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 Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 7:58 am
Takes place after: But my head’s up
Compared to the heap of rubble and decay which had greeted Yvoire during his first tentative visits as a Page, the castle looked almost pristine. The towers had mended, rising strong and proud at each corner of the castle. Unbroken glass occupied every window, twinkling in daylight. The bridge spanned the river without interruption. The river itself seemed rejuvenated, the water so clear Yvoire thought he could almost see to the bottom. Even the city on the shore, from which the cathedral rose, appeared to be healing; houses and shops which once showed signs of disrepair now stood empty, but mostly whole.
Yvoire took his time crossing the bridge. His last few visits had been in dreams, when fire and destruction reigned. He had not seen his Wonder so peaceful since his first brush with death. For a moment, he noted little difference between the present and the vision in which he’d taken his dying breaths. Yvoire wondered if he might have never actually escaped death’s reach, and everything that had occurred since had been a fabrication, a dying mind’s last gasp of life.
The flicker of an aura in the distance convinced him otherwise, drawing him back to reality before he could drift too far.
He didn’t always sense it. If Reims was in the furthest reaches of the cathedral, or Yvoire was on the opposite side of the castle, they seemed to hit the limits of their range. Now the vivid power of a Knight seemed to spark and fade in intervals, as if Reims were drifting in and out of reach, only to stabilize as Reims noticed Yvoire at the edge of his own senses.
Yvoire quickened his pace and looked to the shadows beneath the cathedral, anxious for Reims to appear.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 7:59 am
Reims stood near the heart of the cathedral, where light filtered through the stained glass in fractured bands of red and purple, with dust motes drifting like embers caught in the air. The Code’s presence lingered, although quieter now, but the echo of what it shared with him still pressed at the back of his thoughts.
He flexed his hand.
Black armor caught the light, the gauntlet ornate and elegant, every line intentional. Red gems were set into it like drops of frozen fire, their glow dim but alive beneath the surface. It responded when he moved, magic seeming to thread through his fingers that made his pulse quicken despite himself.
Good. Controlled. Not overwhelming.
He lifted his arm again, testing its movement, when something brushed the edge of his senses.
Reims froze.
The aura was faint at first, easy to mistake for memory or wish, but it sharpened as he focused. Bright. Distinct. Yvoire. Close enough to feel, far enough that he hadn’t noticed the approach until now.
His breath caught before he could stop it.
He told himself not to read into it. He hadn’t known if Yvoire even wanted to go to their Wonders today. After Northpoint, after the incident in the laundromat, after everything that had gone wrong, he wouldn’t have blamed Yvoire for wanting to stay away. Still, the presence lingered, moving closer.
Reims lowered his arm.
“Of course,” he murmured to the empty cathedral, save for the lion who was watching him from where light spilled through the stained glass. “You’d show up when I wasn’t looking.”
He turned toward the front of the cathedral, towards the heavy wooden doors. The stone beneath his feet felt warmer the closer he got to the threshold.
Whatever he’d been about to test, that could wait.
Reims stepped out from the cathedral’s shade to meet him, expression composed, as if his heart hadn’t just leapt at the simple fact of his presence. Behind him, the lion had silently followed. Although once in the fresh summer air, it stretched out its long limbs, shook out its shimmering black mane, and flexed its stained glass wings.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 7:59 am
A small, tentative smile twitched onto Yvoire’s face.
There hadn’t been much to smile about lately. After the basement, after his run in with the General alongside Ephesus and Amarynthos, after the laundromat, Yvoire had done what he always tended to do when the realities of the war overwhelmed him. He isolated himself. He hid away. He went home and left his room only when Dad coaxed him out. He cried. He tossed and turned at night, plagued by nightmares. He ate too little. He slept too much. He thought of Daddy alone in the woods, a hand in his chest, tearing the life from him. He thought of a bridge, and blood stained stone.
Yvoire slowed as he neared the end of the bridge. Reims stood almost where Gabriel had in Yvoire’s dreams, a little thinner than the man Yvoire had seen, a little less worn. His stance was similar: patient, expectant, welcoming.
He was accompanied by the same lion. Yvoire was not unfamiliar with the creature, but he jerked to a halt as sunlight glinted off of its wings.
His surroundings fractured, past and present meeting in a kaleidoscope of images and sensations Yvoire struggled to make sense of.
