Goodbye, So Long, Good Luck (Maria and Leon)

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria had decided that she would come back at a time that Leon was normally working, and to collect her things from her room that she had not been able to take a few nights ago, she had purchased some new clothes but they were not the same, and she needed her own objects back.

Hoping he would not be in Maria had managed to pack all of her things swiftly, and had cast charms around the house to make sure that everything would clean itself, even creating a tray linked to her own home, that she would be able to give Leon meals through, to make sure he at least had something to eat.

Running her hand over her bed, she rubbed at the faint splotches of blood, and she remembered the tears she had cried a few nights ago, they were so vast and she felt ashamed remembering them..oh what he must think of her now.

[Leon Becker]

Leon hadn't been to work since she left. Hell, he hadn't left his house since Maria had left the house. And it was a house now, it wasn't a home. Not without Maria here. Even though it had only been a few days, the loss of Maria had weighed him down heavily. He hadn't shaved so he was covered in stubble but he also hadn't eaten. He just couldn't everything in the house reminded him of Maria.

Some members of the ministry had come to see if he was alright... he'd sent them away with broken bones for bothering him in his self-imposed exile. He wasn't going to leave the house. No... if he left the house it would be like breaking the spell. As long as he stayed in the house he could pretend that she was just out getting some supplies from the all-night store.

He didn't want to face the reality.

The noises upstairs startled him and he was blindingly angry at first. Someone would steal from Maria's room? Not while he was around! He stormed up the stairs quickly and barged into the room. When the door was open and he saw her his mouth hung open and a strangled cry escaped his lips,

"M-maria...?"

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria jumped when she door opened and she presumed that Leon had already hired another maid to replace her, and her charms would be useless, although she was surprsied when she saw Leon standing there looking like he had been to Hell and back.

Blinking Maria suddenly realised....it was Leon! He was not supposed to see her here!

"Mon deiu!" she gasped and gripped her luggage, beginning to rush out of the house at vampiric speed once more, although she stopped quickly at the door, paused and waited to see if Leon would come after her.

She wanted him too, if he came after her maybe she could stay, maybe she would be able to be selfless enough to give up her own happiness to make Leon happy...

Biting her lip, Maria slowly reached her hand out for the doorknob, her breath held.

[Leon Becker]

Leon was so happy for the first time in days. Maria was standing right there! She was back! Just like he'd been wishing and preying for! She was back and everything would be alright again. They would work together until he was sure that the growing feelings for her were the love that she had so desperately sought. He would change for her and everything would be back the way it was, happy and perfect,

"Maria!" he cried out with strangled happiness and tried to make his way over to her, "Maria I'm so glad to see you! I-"

She was gone again, using the same speed as before. He cried out in despair and stumbled out of the room in his haste to catch her at the door. He very nearly tumbled down the stairs too as he jumped the last half of them. Now so close to Maria, Leon did the only thing he could think of, even as he was falling to his knees in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her to him desperately,

"Please don't leave me again!" he sobbed helplessly, "Please! I need you Maria! Don't leave me again... not again..."

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria was shocked when she saw Leon almost fall down the stairs and she moved to catch him, although when he fell to his knees she gasped, she didnt know that he was so hurt by her leaving, she did not know that he was going to be...so emotionally unstable without her there...

All of a sudden she felt her heart ache, she felt that his pain was all of her fault, he would not be hurting if she had enough courage to stay with him and to make him happy, to make him even alright, with her presence in the house.

"Monsieur Becker..." she whispered quietly, her fangs showing as she spoke, she had not fed since she had taken Leon's blood, and she had lost much more the nights that have come and gone since then as she had been unable to prevent her tears.

Stroking back his hair from in front of his face, Maria felt tears sting her eyes and she shook her head;

"It is for the best Leon sir, it really is, you should be happy, oui? You can get a new maid, make a new friend, and then you will have a replacement of me..." those words pained her to speak, but she wanted to comfort Leon, she loved him so much after all.

[Leon Becker]

If you had asked him as little as a week ago, Leon would have told you that he was a man who prided himself on maintaining his dignity even though he had become the minister, a politician in every sense of the word. But right now his dignity didn't mean a damn to him. He was on his knees, grovelling for Maria to stay. He didn't care that he looked pathetic, he didn't care about anything as long as he got Maria back,

"Maria it's been so hard to be without you..." he croaked through tears, "I don't think I can survive... I can't live without you here with me Maria! I just can't!"

When she told him that he should be happy Leon looked up into her eyes, locking gazes with her. He wanted her to see his pain. He wanted her to see his anger, his sorrow, his utter and complete despair,

"Do I look happy Maria?" he asked her with a hoarse voice, "Does it look like I think anything good can come of you leaving?"

The straw snapped when he said that he could get a replacement. His tears doubled, running down his cheeks as he clenched his eyes shut,

"No!" He cried out, "No one can replace you! No one can ever replace you! No one... comes even halfway close to you..."

