Eve was again distracted by the man walking next to her. This time it wasn't the way his muscles seemed to move under his clothing or the smell of well worn books that emanated off of him that had her caught up in his presence. Instead, the way he was moving and acting reminded her of watching an injured animal die before her eyes.

Suddenly, Moriarty stumbled over what seemed to be air and Eve grabbed his arm to steady him without thinking.

"Duchess, I assure you that I am in peak condition," the fictional tried to reassure her, but there was something about the way he winced the moment he arm wrapped around him that only reaffirmed her previous concerns.

"You and I clearly have very different definitions of peak physical condition." Although she'd intended to try to tease him, it was hard to find even the vaguest notion of humor in watching the man she was in love with waste away before her eyes. Instead, all she could add was "we need to get you back to the annex right now."

Moriarty shook his head almost sadly in response. "I refuse to have your team's chances of success ruined by such petty concerns."

It took all of Eve's energy not to want to scream at the fictional for his own stubbornness, but then another even more troubling symptom popped up and she found herself unable to keep silent. A black viscous liquid had began to leak from the fictional's eyes. It was almost reminiscent of one of the so called "crying" statues of the Virgin Mary, but there was nothing miraculous about what was going on.

"James, we are taking you back to the annex right now!"

There was enough force in her voice that Flynn stopped several feet ahead of them and began to turn around. "We are absolutely not going back to the annex not when we're this close to stopping Pros-" the librarian stopped mid-word. "That...that is not normal. There's ink leaking from your eyes! Why is there ink leaking from his eyes? You really do need to go back to the annex."

"Prospero is counting on my death being enough of a distraction that he will be able to escape while your librarians are trying to prevent it. I fear it is only fate that my time in your world is nearly complete. The only way that Prospero can be defeated is by ignoring my state and continuing with your mission." Almost as if he'd been planning to add a more dramatic effect to his own argument, seconds after the final word left his mouth Moriarty slumped forward causing Eve to nearly lose her own footing.

By now the other librarians had turned to look at the scene that had just played out.

"We can't just let him die." Cassandra stated looking almost sympathetic.

Even Flynn seemed to have decided to take a one hundred and eighty degree turn on his opinion of the fictional. "Eve, you have to take Moriarty back to the annex."

xxx

This wouldn't be the first time Eve had wished she could be in two places at once, but it was certainly one of the more critical ones. Right now her librarians were out in London chasing after Prospero, and she was back in the annex watching the man she'd considered spending her life with wilting away slowly. Moriarty hadn't regained consciousness since the point when he'd passed out and now Eve was sure he never would.

If the book Jenkins had found was any indication, the only way to save Moriarty was by building some kind of tether that would anchor his soul to the world of reality. However, the only lead Jenkins had on how to do so was an artifact that he believed was hiding on a back shelf of the library. However, even this wasn't guaranteed to work.

As soon as Jenkins had left the room to search for the artifact Eve found herself beginning to pace the length of the annex. The moment she reached the center of the room she made the mistake of looking at Moriarty. The library had mysteriously hidden all of Jenkins' cots so instead the fictional was lying on a makeshift bed made from a combination of all the blankets in the annex. In the middle of the colorful mass of blankets was the fictional looking so much like a corpse that Eve felt a lump form in her throat.

As a soldier she'd seen her share of deaths, some of them only half the age that Moriarty appeared in his human form but the feelings she'd felt for those men and women had been far different than what she felt for Moriarty. Trying to steel back the tears that threatened to fall she crossed the room to where he was lying, half expecting to find him cold and stiff or worse yet to disintegrate at her touch. Instead, when she touched his skin it was almost like putting her hand to a lit furnace.

Ignoring the unnatural heat emanating from his body Eve finally allowed herself to cry as she stroked the fictional's hair. "I know you think the only way for the librarians to stop Prospero is for you to die, but there's always another way. Please, if you know how to save yourself give me some kind of sign."

All I can say about the painful emotions I inflicted this chapter is there's a cameo next chapter that might make it worth it.