goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

This scar I can't reverse, when the more it heals the worse it hurts

Grief takes what it wants, leaving gaping and festering wounds that are only partially visible. Hidden away on a mountain, guarded by dragons such that few could reach him, Remi had sat with the knowledge of what had happened to Enzo. Unable to reconcile the unimportant way his son had been killed with the life the boy had left to lead, the Lullaby had first been angry and then despondent. Praying to Mort and Ludo every morning and night, it was only once all the souls of those who had been killed during the war had been accounted for that his prayers had any chance of being heard.

For all that he'd done in service of Ludo, Mort, and Caido, he thought he was owed this at the very least; Remi wouldn't ask for his son back, but merely the chance to say goodbye.

For them all to say goodbye.

"Please." The Lullaby whispers. Unable to clasp his hands because of the ruined state of his right arm, he simply hunches in the sand, mangled and disfigured wings spread and head bowed. Appearing more or less whole in the dreams through which he'd visited Hotaru, Flora, and Mateo, the real iteration of the Lullaby they would be forced to encounter is a horror to behold, scarred and broken as he is. Never mind that, though. They are not here for him.

They are here for Mort.
And for Enzo.

---

Paying MP for a reply from Mort <3

REMI

Mateo

It is not the sort of reunion he might have chosen, honestly.

And, fresh off the back of his and Flora's little spat, Mateo almost wants to step forward, to pull his father to his feet, to tell him that they don't deserve it. Walking around wearing grief like a fashion statement, speaking ill of the Lullaby at every opportunity, and now this?

He doesn't, though.

The botanist stands some distance back from where the gathering is taking place, a drop of Snapdragon melting under his tongue and his hands buried in his pockets. Perhaps the elation and the buzz will part the curtains of his mood and let the desert sunlight in.

Or maybe it'll make him irritable, and he'll get all dramatic and ruin this carefully cultivated family gathering.

Time will tell.

I wanna wake up
Can't even tell if this is a dream

Hotaru

with no outside threat just a fire in your chest

Remi’s letter arrives on the heels of news from Talyson of Flora’s state. She has no time to traverse the continent before Flora is already on her doorstep, as wracked with grief as the day she’d left. There is no time to do more than hold her in her arms, to whisper soft words of comfort and love; they know they must go. What awaits is too great an opportunity to be late for or to miss. And so despite being painfully concerned for her only remaining child - as they arrive in the Boneyard together, Hotaru is hiding it quite well. The rest is on full, broken-hearted display. Though she is far from the mangled vision Remi paints on the dark sand, her own injuries are plain in the shattered sea glass of her eyes, the too-long messy braid that trails down her back, the smudges of ashen skin beneath her eyes. Even the white of her knuckles as she holds Flora’s hand tightly within her own is testament to the great and terrible grief she holds back.

She hasn’t seen him in a year. She hadn’t resented his choice to hide away from the world; she had done the same herself, though her hiding was in plain sight.

When Hotaru envisioned seeing Remi again in person, she thought she’d be angry. That she would feel the urge to shove him to the ground and scream her rage into his face, to ask why he didn’t come back for their remaining daughter, why he didn’t come back for her.

Instead, as she kisses Flora’s knuckles with a whispered request for a moment of time with Remi, there is only an aching desire to be at his side for this. She wants to share their grief like the melting of saltwater into estuaries of riverbanks, different worlds intertwining because of one beautiful soul’s existence. Mateo is so tall standing behind his father, and though their interactions had always been limited, the Valkyrie knows he’d been a part of her son’s life more than her own. He is welcome, and she smiles tightly at him, trying to reign in a grief that has been locked down in her chest for so many months, aching to roam free this day. “You’ve grown up so very handsome, Mateo. Thank you for coming.” Sincerity that cannot hope to fill the hollowness of her tone.

And then she is finally at Remi’s side. Hotaru kneels beside him, a golden figure contrasted to the shadow of his bent and broken frame, and places her hand in the curved hollow of his spine over his shirt in support of his prayer - in support of him. A silent friend as she has always been to him. She is careful not to touch his skin; he does not need her grief on top of his own, and she fears even the dauntless Lullaby would not be able to bear the weight of her loss. Slowly her fingers curl into a painful rictus, needing to cling to the fabric he wears as her arm begins to shake, and she turns her head over her shoulder to beckon Flora back to her side.

