The warm sun was dipping below the horizon, casting tree leaves gold and dappling the grass in it's light. Vinnie was absolutely certain that this was what had been envisioned when people came up with the term 'bliss'; he was warm, his day had been filled with nothing but lazy joy, and the breeze brought with it the scent of a coming rain that would more than certainly lull him to sleep later that night.
And maybe best of all, he could feel the brush of Saoirse's fingers against his as he lay against the summer-yellowed grass. It may have been unintentional; Saoirse may not have even noticed the touch. Even so, it made Vinnie smile.
He shifted, turning his head so he could see Saoirse's hazel-green eyes. Her chapped lips were slightly parted, quirked upwards in the ghost of a smile as she watched the leaves dance in the breeze above.
Saoirse must have noticed his gaze, because a moment later, she turned to face him, a playful light in her eyes. "What?"
Vinnie averted his attention to the orange-pink clouds streaking across the sky between silhouettes of branches. "Nothing," he murmured, unsure of whether he was embarrassed at her catching him or amused by her tone. Something further rose on the tip of his tongue, but he hesitated, almost tentative. It wasn't like him to be so unsure--- he usually had enough confidence to make up for a whole colony of mice--- but something about her made him... care. About what he said, what he did--- what she thought of him.
Saoirse's giggle brought Vinnie back to himself, and she raised her eyebrows at him pointedly. "'Nothing' is written all over your face," she pointed out. "C'mon. What's up?"
Vinnie rolled his eyes, dragging a hand over his face. He debated with himself for just a second longer before finally settling on, "I just wish we could stay like this forever." He paused, glancing over at her again. "You know?"
Saoirse, much to Vinnie's dismay, laughed. "That's... incredibly cheesy."
The words had Vinnie's cheeks heating up, and he rolled onto his side so she wouldn't see, struggling to find an excuse to make his sentiments decidedly less sentimental. Before he could come up with one, however, Saoirse grabbed his hand.
"Vinnie. Look at me."
Begrudgingly, he turned. Saoirse's eyes caught him off-guard--- bright, intense, earnest. Vinnie found himself suspended in the green-tinged hazel, almost enamoured by her rough, handsome face.
"I wish we could stay like this forever, too," Saoirse whispered, and everything in Vinnie collapsed on top of itself like a particularly love-struck deck of cards.
Previous smiles of playful, simple happiness melted into something much more tender, soft, and Vinnie found his hand cupped under Saoirse's chin.
A tendril of wind wove between the tree branches, singing softly and bringing its reminder of the rain. The grass was soft and sweet underneath them as the sky faded into pink and purple pastels.
"Alright," Vinnie breathed, fixed on Saoirse's warm gaze. "Then we will. We'll find a way."
No further words needed to be said. This is how it was and how it would be--- Vinnie and Saoirse, one in the same, tucked together in the shelter of their glade.
~*~
"Saoirse. You... I thought you were asleep."
Vinnie wouldn't look at her. He was turned half-way towards the door, slender fingers braced lightly against its frame. Even in the faint moonlight filtering in from beyond, quietly illuminating his profile, Saoirse could see that he was tired. Eyes hollow, skin pale, shoulders drooping.
Despite it all, he was beautiful. Vinnie always had been, although since the accident in the hospital, his beauty had... changed. His golden-brown hair turned white, and the boyish, cocky glint in his eye faded into something more solemn. His roguish charm had been traded for a haunting grace--- the beauty of something that wasn't quite grounded; something that had come from outside of this feasible existence.
"Listen, Saoirse..." Vinnie started, then trailed off, his voice soft, tender--- and heart-wrenchingly sad. It was a tone Saoirse had never heard from him.
"I know," Saoirse interjected quietly, before he could begin again. Though her heart clenched and something other than the cool air had her shivering, she knew what would come next. What had to come next. She had noticed his quiet, gradual distance; the way he drifted. Stuck between the present and this new piece of him that he'd somehow have to reconcile with.
