((A/N: Greeting and salutations to any of you fool enough to read my reforay into the fanfiction world. It has been many years and my previous works were crap. Here's hoping this one is not quite *as* crap. This one started as nothing but a ship name and evolved into this little drabble/oneshot and now...forward unto the story! ))
Far from the cacophonous light show of the nightlife in Vale, the tall brunette takes a deep breath of the cool sea air. Ahead of her, a short cliff rises from the waters, the waves lapping lightly in the still air. Atop the cliff, facing the open sea and the fiery orb of the setting sun, is her sanctum, her tranquil pad in a tumultuous life, a small wood and metal bench. That little bench has seen her through rough times throughout the years, quite but for the low background noise and with a splendid view of the setting sun and the rising shattered moon.
There is something wrong today, something not right….there is someone else in her spot. Coco never deluded herself that others wouldn't know about her bench but in years, no one else had ever been there when she needed it and now the thought that someone was there on what she felt was her time made her bristle a bit. She sighs as a low breeze ruffles her wavy hair. "It was bound to happen eventually, here's hoping they're quite." She mutters to the wind as she takes another calming breath of the salty air.
The intruder is seated on the left, silhouetted against the red rays of the setting sun, indistinct until she approaches closer, the thin grass rustled by her step as she passes.
Moving around the right edge of the bench, the slender woman seats herself, setting her weapon down next to her while pulling off her beret and glasses, gently laid upon the closed gun. Coco closes her eyes and leans back, letting her other sense was sensation over her: the scant warmth of the fading light, the chill whispers of the sea, the sloshing lap of the waves against the cliff face below, all flowing over her as the tensions of the last few weeks ebb away.
With a deep, cleansing breathe, she opens her tired eyes and looks at the other visitor of her once private spot, a pink and black lace parasol leaning furled closed against the other end of the bench.
This intruder is a rather short woman, her hair split down the middle with a gentle rosy pink on the right and a warm chocolate brown on the left, all framing a petite, round face with sharp eyes staring back at her, colored as a mirror of her hair, a small smile gracing her thin lips.
Coco can't help but to mimic that small smile as their eyes connect, locked for but a split second before she nods and Coco leans back again, staring at the rapidly darkening sky and the stars that are beginning to twinkle through. "Do you mind if I tell you how I found this place?" The fudge haired girl says barely above a whisper, as if anything louder would break this moment.
When no response is forthcoming, she turns her head and the small woman is gently motioning an affirmative with her hand. Coco turns back to the sky, "I found it 6 years ago, before Beacon, before I had even gotten into Signal. The strains of learning to fight, learning to protect, learning to make this world a better place were getting to me. I had no release that worked for very long and I was so rarely alone. I ran, I ran far, I ran wide, just trying to find a place, a center, an oasis from the stress, but it seemed everywhere there was someone else there, someone else around, someone or something that kept that peace away. Then, as I felt my last hope start to crumble, I found this little bench on a cliff, thin metal and worn wood, looked like it'd been here a while with only a little bit of care. I sat down because I was tired, the sun was setting and I closed my eyes as I took a few breathes."
She pauses and turns to the tiny woman, searching her face for any signs, but her eyes are still on Coco and the smile has only widened a little. "It was like suddenly, everything felt better, like someone wiped away the fatigue and the stress. I sat on that bench well past the sunset and just…felt the world gently sway and move through me. For 6 years, every time things became too much, I would come here and rejuvenate. It saved my mind and helped me become the person I am today."
She finishes with a contented sigh and tilts her head to this intruder, no, this fellow appreciator of the wonders of a little silence sometimes, she is still looking at her and her smile has now spread fully across face, a few bright white teeth showing. "Thanks for listening." She simply nods. "You're quiet. I like that." She turns back to the sea as the final blood red rays disappear into the horizon and the stars light up the night and the broken moon rises. "Maybe there's something to being quiet and alone…..with someone else sometimes." The petite girl just nods with her continuing smile and leans back to stare at the stars with her.
A/N: My deepest thanks to any of you who chose to stick with this til its end. I'm sorry if its formatted horribly, it has been so long, but I plan to keep writing again and I hope that this can serve as a test to let me not make the same mistakes in those future stories. May the night see you safe and the dawn greet you kindly readers.