Two Reims stood before him, a man and a boy filling different shards. Blues eyes. Streaks of red in brown hair. Sparkling fur over wide shoulders. A purple scarf, soft beneath Yvoire’s cheek.
Ellie!
Hands on his arms, guiding him forward, guiding him down. A layer of cloth over his eyes, concealing his surroundings.
No one can know. Do you understand?
A presence lingered behind him. In the past and present, in every timeline, in different shards of different lives, Yvoire turned and met a pair of red eyes set in a face of shimmering gold.
They’ve always been together.
Fingers entwined. A broken cobble. An arm around him, breaking his fall. A red gem. A ring.
Watch your step.
A pale girl with pale hair. Wide shoulders blocking the stained stone slab from view.
Please don’t let them do this!
Sunlight through colored glass. Silk sheets. Distant strains of music. Starlight reflecting off the river below. The cathedral at night, shrouded in darkness.
A stern woman. A grim faced man. A glimmering crown.
Blood on stone.
Blood on wood.
A burning castle.
Gabriel!
The cloth over his eyes shifted out of place.
A sword.
An ax.
Yvoire gasped and returned to himself with a jolt, stumbling back a step or two as the shards of memory reformed. Reims stood in front of him where the bridge met the shore, just outside the reach of the shadows at the base of the cathedral. Sunlight streamed down upon them, chasing away the chill of winter waiting for them on Earth. A gentle breeze carried the scent of flowers. Birds chirped somewhere in the distance. Beyond their Wonders, the moon of Ganymede thrived.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:00 am
For a moment, Reims just looked at him.
There he was. Whole. Standing. Breathing. The sight of Yvoire crossing the bridge helped something settle in Reims’s chest. His mouth curved before he could stop it — small, almost shy. It felt ridiculous, how happy he was to see Yvoire there, of all places.
“Hey,” he said softly in greeting—
Then Yvoire faltered.
Reims saw it immediately. The way his breath hitched, the sharp step back, the sudden emptiness in his eyes as something old and painful cut through him. The smile vanished at once. Concern quickly overtook everything else.
“Evie—”
He moved without thinking, closing the distance but stopping just short of crowding him, arms lifting slowly, carefully, palms open. An offer of safety, but one for Yvoire to choose, not for Reims to force on him.
“You’re safe,” Reims said gently, his voice steady even as his heart raced. “You’re on Ganymede.”
The lion stilled behind him, wings folding with the soft tinkling of glass, as if it understood the sudden shift in mood.
Reims searched Yvoire’s face, eyes dark with worry. “I’ve got you,” he added, voice quieter still. “If you want. I’m right here.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:00 am
“Sorry,” Yvoire gasped out, struggling to catch his breath, unsure why he suddenly had so much trouble breathing in the first place. His heart sped through its rhythm like he’d just finished a race, beating against his ribs hard enough to trigger a wave of nausea.
Yvoire swallowed it down. He stared at Reims until the two Knights merged back into one. Beneath the dark suit and cape, Reims was Riker, a boy only a little older than Yvoire, stubbornly shouldering the weight of a problem none of them seemed able to solve. Still young. Stupid, sometimes. Not quite ready for war but determined to face it anyway.
The purple scarf over Reims’ shoulders shifted with the breeze. Yvoire’s hands rose of their own accord, fingers grasping star-strewn fabric. He leaned closer before he was aware of doing so, catching the warm, sweet, woody scent that had cradled him in death the first time. Slowly Yvoire’s eyes regained focus, his gaze snagging first on the brooch and tie at Reims’ throat, then the red gem at Reims’ shoulder.
“Ever since—” His throat closed off. Yvoire swallowed again and forced his next breath, slow and deep to alleviate the ache in his lungs. “That night—in the basement—I keep having flashes. Not the General. Or not always. I see you. I see a man here at the bridge with your lion. I see the stone in the grove, and a girl.... I hear voices…”
Ellie!
So many ghosts—lives snuffed out centuries ago, reaching from a past pried open by his brush with death.
“I don’t understand any of it,” he said. “The memories come in pieces, but none of them fit together.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:01 am
Reims went still when Yvoire caught the scarf.
