Requiem in Fragments
Requiem in Fragments
By Kyvr
It would be the last time Bernard and Clyde shared the same bed.
Only the pale white moonlight casting blue shadows off the walls lit the bedroom of the lover's house. In the rough middle of the room was a large king-size bed, well worn with age, just like its occupants. The large bear, his fur gray-silver with age, cradled the elderly lion in his large arms. The lion's mane had no more luster of youth, streams of white across fading brown. His body no longer possessed the vigor he had for so long. The lion's eyes were shut as if struggling between wakefulness and sleep, his breath coming out in rasp, irregular wheezes. He lay across the bear's waist, his head resting against the bear's belly, his one paw with dull claws grasping weakly on the bear's arm holding him close.
The bear wondered if the lion still knew he was there. His eyes hurt from the crying, but he was done with that. He struggled to savor the warmth they shared for the last time. The feeling of his fur, his flesh, and his fur. He breathed slowly and deeply, taking in his lover's last scent. He silently cursed his aging senses. He was not sure if the lion could feel the warmth or smell him, but the bear held on for his lover's sake and his own.
Finally, after a short eternity, the lion's breathing slowed and grew weaker, until he let out one final breath. An exclamation of passing life.
The bear waited. Feeling the heart slow down and stop. Feeling the body go limp. Feeling the warmth between them fade.
After the warmth was gone, and all was left was fabric and flesh, Bernard carefully laid the body onto the bed. He got up, his old legs cracking, and bent to give his lion one last kiss on the forehead.
He would never sleep in their bed again.
XXXX
Bernard paced around the apartment, full of nervous energy. What the hell am I doing? He thought. He looked hopelessly at the half open boxes that filled the second bedroom. The bedroom that, for most of his first year in college, served as his office. Now it was going to be Clyde's bedroom. Which is great, thought Bernard, trying to feel better.
Except for the fact that I love him and he doesn't know it.
Clyde was having trouble with his roommates in the college residence and needed a new place to stay. Bernard immediately offered Clyde the second bedroom in his apartment, and now Bernard was having second thoughts.
The man I have been hiding feelings for is going to be living with me. He's going to be strutting around twenty-four seven. You know how felines are. God, there will be no way around it. He's not an idiot you know, he'll figure it out. He'll notice how you're staring at him, sniffing "that way" when he passes by. Especially since...
Bernard froze in thought ...since he came out of the closet.
He walked over to the large bathroom and looked into the mirror over the sink. A large, young adult bear with chestnut brown fur stared back at him. His eyes were a forest green, and his headfur was messed up a little bit. He was over six feet tall, with large shoulders, well-defined pecs and arms, but no matter how much he worked out he could never get rid of the bear's trademark belly across the midriff. Today he wore a pair of blue shorts, letting his fur out for the warm spring weather. The problem is, Bernard despaired, I look like just like any other bear.
He is way out of my league, Bernard thought frowning at his reflection. He is so majestic, so Olympian, so perfect...
"God fucking dammit!"
Bernard's thoughts were interrupted by the roar that came from outside. He heard the jingling of keys, then hurried attempts to open the door, followed by more cursing. Bernard walked to the door, given plenty of time because the person outside was too angry to even put a key into a keyhole. Bernard opened the door to be greeted by a very angry young lion, his muscles and fur brimming with rage.
"My bed!" the lion roared as he stalked inside the apartment, his paws flexing, his claws poking out of his fingers.
Clyde was a very fit and muscular lion, with golden fur accenting his muscles and form. He only wore a pair of khaki shorts, and his large, thick creamy brown mane flowed from his head to the bottom of his waist. At the moment his deep, rich golden eyes and thick muzzle were wrinkled in anger. Clyde had moved the majority of his possessions earlier, but had gone back to the residence to pick up his mattress.
"They pissed on it!" he growled at Bernard, "All over it!" He stalked around the apartment once more, a hunter without a prey. "Didn't have the guts to stick around!"
Letting out a final, angry sigh Clyde sat down on the living room couch. "They can have it! Let it stink up the place," he said to no one in particular.
