HOLDING ON

"There never was much hope. Just a fool's hope"

(Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

Maybe he was just wasn't good enough for her. She was everything that he thought he had ever wanted, this beautiful red-headed angel, but she wasn't his. His lips graced up into a tiny spiteful smile, he had to laugh at himself. He was becoming like Harry again, letting his heart be torn apart by a girl. She was just a girl after all, one of so many. Yet, he felt as though he would never met another girl, or maybe woman, like her. That's what got him.

The cool evening breeze blew soundly across his face, refreshing his tired eyes as he leaned against the railing of the deck. They were on their way back from the Royal Cup celebration, all crammed into the small hover cargo like rats. He didn't know why his father had brought the Lighting Team with them, whether it just being for good measure or just out of the kindness of his heart. Something told him that his father really wanted to talk to Jack about his infamous lighting saix more then anything else, probably wanted a model off of him or something.

They all congregated in the main living room, just inside from where he stood, laughing and talking merrily, it was a party after all, at least someone should have some fun. He watched as the illumined town slowly faded into the distance, sighing heavily to himself. He had been out there nearly an hour, nobody had even bothered to even talk to him, they were all too busy with their own lives. Kelly and Jack seemed to be enjoying themselves, Kelly perched on his lap, her arm hugging him lovingly. Bit and Leena sat across the other side of the room, competing in some crazy game undoubtedly drunk. He smiled slyly, he always knew that Bit and his little sister shared something in secret, apparently drunk they showed it a bit more. They were good at hiding it, though, he would give them that much. Jamie and his father sat in the middle of the room, cheering Bit and Leena on and laughing, no doubt they had something to do with them playing the game.

And then in the back corner of the room sat his angel, sitting so comfortably in another's arms. The jealously filled him with anger, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to hate Brad. Him and Naomi were so perfect for each other, he knew it, they knew it, hell probably all of Zi knew that he never had a change with the red comet herself but he was sure as hell going to try. And try as he did, she didn't love him. He was just her friend, her teammate. Nothing more.

He sighed heavily, lowering his head, and closing his eyes to the world. Light footsteps came from behind him, but he paid no heed to them. It was probably just Jamie or his father telling him to come inside before he caught a cold.

"You're not fooling anyone," a gruff voice announced.

Leon jerked his head up, "what?"

Kris Tasker leaned against the rail next to him, her back leaning against the cold metal and her face facing his. She smiled slightly, "you're in love with Naomi."

He leaned his head back down, "no, no, it's not like that," he halfway lied. He wasn't exactly lying, they were just friends, he just implied his feelings different then what they were.

"No, your eyes give you away, Leon," she leaned in closely to his face, examining his eyes, "you squint when you lie."

He jerked his head back, "what does that have to do with anything," he sighed.

She shook her head, "I've seen the way you look at her," she paused looking back into the party, noting Naomi and Brad sitting and smiling in the back of the room. Then she looked to Jack and her sister, "I used to look at someone else the same way. You can't lie to me."

He sighed heavily, "I don't give a rats ass about Brad and Naomi seeing each other," he lied harshly. He turned in a glared at them sitting together, Brad kissing Naomi lightly on the head. He was fuming on the inside, but he wasn't about talk to her of all people about it.

She smiled, laughing softly, "if you don't have a problem with it, then why are you out here?" She looked straight at him, her brown eyes piercing his own.

He looked down at the moving ground again, "so, what's it to you?"

She turned around, now leaning forwards on the rail, "I don't know," she laughed silently, "I guess it because me and you aren't all to different." She shook her head and laughed, "but you seem to be okay all alone, so I guess I'll go back in."

She pushed herself back off the railing and began to walk away. For some reason, even he didn't know why, he grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him.

"What?" She looked at him confused, he couldn't blame her. He had been so cold to just moments before, now he was practically begging her to stay.

"Wait," he paused and looked at her softly, "please, just stay here."

She smiled warmly, "I guess you really did love her."

He nodded slightly, "what gets me is that I knew I never had a chance in seven hells with her. Her and Brad belong together, and I knew that." He paused and let go of her wrist, turning his back to her, "but I couldn't bring myself not to love her."

She nodded, walking up and standing next to him, "Jack Sisco broke my heart last night." She said bluntly, looking out at the full moon that graced the sky.

Leon looked at her sympathetically, "you and your sister both loved him, I take it."

She nodded, "he promised me, back when we weren't doing so well, that if we ever made it to the royal cup, he would take me to the ball himself." She shook her head, feeling tears start to fill her eyes again, "I must sound so stupid, but that was the night that I fell in love with him. He was so mysterious but so caring too." She looked back inside at the party, "but I guess sometime between after that and last night, he fell head over heels for my sister. Of all people, my sister."

Leon put a hand on her shoulder, "I guess I'm not the only pathetic one here, huh?"

She smiled and shook her head, "I must sound so stupid."

He shook his head, "no, Harry sounds stupid, you, you just fell in love."

She smiled and nodded, "I guess we both did, huh?"

"Apparently there is a little Harry in all of us," he smiled slightly.

She laughed, "I guess so," she sighed and looked at the moon, "I guess where just fools in love."

He stood there in silence for awhile, just content to have someone standing next to him that could share his pain. Someone that understood what it was like to love someone so much that you could never hate them. Who knows, maybe Harry had the right idea, to keep chasing after his love no matter what the cost. Leena knew that if she ever decided to fall in love with him, he would always be waiting right there for her. No matter how many bathtubs she threw.

The city lights began to fade into a tiny dot on the horizon, as Leon and Kris made their way back into the party. He knew that neither of them weren't going to forget their conversation. The thoughts of two fools stuck loving a one sided love. But neither of them were giving up, not just quite yet. He still knew that Brad loved Naomi, as she loved him, but if she ever decided to go to him, he would be right there waiting. Until then, he just had to hold on.

Okay, so a little background on this fic: I wrote it awhile ago, and just found it recently when I was going through and deleting all my old homework from years ago (kinda sad, huh?). Well, I read through it, and I have been on a standalone spree recently, so I decided to give it a go and post it on the site after a bit of editing.

So, here we have it, my very first standalone fic...ever. I would really appericate feed back on it, espically since I really don't write a lot in the ZOIDS genre and I'm sure the characters are probably really screwy.