Not stiff… just attentive. He let Yvoire handle the fabric without comment, lowering his hands slowly to his sides once it was clear Yvoire wasn’t about to run or collapse. The concern in his eyes didn’t fade, but it softened a bit, settling into something quieter.
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Reims said quietly.
He listened without interrupting as Yvoire spoke, his expression shifting with concern as the pieces fell into place. The bridge, the lion, the stone, the girl, the voices. He was careful to memorize every detail in case Yvoire needed help picking them apart later.
“That sounds… overwhelming,” he said after a moment, voice gentle. “Especially when they don’t come in order. Or with any explanation.”
Reims shifted a half-step closer, not to crowd, just closing the distance enough to make sure Yvoire knew he was there if he needed him close.
“If the memories are breaking through like that, then it makes sense you’d feel shaken. Anyone would.”
His eyes searched Yvoire’s face, trying to figure out if there was anything he could do to help. “You’re not failing at anything. You’re not doing anything wrong.”
He hesitated, careful with his words. “I don’t know yet why they’re coming to you. Or why now. But we can take them one at a time. You don’t have to understand all of it today. You just have to get through this moment.”
Reims nodded quietly, hoping to reassure. “I’m here. However you need me to be.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:02 am
Yvoire didn’t know what he needed—or maybe he did, but the things he needed weren’t easy to accomplish and may even be beyond their capabilities, so the truth was more that he had no idea what he needed that was actually feasible. He needed the General to stop targeting them. He needed their lives to go quiet again, so he could have the time and space to sort through his thoughts, and his feelings, and his memories. He needed his friends to be safe. He needed the war to end, so no one else would suffer the way they had, so no more families would be broken apart by senseless deaths.
That was far too much to ask of Reims.
Yvoire closed the remaining distance, minimal as it was, and put his head on Reims’ shoulder. He grabbed Reims’ arms and pulled them around himself. Yvoire’s cape had been discarded as soon as he’d arrived. His hat, too. He sagged against Reims while he tried to regain control over himself. His breathing evened out when he timed each inhale and exhale to be synchronous with Reims, but the trembling took a little longer to recede.
“Sorry I’m late,” Yvoire mumbled. “I was afraid, so… I asked Ganymede if she could meet me, and she let me take her cat. Lucasta. She said she’d wait for us in Ellis’ room. I think she just wants an excuse to nap on the bed. Lucasta, I mean. Not Ganymede; she went to the capital. I don’t know how much good it’ll do to keep those youma away, but Lucasta says she’ll block our auras for us when we go back.”
Yvoire lifted his head to look up, gazing flicking over Reims’ face. Eyes. Nose. Mouth. Back to his eyes. Back to his mouth. Up again by force, shy but not reluctant to maintain eye contact.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:02 am
Reims startled when Yvoire pulled his arms around himself — just for a moment — then felt mildly ridiculous for it. As if he’d needed permission at all.
He let out a breath and settled into the embrace properly, arms closing around Yvoire with deliberate care. One hand came up between his shoulder blades, steady and grounding, the other resting at his side, thumb pressing in lightly like doing so would keep them both in the moment, and not whisked away to unknown memories. He bowed his head just enough that his cheek brushed Yvoire’s hair.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He listened as Yvoire spoke — about the fear, about Ganymede, about Lucasta waiting elsewhere. Reims didn’t interrupt, even when a small, irrational part of him bristled at the knowledge that they weren’t alone there. It wasn’t Yvoire’s fault. He knew that.
“That was smart,” he said after a moment, quiet approval in his voice. “Getting help to get here. I’m glad you did.” His hand shifted slightly, a subtle squeeze that was meant to reassure. “Anything that helps keep you and the rest of us safe is worth doing.”
When Yvoire pulled back, Reims followed his movement with his eyes. He noticed the way Yvoire’s gaze lingered, and this time he didn’t miss what it meant. His expression softened, something warm and a little shy flickering in his eyes. This time, he leaned closer to press his lips to Yvoire’s. Soft and lingering for a few moments, before pulling back.
“I’m okay,” Reims said softly, a small smile tugging at his mouth.
Behind him, the lion shifted its weight, glass wings chiming softly as it stepped closer. Its presence felt more like a silent check-in on the edge of Reims’s awareness. I know. Reims didn’t look back, but his shoulders eased slightly.
