Work Text:
They were so in love. It was the kind of love everyone dreamed of having. It was passionate and fiery but at the same time also sweet and tender. There was no explaination other than they made for each other.
Except… she was immortal.
Forever suspended in youthful beauty, she watched him grow old. Her love for him never waivered but his trust in her loyalty did, as eternal beauty comes with eternal interest from shallow men. Why would she stay faithful when he had become wrinkled and frail while she remained as stunning and graceful as the day they met? How could she still love him when she could have anyone she wanted? It was the root of many an argument which she always soothed with the beautiful truth, that her heart had made its decision and she would love him for the rest of their lives.
There came a time when he found he could not get out of bed anymore, but she was there to fluff his pillows and bring him trays of food. She would sit in the chair next to the bed and waste the day away in his company, and when the sun crept below the horizon, she would join him in bed, drifting off with her head resting on his chest. And he'd wonder what he'd done for the Gods to have blessed him so.
And, one day, he didn’t wake up. She’d known it before she’d even opened her eyes. She’d felt the absence of his life and didn’t bother to get up that day. She just clung to his corpse, as if she could bring warmth back to it, as if her tears could wash away death.
That night, she’d buried him under the moonlight, in the spot where they’d first met so many years ago. She sang a sorrowful dirge in her native tongue, the black skirts of her mourning dress flowing in the cool night breeze as she shovelled dirt over the handmade coffin that she’d built herself. Into the wood of the coffin, she had scratched every loving word he’d ever said to her and her singing waivered only when she could no longer see them under the soil. On his headstone, underneath his name, lay the words, “taken too soon.”
But even in this dark hour, after having lost the most important person to her, she wasn’t alone. He watched from the shadows. You know who I’m talking about. Him. The only other immortal she knew and he’d fallen head over heels in love with her centuries ago.
He’d never understood why she always fell for the fragile humans. The fickle mortals would always break her heart... and he’d always be waiting to pick up the pieces. Though this latest lover of hers had managed to go the distance and still hurt her. By dying, of all things.
Perhaps now she would realise that it’s about time she had a relationship that could go untouched by the cruelty of time. With a solemn face, he slinks over to her and places a comforting hand on her shoulder and she turns to bury her face into his chest. His arms wrap around her, a small unseen smile turning his lips as he draws her close and strokes her hair.
The ghost of her beloved watched in helplessness as he haunted her footsteps, waiting to be reunited with a woman he conflictingly wished would live forever.