1049: What Is It Good For?
Away at War/Battle MemeWe all know war can be a hard time for everyone but those left behind? It can be torture. Hoping you get a letter or a call, staying glued to the television and cringing at those news stories. Guess what happens to you now? Your loved one has gone off to fight a war (battle, fight, in that ilk of things) and some time has
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Taken away from his home one day when Maria was out, Ceasre had decided he'll simply 'persuade' Leonardo to do his bidding in an isolated castle in Italy. Thankfully he had managed to escape before any harm could befall him, stumbling and hiding and barely getting by as Ceasre ruthlessly hunted him down. There were times he just wanted to pass out or give him up to the soliders, so tired and weary of it all but it was the vision of a smiling Maria waiting for him at home that kept him moving. Hoping one day he lived was another step closer to her arms.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. He heard so many rumors of himself as he slipped from town to town. How he had died. How he had fled Italy. How he did this and that. They would have been mildly amusing if not for his predicament. Months turned into years. He's been on the run for so long he lost count by now. But he was still a man of logic so when news of the Borgias' falldown came to him... It couldn't be true, could it? He waited for some time, gathering information bit by bit and he saw the truth: The House of Borgia had fallen to ruin. There would be no more hunts for the Borgias' enemies.
He could go home. He didn't waste any time, heading to the direction of where his home and his Maria hopefully waited for him still.
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Maria da Vinci was a far more patient woman. Love and a lack of the pressure of ruling a kingdom helped make up for that. So when she had returned one day to find the home a mess and Leonardo gone, she had feared the worst but still hoped for the best. Even though she hadn't know who had taken him, she suspected, and so she kept her head down and kept quiet for fear of the rage of the House of Borgia falling down upon her and her child.
Her child, the one even she had not known she was carrying when Leonardo was taken from her. Going through the months of pregnancy was difficult when alone, especially after she had been so used to her coddling during her pregnancy with James (her sweet boy, how she missed him. She wondered if he thought of her still, though he could never know she lived.) Still, the people of the town were helpful enough to her, especially when the rumours began to spread that Leonardo had died, or left Italy, or both, and when the birth came she was not alone and she (more or less) continued not to be so for the next five years as her little boy grew up. It helped to have him near when there was only bad news in terms of Leonardo's status-- he had his father's eyes, after all.
Before the House of Borgia fell, her dream of having him returned to her dead or alive had all but faded. Perhaps they were right and he had died long ago and it was time to accept. But once the news spread of the fall of the last Borgia, she couldn't help the small spark of hope that ignited in her chest. Perhaps he had really only been running and could now return home-- she hoped, she hoped.
The hope echoed in the back of her mind as she got out of bed every morning. It echoed as she tended to her garden while her little boy played. It practically sang when one day she heard Verrocchio say, "Mamma, there is a strange man coming towards the house."
Her head flies up and her heart catches in her throat. She would know that form anywhere, even if in sleep or blinded. Leonardo.
She manages to get to her feet, but little more. She can only stare as he comes closer, barely daring to believe this isn't another dream.
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... Maybe he was scared. Yes. Scared. For all the hiding and running he had done from the Borgias' swords and grasp, the idea of Maria having moved on without him was terrifying than anything else. If he approached the home would their house crest be replaced with something else? Will be welcomed to the sing-song chatter of a husband and wife? Could there be a chance all of the dreaming he had done was what they were -- Just dreaming?
For a wild second he thought maybe he should turn around and leave. It's been years since he last held her in his arms, saw her glittering smile. She was the most beautiful when the most happy and maybe she found happiness somewhere else. He almost turned and left but. But something told him to take this chance. To jump at it. Usually Leonardo was never a man of impulse himself. Life experiences and life in general had taught him that it was never wise to jump head first into something, to look at all angles and, cautiously, approach the situation with the best one.
But considering what his first impulsive action had granted him -- his beautiful wife and a happy home before the Borgias turned their sight on him -- he had decided to risk it. He approached the house even more and was rewarded for the most beautiful sight: Maria, running up towards him. If he was Odysseus, traveling far and wide thanks to a careless mistake of his than she was his faithful, faithful Penelope.
"Maria!" He didn't look back now. He ran straight to her, gathering the woman and ruler of his heart in his arms. He all but clung on as if afraid she'll vanish into smoke and hope if he dared loosen his desperate grip. He pressed shaking lips against her forehead and took a deep breath. He felt warm skin and smelled a wonderful fragrance. She was real. This was all real. "Maria-- I-- It's been so... Mon Dieu, mon amour. I-I have missed you so...!"
Words failed him. The reputed genius of all was bumbling like a fool for once but he didn't care. Maria was here. Maria was home. Could this day not get any better?
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And then he calls her name. And then he runs. And then he is holding her and kissing her forehead and she can't breathe, can't speak for the tears of joy that are streaming down her face. Her arms wrap around him tightly-- oh, gracious God, he was real, she could feel him-- as he attempted to speak. When the words failed him, she turned her face upwards and pressed her lips against his, hoping the kiss could communicate all she was trying to say.
Still, though, when they part she searches for words and discovers herself mixing the Gaelic and French of her childhood as she tried to tell him of how deeply she had missed him, "Mo gràidh... Leonardo... Oh, how good it is to have you home, ma lumière."
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The sob he felt rushing up in him was barely contained and a few tears of joy managed to slip away from his eyes. He kissed back, his heart racing with exhilaration and gratitude. If there was a divine power up there, he thanked them will all his heart because his light was back in his life and chasing away the shadows already. The eyes of his, usually so heavy and recently so dead thanks to what he had seen and done during his travels, were twinkling thanks to the joys and tears.
"My beautiful Maria, I am so glad we are together again for I feared that... But I no longer fear. I have you again. Everything in the world is right." All their hardships and trials. All that they've been through. They paid enough coins and tears and drops of blood for it. They deserve their own piece of paradise. They can start again. "I am so glad you are safe, my light. Were treated will while I was away? Are you okay? You were never in danger because of me, no?"
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She shakes her head, "The people of town treated us kindly." They took pity on the 'da Vinci widow,' after all, "I was cautious, did my best not to stir up trouble, though I wanted to try to find you so much. But we have not come to any harm."
Us. We. She doesn't even properly realize she's saying it in plural, it's been she and her son for so long.
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