Light
'Inevitable means it's never gone.'
She hadn't seen what was coming.
And maybe that was a good thing.
But perhaps it wasn't…
If she had known, maybe she would have savoured those last moments even more. Maybe she could have prepared herself. But who could truly prepare for something like that?
She hadn't seen what was coming.
It took her unawares.
No last goodbyes.
No preparation for the inevitable.
Nothing.
At least this way, she didn't have to deal with anybody's reaction.
She didn't have to watch their hearts breaking, and feel hers break with them.
She didn't have the apprehension of waiting for the inexorable.
She had always believed that being told that you had a terminal illness; that you were going to die, but you didn't know when…That would be the worst thing that could happen. She knew it would be the waiting that would kill her.
She hadn't seen what was coming.
And maybe that was a good thing.
---
The sun.
Shining brightly, it illuminated everything, making it all oh-so-more beautiful. It was like a fantasy. Flowers blossomed, butterflies fluttered constantly, a gentle breeze caressed her shoulders. This place…this place was just as she had dreamed of in her childhood.
She was speechless. Everything was so…amazing. Wonderful. Magnificent. Incredible. Spectacular. Even as a Lit. Major, she soon ran out of adjectives to describe the paradise.
She felt close to passing out from awe when a hand grabbed hers ardently. Without looking at her companion, she began to speak, but words simply failed her.
"Michael… I…" she felt a lone tear roll down her cheek as her lover turned her body to face his.
"Hey…" he breathed softly, "Don't cry. This place doesn't deserve it. " He chuckled as he wiped the tear from her face. She seized his hand as it caressed her cheek and kissed it gently.
"This place is so…unbelievably…amazing! I can't even…"
"It's beautiful, isn't it? " She simply nodded. "Just like you… The soon-to-be Mrs Vaughn." He grinned as his gaze slid downward to the sparkling ring on his fiancé's finger.
She smiled softly as she tried to process all the emotions that were overflowing her. One, however, stood out prominently.
Love.
Never-ending, unconditional, immeasurable love.
If that were the only feeling she could feel for the rest of her life, she would die happy.
Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she drew their lips together for a short, but passionate kiss.
"I love you."
The three words hardly needed to be spoken, but she said them anyway. Drawing their lips together again, her fiancé made his reply perfectly clear.
She slowly lowered her arms until they wrapped his waist in a tight embrace. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and held it, not willing to spoil the perfect moment she was living in.
A laugh. "Syd, what on earth are you doing?"
His words, reminders of his presence, only made the moment even more perfect. Eventually, she exhaled loudly and answered the query.
"I don't want this to ever end."
And he felt exactly the same. Leaving a soft kiss on her cheek, he wriggled his way out of her embrace and began to back away slowly with a mischievous grin accenting his features.
"I bet you can't catch me," he challenged childishly. She simply shook her head in mock pity.
"Huh? What's that? I never thought Sydney Bristow would back out of a challenge. Are you chicken, Syd? Scared I'll beat you?" he teased her in attempt to force a reaction.
She laughed, but still held her ground. Shrugging, she put her hands on her waist and stood firmly. He grinned and started jogging backwards, silently willing her to follow him. Smiling, she began to walk towards him slowly as he turned and began to run.
'Nothing could spoil this moment. Nothing." She whispered to herself blissfully. She was just about ready to pick up the pace and make him eat his words…
When it happened.
She hadn't seen what was coming.
(And maybe that was a good thing.)
But she heard it.
The shot.
And instantly, her world began to collapse.
She knew what had happened.
Her vision began to blur.
Her mind began to freeze.
Her lungs seized up and refused to breathe.
Her knees gave way and she collapsed to the ground in slight convulsions
An ache began to permeate her body from all over.
That ache soon became throbbing pain that progressed quickly into agony… then torture.
She knew what had happened.
Her body was beginning to numb as she heard a voice, jovial at first.
"You do know the whole point is for you to chase me. Syd? Sydney? Where are y- " the query trailed off as he inhaled sharply, "No. No! No, no, no, no, no! Syd!"
He ran towards her, panic evident in his voice. He shifted her lifeless form and held her tightly in his arms.
"No. No. Syd! Don't do this to me Syd! Don't youdo this to me Sydney!"
