• In peaceful silence, in solemn sleep. Cheeks once full, now sunken in. Lips once rosy, now blue instead. Long lashes resting daintily atop delicate cheek bones. Chestnut hair strewn about her head, topped with a halo of dark flowers. She is dressed in her finest: a gown so full of linen and satin, sewn by her very own hand. Once to be a marriage dress, now to be a death gown. How she had revelled, and cheered, and cried when she had finally been asked to become a bride. And how it had crashed to the ground around her, ripping along with it, the last of her life.

    Her cold marble bed of eternal sleep raises her high above the bones of the dead. Their empty, staring sockets keep watch in the night; skeletal sentries guarding their prize. Their bleached remains sprawl along the ground, entertwined in the embrace of death. They lie here to protect her, this daughter of theirs, their angelic maiden. So long ago lost, now summoned again to defend for their lady until the sweet end. And their duty they do well, letting nothing through; not a hint of dust nor decay may touch her face. She lies in waiting for the one she holds dear, and they shall lie with her, here in this tomb.

    But in their midst, is one so out of place. Limbs splayed and twisted. Bones broken and skin bruised. He lies on the edge feeling it close, and he is almost ready to jump. Her lover he once was, no more to be found, torn from his woman by the hounds. How foolish they'd been, to believe in happy endings, and such a thought is reflected in his face as, shaking in pain, he raises his head. Dark eyes are shadowed by a shock of dark hair, stained and matted with his own lifeblood. His hand reaches out to her, inch by inch, determined to touch her just one last time. The last bit of life drifts from his heart, and his head falls, resting on his outstretched arm.

    If any other he would join the ranks of the sentries, to protect the fair maiden until the end of time. However, he is the one for whom her soul searches, and above his chest drifts the light of his life, shimmering evanescant as above her as well does one appear. Together they soar to the ends of the earth, together at last with each their last breath. And here in this tomb, the both transform. Cheeks once full now full again. Lips once rosy, now rosy again. A single tear slides down her cheek, staining its way red to the linen of her dress. And here together, in silence they lie. No more tears shall either cry.