And He Knew It Before
Lea of Mirkwood --- --- --- Wesley had never had so much pain. It felt like the aching would never stop. His chest heaved as he fought to draw breath with the pain below his lungs making every movement, every touch hurt like burning fire. He would have given anything to just make it stop, to stop moving, stop hurting, stop living, but he could hear Fred's voice, see her crying and he knew – he knew – somehow in his mind that if he died he would never hear it again, because her soul was gone forever and they wouldn't be together. It was a lie, but it was the sweetest, most wonderful lie he had ever heard.
Then it was over and he was gone. As clichéd and unlikely as he had always thought it would be, he really did start to see himself from outside, his body cradled in the arms of Fred – Fred, not Illyria, I want to keep this lie – and he stared.
Everything happened, Fred stood up again, and she punched her fist through that thing's head and turned into a strange blue creature with body armor that he didn't know. That was all he had time to see before it all faded away and he felt light, as if made of paper. He was made of origami paper. The heat of the hell he'd been in faded away and a summer breeze blew past.
He remembered seeing Cordy at some point, and she kissed his cheek and said something forgettable that would be repeated later because she would never leave again.
When he felt heaven he knew what it was and had felt it before.
Just after that her arms flew around his neck and a muffled happy sob in his ear proclaimed, "I'm so proud of you."
Lea of Mirkwood --- --- --- Wesley had never had so much pain. It felt like the aching would never stop. His chest heaved as he fought to draw breath with the pain below his lungs making every movement, every touch hurt like burning fire. He would have given anything to just make it stop, to stop moving, stop hurting, stop living, but he could hear Fred's voice, see her crying and he knew – he knew – somehow in his mind that if he died he would never hear it again, because her soul was gone forever and they wouldn't be together. It was a lie, but it was the sweetest, most wonderful lie he had ever heard.
Then it was over and he was gone. As clichéd and unlikely as he had always thought it would be, he really did start to see himself from outside, his body cradled in the arms of Fred – Fred, not Illyria, I want to keep this lie – and he stared.
Everything happened, Fred stood up again, and she punched her fist through that thing's head and turned into a strange blue creature with body armor that he didn't know. That was all he had time to see before it all faded away and he felt light, as if made of paper. He was made of origami paper. The heat of the hell he'd been in faded away and a summer breeze blew past.
He remembered seeing Cordy at some point, and she kissed his cheek and said something forgettable that would be repeated later because she would never leave again.
When he felt heaven he knew what it was and had felt it before.
Just after that her arms flew around his neck and a muffled happy sob in his ear proclaimed, "I'm so proud of you."