#percella au

[jaeqermeister]

but loving him (was red)

a/n: title came from taylor swift's red. ironically, percy's favorite color is blue.

tw: none at all! just miscommunication <3

word count: 2.9k

Riella has been pacing around in her room for quite some time now—a concerning amount of time, really. The Aphrodite kid has a lot of questions at the top of her head, and she doesn’t really know where to start. El and Jason has been concerned for their friend since the moment Riella resorted to her room after dinner.

“It can’t be,” Riella groans, talking to herself in the room. Her mother couldn’t possibly be right. She doesn’t want her to be right.

“You know what it means when you see someone else’s face in Eros and I, my darling. You know what.”

“Fucking hell,” Riella sits down, a little busy from the pacing. Could it be—

“Riella?” A knock is heard on her door. It’s clearly Jason on the other side. “Could you please talk to us? You’ve been acting so differently after seeing Aphrodite. Did she do something?” She sighs, putting a hand on her forehead in stress.

“It’s just the usual, Jason. She’s been teasing me again, and I got too worked up about it this time. It’ll pass.”

“It won’t pass if you’re stuck in the cabin like this. You gotta let us in. El’s here, too.” He mentions the girl, hoping it would incentivize Riella into opening the door.

“Riella, it’s El. Can’t you open the door for us?”

Riella thinks back to the conversation with her mother again. Could they understand?

“I… fine. But only so you two will stop nagging.” Riella relents. Slowly, the door creaks open and the two blondes come in, concern evident on their faces.

“Riella, I’m worried. You know I’m not the biggest fan of your mom.” El grimaces. Riella doesn’t blame her. Aphrodite had cursed her. “Is she trying to make you think bad things? You know that’s probably not true.” 

“Something’s… wrong with me. I can’t see my mom’s face anymore. I only see someone else now.”

Jason stands, a perplexed expression on his face but he lets her talk. El looks worried. “I thought only the biological kids get to see her actual face. What do you mean you can’t see her?”

“That’s exactly the problem. But there’s a bigger problem to that, and it’s the fact that I can only see Percy in her all the time.”

The silence in the room feels deafening to Riella. Were they disappointed? She knows that Annabeth and Percy are— “Kid,” Jason’s face breaks into a grin. “That’s great! So you love Percy?”

“I—” Riella falters. She hates how hot her cheeks get at the thought. Percy, the man she had pushed into a river at twelve. Percy, the first person she’d allowed to touch her face. Percy, the one she had taken a sword for at sixteen. 

Percy. Percy. Percy.

“It won’t matter.” Riella says, clearing her throat. “Percy clearly likes someone else,” she adds, the words leaving a bittersweet taste in her mouth. She loves Annabeth to death, but it still hurts. “Besides I can’t get in the way between them, that goes against my principles.”

“What principles are you even talking about, kid? You saw Percy in Aphrodite’s face, that’s more than enough to tell you that you really care about him and that you love him.” Jason points out. El quietly analyzes the conversation between the two of them.

“Have you even asked Percy who he really likes?”

“No, why would I-”

“Exactly.” Jason reinstates his point.

“Jason, I don’t think you’re hearing her out right.” El spoke up after careful consideration. “Honey,” she looks at Riella, “do you… do you think that you’re scared of pursuing him?”

The silence that follows is almost deafening. Riella has never said that fear of hers out loud—that fear that things will go wrong eventually, so she shouldn’t get into things in the first place. She knows Percy’s different. Percy isn’t like the other guys she’s fallen out with before. And still—

“Oh, sweetheart, come here.” Jason raises his arms, his voice gentle as always, and Riella allows herself to fall into Jason’s arms. “That fear is normal. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.” 

“I know.” Riella fiddles with the hems of her sweater. “And I know that Percy isn’t going to hurt me or take advantage of me. But… what if he gets tired of me? What if we’ll break up eventually?” She can see it in her head. The fights, the distance… she doesn’t want it to happen. Not with Percy. Never with Percy.

“Kid, you’re taking this the-”

Riella suddenly goes quiet and stands up, moving away from Jason’s embrace. Her eyes travel quickly left and right across the room, as if in deep thought. Jason and El look at each other and hope the other would say something. Not a single word came out of their mouths. Riella sighs.

