flamesburned | The Apartment Above the Photo Hut

Liz had not slept at all last night.

She knew it was going to be hard saying goodbye to David, she had tried to prepare herself as best she could, for letting go of her brother again but nothing could have prepared her for how much it had hurt. It felt like she was losing her brother all over again and now she just felt numb. She had spent much of the night crying on and off and had been afraid to sleep, it had been months since she had last had a nightmare and she had been scared of having another one, she was afraid of losing Prompto and Noctra.

She was so grateful for Prompto being there with her, he had not gone downstairs for his shift today and had stayed with her and Noctra, she hadn’t wanted to be alone and she had tried to do as best she could but she was tired and wished David was there.

She was curled up on the couch later that morning, Prompto had made her breakfast and she had tried to eat something but she couldn’t. She stared at one the photos she had taken of David, holding it in her hand, afraid to let it go.

[for the husband, who is modded with permission!]

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Liz didn’t take much convincing to shift position and she gratefully moved into Prompto’s arms. She shifted a bit to get more comfortable and she lay there, not saying anything for a while as she took comfort from his presence.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly at last after a few minutes of silence had passed. She knew that Prompto had had a lot to deal with the weekend with Noctis being back and had been amazing with Noctra while she had spent more time with David and she felt guilty that she wasn't doing more.

"Don't," Prompto said, firm, but quietly, as he wrapped his arms around Liz easily to pull her in and curl up protectively around her. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

He almost said that, if anyone should apologize, it should be him, for not being able to help more, but he knew that wouldn't be helping anything, and he also knew he was doing all he could. Did he still wish he could be better at it? That he could do more? Absolutely, but he understood that, short of being able to wave a magic wand to make it all better or something, there wasn't anything more that could be done.

"You do whatever you need to do right now," he said, starting to rub her arm comfortingly. "I know how hard this is for you."

And if she needed a day, a few days, even a whole week to grieve, he doubted anyone would blame her. And if they did, well, they were just assholes, so screw 'em anyway.

Liz trembled and let out a sob as she leaned numbly against Prompto, “I … I miss him so much,” she sobbed, as all that guilt started to overwhelm her and she thought back to that fateful day … the last time that she had seen her brother before the fire. “I … I thought I could do this … say goodbye properly but it … it just feels like I lost him again,”

The tears started to fall more quickly as she cried, “he would … he would still be alive if it wasn’t for me,”

Even though she had been told it wasn’t her fault, that her brother didn’t blame her for the fire … she still blamed herself for what happened.

Prompto winced a little, not because of her sobs or her tears or her regret or any of that, but just for the fact that he wished he was better equipped to deal with something like this, that he did have that magic wand to make it all better, but knowing that he wasn't even sure he had the right words, much less something like that. So he just squeezed her a little tighter, pressed a soft kiss her hair, and then just leaned his head against hers.

"It wasn't your fault, Liz," he said softly, and already, he knew that it wouldn't mean much, compared to how she was feeling. "You were just a kid. You didn't understand your powers. No one let you understand them..."

He didn't want to say that if anyone could be blamed for David's death, it would probably be her parents, for treating those powers like a shameful secret and trying to bury that they even existed, but....well...he was kind of saying it, without saying it. The point, though, wasn't who was to blame so much as the fact that, if anyone was, it definitely wasn't Liz.

Liz trembled as she listened to what Prompto was saying, and she kept crying, she couldn’t speak for a while as it became too much and she curled up against Prompto, trying to calm herself down but all that did was make her hiccup.

“It just hurts,” she said softly after a while, “he…he wasn’t even supposed to be home that day, he …he…was supposed to stay after school but he was home sick,” she closed her eyes as a fresh wave of tears overwhelmed her.

And Prompto let her cry, for as long as she needed to, as hard as she needed to, all the while just rubbing her arm and holding her close and wishing there was more he could do. Once she started to speak again, he gave her a tight squeeze.

"Also not your fault," he said quietly. "That's not anyone's fault, that's just....I know it doesn't help, to say it...but you can't blame yourself for that either..."

There was a sigh, and it felt like there was nothing he could say that would help, but he couldn't just not say anything.

"At least..." he offered, "you got the chance to see him again, though, right? And I got to meet him, and we made really good pancakes and scrambled eggs. I only even messed them up just a little...."

Liz managed a shaky laugh at that, and that turned into more hiccups as she tried to get her breathing under control.

“You did get to meet him,” she said softly, “and I …I have photos of him now,” she clutched the photo she was holding of him tightly, “ I …I didn’t have any before,” she let out a tiny sob but managed to stop crying for a little bit at that.

"And," Prompto said, shifting a little, so that he could look at Liz and wipe some of those tears from her cheek with his thumb and brush some of her hair back out of her face and give her a light kiss on the forehead, "we can take all those pictures and put them on a nice memory board, just for him, or some really sleek and fancy photo album, and then we can always look back on how nice it was to have this little extra time, and a chance to say good-byr, yeah?"

Liz managed a small smile at that, as she gazed up at Prompto, I …I would like that,” she said softly, “having a memory board for David …it …it was really nice being able to say goodbye to him, I …I didn’t get the chance before,” her voice trailed off as she tried to find the words she wanted to say, “and I would really like us to be able to work on the memory board together,” she managed to say.

"I'd love to work on it together with you, Liz," Prompto told her, unable to keep the soft, touched smile off his face.

Just like he was unable to help himself from adding and teasing, just a little, "Should we get Noctra and Rain to help, too?"

Look. He'd managed to get a few small laughs and smiles out of her already, might as well plsy to his strengths.

There was a very tiny giggle that escaped at that and Liz blinked away a few of her tears.

"I would like that," she said softly as she gave a small smile up at Prompto, "I think they could help us as well,"

The Apartment Above the Photo Hut - Monday Morning

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