"Aren't you going to go to bed soon Willem?"
Emil looks at Willem from the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. Blinking to refocus his eyes away from the radars and computer monitors, Willem slowly shakes his head.
"I had a nap earlier, so I'll wait a little while longer..." he lies as he sips the lukewarm coffee, re-adjusting his glasses as he once again returns to watch the many monitors in the observational room.
Emil remains in the doorway for a while longer before muttering a quiet 'good night' and disappears upstairs.
From the corner of his eye Willem swears he can see a movement – but the second he tries to focus on it: it disappears.
Cursing under his breath he resumes staring at the screens on his desk.
Only a few more nights.
A few more hours of wake.
He can do that, no problem.
It's for a good cause really.
Even if it means going down the same path as Erik – he'll do it.
It wasn't that difficult to get Erik's old job – in fact, despite his previous problems Willem was deemed a good candidate.
He also has Emil.
The moment he told him about taking over Erik's old job, Emil immediately proclaimed he was coming with him – and nothing Willem said could make him change his mind.
It was at first odd to live in the same house as Erik's younger brother – often he'd get their names mixed up, causing them both to stop what they were doing and stare at the floor. Willem out of embarrassment and Emil out of sadness. Even if he never said anything, Willem could tell it hurt to be 'confused' for his older brother.
"I should give you another less simmilar name," Willem jokes but Emil doesn't seem to share his sense of humour.
Everyday Willem woke up and had to remind himself the person he'd see today wouldn't be Erik.
Emil had once just stood in the hallway staring in the mirror. After a while Willem carefully inquired what he was doing.
"Would it make you happy if I coloured my hair blonde...like Erik's?"
The question had thrown him off completely. A part of him wanted to nod and beg Emil to do so – the other part reminded him that it would never be Erik, and a replacement would never do. It wouldn't be fair on neither Erik or Emil.
He'd refused the offer, laughing the question off with a smile as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
"You can look up to him, but copying his appearance won't bring him back," he finally mumbled over breakfast – partly to himself and partly Emil.
Eventually Emil had somberly agreed with him before continuing his breakfast.
It's been six months since he took this new job.
6 days, 6 hours and 53 minutes since he last had a proper sleep.
Willem stumbles up the stairs as his vision fails him, it's only due to luck and a very helpful Emil who hears him stumble on the way up that he manages to make it to his bed.
He sleeps for an entire day and a half. By the time his eyes flutter open it's nearly 10 in the morning and the storm he was keeping and eye on seems to have died down completely.
The house is completely still – the only sound he can hear is the quiet ticking of the great grandfather clock in the living room.
And humming.
Willem sits up straight in an instant – regretting the sudden movement as he feels a very bad headache looming over him.
Massaging his temples he makes his way downstairs to the kitchen, cursing lightly as he almost loses his balance halfway down.
The humming doesn't stop – it only grown louder as he finally reaches the bottom of the stairs.
Stepping into the kitchen Willem freezes on the spot. Staring straight at a very familiar and long sought after figure.
"Erik..." he breathes out quietly.
The blonde man turns around and smiles. "Good morning Willem. Slept well?"
"I..I yes...think so" he finally stammers back as he takes one step closer to the other man.
Erik is in the kitchen, making coffee.
Or at least about to – three cups are neatly aligned on the counter along with the tin canister of ground coffee beans.
"Take a nap after breakfast, you look like you need it." Erik jokes as he carefully measures the right amount of coffee for the machine.
"...yeah, think I will" Willem replies as he continues to stare at Erik. Something is so wrong yet so right about having him here – but right now the wrong feeling is pushed away and replaced by the gleeful little butterflies that swell in his stomach with every passing second.
"Can't have you becoming like me you know," Erik continues before pressing the little button on the machine and motioning for them both to take a seat by the table.
Willem shakily takes a seat, before he reaches out to grasp Erik's hand in his own. It's colder than he remembers and lacks something. Willem just can't put his finger on it.
"Ho-how are you?" he shakily asks as he traces the lines in Erik's palm with his fingertips.
"How do I look?"
"You look...good," Willem admits, licking his lips nervously.
"Then that's how I feel," Erik states with a smile.
"You...you're not just going to disappear again are you?" the worry in his voice is painfully obvious. He couldn't handle loosing Erik a second time.
"Do you want me to?"
"No...never."
"Then I'll stay for as long as you want."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Erik smiles back at him reassuringly – and for the first time in months Willem feels a glimmer or security and safety in his life.
"Emil misses you..." he adds after he's poured them both a cup of coffee.
"I know." Erik replies after a long silence.
"What you did was unfair." he whispers as he chews his bottom lip till the soft skin breaks and a small drop of blood is pushed to the surface – the metallic taste completely ignored as he takes in the sight of Erik.
Erik reaches out and places a cold hand lightly over his, soft fingers brushing over Willem's knuckles like a feather.
"I know." Erik's voice is just like he remembered it – deep, soft yet determined. He's missed the sound of it so much.
"I love you."
"I know you do...I wouldn't be here if you didn't,"
Erik smiles as he stands up from the table without a single sound; as the blonde male leans down to kiss the scar on Willem's forehead; he feels no heat as Erik's lips connect with his skin – only a breath of cold air.
"I've gone mad...haven't I?"
"Yes..you have." Erik's fingers trace the contours of his face with delicate fingers – a sensation Willem barely feels, except for the cold shiver Erik's touch leaves in his wake.
"What's going to happen to me?" Willem asks.
"What do you want to happen?"
"Nothing. I want to stay here, with you and Emil..."
"Then we'll do that."
