Broken Wings
N.W. 20
Candles' Light
Lloyd glanced out the window as his candle flickered, and while a part of him was amused to find that he'd gone and burned the candle through the night again...
Well. He'd meant to be home tonight.
Not that Dirk's house was any less his home now that he was an adult with an adult adoptive son of his own.
An adoptive son about to be married.
Lloyd smiled to himself and leaned back, looking over the work in front of him. Two rings, carefully crafted and engraved, one each for Paul and Elise. And...
Lloyd Irving had once given the love of his life, Colette Brunel, a necklace for her birthday.
Two years later, she had given it back to him and broken his heart.
Now, as Lloyd was edging up on his thirty-seventh birthday, he was going to dare to give another woman another necklace...
The soft sound of footsteps drew him out of his musings, and he was on edge instantly, eyes locked on the door to what had once been his bedroom. Now, it was more of a workshop than anything else...
The door opened slowly, and the moment Lloyd saw the red hair, he relaxed.
Zelos.
...Zelos looked like shit.
He was on his feet and closing the distance in seconds. "What happened...?"
Almost-lifeless blue eyes rose to his face, blinked a few times, and then Zelos seemed to be there again. "Lloyd...? I'm sorry, it's late..."
Lloyd had a solid grip on his best friend and was half-dragging Zelos over to the couch that had replaced his bed before the redhead could continue. "What happened?" he asked again as he managed to get Zelos settled in.
"Seles."
Lloyd froze halfway through reaching over to grab the glass of water he'd gotten and then never touched hours ago.
Seles.
Lloyd slumped onto the couch next to Zelos and wrapped the redhead up in a hug.
Seles was dead. Her body, wracked with illness after illness from childhood, had finally given out, and from the way Zelos was slowly unraveling in Lloyd's arms, the funeral was over. Zelos wouldn't be breaking down on his shoulder now if they still had to bury her...
He would have to go find an appropriate flower for when he visited her grave, Lloyd mused. Seles deserved that much from him. He'd never been so close to her as to know her favorites, though...
Hm... Maybe...
Zelos sniffed, clearly trying to get his sobbing back under control, and Lloyd held on tighter.
"It's okay to cry," he murmured.
Another sniff. "If you start spouting Colette's 'tears are the best medicine' bull crap, I'm gonna have to punch you."
Lloyd couldn't help it. He chuckled a bit, even as he shook his head. "You know I broke down crying the day she left? Lilia and Paul dragged me home... took them an hour to calm me down enough to talk. And by then all I wanted to do was sleep."
Zelos pulled away, wiping his eyes. "I knew this was coming..."
Lloyd reached out and gripped his friend's shoulder firmly. "That doesn't always make it easier. If Presea's passing taught me anything, it's that the sudden deaths are going to hurt less than the prolonged ones."
Clearly hurt blue eyes rose to meet red-brown, and Lloyd offered up a weak smile. "Think about it. Years and years of good memories..."
Another wave of tears fell, and Zelos' head fell again. "And just a few days of watching her suffer at the end... That's why she wanted me to leave..."
"Your sister had a big heart... just like her big brother."
Zelos broke down into another round of sobs, and Lloyd pulled him into another embrace.
"...Thank you..."