~ With one look in her eyes, he told himself, 'This is going to hurt when it's over.' ~

That was what Lukas thought when he saw that look in the young woman's emerald green eyes. While she appeared confident and brave, just as she had always appeared. A smile was spread across her lips. Her smile told them that everything would be alright, that they would overcome this and any challenge that would come their way. But her eyes...

Her eyes told a different story.

Those green eyes of hers, eyes that glimmered like emeralds, glowed like a lush forest, told something else entirely. They said that she was scared. That she knew something would happen no matter what course of action they took, and it was up to her to make sure the price paid would not be too high, that it would be as okay as it could have been.

But the price paid was much too high.

The young woman laid there on the ground, her diamond sword glimmering with its enchantment just out of her reach. Her green eyes that once sparkled with such hope and determination had dulled. The once emerald eyes had faded to a murky green, their glimmer lost for good. Her armour, which had been ever so carefully crafted by a man of many hobbies, was scuffed and dented and scratched, some old, others new. The armor looked similar to a night sky with its blacks and blues and pale grays, but what stood out most was the pool of red steadily growing from a hole through her chest.

Blood dribbled out from the wound, along from many others littered along her arms, legs, stomach, and face. A faint trail dripped from her chin, the blood escaping through her parted pale pink lips. The same red blood was stained upon the sword lying nearby. Stabbed by her own weapon. The very thing she had used to defeat so many mobs and villains bringing the blow that would bring her down. It was almost ironic.

Her opponent lay on the ground a little ways away. His face was creased in pain and fury, his glazed over eyes staring straight ahead at nothing. A single stab wound had killed him. Right through his heart. Only one dagger had been capable of the feat of making him bleed, and now it had killed him. Just as he had killed the woman with her own sword, he had been killed by his own dagger.

The dagger resided in the hand of a blond male. He didn't rejoice in his triumph, but rather stared down at the fallen woman with blue eyes wide behind his locks of hair that had fallen from their slicked back position. Multiple cuts littered his own body, none too serious, but he paid them no heed as he fell to his knees beside the young woman. His arms enveloped her limp body, cradling her with the utmost delicacy as if she was a piece of cracked glass. He brushed her black locks out of her face, the strands sticking from the sweat that lay against her pale skin. A look of excruciating pain crossed her face as her murky green eyes met the diamond blue eyes of the man. "Jess... Jess why..."

Sobs and pleads barely escaped the man's throat, the world falling into silence as it began to mourn the sacrifice made. The woman didn't have the strength to say anything, she suffered in silence as tears rolled down her cheeks. There was nothing that she could say anyway, no amount of words could describe her swirling feelings of guilt and grief she felt, no words to try and apologize to him with. It was a torturous few minutes for the two, knowing full well this would be their last moments together.

"Please, Jess... Don't leave me... I-I love you...!" the blond sobbed, his voice barely louder than a strained whisper. Jess weakly reached her hand up to the blond's cheek, wiping away the tears that fell down his face. He held his hand over her own, keeping it pressed against his cheek as if his warmth could give life back to the dying woman. "I-I-I... lo... ve... yo-you... t-t... too..." she whispered. Her voice cut off by violent coughing, her body shaking as more blood flowed from her wounds and down her lips. The blond could only watch on in horror as her coughs began to weaken, her body stopped shaking, and the warmth began to fade from her body. "N-No! Jess!"

The faintest of smiles parted on her face. Her eyes began to dull further, a glazed look beginning to cross those murky green orbs. Finally, her eyelids closed, sealing her green eyes away for the rest of time. Lukas watched on as tears streamed down his face, his whole being shaking as grief-filled sobs and chokes took over. His cheeks burned red from the hot tears running down his lightly tanned skin, contrasting greatly with the diamond blue eyes he had. A heart-wrenching scream escaped him, heard by many who looked toward the direction of it with wide eyes while deep fear began overtaking them.

A small group of people heard the scream and, recognizing the voice, began to race toward the source. A blue-eyed redhead led the group while a large black-haired man began to fall behind at the back. They passed by many confused and scared innocents, only pushing on until they came upon the scene of the battle. What they saw stunned them into silence and tears of their own. Blood coated the ground of the battlefield, two forms laid on the ground as the red liquid ran from wounds along their bodies. A third was kneeling next to one of the two bodies, cradling the limp form in his arms as he cried. They didn't move as they registered the features of the figures, unable to believe what they were seeing.

As if in a dream, they slowly began to move, hugging each other tightly as tears fell down their faces. They all cried rivers of tears, silently pleading up to whatever deity was up above watching them. Why? Why her? Why did it have to be the one person that they just couldn't lose? The person that had brought them together, that had defended them, that had sacrificed everything for them, and what did she get? Nothing but a gruesome and painful death. It was unfair. And yet, they knew Jess wouldn't have had it any other way. If it would have come down between her and the lives of innocents or her friends, she would have chosen to sacrifice herself, which she had just done.

The blond cradled her body close in his arms, unable to let go or stop the tears running down his reddened cheeks. Her body was cold, no trace of the warmth that had once been in it left. He knew she was at peace wherever she was, maybe she was with Reuben. But he still couldn't help but wish, just wish, that he could turn back time and prevent it from ever happening. That she would still be beside him, smiling and laughing just as she always had been. But his hopes were in vain, he knew that well. But one can hope.

Everything around him seemed to slow down until, at last, time around him had completely stopped. At first, nothing seemed to happen, just everything and everyone suspended, frozen as time did not move. No tears fell, no people wept, nothing moved or made a sound. The only one who wasn't affected was the blond that looked around at his surroundings through tear-filled eyes. What was happening?

The next thing he knew, it was like someone had set a movie on rewind. Everyone and everything around him began to move backward, picking up pace and going faster and faster and faster. He cried out as the young woman's body was pulled from his arms, continuing to move backward like everything else. The world around him spun as days and nights passed, going by so quickly he lost track of the number of days passing. He stood up and watched as everything spun around him, not able to see clearly what was happening. A large gust suddenly blew towards him, lifting him off his feet and into the air as he too spun around and around and around. His whole world was spinning and the only thing he could hear was the sound of the rushing wind.

Finally, it all stopped.

There was a distant ringing in his ears as his eyes attempted to adjust to what was in front of him. All he could see was blobs of colors, blending together and not forming actual objects or people. Most prominent was a midnight black, a medium blue, a pale peach, with occasional splotches of red and green. His eyes focused like a camera lens, trying to make everything appear in vivid detail. The ringing began to fade away, and instead, he heard a voice faintly calling out. It took some moments before his vision began to properly focus on what was in front of him and he could begin to make out the words spoken.

"...kas! Lukas, you there?"

He instantly shook his head to clear his thoughts and gather himself. In front of him was a young woman with ebony-black hair, pale skin, and eyes that shone like emeralds. A smile was plastered across her face as she continued. "You're zoning out on me." Lukas instead returned the smile and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, feeling a rogue tear slip down his cheek. "Hey, what's up?" she questioned worriedly, surprised by the blond's surprising hug. It wasn't like her friends to hug her out of the blue, it typically only happened after she pulled some death-defying stunt. "It's fine, Jess. I'm just- I'm glad to be your friend," Lukas replied, pulling out of the hug to meet her emerald green gaze. Jess tilted her head to the side slightly as a confused smile spread across her face, a small chuckle escaping her pale pink lips. "Alright," she laughed.

While Lukas knew that their time together would eventually come to an end, he promised himself something. Something that would change Lukas' view of himself and everything around him.

He would make the most of his time with Jess while he had the chance.