“Last Wishes”

“So did you tell him?” I asked Haakon as I walked towards the gargoyle, being careful not to slip on the concrete police station roof in the near dark of this early Seattle morning.

He sighed, stood up from his post where he had been staring at his kid's now stone-locked face, his sleep pattern being different from his father's because of his half human nature, and looked at me. Me, the somewhat large but mostly fit thirty-five-year-old cop going prematurely bald. But even though I was about six feet, he always made me feel like a seedling next to his giant red-orange forest of a frame, a feeling I couldn’t completely shake even through I’d known him for years.

I suspected that it was a product of the spell that had been cast upon him in England centuries ago, that spell which had made him a gargoyle to begin with when the then Viking had decided to rob the wrong church. I had no real proof of this, though, except for the fact that his dimensions weren’t beyond what a normal human could achieve. That and I didn’t feel like this around people who were bigger than he was, even if there weren’t many who were.

But as he stared at me then I saw something in his eyes that I had never seen there before. His eyes had given me sad, happy, elated, angry and frustrated looks over the course of our odd friendship, but never had I seen those golden eyes so empty.

“I tried; I do not think he got it, though. You will probably have to explain it to him when he wakes up. What you are saying might not sink in until he sees it for himself, though, so…”

I grimaced. “That’s not going to be pretty.”

He sighed, running a hand down his thick golden braid that hung to his waist. “I know, but how do you explain something like this to a five-year-old? Zeph does not even know what magic really is, let alone that it is capable of…” he shook his head and started pacing on the balls of his feet, his three claws leaving a slight imprint as they made their way. He looked back at me. “Are you not supposed to be on shift?”

“Just got off, hence the lack of uniform.” I teased, plucking my white t-shirt that did a horrible job of hiding my not-quite-so-fantastic physique, but he didn’t take the bait.

“I take it you are here to say your farewells to me?” He seemed far too nonchalant about it, but I could see hints of the fear and disappointment in his face.

“I’m here so you don’t have to die alone.”

He sighed, looking out over the city now. “No one else is coming up, are they?”

“No.”

He looked back at me with a nod. “Good.”

Neither of us said anything for a while, both just stared over the city skyline and the ever rising sun.

“It’s a good thing the roof is flat, or I’d probably fall on my ass and slide all the way off it.”

Haakon laughed. “Yes, and then I would have to go and save you. The chief would not be happy.”

I chuckled. “He’s never happy, but yeah, that’d only end in too much paperwork for him, so of course he’d be cranky.”

Both our smiles slowly died as Haakon looked over at me again. “Promise me you will take care of Zeph in my absence.”

I sighed. “I’ll try to the best of my ability, but…”

“I am not saying take him home with you; I know your wife does not know about us and it would probably be best if she did not. I just want to know that he will be taken care of.”

I smiled slightly. “Don’t worry; I’ll make sure he ends up in the right hands. And in the meantime we’ll take care of him here. You know we view him almost as if he was ours, so I don’t think you’d have anything to worry about even if you hadn’t extracted a promise from me.”

“I know; I just had to be sure.”

“Understandable.”

“Do you think you will ever have kids?”

“Maybe someday, but not now. Maybe in a couple years after my wife has settled into her job.”

He nodded.

“The only reason why the rest of them aren’t up here is ‘cause you told them not to, you know that, right?”

“Yes, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I would rather not spend the next hour I have listening to everyone tell me how sorry they are. I just want to enjoy what I have while I have it. They do not need to see me, I know how they feel, they know how I feel, that is that. There are no secrets to tell.”

“And it has nothing to do with the way you’re about to die, right?” I raised a hairy brown eyebrow at him.

He sighed but didn’t look at me. “I always thought I would die in battle…not…like this, in my sleep. I always figured I would be waiting for Ragnarok in Valhalla, not in this…” He broke off in mid-sentence and I could hear the barely contained tears in his voice.

“I know, I’m sorry.” I whispered.

