A/N: Ok, this is a completely impromptu story, one I wrote just after I finished chapter 6 of Awakened(The best AND the worst chapter in the history of House of Night, if you ask me),and I have no idea how that book ends(at the moment). So for all I know, Damien could die too. I´m hoping he won´t though... So, I guess, here is the product of my tears. Why do the best ones always die? Oh, and I do include Heath as one of the 'best ones', mainly because I love how he and his relationship with Zoey evolved during the course of the books. Enjoy! (Or weep. I´ll be content with any reaction)
SPOILERS for Awakened
After a time that he could not possibly measure, Jack returned to the cottage he shared with Heath, only to find him deep in thought, staring at the floorboards.
"Heath?" he asked, putting down the utensils he had used to chisel a statue out of a large rock inside the grove. If he had been told before he died that making statues was what he was going to occupy himself with in the Otherworld, he would have laughed and said: 'Sure. And Jack and Ennis are straight!' But in the seemingly endless time he had spent in the Otherworld, he had needed something to focus his energy on.
"I can see her," Heath said, interrupting Jack's personal reverie. He didn´t have to tell him who he meant.
"I know," Jack said sadly, letting his gaze drift out the window.
"She´s saving the world – again," Heath smiled.
"That´s our Z," Jack thought back to the many times Zoey had been there for him, and for Damien. "I can see him too," he said, a smile of his own flittering across his lips.
"They´re moving on with their lives," Heath observed, his whole appearance tinged with something one might recognize as jealousy. However, since they were not mortal or alive anymore, such trivial feelings were not of them.
"As they should."
Jack was changed. He was waiting, forever waiting in that timeless environment. And he knew that was dangerous. He could never tell whether a day had passed, or a decade. The only thing keeping him grounded – so to speak – was the visions of Damien that he kept having. He got to see Damien mourning for him, Damien Changing, Damien growing up, Damien moving on. Jack was probably going to have to wait hundreds of years to see Damien again. However, as time did not exist in the Otherworld, Jack could never know how long he´d been waiting.
And when he would finally meet his beloved once more, wouldn´t they both be so altered – so changed by their different experiences that the love they had once shared with each other had disappeared?
"Your love will always be strong, my child."
Jack took a deep breath, sensing the peace and love that filled the air around him. It was always there, for Nyx was always with him. He had simply allowed himself to forget that, in the moment of sorrow and hopelessness he had experienced. In the back of his mind, a thought formed. How long had he let that sorrow fill him?
He sat down on a rock in the middle of the green and soothing grove, as he searched for his Damien below. What his spirit witnessed he would never forget. Damien resting in his bed, next to his sleeping long-time mate, staring at the wall that had a painting of a sword hanging on it. There was an odd inscription on the painted sword. Jack smiled as he understood.
Jack Twist – Defying Gravity – Until we meet again
Thank you for reading, and I hope the tense wasn´t too messed up...