*insert creative title*

the sadness of love after death

future au in which Aiden never came back from the Land of Sleep. also not very enemies to lovers but aha :fboy face: another request by sleep-can-wait.

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It had been nearly a decade since the final battle against the Sleeper. They had won, they had fulfilled the prophecy, but Fate was a cruel mistress. Just like in the original Pandavas' final trek, Aiden had died first. At just the young age of 16, Aiden was gone and Aru was left to be a widow for however long she lived. She was 23 now, living in a small studio apartment in downtown Atlanta, where she had daydreamed about late evenings with Aiden. 

But the apartment was void of the scattered evidence of a couple, filled with the clean evidence of a singular person. She had yet to get over his disappearance (she never wanted to accept that it was death), yet each day made it harder to move forward. They had set up a little grave to Aiden in his mom's backyard, which grew more and more unkempt as Malini gave up on keeping it clean. The others didn't want to risk damaging the grave, which left Aru to tend to the yard and to the grave. She almost found it ironic. She had moved from tending to museum artifacts to tending to a grave.

It was on a drizzly, grey fall evening that she was making her way down to her old neighborhood. A bag of lawn care materials gently thumped on her leg as she walked. Despite the dread that kept a clenched fist around her heart, Aru's stride was unwavering and her steps heavy. To any passerby, she would have looked like a for-hire lawn tender. She slowed as she approached Malini's house. Gently dropping the bag from her shoulder, Aru brought out a box of Indian sweets and set it on the welcome mat. Malini would pick it up once Aru was gone. She then made her way to the backyard, feet dragging. Coming to see his grave always did this to her. Apprehension weighed heavy on her and she delayed seeing the small rock and framed picture for as long as she could.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Aru knelt in front of the small grave. 

"Hey, loser," she muttered. "I got you the usual things. Give me a sign if you want something else." Aru knew there wouldn't be a sign. There hadn't been a sign for seven years and she didn't expect one now. But she had to keep up the joking persona or risk breaking down like she had that first night.  With shaking hands, she set the 12 roses and small container of sweets beside the rock. She sighed, sitting back on her heels. Every time she returned, the roses would be gone and the sweets eaten, leaving nothing but crumbs. A silly, hopeful part of her hoped that it was Aiden's ghost taking the roses and eating the sweets. But in reality, she knew, it was probably Malini picking up the roses and pigeons eating the sweets. 

"Well, you get to watch me do yard work for your mom. Again. As usual." I really need to start bringing music to this, she thought as she laid out her tools. Hedge clippers, gas for the lawnmower, and gloves. She bent down, donning the gloves and ripping up the weeds. Her picking of the weeds was always violent and more than once it had frightened a small child. Maybe it was an outlet for her anger at the gods for their deceit, maybe it was vengeance for the guilt she couldn't tear out of herself. As the motions became more and more repetitive, Aru found herself lost in her memories again. 

Hazy recollections of hot summer days where she and Aiden would do yard work for both of their moms for a meager allowance that neither of them really needed entertained her. Then they'd go to the park and buy cheap ice cream, sweaty and smelling of grass but content nonetheless. They'd sit under the same large tree, shadowed by its dancing leaves and cooled by the gentle breeze. Their ice creams would always melt a little, making their hands sticky. Then they'd always chase each other around the park with those sticky hands.

These memories, which used to bring her comfort, now just saddened her. Oh, how quickly times change. She was already halfway through mowing the lawn when the first rain drops landed on her bare arms. Looking up at the sky, she scowled. She did not need rain right now. But the sky didn't care for her spite and her father rarely listened to her wishes. The pitter patter of the rain sped up, and Aru sighed, turning off the lawnmower. Maybe she'd finish this next week.

Moving sluggishly towards the grave, Aru sat heavily in front of it. The rain was not helping her bad mood. It drew fake tears on her face in place of the real ones she refused to shed.

"I miss you."

And maybe it was just her exhaustion catching up with her, but she knew her tears spilled over, hot and salty, mixing with the cold rain. And maybe it was just her imagination, but she swore she heard a beautiful, sad voice say that he missed her too. And maybe it was just her tired mind craving someone's touch, but she swore she felt icy, gentle hands combing her wet hair off of her neck.

And maybe it was just her who would know it, but she could swear that maybe, finally, she would move forward.