"RUNEEE!!!!"
Time fractured.
The world didn't stop... it shattered.
Sera's scream still hung in the air, a sound torn from somewhere primal and broken. Her legs moved before her mind could catch up, stumbling forward, arms outstretched toward the falling figure.
She caught him.
The weight of his body collapsed into her arms, warm and heavy. Her knees buckled, but she held on, lowering them both to the ground as gently as trembling hands could manage.
"Rune... Rune, no, no, no, no, no, no...." The words spilled from her lips like prayers to a god who'd already turned away. Her hands fluttered uselessly over the wound, over the sword still buried in his chest. Blood bloomed across his lenin shirt, spreading like dark flowers, soaking into the fabric, into her hands, warm and sticky.
His golden eyes were still open, but the light in them was dimming rapidly.
Behind her, Lydia stood frozen.
Completely, utterly frozen.
