Depth of a caretaker.

The days pass and after waking Carlos sits up wincing as he does so and like always puts on the goggles, walking to the door to leave he sees a glass of water on the side of the door he grabs it and drinks most of it holding it while walking to the front door of the shop, when opening it the sunrise hits the shaded lenses and he walks out and takes a deep breath of the fresh air.

“I can't believe I haven't been outside in this period of time.” Carlos has been shooting lightning out of his body so he doesn't overcharge but that's only out the window.

Carlos looks around and starts walking through the cold wind flowing through his hair and hitting his skin, he shivers a bit looking at the flowers planted near the house and sees Jonny plucking some of the petals.

“morning” carlos says while walking over, Jonny looks up at carlos putting the petals in a bowl

“Goodmorning.” Jonny replies while Carlos looks at him with curiosity.

“You know, plucking these petals might look bad and it might seem bad for the flower and it is, but with these petals you can make something that can change the lives for others.” he holds out the bowl to Carlos and hesitates but takes it looking in it.

“These petals are special and even though the flower is weaker now it gives that portion of its life to someone so it can make it better for them.” Carlos looks at him confused.

“What?”

“Maybe you will understand in the future. But these are also the flowers I used on that wound of yours.” Carlos looks at the bowl and tilts his head.

“Oh yeah? I still don't get it.” Jonny sighs and shakes his head.

“Nevermind, don't worry about it. Hey, can you help me with something? I know you have been wanting to go on longer walks.”

“I uhhh” Carlos scratches his head hesitating but after a while of thinking he nods, Jonny smiles and points at one of the flowers taller one.

“If you noticed I didn't pick some of the prettier ones, could you pluck these and be gentle please, and thank you”Carlos nods and kneels down picking one then another one, the both of them work in comfortable silence. After a while Jonny stands up coughing, hitting his chest once more.

“Excuse me, I think we are good now.” Carlos pauses about to pick another flower, he stored the picked flowers with the picked petals

“I'm curious, what are you gonna use these for?” Jonny starts walking back to the shop

“Can I just show you? I might need your help for this too” Carlos pauses for a second.

“Sure” Carlos sets the bowl of leaves down in front of Jonny then starts to walk off despite what he said.

“Hold on, I said I needed help, remember? Come on, I'm old and am running out of time” Carlos feels a little bad pausing to think again, he turns back around. Jonny grabs the bowel and they both walk into the shop. When inside he sets the bowel down on his desk and pulls the picked flowers out.Jonny grabs another one and aligns the stems together before trying to tie them together. But due to his age his hands shake and he struggles to tie them.

“Are you paying attention? Good, my hands are old and shaky. Can you connect these until they make a necklace?” Carlos looks surprised but slightly interested, grabbing 2 flowers and tying them together, after he looks a bit proud of himself too.

“ok” Carlos is very focused and keeps going, using up almost half the picked flower already.

“Not bad, not bad.” Jonny says smiling while watching after a while there's only one more to be connected. and Jonny, seeing that he's almost done, grabs it with a fast movement making Carlos flinch and step back a bit.

“Sorry but I should do the last one if that's fine with you?”

“Uh yeah, sure” he takes a breath of relief, then he finishes the necklace.

“This was my wife's favorite flower, you know. The reason she loved it so much is because of the beautiful pattern that it can be made into.” Jonny drops this suddenly making Carlos' expression soften.

“Oh… The flowers are very pretty." Jonny smiles his eyes showing a bit of sadness as he stands up, he shows off the finished product and it actually looks very beautiful.

“And a good taste in men too” he laughs at his own joke, and Carlos' expression at the joke is deadpan but he looks a bit sad for him.

“Today was the day she died.” he drops on him again.

“Wanna come see her with me” Carlos looks conflicted but stands up walking slowly behind him, his body language on guard. As they walk into the forest they come across a beautiful spot with a grave, the sunlight hits it perfectly and the grave is also wrapped around some old dead flowers. Jonny kneels down, taking it off and then puts the new one on a tear falling down his cheek as he puts a hand on the grave, a moment of silence that's broken with silent small cries coming from Jonny. Carlos feeling his feelings, him understanding that loss except it was his whole family.

