[Coco] Marching On

pengychan:

Title: Marching On
Summary:

The Final Death comes for everyone, eventually. Héctor knows it better than most; he came within moments of being forgotten, a very long time ago. He’d thought it was the worst feeling he could possibly experience in his afterlife, but he had been wrong.
He hadn’t counted on having to watch his family fade around him, one by one.
He hadn’t counted on finding himself alone again.

Characters: Héctor Rivera, Miguel Rivera, Imelda Rivera, Coco, Ernesto de la Cruz, the Riveras in general
Rating: G

A/N: This was my entry for the Coco Locos Angst Off contest. Had to stay anonymous until the voting ended, so I couldn’t put it on Tumblr. Then I forgot to do it. Now, by unpopular demand – read: absolutely no one asked – here it is.
I’m sorry.

***

Time marches on.

It is one of the most basic rules of the universe, in life and death. Time marches on, family lines get muddled and end – they can last a long time, their blood keeps running in the veins of the living,  but in the end names are just names and stories are just stories – and memories are lost.

It happens to everyone, eventually. Héctor knows it better than most; he came within moments of being forgotten, a very long time ago. He’d thought it was the worst feeling he could possibly experience in his afterlife, but he had been wrong.

He hadn’t counted on having to watch his family fade around him, one by one.

He hadn’t counted on finding himself alone again.

His bones are almost as yellow as they used to be, now, and the energy holding them together almost as faint. But this time he’s glad, it gives him hope. There is no family for him to visit on the other side of the bridge; they are all in whatever oblivion is to be found beyond the Final Death, and he cannot force his way through that.

He can do nothing but to wait, and keep marching on as time does, in the hope that he may see them again.

And he’s been waiting for so long.

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