literature

It's Only Forever

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ElaineRose's avatar
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Literature Text

"It's only forever," he whispered in my ear. The knife in my hand—no, this was a dagger. Holdover from an era when all the blades weren't made in China, when the handles weren't plastic. This thing was older than my last name.

"I can't live without you, Izzy," he whispered, and I could feel a caress even though he was halfway across the room. "Please don't condemn me to an eternity without you."

"You already lived an eternity without me," I said flatly, still staring at the weapon. He didn't answer—he'd already answered so many times. So many answers. My favorite was about Shakespeare, and just how much of an idiot he was about love and loss.

"Will it hurt?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "So very, terribly much."

He'd described it before—I was, after all, only going through the motions before death, asking the obligatory questions. He'd told me it was the feeling of your soul being ripped out and sent to hell. It was a slow, unending torture that made you question the existence of the beautiful, perfect eternity you were promised. He said that the price was proportional to the reward.

"And you'll stay with me? The whole time?"

"If you lie in pain for a hundred years, I won't move from your side," he answered.

I didn't want to lie in pain for a hundred years.

"Is there any other way?" I asked.

"None that would leave you as you are," he answered. There were deals that could be made, other artifacts and gods and demons. But those all took something away from the person, and the eternity they gave was always false. There wasn't any other way to do it right.

"And I'll be just like you? Able to do all the things you can?"

"Yes," he answered. His answers in the past had been better. No, sadly, I wouldn't be able to play the piano like him. Yes, though I would be able to do them much prettier. Probably, though the last few girls he'd done this with just ran away and he didn't know how they had turned out. He'd needed his immortality to survive the pillow fight after that comment—I was his one and only, the other half of his soul.

"And you'll still love me?"

"Even after the world falls down and the stars go dark, I will still love you."

The dagger was much heavier than it looked, and I wondered how I was going to manage it. The rules said I couldn't have any help, none at all. Straight through the heart, and it had to stay there, undisturbed, until I could take it out myself.

"Stay with me," I said as I positioned the point right below my sternum, angled up.

"I'll be there for you," Blaine assured me. "Until the world falls down."
David Bowie inspired challenge. Took lines from two of the songs he did for Labyrinth, being "It's only forever/Not long at all" from "Underground" and "I'll be there for you/As the world falls down" from "As the World Falls Down."

Yay for Labyrinth.

And for the subject matter--
Tried to write this twice before on the premise of a newly married couple, dun dun duuun, he was a vampire and didn't tell her, trying to convince her to become a vampire to be with him forever. (It had a very nice part, screamed by the wife, that if "forever" is in wedding vows, it's a "freaking metaphor." But I can't write vampire romance, even vampire romance fail.)

Then I thought, "Hey! Why not just have an immortal, all Highlander type?" But the runnin theme from the other one had been a knife, so I had to translate it here. And the rest just kind of snowballed from the first line. I love it when that happens.

Best lines aforementioned (c) David Bowie. Rest (c) me, especially the part about the dagger being the key to immortality at cost of great pain. Mine.
© 2010 - 2024 ElaineRose
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Wolfrug's avatar
Ew. Ewewewewewewewewwwwwww!

D:

No fucking way do you go ahead and stick a dagger into your heart and hope to die...um...and come back as a vampire. Ick ick ick!

That said, I think you got the two characters beautifully rendered, and the whole scene was pretty powerful, so well done! Got a reaction out of me at least :)