Pairing: hinted Jerlita, Gwodd and obvious Ulumi
Warning: Character Death, Headcanon 2nd Gen
.
The machine beeps.
She stirs from her place on his bedside. His eyes are closed, and there is that serene, calm look that one has when they are but mere inches from death. Her brown eyes are glossy with unshed tears and glazed over with the wisdom gained that one should never ever have to experience when she had. She looks at him, trying earnestly to commit every crease, every hair, every part of his face to her memory, the way that, even lying comatose in bed, his mouth seems to be curling into a slight smile, how his hair is flopping into his face, how defined the wrinkled are around his eyebrows from his constant frowns.
The doctors had told her that he was losing the battle.
The others were long gone, claimed from various means and ways. Jeremie first, then Odd and William, and even Aelita and Gwen had been claimed by Death. They were the only ones left surviving, and now it seemed that even he was leaving her, a lone warrior, to continue their battle, their war, the constant fight and struggle to stay alive.
But she couldn't. She wouldn't last long; not without his constant strength, his smile.
His eyes open, just a tiny bit, and she jerks over almost immediately. He whispers to her, one last request, and she nods, smiling weakly as he scoots over painfully, crawling into the space by his side, curled up in a ball and her head on his chest.
As they slip off into the darkness, the beeping finally stops.
Their children, Leon Alexander and Keslee Odette Stern, also known as Hiroyuki and Yumiko by their Uncle Hiroki, walk in to find their parents curled up in bed, like so many nights before their father was admitted into the hospital for cancer.
The endless beep from the machine was deafening.
The last two warriors, Ulrich Stern, 88, and Yumi Ishiyama, 89, have not lost the battle.
They have merely gone on to meet their friends again for their next adventure.