Hanna's eyes widened, as though he was silently objecting to having two hands groping around in his stomach. But when he tried to speak, his voice was nothing but simple choked sounds that were hopelessly strung together to form incomprehensible attempts at speaking. His eyes still searching the air at a hazardous speed, Hanna let out another deafening scream, and a murder of crows nearby fled from their roosts in some nearby tree. The dying man's hand fumbled around on the ground as though he were looking for something. Quickly getting the message, I laced my fingers around Hanna's.
"Gallahad - you g-gotta stop C-Claus -"
I looked up from Hanna's dancing eyes and was met with Claus's hazel ones. There was a look of confidence, and perhaps pity, as well as some third emotion I didn't quite recognize. But all the same, something in the brother's expression told me that he wasn't hurting Hanna; not anymore. I nodded to him, and he continued to make blue smoke rise from Hanna's stomach, who desperately tried to squirm away. Conrad, who I'd just remembered was there, shielded his nose again, as if the smoke burned the inside of his nostrils.
I squeezed Hanna's hand in mine, and in that moment, I realized I could actually hold onto him. He had become more...Solid. I gasped at this reality, realizing what Claus had decided. He had decided to give up his one chance at existence to save Hanna's life...Even after an unlifetime of promises of death and suffering...
"Listen to me Hanna - I want you to find Ruairi...I want you to find dad, and I want you to tell him where I - where I've gone...Got it?"
"No - Claus! I...I don't think I c-can..."
"You have to."
Hanna closed his eyes tight, as if he didn't want to hear what he was being told, as if Claus's last wish was a death sentence. I listened as Claus chuckled at his brother's reaction, though I didn't quite understand what was going on, I couldn't help but smile in spite of myself. I knew Hanna would be okay. But there was a certain sadness that tugged at me, as well; Claus had to sacrifice his being in order for Hanna to remain of this world. It was certainly a cruel thing, but was Ruairi really to blame? How could one man cause so much sorrow?
As Claus began to fade from the arms upward, Conrad and I watched in astonished silence as the blotch from the internal bleeding on Hanna's stomach began to evaporate, as though Claus were vacuuming it into himself, using his arms as outlets. Hanna's breathing seemed to become less labored, as though some great weight had been lifted from his chest. But the moment was bittersweet, as Hanna had actually begun to cry at that point.
"Hanna? Does it hurt?"
"It shouldn't. He just doesn't want me to go."
"But - where are you going?"
"...Wherever I end up."
Claus muttered all this very quickly the gritted teeth, as though he had begun to feel the strains of Hanna's disease. I looked back down at Hanna, and I was suprised to be met with calmed eyes. He wasn't actually calm, as he was still shaking terribly, but his eyes had stilled, and the canary yellow to them had left, replaced with a blotchy red that naturally occurred when one cried. When I looked up again, Claus was no longer solid - he had taken on the type of look Lee Falun had as a ghost. Hanna gritted his teeth, as though the final moments of Claus's existence where painful ones.
"You c-could stay..."
Claus chuckled at Hanna's unexpected request. The specter opened his eyes, which where more like smoking orbs of canary yellow and looked down at his brother before shaking his head slowly.
"There wouldn't be any room...And besides - look, it's snowing..."
Claus tossed his head upwards, and as he did, a snowflake landed on Hanna's cheek, melting down the side of his face. Hanna's whitened lips began to quiver as he had to squint to watch as brother faded into nothing but blue shards of what appeared to be ice, until finally he began to blend in with the tiny, crisp, snowflakes, as though he were a collection of light blue fireflies. Claus Cross was no longer of the world. Hanna let out a single cry, stifled by the onset of chocking tears. He turned onto his side, burying his face in my forearm. I looked up again at Conrad, who had his legs pressed to his chest. His eyes were reddened as well.
"Come on, Hanna..."
I murmured as I scooped up the broken man in my arms. Conrad, too, got silently to his feet. He looked up weakly at me, as if he didn't know where to go from there.
"We need to see Worth...We'll deal with everything else later - you need to rest, Hanna..."
No response.
He would need time. But what did I know? I had never lost anyone before. I suppose the fact was made worse by the fact that Claus could have no burial. His name would only be remembered by a handful of people, but at least he meant something to those few people. At least he wasn't simply just a memory one would idly recall out of boredom. As Hanna clawed his way onto my back, burying his face in the back of my neck, we started down the hill with Conrad at our side. The vampire was strangely silent, but I figured he'd speak up once we were at Worth's.
I didn't have to glance back to know that Hanna looked back at the hill from where we stood at the entrance to the park, as if hoping that Claus would be standing there to wave good-bye to him one last time. The sniffle I heard confirmed the fact that Claus was not there. I had to will myself to put one foot in front of the other, only beginning to grasp the impossible loss Hanna must have begun to feel. How it must have felt to walk the line between life and death, having been ready to die, only to be brought back to life by one he would have gladly died for. We stepped through the winterly void, travelling across black and white silent memories. In the distance, wedding bells could be heard tolling - proof that even in the coldest and darkest of moments, people were brought together. I rubbed at my eyes with a free hand, listening as Hanna's breathing became slower and slower, until finally it lulled to near silence, and the sort of lip-smacking sounds he made when he slept, as though he were a fish.
Not so used to typing deaths - much less sad ones! I'll probably be back to edit, though.
Really hope you guys like this - but there's still more to come, just you wait, I'm not through yet.
Thanks again for the reviews! They're like tiny little gifts to me.