DISCLAIMER: Pfft. Do I look like Evil Incarnate to you? Just kidding.
TIMELINE: Futurefic
SPOILERS: None
SYNOPSIS: A final conversation between the two people remaining at the end of time
DISTRIBUTION: just ask and I'd be delighted.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: A very early fic that I wanted to send out.
FEEDBACK: Lovely. ;-)
RATING: None needed.

It was raining. Shimmering drops fell from the black sky, not a single star visible. She had been standing there for a long time, waiting. And then, silently, he arrived.

Her lips would have quirked up into a smile long ago, however this was not the place, she simply accepted his presence and said softly, "You think knowing made it any easier?"

"No. But I'd still want to know."

"Still wanting, huh? I gave up on that a long time ago. I can't remember how to feel anymore." A pause held the two as the soft breeze, heightened by the faint drizzle, swept across their motionless forms. "Don't you have a snappy comeback?"

"That used to be in your arena. But nothing's the same, is it? Just empty. Cold."

"It's easier."

"I never said that."

"But I just did. I try to remember, but I forgot most of it. I always forget. Do you remember dying? Remember the sweet lull of death?"

"It was warm."

"No pain."

"Almost like now."

"Is it?"

"Almost."

"There's nothing left to say is there? I mean, it's not the time for these...reflections. It's our fault."

"That this is the end?"

"No, that we ruined the beginning, the middle...everything in between. Do you ever wonder if-"

"No. I thought you said you forgot how to feel. Including how to love."

"What went wrong?" She sighed, a defeated breath of air, as she amended, "I know it wasn't perfect or even normal. I also know what went right made it worth it."

"Don't let nostalgia fool you. Or desires that only end up burning you from the inside."

"But this is the end now."

"Doesn't matter."

"Nothing does," came the emotionless answer. "Did you...?"

"No. You?"

"It was easy pretending. Pretending anything for the sake of everyone. But the answer's always been no."

"You said different a long time ago."

"That was before. When I actually thought I'd have some time to find something-"

"Besides the cold. I thought I'd found it; thought I knew my purpose. But it was a lie."

"Living's a lie. A joke. It'll be over soon. Over. I never thought it would be possible. I lose everything, don't I?"

"We all do."

"No, because everyone but us had something. They didn't have to pretend. I forget what it was like...how I was like."

"We're the same," he offered.

"But different. I know, ok? I understand somewhat. You know, I once said...never mind. It's not important."

"We can just sit here now. I don't need to...I mean, its all been said and done."

So the two sat down under the battered tarp hurriedly stretched between two marble tombs, or rather, what was left of the pale white rubble. The rain was letting up, the breeze of the wind now a sharp chill against their bodies.

"I..." he began. Words couldn't express what he needed to explain. So he said nothing. It wasn't time for it anymore.

"Shh. It'll be over in a moment."

"Are you still my-"

"Always."

"I never stopped..."

"Not even death."

"Forever," he agreed quietly.

"So...will you stay with me?"

"I thought that was pretty obvious."

"I've had a difficult existence, it would be nice to tell me, but it's fine. I know."

"You just pretended you didn't. So did I, at times, I think. I would have liked the rain to stay."

"As long as you're here, it's ok. Even the rain had to leave. But you can't."

"I won't," he vowed, silencing her reply by touching her lips with a brief brush of his fingertips. "This is all that's left."

Closing their eyes, their lips found each other, a simple motion, one they couldn't forget, not even if the action had once been forbidden. Not full of carefree innocence, or unbridled passion, or of desperate longing, it was of something else.

But they cared not, worried not, they just let it wash over their weary, battered souls. They didn't even notice that the sun never rose for this final day. For only this brief moment could pass before the end. And until the end of time, they were together.

"Because if I can't have forever, I'll take just a moment, a moment by your side."

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