Chapter Text
JUNE
The walls echo with each step I take…
The air is so heavy it gets hard to breathe…
I dread what I know what I’m about to see…
Tess…
The walls off the tomb are monotone and gray, I chuckle, as if I was expecting anything else, this is a place that holds the dead, why would it be anything but gloomy? Blood still stains my shirt, same as my dagger, it doesn't matter to clean them now. I'll be with her soon enough for me to care about my appearance.
I hold a vial of poison in my other hand.
My savior, my ticket to see her face light up again, my key to wrap my arms around her and to never let go again…
I soon find her casket, sitting alone in the middle of the room. It sits on a small staircase, up to where the cold, stone box resides…
“I hope she’s comfortable…” I think to myself, trying to ease the anguish I feel staring at the casket…
I begin to lift the cover off, straining myself as I do so, finally, it falls off with a loud THUD!
I look into her shut eyes, she looks so peaceful. I see a small smile on her face, her eyes shut just barely, as if she could wake up any moment, but she won’t… she never will again.
Her hair seems to glow in the dark room, I find myself running my fingers through the reddish hair. It's so soft, so… perfect, tears begin to run down my face, I hold back the choked sob in my throat.
I open the bottle of poison, the pungent smell hits my nose, causing me to turn away from it and gag. I don’t know how I'm going to keep it down, but I'll do it for her…
I'll do it for Tess…
I press my forehead to her cold corpse, I could almost swear I could feel a faint body heat come off of her, but I shake my head of the thought, it’s impossible, improbable, she’s gone.
“I’m sorry…” I whisper, “I’m sorry I couldn't protect you, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this…”
Before I can think about it I drink the poison in one gulp, it tastes terrible, I hold back the urge to throw up.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be better for you, I'm sorry I couldn’t love you the way you so desperately needed to be loved!” I press a kiss to her lips as my body begins to weaken, as my eyes begin to blur.
“I…I love you…” I whisper before the darkness takes me over, before I fall into a swiveling black void…
TESS
I stir slowly from the long rest, my stomach immediately aches from hunger, my limbs are stiff and asleep… I smile, I know where I am, where I must be, outside of the Republic, in a house June bought, I must be laying in her bed, waiting for me to wake up…
But as I come to my senses, I’m in a dark place, the soft bed I thought I was laying on is cold stone. I sit up and look around, I'm, still in the tomb? But how? Why? June should have whisked my body away days ago-
June… I look down my casket and see her body rolled on the floor. I don’t waste a moment to jump out despite the pain in my legs. I rationalize what I’m seeing in my mind, she's just asleep, it must have been a long journey, I just have to wake her up…
“June… Come on, wake up, silly goose.” I smile and shake her, my body is trembling however, deep down, I know what this is, but I refuse to accept it… I can’t yet…
It sinks in more as I see shattered glass on the floor, I fully grab her shoulders and shake her more firmly “Come on June! Time to wake up now! Come on! We have to go!” Nothing…
Tears stream down my face, the trauma fills my heart, I check for a pulse…
No pulse…
I check for breathing…
Not a single breath…
I begin to violently shake “NO! NO PLEASE! PLEASE NOT NOW! WE’RE SO CLOSE!” I screech as I cling to her body, pressing kisses everywhere I can reach, she's warm… this was recent…
I hug her tight, experiencing every stage of grief 1000 times over in that moment. Voices begin to echo through the tomb… people are here… My jaw clenthes…
I don’t want to see them, I don’t want to see ANYONE except her… I look around and see June's dagger, I quickly pick it up, I don’t think, I don’t hesitate, all I can feel is this aching need for death…
I press it towards my chest, feeling the sharp edge…
“O, happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.” I say in a surprisingly calm tone.
The words feel rehearsed on my tongue, like I’m repeating words that have been said hundreds of times across billions of universes past our own.
I immediately impale myself on the knife, again, and again, and again. Over and over until I feel the blood pouring out of my wound in fast gushes.
I collapse next to June, staring into her eyes just one last time, before the void takes me once more.