He couldn't believe he was back. Seeing the city again was simply awe-inspiring. He still loved the sights he had burned into his mind as a young child. The tall, majestically gleaming spires. The wild light that blazed off the dappled surface of the falling water alongside the skyscrapers. Even the irritating caw of the resident carrion-birds seemed perfect. They fitted together like a giant puzzle. When he was away, a fragment of what he had left behind stole across his mind every day. The same spires, the same waterfalls, the same radiant sun that shone upon him right now. It could never be the same without each other. Now that they were together, it was complete.
Still, an ache plagued his heart, something that was missing, something that he would have given his life for. Someone he had loved with all his heart and soul. She was still calling for him, and he heard her, in a small recess in his mind. The cold sliver of pain in his sunburnt chest. The persistent stab of pain whenever he saw her face in his mind's eye. Who was she? Her name seemed like a world away. Those eyes, the colour of a pure, rippling ocean, radiant with wonder and hope, and also the colour of a lush, verdant jungle, burning with resolve and determination. Who was she? A memory, lighter than the brush of a gentle breeze against his skin, swept through his mind. Memories of a kiss, embraces. Memories of pain, and of love. The sweet smell of dawnflowers that lingered teasingly whenever she was near. The kiss they had shared so long ago, the languid joy they had shared while they embraced. They didn't exchange any words, but even an entire library couldn't begin to encompass the understanding they shared that fateful day. That moment where mere seconds stretched into depthless eternity. Even if they spent their entire lives screaming their love for each other across the abyss of consciousness, something would still be wanting. The only one he could ever imagine saying "I love you" to, and meaning it perfectly. Forever in timeless infinity.
"I love you." A voice whispered into his ear. He froze. Those same eyes, filling with precious tears, still beaming with hope, and trembling with loss and sadness. The trickling droplets of crystal, each drop filled with the essence of her emotions, the sheer depth of her grief shocking him almost to tears. Her voice. It was hers. The gentle sound of windchimes, the distant tinkles cutting through the barely audible sound of the falling rain.
"You should've come with me." He said, voice breaking with sorrow. He didn't even know if she heard him or wanted to.
Her voice grew fainter with every step he took.
"Who are you?" He begged, staring at his spread hands, longing for her own. He remembered those same hands, gentle, but filled with such strength and determination. Warm and gentle. "TELL ME!"
It never mattered how far he went, or how fast he ran, she was gone. He ran and screamed, till his breath hung in his lungs like tattered rags. "Come BACK!"
His voice echoed emptily in the morning light.
Shredded wisps of mist hung before him, its gossamer fabric veiling the path beyond. Like an impenetrable wall that revealed nothing.
It hung impassively before him, as if it was mocking his fate. He got what he had wanted all along. But was it what he wanted after all?
He fell on his knees, tear-filled eyes boring into the unforgiving stone beneath his feet."I love you."
It was his story now.