Prompt: Goodbye kiss, both characters know they will never see each other again.
Characters: HP (Hot Pants), Diego Brando
Diego was the first to go. His mangled body sleeping soundly between the tracks of the train. His lower half, south to the ocean, and blood inking what was left of his beige trousers and dark jockey leather boots. Still in what was left of his dinosaur body, only half the tail was present, the other segment, caught up in the rail line and mutilated until it was unrecognisable. A large cut to his abdomen united his spilling organs, and tissue, and tears to the soil beneath him. The blond man couldn't bear to shed a tear, but his heart still beat.
Hot Pants was the first to realise what all their efforts had become. The arid desert heat began to take a toll on the pink haired woman, and as she set her vision to look straight ahead, the images looked doubled, some tripled, sometimes she couldn't even describe what her orbs laid upon. There were tall cacti all around her, short dunes as well. The Sun was going down painting the skies hues that ranged from orange to pink as the clouds cleared and the day was set off with a kiss from the stars.
"Diego?" Hot Pants called out, but there was no answer.
"Diego?" She tried again, yet it lead to the same outcome.
As adrenaline kicked off and the feeling of defeat washed over her, finally, Hot Pants understood. Her duty and job with Diego was cut short by the interruption of thirds. First, it was her that was thrown out of the rapidly moving train, second, was her companion, who she hadn't seen from the moment her feet no longer touched the train. Little did she know, Hot Pants would worry for him more than she worried for her own safety and health.
The woman dragged her injured body against the scorching sand of San Diego under the moonlit dusk. Panting, Hot Pants could not find him. Franticly, she crawled and crept amongst the insects and snakes, amongst the short, yellow grass and young green sprouting buds. Yet she could not find the remains of his crippled body.
Overcome by the understanding that Diego might not have been as fortunate as her, the woman struggled to swallow down her still-beating heart. She gulped and blinked a couple of times, refusing to let herself spill. But the harder she withstood the weight of surviving, the harder it became to mop away her tears before new ones crowded her face.
Weeping over the unknown, Hot Pants caught a glimpse of something dawdling amid the pasture. She lifted herself up, praying it would not be a coyote to take away whatever fight was left in her, she made her way towards the sleeping figure. She hoped to God that for one last time, one final time, He would grant her the pleasure of seeing him again.
"Diego." Hot Pants found herself caught up between soft sobs. Her eyes flushed red and sinuses clogged with the glee from seeing him rest soundly amidst the desert sand.
But as she found herself closer to the silhouette of the slumbering man, something did not seem right. Only the bottom half of his body was there to reconnect with the woman, and so, it was as if the seventh gate of Hell opened before her. Her words became jumbled, stumbling over each other like pebbles in an avalanche. She squeezed her eyelids shut in hopes that her sadness would come to an end. Her choppy breathing and watery eyes remained for as long as the Sun needed to set, and she stood there, unmoving, over Diego's ruined body.
"H..." A low mumble rang from behind, reverberating in her ear drums. Hot Pants refused to look back in fear of what she would see. But she did. And it was the sickening, hideous sight she begged God to deprive her of.
Diego dragged his body against the badlands, crawling over stones and bones, a path of blood was the only thing left to tell his journey as whatever willpower he had left to keep going died out the moment he locked eyes with Hot Pants. He got to where he wanted to be. He was done fighting.
Whimpering, she clung to him like a tick. Wrapping her arms around his mangled body, holding his guts in her own hands, desperately trying to breathe life into his empty shell. It felt too early to let him go, too early to forget what they had gone through together, and far too early for their story to end. So in all futile attempt to bring him back, Hot Pants kissed him like she had never before, tears mixed in her saliva with all the unanswered feelings she could never put to words. Diego slept soundly against her chest, hoping that the light at the end of the tunnel held the silhouette of the woman he loved - for there was no afterlife worth living without her embrace.
