Master Apprentice  Archive Across The Great Divide 2/12: More
Than Empty Sound |
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Rating: PG-13
Category: Non Q/O, Pre-Slash, A/U, Q/other
Disclaimer: Qui-Gon belongs to George, Aragorn and Middle-earth belong to Tolkien, the positions I put them in belongs to me and my demented mind.:-)
Archive: master_apprentice, QJEB, SWAL, Tolkien Slash, LitSlash anywhere else, just ask, I won't say no.
Series: Yes. "Across The Great Divide." 2/12
Warnings: We got Aragorn and Qui-Gon, really attracted to each other. If this scares you, run away and don't stop. Also this is a crossover between Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and SW Episode 1. If you haven't read LOTR and seen Star Wars, you won't get it.
Spoilers: Uh, I'm not really sure here. Probably not.
Summary: Qui-Gon and Aragorn meet again in Rivendell.
Feedback: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the feedback on the first one. No, this doesn't mean you can stop.
The day was drifting. It was one of the few days in the year he allowed himself a rest.
Midsummer in Rivendell. Otherwise known as Aragorn's favorite time and place. His mother, thank the Valar, still well, his cousin and dearest friend, Halbarad, here, all his childhood companions gathered for midsummer festivities in the Valley. What or who could make it better (and no, Arwen didn't count)?
A shadow darkened the quiet corner of the Porch where he sat, and he looked up to see who it could be.
And stared in amazement. Wordless, almost breathless--Qui-Gon Jinn! The wonderful being he'd meet about a year before, stumbled across him in the dangerous Withywindle Valley, spent hours talking with him, felt like he'd found a soul friend at last...who'd vanished in the night, to leave Aragorn waking up and wondering if this was only a dream.
Qui-Gon.
They looked at each other for a stunned moment, then the Jedi broke the silence.
"Hello, my friend," he stated, an exaggerated epitome of Jedi calm. "I _think_ I know you..."
That, to put it mildly, broke the ice, and Aragorn burst into a fit of helpless laughter, interspersed with words that sounded vaguely like "How?" and "But I thought you were..."
Qui-Gon looked startled for a moment, then caught the joke and smiled.
"From a challenge in finest warrior tradition, to laughter...you certainly have an interesting way of greeting people!"
Aragorn sobered after a moment but the smile stayed on his face. He stood and took the other man's hand in greeting.
"My heart rejoices to see you," he said, formally, shyly.
"Is there any particular reason for that?" Qui-Gon asked, shaking hands.
Aragorn looked thoughtful for a moment.
"No, save that you are you, and that you is a you I like."
The Jedi burst into startled laughter.
"I think you've just given me a compliment!"
"Did I so?" asked Aragorn, a trifle teasingly.
They continued talking like this for hours, almost seamlessly picking up where they'd left off about a year earlier.
In the lazy stillness of the day, broken only by their laughter, each found himself contemplating the other, realizing slowly that they demanded nothing from each other except friendship, could not hold each other to any promises, but still desired each other.
Across the wreck of time and the wars of worlds, something had drawn them together, pulled them toward each other like magnets, not just once, but now twice.
Qui-Gon called it the Force, Aragorn called it the One; did the name matter?
Like screamed to like over the farthest distance, across the great divide of time and space.
There was something meant by this. Surely there must be.
Whoever heard of a Power that shook worlds so that like-minded souls could meet and merely talk?
There was some lesson to be learned here.
It was Qui-Gon, knowing a little more of what had happened but still not understanding why, who obeyed the teachings of a lifetime-leaned forward, so close that a breath more and they would touch.
"Live in the moment, Aragorn," he said, low, desperate, almost in a whisper, his meaning clear to his companion.
And Aragorn did-caught the Jedi to him in a breathless, bold kiss, a sudden move that shouted confidence.
It took courage to initiate the kiss, but the actual meeting of lips was tender, a trifle awkward, slow, gentle.
Their bodies moved together, arms catching, surrounding.
Finally wrapped in each other, they broke the kiss, breathing hard, staring again at each other, silent briefly.
Aragorn spoke first.
"Shall we?"
They moved apart, hands now the only parts touching.
"Yes."