Deep in the Woods, Sunday Night

[weirderthanthou]

Time was precious - and limited.

As the sun slid back down to the horizon, the arch began to thrum once more. The space within it turned a bright white, and its voice called out again. Singing to the dead, beckoning them home.

It was time.

[[ come say goodbye to your visitors. ]]

Comments

[an_angel_scorned]

They said their goodbyes at the treeline. Dante had stopped, just steps away from the clearing itself, and raised his chin at the arch. "You should take it from here, mom."

(He didn't want to say goodbye. The little kid in him wanted to cling to her and keep her here forever. The adult knew where this was going. The adult was too tired to even pretend to fight it.)

"Are you sure?" Eva asked, turning around to look at her son with worried eyes.

"We both know who's gonna show at that portal sooner or later," Dante said, with a little shrug, the tiniest lift of his mouth. "And I wasn't planning to put on a big show." Thought about it. "This time."

Eva looked at him. Steady, like she was reading every word straight through his casual, who-cares expression. "You should talk to her, Dante," she said. "She needs you."

"That," Dante said, "Is what we call a difference of opinion." He crossed his arms, glancing past his mom's shoulder to the portal. "Give her another year, she'll be fine."

Eva shook her head. "You're as stubborn as your father," she said. "At least do me the courtesy of not lying to my face."

Dante snorted. "My dad? Yeah? That's where I get it from?" But at least he was looking right at her this time. "Let's not waste our last couple minutes on arguing about the ex-girlfriend, all right?"

He didn't have much family left. Or... any family left. Technically. ... he wrenched himself away from the thought the second it hit him, like touching a hot stove or something, and quickly opened his arms wide.

His mom still had that look on her face, like she wanted to keep up the argument, actually. And if it weren't for the context of it, he would've said he liked seeing it. Cranky mom looked more alive than worried-angelic-mom had been, like the woman he'd known in his childhood shining true.

She hugged him. It was nice.

A few minutes later, she left, and he parked his shoulder against the nearest tree, watching her go, his white hair spilling over his face and rendering his expression even more unreadable.

[thatsmysword]

Henry hadn't felt like himself since Bianca got here. Everything felt a bit funny and faraway. He was trying, through. Had tried. To treat her like normal. Like she was just a person. Like they were just people.

Like he hadn't seen her corpse smoldering in the ruins of--

To treat her like she should be treated.

But everything felt far away. And so when they finally did reach the arch, he was-- taken aback. How had they gotten here this quickly?

"I suppose that's us then," he said.

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Now, you remember all the advice I gave you, right?" Sarah fussed. "I don't know how many more trips I get to come keep an eye on you, you know."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yes, you left me written copies," Kathy sighed. "If someone didn't know better, they'd think you were the nerd, not me."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Okay, one, high-key offended, how dare; and two, I'm serious. Like, yeah, sure, you like your apartment or whatever, but that's not a good enough reason to stay."

"I also like my neighborhood. And my job."

"Apartments exist everywhere! And nice neighborhoods! And bartending!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay, okay, I'll think about it," Kathy said, in part because she didn't want to spend their last few minutes bickering and in part because Sarah was getting louder. "I really will, I promise. I'm not going to cling to something just because I think I should."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"Don't just think, do. You think too much, that's always been one of your biggest problems," Sarah huffed. "Sometimes you just gotta get out there and do something."

Kathy sighed. "Sarah, it's not that easy--"

"It's this, or I point out that the best way to get over someone is to under someone else!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Sarah!" Kathy sputtered. "Where did you even hear--ugh, never mind. I don't want to know."

Instead, she reached out and pulled her little sister close, hugging her tight. "I love you, Sarah," she murmured. "I know you're worried about me and I'm sorry. But I promise, I will figure stuff out. You do know that I don't go home and cry myself to sleep every night, right? I really am okay."

[nobodydoesntlike]

"You're allowed to cry yourself to sleep tonight," Sarah informed her. "That's okay."

"Well, good, because there's no way that you could stop me from crying after saying goodbye to you," Kathy said.

"See, like, you saaaaay that," Sarah hedged.

[spin_kick_snap]

They stopped directly in front of the arch, Kathy raising her eyebrow. "Just what does that mean?" she demanded.

[nobodydoesntlike]

Sarah hugged Kathy very hard, then pulled away to scritch Ronin behind the ears. "You take care of my big sister real good, okay?" she told him. "She's gonna need it extra over the next couple of days."

[spin_kick_snap]

Ronin let out a low woof and licked Sarah's palm.

"Sarah..." Kathy said, a warning in her voice. "What did you do?"

[nobodydoesntlike]

"I went to yell at Dante at the ice cream store and to try to figure out what his whole deal was, but he was a giant butthead and didn't say anything!" Sarah said in a rush. "Anyway, gotta go! Saranghae, unni. Dangsin-eul yeong-wonhi salanghal geoyeyo!"

"Sarah, don't you dare--!"

Too late. Sarah stepped back into the portal, blowing Kathy a kiss as she vanished from sight.

[spin_kick_snap]

Leaving Kathy to just stand there, staring at the portal with incredulity, at least until Ronin tugged her to the side and slightly away so she didn't interrupt anybody else's goodbyes.

"Well..." she said finally. "At least I'm not crying." Yet.

Ronin woofed again. "Yeah, I know that's why she did it. There's always a method to her menace."

She was just going to deal with all of that...later. Much later. Out of the public eye. Possibly not until she was back in her apartment, away from the sight of prying squirrels.

"Bye, Sarah," she whispered. "I'll love you forever, too."

[rebelseekspizza]

And hopefully by the time she looked away from the arch, the flash of red-and-white between the trees had managed to beat the hasty retreat he'd been gunning for.