Minty! I heard you like Alderheart...and human AU's
Merry Christmas.
Alderheart hated Las Vegas.
Too toxic for his taste.
When he looked down the streets and noticed the teenage girls taking random selfies, and the frat boys scouting said girls in their convertibles, it filled Alderheart with a sense of annoyance.
Which is why he found himself looking at the streets from above.
There was an old door, that if you jiggled the lock hard enough, you could force it open and all of a sudden, you were walking up the stairs to the knockoff Eiffel Tower, right past security.
The one place he could feel at peace.
Needletail would have been calling him a crowd-fearing pansy, (or if she was in a good mood, a series of curses and incoherent mumbles that made no sense) but Alderheart refused to give her the satisfaction of being right...
There was a full moon tonight.
The moons light gave a blue glow across all that the lights of Vegas didn't touch, making sure no stone in this city was darkened. Like God himself making sure there would be witnesses for tonight's misdeeds.
Misdeeds...
Alderheart sighed, continuing up the stairs to the top.
The misdeeds in this city were too many to say. The gambling, drinking, whoring, and all other corruption that was easily noticed if you decided to look.
But so many people didn't look. Or perhaps didn't see...
Or maybe didn't want to.
Or worse...
They didn't care.
If the world-
He was snapped out of his thoughts as he widened his eyes.
Someone was up here.
A tall, lanky man with light gray hair that reached his shoulders, was standing next to the railing, trusting the metal to hold his weight as he leaned on it.
Alderheart bit his lip and slowly backed his way down the stairs.
"I don't bite you know."
Alderheart panicked and looked back at the man, who was facing him, staring at him.
No...
Staring through him.
He didn't see him.
He was blind.
"I'm...Sorry I just come up here to be alone," Alderheart mumbled.
The man gave a nod of understanding, "As do I."
There they stood in silence, before the older man gave a gentle smile and beckoned him closer.
"Come. Let us be alone together."
He turned his back to Alderheart, and faced the massive city before him, unable to see it all the same. Alderheart joined his side, and did what he used to do to relax. Count the number of cars he saw leave the casinos and parking lots. It helped get his mind off of-
"Is it the people down there?"
Alderheart looked to the man, not really in the mood for conversation with a stranger, but he answered anyway, "What?"
"The people...down there...they get irksome and...tiring."
Alderheart shook his head.
"Well?"
Alderheart almost facepalmed. Right. Blind.
"Uh...no. No it's not the people so much as it is their lives."
The man nodded, "There like sheep...just grazing around stupidly...cause sheep are stupid. They could drown in a two inch puddle...and be oblivious to the wolves right beside them."
Alderheart bit his lip, "That's rather cynical."
"But that doesn't make it less true."
Alderheart shut his mouth at that.
So did the man...
They both were looking over the city, and thinking...just thinking.
"What's your name?"
"Alderheart."
"Nice name...Strong name. Like an Aldertree."
"And you?"
"Jayfeather."
"Nice name...sounds like a bird."
"Oh how I would give anything to be a bird. I'd give my eyes...not like I use them anyway."
Alderheart tried his best not to laugh, he didn't want to seem rude.
But everything's funnier at this time of night.
His laughter seemingly made Jayfeather brighten up, and laugh along with him.
"So...what cloud hangs over your head?"
Alderheart sighed, "Well...I don't want to be here."
"Up here, or Vegas specifically?"
"Both."
"Understandable."
"My...my father took up a job as police captain here..."
"Hey, that doesn't sound so bad..."
"Yeah...well I liked it better in Montana."
"Oh you're from Montana? Virginia."
"Oh...so from nowhere?" Alderheart joked.
"Northern Fools."
"Confederate Traitor."
"Shuddup."
The two were in silence for a longer time...
The stars tried their best to show themselves, but the Moon was feeling vain and jealous, making sure that no one could see anything but her natural beauty and glow.
"And why is that bad?"
"Well...maybe it's not...but this place...too many people...too many stores...it's like another ocean. Flat Horizon...nothing to see here...me? I prefer a angle...mountains...plains...hills..."
Jayfeather agreed with his assesment, but Alderheart wasn't done.
"And the people...just look at all the lovely people!" Alderheart scoffed, "Or lonely people...they come here cause they got money to burn and games to win...so they can ignore all the things wrong with their lives."
"Aye...some people just want distractions is all..."
Alderheart nodded, "Of course...everyone likes to feel safe and secure...change is bad."
"Oh no one knows that more then me..."
"What do you mean..."
