Author:Le Jaseroque
Title:
Should The World Fail To Fall Apart
Description: A crossover fanfic combining the world of Aeri Amadis-Noel's "The Thirteenth Hour" with Sleepy Hollow, tying the main character of the third novel, Susana Damaris Hawke, to the Hessian.
Violence:
Not really. Allusions and remembrances of death.
Sex: None, so to speak. A kiss, and yet another.
Language: Mild
It had started with a dream.
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A dream of faces and smells and the blowing of leaves�so many leaves�there always had been so many�
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--she could not sweep them all as they blew in�not then�
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--and certainly not now.
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�Wait, Griffin! I can�t catch up---I can�t run any faster�� the breath flew from her in a trail of frost, followed by the tenebrous strands of hair that had escaped her dark braid as she ran after her brother, the trees a speckled blur of orange and the absence of such colour where the leaves had already fallen and left bare white bones of branches.
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Griffin�s laughter rang back at her�bouncing and echoing�hollow sounding.
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And� when she reached him he cocked a brow and laughed again,� playfully rumpling her hair.
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As if the wind had not done enough.
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And then they were climbing�or rather-- she was climbing up up and up high in the branches of the great tree she had not realized she was climbing at all.
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Griffin had already reached the top, and stood on the platform, his hands resting firmly on the half-built rail. �Come on�� he said, and he lifted her up.
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She with her blue skirts and curious eyes.
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�Come and look Susana��
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At the rail�s edge, high up in the tree, upon that small smooth wooden platform they had built�or rather he had built�
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(Girls don�t play in forts and lookouts, what kind of sister are you, Sannen?)
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--at the edge of the rail was where vision leapt forth and blurred and righted itself again�
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only she could see far past the hollow�
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--she could see the ends of the earth�steeples and trees and pyramids�twisted spires and rocky cliffs�even a vast expanse of desert�
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�Look�there�s India�Griffin�.do you see it, too?�
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His arm about her waist, he smiled. �Yes. I can smell the air�it�s full of spices��� And he turned her to face him---suddenly seated in her world of remembrance---
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--- hammering at the rail as if to finish it.
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**He never did finish that rail�before--**
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The thought flew from her mind as she watched him slip�careless and curious�driving the iron point straight through his palm.
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�Oh, no. No.� she whispered, shaking her head. Her voice was terribly calm as the wind picked up and she stared at the spreading crimson stain in her brother�s palm. �You�ll die a martyr.�
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She was standing now and looking over the rail as Griffin climbed down�faster than humanly possible�shrinking from her view as he vanished�hundreds and hundreds of feet below.
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�Griffin! Don�t leave me here. I��
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But he was already gone and nothing more than a whisper on the wind�a droplet of wet sound�
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**Wait�no�that�s�rain�**
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It was raining now�though the drops seemed too slow�and a voice�disjointed�singing out within the confines of her mind.
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**I�m sorry Sannen�I have to go�it�s time for tea and I don�t know where I�m buried�**
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����������������������������������������������������������� ***************************
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She had woken instantly.
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It was raining.
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Through a small hole in the crack-stone roof she felt it strike her cheek�a small slick slap.
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She was awake, her brother was dead and there was a great expanse of sky where half the manor should have stood.
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**It�s all the same, then.**
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But it wasn�t.
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Not today.
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Not at all.
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