Unfinished fairytale.:Amber.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen kept hurrying, through the branches and over logs until she stopped and looked around. She had run so far...and yet, it wasn't here. Not even tracks. Had she imagined it? No! She had seen it! She had and now she was sure, there something, had been here, she looked closer, a broken branch. That had to mean, and it was just...hanging there. Surely wind, or snow would have knocked it to the ground if it had been broken for a long while.

Eryk was behind her but she paid him no mind, she looked around, almost frantic. Cerridwen needed to find it. There had to be something there. There must be a reason it called to her, why she longed to go near it. Cerridwen looked about for a minute before sighing and shaking her head. "It's gone.." She murmured.

Turning, Eryk was just behind her and she shrugged. "Why...why did you follow me?" She asked.

Why? Why had he followed her like this. Why had he done that, if he didn't care, if he didn't want to be with her why follow her? Why try and follow? It didn't make sense. None of this made sense. The forest, the ring, the box, the following, how Eryk just...suddenly left her, how he suddenly after they had started to get better, to start things over he just wigs out and flips, and just runs...it doesn't make sense.

Much how it didn't make sense there was a steel, metal trap right by Eryk's leg...-- wait what?

Cerridwen stopped her eyes going wide. "Eryk..." She hoarsely. "Don't....move." She murmured looking around. That's when she saw another one. If she had to guess....and look around, she will willing to bet, this was a field of mines...only...instead of mines to blow them to kingdom come...they were traps.

And to add to this big mess of confusion, why...more traps? "Can you fly" She whispered her heart beating against her chest, quite hard, fearful he'd move and get trapped. If they could fly....then they could fly out of this...she wasn't strong enough, not after all the running she had just done, she couldn't carry both of them, she doubted she could barely get herself up.

[eryk]

At her question he turned away from her better now knowing that she wasn't in harm's path. How could he answer a question he didn't know the answer to? Glad that it was night he stepped started to step back into the shadows. Up until she told him not to move. Freezing he followed her line of sight and spotted the metal.

"Thank you." Reaching a hand upwards he snapped off a part of a tree brach and dropped it onto the trap. The wood much like his bone would have snapped easily in two. Eye darting around he found a few more traps laying in wait for an unsuspecting foot.

"No, I can't fly." Eryk didn't even look at her as he growled this out. He wasn't fae he'd coem to terms with that. He was wolf and that was good enough for him. "I'll just...watch my step."

With one eye.

"I'll be fine. Go home." Jumping upward he grabbed the branch and lifted himself up in a smooth pull up. Then was up sitting on the branch. From this height he could at least spot the traps. All he had to do was throw twigs at them, set them all off and walk away afterwards. "Really, I live in these woods. I'll be fine."

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Temper Temper. Geez. All she asked was if he could fly or not...he didn't have to get nasty or mean with her. Especially not growl. "I can't fly..." She murmured. She looked down at the traps. "Not after running like that, and I'm sure with everything that they've gone through tonight, the branches scratching at them, and such, it would be rather painful to get into the air, and not only that I'm not leaving you in a field of...mines" She looked to him as she took her own twig, snapping it off of a tree, and throwing it at a random spot of snow.

Nothing.

As he lifted himself up, she watched standing in the snow. Cerridwen wouldn't let herself get cold, she wouldn't let herself fall to something as simple as winter. Cerridwen simply wouldn't stand for it, so moving up, she went to her own branch right across from his, if she had wanted to she could swing her foot, and quite possibly touch his own foot.

"I lived in these woods as well...I think I'll be fine. But you...I want to see you safe." She murmured. "I don't know who set these...and I don't know why, but I can assure you, I will have it fixed tomorrow. These shouldn't be here, there isn't hunting allowed in these woods..." She murmured more so to herself. Very odd. Very odd. "And if I had...taken only a few steps further, and my leg would be caught between the jaws of a steel trap..." That very thought sickened her.

Why was she staying? Why didn't she just get the hell out of there and leave Eryk? Deep down she knew why, but her mind was very confused, and that trance was still cast upon her, a mellow yet curious state she was in. What was that light...was it for her? Well of course it was for her. Naturally it was for her. Why wouldn't it be? Cerridwen sat in silence for a minute thinking, the wind blowing every so often, blowing the very few wisps she had out of her face as her eyes bore down onto the snow, blank, but her mind, deep in thought.

