch the rest of the night.”
Cara sneered. “I’ll do it, you wouldn’t know if a bear was approaching and I think one brush with death is enough for the night.”
Kahlan laid a restraining hand on Cara’s arm. The blond’s eyes were just a little too wide and her gaze darted around uncertainly. “It’s okay, it’s okay to love me.”
Cara swallowed audibly.
“We will talk about this later,” the Mother Confessor continued, trying but failing to keep the exhaustion out of her voice as the drain of dying and using her powers tugged her eyelids lower. She managed to stand and walked back over to her bed roll. “Good night Zedd,” she added somewhat sarcastically as she lay down, asleep a moment latter.
There was an awkward silence as Richard retrieved his sword and tucked it back into his scabbard. He lay on his side, pretending to sleep as Cara and Zedd glared at each other from their self assigned posts until dawn broke over the mountains.
When Kahlan awoke Cara was gone.
(part 2)
Series: (1/4) part 2 part 3 part 4
Fandom: LotS
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing. No infringement intended.
Summary: Cara wakes Kahlan from a bad dream.
A/N: I made it! Happy IDoF everyone!
“Seeker.” Cara’s tone was sweet, too sweet. It was the super syrupy voice she slathered over her acidic bite of annoyance. It was the voice that meant whatever he was doing was not only wrong, but mortally stupid, and she’d rather be explaining his mistake with her agiel.
Richard straightened up with a sigh and flexed his cramping fingers. “Yes, Cara?” he asked in what he hoped was a patient tone.
She crossed her arms and glared at him, the camp fire lacing her hair with red and gold shimmers. “What do you think you are doing?”
Richard glance down at the Sword of Truth that rested across his lap, then back up at her one eyebrow quirking. “Sharpening my sword.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not that.” She uncrossed her arms and waved one in the air. “That!”
Richard’s eyebrows furrowed and he glanced around the camp; Cara sitting on the other side of the fire and Zedd and Kahlan asleep on either side. “What?”
“That sound,” she pronounced the second word like it was something she found on the bottom of her boot.
“Oh!” Richard shook his head and grinned. “I was humming.”
“Are you trying to get us all killed? Between the fire and the Wizard’s,” Cara pronounced “wizard” the same way she had pronounced “sound” before. “Snoring half the D’Haran army should have found us by now and we would neither see nor hear them coming!” Cara’s lip curled in disgust. Beside the fire, Kahlan shifted restlessly in her sleep. “But clearly this isn’t enough and you have to make more noise.”
Richard grinned at her. He couldn’t help it. “Kahlan likes my humming,” he teased.
Cara rolled her eyes. “Oh well then,” her voice finally rising in her annoyance, becoming louder than the humming had been. “If Kahlan likes it, then of course you must…”
Cara broke off as the woman in question whimpered. Both her and Richard’s heads whipped around at the soft sound.
“Kahlan,” Richard hissed at her quietly, trying to wake her.
Cara dropped her arms to her side in defeat. “You’re both going to get us killed,” she said in a half disbelieving tone as Kahlan groaned but didn’t wake.
Richard turned his head to glare at her. “She’s having a nightmare.” He set his sword aside and scooted towards Kahlan. “Kahlan, wake up.”
Cara sighed. Her own memories of nights spent trembling, with only Dahlia to shake her out of remembered horror, stopped the instinctive scathing comment at this latest display of weakness.
“Kahlan,” Richard hissed again.
“Oh for the Creator’s sake,” Cara rose swiftly, telling herself she was only doing this to stop the racket, though the memory of soft arms around her clung to her as she knelt at Kahlan’s side and grasped the woman’s shoulder to shake her.
“Cara! No!” Richard stretched out his hand uselessly as Kahlan’s eyes opened, already pure black, and her hand found Cara’s throat.
For an instant they stayed frozen like that, although Cara had already begun to jerk away and in the next moment had fallen backwards.
Kahlan’s eyes cleared and her face changed into a look of absolute confusion. “Cara?” she whispered, staring at the fallen blonde.
Quickly Cara jerked herself into a sitting position slid back to Kahlan’s side. “Command me Confessor,” she whispered, bending her head.
“Cara?” Kahlan’s voice quavered as she sat up, her hair in disarray around her face. “Oh Cara,” her hands cupped the Mord’Sith’s face. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”
Tears spilled down Kahlan’s cheeks and Cara whipped them away with her gloved hands. “Don’t cry,” she pulled Kahlan into a hug and the confessor clung to her, weeping in earnest now. “Please don’t cry Mistress.”
“Sorry Cara,” Kahlan muttered into blonde hair over and over. “So sorry.”
Across the fire, Zedd jerked awake. One hand rubbing his head, he blinked rapidly. “What happened?”
Richard’s voice was hoarse and a few tears of his own shinned on his cheeks. “Kahlan confessed Cara.”
Zedd stared at the entangled pair. “When?” was all he managed to ask.
“Just a minute ago,” Richard told him.
“Oh.” Zedd was silent a moment. “Shouldn’t she be dying?” he asked finally as Cara and Kahlan continued to hug.
Richard’s head titled in confusion. “Ah, ladies?” They didn’t let go, but Kahlan did glance up at him. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but, um, shouldn’t she be dying?” he pointed at Cara.