"It's the least they deserve," Bernard growled, sharing Clyde's anger. Clyde had gone through a lot lately, with school and coming out of the closet. His parents, who had been supporting him, disowned him when he came out. Now he was fending for his own. The last thing he needed was to have the last of his possessions destroyed.
"Don't worry about it," Bernard said as Clyde rubbed his head in frustration, messing up his mane, "I got a futon you can use."
"No!" Clyde yelled in sudden alarm, "no way..."
"It's just a..."
"No!" Clyde repeated, standing up and shaking his head, "Bern, I have enough of it. Through the last few months I've been humiliated and kicked out of my family, for the first time in my life I'm truly on my own, and you're the only guy helping me out, and I don't want to take one more thing from you, I just..."
"Cly," Bernard interrupted, letting a smile spread across his face "it's just a futon, no problem."
"No!" Clyde yelled again, clenching his paws, "I can do this! I'll show them that..."
"Cly," Bernard placed two large paws on Clyde's shoulders. Clyde was a tall and large lion, and Bernard was one of the few people who actually had a half a foot over him. As Bernard held Clyde's shoulders, Bernard thought What do I say to calm him down? Bernard searched his brain, but could not come up with anything fast.
He did not think when he said, "I want to help you because I love you. Take the futon."
Both of them did not notice the comment at first. Clyde muttered "Fine", before his eyes widened and he looked at Bernard with his jaw hanging open. Meeting Clyde's alarmed eyes, Bernard suddenly realized what he just said.
The trigger had been pulled, and a silent bullet went off. It seemed like forever until Clyde reached up with his right paw and placed it on top of Bernard's.
"You love me?" Clyde asked in a whisper, a slight smile spreading across his muzzle.
You've done it now, thought Bernard, Dear God he is on to me! His gaydar is totally going off! I've totally ruined everything! The last thing the guy needs is a loser roommate who drools all over him!
"Hey!" Clyde yelled, interrupting Bernard's thoughts, "I asked a question Bern," he said softly, "please answer it."
Bernard shut his eyes and let out a slow "Yes," preparing himself for the awkwardness that would surly come.
The awkwardness never came. Bernard felt Clyde's paw reach up and hold the left side of his head, and his soft lips met his. Bernard's eye snapped open just as Clyde started lapping the inside of Bernard's muzzle with slow, smooth strokes. Bernard struggled with both his onslaught of thoughts, instincts, and feelings exploding against each other. He finally managed to join his own tongue to Clyde's. Their bodies tensed, their arms grasped each other, their fur rubbing in between them. Their tongues did their best to wrap around each other, and for an eternity the new lovers know of nothing but each other.
Bernard was the first to break away, his eyes still wide with surprise. Clyde pressed himself into Bernard's large body, cuddling his muzzle underneath Bernard's chin. "This is awesome," Clyde whispered rubbing his face into Bernard's chest fur, inhaling the bear's scent.
Bernard moved to hug Clyde, but the lion snapped away, his eyes wide and his muzzle in a wide smile, "Do you realize how awesome this is?!" Clyde yelled loud enough for the neighbors to hear.
Bernard managed to let out a meek "No?" before Clyde continued, "Bernard," Clyde took a hold of Bernard's right paw, "ever since I realized I was gay I tried to find that 'one guy,' that guy that was perfect for me, that I was totally into," Clyde slid his left arm around Bernard as much as he could, so his paw stroked the big bear's back, "it was you Bern," he said softly, "I was really nervous doing this you know. I didn't know you were gay. I thought if I told you that..."
"Things would get weird," Bernard finished for him.
"Yeah," Clyde said, "I'm an idiot."
Bernard gently used his right paw to stroke Clyde's mane. Clyde let out a pleasurable, rumbling growl. "I thought I wasn't good enough for you," Bernard confessed as Clyde's eyes widened in surprise. "I thought 'How in the hell would a perfect man like him want someone as big, and well, brown, as me." Bernard continued.
"You're an idiot," Clyde snarled playfully. "You are totally hot, Bern, if you only knew how many lonely nights I had thinking of you..."
