Sunrise to Sunset (Bruce Dickinson)

Coming Home, Far Away

Bruce's POV
"Hey baby! How are you feeling?" I asked Y/N ecstatically over the phone, it was late but so much happiness and excitement built up inside me. I decided to keep the whole 'coming home' thing low key.
"I'm alright, I was just looking through your piano music. It's really pretty."
"What songs did you find? Some of them weren't good and sounded rubbish on piano."
"I found Chemical Wedding, Acoustic Song, Tears of the Dragon and Man of Sorrows." I forgot I had written piano music for some of my solo stuff, I wanted to practice piano as much as possible for another song, but I couldn't quite nail it down.
  "Huh, not much for variety. Dunno why I wrote piano music for Acoustic Song."
"It sounds beautiful, baby." I heard her yawn softly through the phone.
"Tired, my love?" I asked.
"Kind of. I didn't get much sleep last night."
"Get some rest darling. You need it. I'll call you sooner or later."
"Okay, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
  I took a deep breath in. I was going to see her in a couple of hours. Acoustic Song came back into my head, I wrote the song when I was going through my divorce but at the time I thought she was still a good person and I thought I still loved her. Deep down I didn't love her though, I was in denial. I went over to my backpack and shoved some of my things in there, but on the desk was a Polaroid picture of me and Y/N. We took it months ago, back when we were starting the tour. We were hugging each other and smiling. I don't recall much of this night, we must have been drinking.
I took the small photo and shoved it in my wallet. I grabbed all the stuff I needed to take with me, some clothes that I was too lazy to pack back neatly in my suitcase. I collapsed onto my bed and let out a sigh. I felt the small little box that held the ring in my back pocket, I dug into my pocket and grabbed it, I opened it and examined the ring throughly.
The red heart sparkled in the lamp light. I could see a small reflection of myself in the heart. I kissed the top of it and held it close to me. I hope to god she likes it.

Y/N's POV
  "And the scars that bare my name, and the wounds that will never heal. But the road that we have traveled took us far apart. And I love you still. And I loved you long ago..." I played the last note and sighed quietly. I felt empty and alone without Bruce by my side, having him near me made me feel safe. Tomorrow is Christmas. I'm spending it alone once again, but it was different.
When I was with Dylan, he would go out with friends to strip clubs and celebrate. I snuck out, spoiled myself with snacks and clothes and watched movies by myself. This time it's different, I have a boyfriend that actually loves me and I was spending time away from him for Christmas, this was the worst Christmas present I've ever received.
——
I woke up around 6:00 a.m. Snow covered the house and the morning sunrise looked amazing. I let the coolness of the morning cool my warm body. I sat outside for a good 5 minutes before going back inside, looking over the house I realized it looked rather bland. I rummaged through what Bruce had in his closet, Christmas wise. He only had a fake tree and a star. I started setting up the tree and I figured later I would be going out and getting some lights and ornaments, maybe some presents for Bruce once he gets back. Somehow in the meantime, I need to distract myself. I tried drawing for about an hour and I drew myself and Bruce hugging each other close.
I started looking around the house mindlessly. His dalek from his favorite show, Dr. Who, in the living room in the corner. Figurines of Eddies and planes. Some family pictures were scattered across the room, his godfather and grandparents, baby pictures of him. He was absolutely adorable. He had pictures of his fellow band members, Clive, Nicko, Dave, Steve, Adrian, and Janick, some pictures in his chill room and living room. This brought me some tears of joy, he cared so much about his friends and loved ones. He had photo albums stored away behind his bar. I opened one of them up and saw a picture of him in Sarajevo holding a child. I covered my mouth and let a few tears escape. He had such a big heart, even in a time of war. I flipped the page and saw a picture of him laying down on a table in a tank top. I recognized it, it was from the Abduction music video. His smile brightened up my day, every damn time I saw it.
Time passed by slowly, but around 11:00 I made my way to the shops. I got Christmas lights and some Christmasy candy to keep me in my cheery mood. Deep down I knew my mood would change drastically later on, I didn't care though. I was walking when I saw something in a store. It was a nice black hoodie with Powerslave Eddie on the front. He expressed many times he loved the album and loved the artwork greatly. I walked in and picked it up and examined it. He might like it, and it was the last one in stock. I grabbed it and went up to pay.
"You look oddly familiar." A way too familiar voice said. I looked up and saw her. My friend Christine, she was college roommate and my best friend, we never got back in touch after I hooked up with Dylan. I covered my mouth in shock. She looked merely the same as she did 5 years back. Her brown hair was in perfect contrast to her beautiful eyes. I wanted to be like her for the longest time.
"Christine! Oh my god! Is it really you?" I asked, she laughed and nodded. She got out behind the counter and hugged me.
"It's so nice to see you Y/N! I really want to catch up, I get off shift in about 30ish minutes. Can you come by and maybe we can go for a drink?" I nodded happily.
"I'll have some time to drop this stuff off at home. I'll see you then!" She gave my the hoodie in a nice bag and nodded. I left the store feeling a little bit better.

