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“Taako?” Kravitz’s voice crackles over the Stone of Farspeech, and for an instant Taako regrets never getting that small chip in the side of it repaired. He almost laughs at this thought, because he has much larger things to worry about now.
Not for long, though, he thinks. He’s glad Kravitz can’t see him. Taako has seen and experienced a lot of death in his life, and he knows his time is coming to a close. He looks around his living room, sorry that Lup will have to take care of all this junk when he’s gone.
Lup. She’s coming over for dinner tonight with Barry, but he can’t worry about that now. He takes a deep breath, turning his attention back to his Stone.
“Hey,” he says, forcing the waver from his voice. He’s not used to things being out of his hands like this, he’s Taako and he’s kicked destiny’s ass a few times already. But this time, he knows, it’s final, and he can’t stand how helpless he feels.
But he doesn’t tell any of this to Kravitz. It’s not worth the worry it would cause him, or the tears he would cry. It’ll be easier for him, like this, if he believes that Taako passed from the world thinking about something simple, something mundane.
“What’s up?” Kravitz asks.
Taako isn’t really sure why he called Kravitz in the first place, but he’s scared, and alone, and he wants to hear his voice. “Not much,” Taako says, “I’m getting ready for dinner tonight.”
“Lup’s coming over, right?” Kravitz says.
“Yeah, and Barry. You’re always welcome to join us, you know?”
“Maybe I will,” Kravitz replies, “what are you making?”
It’s not fast. Taako and Kravitz talk over the stones for a while, and they laugh, some, and talk about dinner, about mundane things that Taako never thought he’d have to worry about.
After a while, Taako finds himself barely able to conjure the energy to speak anymore. He knows it’s time. “I’ve got to go, Krav,” he says, “I love you.”
Kravitz chuckles a little, and Taako hears him say “I love you too, Taako. Go get dinner ready.”
The stone of farspeech cuts out, leaving Taako in an absolute silence.
He’s been there for the deaths of so many of his friends. Part of him knows that those that remain would come running if he calls, but he can’t bring himself to hurt them like that.
Instead he sits there for a while, alone, just waiting.
And then, all at once, everything begins to lose definition, and as it does, Taako sees Kravitz.
He’s standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed and his Stone in his hand and as he comes into focus he offers Taako a small, pained smile.
“You didn’t think this was worth mentioning?” Kravitz asks, crossing the room and coming to stand in front of Taako.
“I forgot you were the literal grim reaper for a moment there,” Taako jokes. He laughs awkwardly, fiddling with the end of his braid, but his laugh quickly trails off under Kravitz’s intense gaze. He sighs. “It wasn’t worth your tears, Krav. It was easier to for it to be quiet, for it to be painless for all of you.”
Kravitz goes silent for a long while, his eyebrows drawn together in a contemplative frown. When he finally speaks again his voice is heavy with held-back tears. “Taako I… I can’t even begin to tell you…” he sighs. “You’re wrong,” he says, shaking his head ever-so-slightly. “You’re brilliant, Taako, absolutely brilliant and I know you’re almost always right, but this time… this time you’re wrong. And I can tell you a thousand times but showing you is so much easier and I can’t… I’m not letting you pass from this plane without realizing how much you mean to people, Taako.”
And then, before Taako has a moment to reply, Kravitz snaps his fingers.
Time passes in an instant. One second it’s midmorning and the next Taako hears a knock on his door and his heart sinks. Lup.
Lup bursts into Taako’s house, not bothering to wait for an answer, the beginning of a story dying on her lips as she sees Taako’s body slumped over on the couch. She runs to him, and at this distance Taako can see her hands shaking as she reaches for him, but they quickly fall to her sides as she realizes there’s nothing she can do.
And Taako, who always thought he wasn’t worth the tears, watches as his sister crumples to her knees in front of his couch, sobbing. Barry rushes in behind her, in his lich form, and he sees what’s happened and Taako can tell how much it hurts him. Little sparks of red peel off from him as he tries to maintain his composure, to console Lup, who won’t take her eyes off of Taako’s lifeless body as she sobs.
Taako takes a few steps towards her, reaching out to her, to try to stop her tears. But he’s spectral and incorporeal, his hand phasing straight through her shoulder and doing nothing to offer her comfort. He’s shaking, he knew Lup would miss him when he was gone but seeing her like this is practically tearing him in two.
Kravitz steps up next to him, lacing his fingers through Taako’s and squeezing his hand. “They can’t see or hear us,” he says quietly, looking past Taako to Lup and Barry. “I’m sorry Taako,” he says. “I don’t know… did you not think that this would absolutely destroy Lup, even if she saw it coming?”
