A Long Decline

Summary: After more than 800,000 years the great leader Dr. Helen Magnus dies.

One-shot; death fic;

I usually don't care for stories where the main character dies but this one was just begging to be written on a possible way and timeline of Helen Magnus' decline. The idea for this just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it and it practically wrote itself.

100,000 years ago Dr. Magnus' cells stopped regenerating quite as well as they always had. 90,000 years ago Dr. Magnus got her very first wrinkle much to her great surprize and delight. 75,000 years ago she found her first grey hair amidst her waist length chesnut curls. 50,000 years ago the first signs of arthritis developed in her hands and knees. 25,000 years ago Helen began writing her memoirs of her vast experiences in her overly long life. 10,000 years ago she finally stopped going on missions as the arthritis was really begining to take its toll on her body. 5000 years ago she stepped down as being Sanctuary head as she knew her body was finally failing her and she didn't want anyone to pay the price for her no longer being as able as she once was. 1000 years ago Helen composed her last Will and Testament. 500 years ago her mind began to fail; slowly at first, just more recent events slipping her mind and later digressing as she lost more and more centuries of memories. 100 years ago the immortal Helen Magnus fell and didn't get back up and wound up being confined to a wheel chair. 50 years ago, she became confined to a hospital bed with the finest doctors anywhere providing round the clock care for her and the universe's best scientists trying harder than ever to save and revive her to her former perfect, immortal state. 10 years ago, in a moment of absolute clarity, she very blatantly told the doctors to stop trying to fight the inevitable and that she knew she was dying but was ready for it and that she'd had a far longer than normal run in life but that it was time to let her go. One year ago, Helen began speaking our on how James, Nigel, Ashley, Henry, Erica and their kids, Will, Declan, Ravi, Kate, Greggory, and her mom were calling out to her. One month ago she suffered a bad heart attack that she barely survived. One week ago she told us all goodbye and thank you and begged us to keep her work and her legacy going. One day ago, she drew her last breath, on her 800,000 birthday.

Today we honor a legend. A woman who saw more years than any save Nikola Tesla could ever even begin to fathom. Today Nikola Tesla purposely used his devamper on himself saying that he hopes to soon be reunited with her in a life where she'll be free from all of her long years of grieving and grief and where she'll never bury another friend again and will finally be reunited with her kids and all of her other loved ones.

Tomorrow; tomorrow we'll carry on the amazing and brilliant Dr. Helen Magnus' work as a way to honor her memory and the great legacy she's left us.

In the future we'll see her again. Only this time she'll be restored to perfect health and will no longer have the strain of her massive burden laying on her slender shoulders, or the shadows of the pains of time showing on her lovely face. Pains and a burden she's carried for hundreds of thousands of years. Plus she'll be so totally surrounded with friends and family, including her son Henry and long-lost daughter Ashley. In that day we'll see the full power and beauty of Helen Magnus. Until then, we'll just keep her memory alive.