Nobody is immortal. However long it takes, all lives come to an end eventually.

Death

Noah hobbled over to the door; someone knocked on it like they were trying to smash it down, while ringing the bell at the same time.

"Coming, coming!" he called out. Mio encircled his feet, meowing constantly. She must have been frightened by the noise; who would be causing such a disturbing racket at this hour?

Peering through the door, he saw the culprits were… Eunie and Joran?

An electric tingle of dread ran down his spine. Eunie's face… twisted up and gloomy, and sniffling as she pounded the door with her fist. He didn't know why, but that expression left a sinking feeling in his stomach. Joran wasn't looking much better—his eyes dark and saggy, and his usual jolly smile was gone. And they were here so late in the evening, too…

Mio meowed louder.

Noah opened the door. "Eunie, Joran, what's—"

Eunie threw herself into his arms for a hug, which she looked like she desperately needed. Closer up now, he saw tear-stains trailing across her cheeks, and heard sniffling. This was bad; worse than the time with Layla…

"E-Eunie, what happened?" He almost didn't want to find out; his flesh squirmed beneath his skin. Their mood was too serious—far too serious. "Eunie…?"

She just wept into his shoulder, not answering, but heaving as if she was trying to.

With his own tears spilling forth, and looking into Noah's eyes—too deep; too morose—Joran spoke in a sullen tone: "It's Lanz, he—"

"He's d-dead!" Eunie cried. "Lanz is dead!"

Noah locked up. His entire body froze, and stung. His limbs, face, and chest tightened. "What?"

He misheard; that was the only explanation, because the alternative was unthinkable. Not Lanz, their strong, unbreakable friend; the constant in their lives who never changed even as they withered; who still had so much more life left in him…

But he didn't mishear; Eunie would never be like this otherwise…

Joran tried to explain, voice hoarse: "T-there was a fire while he w-was at work, and people were trapped… He t-tried to…"

"That stupid, muddersnuffing arsehole tried to save them!" Eunie bawled. "Fucking roof s-sparking fell in on h-him…"

Everything inside him spiralled down into a pit. Mio tried to clamber on Noah's leg, standing on her hind legs and pawed at him.

He was going to be sick, he thought. His heart would burst, or be crushed by his ribs.

"I…" Noah clutched Eunie tightly, not sure who he was trying to comfort. The world kept spinning around him; if he didn't hold on, he knew he would collapse.

He'd lived his life longing for something he never found, yet he couldn't even cling to what he already had.

Eunie's wings were drooped, and her eyes dead inside. It didn't feel real. Even as she saw guests dressed in black. Even as she saw some guy she didn't recognize, giving a eulogy in front of the coffin. She wasn't even listening properly to what he said—something about the value of life, and being a hero and all that crap.

She'd seen that one kid Lanz managed to save—had guilt written all over his face so he did, about a stranger giving up his own life… Eunie couldn't bring herself to hate the kid; it was Lanz who made the choice, and honestly…she figured Lanz probably went out with a smile on his face after managing to save someone; that would be just like him.

She chuffed. Just like Lanz. Bein' a sparking hero.

Lanz was their friend for their whole lives, and he was gone. Someone they'd grown to count on always being there, just snuffing out. That was what mattered to her, more than trying to be a hero, or change the world. Felt wrong to even think it, but this might've been worse than when she lost Mum; she was a Homs, so at least Eunie'd known that was coming, and had time to prepare, and say goodbye.

And his poor sister… She saw Layla over on the next seat, cradling her face and sobbing her heart out.

Fuck, Eunie was all twisted up inside over losing a friend, but Layla just lost a brother. She'd been even closer to him than Eunie, Noah or Joran ever were, and she'd just lost him all of a sudden. Just like Eunie did, Layla must've expected him to always be there, for centuries and more…

She watched Layla for a while more, and the speaker eventually finished, stepping down.

