Writing this right after finishing Chapter 1 LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A/N: A little note from me that will probably be some sort of reference to another work
Slow footsteps approached the door and stopped. The doorknob turned and the door opened as the figure exited the room. He closed the door behind him and turned to stare at Holo.
"I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do for your husband at this point." The man said as he adjusted his bird beak mask. His voice was not warm or cold, just empty and procedural. Holo picked up on this and was deeply disturbed.
"What?! How can you call yourself a doctor if there's nothing you can do!?" Holo grabbed the man by his collar and slammed him against the wall. Her pupils were constricted and her red irises seemed to glow as she stared viciously into his eye sockets.
The man paused. Then he slowly grabbed Holo's wrists and pulled them off of his cloak. Her eyes clenched tight as a whirlpool of emotions swirled around her heart.
"Listen, this is not the first time I've seen this. Your husband has been afflicted by phthisis, also known as the white plague. Now it seems that it's not as severe for him as it is for most other people his age, so he is not in too much pain. However, I would advise staying away from him as he could pass it on to others and the last thing we need in this area is an outbreak. I'm sorry, but I will have to bury him as soon as possible, so I will return when he dies. The only thing we can do at this point is to pray."
And like a ghost, he was gone. Holo collapsed onto her knees, trying to hold back her tears. This isn't real. There is no way that this is happening to us. We'll get through this, like we always have.
Holo forced herself to rise and began to walk over to the door. However, her ears picked up on some noise coming from downstairs. She paused to listen...
Her mood grew a bit gloomy as she realized she was hearing the plague doctor again. He was speaking to Hanna, and telling her about the situation.
Well if she doesn't want to stay, I won't force her to. I understand that this is a matter of life and death. I should probably pay her before she leaves though. But first...
She twisted the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. She walked into the room and looked over at her husband. He was no longer coughing, yet he seemed to be more wooden than before. His head lifted as their eyes made contact. She couldn't refrain from throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly with her head buried in his chest. Lawrence grunted from the impact, but returned the hug as he patted her head. They remained in this position for a few minutes. Holo then pulled back as she gazed at him.
"Lawrence, you're ok right? You don't feel too bad, right?"
Lawrence paused before answering her.
"Of course, dear. I think that I'll get past this as long as you're by my side!" Lawrence laughed as he turned his face away from her view.
Holo cursed her senses, but maybe they were wrong? For a second, there she almost thought that he was-
"You can tell I'm lying. I know you well enough for that." Lawrence turned back to face her. His voice was soft and slow, as if he was contemplating the meaning of his words as he spoke them.
"No, I wasn't thinking that! Lawrence, you're being silly." Holo said in a raised voice as she stood up. She looked down at Lawrence, and a pang of sorrow gripped her as she noticed how fragile he looked.
"Holo, I didn't want to worry you." Lawrence started.
Holo's eyes widened as she couldn't believe what she was about to hear.
"I thought that it wasn't a big deal to have a cough here and there. I thought it was a seasonal sickness that would go away. But it didn't..." Lawrence stared down into his hand, which Holo had wiped clean earlier.
"Lawrence..." Holo's face was dead serious as she tilted up Lawrence's chin with her hand.
Holo quickly raised her open palm up as if to bring it down on Lawrence's face. He closed his eyes as he knew what was about to follow. But it never came...
Instead he felt her gently cup both of his cheeks. Then he heard her sobs.
He opened his eyes, and was heartbroken at what he saw. Holo was sobbing as he had never seen her do before. He was unsure about what to do, as there was nothing he could really say.
"Why didn't you tell me? After all that we had been through?! I thought we were partners that could talk to each other, but it seems that you don't view me that way!"
"Holo, that's not true!"
"Then why didn't you tell me? Or did you think that me watching you vomit blood was a good way to drop the act?!" Holo was inconsolable as she continued to lay into Lawrence. However, she knew deep down that Lawrence did it for her sake. But she needed an outlet to lay her frustrations into, and Lawrence accepted that position. It was the least that he could do.