Clyde did not get to finish because Bernard wrapped his large arms around his body and was lifting him in the air. The sensation was strange, but thrilling, for Clyde, because a lot of the men he knew would not be able to pick him up so easily. Bernard twirled, falling with his back onto the couch, landing with a loud thud. The couch moved several inches from the force, and Clyde held on for the ride. He ended on top of Bernard, face to face, his mane going wild. Bernard placed his paws on Clyde's round buttocks, and pushed down, grinding their crotches together. Clyde let out a roar of pleasure, before his muzzle dove down to join Bernard's for another kiss.
They kissed and grinded for several minutes, the heat between them pleasurably unbearable, before Clyde paused to smooth back his mane, and sit up.
"Bern?"
"Yeah?"
"I still don't want the futon," Clyde said with a sly smile.
"Huh?"
"I would rather sleep in your bed."
It took a few moments for Bernard to understand what Clyde meant.
XXXX
Throughout the entire funeral Bernard's mind was wondering. When he would occasionally snap back to the present he would feel hurt, because it was Clyde's funeral, he should be crying, feeling sad. But he was not.
Bernard stood there solidly, with large, old body leaning on a thick cane. He was dressed in a large grey suit made of thick material that made him sweat no matter what the weather was. His back was acting up again, but he would at least stand as they released Clyde's ashes into the river. It was a dreary day, with grey clouds threatening to burst into rain, but it never did. His family, and Clyde's, along with their friends stood around him. His niece, Juliet, held his left arm in support.
Shouldn't I cry? Bernard's old mind wondered. Everyone else is, but not me. He looked up at the grey sky.
I cried enough, he concluded, for me, it's over. All this, Bernard thought of the funeral, is for everyone else.
"Uncle Bernard," Juliet's soft voice interrupted his thoughts, "it's time to go."
Bernard nodded, letting Juliet lead him, "Good, all done," he growled idly, "I want to get out of this suit."
They were almost to the car when Bernard swore he could hear someone call for him. He turned his head, and squinted his old eyes, through the pair of thick glasses resting on his grey muzzle, focusing on the figure coming towards him. It was a large lion wearing a dark blue suit.
At first Bernard's mind was shocked, Clyde? But then reality set in, Not Clyde, it's Kyle. The lion, who looked similar to Clyde except with a darker mane and angular muzzle, walked up to the old bear smiling. Kyle did look a little too much like Clyde, Bernard's heart began to ache, but he kept his face calm.
"Bernard," Kyle said as he grasped the bears shoulder, "I'm so sorry."
Bernard just nodded.
"I wanted to say thank you."
Bernard raised a pair of fuzzy, confused eyebrows.
"Thank you for what you did for me, you and my brother," Kyle explained.
Bernard gave the lion a large hug, trying to push back the feelings that were going through him. Hugging Kyle reminded him, a little but still too much, of hugging Clyde.
"You have already thanked us enough," Bernard growled, breaking the hug, "are you going to stop anytime soon?"
"No," Kyle said seriously, "if it were not for you and Cly, who knows how I would have turned out. I'm never going to stop thanking you Bern, or Cly, you mean all lot to me."
XXXX
Bernard almost ripped off the tie as he entered the house, the shirt was already unbuttoned, and a huge smile was across his muzzle.
"Hey sexy!" he called out into the hallway, "are you home? I got good news!"
His cry went unanswered. He let out a disapproved grunt as he took the suit jacket off, leaving the unbuttoned shirt to reveal his strong chest and belly. "Typical," he growled, "probably out for another jog."
Bernard took a few minutes to get things in order. He checked the answering machine. Nothing for him, but eight messages from Clyde's agent for modeling jobs. "What has that lion been doing all day?" he wondered out loud.
Bernard grabbed a glass of lemonade and walked outside to the front porch, where he sat on the large swinging bench there. It had been five years since he and Clyde graduated from college and moved to this quiet suburb. They made a major decision to mortgage the large three bedroom house, in one of the more rural neighborhoods outside the city. The house seemed right for them. For Bernard, it was the large front porch that drew him to the place, plus it was nearby some nice wooded areas to go picnicking.