In his place, Noah walked up onto the podium, wobbling with each step. He held his black and gold flute in hand, gripping tightly in his thin, bony, trembling fingers.

Everyone knew he'd retired…and everyone knew that he'd make an exception for one of his friends.

As he brought it to his lips and started to play, something about that beautiful, haunting tune welled up inside her. Her wings curled up, feathers shivering. She covered her mouth with one hand, and even though she thought she'd run out of tears, they still came back to her eyes. Even from the first time he played, it sounded so familiar, and more than ever, it tore her up inside.

Then a familiar, solid warmth grasped her other hand, and she turned to see Layla looking at her; still crying, but with a look of pained gratitude in her eyes. "T-thank you…for a-arran…"

She broke down into tears again, gripping Eunie's hand tighter. "I… He would've liked this, w-wouldn't he? Being l-laid to rest like this?" Layla asked, nodding lightly, like she was trying to reassure herself.

But Eunie agreed, and nodded along with her. He would have, she just knew it. Layla shouldn't hurt herself by doubting it.

Layla looked back at the coffin, and the musician behind it continued his melancholic melody, melting both of their hearts. "T-this might sound… I don't know why, but…" She sniffled. "I almost… I k-keep expecting to see l-light…"

Eunie knew what Layla meant—expecting to see motes of light pour out of the husk in the coffin, and float up to the sky…

After all these years, Noah really did need a walking stick now; Lanz would have been glad to see him finally admit.

He made his way out of the buggy, supervised by an elder-care specialized Mechafriend; he never would have wanted one of those things—the very idea wounded his pride a bit—but Eunie guilted him into it, using two dirty tricks: "I'd feel better knowin' I'll be called over if things get worse," and, "Lanz would've wanted the same."

Using his walking cane to balance himself, Noah kneeled down at the gravestone. The ground dug into his knees, making him wince, and probably bruise too; no matter; some things were more important than a little discomfort.

"Hey, Lanz," he said with a smile. "It's me again."

A basket of delicately arranged flowers was gently—if crookedly—placed at the marker. The dark headstone only bore Lanz's name, birth and death date… And the one word he'd always said he wanted on his grave—a word that everyone agreed was simply perfect and appropriate for his epitaph:

Unsurpassable

Noah let out a deep sigh, interrupted by a brief cough—only, could it really be called 'brief' if it had been on-and-off for months now? There were no signs of it ending any time soon either. It was no disease—quite simply, his body was failing him.

Finally clearing his throat, he chuckled. "Where shall I start… Well, you'll be glad to hear I finally got that cane… Won't be slipping anymore!"

Mewling, Mio licked at Dada's cheek, and butted her head against him while he rested on the big bouncy boulder.

She made sure to be gentle about it; every year she got stronger and fitter, but Dada got more tired and weak. He couldn't walk around without that stick for a long time now, and recently not even that was enough.

He was going to die soon. She knew what death was, instinctively, but it hurt her inside to think about it happening to Dada. He was supposed to be her big, strong, unbreakable friend, who never changed… But he did. His head fur turned grey, and he got wrinkly like a mouse. His skin was too thin for her to even playfully tooth-battle with any more! She tried it a year ago, and he didn't get angry—he never did—but he bled, too easily…

She could smell decay from deep inside him, feel his pulse weaken, and hear his breath rattle. Every day it was getting worse.

His hand finally responded to her headbutts by fussing with her ears, and sliding back to rub along her spine—not as firmly as he used to, but as much as he could, and it was all about what he needed anyway; he'd done so much for her; feeding her, and comforting her with cuddles when she was sad or scared… Now it was her job to comfort him; she could smell his happiness when he played with her, and hear the good change in his heart; he needed the cuddles just as much as she always had.

She didn't try feeding him though; she couldn't figure out the shiny food tubes, and he liked Birdy Mama's food and smelly warm water better than mice—Mio knew that from experience.

