Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Twenty-Six: it isn't in my words

By the time she was finally freed from the iron grasp of her soulmate, the sun was low on the horizon, and camp was being set up. Of course, she was only free for the amount of time it took for Glorfindel to dismount, injury and all, and then it was back to being held like she would vanish if his grip were to slacken in the slightest. Sakura didn't quite understand the clinginess, but she didn't particularly hate it. Not when a horrible part of her wanted to snuggle up beside him forever and ever. But that was that terribly selfish part of her which hoarded all things gold and precious, and her soulmate was both. Extremely so.

Elladan had, wisely, taken a seat fairly far away from them both, if only because her soulmate occasionally sent a menacing glare his way whenever their gazes met. Sakura thought it more resembled a kitten's glare, but then again, she was probably biased because she adored her soulmate. She adored him, and wished he had been bound to any other than her because it was so cruel to have that ugly name emblazoned on his skin. Though the fact she was a skin-changing fire-breathing dragon probably also had something to do with the fact that she didn't find her soulmate's glare that terrifying. It would only be terrifying when directed her way.

It will be eventually, that voice reminded her, and her mood dropped in an instant, shoulders slumping even as she found herself tucked into her soulmate's side like she actually belonged there. Sakura felt a wave of exhaustion overcome her then, feeling as though it were dragging her down into the dark, deep, depths of the ocean. Part of her felt as though she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep forevermore – away from the worries, and the constant, ever-present fear of being discovered and hated by her soulmate. She didn't want that, no matter how inevitable it was.

"What you said before..." Glorfindel said, frowning then as he stared off into the distance, his gaze sometimes drifting to the skies above. But that great, large dragon wouldn't reappear. After all, said great, large dragon was sitting right beside him. Sakura smiled morosely. Not that he seemed to know that. "Did you truly mean that which you claimed?" he asked, sounding oddly hesitant. "You would truly give your life for mine?" His eyes narrowed, golden brows drawing together. Worry, part of her dimly recognised. Sakura liked to think she was getting ever so slightly better at recognising such emotions.

She pulled her knees to her chest, a pool of self-hatred and misery swirling within. "Of course," she mumbled, silky pink locks forming a curtain around her, shielding her from that earnest gaze which always cut her so. Deceiver. "I would hardly joke about something so serious."

"I would not want another to die for me," he said, arm still wrapped around her, fingers digging into the side of the armour she had put back on at her soulmate's insistence. Not that he knew she was a being of scales, fire, and death who could easily defend herself if only she transformed once more. Sakura buried her face in her knees, unable to stop her elf from pulling her so that she was leaning against him heavily. "I would rather you live, if you are to do anything for me..."

Golden locks took up her vision then, and she could just feel the odd stares boring into her right then and there from all the other elves as they snuggled up together. Really, she was far too close, for all that they had known each other for barely more than a couple of months. The connection which drew soulmates together was so very powerful indeed. If you had waited patiently... the voice whispered. If you hadn't burnt everything... If you hadn't ruined everything... Her heart ached, the bitter part of her cursing her past actions, but, really, that was the kind of being she was. She couldn't change that fact. She couldn't change her bloody history with her soulmate's kin. She was a monster and her soulmate was a hero. And heroes always slay monsters, the voice reminded her. A moment she both longed for and feared. "That is a cruel thing to ask of me," she mumbled. Living by her soulmate's side, knowing he would forever be out of her reach – the one person who, perhaps once upon a time, before all the chaos and misery her actions had wrought, might have been able to find it in his heart to love her. "I would rather die somewhat heroically..." compared to living on as the villain she had become.