Chapter Text
"It has been two days since our last conversation and our agreement to meet at the spot underneath the crooked white jasmine tree by the concealed creek. Not a single whisper within the wind from you. I now follow that path that leads to your place of refuge, what you call your home. I've always wondered why you prefer to go to places without being surrounded by other bodies that move and where you can converse.
I would like to say I'm not worried, but I am. Through the months that have passed, I've grown to love you, but I'd never tell you that. I'd rather die than tell you that. Prefects aren't supposed to be in love. In fact, love is a weakness, and you aren’t supposed to have an obvious weakness to the public. So, it is just another attachment; that's what I'll have it to be.
As I arrived at my destination, an unknown emotion filled my body. Whether it be dread or anxiety, I couldn’t place my finger on the feeling. It was too quiet, and everything just seemed out of place yet peaceful, so I started my trek up the path to your home through the daffodils.
“ASH,” I call through the darkness inside the garden walls. I creep around quietly, hoping for a response. I know being quiet never scared him, as he hears every small movement.
“Ash?” I call as I enter the field of yellow daffodils.
“Asher, please stop messing with me.” My calls suddenly turn to pleas. He never lets anyone get this close to his house, especially where the yellow daffodils grow. He was oddly protective of them.
“Asher?” I called one last time before a small trail of blood droplets and flower petals appeared on the path. That's when I realized the dent in his field of flowers. It was weirdly shaped, and the blood droplets and flowers led to that area.
A whisper of his slipped past Percy’s tongue. “Asher?”
His body lay there with no external wounds visible, only the slight blood leaking through his plush lips, which seemed to be parted from what could have been a small cry. His face, no longer twisted in pain, had dried tears on it, his scar glistening with dried tears. But his eyes stared up at the heavens, glazed over as if searching for Percy one last time. The last time he’d never get.
“Oh, oh, oh.”
“Oh, Asher,” he says with a shaky voice, not able to breathe normally. He kneels slowly, taking Asher’s head onto his lap as gently as possible, feeling the faintest warmth under his skin.
“Ash, please let me save you, let me heal you. I’ll take care of you. Please,” he said in a low tone. He was hoping that his words would reach Asher's ears and comfort him. But in reality, it was too late. He was only comforting himself, but he couldn't admit it to himself.
Percy took to the sky with Asher in his arms. He couldn't help but hang on tight to Asher and wished he had more time with him. The flight back to the bird capital felt longer than it should have. He was racing time, but time was faster than him, and there was no winning.
Without a second thought, he ended up in the safest place for Asher in bird territory: his personal home. With as much strength and speed as he landed, he rushed inside to find Volt standing, waiting for him. With what strength he could muster, he sank to the floor, holding the vampire, knowing that he needed to let go so they could help Asher, but he just couldn't. He was frozen in place with the tightest yet gentlest grip on the Vampire. He knew he had to explain what he knew of the situation, but he couldn't bring himself to speak for a moment in time.
“Percy, care to explain why you are holding a body that seems not to be moving?” Volt said in a concerned tone with a hint of urgency.
With his thoughts racing and all cognitive function out the window, he began to cry. The sky seemed to darken with his mood, as if to say, "I feel the way you do." With the adrenaline still pumping through his blood from the flight, he managed to get out a sentence into the still air.
“I didn't kill him. I found him lying in his garden of daffodils, and his hand was filled with bloody spider lilies,” he managed to get out, staring down at the man he held close. The one he once shared many joyful moments with, and hoping this was just some cruel joke.
It took less than a second for Volt to jump into action and plead with Percy to let the man go just so they could treat him.
“Percy, please. I need you to let go so we can help him,” Volt pleaded with him, to no avail.
“I swear to a higher power, Percy… Perseus, I command you to let go now,” Volt commanded, stretching out to his full 7 feet. He never wished to use such a tone against his friend and leader, but it was to save a life or what was left of one. But it was obvious from the coldness that the being was too far gone.