The Loneliest Girl
By: Escarlata
~o~o~o~o~
The first time I saw her, I thought that she was beautiful. One of the prettiest girls I had ever seen in my life... Not that I had seen many actually, the youngest woman on Mercury after me is my mother. But despite that, I couldn't even take my eyes off her even though she was yelling at me. She said something about taking responsibility... I just said yes.
The last thing I expected was that Miorine Rembran, the girl I have (not) saved from being stranded in space, was the school princess, a princess caged and ready to give to whoever kept the title of "Holder" for her birthday. That was all nonsense! That's what I thought when that rude boy started destroying her greenhouse.
By being nosy I discovered what it really meant to carry the title of the "Holder." Why didn't anyone tell me that two girls could get married? In the shows I watched with Aerial, there were only romances between boys and girls, and all of those romances occurred despite the mistakes and problems of the protagonists. Everything worked out in the end, but in reality things worked completely outside of one's control.
I found this out the hard way after almost losing Aerial on more than one occasion. I admitted that it had all been my carelessness on all those occasions, but it was my Bride who came out and helped me. She said it was because of our deal, that all of this was to protect herself until she could escape from her father and that cage called Asticassia. At first I believed her...
And then not so much.
The lonely princess of Asticassia wasn't like the protagonists of the series I had watched since I was a child with Aerial. Miorine Rembran was probably the loneliest girl I had ever met, and that meant a lot coming from me, who grew up with the absence of my mother, among the Elders of Mercury and with the only company of Aerial. At least Aerial listened to me, played with me, encouraged me, and let me sleep in her cockpit when I felt lonely.
But who did Miorine Rembran approach when she felt alone? Not to her father, not to her friends (she didn't have any). The last bits of affection that the lonely princess ever received were the tomatoes in the greenhouse. The tomatoes created by her mother.
I tried to be closer to her, but my Bride was tough. Despite her complicated nature, I didn't blame her; I couldn't blame someone whose life everyone wanted to control as if she were an object.
I began to love her, I began to admire her, and I began to think more and more about her. I did the unthinkable for her, I killed for her! I killed to protect her! At that precise moment I only cared about moving forward as my mother told me and protecting the people important to me, protecting Miorine from all harm by piloting Aerial, which is the only thing I knew how to do well.
I really wanted to marry her on her birthday, but the loneliest girl in school took the loneliest path to save me from something I was completely ignorant of.
And despite that, I didn't blame her for leaving me either. I didn't feel worthy of her, I felt like I wasn't enough to be her partner. I felt that I was not enough to accompany her in her loneliness. It hurt me a lot when she abandoned me, only the aroma of her pillow reminded me of everything I could do and didn't do, only the tomatoes in the greenhouse reminded me of the times she smiled at me, the few times she let me feel her warmth in a hug, everything she did for me and I didn't realize it because my Bride wasn't a loving person, Miorine Rembran couldn't give affection that she hadn't received in years.
While my ex-Fiancée was fighting her own battle on Earth, I had my own reality check. I realized that there were times when I wasn't going to win anything, which things wouldn't turn out well no matter how hard I tried or how much I wanted it. I realized that moving forward was not easy, that it could be very scary.
I had to see everything I still had in my hands in ruins to realize what I really needed to do, to realize what was truly important to me… And for me it was stopping my family…
And talk to her one more time. I needed to see her one more time.
Then I saw her once again, the loneliest girl I had ever met. She hadn't showered and her appearance looked unkempt, she probably hadn't eaten well in days, there were tears in her swollen eyes, her cabin was a disaster that smelled of sadness and abandonment... And despite everything, I saw her more beautiful than never.
Miorine Rembran opened the door to welcome me at the most vulnerable moment of her life. She gave me her hand and let me in.
Her small hand in mine gave me the strength I needed to tame the monster I needed to fight, to stop my mother and sister from their madness. I knew that I wanted to continue holding Miorine Rembran's hand; I had to get out of that battle alive so I could be by her side, so that neither she nor I would be alone anymore. I wanted to live my life with her.
Somehow I managed to survive; I was able to protect everyone. Such a victory cost me the mobility of my body for a couple of years, but I was alive and with Miorine by my side. I didn't care that I wouldn't be able to pilot a Mobile Suit anymore; all I cared about was the path I was taking with her.
And then I saw her once again, warm and beautiful, smiling, after a long business trip. I've missed her.
"I'm hungry," I said, but I didn't specify what my hunger was for.
"Me too," she replied with her beautiful smile.
A couple of years ago Miorine Rembran had stopped being the loneliest girl I had ever met; now she was my wife.
FIN