Disclaimer: ToG and its characters belong to SJM. This story was inspired by the song Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy.
He sat, back against the grimy wall, holding a single picture in his hand. It was her, looking coyly up at the camera from under a wide brimmed hat. Her dress was twirling the breeze, and there was such a smile on her face. She had been sixteen at the time. Oh, how naive they'd been back then.
He remembered sneaking out of the "group home," that day they took the picture. His mouth quirked into a smirk as he remembered the kisses sneaked too. It faded as he remembered the beating he'd received form Arobynn when they returned.
This picture was one of many forever engrained in his mind - there were so many moment that he wished he could just take a picture of. Take and print out, because she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
They had long parted, him on a metal table, resting in a plastic body bag. It was his first memory of this world; her screams, tears as she saw what was left of him. He had tried as hard as he could to come back to her, but to no avail.
It had been a kindness to tell her he had gotten into a car crash.
In this world, he had followed her. He sat with her on those long nights, locked up, listening to everything she told him. He had fought alongside her in the cruel trials of fate, cried alongside her as she lost herself again and again.
It should have been me, he screamed to whatever dark gods could hear. Why her?
And with that, he had watched her change. Grow. She was no longer the hardhead he had fallen for; her flame had tempered, become more controlled and more lethal.
He had watched as she met him. Just as abrasive as she, harder in more ways than one. His heart broke a little as the woman he loved learned to love another.
Maybe, had he lived, they would've gotten that chance. Maybe, had he lived, she wouldn't be fighting wars that were not hers to fight.
But he hadn't. And while his life remained static at the moment it had ended, Hera did not. Hers went on where his stopped and that was the most he could hope for. For her to live the life she deserved, even when he could not.
He'd give all his days remaining to live one in the past. Live the carefree life he'd always wished for.
But for all he wished, it would never be fair to impose that on her. She deserved, beyond anything, the chance to live in the present, the future.
Even if he could only live, love, in the past.
Sam Cortland stood up, the picture of his beloved fluttering in a long lost wind.
AN:
Aaaah! I'm sorry for not posting for so long - I'm trying to switch up my schedule at school, which has prompted even more extra work, which is the exact opposite of what I'm trying to achieve.
Do you think this works for Sam? I dunno. I feel like that'd be a Sam thing to do. Much sad.
Random Fact: My favorite song in Save Rock in Roll is Death Valley.
Please review!
~ franklyherondale