Rachel Caustello (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thecutdiamond) wrote2013-01-12 05:10 pm
thecutdiamond) wrote2013-01-12 05:10 pm
[FIC] You've Made My Life Complete- Version 2 [Edchel]
Prompt: Edchel, 6, Lily of the Valley (You've my life complete)
Song: The One That Got Away- Katy Perry
Rachel is four months old and little Ed is her two-year-old cousin's best friend. He and Andrew are being held by their mothers; the women talking with Elizabeth, the boys making faces. Andrew makes Rachel smile, but it's Edgar who makes her giggle, her very first childish peal of laughter making the room ring.
That was when the seed was planted.
[in another life]
Rachel is eight and that Eicheln boy is a menace. He's absolutely no fun at all, always teasing her and stealing Andrew off for fun she can never have because she's a girl, even though his favourite time to make fun of her is after she's gone tadpole hunting with Argine or Athena and he tells her she doesn't look like much of one.
One day, she gets absolutely sick of it. Punches him in an admittedly rather girly manner. Edgar, unharmed save for a slightly red spot on those nose, just laughs and tells her that is she promises not to use it against him, he'd teach her how to punch properly.
That was when the buds began to form.
[i would be your girl]
Rachel is fourteen and Ed is her rock. The year from hell is over-- Shea can't hurt her anymore and Edgar's not going to let her hurt herself-- but things are still hard. Caleb spends most of his days drinking, didn't even bother to come visit her when her last 'training session' lands her in the hospital. Uncle Robert still doesn't look her in the eyes and if he were able he'd stop Andrew from doing the same. And, of course, the nightmares don't help her deal with the lingering darkness very well.
Soon after she's released he finds her on the parapets of the Clubs Castle steeling herself to jump. When he tries to pull her down, lionlike in his protective rage, she lets him and falls sobbing into his open arms.
He makes her promise she'll walk with him down to the lake at the end of every day until she feels better, and even though moments ago she would have sworn she'd nothing to live for, she finds it easy to promise him this and make it the something she does.
That was when things started to blossom.
[we'd keep all our promises]
Rachel is sixteen and son lion is the love of her life. Argine and Andrew are on again, so they're all able to go out on a double date together. The night air is clear and perfect for their midnight picnic, and when they're discovered and kicked out by the park officials at two o'clock in the morning because they laughed too loudly, Edgar slings an arm around her shoulder as they go home. She smiles up at him, kisses him deeply and quickly, and wishes they could stay in that moment for an eternity.
That was when their love was a perfect flower.
[be us against the world]
Rachel is eighteen and the Eicheln heir isn't going to understand. In his defense, Andrew with his gentle pleas and Argine with her tears don't understand, either. But while they will let her go without much of a fight, Edgar comes up to her the night before she leaves with every intention of kissing or otherwise persuading her into staying. His hissed arguments and her calm replies quickly devolve into a shouting match, and when the dust settles they're through with no chance of starting again. She doesn't let herself cry until he walks away with a final, cutting goodbye.
That was when things withered.
[in another life, i would make you stay]
Rachel is thirty-one and Lord Eicheln, the King of Clubs, is dead. She goes to his funeral numb with shock and barely even registers the mourning Argine clutching Eileen and Andrew's hands as though she's never going to let go. After the ceremony she goes back to the Diamonds Castle so pale she looks as though she's about faint, but when Ophelia asks if she wants compassionate leave Rachel shakes her head and uses her grief the way she learned to when her mother died-- incentive to make herself better.
Not much later, Ophelia herself passes on and Lindsey asks her to become Queen, so Rachel hardens her heart against anything else but making her Suit perfect as a Diamond, including everything she'd ever felt about Edgar.
That was when everything died.
[so i don't have to say you were]
Rachel is thirty-eight and Edgar Eicheln is nothing more than a bitter memory. Andrew has been murdered and everything is falling apart. There are still too many hurts between her and Argine for them to be family just yet, and Eileen looks so much like both her fathers that it hurts to stay for long, and so even though Andrew leaves behind a grieving family and Suit, Rachel is alone; without comfort, without friends, without family.
One sleepless night out of many she finds herself making her way to the cemetery and kneeling before the grave of the one she had loved so long ago. Words that are neither prayer nor apology but something of both fall from her lips unconsciously and when they finally run out, she thinks he answers her back.
That was when there was resurrection.
[the one that got away]
Rachel is thirty-nine and Edgar Dieter Eicheln is the one that got away. She is a woman broken, with little more than a fragile hope and the love of friends, family, and Suit to keep her going. It shouldn't be enough, but somehow it is.
She goes to his gravesite in a wheelchair, manages to find enough strength to stand for him the way she couldn't for the others. Murmurs to him that she's always going to miss him, to love him, but then tells him what she's realized in her time away from the Deck-- that there is a way to let that love strengthen her like it used to when they were still together. That he had never wanted to hurt her. That even a woman in a chair can find a way to get back up again. That she's able and that's going to try to be happy.
This time it's not a matter of thinking she hears him answer her back. He does, and even though it's only for an instant, she can feel his arms around her and his lips against her cheek and his so-familiar voice telling her he loves her over and over again.