Kahlan glared at him until the steady presence of a very alive Cara in her arms sunk in. She pulled back from the hug slightly, dropping her arms to Cara’s waist so she could study the Mord’Sith. “Cara?” she asked again.
“Yes Mistress?” Cara responded immediately, relieved beyond telling that Kahlan had stopped crying.
Kahlan stroked Cara’s cheek, her fingers brushing lightly against the skin, eyes wide. “Why aren’t you dying?”
“I love you,” Cara said simply and Kahlan recoiled as if she’d been struck, pulling out of the loose embrace. Cara watched her retreat with a look of resigned horror.
Richard’s eyebrows felt like they were trying to merge with his hair. “You aren’t dying… because… you love her?” He rubbed his forehead.
“She’s confessed,” Kahlan snapped. Unlike Cara, Kahlan spoke rapidly and tersely when she thought he was being an idiot; same underlying meaning though. “She loves me because she’s confessed,” the old pain and self recrimination was clearly displayed on Kahlan’s face.
“No!” Cara’s hand shot out and grabbed Kahlan’s wrist, making Kahlan’s eyes go wide. “I’ve been in love with you for months now,” she stared into Kahlan’s eyes as the pulse under her fingers sped up. “I knew there was never a chance. Richard…” Cara blinked rapidly as tears of her own started to make there way down her cheeks. “I didn’t want you to find out. I knew you’d be disgusted. I’m sorry Mistress.” Kahlan stared at Cara, unmoving, lips parted in shock.
“Cara,” Zedd had finally risen to his feet and was picking his way around the bedrolls to them. “What does your… love… for Kahlan have to do with your still being alive? When confessed, Mord’Sith are destroyed by the crushing guilt of all their victims.”
“That’s what we let you believe,” Cara didn’t look away from Kahlan as she answered Zedd’s question. “Because we knew if we let you know our real weakness you would try to find another way to use it against us.”
Zedd nodded slowly, “All attempts to replicate the effects of confession did fail.”
Cara sighed. “The confessor’s magic is based in love, it strips a person’s emotions away until all that is left is love for the confessor. The Mord’Sith can’t love, its one of the emotions we are trained to purge,” her head bent in shame. “When a Mord’Sith is confessed we are left with nothing, so we die.”
“But you love?” Zedd prompted.
“Yes,” Cara whispered.
Neither man said anything more, they just stared. Richard’s mind whirled in confusion, replaying moments of Cara’s interaction with Kahlan. She never smiled, her genuine broad happy smile Richard had only seen a few times, when the other woman wasn’t present, he realized.
“Cara?” Kahlan freed her hand from Cara’s grip and used it to gently tilt the blonde’s head back up. “I’m glad you love me.”
Cara glowed. There was no other word for it. In that instance she seemed to shine with happiness.
“This is very important,” Kahlan continued, swallowing hard. “I order you not to stop me and not to revive me until after you are yourself again.”
Richard jerked out of his musings but it was too late. For a second time that evening he watched, horrified, as time seemed to pause. “Kahlan! No!”
Cara caught her body as Kahlan crumpled over, one of her daggers protruding from her chest, blood once more soaking into the red leathers. With an angry tug Cara pulled the dagger free and bent to cover Kahlan’s mouth with her own.
This time Richard wasn’t too late, he grabbed Cara’s arm and pulled her back.
“You heard her, if you bring her back too soon her sacrifice will have been for nothing!” he shouted into the distressed Mord’Sith’s ear.
A lightening fast strike to his head knocked him backwards, blood singing in his ears. “I won’t let her die for me!”
Cara tried to get back to Kahlan but stumbled halfway there, black swirling over her eyes. She staggered as the magic released her and fell at Kahlan’s side.
Hurriedly she placed her lips over Kahlan’s, exhaling the life giving wisp into the confessor’s mouth. “Come on Kahlan,” she pleaded.
Kahlan’s body jerked as her chest expanded and she coughed rapidly. “Cara,” her voice was weak. “Did it work?”
Cara glanced back at Richard, her face once more unreadable. “Yes.”
“Thank the creator.” She relaxed in Cara’s arms, gazing up at the blonde.
“Well!” Zedd said briskly, with false cheer, startling the other three. “We’ve certainly had an eventful night, haven’t we? Why don’t you all,” the Wizard continued, not fully meeting anyone’s gaze. “get some sleep, I’ll keep watch the rest of the night.”
Cara sneered. “I’ll do it, you wouldn’t know if a bear was approaching and I think one brush with death is enough for the night.”
Kahlan laid a restraining hand on Cara’s arm. The blond’s eyes were just a little too wide and her gaze darted around uncertainly. “It’s okay, it’s okay to love me.”
Cara swallowed audibly.
“We will talk about this later,” the Mother Confessor continued, trying but failing to keep the exhaustion out of her voice as the drain of dying and using her powers tugged her eyelids lower. She managed to stand and walked back over to her bed roll. “Good night Zedd,” she added somewhat sarcastically as she lay down, asleep a moment latter.
There was an awkward silence as Richard retrieved his sword and tucked it back into his scabbard. He lay on his side, pretending to sleep as Cara and Zedd glared at each other from their self assigned posts until dawn broke over the mountains.
When Kahlan awoke Cara was gone.
(part 2)