It's all because of you

-Him-

The wind whipped large snowflakes into his face. He was only about a kilometer away from where he set up his base camp, but the weather had turned and was making the journey slow and dangerous. This was not the worst storm he'd been stuck in, but he hadn't endured anything like this in years. He checked his compass again and verified that he was indeed going the right direction. He had just secured the compass in the right pocket of his parka when he saw her.

She was just standing there in the snow a few meters in front of him. Her eyes pierced him. He would know them anywhere. They were a deep, brilliant, auburn brown just like the amber pendent that hung from her neck. Her long dark hair swirled around her beautiful face. A gauzy dress whirled around her, covered in and surrounded by white. She was angelic.

His first instinct was to reach out to her, keep her warm, protect her. The thought came to him suddenly that maybe the person he should be worrying about was himself. What if she really was an angel and she had come to him in the hour of his death? In all his travels, in all his nearly fatal moments, he had never seen anything like this. Even when he was injured so badly in Sri Lanka that he spent months in hospital he didn't have mystical visions.

Her eyes glowed with unshed tears. The sight of it ripped into him. He was rooted to the spot, knee deep in snow, as she continued silently staring at him. He had become accustomed to the hollowness in his chest, knowing he left his heart back in a little mahalle in Istanbul. She was his heart, his bright side of the moon, his angel. When he left weeks ago, he did so without breaking down, without a backward glance. Now he couldn't break her gaze, couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. He failed her, he broke all his promises, he broke her heart. The pain settled in the ragged gash where she used to be.

Why was this happening to him now? Not a week ago when he nearly ran out of rations, not three weeks ago before he left Istanbul. He managed to really look at her through the veil of his tears. She was in pain, she was afraid. She needed him. When he saw the amber of her necklace glow brighter than her eyes he knew. He had to find her.