A/N: This is a CM Punk/OC oneshot written for my best friend Mel. I hope you like it, Melly. :) The song goes to Passenger, and Punk goes to the WWE. Enjoy. :)

Let Her Go

Well you only need the light when it's burning low.

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low.

Only hate the road when you're missing home.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

And you let her go.

CM Punk had never been particularly good at relationships. It was one of the few things in his life that he wasn't the best in the world at, but he had always accepted it. He wasn't a guy who wanted to be tied down anyway. At least, that was what he had thought.

The snow was falling in thick clumps, dimming the normally bright lights of Chicago. Punk's boots crunched through a thick layer of the white fluff on the ground, and his hands were jammed into his coat pockets. His breath escaped from his mouth in transparent puffs and the cold stung the exposed skin of his face. It was a typical Illinois winter day.

He looked up, his hazel eyes peering through the snow at the trees of the park all around him. Their bare branches were drooping with the weight of the snow, and he couldn't help but compare himself to them. He too was bending and breaking under the weight of something that he couldn't shake off.

Staring at the bottom of your glass.

Hoping one day you'll make a dream last.

But dreams come slow and they go so fast.

You see her when you close your eyes.

Maybe one day you'll understand why,

Everything you touch slowly dies.

Punk reached a park bench, and he stretched out a bare hand and swept the snow off of its faded green seat, ignoring the sting. He sat down and tilted his head back, staring up at the black sky overhead. Snowflakes fell into his eyes and he blinked them away, causing some to stick to his eyelashes. He didn't bother to sweep them away, instead looking back down at the frozen ground.

After a moment, he reached a numb hand into his coat pocket and withdrew a folded up photo. He unfolded it with trembling fingers and stared at the face of the one that he had lost.

But you only need the light when it's burning low.

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low.

Only hate the road when you're missing home.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

His fingers ran over the photo, tracing the shape of her lips and the delicate curve of her neck. Her hazel eyes looked up at him, bright and happy. How quickly that had changed.

He gazed at her thick brown hair and beautiful smile, forever immortalized. Oh God, he missed that smile.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark.

Same old empty feeling in your heart.

'Cause the love comes slow and it goes so fast.

Well you see her when you fall asleep.

But to never touch and never to keep.

'Cause you loved her too much and you dived too deep.

Tears ran down his cheeks, startling him. He never cried, not even when he fucked up his knee so badly that it felt like thousands of white hot knives were stabbing him over and over. He prided himself on being emotionally strong as well as physically, but it seemed that the dam had finally broken.

He sat in the middle of that deserted park and cried. He cried for her and for himself, for the love that he had lost and the pain that was burning a hole through his heart. He cried, and then he screamed, letting it all out. He screamed into the bitter cold, choking on snowflakes and yet refusing to stop. He kept screaming until his throat was raw and no more sound could come out, and then he hunched over, clutching the crumpled picture to his chest.

Well you only need the light when it's burning low.

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low.

Only hate the road when you're missing home.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

And you let her go.

After a little while, Punk straightened up and wiped the tears off of his face. Taking a deep, shaky breath, he stood up and started walking again. He trudged through the snow until he reached the railing that surrounded the harbor. He looked out into the darkness, snow swirling around him and the wind tugging at his clothes and hair. He then dropped his eyes to the picture that he still held tightly in his grasp. Slowly, he lifted the photo and pressed his cold lips to it. Squeezing his eyes shut, he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Punk crumpled the photo into a ball, and then he wound back and threw it as far as he could. He heard the faint splash as it hit the water, and he ground his teeth together as another sob threatened to escape.

'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low.

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

Only know you've been high when you're feeling low.

Only hate the road when you're missing home.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

He stood there for a minute longer, allowing himself to pine for the woman that he had pushed so violently away. Everything within him wished that he could take it back, but she had moved on and he knew that he had to do the same, no matter how hard it would be.

Taking one last long look at the water, he turned his back and walked away, knowing that he would never fully be rid of the ghost of what could have been.

And you let her go.