"Even if this is the plague, there's no reason to give up. People have survived it before, and so will you! We still have so much to do together, Lawrence!" Holo's despair slowly transitioned into desire. A desire to help Lawrence recover. Lawrence noticed this, but didn't want to give her any false hope. He got ready to respond, but Holo beat him to the punch.
"I won't have you saying anything foolish right now. You will recover, and if you say anything otherwise then I will simply go somewhere I can't hear you. And that is final!" Holo dashed Lawrence's words before they even came out, and actually motivated him as well. Maybe I actually can survive this.
"Ok Holo, you win. I won't give up fighting yet." Lawrence said with a newfound glint in his eye. Holo wiped the tears off of her face, and assumed the mischievious expression that Lawrence had seen so many times before.
"But now that I think about it, how come you haven't gotten sick. I mean, we are together a lot."
"Well I actually did get the plague a long time ago." Lawrence was surprised since she never talked about this before.
"It was while I was very young, maybe around one hundred years old or so." Lawrence rolled his eyes.
"I was very sick, but I didn't die being a god and all. Anyways, it looks like I've built up a resistance to it. And you will too." Holo gave Lawrence a peck on the forehead, making Lawrence blush.
And so they devised a health regimen. Lawrence would abstain from alcohol and drink only water. He would spend time in their hot springs to try and sweat the fever out of his body. A bedtime was established, and Holo would keep him company all the time so he didn't lose his motivation. And so, it was put into action.
Lawrence stuck with his wife-prescribed program for as long as he could. He put a strong front in order to keep Holo from worrying, but this facade could only last for so long. As his chest seemed to squeeze his lungs, his breathing grew more rough. He was unable to sleep through the increasingly warm fever, and his face seemed to grow a bit more hollow. Holo noticed this of course, but she acted as if it was normal since admitting that Lawrence was dying would have broken her heart. But she would have to acknowledge it eventually...
"Lawrence, get up. Lawrence. Lawrence!"
Silence.
"Lawrence! Please get up, what do you think you're doing?!"
His eyes opened. Relief.
"Thank goodness! I thought you were de-"
Holo didn't finish. She didn't want to finish.
Lawrence looked at her for a few seconds. Then with great difficulty, he spoke.
"Holo. I don't think I can do it anymore."
"What?"
"I can't move my limbs. I don't think I will be able to do what you told me to."
"Lawrence, don't say that. It can't stop here. After all the work you put in? After all the weak I put in? No, you're going to get better. You need to believe it."
"Holo, having faith in others is a virtue. But nothing good comes out of blind faith. *cough* I hate to admit it... But I don't think I can fight anymore."
Holo couldn't bear to hear any more. Her facial expression contorted into one of extreme frustration and distress. She quickly turned around and dashed out of the room. Lawrence called out to her, but was left alone with his own thoughts. Holo. Don't leave me. Please.
(A/N: A good way to visualize what she looked like is imagine Gon's face from a Youtube video called "Hunter x Hunter | Gon confronts Neferpitou (ENG SUB)" uploaded by Damo Edits from 2:25 to about 2:43. It really is tough to look at. Watch Hunter x Hunter if you haven't, it's a masterpiece.)
Holo ran as fast her paws could take her. She subconsciously knew where she was going, but it the destination didn't really matter. She just had to leave. She had taken some alcohol with her, enough to drown her sorrows with. The cold wind pierced her eyes, and whole trees were unrooted as she ran through them. She didn't stop until she realized where she had taken herself.
She was back in Yoitsu. She had not been here in years. Although it was the original destination of her journey and the one that she had set out for with Lawrence, she did not like to come back. Rather than evoking happy memories of her past, it just reminded her of how old she was. She was not sure why she came back to the place she once called home, but it was fitting in an ironic way. She was not in Yoitsu when she lost it, and she would not be with Lawrence when she loses him.
