death and war; reynico stories //on hold//

two;; forever and always

—songfic; Forever and Always by Parachute—

[[AU WHERE THEY'RE ALL FULL HUMANS]]

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

One hour passes.

Tick. Tock.  Tick. Tock.

Two hours pass.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The third hour of Reyna's wait is marked by the twelve o'clock bell. Sighing, she looks out the window. He's supposed to call. Reyna thought to herself. Tell me that he's okay, and it's the dam traffic that's getting in the way of him and his date. Reyna chuckled. That pun would never get old.

For the past three hours, she's been texting her friends—from Percy to Piper and from Hazel to Frank—asking if they've seen him somewhere. She only received replies like Nope, or De nada. Sighing, she fiddles with her hands, thinking I should give him a chance. It's not the first time he was late for a date.

But then an hour passes. This time the girl is getting worried. She slides her gaze towards the driveway; but she couldn't find the black Ford car she's so fond of seeing. Why isn't he here? Reyna thought. Why is something wrong?

She turns her head towards the window, but then suddenly her phone rings. Taking a moment to read the caller—the local Hospital—her heart and mind races. Unable to handle the wait or the curiosity that's overwhelming her, she answers it.

"Hello?" Reyna asks.

"Hello, may I speak to Ms. Reyna Ramirez-Arellano?" A voice replies.

"Uh, yes. This is her speaking."

"There's something that happened. You should come over here, and now."

Even before the voice finished his sentence, she was already out the door. Racing towards her own car, she drives as fast as she can to the hospital. As she continues to pray that traffic won't kill her, a memory fleets back towards her during the cold December.

"Hey, Reyna?" Nico asked. "I've been meaning to ask you something for...quite a long time actually." They were at a small café down at San Francisco. Reyna held on to her coat, shivering from the intense cold. "As well as I do." She manages to say. "How do you survive this incredible winter?" They both chuckle, but then Nico's face turns serious. "You...you love me, right?"

Reyna raised her eyebrow at this. "We've been dating for nearly three years, Nico." She replied. "If I didn't love you, I would've dumped you at some point." Nico sighed, fumbling with his something in his hands. "Yeah, and...well..."

Reyna's heart thumped from his nervous expression. Could it be...? Oh no. Reyna thought. Please, please, please don't break up with me...

"Look." Nico took her hands gently, warming them with his own. "For three years, I've loved you. And before that, I've searched for 17 years for someone to love me for me. Someone who would always remind me to stand tall even in their own subtle way. And now that I'm twenty, and you're twenty-one, I...oh gods, this is so hard." Nico looked frustrated, looking back at his lap, but he sighs. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever met, Reyna. Honestly, if Aphrodite would ever let me see her, I'd bet my life I'd see you. For 17 years, I thought maybe that I'd grow up lonely, never feeling that the sun was something built for me in someone's tool shed. So I let my broken heartstrings bleed the blues, but you Reyna, when I met you, I would've never expected that you'd pick up the strings, fix it up, and tape my heartstrings back together. And that's what you did; for three years, not a single drop of aching brokenness bled from the heart that you fixed up, and I am forever grateful. You've been pushing me to be the best I can, and you've told me things people would never have the guts to tell me. And I want to live that every day of my life, and I want to spend every second of my life from this point on with you."

Then Nico stood up, taking one hand away from Reyna's, kneeled on one knee with an open box on one hand.

"I want you forever; forever and always. Through the good, and the bad and the ugly. I want us to grow old together.

"So will you, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, marry me?"

Reyna pulls up at the entrance of the Hospital. She runs towards the front desk, asking, "Mr. Nico di Angelo?" A nurse from the counter perks her head up, and says "Right this way. Please follow me." Then she sprints down the hallway on the right and Reyna follows her.

She leads her down a million halls; a maze that's never ending. The nurse finds a few doctors along the way who explain what happened. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo was in a car accident with a truck. His car was wrecked, but due to his training he seems to be alive...but definitely not well..." Reyna zones out, unable to hear what happens next. She tries to keep a straight face, it was improper for her to suddenly cry in such a serious time like this. She holds her tears back as she walks into the room; her love in the hospital bed, weak and fragile; way different from the Nico she knew and loved. The heart monitor beeped slowly, indicating he was still alive, but barely. The nurse closes the door and leaves a breaking Reyna and an unconscious, slowly dying Nico.

She sits by his bedside, tears threatening to spill down her face. She gently grabs his hands and looks at how peaceful her angel sleeps; if she wasn't in a hospital, she'd guess he was but only sleeping. "Don't worry, mi amore." She whispers; knowing full well that Nico couldn't hear her; but she didn't care. "I'm here, and we'll be together soon. Then we can have three kids that we've always dreamed of; our eldest daughter will be Bianca...and...and our son would be...Julian..." Her tears starts to fall; a lump in her throat prevents her from saying anything for a few moments. Her hands are clutching Nico's hand tightly; afraid that if she lets go, he'll leave her here. "And then—then we'd have that house on the hillside that the two of us have always wished for. And every morning we'd wake up in each other's arms and—and to the birds songs and the sunshine that wave at us and we'd look at each other as our children play around with each other, both of us feeling like the luckiest people in the world." Reyna smiles, even if her tears were flowing down her face. And suddenly a whisper comes from someone; Nico. "And then we'd stay together forever and always; through the good and the bad and the ugly." He turns his head towards the girl he loves, and smiles weakly, lightly squeezing back her hand that was clutching his. Reyna continues with him the promise they'd had months ago; "We'd grow old together and always remember whether we're rich or we're poor or better; we'd still love each other, forever and always."

A promise that will never be fulfilled.

And then suddenly Reyna gets an idea, and calls in the nurse. She stands up from Nico's bedside, whispers what's her plan, and the nurse nods. A few minutes later a man in a white robe—a doctor—shows up and explains. "My uncle was a priest, and you're in luck because I've been to at least a hundred weddings with him and my dad. Since it's an emergency, it's best let's do this now." Reyna nods, and lets him lead the way. Nico lies in the bed; still conscious, and Reyna sits beside him, holding his hands. The doctor starts to say things, but Reyna's not listening, only looking and watching her one true love and the fire of their relationship within his eyes. Even though his light is flickering down, the fire is still burning brightly.

With a few verses skipped, Reyna finally gets to her vows. As she says her verses, a song from the couple in the next room can be heard in the room. Everyone in it starts to giggle, but Reyna's tears fall to the floor; her brokenness finally leaking out of her heart. She stops mid-sentence of her vows, then seriously she looks into Nico's eyes, clutching both of his hands tightly and says, "I want you forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly. Grow old together, and always remember whether happy or sad or whatever, we'll still love each other; forever and always."

And then she finishes whatever was left of her vows, and she notices Nico's eyes flitting out. The light was like a candlestick now. The beeps were getting too slow; and Nico's voice was almost too low.

He whispers: "I—I love you forever...forever and always; please just remember even if I'm not there, I'll always love you forever and always..."

And the heart monitor stops.

//end//

//writing the proposing scene made me feel like I was proposing my goodness so many feeeeeels. And let's just say it's so hard to write a proposing/marriage scene when you're like, twelve years old and never went to a marriage like even once. Okay, I did go to a marriage once but I was like ten and I can't remember anything.//