300 word babble
Take note that the change between 'you' to 'I' is deliberate. See if anyone can figure it out.
This is for Claire. :3
Prompt: Tears
-
Blood-scented smoke fills his nose. The stench of burning flesh hangs in the air, sinking over the torn land and seeping into his bones.
His suit is soaked with the falling rain, and to his relief the blood runs away with the water. He wants to do the same.
You did it again.
Before him, the remains of a sprawling city stretch out, flames glimmering through the rainy haze. His eyes move to the wrecked clock tower, as the hands shift to the hour. As the bell rings out, each chime tears away a little piece of his heart.
He tries not to look at the wreckage of the alien ship, at the tattered corpses of the creatures who had come looking for a feast.
You saved the world, but lost something much bigger.
He scans the faces of the survivors in vain, his eyes desperately seeking her face, her eyes, her smile. Without realising it, the tears that had been stolen away until now start to fall.
He wants to pretend this hasn't happened. He wants to wake up and smile and laugh and forget this, because she's gone and it's his fault and no amount of pretending can ever bring her back and he knows that.
I'm sorry…
To the broken-hearted, haggard people around him, he is nothing but one of them. Like them, his heart is torn and bleeding, but he is more broken than any of them could imagine. He has more tears than can ever be sewn, more terror than no amount of words can fix.
They do not see his sadness. They see only tears and rain, and cannot distinguish further. But still, he cries, like he has done before, and knows will do again.
And he turns, and walks away from the wreckage.