you've been on my mind

He’s smiling as he pads across the sand, fitting snug against a chest that has held him so many times and also not enough, gone too soon to properly hug back. ”To go an’ see the mers?” The boy’s smile is a bright and audible thing, fluttering from him, muffled against Zeph’s broad shoulders. ”I’d like that, Pa. A lot. We can watch the ships too, an’ collect shells, an’...” It goes on, the list, the child chattering on as they do in a voice Zeph remembers all too well. ”I’m not a ghost though, Pa,” he says eventually though, a bit quieter. A bit sadder. ”Just a memory. You know that.” LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own