Holo spit out the barrel of alcohol she had kept in her mouth, and transformed into her human form. As the wind howled, she sat down and stared as the sun went to rest under the horizon. She drank straight from the barrel as the cold air pierced her bare skin. However, she ignored the chill and continued to take large gulps of the burning liquid. The full moon slowly came out and illuminated the area, and she stared directly at it. Holo had no thoughts of the future, and frankly did not care. She stayed there for what seemed like ages, and would have stayed there indefinitely if not for an unexpected arrival.
Her ears perked up, and she could hear something fairly large approaching her from the direction that she had come in. She turned to face that direction, and the figure soon came into view. Myuri...
Earlier
A man and a woman side by side along a path leading up into the mountains. The man had gray heir and was quite a bit taller than his companion, whose hair had a silver tint. They walked until a figure dressed in strange attire intercepted them and asked where they were going. They responded that they were going to the Spice and Wolf bathhouse, as they had family that operated it. The man was silent, and then conveyed what he had found after visiting that place just a week earlier. The couple were shocked at what the man said, and did not know how to process it. The woman recovered her senses first, and broke out into a sprint. The plague doctor shouted at her to return, but she had already covered enough distance to make pursuit a futile endeavor.
Myuri couldn't believe what she had heard, surely this was some sort of sick prank? Regardless, she wouldn't let some nobody tell her who she could or could not see. Especially if it was her father on the line. She made it to the building she had grown up in, and quickly rushed inside.
"Mother? Father? Hanna? Are you here?" Myuri was frightened by the dead atmosphere in the house. It had never been this dreary before, even on the more quiet days. Not a single guest, no sight of her parents, and no workers. However, her keen senses soon picked up on a presence upstairs. She raced towards the source, and found it to be in her parents' room. She had a bad feeling, but opened the door anyway. It was her father. He looked so much different from how she remembered him. His face was pale, and his breathing was labored. He had clearly lost weight, but the feature that devastated Myuri the most were his eyes. They were swollen from crying, and his face was stained with tears.
"Papa!" Myuri rushed over to his side and embraced him. It was true. Her father was definitely sick. She embraced him softly, as she knew that she had to go easy on him.
"Myuri... I'm so glad you came..."
"I'm so sorry! Me and Col took our time coming here, but if we had known that this was happening we could've come sooner! Oh Papa, what happened?"
Lawrence slowly told her about his illness. Myuri didn't want to believe what she heard, but she knew that her father was not a liar. It didn't make it any easier to accept, but she knew that she had to face reality. However, one particular thing bothered her.
"Papa, where is mother?"
"I... I don't know, Myuri. She *cough* She left this morning. Could you go get her?"
"You mean she left you like THIS?!" Myuri was livid. She knew that her mother was a good person, but this was unacceptable.
"Myuri..."
"I'll find her, I promise. I'll be back soon, papa." Myuri turned to leave, and walked straight into someone's chest. It was Tote Col.
"Don't worry, Myuri. I'll keep him company until you get back."
Myuri gave Col a quick kiss and left. Col walked over to sit down next to Lawrence.
"Col...Why did you come? The girls won't die from *cough* the sickness, but you're human like me."
"I know but I owe a lot to you, sir. You helped make me the person I am, so I would feel terrible if I didn't come now."
Lawrence was silent, but hearing those words meant a lot to him.
"Thank you...Col."
Back to Present
Myuri arrived at Yoitsu and quickly spotted her mother. Myuri transformed out of her wolf form. She had never been here before, but her father had told her stories of why it was important to her mother.
"I followed your scent, mother. You have a lot of explaining to do."
Holo stared at Myuri for a second, but resumed drinking soon afterwards. She had never felt so drunk in her life.
"Mother, you made father cry."
Holo froze.
"You left him alone. You ran out all the way here for what? To get DRUNK?!"
Holo remained silent. Myuri angrily tipped the barrel of alcohol over. Half of the contents had already been drunk, and the rest stained the white snow in an orange hue. Holo watched as the alcohol quickly spilled, and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.
"Are you going to say anything? Or are you going to make me drag you back?"
"I don't want to go back." Holo whispered at a tone that no ordinary human could have heard.
