Richard's people were not happy. Richard had been gone for too long without a convincing explanation of why. From their point of view, he had abandoned them in their dangerous task of burying a bomb to find some girl's family. And then, he had had the nerve to come back to camp with said girl. He didn't give Ellie any explanation whatsoever, which irritated her; he had just come back as if he hadn't left. Richard only told his people that Aqua would be staying with them permanently. Most of his people didn't even acknowledge Aqua, while the rest only groaned. They really couldn't care less about the intruder.
This made Aqua feel completely alienated. She was all alone now, no family, no friends. She had thought before, while in the cove, that she'd be okay if she only had Richard for a while, that new friends would come. But now that she had ended things –whatever things were going on– with Richard, she didn't have any hope anymore.
The trek back to the plateau had happened in complete silence. Richard didn't say anything to Aqua; he only communicated with hand gestures and grunts. Aqua didn't know what to say to him. She knew she had screwed things up between the two of them, but she didn't really regret her decision. She really believed that being with Richard, considering all that he was, was weird. Weird was the only way she could describe it. Aqua could only hope that Richard would forgive her soon so that they could be friends again.
Richard was very angry, and Aqua didn't need him to use words to know. Once she had been introduced to Richard's people, Richard proceeded to assign her a place to live. He put her with Ellie. He knew that she didn't like Ellie, and Aqua was sure that Richard had done it on purpose. Ellie was livid.
Aqua cried every night for weeks.
"Aqua," Richard's voice behind her called. She froze. It had been months since he had last spoken directly to her. Slowly, she turned to him; she was on her way to gather fruit.
Richard avoided her eyes.
"Yes?" she asked.
He hesitated. Here, barely concealed by the trees, Richard looked different. He looked like her Richard. No. She didn't have the right to call him her Richard. But he did look like the man she had… developed feelings for. His face looked almost vulnerable now, having lost the tough façade it wore every day.
Struggling, Richard managed to look Aqua in the eye. He broke her heart. His eyes were full of sorrow and longing. This time, Aqua was the one who had to look away in shame.
In the silence that followed, Aqua remembered the days when not a word was needed between her and Richard. Now, though, the silence was so tense, she could feel like she could cut it with a knife.
From time to time, she remembered those weeks alone with Richard. It annoyed her, because she knew that it was unfair of her. She wasn't allowed to feel… sad, not about something that she had ended, but that strange sadness still crept in. Oh, if that's how she felt from time to time, how did Richard feel every day? She hated thinking about that.
So, she had to stick to her decision and keep herself distant from Richard.
"Yes, Richard?" she asked again to break the silence. She wished she hadn't used his name, because he winced, like he was in physical pain.
"Nothing." He swallowed. "Never mind." He walked away. But after a few steps, he stopped, slightly turned his face, and simply said, "Happy birthday."
Oh. Aqua herself hadn't even remembered her birthday; nobody had. And there he was, Richard, the one person who was entitled to not remember her birthday at all, remembering it.
Shame rose up in her again.
Ellie, Aqua found out, was a great friend. Yes, it took Ellie weeks to stop looking at Aqua like she was vermin, but once she did, Aqua was glad to finally have someone to talk to, especially another girl. Ellie almost reminded Aqua of her older sister, Aria. It made her both happy and sad.
As forced roommates, Ellie and Aqua now got along. Surprisingly, it had been Ellie who had broken the ice and talked to Aqua first, about five or six weeks after Aqua arrived.
"What is the deal between you and Richard?" Ellie asked one night. Aqua was already settled in for bed, and she had to take a couple of seconds to realize that Ellie was speaking to her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Widmore said that Richard was 'too protective' of you back in that beach," Ellie explained. Aqua wondered how Widmore knew this. "But now, he won't even look at you. It's like you don't exist to him. It makes no sense. What did you do to him?"
"I'm sorry?" Aqua said, defensively. Ellie's last question was too accusing.
"He seems different. And I know it has something to do with you. He's my family, Aqua, and I don't like seeing him hurt like this." Ellie's arms were crossed over her chest, and she was frowning, nostrils flaring.
Aqua had to yield. She could see it in Ellie's eyes that Richard's pain hurt her, too. If she was to have any friends at all, Aqua had to be honest. She sat up and sighed.
"I broke his heart, Ellie," Aqua confessed, and Ellie seemed taken aback; she probably wasn't expecting to get an explanation out of Aqua so easily. Ellie blinked, but said nothing. "I got freaked out by his immortality and decided that I didn't want to be with him. That's all."
Ellie's frown settled even deeper, and she looked older than she was. Aqua could swear Ellie was about to slap her across the face.
"That is the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me," was all Ellie said. Aqua didn't have a response to that. Ellie continued, "So it is just because he's chronologically old? Because his mind is not old. His body is not old. He is just… frozen in time. Thirty-six forever. Is that not everyone's dream, to be young forever? I don't see why that constitutes grounds for you to break his heart."
"I don't know, Ellie. It seemed like the only choice I had then. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Although, frankly? I don't owe you an explanation." Aqua was getting defensive again.
"Perhaps. But you owe it to Richard."
Aqua hated to admit that Ellie was right.
"Trust me, I know. But it's just too late now. It wouldn't be fair."
Ellie rolled her eyes.
"Did you love him?" Ellie asked out of the blue.
"I– I don't know. I guess. Yes," Aqua stuttered. She hadn't admitted it out loud. Or admitted it at all, really. She wished Ellie would just slap her.
"Good. Because he loved you, too. Still does. If you two love each other, you should be together."
