Author: Lisa (GroovyGirl650@aol.com)
Title: Safety and Light
Category: Angst/Drama
Rating: R-violence
Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the book series, Fearless by Francine Pascal.
Summary: This takes place near the end of number 15 Tears. What could have happened that night?
Authors Note: Looking over my other stories, I have realized I am a very depressing person- I hardly ever write happy endings. Oh well, here is another one of my sad stories.
Feedback: is my drug and I need my fix! But if you cannot do that, sending me some Krispy Kremes would work too.


Safety and Light


Gaia did not know how she ended up on the bridge, staring down at the water. She had walked around for hours in a trance-like state. She realized now that she could have been easy prey for criminals...not that she would have any trouble beating them.
The orange rays of the rising sun touched her golden locks and Gaia looked up. She felt no warmth, no happiness- just the coldness and hatred that had taken refuge in her heart. But as the glowing rays moved along her body, the ice in her heart began to melt. Gaia sobbed brokenly and warm, salty tears spilled from her eyes into the cold river below.
The faces that had hurt and betrayed her floated through her mind. Ed, her dad, Sam...each wore a cold and mocking smile. Each had owned a piece of her trust then smashed it apart. Her body ached with the weight of emotional pain and Gaia wondered briefly if you could die from a broken heart.
Sometimes she wondered what she would be like if she was a normal girl. Surely she wouldn't be Gaia Moore, hard and unbreakable. But she had to laugh softly through her sobs because she knew that she was breaking, and no amount of physical strength could stop that.
For Gaia there was no hope, no joy, and no love. She was born to live alone and she felt completely foolish to have thought that it could be any different. Gaia realized that she had never known how truly horrible being alone is, until she had experienced happiness and companionship. Now that those were taken from her, the pain was more than she could ever bear.
What did she have to live for? To wake up to an empty home day after day? To spend her life lost in memories of a time where every day was a blessing? Not anymore; now every day was a curse, a day of unfufilled dreams.
Slowly, Gaia reached into her coat pocket. To a passerby, Gaia might have looked like a teenage girl trying to shield her hand from a bitter wind, but that wasn't her intent.
As she took it out and watched it glimmer in the sun beams, a thought came to her. Safety and light-was that what everybody wanted? To be safe from pain and what frightened you, and to have the light of hope and love? It was what Gaia had been searching for her entire life, a reason to exist. Gaia smiled bitterly because in her hand she held both these things but they would soon be gone as well.
Click.
That was the sound of the safety being released. As the cold metal barrel of the gun touched her temple, Gaia stared directly ahead into the blazing sun. And with a single shot, the light was gone too.