This following oneshot has been written for Atama Ga Keru Teru who apparently has lost her dog Sadie on Friday, June 15.
She told me how she loved her to bits so I decided to write a little oneshot because she's been a good friend to me and I wanted to let her know that I'm always there to listen to her.
As a little warning: I'm playing around with emotions in this so probably you might feel sentimental about the characters here. This revolves around hurt and comfort after all.
Enjoy!
It was truly a heart wrenching moment for Bridget Duffield.
The brunette stared down at the inert dog in her arms, shoulders wracking violently with silent sobs and tears endlessly streaming down her face.
She knew that it had to be done...but seeing how her faithful childhood companion had to leave her so soon...
It wasn't fair.
She knew that Sadie deserved to live longer...even though the dog had lived with her for ten years.
However, that wasn't likely when one day; Sadie accidentally fell, fracturing her hip and back. The vet told her that it was highly improbable for the dog to recover...especially at her current age. It brought the human girl tears to her eyes when she saw how her companion attempted to rise so that she can approach her owner in excitement...
...before the pain overwhelmed her and caused her to fall back down again.
Weeks have passed since then and one day, the very faithful companion left the world quietly in her owner's arms, free of pain and suffering.
And the brunette couldn't hold her tears back as she held her lifeless companion until it was time for the body to be taken away.
"I'm sorry, Sadie." Bridget's voice cracked as she watched the dog's body hauled out her home. "I'm sure you're at a better place now. I love you..."
Choking on a sob, she rushed to her room and threw herself onto the mattress, burying her face with her pillow and crying until she wore herself out and everything grew black.
"...She must have been very upset. Pauvre enfant..." Lean fingers brushed aside the damp brown curls covering the sleeping girl's face; the tears remained clinging to her closed eyelids.
"Ja, I wish we knew about this sooner..." Another hand wiped away the moist droplets from the brunette's eyes.
"...Pobre chica." The voice let out a sigh, a third hand reached out to stroke the girl's shoulder soothingly.
By then, Bridget had noticed that she was being touched by three comforting hands and began to stir awake.
"...Mom?" She croaked, coming to, and opening her eyes. Instead of seeing her parents by her side, it came to her attention that she is in fact, seeing a trio of men sitting beside her bed.
Judging by their looks of concern on their faces, Bridget could tell that the trio had heard the news.
"...Francis, Antonio and Gilbert..." She mumbled gloomily; seeing how she was currently too depressed to care about the presence of her best friends. "...what are you doing here?"
"Really, is that the proper way to greet your freunds now?" Gilbert exclaimed, crimson eyes growing wide in bewilderment. "Bridge, we came as soon as we heard the news about..."
"Shush!" Francis clamped a hand over the Albino's mouth, successfully hushing him from his inevitable words that were bound to escape from his mouth. Once he did so, the French man gave the dazed Brunette a sad look. "Je suis désolé Cheri...it must have been hard for you..."
Bridget simply gazed at the trio, her blank hazel eyes held no sign of recognition over the three men.
"...Yeah," She mumbled dully. "There's no need to care about me..."
"Ah, but we care about you, querida!" Antonio said sadly. "We are also upset about the loss of su perro."
And having understood the word spoken by the Spaniard, Bridget had begun to weep again; bitter tears oozed from her closed eyelids and she desperately launched herself towards Gilbert (who apparently happened to be sitting beside her). And so the Prussian awkwardly tried his best to comfort the sobbing girl while Francis deliberately smacked Antonio on the head for being oblivious to the situation.
When the tan man realized his mistake, he hung his head in shame while muttering an unmistakable, "Lo siento," under his breath. Francis watched quietly at the scene before letting himself smile sadly.
"Ma Cheri, I know what it's like to lose a pet. It's not as worse as losing a person but..." He soothingly took Bridget's hand and rubbed the skin kindly. "...when my Pierre died, I was devastated. He was my beloved bird-a truly brave and loyal pet. Ma Pierre did more than just lull me to sleep with his beautiful singing...he was the one who saved me many times. That is why I adopted another bird and named him after my first...in his honor."
By the time the French man had finished speaking, the brunette had begun to calm down. She stared at Francis with wet eyes, mouth opening slightly before closing again; unsure of what to say. The blond man simply stared back at her before reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe the brunette's eyes and giving her a sympathetic smile.
The company stayed inert for another five minutes or so before the Spaniard decided to open his mouth to share his story.
"You know, Querida. Back when I was raising little Romano, I found it difícil to get him to pay attention. Besides the tomatoes, I found that he used to like tortugas-turtles!" Antonio's green eyes shone at the recalling of the memory. "Y since I was busy tending to mi tomato jardín before harvest time, I decided to go to the pond and take home a little turtle to keep mi Romano company. He took one look at it and told me to take it back. He even pelted me with rocks until I went away!"
