Ghostly Hijinks

[faithfulclub]

The hardest thing is watching and being unable to do anything. Seeing Eileen hurting, seeing Argine ill, seeing Rachel broken-- it stings more deeply than almost anything in life did.

It helps that he's not alone, that he has his oldest and dearest and most eternal friend to turn to in moments when the aching gets to be too much and smile sadly at him.

He doesn't need words to tell Edgar how much this is both a curse and blessing, does he?

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[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

Watching Andrew die had been one of the most painful things the universe had ever thrown at him, it was true--more even than watching his daughter cry at his own funeral. Nothing had underlined the futility of lingering in this realm more than being unable to stop the knife.

But... in its own way, things had been better since then. With someone else to share the burden, the pain, that came of not being able to move on from these castles, these people, these lives they had left behind. Someone else to lean against until the moments of joy returned again.

One hand reaches over calmly to the other man's shoulder, squeezes tight. "Another long day."

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

Someday, they would be reunited with the ones they loved. For a few moments, watching Rachel collapse beneath the fallen wall, he'd thought that today may be one of those days. Instead, it's another tug at his still heart as the former Diamond Queen is taken beyond their sight, leaving behind a grieving Suit, niece, and friends of the living and deceased variety.

"We can't take care of her now," Andrew says with a heavy sigh. As though they ever could have, really, but at least when she'd been here, they'd been able to keep an eye on her.

Still, he shakes his head, shakes the majority of the sorrow from his mind, and rests a hand atop his friend's, "At least she seemed more hopeful about things, hm?"

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

There's a tug, sharp and pained, through his attempt at a smile. It's better, really, that Rachel still has time in the world of the living, no matter how wonderful it would have been to hold her in his arms again. But having her taken away like this...

His sigh is shaky as he curls his fingers up into Andrew's.

"She is. And she'll be taken care of." Will walk again, hopefully, with help from the Outside. "She'll... be back."

She can't leave here forever. There are a lot of things Rachel had done in her life that he hadn't expected, but leaving forever... That's not the woman he fell in love with, all those years ago.

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

He nods. Hope comes easily to Andrew-- always has, really. He's seen too much of what a lack thereof could do.

"She always comes back. And she'll be better when she does."

She'd left so many times, for the work she had to do for the Diamonds, and still she'd always returned, no matter how many ghosts (imagined or otherwise) waited for her back in the Deck. He's fairly certain that a wounded pride won't keep her away if they at least manage to heal her wounded heart while she's out there.

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

They've always shown it different ways. Edgar attacks hope with shouting laughter and blinding smiles; Andrew with a quiet certainty. It all comes from the same place. All makes sense because they both feel it.

Of course Rachel will come back. She always does. And now, particularly, with the pair of them gone, with Argine ill, Rachel would come home again. Come lift into her arms again the beautiful little girl who didn't just belong to him and Argine, but to all four of them.

The last good thing they would do together, properly whole.

"And until then, we'll wait." Like they always did. Wait for the others to join them. Wait for the others to wake in the morning. Wait for the quiet moments when they could lean their forehead to Argine's or press a kiss to Eileen's cheek or catch hold of Rachel's hand and almost, almost reach through the veil. "You're good at waiting, nn?"

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

Eileen is all of theirs. Which is why it will be so very, very good, when-- not if-- Rachel returns and the two of them are able to take comfort in one another as Argine's health remains fragile.

And then there's a faint huff of laughter at that, "Better than you were, at any rate."

Although, given the years Edgar had been waiting before Andrew finally joined him, they were probably on par, now.

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

At least one of them will make it through to see their little girl into adulthood. Maybe even two. They could both hope.

His hand lifts to knock his friend lovingly on the side of the head, tongue clicking as a better smile starts to settle into place. Having been made to be patient this long made it easier to bear the weight of the world.

"You couldn't have gone eight years, mm?"

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

And maybe if they hoped hard enough, it would become a reality.

He rubs at where he was cuffed with a feigned faintly wounded expression, which is immediately followed by a borderline petulant expression that would belong more properly on a younger version of his face.

"Totally would have. And I have to admit, I'm impressed you managed to make it as long, all things considering."

Edgar hadn't exactly been known for his enduring calm, after all. Not in life, at least.

"Must've learned something from me after all."

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

It's a familiar look. A familiar act, even, the same playful displeasure that they've pouted at each other for years upon years. They can both make nearly the same expression, after all, Andrew's slightly more polished and Edgar's slightly more raw.

Two sides of absolutely the same exact coin.

"Absolutely, Andrew," he grins. An actual, properly pleased little grin, if only for a moment. "Listening to you ramble taught me long, long ago to be bored absolutely out of my mind."

Time now for a pleased bump of forehead to forehead.

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

"I do not ramble," he replies without any real bite. The forehead-bump puts him in too good a mood for one, after all.

Exactly the same as it always has since their youth. That, at least, hasn't changed.

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

A few things had changed, of course. There's no helping that. They're older now than the first time they pressed their foreheads together and realized it made sense, the first time Edgar clapped Andrew on the shoulder and they figured out exactly where arms fit around each other's bodies.

But death hasn't changed them from the place they left off.

"You never used to speak in anything but paragraphs." A light wink with that. "Who's a good influence on who now, nn?"

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

They're lucky. They managed to maintain their close friendship until the end. Argine and Rachel hadn't, and it had hurt to see two women he cared so dearly for aching for the lack of that closeness. It lets him treasure every moment of their brotherhood.

Even and especially the ones like these, when they're teasing each other to distraction.

"That is a complete exaggeration and you know it." He didn't speak in paragraphs. More like... run-on sentences.

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

Had, in their own way, maintained it even in those eight years 'apart,' Edgar's hands reaching to clutch at his best friend's shoulder and falling completely through, separated by a plane of existence he didn't bother trying to understand. It makes him wonder, sometimes, what will happen when--hopefully years from now--the girls join them here as well.

Until then, he'll pull his face into a slight wrinkle, one his daughter mimics without really remembering where the expression came from.

"Can't let me have even a little bit of glory."

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

He'd felt it, at times. Knew Argine had, as well. He thinks Rachel might have, if she let herself, but they'd only know for sure when they were reunited however far down the road.

And until then, they'd be able to lean on each other like they always had. Andrew nudges an elbow lightly Edgar's direction.

"Do too. I knew how to be a good King by watching you, remember?" And he'd told as many people that would listen as much, when he'd taken on the position, "Got to be some glory in that."

[ofthelions.livejournal.com]

"Some, maybe." Not as good as hoping he'd had some influence in the amazing father Andrew had been to his daughter, of course--the much more important role his friend had filled in those eight lonely years. "I suppose it's as good as I'm going to get out of you."

[faithfulclub.livejournal.com]

But there was absolutely no doubt in Andrew's mind that Edgar had-- it just hadn't been something expressed as openly, even in the moments when he'd thought he was alone.

Although there had been hints of it, when he'd been standing at his best friend's grave once or twice over the years. When he had hoped aloud that Edgar approved of all he had done in Eileen's life, in Argine's. The choices he had made or hadn't, the guilts that would rest quietly on his soul.

"Hm. We'll see. We've time, after all."

They've forever, really, to work out the emotions and say all that needs to be said. No more missed chances, here.