Author's Note: I do not own "Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep" by Mary Elizabeth Frye or "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. Both poems are property of their respective authors. I just had the idea to use them. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Either, but you already knew that.

Pegasus sat at the bedside of his beloved wife, holding her pale hand in his own. Her skin was almost translucent, devoid of the once rose-petal color that had once colored her cheeks. Her figure had been fuller as early as two weeks ago, but now her body was thinner and her fingers more bony. The white walls and floors of the room coupled with the unmistakable odor of a hospital were oppressive to him, and he couldn't help the slight annoyance that it brought him. But he ignored this feeling as he squeezed the hand of his beautiful wife, unable to control the tears that were sliding down his cheeks. One landed on Cecelia's hand, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Maximillion?" She breathed almost too quietly for him to hear. Pegasus jerked his head up as the sound of his name.

"Cecelia. I'm sorry, my love. Did I wake you?"

"Of course not." She said, smiling softly. She reached up weakly to wipe the tears from his face. "Please don't cry for me, darling. I don't want you to mourn me while I'm still alive."

"Yes... Yes of course..." He said, trying to smile for her. But Cecelia was not fooled. Her husband was already grieving for her. She could see it in his eyes. He was already wallowing in his own sorrow. She didn't want him to feel that way. "Can I get you anything?" He asked, distracting her from her thoughts.

"No. All I want is you beside me, my dearest."

He smiled a true, genuine smile, and gave her hand a squeeze. "I'll always be by your side, through whatever life throws at you." He refused to acknowledge that this was the end. He feared If he spoke about it it would become real. She smiled at him, but even that sapped her energy away. Pegasus could see that she was weakening and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She smiled and stroked his cheek, but could see the terror in his eyes.

"Fear not, my love. Not even death can part us. Our love will span space and time. It cannot be broken apart, I promise you that."

Her words did little to ease the fear that settled in the pit of his stomach. "Please don't talk like that, my darling. I couldn't bear to imagine my world without you in it."

"I know that, mon chère. But the world is preparing to do just that, and you need to know that I'm not going anywhere no matter what happens to me. I'll always be in your heart." She promised. "Let's just make the most of our time together, alright?." He nodded in agreement. She patted her bed. "Come lay with me."

On any other occasion he would have gladly obliged her, but now he faltered. She just looked so fragile. "I don't want to hurt you." He whispered.

She tucked a lock of hair behind his ear affectionately. "I won't break." She said, sensing his thoughts. She moved to make room for him and he laid beside her, wrapping his arms around her middle. He kissed her sweetly on the neck. "Do you remember the first time we laid like this?" She asked. He smiled.

"How could I forget?" Their wedding night a few weeks ago was the best night of his life. When they had finally made love after years of waiting, it had been the most exhilarating experience he had ever known. He felt a bitterness enter his heart at the idea that he didn't have more time with her. But he pushed the thought aside. He had to live in the present now, or he would regret it later if he didn't give his beloved his every thought. He heard her sigh softly.

"Oh Maximillion, I love you so much."

Hearing those words made his throat close up.

"I love you too."

They laid there for a while, talking occasionally, but mostly laying in quiet. He wanted to talk to her, but felt fearful that somehow it might hurt her. Instead he listened to the sound of her breathing and counted every breath she took. It made him wince when her breathing grew labored. He only left her side once and that was to use the restroom. When he came back she was fast asleep.

He sat beside her once more, studying her features and occasionally glancing out a nearby window. He saw the blackness that told him it was the dead of night. There was frost on the window, signaling that the city was in the throes of winter. It was further confirmed by the barren tree branch that kept rapping on the window. It all seemed to amplify the coldness he felt on the inside as Cecelia's life force was being drained. He could feel the end of his beloved's life approaching far too quickly. They had barely begun their lives together, and now her thread of life was about to be cut short by the fates. The stark terror inside of him festered as he watched over her. He knew his time with her was almost over, and it broke his heart in the worst possible way. He took her hand again before Falling asleep himself.

