Title: Nothin' Satisfies But Your Soul
Spoilers: none
Rating: PG (death)
Summary: It arrives not with a bang, but with a whimper.
It arrives not with a bang, but with a whimper – a thief in the night sweeping over her, empowered by the complete and total blackness of the room. It's sudden. Unexpected, but not unwelcome. Just how she's always imagined it would be. Just how it's supposed to be.
There's no promise of an eternal heaven. Or of an eternal hell. She's never been certain of either, anyway. Her many sins are just that. Sins. Things she done. Things she regrets. They don't hold weight with her anymore.
She's not surrounded by loved ones. Her soul mate isn't beside her, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiles; holding her hand and telling her how much he'll miss her. How much he loves hers. Will always love her. There are no children or grandchildren with tears in their eyes; sad but thankful that her pain will be ending soon.
It is what it is.
She clutched the white bed sheets between fragile and pale fingers, a sharp gasp escaping her lips at the strain. She feels herself growing lighter. Disappearing. Her diamond ring falls against her knuckle, held there only by her unfailing stubbornness to not let it go.
She hears a voice from long ago whispering in her ear, soft and soothing, encouraging her not to be afraid - to let the fear in - to let the fear go. It's a voice she's never forgotten, despite the years separating her from the sound. A voice she always knew she would hear again.
It's warm and gentle, the softest of touches caressing her skin, closing her eyes lovingly as her last breaths become shallower and shallower and her heartbeats grow fainter and fainter.
So I started to count...
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
She lifted her trembling hands and folded them across her stomach, an adoring smile across her lips meant only for him.