24

She didn't stop running until her knees gave in, a million thoughts in her head screaming at her all at once. She couldn't make sense out of anything, the delicate fabric on her body, or the tears that streamed down helplessly. How did you do this to someone? How many times could you be crushed before your heart collapsed?

It didn't mean a thing, nothing did. Nothing made sense anymore. How could he do it?

She was kneeling down, hands on the ground, how far had she gone? Where was she now? She couldn't be that far off, the sky was just turning purple.

Someone had followed her and was now trying to catch their breath. She turned her face towards the sound. Her eyes were blinded by the tears that refused to stop running, but now there was someone next to her, holding her, trying to keep the pieces together. He held her close, without a word until the sobs grew more and more silent, he pulled away slightly, keeping his arms on her shoulders and staring intently at her eyes.

He seemed concerned.

"We don't have to go back, you know?"

"You can go ahead, it's fine honestly.""

…"

"Go on, I'm fine, wouldn't want to keep you out of the fun" she tried her best to smile, but it came out more like a grimace, breathing in slowly she let him pull her up.

She smiled, more willingly this time as she registered concern on his eyes, such a beautiful face should not be stained by her, she tried to pull away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Home?" her words came out questioning and he couldn't help the smile.

"And leave me stranded? I don't think so"

"Where are you going?"

"Same place you are, come on"

He took her hand, carefully, without taking his eyes from her face.

"You wouldn't want to go with me right now, I'm not the accurate description of "good time" at the moment."

"I'd be damn to leave such a beautiful girl wandering on her own at this time of night"

He tugged her hand, inviting her to come along, and what difference did it make? Destination lacked importance and meaning, as long as there was no need to feel she could cope.

They walked silently back to the village, guided by the now lit up lights that danced around. Not even at her current state could she ignore the beauty, maybe if she detached herself enough from it, this could be passed on as a bad dream. The worst part of the storm was over now, but dreams didn't hurt this much. He squeezed her hand softly, and she turned to face him. Truth was that as trivial as holding hands was, it did make her feel better, like she wasn't drowning alone, even more, like she couldn't drown at all. She smiled.

"Told you it wouldn't be so bad" he said with his deep voice, smiling back at her.

And he was right, it was beautiful, or could be if she could just let it flow.

A strong urge captured her mind, entwining her fingers with his, it did feel nice, having something to keep her together.

The village was even more crowded, and it looked alive, like the lights that colored it were breathing. As they walked through she became more and more self-conscious, what was with the staring? Suddenly she realized she must be looking like crap, crying didn't do any good to make-up and running didn't do any good to hair.

She let go of his hand and tried to fix it, but his hand grabbed hers more firmly.

"You look beautiful"

"And you're a great liar, but I couldn't live with myself if all these "fine" people were to remember you as the man who holds hands with the homeless girl"

"Well, all of these people are just jealous"

"Of what?"

"Of the man with the most exquisite girl on his hand"

He turned to her and stopped, leaning slightly down and just wiping her eyes off the remains of the tears.

"Perfect"

The touch of his hand made a weird thing to her stomach, not entirely pleasant or unpleasant, just weird… and slightly amusing.

He entwined his hand with hers once more and kept walking, bright colors drawing themselves over everything and everyone.

"You've never been to one of these, right?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"A little, yes"

He came on to a full stop just where the crowd seemed to take sits on the ground, now that she noticed everyone seemed to be walking on their same direction. He eyed her meaningfully and invited her to sit down. Now that she could think more clearly she was able to distinguish the music, and the voices around her, surely there was no place for sadness here, the lights exuded beauty and joy, as so did everyone else, everyone but her. But why would she not enjoy this? When life was too short to be miserable and everything but the present was unclear, she decided to go with it, simply go with the flow and let any lesser concerns escape her mind.

As if on cue fireworks burst into the sky, colorful and vibrant, it was beautiful.

"And what may I ask is the name that goes with the face?" Silly, he didn't know her name, nor did she know his.

"Aline… though to be honest I usually try and get the mysterious stranger's name before I have such an embarrassing display of emotions"

"Meaning it's not the first time?" his voice became playfully teasing, making a shy smile escape her lips. "I'm Vaughn"

And it wasn't so bad, despite everything to be here, holding hands with a stranger. Made her feel even more surreal, but in a good way, like she couldn't be harmed, because she wasn't herself, she wasn't expected to be strong or deadly, she was just a woman, and he was just a man. True ninjas show no emotion, but she wasn't a ninja tonight.

The last of the fireworks was a red dragon. Flying over their heads for a few seconds before it collapsed down and burst into brilliant shades of fire, like a burning sky. She'd all but forgotten the world when the crowd started cheering and applauding. A soft whisper sent chills down her spine.

"Thank you for staying with me tonight"

She turned to find his face just inches away from hers, slightly startled by a loud voice that invited the crowd to the exhibition on the main stage.