“Dying in your sleep…” he shook his head. “What a way to go.”

Neither of us said anything for a bit.

“I’m going to miss that stupid accent of yours, you know.” I say, for lack of better words. There are so many things to say, things I could say, but I don’t have any way to say them, really. I don’t even know if he would listen if I figured out how to.

He smiled; it just barely didn’t meet his golden eyes. “And I yours.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who sounds like a cross between Shakespeare, a Swede, and an American.”

“Shakespeare was an English playwright, right?”

I chuckled. “Yes, and Sweden is the country next to Norway, you know, that country you were from.”

“Hey, those lands were unified into countries before I was born; you do not have to explain that to me, especially since Harold Fairhair, the one who unified Norway, is the one that kicked me out in the first place.”

“I know, I’m just giving you crap.”

“Well, you know, it is hard to keep playwrights straight when you have lived as long as I have.” He seemed to be in slightly better spirits now, or at least he was hiding it better.

“Are you…at all glad to be done with this whole relative-immortality thing?”

He sighed. “Yes…and no…death was something I was somewhat looking forward to experiencing someday. I wanted to see Zeph grow up first.”

“Understandable.”

“You say that a lot.”

“And you need to learn how to use contractions. You’ve been using English for how many centuries now?”

“Four, but I have never fully gotten used to the language. I do not think I learn things as fast as I used to. It took me nearly fifty years before I could understand it, you know.”

“So you’ve said.”

He raised a thick golden eyebrow at me. “You do not sound convinced.”

“I still think you’re making that up.”

“You are right. It was probably more like seventy.”

I chuckled slightly. Neither of us said anything for a while.

“Will you sell my things for me?”

“Everything?” I asked, surprised, to say the least.

“Everything that isn’t Zeph’s, or something he might want or need someday.”

“What do you want me to do with the proceeds?”

“Put it in a bank; he will need the money when he is of age, of that I am sure.”

“Should be a nice start to a college fund.” I agreed.

“College…university…” he shook his head. “I still cannot believe they let anyone into those nowadays.”

“Well, not anyone. You have to get the grades for it, first. And the money, the money’s rather important.”

“Which means anyone could get in given the right opportunities and the right motivation.”

“I suppose.”

“So you will do it?”

“Yeah, sure. How soon do you want it done?”

“Whenever is most convenient.”

“Alright.”

He hesitated. “How long do I have?”

I looked at my watch. “Fifteen minutes.”

He nodded slowly. “You do not have to worry about fighting off the government, you know. I do not legally exist, so technically everything was Zeph’s the day Alana died.”

“Well that’s good to know, but what do we tell the state if they ask where he’s been staying for the past five years?”

“I do not entirely know. Alana was the one who took care of the paperwork. Your legal system still confuses me, especially that part.”

“You’re not the only one.”

“You have not yet promised, you know.”

I sighed, knowing that Haakon wouldn’t be satisfied until he heard the exact phrasing come out of my mouth and we shook on it.

He held out his hand to me, so I took it. “I promise I’ll look after him, and sell your things as you said.” I told him as we shook hands.

He didn’t let go. “And will you try to keep him out of the papers?”

“If he’s anything like you, I don’t think I could keep him from that fate.”

“Then will you at least help keep his identity from them?”

I smiled. “That I can promise.”

“Then I accept.” He smiled as we shook again and dropped hands.

Both of us knew full well that I might as well have signed a contract instead of swearing that oath which could be broken without legal repercussion. We knew this not only because of our deep friendship that had started almost the moment he had made his presence known in this city some seven or eight years back, but because of how much we both knew of Viking culture. And while this was not 800 A.D. Norway and I was not normally the type to think of a promise as the same thing as a legal contract like they had then, Haakon had never fully left that time and those customs behind. Therefore I had to make damn sure to uphold it, but in that moment it was almost too much to think about.