It is time.

Adding her entirely useless prayer to his own. “Please, Mort.” The silence has already been killing her. This would be the final straw if it happened once again.

and you're melting - all over everything

Flora

Unlike every day since Enzo's death, today, Flora looks radiant. The bags beneath her eyes are hidden beneath layers of makeup, and her sunken cheeks have been smoothed with contour and coral blush that makes her eyes appear vibrant and bold. Unlike her mother, Flora's hair is perfectly curled and scented with jasmine. If today is the last time she ever sees her other half, it won't be with runny eyes and pale lashes. Though her body aches for the comfortable softness of her twin's sweaters that she's lived in, Flora wears a gown of flowers (suck it Mateo). It's extravagant, which is the least that Enzo deserves.

Whispering sweet and inarticulate words as Hotaru parts from her, Flora keeps her chin raised and her eyes far from Mateo. Her remaining sibling has stolen the anger that rightfully was meant for Remi, and as each of them considered who they would shove head first into the sand, Flora already had her mind firmly made up.

If anyone doesn't belong here, it's him.

Still, she'll save her theatrics for Enzo, because so help her, if Remi can't produce her twin, she has three feather daggers with his name on it. Ss far as she understands his immortality, that means every single person here has the power to kill him.

what makes a desert beautiful...is that it hides a well, somewhere

Though the desert exists all around them still, a sweetly scented breeze curls around the four figures who stand by the shrine of bones. Flowers press themselves up from the soil in an array of colours rarely if ever witnessed in the desert. Life stretches and reaches for the God of Death, eager and joyful for his presence, as he appears from nothing at all.

'I have heard your prayers, Remi Taliesin, and I appreciate your patience. I know that it hasn't been easy on you...on any of you.' Mort's gaze is first for the Lullaby, before moving to Hotaru, and finally to Flora and Mateo. He is boyish in his simplicity, and as commanding as he is kind. Smiling, Mort closes his dark eyes and as he does, golden light pulses from behind him, forming slowly into the silhouette of a door that is gradually filled with pure white. "Much as I would like to speak with each of you...there is someone here I think you would like to see far more."

Stepping aside, a shadow blurs the light, growing ever more solid as the figure nears.

I'm still dancing to tapes that keep playing in my head
while snow falls and lights are flickering

“Woah, weird!” comes first from the shining ether, and Enzo materializes beside Mort as he steps through the door on long, graceful legs. He looks around in boyish delight for a moment before his gaze falls to his family. At the sight of them his eyes soften, mischief dimming as he departs from Mort’s side to come nearer. “If I knew dying was all it took to get everyone together for a family reunion, I might have been tempted to do it sooner,” he jokes despite clearly drinking them all in with how his eyes linger on each familiar face.

They’d called in every favor, moved heaven and earth for this last moment with him. He has never loved them more profoundly, nor felt their own love so keenly.

Sue him, it makes him a little misty eyed!

“I’ve missed you all so much,” Enzo murmurs, eyes zoned in on his twin as he crosses the sand with confident strides to tug her tightly into his arms, “but I never wanted to see you hurt like this.” After a long moment soaking in the jasmine scent that lingers in his other half’s hair he pulls away, holding Flora’s elbows and pinning her with that expression that says I know what you’re hiding, but I can’t call your shit out in present company. “Gods why’d we have to have such a big family? I have so much to say.” And, ever the fixer it seems, Enzo drags his sister over to their parents and falls to his knees to embrace them both with his long arms. Maybe Vi knew that Enzo would need such reach to hold this big family all at once in his arms. Behind Remi’s back, a hand flails awkwardly at Mateo to beckon him into the hug, stubbornly demanding. He’s dead, he’s earned it.

frozen in last winter's bed

Enzo

This scar I can't reverse, when the more it heals the worse it hurts

Remi is hardly aware of Flora and Mateo's arrivals, nor of the grudges they bear for one another. With his eyes closed, he only stirs as Hotaru kneels at his side. Though the wounds on his back have nearly all knotted into scars, he flinches instinctively as her hand presses against his lower back, and though his wings are nearly all twisted and broken bones jutting from the skin, still he stretches one over Hotaru though it provides no shade. Glancing towards her, her eyes swim in his tear-heavy vision and though there are a thousand words he owes her, all he can manage is a strangled sound of pain as his head tilts imploring to the side. Whatever they are to one another, in this they have never been more united by their grief and loss.

