Thank you DaddyCatALSO for your kind comment
I hope you'll like it!
Copper and Ashes
• Author name – Red Ink AKA Roxanne
• Email Address -
roxrex.29@hotmail.fr• Rating - PG I guess.
• Disclaimer - This is a pretty angsty AU fic, with *character death*, some show references, and horses.
• Feedback- All of it! Positive and negative. If you want me to keep posting or not.
• Summary- Willow is young traumatized girl since a tragic accident. After years of loneliness and pain, some people turn her life upside down and force her to finally face her issues.
• Notes- Thanks to Azirahael for trying to be my beta, sorry I didn’t like being beta-ed
I’ll post weekly if you Kittens are interested. Please note that English is not my first language; some mistakes might hide in there. I’ve been keeping this fic and re-writing it for a few years now, and I think I need to let it make its way now.
Fun fact: I learned English here, on this Board, so it’s nice for me to give back to the community!
Notes 2: Thoughts are in
italics, emphases are
underlined, and the inner voice is in
bold italics, and **flashback** in present tense.
This is written in Willow’s POV. I chose to “personify” an important animal in the story by giving “it” a gender (“he”).
The Ranch on the beach
“…Please, please, wake up, it’s gonna be alright, I am so sorry, I-I should have paid attention…”
Rocking. Touching. She was rocking me, with great care, even for a stranger she nearly killed.
Have to tell her I’m okay.
-Couldn’t that wait? I just hate feeling so damn vulnerable…With every bit of consciousness I had gained back I whispered: “I’m okay”
“Oh my god, please open your eyes!” She pleaded. I did so.
The most beautiful eyes were looking at me; more like looking into me. Pure dark ocean-blue, so much tenderness in them… My head was on her lap with her blonde hair falling on my face, the faintest of a breath tickling my nose.
Her scent was sweet and pleasant, as was her face: she had an aquiline nose and high-placed cheekbones, fine, expressive eyebrows and… cute little ears.
I stared, mesmerized.
That instant seemed to stretch for hours… until the pain began to kick in. I grimaced and she helped me to stand up. The spell was broken.
“I’ll take you to the hospital” she said, her voice wavering before adding “I’m so sorry!”
“No. I’ll be fine. It’s just bruised. And it is as much my fault as yours” I said before I muttered “Just take that horse away!”
Her eyes widened and she went to catch her stallion. The beast was terrified. His left knee was scratched and bleeding. White foam was forming under the saddle and on his neck. He made no movement at all to try to escape the girl despite his obvious state of distress.
“He doesn’t look good. I shouldn’t have let him go” She said, her head dropping. “Could you pat him? I think he just needs to feel that everything is fine. Please?” She pleaded, her eyes never leaving mine.
Everything is so not fine. I knew I should say no.
No thank you, I prefer to remain sane and I’m not sure I can if horses are near me again-“Oh thank you!” She exclaimed, flashing a crooked smile in my direction.
What?! I said no, right? -Wait, if she keep looking at me like that, it won’t be so bad… She stopped the white stallion as I began to walk toward him. I was already shaking and sweating. My trembling hand reached out and-
I let it drop. It was too much. Salted tears were falling to the ground.
“Are you afraid of horses?” She gently asked.
Me, afraid of horses? Never gonna happen. “No I'm not” I replied as neutrally as possible. She frowned, and tried a different approach.
“You know, it’s a very understandable fear. I mean, they are big and kind of dangerous” She was rambling.
“It’s not like you have frog fear or anything” she quickly added.
Strangely enough, I did not mind her company. She was the first person I had seen for more than ten minutes in a long time.
In ninety-six days and fourteen hours, I automatically thought.
“What’s your name?” I asked her while trying really hard to make eye-contact.
“I’m Tara. Tara Maclay” she replied, confused.
“I’m Willow. Rosenberg. Well then Tara, I haven’t got horse fear” She raised one eyebrow.
“It’s just… complicated. I know you don’t believe me, just try alright? I know horses, it’s true I do” I babbled. Tara smiled.
“Prove it.” A pair of blue eyes sparkled under a light veil of blonde hair. Her shy smiled stretched in prevision of my demise. How could I refuse her anything?
You’ll get in trouble.
-Well, for that smile, I think she could ask me go to Hell and back. Alright, girl. You’re in.“Your stallion is a Spanish horse, pure breed. I think of an old line, maybe Yeguada? He’s at least six years old and what, fifteen maybe sixteen hands tall? You should try to beef his back up though” I babbled, glancing up to her face.
“Oh” she choked out. “Hey look we’re here!” she said, trying to mask her shock.
“Here…Where?” I asked. Brightly painted buildings. Thirty stables, one small corral. Signs saying “Let’s go riding on the beach!” in big cheery letters.
Diagnostic Dr Rosenberg? A ranch for tourists. It's official, I can’t save this patient.