Silence fell. Saoirse watched as Vinnie dropped his forehead against the door. He squeezed his eyes shut, hiding once-black pupils that now glowed faintly gold, as if there was a light inside of him that yearned to escape. It was another result of the accident.
A stifled sound broke the quiet, and Saoirse realised with a start that Vinnie was struggling against tears. That, more than anything, had Saoirse terrified. She had known Vinnie since the two of them were children, had essentially been on the run with him for close to four years, and yet, in all that time, she had never seen him cry. Not even once.
"...Vinnie?"
Saoirse took a hesitant step closer, but Vinnie only turned away, wrapping his arms tightly around his chest, as if he could force back his tears if only he squeezed tightly enough.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, ragged. "I'm so sorry. I--- I can't stay."
Struggling now against her own emotions as they welled in her throat, Saoirse managed a nod. She had known this, of course. It had been the subtle but ever-present truth: Vinnie couldn't stay. Not here, probably not anywhere. Because although four years had passed, and although Saoirse had grown taller, stronger, more mature--- Vinnie was unchanged since the accident. Still stuck sixteen.
Saoirse couldn't get any words past her chest, and it seemed neither could Vinnie. Before she could think better of it, she pushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him.
A strangled sound slipped past Vinnie's throat as he collapsed into the embrace, face hidden, but Saoirse could feel him shaking. "I'm sorry," he managed again, choked.
"It's not your fault," Saoirse insisted softly.
It never had been. That was what made all of this so unfair. Stars above, Vinnie may never be allowed to settle in one place again; he'd have to be constantly on the move, constantly taking care of himself, by himself, and it wasn't his fault. This new body, this new existence, had never been a choice.
But this curse would follow him for the rest of his days--- for as long as the dawn rose and the Earth turned round, Vinnie would be there to see it. Forever sixteen, forever alive, forever alone.
Vinnie and Saoirse remained tucked against each other for a long time, both of them trembling and fighting back tears. Vinnie and Saoirse, one in the same. Sun and moon, how naive they'd both been.
Finally, Vinnie began to pull away, and though everything in her protested, Saoirse let him. They stood silently for a moment, watching the ground, before Vinnie reached for the door.
"I... Good luck, Saoirse," he said quietly. "With whatever you do."
Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Saoirse nodded. He's leaving. He's leaving and I might never see him again. Oh, stars above, I might never see him again. "Vinnie---" She hesitated, so torn, her heart breaking apart, and suddently the panic was so utterly overwhelming that she hardly knew what to do with herself. "I could come with you," Saoirse blurted out, desperate desperate desperate for something she could never have.
Vinnie paused, on the threshold now of what would irrevocably change the both of them. He dropped his gaze to the floor once more, voice gentle. "You know you can't. This doesn't work anymore. Not when I'm... like this."
Of course, she'd known that. It was a stupid thing for her to suggest, but even so, even so--- "Just for a little longer. For a couple more years, at least, we can--"
"Saoirse, please."
His tone made her pull up short. Saoirse realised, then, that Vinnie was even more terrified than she was. It was in the tension in his voice, the just barely too-quick breaths, the clenched jaw.
"You can't come. You deserve to live your own life without some idiot sixteen year old dragging you down with ideas and hopes that can never come true."
"But you're scared," Saoirse protested, even if she knew her words were futile. Vinnie had made up his mind; convinced himself of his noble cause. There was nothing she could do to change that now. He was stubborn that way.
Vinnie stood frozen in the door for a couple silent seconds, his back turned to her and eyes fixed on something in the beyond that Saoirse couldn't see.
When his words finally came, they were barely a breath, but with an air of finality that couldn't be ignored, no matter how hard she tried. "Goodbye, Saoirse."
Vinnie took a step forward, beyond the threshold. The door closed with a soft click behind him, and just like that, he was gone into the night, without even a look back.
And Saoirse was left alone.