Of all the things to come true

[notagiraffe]

Characters: Taiki and people
Setting: Graveyard
Format: Any you pick
Summary: Taiki comes back to himself after the event, to find that part of his future has come true
Warnings: Grief

And overnight he was eleven again, the memories of those fifty years faded though he still remembered what it felt like to have been here so long, how sad Zelda had been. What it had been like to be older and yet still trapped.

The first thing he did once he got dressed was leave his room and head downstairs, though he couldn't feel Gyousou's presence he had to see his things, see his name on the door. Remind himself that even though he wasn't here he was coming back.

Because he had to be.

A few moments later after looking at the name plate a worried looking child burst into room 3-20 and stared in silent disbelief at the empty trunk. He stood frozen for a few moments and then burst into tears and ran out of the room.

It couldn't be true, his things had been there, before last week. They had been there.

He reached the graveyard his tears still flowing and slowed down as he began to walk the rows of headstones looking for the name he hoped wouldn't be there.

But it was and Taiki's tears got faster as he fell to his knees in the light snow and curled up next to the stone, shaking with sobs.

Comments

[warriorscribe]

Enoch had once adopted this floor, patrolled it to keep monsters away from mourners, to comfort them if they seemed they needed it.

But he couldn't stand even a facsimile of death anymore. He usually hurried past it now. So many graves - empty, but graves. Like the ones he'd dug himself... Even worse that he knew these graves meant someone else alone. Trapped on their world.

But today he saw someone he knew. A child. Taiki.

Enoch stepped off the staircase and approached, kneeling next to the kirin.

It was even worse, he'd told the kirin he'd be back. But...they couldn't find him again.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki didn't notice the person approaching at first until they knelt down next to him. He half sat up glancing over with wide eyes to see who it was.

"Enoch..." Taiki whispered the name before half flinging himself into the mans arms his tears starting again. "Sorry..."

[warriorscribe]

"Why are you apologizing?" Enoch hugged Taiki when he flung himself at him, stroking the child's hair soothingly. "I should be the one saying that."

[notagiraffe]

"I tried to keep hoping..." He murmured between sobs. "But... it's all dark and..."

He broke off to cry some more, he felt like even if he cried all the tears inside him he would still want to cry more, like something inside him was being filled with sadness.

[warriorscribe]

And Enoch sat there patiently, holding the kirin as he cried. "Shh...it's all right. Hope falters sometimes. Especially in the face of loss. They'll try to bring him back. He isn't really dead..."

But he's alone...

Enoch hugged Taiki a little tighter. "Do you have a...mantra, some words, a habit, something you do or say to keep your hopes up?"

[notagiraffe]

"But Tai is gone..." Saying the words outloud seemed like a betrayal, but in the face of such darkness and pain Taiki couldn't imagine anything but the worst, "And he's all alone..." And may be alone forever, which was more than Taiki could bear.

He blinked at Enoch and shook his head slowly, he knew no such things.

[warriorscribe]

"Well-..."

...No. Not even he could say it, not in the face of someone else doomed to the awful loneliness he'd felt in Meridian.

"...It isn't the right situation for one. I'm sorry." Enoch's voice was only a whisper, the softness of his voice an attempt to keep his own tears at bay. "But what you can do is...have faith that he'll return one day. Or that the worlds can be restored."

[notagiraffe]

"Do you think they can be?" Taiki blinked because it wasn't like they were just destroyed by Youma, as far as he could tell even the gods were gone.

[warriorscribe]

"Perhaps. Places like these tend to be odd, in regards to space and time. And their technology is powerful. We don't know what they can do, and neither do we know what they cannot."

He patted Taiki's head a bit, trying to smile reassuringly.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki nodded and leaned on Enoch, hoping he was right. "I miss him so much."

[warriorscribe]

"I know."

Loss was one of the more painful things of life, one he'd experienced in too many ways. All he could do was keep comforting Taiki as best as he could.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki was silent a while longer, leaning on Enoch tears still falling, though his eyes were beginning to close, the exhaustion of grief taking over.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch wasn't going to abandon him. He still held the boy close, curled very slightly as if to protect him. He knows the pain of losing someone all too well. And of being the one lost. He couldn't help but imagine this was exactly how the sons and daughters of Hadraniel, of Midracshe, of Ozah reacted when their father vanished, with evidence planted to lead to the assumption of death. (It was that, or lead Azazel to them.)

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[He'd thought himself alone in the graveyard, tending the graves of his friends as he often did. And as he did when he thought a thousand years had passed here. He set a flower upon each grave, today, and turned to leave. He stopped when the sound of sobbing reached his ears and sought out the source. Only to find Taiki.

A glance at the grave confirmed his fears and he was reminded, harshly, of when he had found Gimli's grave. Kneeling down beside him, Legolas gathered him into his arms and held him, letting him cry as much as he needed to.]

[notagiraffe]

[When Taiki felt himself being lifted he opened his eyes fearfully to see who had come upon him, seeing it was Legolas he closed them again and clung to the elf.

After a long while he whispered, though Legolas would be forgiven if he didn't hear it even with his elven hearing.] I thought he would come back...

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[He held Taiki carefully, softly petting his head and rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth him. It hurt the elf to see him crying, to see such a young and pure spirit to suffer such a loss in a place so terrible as this. He would gladly give up anything to see him smile again.]

I know.

[He can't think of much else to say. He'd not had a chance to know Taiki's king as Haldir had but he understood how important he was to the young one.]

[notagiraffe]

[He cried some more feeling bad he was burdening Legolas so but unable to stop himself.]

And now he's all alone...

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Burdening him? No, never. And Legolas would tell him as much if he knew what Taiki was thinking. Everyone needed a shoulder that they could cry on, someone they could talk to when they were upset.]

We will find a way back to him, to all our friends, Taiki. I swear it to you. You'll see him again.

[notagiraffe]

I hope so... [He blinked sadly] When... when I thought I had been here for a long time, I hadn't seen him in fifty years... [Now that seemed an impossibly long time for someone who had only lived for eleven years, and the idea of not seeing Gyousou for a year, to be alone was enough to crush his heart.]

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Brushing a hand through his hair, he lightly kissed the top of Taiki's head and held him a little closer.]

I promise you. No matter what it takes, we'll see our homes whole again and our friends and family safe.

[A pause and a small smile.] It breaks my heart to see you so sad that I would not make this promise to you unless I believed it possible.

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki clung to him feeling back that he was making his clothes wet with tears.] You're really kind...

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

Of course. You are friend to me and I would not see you sad if there was some assurance I could give you, some happiness I could give to you.

[They could be cleaned or dried easily enough. Legolas was clearly not concerned with a wet tunic. After all, he'd once fought a battle in a rain storm, this was not even close.]

[notagiraffe]

[Legolas was a friend, a good one. Taiki still remembered their friendship from when he had thought he had been here so long. He leaned on him silently for a moment before remembering something else from his memories of the week before.]

Are... are you and Haldir really going to get married?

[bow_of_the_galadhrim]

[Oh, Taiki. Oh. Watch as his cheeks flush and goes all the way up to his ears. With a soft laugh, he musses some of Taiki's hair before going back to brushing his hands through it.]

Perhaps someday. We've traditions among our culture that have to be observed if we do. Some of which will be impossible but if we found a way around it in that strange glimpse of the future, we will again. If we choose to marry.

[notagiraffe]

What kind of traditions? [Maybe Taiki could help find ways for them to fulfill them, he thought Legolas and Haldir should get married. They were both really kind and even though they argued a lot Taiki thought it was a bit like how Enki argued with Lord Shoryu.]