Myuri's anger quickly dissipated. This was not like her mother. Her mom would never run away from something, would she? Myuri sat down next to Holo, who was staring at the moon. Myuri was about to speak, but her mother spoke first.
"The moon is beautiful, Myuri."
"Yes."
"Why couldn't we be like the moon and the Earth?"
Myuri was startled by this question. What did her mom mean?
"Me and your father."
"I don't think I understand what you mean, mother."
"Well, we wolves have looked at the moon every night for as long as we are alive. And we imagine that the moon hears and looks back at us with its light. Or at least, that's what we like to think is happening. But what if the moon is really looking at the Earth. The Earth is the moon's real companion after all, and doesn't disappear like wolves do."
Myuri was starting to understand, and her mother continued.
"I'm like the moon, Myuri. I have lived for centuries, and will live for centuries more. I don't know how it h-happened..." Holo started to stutter as her eyes started to water.
"But I, the moon, fell in l-love with a wolf that howled at me! A regular wolf that is there one s-second and g-gone the next! It's n-not FAIR!"
Myuri watched as her mother cried her heart out. Myuri wanted to help, but she could tell that her mother needed to let out her bottled emotions. She simply placed a hand on her shoulder as Holo continued.
"WHY COULDN'T LAWRENCE HAVE BEEN THE EARTH, MYURI?! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE LEFT ALONE?! I FINALLY F-FOUND HAPPINESS AGAIN! WHY IS THE WORLD SO CRUEL?!"
"You're not going to be alone, Mama."
Holo stopped and looked at Myuri with wide eyes.
"I'll keep you company. We're both moons after all." Myuri put her forehead against Holo's and wrapped their tails together.
"Myuri!" Holo hugged her daughter as she wailed.
"It's true that Father is not going to live as long as we are, but that's what makes it special. I admit that I sometimes think the same way about me and Col. About how our time is limited. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be together, instead it means that we should treasure every moment that we have left.
Holo slowly stopped crying, and felt a deep sense of pride in Myuri. Her daughter, who was going through everything that she herself was experiencing, summed it up perfectly. She had raised her well.
"And right now we have to get back to Father. He...He doesn't have much time left."
Holo wiped her eyes and slowly nodded. I am such a fool. Why would I run away from him, when he wouldn't run away from me?
"Right."
Myuri transformed into her wolf form, and her mother climber on top of her.
"I never thought I would one day be riding my daughter. I do hope that I don't weigh you down too much."
Myuri chuckled and quickly began running towards the bathhouse.
A/N: I was listening to The Witcher 3 soundtrack as I wrote this part, and I noticed a certain track really elevated this scene for me. I went back and reread it while listening to it, and I have to say, it really makes it better in my opinion. That track is called "The Fields of Ard Skellig", and I would recommend reading the rest of the chapter with it playing in the background.
They arrived and quickly got dressed. Both women came into Lawrence's room, where Col was reminiscing with Lawrence.
"I told you I would come back!" Myuri wanted to lighten the mood.
Lawrence glanced over them, but his eyes seemed to be foggy.
"Tote...Could you light a candle...It's a little dark in here."
Tote's expression dropped as he knew what happened.
"Lawrence. I'm holding a candle right now."
Lawrence knew what happened, but decided not to press him.
Holo decided to say something.
"Lawrence."
"Holo? You came back?"
"Yes."
"Could you come hold *cough* my hand... So I know that I'm not hearing things?"
Holo knew that she was going to do it. But why is it getting so hard to move?
"Yes."
Holo sat on Lawrence's vacant side and clasped her hand in his. His hand was so...cold.
"Holo...your hand is so warm..."
"I did have something to drink after all."
"Could you *cough* get me some alcohol? We have not...drank together in a while."
Soon everyone in the room had a mug of alcohol. Holo gave one to Myuri, even though she did not like her daughter getting drunk.
"Holo...I'm sorry."
"Lawrence?"
"I'm sorry that I'm not like you, Holo."
"Lawrence, that's not your fault. I'm sorry that I left, that was not right of me to run away."
Lawrence gently squeezed Holo's hand and smiled.
