Title: Gone.
Summary: She sent them all away on purpose. She did it on purpose. It was just him, Luce and Lal. And maybe not Luce.
Genres: Angst
Rating: T
Characters: Skull and Luce.

He's holding her hand too tightly, and he's sure she's already broken several of his fingers, but he can't feel the pain. He's too scared. She's screaming, and he swears, this is the first he's heard her use the word fuck. And this will probably also be the last time.

Lal is shouting as well, telling her to push, and then he can't hear what she's saying because he's concentrating so hard on Luce. He not even blinking because she could go literally any second now and she wouldn't be alive by the time he opened his eyes.

And all of a sudden its over and he hears a baby crying and Luce stops screaming for a bit, and he swears his heart stopped. But then she opens her eyes again and he lets out the breath he didn't know he was holding and smiles.

But Luce doesn't. She's still sweaty and sticky, and no, no don't look there. Anywhere but there. She looks at him and tries to sit up, but he pushes her back down. "Stop, you're still weak."
She would have rolled her eyes, but now is not the time and she wasn't that kind of person anyway. "I don't have much longer anyway." And so she sat up, and he swallowed hard because she was still in pain. And would probably be gone in a few minutes, tops.

He opens his mouth to say something, anything that could make her last moments peaceful. But his throat is too dry and there's something wedged down there that won't let him. But it doesn't matter because she does the talking anyway. She inhales nervously, and looks him straight in the eye, and he can see the tears welling up. And that's what scares him. He's never seen Luce cry before. That was his job. He was the youngest and the crybaby of the group, and Luce would be his mother figure.

"Now Skull, you take care of her. You be her big brother and you stay with her as much as you can and don't you ever leave her. Reborn's going to hate her and he's going to hate you too, but you stay strong, do you understand?" Her voice is cracking the tears are falling down freely on both of their faces, but he just nods silently.
He'd convinced Reborn to go take a mission yesterday, despite his reluctance, on Luce's orders. The older man probably wouldn't forgive him for this. He'd never get over losing his lover like this. But he had to stay strong, because Reborn would hate for the rest of eternity.

"You stay with her every step of her life and you be there for her when she needs to cry or when her job just becomes too hard because she'll be forced to take over by the time she's five. You stay and you help her, do you understand?" And she doesn't even pause because her time is running out and he can already feel her pulse slowing a bit through her wrist.
Then Lal comes back in the room with a giant bundle of thick fabric and she walks over quietly and hands the little thing to Luce. She lets go of my hand; and it feels cold and clammy and horribly empty; and she holds the baby and she just looks at it. I don't know what was going through her mind, but the moment was silent.

The memory was burnt into my brain like a hot iron; something I'd never forget. The look she had on her face was so peaceful, with the corners of her lips touching up ever so slightly and her eyes glazing over with even more tears. But the moment is over as soon as it begins. She winces, because she can feel her time coming. Death is already wrapping its hands around her soul.

"Her name is Aria." She turns to me and I freeze. "I want to know your real name before I go." This was her dying wish. I hesitate, even though I don't have the time to. But I hesitate and I realize I shouldn't and the words spill out before I can even stop them. I can't, I shouldn't. A name is the very key to ones whole life. But this is Luce and I wouldn't forgive myself for not doing this.

"My name James Horan King and I have a brother but he's not actually my brother, and I don't know where he is now and you're my mother but you're not really my mother and I don't want you to go and-" I can't even continue because crying so hard and the rest of my words are a blubbering mess.
I don't even care that Lal heard my name because Lal is crying too and I'd never dreamed that I'd see her cry, but I don't even have enough in me to care. Luce shushes me, but she's scared too.

She hands the baby to me and looks me one last time in the eye before she lies down and closes her eyes. She whispers the word 'goodbye' and I can barely hear it but I do and then she's gone. In that one moment she's gone. Death has taken her soul away and the room is already freezing cold. The quiet sobs are the only things that break the silence.

I look at Aria. She's so pink and fresh and new and she's got a few whites flakes on her skin here and there. She has her mother's eyes. But I can't read the emotion because I'm terrible at doing that sort of thing. Her tiny reaches up and touches my chin and I start crying all over again. "Mama's not here, mama's not here."
And I look at Lal and she looks at me and despair is written all over her face and I just don't know what to do. I hold the little girl close to me. She is the only reminder of Luce the world will ever have.