[eryk]

She wasn't going to fly away. She couldn't just leave. Sighing he jumped from the branch to the clear spot he'd made beneath it. Then held out his arms for her. "Jump down into my arms. I'll take you home."

Steel traps he could handle. After facing a raging werewolf, and nearly dying out here in the wild he could deal with simple steel traps. The traps would leave them alone as long as they left them alone. Living beings would attack no matter if they were stepped on or not.

"I'm strong enough to catch you and carry you. Just jump down, and I'll put you on my back." He might not be a world reknowned weight lifted but he wasn't a complete wimp. Even if he wasn't the strongest he'd carry her to safety no matter if it tired him out, or caused his muscles to ache. It was her. Anything for her. As long as he could see her safe.

"Yes, I'm not the most reliable person. I've never been able to keep you safe, but please, please trust me for once." His sentences happened back to back his thoughts inbetween happening quickly. Looking up at her, in the shadows, the snow, the moonlight...was like looking at a dream. This was all a dream, and in the morning he'd be back in his cave wishing for it to come back.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen looked to him, it wasn't that she thought she would get hurt, or that...she thought they were in some sort of danger...she...she didn't want him to get hurt. Not at all. She really...she didn't. She loved him. Cerridwen yes, still loved him of course, and because of that she felt she still needed to protect him, from things that he couldn't see, such as that trap that he had been about to step into. Not. Good. Cerridwen looked up to the moon and sighed softly.

As he told her to jump into his arms, she was more then happy to oblige. Though looking down at him, it wasn't the fact that she was going to hurt him physically that worried her. It was emotionally. Though if he kept assuring her, and he kept telling her she should, then she might as well just do it. "Be careful.." She murmured letting herself drop from the branch into his arms. She looked to him, she saw the white eye but didn't look away, she didn't look sad.

"I trust you...of course I do." She whispered. "Don't think you haven't kept me safe...if it hadn't been for you...Xavier would have killed me..." She whispered looking to him her fingers moving over his skin softly. "I always will...will you trust me though...can you trust me" She asked looking to him in the eyes. It didn't matter if he was blind in one eye it was as if she didn't see, or she was blind altogether because she didn't see it. All she saw was him, him and only him.

The cool metal of the ring ran over his skin as she looked to him. This was...so...different. "Come home...." She whispered finally serious.

[eryk]

She was in his arms, after so long along she was in his arms. His heart went still in its cage gazing up at him. She's...here. What are you going to do about it? He made sure she didn't touch the ground but he couldn't make himself move her to his back. All he wanted was to stare into her emerald eyes forever.

"I...can't believe...I forgot...how utterly beautiful you are." Whispering he held her up with one arm as he lifted his other hand to touch her face. "Dreams, and memories can't compare..."

His heart was hanging in suspense just waiting for him to mess up. It didn't have to wait long. "Trust you..." Sighing he turned his face away and went to move her onto his back. As he shifted her he took a small step barely nudging the trap, which brought his attention to it. Eyes widening he kicked the trap away setting it off.

"No." And that was the only answer he'd give. Once she was on his back and he had her all situated he started moving through the traps. If he came across those metal teeth he'd kick it enough to set it off or to just move it aside. Course with one eye this wasn't the safest way to go about things, and it was slow going. But he didn't care it meant one more minute, one more second with her.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen looked up. "I've...I've...never been so happy to hear that...from you. Only you." She murmured nodding and when he touched her, for a moment, she felt like she was back with him, back to normal, that maybe he would come home, and then it all began slipping from her fingers, her grasp, he was....gone. Again. Cerridwen sighed and nodded. "Trust Eryk...I know that's hard...but...someday...I'm not asking for you to trust me now, but someday just...try and trust me okay?" Cerridwen whispered as she was shifted to his back.

Her arms slipped around his strong neck and she held to him, resting her cheek on his back as she listened to his heart beat, his warm body against her's it was nice...though she knew he wouldn't come home, deep down she knew, but she could hope. Wish. Dream.

Cerridwen rested on his back and sighed. "If you can just go a few more minutes, I'm sure I will have enough energy to fly us out of this death trap..." She murmured, though her fingers ran along his neck, and then up to his ear, his ear that was half chewed off, running her fingers gently over it, wishing she could heal it, wishing she could fix this. This was all her fault...if she hadn't gotten involved, if she had called an authority figure...and just let them handle it..if only...

