WARNING!! GIANT SPOILERS FOR OWEN'S FINALE AHEAD!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. Part One: Louis felt himself reaching for Owen as he stared off the edge. “Don't take it,” he begged. He knew it was fruitless. He could shout at the top of his lungs, and still no one would hear him. “Please, please, don't take it. Be human again. Don't condemn yourself to that eternity.” Owen took in a shaky breath as he stared at the sunrise. “I'm… sorry.” He breathed out. “But this is the first choice I've been given in a *very* long time.” Solemn, Abolish slowly nodded. The hunter had put his silver away. The only thing in his hands was the scroll he'd read from. He waited patiently for Owen to continue, “I just…” The vampire never took his gaze off the rising sun. “I know–I *know*–vampires don’t get into… the *better* afterlife. I-... I need to see him again.” Louis choked on a sob as Owen spoke. “They can,” he whispered. “I swear they can, I swear they get a second chance. Please, please, please…” He covered his mouth with his hands as the tears poured down. “Let us have a chance together.” The ghost looked to Abolish, begging him to speak the words racing through his own mind. “... I’m not going to take that choice away from you,” Abolish murmured evenly. He didn’t object or approve, just kept waiting for a choice to be made. Owen glanced back at him, a forced smile creasing his face. “Thank you.” He sounded genuine as he looked back at the sun. “... I’m going to see him again. After all these years…” Louis sobbed. Despite his incorporeal form, he felt a fiery pain in his chest. This wasn’t fair. He didn’t know what he was doing. Louis cupped Owen’s face in his hands, trying *so hard* to break through the veil. "No, no, no, NO. Owen- Owen *please*. Not ye-” And like that, his lover faded to dust. Abolish stared right at Louis, unable to tear his gaze away from where Owen had once stood. Louis couldn’t either. “No…” The ghost cried. “Why? Why couldn’t you have waited? You could’ve been human for a little longer and could’ve *fixed* everything you did… And you threw that away. For the hope that all vampires end up in Hell...” He trailed off, losing his voice to the tears. Abolish stayed quiet, as if he could sense the grieving entity nearby. He didn’t move much at first: simply blinked, breathed, and stared. But after what could have been hours, his lips began to move. Louis looked up at him, hearing no sound. Part of him wanted to find a way to hurt the hunter: he could have convinced Owen not to do this–he *should* have! But the other part of him knew Owen wouldn’t have done otherwise. He’d been tired for a long time. Abolish couldn’t have done anything more. As Abolish turned around, still speaking without noise, Louis felt something pull him away. No… was it already time? Did he have to? ‘You coward,’ he thought bitterly. ‘Of course you don’t have to. But you owe it to him to see him off.’ He let the light consume him.
{Read above first ^^} Part Two: Death is an interesting facet of life. Everyone knows it’s real; everyone knows it comes for them at some point. But no one knows how it happens. Is it calm and slow? Or perhaps a quick blink and you’re where you were supposed to be? Or, maybe even, nothing. You just close your eyes and never open them again. No creature–mortal or otherwise–will ever have the answer until they experience it. And Louis had experienced it–Only once before, but it was a moment he would never forget. The gods had given him a choice: come to the heavens then and there and leave his earthly troubles behind, or stay in the world as a ghost, tied to his lover until he moved on from life. How could he possibly leave Owen behind? The world in between life and death was nothing. And yet it was somehow still *something*. It wasn’t simply never-ending darkness, but a plane of existence. A gray, desolate wasteland. The only sound was the echo of the wind. The only thing you saw was emptiness in a visible form. You couldn’t feel anything–not the ground under your feet, not the wind brushing past your skin, and certainly not another being’s touch. There, two lovers stood. They’d been separated for centuries now. And still, they were separated. Louis saw it all first. He’d known what would happen, to some extent. That didn’t make him remotely prepared for it. For the first time in an eternity, he was seen by the one man he’d wanted to be seen by. In any other circumstance, he’d cry in joy. He cried. But certainly not in joy. Owen’s smile was genuine, not understanding the truth. As he rose from the ground, he was quick to meet Louis’s gaze. But after just a few seconds, his face fell. He saw the tears rolling down Louis’s cheeks and froze. Louis raised his hand, never taking his eyes off of Owen, and reached out. His hand was caught by the unyielding barrier between them. He was not allowed to interfere. Only watch. Owen choked in his grief as he saw. Owen thought he’d damned himself to eternity with his love. Louis wished he’d been right. Louis didn’t take his eyes off his lover, despite how terribly he wanted to look away. He couldn’t let Owen’s last memory before his punishment be the man he loved turning away from him. It wasn’t quite instantaneous. The next few moments were a blur. Not that it was a wanted memory. The ground under Owen’s feet began to crumble beneath him. He shot his gaze back and forth–from the ground, to Louis, then back to the ground, then Louis again. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came. There was no noise in this plane. It wasn’t until Owen had fallen entirely out of view that Louis could bring himself to sob. He hadn’t wanted this, not in the slightest. But what could he have done? Owen had made his grave. And Louis could only let him lie in it. The finale man ToT that broke me. What did I do to cope? OBVIOUSLY I rewrote the SADDEST SCENE from ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE- My friend and I headcanon that Louis's ghost has been following Owen around this whole time, even stayed with him while he "slept" for 200 years... So that's what part one is based on ^^ TN by @spaceeties__ (idk what platform :> I think mumblr?) Story idea/actual story by me!