She could hear the sheer terror in his voice as he began to pound on her chest desperately. All this accomplished was to amplify the pain flowing through her body in place of blood.
Despite her blurred vision, she could plainly see the anguish in those incredible green eyes of his. She glimpsed the tears streaming down his face as he fought furiously to save her.
And it broke her dying heart.
There he was. Trying to save her. She could feel his warm breath as he tried frantically to breathe life back into her limp body. But she knew how this was going to end. She knew she wouldn't make it.
She knew… She knew…
It was too late.
'Michael! Please, Michael, stop! Just stop! I'm so sorry. So sorry. I love you, Michael Vaughn! Always have, always will! I love you!'
She screamed, as loud as she could, the words never making it past her unmoving lips.
But somehow, somehow…her unspoken message got through. He froze. Shaking, he slowly withdrew his hands from her still chest.
His voice broke as he spoke. "I… I love you, Syd. Don't leave me…Don't leave me…"
But she could no longer hear his cries.
No longer feel his tears, resting on her cold cheeks.
The shroud of pain, covering her like a thick fog, began to dissipate.
One, by one, the last remaining flicker of her senses died.
She could see him faintly, the brilliant green of his eyes shining through his tears.
And then, suddenly, everything was black.
-
It was choking, suffocating, overpowering.
It was everywhere.
It threatened to overtake her.
It was black.
She felt as if she was floating through a deep abyss. A void, a chasm, an emptiness from which there was no return. She knew that much.
The thought of spending…well, forever…like this, terrified her more than anything had ever done. She'd rather die- Oh wait. Too late. She would have laughed sarcastically, if she could have.
She could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. The sheer nothingness was too much to handle.
But that wasn't even the worst part.
It dawned on her slowly at first. It crept up on her gradually, until it was an earsplitting scream, echoing throughout her.
The realisation that… this was it. Period.
Her shot at life was over. Gone. Forever. And there was no going back. Her mind raced as it ran through everything she would miss. Places she would never get to go. Things she would never get to do. Gifts she would never get to give. Words she would never get to say.
People she would never get to see.
She would never get married. She would never have children. She would never grow old. She would never wear that white dress. Never wear the gold ring. Never say those magic words, "I do."
Never see him again.
And that was the worst part.
As clichéd as it was, Michael Vaughn had truly completed her. Without him, she was nothing.
She struggled to endure the immense pain as a hollow, deep inside her, opened up and began to expand. It kept getting larger and larger until it became like a black hole, filled with anguish and yearning, that swallowed her up. And out of the void, came a sound. It was just a whisper at first, but slowly it grew to a piercing scream.
It was like a million voices, inside her head, all screaming at her. Except that it was only one voice- hers. The sound overtook her. She winced as her head began to throb, squeezing her eyes shut tight.
Your head starts to hurt, you just close your eyes…
The sound kept growing. Louder and louder.
Her head kept aching. Harder and harder.
The chasm kept burrowing. Deeper and deeper.
And then it stopped.
In the blink of an eye, there was silence again. The pain was gone, and she could feel the fissure inside her filling in- gradually, little by little, like grains of sand in an hourglass. She opened her eyes slowly and suddenly realised she was no longer 'floating'. She could feel solid ground beneath her.
She looked around confusedly, but everything was still dark. Except…except there it was. In the distance. A light.
It was coming towards her, growing ever-brighter. Soon it was so intense, she had to avert her gaze, it was painful to look. All of a sudden, the light was all around her, shining out into the blank horizon.
Overwhelmed, she spun around, trying to find the source of the light, and found herself staring into a pair of green eyes.
In front of her was a face she had stared at often. She knew every mark, every freckle, every scar. Gazing back at her was a man who knew her better than anybody else.
It was him.
Her shock and utter bewilderment were plainly evident in her eyes as he smiled and took her by the hand. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Chuckling, he simply placed his finger on her lips softly. There was no need for speech here. Staring into her brown eyes, he could read her every thought, and vice versa.
"We always find each other."
It was then the realisation set it. No matter what happened from now on, it was going to be alright. They were together again. And they would be forever.
Wrapping his arms around her, he drew their bodies together. And as their lips met, as they kissed, as they became one again; suddenly, it was black.
FIN.