The only concern Abe has about the blood staining his clothes is that the blood is drying, and such action only means time is spinning away from him. Nuala's breathing
is labored and it's only a matter of time before he never hears that sound again. The hole in her abdomen is stubborn, and no amount of anything in the world could heal
the damage. The golden blood has slowed its gushing and the small puddles already formed around them are growing cold. He shakes his head as he gives up trying to
close the wound with his hands and holds her to his chest, pressing his forehead to hers as she starts to twitch, blood coating her fingertips and smearing across his
cheek as she touches his face. Her lips, lips so red and lush and perfect, have gone blue, and he knows that his own temperature is doing nothing to warm her. Her hair
is stiff and matted and she mouths something, something like a prayer, and tears threaten to overtake his vision as he realizes that she's praying for him. He begins to
whisper, through hiccups and sobs and the ocean of tears before him, the only thing as close to a prayer he can think of. Its sacred to them both, this verse, and he
knows it by heart, knows it so well because from her lips is the only way he's ever heard it. "Be near me when I fade away…" She's nearly convulsing and he tightens his
grip around her to still the movement. "To point the term of human strife…" He presses his cheek against the top of her head and she grips at his fingers with a strength
he didn't know she had as she mouths the poem along with him, gasping and shaking with each syllable. " And on that low dark verge of life…" Her eyes widen and her
back straightens as a tear pours from her captivating eyes, eyes that burn like the lasting embers of a flame, and rolls down her delicate, blood covered cheek. He
swallows and cries out into the night as he hugs her close. Her grip goes slack and, as her body relaxes, her blood goes cold. The stone crawls up her body and he
finds himself wishing that it would take him with it. Her head drops against his arms and her eyelids glint in the moonlight as the dark rock of the elves overtakes her.
"The twilight of eternal day."
This was written assuming that both Nuala and Abe are capable of dying multiple times and coming back to life later on. I know they can't, but Liz got her soul sucked out in HB1 and came back with a few whispered words, so who knows? Please R&R! ;)