-"She's gone but she's everywhere."-
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(Play song now)
10 days later.
These past ten days have been the hardest anyone has ever been through. Blade had replaced her as the right hand, and Oscar was now the left hand yet the King hadn't done anything or even acknowledged her death.
The King hadn't even contacted Blade to discuss his new position as the right hand -which he reluctantly accepted. The thought of seeing and being in close contact with the King after all these years sent his skin crawling.
Eleven years. Eleven years he had witnessed Midnight's sleepless nights to complete the King's agenda. He had been there and watched as Midnight slowly killed herself every day because of the King.
He had seen the bruises.
Throughout the years, the only thing that Blade sleep peacefully was the idea that he worked for Midnight... not the King. Because the King was the villain. The King was the one who leaned back and didn't do anything while Midnight slaved her entire existence to him.
And now that was Blade's job.
He was just glad it didn't have to be Midnight anymore.
Thea had been in a coma since she got rescued. Today was the funeral and she had finally woken up but had no use of her voice because the chokehold Alexei put her in had bruised her vocal cords.
Luca also had not left her side along with everyone else. Right now, he'd do anything to keep everyone else he loved, alive.
He had been abnormally quiet, not speaking more than a couple of sentences a day.
He wasn't staying at the Lux anymore. Some of her clothes and things were still there and he couldn't bring himself to be around it. It all still smelled like her.
Everything he saw reminded him of her.
The whiskey he drank was strong...just like her. The blood he spilled was red and tinted...just like her blush when she got flustered.
The moon he saw each night...reminded him of the tattoo that was on his torso.
The glimmering lights of the skyline were just like the sparkle of her teeth and the twinkle in her eyes. The shadows in the dark reminded him of her eyes and raven hair that was...shiny like silk...just like the bedsheets. The sun that seemed to be duller looked like the golden chains and rings she wore all the time.
The emptiness in his bed was just like the vacancy in his heart...
He bought a mansion in New York, knowing he would be back at least once a month to visit her grave.
He couldn't sleep much without being reminded of that awful night. So he stopped trying altogether
.
Flashback
It felt surreal to see the person who gave the impression that she would never die, to fall to her death.
It seemed like all time had slowed when they screamed and raced to her with gunshots going off in their deafening ears.
He caught her before she hit the cold ground, pulling her close as the blood spread all over her chest. Tears of his own fell out as deja vu hit him.
It's hard seeing the person you love most...suffer and beat their last heartbeats.
You feel helpless.
And you feel angry at the world for making you love so hard but hurt so bad.
But all you can do now...is make it comfortable.
Blood pooled in her mouth and seeped out from her lips and trickled down her cheek; the rise and fall of her chest slowed down.
She looked into his eyes and somehow told him that it was going to be okay. That the pain wasn't hurting her...and no amount of pain was going to alter the love they felt.
It was an endgame that both of them would always remember. In this life and the next...
Then her eyes didn't close and her chest stopped moving, making his own heart stop beating.
Because his heart would only beat for her...and now she was gone.
End of Flashback
~
It's like he couldn't cry anymore as he watched her matte black and gold casket get lowered into the ground. At the top of the casket, a crescent moon with a capital K was at the center in solid gold.
It was a small funeral, with just the Italians and people who were close with her were there. No one spoke at the funeral.
There was nothing that they could say.
The silence seemed to speak a thousand words.
The grief had settled so deeply in their hearts, that there were no words they could speak. Even when they had their turns to sit alone at her gravestone..they were silent. No words were meaningful enough nor could they explain the pain or loss they felt.
And Luca wasn't any different as he sat in front of the stone that reads:
Midnight
1994- November 3rd, 2020
"Memento Mori"
He couldn't even force out a tear even if he wanted to.
He was just paralyzed. He knew ever since he saw her that he didn't want to be better for anyone else. He didn't care what anyone else thought of him, it was just her. He wanted to be good for her because he knew that she deserved better.
But he didn't want to be just good.
He wanted to be bad for her. He wanted to be happy for her. He wanted to be adventurous for her.
He wanted his future to be her.
He wanted to call her... home.
He pulled out a small black velvet box from his suit jacket and held it in his hands carefully.
He opened up the box to reveal a...ring.
He remembered the day he got it a month ago. He searched high and low all around the world for the perfect one and this one was just perfect for her.
He had planned out a whole proposal and set the date for New Year's Eve.
But he never got the chance to pop the question.
People tried to convince him that this pain wasn't going to last forever.
He had been keeping his emotions bottled ever since that night and threw himself into work to distract himself from reality. He had taken Antonio's and Matteo's workload in addition to his Don work. He hired double the security on his family and made more business deals left and right.
He had made Italy bullet-proof. All of his properties, the hundreds of businesses he owned, were under tight-knit security and no one -no one- did anything without him knowing about it. He was obsessed with every little thing. One wrong move and he'd have that person killed.
He had lost his first love.
He had lost the woman that he was going to make his wife.
He would trade places with her in an instant.
He would give anything in the world to hear her laugh, see her smile, and feel her touch if it was just for a second. But all the secrets are coming out at the worst possible time. There was nothing more simple than saying that he needed her.
Sessions of therapy couldn't pull him out of what he was thinking...of what he was feeling.
Her death was truly unexpected.
After what seemed like hours of just staring at the grave...Thea walked up behind him.
She sat next to him with more tears brimming her eyes. But she kept it in to avoid her throat from hurting more than it already was.
After a few more moments of silence, she looked at him and nudged him slightly, suggesting that it was time.
He nodded and got up, putting the box back in his jacket and helping her up. Her body ached from her injuries but she didn't show it.
They got in the car and Thea gestured for him to go to the base.
He gave her a puzzled look but drove there anyway.
Once he parked, she didn't waste a second in getting out and walking inside. He followed her with a hard gaze as she took the elevator up to where everyone else was, Starr's floor.
Once the elevator doors opened all of them looked at her confused as she walked up to the main computer. There were big screens all around them, like TV.
And what they would find out next would confuse them and leave them with more questions than before.
But one thing would remain undecided: Was the King really the bad guy?