Day in and day out, he always faced the two of them; but one was nothing more than a distraction from the other. In order to avoid facing the nightmare he anticipated every single time he saw her, he would always direct his attention back towards the other; the distraction.

And when he reveled in that distraction one time too many, he lost something that he could never recover.

Special thanks to Petrichord, Pascoite, The Elusive Badgerpony, and Comet Burst for input, pre-reading, and proofreading.