~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~
Emil watches silently as the days slowly tick by. He doesn't question why Willem brings two cups of coffee into the observational room – not does he question why someone so tall would only sleep on one side of the large double bed. He also stays quiet about how he can hear Willem talk to someone when he thinks he's all alone.
So the question over breakfast takes Willem completely off guard.
"So, how is my brother doing?"
Willem chokes on his toast and has to take a minute to compose himself again.
"How would I know..I'm not some freaky medium." he replies jokingly as he runs a hand through his hair.
"Do you think I'm going to phone the asylum or something...?" Emil's voice is low, cold and very serious – much more so than normal. It sends a shiver down Willem's back. Never has Emil sounded so much like Erik.
Willem feels the cold sweat spreading as he casts a glance towards the living room where he last saw Erik.
Erik is nowhere in his sight, forcing him to have to look back at Emil.
"No, I just..." He grits his teeth together and tries too find the right words
"You don't trust me." Emil finishes for him with a sigh.
"No, no! That's not it at all..."
But the look in Emil's eyes say otherwise – he has figured him out.
"No sense in lying Willem. Just promise me you won't do something as stupid as Erik."
Willem nods before carefully resuming his breakfast – his appetite gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How is he?" Margaret inquires as she pours Emil a cup of coffee.
"He's fine..." comes the ambiguous answer as Emil lifts the cup to his lips and takes a sip of the burning hot beverage.
"He's my brother, I'd appreciate it if you could at least tell me how he is," Margaret huffs and snatches the plate of waffles away from Emil's grasp. "Or you can kiss these tasty treats goodbye."
"Fine, fine...Your brother is all right...he's sleeping, eating and drinking normally." he replies before trying to grab one of the still freshly made waffles
"But?" she frowns and leans away from him with the plate – she won't settle for such a vague answer.
"There is no 'but', that's all there is to it." Emil sighs and gives up on the quest for waffles, opting instead to sulk over his cup of coffee.
"That can't be all there is to it..."
Emil stays silent for a minute before he meets Margaret's eyes.
"Did you know I'd already seen you before Willem introduced us?"
Margaret stares, taken back at the sudden change of conversational topic.
"No..what do you mean?"
"Erik's book...the one with all the fairy-tales..."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"You'll see..." Emil smirks as he quickly disappears out the kitchen door to retrieve it.
As he flips through the pages, Margaret only grows more and more curious.
"There..." Emil points to a barely clothed figure on a tree-stump.
"I..I have a tail?" she can't help but smile – everything about the drawing is spot on, except the tail. Margaret giggles at the drawing - it's really nice.
"Willem said this was one of the creatures Erik used to see, and so he drew her."
"Okay, that's creepy and fantastic all at once, but I want to know how Willem is doing." she pouts and crosses her arms, having great difficulty tearing her gaze away from the beautiful drawing in the book. She's a bit flattered – even if Erik drew the drawing before meeting her.
"I'm getting to that..." Emil sighs and flips through a few more pages, letting Margaret study some more drawing for a little while.
"Erik saw these creatures as clear as day...they were a part of his everyday life as much as breathing and eating. To him they were real. He could hear, touch and feel them."
"But they were imaginary..."
"True, but the brain is a powerful tool in the human mind. How often have your touched something and expected it to be hot? Only to withdraw your hand in a yelp of pain before realising it was actually cold?"
"Oh, a few times actually." Margaret quietly admits, not sure she's liking were this is going.
"Erik created the faeries because he was lonely..."
"And?" she asks, partly curious and partly terrified.
"How much do you think your brother cared for mine?"
"Oh quite a lot I'd say! I've never seen him warm up to anyone else so quickly, and he made him a painting and everything. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was in lo-" her eager chatter stops abruptly as she catches Emil's serious expression.
"No way..you mean Willem...?"
Emil nods solemnly as he closes the fairytale book with a dull thud.
The two sit in a long silence as Margaret slowly processes the new information given to her.
"What should we do?" she whispers after a while as Emil busies himself with eating the waffles left unguarded by a still confused Margaret.
"Leave him be...he's not doing any harm." Emil coolly replies as he helps himself to another waffle and jam.
"But he's crazy!"
Emil stops everything he's doing and glares at Margaret across the table with such intensity she feels every hair on her body stand on end.
"He's not crazy. My brother wasn't either, he functioned perfectly fine around others. There is no need for a prison." his voice comes out between clenched teeth, a growl in the back of his throat present as he utters the word 'prison' as if it was the devil himself.
"But..."
"No. Willem knows he's seeing things, just like Erik did. They took away my brother, took away everything that he ever loved...are you really going to do let the same thing happen to yours?"
Margaret stares at Emil for a long time. She remembers the picture Erik had and she remembered meeting Emil at 18. Yet here he sits, opposite from her, at the age of 21 - and suddenly Margaret thinks he's gotten much older in only the space of a few hours.
Staring at her empty plate she nervously picks non-existent dirt from under her fingernails.
"I'm just worried..."
"Willem won't do anything...if he does then we can re-think this. But please...Margaret. Don't take him away either. He's the only connection with Erik I have left." Emil's voice is on the verge of breaking.
Lifting her head, her green eyes meet his lavender ones, and with a weak smile she nods in agreement. She'll stay quiet about this.
They'll let Willem be.
Let him keep his ghost to ease the heartbreak and the pain.
Because there is nothing wrong with mourning a lost love – time heals all wounds, but scars remain forever.
A.N:
Well I hope you all enjoyed that *tissues for you all* thank you all so much for reviews and faves for this story – means a lot to me :3
I enjoyed writing this, even if this last chapter was a battle and a half.
If you want to read the 'happier' ending, just click 'next' ^.^