Peering into her eyes, one a near twin to his own, he swallows hard, resisting the urge to reach for her if only because, as she already knew, the weight of a mother's loss would surely be far too much to bear. So instead he shivers in a breath, only noticing just then the presence of several flowers, and--

"Thank you." He whispers, nearly frozen with relief as Mort appears.

As Enzo appears.

The boy goes first to his twin, which gives Remi time to try and swallow down his heart which has lodged itself in his throat. Reaching for Hotaru then like a parent on Christmas morning watching their children open their gifts, the Lullaby is all but breathless as Enzo tumbles into a collective embrace. "Enzo." He whispers, his voice thickened by his accent and his emotion both such that his son's name is a single shapeless sound.

REMI

Mateo

Don't worry, Flora, Mateo isn't jealous - the gown makes her look positively garish in his opinion, and he's quite sure he'd wear it better anyway. He gives a stiff nod to Hotaru in response to the greeting, gazing somewhere off into the desert to see her getting all chummy with his father.

But then none of that matters, because Enzo appears as if he'd never been gone, and the botanist allows himself a small, dimpled smile to see his brother swan in like he's late to a party. And he's right - he's dead and he has earned it, and so Mateo steps forward to drop down on Remi's side, joining in the offered hug.

"I hope you are causing trouble over there," he murmurs fondly.

I wanna wake up
Can't even tell if this is a dream

Hotaru

with no outside threat just a fire in your chest

Mateo’s stiffness is understandable, and though her assumption for Flora’s is completely off base, Hotaru trusts neither will step on any of the too-thin nerves that spread like spiderwebs between the four of them. In contrast, Remi’s wing - more bone than feather now - is a familiar cocoon amidst that tremulous web. One that vibrates with the rise of flowers and the arrival of the one they’ve sought for a year now.

Mort is an unfamiliar figure to Hotaru, but she is given scant moments of pious wonder before an illuminated door appears, and her son steps through. Some strangled sob, or perhaps a mutilated, wounded adulation, crumples in her throat at the sight of him whole and glowing. It replaces the last image she had of him previously; bloodied, mutilated, still. The hand on Remi’s back fists desperately around the meager cloth there, and as he reaches for her she meets him midway with her free hand; but despite the image it paints, it’s to hold herself back. Give Enzo time to embrace his twin while she watches unblinking and greedy.

She doesn’t have to wait long until Enzo is enveloping them all into his arms, and her own arms rise like the most devout worshiper to receive him, tears meaningless rivers on her face. “Hi baby,” she croaks, as she has said every time she’s ever visited him, no matter how it makes him crinkle his nose and roll his eyes. And then, the first to say it - “I’m so sorry.” Her shoulders shake, the sound of the sobs that create it stifled only by the desire to not burden Enzo with her guilt. “We’ve missed you so much.” An expression of love instead of grief.

and you're melting - all over everything

Flora

Yeah, yeah, it was one of the Big Three and would satisfy a levelling requirement, and they should all be so lucky to be in Mort's presence, but as the God appeared (okay, but actually he was cute???), Flora continued to hold her breath and stare with such intensity at the door she was sure to give herself wrinkles.

She didn't care though; for Enzo, she'd do anything. Even give herself premature wrinkles.

No sooner was his foot on the sand, Flora was dashing across the distance to meet him. "Well then you shouldn't have got crushed by a building." Flora replies, and though she tries to say it with a smile and a laugh, she can't help the way her voice breaks and her lips warble. Pressing them together as Enzo takes her elbows, Flora tilts her head to the side before shaking it no. She knew what he meant and she didn't care. She didn't want to be okay without him. Didn't want to do life without him. She wanted to wilt like some rose given on a first date, memorialized behind glass to be with him again.

