Beautiful
by aircompass
Okay, I wrote this story because I felt the need to expound on Una and
Walter. I didn't think Walter was stupid or oblivious
enough not to know how she felt about him. So, here's a little ditty I wrote, to
explain things the way I think they would
have been. PLEASE R+R!!! I hope you like it, tell me what you think, I LOVE
getting those. Even if you hated it, TELL ME!
If you have any questions or something, just leave your e-mail on the review, I
WILL TRY to mail you back :). Aight, sweeties? :)
This goes for ALL of my fics.
DISCLAIMER: All Hail the great L.M. Montgomery. :) I don't own anything, I just
write stories :)
He had beautiful hands. They were hands created purely for the transmission of
magic, beauty and the goodness of life. It often seemed to her that he was not
meant to live very long in this world. That he was an angel sent on as he could.
Una thought of him often, still in the bittersweet knowledge of what she could
not understand. She had loved Walter sincerely most of her life, in every way,
every type of love she could possibly have. She knew that Walter loved her, but
the love between them was...not for this earth. She remembered a time when
she had moments with him alone. No one had or would ever know the secret they
both kept buried. No one had guessed and both liked to keep it that way. Una had
always felt that her bittersweet
love was sacrosanct, and telling anybody would destroy its beautiful simplicity.
She had run down from the manse, needing to release her soul from its chains.
Una, with sixteen years of living behind her, found herself tired of her own
existence. Sometimes, she wished she could run away for awhile and leave it all
at home. Rainbow Valley often allowed her this chance to leave her body for the
briefest of instances and truly breathe the world. At home, she felt as if she
was slowly being suffocated out of her sanity. Father and Mother had gone on a
vacation to Winnipeg, they wouldn't be back for a week more. Faith and the
others were getting to be a bit much for Una's patient nature. They tended to be
a little insensitive, though they never really meant to be.
It was almost destructive to Una's weak self-esteem, she had always felt so
small and insignificant when surrounded by her siblings and the Blythes. They
had always had such overpowering presences, they never meant to make her feel
bad, it just happened. She sighed and gripped her legs protectively to her
chest. Una was so tired of feeling this way.
A warm and gentle hand suddenly caressed her head. She looked up in surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Walter Blythe gently reproached her.
"It's freezing and you don't have a coat..."
"Walter..." Una said softly. A sad and fleeting half-smile tugged at
her lips. Except Walter. Walter was always good and sweet and
understanding and completely humble. "I didn't expect anyone to be
here." He stroked her hair again and then sat down beside her. He held out
his coat to her and she smiled gratefully.
"What about you? Aren't you going to be cold?" she said.
"Nah, I'm okay. Got my thermal everything on, a sweater, a flannel and a
scarf."
"Thank you, Walter." Her voice wavered a little, giving away her
emotional state. Walter teasingly nudged her.
"All right, Una. Enough niceties." Una looked up, startled. Walter
laughed softly.
"You look like a deer caught in headlights." He brushed some hair off
her face. "I know something's wrong. Want to talk about it?"
"I want to talk about it, Walter, but I don't know how. It's too
complicated. Even I don't understand it." Una's chin trembled and she
buried her face at her knees. Walter patted her back reassuringly.
"Home life getting to you?" He asked softly. Una peeked out at the
side to look at him.
"Walter, you're really very good at this." she said, smiling at him.
He leaned down and faced her, a grin on his lips.
"So I've been told. Now stop changing the subject."
"I don't know Walter. I'm just so tired of being alive." She paused in
hesitation then turned her face towards him again. "You ever get that
feeling? Like you can barely breathe in your own skin anymore? Because, it's
almost as if I'm being suffocated at home. I'm so sick of feeling smaller than
everybody else." She stated the fact quietly, as if she was afraid of
telling the truth. Walter
felt his heart shrink.
"I didn't know you felt like that." He whispered, almost shamefully.
"Yeah? Well, no one's ever heard it from me." She spat out bitterly,
crying salty tears. "Everyone assumes it's okay. Oh, don't worry about Una,
she's used to this sort of thing...Oh, that's okay, Una can deal with it. But
it's not
fair, Walter."
Without thinking, Walter took her in his arms, giving her comfort in the way he
knew how. His warmth surrounded her and at that moment Una was afforded all the
comfort she had ever wanted. He gave her a quick squeeze.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner." He sighed resignedly. She
smiled, and left his hug to face him.
