Rest at Last (Closing)
Ripping his hook from the other splicer's flesh, Michal stepped back and gripped his side. His breaths were labored, each one rattling as blood seeped into his lung. But he couldn't rest; not yet, not until he was with her! Turning his head, the masked man vanished, reappearing a few yards away before vanishing once again in a puff of red ashes.
After a half-hour of travel, he found her, his beloved heroine, asleep amidst the covers. Wilted rose petals gilded the sheets around her as light shimmered off the silk blanket the covered her body. She hadn't awoken yet since he'd found her in Fort Frolic and her neck was still bruised from where the rope had chafed her. But even though her skin had paled considerably and she hadn't eaten the meals he brought her, he could tell from her new blue lip stain that she'd been awake at least once during his time away. Slowly the splicer approached her, a look akin to reverence in his dulling hazel eyes.
"Oh, my heroine," he whispered, his breaths rasping in his chest, "my beloved heroine."
As he spoke, a sudden fit of coughing took him, causing him to stop and cover his mouth until it subsided. Tendrils of blood stuck to his fingers as he lowered his hand, and approached the bed. Gently, he set himself down and kissed his Heroine's cold stiff cheek. Darkness clouded his vision as he rested his his head beside hers and draped his arm across her belly. She was so beautiful, but how then could she be cold - so stiff to his touch? Were her nightmares of Cohen so steep that even his comforting presence couldn't reach her?
"Shhh," he whispered, petting her ebony tresses, "it's alright my darling. I'm here now. The wild rabbit won't hurt you any more."
The man's vision blurred and he began to feel a chilling heaviness in his limbs.
'A.... minor discomfort..... compared... to my Heroine's,' Michal thought and continued to comfort his beloved, seemingly unaware of the bloodstain seeping from his shirt and blossoming onto the bed. His mind began to drift and moment by moment, it began to be harder to form a cohesive thought. The pain in his chest spiked as he coughed and gasped, the bed creaking beneath him. He closed his eyes and covered his mouth, tiny streams of blood leaking down his hand. He wheezed and gasped, trying to get air into his lungs, but all that seemed to come was the sound of his own dying breaths.
"B-be....ron...i....ka...." he hissed, struggling to remain conscious. Carefully, he cupped his shaking hand around the cheek and opened his mouth to say something more when the light disappeared from his eyes.
Blood seeped into the bed as the body cooled, matching the feel of it's partner, while sheets beneath them were stained with the same color as the rose petals that surrounded them.
