Subject: Strong Man's Ashes (1/1) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 10:23:16 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Strong Man's Ashes--a Forever Knight story By April French Author's Note: I wasn't planning on writing this one... but when the muse bites, you listen. Not really a songfic, since I only quoted a couple of lines, but said song is 'Taking Over Me' by Evanescence, a song I will be using more fully in the future. All the dialogue is taken more or less verbatim from the episode 'Ashes to Ashes.' Praise, comments, etc, send my way. All nasty flames will be delayed at customs. Posted at my site http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html with everything else. Permission to archive is given to the FTP site. Anyone else wishing to archive, ask and ye shall receive. ~~~ Strong Man's Ashes (1/1) The Raven: May, 1996 I had not expected him to come to me, and confront me about... her. Perhaps I should have. I have occasionally underestimated Nicholas. He came upon me at the bar, thrusting his head next to mine. "Who is she?" he asked abruptly. Pained by... by many things, I could not answer. "The young girl, LaCroix," he repeated, "what is she to you?" He swung around in front of me, eyes dark and dangerous. I could see the slight bulge of his fangs beneath his lips; that was odd. He usually strives so hard to control himself around me. Just to prove he can. "Did you bring her across?" I said nothing. "What is it?" "'It?'" I repeated. "'It' is something I've never told you. Something too painful for even me to discuss." "She said you go back a long way." "You're still listening to the show; I'm flattered..." "Urs is dead." I coughed in dismay. "You see what my young friend is doing? One by one, people around me will be killed until am left alone. And as isolated... as I left her. The word is out," I continued, standing. I leaned on the countertop and surveyed my domain, its population drastically lessened by the events of the past two nights. "Being in LaCroix's company can be fatal." I swallowed. "She will kill all of you, because of me..." Nicholas thought he understood. "Because you brought her across." I had to laugh. "No. I did not bring Divia across." I told him. I had to shut my eyes against the torrent of memories, but I told him. He was astonished. "She brought you across?!" I gasped, jolted out of the past. "Spared me the fate of countless thousands." He followed me through the curtain of chains. "Buried alive under a mountain of ash." Finding a convenient table, I leaned on that as well, again welcoming the support. I was all the support I was going to get. Nicholas, grand boy, was confused, as usual. "Why did Divia save you?" Well, this time his confusion was understandable. "She is my daughter." His expression was one of mingled shock and horror, like a punch to the throat. "Now you see why I never told you who my master is? One could say that you're related." He clearly did not want to ponder that. "If she saved you then, why is she hunting you now?" I did not want to tell him, of all people. Not him. But of all people, surely he deserved to know. "Twenty years after Pompeii, I thought her dead and buried. Along with the guilt, and the secret one dare not share. But perhaps it is time to share that secret." Nicholas has a good measure of tact that reveals itself at the most surprising moments. I had expected him to break in with questions and ridicule, but he held his tongue. "What can be said about a man who kills his own daughter?" His eyes darted across my face, searching for I know not what. "You had no choice but to destroy her." "I had a choice!" I snapped. "I could've done as Divia asked." Nicholas refused to accept that. "And despised yourself for it?" "No more so than I do now!" I hissed, finally losing all my composure. "As a general in the emperor's army, I visited suffering on me enemies in unspeakable ways!" My voice shook. "Yet there was an evil in my own child that I couldn't bear to look upon. An evil that she inherited from me." I took a deep breath, but it caught in my throat. "My beautiful daughter..." Nicholas did not say anything for a moment, just looked at me. I could see the conflicting emotions flitting across his handsome face. "Do you think she'll come after you?" "Not yet," I said darkly. "There's more killing to be done, after all." Nicholas moved to go, and I turned away, drowning in my own anguish. I would lose him because of this, I was certain. Even if Divia did not kill him... By telling him of my crime--the only one in my long life I felt any regret over--I had destroyed my last chance of getting him back. He would never be able to respect me again... A gentle hand broke into my thoughts and pressed against my shoulder. You saw me mourning my love for you And touched my hand "If you need me," he whispered. Startled, I hid my tears from him. I knew you loved me then "Thank you, Nicholas." ~Finis--September 16th, 2003~ April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com