It’s been a while || Amelia & Asher
theyoungestamelia:
Her life had changed so much these last few months and if she knew what would happen she’d do her damned hardest to get her hands on a time turner and turn back time, no matter the consequences it would bring for the future. At least her family would be alive then. It was a nice dream she fled to most nights, at least those where she wasn’t plagued by nightmares. Back in the UK she could seek comfort in Asher’s arms when she had a nightmare, but she was all alone here. It hadn’t been an easy decision to make, quite the contrary. Leaving Asher had been difficult for her, extremely so; she loved him more than anything else, but her mind had been clouded with grief for a while now and everything she saw back home reminded her of her family. First Eli had been taken from her. Then Edgar. Then their parents. Her whole family. Gone. Wiped out in a matter of months. She was the sole survivor of the Bones’ family. She was left all alone to plan their funerals. Without Asher there she would’ve fallen apart immediately, but she held onto him with an iron grip. He was the only reason she hadn’t lost her sanity completely. Without him by her side, she lost it completely. She didn’t notice it at first, but Amelia had lost touch with the real world slowly, seeking comfort in her dreams where she saw her family. Even when she saw them in nightmares, it was better than not seeing them at all. She’d spend most days in bed, too weak to leave it. This had gone on for months, longer than she would’ve been willing to admit, days started blending into each other after a while. Amelia let her depression consume her and she became numb to the outside world. Asher hadn’t found her so far and she hoped that he abided by her wish and hadn’t gone looking for her. He was better off without her. She half-way between the dead and the living, not quite there on either side. Her mind was with her family and her heart was with Asher, what she was doing now couldn’t be called living, she was merely existing. She wasn’t eating much, drinking only because she knew that she couldn’t let herself wilt way, her family would be angry at her. Her mom always chastied her in her dreams. To stop this, to start living again, but she couldn’t. It didn’t feel right without them there.
It was the first time in three days she left her apartment, hair thrown up in a sloppy pony tail and stuck in the comfortable clothes she’d grown accustomed to. She wasn’t wearing any make up and her eyes were red and puffy, which was a constant for her nowadays. Amelia was at the convenience store close to her apartment when she thought she heard Asher call her name and her heartbeat quickened, but she shook her head. She’d imagined that before. It wasn’t real. He wasn’t really here. But then she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her turn around.
The time spent after Amelia had disappeared was not something he wished to dwell on much. The first few weeks, he’d followed her wishes, knowing that Amelia needed time to heal, needed space for herself. He had refrained from searching for her, had not wished to be turned away, and it was only when she had not returned after a month that he considered the very real possibility that she would never return. It frightened him, on a deep and visceral level, and though he’d focused on his business, the fact remained that thoughts of Amelia kept him awake most nights and there was only so long that he could ignore how much he missed her. It was after Christmas that he had taken a long leave of absence, leaving his second-in-command in charge of the company until he returned. While he remained available via owl, he spent weeks, months, searching for Amelia, using every contact he’d ever had. He’d finally tracked her down to a city, but had no idea where precisely he could find the woman he loved with every fiber of his being. He was currently staying in a hotel and had gone to a convenience store in the morning to purchase some provisions for the day; he did rather well in the muggle world, though his hands twitched daily when he wasn’t holding a wand.
But at least he wasn’t constantly looking over his shoulder wondering if a sycophant with a mask would murder him in his sleep.
It happened slowly, too slowly in his opinion. He saw a flash of hair and though he was too distressed to hope, he could not help but follow it. It was only when Asher caught her profile that he realized it was the one he’d been searching for and when he said her name, it was hoarse, sounding completely undignified from the rest of him. She shook her head and it shocked him, spurring the man into action. His fingers touched her shoulder and when he finally saw the eyes that haunted him only in his dreams, the relief that filled his body was palpable.
“Amelia,” he murmured, shaken, shocked, thrilled at finally being able to see her once more.
