#time's end

so Blake is a Diamond, diamonds are a special category of guardians of which there are only 4 at a time (hence the ♦️diamond symbol lol)

they stand in "tecnically immortal" territory, they dont die of old age* , but theres definitely been diamond deaths before, at which point a new one comes into existence somewhere on earth, growing up as normal until the horrors start acting up <3

*i mean they *could* die of old age but theyre yet to find that one out lmao

Blake grows up as an only child to a commoner family in the Time´s end era (so a couple centuries behind modern time), after a particularly bad encounter with a Void, he decides he's getting away from them and only coming back when he knows how to handle himself and protect them.

problem is so many things happen after this, that what was *supposed* to be a short journey gets overshadowed by the mass memory wipe and world rearrangement (fun!) so he never got to properly say goodbye *or* come back home since he´s a Diamond and deffo on the list of things theyre trying to sweep under the rug and away from the general public at that point

he (illegally) visits them often though! always with fake identities and never staying for too long or getting too close. subtly helping wherever he can, food, money, supplies... he finds out they had another son a while later, he always wanted a little brother...

(And this is where the OC brainrot demons took over agdhsgdhgs)

-----

it´s a sunny, breezy spring afternoon. Over half a lifetime has passed since he first left home, his brother already married and had children of his own.

The family is together today, no one dares say why, but Blake knows, he´s sure everyone knows. His mother´s health hasn´t been the best for years now, but it´s really been on a nosedive these last couple weeks. From this distance, he can tell theres a freshly made rhubarb pie on the table, his mother´s favorite, and a vegetable stew brewing in the fireplace. it´s a little different, the ratios are probably off and he´s sure they´ve added a new ingredient, squash, maybe?

Anyways he always hated that stew, he´s sure a little change won´t be able to fix that, the carrots were always a little undercooked and the potatoes were always too big, and whatever spices his mother added always came with the threat of dirt crunching on your teeth, they'd always have to bribe him with a trip to the library and-

He finally registers the tears streaming down his face and hastily wipes them away. Its a miracle no one's noticed him yet, he's been stood here for way too long.

---

That night, he sneaks his way into her room, he doesnt care if he´s getting an earful and a half from Sage and Gwen later, this is more important, he'll take whatever consequence he has to.

His Dad isnt there, he´s in the living room placating one of his precious grandchildren, whos kicking up a fuss over the creaky sounds of the woods sounding like "big scary monsters with sticks", whatever that means...

Blake stands before his mother, sleeping peacefully aside from her shallow breaths.

It´s the first time he´s seen her up close in several decades. Her once dark brown hair now almost completely white, her face as beautiful as ever but now adorned with the blatantly obvious signs of age, the way she always smiled permanently etched into the wrinkles of her face even while resting. Her once strong and firm hands, fit for a hard worker, now wrinkled and frail, yet still bearing the scar from that nasty injury she got while protecting him from the Void, the reason he left home in the first place.

Blake takes her hand without thinking (just like he used to when he was a small child, when he´d had a nightmare and was scared of the dark) (Just like he did after they´d been attacked bu the Void then drew it away covered in blood)

He holds on a little tighter, kneeling at the side of her bed. If he wasnt crying before he definitely is now. He has so much to say even if she won't hear it. But he can´t seem to get anything but choked sobs out.

"Blake...?" He´s snapped right out of his thoughts, feeling as if time has slowed down

"Mom?" He replies, barely in a whisper. Blake's heart breaks a little, if the memory spell is wearing off it means her energy is dangerously weak, this is it.

"Oh honey did you have another nightmare?" She weakly outstreches her other hand, gesturing for a hug "Come here"

"Yeah, a nightmare" Blake sinks into her side, holding on as tight as he can without hurting her "I'm okay thought".

"Of course you are, my big, brave boy!"

They stay in silence, aside from his muffled sniffles and sobs. He tries to carve everything from this moment permanently into his brain. Like a heartfelt inscription on a gravestone.

"I'm sorry I took so long" he sobs "I'm so so so sorry"

"You have nothing to be sorry for" She smiles that radiant smile at him, the one that told him everything was going to be okay "you're here" She ruffles his hair sootingly "you're home"

"I missed you so much mom, I love you, i-"

"It's okay, shh it's okay, we love you too"

Before he can say anything else, he hears footsteps outside the door, with a turn of the knob soon it creaks open, Blake sinks into the shadows before he can be spotted.

-----

Later, when Sage finds him, culrled up near a tree with a broken swing just outside of town, Blake expects him to berate him, ban him from the entire town or maybe turn him over to the Ensata clan.

He does catch a hint of anger in his expression, but it's quickly replaced with something else, pity? Guilt? Empathy? He doesn't look at him long enough to figure it out

they sit in silence in the cold of the night for hours, until sunlight starts peeking through the tree tops. Then Sage finally speaks up "I should get home, they'll be looking for us soon"

Blake is the first to stand up "lets go then" he dusts himself off, giving one last wipe to his puffy, tear stained mess of a face " no use worrying them over nothing" Blake offers his hand