Silver Sight (Completed)

Chapter 5

Cooper isn't sure how long he's been in this dressed up cave with the woman he loved and thought he lost.

It could be hours, it could be days. He doesn't care.

So far time hasn't touched this bubble they're in so they've just been worshiping each other.

Making up for lost time. Getting reacquainted. Relearning the curves of their bodies, discovering new scars and leaving marks on one another.

He's not sure a single word has passed between them other than her name, her nickname for him, and demands for harder, deeper and faster. More. All.

He lies in a golden daze, on his back naked as she covered modestly with a warm pelt, possibly a patchwork of rabbit furs.

He stares at the ceiling where, instead of stalactites, a bunch of roots descend from above disappearing into the walls, weaving in and out of the rock.

He doesn't know how she's lived here. There's only a pallet covered in furs, a few shelves with a few belongings nothing personal, what seem to be a few articles of clothes and maybe a stash of dried food. But he's comfortable enough for now. She's beside him, nestled into his side, one arm is casually draped over her, his fingers trace a pattern over her skin.

It helps him remember that she's there.

Ruelle is truly alive. She's come back to him. He can finally be happy. He's finally complete again.

Except...

"Where have you been?" echoes into the silence around them.

He's asked without meaning to, but the question has a mind of its own. It's been burning to come out since he found her again.

He feels her stir beside him.

He's woken her up.

He feels guilty until she stretches against him, pressing further into him than before. She tilts her mouth up to his and he greedily goes about devouring her. Within seconds they've worked up a fervor. He's half on top, but this time her honey kisses aren't going to distract him.

"Ruelle, where have you been?" he asks again. She looks up to him, watching as he puts space in between them. He hovers above her, staring into those gray green eyes he's not used to.

After a moment her voice comes, light and hoarse like she's lost her voice and it hasn't quite come back the whole way. "Here."

Cooper's eyebrows crease with concern.

"Here? Here in this waterfall or here as in just around the forest?" he asks. He knows the answer before she gives it to him but he's willing her to give him another.

"A bit of both," she says softly.

Now Cooper's angry. "You mean to tell me that's you've be traipsing around the damn forest playing Silver Sight while I was out there screaming for you to come back to me?" he growls.

"I am not playing!" she cries indignantly, sitting up to glare at him. "I am Silver Sight."

"No. You are Ruelle Sharrow! I've been looking for you for years! YEARS!" he shouts jumping to his feet. "Do you know how much I've missed you? How much it hurt thinking you were dead, that I let something happen to you? Everyone blamed me! I blamed me. I lost you, I lost my scholarship, and I lost my best friend! And for what? So you could be the forest's saviour? How could you do this to me? How could you leave me like that?"

He stares down at her. Her eyes are unwavering and he sees that while she's honestly concerned she just doesn't seem to understand.

"I didn't remember."