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zombocomme · 7 months ago

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Between The Lines, Episode 2: Fangs too long

Enjoy.

*SFW:PG13:*mentions pet loss, vet office/needles, blood, allusion to death not specified*

"...That is the Rollercoaster, that is life..." -Papa IV

🌌🕊🌨⚘️🐀✨️🦇🫲🙂‍↕️🫱🦇✨️🪦🥀��🪽🌌

Secondo lifted Copia's chin, "That rat was a mean old one eyed bastard who was a danger to himself and others, and yet you loved that little shit so much you cared as best you could and loved him to the end..."

The vet office was quiet aside form the muffled sounds of kenneled animals. A box of tissues sat on the table looking lonely on the stainless steal slab, where an empty rat cage lay open and unoccupied.

Pirate the rat had been wonderful until one day he snapped. He bit copias thumb so hard, Copia's blood spurt in time with his thundering heartbeat. Secondo looked down at the thumb now, where grew a deep scar that still looked pink.

Primo wanted to release him as a garden rat, liking the idea of the rat belonging to his garden. 'Tersero' had suggested sending it to a sanctuary. Secondo called for it to be put down. Copia had put off his decision. Such a weight to carry at 11 years old,having to be responsible for life and death. He never wanted that burden. And yet it seemed one that wanted to land on him... unfortunately, fate would intervene for the little creature - and at his old age, he broke his leg falling in his cage for which copia blamed himself... he was too old to save. Too tired. And too damn mean.

*The pet had become a menace, with Copia having to shoo him into a bucket trap to clear out the cage and keep it clean. And Pirate with his one eye would launch himself against the cage in feral screeches and squeaking, repeatedly bitting at the bars and not letting go even if someone simply walked by. God forbid their hair or clothes get to close. Its aggression was unsuitable, and contributed to making his own life miserable, to be trapped and moved and towelwrapped...the poor little beast.*

Copia looked up at Secondo, who was his reluctant guardian for today. Tasked with accompanying the boy to the vet, to "put that vermin down." As Seestor so emphatically put jt.

Secondo may not have been a good babysitter, being hard in his exterior as a young man, but when he heard one of Copia's little pets (pests) had bitten him and sent the boy crying down the hall bleeding, it was everything in him not to immediately rush into Copia's room and snatch up the wretched animal himself and dispatch it to feed to his pet snake... yet even as Copia looked in Secondos eyes, the boy asked a difficult question that gave him pause...

"Secondo... do, do rats go to heaven?"

The silence felt worse now that the little animals body was being taken to the next room to the vet to be given the final shot to the heart that would make it stop forever.

"I don't know... I don't know if animals go to heaven when they die"

"Oh." Copia said softly. His little leather shoes kicked gently as he was too short to touch the floor on the bench. Knowing he may have to be ready to say goodbye to his pet, he wanted to make sure he looked proper to go to the vet. To appear a responsible pet owner. Afraid of unsolicited advice and rebukes of the grown-ups he was used to. Though one deep glare from Secundo at the check in counter shut that down quickly. He stood like a giant guard dog to the boy who's nose barely peaked over the high reception desk as he reached his little gloved hands to set the cage up, "like a big boy should".

Secundo felt it was important for the boy to face this experience head-on... the first death of many the boy would ever face in his life, though Secondo prayed a person was not next. It was better for him to chauffeur the kid who asked hard questions he didn't even want to know the answers to himself. And so, while he 'voluntold', he rather do it than not.

Primo was always busy either tending his dark flock or his garden. Terzo, as usual, off somewhere or getting into trouble. Secundo wanted nothing more than to be left to his sciences and devices, his books, his charcoals, his poetry writing. His his quiet hermit like behavior earned him a reputation of "being available" for errands like this. He was sure he'd have to grab a shovel later to make a tiny grave somewhere...

Yet even as he tilted Copia's chin up to him, he realized the words leaving his mouth came from somewhere deeper than his usual portrayed indifference. It came from that secret place people didn't often see, "Bambino, it is ok to be sad about it. It is OK to grieve. Grief is what happens when love has nowhere to go; it is the perseverance of love, and you have so much of it to give. You are good to be kind merciful to a creature like, that." he said tensely, trying not to be a total dick. The kid looked skeptical and looked at Secondo up and down. Copia was young, but he knew when adults were just saying things, they didn't mean to make themselves feel better. Secondo could see he wasn't quite reaching the boy. He sighed.