“I…”
“This isn’t all,” Kravitz says. And he raises his free hand and snaps again, pulling Taako out of his living room and towards his school. As they come to a stop in the Headmaster’s office, Taako sees Ren. She’s holding her rod in the air, moving books and furniture around for Taako’s planned visit next week. And as Taako watches, the Stone of Farspeech in her pocket crackles to life, and Ren grabs it, answering with a cheery “Hey, Taako.”
Lup’s voice comes in through the Stone, sounding hollow. “It’s Lup,” she says. Taako feels his tears begin to slip down his cheeks, and he shakes his head, reaching towards Ren, towards his student who he’s come to care so much about, his second-in-command who he trusts as deeply as he trusts his own sister. “He’s gone, Ren.”
The rod falls from her hand, the levitating books and furniture falling to the ground with an unceremonious thud as Ren says, “What do you mean he’s gone, Lup?”
“I mean he’s gone,” Lup says, her voice breaking. Taako can hear sobs over the Stone, and then Barry’s voice follows Lup’s.
“We found him…” He pauses. “He was in his living room. He went peacefully, we think.”
As Ren stumbles backwards, collapsing in the chair that sits behind Taako’s desk, Kravitz raises his hand again, and he snaps, and suddenly it’s morning. Taako can still see Ren, she’s leaning over the desk, her cheeks still wet with tears as she sleeps, exhausted from mourning the loss of one of her closest friends. She’s clutching the diploma Taako had given her so many years ago in one hand, and it’s all Taako can do to keep his composure. His hand twitches by his side, but he knows there’s no point in reaching out to her.
Kravitz sees his pain, and gives him a moment to catch his breath. “I’m not showing you this to hurt you, Taako,” he says. “It’s not… you need to see this. You need to realize how much you mean to people. To Lup, of course, and to Barry and Ren, but also…” Another snap and he sees his school, but there are no students out and about, no duels going on anywhere on the campus as the school collectively takes the day to mourn the loss of someone who was so deeply important to them. As a teacher, as Taako had been to some of them, but also as the person who had created this place for them to come to learn, and to grow.
He hadn’t even realized it before, that he’d made such an impact on his students. Some of them, many of them actually, had been like he was, once, wandering and alone, unsure of their purpose. And Taako’s school had given them a place to call home, and a purpose, and he can see it now, because Kravitz has snapped his fingers again and it’s night, and the students of Taako’s school have gathered in the courtyard.
And as Taako watches, they raise their various wands and rods, red and orange and white light exploding from them as fireworks fill the sky, an explosive gesture of grief, appreciation, and remembrance. He sees Ren at the front of the crowd, she’s crying again, but this time she’s smiling, her face turned towards the sky. He sees her lips move, and he barely catches what she says as Kravitz snaps his fingers again.
“I won’t forget you, Taako.”
And now Taako is in Neverwinter, in the middle of the city square, as the news of his death reaches the public. He sees people he’s never met, never seen, never thought he’d have any influence on, stop their days to mourn him. Many of them seem devastated by the news, by the fact that the world has lost a hero. He hears one person nearby remark that the world is just a little bit darker now, a little less safe.
Taako has always made himself out to be so much more than he believed he really was. He had always acted like a superstar, but part of him had always doubted that people really thought of him as Taako from TV, as someone as important as he said he was. But in this moment, as he hears whispers of his name spreading throughout the square, Kravitz speaks again. “To this world, Taako, you’re a hero.”
He sees that Taako is crying, now, his shoulders shaking with the sobs that have built up since he saw Kravitz leaning against his living room’s door frame. And he pauses, snapping his fingers again, and suddenly they’re alone in the middle of a large circle of black obsidian, the place where Phandalin once stood. Kravitz smiles, a sad smile that is meant to mask the tears that he is barely holding back. He takes a deep breath.
“Taako,” he says, “I never thought I would find someone. Let alone… let alone someone as amazing as you.” He laughs a little, a tired laugh that dies on the wind. “Every day I spent with you was a blessing, and there’s so much more I could… there are so many things I want to tell you.” Kravitz shakes his head sadly. “I can’t… you shouldn’t even be here, Taako, not anymore, but I can’t help it, because I needed to show you this. You needed to see all of this, and I know it… it probably feels like I’m just trying to show you how much you hurt the people you cared about but--”
As he says this, Taako stands up, his footsteps making no sound as he crosses the black obsidian circle to Kravitz’s side and grabs the front of his shirt, pressing their lips together. Kravitz seems surprised at first, but Taako feels him relax after a moment, and when Taako finally takes a step back both of them are crying.
Taako is the first to speak. “Kravitz,” he says, “I know.”
