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Defying Gravity
By Growly
The wind filled Alfred's golden wings, carried him aloft far above the ground and the battle below - it was an uncanny sensation, a little frightening but no less exhilarating for that small undercurrent of unease. He was beginning to wonder if maybe you had to feel the fear to know the real pleasure in flying. Certainly it only seemed to add to the experience. He could feel the power surging in every muscle and sinew of his draconic body, and he folded his wings, his green and golden body moving effortlessly into a dive. It felt so natural - like he'd been doing this all his life, and yet he knew better. He'd been so afraid all his life - so afraid to do anything. He'd barely been able to walk - flying was out of the question entirely.
And yet, here he was - soaring. No longer a pitiful earthbound creature - but a being of light and air and hope, a being who could bring hope to others as well, he could sense it in himself. It was as though he was like a sun, radiating his warmth onto the others. He laughed and it came out as a shriek that made his enemies cower beneath him even before his shadow passed over them.
~I am Coren~ The dragon thought in wild joy, and knew at that moment that he was Alfred as well - that Alfred and Coren could indeed be together, exist together without one having to be submerged or lost to the other. And he would never have known it but for Haplo.
Haplo...
What an irony it had all been - that two bitter enemies could have become unwilling allies and later on, friends. Certainly when Alfred had first discovered the Patryn's presence he had been afraid - afraid of what the other might have been up to, but even more afraid of what he, himself, might be forced to do if he was exposed as the demigod he was. Hadn't he spent his life running away from the truth and burying it under the guise of this... Alfred, this bumbling mensch who had somehow submerged Coren entirely. But for Haplo's arrival, he might have succeeded - he might have remained merely Alfred for as long as possible, and as great a span as that might have seemed it wouldn't have been all that long because Sartan were mortal in the end.
Dying would have been so easy... it would have meant an end to his fear and the pain that festered like a wound in his soul - the pain of being so completely and utterly alone. Then there was Haplo, and despite the man's hatred of them, despite the fact that they were enemies, somehow they'd managed to pull each other up, drag each other forward and bring about changes borne of understanding, of compassion. After their experience going through Death's Gate together, Alfred found that his fear for Haplo was beginning to become something else - and that in itself was frightening. He recognized it long before the Patryn did - perhaps a moot point, because it seemed that Haplo still didn't recognize it.
Love hurt... Even more than hating someone could hurt. What you hate can consume you, but in the end it is love that can strike the final blow - the one that leaves you broken and wounded even if you survive. Alfred had no room left in him for love, because hadn't he already lost all in life that he'd cared for? He'd been a hollow shell of a man for so long that he didn't even realize anything was missing. Haplo had showed him, and despite it all - or perhaps because of it - Alfred had come to love the man. It had filled up the emptiness inside of him drop by drop until he was overflowing with it and instead of weighing him down, it somehow made him lighter - gave him strength.
He raised his head again, crying out that triumphant call as he rose once more, his powerful wings lifting him into the air. But it wasn't the wings that made him fly - it wasn't even the magic that made it possible for him to soar. He did it for Haplo, because of Haplo. He wasn't flying at all - he was suspended in a delicate but unbreakable net of friendship, of compassion - and yes, of love.
For a moment he hung motionless at the peak of his ascent, the wind had fallen away beneath him and he could almost feel the webbing around his body holding him up - invisible and yet intrinsically real. He was doing it - he was defying gravity... His soul sang out, his voice calling to Haplo, inviting the other man to share in this moment - knowing that somehow he would be able to hear him.
Except... except that he couldn't. He heard nothing - felt nothing. And the fear filled his body, made him heavy again. His gaze flitted to the ground, seeking out the Patryn, noticing Xar standing above his friend's wounded body and screaming out in an animal battle cry that was fury and pain and despair all in one. He dived and felt the gravity seizing hold of him again - welcoming him back into its embrace, but none of that mattered. Haplo mattered. If Haplo died, he would never be able to soar again. His body was a green slash against the dim dawn of the Labyrinth, like a comet descending from the heavens.
Then pain tore into his side, slamming into him and knocking him away - and as the blackness began to creep into the edges of his vision, he saw red out of the corner of his eye. He was under attack! He dipped his wing on his good side, extended his injured wing despite the pain it caused and banked - flying away from the city of Abri and leading his attacker on. It was all he could do for now...
~I will be back for you, Haplo.~ He thought, and could only hope that the Patryn would hear him and hang on - wait for his return. ~I will be back... I am Coren.~
*End*