Goddess Weeping
She thought nothing else could be taken from her. When he had walked out on her, she felt as though her world had fallen out from underneath her. But even then, she couldn't hate him. Even then, she felt no bitterness toward him --- only toward the cruel fate that made them too scared, too scared to trust and surrender wholly to what they had. Though being apart from him felt like a constant heartache, for a time it was enough for her that he was alive, free and able to love life as much as she did.
And now…
Ororo Munroe raised a shaky hand to her face, clearing the tears from her eyes with her slender fingers. In response to her grief, the sky darkened, the wind grew stronger, tossing her long white hair into the air and rustling the grass around her. She lifted her face to the sky, and cool, gentle raindrops sprinkled it. They mingled with her hot, salty tears and trickled down her cheeks.
She was standing in a clearing in the forest behind the mansion. For many years now, this had become her refuge, her sanctuary. She came here whenever her sorrows overwhelmed her and she needed to be alone with nature once more. She had come here when Forge first left her. It seemed fitting now that she should come here when he left her for the last time.
She knelt on the grass and wept into her hands. Above her, the rain grew stronger.
Goddess, how she had loved him.
She remembered that she and Forge had made love in this same clearing. The memory of his touch was still with her, the beauty of the stars that night, the fragrance of the grass beneath them, the exquisite pleasure and the utter contentedness she had felt in being with the man she loved. She would have gladly stayed in the clearing forever, wrapped in Forge's strong embrace with his face buried in her hair as he breathed deeply of her.
A hand gripped her shoulder suddenly.
"Ro?" a hoarse, husky voice asked.
Ororo looked up at Logan, who was standing over her. Concern and sadness for his friend's loss marked his face.
"I'm sorry," he said simply. He, too, had lost his fair share of loved ones. He knew there was nothing he could say to ease her pain. That burden was her own.
Ororo turned away from him and lowered her head. She couldn't speak; her grief was beyond all words. Logan stood next to her for a while, then turned back to the mansion.
And the Goddess --- Ororo herself, or the Great Mother she prayed to --- wept.