Then I saw Haakon kneel in front of Zeph again, staring straight into his still hopeful and smiling eyes, even locked in stone as they currently were. “I know you cannot hear me, but maybe you can subconsciously, I do not know, but if you can I want you to know that I am sorry, for everything.

“This is not how I had planned for things to happen, especially not your future. You were supposed to have your mother and me around for years, but it seems we both had journeys planned out for us that we did not know about. I just hope you always remember that I love you.” he kissed him on the forehead. “And I always will. Remember your promise to be good, alright? These guys do not need any more stress than they already have.” Haakon was still staring at his son.

“Jason?” he asked me, still squatting in front of his kid, hands on his knees and still staring mournfully and apologetically into his eyes.

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” And with that my good friend slowly turned to stone.

I sighed, turned and stared out across the Seattle skyline once more as rays of sunlight rose up from behind the buildings, making them almost radiate with the morning light. “Don’t worry Haakon, Zeph will be okay.” And without looking at either of the two I turned and walked back to the hole I came out of, lifted the hatch and crawled back down the ladder to the fourth floor just like any other night…almost.

I hesitated as I was about to pull down the hatch. “I’m sorry.” I whispered, looking at the statue and his son in the failing light, and with that I closed it behind me.

As I descended the ladder, I thought about my friend and his kid.

Haakon was gone from this world; I had to accept that even if everyone else was still convinced that there was a cure out there somewhere for the eternal stone spell he had been inflicted with hours earlier. It was why they hadn’t insisted upon joining me, and it was why I could not afford to take my promise lightly from this moment onwards.

Sure, I had said that to myself just minutes earlier, but now knowing that I was the only one who was going to take this completely to heart, at least for the time being, only turned those words into reality.

So with that set in my mind I climbed back up the ladder, shut the hatch behind me and walked back to the two figures staring at each other. “I’m sorry.” I said again, looking at my now-dead friend, a tear escaping my eyes, quickly followed by another. I put my hand on his shoulder though I had no idea if he could feel it at all or if he even knew I was there.

“I should have…done more for you while you were here, especially tonight. I should have…I shouldn’t have asked you to come out tonight.” I sank down and sat beside the two figures, looking first at one then the other, knowing full well that I had to get this all out now, not later, not when Zeph needed me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of his hopeful and childlike eyes the moment I saw them. How fast was he about to grow up? How much would the next few days…years…change him? And how fast would that naivety and cheery demeanor leave him?

I realized I was sobbing then, for him, for Zeph, for me, for the department. Haakon had asked specific things of me concerning his child, but with crystal clarity and an odd sense of peace that fell down upon me and slowly dried my tears, I realized that there was so much more that I had to do to fully be able to keep my promise. I had to make sure Zeph wasn’t alone now that he was about to realize he was the last of his kind.

I wiped my eyes and looked at my watch. There was still forty five minutes until Zeph woke up, but today was his last day without this kind of grief, and today should be a day like any other, meaning I shouldn’t be here as I wasn’t on day shift today.

So I got up and walked back to the hatch, calmly knowing that I had to be here and off duty when Zeph woke up tomorrow night. I had to be strong for him, I had to be soothing and kind and everything his father was. I had to tell him the truth then, I had to tell him...

It would take a bit of rescheduling, but it wouldn’t be too hard to find someone willing to trade shifts with me. There wouldn’t be many here willing to break news like that to the poor kid.

Then suddenly I realized why Haakon had asked this of me, cause somehow he knew even if I hadn’t that when it came down to it, I wouldn’t let him down, not really.

There was no way I could have known that his coming with us tonight would end up with that death-spell being cast on him, and he knew that. He didn’t blame me and neither should I. I hadn’t forced or coerced him to come. I had been his friend and confidant. I had been with him as he died and I was not going to betray his trust now even if it killed me, though it thankfully wasn’t part of the job description.

I turned and stared at the two for a few minutes, soaking up a moment I wouldn’t ever get to see again; a moment where the two were together again and forever, even if only in spirit.