Outlander Fanfiction: In the Mist

New Beginnings

Sussex, Virginia
29th March 1858

The North Star can always be found among the millions of other tiny specks of light, its presence just a little bit greater than the rest. It's a fixed point in the sky; never moving, never fading. The stars are a map of light; and people trusted it to guide them, should they lose their way.

Claire. Sorcha; her name literally meant light. He laid there, staring up at the ceiling as if he were gazing at the stars.

She was his North Star.

He had been lost for so long, never knowing what he wanted, or even deserved. He was a broken man who was surviving, but never living. He had lost his home and his family: everything that mattered. He didn't care where he ended up or what happened to him. What did he have left?

Then one morning, he woke to find her face hovering over his, the one that tore him from the torment that lived in his dreams.

Before that, he was trapped in the dark, no light to guide him out.

But She was the light.

He couldn't sleep even if he wanted to, his heart beating erratically in his chest and his stomach dissolving into thousands of butterfly wings. There was nothing except her.

And it had only been two days.

Two days.

Forty-eight hours, and he would never be the same.

***

It had been a year, but everything was as vivid as if it had happened the day before.

I was afraid that when I opened my eyes I would still be in that room, and that this was the dream.

Though it might as well have been a dream; my body was free, but I was not.

The physical wounds had healed and faded, but emotionally, they festered; refusing to heal.

I thought I had escaped, but truthfully, I never really left.

***

The tavern was rarely ever closed–they needed every penny they could get just to keep the place running. It was a sanctuary, a place that gave people second chances. So many people relied on it not only for financial income, but because for some, their lives depended on it.

But today was one of the rare ones.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, only blue. It was a day that finally felt like spring. Flowers began to blossom, trees began to bloom, grass was beginning to turn green again; the world was alive.

The girls took advantage of the break and nice weather, finally free to be themselves. The world was at their feet; they had their entire lives ahead of them; the possibilities were endless.

Jamie couldn't help but smile, seeing the utter joy in their faces as they savored the light of a new day.

But none of them were Claire.

***

As he mounted the top of the stairs, he could hear the shuffling of footsteps coming from Claire's room. It was just past noon, and it became clear to him that he hadn't seen her since the night before.

He stood outside her door, trying to decide whether or not to interfere, or leave her be.

Then he heard... crying?