Here Lies Caelan James Montgomery

[Galen Montgomery]

His body went limp and sagged lifelessly in Araceli's arms as if his last breath let his very soul escape. Three words had rested on the tip of his tongue but could not be spoken before his time was up and his light was smothered, his blue eyes once so cruel and sharp now dull and almost gray like washed stone. Mournfully, Araceli would never know how it was he truly felt beneath all of the sins and monstrosities. He had no other choice but to take it to the grave, those simple three words: I love you.

Evelyn's terrifying wail startled the crows in the trees and sent them spiraling into the black sky. She looked no more insane than she did at that moment, pressed against the trunk of a dying tree, her raven hair as wild as her blue eyes which were wide with shock. Her nails were dragging painfully against her face as she saw with horror what was left of her family lay dead. A ways back she had already caught glimpse of her husband as he was slain and was chased away with jynxes thrown at her back as she screamed and wept, cursing the world; and now this.

"NOOOO!!" she came stumbling over to Araceli and all but wrenched him back without care, demanding that he get away, prying his hands from Caelan's cooling body as she took him into her arms.

"MY SON!! CAELAN COME BACK!! YOU'RE ALL I HAVE LEFT!! DON'T LEAVE ME, CAELAN!! I'M SORRY!! YOU'RE MOTHER IS SO SORRY!! I WAS SO WRETCHED!! I CAN DO BETTER! I PROMISE! COME BACK TO ME!! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!! NO!! NOT MY SON!!!"

"Not my son..."

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The day was warm with the subtle signs of spring budding across the scenery. The remote Montgomery grave site and memorial was secluded on a hill top, abandoned by its patrons who have since passed, Evelyn herself locked away in cell in Azkaban.

However abandoned, it was not unkempt. Although the majority of the Montgomery family had perished, there were still a couple of visitors who stopped by to view these resting souls every now and then. Each stone memorial was clean, the weeds kept away, the flowers replaced. It would seem as if these visitors cared for the Montgomery Monsters, as they had been called.

Where as Patrick Montgomery was buried at the tender age of sixteen, he still had his own reputation but none as bad as his father Victor's nor his brother Caelan's.

Caelan's memorial lay at the right of his father's, though a space lay between them as if waiting for Evelyn to join them one day. The stone was carved similar to that of Patrick and Victor's, that of a beautifully haunting angel crept over a rectangular stone, its nails embedded into it, its dark wings folded in as if to reside there only to protect the soul who rested here.

Upon the stone were ornately carved words that read:

Here lies
Caelan James Montgomery
Beloved son and brother
May you rest in peace

And nothing more. It did nothing for Robin, who has been visiting this grave site for years. She had once hoped to find answers, to learn something of Caelan Montgomery, but this place offered nothing but melancholy and occasional frustration. She only continued to visit because of her son. Ever since before he could speak, she would bring him here and tell Caelan about him. She has regretted for years never having told Caelan about their son. It was a shame.

"He has your eyes...He's sharp as a tack as well...Somehow he is just like you, even though they two of you have never met..."

Even now, as she walks the beaten path up the hill to the resting place, she feels the guilt creep over her as if spawned from the little fingers in which held on to her hand. Galen, only four years old, seemed to be leading her, as if he knew the way just as well as she did. However, when they reached the grave site, someone had already beaten them there!

"Hello?" Robin asked, wondering who the blond was with the small child.

[Azariel Lazarus]

The room was filled with the glowing heat of the embers that consumed a dry log somewhere in the room's fireplace. It cackled and it withdrew, snapping as the cold began to overcome it. One after another, a footstep was heard, heels clicking on the ground. With a wisp of smoke the fire from the pit went out, and the room was no longer filled with it's light--only the scent of burning pines, and the soft glow of a yellow lamp from the sitting room. Before the breeze stopped, and the curtains blew, a white wand pressed itself into Montgomery's countenance, a hard, musical voice whispering, "Get up."

As soon as that groggy face began to stir, Araceli Lazarus withdrew his wand, pulling it towards him as he a silent spell lit the tip so that his face was clearly illuminated. "Did you hear me? Hurry up and get dressed, Montgomery." He flicked his wand, re-lighting the lamp that had gone out when he arrived, and he dove towards the closet of the hotel. Araceli tore out a shirt and a pair of pants, throwing it on the bed without even looking at the male. "The order is coming for your life--and if you want to live, you'll leave now before they get the chance." Araceli slowly began to turn around and face the Slytherin once again, face expressionless and wand pushed somewhere in his coat.

