In Your Arms
By Lady Sanzennine
Disclaimer: Everything is property of Squaresoft Inc.
Notes: AU concept. Seph’s POV, likely OOC.
Author’s forward: Totally devoid of angst…it’s actually…happy…I think I have SARs.
She’s there, half hidden by the foliage, slivers of sunlight through the leaves overhead bringing out the gold in her auburn hair. I can see the way her eyes are lightly closed and her brow smooth, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Because here, here on this holy ground where the flowers never wither and the leaves never brown, here she finds true peace. Away from the noise, the pain, the games and intrigues. This is her home.
I breathe in deeply, savoring the fresh, warm air tinged with the scent of jasmine and earth. She hears me then and slowly opens her eyes to meet mine with a soft smile. Suddenly she’s in my arms and I can feel the welcome warmth of her body around me. She gives me a quick kiss and then turns around so her back is pressed securely against my chest and my arms are wrapped around her waist.
“I knew you’d come,” she says.
“Miss me?” I ask, a smile curving my lips upwards before I bend my head to press a kiss against the hollow of her neck.
She giggles softly, “Maybe.” She turns her head to gaze back at me, “I had to get away. Things have gotten so crazy lately. People always seem to forget all the little things that matter the most.”
I knew she spoke of the chaotic state of the world. War, death, hatred and intolerance everywhere, it so often seemed. So she ran here, where the only sounds came from the wind and the birds. And now our steady breaths.
I glance down to see a single green leaf held lightly between two of her fingers. My eyes return to hers and I raise a single eyebrow in question.
“It’s amazing, if you think about it,” she tells me, taking one of my hands and placing the leaf on my open palm.
I study the plain sample of vegetation with an amused smile. It was dark green in color, a regular almond-like shape, veined. “Darling, you’ll have to explain it to me,” I say to her while pulling her with me towards the nearby tree where we sit at the base of its trunk. My free hand rests on the curve of her hip, my arm cradling her and she rests her head on my chest.
“Look at it, Seph,” she says as she trails her fingers over my palm to rest on the edges of the leaf. “It came from one of these trees. They’re ten times bigger than we are and just incredible. They started from a seed, which started from a single cell…” she trails off and looks up at me.
And seeing her bright green eyes shining with the awe that only young children, just discovering the world, possess – I remember all the reasons I love her so much.
“That single cell, so small we can’t see it without help, it grew into this tree. It takes from nature and gives back. And all life moves with it in this cycle. They fight to survive and feed their young, and they all live together in cruel and perfectly balanced nature.” She pauses, “It’s so sad that we can’t live with them in the same balance.”
She falls silent while the soft voice in my conscious that belongs to her continues.
There’s so much wonder
in the world, so many miracles right in this very forest. Or in a newborn in
his mother’s arms, knowing instinctively where to turn for nourishment,
trusting her entirely, smiling without thinking, crying when in need.
And in the way a parent will stand and fight to the death for their child. The way we can so completely put someone first because the privileged can learn that there are some things infinitely more important than ourselves.
My arm around her tightens subconsciously, drawing her closer to me. My fingers absently run along the downy underside of the leaf still in my hand.
Or in this
sometimes insane thing I feel for you. Where I look at you and want to laugh
and cry because I finally found something worthwhile and real.
It’s when you’re here in my arms that I can see the world through your eyes – like a child.
“It’s sad that so many people forget to take the time to watch someone they love sleep. Just sitting there in the darkness and listening to them breathe softly. Or watching a thunderstorm together. Lightning’s a beautiful thing, you know.” She says.
I can only smile as she continues to look at me. As she speaks of waterfalls, hidden caves, open meadows, sunsets, and always, always the unbelievable beauty hidden within even the plainest of leaves, I imprint this image of her. In my arms, brilliant green eyes, sweet voice.
I have the feeling that I’ll never look at a leaf again without seeing her eyes.
What a pity that we take everything for granted. Life in and of itself is so precious – the happy moments and the most heart wrenching. Because, isn’t it a wonder that we can feel any of this at all? That we can hold these moments close and treasure them for a lifetime.
She’s the one that showed me all of this. This life beyond the obvious, this appreciation for the air that we breathe and the sunlight that falls upon our skin, the heat we feel from a dancing campfire.
This adoration I feel when I look at her and the thrill at knowing I’ve discovered something infinitely precious – something I’d fight to the bitter end to protect.
She slowly closes her eyes sleepily and mumbles, “Love you, Seph.”
I feel the natural tenseness that accompanies consciousness seep from her body as she drifts into sleep. I lean down and softly kiss her temple.
“Love you too, ‘Ris.”
Because sometimes it takes a special someone to make you realize just how miraculous everything is and to make you see the world with the eyes of an innocent child. And that’s priceless. Something you never let go of.
Because it’s only in her arms that I can close my eyes and suddenly realize how wonderful it is to simply be alive. Breathing in the air, feeling her weight against me and the small green leaf in my hand…
Feel the sunlight like a man who’s been trapped underground for weeks. Taste the air like one who nearly drowned. And hold your love as though they’ll vanish at dawn.
For life’s too short to live without noticing the little things that make it all worthwhile.