She sighed softly again. The rain falling lightly in the French morning. Another day had passed as she waited. It had been so long since the last time she saw him, but he promised her he would arrive to take her away to the stars. And it had been almost 5 years since that day. She could feel herself grow continually weaker. She knew it wouldn't be long before she drew her last breath and she had hoped to see him before then. As her gaze drew away from the window she looked at the letter she had penned in case he didn't make it. She didn't understand these strange time walls or how they worked but it seemed that perhaps they would hold him back from her before their last time.
She had loved him. She had always loved him since she was a young child. When he first appeared and saved her from the monsters beneath her bed. She could see how old he was in his eyes. One that seemed so ancient, for one who appeared so young. He had seen devastating things. She could tell. But he challenged her like no other. Sometimes she felt above her peers at times but she hid it well as a lady should not be too above herself. She could lose her station for that at any moment. She never let herself forget.
But the Doctor, she loved him more than she loved anyone else. And he loved her too. She could feel it. The way he was ready to give up everything to save her. To remain on the slow path with her. She laughed a loud at that. He wasn't one for the slow path. He could never be one that lived an ordinary life. And he should never suffer that. And he was so happy when she showed him the fireplace. The gateway that connected them. That brought them together. And he promised her an adventure. And she went to prepare. But he had stepped through the gate and now she had to wait.
She looked once more at the afternoon rain. Falling so gently outside her window. She had always secretly liked the rain. It put her in a creative mood. A thinking mood. It just touched somewhere deep inside her like the sun never could. Pulled her back into times past and times to come. She looked to the sky. Whence he had appeared. Her oh so lonely angel. With the world, no not the world, the universe, no the entirety of creation on his shoulders. And he bore it all with a smile and that strange mode of dress. She had to admit she was not used to his world but she could be. She could do anything and everything as long as he was a part of it.
She looked down at the parchment before her. Her days were numbered. She hoped and prayed he would arrive before she was taken but reason said they would never speak again. She would not listen. She would hold hope. Her small and precious hope because it was the only thing that kept her going. She had the love of a good man. The king was great to her and loved her dearly and she loved him too but she had loved the Doctor before she ever even thought of loving him. Her Louis. She looked once more at the paper and dipped her quill in the ink
"My dear doctor" She began the letter. "The path has never seemed more slow. And yet I fear I'm nearing it's end." She paused as she once more looked out the window. " Reason tells me you and I are unlikely to meet again." It pained her to write those words. Because very deep down inside she knew it would most likely be true. And that was the one truth she did not want. The one truth she could not face. She dipped the quill in the ink and continued her missive. " But I think I shall not listen to it. I have seen the world inside your head and know that all things are possible." All things were possible with the Doctor. Her lonely angel. She cough. It was hard and racked her body with pain. She felt her energy become weaker. Her self had grown so weak. And she could only hold on with the strength of her hope. The only thing that could carry her. "Hurry now my love. My days grow shorter now and I am so very weak. Godspeed my lonely angel." She sighed once again as she placed her quill down. Folding the letter and sealing it with her ensignia she called her loyal servant to ask him to fetch the King. Her Louis. He knew she could not gather herself to find him herself but he would listen to a servant if she called for him.
He arrived in the room and approached her table that she sat at. She bowed her head to him in greeting. He sat and rushed to grab her hand.
" My dear what are you doing up?" He inquired. "You should be resting. Trying to get better." She smiled benignly at him.
"Oh my love. You know no amount of rest will cure what ails me. I am not sure if it is a real illness or just a broken heart suffering from broken dreams"
He looked at her sharply. " It is him again?" She looked into his eyes. "You know I love you. But I love him more. It is as simple as that."
She sighed aloud for the umpteenth time that day. " I did not call you here to argue my love. I feel myself growing weaker as we speak. I came to ask you for one last favor. The last one I feel I shall ever be able to make." He drew in a deep amount of breath. He began to shake his head in denial.
" That is not possible. You will get better. You can't leave me like this. You will not leave me like this. I forbid it as the King of France!"
She raised an eyebrow and shook her head in amusement. " My love I do believe death is the one thing you can't stop. I am going to die soon. I can feel it. But we all die. It is a part of the cycle of life. You might not die now but you will and you will have a legacy left when it happens. I am not you. I am no one important. I may be forgotten in the eves of history. But you my love. You are a very important man with a very important responsibility and even if I die I know that you will never have me far from your memories. Hold me close to your heart." She looked down at her hand, then looked back up at her king. "
As for why I called you here my dear is because I know I shall not make it. And I have written this missive for when the Doctor arrives. He won't be here before I die but I know he will be here. I need you to give this to him when he comes. Too late for him to take me away from you. So the only person that will have ever robbed you is Death himself but he comes for everyone to take them to the arms of God. Well I hope it is God. I feel I have lived a good enough life to get there."
He was weeping openingly at this point. Looking less like a king and more like a man that has lost everything. He would do anything to keep her close to him. And if she was leaving of her own free will he could find it in himself to let her go but she was being taken from him and he hated that. He hated this. This process of life that he could not stop, escape from, forbid. Nothing could stop it. He took her hand as she too started to weep. Not for herself but for his loss. She loved him and this was not how she wanted him to hurt.
He stroked her face as he mourningly whispered "Oh my love. My little Reinette. My second Queen. This should not happen to us. It should never happen. What am I going to do?" he cried. What am to do without you to guide me? To love me? To hold me? Tell me my love? Please, please tell me? He was begging her at this unto her hands as if it would keep her with him.
On his knees before her, weeping openingly unbecoming a man of his station. The servants were staring and she noticed them. She shooed them out of the room before falling to her own knees. Grabbing his face she forced him to look at her through his tears. "First stand up. You are a king and you bow before no one except our father in heaven, our savior and the mother of god. I am none of those things so stand." she stood up and pulled him to his feet. She pulled him close and held him to her and rubbed her cheek against her. She started to rock him and sooth him like he was a young child. "Oh my love, my love. What you will do is live. And remember me. But mostly you will rule. Like you always have. I cannot hold back the gates of death and we must come to a mutual parting you and I. Please my love. Remember I love you. I love you fiercely and deeply and with a fire that burns but is worth it when I get to hold you like this. Please, never forget."
She held him close to her as they rocked back and forth, back and forth to the soundtrack of the the rain. She pulled back and looked into his eyes. "Please my love. Forgive me." She gave him a deep kiss pulling him close to her. She pulled back and looked into his eyes. " I think I shall go to sleep for today. For you and for me." She turned and climbed into her bed and faced the window. Closing her eyes. He took the letter from the table and put it into his jacket pocket and walked from the room with determination.
And she slept. Never to awaken again. The afternoon rain still falling when the Doctor arrived. Seeing her one last time as her coffin was pulled out the gates of the palace of Versaille. And when he was on the ship leaving France behind. He opened the letter she left and read...