“You know what? Never mind. It… it really doesn’t matter. Why did I even tell you two, it’s not a big deal. I can get over Percy anyway. I’ll,” Riella pauses between the fast sentence she spat out, “I’ll be fine. Anyways. I gotta go.” She quickly walks to the door and leaves the room with her head down, not even caring who she bumped into.

“Shit.” Jason exclaims. “Shit indeed.” El said.

As if on cue, Percy walks through the door. His eyebrows are scrunched with a puzzled look on his face. “Did something happen to Riella or was she being weird today? Couldn’t even look at me all day.”

Jason and El look at each other awkwardly, unsure of how to approach this. 

“Did she?” Jason tilted his head, El trying so hard not to sigh. Jason was never a good actor. 

“Yeah, I—” Percy waved his hand. “Anyways, I wanted to talk with her. I couldn’t answer her text earlier since I was with Annabeth.” 

“Oh,” El says. She feels Jason shift beside her. “What were you two doing?” she asks. 

Percy smiles in that sheepish, cheeky way of his. “Well, you wouldn’t believe it. I brought Annabeth out on her first date. She finally got convinced to get into dating! Athena came to me in a dream and gods was it disturbing, but she kind of said she was scared Annabeth was going to die alone. Pretty weird of a concern for such a powerful daughter, but—”

Jason and El couldn’t seem to process the rest of Percy’s rant. All they were fixated on is that—

“So you two are not dating?” Jason asks, his voice laced with both anticipation and excitement. 

Percy’s eyebrows furrow. “No. We never were?”

El stands up and proceeds to smack Percy by the shoulder, repeatedly. “You are an absolute idiot, Perseus! And I won’t forgive you for it!” Percy tries to block her hits but he is unsuccessful. Jason hurriedly stands up and takes his girlfriend’s hands off of him.

“El, stop it! He doesn’t know!”

“What do you mean?” Percy eyebrows crease. Jason and El look at each other before they look back at him, the latter talking first. “You should… go look for Riella. It’s not our place to tell.”

He perks up at the mention of Riella. Come to think of it, she was pretty upset about something.

“She didn’t look happy to see me, though.” Percy frowns, and the thought leaves a heavy feeling in his chest. 

“Well of course she wouldn’t,” El grumbles. “Percy, talk to her. There’s something you need to figure out.”

Percy’s frown deepens. What the hell did she mean?

“I’ll go find Riella. Don’t worry about her, I got this. She’ll talk to me for sure.”

—

Riella was in a sandstorm of emotions. She really didn’t like how everything is playing out so far. She’s scared to her wits end about herself, about Annabeth, about Per—

“Ella? P? We need to talk.”

Goddamnit. Riella thought to herself. She really can’t deal with talking to Percy right now, let alone even seeing him. “Perce? This isn’t a good time right now, I need you to leave.”

“Ella darling,” Percy says, and he says it so softly that it hurts. “Please let me in.”

“Aren’t you tired? You’ve been driving all day.” Riella tries not to sound too bitter, but some bitterness still slips in. He was with Annabeth. Of course he was. They’re so good together and—

“Ella, I will never be tired when it comes to you. Please let me in.” Percy begs, his hand in a fist as he knocks on the door again. “This is about us, Ella.”

“Fucking hell, Percy!” Riella opens the door. “What do you want?”

“Ella, please.” Percy’s expression looks unreadable. “Can we talk?”

Riella looks at him. She hates how perfect he looks—how he looks like everything she’s ever wanted in a partner.

Shut it, Riella. You’re an Aphrodite kid. You can’t fall too easily. 

“Percy, what do you want?” She feels a little guilt as she hears the coldness in her voice, but she can’t help it. She has to protect herself while she can. What would others say if they found out she likes Percy?

“You’re upset. Upset with me. Could you please tell me what’s wrong, darling?”

Riella sighs as she rubs a hand across her forehead in resigned frustration. “Come in first. I don’t want anyone to hear any of this.” She gives way for Percy to enter, and he immediately complies. She closes the door behind her and he takes a seat on one of the chairs sprawled out.

“Any time now.” Percy comments, looking up at his girl. He can’t decipher Jason and El’s words properly earlier after he dropped off Annabeth. Was Riella really keeping something from him?

Riella keeps her look away from Percy’s calculating gaze. She doesn’t want him to know just by staring at her. She needs to ease herself into telling him that she isn’t worth it. That she accepts him and Annabeth together. She takes a breath in before asking, “How are you and Annabeth these days? Heard you took her out recently.”