I should go picnicking with Clyde more often, Bernard thought, I've been putting work to much ahead of him. Bernard smiled, it'll be much easier now.
He glanced to his right, to the sidewalk lined with an old-style log fence. Running towards him, two houses down, he saw a well-muscled lion in blue track shorts. When Clyde saw the big bear sitting on the porch bench he gave a large, toothy smile which Bernard returned.
Clyde slowed down as he approached the house. He moved with a slow but determined gait, never taking his eyes of his bear, each move made his muscles more pronounced, forming hills and mountains of flesh that Bernard would be eager to explore. The lion gave his head a single dramatic toss, sending his long haired mane in a wave, and let the wild strands fall over his dark, golden eyes.
"Hey there sexy," Clyde growled as he walked up to the porch.
Bernard chuckled as the lion casually sat down next to him on the bench, then sprawled out, laying his head on the bear's belly, and hanging his feet off the side. "My favorite pillow," Clyde mused.
"I got good news," Bernard said as he hung an opened envelope above Clyde's head.
Clyde grabbed it, "A mortgage bill? That's bad news."
"It's our last one."
"Really?" Clyde looked at the bill with disbelief, "we've been here that long?"
"Yeah, and that's not all."
Clyde propped himself up and flipped over so he was laying belly to belly with his bear, his muzzle inches away from Bernard's, "Really?"
"I've been promoted to senior creative consultant, which means I have the option of working from home."
Clyde smiled, "So I'm going to see a lot more of you?"
"Till you get sick of me, yeah."
"I'm going to kiss you now," Clyde leaned in.
"When did you start giving me a warning?" Bernard chuckled.
Their lips started to get closer and closer, until the popping and grinding noise of tires driving over gravel interrupted them. A cab had stopped in front of their house, and a familiar lion got out.
The lion resembled Clyde, with the same facial structure and large mane, but he was younger, just into his early twenties, his muzzle was more angular and his mane dark brown. He also lacked any of the muscle Clyde had. He was a thin skeleton, his ribs showing through his flesh, and his eye sockets were sunk in and dark. He wore a dirty pair of jeans and a well-ripped jacket. He grabbed a single briefcase from the taxi's trunk, before walking with his head down towards the house.
Clyde let out an angry growl as he jumped up, and stood tall, crossing his arms. His face became a judgmental scowl, as he watched the pathetic lion walk up to the porch. Bernard noticed the fur on Clyde's back stand up with pent-up energy. The bear was always amazed how Clyde could just go from being a seductive feline to a mighty king in a mere moment.
"Kyle," Clyde let the name punch the air, "What is going on?"
Kyle looked feebly up to his brother, but as soon as he met Clyde's eyes, he became more interested in the grass at his feet.
"Mom and dad kicked me out," he managed to squeak.
"Why would they do that?" Clyde asked as he stepped down from the porch and stood closer to Kyle, "Didn't they take you in after you became a coke addict? Why would they kick you out now?"
Bernard decided to get up as well, but he stayed on the porch. Kyle's eyes seemed to go wild, looking around for the right answer, "Okay," he admitted, "I couldn't stay there anymore...you wouldn't understand."
Clyde was an imposing statue, "And you think you can come live with us?"
"I was hoping you..."
"Then you better try to make me understand," Clyde growled harshly.
"They don't care!" Kyle said louder than he intended to, "I was going through the program, but I slipped, and I was doing it again..."
Clyde snarled.
"They didn't care!" Kyle blubbered, his eyes welling up with desperate tears, "Mom, Dad...They, they pretend it's not happening, you know? It was just like when you came out...they just kicked you out of the family and never talked about you again...but with me, they keep me, but, but they ignore me, you know? They pretend they don't notice when I'm high, when I walk out in the middle of the night...my sponsor, he said...he said I needed someone who would kick my ass...someone who would care, who would yell at me when I screwed up...and you know who I thought of? You."
