(no subject)
When Finn’s eyes open, he’s on his back outside watching the stars, and his brother is nestled up next to him drowsy and half-asleep.
"Dari?" Finn asks, startling, half-turning and placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, half-expecting his hand to go through, for the dream to disappear. Instead it contacts warmth, the thick wool fabric over his brother’s small five-year-old frame.
Instead of disappearing, his brother’s eyes flutter open, bright blue and kind. "Hi," he says, laying his head against Finn’s arm. "I missed you," he adds, softly.
Finn pulls Dari tight against him, surprised at how unfamiliar the motion feels (though natural, and Dari seems unsurprised). "You too," he replies, quietly.
After a comfortable, warm silence he asks. "Where are you?"
"Here," Dari replies, and bursts into giggles like the answer was the wittiest in existence. "On the road to the Halls," he tells his brother, once his giggles have died down.
"How long have you waited?" Finn asks, soft and friendly, though there’s a gnawing concern in his heart. If his brother has been waiting for him the length Finn has been in Milliways-if time has not stopped, and Dari has been lonely on the road with only the passing dead for company, looking for his brother’s face and not finding it-if that is how it is, then he’ll leave the moment he wakes up. Nothing’s worth that.
So there’s a quiet dread at Dari’s silence. When he looks down at his brother, he sees the sadness on his face. "You died really quick." Dari admits, after a moment. "You weren’t supposed to-that was the point."
Finn closes his eyes, hard. "It-"
"I know," Dari interrupts. "Everyone would’ve died. Both times. But I didn’t want you to."
Finn doesn’t know what to say to that, and just curls around his brother protectively. He didn’t want to leave the first time, or the second-but that seems always his curse, to betray and break one brother for another.
Eventually Dari falls asleep next to him. Eventually Finn falls asleep, too.
When he wakes up he’s lying curled up by himself, in his bed.
(It takes him a couple of minutes of panic to remember that it was a dream.)
"Dari?" Finn asks, startling, half-turning and placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, half-expecting his hand to go through, for the dream to disappear. Instead it contacts warmth, the thick wool fabric over his brother’s small five-year-old frame.
Instead of disappearing, his brother’s eyes flutter open, bright blue and kind. "Hi," he says, laying his head against Finn’s arm. "I missed you," he adds, softly.
Finn pulls Dari tight against him, surprised at how unfamiliar the motion feels (though natural, and Dari seems unsurprised). "You too," he replies, quietly.
After a comfortable, warm silence he asks. "Where are you?"
"Here," Dari replies, and bursts into giggles like the answer was the wittiest in existence. "On the road to the Halls," he tells his brother, once his giggles have died down.
"How long have you waited?" Finn asks, soft and friendly, though there’s a gnawing concern in his heart. If his brother has been waiting for him the length Finn has been in Milliways-if time has not stopped, and Dari has been lonely on the road with only the passing dead for company, looking for his brother’s face and not finding it-if that is how it is, then he’ll leave the moment he wakes up. Nothing’s worth that.
So there’s a quiet dread at Dari’s silence. When he looks down at his brother, he sees the sadness on his face. "You died really quick." Dari admits, after a moment. "You weren’t supposed to-that was the point."
Finn closes his eyes, hard. "It-"
"I know," Dari interrupts. "Everyone would’ve died. Both times. But I didn’t want you to."
Finn doesn’t know what to say to that, and just curls around his brother protectively. He didn’t want to leave the first time, or the second-but that seems always his curse, to betray and break one brother for another.
Eventually Dari falls asleep next to him. Eventually Finn falls asleep, too.
When he wakes up he’s lying curled up by himself, in his bed.
(It takes him a couple of minutes of panic to remember that it was a dream.)