Throwing her arms around his neck such that he'd have to drag her back toward Hotaru and Remi, Flora clings protectively and desperately against her twin. Good luck getting him back, Mort.

what makes a desert beautiful...is that it hides a well, somewhere

Golden light stretches across the desert as this strange reunion takes place. For his part, Mort stands with his hands clasped easily behind his back and his head lowered slightly. There's a faint smile on his lips, and though he is not an active participant in what is happening, his presence will very much be felt by all those near: a sense of calm, a buoyant and champagne-bright sparkle in their souls that softens the edges of dispair and loss that each of them might be able to properly appreciate the time with Enzo for the gift that it is.

I'm still dancing to tapes that keep playing in my head
while snow falls and lights are flickering

There’s so many words and faces it’s almost overwhelming, but given this is his last chance to see any of them before they join him in death, Enzo tries to be a model student (which he never was in life) to stretch his attention wide enough to encompass all of them. Like dominos he tries to respond to each in turn; Flora’s arms like iron bands around his waist, his own just as hard around her shoulders. Most of his rebuttals, even playful, would hurt her far too much, so instead Enzo knocks their temples together. “I don’t wanna be livin’ it up with Mort and Vai while you’re slumming it down here, Flo. If I can’t enjoy it, you have to do it for me!” She’s not the only one encumbered by the guilt of what had happened to the other twin. “Anyway, grief is only fetching the first six months, are you really going to outstay your welcome for the trend?” His grinning face returns as he beckons her backwards with her arms still glued around his neck, a beacon that guides her forward into the fold of their family’s arms.

One hand curls around Mateo’s shoulder, giving him a brotherly shake - his father can manage little more than his name, so he can wait a moment longer duh. “All in your name, fratello. I’m hoping to crash your cred before you even arrive.” Vai was having none of it, but they didn’t need to know that.

And then his parents. They cling to him desperately, and Mort’s soothing, bright presence is the only reason his heart doesn’t crack fully in two to witness it. No child wants to see their parents brought so low. He places lingering kisses on their cheeks and temples, and pulls them both closer with his free arm. He’s always been too sarcastic to be the wordsmith Flora is, and none of his family line are particularly gifted in the art of sincerity, but Enzo is the king of the Good College Try. “I’ve missed you both too,” he murmurs given their closeness, “and I love you both so much. And it wasn’t your fault - any of you.” His eyes traverse Remi’s face, then Hotaru’s, then a quick glance at Flora’s and Mateo’s. “There’s no hurt with Mort. I’m not alone, either.” Vai and Aoife, the sister he’d never known. “If were calling this my last request, I just want you guys to be happy. To smile when you think of me and all that sappy stuff. I can’t come back, sure, but I’ll still see you all in the end - what’s a little waiting, yknow?” He runs out of sincerity-steam, smile lopsided and awkward as he aims it at anyone who cares to meet his eyes. Gods he’d never even been to a funeral, he has no eulogies or condolences in his repertoire, and now he’s gotta do his own? Lame.

frozen in last winter's bed

Enzo

This scar I can't reverse, when the more it heals the worse it hurts

The weight of being the thing that connects all of these lives together is as staggering as it is without merit. Lover, follower, father, and gods, he didn't deserve any of them at all. So here Remi is, on his knees, without words for any of them.

His fingers reach for Mateo, for Hotaru and Flora too, as his broken and boney wings stretch out pathetically, the gesture of protection a laughable one given the circumstances. Mort's presence dulls the sting of his tears and releases the sob from his throat, but Remi almost wishes it wouldn't. "Just a little waiting." The Lullaby agrees, and though he tries to smile the weight of his regret has his lips trembling toward a frown as his gaze flickers to Mort. How long must an immortal wait? His eyes seem to ask, before he lowers his forehead against Enzo's and presses his eyes closed.

"I will carry you with me always." He vows. Just as he has always carried Aoife. "Always."

REMI

Mateo

It's overwhelming, and only the buzz of whatever Mateo has just taken allows him to swan through this reunion like it's nothing. Rest assured, the repercussions will rear their heads eventually - but for now? He offers a dimpled smile in return to his brother, warmly shaken and feeling as though Enzo is just... going away to the Caido equivalent of college, or something. He's so real, so alive, given that he's... y'know... not.

"Do not crash it too hard. I am not sure that even an eternity in Mort's realm will help me to rebuild it again." All the more reason to forge his reputation here in the living world, where Enzo can't elbow in on it, right? Right. "I will be sure to make mischief in your name," he vows.

I wanna wake up
Can't even tell if this is a dream