Moments

by chepot

cher is gong away...what will happen to all the memories that made together? will this be th end?

"Moments"

Cher entered the door of hex's room carrying the both the burden of her conversation with her other two friends, Yza and Lorns, and the bag of freshly baked breads that she had bought from a nearby bakery. Since it was already in the dead of night and the market was closed and she didn't have time to make one so she just decided to buy instead. After all, she knows that he won't care less or pay attention to the fact that she may or may have not made the bread but pot roast… that's another story.

Cher vaguely leaned on the doorpost to check if hex was in, only to mentally pinch herself when she remembered that hex could barely stand due to his leg injury, inflicted by his last skirmish with Reon. It suddenly triggered some of the memories of the past battle where he risked his neck in order to save hers, several times. She could have sworn she heard the barrage of bullets firing straight at her and hitting her right in the heart. She was going to leave this man who nearly kicked the bucket saving her and loved her even more than his own life, just to go back to her own world, where only her grandmother really cared for her and had no existent family to understand her.

She immediately shook off some of her thoughts in order to avoid an unpleasant conversation with Hex later on. She can't afford to flop tonight. NO! Not tonight! She wants to make this as peaceful and normal as possible, like the ones they usually had. But Hex is one of those unfathomable individuals… You don't know what he's thinking unless you're like him. She was scared to hurt him. Who knows what he would do? … "I hope this goes well," she prayed to the Gods. With a clear decision to go in, she gently pushed the door wide open to let herself in and gently closed it behind her to avoid waking up her sleeping knight in shining armor if, just in case, he was.

The room was dark and was only partially illuminated by the little rays of light emanated by the crescent falcate moon. Hex laid on the bed; eyeing the person who just came into the room. He immediately recognized Cher from her silhouette. He knew that she was the only person who would have the entrails to visit him at that hour. It wasn't like he had a shopping list of friends to have difficulties in guessing. But to instill upon her that he was still severely injured, he decided to pretend to be asleep and scrutinize how his much-loved person worries about him and his situation. It was never his nature to neither pretend nor use such trickery to create a parody on another person … but she was different. He needed to know how much she cared for him; how much she loved him. This was the first time she will get to see him after the long fought battle against their whitewashed enemy, Restord. He was more than eager to hear her sorry's and thank you's or even, for quite an odd reason, to hear her cry for him. He wanted to see Cher emote so badly that he had to use his unhinged acting skills.

As Cher approached his bed, she saw hex lying on the bed with his eyes closed. She could tell that he was sleeping so, after laying the bag of breads on the side table, she sat on a tuffet beside the bed. She cupped her cheeks in the comfort of her palms while her elbows lay on the bed. She stared at Hex's face for quite a long time and didn't notice the litheing well of tears in her thudding blue eyes. Her thoughts were locked to the fact that she couldn't bear to face a day without him. It was almost a year since they have first met and ever since that day, she had slowly, though not intentionally, learned to love him with all of her heart. But it would be the biggest lie that she'd tell herself if she wouldn't admit that she really didn't want to go home … but she has to. She has dreams and promises to fulfill, to herself and to her grandmother. As much as she owed this man, for saving her sorry butt, for as much as he had to, she also owed her grandmother her life. Without her grandmother who loved her in all capacity, she wouldn't have been alive to meet this wonderful person sleeping in front of her. Slowly, still, Polaroid pictures of her past months with hex; seem to just soar in front of her eyes. She couldn't help thinking of those days when she used to be alone with Hex in that house and how they fought for this world's salvation, almost losing their lives. He cared for her and took her in like his own sister, of course taking away the part where he thought that she looked like his real/foster sister. Would he have cared about her that way if she didn't look like Sadie? She didn't want to go back to that seemingly unanswerable question. She was happy to be with hex and that was all that mattered … oh yeah and considering the part where he picked her over his real foster sister. Remembering Sadie's face for a moment, made her remember a lifetime worth of memories. She would have never thought, in real life, that she would actually meet another person who looked exactly like her, in an alternate world, also in love with the same man as her. It was the most interesting twist of fate that anyone could ever encounter and she was the lucky one to obtain that fate. But considering the present situation, why didn't she feel so lucky?

She sunk her head on the soft white sheets in Hex's bed and reached for his hand. His hands were bigger and stronger than hers. Those hands have offered salvage to her lots of times and they were her refuge in her times of fear. She can't forget those hands of his. They offered her the warmth and security that she had long thrived for. The simple satisfaction that she gets from just having them touch her skin have long gave her the feeling of bliss and exhilaration. She just kept holding on to his hands never wanting to let go cause when she does … she knew that she may never see them again… especially the person that they're attached to… she was still crying like a baby and didn't even utter a syllable. She would have never thought that she would be this silent. She was afraid that if she said even a single word, she would spill out everything … everything that she was ordained to say. But it didn't seem right that she would rob this man of his happiness when he just found it. If she would say that she would be leaving him, after all that they have been through… she didn't think that he could handle any more pain. It was already torture just by thinking about her departure. How much more if she would never see him again? It pains her to think that it would be her last twenty-four hours with the man she loved and cherished.

