Alyssia sighed as she put the last container on the pallet. The containers themselves weren't particularly heavy, but after the six-hundredth one, her back had started to ache. Wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt, she stepped back to briefly admire a job well done. No one else would so she might as well.

Turning, she headed towards one of the doorways at the back of the large warehouse room she had been working in. It was a few minutes early for break time, but Mr. Sinver didn’t care as long as all the work got done.

The break room was fairly small, it contained a large trash bin and a single table with a large plate of rolls on it, as well as a stack of cups and a large water dispenser. Across from the table were six short stools haphazardly arranged. The only other feature of interest was the information bulletins posted on all the walls, along with the working schedule and other pertinent information.

Standing in front of the small table, Alyssia put her hands on her back and stretched. She had worked harder than this before, but her body wasn’t really designed for it. Grabbing a roll and a cup of water, she walked over to the other side of the room and sat on a stool to eat.

Mr. Sinver claimed he provided the rolls and water for purely selfish reasons. A worker who wasn’t starving to death could work harder than one who was, he said. Alyssia thought that might have been one reason, but not the only one. Mr. Sinver wasn’t exactly generous, but he had a pitting look in his eyes she had seen all too often when she was begging. He was the type of person who wanted to help all the sad destitute people he saw around him but didn’t really know how.

All in all, Mr. Sinver was perhaps the best person Alyssia had ever worked for. He was fair, didn’t demand the impossible, and mostly took care of his employees. They didn’t get paid much, about the same as any other warehouse worker in this city, but he gave paid sick leave and free medical help. And there was also the free rolls and water always available during breaks.

Munching on her bread, she thought back on the last few weeks she had spent living in the apartment James had gotten for her. She had a warm dry place to sleep now, and her own bathroom with a working bathtub. And James came over with food almost every other day. She had only been able to convince him to stay for dinner with her on a handful of occasions, but she was very much growing to like the man.

She was almost beginning to dare hope that her life had finally taken a turn for the better. If things stayed like they were, she could live with that. Warehouse work was hard, but it wasn’t bad, and her apartment was amazing. And then there was James. She almost dared believe she could be happy here.

She was almost completely lost daydreaming about James while she was eating her roll, which is why she didn’t notice the other occupant of the room until the woman sat next to Alyssia. Glancing to her side, Alyssia smiled and nodded to Evelyn. Evelyn was one of several other workers who had the same shift as Alyssia. She was an older woman who hadn’t taken much interest in Alyssia at first.

When Alyssia had mentioned James, however, Evelyn had perked right up. Apparently, she knew James from before Alyssia had met him, she had become quite friendly with Alyssia since then. They often talked or swapped stories over break time.

“How are you doing sweetie?” Evelyn asked.

“Good, and you?” replied Alyssia around a mouthful of roll.

“Well enough, well enough,” Evelyn said, starting in on her own roll. After swallowing the first bite, she said, “So, how’s James lately? Haven't seen him stop by in a few days.”

“He’s good,” said Alyssia, “he said he’s been really busy with work lately. He brought me dinner last night though, he’s so sweet.”

“That’s nice of him,” said Evelyn.

Alyssia almost thought she had seen an annoyed tick pass across the woman's face when she had mentioned James bringing her dinner. Berating herself inwardly, she tried to suppress her overactive paranoia. Even after weeks of finally being safe, she still kept seeing signs of danger in the most unlikely places. Evelyn was almost as nice as Madam Tully.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Evelyn said, “you had asked me a few days ago if I knew of any side jobs you could make some extra credits on. Well, I think I might have one.”

Alyssia sat up excitedly at that. She had found out last week that James was paying Madam Tully himself to keep Alyssia’s rent low enough for her to afford. She desperately wanted to be able to pay him back for all of his kindness, but the warehouse job didn’t really pay well enough. “Where?” Alyssia asked excitedly.

“One of the merchants in the upper city is looking for a part-time maid,” Evelyn said leaning over confidentiality. “It pays pretty well and the work has got to be easier than this.”

Being a maid didn’t sound too bad to Alyssia, “That sounds great,” she said excitedly. Another thought occurred to her, however, “Why… why don’t you take it though. I know you need the money as much as anyone else.”

