Warren Castille looked into the bottle but it didn't hold any answers for him. He placed it down next to its siblings, all equally silent in the face of his questions, and reached for the next. If there was a prodigal son in all the lot, he was intent on finding it.
He'd long since cast out the thoughts of his course being unfairly set, or his circumstances being inflicted on him through a means of Higher Power. For all this cursing that Menphina was cruel, he was suddenly and painfully aware that he was a fool. Mistaken and weak, he had simply failed to overcome the trials set before him.
"If I coulda waited..."
He shook his head and uncorked the bottle. No use in rehashing the thoughts, yet he was powerless to stop himself.
He'd ripped out part of himself after months of trying to reconcile that she was gone. He thought at first that he would prove himself worthy, and she would return. He thought that he was strong enough to wait, loyal enough to endure. He buried shards of himself deep, hoping to cut off the pain in his heart and find a way to go on.
He did. He thought he'd found a way to continue. He thought he was forgotten, forgiven. He thought those parts of him were dead and buried and gone. He should have known that those sorts of things don't just die, but he didn't.
She returned like a lightning bolt out of the blue sky; No warning, no signs. Howl had promised him long ago he would help drag Warren out of the Hells and somehow, against all manner of obstacle, Howl had seen that through. His plea to Sei in her darkest moment had saved something in her, salvaged a piece of her from the fires. She returned and confessed and those pieces of himself he had hidden away were torn from the earth, and the walls and sandbags he had erected in hopes of keeping himself safe were demolished, annihilated.
He loved her. With every fiber of his being, he wanted to be hers. For one marvelous, beautiful day things were on that path, but he turned her away. His heart was clouded, overjoyed as it was, and omission had damned him. For all that Howl had sacrificed, for his entire ordeal and all of this heartache, Warren had simply done the deed himself. He'd lied and betrayed the one person he loved more than anything.
Behind him, for all of his hopes and ideals and wanting to protect and do good, were ashes and bodies.
The bottom of the bottle didn't hold any answers, but the emptiness in his chest urged him to keep looking. Just one more...
He'd long since cast out the thoughts of his course being unfairly set, or his circumstances being inflicted on him through a means of Higher Power. For all this cursing that Menphina was cruel, he was suddenly and painfully aware that he was a fool. Mistaken and weak, he had simply failed to overcome the trials set before him.
"If I coulda waited..."
He shook his head and uncorked the bottle. No use in rehashing the thoughts, yet he was powerless to stop himself.
He'd ripped out part of himself after months of trying to reconcile that she was gone. He thought at first that he would prove himself worthy, and she would return. He thought that he was strong enough to wait, loyal enough to endure. He buried shards of himself deep, hoping to cut off the pain in his heart and find a way to go on.
He did. He thought he'd found a way to continue. He thought he was forgotten, forgiven. He thought those parts of him were dead and buried and gone. He should have known that those sorts of things don't just die, but he didn't.
She returned like a lightning bolt out of the blue sky; No warning, no signs. Howl had promised him long ago he would help drag Warren out of the Hells and somehow, against all manner of obstacle, Howl had seen that through. His plea to Sei in her darkest moment had saved something in her, salvaged a piece of her from the fires. She returned and confessed and those pieces of himself he had hidden away were torn from the earth, and the walls and sandbags he had erected in hopes of keeping himself safe were demolished, annihilated.
He loved her. With every fiber of his being, he wanted to be hers. For one marvelous, beautiful day things were on that path, but he turned her away. His heart was clouded, overjoyed as it was, and omission had damned him. For all that Howl had sacrificed, for his entire ordeal and all of this heartache, Warren had simply done the deed himself. He'd lied and betrayed the one person he loved more than anything.
Behind him, for all of his hopes and ideals and wanting to protect and do good, were ashes and bodies.
The bottom of the bottle didn't hold any answers, but the emptiness in his chest urged him to keep looking. Just one more...
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
