That crushing realization when you finally see that your world revolved around someone else....
|No Matter What, I'll Always Love You|
11 years...
11 years and she's stayed with him, watching his back out in the field and taking care of him inside his home, no their home. Yet in all that time of holding each other in their darkest moments, being each other's pillar of strength, and thoroughly enjoying each others company, she was still only his best friend. Nothing more, nothing less.
But when it came to that woman, that woman in red, who never was his pillar of strength and only torn it down, who didn't cause happiness but only sadness, loneliness, and depression, and used him like a tool only to be thrown away and maybe picked back up to be used again...
He loved that woman in red.
And it tore the girl that loved him, that would do anything for him, apart. Yet she did nothing of it, didn't lift a finger. She was just there, the support after the, in her words and a dead comrade's words, bitch in the red dress had torn her beloved friend apart with just a glance or mention of her name. Even though it was killing her on the inside, she gave him her love in what she could without letting him know..besides the occasional ass smack. She cooked, cleaned, and took care of his loveable German Shepard Yoko.
Even as she watched from a distance, fire in the buildings of China and chaos all around, as he ran towards the woman in red, she knew that his love for that woman will never go away. No matter what she did..
"Hey... Are you okay?" Another woman, that stood next to her watching the scene too, asked her as her first tears for this man fell silently and slowly.
She breathed, not letting her tears get the best of her, and responded softly, "I think I understand now..." She hugged the woman next to her, "It was nice working with you Helena, can you do me a favor and tell Leon something for me?"
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It was really loud... And it didn't help that the now drunken Ariel had super hearing and the alcohol only enhanced it. She laid her head on the bartable, clutching a bottle of hard Whiskey like her life depended on it, and used all her strength to stop herself from crying. Leon was the only thing she lived for, he had saved her and taught her how to live, how to survive and protect.
Shame he didn't teach her how to heal a broken heart.
As the news buzzed on and on in one corner and a football game in another, Ariel rested her face in the crook of her arm while a bartender cleaned his glass infront of her, watching the rest of the bar at the same time. The bartender had been watching the white haired woman for some time now, impressed with how much she drank and was still fine even though it was her first time out drinking. But the moment that thought came in his head, he immediately hated himself for being the worst bartender ever. So when Ariel lifted her head for another swig of the bottle, he placed his hand on top of it and slowly made her put it down.
"I think you've had enough ma'am..." He calmly stated but on the inside he was ready for whatever this lady's drunken state would do to protect her flow of alcohol. But surprisingly, she let's go and with a soft thud, her head fell on the bar, making the bartender concerned if she passed out but was soon proven wrong.
"I-it's n-n-not enou-ugh un-ntil m-my hea-art is he-aled." Through alcoholic hiccups and heart broken stuttering, she spoke softly, her sharp, but lifeless, discolored blue eyes tore into his heart as she stared at him. The bartender didn't have to ask for the story behind her being here, he had worked here long enough to know reasons why poor sods came into this bar. Either to get wasted for the fun of it, to heal a broken heart, or to escape their problems. But he was surprised that a beautiful woman like the one in front of him would be here in the heartbroken category. Her shattered and glassy eyes said it all for him, and for once it had hurt his own heart to see it. Especially with the untold story in those dulled dark and light blue orbs.
So, because of his kind heart, he poored her some water and a fruity drink to sober up on. Even as her eyes that showed her inner turmoil closed, he commited himself to making her feel a little bit better. The bartender watched over Ariel as, probably, slept for a second, quickly tending to peoples orders at the same time while shooing away the men who tried to sit next to her. After thirty minutes od this, he light tapped her shoulder.
"Ma'am.. " He softly called, gently shaking her that made her wake up a little, "Here, drink some water and if you'd like some non-alcoholic juice. Then, if you'd like, I could call someone to give you a ride to your place-."
"No thank you..." Ariel slowly interrupted, lifting herself up from the bar, stretching, and looking around. "I'll take a bottle of water to go though."
The bartender was surprised that this woman had went from a stuttering and depressed yet drunken mess to a fluent and blank woman that was already standing up, without swaying by the way, in thirty minutes. Looking upon this, he kinda died inside a little. It's not like he wasn't happy for the white haired lady, but really sad that he could not get a good read on the ladies.
Just like she requested, he got the water bottle for her as she fixed her jacket and pushed down a pair of black and red shades that resembled a tinted mirror, but the bartender couldn't see her haunting eyes anymore. If it was a good thing or not, was what he was wondering as he handed her the bottle and as she left him a fifty, making him look down upon it in confusion. Before he could say anything, she was walking out.
"Keep the change for the tip."
Then she was gone with the click of double doors and long gone with the distant rumbling of a motorcycle.
The bartender stared after her, of course, internally beating himself up for not even asking for her name.
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When the nightmare was over and the cleaning up process had started, that's when he heard what had happened and the words that were left to him from his life long partner. After getting abandoned by the woman he's been chasing all his life and then finding out that the woman that's been with him along the way was gone, didn't help either.
But he didn't go to the bar, no, he went to the nearest store and bought two packs of beers and the wine he knew that his partner would like if she was there, and took himself home with a heavy heart. His house was quiet and cold, even as Yoko came up to him, excited but then disappointed when a certain black and white tipped haired lady wasn't there with him. The German Shepherd sniffed around his master as he walked to the couch and plopped on it, not even bothering to reach for the remote. Leon sat in silence, alone.
Heavy with remorse, filled with misery as he came to the cold and hard meaning behind being grateful for what you have.
