I needed to revive the community (pokes dead community), so I brought a new one-shot for you to read!

Title: In a moment
Pairing: Hector x Eliwood
Rating: PG

In a Moment

By Timberwolf220

-I guess I've finally had enough-

-I don't know if this is real-

-I'm crashing in and out of touch-

-Can anyone please explain?-

—‘Is it Real?’ by Yoko Kanno, “Cowboy Bebop”

-xx-

He thought that when he had his epiphany, there would be angel choruses from above and trumpets bellowing out their calls from across the land. He imagined that the Sun would be shining above, smiling like a benign grandfather and there would not be a single cloud in the sky.

Unfortunately for him, it happened in the break of evening, when the Sun had already reached the bas of the hills and the clouds had spread their warm blankets over the stars. There were no angel choruses, but rather the quiet distant murmur of mercenaries and soldiers as they retired to their tents and the only music he heard was a soft evening vesper bell that Lucius chimed at behest of the tactician.

He laid back his head against the tree and began sharpening his axe. If his axe was dull, then he wouldn’t be able to kill many enemies with it, would he? He took the sharpening stone and began stroking it to the edge of his axe. He winced every time the metal screeched, but he didn’t pause.

Then Eliwood came out of the tent, his expression horrified, “What is that noise?”

He paused in his work and looked at Eliwood in contemplation and stared at his sharpening stone. Finally he sighed and slipped the stone back in his bag which was lying beside him. Eliwood laughed lightly (Eliwood’s laughs always seem rather light, as if they can float on air itself. It wasn’t a bad sound, just an observation) and sat beside him.

He had removed his armor a while back, so he could feel the sting of the bitter wind and spoke dryly, “It’s going to rain again.”

Eliwood smiled, “Don’t like the rain?”

“Bullocks to the rain!” He ranted with great pleasure (because, no matter what he said and how insignificant it was, Eliwood always listened), “It slows down our speed and makes my armor rust.”

“Be glad then, that it didn’t rain on the battlefield,” Eliwood chastised him gently (Eliwood would never tell him he was wrong. Eliwood trusted all his decisions explicitly, no matter how foolhardy it seemed)

“Yeah,” The energy that filled him before had drained out of him like water in a basin and he leaned closer to Eliwood (so thin, he thought, it seemed you could break him like a twig between your hands. Then he immediately retracted that thought as if the implications scared him), “I wish it didn’t rain.”

“If wishes were fishes, we’d all cast nets,” Eliwood quoted softly, “Or if wishes were fishes, there’d be no room for water.”

“Still,” He muttered, “It doesn’t stop you from wishing and casting out your nets. Who knows? Maybe we would catch a big one.”

Eliwood smiled (a gentle smile. Eliwood’s smiles were like the brush of the wind. Soft and caressing, he has the power to put all at ease) and leaned against him (again, he is reminded about how weak and small Eliwood seems and how easy it would be to break him)

And his mind was filled with Eliwood. How his red hair (so bright, like a flame in the dark. He loved how aglow it seemed to him. His torch in the wilderness) brushed slightly against his cheek, how the body leaned next to his own, shoulder touching shoulder (again, Eliwood proves himself to be absolutely loyal to him alone. No one else would see him like this, this weak vulnerable state that dominates Eliwood), how his eyes seemed so cold and so open at the same (he always showed him his pain. He knew he would never take advantage of it, but sometimes, this show of trust, trust which he knew he didn’t have to return, bothered him) and how sometimes, without knowing it, their hands would clasp each other as if clinging onto each other in the deep ocean, where the fear of drowning consumes them.

And that’s when he had his epiphany. He stayed there with Eliwood, even when the rain came crashing onto their heads, even when his axe was thoroughly drenched and he knew it would start showing signs of rust, even when Eliwood had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Because in the moment, nothing else mattered except for his epiphany.

Hector sighed and slung an arm around Eliwood and pulled him closer. He would never leave Eliwood. He knew that he couldn’t, even if he tried.

-XX-

Hope you guys can start waking up now and get this community jumpstarted again.