Sinope's Fiction: Waiting

Title: Waiting
Author: Sinope at (no spam!) gmail dot com
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sirius/Remus
Summary: nocturne_alley!Remus meets canon!Sirius in the afterlife.
Author's notes: This was a response to Remus's death at the end of the RPG Nocturne Alley. Long story short, Remus died in order to save Sirius, his lover.
Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan work. No profit was made; no ownership is implied.

A burst of green, then black, then green again, and the scent of lilacs washes over him like the breath of God.

He's standing beside a stream, lazy and brownish, glinting with gold. His feet are bare, and he can feel cool grass beneath his toes. When he looks downward, he sees himself clad in white robes with no trace of spattered blood. Tentatively, he flexes his wrist.

No curse-choked battleground, this. Verdant fields, unmown and lush, stretch behind him, while the whispering river weaves through banks overhung with willows and graceful poplars. As his ears adjust to the quiet hum of dragonflies and birdcalls, he becomes aware of an occasional splashing, well up the river and out of sight.

With nothing better to do, Remus walks.

The cool water looks deliciously tempting, so Remus begins wading in the shallow edge of the stream, feeling sand and mud squish between his toes. It feels almost impossible to hurry, here; much more pleasant to enjoy the breeze wafting across his shoulders and to watch the foliage for the rustling of squirrels. In the corners of his eyes, he can see fish flickering through the sunlit ripples. He still doesn't fully understand where he is, although he's beginning to have a strong idea, but somehow the thought doesn't worry him. Little does right now, really.

The splashing gradually grows closer, and Remus can now hear it interspersed with a sound that catches his breath the moment he recognizes it: the rough, playful growl of a very large, very familiar black dog. He begins to run up the stream, feet dashing water onto his robes, until he turns the corner and yes, Padfoot's there, pouncing into the water as if to chase the minnows.

"So you're here, too?" Remus quirks a smile. He's not sure whether he's happy or sad, but he knows that he's about two seconds from grabbing Padfoot's soggy fur in a tight, endless hug.

Before he can, though, Padfoot transforms back, grinning delightedly with a face both older and younger than the one that Remus remembers. "Of course I'm here - I've been waiting forever, hoping that you'd end up here, too. Guess you wouldn't come without a fight, right?" He grabs Remus in a wet hug, eager but strangely empty, and when Remus holds him tight, pressing hungry lips to Sirius's neck, Sirius's body goes all rigid and Remus knows that something is wrong.

Sirius is looking at him strangely, and the dragonflies' buzz grows louder in the background. "You're not my Sirius, are you," Remus says quietly, already knowing somehow. "He's still out there, taking care of Harry, and I'll have to wait here for him." He smiles introspectively. "And here I always thought that he'd be the one to wait."

He can see ideas clicking into place behind Sirius's eyes, and he thinks fondly, Padfoot always was the brighter one. A pause. Brighter, but he'd always do something stupid anyway, just because he could. And right on cue, there it is: the wide, hopeful, unconditional smile that Remus lives for. Or lived for, anyway.

"Well, at least we don't have to wait alone, right?" the other man says, a grin deepening the crinkles that seem more deeply ingrained in this Sirius's face.

"Right," Remus says, with a little nod of his head.

And that's that. Sirius wraps a friendly arm around Remus's back, and he begins to guide him up the riverbank, through the liquid shadows of leaves. "There's this brilliant lake, half a day's walk east, and it's got stones on the shore so smooth that you can skip them all the way across in one go! Want to see?"

Overhead, Remus can hear the beating of wings. He takes one more look at Sirius, and the two of them step into the sun.

finis.