#batteredoptmist

[flownintothesun]

⋆ ✰ ⋆ ───    𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 (𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 @ 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞)   

              ⋆ ✰ ⋆ ─── a legacy post for @batteredoptimist dated 4 January 2023.

        "𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐃," he says to no one, and to nothing — his voice gone, and all that’s left of him the bright and bountiful light light that had been carried within his chest. The human soul is invisible to all — it even eludes the Fey, nature, and time itself. It is the very base of everything — the soul, and it is the last to go, if it goes at all. The world will wonder forever about the thing that makes someone what and who they are, but they will never know, not truly. Even he shall forget in time.

        Time. Time washes like a wave over him — in moments, in memory, in things that were once held pressed to the chest, in things that have always been and will always be. The world is still, save for the wind. The wind which whispers the name of his beloved across the forest where his body lay, and calls to him with his purpose. James, James. My love, oh, my love.

      And Francis has died for love a thousand times, and would do so again, and will do so again. Happily is not the word for it, perhaps — but willingly, expectantly. Among the haze of life ended comes a thought, and then another. And he learns that it is possible to mourn, and to regret, even when you are nothing. Even when the ravens overhead sing your funeral song to the sound of your lover’s tears that fall on you like rain. And when he is done here, where will he go? Will he ascend or will he simply cease to be until he is given reason once more with James’s smile?

       There are so many things I have left to tell you. The least of all being how I loved you, how I love you still. It’s been said that this moment isn’t fair, and as Francis’s light fades into the proverbial clouds of what comes next, perhaps he thinks so, too. But there is music playing — a familiar song that calls to his heart, beats in tune with it. He can hear James’s singing as well. It’s the last melody, the last refrain of their song. He’ll finish it in the next lifetime, or...

       ...or the one after that.

     They have time.