Cerridwen closed her eyes as they moved. "Thank you though..." She added quietly as she just...laid. Waiting.

[eryk]

Her words made his heart jump and wave at him begging for him not to mess things up again. To not do what he was about to do. To...She was on his back and he chose not to respond to the trust question again. It wasn't that he didn't trust her specifically it was that he didn't trust that she wouldn't hurt him. That he wouldn't hurt her. He didn't trust the relationship that they'd been fighting to keep above the crashing cold waters of life.

"You're not flying me anywhere. I'm fine carrying you." How many of these traps were there? How did they not trip them when they first ran through here? Had it been luck or had some magical force set them in place while they stood talking? It still puzzled him as to why she'd run away. He was glad he had though to think she would've been left alone in this metal teeth infested area had him shivering. Her fingers also had him shivering.

"Don't." Jerking his head away from her hand he almost sset his foot down into a trap. "One eye trying to spot all these traps. I need to focus."

Yes, that was a decent half truth to tell her. The fact was that he couldn't stand her touching his ruined ear that didn't have the best hearing. He couldn't take getting attached to her touch because he couldn't, wouldn't go back home with her. Maelee was fine on her own, and Cerridwen was better without him. Now that she knew he was alive though...would she seek him out? Maybe a few meetings at night near the safety of his forest would be nice. But he'd have to stay at a distance. Being this close was killing him.

"You don't need to thank me." Eryk whispered nudging aside another trap. "It's the least I can do after all the stuff you helped me through."

All the sh*t he put her through was more like it. Another reason he couldn't go back. He couldn't keep burdening her with all his problems. She had her own to deal with. Because he'd burdened her so much she couldn't lean on him, she couldn't tell him things. No, he'd been selfish. But now he'd be strong and protect her, watch over her. Listen to her play with his baby sister. Even if it broke his heart each time he had to watch her and know he'd never be with her again.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen rested, against his back. Slowly they walked through the snow together, silence surrounded them. Cerridwen listened to the soft beat of his heart beat, and soon enough, she was in a state where she wasn't asleep, but she wasn't awake. She was just...in limbo land, waiting.

She remembered the academy, and then they're lunch by the lake...where she had started to complain about Fiona...and then again sex in the forest right after that...wow...how long ago that had seemed. So....so wow. Now the more she thought about it, the more she realized...they did a lot of the dirty. Was that what they had? Physical attraction and nothing more? Surely there was more there, she couldn't have all these feelings...and most of them be the cause of a little physical attraction.

Well now she felt like she had to find out. Cerridwen needed to know. Was this just...physical attraction or real love?

He was going, slow, moving herself, around and then off, stepping to the ground she simply kissed him. Her curiosity got the better of her, and half an ear? No ear? Blind? She didn't care...looks...were not something that mattered to her. Personality, the heart...that is what mattered. A few seconds and she pulled away. "Before you speak tell me what you felt." She murmured putting a finger to her lips, telling him to be quiet. She felt...something a lot of something...well more like a lot of Something's. but...she wanted to know what he felt. Did he really want to leave her as much as he claimed?

[eryk]

The traps were getting farther and farther apart now, and as they distanced his mind focused more on her. The girl on his back. The way he could feel her breathing, her scent mixing with the crispness of the air, the weight of her pressing against his back. If he could he'd just lay down with her right where she was and just be. Just listen and feel her breathe, just lay there knowing she was safe and with him.

Instead he trudged along scooting the traps away. Her breathing got more even, and not being able to see her, he just assumed she was asleep. Thinking her asleep he moved more fluidly through the traps because asleep she couldn't talk to him, she couldn't touch him. She couldn't distract him. Faster going he was shocked when she was suddenly sliding off of him. Erky blamed himself for not holding her tighter figuring she was falling. But then she was in front of him and-

"What the-" Kissing him.

At first he started to shove her away because she'd surprised him, because he couldn't get close. The kiss was short but he'd had time enough to losen his grip and close his eyes. As she spoke he opened his eyes slightly turning his damaged eye and ear away from her. His heart was out right dancing in its cage, and as usual with her kisses he was finding it hard to intake air. Pulling his hands away from her he took a step backwards.

