How Do You Sleep?

The leaves crunched below her, as she let herself drop out of the tree she had previously been climbing, stumbling slight, she caught herself by the trunk and shook her head, her long blonde hair dancing, the breeze catching it, and not letting the dance stop.

Ashleen wasn't entirely sure how long she had been roaming the forest. Having disappeared from the castle early that morning, claiming a need to clear her head to anyone who attempted to stop her, she had found herself in the forest. She had started out by running, and then finally, decided to amuse herself by climbing a tree.

Now, she was left with no desire to do anything else. However, she didn't desire leaving either. Sighing, flopped down against the trunk, tilting her head back to look up at the clouds floating past, only visable between the bright reds, and orange fall leaves. The air her was fresh, and although it had a slight nip to it (Bringing about a promise of the coming winter) the girl found herself relaxing. All thoughts of... everything, drifted away as she simply marvled in the beauty of it all.

Nature.

She had said it before, there was nothing so free and as untameable as it. She admired that quality about it - she craved that quality.

So as she sat there, huming softly to herself, her eyes slowly drifted closed of their own accord, and Ashleen feel asleep with thoughts of freedom.


(Outfit)

He'd let her go off on her own for a bit, knowing that when Ash wanted space, she wanted it, but he was still feeling a bit... off... from Weaponry, and he didn't want her to go far. It had been about an hour since he had wandered into the forest, following her trail. She was easy to follow, more because he knew the girl herself than because of anything else.

He settled beside her on the ground, running his fingers through her hair, he crossed his legs beneath him and pulled out his sketch book. It had been so long since he had picked up the familiar thing, the flow of the pencil over the page comforting in its familiarity. Glancing from the girl to the page, the image quickly began to take form, the shadows and shades of it getting more and more detailed as time went on. It took half the drawing to be done for him to realize that he'd drawn her different than she was shown before him. The image of her on paper was wearing a long flowing dress, which he knew instinctively was white, though he hadn't colored the image at all yet. She wasn't laying at the base of a tree, but in a field, and on her hand...

He blinked, looking from her, to the drawing, and back. Instinctively, he took the page and ripped it, crumpling it in his fist and beginning anew.

Not even he understood his thought processes.

She just watched him for a long silent moment. Whether he thought she was still asleep or not, she did not know, but she didn't want to disturb him. She just wanted, to look at him for a moment. She watched the movement of his arm across the page as he drew. Ashleen couldn't remember the last time she had seen him draw.

Her eyes trailed up to his face, and she frowned slightly. There was something off about the way he was...

"Hey," she spoke softly, still not sitting up, though she did reach out a hand, resting it lightly on the side of his arm, "Are you alright?"

Tre shivered slightly, having the push down the irrational impulse to pull away from her touch. He closed his eyes briefly, before blinking them open, looking down at her with something unreadible in his eyes. "Ash." He breathed reaching for her, pulling her into his arms and onto his lap. He just needed to-

He pressed his ear to her chest, listening for her heartbeat, closing his eyes and focusing on the steady pumping of blood through her veins, because this was, surely, the surest way to make sure that she was- was still-

His hold on her tightened, and he was shivering again, the aftereffects of not being able to protect her suddenly thrumming through his body. The grass around them was suddenly heavy with fresh dew, almost instantly the droplets froze over, a circle of frost surrounding them on the otherwise crisp day. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, Tre sighed, the tension in his body slowly disappearing with it. Slowly, he half pulled away, though his hold on her didn't loosen. Resting his forehead on her shoulder, he focused on her breathing, keeping his eyes closed as he just listened to her.

Behind his eyelids, his mind was whirring, slowly making its way toward a decision. To do or not to do?

Her frown heightened as his expression seemed to grow even more...

"Tre, whats-" the rest of the sentence disappeared, as her eyes widened in surprise, and she found herself in his lap, his ear against her chest. Ashleen's eyes searched his for some answer to what was going on, some clue as to why he was behaving....

Well behaving like he thought he was going to lose her.

The last straw for her confused mind was as she watched dew, followed by frost and an unmistakeable chill surrounding them. Her hand went unconsciously up to his hair, playing with it, even as her expression stayed firm.

"Alright mister," she grumbled, her tone firm if not angry, "What is going on here? And don't go dancing around anything to spare my feelings or whatever you think you're sparing. Tell. Me. Whats. Going. On."

His hold tightened slightly as she began talking, her voice soothing even in its almost anger. He nuzzled into her, keeping his eyes closed against what he knew would be a penetrating glare from her. He didn't- he was-

He mumbled something, an admittance, too hurried and hushed to be audible. The temperature dropped another few degrees, the frost nearly turning to snow as he closed his eyes against his thoughts, trying and failing to focus on only Ash. His Ash. His! No one else's!

His!

And no one was going to take her from him. Even if he had to kill-

It was snowing.