Francis and Gilbert both chuckled at the Spaniard's story. Bridget, who was still clinging onto the Prussian, stared at Antonio with wide eyes.
"What happened then?" Antonio smiled widely, knowing that his story is starting to help rouse his friend out of her depression.
"I thought he didn't like the turtle so I came back later to take it away but I saw Romano taking good care of the turtle. He even named it 'Tomato'! He fed it, played with it, washed it, and even changed the water all by himself! I was relieved that Tomato grew from Romano's affection. Y after five years..." Antonio's wide smile began to falter. "I found Romano crying and the turtle gone. He told me that Tomato had disappeared while he was cleaning the tank and wondered if it ran away because it hated him. I told him that Tomato ran away because it wanted to be with its family and it wanted to thank him for helping it grow up. The Italian boy loved Tomato so much! It was his first y only pet that he ever had." Antonio stared into Bridget's eyes, his expression soft with sympathy but his smile remained cheery nonetheless.
"Now, whenever I see him with turtles, sometimes I catch him crying...although he denies he doesn't want another turtle...You can't help but pity the boy sometimes."
With Francis and Antonio telling their stories, Bridget glanced up to meet the Prussian's face. Slowly, all eyes were focused towards him. Gilbert looked as if he wanted to argue with the remainder of his posse but sighed in defeat.
"...Remember that time...when you noticed why Gilbird wasn't on my head anymore und I refused to talk to anyone about it?" The brunette nodded while swallowing thickly. "...It was because...that awesome bird got himself into an accident und... I didn't realize it happened until later on. Gilbird...got himself into a fight with the neighborhood street cats and managed to return home, bloody and scathed. The little fella came home...just to see me before he collapsed like a war hero. He was mein everything...he was the little me...!" The albino squeezed his eyes shut as he tightened his embrace around the brunette.
"Mein awesome Gilbird knew he lost to the cats but he pushed to take one last look at me before he fell! He honored his master in his defeat und his master made sure that his bird's honor would be sustained with his very own grave! His loyalty is something I never would have expected from any other pet in the world!"
After the little speech, the albino raised one arm to rub quickly at his eyes before he and Bridget were tackled down by Antonio and Francis in a tight embrace; a plethora of which mixed emotions consisting of sympathy, compassion, sadness and forgiveness mixed together and filled throughout all corners of the bedroom.
Once they all calmed down, Francis, Gilbert and Antonio took turns kissing Bridget's cheeks and pulled the girl into a warm embrace. And as Bridget reopened her eyes to meet crimson, blue and green while returning their embraces, she couldn't help but smile at the suggestion to spending the rest of the day hanging out with the trio.
To Bridget, this was a moment in which she came to understand that her friends' feelings were completely mutual when it came to losing someone (or something) held so dear, and that her three best friends were the only company she needed in order to help her get back up. With three pairs of arms wrapping protectively around her, Bridget slowly felt more like herself, secure; unburdened; free.
Like Francis' loss of Pierre, Gilbert's loss of Gilbird, and Antonio and Romano's loss of Tomato, Bridget knew that Sadie was indeed, treasured for as long as she lived...and like those of her friends', her companion will remain forever honored and forever remembered of her loyalty to her owner.
Gilbert, Francis and Antonio were more than just friends to her-they were her soul mates to her life. They always knew what to say and did whatever in order to help her revert back to her usual self. Like Sadie, they are her human companions: forever bound by an unbreakable bond.
And because of this bond, Bridget found every reason to grasp the three pairs of hands reaching down to pull her back up...and to resume walking down the path that lies ahead.
"I will forever love you, Sadie.
Be sure to remind Pierre and Gilbird (and Tomato, if you're up there with them) to continue watching over us.
Rest in peace you guys. You all will be honored by your owners."
A/N: So...I bet all of you are surprised for updating so suddenly right? I apologize for not continuing the stories I have ongoing...but with me constantly finding new plots to write and the time I lack to complete my chapters...it's been rather difficult for me to continue with my stories. So, I'm just going to be typing and uploading oneshots from now on.
I'm really sorry.
It'll do me a great deal if you hit the review button below and let me know what you think about this. And also...
It'll also be really nice if you dropped by an encouraging message to our fellow friend Atama Ga Keru Teru.
If you haven't read her stories before, I highly suggest you do. She's such an amazing writer for Hetalia and an amazing friend that I believe she deserved this oneshot.
And to Atama Ga Keru Teru AKA Bridget, I hope you enjoyed this.
Rest in peace, Sadie. You will be missed.
