It was pouring today again, black flags had been raised in all the official royal residences especially the forest house. It hadn't stopped pouring since that day, and so they had to perform the funeral while it was raining cats and dogs.
The sound of the rain could be heard throughout the autumn court and if only she had been here to watch it.
It was horrible that the only one time she had seen the rain was while she was dying. The thought plagued Eris through and through, it broke him to know that she wouldn't ever be able to walk in the rain.
He wiped his tears and shrugged on his black jacket and exited the manor, finding his brothers standing outside, with Cecile, everyone dressed in black. The melancholy in the atmosphere was so evident and clear.
"Let's start." Eris said to Zane who nodded and gestured to Cal who called for the gates to be opened.
They were going to carry the coffin to the official cemetery for the royals, shehad wished to be buried next to Isabella. He had to pay respects to the latter as well, since he hadn't been there for her funeral.
As they began taking the coffin, all he could think of was her promise to come back. He was going to say goodbye to her today but he hoped that she would come back.
Let's meet again, Lilliana.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sirius was getting married today, it had already been five years, he always went to the place where he had met her for the first time, every year, he went there. He went to the Garden in Hawthorne, he went to the balcony where he had called her Rose. He went to the forest in the middle of Prythian where the games had been held where he had met for the first time in his life.
He couldn't stop himself from going there, ever.
He had been coronated.
He wanted her to come back.
Let's meet again, Princess.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tamlin had built his court back to what it was, both of them had gone to her grave and talked to her, wishing she would come back. Eris had gone to the clearing in the spring court where he had gotten drunk and lied down and she had come to help him and he had asked her if this was a dream.
He went to the places again, he went to the forest again. He sat on the top of the tree again where he had seen her for the first time.
But he had come back without her.
He missed her, but he wouldn't give up.
Let's meet again, little red rose.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wake up." Nico whispered in his ear, but Eris turned to the other side, placing a pillow on his ears.
"Wake up." Nico called out again.
"Shhh." Eris replied to the boy.
He then felt pressure on his back and he recognised it to be Nico's knee as he got on top of Eris and forcefully removed the pillow from his head.
"Get up, please." He said in a sing-song voice.
Eris sat up, glaring at the boy who folded his arms and brushed invisible lint from his shoulder.
"Hey! What are you doing?" He asked Nico who scrunched up his nose in distaste upon Eris's messy hair and eye bags.
"I should ask you that, what are you doing?" He asked Eris who rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.
"I was sleepin-
"No, no that, I'm asking you, what are you doing to yourself? Nico asked, gesturing towards the alcohol placed on the table next to his bed, and then to Eris himself.
Eris looked at him dumbfounded and then got up and walked over to the vanity, placed in the corner of the room. He sat down on the chair there and looked in the mirror as Nico followed him and began pointing out things.
"First of all, your eye bags, then your face; it's so thin and wan and not good. And then your body, you look weak.....and...and Mom wouldn't like that. Would she?" Nico rambled on and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to seem comforting.
Eris's eyes softened when Nico mentioned her. He tried to pull a smile and ruffled the kid's hair.
"Fine." He said to him and pulled him in for a hug, Nico hugged Eris tightly, practically squeezing. Of course, he wasn't the only one affected by her death, Nico, Kallias, his brothers, Viviane, His mother and even Tamlin were affected and they all missed her. The one thing the person who dies doesn't realize is the effect it has on the people around them, but then again, it's not their fault or under their control is it?
"Let's get better." Nico said, his voice muffled.
Eris only hugged him tighter in return.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The forest was quite lovely at this time in the year, the sun shone down and the rays were bright and warm and hit the back of his head nicely. The warmth seeped into his clothes and he looked around, breathing the fresh air in.
The trees were huge and towering, their colors so green and lush that it was remarkably beautiful. The sky had never looked this blue either. He was happy to escape the rainy weather of Amvale for once and realized that he was happiest when basking in the sunlight. Maybe it was because the warmth here resembled the warm personality she had.
He kept walking, his eyes taking in the mind blowing scenery, he was still a few yards away from where he would go to see if she....she had returned. He considered not going, the hopelessness that came when knowing that she hadn't returned back then so why would she now, begged him to not go.
But then again, what if she did come this time? That small part of him led him there, leading him to that huge tree that he had climbed after losing the archery games to her. And then she came and patted his shoulder and told Eris to not give up. For him, it had been love at first sight or something similar, since her face had never left his mind, her words had run a marathon through his head and then he had gone to that event at the winter court. She had been dressed as a rose.
And after that, he was sure that he had fallen in love.
But even then, he managed to-
Something rustled in the tree, he looked up immediately and then around. Then the ultimate goal of climbing the tree faced him, he started climbing ip, jumping to the first branch and then swinging onto the next one. The tree was the tallest tree around here so it obviously took him time, back then and even now. Another thing seemed to move at the top which led him to fasten his climb and soon he was at the top. The top had a lot of leaves so looking for someone became evidently tough. He placed his hands to create space for him to move and push the leaves around, he almost fell off a huge branch which scared him a little bit.
He looked around to see if could spot something but he couldn-
A flash of white shook him and he followed it. After pushing around for a while and trying to find the person, he ultimately fell off and a scream tore out of his throat. He closed his eyes and waited to hit the ground but it felt like he was frozen mid air, floating. So he opened his eyes and realized that he was, as a matter of fact, floating.
And then the second thing he saw were a pair of blue eyes.
His eyes widened like saucers and he was sure his ears and face had turned red.
She only smiled at him.
His cheeks must have reddened even more.
A tear left his eyes and definitely hit the ground.
Eris Vanserra couldn't believe his eyes, he brought his hand up and pinched himself so that he could know if this was a dream. Was he hallucinating? Had he hit the ground and died already?
"I came back." Lilliana said, and lowered him to the ground.
He stood there, still just staring at her. And then he moved, and wrapped his arms around here.
"You did." He whispered.
"I promised, didn't I?" She whisper-asked.
He only nodded and squeezed her tighter.
"I love you."
She came back.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, dear people, this is the final chapter of 'Dream a little, dream of me', I can't believe that it has been a year since I started it. While writing this chapter I felt like I only started this yesterday. It has been a wonderful year of writing and I am very very thankful that you all took your time and read it. Every time I see the number of reads on this, I am shocked and I feel like this is all a fever dream. I believe I'm tearing up and I feel melancholic, now that this is ending. I hope I am able to write something new and I hope that you all will read it and like that as well. Thank you so much for sticking through and reading this.