“Me?” asked Evelyn, “Fuck, I’m not cut out to be a maid Alyssia. I swear too much, no, this is perfect for you. If you want, I can get you an interview today.”

“Today?” said Alyssia. “My shift doesn’t end for another four hours though…”

“Bah,” said Evelyn, “Don’t worry about that. They’ll be more than happy to come pick you up for the interview, and I can talk to Mr. Sinver, I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.”

“Maybe…” Alyssia said hesitantly. “Maybe I’ll go ask him, just to make sure.” Alyssia stood and threw her empty cup in the trash bin next to the table.

“Time is of the essence dear,” Evelyn said briskly, “You know how long it takes to get a hold of Mr. Sinver. Don’t worry about that, I’ll talk to him. Come on, I’ll give that merchant a call right now and you can go interview. If you’re not quick, someone else will get the position.” Evelyn stood and threw out her half-eaten roll and her cup, moving to the break room door, she looked at Alyssia expectantly.

Alyssia hesitated for a second more, she didn’t like to have other people do things she should be doing herself. But Evelyn was right, this city was full of people who would kill for a well-paying maid position. Nodding, she followed Evelyn out of the break room and down several hallways towards the main entrance of the warehouse.

Once there, Evelyn used the public comm on the wall to call the merchant. Alyssia stood by the front door nervously. She had never had a job that involved dealing with people so directly. A maid had to clean, that was easy enough. But they also had to deliver food and probably carry out other administrative tasks that would involve interacting with people in a professional manner. She had some idea of how that was supposed to work from people she had observed, but she had never done anything like it herself before.

She jumped as Evelyn put a hand on her shoulder. Evelyn smiled at her reassuringly and said, “They sent a grav car to come pick you up, it should be here in a few minutes. Don’t be nervous, you’ll be fine.”

Alyssia just nodded, she was going over in her head everything she had ever seen a maid or servant do. The list wasn’t long, she would just have to hope she could wing it. Not even five minutes later, a nice looking grav car pulled up outside the warehouse. Giving Alyssia a gently push, Evelyn nodded encouragingly.

As Alyssia stepped outside to the car, Evelyn followed her. A large burly man stepped out of the front passenger side and stepped over to the two girls. “One of you Evelyn?” the man asked.

“That’s me, sir,” Evelyn said.

Looking at Alyssia, the man said, “This is the… maid you mentioned?”

“Yes,” Evelyn said, “she’s a very hard worker, I’m sure she would make an excellent maid. I personally vouch for her.”

Grunting, the man opened the back door of the car and motioned Alyssia to get inside, “I’m sure she will,” the man said with almost no emotion.

Alyssia had a moment of panic as her paranoia jumped into high gear. With ruthless efficiency, she stamped it down. She would not blow her first chance to earn enough money to pay James back. Swallowing down her remaining trepidation, she got into the car. The large man closed the door as soon as she was inside. Glancing out the smoky window, she thought she saw the man giving something to Evelyn. She couldn't imagine what, but whatever it was Evelyn took it and darted back inside without so much as a wave to Alyssia.

The man got back into the car and the driver who Alyssia only just now noticed, sped the car off. The driver was another equally large man, who was only slightly less burly than the first. If Alyssia didn’t know better, she would have said they were bodyguards or toughs. Then again, maybe they were. She would certainly believe that people needed bodyguards in this city, especially given her first day here.

It seemed she had only just gotten in the car before they were slowing down and stopping. The large burly man in the passenger seat stepped out and then opened Alyssia’s door. Stepping out of the car, Alyssia looked around her. They were in a private courtyard of a small mansion. At least, Alyssia would have called it a mansion. It was almost as large as Madam Tully’s apartment building.

Glancing at the large man standing next to her she was about to ask where she should go next. Before she could say a word, however, the man pointed to a small entrance to the left of the large central one and said simply, “There.”

