A/N (Aroihkin's Notes) 08.11.05:
Last chapter in SNAFU! To be continued in TAF #4, which is already in progress on my computer:D
Short, but tense. Lime alert!
05.02.2010: All scene-dividers have been eaten, again, on all of my stories. I give up. Please just go read this story on arowrites dot net where it hasn't been made incoherent; I am unable to keep up with this site's stupidity.
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TAF: SNAFU
entry seven, black rabbit running
Where she thought she'd go, Akara didn't know.
Outright escape was futile. No matter how fast she sprinted at the Grove, how hard she clenched her eyes shut, the place would stop her in her tracks long before reaching the actual tree-line, and she'd have to turn back. Akara tried this several times, knowing it was useless, before fully giving up on it.
The thief sank to the ground and leaned back against the tower, staring over the treetops and up at the stars. She could smell rain, and remembered the approaching storm she'd spotted from the upper levels.
"Aw... crap." Akara said, hunching over as the rain started to come down. "There's no way in the abyss that I'm going back in there yet."
The dream, so easily forgotten as it had happened, wouldn't leave her alone now that the bastard Mage had brought it to light. This one... the one she'd had while laying half-sprawled on top of him... had been -vivid-.
/ Why did he have to make me remember it? / she thought, miserably/ Now it will never leave me alone... /
She clenched her eyes shut, but it only made the images all the more vivid. Golden skin illuminated by the fireplace, tangled white hair splayed across the carpet. Teeth clenched and eyes barely open, the taste of his skin... like lightning, from his magic. Akara's dream had been so vivid as to hold scent, texture... it was no wonder she'd groaned in her sleep. What had been flashes and snippets upstairs had turned to a full-fledged memory... and the only words...
/ I have to know what it is I said out loud! /
Dream-Akara had held his hips down, though they'd struggled fitfully to move, his taste filling her mind. But then he'd grabbed her hair and forced her off of him, breathing raggedly, and pulled her up until he could reach her throat. Dream-Akara had tipped her head back, letting him do as he wished, and had groaned out three words under the onslaught of lips and teeth.
'Raistlin...' Akara could hear it clearly now in her mind, 'love... you...!'
The thief felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.
/ Oh Gods. He's not going to kill me, he's going to hang me skinless off of the tower by one foot and let the birds peck me to death! /
Akara hung her head, running her fingers through her hair.
/ I am so screwed, and... and not even in the good way! /
"Akara." the voice made her jump, head snapping up to stare at the black-robed figure in the rain, "Come, now, back inside..."
"No, Majere." Akara shrank away from the golden-skinned hand reaching for hers, "I'd rather just stay out here a while."
The Mage sighed, crouching down in front of her and taking her chin firmly in hand. She was forced to meet his eyes, shadowed beneath the hood of his robes, just for a moment before she turned them away.
"No, look at me." he demanded, and she did so without thinking about it. His eyes captured hers, he leaned forward until she could see nothing but him and the inky depths of his hood.
"What did you dream?"
Akara immediately felt her face flushing and her eyes widening, she tried to pull her head away... but it was now firmly against the damp tower wall. Raistlin shifted his grip to the side of her head, his other hand joining on the other side to pin her firmly in place.
"Tell me." he whispered, thumbs tracing lines back and forth under her eyes. "Please."
Anger sparked.
"You want to know, do you? Not humiliating enough without the sordid details, is it?"
He seemed unfazed by her anger, he simply sighed.
"I will give you a charm that will allow you to pass through the Grove as easily as ever before," Raistlin said, "if you will but tell me what you dreamt."
"Fine, Majere." Anger fueled her, as well as the prospect of getting away. To be well and truly away from those knowing eyes and tempting hands, that was all she wanted at this point. To hide. "You were naked, on the floor, and I had you in my mouth."
"And then?"
"You pulled me off, and up, and you were kissing my throat when I said..."
"When you said...?"