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria did not think that she would be able to hold out much longer if Leon was going to keep begging her to stay, she wanted to stay she wanted to so badly but she was simply convinced that he was just this way because he was going to miss her as a friend, of course it was only in that way he would miss her.

"Mr. Becker." she whispered kneeling on the floor in front of him and passing him a hankercheif for him to use, to dry his tears upon "Please don't say such things, think of what Miss Momo would think if she saw you in such a manner."

A shudder ran down her spine when she saw Leon's pain in his eyes, she did not want him to be in pain, she wanted him to be happy and she was wavering, she wanted him to be happy more than anything in the world.

"Please that is not fair." she said quietly "You are unfair to me!" Maria now yelled her eyes black with a form of vampiric rage she had never experienced before, but she calmed down and looked at the door, wiping at her eyes.

[Leon Becker]

Leon had been feeling it since before she left but when she left the absense of it was something that made it seem all the worse. The absense of her in his life was like a physical pain. It had never been like this when he thought about not seeing Momo. His affection towards Maria was almost equal to that of his affection for Momo and his feelings for Maria were growing,

"Miss Momo?" he took the hankerchief with a ghost of a smile as he used it to try and lessen the flow, "I haven't seen her in a week. To be honest I don't want to see her right now."

Leon stared in the face of Maria's vampiric rage. It was something that seemed odd, out of place, on Maria's face but the rage itself did not even unnerve him, let alone scare him. Wiping his eyes with the hankerchief, he nodded,

"I am." he agreed quietly, looking into her eyes, "But I know that you don't really want to leave... just like I don't want you to go..."

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria looked at Leon and she felt what could only be described as a rising urge to kill something, she only ever had this when she was in the early stages of her transformation, when she was unable to control her urges, her lack of blood coupled with her emotional state made her anger all the worse.

Once again her eyes turned the shade of black and she whirled around from the door, striding closer to Leon with power evident in each step;

"You mean to tell me...that all my pain I have been through...was for nothing?" she asked in a deadly quiet voice "Why do you not wish to see Miss Momo, surely she is your rock, your source of comfort when times are low? Or are you just trying to play with my affections as well as hers?"

Although this was very unlike her, Maria could not help but let her bottled up anger out at Leon;

"You selfish man." she whispered "You would have me stay here, and hurt, every single second I see you, than for me to leave and for you to be unhappy for a week or two?"

[Leon Becker]

Leon was a little bit taken aback by Maria's anger but he wasn't as fazed as he thought he probably should be. He'd seen Luther when he was in a true rage after all, after you see someone's spine get pulled out every other expression of anger seems to pale in comparison. He blinked once and then again,

"You really think that low of me Maria?" he asked her through clenched teeth, tears still rolling down his cheeks, "That I would play with your emotions like that? Why would I go to her now Maria when it is my feelings for her that hurt you so much? I hate myself for hurting you, would you have me hate Momo just as much as I hate myself right now? As she is another source of you pain. I do not play with your feelings Maria, mine are changing."

He looked into her eyes for a few moments. Leon couldn't really dispute the claim though, he was a selfish person. He always had been. And keeping Maria with him, especially when his feelings for her were changing, was a selfish action right now,

"I am a selfish man." he agreed quietly, tears rolling down his cheeks faster now, "But you're wrong. I won't get better next week. Or the week after. Or even fifty, sixty, years down the line. My feelings are changing Maria... is it not possible for my feelings to stop hurting you?"

[Maria Arceneau]

Maria blinked and she merely thought of one clear thing in her mind, she needed to leave, she needed to leave this place and never return, it was something that she knew she would regret, behaving in this manner to Leon, she was beginning to regret it now...

Thinking it would be best to tell him, now, that she was sorry, she would not have it play on her mind for the rest of her...quite short vampiric life span.

"Forgive me for allowing my emotions to get out of check." she said with a small bow, her smile growing sad once more as she placed another kiss on Leon's forehead "Farewell Mr. Becker, I'll always be with you, you will never see me again, but I will always, always take care of you." she whispered, before, in a blink of an eye she was gone once more.

[Leon Becker]

Leon was a mess inside and out right now but his thoughts were clear. He wanted Maria to stay here, to be with him. Even if it was a terribly seflish desire, he wanted it. He wanted her. But he knew that he couldn't keep her against her will for two reasons. One was that he'd hate himself for it and couldn't bring himself to do it. The other was quite simply that if she wanted to leave he physically couldn't stop her without hurting her. And he never wanted to do that.

He choked out another cry when she kissed him on the forehead. It was happening again! She was going to leave him again and there was nothing he could do about it! He cried and tried to hug her but she was gone. Gone before he could even reply.

Leon looked at his empty arms for a moment before putting his head in his hands and weeping.

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