[For those of you not quite familiar with duelist kingdom or with the show, or if you're one of those violent, jealous, loyal Seto Kaiba etc fangirls that wouldn't touch another potential bishounen (and I use this word as it has come to be known by fandom) with a ten-foot-pole, this story is about Pegasus and Cecilia. Cecilia, being a minor character in the extreme, never gets a second thought. But the question we need to ask here is this: would Cecilia have gone peacefully to her grave knowing that Pegasus would never recover?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. This story dedicated to every hopeless romantic that was, that is, and that is to come. ]

Silver moonlight streamed in through the single window to illuminate the pale figure, angelic on the bed, lying still, so still, still as death, still as the summer night outside. She lay alone, for those guardians who previously haunted the room like white-coated wraiths were currently involved in keeping the room peaceful and quiet. Now her companions were the shadows and web-weavers and moonbeams, and thought she cherished the beauty and peace her heart ached for another, the one the wraith-guardians were keeping from her. It was harder to breathe now, and dreams were creeping over her, a sense of lightness and rapture, slowly carrying her away on a wave of silken starlight, but she had to stay, had to see him once before she left...

Briefly, the piece was disturbed by a muffled, anguished, angry cry, raised voices, then moments later she sensed rather than heard the door open and a presence enter the room, a presence that reached out to her soul and melded with it, and her heart felt complete. Warmth surrounded her, gently, lovingly: his arms around her, raising her from her resting place, and she was where she belonged.

Hold on to me, love, you know I can't stay long

All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid

"Maximillion," she whispered. It was so hard to talk, to open her eyes, but she willed the lids open to see his eyes, eyes brown like the earth, like chocolate, like a puppy's fur, but so full of anguish, of pain... She smiled, trying to comfort him, trying to give back the strength borrowed from his arms around her. "I... love..."

Can you hear me?

Can you feel me in your arms?

"Shhh," he whispered, even that whisper catching in his throat, putting a slender finger on her lips. "Don't speak, love, angel."

Oh, her soul felt so safe and free with his breath on her cheek, and though she could feel herself slipping away, sliding out of reality and into a world of dream, no, past dream to another realm, she struggled to stay with her love, to comfort him, to keep breath in her body long enough to convince him everything would be alright.

Weakly, she slid a thin, pale arm up his own to curl a strand of silver hair around her finger as she used to; it seemed a moonbeam in itself, so soft, but she was hardly aware, she was fading so fast....

Holding my last breath

Safe inside myself

Are all my thoughts of you

Sweet, raptured light

It ends here tonight

"My love," he whispered to her as his embrace tightened desperately. "Don't leave me, please, please..."

Outside the window, a cherry tree was in bloom; a surprise burst of wind sent a flurry of moon-drenched petals dancing through the night. In her fading vision, the petals turned into a mystical snowstorm of promised beauty. Her love followed her dreamy gaze.

"It--it is like the snow..." he breathed, overcome by the moment, sensing her emotion, struggling to be at peace within himself. "Remember, my sweet, the winters we spent here... winter was you favorite season here..." his voice broke, and he gave up.

I'll miss the winter, a world of fragile things

Look for me in the white forest hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)

Oh, if only there was something she could do to ease his pain... "Love," she whispered, "Don't... Don't be afraid..." It was so hard to speak, to breathe...

A half-gasp, half-sob escaped him as he pressed his cheek, damp with tears, against hers in a last, desperate attempt to keep her with him, to touch every inch of her skin that he could, forming a bond to keep her with him and keep himself with her.

I know you hear me

I can taste it in your tears

His tears fell on her skin, dampening her nightgown which would become her shroud, and she lifted her fingers weakly to his cheek in a gesture of wiping them away. It did no good, however, for she had no strength to make them felt, no strength to make them comforting, no strength to erase the pain falling from his eyes. Falling, falling... not tears, but blood, pouring forth from a broken heart...

Holding my last breath

Safe inside myself

Are all my thoughts of you

Sweet, raptured light

It ends here tonight

The realm beyond dreams beckoned her, causing the world around her to slide slowly into a rippling, starlit pool of unreality. Soon she would not be able to ignore its call... There was no pain now, and she was aware through the thickening mist only of his embrace, his warmth, his trembling, his anguished tears like his heart, his very being, was being torn away by Fate's cruel, cold fingers. Perhaps indeed it was, and she could only pray the wound would heal...

Closing your eyes to disappear

You pray your dreams will lead you here

But still you wake and know the truth

No one's there

Fading, fading... the moonlight dimmed, bowing finally to the light behind her eyes, past her mind, beyond her dreams... no longer could she feel his arms... was he still there? was she? Yes, she could make out his lips, moving, whispering something she could not hear....

Say goodnight

Don't be afraid

Calling me, calling me

As you fade to black

... that which binds souls to this world loosens when the soul must leave, and she was sliding out of those bonds, being pulled by a current of starlight...

...blessed darkness...

...a last sensation, the agonized press of a lover's final kiss...

...the last thread snapped....

...whisked away in the irrepressible current...

....goodbye, my love....