"Beyond! Wait! Don't go!"

Beyond didn't flinch nor turn. Sunlight reflected off of his white t-shirt. He continued along, trudging down a path on the edge of the woods – ignoring the entreaties of his best friend.

"B! Beyond Birthday!" A's voice was wavering – not just because he was running and was out of breath, but due to the fact that he was crying as well. Tears welling up in his eyes, swallowing hard; A felt as though he could die.

"Adrienne Adrenaline..." B's voice rolled off of his tongue in an icy manner, "You are going to die..."

"Wha—What? I'm going to... die...?"

"You might as well just continue on with what you've been doing – to both yourself and I."

"W-why?"

"You're just going to end up killing yourself anyway."

"N-no! I'm not. I'll stop, B! Please, don't go!"

"It won't change. Your time is running out."

"No, it's not! B, we're going to grow old together! We'll always... You promised!"

"I am no longer who I was. Anything I may have said in the past, any words I may have spoken or uttered – out of pity – no longer hold true. I am not the person who spoke them. They are irrelevant."

"Please! Beyond... I... I..."

B whirled around, his bloody eyes illuminated fixed murderously in a glare at A. "You what!"

"I lo—"

A began to fall, his desperate grasp, his desperate reach meaningless as he fell into a swirling black abyss.

A tortured shout escaped from A's lips as he ran out of his bedroom, jumping as he woke up from the wretched dream. At the end of the hall, he threw B's door open.

"Bey—" He chocked on his words as he saw B sleeping innocently, silently like a child in his bed. Climbing into bed next to him as to not wake him up, he snuggled up next to B and pressed his nose into the cool skin of Beyond's neck; breathing him in. His sweet, fresh scent. Strawberries...

"Another bad dream?" Beyond breathed.

Adrienne nodded, his nose tickling Beyond's neck – he shivered. "Mhmm..."

"Well you're with me now. So no more nightmares, okay?"

"Kay..." A sighed against B's skin.

"B!" A's eyes flew open. Beyond's arm was slung across A's waist – exactly as it has been when he fell asleep.

One of the slender, graceful hands belonging to A shook his friend's arm gently, "B?"

Beyond Birthday exhaled sharply in his deep sleep.

For the first time, A realized how hushed his voice was – it rasped with each word he spoke. Why?

Last night... he had gone traipsing through the woods, in the freezing cold, when he had been just getting over pneumonia. That's why such a massive migraine was hitting him, like a train.

"Augh..." Adrienne moaned quietly, wishing not to disturb B further – unfortunately he had immediately stirred.

"Hmm... Hey A." Beyond ground slightly, stretching, and sitting up.

A's eyes frowned faintly, wanting B's arm to remain around his waist. "Hey—sorry I woke you."

"Don't be. It's fine."

"Kay..."

"Hey! So why were you so upset last night—this morning?"

"Oh... It wasn't anything. Just me being stupid."

"Come on, just tell me! You were pretty worked up."

"I was... thinking that... about how we um..."

"We?"

"Yah... I sorta... I'm sorta... I..." A buried his face in his hands and continued on mumbling.

"What?"

"I'm in love with you!" A blurted.

B's eyes widened, "I see..."

"..."

"Well that's convenient..."

"Huh?"

"I sort of love you too, A."

"You—"

B crashed his lips down onto A's, and everything else around them melted away.