“Really. I just talked to the Code. Got… something new out of it.” He lifted his gauntleted hand slightly, the red gems catching the light, before letting it lower again. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:03 am
The kiss wasn’t entirely unexpected, but Yvoire hadn’t traveled there knowing whether or not he would receive one. In the days following the basement, there hadn’t been much time for kissing. Énna had been home, hiding away from the world while he recovered. Riker had been managing his own life, dealing with school and bouncing between friends to ensure they were all safe and mending after their ordeal. After the laundromat, Énna had been too shaken, too troubled, too distressed. He’d slept. He’d cried to Dad. He’d put on a brave face for Riker so Riker could look after Julian.
Yvoire returned the kiss, still bashful, still tentative, but eager, too. Reims’ lips were warm. His hands were steady. Yvoire wished their circumstances were different. He wished the General weren’t such a substantial threat, a spectre looming over all of them. Yvoire would’ve liked to do this more often. Here. Or at home. Maybe at school. Soft and sweet like Atticus and Elliot were.
A small smile slipped back onto his face when the kiss broke. A faint pink flush tinged his cheeks. Something pulsed deep in his chest; Yvoire attributed it to the fluttering of his heart so he didn’t have to think about his starseed.
He detached himself enough to peer at Reims’ gauntlet. If Reims had gotten it from the Code, surely it was something that might help them. Yvoire reached out to touch it but stopped before the tips of his gloved fingers brushed the surface, uncertain what it might do.
Out of the corner of his eye, sunlight glinted off the wings of Reims’ lion again.
For a moment, the world went out of focus. Not broken, not gone, but also not quite there. Something tugged at the back of Yvoire’s mind, some unexplained awareness, like a presence he could neither see nor touch. Watching… Waiting...
Yvoire glanced over his shoulder. To the bridge. To the castle.
They’ve always been together…
A whisper on the wind, soft against his ear. The strangest sensation came over Yvoire: Lips at his temple, breathing words in secret. He wanted to sink into it, to see what the memory might show him, but he was too afraid to give in.
He blinked and looked up at Reims again, staring into his eyes.
A flash of something: red eyes in a golden face.
“Can we—” Yvoire put a steadying hand on Reims arm, above the gauntlet. “I think I need to go back to the castle. I think there’s something I’m supposed to find.” Familiar words spoken after a brush with death. Yvoire might have remembered if he could organize his thoughts, if he could think more than feel. “Tell me about the Code on the way.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:03 am
Reims felt it before he saw it. The subtle shift in Yvoire’s focus. The way his attention paused on the wings and the light, on something just out of reach. Reims’s hold tightened by instinct — not restraining, just firm enough to keep Yvoire grounded. He pressed his hand between Yvoire’s shoulderblades, a gentle reminder to keep Yvoire in the present.
“Hey,” he breathed. “I’ve got you.”
He followed Yvoire’s gaze to the bridge, then the castle beyond. Whatever was calling to him wasn’t something Reims wanted to fight — not when Yvoire looked like he was already bracing himself for it.
“Yeah,” Reims said without hesitation. “We can go. Absolutely.”
He shifted just enough to walk with him, keeping close, their shoulders nearly touching. As they started toward the castle, Reims glanced down at the gauntlet, then back to Yvoire, his expression thoughtful.
After a moment, he reached over with his ungauntleted hand, gently taking Yvoire’s hand in his as they walked.
“I went to the Code because I didn’t know what else to do,” he admitted quietly. “I needed help. Real help.” He flexed his fingers, the red gems pulsing faintly in response. “It changed my sword. Turns out it’s the same, just… shaped differently now. I can switch between them.”
He paused, his jaw tightening a little.
“It also told me to be careful,” Reims continued, but more subdued. Maybe hesitant. “That there’s Chaos lingering in my heart. Not enough to control me, but enough that desperation could push me in the wrong direction if I’m not paying attention.”
He glanced back over at Yvoire, earnest and unguarded. “I think it said that because I was scared. Because I’d thought about doing anything — anything — to keep the people I care about safe.”
He slowed just a little, making sure Yvoire was still with him in the present.
“But I’m here,” Reims said firmly. “With you. And if there’s something waiting in that castle, we’ll face it together.”