Kyle wept into his paws. Clyde stood there with his arms crossed, his muzzle still set in a firm frown, but his eyes had become moist. "I need..." Kyle cried into his paws, "I need you to help me." The air filled with only the young lion's sobbing.
"It won't be easy," Clyde said, his voice soft.
"I know" Kyle sobbed, bobbing his head in agreement.
Finally Clyde relaxed his shoulders, and grabbed his brother in a hug. Holding Kyle close to his body, Clyde looked over to Bernard with a desperate question in his eyes.
Bernard gave a supporting smile and nodded.
XXXX
Bernard ignored his aching back as he reached up to take off the last picture frame on top of the tall cabinet in the living room. He took a moment to blow off the light coat of dust, and look at the picture. It was a photo taken years ago, of Kyle with his family. Kyle, all dressed in a nice suit, stood smiling with his vixen wife Karen, and their two adopted children, Samuel, a wolf, and Hayley, a leopard. Smiling, Bernard placed the photo along with the others in the cardboard box on top of the living room table.
He finished sealing the box just as Juliet stormed into the living room. She was smaller the Bernard, with light, cream fur that was slowly going grey-white with middle age. She wore a simple pink t-shirt, with worn jeans, covered in dust.
"Ok, I've made up my mind," she growled at Bernard, who was doing his best to ignore her. "I'm not helping you," she stated as she walked closer to him, "this is ridiculous."
Bernard's grey muzzle wrinkled, "Too late," he growled back, "you already helped pack up most of the boxes."
"Yeah," Juliet challenged, "you can carry the rest of them."
A grand frown etched in his muzzle, Bernard held back a snarl as he lifted up the box of photo albums and frames. For a millisecond everything was fine, until a lightning bolt of agony went speeding from his shoulders and ripped along his spine. He growled in pain, dropping the box on the table. "Sit down," Juliet softly, her right paw going into her pocket as the other one helped lower Bernard onto a nearby chair.
"Here" she said as she took out a prescription pill bottle and popped out two large, blue white pills.
Bernard hated the pills, but he took them with a growl and chewed on them, fighting back the urge to gag over the bitter, chemical taste. He tried to ease his back by rubbing the muscles against the back of the chair, but it did not help much.
Juliet sat down across from him at the table, and let a few moments go by as he relaxed, to let the pain fade away and the pills to sink in.
"At first," Juliet finally spoke, "I thought I was going to say nothing because it's been only 2 weeks since Uncle Clyde passed away. You've been so calm and collected; we were wondering if you were holding anything in. But I think you are, and you are still hurting, and that's why you're doing this, it doesn't make any sense..."
"This isn't the place for me," Bernard tried to explain, feeling suddenly drained. It seemed to take a lot of effort to put his large elbow on the table, and lean his ponderous head into his right paw for support, "I want to spend my last days at our cottage."
Juliet sighed, "It's not safe," she shook her head, "if something happened to you out there it would take more than a day for any of us to find out."
Bernard was silent for a few heavy moments, "Then something happens to me, that's that," he grumbled quietly.
"You're crazy," Juliet sighed.
XXXX
"We are crazy!" Bernard roared in agony, dropping to the comfort of the thick blanket spread out over the thick grass, holding his spine that throbbed with burning pain. "My God, how did you talk me into this?"
The bear sagged belly first into the ground, pausing only to take off the thick pair of glasses on his graying muzzle. He buried his head in his thick, crossed arms, as he felt a pair of firm, but caring fingers caress his sore spine. At first there was more pain, but as the fingers caressed the muscles the right way, waves of bliss overwhelmed him. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry," a chiding voice said above him, "Magic paws is here."
"I am forty seven years old!" Bernard yelled into the ground, his voice muffled,
"Too old to be building houses, when we could just very well afford to hire some younger, probably brighter muscle to do it for us!"
"House?" Clyde chuckled, "it's not a house it's just a cottage."
"Cottage?" Bernard growled as he lifted his head and propped himself up on his elbow, "you call that a cottage?" He said as he looked towards the structure he and Clyde had been building for the last three months.
