Chapter Text
A drop of crimson dripped onto the stone, sliding down and staining the jagged crevice with its tenacious grip. Above, its source soaked the dark glove desperate to hold it back; his world crumbled as the blood seeped through his fingers, spreading along the pure white that rose and fell out of sync. Out of time. Each shuddering breath was weaker and more pained than the last. Her face had never looked so pale. Her eyes had never been so dim.
“You can’t leave me like this, Lumine. Please don’t leave me like this,” He begged, muscles tight—holding her close but straining to be gentle. Each subtle shift brought a new pained expression on her face; it took concentrated effort to keep her comfortable. The desire to absorb her pain, to take it into himself and die in her place, was all-consuming. Every beat of his heart called out for hers, an ache like no other eating through his chest and searching for her fading pulse. Sorrow saturated her golden eyes. She wouldn’t make it through the hour. He knew it as well as she did.
“I’ll never leave you, Xiao. We’re meant to be together. I’ll find you again. No matter how many lives we live, I’ll always find you,” she promised, her voice barely a whisper.
“You don’t know that. You can’t possibly know that.”
“I know it. We will meet again. We’ll always find each other, mortal or immortal, in this world or another. You are my soulmate. You will always be my soulmate,” she said, weakly touching his face, bloody fingers staining his skin. The slow drift of her hand made his heart seize, a single tear tracing a path down her cheek as the last of her strength gave out. As the final light faded from her eyes, her lips lifted in a comforting smile—concerned over his suffering even in her last moments. His heart split in two.
“No, no, Lumine,” he murmured frantically, hugging her tighter, trying to hold on to whatever he still could, “No, no, no, please.”
Her final memory was his face begging her to stay. Her lifeless body weighed him down, his overwhelming grief soaking into her shoulder and hair, choking prayers against her neck that some miracle would bring her back to him—that he might feel her heart beat and hear her voice call his name. Even just one more time.
But there was only silence.