Chasing You Through Time

Departure

Cathbad got back to us much sooner than I wanted. With how busy he is all the time, I'd hoped he'd take at least a week, but no. Three days was all I got with Emiya until Cathbad came with answers, and one night was all I was allowed before Emiya was gone from my life.

I curled closer to Emiya, then settled back into the silence, tracing his collar bone with my eyes. Neither of us had spoken within the past half-hour, yet neither of us asleep. "Emiya, you awake?" I sent my question into the night already knowing the answer.

"Hm," he gave his reply which led to me scoting up on the bed. We were face to face now, the tips of our noses barely separated. His soft eyes appeared tired across from mine.

"Why do you do this?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"A lot of the time you wait till I'm asleep before you fall asleep yourself. Why?" I heard a soft chuckle in the dark, as his hand slid up into my hair. The soft rubbing was quite persuasive to my eyelids, but I refused to let them drop.

"You're not going to sleep anytime soon, are you?"

"Don't change the subject, Emiya." His fingers never stopped their soothing rhythm, and next came the small kisses. Emiya smoothed down my eyelids before caressing them with his lips. "Are you going to answer me?" I could feel his smirk against my forehead, then he trailed down my nose with kisses wordlessly. "Emiya," I warned. To be honest, only half of my irritation was for the fact he wasn't answering, the other was driven towards the fact that his soft touches were working; they were making me want to fall asleep.

"Yes, Cu?" He rubbed his nose against mine.

"Answer my question." It was difficult to keep the smile off my face with all the little touches.

"You want to know that bad, eh?" His forehead pressed against mine. "You like to keep yourself awake when you're troubled, so..." Emiya pulled back, only to tuck my head away into a hug. "It's my duty to see you to sleep. I didn't do that the other night when I should've.

"Don't beat yourself up too much about it." My arms squeezed him tighter to me as a new found gratitude bloomed in my chest. Emiya always could settle my mind, but when he was asleep, thoughts terrorized my night. With a sigh, I expelled some of the anxiety trapped within me. "Emiya?"

"Yes?" His hand was still moving through my hair, each stroke calming.

"What if I don't fall asleep? What will you do then?"

"Then I guess I won't sleep either." His voice was a deep and gentle murmur just before he placed a lingering kiss atop my head.

"Hmm..." was my response with a smile breaking out on my face. "One more thing... will you talk to me?"

"Huh, what about?"

"Anything, I just want to hear your voice."

With a warm chuckle, he said, "Of course," in a tone of voice that made my blood thrum. Emiya went on speaking, my mind focusing less and less on his words. Instead, I was completely captivated with the smooth and deep sound of his voice. His words echoed in his chest with a hum, vibrating through me. I listened to his words intently, though the meanings of them began to slip, till the phases were all together incoherent. Still, his murmur pulsed through me. My mind slid away into sleep, his voice the melody of my dream.

In terms of time flying, it soared. Atop Liath, Emiya and I were trailing along behind Cathbad. One of my hands gripped the reins while the other was comforting Emiya's. His arms were wrapped around me, Emiya relaxing against my back with his forehead drooped into the crook of my neck. I rubbed my thumb against his knuckles thoughtfully, memorizing the bumps. My mind raced, but my face was stoic as I watched Cathbad's back. I knew where he was going, and our short journey was soon to come to an end. With a sigh, I rubbed my cheek against Emiya's head. He nuzzled into my neck back. The act made me smile; mostly sad and limp, yes, but it was a smile nonetheless.