*What would Primo say...*

Primo, ever patient and wise seemed to almost always know what to say, and his sentiments echoed in his mind at that moment. The eldest brother's words, Secondos only older brother, touched Secondo's heart then, "Kindness , compasison, love for even the most humble of the earth's creatures. Now that, that, is a good seed. That is the seed to water." Primo had said, with a hint of admiration. It eas when Copia decided to keep Pirate in a cozy cage instead of in the wilds of The Ministry gardens.

It was because Copia felt guilty; if the poor creature found itself in a trap or something else's meal, or a victim of the elements, it would be an end undeserving, as Copia's lack pf attention and resulting blindness on the rat's part. would have been the reason for it. Pirate lost an eye while in Copia's care and it wasn't noticed until it was too late because Copia could barely get close enough to that damn cage, for the vermin to come charging like a little deamon hell bent on drawing blood.

But fuck. The kid loved the mean little bastard. And Secundo wanted to listen to his own big brother about how to handle this situation. The way he hoped the boy might listen to what he had to say.

"Carry that love in your heart where that loss lived. It won't replace anything, but it will keep your heart full. Even if only for yourself, you can't pour from an empty glass, si?"

Copia looked down at his empty lap where his hands twitched nervously. Like he was stimming. The boy was skittish and hid his hands under his thighs, and Secondo realized he had only just noticed it.

He set his other hand on the boys shoulder, turning from the bench on his toes to kneel in front of the seated little deacon, to get on his level and make this moment stuck. He felt it surging from his consciousness, and it tasted like an ill omen, as much as it tasted like a blessing.

"Love transcends death, and time. You will never walk alone."

There was a momentary pause where Copis chewed his lip anxiously.

"Like, like ghosts? Do you beleive in ghosts?" Copia asked, his eyes pleading, his lashes wet with tears.

Secundos face softend, the sympathy in his face making the skull makeup intense and saddened. "No, not like ghosts, because wll ghosts, they can be anything. Allot of times they're just wishes. Energy we name to be of comfort -" but he knew that wasn't what the boy wanted to hear. He knew the boy wasn't ready for such a hard truth.

It was a truth that made Secondo tired and broken, angry, enraged even, having lost his best friend, Rafaél, last summer...Somone he loved dearly. Somone he truly missed. Somone who one day it seemed snapped and couldn't hold on long enough to see his 21st birthday. The pain of such a tragic loss had made Secondo cold and recluse. He had shut out the world where he could, looking for a reason his best friend did something so awful. It had killed anything left of the child inside, leaving only a stoic young man in its place, with much fewer friends and dreams to believe in...

*Let him dream a little longer. Let the kid hold that innocence a little longer. Even if it only is ever pretend...*

Secondo thought, and then took a deep breath, unlocked his jaw, and softened the furrow in his forhead, letting his own tears wet his eyes as he restarted, "Maybe Pirate will come back a ghost, maybe he won't. Who knows. Anything is possible here, " he said almost to himself as he saw himself reflected in copias watery eyes, "I hope he comes back,"

*He did. He had looked everywhere for an answer, a way to bring Rafael back to him and have him in his arms again... and nothing... nothing but heartache and frustration, disappointment and anger, had come of it*

And now his lip trembled as he spoke, "It would be nice if he did, hmm? Maybe he will walk by and brush your hand, maybe feel a warm touch once more when you reach out to pet him, even if he is gone..." he choked up, his voice wavering as it pitched higher, trying to squeeze the sob in his throat painfully down.

All was quiet. Only the sounds of the animals in the back kennels muffled through the small crack in the door, and the tiny thump of the hands on the clock hanging near.

Then, Copia, a touch deprived child trying to make sense of the world and the way it turned, his face solemn with a wisdom beyond his years, for indeed, he was beyond his years. He regarded Secondo kneeling in front of him, stood up, and at once threw his arms around Secundos neck, hugging him tightly, patting his back softly even as he hitched back his own little sob.

