Thank you to MrsBates93 for her beta work


He wandered aimlessly through the forest, a faded gold photo frame in his hand. His fingers were covering the image; her hair, her eyes, her mouth. He moved a finger and he heard her laugh, he covered her mouth again but the sound of her laughter still echoed in his head.

The laughter was followed by her face, the last time he had seen her, heard her, and touched her.

He held on to it.

She could feel the ring resting against her chest, a heavy weight that grew heavier with every beat of her heart. She didn't know why the ring was so important to her, only that she had been told that she had stopped them from taking it away from her when they had found her, bloody and battered, clutching the beautiful ring.

She knew he would find her again, the stranger who carried the name inscribed on the ring.

She believed it.

He had searched for years after the attack, barely eating and never sleeping, thinking only of seeing her again. Seeing her alive. Now he knew the painful truth.

She hadn't realised it at first that the flashes were memories she had long forgotten. She remembered yelling, pain, the shattering of glass and a voice calling out to her, growing distant as the blackness moved in, claiming her consciousness.

He walked through the forest, her photograph the only thing he had left of her.

She waited for him, the ring never leaving her.