"I think we're clear of the traps now. You should be fine to walk the rest of your way on your own." That probably wasn't the answer she had wanted or asked for, but any other would hurt too much. The caged thing in his chest ranted at him banging at the bars. But he couldn't listen to his heart anymore. It had let him get hurt too many times. He'd find his cloak tomorrow in daylight. "Just be careful it's not a safe place. Just go straight home...please."

He'd of course be watching her to make sure she got home safe but this closeness couldn't continue. If it did he'd wrap her in his arms and ramble about love and missing her and how he wanted her to be happy. Instead he turned away and headed into the shadows. Where he belonged.

[©erridwen Corrigan]

"Is that what you really want me to do?" She asked finally. Cerridwen wouldn't doubt it. If that's...what he really felt, then she wouldn't question it. What she felt, was far more complex, far more difficult. She couldn't actually put into words what she felt...but it was certainly not just 'physical attraction' as she had assumed. Certainly not. Not understand Cerridwen just nodded. "Alright." She whispered and for a minute she hesitated.

Why the hesitation? Was she really...wanting to leave him? After she just found him? After she just...--, turning Cerridwen looked to him. "Live in the cottage." She said finally. "Live in there...the walls, they may be splattered with paint, but the house, it's beautiful, and I'd hate it to go to waste...please. Live in it. Use it. Furnish it. I'm giving it to you. To use. I'll never go back there...just...I want you to live in it..." Cerridwen said finally.

"It's warm. It's your chance to start over." Cerridwen agreed. "For you...to live like a normal person. To put this behind you. Eryk...start over. I'm not saying...come back to me. I'm not saying to take Mae back, I'd miss her terribly, but...please. Start over. Put this behind you. Change your name if you must...but please...get a new girlfriend, get a pet or something, but take the property...take the house" Cerridwen nodded reaching for a key around her neck and slipping it off.

Cerridwen didn't want him living out in the forest. She wanted him to be warm...food. A bed. If he needed help, she would be more then happy to help furnish the house, but she wanted him to just live somewhere.

With that, shoving it into his hand, she took one last look at him before hurrying away. She was doing as he said. After all she was going home now...but she felt...almost better to know he had somewhere to go. Though a few of her fits marked the walls...the red paint...and the black, or whatever color had been available at the time of course...naturally he could paint over that, it was the kitchen wall she had left, the flowers, the butterflies, something she was POSITIVE he would paint over, their messages in the corner...

This all broke her heart, and she thought she had experienced a broken heart, but she hadn't. It literally felt like it was breaking. The sickness she felt...she way she wanted to go back and tell him she was lying. To tell him to get a new girlfriend...a new life...had been so difficult.

Why had she said it? Something so...ridiculous...and yet, it was true, so away she hurried, trying to ignore her very own breaking heart.

[eryk]

Move on. Everything she said, everything she did in that short spance of time said, "Move on." He wanted to protest but the words wouldn't come. For she was saying everything he couldn't. All he could say was, 'Go home.' But they both meant the same. He wanted her to go back to the world where she belonged. To her flowers, her fae, and a happy child who loved her. He'd go back to where he belonged a completely opposite world.

"I can't live there...you should know that." But she was gone before the words even left his lips. Holding the key he watched her go knowing he'd wear the key but never use it. He couldn't go into that place see her art, see the kitchen she'd gotten for him. It was hers, her idea, her baby. Not his. Tomorrow he'd return the key, leave it on her doorstep or something. He'd place it in the box they'd left behind and place it on her doorstep.

Fading into the tree's shadows he followed her at a safe distance. To make sure she made it home. To make sure she was safe. To make his heart ease from its choking pain. To watch her for a few more moments of time.

Move on. Move on. She wanted him to move on. So what had that kiss meant? It meant good-bye...

[©erridwen Corrigan]

Cerridwen walked for some time in silence, once returning to her house, she slipped inside, quietly, like a shadow and moved through the house up to her room. You could see her moving around inside, the light turned on briefly for a minute before turning off again.

Some might think she went to bed, but hopefully Eryk knew.

She was laying there. Thinking about him. Wishing he would listen to her for once...and just...move on and forget her. She did more harm then good. How she longed to have him lay beside her. A true heart was breaking, and she was doubtful that it would be mended. That this would be fixed...that any of this...would be fixed ever.