On his 18th birthday, Jaune Arc died.
He got an early start of it, too. It was one minute after midnight, and as he lay in his bed, his heart stopped beating. Being asleep, he didn't notice. One moment his world was one in which he sat in a meadow next to a beautiful woman, wondering why he had a hole in his heart. The next minute, everything was gray.
"Hello again, Jaune." Three words, packed with longing, with desire, with coy seductiveness. Jaune turned around and saw more gray. Then a line tore through it like ripping a sheet, and there was Pyrrha Nikos, almost close enough to touch.
"Hello, Pyrrha. I was dreaming about you." Something occurred to Jaune. "This is a dream, right?"
She smiled. "Yes, Jaune. This is a dream. But there's nothing saying dreams can't be true once in awhile."
Jaune wasn't sure about the causal relationship, but most things out of Pyrrha's mouth made sense. "You don't feel like you did in that dream."
"Each dream can bring us a new world." Pyrrha stepped closer and ran a hand down his cheek. "New ideas. New perspectives. I have something to tell you, Jaune.
"You have to let go."
"Pyrrha?"
"I'm in your head, Jaune. I know how you feel about me. And I'm flattered, I really am." She clasped her hands behind her back. "But there are plenty of fish in the sea. And that's even with just the live ones."
"Pyrrha, I love you."
"Jaune, I love you. And I need you. As I am now into eternity, that will never change. You are my one and only."
Pyrrha stepped backwards, towards darkness at her back. Jaune tried to follow, but his feet were rooted in place.
"But one day you will meet somebody new who loves you and needs you just as I do. Or you'll realize it about somebody you already know." She smiled softly. "And when you do, you may just find you need them back. I hope so, because this pain isn't one I'd wish on anybody. Nobody should be apart from the one they love."
"Pyrrha, wait!" It was her. It had to be. Somehow, Jaune knew. In his dreams, he saw Pyrrha and felt empty, but it was never as bad as this.
"I'll be here, Jaune. Take your time coming." Her form seemed to grow indistinct. Wisps of her skin faded into darkness. "Please don't need me when you come. Please have somebody else. I'll understand."
"Pyrrha, there can't be anyone else. I love you. You're everything."
"I'm sorry." She stepped back into the hole she'd torn, mingling with the black. "If you're happy, I'm happy too. Remember that, and live for the future. You're too young to get stuck back with me."
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted, sitting up.
"Back down, Jaune," ordered Nora, pressing down on his right shoulder. Ren tapped his left. Together, they eased him back into his stretcher.
Once the ambulance arrived, the doctors looked for arrhythmia, blockage, or any other indication of why Jaune's heart stopped. Jaune couldn't explain it to them, but he knew exactly why his heart had stopped.
He prayed that one day he'd discover the reason it was still beating.