Percy’s face seems to morph into something similar to realization. “I—we’re good? We’ve always been.” 

Riella feels her heat fall, but she forces herself to power through it. She will not allow herself to become heartbroken again. “Oh.”

“I mean, we’ve always been good friends. That’s why I dropped her off at her date. It’s with someone she met at university.” Percy comments like it was nothing to Riella.

Wait. Good friends? Annabeth dating someone from her university? So—

Riella blinks, and she speaks before her brain can even construct the words. “You mean you?”

A smile seems to tug at Percy’s lips. “I mean I’m not dating her, Riella, because I like someone else.”

Riella thinks her heart is about to break again, but there’s something about Percy’s look—something that fills her with the slightest bit of hope. “And that person is?”

“Well, I’m standing right in front of her,” Percy’s smirking now, “and I realized I’ve been an idiot for not confessing earlier. So can I do that now?”

Disbelief and sadness is eating up Riella’s soul bit by bit. Does he think this is some joke?

“Percy, that’s not funny.” Riella blankly tells him. “Not when I’m standing here, making up my mind that I was gonna let go of my feelings for you and-”

Percy softens at this. “Hey, Riella, I’m not kidding. I—I understand why you may think otherwise, but I would never play around with your feelings like this. You’re too precious to me.”

“There it is.” Riella hates the familiar burning in the back of her head—she doesn’t want to cry. “There you fucking go again, Jackson, being your perfect ass and too far from my reach. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe you. You never gave me a sign all these years. Yes, I appreciate our friendship, but that’s all I thought it was! And that’s all I thought you believed it was.” 

“Ella, calm down-”

“You don’t get to tell me to calm down when it hurts trying to even forget everything we did together.” Riella coldly states. She doesn’t have the willpower to cry like this in front of Percy, but the tears still flow. She sniffs, and he tries to come closer to her but she takes a step back.

“Fuck.” Riella turns away from Percy, afraid that she’s shown him enough of herself—scared that she might drive him away even more

“Riella, love, breathe.” Percy sits down on one of the chairs. He’s so fucking gentle. “Please.”

Riella forces her breath to steady. Eventually, she sits back down with him. 

“Perce, you don’t understand.”

“Then I will try to.” Percy rubs her hand with his thumb. “Will you let me?” He begs, and he really wants her to let him in her heart. They both know he can take care of her better than any other guy could.

Riella gulps. This was the part where she spills herself to him. Can she handle the vulnerability? She sighs through her nose and begins to talk.

“I pride myself in not letting anyone get to me and keep me out of focus, whether for fun or for all seriousness. I had a goal to not let something like a crush put me in harm, even though I know it’s okay to have one—I mean, you’ve seen Jason and El.”

“Okay,” Percy says encouragingly, “and that’s why you were afraid?”

“Yes,” Riella all but squirms in her seat. “I didn’t—want to lose you or myself. And knowing how dangerous how lives are and how… well, you’re the demigod savior practically, I didn’t want to risk anything.”

Percy softens at this. “Riella, I’m not a savior.”

“But you are. A shit ton of people look up to you, and for good reason.”

“Baby, a savior still needs saving. You gotta know that.” Percy spoke, while Riella was wiping her tears. “Even if I am what you call a demigod savior, we can’t deny the fact that I can’t do everything. But that doesn’t mean you’re gonna lose me that easily.”

Against her will, Riella finds herself blushing. She hates how easily Percy flusters her. Nobody else had that effect on her. “Percy, you know those kinds of words won’t get to me that easily.”

“I do know that.” Percy takes her hands now. She feels the callousness of his palms, all healing scars from past battles. “And I understand your feelings completely. But Riella, P, you would never lose me. If there’s something I’ve come to realize in these past years, it’s that I haven’t felt for anyone the way I’ve felt for you. I—god, Riella, when I see you I go weak. Yes, I’ve been an idiot for being so oblivious, but when I figured it out, I just knew. I knew it was you.”

Percy risks a glance at Riella. Riella, who is still too stunned to speak, urges him to continue.

“And… besides, if there’s anything that will confirm my feelings aside from what I already know, it’s the gods’ themselves. Your mom… when I met her, I saw you. Only you.”

Fuck. So he knew even way before?