"Well...when I was in the army..." Jayfeather started, "ALL you'd hear from these guys would be what they were going to do the second their tour was up...something like, 'oh I'm gonna be a cook' or 'I'm gonna be an actor' or something more foolish like 'I'm gonna dance with the finest whore in Florida...' heh. You know how men are."
Alderheart nodded, and Jayfeather seemingly got angrier as the memories flooded in, "But...but the second, and I mean the SECOND, they were out of the army, what did they do? JOINED THE GODDAMN ARMY AGAIN!"
Jayfeather kicked the railing with fury, "I mean...these were guys who continued to complain and complain...but then they go back because it's what they feel good doing! All men desire to live by a creed yes? But when pressed, most defer to their natural instincts."
"I dunno...maybe a creed is what makes people...feel like they belong to something. The army made them feel belonged. What do you think?"
"That all men are sheep and a wolf deserved every drop he gets," Jayfeather replied cynically.
Alderheart sighed, "So why'd you leave the army?"
"A flashbang took my eyes away permanently," Jayfeather sighed bluntly, "What good is a soldier who can't see?"
"What good is a sheep?" Alderheart retorted, referencing the man Jayfeather talked about.
Jayfeather gave a soft smile.
"Can...can you describe the city for me? I don't know how much has changed."
"Well...it's a full moon...and a bright one at that...there is no dark in this city...the city lights and the moon are keeping it bright..."
"Is there still the old man selling hot dogs by the corner?"
"Uh...oh yeah he's there...looks like a younger man is with him...probably his son."
Alderheart felt more at ease with this man now, enough to spark real conversation rather then pointless debate.
"So...why are you up here?"
Jayfeather froze.
"It's...personal."
"I'll say mine if you say yours."
"You go first."
Alderheart sighed, and took a deep breath.
"I...feel like when I'm up here, I have a sense of control. I can jump. I can fall...I can fly...I choose not to. I embrace that death won't come until I'm ready to face it. And when I am..."
"You'll meet God," Jayfeather mumbled.
"Yes."
Jayfeather sighed and looked back down at the people, imagining their faces.
"I'm here because of love."
Alderheart nodded, feeling that it was a bit cliche and stupid all the same.
"Okay...explain?"
"I...I met this girl...long ago...when me and my family came here for vacation...when I was a kid with sight...me and my brother had an argument...Christ I can't even remember what it was about...I think it was about our friends or something...I said some things...he said somethings...and I couldn't take it anymore. I looked for the best place to...to..."
"To kill yourself."
"Yes."
Alderheart immediately noticed the distance between Jayfeather and the railing...
It was perhaps too close for his liking.
"And...when I got up here...there was this girl...Sixteen...seventeen...a year older then I...and I...well...I felt so bad...she looked so happy up there...all alone...I didn't want to be the one to ruin her night because that smile...that unrestrained happiness...it was amazing. So I decided I'd just wait until she walked down..."
Alderheart listened closely.
"But then she started talking to me...a complete stranger...she just knew...she knew that I needed someone to talk to...and so that's what we did...we talked all night...at first I was trying to just be aloof, and talk at a minimum but she just had this way of making me WANT to talk to her."
Alderheart couldn't help but feel like it was mirroring him and Jayfeather.
"And she...she was beautiful...I may be blind now for a decent two years...but I would never forget her face...her hair...her smile...her name."
Alderheart smiled gently, "What was her name?"
"Half Moon...her name was Half Moon."
Jayfeather gave a gentle and thoughtful smile.
"We exchanged numbers, But I would never use it. I came back the next time, trying to kill myself again, but she was there again...and that was my life for the next week. I would go up there, and she was there...eventually...I just went there not to off myself...but because SHE would be there. She was as sweet as honey and kind as a dolphin."
Alderheart chuckled at the analogy as Jayfeather continued, "...But then I had to go home...vacation was over...but I didn't want to leave her. So...she promised she'd wait for me in this spot...all those years ago..."
"-And you've waited here ever since you came here...You want to see her again. You love her."
"I knew her for a week...and it was the best week of my life."
Alderheart nodded as the silence overwhelmed him.
Jayfeather was starting to cry.
"In the two years I've lived here...she's never came...it's been so lonely...waiting up here for years, having all the thoughts again...I could just jump...she couldn't stop me...not this time."
"I...I'll wait with you."
"What?"
"You know...you seemed rather lonely up here...and I'm not moving anytime soon...I'll make sure you're not alone as you wait. I'll make sure to stop you."
Jayfeather...gave a gentle smile.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."