Work Text:
Cake in hand, Lilia crouches over Ashe's grave. Her gaze trails to the tombstones next to his, of their parents, and the tears almost start flowing just then.
They never learned the reason of the fire. Police ruled it off as an accident inside the home. Back then, Lilia wanted desperately to tell them it couldn't have been an accident, it couldn't, but her throat was too hoarse from crying out… and there was no evidence for anything else to happen.
Urk. No need to keep dwelling on the past. Lilia directs her gaze back to her baby brother, blinking back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She lies the cake bought for him silently next to his grave, changing her position to criss-cross-apple-sauce.
He wanted to be a doctor to cure her illness. Sometimes Lilia wonders if he ever could.
God, he wanted to be a doctor for her.
How old would he be today? Freshly 17? He'd be studying medicine for her. Maybe they'd bake donuts together for his birthday, and Lilia would boss him around like always. Then…
And then… fuck. A stray tear finds its way down her cheek.
"Happy birthday, little brother," Lilia says, quiet enough so nobody around would hear. Would they? Were there anyone around? "… Ashe, I miss you."
She missed all of them. Her eyes flutter shut, inhaling deeply. She sits there a few more minutes before standing back up, gently tossing the flowers she bought onto the dirt.
In her head, she imagines her, her parents, and Ashe, happily singing the birthday song around the table. Ashe beams and blows out the candles on the cake Lilia and their mother had prepared for him. Their father cheers the loudest, and everyone laughs as Lilia lays a hand on her brother's shoulder.
Lilia's cough breaks her out of her daydream, and she is reminded of the real world.