Percy’s eyes looks down on the outline of Riella’s lips, staring intently before looking back up. She really is pretty like this, no wonder she’s Aphro’s kid.

“Hold on, there’s one thing I don’t understand.” Riella says as she stands up once again from her chair. Pacing around is her usual thing, Percy supposes. He remains seated in his chair, however.

“What is it, darling?”

“What does P even mean? You’re making me sound like a frozen vegetable that you put on your face when you get beat up.” Riella crosses her arms, completely confused. Percy smiles, knowing that she hasn’t figured out this little secret of his. “Come here and I’ll tell you, you’re too far. You’re pacing again.” he asks her.

Riella rolls her eyes, but follows him anyway. How can she even say no to him at this point? “Humor me, Perseus.” She stands between his legs, looking down at him and waiting for an answer. Heat rises to her face another time when he lovingly places a hand on her waist, guiding her to sit on one of his thighs.

“I knew at one point you’d ask me that. To keep it simple,” Percy pushes some of her hair over her shoulder, his palm against her cheek and thumb drawing circles on the skin. Riella instinctively leans to the touch.

“It means pretty. The very first time I saw you enter the camp, I thought you were pretty. Since I never knew your name in time, I just kept calling you pretty in my head. Until I did get your name, and started calling you P.”

“And trust me, P,” Percy sits up, getting a better view of his Riella. “You look very—” closer.

“Very,” The two are mere breaths away from each other’s faces.

“Pretty.” Was the last thing Percy said against Riella’s lips before sealing their love with a gentle kiss.

It feels like bliss, Riella thinks. She’s liked Percy for years. She never thought she would get this chance—to get to call him hers. 

“So,” Percy hums softly as they lean back, his hand gently placed around her waist. “Let’s make it official. Would you like to be my girlfriend, my darling, pretty, Riella? There’s no one else I’d rather be with than with you.” 

“If my 12 year old self was here, she’d slap you, you know. Good thing you’re cute.” Riella scoffs. “But yes, I would love to.”

“I’m more than cute, baby. You know that. Actually we both know that.”

[amyrose13]

Just a random scene for Chapter 97

Ella: [glumly] ... I can't believe I almost became a bride for someone else again.

Percy: [threws the table upside down] THAT IS IT! FIRST ENCHILADAS, AND NOW THIS?! I. HAD. IT!

Ella: [looks shocked] Um... Percy?

Percy: [points at Annabeth] ANNABETH. MARRY US. NOW.

Ella: [blushes beet red] W-Wait, Percy!

Annabeth: My time has finally come. [clears her throat] We gathered here today—

Ella: [embarrassed] A-Annabeth! We're in a middle of a quest right now! W-We can't do that now!

Percy: [pouts] But Ella...!

Ella: [suddenly poofs, wearing a pretty light blue and white wedding gown with a veil]

Everyone: . . .

Aphrodite: [pops in with a bright grin, still wearing the Percella bandana] Hello sweeties! I've been waiting for the official signal so here is everything you needed! [brings out marriage certificate, matching wedding rings and dresses Percy is an attractuve blue suit] I'll deal with your father for explanations, Ella. Oh, and I'm sure your mother is delighted, Percy. Be sure to have a few children, please! Bah-bye! [poofs out]

Everyone: . . . .

Leo: Guess you have her blessing, Aqua Man.

Ella: [hides her blushing face behind the wedding veil]

[disangel]

ryuunxko replied to your post: 

((‘dr au’ 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

okkkaaaay but. kairyuu is the protag with felix as the secondary protag. the trials and motives? well...

first trial - motive : authority acceptance / rejection (a video of a figure of superiority to each student [prime example is parents] is forceably shown to each student of that figure supposedly accepting something they are afraid to accept/hear opinion of [ex chrys’s could be of elise telling him it’s okay to be gay], but with the cost of killing somebody [ex elise will only accept him if he murders]. it could work vice versa depending on the person.)

victim: marilyn, ultimate tinkerer (strangled)

culprit: renn, ultimate thief (beaten to death in execution. initial motive is wishing for love and acceptance from beruka.)

second trial - motive : to kill for loved one (monokuma threatens to murder the person dearest to them. this person’s name is written on a card along with a handwritten letter from said person pleading for help.)