The conversation had taken such an unexpected turn that Aqua was speechless. She never would have imagined that Ellie would say such a thing to her.
"It really wouldn't be fair, Ellie. It would be a jerk move to go back to him after I rejected him so harshly. Besides…" Aqua told Ellie one of the things she had been thinking about to convince herself that she had made the right choice, "I'll grow old and die. I couldn't do that to him."
Ellie seemed to understand this; she must have had thought about it before, because she slowly nodded in acceptance.
And that was the end of it. Ellie didn't question Aqua again, though she was very against her decision. She thought it was dumb, and every now and then, she would tell Aqua that she and Richard should be together. But they were just comments; she never tried to change Aqua's mind. Aqua appreciated it, and with time, she learned to respect Ellie as her leader and to love her almost as much as she loved her own sisters.
The feeling was mutual. Ellie didn't really have female friends, and she was happy to have Aqua to talk to about the one thing she couldn't just talk about with anyone –boys. Ellie had a huge crush on Charles Widmore, but she was afraid that displaying her feelings would make her appear weak.
"That's ridiculous, Elle," Aqua told Ellie when she confessed her feelings to her.
"No, it's not," Ellie said seriously. "I'm the leader. I can't look weak."
"Did you know that having feelings is a completely normal thing for a human being?" Aqua said. Ellie rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Eloise. You're pretty; anyone can see that. I bet Charles does." Ellie blushed, then frowned. "No one expects you to be made of rock. Allow yourself to open your heart to this boy. It won't make you any less tough."
"I guess," Ellie sighed. "I just don't… do feelings. I don't know how. I've never felt like this for anyone before."
"Hey, I have. I'll help you out. That's what friends are for," Aqua said. "Don't you worry; we'll have Charles at your feet in no time."
It almost happened like that. It took almost two years for Charles and Ellie to finally get together. It was like a tug-o'-war with them; when one was ready to take the first step, the other would run away. But when they finally kissed in front of everyone one afternoon after a heated argument –they were that kind of people and love is complicated– Aqua took pride in knowing that she had pretty much made it happen.
Aqua knew, though, when he saw Richard's face that afternoon, that he still wished that the two of them could kiss again.
Aqua had friends. After four years on the island, pretty much everyone liked her. Those who didn't like her tolerated her at the very least. It was really miserable to not like someone when you lived on an island in the middle of nowhere with just a handful of people.
She had mastered everything. Richard didn't want to teach her, but he had asked others to teach Aqua how to do everything. She learned to hunt, to skin, to gut; she mastered the spear, the bow, the nets; she never stopped learning until she could do it backwards with her eyes closed. It really helped on those days when the sadness would hit her hard.
When Richard started talking to her again, he told her how proud he was of her accomplishments. Aqua smiled at him, said thank you, and saw it in his eyes that he was getting better. His heart was almost healed, and that made her happy. It never stopped being strange, though, to see Richard not aging like everyone else, including herself.
Aqua was now older than her sister Gaia would ever be. She cried the whole day when this realization hit her. That was the day she met Warren. Of course, they already knew each other for years, but they never really talked. Warren was a couple of years older than her. He had glowing dark black skin and fantastic, puffy hair, that he kept tamed in a high ponytail. He was as tall as Richard, but much more brawny. Warren's eyes were also dark, but they didn't carry such a long past.
"Are you okay?" Warren startled Aqua that day.
She had been crying, sitting against a tree, her head on her knees. At first she thought the voice was Richard's. She was embarrassed when she discovered it was actually Warren, not because she was ashamed of crying, but because he was pretty much a stranger to her. She didn't answer and looked away.
But Warren didn't leave. Instead, he sat next to her, reclining against the tree. Aqua wanted to get away, but she didn't have the energy.
"Have I ever told you the story of how a baby bird imprinted on me? It thought I was its mother for weeks." And he proceeded to tell the story. He managed to make Aqua laugh, which she was grateful for.
Warren dried Aqua's tears and walked her back to camp. And Aqua stopped feeling lonely.
It had been hard for Richard to see Warren and Aqua together for the first time. Her puffy eyes looked at Warren the way they used to look at him. He knew that he should be glad that she had found someone who would make her feel less lonely. He also knew that he should be over it already. It had been years since Aqua's rejection. But when you're immortal, years tend to feel like weeks. Though he was getting better, seeing Aqua and Warren holding hands, hugging, kissing, living together, was almost too much.
So he left. He told Ellie and Charles that he wanted to be on his own for a while. They were both grown up now, so they would be alright without him. He left at the break of dawn one morning, without saying goodbye to anyone.
"Ellie, I haven't seen Richard all day. Do you know where he is?" Aqua asked her old roommate. Ellie's face was apologetic, and a pang of fear engulfed Aqua.
"I should've told you. He left."
"What?" Aqua's heart fell, and she wasn't sure why. "Why? Where– Where did he go?"
"He said he wanted to be alone for some time. I'm not sure where he went. I'm sorry." Ellie gave her best friend a sad smile.
Aqua walked away without another word. She wasn't sure why this news made her so sad. She didn't love Richard anymore.
Did she?
Of course she didn't. She had Warren now.
But still. She wished Richard had said something to her. They were friends; why would he leave her like that? He couldn't be far, of course; they were on an island, after all. Could she maybe go find him? Would it be fair? Is that what Richard wanted?
So many unanswered questions. In the end, Aqua didn't go out looking for Richard. She stayed in camp, with Warren.
But when Richard returned, injured and covered in dried blood, Aqua's heart was his, and his only.