Wisps of the past

Chapter 25, Talking to the dead

(multiple p.o.vs)

   Rio's consensenes woke up, but Rio herself kept her eyes closed. She hugged her stuffy close to her chest, wishing she could go back to sleep. Today they were not training, so she could sleep in if she wanted to. But the sound of footsteps right next to her door broke that hope. She grumbled, before sitting up.

   Walking over to her closet, she grabbed a dark green and black dress, and left her shoes in the room. She exited the room, finding her dad sitting on the couch, reading. Irritation coursed through her, as she realized that when he walked by her door, he woke her up.

   Rio walked up to a chair, which held a throw pillow. Her dad looked up in surprise, seeing Rio.

   "Rio, I thought you were going to sleep-" Jake was interrupted by the fact that Rio had hit him in the face by the pillow. She then lifted it up, before hitting him on the top of his head. She then put the pillow on the couch, before moving to the kitchen to start making her breakfast.

   "That's for waking me up when I wanted to sleep in."

   Jake laughed, getting up, before walking over and patting his youngest head. "Haha, I'm sorry sweetie." He apologized, leaving his hand on Rio's head. Rio rolled her eyes, before starting to make pancake batter. After about a minute, Jake finally took his hand off her head, and went back to the couch to read. Rio was flipping the pancakes when a thought occurred to her.

   "Hey Dad, what's today's date? There's no calendar here, so I've lost track of the date."

   Jake put his book down for a second, pondering the question, before answering. "December 20 I think?"

   The spatula dropped from Rio's hand, the pancakes on the pan almost fully forgotten. December 20.

   "W-what? Are you sure?" Rio asked, her voice shaky. Jake looked up, confused at the fact that Rio dropped her spatula, but then saw her face. It was pale, her eyes aquamarine, but paler than normal. He jumped off the couch, rushing over to his daughter.

   He grabbed her arms, before pulling her close. Not enough that she might think she was trapped, but enough that it was reassuring. All too late, he realized he shouldn't have said the date.

   Footsteps were heard in the hallway, and Asurli and Draven head popped around the corner. They saw their dad holding the now slightly crying Rio, before running over to join the hug. Jake looked over, and saw they had sad, but determined faces.

   "You knew?" He asked. They both nodded.

   "We didn't know how to tell Rio." Draven answered. They were silent after that, the day most likely passing through the children's thoughts, Jake presumed. Has it really been a year since their human parents left this world? They never even got to properly grieve.

   That thought brings another to his mind, and he lowers himself to their height, his arms still around them.

   "I will have to ask Jane, and send a message to Leto, but would you like to visit their graves today?"

   The three heads shot up fast, looking at him in disbelief. But, slowly, they all nodded. Jake gave them a small smile, before standing up to start making plans.

***

   The light dissipated, and Draven had to blink to get rid of the spots in his vision left from it. They were standing in a small meadow, dense trees surrounding them. The sky reflected the triplets mood, aka cloudy. Draven looked back down at the meadow, and saw there were seven gravestones laid down in the ground, with seven small treelings behind each one. Draven tapped his black pants, the same hand also slightly tugging his green shirt. He glanced at Asurli, and saw she was in a similar outfit.