victim: percella (made up peri fankid oops), ultimate makeup artist (poisoned)

culprit: chrysanthos, ultimate boxer (head blown off due to large force in execution. initial motive is not wishing to have seiji get hurt. [seiji is in the “game”, and the letter is written before the memory wipe, to put it simply.])

third trial - motive : memory backed (monokuma makes the remaining students recall a vital memory. perhaps these memories have deeper meanings than they appear?)

victim: felix, ultimate butler (neck slit) and scout (made up mozu fankid), ultimate gemologist. (neck slit)

culprit: hatsuyuki, ultimate designer (hung via ribbons in execution. was shown memories of dominic and haruna who are participating in the games and did not wish for them to be harmed.)

fourth trial - motive : anything you could ever want (monokuma promises to grant the blackened with anything they could ever wish for so long as they commit murder without getting caught.)

victim: ebony (made up nyx fankid), ultimate reporter

culprit: lily (made up camilla fankid), ultimate barista (drowned in acid. wanted to get plastic surgery and the like)

fifth trial - motive : gone and done (for every day that passes without a killing, areas of the location will be restricted. this can range from less needed facilities like the game room, or much more important ones, like the showers or the dining hall.)

victim: raeger, ultimate volunteerer (severe head trauma)

culprit: chiyo, ultimate peacebringer (killed in many violent ways. didn’t wish for everyone else to suffer, thus sacrificing herself as well as raeger. similarly to dr2′s fourth trial.)

sixth trial - finale

mastermind: ??? haha gotcha

survivors: kairyuu, seiji, dominic, miku, haruna

[amyrose13]

What if...

(Bring loads of tissues and ice cream tubs before this could get angsty)

[Ella dies, and Percy still loves her and grieves over her death even when he moves on]

"No..."

Percy couldn't believed it at first. He didn't want to believe it.

But he could only watched with helpless horror as Ella's body dropped to the ground, her face facing the skies and her dirty yet magnificent eyes closes forever. There were splotches of red painting her face—her own blood—that came from the scars across her right cheek and above the bridge of her nose, and in her hand, was her knife, stained with the blood of a Laestrygonian giant.

No.

Nononono.

No. Gods, please no.

He fell to his knees, a wide-eyedblank look that borderlines his growing horror, indescribable grief, and crushing dread as Annabeth cradles close Ella's dead body on her lap as she wailed, tearing streaming down her cheeks.

"ELLA!" Annabeth screamed, her cries reaching to a high and heartbreaking pitch. "WHY?! Why her?! She didn't—She didn't deserved this!"

Even when her anguish screams and sorrow were louder at each words and sobs, Percy felt like everything had went silent.

Nico was on her knees, his sunken eyes staring at the dead child of Aphrodite with wide horror and rapid tears streaming down as he tries to form coherent words. "You promised," Nico sobbed, his voice cracking. "You promised, Ella..."

Piper couldn't bear to see her precious sister's dead body. She sobbed loudly, her own heartbreaking cries for her sister muffled against Jason's chest who wrapped his arms around her in a form of comfort. But even the son of Zeus was hurting. He stared at Ella's dead body with his eyes narrowed with heldback tears but a trail of tear after another slipped from his blue eyes as he viciously bit his lower lip until it bled like he was trying to hold back his own vocal agony.

Leo stared at Ella's corpse with a traumatized face, his eyes shaky with disbelief and grief. He and Ella were the Weepy Bitch Duo, and shared a bond so much like friends and so much like a family. But now? His Weepy Bitch is dead, and it felt like he was experiencing his mother's death all over again. Only so much worse.

Because Marcella Baxter deserves so much more than this... she deserves to live longer and be happy.

But a fucking damn Laestrygonian giant had to also taken that away from her.

Frank and Hazel were closely next to Annabeth, both whimpering in their tears and grief-stricken stifled sobs as they were whispering the dear name of Ella like it was made of glass like a broken record.

"Ella... w-wake up..." Percy croaked, his legs that felt like 200-pound rocks now slowly moving towards his girlfriend. He didn't realized how he fell to his knees as he reached out for Ella, nor acknowledging the flare of pain his knees felt. Nothing mattered.

He just wanted her. His Pretty Girl. His beautiful Dove. His world.

"E-Ella, come on. Wake up." He said, his voice fragile. He was like an innocent child trying to stir awake his mother as he shakily nudged Ella's shoulder. He held her body close to his chest.

He tried to hold her hand, hoping that it would wake her up.

Nothing.

