I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine
and rage the likes of which you would not believe.

If I cannot satisfy one,

I will indulge the other.

He howled for minutes, hours, possibly days - he wasn’t certain, nor did he think to stop to ask anyone how long he locked himself away. For all he knew, the mountains quaked with the ferocity of his pain, but he paid no heed to it. He had had her, in the only form that was proper despite how much his heart yearned for more. Awkwardly stiff, maybe, but he no longer had to venture without her far beyond his reach. Then, she was gone.

She was gone.

The letter she left in her wake did little to quell the maelstrom of emotions that seized Gaston. Anger was chased by grief, followed by a sense of loss so heavy upon his bones he thought he might break. He barred the doors to his rooms, turning away anyone who dared to approach and endured the cycle of rage and anguish...Until his sanity caught up with him. Without a moment to spare, he made his goodbyes and left in a flurry of raven feathers to follow her. He had lost her once; he wouldn’t lose her a second time. Magic had torn them apart and now it would bring them back together, Gaston determined, or he would tear kingdoms apart looking for her.

He was, perhaps, grateful for a brief moment for all the experiences he had had in his long life. Adventure, intrigue, and a dash of murder had made him a decent tracker. Plus, a golden mare that shimmered like the galaxies in the night sky was not so easily forgotten by a simple passerby. An ironic twist of fate that Gaston would have to rely on the dirtier tricks he had learned since leaving his knighthood behind to find her trail, but no one had to know, right? Yet he knew, deep down, he was making the right decision. If he was to be a vagabond for life, so be it. It would be worth it as long as Io was at his side. With her, he knew he could do anything. As adventurous as his life had been, Gaston had not expected it to have taken such a drastic turn as had these last few years. If past-Gaston could meet present-Gaston, his old self would have been in for a rather rude surprise...Then laughed at his present self for being such a fool.

His mother would have been proud, Gaston mused, as he was finally hot on Io’s trail. The pale matriarch would have been proud of her son for finally chasing his dreams; for chasing love and not power. He wondered idly if she would have liked the choices Gaston had made, but there wasn’t much use in thinking “what ifs” when he needed to remain focused. Being able to fly had allowed him to cover the distance between them far faster than had he been on foot, but something curious happened. One moment, he was flying at a swift but reasonable pace...Then the next he was suddenly free-falling towards the ground as if he was rudely shoved from the sky.

The jet stallion scrambled to recover, barely getting his hooves under himself in time. Gaston stumbled forward upon landing, catching himself with grace despite the sudden turbulence. Disoriented and angry, Gaston did not like the predicament he found himself in. "It's always fucking magic," he muttered darkly under his breath as a sneer twisted his lips. His garnet gaze darted about as he tried to discern the reason behind the impromptu landing. When he found nothing but an idyllic meadow stretched around him for as far as the eye could see, his ire spiked. Someone or something was playing a rather cruel joke, one Gaston had no patience for - then the breeze shifted, and he knew. She was here, just within his grasp.

He would find her and make everything right, no matter the cost.

tagged: none
notes: Ignore the broken code - should have it fixed soon!
"Speech." Thoughts.