Waiting

Harlequin...? (1)

Gentle rain poured outside of the isolated cave. It was cold, even more so now that the thick clouds had forbid the warmth of the heavens to reach her. The young giantess shivered, hugging her legs in an attempt to retain any body heat she could. A clap of thunder in the distance caused her to grip her own legs even tighter, her fear of storms still tormenting her. Diane's mind wandered, a mixture of everything she could have been feeling clouding her mind like an internal overcast of confusing feelings.

"Harlequin..." she mumbled to herself, tears budding in her once vibrant violet eyes. He left her. Left her after he had regained his memories, returning to finish what he had started oh so long ago. She knew why he had to leave, but her heart couldn't help but jump to conclusions about other reasons he may have left.

Diane dug her face in her knees, allowing the tears to spill down her long legs and onto the hard cave floor, pooling together with the raindrops that now came down heavier just outside the cave opening. Her clouded mind began to storm. "He promised to come back.." she started talking to herself amongst chocked sobs. It had been so long since he has last given her his word he would return. So many months passed, and yet Diane was still waiting for his return. She was heartbroken, her watery eyes now red with tired tears.

Another loud crack of thunder snapped closer, to Diane's cave. She was afraid. Many moths ago Harlequin would be the one to help her through storms, slowly stroking the chestnut hair on the top of her large head as she laid, attempting to soothe her as the rumbling thunder and harsh rain would slowly ease its way around them.

"It's okay, Diane," He would say as his loving arms held her to the best of their ability. "I'm here. I'll be here. I'm not leaving your side." She would nudge into his loving embrace, and suddenly the storm didn't bother her anymore. Slowly, her eyes would close and consciousness would drift away to happier place.

But Harlequin wasn't here now. His soft voice wasn't here to soothe her, his loving touch wasn't there to softly caress her forehead despite her size. The wind howled outside her lonesome cave, showing no signs of allowing her to drift away into a happier place.

Diane finally let out her sobs of pain, with all the might of  the loud claps of thunder outside. The icy touch of cold nostalgia and remorse for letting him go all stung into her at once, and even more so, the chilling realization he wasn't coming back. "I'm sorry Harlequin! I.. I couldn't make you, *hic* stay.." She sobbed. Her cries rose and fell like an uncertain ocean, mumbles turned to cries and back and forth until her head was finally laying on the floor, only a stained stream of inconsistent tears falling from her drained violet eyes.

The storm itself seemed to turn mimic her, the loud thunder long since faded into a slight drizzle of rain. A single cloud began to part as a single beam of sun peaked its way into the far parts of unknown land, far too far from the cave for Diane to reach.

She sat up again, wiping her messier face with her arm. Diane had always been afraid of separation, a codependent giant who had been ostracized from the first day when she refused to fight amongst her own kin. It was like she started the whole cycle over again. Waiting. Waiting for better days. Waiting for her love to return. Waiting for all the storms to pass. Waiting alone, alone with her thoughts. Alone with her mind that began to wonder, jumping to conclusions and accusations of whether or not she was worthy enough for him to stay that she couldn't disprove because Harlequin wasn't there to tell her everything was going to be okay.

The young giant took a breath. Stray patches of sun had begun to appear just outside the cave, but she stayed inside. Though she knew deep in her heart he wouldn't return to her, to let her tell him how she felt and allow them to live together once more, Diane stayed. She wanted to keep waiting for him. She wanted to believe she could. Because as long as she waited, there was still a chance it could all go back to normal.  

Diane looked outside from her stone seat in the cave. She peered beyond the horizon, beyond the rolling hills of Britannia and all the other nations that neighbor it. She wiped her eyes of stained tears again to enhance her ability to see. He was out there. Somewhere. Weather or not he still loved her or kept his numerous promises, she would never know. However, she was willing to take the chance and wait until the day she would know for sure.