Hey everyone! I wasn't going to continue Walk With Me, but I inspiration struck (quite forcibly in the form of a DM from IbelieveinMagic26 (another talented write, you guys should check out her stuff)) and since the response was so positive, I've added this bit.
I know it's short, but it is also THE END…thanks for everyone's support.
READ AND REVIEW! (and enjoy)
He watched her fall.
Her scream reverberated in his head and the scene kept replaying itself. He fought Nizam truly thinking that he had no hope of seeing her again. That she was gone, and that this monster had taken her from him.
She was alive. Tamina. Tamina was alive
Coming into this reality, where his family was still alive, had given him hope. His brothers stood by him when he accused Nizam and exposed him for his treachery. It grieved them but they ultimately had complete trust in their brother. When he'd seen Nizam alive he'd barely dared to hope he would get to see her. He hadn't been able to control his temper with Nizam because looking at the traitor bastard made him think of the last moments he had with Tamina before she fell. Their fight hadn't lasted long and then Garsiv had been so angry with him that he hadn't had the chance to see Tamina when she greeted Tus in front of her castle. He'd wanted so badly to see her. He wanted to be angry with Garsiv for reprimanding him. He knew that he should have waited and not confronted Nizam in public, but Garsiv did not understand.
He felt like he would come apart at the seems if he didn't get to see her soon.
Tus' speech in the throne room hadn't been much better. His older brother wouldn't stop talking and Tamina had that blasted hood pulled so that he couldn't see her face. He could swear he felt her eyes on him, but despite the fact that his eyes never left the place where her face would be he never saw her look his way. Tus' mention of marriage sent chills down his spine. He couldn't let her marry his older brother. But he couldn't explain to his brothers why he was so attached to the Princess they didn't think he had ever met.
He was so preoccupied with this worry, knowing that in the other time his brother had told him to kill the princess if she refused his hand in marriage, that he didn't realize that all attention was on him. He stood, frozen, not knowing what was happening. Then Tamina removed her hood and he wasn't sure he could move if he wanted to. He was relieved to see her face, transfixed by it.
"Go up there before I take your place." Garsiv had whispered in his ear good naturedly. Dastan was floored, stumbling forward like an idiot. He stood before her
She took his breath away, looking up at him pleasantly. It took him a moment to realize where he was and find the words to say. She stunned him. In that moment it didn't matter that she didn't know him for the person she had gotten to know on their adventures. He spend a lifetime, dozens of them if it came to it, to have her get to know him again.
He loved her.
In a moment of brilliance he gave her the dagger, hoping to prove to her that he was someone she could trust. She did look surprised, pleasantly so. She looked stunned as well, and Dastan figured that she did not expect to receive that dagger from him. He wondered if she would ask how he knew the dagger was hers. He had won it off a palace servant, and that man had never said who the dagger belonged to.
"Walk with me, Prince Dastan."
She stood and he followed her, unbelievably excited. She walked quickly out into an interior courtyard. She questioned him, obviously probing to know the extent to which he knew the dagger. His answers bordered on sarcastic, and he relished in the delusion that he had his Tamina. There was a moment of pain as he remembered the Tamina he considered to be his, The one he watched fall.
"Don't mock me, Prince." She said testily and Dastan smiled. Some traits would always be the same.
"I hardly think we know each other well enough for that, Princess." He said taking her hands in his. "But I look forward to the day that we do." He said looking into her eyes. She looked surprised and, surprising him, looked a little bit amused.
"You think we don't know each other, Prince?" Dastan was confused, Tamina simply smiled. "I assumed that after you sold me to the ostrich racer that you thought you did." His jaw fell to the floor and Tamina smiled. Dastan gathered her into a strong embrace, ignoring that gasps from the scandalized servants who were watching them.
"Prince Dastan, you may not have been born in a palace but you should at least know how to behave in one." Tamina scolded him lightly. though her laughter weakened her argument. "The servants will gossip." Dastan, however was thrilled that he got to spend a lifetime with his Tamina.
"Just think, Princess, now you'll have a lifetime to teach me." He grabbed her again, this time giving her a passionate kiss. The servants needed something to gossip about anyway.