Entwined- Wings Fanfiction

One Shot: Beginning of Entwined Re-Written

The silence Laurel heard as her head was lain on the pillow was disparate from anything she had encountered in the last day. It was relaxing yet unnerving, leaving room for her imagination to run wild and play out a thousand circumstances that had never happened.

Holding onto her pillow with her fingernails dug into the stuffing, all she saw was the darkness of night that was akin to the toxin that had surged through Tamani. The black that encompassed the landscape before her reflected in her eyes and she knew that she wouldn't sleep. She needed him.

Her thoughts drifted to the boy with the light green eyes that were able to pierce into her very being despite their lack of vibrance since she first met him. They were always able to unnerve her in the best of ways, making her so enthralled that even her tongue couldn't piece together words.

It was so satisfactory to think she loved him. Not because of the countless times he had saved her, not because of the passionate kisses, not because she felt like she owed him. She loved him because their lives were tied and she couldn't bear to unravel them. She could not bear to lose him. Not today, not ever.

She needed him and she knew it was for life. But, as the darkness haunted her soul in the silence, she realized that she needed him right there and then. She wanted to feel his warmth around her, lulling her into safety. And he was just downstairs, thanks to the generous offer from her parents.

Her feet acted of their own volition, stepping out of bed and onto the cold wooden floor. They treaded down the stairs gracefully and silently and before she knew it, the cooler air was greeting her bare thighs. The only clothes she had on was a long shirt and undergarments. She seemed to notice, but hardly minded.

Tamani stirred when she settled on the couch beside him. "Laurel?" he asked, his voice atypically alert for this hour.

"I-- I couldn't sleep," she whispered, suddenly guilty. He seemed to sense that as he sat up against the armrest.

"Nor I," he murmured back to her, coming closer in proximity to touch her cool forearm.

He skimmed circles against the bare skin as she responded, "Can you sleep with me tonight?" Her voice was hardly a whisper as she uttered the simple question that meant so much.

With the whisper of those words, a wave of emotion overfilled him. He knew the last time he had offered, the request had been declined because she felt it to big of a step to take. But he knew that having her nearer to him would help him finally rest his conscious thoughts. He hadn't been able to sleep due to how his mind constantly reflected to the "what if" he had lost her. Never before had that question been less rhetorical-- for the both of them.

Tamani looked up at Laurel like she was the only one in the world worth looking at. Her face was filled to the brim with worry and fear, he could see it. Her loneliness was almost tangible. He reached out, his nimble fingers brushing a stray piece of her blonde hair from her perfectly symmetrical face.

"Of course," he whispered. Her face brightened with a small smile. As much as he wanted to kiss her, to make sure this wasn't a dream, he knew that this moment was too fragile. Like if he pushed it too far, it would shatter into a thousand fragments.

His hands cradled her as they scaled the staircase together, not because he was scared that if he didn't she would break. He knew she was strong, but together they were stronger. No one could come out of what they went through and be fine alone. They needed each other: to survive, to live, to love.

Crawling silently into the bed, Laurel easily fit in Tamani's strong arms which were plentiful with injuries that had been recently binded by none other than Laurel herself. The warmth that Tamani provided lulled Laurel into a sense of safety. His smell, his touch-- everything about him was home for Laurel.

Tamani kissed her forehead as he whispered, "I love you, Laurel. I love you more than I ever have any I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"You'll never lose me, Tamani. I love you with everything I am," she murmured against his lowering lips.

They brushed hers and chills shuddered through Laurel at the gentleness of the kiss. With the utter of her love, all his nightmares from the past hours seemed silly. She was here, in his arms, and she loved him.

It all seemed surreal to him. More than Klea, more than Yuki, more than the events of the past day. It was the part that was the hardest to grasp because he had spent his entire life pining for her and wondering if she would ever be his. And now that she was, he didn't know what to do. But he knew that he'd learn, day by day, what it felt like to be the person she clung to when she was feeling scared, smiled at when she was happy, cried with when she was sad, yelled at when she was angry.

He had no idea what the future would be like with Laurel, but he was excited to find out. Similar thoughts were on her mind as she looked up at Tamani, her inestimable and unbridled love for him emitting from everything she was.

And it was this love, safety, and compassion that was finally able to bring them both to a state of sound sleep in each others arms. Because they knew, whatever they had, it was infinite. They didn't have seconds, or minutes, or hours. They had forever.

A/N

I hope you all enjoyed my one shot that I decided to write after re-reading Wings. This is the beginning of the book re-written. This is the last work I will ever write for The Wings Series. It has been an honor to write to all of you loyal readers over the past three years. And this is my official farewell.

If you're reading this, I want you to know how thankful I have been for your support. Please leave a comment!