The soft tickling of melting snow against her skin was met with surprise. She looked up and around at the event - admitedly in slight wonder - before her gaze moved back to the boy in front of her, hiding away in her shoulder.

Although she enjoyed the proximity, she wasn't going to let him get away with that.

Reaching a hand up, she placed a gentle yet firm hand against his face, pulling him away from his hiding spot, forcing him to face her, if not look at her - she could do nothing about closed eyes.

"Tre," she spoke softly, pleadingly - though the order was still back there, behind each of her words. "Look at me. Talk to me. Please?"

Slowly, his eyes opened at her command, and for the first time, one was pure gold, and the other pitch black. He gazed back at her, confusion his predominant emotion, though somewhere behind that there was a whole other pallet of emotions just ripe for the painting.

"Ash." He repeated softly. "Ash..." his eyes swept her, memorizing the features he had already commited to memory all those years ago. His gaze lingered everywhere, from her lips to her eyes and nose and all the other features that just made her... His.

Something was bubbling in the back of his throat, something he was supposed to remember to tell her. His mind was freezing, as was the grass underneath him, the snow turning to hail. None of it touched her, only him and the ground.

You're going to lose her, son. came the memory, soft, sweet, almost caressing. If you do survive the transformation, if somehow you do come back to life, you're still going to lose her. Angels do not have room for consorts. Not true angels. Not the kind you wish to be.

It was suddenly very hard to breathe. His mind was already going helter skelter, fogging up and undecisive. He trembled against her, she his only anchor to this reality. He was slipping.

He was slipping again.

"Don't let me-" His eyes were back on hers, his gaze trembling as he fought to focus on her, and she went in and out of focus anyway. "I have to-" he couldn't see her. Where had she gone? He could still feel her, on him, but numbness was starting to creep into his body, a chill he was unfamiliar with that he did not want. It raced through his veins, and though his love was sitting directly in front of him, he was officially unaware that she still existed, his eyes searching for her though they could not see.

"A-Ash...?" He whimpered. "Ash...? Wh-where...?" Eyes darting from left to right, he tried in vain to find her, but for all intents and purposes, it was like she vanished. His golden eye seemed to be spreading, the gold seeping into the white of his eye, even as the dark did the same. He blinked rapidly against the odd sensation, still searching for her, still wanting to make sure...

As the color eclipsed the last of the white, Tre left, his body falling like a marionette with its strings cut.

The last thing he felt was the rush of frost, snow, and hail washing past as water.

Blue eyes flicking between gold and black, the girl reached up her other hand, placing it on the otherside of his face, keeping him still, keeping him there, in sight, with her. There was something prickling in her, slow, but sharp. It was like a stab, clean and straight.

Straight at her heart.

Fear.

She could feel fear, fear she could not explain, fear that she could not expel. Not even as she gazed back at him.

"Tre," her voice was soft, but desperate. A plea. She needed him to talk to her - to tell her this was, this was a joke, or- She needed to be told that this was going to be alright. "Tre plea-."

A squeal, a flinch for cover. But the ice from the sky never hit her. A little bubble of protection. It was only falling on the grass.

He was only hurting himself.

"Tre!" Fear made her ton turn to anger. "Stop it! Stop- stop-"

She was flailing, trying to keep a hold of him, trying to stop everything. But it happened all so fast. One moment he was still there, the slowly spreadding colour of his eyes terrifying her all the more.

And the next...

The water splashed around them, soaking him more than her, but she didn't notice - it didn't matter. All that mattered was...

"Tre," her voice was suddenly hoarse, cracking halfway through the name she'd said so many times. He looked like he might have just been asleep - except for... "Tre!"

Her voice quivered but she refused to give in to it. Her hands were suddenly on his shoulders, shaking almost violently, desperation making her careless.

"Tre! Wake up - come on. Please just- This isn't funny! It's not- it's not... it's... not..."

She bit her lip. Crying wasn't going to help anything. IT wasn't going to help her... help him. She reached out a hand, shaking so that she could barely control it, and slowly brushed his hair aside.

Ashleen knew she needed to check, but she couldn't bring herself to-to... what if she didn't like what she found.

"You better be fine," she murmured softly, before slowly resting her ear against his chest. For the briefest of moments, she let her eyes drift close, pretending that this was just any normal time. Just an embrace. Not-

Then she heard it. Faint, and irratic. Not a normal heartbeat at all.

But it was a heartbeat.

Tre was alive.

For now.

"Its going to be okay," she murmured again, pushing herself up, and looking around, before turning back to the boy. She couldn't lift him but... she pulled her wand out. "We're going to be just fine."

Slowly casting the spell, levitating the boy into the air, wishing she could hold him close, but knowing there was no point. They would get no where - she was simply too weak - she slowly made her way back the way she came, repeating her mantra with each moment.

If only she could stop the fear long enough to believe it.