Swallowing her words, she nodded and started walking towards the small entrance. She had no idea what she was supposed to do so she figured she would just go up and knock. Before she got to the door, however, it opened and an old portly woman stepped out. The women looked Alyssia up and down, then said briskly, “You’ll do. Follow me.” Without waiting for a reply, the woman turned and headed back the way she had come.

Alyssia walked quickly to catch up to the woman, then followed close behind her as she entered the large house. The door they entered through led to a small mudroom, beyond that was a narrow hallway sprinkled with doors down its length. Walking swiftly, the woman led Alyssia down the hallway, passing all of the closed doors. For the next minute or so, Alyssia followed the swiftly moving woman through doors and down narrow hallways. Eventually, they emerged into a wider hallway with carpets and paintings decorating its length. About halfway down this hallway, the woman opened a large ornate door and indicated that Alyssia should go in.

The room Alyssia stepped into was not at all what she was expecting. It was large but somewhat sparsely furnished. The first thing that caught her eye, however, was the large four-post canopied bed at the center of the room.

In confusion and mounting panic, she turned to the woman who was now standing behind her. “I… I don’t understand,” Alyssia said, “I was supposed to interview for a maid position. Why —”

“Maid position eh,” the woman interrupted shaking her head, “they really will say anything, won't they. Well, you’ve already been paid for so might as well make yourself comfortable. The master’ll be along in a few hours.”

“What…” Alyssia started to say, her mind reeling in confusion.

“Look girl,” the woman said, “piece of advice. Don’t put up a fight, the master can be a bit brutal when a girl won't cooperate.”

Alyssia was still dazed by what was going on, but her instincts took over and she bolted for the still open door behind the portly woman. The woman looked slow and overweight, despite the quick pace she had set down the hallways, Alyssia didn’t think she would be able to keep up—

One of the women's hands shot out just as Alyssia was about to pass her and with unexpected strength, the women threw Alyssia backward back into the room. Alyssia landed hard on her bottom almost a full two meters from where the women had thrown her.

“Suit yourself girl,” the woman said. As Alyssia was trying to desperately scramble back to her feet for another attempt, the woman turned and left the room, closing the door behind her just as Alyssia reached it.

Alyssia pounded on the door with her fists, solid durasteel painted the color of wood answered her feeble attempts with dull thuds and nothing more. Tears began to stream down Alyssia’s face, slowly she slumped to the floor in front of the door. Laying her head against the door she began to cry in earnest.

Why did this happen to her? What had she done to deserve this constant barrage of bad luck? Maybe the gods were real and she had angered them somehow. Maybe she was just fated to be tormented for her unnaturally long life. Or maybe it was her curse that did this. This ‘Will Power’ that she supposedly had that never did anything but make her life harder.

Thinking of that curse again, she sat back from the door and tried to get her crying under control. Maybe, just this once, it would work for her. Sitting in front of the door and fighting back occasional sobs, she tried to concentrate. She had managed to touch her Will a few times, but had never successfully made it do anything. If there was ever a time for it to work though, now would be it.

She didn’t know how long she sat there staring at the door and trying to reach out with her mind for her Will. After a while, all she had managed to do was give herself a headache. In anger and frustration, she pounded on the door with her fist again. The uncaring cold metal ignored her.

The exercise may have been futile but it helped calm her mind. Standing up, she took stock of her surroundings more carefully than before. If she couldn’t get her curse to do anything useful for her, it was once again up to her own muscles to get the job done. She would be swallowed by the Void if she was going to give up now. Just when her life was starting to contain a little happiness.

The room didn’t contain much, there was the large bed, a nightstand next to it, and a large dresser to its right. Walking around she checked under the bed for anything of use, empty. She opened every drawer in the dresser, most were empty, some contained spare sheets and a few articles of clothing that she thought no sane person would wear. Nothing useful there. The nightstand drawer contained a few bottles of liquid and some other small plastic cylindrical devices which she did not want to guess the use of.

Standing back for a second she gave the situation some thought. She could potentially make a run for it if she could just somehow subdue whoever came through the door next. She would need a weapon for that, however. The sheets could be used as a garrote, but she wasn’t really strong enough to make that work on anyone larger than herself. Perhaps she could use one of the legs of the nightstand as a club?

