A/N. I was inspired to write this drabble by Akita-Sensei's Vivi x Ace arts.
Post-Marineford.
They say time heals all wounds, and that grief is ephemeral like the clouds in the sky or the embers of a dwindling fire.
Fire.
I sometimes wondered if that's what spread through his veins in place of blood that powers the rest of us mortals. He hated it. His blood.
"I am not good enough for you, my blood is tainted, this is a mistake." he'd say.
"If this is a mistake, then tell me why does it feel so right hm?" I'd laugh and kiss him.
"Because you were crazy enough to accept me." he would smile then, obliterating all my worries.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." I said.
It was then that he bared all his weaknesses to me, and I dissolved in his world.
He was mine, and I was his, but I knew this could not last.
An age-old adage, princesses and pirates are like fire and water—they don't mix, it's unnatural.
But you need both for sustenance, I'd argue with my common sense.
As if reading my thoughts, he cupped my cheek.
"I am sorry, but I love you," he told me the first night we made love.
"Why are you apologising?" I asked, my heart sang with joy.
"I couldn't hold back when I knew I should have," he said.
"Should we end all this then?" I frowned.
Strong arms would wrap around me, I felt so safe and loved at that moment, it was hard to believe that it couldn't last.
"Never," he smirked against my cheek.
If only...but there was only kind of "never" for us.
"This is not a goodbye!" he smiled, but I could see the dread and fear in his eyes.
"It better not be!" I played along, but I regret not telling him that I will still be here waiting.
"Will you still love me when I'm gone?"
I know what he wanted to say but never dared to out of guilt and shame of his heritage—a matter in which he had no choice. A pawn of fate.
I wish I reassured him. If only...if only what? There have been so many 'if onlys' in my life that I lost count, his are one of the few that stood the test of time.
What happened next is all blur, I remember running out of my Father's study, distant voices all around me. And pain. Searing, unforgiving, relentless pain. And tears.
So many that I thought I would never be able to shed them anymore.
But fate would prove me wrong later on.
He was like the sun, but not that weaker kind one might feel on their skin on Whiskey Peak or Mariejois. No, he was like our sun. The scorching, orb of gold high above Alabasta.
Its blazing heat warms me right down to the bones, like his touch.
I loved him then, I love him still and there'll never be another.
"This too shall pass," my father would say, echoing the Kings of old. But they are gone and so is Father.
But the pain still lingers here, right now, with me.
They are long dead, but I live on. For Ace, for Father, for Alabasta, I will carry on for as long as I can. But the truth is that when the sun sets beyond the horizon, and the moon returns to reign over us for the night, all I see is him.
"I miss you," I whisper into the night air, hoping for a sign that he might hear me from wherever he is now.
All I get is silence in return.
He is gone.
His sunset is eternal.
I have these memories to warm me.
A/N: This was a little experiment to see how I write a first - person POV. What do you guys think? I plan to write a longer story using this format later on.