And he does. Taako knew the moment Kravitz brought them here, to the place that they were finally reunited. Kravitz was giving him one last gift. He’d let him see his sister and his friends one last time, he’d shown Taako just how much he’d done for this world. It was something he hadn’t even known he needed to see, but that he now knows that he did, he needed to see all of this. He reaches out, wiping a tear from Kravitz’s cheek.
Kravitz leans into Taako’s touch. He seems relieved that Taako understands, and he tries to smile without success as he waves his hand through the air. “It’s time,” he says, as their surroundings get more fuzzy and indistinct.
Kravitz looks up, their eyes meet, and Taako knows.
He knows that this is the hardest thing that Kravitz has ever done. Because every part of him, every last atom, is screaming for him to take Taako’s hand and run away from all of this, but he can’t. And it’s destroying him. Taako wants nothing more than to take this pain away from Kravitz, but he knows he can’t, so instead he squeezes Kravitz’s hand and offers him a reassuring smile.
Taako can’t repay the gift of what Kravitz has shown him, either, but there is one last thing he can do for the man that he loves. “Krav?” he says. “Listen I… I had nothing, once. And I never thought that it would be any different, but so much has changed since then. I have Lup again, I have so many people who are dear to me, and I have a legacy, Krav, a legacy I never thought I’d have. And I… I have you.” Taako isn’t used to being so transparent, isn’t sure how much it helps, but he knows… he knows Kravitz needs to hear it as much as Taako had needed to see, to understand. And he faces Kravitz, he leans forward, kisses him one last time, and pulls back, smiling.
“Taako I… I’ve said goodbye to so many friends but this… this is…” Kravitz begins.
“I know,” Taako says, as a thousand lights begin to swirl beneath their feet, the two of them arriving at the astral plane.
Kravitz digs his teeth into his lip, doing his best to see Taako off with a smile but failing miserably. He hurriedly wipes at his tears. “I spent… well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Just… I wish I could give you an eternity, Taako, and the fact that I can’t… it’s…”
“I know,” Taako says again, but Kravitz shakes his head.
“You don’t, but… it’s okay, Taako. I’m so lucky to have had the privilege of falling in love with you, I’m so… I’m so lucky to be in love you and I’m so lucky that you love me, too, and I want you to know that.” Taako smiles, he’s tearing up again now. Kravitz hesitates for just a moment. “There’s… there’s one last thing I want to do for you.”
Kravitz waves his hand again, and this time the lights below them respond by glowing with a much brighter intensity. For a moment, Taako can’t see a thing, and before his eyes refocus he hears Kravitz’s voice: “I can’t give you very long, but I can give you one last chance to be together.”
And then Taako sees them. Standing on the lake in front of him, is the family he had found so many years ago, the family he had watched fade away around him. But they’re not frail and dying anymore. All of them are back to the way they were so many years ago, when they stood together against the end of the world.
Magnus is there, a goofy grin on his face as he waves to Taako and Kravitz. Merle is standing nearby, his arms crossed but a matching grin on his face as he sees them. Davenport is next to him, and a little farther back, not daring to come to close, is Lucretia, watching the rest of them with a relieved smile on her face.
It’s more than them, too. Carey and Killian are nearby, with a red-haired halfling that Taako recognizes as Noelle. And Avi is with them, he holds up a flask as Taako sees him. Johann is standing a little behind Avi, he gives Taako a slightly-solemn nod.
And then Taako hears a voice, and he looks down, and there’s Angus. He’s young again, younger than the rest of them, and the grin on his face as he greets Taako with a hearty “hello, sir!” is enough to make tears slip down Taako’s cheeks again. He kneels down, wrapping his arms around Angus to hide the fact that he’s already crying.
“I missed you, Agnes,” Taako says, and he hears Angus laugh.
“I missed you too, sir,” he says, and then Magnus rushes across the lake and pulls the both of them into a hug, and Merle isn’t too far behind, and the others look on and smile.
And Kravitz, his eyes still full of tears, snaps his fingers one last time. Power spreads from his hand, and the people he’s come to love more than he ever thought possible fade away into a brilliant cluster of lights that dive below the surface of the lake. “Goodbye, Taako,” he whispers, burning Taako’s tearful smile into his eyes. He never wants to forget that smile.
The last wisps of white light disappear under the surface; Kravitz watches as they dive deeper and deeper. They can be together for an eternity, now, in the timeless lake of swirling lights.
As he watches them go, Kravitz feels a fresh wave of tears fill his eyes, hot and painful.
He'd always known that falling in love would bring him here, but being prepared doesn’t make it hurt any less. For Kravitz, love is like catching water in your bare hands or trying to hold onto sunbeams. He can manage it for a while, pressing his hands as tightly together as they’ll go, but without fail it eventually slips away.
And he’s left here, grasping at the remnants of a love he had only seconds before, alone again in the middle of a lake full of light he'll never be a part of.