Apollo sat in front of what had been the gate way to the Hunters realm. Now all that remained was a few footprints in the dirt, and the burns on his arms from where the portal had rejected him as he had tried to go after her. She had closed it.
He wasn't surprised. Well, that was a lie - he was. How she did it so quickly was beyond him and now he was left sitting there in agony, and filled with regret for not going after her sooner, for not blocking the way or trying harder to keep her with him. They should have argued more; that was what they did afterall. Nothing had ever been simple or easy and-
"She's gone then?" Cain asked, appearing where Elise's footprints acted as the last marker of her ever being there.
"Yup." Apollo answered darkly.
Turning, Cain took in his half siblings appearance. "Why aren't you healing?"
"Can't right now."
Beer bottles littered the space around Apollo, the slight slur to his words validating Cain's first impression of him; drunk. With little else to do, he say down and produced a bottle for himself, before reaching over to touch Apollo's knee - healing him instantly.
"Thanks." Blood shot eyes met Cain's, and he knew as much as Apollo that not all pains were so easily erased. "Why are you even here? Did Art send you?"
Cain took a long, slow gulp of his beer; trying to work out what he could say. Should he be honest and tell him that had hoped something had delayed her leaving, so he could shut down the portal before she got to it?
"She was worried, yes." Cain slowly answered. Truthfully, he hadn't seen his other sibling, but it was likely she would be worried.
"I had plans too you know. If we got to Christmas, I was gonna tell her. Eve-ery thing." Apollo confessed. "Got a stupid ring too, you know what those humans do for their bondings. She likes nice things. I got her the best."
'Good.' Cain thought, 'She deserves the best.' Yet all he said was, oh.
"Her Dad knew. Thought we were moving too fast, he was the one who said wait for Christmas. Guess he was right, fucking asshole." The brothers popped the tops of their bottles at the same time, drinking in sync until Apollo stopped to burp. "I'll give her time. Some space. Then I'll go back, like before. She just needs some time."
"You do that." Cain agreed dryly.
Apollo looked at Cain with forced concentration. "You all alright?"
"I'm just going to miss her too." He said softly, clinking the top of his beer with Apollo's.
"Yeah, but not too much." Apollo warned, finally stumbling up onto his feet. "I'm going to bed."
Getting up too, the pair of them flashed back to Apollo's quarters and feeling guilty, Cain helped him to bed. He was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow and for a moment, Cain watched over him.
"Not plotting anything are you?" Portia asked quietly as she appeared at his side.
"No more than usual. Any news?"
"Old habits Cain." She mocked. "Besides, you're home. You have everything you ever wanted and I told you before, nothing but greatness awaits you here. You're future is clear. What news could I possibly bring you?"
"Will she be back?"
Portia frowned and shook her head as she placed a hand of comfort on his forearm. "No old friend, she will not."
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sorry if there are even more typos than usual. its 1220am and i just wanted to get this last part done. eventually I'll go back and do a decent edit on them, but not right now. Ah! I'm so excited to get to the end...! I think you'll like it. Unless I change it again, and then I won't know what I think you'll think of it. and i'm going to bed now x