They say when you are dying, you see your life flash before your eyes. But as Mina Harker lay in the cold, empty room in a pool of blood, she was contemplating death. Only death – not her own, but the deaths of those she held dear.
Qautermain had been the first of them to die, but no- No, it was Dorian. She winced, even through her numbing agony, at the thought of the immortal. Dorian had been the first, and so it had needed to be. Gray need to die, and he had died.
And then Allen. That first real loss had never really faded from their hearts. Rest in peace, Allen.
Doctor Jekyll had befriended the monster Hyde, but the struggle to hold both lives had worn heavily on him. In London they had met two sisters; Babs and Betty Moss, who had joined the league as Babs tried to marry her younger sister off to the Doctor. For a while, they had been happy, and it seemed Henry had found something that gave him joy. Mina smiled through her tears, remembering the way his eyes had lit up when the delicate healer was in the room. But Hyde could no more be Jekyll could be Hyde, and the struggle tore them apart. Jekyll died, taking Hyde with him, and Betty left with her sister. Their most recent word from Babs said that Betty had been living as a nun, but that her health was not good. It had been almost too much, losing four friends at once.
Nemo had died of old age; the entire league had gone on one last journey together to accompany him back to India, where he lived out his days happily with a few distant relatives who hailed him as a hero.
Skinner had actually married – a plump psychic named Leah, who saw the invisible – but never truly settled down. They had been happy, teasing and laughing; Leah always scolding right before Skinner said something inappropriate.
She had died in his arms, caught in the crossfire of a battle. Mina felt sure that the invisible thief's heart had died that day, though he lied on a few more years before he finally faded away.
And Tom. Tom had been her lover until the end. Mina had always hoped that, if she was with him long enough, perhaps she might begin to believe she loved him. he had lived to even older than Quatermain, and had died fighting – She had always had that to be proud of. Even as she wept at his funeral, she had never been able to truly be in love with him. She only hoped that he believed it, at the end.
And now she was dying. She knew that. Her vampiric body was trying to heal itself, but her heart had been shredded, and her blood washed across the marble floor, reflecting her memories.
Alan had died, loved and respected.
Jekyll had died in love, cradled by his beloved Betty.
Nemo had died with family, peacefully certain of the end.
Skinner had died with Leah, with love, for love.
Tom had died in love with Mina, believing, she prayed, that she loved him.
And she last of all of them. Alone and cold.
Mina Harker closed her eyes, feeling herself sink into cold darkness. It was a relief, in it's way, to finally feel that death that had so long been denied her. If there was a holy power, as Leah had so often claimed, perhaps they would be united soon. She couldn't bring herself to believe it; if they believed so differently, how could they all go to the same place? And she couldn't believe that Hell was waiting for her friends. For her perhaps, but not the others. Besides, she was dying – far too busy to think about theology.
But if there was a Hell – where all those who were wicked as she was went to their eternal torment – She felt sure she would like it. So she slipped into the black waters and the fog closed around her as she whispered her last breath.
"Dorian…"