| Fan Fiction |
by heartsong
Well I also thought that since this baby is dying(or going to pass away soon), meaning it's finishing, I'd might as well get it over and done with. The ending is almost finished, but it has a huge twist to it. It'll be done in three chapters or less maybe. I love all of you. And this time I'll leave it to you to leave the comments. If there are none...then I'll just finish it not bothering about the comments anymore. LOL. Of course that doesn't mean you should not comment because you want to see me update it.
I'll do it all in my own timing(: Sorry for being so darn naggy. I love all of you. It's been a wonderful year here.
---
Love was boundless – and timeless. Stirring in Chun’s tightened embrace in the middle of the night, Ella drew herself from the dark haze of sleep. She stared at the numbers on the LCD display of the clock until the fog cleared from her eyes and until her mouth came unhinged.
It was two in the morning.
Ella shifted her gaze to Chun’s calm, sleeping form, and her heart jerked at the thought of telling him that she meant to leave him.
It did not matter that Ariel had gone off with another man in Japan – Ella refused to be the one to break the legal bond between a man and wife.
In the still darkness of the night closing in around them, Ella gazed out of the window, lost in the whirlwind of her thoughts.
The trees were wild tonight. They reached up to dark, black night sky; their branches so stiff and firm, the might just catch onto the sky and rip its seams apart. And what, then, would bleed from the split skin of the sky? Would it be stars, falling in multitudes so big the crested down and covered the earth? Or would it be rain, falling in torrents so heavy, like tears?
‘Would it then fall over us all, washing us clean and taking our memories away?’ Ella wondered silently.
The silent phone on her nightstand buzzed to life. Before Chun could be startled awake, Ella picked up the phone and sneaked outside into the corridor.
“Hello?” she spoke softly, when whoever it was on the other end was silent.
“Ella,” came the soft, hesitant voice that could only belong to her sister.
Ella blew out a stream of air, relieved.
“Ariel,” she acknowledged, joy blooming in her. For months, Ariel had ignored her and treated her like a stranger. It was no secret that Chun loved Ella.
But before Ella could say another word, the soft, broken sobs that only came from the betrayed and the broken reached her ears. Ella could feel her heart falling – one bloody, broken mess. What if she had been the one to cause her sister such sorrow?
“Ella,” Ariel sniffed, chanting her sister’s name like a beacon of salvation, like a prayer, “I’m so sorry.”
That was when Ella felt her heart break all over again.
“Oh, Ariel,” she whispered, her own tears coming to rest against the back of her eyes, “It’s never been your fault.”
“I’ve always known, Ella,” Ariel murmured, “But I only let him do this because only you can bring him happiness – it’s always been about you, Ella. He’s always loved you. How come you never fought for him?”
Somewhere inside her, the invisible boundary around Ella’s heart broke. Relief washed through her, hand in hand with guilt and regret.
“Ariel,” Ella answered softly, “You’ll always be my baby sister. I’ll always love you more than any other person in this whole world. Not even the love of my life can change that. You loved him, Ariel, and I wanted you to be happy.”
Ella was still as she felt, rather than heard it – Ariel was taking a deep breath.
“No,” Ariel finally said; her voice soft and frayed at the edges. Ella supposed that she, too, must have been grieving.
“I didn’t love him, Ella. I only wanted something above you – something you wanted…because you always had what I wanted. God, Ella, I’m so sorry – please. Please don’t hate me, Ella, please!”
Ella smiled, despite herself.
“Of course not, baby sister.”
“Oh – Oh thank god!” was Ariel’s almost exultant reply.
“Ariel,” she whispered, “Come back.”
“What?” she asked, so softly Ella barely heard it.
“I’m leaving for France, Ariel. He needs you to look after him – come back.”
“No – Ella, you – no!”
And then all she had in response was a soft click.
*
“What was that?” came the soft, husky voice at the end of the corridor.
Ella whirled around to find Chun staring at her, his eyes burning into hers with an intensity that made her want to fall into him and never, ever leave.
“I –” Ella swallowed, hesitant.
But that was all it took to make Chun take long, bounding steps over to her, crushing her into his warm embrace.
“You will not leave me,”
It was a plea, a bargain, and a command – all at once. Ella could tell by the way his voice was broken right down in the middle; by the way his arms lacked the strength to hold her back.
“Is this revenge? Is this because of how I never found that I loved you until a year back, Ella? Don’t do this – please. What did Ariel say to you, Ella?”
