Sometimes, love can hurt you. It can bring you down to your knees a hollowed shell of what you once were. The lucky ones will eventually rise again and learn to live on. Unfortunately, not all have the strength to overcome a shattered heart.
It was finally over. Five years of deceptions, masks and pain all leading to a final, decisive battle. Through the explosions, the bloodshed and injuries Kaldur had somehow made it through with only a few broken ribs, a shattered arm and a heavy heart. The Light was destroyed, its members either in custody, dead or hiding. A great feat that came at a great price.
Kaldur was no longer welcome in Atlantis and the team could not get over what he had to do to welcome him back. Not quite yet. He hardly recognized them anyway, neither was he the same man they once new. He was stained. He was broken... no bent. Just badly bent.
He still had hope because he still had Roy. He had promised to wait for him, to help him mend his heart and soul for they would surely be damaged. That's just what happened when one goes undercover as he did, for as long as he did.
So, freshly released from the infirmary he stood before the archer's apartment door, stark white cast contrasting violently in its dark sling that rests on his deep blue jacket. Using his old key he had kept with him throughout the years he went to open the door when he heard hushed arguing.
"Listen, we have to stop this!" that was Roy, his hushed voice sounding both pleading and firm somehow. "You and I both know it was a mistake made by two lonely idiots." Brows creased, he tried to stop his hand from fumbling with the keys, cursing the fact that he broke his dominate arm.
"It's not that simple anymore Roy!" That sounded like Cheshire. His stomach turned with a feeling of dread as he finally got the key in the lock and twisted it.
"And why the hell not? We both know that there was no emotion in anything we did!" He opened the door just in time to see the young assassin turn to face Roy and throw up her hands.
"Because I'm pregnant!" She yelled and then gasped, covering her mouth as she saw the familiar figure in the doorway. Roy quickly turned, his eyes meeting pale green ones wide with disbelief. As soon as Kaldur saw the guilt in those blue orbs there was no doubting what happened. His hope and happiness had abandoned him. Betrayed him for a night or two of loveless pleasure.
Before he even realized he had moved Kaldur found himself out on the sidewalk nearly running away from that apartment, fighting a losing battle with his tears. He could hear the archer calling desperately after him but he could not bring himself to care. Eventually the other man caught up to him, grabbing his arm to turn him around. Kaldur yanked his arm away as if the touch burned.
"Don't you dare touch me." Kaldur spoke in a hiss as he glared at the other, eyes overflowing with hurt and betrayal. A lone tear escaping down his cheek was quickly wiped away with his free arm.
Roy flinched and backed off a bit, regret radiating from his being.
"Please Kaldur, let me explain. I..."
"Explain what?!" Kaldur interrupted, the anger and pain causing his voice to crack. "What could you possibly say to me to make right what has been done?!"
Kaldur felt as if his world was crumbling around him. Everything that had kept him going through his years under, his motivation to make sure he made it through his mission so that he could have his happy ending, was gone now. He was too jaded, too broken- yes broken- to find it in himself to forgive this. That hopeful future was no longer in their grasp. He knew it and he knew Roy knew it as well. Especially as he heard his next words.
With silent tears on his cheeks, Roy looked into Kaldur's pain filled eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Kaldur." It was a whispered prayer for forgiveness that could not be given and the acknowledgment of something forever lost.
