Queen of Orre

“So this is Sal’s!  A few years back, I took a little Piplup back from some smugglers.  They started chasing me down the alley and I ran into the first door I saw, which was this place,”  she gestured vaguely to the dive bar.  “They thought I was some helpless little girl and helped me chase of the assholes, Sal even said he’d call my parents and tell them I was safe.  I thanked everyone, told him I was a grown ass woman and. ordered a few drinks.  The rest is history!” She remembered the day fondly.  Sal had always kept good on his promise to kick out anybody too shady.  Despite the look of the place, Rui had come to treat it like her second home.  She knew every person who came through, and had even filled in a shift behind the bar when Sal was running desperately short.  It was nice to share it with someone, especially someone who’d appreciate it.  Sipping her gin and tonic, she let herself relax into her chair.  

“When was the last time you were in Orre?  I still can’t believe Wes brought you here but didn’t introduce us, AND he didn’t take you to the fun places!”  She knew Harley was dependable, and was sure that he saw Wes through the hard times she was absent for, but she refused to believe he didn’t come by more often. “I mean, you hadn’t even seen town square before! And that’s the boring part! All the excitement happens down here, in the alleys and darkness.  It looks rough, but there are some real gems here.  I mean, there are a few that I will never set foot in ever again, but they’re mostly good!  Hopefully we won’t get into any fights tonight and I can just introduce you to all my friends,”  

Maybe she could help Orre feel like home to Harley too.  Good friends were in short supply, and she’d do anything to have the ones she actually liked visit more often.  Slurping down her drink, she motioned for Sal to make her another and scanned the room.  

All eyes turned to her.  Suddenly, silence engulfed the room, but it didn’t last long.   “RUI MY GAL! How’ve ya been? Ya haven’t been around in aaaages,” Laughter erupted around the tiny dive bar.  Some newbies looked around, confused by the warm reception to the seemingly random tiny woman who just walked in, but as she walked in all her old friends came around and pat her on the back,  

“I saw you kick that guy’s ass at the Colosseum the other day! He left town cryin’,”

“Heard a rumor ya found Wes... Glad to hear he’s back,”

“Regular for ya tonight?”  

She couldn’t help but smile.  Leave it to Sal to make sure she had a drink in her hand before she really had to socialize.  She motioned for Harley to follow her and saved a seat for him smack dab in the middle of the bar.  She threw a few loose Poke on the counter,

“Just a Gin and Tonic, Sal.  Can’t get too crazy, I have a guest today,”  She jabbed Harley with her elbow, grinning.  

Of course, the first thing she felt was anger.  She was royally pissed.  She tried so. damn. hard. to understand why he left.  In the past few years, she felt like she had finally come to terms with it.  He had bigger and better things to do.  She could respect that.  She had shit to do too.  

But it fucking hurt when she knew he was back.  She wasn’t even worth a hello? Nothing?  Even after everything they’d been through, she wasn’t even worth acknowledging.  

You can bet your ass Rui was pissed. 

Who wouldn’t be? 

Somehow, she’d managed to get his new address.  She didn’t care that it was late evening and she had shit to do the next morning.  She needed answers.  She needed reasoning.  She needed anything to gain closure.  

When he opened the door, Rui couldn’t take it anymore.  

Suddenly, years and years of repressed feelings came pouring out.  Anger and pain and sadness and loneliness, words starting falling from her mouth and out into the open.  

Why did you leave?

Did you have to leave? 

I’m sorry I made you leave. 

I fucking hate you for leaving.  

She hated it.  She hated everything.  She hated her stupid goddamned emotions and how badly they hurt.  She hated how needy she felt in storming her way over to Wes’s house when it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with her.  She hated how much this really affected her.  She hated how she had to fucking feel everything all at once.  She was so pissed, but she was sad and happy and excited and scared too.  In the span of five minutes, she’d manage to spit out everything she’d felt for seven years.  

She’d forgotten Wes was even there, but then she felt it.  His sorrow, his pain, his regret, his aura screamed at her.  It was dark, too dark.  Suddenly, everything she felt didn’t matter anymore.  Wes was there.  He was there in flesh, and that was all she’d asked for in the past seven years.  He was crying, and she was crying.  

Before she knew it, it was as if they’d never been apart.  They sat on the couch and cried their eyes out, but then she was telling him all about the League project and her self-defense group and her barhopping adventures.  They laughed and joked and smiled.  He was still Wes.  At his core, he was the same person he was all those years ago: dependable, caring and determined.  She didn’t know what to feel.  It felt too much like a dream.  

The only reason she knew it wasn’t a dream was because she nearly fell asleep while talking to him.  She sort of just invited herself to sleep over, pertly because she was too tired to go back to her house and partly because she needed to make sure everything that had just happened was real.  Her plan was to take Wes out for breakfast the next morning, but instead she woke up to the smell of bacon and hash browns.  

Seven years and he still couldn’t let her treat him every once in a while.  

She tiptoed her way into the kitchen.