The End of All Things

[Rasmus Mohr]

September 12

It hadn't been supposed to end like this. Rasmus had been scheduled to return home the day before, and while Rob had still not gotten to the point they that they had done that, it had still been an amazing summer. Mr. MacFusty had just intended to take Rob and Raz to see the dragons, and everything had gone wrong.

Completely faxed dazed, Rasmus had (unscratched because of the actions of his lover and Mr. MacFusty) helped support the now one-legged patriarch as they returned to the castle, dead dragon behind them and mauled form of Robert MacFusty carried in his father's left arm.

As soon as they were close enough to three castle that staff and family had come pouring out to take over, the tender-stomached half-veela had fallen to his hands and knees and emptied his gut.

Somehow he had made it to the room they had taken Rob to (not his own, but one that looked to be set aside for such things) and he had curled up in the corner by the bed. Surely somehow Rob would pull through.

During the following hours, Raz had barely slept. Every time he started to really get to sleep, someone would come through to check on Rob or he'd start dreaming, in sharper focus than the reality had been, of Rob and Mr. MacFusty between him and the rampaging dragon, the MacFustys making suret protect their helpless guest.

The next day, a little before noon, Rob died.

Raz day beside the bed and stared blankly at the covered body. He barely heard the two sets of footsteps behind him, one of which was oddly stilted. Rob was dead, and Raz couldn't bear the idea of leaving his side. If he left, it was real. As long as he was here, Rob might wake up.

  

[Griselda MacFusty]

Griz was still a bit in shock. That and the fact that she had to hold it together. She had to take care of Aldie and she had to call in the boys and all the rest of the family. She had to make sure that things were still running and most of all she had to keep busy or she would crack. Despite her mostly composed demeanor, there was a wild, desperate look in her eyes as she made sure that everyone had a room and that the servants went into town to get more food and no matter how many times anyone offered to do things for her she adamantly refused.

If she stopped moving she was going to break.

The family was falling apart around her. Hamish had moved to Irvingly with his wife, Brighid had committed suicide, Malvina had gone mad and then gone missing, Torquil was in the midst of both a divorce and an affair and now this. Just days before her little Rabbit was supposed to leave for school…

Griz paused outside the room, bracing both hands on the wall and leaning forward, fighting back a wave of nausea and trying to remember how to breathe. Though all her children were precious to her, she’d lost the two that were the most precious. Her only daughter and now her youngest; her baby boy. When she’d finally managed to calm herself, she steeled herself for what she knew was inside the room. But she had to check on Rasmus. The boy hadn’t left the room since late morning when Rabbie had…

Swallowing, Griz looked over at Aldie, partly to reassure herself that he was still there and also so that she could help him into the room. The boy would have to go back to his family soon and Griz wanted to check again, just to be sure that he was in one piece. Once she had Aldie settled on a chair, she did her best not to look at the sheet covered body of her son as she crossed the room to Rasmus. “Wee one, come here.” She said softly, her expression strained and her green eyes looking as though at any moment they might flood the world.

  

[Donald MacFusty]

Aldie didn't need to be held around and settled into chairs, not even the first day after being parted from his leg, thank you very much. Still, this was Griz, and Ald knew better than to argue with his Grizzly when she was like this. She would break down eventually and her grief their lost little one would come porting out, but for now she would fuss and fuss and pretend she wasn't about to break.

He settled silently into the chair, a worried eye on Rabbie's little lover. They were both young enough that chances were they would have parted ways eventually (or they might have stayed together), but for it to end this way ...

  

[Rasmus Mohr]

Warily, Raz focused on Rob's mother. She had been than fond about the pair of them curled up in bed together (and it was raggedly painful to think he would never be in Rob's arms again), and he had been the only one to come back unscathed. Still, the vague offer of comfort was never, and Raz rose to his feet feeling as shaky as a newly hatched chick.

Then he darted to Mrs. MacFusty and buried his face against her chest. "He's gone," Rasmus managed, his normally lovely voice raw with grief. "Rob's gone!"

  

[Griselda MacFusty]

Somewhere in her mind she knew that Aldie was fine, that he was more than capable of moving about and that he was strong and stubborn enough to get through this. But right now the thought that she'd almost lost him was still fresh in her mind and in her heart. Had Donald MacFusty died, the depression that her daughter had sunken into would've been nothing compared to the utter devastation that would have consumed Griselda MacFusty. True, the loss of her children was in its own way devastating, but Aldie was the love of her life; her true love if a person was to believe in such things (and Griz was prone to such flights of fancy). More often than they usually did, her eyes often sought out Aldie, just to reassure herself that he was still there.

