Author's Note: This fic was a result of Trin asking me for a fic where Clef is ill or dying. I wrote this and posted a version of it on Tumblr years ago. Back when I was first posting the original version of Sanctuary. There is definitely an echo of that fic in this, as they originally took place in the same storyline.
Basically, I am posting this because I stumbled across the document on google drive today, and it made me cry, so I felt like I needed to share it again. I posted it on AO3 first, then decided to break all of your hearts over here too. Enjoy!
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Begins and Ends With Three Words
For the first time ever, all fourteen of the children were home at the same time. The house was filled to the brim with a handful of partners, over a dozen grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren. All the rest of the house was filled with a strange, sort of stilted chaos. Well, all except the room at the top of the stairs. In that room, the quiet was overpowering.
The midday sky was dark as night. Rain pelted and thunder rattled the windowpane, but Umi hardly paid it any mind. Her attention was on the slow uneven breaths of the tired figure in the bed. The man who had stolen her heart more than three centuries ago, and whose hand she held now.
Her eldest son, Fen, was seated nearby, cradling his own grandchild, who slept peacefully in his arms, unaware of the turmoil of her father or great grandmother. Though barely 300, he was already looking quite tired himself, but that thought wasn't allowed to cross Umi's mind. She could hardly bear the loss of her partner, her best friend, that the idea she might soon lose a child was simply too much to even entertain at that horrible moment.
Three centuries had passed so quickly, it seemed. More quickly than she would have ever expected. Not that their time together was always easy, for they fought nearly as often as they didn't. There had been many a casualty amongst the inanimate objects of the house during some the more explosive arguments. But so much of her life had been spent with him that the idea of life without him in it was more than a little terrifying if she were honest with herself.
A deep breath did little to steady her as tears burned her eyes and threatened to run down her cheeks again. His chilled hand was clutched between hers and she silently prayed for this not to be the end. She wasn't ready to face the future alone.
Clef's eyes flickered open and the edge of his mouth crept up into a soft smile. "My dear Umi."
"Oh, Clef!" she sobbed, unable to hold back the flood any longer. She threw herself over him and clung tightly, never wanting to let go.
"You know," he laughed. "I never once regretted taking you to that ball."
Umi laughed brokenly against his neck. How many times had those words been said over the years? Thousands? Hundreds of Thousands? Millions? Enough that she knew he meant it. He never once regretted one ill-timed pregnancy-for there were plenty of contraception mishaps in their shared past-except for the final one, and that was simply because he feared himself too old. Being the twelfth and final child in his family, he knew the pain of losing a parent when one was too young, and hated the idea of doing it to a child of his own, but he'd been just as elated when Keeli was born as he had been with every other child since the first-even as chaotic and politically knotted that mess had been.
The last few years, he'd clung to life, holding on for her and waiting for her to be old enough that the hole wouldn't be quite so large that an older sibling couldn't step in and bridge the gap. These few weeks, he'd lost his grip as his strength left him. Even his magic had drifted away, as Cephiro herself seemed to say it was time he let go, but no one was ready.
His other hand reached out for Fen. "My dear boy."
"Father," the word caught in their son's throat as he took Clef's outstretched hand.
The bedroom door opened and Keeli slipped in, crawling onto the bed, tearfully whispering to her Papa. She was followed by Beck and Ame. The latter with a nephew on her hip. Those three were followed in by three more sisters and another brother.
Umi sat up slowly, wiping her eyes as she greeted her children quietly by name. Her grandson clambered into her lap, asking when Grandfather would be well again. The only response she could manage was to stroke his hair gently and try not to cry again.
Clef gave each of them, not a greeting, but a fond farewell as they took it, in turn, to touch his hand or kiss his cheek. After he spoke a few comforting words to the last child, he closed his eyes and smiled.
"You know," he whispered quietly. "I'm glad I took you to that ball."
"Me too, Clef." Umi's voice trembled. Not yet. Please.
His hand squeezed hers weakly, fingers even colder than they had been a minute before. Three hundred years wasn't long enough. It wasn't even close. His last words were addressed directly to her, in her mind, bright and as clear as any thought he'd ever sent to her, filled with all the affection and adoration he'd ever showered on her over the past centuries together.
/I love you./