his hand ached as he wandered through the empty corners of the realm. he was not just bottling up his emotions, he was bottling up his power, too, and both was backfiring on him. but he would not lash out, he was the leader, he had to be above this. hearing footsteps behind him, he was glad not to have punched the wall, because, and he knew this before he turned or she spoke, it was aries who had found him. and she was the last one who should see him unravel, come apart at the seams.
he would never burden her again.
“ aries, ” he said quietly, not quite daring to look at her. she was despairing, was hurting. and there was nothing he could do to change it, to help her. or anyone else. he was failing, was failing worse than ever before, and for the first time, he dared to wonder if maybe, capricorn had been right to question why it was leo who was made leader, why leo was leader still, despite having failed twice and made a spectacle out of it.
casually, he let his hand disappear behind his back, casually, he made himself try a smile. it did not feel right. it felt like a carricature, like something drawn by someone who had never seen another being smile before. it would not fool her. still he had to try, had to at least attempt normality when nothing was normal.
“ what … what brings you here? ” he asked, eyes searching for libra. they had not been apart much, as of late. to see aries without her shadow felt … odd. heavens below, if something had happened to libra, too — he did not think they would ever recover. frankly, he was not even sure if they would ever be fine without aquarius.
through the eternity they’d all started on together, aries had been hurt many times. she suffered from pains she could barely recall & most days it felt like all that was left of her heart was scraps. there never seemed to be enough, enough of her to matter, to change anything.
she hadn’t been able to save leo. aquarius had gripped her arms tightly, keeping her from throwing herself at kings feet to beg && plead after his banishment &&& now she hadn’t been able to save aquarius either.
mortals, with their feeble, delicate life spans - they lost people so often. aries didn’t know how any of them could bare it, if they loved anyone else at all, because she was crumbling under the despair like wet paper & she was no stranger to pain.
“leo,” she says, voice too fragile && aries hates it. she hates this. she’s always the vulnerable one, always the one with sorrow in what’s left of her bones, always the one too frail to cope. but she’s still here, still came searching for him because being alone is too great a pain to swallow.
libra is with pisces, she was always closer with the mother &&& son than aries ever had been. it was good, really, that libra had someone else to bring her comfort in this time of pain. aries could only empathize, she’d never been able to fix anything. even temporary patches seemed out of her reach.
too tired for excuses or half-truths, she stares at his broken smile & what’s left in her heart aches all the more. she is bolder in her sorrow, bolder still faced with his - “I don’t like to be alone,” she breathes, her limbs feeling like lead. “not when I feel like this.”
before - before aquarius vanishing, before lucy, before leo being banished, before - aries had never allowed herself to lean on leo. not in any way he’d be able to see. she pushed herself through, cried against libra’s shoulder, or fell into scorpios hugs or let aquarius’ hands in her hair soothe her to sleep. but she never let herself crack around leo, she knew the burden would be too much for him to bear.
but now, with the way everyone around them was falling apart in the wake of aquarius’ departure, there was no hiding it. not her from him, or him from her && she had to have this, at least. “I want to stay with you, for a little while. is that okay?”