Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Twelve: pushing me to see the truth

TRIGGER WARNING: Same warnings as last chapter apply to this one.

The armour-clad arm wrapped around her waist, his grip having shifted from her arm to there, was the only thing which kept her afloat as she coughed up all the water she had so greedily taken inside her. She was a complete deadweight, pain wracking every cough and every breath as she found herself staring up at the blue sky above, being towed to the banks of the deep, fast-flowing river they had fallen into. Numbness sank its fangs into her like a terribly persistent snake, and Sakura couldn't yet muster up the energy to talk, let alone move. She was tired, oh so terribly tired. Though drowning was probably not a nice way to go, so she had to be grateful to her soulmate. Even if he'd have left her to drown should he know the horrible monster she was.

"Lothien?"

The voice sounded so very far away, lost and half delirious from the pain and subsequent near drowning as she was. She didn't even realise she had been dragged out of the water until she saw the leaves of the tree canopy swaying quietly above her and felt the hard earth at her back. Her shirt was sodden, clinging to her skin, and had she still been that preteen girl from her first life, then there was no doubt she would have been shrieking bloody murder and trying to cover herself up somewhat. But she wasn't that sweet, innocent, good, though unmistakably flawed girl who had clung to romance as though it were a lifeline. Something impacted her cheek gently, stirring her from the thoughts, and Sakura soon found herself staring up into a pair of beautiful grey eyes. They were so very pretty – she wanted them close by always – even narrowed in concern as they were.

He was her soulmate, some higher power having tied them together in that way, but Sakura couldn't help but wonder whether there had been a mistake. She wasn't worthy of someone like Glorfindel. A dragon was naught but a monster, and a dragon was what she was. One with a deceptive façade – and it was something she just couldn't seem to drop for the life of her, scared of rejection as she was. She was a monster. She should have been prepared for the hatred. But she was a coward at the end of the day.

"Lothien!"

Fingers patted at her cheek that much more urgently, and the abrupt realisation that wait that was her soulmate calling her name had her emerging from that muted, self-loathing state. She sat up with a gasp, eager to get away from her blasted soulmate—and promptly bashed her head against the plate of his armour.

"Ow," she groaned, wincing as she heard the huff of laughter, quickly concealed before she found herself once more staring up into those terrible grey eyes which promised naught but more heartache should she find herself entranced by them. She couldn't. She wouldn't. Not that he was making it easy for her to stay true to those silent promises, what with how genuine he seemed to behave around her – reeled in by that rumoured red string which bound soulmates together so, no doubt. That was how soulmates went – always inexplicably drawn to one another, no matter how Sakura wished that was not so. "What...? Where...?" she muttered, barely able to get another word out amidst her confusion and pain.

"We rolled down the hill, and now we appear to have ended up a short ways away from the battle currently taking place – which you are in no state to even attempt joining, before you should gather the strength to ask," he said sternly, and Sakura could only suck in yet another ragged breath as she tried to process what had just happened. The fall and subsequent water inhalation had scrambled her brains somewhat, and she was far more troubled by the fact that her brain to mouth filter seemed to have failed, as evidenced by her next word.

"Pretty," she muttered, staring at those mesmerising golden locks, and she quashed that aspect of her nature as swiftly as possible. It would be just her luck for her eyes to shift while her soulmate was scanning her over from head to toe rather intently. Rather than any form of interest which might have had her hopes for the future rising unhealthily, Sakura knew he was searching for any other possible injures. Beyond the concussion she no doubt had and the broken and bruised ribs hidden beneath her shirt.