"It's alright, Walter. How could you have known? I'm just under the stress
of keeping this much pressure inside of me, and I just had to let it out
somewhere." Walter placed his hand on her arm.
"You're special, Una." He murmured, squeezing the arm he held gently,
reassuringly, as if the squeeze was meant for her to realize that he meant his
words. "You are strong, but no matter how strong we are, we all need other
people sometimes." Una nodded. "I hope that next time you feel
horrid...you know that I'll be right here." He chucked her chin.
"Understand that?"
Una smiled through her tears and nodded.
"Good."
Walter had always seemed to have time to let her in and listen to what she had
to say. Una had always found it difficult to actually speak her thoughts except
to her stepmother Rosemary, and Walter's mother Anne. Faith was often
preoccupied with her thoughts, among other things. And somehow Faith and the
others never seemed to be able to understand her the way Walter did. Carl was
the one closest to her, but he was not always what she needed. Most times she
needed Walter. There was something about him. His eyes were always
understanding, his arms always warm. Walter had about him a magic that he so
often lent over into her life, and made everything all better. Even when he
himself was hurting, his eyes shone with kindness. Una could only remember
one time when those eyes had changed.
Often after that night when Una had finally allowed herself to let go of how
badly she was feeling, she and Walter would go up to Rainbow Valley and talked
of little things. That night, things were tense. They said nothing, but sat by
the cheerful brook. It was ironic that the brook seemed so bubbly at a time when
neither of them knew what to do, feel or believe.
He was leaving for the war in days. Una felt a heavy burden in her heart. He was
leaving her, and she didn't know when he would come back. Somehow, she had a
sinking, foreboding darkness in her mind that caused her to
trust in these moments.
Then Walter broke the forbidding silence.
"I really saw him you know? All those years ago..." Una trembled at
his tone.
"Saw who?"
"Do you remember the Piper?" He asked her hesitantly. She nodded
slightly. "I saw him, and he's come." Walter whispered, his
voice almost breaking with tears he held back. "And I must go, Una. You and
I both know that. He is calling me, and I MUST answer. No matter how scared I
am!" His cold hands trembled and Una clasped them in her own warm ones. She
said nothing,
only allowed her warmth to speak to him. He gazed at her in rapture and
gratefulness, but still worn around the edges.
"I know." Una said softly.
"I don't want to go, Una, but I know that if I don't, I'll spend the rest
of my life regretting my decisions and creating illusions of what I COULD have
done." He said it brokenly, as if he had lost all sight to the truth.
"That's not it." Una replied firmly. Walter looked up. "I know
that isn't it. You're afraid of having to face what you dread. You love beauty,
and life and peace. You fear war because it represents everything you hate,
everything you distrust." She stroked his hair. "It's alright Walter.
Everything beautiful you have ever had, and ever will have is right here."
And she laid her palm on his heart. She felt the tears course down her cheeks.
How much she loved him. Her eyes fairly throbbed with it.
Walter smiled at her sadly.
"I love you too, Una." He whispered. Her cheeks flushed, her gaze
faltered and the tears ran down faster. "Do you know that?" She nodded
slowly. "Good." He paused, hesitating to speak his next words.
"Ma --- may I kiss you?" The gentle words made Una raise her eyes to
his, her cheeks pink, her eyes aglow with both sorrow and joy. He touched her
chin.
"You'll be right here." He said, touching the hand she had left
on his heart, and bestowed upon her a clumsy, nose-bumping tender kiss. Once
apart, he wiped away the tears that fell from the beautiful eyes she loved.
"I..." she began. "I don't want to lose you, Walter."
Somehow, they both felt the dark cloud crossing over Walter's path.
Instinctively, Walter said nothing, and hugged her to him. She remained there as
long as she could.
She had told no one but Mrs. Blythe. The day Walter left, she shook his hand
quietly, knowing that it would be the last time she felt the warmth in those
beautiful hands. His eyes spoke volumes to her as he kissed her cheek, and from
then on, Una's world had a trace of his magic.
She hadn't said good-bye. He understood. He told no one of that night, simply
because Walter knew Una would have wanted to keep it for herself and he wanted
her to have the choice. She realized that if anyone else had known, they would
have misunderstood her need to sort things out by herself. The grief of this,
the love she shared with no one else, remained her strength. She drew her faith
from Walter, and felt his magic flow through her world to remind her.
He was not meant long for this earth. In that knowledge, Una would look up and
smile at the heavens. She knew he was where he belonged.