The red haired woman gripped the cheap inn bed sheets as she was experiencing the sweet release from the weary and colorless world she had been abandoned to all those years ago when her crush and love interest, a young black haired former-SOLDIER, had died as he tried to obtain his freedom from their employer. Her world fell apart when she found his body riddled with bullet wounds.
The woman panted as her partner turned away from her and stare blankly at the sky beyond the four walls that surrounded them as per his nighty ritual, searching for something or rather someone that wasn't there. He would soon be overcome by his own sense of inadequacy and sorrow. Just like her, his world shattered as well when the woman whose heart belonged to the best friend he had forgotten and mixed with his own memories at the time had died right before him. The red haired woman pulled the sheets around her as she tried to regain some sense of warmth as the cold reclaimed the world as quickly as her partner let her go.
"Do you regret it?" The man behind her asked. It used to amuse her that his blonde locks seemed to defy gravity no matter what he did. How similar he was to the man in stature and how different his personality was, at first jarring however she was now thankful for it.
"I could ask you the same," she replied while not looking at him still clutching the sheets.
They were broken and neither would deny it. While he had a safety net, he simply chose to forget about his friends and connection. But her, she was not as lucky he was in that respect. Her boss let her go when she had returned with the body of the young man she was order to keep tabs on and support when deemed necessary by the company. Tseng wasn't stupid after all, he knew she could no longer operate to the level he would require of her so he made it as if she had died along with the black haired man she carried back at the time. She couldn't even find it within herself to cry when they disposed of the body. 'No amount of tears will bring him back,' she had muttered to her superior.
"We're leaving in the morning," the blonde stated bringing the woman back from her memories. He got up and put on some pants then proceeded to leave her with her own thoughts. He was probably going to tinker with his bike again.
A sad thought crossed her mind again and she laughed bitterly to herself. "We're just using each other and trying to forget the fact that we are both chasing ghosts from our past." It wasn't the first time this idea came to her mind and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. Unknown to her tears fell down her face as she remembered the times she was able to smile with the very lively former-SOLDIER who his mentor often called a puppy. She only wished that she stayed with him, that it had been her instead. At least then she wouldn't feel so empty inside.
Outside the blonde continued to work on his bike even though he knew there was nothing wrong with it. He didn't want to face up to the truth that no matter what they did together, how times they shared physical intimacy, he was still searching for the woman he had let die in front of him. He knew she had returned to the planet but the fact she reached out time and time again to help him and their friends let him play with the idea that he may see her again one day. Then his thoughts turned to the woman laying in the bed they had just used moments ago. She had a similar body structure but the woman that had made him forget everything for just briefest of moments was simply not the woman that once held his little misfit group of adventurers together. "I'm sorry... I cannot be forgiven."
As if the planet itself seemed to agree with his statement the sky showed signs of impending rain.