Work Text:
Jonas, Who Is She?
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999) fanfiction
"Jonas." Helen smiled, her cheeks dimpling. Here he was, her fiancé, returned at last. She stepped up to meet him before he even descended from the train. "I missed you so much."
But in the shadows behind him, a pair of dark, glittering eyes flickered, not with possessiveness, but with a sort of glowing pity. A look that said, I would share him with you, if it were a done thing here – I'm sorry. I did not mean to make him unfaithful, to steal him from you.
Jonas turned, almost before even acknowledging Helen, to take this mystery lady by the hand and bring her forward.
Ralna no longer looked like a tribeswoman – she wore an English dress with yellowing lace up to her throat, a bit more rumpled and less fresh-looking than Helen's purple velvet coat, and her russet hair, instead of hanging in wild curls spiralled down her back, the way she wore it at home miles below the earth, was plaited into a braid (though it was coming undone at the ends and resembled what you get when you gingerly pull apart a fern, which she still couldn't quite believe were green in this new place, rather than blue) – but her bemused, guileless face betrayed an air of foreignness nonetheless.
Unlike the magic plant Casper – the schoolmaster – had lost his life for, Ralna could live here – almost – as easily as she had done below – she would be fine, as long as she could find people who spoke English wherever in this new world she happened to go – but there was still a price to pay for bringing back this treasure.
During the journey to England, Ralna had felt sorriest for Jonas, thinking he was the one to pay the highest price – but clearly she'd been mistaken.
The greatest cost was to be extracted from another.
An innocent in beautiful clothes of purple.
"Jonas," said Helen, again, this time with a catch in her voice, her eyes darting between the two – a fool could see they were lovers and would not be parted. "Jonas, who is she?"