She remembered how he used to touch her.
The soft sweet touches, reminding her she was loved. The rough ones reminding her that they were both people. The lingering drift of his fingers whenever he missed her. The gentle presses of his hands as he told her how much he loved her. All those touches everyday.
Whenever they pass each other, and he'd gently poke her side, sometimes making her giggle. When he'd run his hands across her back to make her jump. The sudden hugs carrying all his warmth and transferring it into her cold cold heart.
He was her light, her warmth, her fire.
But now, here she was touching their forheads together as she watch his eyes grow dull. Trying to stop the blood from the wound with her hands, knowing it was useless. Feeling his heartbeat grow weaker as his body grew colder.
She remembered how these touches were supposed to happen, but now it never will.
She remembered how he promised to come back and how her heart broke slowly as everyday passed and she started thinking he was just another hero who'll leave her once again.
She remembered how he came crashing through the sky in a ball of flame. Watching him fall from heaven, watching him break.
The touches, now they were just a what if.
The fire, now it was just a memory.
The flowers were in full bloom. But her recent favorite, the Fraxinella, the fire flower wilting, as if waiting and watching the fire dying in her arms.
I'm back, he mouthed the words, trying to make a sound. Instead blood dribbled out and she choked back a desperate sob.
Leo Valdez.
Her life, her love, her flame.
And she held him close as that flame slowly burnt out and now she was holding his cold cold body.
The vial tumbled out from his tool belt, as if saying this was exactly what was needed. Mesmerized, she watched the vial roll to a stop at her knee. The glass was hot to the touch and it reminded her of fire. Of the fire in his eyes as he built his crazy machines. Of the fire in his eyes as he made his promise to be back, to save her, to love her.
It reminded her of the what ifs.
And maybe that was why exactly she let go of her beloved and pick it up. Maybe that was the reason she opened it and desperately pour the liquid into his open mouth. Maybe that was why she was sitting there watching, waiting for her flame to start burning.
And for the longest time, she waited.
His ice cold eyes, started to spark.
The spark turned into a flame
The flame turned into a fire.
And the heat spread. The warmth of life spread through his body.
And this time the touches will never be a what if, now it was written in the future. The warmth from his life reached her heart, and for a long time, after being left behind hundreds of times, her heart felt love. Here was a hero who came back. Here was a herp who kept his promise. Here was a hero who was her fire.
Their touches turned into something more.
And Calypso and Leo Valdez burned bright together.