The moment before the last

Disclaimer: The characters and other things from Prince of Persia don't belong to me. Credit goes to those who own them.

I hurtled through the air and flew over the ledge. I felt nothing but the paralyzing fear that I had failed. After everything, I did not imagine it would end so simply, that I would be discarded so easily like rubbish. For a brief moment I felt light, like I was floating but then just as suddenly, the world was pulled out from beneath me and I was plunging fast into the abyss.

But my prince had to try and save what could have been.

Dastan's hand caught mine and I swung precariously, a pendulum about to come loose, secure only for a few moments. He was strong but it was taking everything in him to keep both of us alive. In the second that he caught me, I felt a flicker of hope. If the sand from the dagger allowed one to see the past replay itself, my prince's effort to save me gave me visions of a future that made me burn with desire to live—a family, a life together in blissful peace, with him holding my hand each day.

I knew he was calculating in his mind how far he could swing me or if I could climb up eventually and how exactly to stop his uncle all at the same time. His indecision was going to cost us everything because I knew the choice he wanted to make was impossible. He could not save us all.

"Stop him! If the glass shatters, the world dies with it."

It would have been easier if I had succeeded in killing Dastan on the first try, that night we escaped. It would have been better to kill a stranger who is closer to an enemy than a friend. It would have been kinder to die and leave him behind when I didn't love him yet.

"It's not my destiny, it's yours. It always has been."

There was so much I wanted to tell him. I felt his grip tighten as I tried to loosen his hold on me. His finger felt tight on my wrist, cutting off circulation but physical pain was nothing compared to what it felt to be needed by him. My chest was bursting with fear and anguish as it rebelled against the decision I had made. My traitorous heart wanted to respond to Dastan's touch and hold on for dear life but I knew it would be wrong to be so selfish. My hand felt the desperation in his grip, shattering my defenses as tears coursed down my face.

"Let me go."

"I won't."

"Let me go."

"I'm not letting you go!"

He was broken but even his pain was not enough to change my mind. Letting go was the only way I could save the world, save the future, save him. I wanted to be angry with destiny for bringing me so close to a prince who saw not only his own humanity but triumphed in it, the prince who always saw without any pomp and circumstance, the prince who did not leave me for dead, the prince who wasn't ready to see me die. I wanted to scream like a petulant child and question why I had to let go of him the moment I realized I had found the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

"I wish we could have been together."

I am the Princess of Alamut. Protect the dagger, no matter the consequences—this is my sacred calling and in the end, I found the will to see it through.

I pulled free.

As I fell, I screamed his name and I wondered if it told him all I needed to say.

"Dastan!"

You infuriate me.

I need you.

I love you.

I love you. Dastan.

And then everything went black.