The day began like any other. Well, any other birthday. None of us were really in the mood for a party (And I think Uriel was hung-over), but we had set out a couple of cakes for Orchid and Linden. I was coming back from City Hall with an award in hand -- it's like the one Reed has. Maybe they only have one sort of statue.
I guess I'll start by talking about Evanthe. We of course invited Ross to the kids' birthday; it's only natural, right? While the rest of the evening's action was going on, Evanthe was waiting out in the dusk for him to arrive. And then she saw him. His skin, gone slightly tinged with grey or white, something that turned the warmth of his colors cold. His eyes, lit from within, gone completely gold.
"...Ross. You're a vampire."
"It was my father's idea."
"...I see."
"Are you upset?"
"I love you, just the same."
But that wasn't a yes, and it wasn't a no. Because there are some things that the rules of our lives, that the Immortal Dynasty rules, forbid. After Mom told be about it, she showed me the rules Uriel had been given.
Household Matters, item 5.
"•Vampires, mummies, and SimBots are not allowed in your household..."
They disrupt the flow of time, virtually immortal themselves. TO bring one into the house... Would probably mean certain failure, even if it wasn't against the rules.
"(Too late. I'm too late,)" she whispers as she wraps her arms around him. She had wanted to marry him -- one day, when it wouldn't be a drain on the family.
And now that time would never come.
She cried into his shoulders, and she would not tell him why. His shoulders must have been so cold.
And the rest of us...
Was I in the Dining Room already? Was I somewhere else, and came in through the extra door we installed for easier access? ...The sequence of events slips away from me; the sequence is riversilt and the color of light on water.
The color of light. That's the first thing that I can say existed with certainty. The color of the light was gold.
The color of the light around Daddy.
"...So soon?"
"...This...This a joke, right?"
Uriel's always the first to notice this sort of thing. This time... This time, he felt like the last. Even me, limping mentally behind, understood.
"...I don't think it is. I think it's time."
"G-good one, Billy. And you, too, Azrael. You can come out now, and put things back to normal.... Please?"
Then my mom's footsteps, from the hallway. She knew immediately -- before her eyes could even take in the scene, they were wide with shock and loss.
"Billy," she whispered.
"No, please, no..."
"I'm sorry, honey." He gave her a gentle smile.
"D-don't say you're sorry... I can't think..." The sentence goes silent on her lips. She's spent time unimaginable in limbo, and she's had friends who have died.
But she's never been without someone whom she truly loves. She never loved anyone who could die. She's never loved anyone who kissed her on the nape of her neck, or made her giggle in a shower of rose petals.
"There's nothing you'd have to apologize for. I love you."
She tried to smile. The last smile she could give Daddy... Didn't work. Her eyes were too red-rimmed, and the movement of her muscles sent the tears rolling down her face. She hiccuped, in the way of a small child trying very hard not to burst into tears.
And me?
I couldn't say anything. I had to watch them, I had to remember it -- to soak it in like color paletes and the way the light hit my mother's eyes, those big blue eyes with the intensity of a spring sky, when it reflected off her tears; as the tears slid down her face, and lit tracks against her freckles.
"Please. A little longer -- for my wife. Aren't you an old pal of hers? Please. Just let me --"
"There is no allowance."
Death said, calm and still, as if holding something back.
"You rat-fink! Couldn'ta given us a day, could you, you heartless rat!" Uriel snarled. His voice was gaspy and full of tears.
"I don't care, but darnit, what about her?! What about him?!"
"...I cannot be merciful. I cannot be altered. I cannot be anything but Death itself," said the Angel of Death, swinging his head upward in a jointless motion. Then he added, in a cracking voice,
"Or else. Say goodbye."
Maybe, to Daddy, begging didn't seem important. Not as the scythe came closer and closer, in a moment that stretched thin as spiderweb.
"I love you," he said, as his white figure vanished.
"I...I... Billy..." Mom whispered, to the empty air.
"I knew this would happen. I knew... From the moment you kissed me...That you would break my heart.
And you made me love you anyway, and love you forever."
***
"Idiot...You should have taken up jogging. Marathons. Vegitarianism. I hated you, you know that?
I didn't care about you at all. Don't... D-don't you ever believe otherwise, alright? So...I'm not sad, understand, you dead jerk?!"
Uriel sobs as he sets up the grave. Hearing him and Mom cry... Is like listening to rain or piano music. It's like the first tears ever shed in the history of the world, completely without reserve.
It's like the others, with two exceptions. The first is this: a chair, so Ariel can sit here when she feels like it... And the white roses he loved to give her, given back for good.
Billy (Caspian) Seraphim
Who Lived His Life in the Love of Angels
***
Life wasn't allowed to freeze that night. It never is. As if they were ought to remind us of that, the children decided to age up without us.
First Orchid aged up, with a stubborn fiestyness that seemed to say 'No, I'm not getting left behind!' She's a rather Adventurous young lady.
And then Linden, following cautiously after. He's got a clever look, like a little Genius.
While we couldn't put the birthday cakes to good use, we could at least all celebrate their becoming children successfully... After everything that's happened over the past few days, for my daughter's sake, I want to forget. I want to be the sort of insane person who can make the past happen to somebody else. I'm not, but I can still pretend.
But no matter what I pretend, this is still true:
The figure in the night of a crying angel with tatoo wings, weeping for the only man she'll ever love.
Re: The Seraphim Immortal Dynasty: A Sims 3 Story LP
Originally Posted by Herpestidae
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