Disclaimer: I claim only the plot and the character Seraphina. Everything else belongs to the rightful creators.

The Aftermath

Please don't be gone!

Thoughts of the day before flew into her mind, bashing her inner self against the walls that used to contain comfort; her physical body running through the halls of the hospital. Passing several nurses and townspeople, she appeared lost and scared, and they had a pretty good idea why.

Her footsteps grew softer as she neared the dreaded and already crowded room, that which contained the person she was most eager to see; that which brought only death. The sign above the room indicated it was used for only the most drastic of cases, for those that were expected to live between two or three hours, to less than ten minutes. It was the latter that was most likely for the patient held in its metal walls.

Panting with tears threatening to burst forth onto her already worried and pale face, she attempted to push through the barrier made by two men, but she was halted.

"You can't go throu-", one of the men began to say. Yet as he turned to look at the person he was addressing, he caught his tongue. "I-I'm sorry."

The other man placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke, "He's been asking for you. Come." He led her into the room, those already there making a path for her. They watched silently as she stood at the bedside.

He doesn't even look like himself, her mind thought as she gazed at the man. His hair was disheveled, matted, and dried with dirt, oil, and blood; his face was bruised beyond recognition; his eyes black and blue; his neck and left cheek spilt open with crude stitches; his arms littered with huge bruises and long scrapes made by curved knives; his hands broken and wrists raw with cuts made by metal-like ropes. His legs were covered, but she knew from what the news had reported, they were much like the arms.

Cautiously, she placed her hand underneath his right one and with despair felt the coldness of the weight. She ran her thumb over the back of his broken hand in loving tenderness, something she used to do when they were alone. Her mind again plagued her of the argument they had, the words that were spilt, the way he left, the anger she felt, then the sadness, then the horror. The well-maintained composure she had kept up since she arrived, broke down in one more glance to his face; tears spilt from her swollen eyes to the hand she caringly caressed, the warmth of them spreading through its entirety.

With a small movement of one not-so-broken finger she looked up again to his face and noticed with no small amount of joy and hope that he had opened his eyes; something she was told he had not done since he was brought here. She sat on the bed now and used her other hand to move a stray hair from his face, though it mattered little to him.

"You came," his hoarse voice croaked, though it sounded as music to her ears.

She nodded, her voice caught with emotion at the moment. "Yes. Yes-of course I came. You-Y-I am so, so sorry f-for everything. I-I never meant-." Her throat tightened and she ceased to produce words.

"I-I know. It-it was stupid of me t-to have walked away. I-I guess I'll always be a-a coward." He smiled the best he could and it gave warmth to her heart.

"No. You're no coward. I love you for who you are. No matter the fights we get into, o-or the situations we're thrown in." She placed a hand on his right cheek and stroked away the tear that fell from his eye.

He inhaled with pain and grimaced. "I-I'm not going to be here much longer. I-I want you to leave and go back to the shop. I-it's yours now a-and you're going to keep business going. And you keep working on the library. It was a gift, you know. A-and I wouldn't want to see it wasted." He smiled. "Have we got a deal?"

Her tears spilt onto the bed, her smudged mascara running down her cheeks. "No-no! You're not leaving! I-I'm going to save you!" She looked around the room for one face and motioned with her eyes for the person to walk forward.

The one woman she trusted more than any other in the room besides the man in the bed walked to her side with downcast face. "I know what you're about to ask, but…it doesn't work like that. I-I don't think…" She couldn't-didn't want to say what she was thinking, that it wasn't worth saving him. The woman struggled to find words to say before the rest of the people in the room caught on. Luckily for her, the man on the bed knew exactly what she should say.

"S-sometimes, magic doesn't work the way w-we want it to. S-sometimes we try and then are d-dealt a different hand." He smiled weakly, pain showing in his eyes. "Go on now, dearie. It-it's time for you to leave."

She shook her head weakly and repeated her promise, "I'm going to save you, even if I must take your place." The woman then bent and kissed his forehead, her eyes closing at the contact.

The man's eyes also closed and he exhaled deeply as her lips left his temple; the entirety of the room becoming still and silent.

He opened his eyes, but they were blinded by his unshed tears. Through this opaque vision, he could see the face of his beauty and allowed the stinging tears to traverse down his cheeks. Sobs emanated from his throat, muffled only by the hand he pressed against it as he rested his head on the woman's silent chest. The crowd had since left the room and he was alone with his sorrow and grief.

A few moments later, once he had kissed the woman one last time, the doctor entered and hesitantly placed a calm hand on the man's shoulder. "I think you should go home and rest. Everything that could have been done…" he paused, thinking over the past few moments... "was." The doctor's eyes were red and puffy after watching the display of true love, and he turned away quietly.

The man nodded and left the room, glancing back at his angel before closing the door behind him. He walked down the long hospital hallway with a deep hole in his heart; one he believed would never be completely filled again.