The "cottage" was complete, built from strong, thick logs, with a large porch, a huge living room that would house the wide-screen television hooked up to satellite, a adjoining kitchen, a single bedroom, and large bathroom complete with a extra large bathtub. They even built a jacuzzi next to the cottage, just next to the small shed. Bernard and Clyde bought the land a year ago. It was in the middle of the north, the closest town was a half an hour away, and a small, but deep river ran beside it.
As they were building the cottage, Bernard and Clyde stayed in a large tent on the property, sleeping each night under the stars when it was not raining. Both retired, they had decided to make something they could call their own, and the piece of land seemed to call to them. Now their cottage was finished.
"I don't care anymore," Bernard grumbled, "I don't care what you say!" he yelled at Clyde. The lion was still large in late middle age, his mane a little thinner and whiter, his midriff more paunchy, but when Bernard looked up at his lover, the shining sun was overhead, and highlighted the lion's fur and form, and he could not help to be awe struck for a moment.
"You were saying?" Clyde broke the silence, looking over his bear. Bernard's fur was starting to gray, and Clyde had to admit the change made Bernard seem more attractive, in a more distinguished way, especially the large patch of grey over the bear's thick muzzle.
"I was saying," Bernard said more softly, letting his free paw reach over to grab Clyde's torso and bring it closer to him, "that I don't care about this whole 'self-reliance' thing anymore."
Bernard brought the willing Clyde down next to him, laying the lion with his back towards him, and spooning him closely to his body. Clyde let out a comforted growl as Bernard buried his nose in the lion's mane.
"We're hiring movers," Bernard said eventually, "No way I'm going to move all that crap were going to put in there after building the dammed thing."
"Can they be young, fit, attractive movers?" Clyde said playfully.
"Oh, yes," Bernard cooed, "of course you'll have to put on your glasses to watch them closely."
"Dammit," Clyde growled, "I hate those things."
"But they make you look so..."
"Old?"
"Mature," Bernard concluded playfully.
They enjoyed the closeness of each other, letting the forest sweep in sounds of chirping birds, a soft, cozy wind, and hypnotizing bubbling of the nearby river. The wild, earthen smells mixed with their own, and the two lovers found themselves having one of the few truly pure moments of their lives.
"It's finished," Clyde whispered, his eyes drooping in sleep.
"Yes," Bernard breathed, his eyes already closed, his graying muzzle resting among Clyde's mane, "our special place."
XXXX
Bernard's eyes snapped open to see Juliet across the table from him. Did I just doze off? he wondered. He set down his paw, forcing himself to hold up his head. I could have swore I smelled him, like he was right here, the old bear thought.
"Uncle Bernard?" Juliet called out, giving a worried look.
"It's fine, Juliet," Bernard said with a spreading smile. It seems so clear now.
"Benjamin's going to be in college next year isn't he?"
Juliet's muzzle dropped a little in confusion, and she blinked her eyes a few times before answering, "Yes...yes, he will."
"Let him use the house, it's near enough, and it will save him a lot of needed money," Bernard said as he lifted himself from the chair, walking carefully to the corner of the room where he grabbed his thick cane.
Juliet was speechless as Bernard walked to the doorway into the kitchen. The old bear paused, looking over the kitchen with a brief glance, until his weary eyes looked out the kitchen window above the sink. The clouds were gray outside, threatening to break out into rain.
"I am 98 years old," Bernard stated solidly. Juliet turned quickly to face him. It was such a random thing to say, but her uncle has said it so clearly, so vividly; she could not remember the last time her uncle spoke that way.
"I had a good long life, my dear," Bernard continued, still staring from the doorway at the window, "It may be selfish for me to go off and be on my own, when there are so many loved ones, your family and Clyde's, that would still want me around." He finally turned to face Juliet, his eyes were crystal, "I just want to be comfortable, that's all. It hurts," he said with fuzzy, frowning eyebrows, "It hurts to move, to go on," he mumbled, his gaze leaving Juliet's as a small smile erupted on his muzzle, "I just want a comfortable bed, my dear, and the only one left is at the cottage."