Hex could feel Cher's tears wet his palm. He had let her hold his hand long enough to realize that she was caressing it as if it was something precious to her. He opened his left eye to glimpse at Cher who was grief-stricken over his hand. Cher was a palpable person in his eyes and he could easily see right through her. She is deeply troubled. He never thought that he could worry Cher like this. "She knows I'm just sleeping right? Or does she think I'm dead?" he was comically relying on these basis that he thought Cher was over reacting. "Enough fun and games… I'm already tired of pretending," he said to himself. But deep inside of him he knew that he couldn't stand the sight of his beloved crying over him in his hour of death. "Mental note… never die beside her… Or she might follow you in the next life…" at that, he turned to Cher and patted her curly green hair. Cher felt his hand move and turned to look at hex whom, to her, just woke up.

"I'm not dead… yet" hex said, while wearing a sinister smile in his fully bruised face.

Cher retaliated by saying "I know silly! I was just pretending you were!" She said while trying to wipe off her tears and sniffing spontaneously.

Finally, she was able to say something. She was starting to feel that her throat was beginning to dry up like the Sahara desert experiencing El Nino. (Phew that feels pretty hot)

Hex turned to get a piece of bread from the paper bag that was on the side table "You're so cruel… you know that?"

"I was just kidding" Cher giggled as she stood up to get him a glass of water.

"So far … so good" she mumbled to herself. She hasn't been that stupid to spill out everything at once. She had to wait for the perfect chance to say it but she wasn't sure that it would be now. Her hands were trembling while she reached for the pitcher. All the mixed thought in her mind kept confusing her so much that she had lost the ability to tell the glass from thin air. She snapped out of her musings just to realize that she was pouring the water all over the tabletop. "AKH!" she shrieked as she jumped back to avoid wetting her uniform.

"Are you planning to swim in there?" hex said while laughing.

He felt like having a good laugh. Come to think of it, he had never laughed as much before he met Cher. It was only when she gave her such a sarcasm that he thought it was funny. He didn't see her as someone funny but someone who's too innocent that she amuses him. He had never met another individual who thinks that the universe is only divided between good and the evil. The naïve point of view of a child in the body of a person who have seen many hardships and pain… how can she maintain the youthful glow inside her while everyone else's died long ago? … "But I like her this way… I like her the way she is" hex thought to himself as he watched Cher clear the table and wipe it with an old rag. He would have offered her assistance but he can't even manage to stand-alone, and walk. But what the heck, he asked anyway "Need some help?"

Cher turned around to look at him and pouted, "thanks but I'm almost done" she said after eyeing her guy who's striving to eat the bread that he was furiously wrangling. Hex had broken his right arm and since then, there wasn't any task easy for him to perform. As pathetic as it may seem, he really needed help from others to go around. But thinking that he just saved the world made him deem that it was only just. He risked his butt to save everyone in the world, although unintentionally, is enough to reason that he should be treated like a God. (Not like he wanted to be one.) … Remembering the faces of the Gods who just sat on their sorry ass while watching him risk his own life to save theirs, made him smirk and mentally say, … "They're a bunch of lowlifes!"

Cher just finished clearing the table. She slowly dragged herself back to hex and assisted him to drink. Cher reached for something in her pocket and showed it to hex.

Hex just blinked at the sight of what seemed to be a little box. A little white box, which looked familiar. He knew that he had seen it before but he never did paid that much attention to the petty details of his everyday life. He ogled Cher with a vacant expression which means to tell her that he had practically no idea what that was for.

Cher still, hopeful that he would remember, squished the box closer to hex's view. But Hex really had no idea what that box was. So out of his own curiosity he asked "what's in it?"

Cher just stared at him with that goaded expression and said "what?! Don't you remember what this is?"

You could hear the squeaky sound when he just perplexedly shook his head in reply

Shaking the little white box, she said" try and remember! You gave it to me!"

"Then why are you showing it to me? If I already gave it to you?" Hex said. He was still unable to recall what that box was…and to think that he gave that to her… "Come to think of it, I really didn't remember giving that to you." He have tried so relentlessly to remember but all he could think of was …Uhhhh… nothing.

Cher just kept on leading him on 'til he got the whole picture. Giving him hints on what the damn thing was.

"It's the one that Piphel gave me. The one with the chocolates… but that was a long time ago…. How did you manage to keep intact?" Hex said, finally remembering the details on the box's history, facing Cher.

Cher proudly nodded her head. "Yeah ... It is and it's about time you remember… I kept it all these times… I thought it was special…here," she said as she shoved the box into hex's hand. "I filled it in with something"

Hex took hold of the box and was about to open it when he was cut off by Cher's voice "STOP!"

"What?" he asked as he curled up his forehead in wonder and irritation.

Cher closed her eyes and dictated, "I didn't tell you to open it yet did I?"

"Why give it to me if you don't want me to open it?" He asked bluntly at his girl.

"You could open it later when I leave. It's a surprise." She replied with a simple smile and winked

"What's the difference if I open it now and after you leave. It won't change what's inside so… let me open it now." Hex exclaimed.

