Prophecy: Tome of Heart

19. One Great Evil: Part Two

Everything was quiet now. Before it had been so chaotic, but Austin still would've given anything to return to it. Not that it had been any fun for him, but at least Toby had been alive. The surge of godlike power that Austin had felt was now gone, but before it had went he had managed to kill every last one of the champions. All that was left was what came after, and he sat quietly, holding his husband in his lap as he dwelled in the place of the dead. It had been long enough that Toby had started to pale and grow cold, but still Austin refused to let him go as he cried over him gently.

"I should've listened to you." Austin murmured, kissing his lover's hair. "If I'd listened then maybe we could've found a way out of this. You tried to tell me it was coming, but I didn't want to see it, and now I don't know what to do. I don't want to be without you, we promised each other, remember? I shouldn't have killed them all-I should've let them take me too. I'm sorry, Toby, I'm so sorry." He wept, not knowing that he wasn't alone. No matter what it looked like to the naked eye, his husband knelt right by his side, trying to get through to him.

"I'm not gone, why can't you hear me?" Toby called to him, frustrated. He wasn't angry that Austin couldn't hear him, he was angry because he couldn't stand having to watch the man he loved go through this. It broke his heart and he couldn't understand what was happening, why he was looking at his own body and why he couldn't make himself heard.

"How am I supposed to get through this? This is all that's left, there's nothing to go back to. You always told me what to do, please tell me what to do." Austin sobbed, more emotional. "Tell me what to do!"

"Get up, you have to go, just go!" Toby continued to try. "You may have killed all of them, but there's more where they came from, you can't just sit here, leave." Again his words went unheard, and he tried again and again until he gave up and sat back. He was stuck too, and he was just as helpless.

"You're wasting your breath, lover." A familiar voice sounded, and Toby scrambled to his feet as he turned to look at her. His jaw fell open wide, and he stared at her in disbelief as he wondered how she could be standing in front of him.

"Lorelei?" He addressed the leather loving thief, and she smiled at the sound of her name. True to form, she seemed to enjoy his bewilderment, and he stuttered as he tried to focus. "How are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're dead." She was blunt, again taking pleasure from his expression. "I have to be honest, I didn't think I'd see you again so soon, but I guess that's how it goes. Anyway, are you ready?"

"No, wait, this isn't right." The hotheaded hybrid rushed to interject as he hoped to buy himself a few more minutes. "I can't just leave Austin like this, you know that. I have unfinished business, that's why I'm still here."

"You're not a ghost, idiot, and try not to be so greedy-you've had more time than most." Her statement was true, but she was only teasing him when she said it. "Don't you think it's time to move on?"

"I can't, not now, not after everything I've done to get here." Toby looked over at Austin, watching him as he continued to mourn. After a moment he could feel Lorelei looking too, and he knew she would understand. "I've worked so hard for this, please, I don't want to go."

"Are you sure?" Lorelei smiled again, kindly this time as she became serious. "It's beautiful where we're going."

"It's beautiful here too." Again he looked at his husband. It didn't matter that they were there in the shared grave of the champions, surrounded by the bodies of creatures so hideous that they defied explanation. It didn't matter that it was the ugliest place in the entire universe, it was still beautiful because Austin was there.