Mal knew it was only a matter of time before one of them walked away and said their goodbyes. There was so much between them that pointed in that direction; so many complications standing in their way and making that their only plausible option.
No other path would work for them – not if they wanted to continue on living their lives how they had been for as long as they could remember. Inevitably, another path would mean losing everything they knew and everything they were. It would destroy them.
It would destroy them either way, no matter what they did. Together, they were impossible. Apart, they were broken in half, shattered pieces of a whole ripped from where their hearts knew they should be.
“There’s no other way, is there?” Mal slowly asked the subdued Companion by his side. As usual, she was dressed in the finest silks she owned, deep velvets of the richest, most divine reds and golds. She bypassed Mal’s social standing as if he was merely a speck of dirt at her feet – a somewhat close reflection on how he often felt in her presence.
Inara turned to him with a sympathetic smile and shook her head. “No,” she said quietly. “There isn’t.” She gazed at him for a long moment, her eyes speaking volumes of emotion that she dared not express aloud, before she turned away and broke free.
Mal sighed and let his shoulders slump in disappointment. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
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branchandroot
Secret Santa
Date: 2006-12-20 06:39 pm (UTC)Mal knew it was only a matter of time before one of them walked away and said their goodbyes. There was so much between them that pointed in that direction; so many complications standing in their way and making that their only plausible option.
No other path would work for them – not if they wanted to continue on living their lives how they had been for as long as they could remember. Inevitably, another path would mean losing everything they knew and everything they were. It would destroy them.
It would destroy them either way, no matter what they did. Together, they were impossible. Apart, they were broken in half, shattered pieces of a whole ripped from where their hearts knew they should be.
“There’s no other way, is there?” Mal slowly asked the subdued Companion by his side. As usual, she was dressed in the finest silks she owned, deep velvets of the richest, most divine reds and golds. She bypassed Mal’s social standing as if he was merely a speck of dirt at her feet – a somewhat close reflection on how he often felt in her presence.
Inara turned to him with a sympathetic smile and shook her head. “No,” she said quietly. “There isn’t.” She gazed at him for a long moment, her eyes speaking volumes of emotion that she dared not express aloud, before she turned away and broke free.
Mal sighed and let his shoulders slump in disappointment. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”