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For a time, we were strangers.

I was in the wilderness years of my life, surviving in a facsimile of living, and you were wandering in search of a purpose that wasn’t bred into you.

If not for fate and a wisp of magic, our paths would never have crossed. You would have walked to the ends of the earth. I would have stayed lost.

For a time, we were friends.

In such close proximity, it was either that or becoming sworn enemies, but we were both tired. There were entire worlds to fight; fighting each other would have been a waste of effort.

The banter came easily, our questions thoughtful but not probing. We were aware of the unspoken boundaries when it came to topics of conversation, namely all the choices that led us to where we were. There was only mutual understanding and a shared hope for a silver lining to carry us through our storms.

For a time, we were…more.

Your juniper-green eyes were warm when they caught mine, and your teasing toed the line of flirting. I smiled when our hands brushed, laughed when you frowned at a rock for being in your way.

You woke me for every sunrise, comforted me after every nightmare, and loved me without ever saying the words. I let the heat of your stare into the icy fortress I built around my heart as a child and watched as it melted into rivers of emotion I couldn’t fathom.

It was terrifying, yes, but it was also everything.

For a time, we were separated.

I was taken to a pit where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. You searched for me, relentless and desperate. Thirty dawns and dusks passed, our hearts split by distance forced upon us.

For a time, we were reunited.

As I crawled out of that pit, you reached out a hand. We embraced with the stars as our witness, and we believed the future would be kind to us.

Until death stole you away from me, just as we approached the marble columns marking the conclusion of an arduous journey.

And I vowed to remember you, the beckoning whisper in a room full of noise, the speck of light leading me out of the darkness.

Because for a time, you were mine.