'... has proven a danger to the Warehouse ...'
Adwin Kosan's voice still lingers in the room like a dark cloud pregnant with rain and thunder. Even when he has left you both alone for the time being with the promise of a few minutes to say your goodbye's, all you can feel is empty. How can you say goodbye to the one person who knows you better than anyone else?
'.. not to be reinstated ...'
They have decided to take her away. You can't think, you can't breathe. Helena.
'... bronzed again ...'
The words that have shattered your world resound loudly in your mind like a Tibetan Singing Bowl. Helena G. Wells, famous author and inventor, stands before you only a feet away and you can see the unshed tears in her eyes, matching your own.
"Helena, I..."
As your voice breaks into a sob Helena is there, pulling you into her arms. She murmurs soothing words into your ear, that get lost in the thick curls of your hair and you can't quite make out what she says. She smells of Earl Grey and somehow very British. You keep thinking that there is no time, just not enough time to ever say how much she means to you, how much you are going miss her, how deeply you've come to love her and that you can't imagine a life without her in it anymore. You just can't. But when her hands circle gently over your back and her lips press faintly against your cheek, you believe she already knows.
"It's time."
At the sound of his voice you feel Helena stiffen in your embrace and for the fragment of a second she presses herself impossible closer like she wants to savor this moment and nothing else around you matters.
An instant later the warmth that had surrounded you like a blanket turns to icy cold.
When you open your eyes at last Mr. Korsan is gone. As is Helena.
And it's only now, that you let the tears finally fall.