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“But…” Bridget started, her eyes focused on the moon painted dunes stretching out for miles in front of her as she spoke to Unika,“Your shape, your true self… It’s something you have to find. That’s how it was for me.”
“I see…” Unika said, her voice little more than a whisper as she stared in awe at the other girl. She looked down at her hand and stared into her empty palm as the weight of Bridget’s words weigh upon her mind. “My… Shape…”
What is her true shape? Her father told her she was meant to be a savior, a hero who would end the threat of the gears once and for all and save humanity; to the media she was probably a villain, a misguided terrorist whose goal was to disrupt the peace and end society (her father had warned her that some people would say that); to that boy, a friend? A person to be pitied? She wasn’t sure, nothing about his motivations or actions made any sense. Are any of these her true shape? If not, then what is?
Unika raised her head and looked to Bridget and asked, “How will I know when I find it?”
Bridget faced her and met her gaze before the blonde’s lips curled into a smile as she replied, “You’ll know. Its different for everyone, so I can’t give you a straight answer, but once you find it you’ll know.”
If anyone else had said it Unika would have wrote the m off as a simpleminded fool . But looking into Bridget’s eyes she could tell the blonde was telling the truth: they’re clear, focused, unflinching, hiding nothing from anyone. Now that she thinks about it, they remind her of someone…
“What’s wrong?” Bridget said as raised an eyebrow.
“I was just thinking,” Unika started, “are you related to that boy with the one eye?”
“Sin? Haha,” Bridget put her hand in front of her mouth as she began to giggle. She looked at Unika with an amused smile dancing on her lips as she replied, “No, but he is like family. He’s like the little brother I never had.” As soon as she said that the light in Bridget’s face began to dim as her smile retreated into a half frown.
“Is something the matter?”
“Hm? Oh, no, just thinking about my brother. Not Sin, but my actual twin brother. It’s… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him. Do you have any siblings?”
“No. The only family I have is my father.”
“ I see. Well, what about other friends?”
“Other friends?”
“Well, other than me I mean.”
Unika’s eyes widen as she takes in Bridget’s meaning. “We’re friends?”
“Of course!” Bridget replied with a giggle and a grin. “I mean, if you want to that is.”
“That’s,” Unika hesitated for a moment as she mulled over the prospect in her head, “fine. We can be friends if you wish.”
Bridget’s eyes begin to sparkle as she leap ed into the air and threw her hands above her head with a loud ‘Yippie!’ that echoed across the sea of sand. “ This is great! I can’t wait to introduce you to Rodger, he’s my teddy bear.”
Unika cocked a brow at the animated blonde. “You want to introduce me to your toy teddy bear?”
“Well, Roger isn’t an ordinary teddy bear, he can move and talk! He helps me with my yoyo performances and when I go out bounty hunting. He’s great! He can be a little prickly in the beginning, but after a while he’ll warm up to you. He warms up to everyone eventually, even May (despite what he might say to the contrary).”
“Who’s May?” Unika asked. As if a switch had been flipped, Bridget’s demeanor changed slightly. She still had a smile on her face, but it was different from the smiles Unika had seen her have before; she could feel pain and longing behind it, and something else she couldn’t put her finger on. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh no!” Bridget immediately replied with a shake of her head. “It’s just, well, it’s complicated. May is… she’ s my best friend. In fact she’s the first friend I made when I first left my village. At first we were just regular friends and I would hang out with her on her ship. But as time went on things began to change , at least for me; whenever we couldn’t meet I’d start to feel really sad, almost depressed, then when I saw her all that sadness just disappeared like it was nothing. I started stealing glances at her whenever we hung out, I’d listen to her talk about Johnny or gab about her new favorite song for hours just to hear her voice, and my heart would nearly jump out of my chest every time her hand would brush against mine or she pulled me into a hug.
“I-” Bridget licked her lips as she took a shaky breath before continuing. “I then realized I was falling in love with her.”
Unika blinked. She wasn’t quite expecting to hear her new friend divulge such an intimate secret to her like this, not that she was upset with Bridget or anything. It was just different what she had anticipated. But why would falling in love with her best friend make her look so… sad. Even though she wasn’t allowed to growing up, she would sometimes sneak out into the nearby village and read the books at the book store, especially the romance novels. All the ones she read that had two friends realizing their love always ended happily, so why isn’t Bridget happy? “And then?” Unika asked.
Bridget sighe d, her lip quivered and tears welled up in the corner of her eyes as she spoke, “And then it became too hard to be near her. Any time she began to talk about Johnny or started fawning over him when he was there with us, my heart would feel like someone was squeezing it from the inside, and a lump of bitterness and jealousy would plop down into my stomach. I never showed it though; I kept all those feelings inside, locked them up so no one would see them. It was also around this time that other worries began to eat at me and, well, it was too much all at once. So I started distancing myself from her, stopped going to see her or calling her; didn’t speak for over a year until just recently. And you know what? I still feel the same heart pain and lump in my stomach whenever she talks about Johnny.”
“I’m… sorry. That sounds like a very difficult position to be in.”
“Yeah,” Bridget said with a sniffle before putting on a brave face. “But I’m not going to let it stop me. One day I’m going to tell her how I really feel. She’ll-” Bridget’s breath hitched for a moment before she found her strength to continue. “She’ll probably not return my feelings, but I’ll have gotten them out there. I don’t know what will happen after that but at least it’ll be out in the open.”
Unika was flabbergasted. A minute ago she was on the verge of bawling her eyes out, and now she was confident and steadfast. For a moment she was reminded of her fights with Sin and the look in his eye; the conviction she saw in him then looked a lot like what was in Bridget’s eyes now. How can these two be so sure of themselves? When she finds her shape will she be just like them?
That’ll be a thought for another day. But for tonight Unika showed Bridget a small smile as she spoke to her. “Knowing what I know of you, I’m sure it will be fine.”
Bridget looks over at Unika and gives her a toothy grin. “Thanks! You know, you’re a really good listener.”
“ Thank you, but I wish there was more I could do to help you.”
“Hehe you’re fine! Just being able to talk about it makes me feel better. Hey, what do you say about a midnight snack? I have a few candy bars stashed in my pack; we can have them and watch a video on my PVD. How about it?”
“What’s a candy bar?” Unika ask, completely straight faced.
Bridget’s gasp is so loud it could probably be heard in the next country. “Oh you haven’t lived until you had Mr. Crunchy’s Ultimate Choco Puff Bar! Come on,” Bridget said as she grabs Unika’s arm and starts dragging her away, “let’s go!”
Unika doesn’t struggle against the other girl’s grip, instead letting herself get pulled along like a toddler’s toy, her smile growing bigger with every passing second.