Swordchick: …I should have killed Nino…
Legault: Can't you be a little more somber? You just killed a vital character.
Swordchick: grumbles Fine. I'll write a sappy chapter:
I watch her fall, fall towards the earth, pale as death itself. I run to her, trying to get to her, calling out her name. Does she hear me? I don't know. All I see is her, falling, blood flowing from her wound.
Is this for real? I can't tell. Everything seems like a dream. I seem to move slowly, while she faster than ever. I have to reach her…
I catch her before she hits the ground. Carrying her behind the trees, I set her down on the soft grass. "No," I say. "No, please…"
She opens her eyes and looks at me. I feel sadness build up inside of me, but I try to push it back down. It is overpowering.
"I'm sorry…" she murmurs. "I was too weak…"
"No…" I say, my face twisted with emotions that I can't hide, although I try. All of my training is lost in this one moment, this one painful, heart-breaking moment. I feel all the emotions that I should have felt for so many long years. Endless, dark, emotionless years.
"No…" I say again. No. You are not weak. No. You don't have to be sorry. No…. It can't end this way.
She smiles gently. "I am sorry. There are so many things I should have thought…said…done…."
Behind us the battle rages. But in our shelter behind the trees, there is a tranquil silence. A sad, mourning silence.
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I should have told you sooner…. You know that my wedding has been arranged, that I am to marry a prince. But since the other day… I knew I could not. I would not. I couldn't…." She looks back up at me, "…knowing you were still out there."
Our gazes meet for a moment, before I turn my face towards the ground, eyes closed. My face is shadowed by my cloak.
"I'm sorry…Ive…" I say in a low voice. Ive. It sounds foreign on my tongue. Always she has been princess or my lady, but now that I finally speak her name, it sends a new feeling through me. I say it again. I like how it sounds.
If only I could have said what I felt. If only I can say it now. But the words will not form. They just hang in the air, unsaid, unknown, but felt. That one word is in the air, surrounding us. It is not spoken, but it is still there.
I look up and see her smile. Pain builds up inside of me. If only if I had been faster…stronger…. But I was too weak…. Too weak to save her….
The next thing I know her lips are to mine. I feel the kiss, but am too stunned to react. I do not know how to respond. Never before have I felt this. This experience, this emotion.
The experience is new, but it is welcome.
After a moment, I kiss her back. A feeling spreads through me that I never knew existed, never knew I would feel. For a moment I forget everything. There is only her. Only the feeling that spreads through me. Only the one word that hangs in the air, unsaid, but cherished.
She falls back, a weak smile on her face. "Thank you…for everything…" she says quietly. "I'm sorry."
I hold her against me, a warm embrace. I can't face it…not what is going to happen…what has to happen….
"I love you," she murmurs.
The word is spoken. The feeling in the air is multiplied, overpowering us both. Time slows. There is nothing…. Nothing but the feeling around us.
I open my mouth to speak, but the words get caught in my throat. I close my eyes and try again, but they do not come. I am overcome by emotion, unable to do anything but be absorbed by feeling and thoughts.
She smiles warmly and looks at me with her bright green eyes. They shine like emeralds, beautiful and stunning. "I know," she says, knowing I can't find the words to express how I feel. I cannot find the words to tell her that I feel the same. But still, she understands.
Then she lets out a slow, shaky sigh, her eyes close, and they don't open again.
Only then can I squeeze my eyes shut, now filled with tears that I fight to keep from flowing. Only then can I hold her tight, her fragile frame against my muscular form. Only then can I say, so quiet it is almost lost.
"…I love you."