Secondo, for a moment, gasped and felt stunned. Then quick as the shock hit him, it left him and he matched the intensity of the boys embrace...He held Copia in his arms, with a look of feirce determination but to no avail. Quickly they had their faces in each other's shoulders as they cried, Copia's little breath warm and his tears streaming. Secondo knelt before him, clutching the boy like a life-line in a storm, trying to hold fast.

*Secondo knew it, he that they were brothers. The other brothers knew, but not the kid. He couldn't know, and Secondo resented it even more, since it meant he was often being ripped from his brooding solitude and made to take the boy everywhere he had to go. He rebeled, often ditching the kid half the time to smoke or drink with his friends and neglect him, acting like a jerk. Nowadays he seemed to bare his teeth at the world and its gods out of spite, and even the boy wasn't safe from his outbursts and harsh words.

*None of the family or Ghoule were allowed to speak of it, it was especially forbidden to let Copia know that the rumors were true, that he was an Emeritus; He was one of the "stronzino brothers", lauded and feared because of the dickhead they shared blood in common with, Nihil. Copia was the old man's Bastard son... A Prime Mover...*

But Copia was only a boy, wanting to belong. To have a family. He was undeserving of the ill treatment he got for being different, being sneered at and bullied, for being neglected and ignored rarely if ever hugged. He was a sweet boy and deserved to go to heaven with his little rat. A rat so vile it deserved time in the pit.

But the kid was better than him. Copia had nursed the thing to health as best he could, giving the wretched thing every chance to prove himself worthy of the boy's love... Copia at least had hope left. He had compassion and so much of it. The fact that the young boy showed mercy to such a mal-adapted creature that was so angry and fearful that it attacked anything and anyone that came near...was a blessing in the open for him in this moment of shared comfort in one another's grief.

*Secondo felt an overwhelming sense of love and protectiveness as Copia threw his arms around his neck. He knew the young boy had been touch deprived, a product of his circumstances and the way his life had played out to this point, and yet, even in his young age, he had wisdom beyond his years. Wisdpme to be the moste beautiful thing in the darkest of moments... his little sunshine, who could take a sad song and make it better...*

*As Copia's breath shuddered, Secondo held him tighter, feeling the weight of the boy's affection and all the years of loneliness and isolation rest on his shoulder. As he knelt before Copia, he finally saw it...the depth of the boy's love.*

*Secondo was struck by the realization that Copia had known all along. He didn't know how or when, but Copia had understood. It was undeniable in the way the boy looked at him, the way he leaned into his embrace. Little Copia loved Secondo, and they had hardly if ever touched, yet that precious boy, had all along loved him... *

Copia sobbed with Secondo, and even as Secondo's crying subsided,and Copia's too, even when he caught his breath, he wouldn't let go of that little warm kid that he was holding, kissing his hair whispering words of comfort and sympathy, holding him the way he wished somebody had held him when Rafael left this world to be free... yet he knew Rafael had loved him, and Secondo's love for him had been real too...

And Rafael wouldn't want him trapped in a cage, protecting his broken heart away from somone who needed his love now more than ever. He had to do it...

* He had to let love in. He had to fill that emptiness laying on the cold planes of his heart.*

Secondo prayed harder than he ever had before. He prayed in hisbheart as he held Copia and kissed the tears from his sweet face, comforting and crying with him, finnally being there for him...

Secondo had vowed he would never leave his littlest brother behind ever again, a promise he would make when in time Secondo would be blooded a Child of the Night; Such a transformation for life eternal came with a price; it came with certain features that made him beg from deep within that empty Rafael shaped hole in his heart, where a Copia sized loved was filling it to the brim even if he didn't deserve it, "Please, darkness, my old friend.. please," Secondo prayed through gritted teeth as he rocked Copia softly, holding the sniffling, hiccuping child in his strong arms, "Please..." he kissed Copias head once more. He whispered as he buried his words with a kiss , like a blessing into his baby brother's heart, "I don't want my fangs too long..."

#the band ghost #secondo emeritus #copia emeritus

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