“Thank you Carlos, thanks for coming with me. She hasn't had any other company but me for a while and our kids don't care enough to visit. That's why even if you don't trust me or maybe you don't even care for me. You came through when no one else did. And you have no idea how much that means to me.” Carlos looks at him taken aback, completely not expecting him to say such words.

“Your welcome…” he pauses, not knowing what else to add when lightning flickers on his back this time. But Jonny just smiles looking at him looking back at the grave.

“You can go back if you want. I didn't even expect you to come with me, and sorry I didn't mean to trauma dump you like that.” he chuckles and Carlos shakes his head.

“Its fine,” he pauses again thinking looking conflicted again, he wants to say more but it doesn't leave his mouth

“Ill stay” is the only thing that comes out but still Jonny looks genuinely happy and he sits on the grass staring right at her grave

“She was such a beautiful woman her eyes would sparkle in the sunlight and her dimples made her smile adorable. But they were most noticeable when she would laugh with me. She had a movement that made her so confident and divine. If you were to look at her you could see her confidence but yet she was so considerate and nice. Such a genuine and caring person to talk to. I guess I like that, that type of kindness and attraction I felt for her was one not even my first love could compete with. You know what really pulled me in and I'm gonna sound crazy if i say this, but it was her ability to adapt in a social situation or in any situation in general, without her i wouldnt be where i am right now. She was smart, careful , loving , sweet but firm when she needed to be.” Jonny takes a second to pause; he looks at her and takes a deep breath.

Something in Carlos shows that he's interested in hearing this, he hasn't heard words that felt this genuine from someone unless it was from his mom explaining how she first met his dad. But this is longer, Jonny's love for his wife is clearly huge and he was definitely with her longer than his mom was with his dad, maybe that's why the words are so powerful to him.

“She's the one who taught me what I know, she's the reason you're alive Carlos, she's the reason I'm alive , she's the reason so many people are alive, it's because of her gift. And she passed it down to me, hoping I'm using it the right way because I definitely cannot compare to her.” he looks at Carlos for a split second and Carlos sees how red his eyes got. Jonny turns back to the grave.

“I keep lying to myself, and I keep saying that I've moved on. I keep promising to you that I won't cry when I come here, but I can't keep any of those promises and I'm sorry. You don't understand how much I miss you.” he pauses, whipping his tears with the back of his hand forcing a smile looking at the grave.

“I know when i see you again i wont be able to hold back those same tears so when i see you ill let it all out, ill even tell you about every adventure i had” he looks at Carlos who has been listening to him looking deep in thought now.

“You can go back, I don't want to spread more of this old guys sadness onto you” carlos snaps out of his thinking and looks at him and for a second he pauses, but then nods taking a step back and with his step another pause, then he turns around and slowly walks away without a word just simple understanding. Jonny smiles and looks back at the grave.

“I guess this is our way of repaying them isn't it.” he lets out a chuckle and puts a hand on her grave.

“The Raios saved us,” he pauses, touching the flower necklace.

“Seeing him here, alone. Only means it's really true what they did to the others. I'll keep him safe and help him take the path his dad would've truly wanted.” he smiles at the grave tears still falling

“Ill always love you, Lyra”

Time passes in the woods, after leaving Carlos didn't go straight back to the shop, he went out to shoot out some of his lightning before he overcharges,now at this point the recharging process feels normal, not too rushed and not too slow to him. Walking back to the shop Carlos pauses for a second looking around at the orange leaves and white and black spotted wood, he's been in deep thought since he left. Mostly about everything Jonny said, upon hearing all of that he thinks back to his family, and that this whole time he assent had no real time to mourn for them like how Jonny does with his wife. He looks at the leaves taking a shaky breath. There's no graves for him to go to, the time he spent in the facility was just him being defeated and not and in his mind that was sent him mourning the deaths of everyone.

Carlos’ slow walking eventually got him back to the shop, walking in looking around there's still no sign of Jonny, he sighs and walks to his borrowed room, he touches his bandage and with the practice he got from Johnny he changes it skillfully, almost the same way Jonny did it the first time. Carlos lays down looking up at the ceiling and running his finger through his hair. A small tear falls down his cheek, memories of his family flooding in. He imagines if everything were different, if Arabella stayed, and if the massacre didn't happen on the day of his sister's birthday, or if it didn't happen at all. An image of Arabella sitting with him, his brother and the rest of his family makes him smile ever so faintly. If only it were true.

“It's all gone.” reality hits hard.