Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Thirteen: I won't be a grain of sand

The warmth there was nice, a reminder of everything she could never have, and Sakura sorely wished it were anyone bar her soulmate carrying her into an elven realm. Maybe then she would have been able to make them drop her so she could vanish. Maybe down that ravine she'd spotted a few hours back. She choked on her laughter, wincing as pain throbbed through her ribs yet again. Part of her missed her own healing abilities, diminished and destroyed as they were in that world. It was only to be expected – she was a monster of ruin and destruction. Hands which destroyed life could hardly heal it so. She doubted anyone could really heal her in that place. Her soul itself was twisted, warped into something she hated and loved for some strange reason. Indeed, she had probably become far too used to the nature of her unnatural self. Though it was that same unnaturalness which meant she would be abandoned by her wonderful, perfectly good soulmate. The same soulmate who was carrying her so carefully into a place of healing and hope.

Sakura was under no delusions though. He only felt so connected to her due to the connection sparked between them of which he had no knowledge of. If he knew of the truth she would undoubtedly be abandoned quicker than she could blink. A fate she no doubt deserved. Still, she didn't want the modicum of wretched happiness and hope she had found to be snuffed out just yet. It was so terribly selfish of her. Glorfindel deserved so much better. But she was a selfish monster, and she always wanted what she couldn't have. What she didn't deserve to have.

Her eyes cracked open just a fraction, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she basked in the odd contentedness from being near her soulmate. She wondered if he felt the same. But if he did, then that would mean he'd worked it out... Sakura was under no illusions that her soulmate hated her thanks to her past actions. She was terrible. She was horrible.

And her soulmate would eventually figure that much out.

Her heart ached at the thought, and she despised her nature as she shifted her weight on his back, far too aware of those golden locks barely a millimetre away. Never before had she wanted to nuzzle into something like that before. Stupid soulmates and the unwitting attractions they had to each other. She wanted to leech off that warmth and comfort, like the parasite she was, but she couldn't. Not without inadvertently revealing things.

His footsteps stopped then, rather abruptly too, and Sakura could only blink and lift her head as best she could in order to get a glimpse of why Glorfindel had stopped walking. Silently, she prayed it was no dragon which had stopped them in their tracks.

Surprisingly enough, it wasn't, and rather than the sight of one of her kin, she was met with a view of the valley which housed the elven settlement. Which meant she should have already been within the protections of the elven realm. Those always extended past the boundaries of the built up settlement. There should have been protections pushing at her evil, a prickle upon her skin as she fought to gain access. Sakura didn't understand why they weren't. Unless they were faulty or down for maintenance – if that indeed ever happened. Those were the only explanations for why she couldn't feel the scorn of the elves upon her and her kin.

Her head settled on Glorfindel's shoulder, eyes fixed on their destination which was now well within sight, heart thudding violently in her chest as she felt herself being dragged closer and closer towards her inevitable doom. She didn't want to venture any further into the elven realm which was quickly beginning not to make sense.

All too soon though, she found herself in the courtyard, the main entry point for guests of the elven realm of Imladris or so Sakura presumed as she clung to her soulmate's back and fervently wished to be anywhere but there. No one listened to those prayers of hers though, and she could only stiffen as figures emerged from within the home.