Cecelia awoke a few hours later to see Pegasus sleeping at her bedside. His face looked peaceful for a change, instead of distressed as it had been the past few days, and that made her smile. She loved him so much. He was everything to her. She was grateful that although their life together was about to be cut short that she had gotten what she could from it. She was also happy that she was the sick one instead of him. The thought made her wonder what she would have done if the roles had been reversed. The answer came to her immediately: exactly what Maximillion was doing for her.

Although they were only seventeen, both of them came from money, and had paid for every possible treatment available- even the unorthodox ones. But it was all in vain, and she had known that from the get go, even without the doctor's diagnosis. But still her beloved husband pressed on, refusing to give up on her. She found the sentiment touching, but the treatments exhausting. Eventually she asked him to stop looking for answers and just spend time together while they still had the chance, and, wanting to please her, he had agreed. That was what had brought her to this very hospital room, where she was destined to live out the end of her days.

She ran her fingers through his silken silver hair, trying to memorize the feeling of it between her fingers. She didn't want to miss a detail for fear of forgetting these small but important things about him after she passed on. She had to believe that someday they would find a way back to each other, but until then all she would have were her memories. She felt her chest growing tighter and knew that her time was almost up.

"Maximillion." She whispered. He was awake instantly and knelt by her side.

"What is it, my darling?"

"Our time together is coming to a close. So take these," she said, handing him several folded up pieces of paper, "and know that no matter what happens my heart will always be with you."

"Cecelia my love, please don't leave me yet. I cannot live in a world where you don't exist. Please stay with me." He begged. Her breathing became labored.

"I'll try."

It was in that moment as he saw the pain written all over her face that he realized how selfish he was being. She was in pain and only hanging on by a thread for him. Hadn't he vowed to stop her pain and take it away instead of causing it? He knew that this was the true test of his love, and knew that if he truly loved her he had to let her go.

"Cecelia, it's alright." He whispered. "I give you my permission to let go. Please let go and end your suffering."

She smiled at him one last time. "I love you so much my Maximillion." She said, before her eyes shut for the last time. When her hand went limp in his own, that's when he knew she was gone. A few seconds later the shock wore off and grief took over as desperate sobs wracked his body. He clutched his wife to his chest as he cried into her blonde hair. His Cecelia was gone, and there was no way to bring her back.

The doctors at the hospital let him be for the most part. The only time they interrupted him was to give him suggestions for funeral homes. He took the cards without looking at them. He couldn't tear his eyes away from his beloved. He had to spend these last minutes with her before they took her away. He kissed her one last time before he followed the men who were removing her body from the room.

Pegasus spared no expense when it came to her funeral. He made sure that only the best mortician in the world would touch his sweet Cecelia. As they prepared her body for the funeral, he was faced with several decisions that he didn't think he would have to make until he was at least sixty when his parents might have passed on. But there he was, seventeen years old and planning a funeral for his darling wife. He chose a light purple casket with matching satin lining on the inside. It was her favorite color, after all. He chose every flower that she would be buried with by hand. Her favorite flowers were roses, so he surrounded her with roses of every color. But the hardest part for him by far was choosing what outfit she would be buried in. It took him a long time, but after hours upon hours of debate, he chose her long sleeved purple gown and matching shoes- the very one he had her wear when he had painted her a summer ago. He made sure she was wearing her wedding ring and favorite necklace before he told the coroner that she had everything he wanted her to have on.

The funeral itself was a week later, on a rainy Monday morning at the church where they had said their vows not even a month before. The priest himself was very solemn as he spoke of Cecelia's life. His eyes often flickered to her widow who sat in the front row. Scores of people had shown up for the affair, all making a glob of black clothing with occasional pops of color that came with people's skin tone. But the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. When the preacher finished speaking, he invited Pegasus up to the pulpit to speak. He made his way up the altar and looked out into a sea of faces- some familiar, some never seen, but all united by knowing his beautiful wife. He took in a deep breath, counted to three, and began talking.

