The Enemy Within

Prologue

"Please..." he begged as she stood on the first step. It was dark and the fireflies were out in force. Each of the alien lights buzzed against the blackening backdrop. Time was not on their side.

A gentle breeze stirred the leaves on the trees and chilled her slightly. She shivered but stood her ground hands by her side, eyes staring straight at him. The water around the stones glanced her converse slightly and she could feel spots of it on her bare legs. Nature was urging her on.

"Please..." he said again, his voice barely a whisper and catching in his throat audibly as his frustration took over slightly. His hands raised in silent plea he brushed away his floppy hair and she choked as she saw watery tracks on his face in the beginnings of moonlight. "...I can do this." He said, his voice strong, and sure with barely a falter. He took her hands.

He was warm, he was always warm, the advantage of having four beats a second had often made her consider changing but she had always stuck by him as herself, as what she was. A mere moral compared to him. She choked again, tears welling in her eyes. She had promised herself not to cry and yet she found her human emotions too much to handle, cursing that she should ever have been given the gift to feel. The breeze pushed them again and the fireflies gathered around their joining hands. They tugged at her sky blue top, pulling it away from her tiny shorts.

"But you don't have to" she said, smiling despite the tears that poured from her eyes.

Before he could reply, she let her hands slip from his and she walked, almost frozen in time, across the stepping stones. Reaching the middle, she turned and gazed at him, no need for words, no need for her to say anything. He knew it was goodbye.