"Damn you, Majere! You know what I said then!"
But the golden eyes boring into her glittered hungrily.
"I want you to say it -now-. Word for word."
Akara choked.
"No way, Majere, I-I c-can't say that."
"Would it be a lie, then?" Raistlin asked, softly, "you who have broken into my home twice a year for five years, always telling me I was beautiful? You who -live- at the -Golden Hourglass-?"
"No... it wouldn't be a lie." Akara whispered.
"Then say it."
"But..."
"Say it!" he growled, eyes flashing with anger before he began to cough, bowing his head.
"Raistlin... I... I love you." the thief said, voice weak.
"Louder!" the Archmagus snarled between coughs, shaking.
"I love you!"
He pulled himself together after a few more moments of coughing, not bothering to wipe the blood off of his lips.
"And then what happened?" Raistlin demanded.
"Wh... what do you mean? Nothing..."
"You -writhed-, my lady, in your sleep! You -squirmed- and -whimpered- my name! What happened in your dream!"
Akara gasped, forced to recall the rest. She shut her eyes to escape his stare.
"You... you thrust into me, and..."
"And what..." Raistlin moved closer, she could feel it, "did that feel like?"
"Oh Gods." she shrank away from him as much as she could, pressing herself against the tower wall and down into the mud. "Why are you asking this of me?"
"I want to know."
"Wh-why..."
"Tell me!"
"L... Like..." she took a deep, shuddering breath, wondering why she never carried a knife. Surely this would be the time to slit her own throat? "Like..."
"Tell me." his growl was husky, so close she could feel his breath.
"Like... like... every good thing in the world. At once. I... there aren't words." Akara whimpered, then, her eyes still closed. "Please... just let me go or kill me..."
His bloodied lips brushed her forehead suddenly, speaking words in a silky language she couldn't understand. Then he was suddenly at a distance again, standing away from her in the rain. Akara took a shaking, almost-sobbing breath and took her time in regaining her wits.
I seemed like an eternity later that she raised her head and opened her eyes, and had firmly stuffed the entire situation into a box in her mind and then tossed it in the cellar.
/ I will ignore it, I will ignore it, I will ignore it. I am a thief, a damned good one, and that's all that matters in life. I'm good at what I do. I'm excellent at what I do. Hell, I'm the very -best- at what I do! /
Her own ego tacked barely back into place, the thief glanced at Raistlin before surging to her feet.
"You really shouldn't be out here, Majere." Akara said, "You're going to get sick again."
"I have given you the charm, as promised. You may come and go through the Shoikan Grove as you please." he replied, as though he'd rehearsed it in his head. Raistlin looked a bit surprised at her come-around, however.
/ Don't break the act, Majere, I won't be able to take it. / Akara pleaded silently, and her sudden roguish grin was just a tad shaky.
"Well, that's awesome. I'll be on my way then... nice to finally meet you in person."
"I... shall see you at Yule, then?"
"You never -see- me, Majere, I'm the thief!"
"I could yet catch you."
"No... I don't think that you will." Akara's smile shifted a bit... turning bittersweet, "Goodbye, Raistlin."
She turned and sprinted away, effectively cutting off anything else he could have said.
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Dragonlance © someone else.
All here that is not found in the books... is mine.
Never steal if you value your spleen.
Final notes on SNAFU:
All of this tension, and they haven't so much as kissed in the story!
And yes, Raistlin is quite a bastard! Poor Akara... I suspect she'll get revenge, though.
TAF #4 is already on the way. Title for it currently is planned to be Face to Face, after the song by Siouxie and the Banshees.
It takes place roughly a year and a half after this one, which puts us at roughly six years since TAF #1! Woah, that's a long time. If anyone's curious, I made a timeline for TAF, which can be found on arowrites dot net.
So that's it! That's a wrap! XD
Tune in next time, same bat time... same bat channel! Continued in TAF 04: Face to Face!