Will didn't get better. As time passed, he got more stable on his feet. He still went out hunting with Alyss and Sable, and traded furs in town, but he wasn't healing. His coughing fits got longer, and more violent. He often got dizzy and had to sit down for a minute… but he never cried. He never complained. Will would even go so far as to make jokes about his situation, or laugh whenever he did something that on the outside seemed funny, but was, in reality, probably because he was dying.

Yes. He was dying.

But Alyss couldn't tell that because of his worsening condition. She knew because even though she wasn't the one who was hurting, she could feel it. She could sense whenever he was in pain. If he was depressed, or struggling to make it through, she felt in her bones that something was wrong with the world. It was like they each had a string tied to one hand, and whenever one of them was in trouble they would pluck the string and even if the other was a million worlds away, they could feel it.

Alyss didn't know why she woke up one night. The sky wasn't bright, and Will hadn't moved. It took her a moment to fully wake up and realize that something didn't feel right. Her stomach was turning, but there was no nausea. Then she realized…

Alyss turned over to where Will was facing away from her, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Will…" she whispered. She knew he was awake. He didn't have to talk to her for her to feel him.

His shoulders shook. His body temperature was way off… it didn't matter if it was a warm night.

Alyss whispered his name again, breaking off at the end. She didn't know what to say. What could she do?

She couldn't find a job to pay for the medicine he needed… she'd tried for the past few weeks for a job, but nobody would take her because she was a girl. Well, one job hired her, but it hardly paid anything and it would take a century for her to get enough money. She couldn't convince the doctor to help him. She couldn't take his pain away…

Will turned over. He was getting night sweats so badly his hair was soaked, and he was panting hard out of his nose.

Even in the pitch blackness of the room, their eyes met. Oh, his eyes were beautiful...

"How am I the only one crying?" Alyss whispered. "You're hurting, Will… You're just as- no, more scared than me; I can feel it."

"I'm not afraid to die," Will replied. His tone was even softer than hers. Maybe it was because it was so late, and it was so quiet that Will felt like if he spoke too loudly, it would ruin everything. Or maybe it was because he was spending too much energy on being in pain.

"If it's with you," he said, "I'm not afraid to die."

"But it hasn't been long enough. We just met at the beginning of spring, and it's summer. It's… Time has passed so quickly with you, but it feels like we've been together forever. How is that?"

Will smiled. "You know, Alyss… I've spent my entire life striving for something, but I never knew what," he said. "I drew, because I wanted to not create, but discover. I wanted to dig deeper inside the Earth and discover the most amazing things about life. I was striving for the purest form of perfection; love; beauty… something that, no matter what its faults were or how you looked at it, it would always make you happy. It could make you feel something indescribable. Make you forget everything you don't have, or make you feel like you have everything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I knew I couldn't calculate it, like you would something mathematical. It's in your heart, not your brain. So I drew, to discover what was in there, in my heart… to find what I saw as beauty." He paused. "I don't have to draw anymore, Alyss. Because, all this time, you were the answer to all of that."

Tears were streaming down Alyss's face. "W-Will…" she sobbed. "Stop… speaking in past tense."

"I'm not afraid, Alyss." He reached across her ears and brushed her hair behind it. She loved it when he did that. She loved how gentle his hand felt against her skin. She loved how peaceful he could be, without coming off mellow or boring. She loved how they belonged here.

"I've found everything I want in life," he said. "I just want to be by your side until it's my time."

"It's not your time, Will." Alyss wouldn't give up. She couldn't. The only way his death was certain was if she accepted it. "This isn't old age, it's a disease. It's a disease that can be beaten."

Will didn't say anything after that. The string that connected them from the pulses in their wrists was still there, and stronger than ever; right now it was telling them that silence was the best answer. And both of them were alright with that. They didn't always have to talk- if they had to talk every moment to keep the relationship going, that would be exhausting. A comfortable silence brought them even closer together than words could.

Alyss had one hand on Will's chest, while his arms were wrapped around her waist. There was an arm's length of space between them, but that was because it was easier to talk that way. And yet, Alyss felt, in a way, far away from him.

He was on a completely different level. The things he said to her… She felt like he was a being from another planet, full with wisdom and love and light… not from this world, but from the stars. Suddenly she understood even deeper what he was saying about meeting the person you've been trying to draw.

But why couldn't she accept his death? No matter how much she loved him, or how much she could be happy dying with him of old age one day, she felt like this wasn't enough. They had been together for one season, when they were meant to live for a thousand.

They'd discovered how much they loved each other, but that was the first step. Not the last.

Will had never cried before about his sickness. It was strange, because he didn't hide his emotions. Not very well, at least. When he was happy, he laughed; when he was excited, he could get silly and childish, and when he was sad, he could cry. So he wasn't faking strength for her sake. That never lasted long.

At first Alyss thought maybe he wasn't faking anything. Maybe he was just on a much higher level than Alyss and could accept things like death, instead of being stubborn like her. That all changed when she saw tears falling from his eyes.

He had never cried before.

It occurred to her, finally, that he had been shivering before. But he wasn't cold, he was sweating.

Now he was shaking like a terrified child.

Alyss wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him closer. He fit into her arms so nicely. His head was laying against her neck, soaking her with tears, and he was still sweating, but it didn't matter. This was Will. She wanted, and she loved every part of him. When he was in happy, she wanted it. When he was angry, she wanted it. When he was hurting, and crying, and confused, and in pain, she would take him into her arms and love him even more.

Because Alyss remembered when he did the same.

"I'm scared," Will sobbed. He was holding her tightly. His feelings were pouring out as fast as his tears. "I, I don't want to die. I want to spend my life with you. I want to watch all the sunsets, and I want to hear all your songs. It's not enough just yet. Let's please grow old together; get married, have kids. Or not, I don't care. I, I don't want to go this way, please…" He cried harder, trying to bring the words together like he tried to bring together the lines on the paper. "I'm so scared to die."

Compared to the next morning, all the other ones before felt like bliss. The conversation from the night before was fresh in Alyss's mind. She knew she'd never forget a single detail of it for the rest of her life. It was the same schedule, though, and she woke up early to make breakfast.

Every time she felt like she was wasting time, she reminded herself gently that she would be working today. She would make money, but right now she had to eat… and then, every time, she was reminded of how long it would take to get the medicine and how much time she actually had.

She didn't know how much time she had. And it was terrifying.

She thought it over while she cooked. Alyss needed something much more than what she was doing now, and she couldn't put off figuring it out anymore. She felt like there was something on the tip of her tongue… something she could do to save him…

Will. Will. He couldn't leave, no… The thought was bringing tears to her eyes. She felt like her heart was being pulled from all sides, and it took everything she had to try and hold it together.

Nothing came to her. When she was done cooking, Will still hadn't woken up. She thought she would take a look outside just to see how everything was. Little did she know, that walk to the door would change everything.

A door on her right, down the hallway was open. Alyss hadn't gone in that room in a while, and for some reason this was a big enough reason to stop her in her tracks and take a peek in. She realized, when she looked, why she hadn't gone in there in so long.

In fact, she had forgotten all about it. There just wasn't any time for fun.

But then an idea came to her, that made her face light up and gave her the first glimpse of hope she had seen in weeks. Hope was as forgotten and unfamiliar as that room.