I got all my stuff dropped off at home and I went back to the mall to see Christine waiting for me on her phone.
"Y/N L/N, you need to explain something to me!" She said to me, I smiled, confused.
"What? What'd I do?" I asked sheepishly.
"You've been with Maiden and going on tour?! What the hell?!" She was in such disbelief that I couldn't help but giggle at it.
"I'll talk about it when we get to the pub. Let's go!" I said, leading her to the door so we could walk to the pub.
When we go there, we sat down and ordered pints of beer.
"So, What the hell has been happening with you? You're clearly successful in your job."
"Well I landed a small job with Rod. They needed help planning some things out for Flight 666. I did so and I was on tour with them for 3 legs about." I explained as happy as I could do I could mask my bitterness towards last nights show.
"I watched the performance last night. It looked like Bruce was crying a bit. Poor baby." She spoke softly.
"Wait, 'was on tour', what happened, shouldn't you be with them?" She asked. I sighed and rubbed my temples.
"My ex came and saw one of the shows and I was so scared that Bruce brought it up that I needed to go home straight away." She looked at me worriedly.
"Wait, was it Dylan?" She asked quietly. I nodded in response, she put her arm around me and gave me a hug. She knew about Dylan's abuse before we stopped talking.
"I'm really sorry, hun. Did you break up with him?" I nodded.
"Good. I don't need my friend getting hurt by this twat. I giggled and hugged back real quick before we parted.
"So how's your life, Christine?"
——
I got home around 3:30. Me and Christine exchanged numbers so we could talk more. I quickly strung up the lights and hummed songs. All the beer I had took a bit on me and made me feel rather tired. After I was done with that I went up to my room and lied down.
I just wish he was here.
I feel so empty.
I wanted to feel his lips against mine again.
I just wanted to hear his voice.
I picked up my phone and dialed his number, it went straight to voicemail. This upset me but I knew he needed his time alone too. Tears had been spilling down my cheeks the entire time. I sighed and tried falling asleep.

I woke up and looked at the clock, 6:00. I figured I'd make myself some type of Christmas dinner. I started making food and sighed.
I sang quietly while I cooked. It somewhat distracted me from my negative thoughts but it was only for a little bit.
I finished cooking and went to grab a plate. I nearly grabbed two, I had an idea that would make me feel a little less lonely. I grabbed both plates and filled them with food and brought them downstairs and sat them down on the opposite ends of the table. To the right we had the Christmas tree and the door and straight in front of me is the living room. I thought of the pictures I took of Bruce the first night I came to his house. I got up and went back upstairs to grab my camera. I sat back down and looked through the photos. There was one where I was kissing his cheek, that night we must have been shitface drunk. The musty orange glow against his face made his look absolutely breathtaking. I held the camera up to my heart.
"I miss you, Brucy..." I spoke softly.
Then I heard a knock at the door. And the sound of a key going into the keyhole.
Only one other person knew where the key was hidden.

-
End of Chapter 12.
Also yes, Christine is an author on Wattpad and a very good one. She wrote a book with Bruce x Christine and it is amazing! Please read it! I'm too scared to @ her soooo look up Bruce Dickinson and you'll see her story.
I wanna also take a moment and thank you all for giving this book as much support as you have been. It honestly makes me so happy. Thank you! Next update will be later this week or next week because I'm currently working on another book. I will see you then!