"CLAY! L-Let go! You'll fall with me if you don't!" Desmond screamed, his grip slipping from the blonde's as he dangled off the side of the cliff. Clay shook his head as he grit his teeth, palms sweaty as he tried to pull the other back onto the cliff but he wasn't strong enough...

It had started with a chase for a damn Piece of Eden that had ended in a all out brawl with Templar agents, the only thing that succeeded in doing was drain him to the point that he couldn't save his boyfriend's life. And so here they were, Clay on his stomach in the dirt, clinging to Desmond's arm as the younger man dangled over the dark abyss below.

"Don't you give me that crap, Miles! I'm not about to drop you to save myself, who the hell do you think I am?!" he shouted back, trying to pull the other up, only to slide a few more inches towards the edge, gritting his teeth and stopping all movement. Cursing under his breath, he reached out with his other hand and gripped Desmond's wrist with both hands,

"I'm not letting go of you, Desmond! I'm gonna get you out of this alright? I just need...need a little leverage and we'll be fine ok?" he said, trying to keep his cool but his panic was starting to seep through. The younger man could see it, he knew Clay wouldn't be able to hold him up for much longer and he wasn't about to let him drop with him.

"Please Clay! Just...let go, please...I didn't bring you back just so you could die again!" Desmond pleaded, feeling his eyes prickle as a harsh gust of wind battered them, Desmond swaying and Clay losing a few more inches of ground from beneath him.

"Clay PLEASE! Pleasepleaseplease, just let go! I don't want to drag you with me, you deserve better! You deserve to live your whole life ok?! Even if I'm not there, I want you to keep living! For me...!" he cried, tears crawling down his cheeks as his grip on the blonde's arm slipped some more. He didn't want Clay to die again...not because of him.

So he made his choice...taking a deep shuddering breath, he let go of Clay's arm, and felt himself slip farther until only his palm was still in the other's hold. But even though he was just dead weight now, Clay held on. The blonde could feel himself start to slip off the cliff, inch by inch, and even if he did let go of Desmond, nothing guaranteed that he'd be able to save himself now. He was just too far out to save them...

"Oh no you don't! I won't let you slip like that, come on! Desmond, you can't just ask me to let go...no matter how much you beg or scream, I won't let go, do you understand me?! I won't!" he shouted, gritting his teeth as tears collected in his eyes,

"You tell me to live my life, but what kind of life is it if the only person I've ever loved isn't there by my side?! I will not let you die because of some misplaced sense of sacrifice, you hear me?!" he said, feeling the tears drip off his cheeks and down past the cliff edge, "I fucking love you Desmond...And I will not let you die alone!" he screamed, pushing off what little ground was left under him and grabbing Desmond, wrapping his arms around him tightly as they began to plummet into the dark abyss head first.

Desmond managed to grab hold of Clay in that moment of weightlessness before they dropped like rocks, burying his head in the other's shoulder and sobbing, "You're such an idiot!"

Clay chuckled brokenly, feeling the wind rush past them and making it difficult to hear each other over the roar, but he still heard him,

"I know! But I'm your idiot!" he shouted back, burying his own head in the other man's neck, sobbing into it just as hard. They fell and fell, feeling like hours had gone by but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes; they cried and held each other, nosediving into the dark abyss as the sun fell beyond the horizon, soon they would be engulfed in the darkness where the quickly fading sunlight could not reach. Just before they dropped into the darkness, Desmond whispered into Clay's ear,

"I'm scared." The blonde smiled softly, giving his lover a squeeze as everything around them turned black, quickly interlacing their hands,

"...me too."

Their mangled bodies were found days later, hands still tightly clasped together. Soon after being claimed, they were transported back home to have a duel wake, closed casket. They were buried next to each other at the local cemetery their tombstones marked with each other's names, a request they had made jokingly in the past but seemed appropriate now.

Their families and friends would come every year to their shared grave, bringing fresh flowers and stories to tell. They were horribly missed, but it was common to say that they never really left; they were always watching over the ones that were left behind and they always would.