Will sighed, it was the day of his wedding and here he was crouched in front of a gravestone a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this, and I know I promised you but I can't help it. Do you know why I picked her? 'Cause she's not you."

He sighed again and ran his hand through his daemon's fur.

"You've got to say it at least once Will" The other part of his soul said.

"I know Kiri" he replied "It's hard though, I'm supposed to love Sarah"

"And after today and every other day apart from mid-summers day we'll remember that. Tell her everything."

The dark haired man nodded and started to speak again. "I've written a series of books about our story, under a different name of course. That way everyone knows that they have to tell stories. Only Kiri knows I'm the one whose written them, and the publisher but all they know is I'm not really called Phillip. Apart from that I work with kids in care, I help them when they have no one else. It's satisfying stuff and I always make sure that they are good at telling stories, sometimes I think that the angel would have told me that my job was to do something else. Even my father said I was a fighter."

"We miss you two." The large cat said knowing Will was currently unable to say anything more "But we enjoy what we do and it's always good to see the kids smile when they move on in life."

"I bet you've learnt how to read the aletheometer properly now. It's been 15 years so you being the brilliant person you are would have had plenty of time to read it again without the books. I know you would have put that ahead of everything." Will continued when he found his voice again.

He daemon nudged him and she jumped into his arms trying to get as close to him as possible. "We have to go Will or she'll be there before us"

"I know, but I don't..." He didn't have to finish saying anything, for she knew what he meant.

"I love you so much and I'm going to leave you to marry someone else. She is so unlike you that it makes everything so much easier. I'll never forget you but I..." He halted trying to find the right words "I love you and the only person who comes close to that amount of love is my mother. But that's different. I wish that we could have our own window but we promised the ghosts and it means we can be together for eternity. I'll be back, I swear but I can't come as often as I would like. I need to be there for Sarah.

The only reason I'm marrying her is because she thinks she loves me and maybe she does and I love her too, in a way. But it is never like our love. I swear that I'll wait for you, even if I have to wait years and years. I'll wait while the ghosts go past telling their stories. I will just sit on the side meeting them while they get off the boat." He looked at his watch "I need to go. I know I'm about to swear to love Sarah but I'll be thinking of you."

"We'll both be thinking of you two." His daemon promised.

Will put the flowers down and straightened his tux, "come on Kiri. We have to go."

She padded gently by his side, although she could go far away from him she hardly ever did, maybe it was just because of how Will was but they both thought that it was because they had lived 12 years without knowing that she existed.

They both walked in silence, tears falling down their checks as they walked away from their loves towards someone who was a poor substitute.

Lyra 'Silvertongue' Parry

Pantalimon

For what could have been