How long had it been?

Seven days?

Seven weeks?

Lance Ducere couldn't tell. All he knew was that he had lost the man he promised to love forever. He stared into nothingness, clutching the article of clothing that belonged to his lover closer to his chest.

He had lost his will to cry. His will to live was also gone.

Jule and Futhark, the boys they had saved from the burning building, came into the room this morning. He had yelled at both of them, going as far as to punch one of them and even throw one of the lamps at the door after they left. Forseti would make him pay for that one, but he didn't care.

He shouldn't have said he was finding it hard to love him. He should have taken Arthur as far away from everything as possible. He should have trusted the boys would fix things on their own. He should have stayed with Arthur through it all.

He inhaled his lover's scent. Arthur always had some way of smelling like cotton candy, or maybe it was that cologne he gave him some time ago. Lance couldn't even bear to close his eyes for too long because he was haunted by images of Arthur.

The way the Lukas kid who thought he could fly smiled at him because he was his entire world. The way his lips felt on his own. The way their hands fit together. The way their bodies fit together like two puzzle pieces.

Then he would see Arthur chained and trapped, looking at him with pleading eyes. A soft, ghostly, whisper asking why he had left him to die alone.

"I'm stupid"

He said in a hoarse and weak voice.

Lance was Arthur's world but he never reciprocated that. He had put the boys first. He put his promise to Norcross first. He pushed the one he loved to the side because other people needed him. He never gave Arthur time. He never showed his lover he mattered more than anything in this world to him.

But it was too late.

Arthur was dead, and he was to blame.

He was too weak to save him and too weak to stay with him.

Lance Ducere had let the love of his life slip from his hands.

Now, all he had in his little pretzel jar were crumbs of memories.

He looked over at the food Futhark and Jule had brought him this morning. Today was their birthday, wasn't it?

He smiled weakly.

"I hope you two don't make the same mistakes we made."