[CLOSED | COMPLETE ] The moon and the sun
Characters: Rosier (loveisthedrug_) & Persephone (anironqueen) Date/Time: After Hypnos' death. sdjfkd Location: Their house Rating: PG-13 Warnings: DEAD HYPNOS Summary: Rosier finds Hypnos and tells Persephone.
Coming in from the fields to a fire had jump-started him into action. He'd called the workers to put it out. It wasn't until it was out that he rushed in, ignoring the calls from anyone else. He was going to check. He needed to. Hypnos wasn't outside. Hypnos wasn't outside. Osiris' room was empty. He wasn't there. Rosier felt his chest loosen a bit. He knew Persephone wasn't inside. All that was left to check on was Hypnos. He threw his door open, leg nearly going through a spot in the floor. The sight of Hypnos laying there, not moving. Persephone had lied. She hadn't taken his heart away from him. Unless Hypnos just brought it back.
He moved quickly, falling to his knees as he checked to see if Hypnos was alive. But he wasn't. He was gone and he'd just looked as if he'd fallen asleep, peaceful as ever. Rosier didn't move, didn't make a noise. He just sat there for a few minutes, absolutely silent. A moment passed and he gently lifted his brother into his arms, holding on tightly as he made his way out of the room and down the stairs. At least the couch wasn't damaged, he thought to himself as he tried to push his mind into a far less personal place. He placed Hypnos on the couch, letting his fingers linger for a moment in those curls before going to find Persephone.
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There had been a number of things distracting Persephone lately but the fire had wiped all things away. She hadn't been home herself when it started but just caught sight of the flame when she had returned. Car door left open, she started to rush for the door, calling out the names of her brothers when one of the house guards grabbed her to hold her back, warning her that it was too dangerous to go in.
And when the fire was taken care of, when things were declared to be safer, she pulled herself from the spot she had become rooted to so she could go in. The moment she saw Rosier, her steps quickened and she threw her arms around him, nails digging into his shoulders. "Thank God. Thank God."
She had no idea that she was thanking anyone too early.
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Rosier stiffened, wrapping his arms around Persephone for a moment. His eyes squeezed shut and he had to compartmentalize his brain, slipping into a state where delivering the bad news wouldn't be an issue. "I wouldn't thank anyone too quickly, sister." His voice was soft if not even. He drew back from her, expression carefully constructed into something blank.
"The lack of Osiris in the house makes me fairly certain he's not harmed." But that wasn't the hard part to talk about. Osiris being safe was easy, pleasant. "Hypnos..." His voice never wavered, but it was obvious by his tone that it wasn't something she'd want to hear. "I put him on the couch, but he's-" There was a moment when he was struggling to say it. "He's dead." He didn't look at her, not wanting to see her face when she found out.
If we'd gotten back quicker. But it wasn't their fault. Whoever it was...they would die. They would suffer. They would be terrified until the end. He didn't care who they were, he would not be merciful.
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It wasn't registering fast enough. She'd drawn back, blue eyes wide over all he had said. Someone wasn't there, someone was on the couch. Someone was dead. And then the details came next, her hands falling off of Rosier, her feet forcing her a few steps back from him
Hypnos is... Denial struck then but it was swallowed by a mental pleading and she remained stuck in that as she fled to go inside, to go drop to a kneel beside their baby brother and cradle his sweet face between her hands. For her, she was not thinking of revenge in that moment but that she would never heard his gentle voice or catch sight of that warm smile of his.
The poppies, the house, none of that mattered. They'd been robbed of something that was irreplaceable.
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Rosier stayed by the door for a moment, not wanting to be surrounded by so much emotion when he was fighting to keep his own in line. He needed a plan. He needed to know who had been the one to set this fire. It wasn't an accident. Not when none of them by Hypnos was there...and he was in his room. If he'd been downstairs, he'd have run outside. He wouldn't have gone upstairs.
He walked up behind Persephone after a moment, a hand resting on her shoulder. He would have to tell Pasithea. No one else could do it for him. No one else knew. He would have to plan the funeral. They would have to replant and fix the house. So many expenses...but he would shoulder it because he had to. He was the oldest and he wouldn't allow them all to fall. He'd bring them to the other side in his own way.
Bending over, he pressed a quick kiss to the top of Persephone's head. "I should go see to a few things. I'll leave him in your care." He needed to be alone, to deal with this alone. No one else would see him then. He would make sure of it. "I won't be long."
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Never having been one for tears much, she found the less than comforting feel of wet lashes to only trigger more dampness to slide down her cheeks. The loss of her blood made everything inside of her squeeze and hurt. And years from now, it still would. What could ever dull a pain like this?
She was not the Iron Queen she was in NYC or had been in the Underworld. She was a Babylonian girl who was in a family of opium dealers. Though she had seen and understood death, this was too personal.
Feeling the press of Rosier's hand, of his lips to her head, she looked up at him, one hand wiping at her cheeks. "Come back soon. Find Osiris and come back to me soon." At least her voice didn't waver but, God above, she ached. "I'll see to it that he's washed at least. Dressed...prepared. I will. Just hurry back, please."
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"I promise I'll be back soon," he said, wiping away a few stray tears. "You take care of that. I'll take care of everything else." He wouldn't promise it was going to be okay because it wouldn't. Not for a long time. For him, not until they'd killed the people responsible for it. It would take more, but that would be a start.
That said, he slipped out of the room, giving a few instructions to the men to find Osiris and bring him back before he went off on his own. He had to lick his wounds in private.