shelley_winters | (no subject)

(no subject)

It hurts.

Everything hurts now, her head, and eyes and throat from crying on and off, weak and hopeless and angry.

(It's not fair not fair it's not-)

Her hands and feet are freezing cold, though it's a relief to press chill fingers to her hot aching head. She's stopped feeling hungry. Curled against the wall on her bed, Shelley shivers.

She can't get up.

She's not well, she should sleep if she's not-

(No dreaming, stop it, not fair)

No sleep. Rest a bit more, that's sensible, makes sense to rest when you hurt.

Her throat is sore, but she just drank some water, and she's too tired to get up again.

The door remains locked.

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Shelley turns her face closer to him as she cries, either trying to hide it or simply needing that sense of closeness and reassurance.

She can't think properly. All she can feel is that it hurts, and he's helping.

He spoke softly to her, as if to soothe away some of her agony with his voice. His hand rubbing up and down her back in a slow, steady motion.

"Shhh... It will all be well, my lady. It will all be well."

It is a while before she can ask, shivering weakly as she cries.

"...How?"

Unfortunately, he found himself in a rather difficult predicament since his previous statement had been a lie. It seemed like a good idea at the time. His hand still stroking her back gently.

"There is nothing to remind you of that time. You can move on, if you so desire."

Shelley shakes her head mutely, still sobbing hard.

Why would she want to move on? She shouldn't have to move on.

With a somewhat resigned smile on his face, he clenched her tightly to his chest. His arms tightening around the crying redhead in his arms, as he sang in a soft voice to her.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half to man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Her sobs quieten slowly as he sings. She is tired, and crying exhausts her. In a while she is simply lying there curled in his arms. Her head throbs dully.

Hearkening to how he comforted in those earlier days, he studied her for a moment. They had been happy then. Leaning down, he kissed her chastely on the forehead, and gently stroked her cheek with a thumb.

"It disturbs me to see my lady in so much pain."

His lady. He supposed she was, and possibly always would be, as far as he was concerned.

"I don't want to be. But I can't- not..."

Her hands tighten slightly, but she no longer seems to need to cry.

His arms still cradling her snugly as he glances down at her. A long sigh because he knew what it was like to be where she was, and he had no arms to take shelter in.

"I know what you are feeling. I have been there. You are not alone."

(I know what sorrow is all about)

Shelley nods quietly, green eyes open but distant. She knows.

The room is cold.

She lay in his arms, almost like a corpse. Cradling her small body, he occasionally sang softly to her, but mainly he held her-his cheek to her forehead in a close embrace, so that that any onlooker might consider them each a trivial part of a single whole-incomplete without the other.

And the Wheel of Time turned.

The room slowly grows dark as the hour gets later. Only the soft sound of his voice as he sings breaks the silence.

Eventually she sleeps, still curled up at the end of her bed.

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