This is the "alternate ending" (at the risk of making it sound like a movie, lol!) to "Requiem", I suggest you read it before reading this!
Try not to hate me too much for this!
"Andrea.." Milton breathed, and he saw her on the ground by the small building, clutching her ankle. It was only a matter of time before they began to shoot that building up. He ran to her, and miraculously dodged each bullet that came his way, even though it took him falling to the ground and crawling at one point. "Get up! you have to get up!" she looked at him with tear-filled eyes, "I can't.. I think it's broken..!" He weighed the situation for a few short moments. If she tried to limp over, she'd be too slow, and she'd get shot. If she stayed.. she was a goner, as well. There was only one option.
He helped her up and threw her over his shoulder.. if he could get her inside of the prison, it was worth the risk.. but unfortunately, she did slow him down.. and he was a prime target for the Governor's men. He heard the gunshots, and he knew it was coming.. his own death. Possibly Andrea's. He regretted his decision immediately to make a run for it.. but there was no going back now.
He placed her on the ground and shielded her with his own body, wrapping his arms around her and burying his head in her hair.. there wasn't enough time to say all of the things he needed to say.. or to do all of the things he had dreamt they would.
It happened before anyone could do anything. The pain was more than any human should bear.. should ever have to know. Somehow he summoned the strength to pull them both to safety.. out of the line of fire.
Andrea's hope was shattered the moment she saw his shirt.. his chest.. and the blood that now covered it. "Oh my god.." she breathed, and he collapsed against the prison wall, clutching at the wound.
He laughed, and couldn't quite understand why it had been so comical. "I guess I didn't need all of that ammo anyway, huh?"
Andrea wouldn't believe it. She couldn't. "You're not going to die.."
"Andrea.. look at me.."
Her eyes reluctantly met his, and something was there. A deep sense of understanding that this was the end.. and that somehow, he was okay with it.
She would be strong.. there would be a time for tears, but it would not be here. He would not see her suffer. He would see no more suffering..
"Come here," she whispered weakly, and he laid his head over in her lap. She held his hand tightly and began to hum an unfamiliar song.. yet it was beautiful. Just as you would expect a last song to be. It would usher in his death.. and there would be nothing left of Milton Mamet.
He closed his eyes and listened to her voice. It was all he needed now... these final moments were all he needed anymore. They would never be enough.. he would want more time.. but he was grateful for this. For her. For the time they had shared.. even if it had to end. Even ending like this..
A single tear fell from his eye and slid down the side of his head.. he opened his eyes to see hers.
"This is the end, you know..." blood lined his mouth, and threatened to fall just as his tear.
He tried to find some final, great meaning in the world around him. Something that would absorb the fear. There was nothing. The truth was that he didn't want to leave her.. the world was a cruel and horrifying place.. but he wanted to be in it so very much, and he wanted to be by her side until the end of his days. He never wanted today to be the end. He raised his hand to touch her cheek softly,
"You will not be here when this is over, will you?"
She shook her head and leaned into his touch.. unable to admit that it would be the last time she felt the warmth of his skin, and the last time she would hear his soft, sweet voice.
He placed his gun into her trembling hands, and placed it under his chin.
"I'm.. not afraid.." he whispered, and his voice shook. Perhaps he could offer a final lie to ease her pain.
"Don't make me do this.."
He smiled and closed his eyes.. somehow, he saw himself in a field of beautiful flowers.. the wind tossing them back and forth ever so gently. He felt the warm sun on his skin, and there was no sense of time. There was no pain... no fear.. only himself, and the warmth. The beautiful warmth of it all. It cut through his clothes, and his skin.. and it touched his very core. His heart, and his soul.. and he felt peace.
This was the end.
With one final look at her face.. he accepted his life.. all of the mistakes.. all of the disappointments.. and all of the triumphs. He accepted it, and he let it go.
She leaned down to kiss his forehead, and she listened to his breathing... the rising of his chest began to slow beneath her fingers.. and a period now existed between each breath he took. A period no words could describe.. but a period that was engulfed in endless sorrow she could not measure.
"Please.." she pleaded with God.. she pleaded with Milton.. with whatever and whoever could hear her...
She couldn't lose him.. not after all they had been through..
The light began to fade in his eyes.. the sparkle she had loved so dearly began to die out.. and his breathing was so faint now, she struggled to hear each exhale. His chest barely moved..
His heart beat one final time before silence took him. Before he found himself walking into the everlasting warmth of the light..
Andrea closed her eyes as she tried to prepared for what would happen next. Yet she couldn't prepare.. no one could.
How could one be ready for what she was about to have to do?
In a matter of a few short moments.. his body began to move once more.. but she knew.. Milton was gone. What lay in her lap now was just a shell.. a cold, empty shell..
This was all that was left of the man she loved.
She couldn't quite feel her hands as she placed her finger on the trigger.. but the trigger was heavier than anything she had ever known.
His eyes opened to reveal emptiness.. there was no spark.. no love in his eyes. A growl erupted from his throat not unlike that from a wild animal..
Time stopped... her heart stopped.. the world stopped spinning...
And with every shred of remaining strength, she pulled the trigger.