I sincerely hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but...listen, people. The review button is there for a reason. If the reason for the few reviews is that people are losing interest, then tell me, damnit! Good, bad, or ugly, I want to hear it - if nothing else, then to know if people are still reading the story.
Vamp: Good. Now that's over with, we have a couple of questions to answer, meaning that you *points at Sorcieré* are not needed here.
Sorcieré: Hey!
Vamp: *Forcibly shoves Sorcieré out of the room and locks the door* Now, where were we...? Oh, yes, WritingMoose's questions.
Fortune: Actually, our dear writer didn't have much to say when it came to her choice of muses. She wrote a ficlet about me, and since I was rather bored at the time, I decided to stick around and make life miserable for her characters.
Vamp: She succeeded admirably *smirk*
Fortune: And Vamp, here...well, he wanted to make sure that our writer treated me nicely, so he basically conned her into giving him unrestricted muse-powers. By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late to kick him out *smug grin*
Vamp: Food...? *smirks and lets his gaze linger on VivaGlam for just a second too long* I've always been fond of...Asian.
Fortune: And we'd love to give you a few hints, but that wouldn't be very fair. Sufficient to say that we're on our way into the last major plot-twist, and the rest of the fic is all planned out. So we're approaching the end, I guess.
Vamp: And let's just say that Sorcieré plans to have fun with the last plot-twist...
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Fifteenth Interlude: Between Dream and Reality
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Warm, gentle, loving...
Somehow, Jhonen had never imagined that death could be so...comforting.
Yes, he'd seen countless other spirit worlds, but never one that greeted him with the same loving tenderness as Laetitia's. The sun had become more pleasant, adjusting its warmth to a temperature more bearable. The faint breeze played along the beach, caressing his skin, and running invisible fingers through Laetitia's long hair.
The young woman rested on the ground, her golden skin creating a striking contrast to the whiteness of the sand, and Jhonen found himself unable to look away from her. Some part of him feared that this was still just a dream and that Laetitia would disappear and leave him forever the moment he let his eyes off her.
"Sit down, Jhonen...let's talk," Laetitia said softly, violet eyes coming to rest on the boy.
Jhonen nodded slowly and sat down in the sand, feeling the heat radiate through his clothes, chasing away some of the coldness in his body.
"Are you...?" he began, but trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Talking to spirits wasn't something new for him, but somehow the situation with Laetitia was like nothing he'd experienced before, and he found himself hopelessly lost when it came to even the most basic things.
"Am I okay?" Laetitia asked with a hint of amusement, and Jhonen nodded. "Yes," she continued slowly, thoughtfully, raising her head to watch the sky. "I think I am. This certainly isn't an unpleasant way to spend eternity," she noted.
Jhonen nodded and felt some of the fear in his mind diminish. He'd been afraid of what had happened to Laetitia, been afraid that she might reject him now, or that she would have hated her new situation, but clearly his fears had been unnecessary.
Laetitia fell silent, and Jhonen looked at her for a long moment, gathering his courage.
"What happened?" he asked, voicing the question he'd been wondering about since the explosion in the prison.
"An ambush," Laetitia replied and unlike so many other spirits Jhonen had met, she didn't seem to mind talking about her death. Most felt uncomfortable talking about it, some even refused to mention it, but Laetitia barely even reacted to the subject. "I was trying to find a vehicle in one of the hangars when the soldiers attacked me. I tried to get out, but more of them arrived, and I got backed into a corner. I didn't want them to get the satisfaction of capturing or killing me, so I fired at a fuel storage." Still soft, still silent, still with an almost unnatural lack of emotions.
"You killed yourself," Jhonen whispered and looked at her.
"I would have died, anyway," Laetitia dismissed. "I just chose to die on my own terms."
"Do you regret it?" Jhonen asked, almost against his will. He felt rude for questioning Laetitia like that, but something in him drove him to it. Curiosity, perhaps. The need to understand the remarkable woman in front of him, understand her the same way as she understood him.
"Should I?" Laetitia replied and looked at him. "We all die eventually. It's inevitable"
"But did it have to be so soon?" Jhonen whispered. The words were barely audible, but Laetitia heard them anyway and stood up, caressing his cheek gently. Jhonen didn't hesitate but followed her, quickly getting back on his feet.
"I'm not gone, Jhonen," she murmured and brushed her lips against his, their warm softness only adding to the truth of the words. "If you ask me to, I'll stay here as long as you want. I won't leave you, not like everybody else has."
"I don't want to be alone," Jhonen replied truthfully before returning the kiss, enjoying the feeling of her lips against his.
"And you don't have to be," Laetitia replied and drew away slowly. "I'm with you now, Jhonen. You don't have to be alone ever again, not while we're together. In a few days everything will be fine, and we can be together for good."
"A few days? What's going on?" Jhonen asked, confusion clear in his voice.
"I just need to get used to my new situation," Laetitia comforted him, her voice calm and soothing. "Then I'll be used to my new powers, and nothing will be able to keep us apart then."
Jhonen didn't reply, and Laetitia continued in the same comforting voice. "A lot of things will change soon, I promise you that. Together, we will become untouchable," she whispered and leaned closer, her warm breath against his ear sending pleasant shivers down Jhonen's spine. "You will never have to obey the whims of random spirits again, I'll make sure of that."
Jhonen nodded, accepting the words without questioning. He trusted her more than he had ever thought himself capable of, and he knew that she was telling the truth. Wonderful, understanding Laetitia who trusted him, and would stay with him until the end of the world if he asked her to...how could he possibly deny her anything?
"Just a few days?" he repeated, and he couldn't quite hide the plaintive tone in his voice.
"Just a few days," Laetitia confirmed and kissed his brow lightly.
"I don't like loneliness," Jhonen whispered. "I'm afraid I'll lose you."
"You won't," Laetitia replied in the same quiet voice and then took a step back. Slowly, the world around them seemed to become transparent, the sand gaining an almost glass-like feel as Jhonen was slowly transported from the spirit world and back into the comfort of sleep.
"Laetitia?" he asked, reaching out towards her, useless as it was. Already she was fading like the beach, slowly dissolving into a fragment of his mind, a surreal scene in a soon-forgotten dream.
"Laetitia..." he breathed, and the woman smiled faintly.
"Go to sleep, Jhonen," she replied, by now barely a pale shadow on an equally pale beach. "Get some rest - you have a long day ahead."
The last, faint echoes of the words disappeared with her as Jhonen finally surrendered to the real world again, feeling himself sink into the dream-filled void of sleep.
For a moment the scent of her hair lingered, caressing his senses with its gentleness. Then it slowly faded, and Jhonen fell asleep, alone once more.
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