When Rasmus stood, clearly unsteady, Griz held open her arms and pinched her eyes shut as the boy all but ran to her. Her arms folded around him as he hid his face against her chest. By strength of will alone, she managed to keep the tears at bay. But her hand shook as she lifted it to stroke his dark hair. For a second she could almost imagine that it was her wee Rabbit she was holding and then he spoke, his voice hoarse and pained. Her heart twisted painfully and she held Rasmus closer. Fairy folk or not, he was clearly as upset about her son as anyone. For a brief moment, her attempt to appear calm slipped away and her face contorted with agony. What might have been a sob was cut short at the back of her throat and she let out a shaky breath as she pressed a kiss to the top of the boy's head. "Och, my bonny wee one. I ken it hurts."

She couldn't bring herself to look over at her son. Her heart was a bleeding wound and if she closed her eyes and didn't breathe too deeply she could pretend that it was her son she was holding. She could pretend that none of this had ever happened...only she couldn't. The pain was there and it was only getting worse. Holding it up wasn't going to make it any better either, but she would hold it in for as long as she could. For as long as she needed to. Once everything was figured out...when arrangements had been made and the rest of her children were home...but Vina. Her dear sweet baby girl. Her wee Rabbie. She'd almost lost Aldie...the Gods had turned away from the MacFusty clan. She was sure of it.

  

[Donald MacFusty]

The lad was deeply injured, and Ald a not sure there was any way to improve the situation. The lad had lost his first love, suddenly and violently. They were lucky that he was doing better than Tor had after Calista' death.

And his Griz ... with Vina missing, Rabbie gone, and Aldie himself down a limb, it was a miracle that she was still going. She'd crack eventually, and Ald wasn't sure she'd let him help when she did. Not when he was part of what she was grieving.

  

[Rasmus Mohr]

"Why -- how -- this isn't right!" Rob had been younger than Raz by about six months, and now he wasn't even going to get to go into his fourth year at Hogwarts. They'd been supposed to have all the time in the world together, to try everything they might want to. They hadn't rushed anything because they weren't supposed to net need to rush.

Just a month and a half before Rob has been teasing a poleaxed Raz about his shiny prefect badge. Raz had shoved Rob in retaliation, and somehow wound up pinned by the other boy (who had been shooting up over the summer) as their lips and hands roved greedily over each other.

Now that would never happen again. Rob was dead and quickly, cooling and Raz knew deep down there was no chance the other boy would be a ghost. He'd never see Rob again, never tease and laugh with him, never experience things they'd agreed to put off until Rob was ready. Time had run out

  

[Griselda MacFusty]

"It is the way of the Hebrides." There was nothing else she could say to answer him; nothing that would make him feel better at least. The how and the why were simply a MacFusty way of life. Certainly not fair but an understanding that every MacFusty was born to or came to. She’d accepted it after she’d had Torquil and Tavish and she’d experienced her first dragon death--one of Ald’s cousins. It had been terrifying to think that her sons would grow up and be subjected to such dangers but it was who they were, their heritage, and she would not take that from them.

Outsiders rarely understood.

Rather than speak, Griz held Rasmus closer and swayed slightly, stroking his hair. Closing her eyes, she held the tears back. She didn’t have time for them now. There were still a few more notices to send out to family and the funeral to plan, and the preparation of the slain dragon to oversee plus everything else that had to be done around the house. But for now she would comfort her son’s...special friend.

  

[Donald MacFusty]

They were all hurting. He and Griz were taking turns being the strong one, although she was aching over the loss of her son and the near-loss of Aldie himself; Aldie not only had to deal with his grief over losing Rabbie, but also with the fact that he had lost a leg. The whole leg, right up to the hip; the wee biter had shaken it right off! Ald shifted slightly as he watched his wife and Rabbie's boy, both of them in pain and desperately clinging to each other for comfort.

  

[Rasmus Mohr]

Why would a place that had been so wonderful all summer suddenly demand Rob's life in payment? He was glad for Mrs. MacFusty's arms around him and the solid motherliness of her; he thought he might fly to pieces if he was left on his own.

He knew he had to go home, that he had to go back to Hogwarts. He was a prefect, and people were going to expect him to function as one -- but at least for the moment he was able to cry and just know that there was no sense to it ... but at least there were people who understood how he felt.