CHAINED FLOWERS ( z. dragneel )

10 | "the boy, cursed"

"Zeref... Zeref! Zeref!" Alarmed, she reaches to wipe his tears. "Why are you crying?!"

He shakes his head as her fingers deftly remove the teardrops smearing his porcelain face. "I've never cried because of so much happiness before. This feels amazing. I like it. I love it. I love you."

It used to be so difficult, but the words feel so easy now. They come out in comforting breaths and soft letters, covered in genuine feelings. "I love you too."

It really is so simple. And esen has never felt this kind of love. With past lovers,  she's been nothing but wary and confused. Now it's just clear as day. To have someone to hold and love and she feels like no words or poetry or books will ever do justice to this bond they have. She just didn't fall in love with him for a span of seven months, this was him in all lifetimes- she's loved every aspect of him for every lonely lifetime, but she can't deny the fact that this. This person in front of her with tears streaming down his face. This love between them that unraveled her existence. This was everything.

It felt like being brought to life in a flash of brilliance and greatness. It felt like being pulled put of perpetual darkness and seeing/feeling the warmth/the light. That was loving Zeref Dragneel.

Love struck, what a fitting world for the lonely boy who used to walk the world alone.

She watches the birds, their surroundings and she wallows in all the hope they cast upon her. She feels light, free of burdens and then when she turns back to him, there is something dangerously lonely sprouting from his face. A sort of melancholy that is a pastiche of anguish, sorrow, betrayal and heartbreak.

"What's wrong?" she asks, her furrowed eyebrows creating a valley between her eyes.

And then her name on his lips and she looks at her own figure.

"Esen..." he says once again and she takes the memory to heart. Somehow, she knew. That feeling that- she just closes her eyes.

"Why are you disappearing?" he asks and you can hear his heart breaking.

She is relieved and she holds onto him.

"Esen! Esen! Esen! Esen, answer me!"

"It's okay..." her voice soft, her words deep. "I'm happy."

"What's wrong?! Answer me!" And she can see the pain in his eyes, the suffering. All of it. And she cups his face.

"Don't be scared," she said. "I can feel it. It's the end."

"Esen! ESEN! ESEN! Don't say that! Don't- I'll find you in your next lifetime, I promise! We'll be happy! And even if you disappear again, I'll keep finding you! I'll find a way out of this! Just don't look at me as if this is the end."

She shakes her head and a smile creeps on her lips. Two arches of pink happiness that he can still feel on his.

"It is," she says softly. "It is the end. Of this story. Us. Me. You broke my curse. I can finally rest. After all those years. Of pain and hatred and despair. The voices have stopped screaming now. Thank you, Zeref."

And he's crying even harder now. Rivulets of tears he thought were long gone flow from his eyes, tears for his beloved.

"No no no no no!"

"Don't cry, please. I'm grateful. I finally realized it," she says. "My father has forgiven me. I finally realized what's worth this. It's closure, because I finally realized that I deserved better than this punishment and it's always been me who couldn't move on. The secret is to live and not merely exist, it is to truly feel everything and not fear what is to come."

"Zeref, listen," she says and his forehead brushes against her. "Thank you. Please stop crying."

"Esen..."

"I love you, Zeref Dragneel." And she is vanishing. Like stars lighting in one spot and focusing their celestial beauty and brightness. As if she is one of them and she is returning to her place at the heavens. The cracks have grown wider and then he sees her face for the last time and he's trying his best not to break apart.

And then there are butterflies of gold and silver and white and they're enveloping both of them in ethereal light.

He doesn't say anything and her warmth slowly disappears. And then it's her final words that strike him, like lances piercing his heart into fragments. He thought that he would never die because of immortality, but this this pain was more than dying. This was extreme anguish.

Soft like the clouds that gather up the heavens and the wings of the angels that rest upon them, the sounds of their arias echoing upon the plains of the earth that sway the flowers.

Her voice.

Her warmth.

For one last time.

"Thank you for loving me."

And the god of death looked down at the creatures, setting each other free. Many would not believe it, but at that day, if you look close enough and had the courage to watch the God of Death's face, there was a teardrop cascading down his pale cheeks as he watches Zeref and Esen.

Again, there were two of them, but no longer the same.

He who remembers.

And she who is remembered.

THE END.
kylalily, 2019