To Be Surprised by Devious Disguise

To Be Surprised

A/N: Just a little something I felt like writing. Hope you enjoy. Rate and Review if you want.

EDIT:Eh, fixed some spelling. >.>;

I sometimes wonder why I wasn't surprised to see him. So many times I think I should have been. It would have been the normal, proper response.

He had just as much right to be there as we all did. So I can justify my lack of surprise in that thought.

But what about when he leapt in front of me? Shielding me from an oncoming attack? I hadn't seen it; hadn't sensed it. Of course I hadn't. It was just like my energy after all. So it felt like me, only it wasn't.

I only realized it too late. But he was faster than an arrow could ever be. And still I wasn't surprised.

I had come into my own over the course of the journey and my life was valuable. Valuable to the cause. I helped. So I can justify my lack of surprise in that thought.

He had told me to stay put. To stay on guard. Not to move a centimeter in any direction from the exact spot my feet were now placed.

I shook my head in understanding. And he was gone, back into the fray. I watched for the longest time it seemed without breathing or moving at all.

But they needed me. He knew they needed me. So why had he told me to stay put, knowing very well I wouldn't?

Looking back on it now, I think he might have smirked at me before leaving. Yes. He knew all along that I would move. That I would take action. So I can justify my lack of surprise in that thought.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Endless arrows seemed to form in my quiver. And with each new one, a new enemy was shot down. I really had gotten good.

At one point I was actually starting to believe it was easy. It wasn't so bad. My worst fears were nothing compared to what was happening.

But that can't be right. Because I'm here now. I'm here in this endless dark watching him.

Worry. I saw it in his eyes as he came flying toward me. I was confused. But soon I realized why he was so quick to move.

Everything stopped. The battle, the screams, the wind... me. Everything halted as I fell to the ground. It was probably the only bit of ground not soaked with blood. I don't know why I payed attention to such a trivial thing.

He was standing over me. As my eyes cleared, he was just there, standing over me. He was breathing. Breathing for me.

I could see the heaviness in his shoulders. His perfect posture wavered as blood dripped from his right shoulder. Again I don't know why such things caught my attention.

I looked around. I let me eyes search for something. Anything to keep from looking at him. And that's when I saw them.

They were all crying. At the time it didn't occur to me as to why they were all crying. But they were alive. They would live. And that somehow made everything all right for me.

I looked back to the shadow blocking the sun. He was still there, watching me. And when he spoke, I was not surprised.

When he told me that I should have listened to him, I smiled. It was expected. When he told me that I fought well, I tried to give my thanks. But speaking was like breathing to me at that point, very hard to accomplish.

The words were those of respect. And this was now the case. He respected me; I respected him. So, I can justify my lack of surprise in that thought.

No, none of that which he had done, surprised me. Not even when thinking about it now.

But as I watch him from this darkness, I am surprised.

The stones. He walks to them every year on this day and kneels. If there are any misplaced, he puts them back. If there are any missing, he finds more to replace them.

He is silent until the fading moments of the setting sun where he whispers...

"You are loved."