Author's Note: And here it is, the final chapter of Forget Me Not! I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to leave comments, kudos, or have just taken the time to read this fic - it mean so much to me to know that people enjoy my writing. This was a very fun fic to write (I'm so sorry for the angst though, whoops) and I'll probably start drafting another multi-chaptered fic soon. Thank you for reading, 'I love you, I'll miss you, and I'll be back soon'. :)
Lukas didn't know what to expect after the deed was done, but he wasn't prepared for the immediate sensation of sunshine warming his skin. He slowly blinked his eyes open to find himself standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the the sandy beaches of the Irish coast.
For the most part, it was exactly the same as how he remembered it from all those years ago. Still, as Lukas took a few deep breaths of ocean air, something seemed different. The air carried a scent that was different from that of his memory of the place: it was sweeter, cleaner, a stronger and more delicious perfume than the one from years ago.
Lukas slowly turned to look behind him. The ground was like a sea of azure: acres upon acres of tiny blue flowers sprawled across the clifftop in place of the daisies, all rippling in the sea breeze so that they mimicked the sight of the waves a hundred meters below. And in the center of it all-
"Lukas."
Mathias's eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open in shock. There were no scratches or injuries anywhere on him and he looked exactly as Lukas remembered him.
Lukas could swear that his heart stopped beating. "Oh my God," he breathed, taking a wobbly step forward.
Mathias immediately started running towards him. After a second of thought, Lukas sprinted forward too until he slammed into Mathias's chest and threw his arms around his waist. Mathias hugged him so tightly that he could hardly breathe, fervently covering his head in kisses as he repeated Lukas's name over and over.
"Oh my God, oh my God, Mathias." He wasn't even trying to hold back his tears as he sobbed into Mathias's shirt. "I'm so sorry!"
"You're sorry? " Mathias pulled back for a second, his eyes red and puffy. "I'm the moron who went off and got myself killed and left you all alone back there for months!" He exclaimed, brushing away a stray tear on Lukas's face. "You were so sad."
Lukas was startled. "I didn't know if you could hear me! I only hoped that you could, until..." He trailed off, turning his eyes to the ground.
Mathias placed his hand under Lukas's chin and tilted his head up. "I heard you, Lukas! I was there every single time you visited that stupid gravestone, and it was the most agonizing thing in the world to listen to you suffering like that." Mathias's other hand tightened on his back, as if he was trying to subconsciously protect Lukas from his past. "I tried to scream, to throw objects, to touch you, anything to make you see that I was there, but nothing worked. I just had to watch you come back and and get worse every single week. It broke my heart," he confessed, his voice dangerously close to breaking.
"I'm here now," Lukas said, pulling him back into a tight hug. "God, I missed you, you idiot. Never do that do me again."
Mathias gave a teary laugh. "I don't think that I could if I tried. But speaking of that..." He stepped away from Lukas, an apprehensive look crossing his features. "You killed yourself."
Lukas couldn't meet his eyes. "You know why."
"Emil found your body."
Lukas shuddered, his eyes slowly closing. "I was afraid that would happen." He ran his hands through his hair, trying to suppress the gruesome image that came to mind. "First his friend and now his own brother, just in the span of a few months. But he wasn't surprised, was he? He knew that this was coming."
Looking back at it, Lukas supposed that he had been marked as a time-bomb the second he learned that Mathias had died: his mental and physical deterioration would have been visible to anyone who met him after that. Emil would have watched his friends move through the process of grieving and slowly regain their composure while Lukas continued to fall.
Mathias watched him for a few moments before bending down and plucking one of the flowers at their feet. "That doesn't mean that it hurt any less," he answered, placing it in Lukas's hand.
His fingers closed around it. "I know."
Before he could do anything else, Lukas felt himself once again being wrapped in Mathias's tight embrace. "He's a tough kid, and he still has Ber and Tino there to support him. He'll be okay," Mathias murmured.
Lukas sighed. "I really hope you're right." He reopened his palm, inspecting the new little flower. "By the way, what is this place? And what happened to the daisies?"
Mathias's eyes lit up once again as he took Lukas's hand and began leading him through the field. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I honestly don't know what this place is, but this is where I came when I first- well, ya' know, died. The fields stretch on for miles, and I haven't seen anyone else here yet. I'm guessing that the flowers were changed to meet our circumstances." Mathias shrugged and picked him another flower. "Daisies for the living, Forget-Me-Nots for the dead."
Mathias continued leading him through the field, chattering all along the way. "I think that it's kind of like heaven, but… Different. Like, the place you go when you die is where your happiest memories were, a place that you considered 'heaven' while you were still alive. I like to spend time here, but you can also choose to move around and follow people on Earth, too." He grinned at Lukas. "You, of course, were my favorite, but I kept an eye on Emil and the others, too."
Lukas feigned flattery. "My guardian angel," he replied, putting a hand over his heart.
"Your super hot, totally awesome, macho-ghost-man guardian angel," Mathias replied, winking at him.
Lukas sighed, trying his hardest not to laugh. "I should've stayed back there on Earth."
Before Mathias could respond, Lukas stepped forward and kissed him. Mathias wrapped his arms around him and returned it enthusiastically. All of the agony of the last few months fell away against the gentle reassurance of Mathias's lips; for the first time in so long, Lukas felt a curious, forgotten feeling spreading through his chest: Hope. Hope for a happy future with Mathias that could never again be severed in an instant - hope for the idea that they had an eternity to create new memories together without fear of growing old or sick. There were no more "What if?"s, he realized with a start, only "What next?".
When they broke apart for air, Lukas was the first to speak. "Do we have time to do a bit more exploring before we go back to check on things on Earth?" He asked, twining their fingers together.
Mathias laughed and kissed him again. "We have all the time in the world."
August 1st, 2016
The sun had just dipped below the horizon when the sound of a car door slamming echoed through the cemetery. Songbirds in their nests hurried to calm their young before clambering over to the outermost branches of their trees to investigate. They watched curiously as a new young man came walking through the cemetery, two bouquets of light blue flowers nestled in his arms.
As he approached the two gravestones - one of them ever so shinier than the other - Emil hesitated for a moment before awkwardly sitting down on the patch of ground between them.
"Hey, Lukas. Hi, Mathias," he began. "I miss you."