Fan Fiction ❯ Lieffe and Dath ❯ Dreams, Death, and Destiny ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Mizu

It's cold.

Soowe stood and rubbed her arms to warm them. Looking around, she saw snow for miles and miles in every direction. She didn't know any place like this, but here she was. The way the snow kept falling, reality appeared gently distorted and blurred.

She wiped a few flakes from her eyelashes and returned her vision to a suitable point. She sighed, her breath coming out in a foggy puff.

Looking up, she saw a dark, midnight blue sky, flecked here and there by a miniscule white cloud, reflecting the silvery light from an unseen moon. It was all so surreal, so complex, but some how so pure and simple.

Catching a few snowflakes on her dress sleeve, she examined them, counting all six points before they melted away from her soft body heat. It made her smile.

Nearly unnoticeably, a small black dot appeared on the horizon, moving over the snow. Soowe squinted her eyes in an effort to figure out what the dark speck was, but to no avail. No matter, she figured.

She began to twirl around, her cheeks bright red from the cold. Her eyes glinted in the fantasy lighting and her dark hair was speckled with bits of white.

And the dark thing drew closer.

Soowe plopped down in the endless field and focused on the dark dot. She still couldn't conceive what it was, but it made her feel uneasy. It was a blemish on the perfection, the purity.

Standing again, the snow began to fall harder, and Soowe began to back away from the object, which had begun to take shape…Sort of.

Soowe was sure that the thing was close enough for her to make out, but it remained shapeless. A form, a blot…

A shadow.

On the gleaming snow, a shadow.

"No…" Soowe moved her lips to make the word, but no sound came out. Just another distinguished puff of warm, moist air.

She'd felt cold from the snow, but now she was frozen with fear.

Forcing her legs to move, Soowe did on one-eighty and ran blindly into the ever-denser snowstorm. Silvery clouds now blanketed the sky, looking deceptively peaceful. The darkened field now had many strange shadows and snow drifts, but that one. Behind her. Coming for her.

The snow on the ground became very deep suddenly and she slowed. She breathed, and the harder she did, the less vision she had, as the foggy puffs seemed to meld with the falling snow and flew into her eyes.

Not that sight mattered any longer; there was nothing to see.

But still Soowe pumped her legs trying to escape the shadow. But the snow level continued to rise, and she moved her legs harder and harder for no gain. And she tripped.

Gasping as she hit the freezing ground, she swallowed a good deal of flakey snow and began to cough. She knew the shadow could drift over the snow and that it would be hopelessly close if she turned now…

So she did.

Nothing.

There was nothing behind her but open space and her own struggled foot steps.

She turned around and sighed, feeling slightly relieved. She fell backward on the snow with her eyes shut and spread her arms. She opened her eyes slowly.

And the shadow fell on her.

~*~

Soowe shot up in bed, covered in cold sweat. A small trickle of it slid down the groove of her spine as she pulled her hands over her face.

"A dream…" she sighed. For a moment, she clutched the covers tightly, just to make sure she was really awake.

And awake she was. She'd never be able to get back to sleep after that.

She swung her legs over the bed and planted her feet on the cool stone floor. Stepping over Angel, she moved to her closet and removed a thin, summery robe. Sliding it on, she shrugged her shoulders, letting the robe fall comfortably into place over her body. Silently walking across the room (and again over Angel), she opened her door and left.

Quietly pacing the long hall a few times, she thought about the dream…Nightmare. Of course she knew what it meant - The shadow was Dath, and in the end, it got her. Idly, she wondered if Reepe was having the same dreams.

Soowe felt cold. Not cold, like from the snow, not cold, like from fear. Cold, lonely cold.

She sighed. She knew just who she wanted, too. Luckily, he was sleeping but a few steps away, in the sitting room (Link was in the meditation room). Soowe bit her lip and wondered whether or not she should wake him.

She stood there, leaned up against the wall, for a few moments, before she decided she had to.

She stepped soundlessly into the sitting room, a knotted feeling in her stomach. She still felt bad about waking him, but he'd understand. Soowe walked over to the couch he was sleeping on and was about to speak, when he did for her.

"Soowe."

She smiled and replied, "That's me…"

"C'mere," he said, and in the darkness, she could see him raise one arm and motion with his hand.

She sat down on the edge of the couch, near the middle, and facing away from him, she leaned back, her head just below Sheik's. <A/N: That many commas had to be defying some law in English…I just know it. Oh, well. We're all for foreign languages, here.> He wrapped his strong arms around her.

"What's the matter?" he whispered gently, his voice soothing to Soowe in a way that nothing else was. <A/N: `Cept maybe Kasai's coffee hot cocoa.>

Soowe, fearful of sounding childish, was more than a little hesitant.

"I…I had…" she breathed in an out and continued, "I had a nightmare."

"Ooh…" Sheik said sympathetically, understandingly, "Well, everything's okay, now. I'm here. I'll keep you safe," and he kissed her hair.

Soowe placed her small hands in Sheik's larger ones and just held them, feeling the calluses, the scars…she'd never touched his hands without all those bandages on, before. They were so warm.

She listened to his soft breathing. It calmed her. She shut her eyes and focused out on everything but the perfection of Sheik.

~*~

Soowe must have dozed off, because the next thing she could wholly comprehend was the sunlight beaming in the windows.

Sheik remained at her side, still asleep.

The room felt warm, now, the sun heating the small space. Feeling a bit stuffy, Soowe tenderly removed Sheik's arms from around her and stood up, the stone floor feeling warm and pleasing beneath her bare feet.

Soowe took off the robe and hung it over a random straight-backed chair, leaving her in her crisp, floor-length, white cotton night gown. She stretched, easing her muscles of any remaining tenseness from her dream.

Soowe began to saunter from the room, when she heard noised coming from the kitchen. Deciding to investigate, she walked to the kitchen door and peered around the corner.

Reepe was standing in front of the oven <A/N: You know what I mean. A fire in a stone encasement with a slab of thin metal on top.>, Link's arms around her middle, both of them laughing.

~*~