Caelan could hardly believe his eyes upon seeing that face. There was but a second of disorientation before he came to grasp exactly what it was happening at this moment. His mind was quick and dismantled every factor for him to examine before he came to his conclusion all within seconds. He didn't even think to pull on the shirt and pants Araceli had tossed out, but reached out to grasp the male's wrist, wanting to stop him in his frenzy.

The moment that Caelan grabbed his wrist, he could no longer breathe, and he felt the air leave his body completely as he froze. He began to tip his head forward, long strands of hair hiding his face from the other's gaze.

Araceli stepped forward, still holding his breath as he placed his hand against the door knob, while Caelan's body stood right behind his and pressed into his back, trapping him against the door. "What are you doing here?...Why are you helping me?" It was no secret what he had done to Araceli. Things he did not even regret. That hand shook slightly, though he soon gathered the strength to tighten his grasp and turn it so that the door was cracked open. Caelan had stood staring at the male who tried to avoid his gaze, exhaling slowly in his ear, and then slammed his hand to the door and sealed it shut.

Araceli remained silent, hands still against the door, but he closed his eyes and withdrew his body inward, whispering, "I...don't know." He inhaled at last, slowly, hearing that breath exhale slowly into his ear. It left a tingling feeling, and Araceli's heart was banging against his chest like a brass drum--he felt as if he know the other could feel it.

And then Caelan's hands drew slowly over his, and Araceli turned his head with an eyebrow raised to look at the other as their cheeks pressed together with the movement. His lips were slightly pursed, and Araceli felt as if he wanted to stay there for years. Despite the fact that he was so afraid, despite the fact that every single horrifying sin done onto him was forever imprinted on his mind and body, Araceli stayed in his arms, and began to slowly turn around so that it was no longer their cheeks that merely pressed, but their lips.

The coat that hung on his shoulders was gently pulled off and dropped to the ground. His mouth opened and accepted Caelan with all of his heart, hands knotting into his chest as he was crushed against it.

Araceli closed his eyes and opened his heart.

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Heart crashing against his chest, he watched as a green light came from the tip of a wand and struck Caelan Montgomery right in the chest. Heart thrashing, he turned around, eyes open wide and reaching for his falling body. Heart thrashing, everything stopped, everything stopped, everything stopped.
Sounds stopped. Light stopped. Sight stopped. Time stopped. Caelan's heart stopped and his eyes flashed a brief green as the curse wreaked through his body and stopped, stopped it all--his words, his mouth, his hands, his heart.

His heart stopped.

Shaking, Araceli fell to the ground on his knees holding Caelan's face with a look of disbelief in his eyes, tears streaming down his face as he frantically kissed Caelan's lips over and over and over not knowing what he expected but wanting those lifeless lips to somehow kiss him back. "Caelan, Caelan, don't die, Caelan, you promised." Another kiss, hands reaching down and grasping his slowly--he was already getting cold. "Caelan." His voice began to crack, "Caelan, I love you, please wake up." Tears fell on the other's face. He closed his own eyes and kissed the other frantically one last time, catching Caelan's last breath, before he finally went limp in his arms. Araceli could no longer feel his hand squeezing his back.

And then a horrifying scream tore from his lips as he was pulling at Caelan's shirt and shaking him, "YOU MONSTER, YOU PROMISED ME, YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD NEVER LET ME GO, MONSTER, MONSTER I HATE YOU. I HATE YOU, WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!"

....

"Monster..."

The next moment, Araceli was ripped off of Caelan's body and replaced with his screaming mother's, and the Lazarus prince lay on his back, staring at the mother and son before him. He stared there, until his pupils dilated, and he slowly began to rise, eyes searching the mad battle grounds. He could still hear nothing. Araceli took Caelan's wand--the one that was dropped from his hand and fell away from him into the gravel.

He turned his back to the weeping pair, and slowly found the face of the man that killed the only man he had ever loved.

"Stupify!" He cried, red bolts of light following the man as he sprinted across the forest after him, not stopping for a second. Trees cracked with every spell that flew towards the man but missed. "Stupify!" "Confundus!" "Expulso!" Still, he got away, trees were falling.

"CRUCIO!" He screamed, standing still and pointing his wand at him. "CRUCIO CRUCIO CRUCIO!" The one curse that Caelan taught him, he would make the man feel pain--so much more than he had ever felt under that curse. He would make the man suffer the way he suffered now--and then, then he would kill him, and watch the light disappear from his eyes the same way he watched it leave Caelan's. "Crucio!" He was writhing on the ground, screaming at Araceli, wondering why he was doing this to him. Araceli did not answer, but merely walked to him, and pointed his wand straight into his face.