Pushing the nightstand over on its side she examined the legs. They looked like they might be actual wood. She could hardly believe it, who used real actual wood on anything? The stuff was incredibly expensive. It also didn’t weigh nearly as much as steel, so it wouldn’t be much use as a club. Just to be sure, she stomped on the end of one of the legs of the overturned nightstand. With a splintering crack, the leg broke off about halfway up, leaving a forty-centimeter length of wood ending in a sharp break.

Picking up the length of wood she examined it, not a very good club, but it might make an excellent stake. She almost discarded the idea, she wasn’t certain if she could really kill someone in cold blood like that. But then given what they were planning to do to her, it was either them or her, and she would much rather it was them. Stomping on the other four legs of the stand one after the other, she produced one more reasonably sharp stake. The other two legs broke off cleanly at the base, giving her two half meter long wooden clubs.

Discarding the clubs, she tucked the shorter of the two stakes into her dress, then she hefted the longer one a few times. She did one more circuit of the room, looking for anything else she could use. Not finding anything of note, she walked back to the door of the room.

If she was going to use the stake, it would need to be by surprise. If she came at whoever opened the door from the front, it was very likely she wouldn’t be able to do sufficient damage to escape. Her best chance was to stand beside the door on its hinged side and wait for someone to come into the room. She could then lunge at their unprotected back and with luck, hit something vital with her wooden stake.

Putting her back to the wall right next to the closed door, she raised her hands above her head, the stake pointing towards the middle of the room. She would only have one chance, and even the time necessary to raise the stake might be too long, she had to be poised and ready the second she saw her target.

She had no way of knowing how long she stood there with her hands above her head gripping the stake. Her arms began to go numb but she started rhythmically flexing the muscles in an attempt to keep them functional. She didn’t dare relax not even for a second, she would only have one chance.

She heard motion outside, then silence for a moment. Flexing her arms one last time she prepared herself. The door opened slowly, without a sound, a large man dressed in black stepped into the room. Alyssia moved almost on instinct. She lunged forward with all of her strength pushing the sharp wooden stake down towards the back of the dark clothed person.

As the wooden stake descended on its unsuspecting victim, Alyssia finally took note of the other features of the man. He had short black hair and a light scruff of stubble on his cheeks. With all of her strength behind it, the stake mere centimeters from its target, Alyssia suddenly recognized what little of the face she could see of the man before her. It was James.

Her mind screamed in panic, she couldn’t stop her momentum. She commanded her fingers to release the stake but they were cramped closed from holding it for so long. She watched in horror as the tip of the stake made its way inexorably towards the back of the one person she thought she might love. She was going to kill him, she was going to—

Like a viper, James moved. It almost seemed as though he were bending time itself as his body flowed away from the point of the stake. Alyssia stumbled a few steps as her stake passed through empty air. When she finally managed to come to a stop, she stood there for a moment, looking at her stake. Her fingers belatedly obeying her commands, snapped open, and dropped the stake to the floor.

“James,” she said. She couldn’t even bring herself to turn her head for fear that she would see someone else instead. Had she imagined it? Strong arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her. They didn’t try to restrain her though, they just held her.

“Alyssia,” James said, “Thank the Ancients I found you. Are you ok? Did they hurt you?”

Alyssia was stunned, her mind was having extreme difficulty processing this rollercoaster of emotions. One thing was clear, however, the person she had almost killed was in fact, James. That one fact was the only one that seemed to matter at the moment. Tears began to stream down her face once again as she said, “I almost killed you, James. Oh gods, I’m so sorry.”

“Shhh,” James said soothingly, “It’s ok, I’m fine. You’re fine. I’m glad you were ready to defend yourself.”

Finally bringing herself to look up from the floor she had been staring at, she saw James’ face looking down at her. The smile and look of relief on his face made Alyssia want to cry harder and made the butterflies in her stomach flutter all at the same time.

Pulling away from her, James said, “Come on, we need to go. We can talk more once we get out of here.”

