The Failed Hero
Sometimes, she'll wake up at night and stare at the walls that are never dark enough. If she had to describe it, it'd be like there was a cheap lock jiggling through the back of her mind, hiding in the saddest corners.
It feels like there's a monster waiting on the other side.
(so she'll shut her eyes and count to infinity)
Once upon a time there was a girl who died
He was waiting for her
And she said—
"Who are you?"
But began to remember.
"Fulle—" and catty blue eyes widened in terrified longing, as they stared into brown that was just a shade away from gold.
"Pacifica…?" Shannon blinked, and the spell was broken.
His hair was too unruly and his face was too sharp and his smile was faster fading and something was—something was…
"Shannon-nii," Pasifica smiled, eyes stinging and cheeks wet, "I love you."
Once upon a time there was a girl who died
And he was still waiting
And she said—
"I thought you promised you'd come back."
He tried.
When Fulle dies, he does so in the dirt. It feels like nothing less than what he deserves. Filth, he thinks, and says, "Damn it—"
Because even the worm is crawling for the light.
He slipped up sometimes. Sometimes. When he couldn't really hide it, when monotone and carefully constructed, lonely neutrality failed him. Because sometimes she'd smile, and he'd forget that he wasn't worthy. And sometimes, he'd be dazzled, yeah—
Because even if she'd been a girl with no memories, she was still his—
His something.
He doesn't really know how to say it, but every time he looks at her, he sends—You're beautiful, and doesn't care if she understands. Because she is like the sunshine, and he doesn't—
They can all go to hell.
d—doesn't care anymore. Doesn't care about anything.
He forgot when the future changed from I will to We will.
Once upon a time there was a girl who died
He was always waiting
And she said—
"Why did you leave me?!"
I didn't.
He died in the dirt, fighting for a girl who forgot him, because remembering would have destroyed her. He died for his everything. He died for the only thing he had left. He fought with the taste of battle in his mouth, and the solemn, grim determination—
Don't touch her.
He died anyway, so the sky cried for him.
He wondered if she'd cry for him, and let the water run across his cheeks, and pretended they were her tears.
If he closed his eyes—
She was smiling.
Once upon a time there was a girl who died
He held out his hand
And she said—
"You left this."
And gave him the bath token.
She closed her eyes in the dark, and let herself slip away…
And finally unlocked the door.
There's a man in her room.
There's a man with lazy eyes and tanned skin and the unsure, honest smile. There's a man with hair longer than hers, with a confident way of carrying himself, and the careful killing hands.
He touched her face, scraping away a tear.
"Hey, stop crying. I told you I'd come back."
Pacifica rams into him, this man she does not know, and wraps herself around him so tightly, she's almost able to imagine that they're together. Her arms ache with the effort, and her shoulders are shaking. She crying into his shoulder, crying so hard she can barely breath.
"Hey," Fulle protests, rather feebly, but has his arms around her and cheek pressed to her yellow hair.
It is a long time before either of them let go.
Once upon a time there was a girl who died
He came back with her
And she said—
"I remember."
My heart always remembers.