Butterfly Suoh (OHSHC)

Chapter 58 - The End To It All

Tomoki's POV

I watched as Mom hummed in content as she read silently by the crisp fireplace in her to rocking chair. I laid on my stomach on the floor in front of her with a coloring book opened and crayons neatly color coded laid out beside it. Currently, Tamaki was out for the day with Grandfather on my mother's side. We didn't converse much with anyone else in France, mostly just inner circle relatives and no word was ever spoken of about our father, so this peaceful atmosphere was normal to us. Everyday was always peaceful, no fights, no scoldings, just tranquility. It was a few hours before Mom would usually start making dinner for the three of us, so we were just relaxing by the fireplace that crackled every few seconds. I glanced up at Mom, tilting my head to the side when a sudden thought occurred to me

"Mommy, what happens after you go to sleep?" I asked her, innocence in my voice and eyes. She momentarily stopped her reading to look down at me, a soft smile gracing her features

"In what way, dear?" She asked me

"Like Nana." I told her, remembering the ceremony we held a few months back for her when she went to sleep. She sighed, placing a book mark into her book before reaching over to put her book down on the table next to her. She reached her arms out to me, beckoning me to come sit up on her lap. I made way up to her lap, her long arms wrapping themselves around me as she kissed the top of my head, continuing her rocking

"Like Nana, huh?" She asked me and I nodded in confirmation

"Well... In Fairy Tales some characters go into a deep sleep, a sleep they can never wake up from like... Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." She began, thinking for a moment on how to word this conversations to a five year old

"Romeo thought that Juliet was in a deep sleep, and so, he wanted to join her because he couldn't bare living without her at his side. He drank bad juice and he fell asleep. Only for Juliet, who was not in a deep sleep, to wake up and see him."

"Mommy, that doesn't answer my question." I informed her with a small pout. She chuckled, "Oh, that doesn't huh? Sorry dear, I just don't really know how to explain it to you because I haven't dealt with going into a deep sleep like Nana or Romeo. I probably won't experience it until you are long grown up and have your own family to look after."

"But... I don't want you to go sleepy... Ever..." I sniffed, burying my face into her chest. She rested her cheek on the top of my head, nodding

"I don't want to either, but, it is the way of life. You live to the fullest until the inevitable comes, going into a deep sleep."

"What happens then?" I repeated to her, still wanting to know the answer

"I don't know, dear. No one truly knows, we can only assume that Nana and all before her and right now are up with the stars happily watching over us."

"Nana watches me when I'm sleeping?" I asked her which she laughed at, "You can say that she watches over you when you dream, keeps you from having any night terrors or nightmares. Like a protector."

I remember that conversation barely, I don't even remember why I brought up the topic of what happens after death. What was said afterwards, what happened, it is just a blank slate in mind. I was curious as a child like most children, wanting to know more about the world around me. I was pretty clever and would understand the subtle hints in conversations. Being able to feel how people felt around me, it basically radiated off of them. But, I didn't expect this to happen to me.

I was stabbed by a concealed blade Adalicia had, a blade no one knew she had on her until it was too late. I can't tell what is going on around me, I only feel sensations of shivers racking up and down my body. Is this what death is like? An endless body of void and darkness? Or, am I just having a dreamless sleep? Trying to recollect myself? I'm not afraid of death, never was, because that is the natural order of life. We live, we die, no matter how depressing that sounds. It's the truth. I knew for certain of one thing of what is happening outside, everyone panicking, looking for help or getting me hell. I must have lost a lot of blood already from being stabbed in the stomach, a place that is lethal to get stabbed in because of all of the parts of the inner body that rest there, where most of the blood goes through. I would die of blood loss.