Alyssia nodded through her tears and tried her best to get her emotions under control. Stepping to the open door, James held out his hand indicating she should wait a moment. Checking the hallway both ways, he then turned his hand, offering it to Alyssia. Taking it, Alyssia walked quickly to keep up with the swiftly moving James.

As they moved down the large hall the room had been attached to, Alyssia noticed blood on James' dark shirt.

“James, you’re bleeding,” Alyssia said with concern.

“Not mine,” James said shortly without slowing down.

Not his? Then who… As they passed an intersecting hallway, Alyssia glanced down it briefly. Several large human-sized lumps littered the hallway sitting in dark wet pools of liquid. Shuddering, Alyssia pulled her eyes away from the gruesome sight and tried to concentrate on James’ back. She didn’t understand what was going on and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to.

While staring at James’ back, Alyssia noticed the hilt of several knives protruding from around his belt. On the left and right side of his belt were strapped a set of pistols. She had never seen a weapon in James’ possession before.

As they descended a stairwell back to the ground floor, James began to slow down. Drawing one of his pistols he stopped at every corner and intersection before proceeding. Alyssia saw several more motionless lumps as they went. One she had passed within a meter of and, despite her better judgment, she took a look at the corpse.

The dead man was large, almost as large as one of those who had escorted her here in the grav car. His throat had been slit almost from ear to ear. Gagging, Alyssia quickly looked away and tried to keep her stomach under control.

“Don’t look,” James belatedly said, gripping her hand even harder.

As they approached what looked like the main entrance to the house, James slowed down and then stopped. Turning, he looked at Alyssia and said, “Once we're outside, if you see the chance to run, you take it. And once you start running, don’t stop until you get to Tully’s place. Understood?”

“James,” Alyssia said, “I’m not leaving you.”

“I can handle myself Alyssia,” James said. “I’m not certain I got them all so please, if you can run, run. I’ll catch up, I promise.”

Alyssia hesitated for a moment more, then nodded. Given all the corpses she had seen on the way to the front door, he was probably right. She would just end up being a liability if she tried to help him. She would never have imagined that James was capable of such things, seeing all of that, it almost made her afraid of him.

James must have sensed something of what she was thinking, he said, “I promise I will never hurt you Alyssia. I would do anything to keep you safe.”

Alyssia smiled, this was James. Whatever she didn’t know about him, she did know that he cared about her. He had had plenty of opportunities to hurt her if he’d wanted to. By the Void, if he’d tried to sleep with her, she probably would have happily let him. Squeezing his hand in her own and broadening her smile, Alyssia said, “I know.”

Nodding, James took a long slow breath and moved to the front door. Standing beside it and holding Alyssia behind him, he unlatched it and pushed it open. No sound came from outside other than the usual hum of the city around them. Moving cautiously with his pistol in one hand and Alyssia’s hand in the other, James stepped out onto the front landing.

In a blur of movement, something large crashed into James from the side, ripping his hand out of Alyssia’s. In a rolling tumble, James and another man in dark clothes rolled out into the courtyard beyond the door.

Alyssia saw one of James’ pistols go flying off to the side as the two scuffled. At one point James managed to get free of the other man and attempted to bring his second pistol to bear. As he brought the pistol up, however, the other man threw something at James. James dodged it but the move allowed the other man to close the distance between them again. Alyssia saw the second pistol fly through the air and land at the bottom of the steps she was standing on.

Alyssia stepped down onto the courtyard quickly and bent to pick up James' pistol. Holding it in shaking hands, she pointed it at the two who were now each holding long-bladed knives in their hands. In an indistinguishable blur of movements, the two started going at each other with their respective knives. Alyssia could barely follow the movements of the two as their knives clanged against each other faster and faster. She didn’t dare shoot into the maelstrom for fear of hitting James.

As Alyssia watched the two duel, her hands began to shake harder. James had told her to run if she had the chance. She could run now, but she couldn’t force her legs to move. What if the other man got the upper hand and tried to kill James? She had one of his pistols, she could save him. Couldn’t she? Or would she just make things worse somehow? It would be just her luck that she would end up shooting James instead of his attacker.

