The sun lay low in a fading twilight as Permanence’s labors, along with his loves' hearts, ceased. Even the dolls playing an act of dutiful citizens seemed robotic in their movements as a silent Permanence trudged up the stone path he carved with his own hands to his lone home. He dared not look back at the home he hid his precious treasures (and the last of his hopes) keenly aware of the danger that could be watching his every move.

Joints once more made of flesh no longer ground and sparked against each other, but it did nothing to lighten Percy's lugubrious saunter. Each stone step he lumbered up was made in his image, to fit his stride but the husk of a man ironically made whole struggled not to trip over his numb feet. There was no joy in Percy's actions as he stole the breaths and beating hearts of those he loves, arranging their resting space like one would a tomb, only dutiful Permanence. A Permanence that grimaced at his own actions as he did the only thing he knew how to do. Endure.

Lone he entered a home he had made for himself only silence bouncing off of the manor's high walls where laughter once peaked. It was only yesterday his littlest was squealing across the hall at something her half sibling did, practically shaking the windows with the octave Eliana reached.

The memory should bring a smile to his face.

But Permanence stared on, his features an unmovable stone.

How long would he have to wait to hear his youngest's laugh once more? See his sister's permanent scowl? Hear his ambassador's reaffirming words? Feel his lover's soft touch? Admire the twin analogs and how they mirror the man he loves so much?

Ruminating in his own thoughts, at some point Permanence made it to his study. A silence that was once a signal of a comforting haven in a boisterous home now ominous in it's solitude. The god does not remember when he fell into his chair, his mind unwilling to let go of memories of those he has already sealed away consuming his thoughts. Permanence could not even find novelty and distraction in the repossessed nerves, only a patch of smokey quartz left under his eye, for his body had long become numb in the face of lost.

The fading sun drifted below the horizon as night began to overtake Pact's Landing. Small lights from animatronics' homes began to glow in the city below, the manor that proud sits upon the hill remaining dark.

Permanence dare not move an inch as dark overtook his home, sitting in the pitch black as the moon's glow failed to permeate through the curtains.

He sat still as the statues littering his garden, waiting for this night to pass.

And the next night.

And the next.

Persisting until the day he can wake those dearest to him.

No matter how many eternities it may take.