Fall From Grace

© 2002 Dark Angel.  

Disclaimer and warning: This story is  a piece of original fiction. All characters and settings are drawn from my imagination and nowhere else.  I as their creator maintain rights over their reuse. Please do not copy or reuse any part of it without my permission.

Please be warned that this story  deals with love between women which is expressed at times in detail.  If you don't think reading about that stop and go no further. You must also be of legal age as determined in your state or country to consider proceeding.

Part One

There was no doubt in Her mind that She would love the woman resting in Her arms beyond life itself. No doubt either that that love was returned totally and held as prized and sacred. She wasn't as certain that love could survive the physical separation that they both knew now was inevitable.

They had made love all afternoon, as they had done that morning and the night that had come before it. Not the gentle kind of love that had always been their liking. But a tortured loving. A love so deeply felt and shown that they could almost convince one another there was a way to merge their very beings. A symbiosis of the skin and heart of spirit and tender memory.

Early on one had said, "I don't believe you loved me at all. It was just a game, a thoughtless game gone wrong."

It was cruel and meant to hurt. To make Her feel the same pain the other had no way of naming but knew for sure it was ripping her heart out in its silence.

Shocked and wounded She had cried. "I did, I do. Goddess, know that I do. Of course you know I always have and will."

Weeping and desperate she had given in. Unable to punish with the words as she had thought she could. Knowing full well she was blaming the wrong soul. If anyone was responsible it was she herself, not She. Not her beloved Angel.

"Show me then. Show me how very much you do."

"Like this?"

"Yes, yes but harder, deeper."

"Here? This way?"

"Yes, there - yes faster."

And it had gone on and on. Neither daring the respite of sleep terrified too much precious time could be lost. Too few memories to set to stone. It would after all be all either had left in the end - after the sun rose.

So they went on with the loving. Whispering in the darkness and praying the light wouldn't sneak its way in like it always did. That the changing of the guard would take a break for just one day.  Nor care who slept in the Captain's room.

It's funny and one of them had said it too.  How you think of things like light through cracks in shutters and the smell of tea and sweat and musk. Feathers shaken so they fell.  Bows and swords and blades of all shapes left to rest instead of sharpening. Of muscles flexing, legs and arms becoming vices stronger then any iron in their hold.

But too quick did their time pass by.  Too quick did they rise and fall in their lust.

The rap at the door sent a shudder through both occupants of the tiny cell driving the taller and physically stronger of the two to Her feet. 

Weapon drawn as soon as hands could be laid upon it, She approached the door with unsighted speed, listening close.  Eyes searching the near dark for something to cover Herself should the visitor be bent on entry.

"Who is it?" Angelis demanded

Only a heartbeat passed between.

"I am sorry Sire, but it's time." Came the hushed and remorseful reply.

She grunted a short acknowledgement and waited still paused to strike until the footsteps drew away.

The woman still lounging on the bed had not shifted her gaze from Her.

"Would it make any difference if I said I don't want you to go?"

Angelis smiled but didn't answer or turn back to face her.

Over the back of a chair She spied the jacket and trouser She had taken off much earlier and a great deal of haste. There too suspenders, tunic and boots.  Items of cloth and leather that were as much a part of Her as Her skin. The sword came to rest blade down against the table once more as without the hint of hesitation the robes were taken up.  One by one in ritual, a proud reverie. A task too that would soon be made come to pass.

The woman rose up a little from her position, her own nakedness ignored in light of her plea.

"Then let me go instead," she offered again.  "Let me speak to them, or at least father on your behalf."

In return she received a look of dread.  One she knew would have put younger souls back a step or two and sent others scurrying for their mothers, if they had them.

Angelis finished with the last button on Her tunic.

"I must go," She said solemnly.

"You know as well as I, a notice from the council can not be ignored. Nor should it ever be."

She retrieved the blade one last time and watched as it slid silently into its scabbard.

"I will not shame this uniform anymore than they say I have. And I will not have another stand in my place."

The woman rose higher on the bed, kneeling.

A single finger to Her lips, She cautioned.

"…No matter how beautiful they might be."

Tears now trickled down the woman's cheek, and unable to do little else she bowed her head.

"I will go with you then, where ever you are sent."

Strong arms approached and embraced the slighter frame.

Pressing Her face close. "No you won't." She murmured kissing the silken hair. 

"Your place and destiny are here. You can not follow. And though I regret none of what has transpired between us or come of it, I know now it was foolish to believe any other outcome was possible."

Angelis heard new footsteps forthcoming. More then before, perhaps the sounds of five or six guardsmen now. Gently She disentangled the other woman's hold on Her, not wishing to be summoned by Her own troops more than once.

"I will see you in the Hall of Angels." She told her confidently.

And picking up Her cap, She kissed her softly a final time then turned and opened the door.

To Be Continued