A/N: The only thing I'm going to tell you about this story is that it takes place twenty five years after the final battle.
What They Don't Know
I watched from the trees. It was all that was allowed. Just being here was wrong but I had to see, had to make sure.
With my new keen senses, I can see the triplets at the front, standing over my coffin. I can hear their whispers to each other and I smile. I can smell the chocolate Sabastian has hidden in his pocket and the maple syrup that dripped onto Lola's shirt from her waffles this morning and the bouquet of lilies that Jerimiah is placing on my chest. All my favorite smells.
l miss them already.
But now's not the time to digress. I'm here to watch over them and to prevent him from interacting with them. Where is he anyway? I've looked all over and I haven't seen or smelled him but I know he'll be here. He'll want to make sure I'm really dead.
There! I smell liquorice! I look in the direction and just spot a black something getting lost in the crowd. Shite! He's making his way to the front! To my kids! I glance to the coffin and feel relief when I spot Charlie herding them off to the side. I hear him say something about smelling chocolate and I snicker. Poor Bast, he's going to lose that bar of chocolate to the heat.
I scan the crowd in the direction I think he'll be in and sure enough, I find him, but he's just standing there. Staring. Why isn't he moving closer? I try to hone my hearing to tune out everything but him but he's not even muttering to himself. Strange.
I try to follow his gaze but it's hard to tell what exactly he's looking at. The coffin is propped in a large pyre. I had no choice in the disposal of my old self. Evidently there are rules and traditions that need to be followed. Who knew?
I noticed my kids on the other side of the pyre, laughing and talking amongst themselves, almost ignoring the crowd that has come to say their goodbyes to their beloved Savior. They know how much I hate that name and how I despise all this attention but they also know why this has to be done. What they don't know….
I look back over to him. He's moved now. Closer to… wait! No! He sees the kids and...no!
I instinctively raise my hand and Charlie is in front of them. Lola is clinging to his side in an instant and Charlie gladly holds her. The boys are asking if the people will ever stop coming and that starts another round of "if the public only knew" game. I laugh. We used to play this game whenever the public became annoying.
I move to the other side of the tree I'm standing behind to get a better view of what he's doing. He's standing over the coffin now, reaching inside. What's he doing? I feel a wave of sadness, despair unlike any I've felt before and a sudden longing that shouldn't be there. What the hell?
I'm confused. Shaking my head... no! I raise both hands up in a quick motion and everything freezes. No one is moving, or speaking or even breathing. I close my eyes and focus on him. Solely on his form in my mind's eye. Let me in, let me in, let me in you stubborn git. I repeat this mantra until I can see images from his mind. I carefully flip through them and the emotions connected with them until I find the ones I want. Slowly I pluck them out, using my hands to take them and put them in my cloak.
He has no right to feel or remember. What he did to me when I was just 17 was brutal and sadistic and there was definitely no love involved. He can never know what came out of that horrible experience. He can never know.
He won't remember now or be able to romanticize the experience anymore. The sick bastard.
I pat my cloak pocket before clapping my hands. A devious smile on my face. Life resumes and I turn to watch him and the results of my theft.
He's still standing there, staring. I can't tell what he's thinking but I hope he leaves. I glance back to my kids, and laugh. Charlie is telling the story about the time we got lost in a pyramid in Egypt and how the mummy buried there helped us get out, but not before taking us on a tour of his digs and making us swear not to put him on display when it was all over. I'll never forget the look on Charlie's face when the wrapped man spoke up, actually he interrupted our argument on which way to go to get out.
The kids love that story.
That's one of my favorites too.
I look back to the coffin and notice he's gone. I feel panic for a minute until I spot him in the back, far away from the kids and my old self. He looks lost and I don't care. I can't wait til we meet again on my turf.
My time here is done. I must leave now. I can feel the pull to go but I want my family to know I love them so I innocently brush my right shoulder. I watch them as they all smile and touch their right shoulder at the same time. They know.
Yes, my kids are great and I'll see them again, sooner then I'll be allowed I hope.
XxxX
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