Sunlight filtered through the trees, seeming to dance and shimmer in the light breeze. There was no sound save the whisper of the leaves and the roaring in his ears. Helo knew that in a matter of minutes the peaceful forest would be shattered again by the sound of mechanical servos, the crack of gunfire.

He stared into Sharon's liquid-dark eyes and felt his heart shatter.

"There's nothing I can do about it," she whispered, the syllables nearly lost. Her skin was pale, devoid of warmth and life. "I can't stop it." There was a terrible finality in her words as they sank into him like stones.

His fingers tightened on the grip of his sidearm, mechanical and cold. He was barely aware that the same small motion was repeated by those others who stood with him, beside him, surrounding the woman he loved with all his heart and soul.

Past Sharon, a Marine said, "We have to kill her." The words ripped through him. He could feel Kara's eyes on him even as her rifle aimed unwaveringly at Sharon's heart.

And then Sharon smiled at him, and a heart that he didn't think could break any further was suddenly destroyed, leaving behind a gaping hole. "Don't let them have her, Helo." He shook his head in denial, not wanting her to continue, not wanting to hear the words, not wanting to accept the reality behind them. "You're all she has now." And still she smiled, the color having returned to her beautiful, golden skin, skin that he hadn't been allowed to touch for far too long and that he would never touch again. "I love you, Karl Agathon." She paused, closed her eyes for just a second, the only crack in the façade of calm that she presented him. "And I forgive you."

Helo couldn't stop shaking, although his hands remained steady. He couldn't stop shaking even as he pulled the trigger and the bullet unerringly found its home between her beautiful eyes, extinguishing her life – and his own – forever. As Sharon's body fell back, a pale echo of another time, another place, he fell to his knees, unable to hold himself upright. I forgive you…

I forgive you…

"Sharon!" His cry was filled with anquish as he raised his gun, touched the burning muzzle to his temple.

Kara watched, horrified, as her friends fell, one to his knees, the other lifelessly to the forest floor. Time seemed to slow, the deadly report reverbertating through her brain.

As Helo screamed Sharon's name and turned his gun on himself, Kara moved, feeling as though she were drowning in the deepest ocean (swimming in the stream). Praying to Artemis to guide her, she dove. "Helo, NO!"

She knocked him to the ground and time returned to its normal pace, the gun flying from his hands. Her action seemed to galvanize the others and they swung into motion as two Marines looked back in the direction from which they had come, rifles held at ready, falling back on their training as they waited for the inevitable fallout of the gunshot and shouts – the Centurions hadn't been more than a few minutes behind them before their small scouting party had come to the awful realization that Sharon was unknowingly and unwillingly acting as a tracking beacon. Another Marine went to Sharon, touched fingers to her throat as he felt for a pulse.

Kara's attention elsewhere, Helo twisted beneath her, reached for the gun. Before he could pull away from her, she pinned him to the forest floor; a loamy, leafy scent drifted up to her as they struggled for control. When he saw that she wasn't going to let him reach his weapon, Kara thought he'd give up, but instead he flipped her to her back, pinned her, and reached for her holster. He had it unfastened before she grabbed his wrist, fighting him with all her strength to prevent him from pulling her sidearm.

"Helo, stop! Please don't do this!"

Still he fought. The Marine who had checked Sharon for a pulse now grabbed Helo's arms, locked his own arms through Helo's elbows as he pulled the taller man off Kara. Helo's howl of frustration and pain brought tears to Kara's eyes as she threw herself at him again.

Gripping the sides of his head with both hands, she forced him to look at her. Wild green eyes stared into hers. The sound of his voice was like nothing she had ever heard when he said, "Let me die."

Remembering Karl as he'd been before the Cylons – laughing at his own expense; always there for her when she needed a friend or a frak; being with her through the good times and the bad – another little piece of her tore inside. "I won't let you die, too. That little girl needs you, Karl." Her voice broke. "I need you."

The terrible tension in him broke and he reached up to stroke the side of her face even as his dissolved and she let her tears fall, finally able to mourn for the friend the Cylons had stolen from her months before.

"Who're you calling a rook?" Sharon laughed as she punched Kara in the arm.

flash

"I'm not a copy. I'm Sharon. I remember the first day I met you, Starbuck. You were puking your guts out in the head because you'd eaten bad oysters on…"

flash

"It wasn't me!" Sharon shouted, desperate to make them listen to her. "I know how to find the Tomb of Athena! Do you? Kobol's a big planet! You don't find the tomb, you don't find Earth!"

"Listen to her, for gods' sakes!" Karl added his voice to Sharon's just as desperate. He looked at Kara for help, but she couldn't meet his eyes.

flash

"I love you, Karl Agathon. And I forgive you."

Kara cried for her friend and Karl held onto her as if she were his only link to life and sanity. And maybe she was, for him, at this time and in this place, and that deeply frightened her.

In the distance, she heard the whine of servos, felt the pounding of metal feet. Without a word, Karl forced himself to his feet and dragged her with him and she knew that he had heard it, felt it, too. They put their arms around each other and, with one last look at Sharon Valerii, began their return to the refugees.

As it had been since they'd first met, Kara Thrace and Karl Agathon leaned on each other, friends to the end.