AN~ Same theme, hopefully better written this time around.
Light a candle for me...
Those were her last words. Not really what you'd expect from Sabrina, to be honest. He'd hoped... well, when she grabbed his arm, that wound in her chest, he hoped... He doesn't really want to say what he hoped for. It was stupid. She'd never say anything like that. But she'd look so earnest, he'd almost thought...
That had been stupid, though. And he'd half expected her to say something sarcastic, like, "Did you really think I'd die from that?" and then get up and start fighting again.
She hadn't done that, either. She'd said something serious and ambiguous, and then she'd died. But Puck understood because he'd been there when they had the candelight memorial service after the first war. So now he was standing next to the Hudson with his daughters and his in-laws, who were more family to him than his own ever was, and a crowd of people Sabrina would have called friends.
They all held little paper boats with candles in them, and one by one, they set them in the water. Daphne went first, but it took Puck a really long time to get up the courage to put his boat, with his late wife's name inscribed on it in a shaky handwriting, in the water. He was one of the last people to step back from the bank of the river.
Nobody said anything as the candles floated away. They just stood there and watched as the little lights floated out of sight. This was a goodbye.
One by one, they left. Even Allie and Emma went back to their house, herded there by Veronica. Puck couldn't bring himself to go, though. The candles were out of sight, and he was just standing there in the dark waiting for something that was never going to happen, but it felt like if he left, he was giving up on Sabrina for good.
And he'd kind of figured he'd outlive her but then she was an Everafter and he thought that even if she decided to age her way to death she'd be around for a good century, still. But he barely had her for three decades before he lost her and he doesn't know what to do because before Sabrina life was fine but life with Sabrina was better and life after Sabrina wasn't going to be any life at all it was just going to be existence and he didn't want that. He forgot how to live without her.
Puck wasn't very good at goodbyes. He hadn't lost many people; never made friends with enough non-Everafters to really get used to the idea that people die. His father... well, that was an odd one. But Sabrina...
There would be no getting over this.
There was a touch on his shoulder, and Puck turned. Daphne stood a little behind him, tear tracks running down her face. Puck was struck by the fact that he'd maybe had a life without Sabrina, but Daphne had never known a time before Sabrina and this one bright light in both their lives was always there for Daphne. She'd have even more adjusting to do that him because the sisters were always close, so close.
Together, they turned and walked towards the house. They'd never get over the loss of the flame of Sabrina's existence, but together they might be able to keep each other from falling apart around when her flame went out.