How long is too long

[ayascythe]

Author: ayascythe 
Fandom: Original fic
Characters: Ethan, Alexis
Rating: PG-13
Language: English
Categories/Warnings: none I can think of
Beta: unbeta-ed
(Dis-)Claimer: This is fanfiction for a TV show I made up for the isurrendered meme. To find out more about the basic plot of The Spring Court, read this introduction post. I made up all of this, however, some elements were influenced by White Wolf's Changeling: The Lost which I don't own.

Summary: Alexis and Ethan lead an interesting conversation.

A/N: -


How long is too long

„I used to be like you, y'know. Once.“

 

It takes Ethan several moments to acknowledge the fact that Alexis has said something. He's trying so hard to ignore the man's presence (his cold, his stares) that he's almost able to blend him out completely. Almost.

 

„Pardon?“

 

„I was like you,“ Alexis repeats, his lips clamped around a glowing cigarette butt despite Ethan's asking to not smoke in the stables. „A scared little shite. Weak. Human.“

 

„That so?“ Ethan mumbles quietly and keeps carrying hay bales into the back of the tent. Alexis' words don't surprise him as much as they probably should. He has seen the man's true face, has seen that it was almost but not quite like that of a fairy. And he knows what only a few years in the other world have done to himself. „Is that what happens when you're there too long? You become like them?“

 

„Hn.“

 

After a moment's thought, Ethan decides he can dare asking another question that's been nagging at the back of his mind. „And how long is too long? How many years?“

 

Minutes pass after this. Alexis just stares at him (Oh, not again) while Ethan turns away and regrets to ever have opened his mouth. He doesn't expect an answer, not really, but as he starts patting Lizzy's neck he can hear a single word being uttered.

 

„What did you just say?“

 

„Oh for chrissake, you're not deaf, are ye? I said century. It'll take you more than a century to get to where I am,“ Alexis spits out. „You don't age, but you change. Unfortunately, I don't see you being captured again anytime soon. So no need to worry about your pretty little butt.“

 

There is just a tad too much information in these words, just a little too much fury in Alexis' voice and way too much of something else in his expression for Ethan to be able to respond to this. He just looks at him blankly, not knowing whether he should feel disturbed or sympathetic.

 

„Sorry,“ he says, at last.

 

„Don't be,“ Alexis snaps, glowering. „You've no reason to.“

 

And he certainly looks anything but pitiable, that Alexis: a proud, elegant man, strong, with an air as cold as ice and a cruel twist to his smile. No need to feel sorry. No reason to be glad that Ethan had a chance to flee before he ended up the same. Ethan averts his gaze, turning away to reach for the hay fork.

 

„I guess you're right,“ he says, but as he turns back to look again, there is no one there. Only a still smoking butt of a cigarette lying on the ground. And although it's glowing amidst dry and inflammable hay, there's no spark, no fire. Almost as if it was as frozen as the man who smoked it. Ethan watches, strangely hypnotised, as the glowing grows fainter minute by minute until it fades away completely.