Fate (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 34

A/N:
Heyyo guys! So before I start, I would like to say sorry for the late update... it's just, I've been having a writer's block and that I spent most of my energy and brain power on drawing and I- // viciously slapped.
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Anyway, this is it! A new update! Hope you guys enjoy, and stay safe everyone! So all the classes and college activities here in my country had been cancelled due to the outbreak, and right now I'm concerned.....
Anyways, stay safe and love yall!
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"Joseph!"

"Claude!"

I cannot believe it. The one man I've been waiting all those years for is finally here.

"You're.... alive....."
Tears streamed down my eyes as he came to embrace me. His hug, as how I had expected it would be, is warm and solemn, exactly like how it has always been.

"You... you came back...." I sobbed, the feeling of happiness sparkling inside me.

Claude smiled, wiping the tears off my face with his sleeves.
"You never change, even after all these years. Be happy, Joseph. You deserve happiness."

I was in a crying mess, my brain looking for words. He is here. He is back. He fulfilled his promise.

My hands were latched into his when he started coughing uncontrollably.

"Claude?"

By now he had broken into a coughing fit  and is struggling to even breathe. Blood had poured out of his nose, in the rate where no one could stop it.

"Claude? Please don't! I cannot lose you again after all these years of waiting!"

He said nothing. Instead, his hands went limp and his body went still.

"Claude! No! Claude! Claude! Please!"

***
I jolted awake as the dream left my head. Sweat had coated my whole forehead and by now my hands were badly shaking to the point where I can barely feel them.

Claude.

Despite it being years already, there is this little thing in my heart that keeps on telling me to deny the fact that he is no longer here.

A slight headache burned through the inside of my skull as I tried my best to dispel the remains of the dream. Claude was my twin brother. My everything.

He even acted as my lifesaver. My shield.

A big sob escaped my lips along with tears streaming down my eyes.

It is not the fact that he is no longer in pain that hurt me,
It is the fact that he is not here anymore.

My gaze went all the way to the window, in which it had displayed the amazing view outside.

It was almost sunset, with the sun hiding behind the clouds, causing streaks of yellow and orange colours to appear on the sky as if it is a painting on a canvas. Not to mention the slight windy breeze that had made all the trees in the garden to sway lightly.

Exactly how Claude would like it.

"I really hope you're happy up there, Claude. I really hope so...." I said, feeling my heart tighten even more within every word.

"....Joseph?"

I deliberately wiped the tears off my eyes.
"Aesop..."

By now the Embalmer was staring at me. His eyes are barely open since he just got up but I can definitely tell that he is feeling better. But, that does not mean he should see me like this.