Mio chirruped and stared at him when he tried sitting up a little. She tried to beckon him back down to rest, but for all her genius, she never did learn how to do most of his nonsense sounds; the only word they shared in common was her name.

Noah's body creaked, as he tried to crane his head to look at the door, awaiting Eunie's return. The doctors told him it would be a bad idea to stress himself too much, but he didn't mind so much; he was bedridden anyway—unable to muster the strength to walk around in days.

Mio was nestled comfortably against him, chirruping at the hand slowly stroking her back, though she kept giving him sad looks.

Joran had already visited this morning, and now Eunie was here, in the kitchen fixing up a cup of herbal tea for him. He could smell it wafting over—as always, it smelled warm, and made him feel better even before drinking it. Warmth was good for his bones, which were seemingly frozen down to the marrow.

Every breath had to be fought for, his chest heaving up and down. He listened to the sound of Eunie stirring the usual metal straw in a ceramic teacup, and making her way to his room; the floorboards squeaked and groaned with every step she took.

She finally pushed open the door, with a steaming cup on a plate in tow, and a command: "Oi, old timer! Get your head back down there, don't go strainin' your neck!"

A gentle sound tickled his ears from somewhere far away. "S-sorry," he croaked, leaning back into the pillow.

Eunie looked upset, not at anything he'd said or done, but more at the state of him in general. "Don't be sorry, just don't do it in the first place…" she settled down beside him, and settled the cup on a table, waiting for it to cool. "Honestly, I can't watch you 24/7 you know? Have you actually been resting like the doc said you should?"

He chuckled feebly. "I wouldn't be able to get up if I tried. I really think it's almost over for me."

"Don't say that," she muttered reflexively, before guilt flashed onto her face instead. "Sorry. I just… I don't like it when you talk like you've given up, and I dunno if I'm ready to see you go just yet… Besides, what about your little Mio here?" she asked, reaching forward to scratch Mio's chin. "What'll she do without you, ey?"

Despite Eunie's affectionate scratches, Mio's attention was fixed only on him; he could see the sorrow still in her little eyes and flattened ears; she knew what was coming, and didn't like it one bit. Still she purred for him, knowing how comforting the sound was to his weary heart.

Gentle notes clawed at the door, and into his soul. He smiled, looking at Mio and running his fingers through her warm fur. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Sometimes, I think she likes you more than me."

Eunie smirked a little, but her eyes… still morose, like she'd already accepted his fate days ago, even if she didn't want to. "'Course she does, who doesn't?"

The flute built up, coming to resound in his ears for one last time, somewhere just outside. If he hadn't been hearing it his whole life, he'd have assumed this was a cruel joke: 'ha-ha, let's play a flute outside the funeral musician's door while he dies!'

It was no joke, he knew. But what was it? The sound of his impending death? Something to accompany his passing—send him on to whatever came next, if there was anything? That's what everyone thought of the music he played, which was based on this—so what else could it be?

"You ready, Noah?" she asked, referring to the tea.

"Yeah," he replied, not referring to the tea. He didn't have the time left in him; the pulse of his heart grew weaker by the moment.

Sweet music slowly crept closer, more all-encompassing than ever before; it grew loud and piercing, which resonated in his knuckles as a pulsating sting, as if they were bleeding. A strange square pattern on the back of his right hand itched, not that he had the strength to reach over and scratch it.

He closed his eyes; the pain of his withered body was nothing, compared to the ache of longing he felt for the source of that sound—that dream of an outline he was running towards, clinging to the hope of grasping it once again—dreams of that same outline walking up a set of steps beneath an eclipse—dreams where he was walking up those same steps…

Even with Eunie beside him, and Mio on his chest, he was alone, wishing to stay behind in some past he couldn't even remember.

"Noah? What are you…"

Something joined the tune; an overlapping melody, just as familiar, if not more so. He caught his fingers twitching to the tune, and his lips pursing, as if to blow air through an imaginary flute.

If only he'd been able to find her; that person he was missing…