She smiled faintly as a red flower blossomed
on her chest and the metallic taste of blood
crept into her mouth. She had finally
managed to save him: in the end, she had
accomplished her task. She fell into his arms
the way she had dreamed so many times, but
in her dreams his tears did not fall so
copiously.
She brought her hand to his
face: she stroked his cheek, looking at him as
the first time they had met, on her face an
expression halfway between a mocking
person and the transparency of an innocent
soul.
And he, he looked at her in a way that
justified her sacrifice: the world could have
collapsed in flames and he would still have
eyes only for her. Around them chaos
mingled with the cool night wind, and if she
turned her attention to the sky she could see
millions of stars winking at her pain. Soon,
she would join them.
"I don't understand." His voice was cracked
by the smoke around them and the lump in his
throat. "It can't end like this. It can't end like this, it
doesn't have to end like this. God, we haven'
even started.."
Small dots crowded her view,
but she ignored them. He was holding her,
finally, and for a second she too believed that
by such a hold not even fate could tear her
away from him. But she didn't have the power
to stay.
"That's okay."
She dropped her hand,
scared to look away from him, from his face
ravaged by pain.
"It had to go like this. This world still needs
you, while I ... I will wait for you in the next
one." His tears wet her face.
"It's not fair" He, who had always been so severe and
rigorous, so sure of the judgment of
providence, now complained about the
decision of fate. She laughed, and her
crystalline laugh seemed to shatter him.
"Hey, it's not that bad." she whispered, her voice cracked. She hated the trouble of
goodbyes. She felt tired, so tired. She hoped in some form of forgiveness for her weaknesses. Her sight clouded more and more, the stars
brighter and brighter. "I love you," he
whispered, his hands shaking.
"I wish I could have loved you more" she replied "I wish I had
more time ."
She gave him her last, bright
smile' ... maybe, we will be luckier in the next
life." She hadn't had time to see her life flow
before her eyes.
she let herself slip away, as
if dragged by a rushing current, their hands
holding each other. She knew, in the chill of
death, that she would come to find him in
dreams, in the glow of the same stars that had
dragged her away from him.
