lxtent
When she finally broke down into tears in front of him, Leo went cold. His hands stayed frozen at his sides, despite some part of him wanting to reach out towards her, comfort her. Ara had never cried in front of him before. It was weakness, vulnerability in it’s highest form. She had never shown him anything but strength, calm and collected. Even after their strangest of introductions, she had not been phased. Whilst he had fought to maintain composed, she had simply been so. And now, the roles were horribly reversed. The tears that trickled down her cheeks, into the palms that were coming up to her face, as if to hide behind them, were something of an uncontrollable breaking apart. And Leo could do nothing but watch as it happened.
No… that couldn’t be right. He had pulled his own pieces back together so many times, could he not do the same for someone else? Was it so hard for him to see others in pain that he could not stop it? It couldn’t be the case. Slowly, and far too hesitantly, he unclasped his hands and took a step towards he. It didn’t cross his mind that she might not want help. Perhaps she’d never meant for this to happen, and hated that he was their to witness it. But if there was something he could do… With that, hot determination, almost like anger, boiled up inside him, melting the last of the ice. He approached her and gently pulled her into his arms. A shaky breath as fear gripped him, at once overridden by the more pressing matter. “Ara… what’s wrong?” he murmured, breath moving strands of her hair. “Tell me what’s wrong… please, I can help…”
She had worked so hard to stay strong all day, but perhaps the lingering weight of it all had finally built up so much that the fortress around her heart crack beneath the pressure. Plus she was tired and hormonal on top of already being an emotional sponge for everyone else. Crying was not a foreign or strange endeavor to the witch. In fact, she somewhat enjoyed the catharsis and the feeling of weightlessness and cleansing when it was all over. But she hated crying in front of other people. It must have been painfully awkward for the older male to watch her as her body hunch over like the pain of bearing her burden was too much for her frail shoulders to withstand, her hair falling in front of her like a curtain covering up a scene in a play that had taken a sudden turn for the worst as her willowy fingers assisted in hiding her hideous cries.
“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry..” She sniveled as he took her into his arms. It was strange to feel the warm fabric of his clothes against her arms and his hands comforting her with gently, short rubs to her back when she had spent so many of these days alone. As he asked Ara to confide in him her woes she could but shake her head. No one could know. That in itself was a cross she had to bear. No one could know that she missed her family. No one could know that she was a Bellerose. No one could know she was a witch and it made her feel so helplessly alone. Pushing Leo away gently she forced a smile as she dabbed her puffy, red eyes of tears. “I’m sorry... I’m fine. Really. Thank you...I didn’t mean to worry you.”
