I watched you die.
Will cradling your head, weeping.
I thought it was a threat.
I've never put much stock in curses.
I watched them cease fire and leave.
They left their relic.
I didn't speak. I didn't cry.
I stared into nothing.
No
Time felt like it slowed. My vision started to curve(?) or warp like everything was folding into the middle of me.
"You'll watch your nearest die tonight"
A branch slashes my face. I'm sprinting. It's earlier this morning and Will is right behind me. I'm back there again. I'm back in time.
We're running from our captors. We have their relic. The one they happened to catch us trying to steal last night. It's as powerful as we thought. It glowed so bright when I first held it, it was hot to the touch. I dart my hand into my pocket and instead of the relic I pull out a handful of ash. I don't remember ash being in my pocket.
Their alarms ring in the distance. Their leader shouts her threats and gruesome promises. Will laughs and feigns relief. He quips that maybe the Witch Queen would compromise and just kill the people near him who wake up before 10. We make it to the train tracks in time to hop on a boxcar. I send word ahead that we're free and that the plan was a success after all. Will revels in the giddiness of escaping another near death encounter. He makes a grandiose mock toast, thanking us all for never losing faith in him.
I spend the rest of that ride talking to Will in a way I never had before. I asked him about his life and interests. I've always been cautious around Will. I know he holds feelings for me. But I was honest with him there. Yes, I knew how he'd take it. But it was easy to be open with him. There was nothing fake about that. I want you to know. As we were about to hop off the train and head to the compound, he kissed me. I did have a pheromone stim in my system. I'm not sure if it mattered.
We obviously weren't the only ones who sent a message forward. Some goon must have recognized me back in those cages and linked me here. The attack was full on by the time we arrived.
You were out on patrol. Just like last time. Will regrouped with the crew in the main compound and instead of running off to be a decoy, I stayed with the group as well. Near to everyone this time. Not because I don't believe in curses. I do. I do now.
I didn't see the shot catch Will. But I heard it on my left. I felt his blood hit me. I turned and started dragging him away from the front and behind cover. I couldn't look at him writhing in pain and coughing blood. I tried dressing his wound but my hands were shaking. It wouldn't have helped. You slid up behind us just then and cradled his head. I saw you bathed in light, alive and fighting like an angel come to liberate Hell. Will's breathing slowed and he looked up at us and smiled, then he breathed his last and you wept.
That's when, and why, the fighting stopped. It got its pound of flesh. Not them, it.
Curses aren't tricks. They're not clever. They're about pain. Twisted and cruel.
"You'll watch your nearest die tonight."
It was an old fashioned love curse. I know this because you died first. And you died because you love me. This isn't how I wanted to tell you I knew.
This kind of curse is said to radiate out from you. Killing the first person it touches that loves you. It's not just a curse to kill your loved one. It wants you close. It's a curse to make you watch. But it isn't picky about what affection filled heart it stamps out.
The only way you wouldn't die is if someone else who loved me was closer.
I didn't seduce Will. I didn't need to. I gave him words and he took them and made them what he wanted. The pheromone stim was more for me.
But yes, I traded his life for yours and I didn't ask permission. If the relic pulled me through time, that wasn't my intention. But everything after that was a gamble I took. A decision I made.
I am so sorry. But, I'd do it again. Someday, I'll tell her.