My Fair Lady

Forest

A/N: Sorry for the long wait again. I've been really busy :/ 

Edmund's POV

Someone said before that parting was such sweet sorrow. 

Whoever said that should have been fucking shot.

"What's the news?" Edmund asked as he stared out of the window. It was dawn and it marked the start of another day Juliet had been missing. She had been gone for 10 days counting now. As each day passed, his heart ached and hope slowly slipped away. He was literally a waiting time bomb and he was sure he was going to explode one of these days.

"Sire, I fear we should give up the search," the manservant whispered nervously. "We have even extended our search all the way up north, south, east and west but there have been no news of her."

"Useless," Edmund growled and glared at the servant. "How can so many men fail to find a single woman? Do our men not have eyes or ears?"

"Lord Edmund," the manservant gulped. "The country is wide and big. It is possible for a girl to slip away unnoticed."

"Fools." Edmund stalked out of the door and grabbed his coat.

"Where are you going sire?" The manservant hurried behind him. 

"To find Juliet myself because all of you fools have failed," he snapped.

**********

Juliet's POV

She always thought that absence would dull the pain. People always said that the longer you didn't see a person, the faster the feelings faded.

So why did her heart still hurt so much? So many days had passed yet everyday, she found herself thinking of Edmund. Everything reminded her of him and when she woke up in the middle of the night, she would hallucinate that Edmund was there. But when she blindly grasped at the empty bed, it would sink in that he was gone. All because she had ran away.

She threw aside her happiness for her sister's safety but it had caused her to sink into a hellhole of misery. Was it worth it? Perhaps. But she hadn't envisioned it to hurt so much.

"What's wrong Juliet?" Francis asked and Juliet looked up.

"You've been plucking at dirt for the past ten minutes," he observed. 

"I'm sorry." Startled, Juliet quickly covered up the dirt and proceeded on with her farm work. But the heaviness in her chest was stifling. She found it harder and harder to breathe. Edmund was her oxygen, her life. With him gone, it felt like her life was getting sucked away slowly.

"You look ill," Francis said worriedly. "Shall I get Sarah to fetch the doctor?"

"It's ok." Juliet clutched at her chest. "It's not physical pain...It's an...emotional pain."

"Ah," Francis said, looking apologetic. "Perhaps you should return to town if you really do miss him that much."

"Are you driving me away?"

"No." Francis shook his head. "You are always welcomed here. It's just that if you are in so much pain from being away from him, maybe you should rethink your decision."

"Have no fear, Francis." Juliet smiled weakly. "This temporary pain will pass. And men are fickle. He probably has already arranged an engagement with another debutante already."

"Maybe," Francis replied somewhat skeptically and then his face brightened. "I have an idea. How abut you go for a long walk through the woods?"

"A nature walk?" Juliet raised her eyebrows. "I don't think it will cure me."

"You will be surprised." Francis smiled. "You should take a break at least. You've been working tirelessly for the past one week. Mother said she has never seen a better worker than you."

"She did?" Juliet's heart lifted. Francis' mother had initially been skeptical of her background but she became fonder of her the longer they lived together. 

"Indeed." Francis took her hand and led her to outside the gate. "Now, go for a walk and don't come back until at least an hour later. You need a break to set your spirits free."

"Okay." Juliet looked down at the ground. 

She wasn't sure if a simple walk could cure her love-torn misery.

*******

Edmund's POV

Dressed in a nondescript coat, Edmund passed through the town and scanned every woman who passed by him but none of them resembled Juliet the least bit. In fact, he didn't actually need to look at the faces. His heart would tell him if Juliet was there and the emptiness in his chest only indicated her absence in the area.

As he was about to hail for a carriage to take him to the next town, he suddenly noticed a battered path leading into a forest. Perhaps Juliet had strayed there. But the forest was deep and anything could exist there. There had been rumors of men getting swallowed up by boa conscriptors. Edmund touched his sword and the pistol strapped to the side of his waist and nodded. If there was even the slightest possibility of Juliet being in the forest, he would risk anything to get there.

Venturing into the greenery, he walked down the path and the noises from the town started to become muter. It came to a point that there was silence and everything was quiet and dark.

He wasn't fearful. Because he had an acute sense of hearing. But he was scared that Juliet had come to harm in the forest. She was such a fragile, innocent girl who was no match for a tiger or a boa constrictor.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he muttered and continued down the path.

Suddenly, Edmund felt a drop of water on his shoulder. And another drop. And another drop.

He looked up and saw dark clouds hanging in the skies. 

"Fuck," he swore and looked around. Spotting a small abandoned house in the distance, he trekked through the greenery. The least he could do was to find a shelter.

He pushed the door open and found himself staring into an empty, abandoned small house. He got in and took a spot near window so that if there was another intruders, he could spot them.

*********

Juliet's POV

She didn't know what Francis was thinking when he had suggested that she go for a nature walk. Looking at all these greenery was soothing but the moment she looked away from the flora and fauna, her thoughts strayed to Edmund time and again. 

Without thinking, she had somehow followed a path and strayed into a deserted forest and suddenly, she felt droplets of water on her face. She looked up and saw that the rain was about to pour. There was no way she would make it back to Francis' house on time. As Juliet looked around, she spotted a small, abandoned house. 

As if something was pulling her, she made her way towards it. Noticing that the door was ajar, Juliet pushed it open and suddenly saw someone mutter in a familiar, low voice, "Stop right there."

Juliet looked down and saw that a sword was pointed at her neck and when she looked up, she saw herself staring at someone familiar.

"Edmund?" she croaked out.