Her hand was... cold. That's not normal. She was always wonderfully warm.

"C-Come on, Pretty Girl." He said, his voice painfully bright despite it trembling. "T-The war's over, see? W-We can go back home now. M-Mom's waiting for you. You didn't finished telling her about o-our trip to Bahamas, remember?"

Silence.

"Ella...?"

Anyone who wanted to tell him the undeniable truth didn't want to say anything to him. But Chiron, despite having such heavy and grieving heart for the girl who died and whom he watched grew up, straightened his shoulder as he walked forward to the son of Poseidon.

"Percy, that's enough." He said, terrifyingly calm and smooth.

"Ella, didn't you say you were going to beat me in Just Dance? We can do that now, y-know? I can let you win just this once, a-and we'll share blue cookies and cuddle all day long while you sing for me—"

"She's gone, Percy." Nico spat, his voice stuttering over his weak sobs.

The atmosphere went sharp and heavy.

Percy laughed. The sound of it was achingly high, and breakable. "No. No, no, come on. Seriously. She's just sleeping, right? She's tired. After all the fighting, looking after the new campers and cheerleadin practices, she just needs some rest. C-Come on, Grace, help me wake Sleeping Beauty up."

"Percy, please—" Annabeth whimpered.

"NO!" Percy shouted, his voice so furious, so sad, and so so grieving, that everyone took a step back. His sea green eyes were wide with fury, like they were all his enemies that he wanted to destroy, but seeing the steady streams of tears that fell on his cheeks reminded them just how much Perseus Jackson is hurting now.

"She's—She's not dead. She'sstillalive!" He panted, breathing heavily as he glared at his friends with a crazy angry look. "Stop looking like that like she's—she's—SHE'S STILL ALIVE, OKAY?!"

"Percy, you have to stop this!" Hazel begged. "Ella's—"

"—NO! SHUT UP!" Percy held Ella's frame close to him, his screams decreasing into broken sobs as he tightly latched onto his Pretty Girl's form like he was afraid of her disappearing into thin air once again. "She's not dead, okay...?! Not—Not Ella—Not my Pretty Girl..." he sobbed, his denial breaking into thousand pieces.

Everybody watched as Percy kissed Ella's forehead gingerly, shaking breathing in the scent of her vanilla hair like it was his air.

"My Pretty Girl..." he sobbed, his tears splattering onto Ella's pale face. "Not my pretty girl..."

Even in death, he marveled at her beauty. No one was just as magnificent, beautiful and unique as Ella Baxter.

.....

"This is Camp Half-Blood?"

Percy nodded, a small smile on his face as he walked next to a 7-year old new camper. "Yeah. What d'you think?"

"Groovy!" They beamed excitedly.

The son of Poseidon laughed as he led the young camper further in the camp grounds. He showed them the archery range, the dining pavilion and the strawberry fields.

"And over there is the lava-climbing wall—" Percy stopped short when someone called out his name from behind, turning around to see Annabeth jogging towards him.

"Hey, Wise Girl. What's up?" He teased.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny. Just checking up on our new camper since you might make something turn out wrong again." She said, crossing her arms.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Uh-huh." Annabeth nodded, dismissing Percy's indignant pout.

"Hey, whose cabin is that?" The camper asked, pointing at a—Percy's face fell when he saw Cabin 11.

"Oh..."

The camper looked at the cabin with awe. "It's a pretty cabin."

Annabeth looked at Percy worriedly. "Percy—"

"I-I just remember now!" Percy exclaimed, his voice strangely high-pitched. "Forgot to put up some mascara again today! Annabeth, please show around for me, will ya?"

Annabeth nodded, her face understanding and sad as Percy quickly walked past them and briskly walked towards the line of trees behind the cabins.

He dropped to his knees, his face tucked between his legs as he curled up into a ball. Percy slowly let out a small sob as he shook. The royal blue tube of black mascara in his pocket suddenly felt heavy and demanded of his attention, and he pulled it out with a trembling hand.

3 years. After he picked himself up after her death. And it still hurts as much as it always did when it happened.

He moved on. But he couldn't love anyone else. Not when she's always on his mind.

Teary-eyed, he tinkered with the royal blue tube of mascara and brought it close to his lips, kissing the tip with shaky breath. "Ella..." he whispered, his voice broken, sorrowful and longing. "My Pretty Girl..."