She was silent – for fear that her emotions would spill from her lips; that her secret would bleed from between her teeth, too big and too painful to keep.
“Please, Ella,”
She did not reply – and that alone was enough to make Chun break down, holding her close for comfort.
He sobbed, broken, into her shoulder.
Ella felt herself giving in, smoothing a hand down Chun’s lean back even as he leaned into her and even as his body shook from the strain of carrying his own heavy burden.
“Go back to sleep, Chun,” she coaxed.
Chun shook his head, drawing her closer.
“If I sleep,” he reasoned, his voice as cracked as ever as he fought to keep control, “You might be gone when I wake up.”
Ella’s heart clenched at his tearful words.
“You know,” Chun swallowed past the lump in his throat, “You know that I can’t possibly live without you, Ella.”
When she pulled back to look at him, he offered her a torn smile; his heart on a silver platter, hers – to do whatever she wanted with it.
She tugged on his hand until he drew her back into his arms, refusing to let go.
“Chun,” she whispered, “I won’t leave. Now come back to bed.”
He nodded, hesitant at first, but letting her lead him back to the bed all the same.
He slept holding her tight against him, burying his face in the crook of her neck so she could clearly feel the imprint of his sorrow on her skin – a reminder of what she would be leaving behind, a reminder of what she would uproot when she left.
---
When sun streamed in through the windows, Chun awoke for the first time in Ella’s bed.
The sheets were rumpled and the comforter was tugged in around him.
And his arms were empty.
Fear burst in him and ran alongside the streams of blood coursing through him. Fear made his fingers tremble and his body shake.
He bolted out of bed and through the corridor, wild with panic. No – she promised not to leave. She wouldn’t!
Round the corner, the smell of warm milk reached his nose and by instinct, Chun jerked his body around into the kitchen.
Someone had put a band around his heart, and every time Ella left his side the band tightened.
Right now, as he caught sight of the slight figure standing by the counter in the kitchen, her eyes wide at his messy hair and tensed frame, the band around his heart eased.
“Ella,” he breathed, striding over to take her in his arms right after setting down the glass of milk she had in her own small hands.
“Chun?” she asked; her voice suspiciously faint and thick.
“I thought you left me,” he said simply, by way of explanation.
“I promised not to leave last night, Chun,” she chided gently, running her hand down his elbow lightly. And then – “Ariel knows about us.”
“Did she scold you?”
Every muscle of Chun’s body tensed again immediately, poised for flight – or fight, Ella could not tell.
“No,” Ella replied. Her demeanour was calm and graceful as she picked up the glass again and lifted it to her lips, “No, she didn’t.”
Chun smiled gently, pulling the glass out of Ella’s hand yet again to set it on the counter as he turned her to face him.
“Sweetheart,” he questioned again as he framed her lovely face in both of his warm, calloused palms, “Focus on me. Since she knows and she’s not doing anything, you won’t leave me anymore, right?”
Ella looked into his dark eyes – and started to weep.
“Ella,” he called, alarmed as he caught the first falling tear with his thumb, “What’s the matter, now?”
“Chun,” she whispered as the gravity of what she was about to do set into her heart, “Kiss me. Please.”
He was only too happy to oblige as he bent and took her mouth with his, kissing her thoroughly and tenderly.
When they were done, Ella’s tears had not ceased – instead she burrowed close to Chun and held him close, apologizing over and over – for a sin she was about to commit.
“Ella,” this was the thousandth time he’d said her name this morning – and each time he spoke her name she could hear all the love he had in him overflowing in it. He stroked the ring on her finger gently, brushing his lips over hers – not quite a kiss, not quite not one, “I love you.”
“Oh, Chun,” she breathed, her words falling between his lips like a secret to keep, “I love you too.” Her unspoken half of the sentence hung in the air like a tangible black cloud, ‘I’m sorry for leaving.’
And as surely as one could use glass to cut skin; as surely as Chun and Ella were fully bound – in soul, mind and body; so surely could Chun feel how lost Ella was – so surely could he decipher the thoughts streaming through her mind like ripped ribbons.
“Sweetheart,” he beseeched, “Please don’t leave me.”
She could read the trepidation and the desperation in his eyes – she could see into the future when she looked into his soul, and she could already see the pieces of his heart in her hands if she left – bleeding, lacerated, and yet pulsing with a steady beat, because even pain cannot quite kill a person as long as hope is alive.
That was all it took for Ella to decide that she was not going anywhere – at all.
---
I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam: 27, 1850