She doesn't understand what's happening. His movements are erratic, his eyes filled with fear, and in that moment, everything clicks. He gasps, a single word leaving his mouth in a rushed shout.

"Run!"

Levana tightens her glamour's hold, and Cress knows what's coming, and she does run, towards him, but someone's holding her back, whether it's for her own good or not, she doesn't care, she has to get to him.

A gunshot rings through the air, and he grunts. "No!" She screams and lashes out. She breaks free and sprints over to him, where he's lying on the ground, his breathing shallow, his skin paling at a speed she can't believe.

"Carswell," she whispers, "no." She's crying now, and she just wants him to come back to her. He murmurs, so quiet only she can hear it.

"Cress," he starts, but it's soft and she can barely hear him. "I love you so much. I-I'm sorry."

She's sobbing, and she kisses him, and it's rushed and passionate, and she loves how his lips feel, keeping the sensation in her memory. She entangles her fingers in his hair, giving him the kiss he was waiting for, just as he did for her. She never will forget him.

She pulls back, and the light is leaving his eyes, and it's leaving hers too, because she can't stand a world where he's not there. "I love you too, Captain." Death brushes them both with cold fingers, and she shivers. Nothing makes sense.

A voice behind her speaks gently. "Cress... he's gone."

She hugs him one last time, and the tears start falling even harder. His heartbeat is still, and she can't ground herself with it because it's gone, and she'll never have it with her again. People lift her up, and she doesn't know who, but she doesn't care. He's not one of them.

Five, ten, fifteen years go by, and she passes so many men on the streets, meets them in restaurants, with brown hair, blue eyes, nothing like his were, crystalline and sparkling, full of mischief. None of them can even begin to measure up to him.

Kai and Scarlet try to set her up on dates, but she can't part with him, how selfless he was, how much he loved her, how much she loved him. She can't get over it and she finds herself slipping away, going, going, gone.

The smell of blood follows her everywhere she goes, and she can't get rid of it, no matter how hard she tries. It's a part of her now.

It's not fair. She's acting like a child, but she doesn't care. She is a child. All of her friends got their happily ever afters. What about her?

Strangers try to help her, referring her to countless psychiatrists.

You say his name was Thorne?

Yes.

And you say you can hear him talk to you?

She tries to tell them that she's not a basket case. No one listens. They tell her that her crush was bordering on obsession. That she was crazy. She gives up on them, playing games, trying to see how long before they refer her to a colleague, trying to make herself seem like a maniac. It's something he would have done. And she can hear him, laughing, and she laughs too.

She sees him in her dreams, just as he always was, sparkling blue eyes filled with mischief. He was always up to something. She savors those moments, keeping them with her forever.

Until they come true, when she's passed on and she lives in a soft world with no edges. She wanders around aimlessly until Captain Carswell Thorne, his eyes brighter than they ever were, finds his way back to her, just as he's always done.


I can't forgive myself for this one. I'm sorry.