Alex let his glass clunk onto the bar, causing the ocher liquid to slosh in its container. The glass, he noted with his dull, listless hazel eyes, was half empty. Or as optimists would say, half-full. But he wasn't an optimist. Not anymore. These two classifications didn't matter much anymore. It was either there, or it wasn't. Story done, no argument about it.
Sighing, Alex let his eyelids slide closed for a moment before he jerked them open again. Every time he closed his eyes, that image of a smiling Eurice was there. That image was burned onto his eyelids so he would see a flash of it every time he blinked. Memories that had long since been reviewed returned to him clearly, as though they were fresh.
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"Don't let me go…" A woman's soft voice whispered tiredly. An auburn-haired woman was curled up against a young Alex; both were lying together on green grass. She was facing Alex resting her head against his chest, and he was on his back and had his arms around her waist.
For a moment when she flicked her eyes up at him, she thought he was sleeping still, but then he answered her. "I'll never let you go, Eurice," he answered lethargically as he tightened his arms around her. Eurice moved closer to Alex so that her abdomen was touching his hip. Gripping his clean but stained cream-colored shirt in her hands, she buried her face in his muscular chest.
"I love you, Alex." He opened his eyes, and then looked down to meet her eyes as she lifted her face from his chest. Alex raised a hand that was around her waist, and caressed the side of her face lovingly. Eurice rose slightly to bring herself over Alex, and she lowered her head to meet Alex's lips softly with her own.
The feeling was the same every time. The contact may be different, but the same hot rush of blood, the same instant understanding of each other never changed. Eurice pulled away slightly, their lips still grazing each other, but she was silently gasping for breath.
"I love you too, Eurice…"
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Damn. Why her? Why did he have to meet her? Of all people… it was Eurice. He should have known. He should have had the intuition, the insight to know his fate was sealed the instant their eyes met for the first time, the first time they greeted each other, no matter how harmless those first moments seemed.
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Alex walked towards Eurice, dressed in his thick jumpsuit. His boots made the lush grass underneath his feet flatten behind him as he made his way towards the similarly dressed Eurice.
"Eurice, they're taking photos. Come on!"
She turned her head, causing her curtain of ginger hair to sway slightly. She smiled gently. "Calm down Alex!" she half-laughed. Alex sighed and ran a hand through his short, unruly hair.
"I'm trying," he exhaled. "You know this mission is important."
She walked up to Alex, letting her hips sway slightly. Cocking her head demurely to one side, Eurice raised her arms and wrapped them lightly around his neck.
Alex shuddered slightly as she looked into his hazel eyes. Her glance always sent shivers down his spine…
"You're concentrating too hard," she whispered. "Calm down." Her fingertips reached into his hair and massaged his scalp. Alex closed his eyes lazily and sighed his delight. "Eurice…" he murmured huskily. He drew her closer to him by wrapping his arms around her waist. Opening his eyes, Alex met her powerful gaze. He always wanted to ask this question, but he was agfraid she would deny him. But why would she? She loved him and he loved her.
"Will you marry me?"
To his relief, there was no delay in her reply. "Of course I will…" she reached up and kissed her lover deeply…
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It was a fairy tale ending. Alex took a deep swig of his liquor. He could still taste her lips on his, much to his torture. Even sometimes he could smell her sweet breath in the air. It always drove him mad that he could sense her, but she was never there.
All thanks to Delphine.
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His knuckles turned white as he clenched the glass tightly, but it did not shatter.
"140 knots!" Eurice shouted over the icy gale of the Grand Stream. "Alex! It can't hold much more!"
He didn't answer. There was no turning back. The mission had to be done. Hamilcar Valca and George Head were already casualties… the Guild had arrived, and sent their vanships to collide into a peanut-shaped grey ship. Eurice cried out Alex's name with fear.
"We'll make it, Eurice!" he shouted encouragingly. Suddenly their vanship jolted upwards sharply, but Alex managed to keep it under control.
"ALEX!" Eurice screamed desperately.
Alex snapped around instantly to see that Eurice had been unseated. Her auburn hair snapped wildly in the wind, but Alex could see her wide eyes and expression of horror on her face as she reached out to him. Eurice was no longer in Alex's hands; she had been handed over to the brutal care of the Grand Stream. She was falling away from him silently, then she vanished into the clouds.
That one fraction of a second seemed to last eternity to pass. But when it did, Eurice was gone.
And it wasn't until a moment later when it sunk in for Alex.
"EURICE!"
But it was too late. She was gone. The fairy-tale ending that he lived for... was gone.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a bright figure standing in the Guild Warship that had risen next to him. Alex forced his numb body to turn to look at the figure. It was a Guild Noble younger than he was. In her arms she held a bundle of crimson-red roses.
It was not only the fact she was there. It was not only the fact that she caused the deaths of his Eurice and the two other vanship pilots.
It was because at that moment when their eyes met, she smiled.
She just smiled.
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Alex stared into his glass, observing how the light reflected off the amber liquid. He remembered the day Sophia had boarded the Silvana. Alex had done a shocked-double take, and wondered for a moment if Eurice was truly and in fact, alive. It drove him insane by the simple fact that she looked just like her. That simple fact almost got the better of him once.
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Two knock sounded solidly at his door.
"Enter," he replied in his usual dull voice. The steel door creaked slightly as it opened, and the distinct timbre of boots striking the metal told him that it was Sophia. He didn't even have to look up from the log he was writing in to tell who entered—just by listening he could tell who it was.
"I've received a letter from the Emperor—my Father," she said softly. Alex glanced up at her, and was surprised, although he didn't let it show on his face.
Sophia had sheets of brown hair, and let it fall to her mid-back.
"Put your hair up," he snapped. "It's improper aboard a ship."
Sophia made no move to do so. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "You're just going to let me leave?" she asked, closing her eyes.
Alex stood and faced her, studying Sophia silently. She had the same skin tone, nearly the same hair color. Suddenly, he didn't see the woman before him as Sophia, but as Eurice. A sudden overwhelming urge told him to step forward to her, hold her body in his arms and kiss her with every ounce of passion that remained in his body. That urge vanished when Sophia opened her eyes. Eurice's eyes were brown, not green.
"I can't control what you do on this ship."
The XO looked crestfallen. "I…see…" she turned away to the door, and grasped the door's handle.
"Alex." She continued when he said nothing. "Eurice is gone."
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He smirked inwardly as he downed the rest of the liquor in his glass. He had been told by so many people to forget his past, to move on. They told him that he was a fool.
He though about it for a moment, pondering what his life would mean once it was all over.
Nearly his entire life revolved around one woman—Eurice. For the past ten years, it revolved solely around two—Delphine and Eurice. He also realized that women were the Achilles' heel of men. And he let himself succumb to that weakness, and Alex knew that in the end, it would claim his life.
Placing a single gold coin on the counter, Alex stood, and left the bar.