Chapter Text
Ifa never liked the color red.
Whenever he had to tend to wounded saurians the crimson wetness clung to his hands and clothes. It was never a pleasant sight. It wasn’t easy to wash off and left disgusting stains. For Ifa red symbolized hurt and pain.
While he didn’t like it, he never really hated the color.
But he knew after this he would.
His hands were completely tainted with blood. All of it a reminder of his condition. A reminder that he couldn’t save the dying person beneath him.
Ifa’s normally calm eyes were filled with fear and panic.
“Hold on my bro, I got you. You can still make it.”
Lies. He knows it’s not true. Ororon also knows. There’s nothing he can do anymore not when they’re out here in the middle of Natlan’s wilderness. Nowhere near to any clinic or medicine that could possibly help his friend.
Mismatched eyes met Ifa’s. A weak smile appeared on pale lips. A blood smeared hand reached out for the white-haired man and lightly tugged on his sleeve.
“…Your a liar…Ifa…”
That gave Ifa the final blow. Tears started to fall onto the hybrid’s chest. His chest. The monsters had teared the dark-haired apart. He was a gory mess. Broken bones and missing limbs.
Ororon looked terrible. There was nothing Ifa could do to safe him.
But how could he accept his death? How, when it felt like they were taking a part of his soul?
“You can’t die…you can’t leave. What about Citlali…? Cacucu will miss you too. We need you Ororon! I need you.”
Ifa’s trembling hands rose to caress the dying man’s face. He gently traced the hybrids features not minding the small trail of blood his fingers left behind.
At that Ororon’s eyes started fill with tears as well.
“I’m not entirely gone…I’ll wait for you in the Nightsoul Kingdom”
Ifa shook his head. His hands cupped Ororon’s face as he bent down until his nose lightly tapped against his friend’s nose.
“I need you here. By my side. With me.”
A hand pressed against his chest right where his heart lay.
“I’m there. I’m always with you. And I’ll never leave…”
Right after, as if to prove him wrong he turned his head to side to cough up a handful of blood. His whole body shook and Ifa could feel the way his body slowly stiffened.
“Please no Ororon…”
The dark-haired man found the vet’s eyes once more. His gaze softened as he spoke his next words, his voice sounding rasp and fragile.
“…I love you, Ifa. I’m glad I at least got to say that…”
“…Ororon…”
“I’m grateful… f-for all the time we’ve s-spent together…and I just…wished we could’ve had more t-time. More time for me to love you…”
It was such a frail confession. He don’t sound confident in his words but he still chose to whisper them as his last ones. He wanted Ifa to know that he loved him. Even if the aforementioned man would’ve been repulsed by the idea.
The confession sounded like a goodbye just as it felt like a last wish. A longing to show how much he loved him.
Ifa prayed.
It was all he could to. He prayed that some wonder would happen and Ororon would survive this. But he knew better. Deep down he knew there was no hope.
As he notices the hybrid’s gaze going clouded the vet pulled him into a soft, gentle kiss. It wasn’t sexual. It wasn’t in joy. Their lips touched and for a moment Ifa could believe himself to be in a better world. A world where he would get to kiss these soft lips whenever he wanted. A place where they were happy. Where the love of his live was alive. A place where Ororon was his.
“I love you too, Ororon.”
Then he felt it.
The body beneath him stiffened up completely, loosing all warmth. Mismatched eyes stared into nothingness. Pale lips slightly parted, tainted with a redness. A crimson red that stung in Ifa’s eyes.
The silence was deafening.
None of the battle sounds from further away reached Ifa. He only thought about the limp body in his arms. It was an empty shell. It no longer held the soul of his loved one. With Ororon gone, Ifa lost a part of his soul. He wasn’t complete anymore. There was a gaping hole in his chest that he couldn’t fill.
To the crying man, sitting in a puddle of mud and blood, it didn’t matter that the body in his arms was torn into pieces. He embraced it. Held it firm and strong. Crying into the messy hair that clung to the body’s forehead.
He has lost it all. And there was not way he’d ever gain it back.
Once a soul left for the Night Kingdom it never returned. The only way to be united again was for the other to enter the realm of sprites themselves.
But for the white-haired vet that was out of option. Cacucu needed him. And so did a lot of other saurians. And he couldn’t leave his friends.
He’d have to live with this grief. He’d have to bear the pain never ending. He was aware that once the hardest time was over he’d go numb. He’d no longer feel hurt. He’d only feel dull and incomplete. As if he’d be missing the most important part.
Ifa was never going to move on. Until death he’d be stuck with these feelings not being ever able to love another. Because Ororon was all he had.
Not once in all the future decades to come Ifa could love someone else.
It would never change, never be different.
Ororon was his life. His soul. His everything.
And with his death it was all gone.
“I love you, Ororon”