goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

Hotaru

with no outside threat just a fire in your chest

His kisses feel like deliverance, and Mort’s soothing presence combined helps fill spiderwebbed cracks that threatened the very foundation of her soul. There will always be a hole where Enzo should be, but the rest is sealed with gold and love and this final goodbye she has never gotten before. His forgiveness, his lopsided smile, the warmth and solidity of him in her arms…it breaks her apart fully, only to find that what was beneath is stronger with the force of Enzo’s comfort.

Though Remi and Enzo both reach for her, Hotaru doesn’t feel torn. She feels perfectly centered between these four people, and the comfort of it slows her tears to lethargic trickles. Her hands rise to gently cup Enzo’s face, tracing the glowing curve of his cheeks with her thumbs. Every freckle exactly where she last remembered them being. “I have never been prouder of anything more than being your mother,” she says firmly, banishing even the quake of tears from her tone to impart her gravity upon him. “You are a part of me - of all of us - forever.” And just as Remi said, they will carry Enzo with them eternally. Some longer than others, and Hotaru does not envy Remi that pain. “I can’t wait until I see you again.” This she whispers against his forehead as she kisses it tenderly, selfishly taking his space and time for a moment. She won’t rush that reunion, won’t sully his final request, but when it comes she will greet it with open arms.

and you're melting - all over everything

Flora

For all her grief and tears and endless prayers for Enzo to come back, Flora's nose wrinkles in distaste as he mentions the faux pax she's been committing. Perhaps it's because of Mort's presence or simply because she's tangled up in her twin, but Flora finds it in herself to laugh, and roll her eyes in adoring agreement. "Well, I can't have anyone saying that the Kaliesin's aren't on trend." She hums, pressed firmly against his side.

"Oh don't worry, he's doing that perfectly well on his own." Flora sasses of Mateo, shooting her remaining sibling a glare from where she's tucked like a puzzle piece against Enzo.

She doesn't parrot Remi's words, because obviously Enzo will be with her always, nor does she make promises to MaKe MiSChIeF iN hIs NaMe. He isn't fucking Fred Weasley, Mateo. Instead, she just clutches Enzo tighter, taking in every moment of this. "I will always love you most." She whispers. Does she mean she'll love Enzo most out of any potential suitors down the line? Or that she loves him more than those assembled here?

Yes.

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

'Enzo..' Mort's voice is as warm and rich as mahogany. With eyes of the deepest umber he watches the gathering as emotions swell and crest. Time doesn't stand a chance against moments such as this one; always it will fall short no matter how many eternities are stretched out. "..we can't stay much longer." Untethered souls did not belong in the world of the living, and despite his unfettered love for all of Vi's creations, Mort was not one to ignore his own duties.

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

Mort’s sweet voice slides into the gaps between his families words like a spring wind, but even the gentleness of the God’s reminder can’t stop the instinctive desire to dig in his heels and object. He pulls away reluctantly from his mother’s gentle kiss to look at them all from a distance, to see them as one. There they all kneel, arms still wrapped around one another in a mass of limbs and heart. Flora, his other half. Mateo, his only brother. Remi and Hotaru, parents who had always loved him fiercely regardless of complications. Boldly, blasphemously, Enzo thinks that in this moment, his love for his family outweighs even Mort’s love for Vi.

“It was more time than we thought we’d have,” he murmurs, to Mort and his family alike, though he scarcely blinks as he takes them all in. Then he goes in a semi-circle, pressing kisses to each forehead. A wet, messy one for Mateo first; “Break a few hearts for me too, huh?” A lingering one on Remi’s left brow; “I’ll always be with you, dad. Even when only your soul is wrinkly and ancient.” Another lingering one on the small bridge of Hotaru’s nose where it spreads into pale brows; “Try to live for me, mama. I’ll see you again before you know it.”

And then there is Flora.

He pulls her half over his shoulder from where she had been clinging, a perfect fit as she has always been. Trails kisses from ear to ear over the arch of her eyebrows until he can whisper right back into the left one. “As I will always love you most.” He squeezes until it nearly hurts, and stands with a slowness that hurts far worse. He has managed to avoid crying this entire time; too happy to see them all and buoyed by Mort’s shining presence, but as he backs away slowly to the God’s side, Enzo can’t help the small sheen in his own eyes. “I love you all. You shouldn’t have needed to hear it from me to know it, but I guess I can say it one more time.” Cocksure smirk firmly in place, Enzo salutes them lazily with two fingers - on the wrong hand. “Don’t give me another family reunion too soon, ‘kay?” Enzo has to be the young east and prettiest in the afterlife. Take that, Flora.