Juliet let out a single chuckle despite herself, "Alright" she managed, holding back tears. She was about to suggest bring the bed from the cottage to the house, when her left pocket started vibrating. Letting out a brief curse, for the moment had been ruined, she checked the text that was sent to her.
"Ben's ready to be picked up, he said he wanted to help," she reported.
Bernard just nodded slowly, and when Juliet walked by to go outside, she found her uncle following her, his cane thumping loudly on the floor. "Are you coming with me?" she called back, as she held open the front door for Bernard to walk through.
"Oh, no," the old bear shook his head, "I'm just going to sit on the porch for awhile."
"Alright," she said as she brought out her keys and walked to her car, "I'll probably be back in a half an hour or so, ok?"
Bernard just sat down on the large porch bench, and nodded.
The old bear watched as Juliet's car left the driveway, and drove down the street. His weary eyes lifted up to the sky, "Dreary day," he wheezed.
A peaceful stillness fell over the neighborhood. Bernard let his eyes wonder, his nose breathing in the moist air of a storm that was threatening to arrive. His back was aching again, and he rocked a little to massage the muscles. The sound of the squeaking wood seemed to echo throughout the air. The painful throbbing died down, and he let himself sag into the bench.
A small movement, far off to his right, caught the edge of his eye. Turning his head towards the movement seemed hard, laborious, but when he managed his eyes widened.
A lion, tall, well fit and muscled, was jogging down the sidewalk towards the house. It's must be Kyle, Bernard thought, coming to help me pack. He tried to focus on the lion, but a soft, bright light suddenly shined in front of him. He turned his head, and looked up, seeing several chaotic rays of sunshine poking through the dreary clouds. He watched for a few moments as the clouds moved sluggishly, letting the sunshine in.
Bernard squinted, closing his weary eyes hard. When he opened them, he saw the figure of the lion walking down the lawn towards him, the sun illuminating his strong figure.
"Hey there sexy," a voice called.
Clyde was tall and vibrant; his golden fur lustrous with youth, his muscles pronounced to perfection, his dark golden eyes deep suns of lust and love, his muzzle set in a serene smile. The sun behind him lit up his mane in a warm, loving fire.
Bernard wanted to say something, but found that he moved very slowly, and he only managed a weak, happy growl. He struggled with his tired eyes to take in everything of the beautiful creature before him, but they were welling up with moisture, darkening his vision.
Clyde walked up to the old bear, climbed the porch stairs, and bent down, "Bernard," he said, "you have to get off the porch, love."
Bernard could hardly hear him, hardly see him, everything was so confusing, so overwhelming, he blinked his eyes furiously to clear the tears, clear the dark fog closing around them. I want to see him dammit, he roared in his mind, Let me SEE him!
He managed to open his eyes, fighting the approaching stiffness, and he saw a paw, outreached, open. For an eternity he reached out, putting every last bit of energy into reaching across the close vastness to the welcoming paw.
He made it.
The paw clenched around his.
Then pulled him up.
XXXX
The next sensation Bernard felt was his right paw stroking the long, flowing fur of a mane. Then he felt the awesome warmness of the body hugging his, the muzzle resting underneath his chin, the paws grasping around his body. He blinked his eyes, and felt no struggle, no pain.
He was still in the neighborhood where their house was. The houses looked oddly bright and undefined, the sun shone above, and the wind flowed softly. He finally looked down to the lion hugging him, running his paw along Clyde's jaw, brining his muzzle up towards him.
Clyde's golden eyes bore into Bernard's. Nothing needed to be said. Bernard moved his muzzle closer to Clyde's. Their lips met, and once again, for an eternity they shared each other. The touch of their fur, the taste of their mouths, the sound of their hearts against each other, the memories of the sensations they shared throughout their lives magnified and exploded.
Breaking off the perfect kiss, Clyde gave a wide smile, and with the arm around his bear, led him down the street.
"Where are we going?" Bernard asked, his voice youthful.
"To our special place," Clyde chided.
"Long walk."
"Not as long as you think."
It was the last time Bernard and Clyde would be apart.