"Don't be so persistent… do you know the meaning of sentimentality? I want you to open that later and keep it….oh-okay?" Cher can't stop her welling tears that it just flowed right out of her deep blue eyes. "whu- what's this?" she asked as she wiped the tears off her eyes.

"are you crying?" hex asked

"umm" was all she said as she shook her head as a sign of denial.

Hex doubted that it was true for as palpable as Cher was, she was never good at lying. He could see right through her. She was hiding something and the box is the key to all of it. "What is inside the box?" He was really curious about the mystery of the little white box. "What is she hiding?" he repeatedly asked himself while staring at his beloved's tear-jerked face. Her badly drawn expression can't even fool a child. She wasn't happy at all. She's just trying to smile. Something must've happened and she isn't planning to say it to him. But he needed to know; he needed someone aside from Cher to spill out the beans. And he knew who that person might be. Now that he has a back up plan, he didn't insist on opening the box so persistently. Instead, he just enjoyed the company of his precious little angel. And both started to talk ceaselessly. Cher was very careful not to drift into the topic of her leaving to go back to next world so she decided to tell hex the stories and reminisce about their funny times together. It would at least do no harm to make him laugh for the last time before she leaves and may never see him again. Cher constantly made Hex laugh with all the stories she told. Cher was never a good storyteller but it surprised her that someone actually finds it interesting. Time is running, and before they knew it, it was almost morning. They have been at it for about 5 hours or more…

"Ahhhh" Cher yawned "oh sorry …" she said as she covered her mouth.

"That's okay. It's almost morning … and you haven't slept a wink." Hex stated with concern. "You should sleep."

"But I have lots more to Yawn … to tell you…" Cher retorted.

Hex gently took Cher's head and laid it on the bed next to him. "I'll listen to it later… just sleep for now…"

"But I yawn I want to…"

"That is an order,…" he said as he smiles gently at Cher

"Aye aye captain…yawn " she said as she closed her eyes and began to wander off to sleep

Hex patted Cher's head until he was sure that she is fast asleep.

He glanced at the little girl's eyes only to see that she was already in a deep slumber.

He then stared at Cher's sleeping figure and took his time to caress her soft curly hair. It wasn't as soft as Sadie's … but the smell was definitely unique. Like the smell of fresh cinnamon that tickles the senses.

He knew that he could never win over Cher cause she possessed something that he didn't. He was scared to fight her and lose. He didn't know why but he was scared of her eyes to look at him with hate. Hex touched his cheek in remembrance of the time that she had first slapped him. Back then; her eyes were deep blue and if you'd look closely, you'd see the deep feelings hidden in her so innocent look. She wasn't that strong and it wouldn't have hurt. But knowing that she was mad at him was enough to make him feel the pain for a thousand times.

Hex smiled as he looked at Cher's face again. He knew that he would never do anything to make her look at him like that again. Not now that he knew that he could love her freely without hiding any feelings for her; not now that he will spend his life by her side and being who really is. He looked out the window and reminisced one by one, the times that they had both spent together with their friends and the triumph of their teamwork.

"Moments "

Westlife

He spent the moment of silence in adoration for his little shimmer of happiness who lay sleeping right next to him.

♪If I'd die tonight, I'd go with no regrets♪♫

If it's in your arms, I know that I was blessed

And if your eyes are the last thing that I'd see

♪♫Then I know the beauty heaven holds for me♫

He looked up and started to recall all the troublesome things that happened in his life for the past ten months with Cher.

♪♫But if I make it through, if I live to see the day

If I'm with you, I know just what to say

The truth be told, girl you take my breath away♪♫

Every minute, every hour, every day

But as soon as he locks into her beautiful blue eyes, he couldn't resist the silent laughter and happiness that laid hidden inside his being.

♪♫Cause every moment, we share together

Is even better than the moment before

If everyday was, as good today was ♪

♫Then I can't wait 'til tomorrow comes♪♫

He was driven to smile at the thought of those wonderful things that she had made him see during the time that they spent together, all those things that may have meant nothing to him if he hadn't met this wonderful creation of God, who is Cher. It seems that she's the only thing that the God's have created that he's thankful for, aside from his friends.

♪♫A moment in time, is all that's given you and me♪

A moment in time, yeah it's something you should seize♫

So I won't make, the mistake of letting go

♪♫Everyday you're here I'm gonna let you know♫♪

♪♫Cause every moment, we share together

Is even better than the moment before

If everyday was, as good today was

Then I can't wait 'til tomorrow comes♪♫

♪♫Each morning that I get up, I love you more than ever

So girl never go away, never stray

So every moment, we share together

Is even better than the moment before♪♫

♪If everyday was as good as today was

Then I can't wait 'til tomorrow comes …♪♫

Hex looked outside to see the beautiful sunrise slowly shedding light over the land of Polo Rios and it's people. He knew now that Reon is gone; Restord would not stand strong for long. Victory won't be that far away and peace will be regained once again. And he will be able to relish all the wonderful days with his friends and loved one.