Then turning to Mort, his smile slips a little. Something more resigned. “Thank you, Mort. I’m ready now.” He has so much to tell Vai and Aoife now after all.

frozen in last winter's bed

Enzo

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

Mort's words cut through the golden serenity his presence had draped around them all, freezing Remi to his core and stealing away his breath. No, he thinks desperately, turning to watch with wide and nearly feral eyes as Enzo moves to embrace Mateoone. last. time. Feeling his fingers grow tense as his muscles contract with the sort of arrogant power Remi was more or less known for, the Lullaby feathers his jaw as he looks towards Mort. Was there any way around this? Any weakness he could exploit, anything of himself he could give up instead?

Before he might have bartered or bargained, Enzo was in his arms, pressing his lips to his brow. Pulling the boy tightly against him, Remi's mind whirls for the right words to express what he thinks and feels, and then as the seconds tick by he searches for any words at all. Tongue-tied and finding himself unprepared for a moment he'd been preparing for for the last year, the Lullaby can only curl his fingers into Enzo's hair, and pray that in some afterlife or other he might be able to atone for all the days he missed watching his son grow up.

"I love you so very, very much."

REMI

Mateo

Snorting and trying to rub at the sloppy kiss Enzo slorps across his forehead, Mateo can't help the dimpled smile on his face as he steps back from his brother. "Maybe one or two," he says, disentangling himself from this octopus-level hug now so he can put some distance between them on the sand. If Enzo is going to leave again, at least he wants to see him from head to toe before he goes.

"See you soon," he tells his brother while simultaneously ignoring his sister. And though it is not the time and place, were he close enough or if he thought he'd get away with it, he'd hiss this is still your fault into her ear. Sibling love and all that.

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

Hotaru

with no outside threat just a fire in your chest

"Try to live for me, mama." And what can she do but nod? Her voice can't overcome the thick clog in her throat, choking her, reminding her that these are the final minutes - maybe seconds - that she will have with Enzo until the day she dies. But he seems to know this fear that lives in her chest, because he whispers soft comforts that help her breathe through the pain of losing him a second time. It's different. She has to tell herself it's different - this time, there are real goodbyes and a chance for apologies, forgiveness, and promises for reunions. Hotaru cannot disregard her son's last request, no matter how hard it is to swallow.

She can't find her voice again until he has already pulled away from her arms, which drop limply to her sides, with only the strength left to try and seek Remi's knee - diverting at the last moment from trying to grab his hand. Her eyes burn from refusing to blink as she drinks in this last, glowing visage of their son. "I love you so much baby," she croaks, and summons the warmest smile she can manage despite the shaking of her lips. Seeing Enzo and Mort standing together settles the agony in her breast; it is the clearest sign she has that Enzo is at peace, that he will want for nothing as he waits for them to join him. That is comfort enough for Hotaru.

and you're melting - all over everything

Flora

Flora would live in this moment if she could, revelling in the delicious pressure of Enzo's arms around her, not minding at all the way she had to sip for air because of the way her lungs were pressed inward from his grip. She didn't care, and never would. In the days and months and, hard as it is to even think of, years to come, she'll remember this moment always. The way it was the very last time Enzo had held her.

When he's gone, the girl is gasping for breath in an entirely new way. Mort's sunny presence stops her from the theatrics they might have otherwise expected of her: screaming for Mort to take her, running into the light-filled doorway, or tugging out fistfuls of Mateo's curls. Instead, she merely stands with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, biting hard at the inside of her lip. "I'll live the best life for you, so you'd better watch." Then, flushing, she quickly adds. "Eww, but not all the time, you weirdo."

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

Placing an arm around Enzo's shoulder, the god gives the boy a gentle squeeze. Light blurs all around them, erasing their outsides and sending starbursts of colours skittering from their silhouettes. 'Love each other fiercely, until we all meet again.' Mort sings as all colour is pulled from the world until there is nothing at all but white light.

When eventually it fades, the group will find themselves alone in the desert once more, though the flowers which had bloomed to herald the god's arrival will remain.

~FIN