3. I'll Follow You To Remembrance
"You said you'd follow me anywhere." But she sounds unsure, and the uncertainty fractures Helena's heart. She takes a step forward, closing the gap between them and takes Myka's hands in her own. Myka tries not to think about how cold Helena's are.
"To the ends of the earth and back again, my love." And Helena's smile is radiant, like the first few brilliant rays of sunshine. They are in the clearing, the very same one where they'd almost destroyed the Janus coin, and Myka can feel the leaves crunch beneath her feet.
"Then why won't you come back?" Myka's voice breaks, the weight of threatening tears too great, and her green eyes glisten. "Why won't you come back to me?" Helena's body, she knows, should be cool against her own like her hands had been, but all she can feel is the warmth of the other woman's presence seeping into her as Myka is pulled into an embrace that seems too tight, too loving, to be false. Long and dexterous fingers that have engineered wondrous contraptions that even the most inventive minds could not imagine stroke the length of curly hair with a gentle softness one might never expect, had they knowledge of H.G. Wells' past transgressions. But Myka knows better.
"I would live and die through a thousand lifetimes should such actions see me returned to you. See us live the life that neither of us found the courage to admit we wished to live." But she may never know enough, and Helena's words are a whisper against her ear. "I have loved you from the very beginning, Myka." She pulls back, shifting a hand to caress the crying woman's face as silent tears roll to their death along her cheeks. Dark eyes are piercing and so very full of life, and Myka almost smiles at the idea that Helena is as defiant in death as she was in life. Because she remembers the life being ripped from the woman, in a fiery inferno that stole away so very many things, and they should not be glittering with warmth. They should be pale and unseeing, there should be no remnant of Helena at all. And yet she stands, all familiar scents and affecting presence, and Myka's tears find new strength.
"I love you so much, Helena." And they are words not spoken until that moment, and the pain in them invokes a silent scream heard over innumerable planes of existence. Myka grips at her, fingers disappearing into a familiar pale blue shirt, and though her hold tightens she feels Helena slipping from it. And feels her soul depart alongside her.
"Do not forget, darling." But there are lips on hers, feather light and desperate with so many things gone unvoiced, and Myka's heart thuds weakly as it searches for a reason to continue beating. "All is not lost. There shall be no goodbyes. Remember the time, Myka. Time brought me to you, it shall bring me to you again." And finds one, as it always seemed to, in Helena and her fading words.
Myka wakes. And she remembers.