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:03 am
The castle could wait the time it took for them to reach it. Now that Yvoire had listened to whatever urged him to turn back to it, the impulse wasn’t quite so insistent. Yvoire walked beside Reims, as calm as he could be. He felt like he was always on high alert now, peering around everywhere to make sure nothing would jump out at them. Darkness seemed to follow him no matter where he went—death reaching out, waiting for him to slip up and return.
Yvoire grasped Reims’ hand, grateful for it. He wanted so much but wasn’t sure how to ask for any of it—didn’t know if he could; didn’t know if he should. Gentle kisses. Arms around him. A hand in his. Yvoire wanted all of it and more. He never wanted to miss the opportunity again, but he also never knew when the right time was. When was it appropriate? When was he being selfish? He hadn’t even asked Reims what he thought. They hadn’t had the chance to discuss what a kiss meant. Yvoire didn’t want to leave any regrets behind. He’d died twice already at the General’s hand. He might not survive a third time.
But what if he did? What if they both did? What then?
Yvoire pushed those thoughts aside for now and looked at Reims’ gauntlet. It didn’t look as mighty as his sword, but any help was better than none at all. Maybe a sword wasn’t always the answer.
“What if it’s not because you’re scared?” Yvoire asked—quiet, like he was afraid to. His hand tightened around Reims’, who didn’t often admit when he was afraid. “What if it’s something the General did to us? Like we’re infected… Sometimes I—”
He felt tainted. Unclean, like he could never quite wash all of that gunk off him. At his most dramatic, he thought of himself as marked for death. One wrong move and he’d be lost forever. One more mistake and his friends wouldn’t be able to bring him back next time.
Yvoire didn’t know how to say it without making it true, so he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:03 am
Reims stopped walking. Not suddenly, but just enough that their joined hands drew Yvoire to pause with him. He turned fully toward him then, close enough that Yvoire couldn’t try to move away without him noticing. His free hand lifted and the gauntlet quietly disappeared, tucked away into the subspace he kept his sword when it was too much to carry around with him. No longer armored, he placed his hand on Yvoire’s upper arm, rubbing gently to help steady him.
“Hey,” Reims said again, quieter now. Steadier. “Look at me.”
He waited until Yvoire’s eyes found his, until that spiraling distant gaze settled just a little.
“It’s not that,” Reims said, firm but gentle. “It’s not the General. If he did something like that… if we were already tainted, already changing, then he wouldn’t be hunting us. He wouldn’t need to. Chaos doesn’t stalk things it’s already claimed.”
He didn’t know that for certain, but he needed to make sure Yvoire was focused on anything but the horrible things that had happened.
Reims drew in a slow breath, piecing things together as he spoke. “He goes after us because we’re a problem. Because we resist. Because we don’t break the way he wants us to.”
His gaze softened, concern woven through the resolve. “I know it feels like something’s… off,” he surmised, hoping he was picking up the hesitation and what Yvoire was thinking. “I know it feels like… after everything, that something’s wrong with you. But that feeling doesn’t mean it’s true.”
He paused, lips pressed together before continuing. Honest and a bit vulnerable. “I won’t pretend I’m not worried about what he’s capable of. I am. But I don’t believe Chaos is inside you. I don’t believe you’re infected. You’re still you. You’re here. And whatever’s happening with the memories… we’ll figure it out,” he said, unflinching as he held Yvoire’s gaze.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:04 am
Yvoire looked up at Reims, helpless to do anything else.
He didn’t know if he believed what Reims said. He wanted to. He told himself it was true, it had to be, because nothing the General had done to them indicated otherwise. In the basement, the General had wanted them dead. His intention had been to slaughter, and it was only through a bit of luck and the bravery and ingenuity of Yvoire’s friends that they’d all made it out alive. The laundromat had been the same. The General had taken their starseeds not to poison them, but to make Dering eat them. As far as the General knew, four of them were dead.
But it wasn’t necessarily corruption Yvoire was afraid of. He understood Chaos; he thought he knew what it could do to people. He’d lived the aftermath of the Negaverse’s disregard. Death was what scared him. More than ever, it felt inescapable.
Maybe it would have been easier to face if Daddy had been there waiting for him each time.
