Work Text:
He
by Alison
We faced off, the desert behind us, the only chance for water ahead of us.
And then, faceless bush warriors.
I looked at him; he looked at me. 16 of them, 2 of us.
We'd either quench our thirst or die trying. I raised my graphite sword and whispered, "I love you."
We battled with skill and determination but you just don't just beat the odds.
I came to strapped to a dead tree, left to rot in the hot sun. He was nowhere to be found. They'd taken him.
Too weak to struggle I tried to make the best of my few remaining hours. I awoke to the feel of a firm hand washing my wounds with water. It was a bronze skinned man, a warrior from the nearby kingdom. I thanked him for saving my life but I wanted to move on in hopes of finding him.
The warrior said bush warriors didn't take survivors. But he knew how to find them.
Revenge was sweet.
We located them in a ravine, making short work of all but one. I needed to know what they'd done with him.
He simply laughed, delighting in the pain he saw in my eyes.
Revenge didn't fill that emptiness.
The warrior took me with him, to the halls of a mountain king. Isolation and a stone bed can do a lot for a suffering man.
He still haunted my every thought. Some nights I woke in cold sweats, as if he had been standing over my bed. But as the months past, my mind began to grow numb. I think it began to sink in. He would always be a memory.
Two years flashed by, a full-scale war raged across the mountain region. I engaged in many a battle, the more the battles, the more peace my mind would find.
In the last hour of a full moon day I found myself on a high, windy peak, surrounded by those I had made it my duty to kill. I prepared myself to die fighting, but they simply stood, waiting.
What emerged from their midst nearly brought me to my knees.
There he stood, looking as I remembered that last day, so many years ago. Beside him stood a tall, muscular man, bald, a gold band around his waist. I recognized him as the one they called The Master.
But as they drew near, tearful reality set in. It wasn't him. Those blue eyes that had once gazed upon me with such love now held no recollection. His body too hard, too raw muscled; the pale skin that had never failed to set mine ablaze was adorned with scars, stretching over broad shoulders and around his ribs. Wrists and ankles echoed past captivity. Each mark a nail in The Master's coffin.
The Master saw my fury, a cold smile settled across his broad features. "My most ruthless warrior. His bloodlust is unmatched. He enters each battle seeking death but it alludes him."
With predatory grace The Master began to circle. "Your name is the only thing that holds any meaning for him anymore. He still cries out for you at night, despite the pain, despite the blood, despite everything I do."
The metallic feel of a knife across my ribs brought reality crashing back. My sword left my hand as a fist drove me backwards, away from The Master. I dove, coming up with sword in hand, clashing with a blade whose scars I recognized.
Metal echoing like thunder, I came to realize this peak would be my grave. He meant to kill me. The final blow came from overhead, in desperation I threw my hands up, the impact of our blades humming through me. Breathless, I found myself face to face with him.
Blades locked, I began to plead with him to remember. I whispered of anything, the day a sky-eyed man had stumbled into my camp, nearly dead from loss of blood, the nights I spent by his side, marveling at how a man's eyes could reflected the sky, the weeks we spent, as he recovered, trading secrets of the universe and of those first nights under the desert sky.
They hit him like a physical blow, confusion and pain warred with the memories I saw flash in his eyes. With a sudden jerk, he stumbled back, forcing me off balance, my blade sinking deep into his flesh and skittering across bone.
The cry he gave was heart wrenching, as he fell to his knees I fell with him, forcing his gaze to mine. Long seconds passed as mind fought with emotions and then a hand touched my chest and a voice that I had longed to hear for so long whispered my name.
An instant later he was ripped from me, flung aside as I was hauled to my feet, staring into the deadly gaze of The Master.
"I will not per-"
His head hit the ground, a hollow sound, body following an instant later.
A small chuckle, sounding more like a sob, pulled my gaze from the body of The Master to the man standing behind him. He smiled softly and slid to the ground.
Ignoring those who gathered behind us, I gently pulled him to me. Pressing my hand to his shoulder, I bowed my head and felt the deafening roar of silence around me as I whispered, "It's over. Go back to your families."
end