Chapter Text
No. No, this can’t be happening. He was so healthy, what went wrong? How did he mess up? Why is this happening?
These were many thoughts racing through Candle’s brain in one of the most stressful moments of her life. As she sat there, in the waiting room, waiting for the doctors to give her the OK to enter his room, trying to keep her emotions in so as to not give the people around her panic.
Candle and Silver were in a blossoming relationship after the show ended, and they just seemed perfect for each other. Honestly, Candle wouldn’t have had it any other way.
But unfortunately, one day a few months ago, Silver was diagnosed with leukemia. Of course, when a soul was passing in front of Candle, her first instinct is to comfort them up to their death and after. Even if she never knew the person personally. But this was different. This was her spouse, her boyfriend, the love of her life, the one she loved and cared for the most. She couldn’t act normal about this.
But she tried. She tried to shield her feelings of grief from him and did what she normally does to an individual when moving over to the afterlife: she comforted him. She tried to bring him joy in his last months. Frankly, she succeeded and she thought, for a little while, that this could be a sign that maybe life had decided to spare him from death.
A doctor walks into the waiting room, holding a clipboard. “Candle Chama,” he called out, and Candle stood up and took a deep breath before she started to follow them. She was holding a bouquet of flowers as well. Pink carnations, red chrysanthemums, cyclamen, and white orchids, all plucked and made carefully by Bomb. He somehow knew what flowers mean what and eventually gave her the bouquet as a gift of sympathy. Somehow he knew. Somehow the whole cast of contestants knew.
And then she made it. Room 204. Silver Spoon Allandro. DD: 16th of September. It said it on the door. The doctor opened the door and she slowly went inside the room, gripping the bouquet tighter than she should. The white walls, the tiled floor, the window leading to an outside overview of some of the city, it all greeted her. But the atmosphere felt melancholic. Of course it would. It would be the last time Silver and Candle would ever see each other for… at least a little while.
And then she heard him.
“Candle?”
She looked over at him. Bedridden, pale, in one of those hospital gowns, hooked up to many things, including life support, but he just had that familiar smile on his face. As if this was like any other day. She wanted to just heal him. Go against life’s every motive at this moment and somehow heal him back to healthy status so that they can grow old together and be happy. But she knows how difficult it can be to toy with fate. As she sits by his bedside, she feels bittersweet. So she smiles back at him, a light happy smirk but betraying her internal pain.
“I… Hello, Silver,” she greeted, not realizing how quiet her voice was. “I just wanted to stop by a-and give you something…”
She sets the bouquet on the counter beside his bedside. Silver watches as her hand sets it down and returns to its original position, sitting on her lap, hands lightly gripping each other.
“What flowers are those? They smell lovely,” he comments. Candle had to regain her voice before telling him.
“O-oh. Carnations, chrysanthemums, cyclamen, and orchids, according to Bomb. He made it for me.” Her voice was choking up again. Oh god. And Silver noticed as he tilted his head out of curiosity.
“What’s wrong, my dear?”
“I-It’s just… Today’s your death day and I know how painful this is for the both of us and I-I tried to hide my sorrow through selfless acts and just tried to make you happy these past months a-and now I won’t see you again-”
“Whoa, whoa, girl… Slow down…” Silver now had his hand on her shoulder and Candle just couldn’t keep it in anymore. She starts tearing up.
“Why should I?”
“You know what you always said back then. In negative situations, focus on the positives. Like right now. Sure, I’m dying, sure I am not going to physically be here. But I know you. I know that you’ll eventually move on. I know that you’ll know that I’ll always be with you right here.” He places a hand on her heart as Candle follows it. “Okay? Does death really matter if there’s still love between the borders of the afterlife and the mortal plane?”
“Stop sounding like me. You’re only making me cry more.” Tears are streaming down her face and she’s starting to breathe faster. This wasn’t the first time she was feeling like this; she still faintly remembers little 11-year-old Candle sobbing violently after running away from her burning home, knowing her parents, despite their forcing of culture and enforcing a belief that she is nothing more than a baby machine, were gone. And of course, when she lost Star. Star, her firstborn, who contracted problems with her lungs and died weeks after birth. It was terrible to see her little life fade away in front of her.
Adults dying, she can stand up against. Children dying, she always feels a little sad they never made it to adulthood. But a loved one dying… it always made her cry. A weakness she’s always had but never dare told anyone in the rare case they exploited it.
She feels Silver hug her tightly, more than he probably should, and she just had to hug him back. As she sobbed into his shoulder, she sent some prayers for him silently in her mind.
‘I pray that whomever greets him at the crossing between life and death welcomes him with the peace and happiness that I shared with him.
I pray that he shan’t see any souls who hurted and traumatized him to an extent during his time in the Afterlife without my guidance.
I pray that he will never get hurt in the Afterlife and if he does that he goes to a trusted individual for comfort.
I pray for his willingness to stay strong for me, even if I hurt or potentially murder my mind or my body.
I pray for his strength.
I pray for his heart.
I pray for the innocent child he never was.
I pray his death is peaceful and surrounded by the memories of his loved ones.
I pray a wonderful good-bye for him.’
When he pulled away, so did she. She looks at where he’s looking and sees the doctor, seemingly talking to her. Something about ‘having to make her leave for a final check-up’ or something. She wanted one more moment with him, but she knew.
It was time to leave her love behind and keep moving forward in life, even if she didn’t want to. And of course, she didn’t want to, but she had to, the sad reality that life never slows down for any one suffering soul. Standing up, she squeezed Silver’s hand before letting ago, and as she left the room for the final time, and extendedly his life, she looked back at him, meeting his golden, shining, loving gaze with an amber, tearful one.
It had been about an hour since dinner ended abruptly and she went into her room for the night. It was 8:05 PM, a little over when she would go to sleep regularly. Candle wasn’t in her normal silky purple robes with gold accents, but now a pink nightgown. She was laying on her bed, scrolling on her phone, looking for some way to cope from his death. But she can’t shake his final gaze out of her mind. One so full of love… how can he even pull that off?
And then she saw it. A little ping from her Discord notifications. From OJ. OJ had made a Discord server a few years ago to make everyone keep up with announcements, news, and just for them to get along (or not). She hesitantly opened up the notification, knowing exactly what it was about.
“Hello everyone. Sorry to abruptly cut dinner tonight, but as I’m sure you all know, that normally doesn’t happen unless something important happened. And important it was.
It comes with my sincere sorrow that Silver Spoon, labeled ‘The Regal’, has passed away from his leukemia. He was 29 when he was officially considered clinically dead an hour ago. Though most of you did not like him or care about him, a loss is still a loss. So you are to comfort those affected by his death.
I am starting to work on getting a funeral set up for him, and it will not be until weeks or even months from now. For now, please treat those most affected at this time with respect and care, even if you personally dislike them. They are going through a hard time right now, and more weight on their shoulders is only going to stress them out more.
We love you Silver Spoon. Fly high.”
And that broke her. Tears welled up again, and within two minutes, she was breaking down, crying loudly under her covers. This was the third time she’s ever done this and this absolutely cemented the reality she didn’t want to believe, yet had to, as moments later she drifted off to sleep with her tears.
Her lover was gone.