[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she knows he’s right: she can’t stay here.

and despite the concept of danger and unnatural existence and her own obligations back home, she wishes she could.

softly, quietly, barely even audible… she breathes life into that line of thinking.

”i wish you could come with me.”

her hand retracts from his as if prolonged contact with him is too painful for her to endure. and in a way, it is.

she turns toward the way they came, eyes struggling to peer through mist.

”we’ll have to go back that way.”

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]for whatever intelligence she manages to cling to, realization and understanding don’t dawn on her. she still isn’t sure this is even real. he could be a figment of her imagination, the final signal into madness she had been waiting for.

and as they keep walking, as they get closer and closer to the giant automaton waiting to add their blood to its collection… she almost takes up his hand again.

almost… she’s so tired of that word. they were almost happy. he almost survived.

”i’m not leaving you.”

not again.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]”no.”

her voice is firm despite the way syllables waver.

emotion contorts the expression, shifting her face into something desparate and pained, something wounded. she wonders if it’s beyond repair.

the ground trembles and groans. the giant golurk is closer. somehow, she can’t see it through the mist. only a foreboding tremor gives its approach away.

and alex is right: she cannot save him. but fuck, she has to try.

”i can. i can do it.”

she continues in a soft, longing whisper to herself.

”i can save you.”

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she knows he’s right and she’s wrong. she understands the concepts of it. he is dead and she is alive.

but she wouldn’t be able to keep going if she didn’t just try. guilt and hope and sadness and longing keep her hand tethered to his. her grip tightens, white knuckles refusing to let go.

”no.”

her eyes are fierce when they turn to his. red meeting familiar green.

”together or not at all.”

and with that, she drags him forward as the golurk begins to creep closer.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]he relents to her in a way that’s nostalgic. as if even in death, he still knows her like the back of his hand.

and as they begin to rush into a sprint, she tenses as the golurk’s heavy feet quicken as well.

a race against time is not any race she wants to be part of under normal circumstances. and with so much to lose again, she feels anxiety lurching her heart up into her throat.

the opportunity to say goodbye comes suddenly as the very edge of the border comes into view.

and despite herself, she tightens her grip until she’s certain it’d bruise if he weren’t already dead. she drags him until there’s nowhere left to go but out…

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the other side greets her and the familiar winds of hoenn rummage through her hair.

and she expects a coldness to envelope her hand, to remind her of what -- no, who -- she's left behind in the border.

somehow, it never comes.

he says her voice, then, and she whips around with such a force she almost topples herself over. he's...

in front of her. on the other side. here. whole. breathing.

and suddenly she can't seem to get enough air into her lungs. her chest heaves as his hand squeezes actual living warmth into hers and she looks like everything she has ever known isn't real anymore.

"i --"

her knees wobble until they give out and she's crumpling into the dirt with a sob, free hand flying up in an attempt to cover her face as she dissolves into tears. the hand he holds, the hand tethering him to her, refuses to let go out of fear that if she does, he might just disappear.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she saved him. he is alive, whole, breathing… and it’s all because of her.

she fears the price this will cost her. what will she lose for his return to the living?

and his thumb brushing against her cheek wipes worries from the mind as easily as the tears clinging to her skin.

”i didn’t kn— how?”

syllables break apart, pried open by thick emotion and tears.

she crumples forward into herself, shrinking and sinking further into this feeling of relief, guilt, and anxiety all coiled up into one.

and she doesn’t say it but she knows: he was there because of her.

ALEXANDER STONE