Flowers and Snowfall

Snow and Flowers

It was a beautiful winter morning. The air was crisp and cold, but not freezing. Golden rays of sunlight danced from the crystal blue sky, warming up the world, even if only by a few degrees. Snow glittered as it blanketed the ground in a sheet of pure white. A trail of footsteps led inside the gate, from the outside world where there were cars and people in the roads and on the sidewalks, into a serene world where all was silent. The noise of early morning rush hour seemed to fade away into mere humming. If one followed the footsteps, they would see that they belonged to a man with long, wavy golden hair and startling sky blue eyes. The man kept walking, slowly, but purposefully, to the one spot where he would always go, making sure to not drop the mostly white bouquet of anemones and carnations, but with a pleasant splash of blue provided by the forget-me-nots and two small dots of red, from two smaller than normal roses. Normally, one would be fairly hard-pressed to find any flower in the winter, let alone these particular flowers. He managed to get some, to his delight. As he was the owner of a flower shop, he managed to arrange a beautiful bouquet out of them.

Continuing on his way, the man eventually reached the same spot he had gone to many, many times before. It was a beautiful place, under a tall tree, with branches bare this time of year. Suitable for a cemetery, most have said. Though it wasn't extremely quiet there, it was quite a nice area. The sound of the traffic and city life was still audible, but it wasn't so loud as to disturb a person. There was also a beautiful view of the ocean to the east, behind the church, where the sun would rise every morning to greet and light up the world. Slowly, gently, he set the bouquet down between two graves, making sure that it was perfectly even between the two. He imagined that they would try to fight, if it wasn't. Softly, he whispers, in his accented voice, "Bonjour, you two. It has been a very long time since I came by, and I apologize. Work has been getting in the way." A cloud of mist appeared as he talked. The man could swear he almost heard voices, albeit extremely faint ones. It sounded like a British man was arguing with an American one, with the former saying "Oh yes, no worries. It's not like we missed you, or anything," with the American replying," Artie, what're you talking about dude, of course we missed him!" and so on and so forth. The man simply chuckles, and continues talking.

"Same as ever, I see.. I know this all happened a year ago, but the pain never did fade. Our house is so empty and still without your endless chatter, Alfred. I know we should be used to the emptiness, but I never thought that I'd be deprived of the hope that you would come back and annoy us both again," he says, smiling. "The mornings are also very lonely.. Yet again, I never believed that I would miss waking up to the smell of you attempting to cook the two of us breakfast, Arthur." He shakes his head. "Perhaps it's because I could never imagine a life without you, both of you." For some reason, he notices that his vision has begun to cloud over. Blinking a few times, he manages to return his vision to normal, and continues.

"Everybody is doing a little bit better now, though. Feliciano has mostly returned to his regular, happy self, and he's living quite happily with his boyfriend now. Ludwig, I believe the name was. They plan to get married soon, but he says that they're still trying to adjust to living together. I imagine that may take some getting used to, especially if Feliciano insists on making pasta every morning for breakfast." He smiles, as if imagining the scene and the German man's frustration at being asked the same question every single morning.

Then, he keeps talking. "Alfred, you remember how your brother has that pet bear that followed him everywhere? What was its name again? Matthew is complaining that he forgot, and told me that you always seem to remember what the name was. The name was Kuma-something or other, I believe. Kumachiro? I don't know. How did you always remember its name, anyways? It was rather difficult to remember, at least, in my and Matthew's opinions." He pauses, thinking on what to say next. Then, he remembers.

"Arthur, is there any way you could possibly let your friends know how you are? Allistor is telling me of how your 'fairy friends' keep wondering about you, and he said it was getting on his nerves. He and your brothers send their apologies for being too busy to visit you, but perhaps Allistor will drag somebody by the ear to come with him. I recall him mentioning that he considered doing such." Suddenly, the light, cheerful mood dissipates. "Did the two of you truly need to go that soon, and leave me here all alone? Alfred, you ripped half of my heart out when you.." his voice wavers. ".. had to become a hero? I..I know you did it for this country, but have you ever considered how I'd feel? How Arthur would feel?"

The man's voice suddenly breaks, and a small hint of anger was evident. His voice grew gradually louder as he spoke. "They told us that you flew and died bravely, taking down two of the enemy before you died, but how does that matter to us?! We were proud of you, sure, even though Arthur would never admit it, but what does it matter how great a pilot you were? It did nothing for us, you weren't going to come back!" He pauses then carries on, his voice growing louder. "And you, Arthur! Mon Dieu, I never thought you'd be that stupid! Yes, alcohol does funny things to a man's mind, but you forgot that you shouldn't drive! Now look where that got you! I know that at least the two of you are together now, but what about me? We all loved each other, we said as much. No, we couldn't get married, but what difference does that make? Love is love, even if they haven't gotten around to recognizing it yet. Now look! I'm here still, but you two have moved on.." After the man finished scolding his boyfriends, his anger vanished. He returns to his usual self, his voice becoming soft again.

"Je suis désolé, Arthur, Alfred. I let my temper get away from me... Would a song suffice, as apology? There is, after all, no way I can kiss either of you.." There's no reply, obviously, but the wind seems to whisper "I suppose," and "Hell yeah bro!". He smiles, thinking of a song that they both would like. "Ah, I've got one. You especially, liked this song, right, Arthur? Sometimes, I think Alfred only put up with it, but perhaps you've made him used to it by now," he says, still smiling. Taking a deep breath, he slowly begins to sing in a low, but clear voice, with a cloud of mist forming in front of him again.

"Alas, my love, you do me wrong to cast me off so discourteously.. For I have loved you well and long, delighting in your company... Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delight. Greensleeves was my heart of gold, and who but my dear lady Greensleeves?" he pauses to take a short breather, then goes on to finish the song. "Now Greensleeves, my love, farewell, adieu. To God, I pray to prosper thee.. For I am still thy lover true, come once again and love me.."

A sudden gust of wind blows and shakes the empty branches of a different tree, almost as if the spirits of the two were clapping. The man softly smiles, and asks, "Another song? Very well, then.." and begins thinking of another to sing. Though it has been a while since he has sung at all, he still sounds very much the same as before. "Well, I suppose it's only fair for me to pick one of Alfred's songs, now.. Correct?" he says.

"I hope you two like this one as much as you seemed to like the first.." Again, he takes a deep breath and begins to sing, this time with a different melody that reminds one of summertime.

"You are my sunshine.. My only sunshine.. You make me happy when skies are grey... You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.. Please don't take my sunshine away.. ... The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamt I held you in my arms. When I awoke dear, I was mistaken..." his voice breaks, but he goes on and finishes. "So I.. hung my head....and..I..cried.."

Raising a gloved hand to his face, he wipes away the beginnings of a few tears. "Ah, sorry about that.. I hope you enjoyed the songs anyways, though..." He pushes back his coat sleeve to check his wristwatch. "It's very late now, I must be heading to work.. I will try to visit more often, don't worry. But for now, adieu." The man turns to leave. However, an especially strong gust of wind shakes the branch above him as he was walking, dumping a load of powdery snow onto his head. Before the shock could register, yet another gust of wind blew most of the powder off his hair and coat, leaving half as many flakes on him. He laughs with tears in his eyes, "I see nothing has changed..." and brushes the rest of the snow off of him before leaving the cemetery.