Warmth

Disclaimer be in Part I

Part IV

Endearment

Knowing that you can no longer stand it, I pull back, and we part.

You lie almost completely still in my arms, eyes closed, smiling, chest barely moving, the life in you whittled down to a tiny flicker of flame. You can speak no longer, and I see no need for conversation, and so we wait in silence.

Being inside you was a strange pleasure. I was taking your innocence from you even as you accepted mine. If we had not been so weak, it would have lasted longer, would have been more powerful; however, it was still earthshaking to me.

You're part of me now... more than ever before. And it hurts so much more that you do not have much time left, that you will leave me.

Holding you as tenderly as I know how, I wonder why your life has been so filled with sorrow. You never seem to have been able to catch a break, in this life or your former one. Surrounded by strangers and enemies, alienated from the majority of your own kind... Fate frowned upon you for some reason I do not understand, and you are paying for it.

Your temperature is once again starting to fall, but you don't make any move, nor any sign that you care. You're probably too far gone to even realize what's happening.

No. There are fresh tears on your cheeks... you realize, and you understand.

This is worse pain than any I could feel myself... knowing that I must watch you suffer and die, unable to do anything for you, knowing that I will follow you as you go...

And yet, you're still smiling.

If I were to be born again, and forget everything but one memory in the next life, the memory I would want to hold on to is just that. Your smiling face.

Your lips are moving, but I can hear no sound. All the same, I feel I can understand you... know what you're trying to tell me. That it's going to be alright.

It's as if someone has laid a caring hand on my heart.

Blind, voiceless, slowly freezing, bleeding, unable to feel a kind touch, moments from death, you are still in possession of your soul. You still place me above yourself.

Leaning down, I press my cheek to yours, closing my eyes. My own voice is almost as broken as yours, but I can still whisper the words.

"I love you."

Your hand absently reaches up to stroke my hair, and I let myself relax. The world around me fades to a blur; nothing exists but the two of us.

It seems to have been several hours when I finally realize that your hand is still at the base of my neck, pausing as if to rest... never resuming its task.

Ever.

My heart is awash in pain and confusion and love as night's curtain draws across us.

It is time to bid the world farewell again...