“Did you feel like this?” Yvoire asked. Tears sprang into his eyes, heavy at the corners. “When you—When that Captain stabbed you. After. Did you feel like… like there was something waiting around every corner. Like you’d cheated death and you were being hunted by it. Like… if you moved wrong or you let your guard down too long, suddenly you’d be bleeding again and you wouldn't be able to stop it…”
Yvoire’s next inhale was loud in his ears—shakey, like his lungs weren’t quite sure what to do.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:04 am
Reims felt his chest tighten when Yvoire’s eyes filled.
Oh.
Okay. This part. He was bad at this part.
For a split second his mind scrambled. What did he say? What should he do? How could he not make it worse? Running wasn’t an option. Neither was pretending he didn’t see it. So he sucked in a breath and stood his ground.
He didn’t rush to answer, but instead kept his hand on Yvoire’s arm, his thumb gently brushing against it in a small circle.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low and careful, like one wrong word might break whatever was between them.
“...Not like that,” Reims said quietly.
He drew in a slow breath, eyes lowering for just a moment before lifting back to Yvoire’s. They were honest and open, not willing to hide when Yvoire was clearly in need of something more than placation.
“When the Captain stabbed me… I didn’t feel hunted. I didn’t feel like death was waiting on me. I chose that. Well… maybe not specifically being stabbed, but I knew it was a possibility. If it kept her off of you—... I knew what I was doing. And if I had to do it again… I would. Every time.”
There was a flicker of guilt in his eyes then — not regret, but something heavier. “I didn’t feel fear afterward. And I hate that… Because I know you were terrified. And I wasn’t.”
He shook his head faintly, as if frustrated with himself. “That doesn’t mean I don’t care. It just means… what happened to me I already accepted. What happened to you wasn’t your choice.” His voice softened a bit. “That kind of brush with death, when you don’t choose it, when it comes for you anyway… it sucks. Of course it’s going to leave you looking over your shoulder. You didn’t do anything wrong by surviving. And you’re not weak for being scared now.”
He hesitated, then quietly continued. “I’ve almost died before. Not like that. Not violently. But enough to know that the fear doesn’t mean death’s coming back for you. It just means your body remembers. And right now, you’re here. You’re breathing. You’re not alone.”
For a moment he just stood there, gently brushing his thumb over Yvoire’s arm, but then the shifting of the lion’s wings behind them caught his attention, and he remembered—
“When I was still unconscious, that’s when I saw him,” he shared with a quiet nod over his shoulder. “I don’t know if almost dying had anything to do with it, but I don’t know why else I would have remembered? — Imagined him.” Yvoire already knew that, though. Reims had gone to him asking for permission to look through his castle, after all.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:04 am
Yvoire thought again, like he had that night after the basement, how horrible it was for them to have dying in common. Who wanted to remember something like that, much less bond over it? Death shouldn’t be what drew them closer. Death shouldn’t be what led them forward. Death shouldn’t have so much influence over their lives, but it did, because it could happen to any of them at any moment. The war ensured it. The second they’d come into their powers, death had crept closer, a constant companion, waiting beside them for the inevitable.
The hand on his arm was grounding, but not enough. Yvoire pressed closer again, crowding against Reims’ chest, letting Reims’ arms curl around him. He hid his tears against Reims’ shoulder. Yvoire wasn’t embarrassed to shed them, not this time, but they weren’t something he thought Reims should have to deal with. Reims had already been so kind. He’d been so caring. He was so protective…
“I’m sorry for how I acted,” Yvoire said, voice thick with sadness and regret. “When it happened to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you the comfort you needed. I was so—”
Yvoire stopped and swallowed his excuses. Even if he thought his hurt had been justified at the time, he wished he could have gone back to change things. He wished he’d been kinder in the aftermath. He wished he’d been more supportive, that his anger and his grief hadn’t made distance feel so imperative. He wished so many things, but he’d learned already how pointless it was to wish for anything.
“I left the flowers,” Yvoire admitted. “The ones you brought. You put them in a pitcher. I went back and found them after you left, but I didn’t take them. I wanted to. I still…” Yvoire swallowed heavily, forcing his throat to loosen. “When I died—the first time—I was here. On the bridge. I saw a man and I thought it was you. And I remembered how you waited with the flowers, and how I didn’t take them, and this time I wanted to make sure I did.”
Before, when Riker took him home, Énna had told him he had featured in Énna’s thoughts at his moment of death, but he hadn’t given details. Now the words seemed to spill out on their own, carried forward by heartache and fear.
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