They sat in the botanical garden, about to leave each other forever. Will looked at Lyra sadly; he knew he would always love her and after everything they had been through, everything they had shared, he was going to lose her. Lyra looked at the bench and proposed her idea that they meet here every year.

Will wanted to agree immediately, but he thought about it, he wanted so much to know she would always be here for him, every year, but he knew she deserved better than that. She was a strong beautiful young woman, she needed to be out in the world, meeting people, accomplishing great tasks, not staying around here missing opportunities because she was stuck in her past, hanging on to something she could never have, him. He knew he couldn't let her do that, but part of him thought that he needed it more than she didn't. He quickly scolded himself, he was being selfish.

He looked her in the eye, knowing that what he was about to do would break him. He stared at her for a minute, loving everything about her, and hating it at the same time because he could never get to know her completely. She reached out and touched his hand and he thought that he wouldn't be able to speak, but he told himself that what he was doing was for her. He looked up.

"I don't think we should," he told her, trying to be unconcerned, hoping that the pain those words brought him didn't show on his face.

She was shocked. How could he not want to meet her here? She wanted to, needed to. But she watched him as he stood there; he looked as if he couldn't have cared less. He wasn't even looking at her. In a few minutes she would never see him again, and he was completely calm and emotionless. She didn't believe he could possibly mean it.

"Why?" she whispered, hardly audible behind her tears.

"Well, you know, we're gonna grow up and have lives. We can't ever see each other again, so why stick around here?" he answered heartlessly. It was partly true, he thought. The part he would never tell her was that he was doing this for her, because he loved her. He could see the pain on her face. This hurt him as much as it hurt her, maybe more, and he wished he could cry with her, comfort her, but he knew he couldn't.

She couldn't believe he was doing this to her, after everything they'd gone through together, he was telling her it didn't matter. She couldn't understand it, wouldn't believe it.

"You don't mean that," she told him. It was more like she was trying to convince him of this. "I love you, and you… well, I thought…" her voice broke as the pain slammed into her heart. He had thought his heart couldn't break anymore than it already had, but when he heard the devastation in her voice it broke again. He knew he had to answer her, but to lie and say he'd never loved her…he couldn't do that.

"I do love you," he told her. "But in any relationship one person loves more then the other, you'll never find two people that love equally."

Her loss turned to anger. At him, for being so cruel, but at herself, for ending up in this situation, for loving him really. As she thought that she felt helpless, she couldn't help herself, she loved him. She always would. She was completely lost; she knew she would never find her way without him.

She gave him one last broken smile and left. He closed the window and broke the knife in silence, thinking of her as he broke it. As the knife broke so did his heart, for the last time. He knew he would ever be whole without her.

One year later, mid summer's day at noon, Will sat on the bench in the botanical garden. Lyra wasn't there.

Loved it? Hated it? Wanted to curl up in a corner and cry? Tell me what you think! I know you know how. This was just something I came up with while listening to 'Only One' by Yellowcard. I know it's sad, I hate happy endings. And I think Philip Pullman would agree with me. Please review.