And even though the sensation forces her to her knees, it's the good sort of tears that stream down her cheek. Tears of healing, of letting go, of being content in the knowledge that she loved and was loved in return. When she stands once more, she is smiling.
And that was when she learned to live again.
Song: The One That Got Away- Katy Perry
Rachel is four months old and little Ed is her two-year-old cousin's best friend. He and Andrew are being held by their mothers; the women talking with Elizabeth, the boys making faces. Andrew makes Rachel smile, but it's Edgar who makes her giggle, her very first childish peal of laughter making the room ring.
That was when the seed was planted.
Rachel is eight and that Eicheln boy is a menace. He's absolutely no fun at all, always teasing her and stealing Andrew off for fun she can never have because she's a girl, even though his favourite time to make fun of her is after she's gone tadpole hunting with Argine or Athena and he tells her she doesn't look like much of one.
One day, she gets absolutely sick of it. Punches him in an admittedly rather girly manner. Edgar, unharmed save for a slightly red spot on those nose, just laughs and tells her that is she promises not to use it against him, he'd teach her how to punch properly.
That was when the buds began to form.
Rachel is fourteen and Ed is her rock. The year from hell is over-- Shea can't hurt her anymore and Edgar's not going to let her hurt herself-- but things are still hard. Caleb spends most of his days drinking, didn't even bother to come visit her when her last 'training session' lands her in the hospital. Uncle Robert still doesn't look her in the eyes and if he were able he'd stop Andrew from doing the same. And, of course, the nightmares don't help her deal with the lingering darkness very well.
Soon after she's released he finds her on the parapets of the Clubs Castle steeling herself to jump. When he tries to pull her down, lionlike in his protective rage, she lets him and falls sobbing into his open arms.
He makes her promise she'll walk with him down to the lake at the end of every day until she feels better, and even though moments ago she would have sworn she'd nothing to live for, she finds it easy to promise him this and make it the something she does.
That was when things started to blossom.
Rachel is sixteen and son lion is the love of her life. Argine and Andrew are on again, so they're all able to go out on a double date together. The night air is clear and perfect for their midnight picnic, and when they're discovered and kicked out by the park officials at two o'clock in the morning because they laughed too loudly, Edgar slings an arm around her shoulder as they go home. She smiles up at him, kisses him deeply and quickly, and wishes they could stay in that moment for an eternity.
That was when their love was a perfect flower.
Rachel is eighteen and the Eicheln heir isn't going to understand. In his defense, Andrew with his gentle pleas and Argine with her tears don't understand, either. But while they will let her go without much of a fight, Edgar comes up to her the night before she leaves with every intention of kissing or otherwise persuading her into staying. His hissed arguments and her calm replies quickly devolve into a shouting match, and when the dust settles they're through with no chance of starting again. She doesn't let herself cry until he walks away with a final, cutting goodbye.
That was when things withered.
Rachel is thirty-one and Lord Eicheln, the King of Clubs, is dead. She goes to his funeral numb with shock and barely even registers the mourning Argine clutching Eileen and Andrew's hands as though she's never going to let go. After the ceremony she goes back to the Diamonds Castle so pale she looks as though she's about faint, but when Ophelia asks if she wants compassionate leave Rachel shakes her head and uses her grief the way she learned to when her mother died-- incentive to make herself better.
Not much later, Ophelia herself passes on and Lindsey asks her to become Queen, so Rachel hardens her heart against anything else but making her Suit perfect as a Diamond, including everything she'd ever felt about Edgar.
That was when everything died.
Rachel is thirty-eight and Edgar Eicheln is nothing more than a bitter memory. Andrew has been murdered and everything is falling apart. There are still too many hurts between her and Argine for them to be family just yet, and Eileen looks so much like both her fathers that it hurts to stay for long, and so even though Andrew leaves behind a grieving family and Suit, Rachel is alone; without comfort, without friends, without family.
One sleepless night out of many she finds herself making her way to the cemetery and kneeling before the grave of the one she had loved so long ago. Words that are neither prayer nor apology but something of both fall from her lips unconsciously and when they finally run out, she thinks he answers her back.
That was when there was resurrection.
Rachel is thirty-nine and Edgar Dieter Eicheln is the one that got away. She is a woman broken, with little more than a fragile hope and the love of friends, family, and Suit to keep her going. It shouldn't be enough, but somehow it is.
She goes to his gravesite in a wheelchair, manages to find enough strength to stand for him the way she couldn't for the others. Murmurs to him that she's always going to miss him, to love him, but then tells him what she's realized in her time away from the Deck-- that there is a way to let that love strengthen her like it used to when they were still together. That he had never wanted to hurt her. That even a woman in a chair can find a way to get back up again. That she's able and that's going to try to be happy.
This time it's not a matter of thinking she hears him answer her back. He does, and even though it's only for an instant, she can feel his arms around her and his lips against her cheek and his so-familiar voice telling her he loves her over and over again.
And even though the sensation forces her to her knees, it's the good sort of tears that stream down her cheek. Tears of healing, of letting go, of being content in the knowledge that she loved and was loved in return. When she stands once more, she is smiling.
And that was when she learned to live again.