" Goodbye," whispered Gideon. "There isn't much time, you need to let me go. This is the end". Crimson and sapphire flames roared around them as he looked into her eyes and forced a smile. He continued to wipe away her tears and he turned his vision onto the cocooning inferno.

Karen placed a hand on each of her friend's cheeks as she forced him to look into her indigo eyes. "Who are you to give up? Who are you to abandon us, the ones whose souls are interlaced with yours? Damn it, I'm not giving up on you so don't you dare give up on yourself. I love you..." Karen wrapped her arms around Gideons' torso as he fell and they both collapsed to the scorched earth. She let go and gritted her teeth as blood seeped from her knees. She knew that only seconds separated them from the fire. Yet she gently and firmly spoke, "I'm not going to leave you. I'm here with you, I always will be, come what may."

She clutched onto her friend as he coughed crimson drops and shivered violently. Karen closed her eyes and sang to him as the flames enveloped them.

The mystical inferno plunged her soul into arctic waters as it connected her mind with her friend's. Tortured shrieks for help entered her ears and they sliced through her soul. Rot pierced her nostrils and mouth before it proceeded to churn her gut into unnatural motions. She opened her eyes and saw an unidentifiable individual thrashing as amber flames consumed him or her, just a few paces ahead of them. Those flames were the only source of light within this moonless and starless night.

Shock paralyzed her as the individual continued to scream for help. A delicate breath across Karen's cheek unchained her, as Gideon intoned, "It's okay. Remember that this isn't real, no matter how tangible it seems".

"Who is that?" Karen stuttered before she was interrupted by a crowd of burning and screaming individuals whom materialized around them.

"The first person who you saw burning was you," sobbed Gideon. "All who are burning are the souls which I have failed or am bound to fail. I failed you by letting you in here with me."

Karen grasped her friend's arms as she fought to realize that the horrors she was seeing were a product of Gideons' infected mind. She screamed over the furor as sweat formed upon her brow, "Look into my eyes. You did not fail me. Don't look away, come back. Focus on me Gideon. You. Did. Not. Fail. Me. Love doesn't abandon you because of pain, no matter how intense it is. Love endures, it comforts, and it rescues. I love you Gideon."

The image of her burning corpse disappeared. Staying courageous, despite the remaining horror which encircled them, Karen proclaimed, "That's right, I'm right here, I'm here for you. You haven't failed anyone Angus.

You also underestimate yourself. Don't forget how you've rescued me and everyone else. I assure you, that I, you, and the rest of our loved ones are in this together. We all make mistakes but that's a condition of our humanity. And if anyone belittles you, the problem with them is their attitude and it has nothing to do with you, my dear friend."

Karen wrapped her arms around her friend's torso and she kissed his cheek. They held onto each other as her heat poured into his thawing soul as his thawed hers. As one, the screams, thrashing souls, and flames gradually transformed into individuals who smiled in approval as they glowed with a golden aura.

The naked night sky slowly became clothed with stars as Karen sang her gentle tune again. Eventually a sliver of the moon materialized and within a few minutes, it became whole. Gideon and Karen remained within each other's arms during this transformation yet they turned to look into each other's eyes as affection and catharsis caused them to laugh fervently. Gideon was ripped from Karen's arms and she crashed onto her back.

The moon fractured as the stars imploded and gravity reversed. Karen's friend was held by his captor as everyone plummeted towards the sky. Gideon knew who this creature was, though he had not seen this wingless and humanoid bat before. Karen's friend punched through the chest of the newborn from within the earth and grabbed onto his heart. Everyone's free fall halted as the destruction paused its work upon the galaxy. The embodiment of Gideons' oppression shrieked as Gideon flooded the creature's soul with hope and love. Yet Toska screamed out not in pain but frustration as Gideon' now dominant emotions brought tears to the creature's crimson eyes. The celestial bodies began to heal. The earth's gravity slowly bought them back to the ground as it gradually began to mend itself.

The speed of descent began to rapidly increase as gravity became close to its original state. Before Gideon could withdraw his hand and heal Toska's wound, the creature used his rapidly draining strength to kick him away. Gravity regained its normality when everyone was about seven feet from the ground. When Toska crashed, his spirit fled harmlessly towards the restored night sky.

* * *

As the sun rose, Karen interlaced her fingers around her friend's. Gideons' grin grew ever wider as he said, "Karen, thank you again for encouraging me to confront my pain head on and for being here with me, through it all."

"I'll always be here for you, as you are for me" replied Karen as she returned his smile. "You and I, we're in this together. As are the rest of our loved ones. Pain and distance shall have no effect upon any of our connected hearts.

Are you ready to continue on the journey?"

They turned their eyes from each other and looked ahead to the sun-kissed crimson, amber, and sapphire horizon. Gideon turned to look at the mirages which represented all those whose lives he touched. The images smiled and some waved. While his heart continued to warm and as his spirit soared ever higher, he met Karen's gaze and nodded.