Author's Note: Hello again. Thank you to everyone who reviewed for 'Footfalls Within My Heart.' This is sort of a thank you piece for you all. I hope that you like it. The name and the idea for this little story are the product of listening to the song "Soulmates Never Die" by Placebo which is really a beautiful piece of music. Also, this little piece of work doesn't exactly confront many happy issues, but I am told that it has a happy ending. Once again, thank you to all of my reviewers. This one is for you...

---

Soulmates Never Die

---

"Soulmates never die." The words came to Remus out of the darkness, breaking the spell of sleep that had nearly consumed him. He turned in the bed to meet the silver eyes of his lover. Sirius smiled and brushed the hair out of Remus' eyes. "Did you know that Remus? That soulmates never die?"

"No," Remus whispered, desperately trying to understand what exactly it was Sirius was saying. "No I didn't."

"Hmmm." Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus, pulling him closer so that their chests were touching. For moments they lay there together in silence, the only sounds that of their breathing and their hearts beating steadily in time.

"I love you." Remus stated quietly into the room some time later, breaking the spell of silence.

"I know. I love you too, Remus." Sirius pulled back, looking into Remus' amber eyes before leaning forward and kissing him sweetly. "That's why I'm never going to leave you. Never, Remus. I'll fight death itself if I have to, but I'm never going to leave you." Remus shivered as Sirius pulled him closer, knowing that the words Sirius had spoken rung with the cry of truth.

He lay awake in the dark for hours after Sirius had finally gone to sleep, the words running through his head, haunting him.

'I'll never leave you. Never, Remus. I'll fight death if I have to…'

'Soulmates never die.'

---

Remus stood alone in the crowded room. Nobody spoke to him, somehow sensing that more than anything he wanted to be alone, but they all watched him out of the corner of their eyes, pitying him. Pitied that he was alone, that all of his friends had left him in one way or another, and that his heart, his will to live, had died in the Department of Mysteries.

'I'll never leave you. Never, Remus.'

Remus closed his eyes in pain. Sirius had left him. Not once, but twice. First when he had been sent off to Azkaban and then when he had fallen so gracefully behind the veil in the Department of Mysteries. None of them had been certain that he had actually died, none but Remus. For years their hearts had beaten as one, always in time, even during their separation. But when Sirius had fallen, Remus' own heart had stopped beating and he had known. In that moment, when his own heart had stopped beating, he had known that Sirius' heart would never beat again. That despite everything, his soulmate had died. But the pain of that knowledge was nothing compared to the pain he had felt when his own heart had started beating again, alone now, but still beating.

Remus opened his eyes and saw only the pitying looks on everyone's faces, and he could stand it no longer. Turning abruptly, Remus walked out one of the doors into the dark night. None of them would miss him. The only one who would have missed him had already left long ago.

'I'll fight death if I have to, but I'm never going to leave you.'

Remus stopped in the middle of the pathway, the words ringing through his head and in the air around him. "But you already have Sirius," Remus whispered back into the air around him. "You may have fought death, but you lost."

'No!' The wind whispered back. 'I'll never leave you Remus. Death will never separate us.'

Remus felt his breath hitch, his heart skip a beat before starting again, stronger now, as if it beat for two lives and not just one. "Sirius." He said, feeling the tears slowly run down his cheeks, one after the other. He waited for the response, but none came.

"SIRIUS!" He shouted into the wind, needing to hear the familiar voice, ignoring the tears that now streamed freely down his cheeks.

'Hush. It's okay.' Remus' breath hitched again as he felt the wind embrace him. 'Dry your eyes, Remus. Don't cry for me. I'm here. I'll never leave you.'

"Sirius?" Came the whisper from his lips, as tears continued to run down his soft cheeks. "Is it really you?"

'Of course, Remus. I told you. I'll never leave you. Never, Remus. You have to believe that.'

"Of course I do. I love you Sirius."

'I know. I love you too, Remus." And then the wind was gone, and with it, all traces of the man Remus loved.

But he was still there. The feather-light touch of a kiss against his lips. The whisper of soft fingers, wiping the tears from his cheeks. Sirius was there.

After all, soulmates never died.

---