"Holo...Do you remember the day we met."
Holo smiled.
"How could I ever forget."
And so, the group reminisced about all the time they had spent together over there years. Holo teased Lawrence about how gullible he was in his youth, and Lawrence laughed as he rubbed Holo's tail. Myuri announced that she and Tote were planning on starting a family, much to the delight of her parents. She asked for name suggestions, and Lawrence asked if his name could be passed on to any male descendants. Tote and Myuri agreed that if they had a boy, then it would happen. The group laughed and made the best out of a bad situation for several hours. As the sun began to rise, everyone knew what was happening. Lawrence was speaking less and seemed to grow more distant.
"Myuri..."
Everyone stopped and looked at Lawrence.
"I can truly say that...holding you as a baby was one the most blessed moments of my life. *cough* You and Tote... remind me so much of how your mother and I were...I wish nothing but good things for you both..."
"Papa, I want nothing more than to spend more time with you. But the time we had together, the memories we made, I'll hold them close to my heart forever." Myuri's tail wagged, as she truly meant every word she said.
"Holo..."
Holo looked at Lawrence, and waited for him to speak.
"I love you... but you can be really stubborn..."
Holo huffed indignantly.
"Please... find happiness after I die. If you meet another man... I understand what that might mean."
"Lawrence. I love you too, but you can be really stupid sometimes! I will move on... but I will always love you and you only!"
Lawrence was about to speak but did not get a chance to.
"You might not like that, but that's my choice." Holo crossed her arms in a faux angry manner.
"Well...I guess that's ok, as long as you live a good life."
Holo squeezed his hand to give her affirmation.
"I lived a good life... I started out as a merchant who wanted money, but... I got everything I wanted right here... You, Myuri, and Col... You are my family... I love all of you."
Myuri, Col, and especially Holo were starting to tear up. Myuri held Lawrence's left hand and Col took his right hand.
"I love you too, Papa..."
"I will never forget you, sir."
Holo gently lifted up Lawrence's head and placed it on her lap, with her tail acting as a pillow. She gently patted his head, and gathered up the strength to tearfully say her goodbye.
"Lawrence, you really are the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so proud to have been your wife." There was no better way for her to put it.
"Thank you... take care... my loved ones..."
Lawrence's hands went limp as his eyes closed. His inconsistent breathing stopped altogether, and his heartbeat vanished. To everyone who was there, it almost looked like his body briefly glowed.
Kraft Lawrence died with a smile on his face at age 72 of tuberculosis. He was survived by Holo, the wise wolf of Yoitsu, his daughter, Myuri, and his son-in-law, Tote Col. This is where his story ends.
Or is it? What if something else was going on that no one else could see? Well...
Right after he died...
Lawrence closed his eyes as he felt his life fading from his body. It felt like his body was an hourglass that was nearly finished transferring sand. Visions of his family flashed into his head, and he felt one emotion above all else: gratitude. Gratitude that fortune granted him the opportunity to get to know these wonderful people, and to have traveled to Pasloe at just the right time.
But then, he felt whole again. He opened his eyes to see everyone around him. His sight had returned, and he felt more energized than he ever had in his youth. He looked at his hand, and it no longer had the blemishes induced by age. Lawrence did not have much time to stare at his hand, as he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up to see a new visitor walking towards his bed. It was a tall young man with porcelain skin, short jet black hair that matched his eyes, and an outfit that Lawrence had never seen before. He was dressed in all black which in and of itself was strange, but he also wore a white collared undershirt with a long black piece of cloth that was tied around his neck. He looked like some sort of nobleman, but the lack of color on his figure frightened Lawrence. The man got to Lawrence's bedside, seemed to walk right through Myuri, and looked right at him. They stared for a few seconds before the man smiled.
"It's nice to meet you. Lawrence."
So Lawrence has unfortunately kicked the bucket, but at least he got to say everything he wanted to the people closest to him. However, who the heck is this new guy? The next chapter is going to be the last one, so everything is gonna be wrapped up with a bow on top!