Suddenly broken from her inner dialog, she watched in horrified slow motion as James tripped over some unseen obstacle in the courtyard. With agonizingly deliberate and ponderous motions the other man deflected one of James’ knives with one hand, and with the other, he plunged his own knife into James’ side. In the same motion, he ripped the blade free of James preparing to strike again.

As James began to fall backward, blood spraying from the wound in his side, Alyssia’s mind went blank. She somehow felt her voice working of its own accord, in a gut-wrenching scream of anguish she yelled, “Nooooo!” Purely on instinct, as the man standing over the falling James prepared to strike again, Alyssia pulled the trigger on the pistol she held.

The report of the pistol along with her agonizing scream got the other man's attention. He looked briefly in her direction, apparently assessing the danger. Alyssia’s first shot had been wild and had missed completely. Trying to calm her shaking hands at least a little, she aimed down the pistol’s sights.

All at once, the man began to turn back to James, apparently dismissing Alyssia as the lesser threat. At the same time, Alyssia was determined to make her next shot count, doing her best to steady her hands and aim. While this was happening, James had grabbed his wound with one hand to stem the bleeding, in his other, he still held one of his knives. With a quick flick of one leg, he swept the other man's legs out from under him. As the other man began to fall towards James, James leaned forward and smoothly plunged his own knife to the hilt in the other man's chest.

By the time the unknown man hit the ground, he wasn’t moving. James sat on the ground, holding his side with one hand and breathing hard.

Alyssia’s momentary paralysis finally relinquished its hold on her legs. Dropping the pistol she held, she ran towards James, calling his name, “James!” Reaching him, she fell to her knees and tried to see how bad the wound was.

Looking up at her, James grunted and said, “You were supposed to run.”

With tears standing in her eyes, Alyssia said, “I know… I’m sorry, I… I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

His face softening immediately, James said, “It’s ok, you're alright, that's all that matters. Come on, we need to get out of here before the rest of his men show up.”

James began to stand unsteadily, Alyssia moved quickly, tucking her head under the arm not holding his side. Putting her arm around his waist, Alyssia said, “You need a doctor James, right now.”

“We don’t have—,” James started to say. Cutting himself off, he sighed slightly and said instead, “Alright, but we need to get out of this area first, this way.” Nodding towards the entrance to the courtyard, he started walking.

Alyssia did her best to help support him as they made their way out of the courtyard and towards some of the dark shadowed alleyways beyond. After a few minutes of walking, she glanced behind them and noticed they were leaving a clear trail of blood behind them.

“I know,” James said, moving to the side of the alley they were in, he leaned up against the side. “Need to get this bleeding to slow down.” As he started to pull at the sleeve of his shirt, Alyssia put a hand on his.

“Wait,” Alyssia said. Moving quickly she yanked the sleeves off of her own blouse, first one, then the other. Quickly she tore another wad of fabric from the bottom of her blouse. Tieing the two shirt sleeves together, she put the wad of extra fabric on one broad side of the makeshift tourniquet. Moving to James, she carefully wrapped it around his waist and, after he moved his hand, she placed the wad of fabric over the wound. Taking the two loose ends she slipped one over the other in preparation for making a knot.

“Make it tight as you can,” James said, gritting his teeth hard.

Gritting her own teeth, Alyssia pulled hard on the two ends of the cloth. James inhaled sharply, but Alyssia pulled as hard as she could, before knotting the two ends firmly together. James breathed heavily with his eyes closed. Alyssia felt helpless, she reached her hand up and lightly brushed James' cheek.

Opening his eyes, James smiled at Alyssia. Taking her hand in his own, James said, “Come on, we need to stay moving.”

Together, they started moving down various back alleys and side roads. Alyssia was worried they were spending too much time trying to stay hidden instead of getting to a doctor. James looked incredibly pale and his movements were starting to slow down. She was about to stop and say something when James himself finally came to a stop. They had entered a somewhat open area where several alleys met, there was actually a clear view of the sky from here.

“This will have to do,” James said, leaning up against a wall and closing his eyes.

“What?” Alyssia said, “James, we need to get you to a doctor, now!”

Opening his eyes again and looking at Alyssia, James smiled, then slid slowly to the ground, his head nodding forward slightly and his breathing became labored.

