Two Sides of The Same Coin (Merthur)(Discontinued)

All Better

Yes, Gwaine had set me up with Tessrach. There were so many girls out there, and he had to chose the one that I shared a secret history with, and was probably evil. If I thought that Gwaine was trying to torture me before, that was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. I didn't even want to know what was going through his head. He was Gwaine, and strange, and stupid, and maybe a little bit drunk when he thought of this perfect match.

I didn't seem to be the only one shocked by the sudden reveal, though. Tessrach was sitting completely still, with her back held perfectly straight, and her head high. I would have attempted to read the emotions on her face, but it was completely blank. Not a mussel on her face moved, besides her eyes, as she watched me sit down. This was unusual for Tessrach, as she had always been so free and open. But then again, that was so many years ago.

I tried to imitate Tessrach's position and expression, but had a pretty good idea that I was failing. The awkwardness of the situation only increased when I remembered Tessrach sitting down on my bed last night. Only last night. That felt like years ago now. She was probably the one to heal me, but probably also the cause of my episode. Because of this, the increasing awkwardness included an increase in difficulty with masking my emotions, as I tried to figure this girl out.

After what felt like hours, but was probably more around five minutes, Tessrach relaxed, falling back into her chair and letting her face go loose. Now Tessrach was an open book. That's the way it always used to be. One glance at the old Tessrach and somebody could tell exactly what she was feeling. So, once Tessrach stopped hiding her emotions and let out a sigh, I could easily see that she was... tired.

"I didn't know he would bring you." Tessrach admitted. Her voice sounded as if it had been defeated by somebody or something. That person had to be me, but I didn't understand what I had defeated her in. I followed Tessrach's example, and eased back into my chair. It was hard wood, but no worse than any other chairs around, although a bit rickety. The entire time, my eyes had never left her light blue ones, and her light blue ones had never left mine. I was sure that this was going to be an interesting night, if nothing else.

"Yeah. I didn't know that Gwaine was going to try and pair us up either." I said, uneasily. Tessrach grinned, as if I had made a joke, but her smile quickly faded when she realized that there wasn't one thing funny about this situation. There were another couple of moments of discomfort, in which neither of us spoke, and then Tessrach tried to strike up conversation.

"So... How have you... umm... been?" She asked. Tessrach was beginning to annoy me, mainly because she never used to act like this. Tessrach had always been so excited, so out there, and now she was struggling to find the right words with an old friend.

"Since you tried to trap Will and I in a cave using the magic you never told us about, you mean?" I asked. Okay, maybe that was a little bit uncalled for, and quite a bit hypocritical. I didn't even know why I said that. Tessrach had only asked how I was. "Fine. I guess." I shrugged. I don't know why I didn't apologize. I was usually so apologetic about everything.

"And how's Will?" Of course she would ask about Will. At first, I thought it was just to spite me, but then I remembered that Tessrach hadn't been around when Will was killed, and they always used to be so close. If they had been given just a couple months longer, Will and Tessrach would have probably even been betrothed. A blind man would've been able to see their love.

"He's dead." Although I tried to keep my voice clear void of emotions, I could hear it cracking a little on the word dead. Just the memory of that day... my whirlwind, Will's protective lie, the crossbow, his last words.... it was painful, to say the least. Tessrach looked shocked, but that quickly melted into guilt.