"Hello everyone. I saw many of you at my wedding a few weeks ago, and want to thank you all for coming to celebrate the life of my beautiful wife Cecelia. I know that she would be touched by your presence here today, just as I am now.

I met my wife at a party thrown by my father at his country estate when we were children, but from the moment I laid eyes on her I knew I was in love. We were best friends as children, doing anything and everything together. As I grew older and she did too, we started to become more than friends. She inspired me so much that I began to paint, and she was always my favorite subject." He said, gesturing to the portrait that stood on an easel beside her casket. "Every second we spent together made me even more certain that we would have a future together. So I proposed to her one evening after a lavish dinner at a restaurant as we walked through a botanical garden together. Roses were always her favorite flower, so I put the ring around the stem, and was overjoyed when she agreed to become my wife. Our wedding day a few short weeks ago was the happiest day of my life. There was nothing more joyous to me than to finally be able to call the woman I adored for years my wife. It meant everything to me. Unfortunately, she got sick a few days after we married. I tried every treatment imaginable, but it was of no use. Looking back on it now I think Cecelia knew that nothing could be done to save her. Her quiet acceptance of death is something I will never understand. But I got to spend all my time with her during the last days of her life, and for that I am truly grateful. We never spoke of what she wanted for a funeral. I don't think that ever concerned her- she knew that I would know and carry out her wishes. She was more concerned with what would become of me after she was gone. So the day she died she gave me several letters that she had written herself. One of them contained one of her favorite poems by Mary Elizabeth Frye, and I would like to share that with you all now:

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there; I did not die.

My Cecelia may have passed away, but her spirit is alive and well. She lives on in the lives of those she touched, and will always have the most sacred of places in my heart. Someday I know I will be reunited with my love, but until then I will carry on in her name. If I learned anything from my short time with her, it's that life is worth fighting for. So in memory of my love, I press on with my life. Thank you all for coming today. On behalf of the both of us, we appreciate your support."

Pegasus stepped down from the pulpit, and left the altar, only stopping to pause by the casket of his bride.

"Goodbye my darling. I shall never forget you." He blew her a kiss before taking his seat. The priest wrapped up the service, and everyone climbed into limousines to go to the cemetery. The rain that had been pouring down earlier had mysteriously cleared, and the sun was now out in full force. Pegasus arrived first and stood at the site of his bride's final resting place. He held a single red rose in his hand. As the crowd trickled in, they finished gathering around the hole in the ground. Pegasus stepped forward and placed his rose on top of her coffin, tears leaking onto the purple outside. As he watched the love of his life being lowered into the ground, he listened to the priest as he read a poem by Edgar Allan Poe that he himself had requested to be recited to his wife.

"was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The priest allowed Pegasus to be the first one to put a shovel full of dirt into her grave. He then watched as the shovel was passed from person to person, each being allowed to say goodbye to Cecelia in their own way. And when the service had ended and the crowd had long since parted, he stood beside the tombstone and thought of the words Cecelia wrote to him in one of the many letters she'd left to him for almost any and every occasion.

My Dearest Maximillion,
I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now as you prepare to say goodbye to me. But you mustn't be afraid, my darling. For I shall be with you long after my earthly body has been laid in the ground. My love remains with you every day, as you grow and change. I shall always be there to love and support you through anything. I will always be watching over you from heaven. And someday we will meet again. Until then, keep following your dreams. Make me proud of you. And on days when you miss me so much you're overwhelmed by grief, read these letters and I'll be there. Remember: those who love you never truly leave you, and I am no exception. Keep moving forward with your life, and know that I'll always be there. I promise.

All My Love,
Cecelia

Pegasus leaned down and kissed the headstone of his sweet bride.

"Farewell my darling. Someday we will be together again. I promise."