Days, months, years passed fairly quickly. Yet your body remained youthful, skin flawless, with no signs of aging. Only the knowledge, learnt over time, allowed people to make assumptions about your experience in this world.

Seems like the same cannot be said about everyone.

Zandik had long since lost his battle against the effects of time. No magical elixir had granted him the satisfaction of preventing his age from catching up to him. Gray, split hair, aching muscles, sore knees, unpreventable wrinkles all across the body from head to toe. He really was becoming old.

Dottore never was a good man. He was quite selfish, in fact, and many would describe as *evil*. But that, under no circumstances, stopped you from establishing a connection with him.

Were you friends? No, you wouldn't say that. Were you enemies? No, not most of the time atleast. Were you lovers? No, not lovers...

Then what were you?

"Well, what did you come here for?" He asked.

"Youre still working?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, but shouldn't you be resting?"

Some silence followed after as he lifted his head from the documents.

"Is that really all you see me as now? Someone incapable of taking care of myself just because of my body. If so, don't bother to pity me, I do not need it."

"That is not it and you know it. Stop driving yourself to an early grave."

"My time left here is quite limited. I will not waste it by loafing around, my experiments shall be finished." He stood up from his seat. "The concept of me dying seems to affect you in some kind of way. It is rather interesting, really. Would it be safe to make the assumption that there is a part of you that cares?"

His body now stood a few steps away from you. Tall, confident, but not as much as years ago. No, not anymore.

You kept quiet. Not because you did not care. You did. But it felt somewhat pathetic to admit it to a man who was constantly preoccupied with his work and had no care in the world for others.

"..Maybe." Your voice came out faint.

The touch of a rough, yet gentle hand on your head pulled you out of your thoughs as your forehead hit his chest.

"It is indeed disappointing that our time together is cut short by such a fragile thing as my mortality. Alas, do not fret. Do not take my distance as an answer - although it is too late for me, I merely do not want you to get attached, as it would only be a bother. Even if I wish things were different, it seems that my fate cannot be changed. Accept it, Y/n"

Were you friends? Lovers? Worse. You did not know. But what was known, was that moments like these- quiet, careful, truthful- they were what you cherished. And maybe, maybe it was still possible to save them, even if it seemed impossible.

*⁠･⁠゜ﾟ⁠(⁠^⁠O⁠^⁠)⁠↝*⁠･⁠゜ﾟ⁠(⁠^⁠O⁠^⁠)⁠↝*⁠･⁠゜ﾟ⁠(⁠^⁠O⁠^⁠)⁠↝*⁠･