Prompt: #49 Limit

Summary: As powerful as he was, even he had limits.

A/N: This is a stand alone.

Angustus is Latin for "limited, constricted".

Angustus

As powerful as he was, in both name and ability, it seemed ironic that he could not conquer something so seemingly simple. Maybe that was the problem. He thought of it one way when it was something completely different. His pride could not accept this defeat but, perhaps it was his very pride that was preventing his greatest conquest in the first place. He really needed to stop thinking of it in those terms. As a warrior, he always thought of things in fighting terms. Winning, conquering, defeating were all admirable accomplishments. They were the only true accomplishments. Anything else was considered a failure. Here, he realized that he could not think of it in those kinds of terms. There was no "winning" persay. So this only left him very confused. He was completely at a loss. Things were not so simple and he thought he was a very complicated person.

Love was far more complex.

He had always thought he was very attuned to his emotions. So much so that he could control them under the guise of aloofness. It had worked for everyone else. He had become very proficient at it. Outwardly he was uncaring and that was far more acceptable than a simpering moron in his opinion. It was not until Stella had walked into his life that he realized that he had become completely devoid of real emotion. Which was why he was actually feeling so strongly about things that he had not before. Nothing before this was anything like what she brought out in him. Maybe he had suppressed emotions for so long that he forgot how it was to feel something instead of looking at everything so logically. Emotions were most times, illogical things. Men were more logical, as he was always told. Women are far more emotional, but if you told them they were they would take it as irrational and you would soon wish you had never said anything at all. It was a hard lesson to learn. Of course he had learned it the hard way too. Sometimes there were flashes of anger in Stella's eyes that even gave him pause. For someone who looked so fragile, she was unquestionably lethal when provoked.

Stella did not suppress her emotions. Neither did she try to. When she was angry, she was angry. When she was happy, her entire body radiated happiness. When she was sad, you could almost feel a cloud hovering over her features. He was not like that at all. He was also unaccustomed to being around someone so open about their emotions. Snide remarks by his rifle bearing friend was one thing. Being around a female during all cycles was another. It had taken some getting used to. Watching Stella was a mixture both perplexing and refreshing. He liked knowing what she was feeling. He liked that her moods were transparent instead of carefully concealed. Even though he could not quite understand the why's so much. That is where the irrationality confused him. He did not always understand what caused Stella's moods but he has learned not to ask "sexist questions", as she put it. Well, her words had been more colorful but he does not want to relive that particular memory. He hopes that through more experiences with her, he will be better able and better capable of grasping the why's. Perhaps with time. He hopes with time.

For now, it was something that both awed and intimidated him. As powerful as he was, he could not for the life of him, figure out how to win Stella. She did seem to prefer him to their other companions and she did always seem to light up whenever she saw him. It was just that, he knew that she was something that could not be easily won. He could not think of her in terms of "winning" anyway. She was far too complex. Women were always easy because they always wanted him for what he could give them but Stella did not need anything that he had to offer. It had taken him a long time to realize that this irrational need of his own, to always want to be with her was because he loved her. Not only did he need to be around her constantly, just the mere sound of her voice had the ability to sooth him. She controlled his emotions as successfully as he had always thought he could. Now that she was here, in his life, his emotions were hers. It felt like she had conquered him and so he felt the need to do likewise. Only, he was powerless to do that.

To think that someone as powerful as he was, had a limit. Not that he thought he was limitless anyway. He had never thought about having a limit to the things that he could do. Apparently, his limit was her. It was Stella. Without her, he was incapable of being whole. So, in order for him to be whole again, to be limitless, he needed to make sure that she would always stay with him. The only way to do that was to bind her to him in a way that would prevent separation. He could not live with the limits of her absence ever again.

So, the next time they had ventured into a town big enough to have a certain specialized store, he had taken advantage of it. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, he asked her the one question that would signify that maybe, he had a chance to win her afterall.

"Will you marry me?"

When she had burst into tears he had not panicked as any man would probably panic when faced with such strong feminine emotion. He had felt glad. Glad because it meant that she needed him too. She needed him to control her emotions as he needed her to control his. The effect they had on each other was limitless and that is what he wanted. When she shouted her yes and threw herself into his arms, he clutched her to him and vowed to never let her go. Their limit apart was too stifling. Only together, would they have no limits at all.