“I’m sorry Alyssia,” James said, “I can’t go on anymore, this is as far as I can go.”

Moving quickly to where James sat on the ground, Alyssia knelt down beside him and said, “No, James, please. You have to get up, you need to get to a doctor. Please James, I can’t… I can’t do this without you. Not again…” Fresh tears began falling down her face.

James fished in his pocket with one hand, pulling out a small metallic cube, he pushed a button on it and then tossed it on the ground beside him. “Location beacon,” he said. Looking up at Alyssia’s tear-streaked face, he raised the hand not covered in blood and lightly touched her cheek. “I’ll stay with you as long as I can,” he said quietly.

“Please James, don’t leave me,” Alyssia said. “I… I need you.”

Stroking her cheek gently, James said, “I’m sorry Alyssia, I’ll do my best.”

Alyssia slouched onto the alley wall next to James, and reached over, pulling him into a loose embrace. Allowing himself to be held, he rested his head on Alyssia’s shoulder. For long moments they sat there in silence, Alyssia quietly crying as James breathing got more shallow.

James shifted and lifted his head, looking at her with slightly unfocused eyes, James said, “I… I know this isn’t fair. I… there's something I’ve wanted to ask you… for awhile. I’ve never had the guts to ask before. Would… would you give me a kiss?”

Alyssia looked at James for a moment, the question had the tone of a last request. She almost burst into uncontrollable sobs, but just barely managed to keep herself together. James apparently took her hesitation for denial.

“I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—,” James started to say.

Alyssia put a finger on his lips, then closing her eyes, she moved her finger and leaned forward pressing her lips to his. The spark was immediate, she had never felt anything like it before. Despite everything that had happened, the butterflies in her stomach went into such a panic that she felt like she might become weightless and float away.

Slowly, she pulled away. James had the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face. Sighing, he rested his head back on her shoulder and said in a whisper, “That was amazing.”

Putting one arm around him, and resting the other on his cheek, Alyssia rested her own head on the top of his. The tears had not stopped flowing and they didn’t give any indication that they would any time soon. James’ cheek was cold, very cold.

“That was my first,” Alyssia whispered to him. James didn’t answer for a while, his breathing began to get more and more shallow.

“Promise me something,” James said quietly.

“Anything,” Alyssia said without hesitation.

“Get off this Void forsaken rock,” James said. “Get away from this terrible excuse for a planet, go far away and find someone who can make you happy. Find someone who deserves you. You're too good for this wasteland. And whatever you do, never give up.”

“James,” Alyssia said, the tears falling even harder now, “You make me happy. I want to stay with you. I… I love you James.”

“Promise me Alyssia, please,” James repeated.

Choking back the sobs that wanted to burst free, she said, “I… I promise.”

Nodding slightly, James said in a barely audible whisper, “I love you too.”

For the next several minutes Alyssia held James close and cried silently. His breathing became almost inaudible and he felt as cold as ice. Suddenly he took one deep breath and exhaled. After that, nothing.

Alyssia’s heart shattered. The sobs she had been holding back burst from her like water from a broken dam. She clutched James with all her strength, she screamed almost unintelligibly at fate, the gods, the ancients, all of them. The sobs washed over her like a flood.

She had no idea how long she sat there sobbing her eyes out. She had no notion of time and didn’t really want one. When she felt gentle hands on her shoulders, she redoubled her grip on James and screamed through her racking sobs, “No! You can’t have him!”

A familiar voice said very softly, “Sweetie, It’s ok. We’ll take care of him, I promise.”

Relaxing her grip slightly, her sobs intensified. James was gone. She hadn’t saved him. The first man she had ever loved was gone. Her mind refused to accept the reality of it. Madam Tully gently pulled Alyssia away from James and into her own embrace. Alyssia buried her head in the woman's shoulder and cried.

Alyssia’s entire world was reduced to a single homogenous ocean of pain. It was more than she could contain, it was more than she could bear. She let her mind go and gave herself to the pain. Reality fled. No matter how hard she cried, the ocean of pain that fed her tears seemed never-ending.