A Stone in the Woods, Sunday at Sunset

[endsthegame]

Nothing could last forever. Least of all a life.

And what had been given would have to be returned, now that the stone's power was dimming.

It had rested quietly here, in the middle of the woods. But now, the mists were pouring out of it again, spreading quietly over the clearing. Calling again, but this time asking for a return, a goodbye, and a passing.

[[ for departures and goodbyes. ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

Atton had his hands stuck in the pockets of his... pants. He'd given his jacket to Meetra the minute she'd mentioned she was cold, much to her amusement (and protests) and, you know, he was fine with that.

It looked better on her anyway.

"So I guess this is the end of the lane," he said.

E chu ta. Again.

[defiance-exiled.livejournal.com]

Meetra peeled the jacket from her shoulders. "Are you going to be all right?" she asked.

The Force looks out for ones such as him, I feel, Kreia had once said. She'd believed it at the time.

Now... she worried.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, you know me," Atton said casually. "I'm always fine."

He nodded at her. "You keep that," he said, "I hear it's probably cold where you're going."

He wouldn't part with that jacket for anything or anyone else, but now he desperately needed to.

[defiance-exiled.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Meetra said dryly, "When I return to the Force, I'm definitely going to need a light jacket."

She tossed him the item of clothing in question.

"What are you going to do next?"

[suitably_heroic]

When I return to the Force.

Atton was really, really proud of the way he didn't wince.

"I don't know yet," he said, tone still casual, "Hang out somewhere, have a drink, maybe play some cards..."

[saddeserthermit]

Satine's arm was tucked through his again. It felt right, but it was also rather bittersweet, for a whole host of reasons.

"I truly am sorry," Obi-Wan said.

He'd said that perhaps one time too much, today.

[not-foolhardy.livejournal.com]

Satine let out a slightly irritated sigh and stopped walking. "Obi-Wan," she said, gazing up into his face. "I know you are."

[saddeserthermit]

"I should have done more," Obi-Wan said.

He'd been saying that about a lot of things, both out loud and not, for the past year or more.

[not-foolhardy.livejournal.com]

Satine squeezed Obi-Wan's arm. "Like what?" she asked. "We're running out of time, my dear," she added softly. "No time for prevaricating."

[saddeserthermit]

"I should have come sooner," Obi-Wan said. "No-- I should have made sure Maul was dead the first time I fought him."

First Qui-Gon, then Satine. The level of his failure there was intolerable.

[frater-glacies.livejournal.com]

Arm-in-arm, two blonde heads bent together in private conversation as they wound their way though the stone-paved streets of Fandom and into woods until they were about a hundred yards out from the stone, mist just starting to coil around their ankles.

"End of the line for you, Ems," Christian said, gently withdrawing his arm from his sister. "The rest of this is just for me."

[icecoldfrost]

"It's not fair." Suddenly, Emma felt all of fourteen again, and she didn't like it very much. "Why can't you have a week, or a month? Why does it let you come just long enough for me to stop doubting my own senses, and then take you away again?"

[frater-glacies.livejournal.com]

"Because it's to help you find peace with yourself, Emma, not to keep beating yourself up over what's already happened," he replied, flicking his fingers against her head. "I'm dead, and it wasn't your fault. Stop overthinking it."

[icecoldfrost]

"Feeling responsible isn't overthinking it," she protested, rubbing at the spot he'd just tapped. "You're being ridiculous."

[frater-glacies.livejournal.com]

"Ems..." Christian shoved his hands through his hair, then set his hands on her shoulders. "Look at you, you're as tall as I am."

"I'm the one that screwed-up, okay? I think, somewhere deep-down, I knew you were going to be the one that found me, and I wanted that. Because you were the only one that cared, and you loved me so much and unconditionally. Hell, you were the only person with a heart left in that house."

"And that was terrible of me. Not that you found me still alive, but that I was willing to put that on you in the first place. And everything that spiraled out of that was my fault. I was sick, Emma. I was suicidally depressed and just wanted to turn it all off. He broke me, and I was just going to keep doing stupid shit until I found a way to check-out. Winston just sped the process up when he had me locked-up." Christian leaned forward and put his forehead against Emma's, closing his eyes. "Kiddo, after what happened to Dante...I just couldn't fight anymore. I'm sorry. None of it is your fault, so stop. Please. Before you do something stupid like that journal-stunt again and get yourself killed."

[life_inshadow]

It was too goddamn soon for Tara to leave. It wasn't fair or right or --

She knew she was at peace where she was going. It didn't make the journey back any more welcome.

She reached to squeeze Kennedy's hand one last time. "So," she said. "Um. Thanks for the weekend?"

It was supposed to be funny, but she couldn't keep the crack out of her voice.

[brat_inslayage]

And Kennedy had duties to get back to, and Willow, and the ongoing problem of what to do about the girls who didn't want to be Slayers, but that didn't make this any easier.

"Any time," she answered, and how was she supposed to make that sound as casual and lighthearted as she was trying to after hearing that crack in Tara's voice, or let go of her hand yet? "It was good. To see you again, I mean. Really good, and do you really have to go back? Dumb question, I know."

[life_inshadow]

"Given our track record with resurrecting the dead?" Tara teased, eyes sad. "Yeah, I think I do."

He hesitated for a long moment. "Does it help at all to know it's peaceful? I don't have to worry or be sad or angry or -- anything. Buffy was right about that much."

[brat_inslayage]

"No surprise she wasn't so cool with coming back from that," Kennedy said thoughtfully. "Hell, I've forgotten what that's like, and she's been doing this way longer than I have, though there's enough of us now that she can get plenty of downtime. Which, I'm not saying we've totally lied and told her we need her help with some crisis just so we can drag her to Rio for a few days, but..."

Nobody bought that innocent expression, Kennedy. Nobody ever had.

She took a breath. "It does help, though. If there's anybody who ever deserved that, it's you. It'd be selfish to want you to stay, and... kinda like to think I've grown up a little bit." A beat, while she swallowed and managed a shaky smile. "Have I mentioned that being an adult really sucks sometimes?"

[life_inshadow]

"Yes, but there's no such thing as saying it too much," Tara told her. "It does, it sucks, a lot, and I'm sorry."

She shuffled a foot through the grass, awkward with emotion. "Next time you have a fake crisis in Rio, take a couple days off for yourself, okay?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker let Nick hold her hand while he looked for the rock. Well. Clutched was closer.

She was kind of hoping they'd get lost and not be able to find it.

[whoisnickwhite.livejournal.com]

Nick could tell where it was. And he was okay with going back. But not really okay with leaving Parker. About halfway there he asked, "What happened to Mom?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had already been hanging back a little, and he paused, trailing a little further behind, at the question.

He wouldn't pretend he hadn't been curious himself, but he was a man well used to secrets, and hadn't thought to ask.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison, however, was curious by nature and had wondered. Nearly asked a hundred times. But his respect for Parker's privacy had always won out in the end.

"You rather I go?" he asked Parker in an undertone. "Let y'all talk?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker stopped, scowling into the forest. "I don't know." She didn't look at either of the guys, or Nick. "Stuff happened."