"We've certainly lost enough," he says in a low voice. "We have lost enough."
Sapphire plays with the small glove that was left on the desk. It belonged to the sweet little red-haired girl she had befriended. The one she had grown so close to. The one she had to sacrifice only two hours ago and would never see again. She thinks about her.
"And I have enough of losing," Steel continues, the anger evident in his voice, but well suppressed. "We will be putting an end to this."
"There is no way," Sapphire says defeatedly.
"There has to be."
"No." Sapphire puts the glove down. "It will keep on taking. It won't stop. Not anymore."
"There must be something to turn it off."
"What is there?" She faces Steel. He sees her hurting. She doesn't show it on her face, but he knows her well enough. "We have given it all the energy it could ever make use of. A tree. A cat. A human girl. There isn't anything left to give!"
"An adult."
"No!" she cries.
"It needs more energy."
"It just keeps taking and taking! It never stops. You said so yourself, Steel. You said that you were tired of losing."
"And I am."
Sapphire looks at him, confused.
"We have given it all living sources of energy. And lots of dead ones."
"It needs a different sort."
"A what?"
"A different sort of living energy." Steel turns away from her slowly. "It needs an... elemental source of energy."
Sapphire freezes upon hearing his words. This is it. She turns to Steel, who looks into her eyes intently. This is the aspect of her job that she has been dreading. But of all the things he is about to say, it isn't what she is expecting.
"I'm going."
"You can't do that!" she gasps.
"Yes I can," he says offhandedly as he removes a clock from the shelf and starts to wind it.
"Steel!"
He looks up at her.
"It is stated, that if something like this should happen, you must first-"
"I am aware of that."
"Then why?"
Sapphire knows why, of course, but she needs to hear him say it.
Steel stares at his partner, for what seems like ages. He wants to tell her. Badly. But they just keep staring and staring. He looks at her beautiful dark eyes. He never looked at them so closely before. He always wanted to say something about them too. But he doesn't say anything.
He looks back at the clock, and continues to wind it up. "Remember to observe the time, Sapphire. Make sure it keeps running."
Sapphire knows that there is no changing his mind. She cannot believe what she has just heard. Or more like what she didn't just hear. She stares down at the floor stubbornly.
"I will not cope with this."
The clock in his hand starts ticking again. Steel motions towards the doorway.
"Oh, you will," he replies, but with no sarcasm in his tone. He checks the clock one last time, then stares out at the corridor. He thinks about it for a moment.
[I love you.]
Sapphire's eyes widen. She looks up from the floor to face the doorway, but to her horror, it is empty.
She hurries to the door, just as a gush of cold wind blows through the corridor. She sees lots of things. Lights. Afterimages. People. Pictures. Things. They all zoom past her, just slow enough for her to catch a glimpse. Things she had lost, things she remembered, and things she had nearly forgotten. They all flash before her eyes. Unwanted memories flood her mind. She remembers ships. She remembers old nursery rhymes. She wonders why it makes her remember these things. Even the wind feels awfully familiar. Like a good, strong North Wind.
And then it comes. The sharp, searing, tearing, crippling pain. She gasps and leans backwards with her hands to her temples. Breathing rapidly, her eyes squeezed shut, she tries to fight the forceful tugs at her mind. But she knows it is no use. The final pull sent her falling to her knees, severing their link completely. She gasps again, tears streaming down her face. The wind stops. The memories cease. She looks up at the clock on the wall.
The hands are moving as they should. Her work here is done. Their work here is done. At last, Sapphire collapses on the floor and the world fades out.