"YUKI!"
A strangled cry echoed through the barren snow laden forest. The crunch of snow beneath running feet and each labored breath mingled in the air in a dance of sickening panic.
"YUKI! YUKI!"
He stumbled as his foot caught on an unseen tree root. He caught himself and slumped against trunk of a black leaf-less tree. Nails clawed into flesh as he gasped for oxygen, his body screaming in unspoken pain and exhaustion. His mind grew fuzzy as blood loudly pounded in his ears. He watched each exhalation turn into puffs of cloud, each bead of sweat chill in the frigid atmosphere.
"Yuki…"
He sobbed as he slid his back down the tree until the bite of the snow seeped into his bones. How could I have let this happen? How could it have come to this? What have I done…
Where is she?
Strands of sleek silver hair became imbedded in the bark and his scalp reacted almost painfully to the rough texture. He forced his rigid body to relax into the surrounding snow. He let his mind and heart go as numb as his chilling fingers. He had lost her. The darkness of the forest around him was nothing compared to the creeping, nightmarish despair pouring out from his chest. It was all over. He had failed her. Why? How? Maybe he looked away two seconds longer than he should have. Maybe his joints were just a little too chilled for the chase. Maybe his terror was too great for his strategic mind to handle.
It doesn't matter…
He had lost her, no matter what the preceding events or conditions. No matter how much he felt, cried, ran, bled, or died – she was never going to come back. He had failed.
So neither will I.
His body began to still as the cold became too much for shivering. His mind slowed to a sluggish, dreamlike pace as images of his only reason to live rolled like a movie before his mind's eye. Her goofy smile, her back as she runs, her chest rise and fall with each breath, her blush in embarrassment, her pained eyes of empathy, her fiery gaze when she's determined, her loving touch, her gentle warmth…
The images faded into simple familiar feelings as he slowly relaxed into the warm darkness beckoning him. All the struggle, the pain, the frustration, the hate; the confusion, the protection, the hope, the love – it was all ending tonight.
Yuki… A dull glaze settled ever his eyes as light retreated from them. I'm coming right behind you.
"Zero."