paul watches through binoculars as the fremen laser shoot through hatkonnen spice crawlers before they even get the chance to land.
his now blue eyes watching carefully as the two crawlers fall to the ground, exploding as they make impact.
-
they were now sat in a tent, sleeping the night away. paul groans in his sleep, twisting and turning. "usul? usul!" mili says rubbing paul's back, gently waking him. he muffles out a groan as he sits up.
"it's okay. it's okay. i'm here." mili consoles. paul places a hand on her cheek as his eyes well up with tears.
"it's been awhile since you had one of those nightmares. huh?" she says. holding his hand on her face. he groans in response.
"tell me, what was it about?" she asks.
-
a woman, walking in the deep sands of arrakis. leading paul, towards.. something.
"nothings clear. it's only fragments." he begins.
"i'm in the south, and i'm following someone."
the woman's hair blows in the wind.
"and it triggers a holy war."
as the woman walks, thousands of people surround her. groaning and moaning in pain. their stomachs small and their bones practically piercing through their skin.
"millions and millions of people starving to death... because of me." he continues.
a woman falls to the ground and a man screams in pain.
-
paul breathes heavily.
"oh, paul." she hugs him.
"you've been exposed to spice for a long time. it can create weird dreams." she consoles
paul stares at her with sad eyes.
"it's a big day today, we can cancel-" she begins. "no. i'm fine." he says kissing her forehead.
-
the fremen all settle on the side of a dune, placing their assortment of items down and sitting, ready to watch paul.
paul sand walks on the spice bed with stilgar. "usul." stilgar speaks, reaching behind him to grab something. he pulls out a thumper. "i tuned it myself!" he proudly says. "here." "thanks." paul softly says.
stilgar breathes heavily. "don't try to impress anyone. you are brave. we all know that." stilgar says. "heh? be simple... be.. direct. nothing fancy." stilgar says .
"nothing fancy." paul repeats.
"hey! i'm serious. nothing fancy or you will shame my teachings." stilgar says.
"i won't shame you! i understand." paul quickly says.
"shai hulud decides today if you become fremen, or if you die." stilgar says before parting paul on the shoulder.
paul continues to sandwalk out toward the dune as stilgar walks back to the fremen. mili watches as paul sandwalks basically like a professional, in mighty contrast to that day a few weeks ago.
"hey muad'dib! don't embarrass us! call a big one!" shishakli yells causing everyone to laugh.
mili looks at her friend with a serious look. "don't worry! stilgar taught him well." shishakli says.
stilgar groans as he sits down. "enough joking. this is the final test." he speaks, sighing.
-
paul breathes heavily as he sets his stuff down to feel the sand. he punches it a few times and notices the sound is very dense.
"lower." mili whispers.
as if paul could hear her, he picks up his stuff and goes lower down the dune. he punches the sand their and finds drum sand. bingo.
"okay..okay.." he breathes nervously as he precisely sticks the thumper into the sand, trying to regulate his breathing.
he turns the dial on the thumper twice and watches as it lifts up and falls, creating a rhythmic thump.
he quickly ascends the dune again and readies his tools. all while looking for wormsign.
he crouches down as he looks left, nothing. right, nothing. he hears it however.
suddenly, a large.. very large dust cloud arises from the sand directly infront of him. the cloud barreling toward him.
everyone stands up in shock at the size of the worm.
"whoa! not that big!" stilgar yells in fremen.
the grandfather worm approaches paul as he slowly stands up. his eyes fixated on the worm.
"okay. okay. okay." he groans nervously as he slowly walks right to align his path with the worm.
the worm goes underground, suddenly disappearing before appearing now to his left. he walks left slowly as he breathes heavy.
paul readies his worm poles and watches as the worm rapidly approaches him.
he squints his eyes, watching the worm change its path to appear to the right of him again. the worm lifts it mouth out of the sand to consume the thumper, roaring as it does so.
he watches as it barrels through the dune he's standing on, his eyes in a worried state "okay.. fuck.." he breathes as he starts to run toward the worm
"oh god. oh god! ahhhhh!" he yells as he jumps into the worms back.
mili stands, watching in horror as he jumps on the grandfather worm.
he lands on the back of the worm, with sand and spice flying into his face. he desperately swings his poles against the worms back, trying to get a grip but fails multiple times.
once he finally gets a grip. he just lays there, his body bouncing from the worms rising and falling actions "fuck!" he yells. "agh" he groans as his body is tossed around.
he looks up before his body is tossed again. the worm barrels into another dune and something changes once the spice surrounds paul, everything goes silent.
he sits up, swinging his poles forward, and getting a proper grip on the worms back. he then slowly starts to stand up.
he fails, his body falling but tries to lift his knee up again and finally succeeds. he was riding a worm.
all the fremen cheer and mili yells praises to her lover.
"go muad'dib!" shishakli yells. chani yells a fremen call as she watches paul ride the worm.
you could see him atop the grandfather worms back, standing with one leg infront the other. paul muad'dib atreides was riding a grandfather worm.
stilgar stands there in shock. "as written." he breathes.
everyone continues to cheer for paul. smiling and yelling "lisan-al-gaib!"
paul continues to ride the worm, barreling through dunes like it's nothing, his point of view was beautiful, seeing sand and spice fly around him at rapid speeds. he was still breathing heavily but he was doing it. gosh. he was riding a worm.
-
"paul!" mili yells, running into his arms. he wraps his arms around her waist in return. "oh paul, you did it!" she hugs him tighter. "were you scared?" she asks.
"no." he lies
mili giggles knowing the truth before kissing his cheeks multiple times. "paul you called a grandfather worm! the biggest ever seen!" she praises. paul moves one hand up to her face.
"all done with one thing on my mind."
"and what's that?" she asks holding the hand on her face.
"you." he breathes.
she smiles at him. the sound of celebrating fremen echo through the sietch. "come, i want to show you something." she whispers close to his ear.
-
they were now at the highest point on the rock above the sietch. "this is my favorite place to watch the sunset." she looks at him.
"breathtaking." he whispers.
only he wasn't looking at the sunset.
the sun slowly crosses the horizon casting a orange hue on the two. she looks over at him and notices his lovestruck stare. "y/n." he breathes moving closer. "y/n l/n. will you be mine?" he asks holding her waist and face.
"i'm all yours." she whispers
they lean in and meet in the middle. their lips colliding together in a gentle, sweet kiss.
-1271 words-