"Aveda..."

Sobbing, the man begged for his life, every inch of his skin boiling from the fire of the curse that wrought throughout his veins.

Araceli's eyes went soft, and he was panting angrily for awhile, breathing so heavily that a sudden hiss escaped his lips as he turned his back to him, wondering what in the world he was doing to another man.


"...You're lucky I'm not broken."

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The halls were filled with cheers, the lights lit, and people were clinging to their loved ones victoriously. The darkness was gone, Lord Voldermort was dead, the boy who lived lived again and saved them all. They rejoiced that their enemies were at last dead.

Araceli had nothing left--his heart was left there in the gravel alongside a dead and broken body of a lover who broke his promise to stay with him forever.

Warmth, goodness, it all meant nothing to him, nothing at all.

Araceli walked until he had reached a corridor, somewhere in the castle--he hadn't paid attention until he opened the door and stepped inside a dark room with only the moon lighting it. Araceli looked inside, expression blank, staring at what looked to be a tarp over a large rectangular structure. Without a conscience thought, his numb fingers grasped the cold tarp and yanked on it--

And suddenly, a gasp escaped his lips and his hands were pressing against the cold mirror that stood before him.

In the mirror if erised--(He did not know the name, nor what it really was, nor that what he saw in the mirror was not real) stood Caelan James Montgomery, hands pressed against the glass against his own. Tears fell down his cheeks like rain from heaven, washing down his dirt covered skin a sob escaped his lips. He pressed his forehead to the glass and wept so hard, nearly screaming, "Caelan! Caelan, oh my god, thank god..." He felt so ugly then, hair knotted and a frown upon his face as he merely broke down and cried, practically hugging the mirror and trying to reach the warmth of the arms that could not embrace him. The other stared at him, looking cold and stern, but his eyes, god those eyes were alive and...

Araceli had to break him out.

He gasped, pulling away from him and searching the room for anything, "Hold on, Caelan, Don't worry, I'm going to save you. Please hold on!" He had a rock in his hand, and was about to slam it into the mirror.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Came a dark voice from the doorway. Araceli stopped, and looked up to see a shadowy figure looking in on him, arms crossed. "Shut up! He's trapped, I need to get him out of there!" "It's not real, you're acting like a fool." "He's real, he's there, he's alive." "What you're looking at is not a portal to the dead...It's the mirror of erised."

Araceli grew silent, dropping the rock. The man spoke again. "It's a mirror that shows a man whatever he wants in the world. Only that. It cannot bring back the dead, whoever you see is gone, and will never, ever, come back."

The door shut once again, and Araceli fell to his knees, eyes wide in horror. He was a fool...A fool.

In front of him, in the mirror, Caelan kneeled and pressed his hands to the glass again, looking at him with a peculiar look of sadness on his face. Ara reached out to him, and pressed his hand to the glass, thinking that if he stayed their long enough, perhaps he'd wake up from this wretched nightmare.

He stayed their for hours, until the sun filtered through the windows, and Araceli withdrew his hand at last. It hurt him too much to see the man he loved 'alive' when he was truly not.

But, behind his back, Caelan breathed upon the mirror, and wrote three words with his finger. "I love you."

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"It's been four years, Caelan." Came a familiar, but older voice.

"Four years since you broke your promise to me..." He sighed, leaning his head against the forlorn gravestone carving of an angel. It fit him. "I'm sorry everyday that the last words you heard from me was calling you a monster. I wish that, wherever you are--heaven or hell-- that you can forgive me." Another sigh came from his lips, and a breeze blew softly, shaking the tree's branches and leaves from the trees and sending them up into the hot summer air.

"Please forgive me, Caelan."

On the grave stone, somewhere close to his name, it looked as if someone had carved something into it by hand--someone other than the original carver.

I love you too.

Humming, a little blonde boy was doing summersaults and back flips on the grass leading up to the path to the graves. He was paying so little attention to the world around him that he had done another flip only to tackle the other little boy to the ground, tumbling them both into the grass. Groaning, Aureli Lazarus sat up, blinking as he sat on top of Gale and looking down at him. The three year old smiled, and spoke, "Sorry!" Interested, he leaned closed into Gale's face, and looked to him and then Robin. "I've never seen you here before. You have pretty eyes." Aureli quickly grabbed Gale's hands rolling over with him in the grass and forcing Gale to roll with him, giggling.