One last breath

I will miss you

,,I wanted to be killed by a piano, you know?"asked Saracen with a soft smile while he looks around and avoided looking Dexter actually in the eyes.
,,I know."replied Dexter softly and put one hand reassuring on Saracens shoulder in an attempt to comfort his friend.
,,Are you going to do it now?"asked Saracen and his voice was slightly quivering.
Dexter swallowed dryly and fought against the urge to say no and assure his best friend that he would never kill him, that he off all people could never do that to Saracen.
I saved your live so many times, why should I take it from you?, that is what Dexter wants to say.
But he says nothing.
He can't.
I have to kill him, thinks Dexter.
,,I don't think I should be afraid."starts Saracen trying to fill the uncomfortable silence between them ,,I mean if there is any afterlife I will meet Hopeless and Larrikin again......"but then Saracen stopps and turns his head away so that Dexter can't see his face anymore,but Dexter is sure that if he could see his eyes that he would glimpse tears.
,,Maybe you could asks Hopeless then how he got killed, we never found out."replies Dexter in an attempt to lighten the mood.
But as soon as he has said the words he feels foolish, they didn't lighten the mood and how could they?
Talking about there dead friends never has been a light or easy subject.
Evry time they talked about a dead friend wich first started after Erskines presumed death it had felt so wrong as if they had given up....
And the worst is they had.
,,Maybe he got killed like a piano."suggest Saracen with a smile.
,,Do you think it was a fast dead...or did they torture him?"asks Dexter then voicing the haunting suspicion wich he had ever since Hopeless was lost to them.
Lost but maybe, maybe not dead.
And Dexter doesn't know why he is addressing such a cruel subject right now when he should comfort Saracen and he should.
Saracen was there for him so often that it feels like he is letting him down right now.
,,I don't know, but I always hoped that he did as soon as possible, after I had to give up the hope that he would come back."replies Saracen honestly, maybe he is to weak to lie thinks Dexter.
,,At least we know that Anton and Ghastly died fast."says Dexter in the end and it's not really a comforting realisation.
,,I wish they would have lived."mutters Saracen dreamily and then adds in a serious tone ,,Tanith is going to be your best friend."
,,What?"asks Dexter completly startled.
How did they come from death as a subject to Tanith?
That's like like....in truth he had no idea what that was like, but....it just was weird....
Like...
Damn it, thought Dexter, there must be somethingh to compare that to....
It was like.....
,,She is going to be your best friend from now on, now that I am....going to die."finish Saracen with a weak smile and it reminds Dexter of all the times he saw Saracens bright smile.
The warm smile that was honest and warm and that always had touched somethingh in Dexter and made him want to smile back.
It had brightened Saracens dark eyes too, made them look even more soulful then they already were.
Dexter had always thought of his eyes as Saracens best feature, they were so dark and soft.
He loved them.
,,I don't need a new best friend."argued Dexter ,,You are always going to be my best friend."
He couldn't replace Saracen, he never could do that.
And it wasn't because Saracen had been perfect, he wasn't.
If anything Saracen had always been imperfect, with a bright smile that came far too easily and a habit to bring all of them in life treating danger.
Like the one Saracen was currently in.
,,That's niece to hear, but we both now that we are far away from peace times and even worse thinghs are coming your way."pointed Saracen out and sighed before he looked at Dexter with his most serious expression.
,,I could accept that more easily coming from you, if I didn't knew your magical discipline."replied Dexter with a smirk.
Saracen sighed at that ,,That's exactly why I didn't tell you, I didn't wanted to be the ones who people make jokes about."
,,Not everyone would have made jokes over you and your discipline."reassures Dexter him softly.
,,Thank you."whispers Saracen back, in a raw voice and Dexter knows they don't have much longer
,,Iwas referring to Anton and the fact that he never really made jokes."replies Dexter with a half smile.
Saracen doesn't even have enough strength to be offended at this point ,,It was a good joke, one of the best."
,,It was."agrees Saracen softly and leans in Dexter.
Dexter slowly takes most of Saracens weight in order to give them so more time.
But it isn't enough.
So many years wasted thinks Dexter.
Years of silence.
Just because he wouldn't tell me.
Years.
And now?
Minutes.
Seconds.
,,I love you."says Dexter and is almost suprised himself by the words that leave his mouth.
They are true nonetheless and they always have been true.
He never really said them, but now that time is running out....
He needs to say them, be needs Saracen to know that one person in this dimension truly loved him and was with him till the end.
,,I love myself too."replied Saraven weakly with a half grin.
Dexter laughs at that, a hearty laugh,but it doesn't sound as warm or as good as it used to.
It doesn't sound like it did, before Darquise freed him of the remant.
They lapse into a comfortable silence and Dexter looks up at the stars.
There are so many of them...he wonders if they are the same stars he can see back home or if they are any different.
,,Do you rember when you meet Anton for the first time?"asks Dexter, he wasn't there but he has heard the story many times.
Both from Anton and Saracen and they had always told different versions.
When they were both talking it at the same time they had always argued.
,,Of course, there was this camp and I attacked it..."begins Saracen and his eyes start to shone bright again.
That is the moment Dexter breaks his back in one fluid movement.
Saracens mouth opens one last time,before he falls silent.
It is only a matter of seconds, before he will turn and Dexter knows he doesn't have much time.
Still he takes a moment to memories the face of his friend one last time.
Then he shoots him in the head.
Brain destroyed, mission completleted successfully, thinks Dexter bitter.
In his head Saracens last words echo.
,,Of course, there was this camp and I attacked it..."
,,You didn't attack it."interrupts Anton him ,,You roolled a hill down.", his voice echoes too trough Dexter's head.
,,,Of course I attacked it, why else should I have rolled down this hill?"asks Saracen back and his voice is growing fainter, but Dexter still can hear them.
Slowly he closes his eyes and listens.
,,I rolled down the hill and attacked them, it's part of my tactic."argues Saracen back with a smile on his face, Dexter can hear it.
,,You don't even know what a tactic is."points Anton with a snort out.
,,Of course I do, that is what Skullduggery was thinking of."replies Saracen.
,,Anyway, you were screaming for help when you had stopped rolling."reminds Anton him.
,,I wasn't screaming for help, I was asking for reinforcement."corrects Saracen him immediatly.
,,You were screaming for help."mutters Anton sulking.
,,I wasn't."
,,You were."
Dexter listens to his friends arguing and smiles.
He doesn't know how much time goes by, but at some point he leaves Saracen corpse that lies in the grass behind and walks back to the camp.
There mission is still not finished.
 
The first thingh Saracen hears when he opens his eyes is ,,I wasn't killed by a piano."
,,What?"asks Saracen completly perplexed.
,,It wasn't a piano."repeats Hopeless slowly and stares at him sulking.
,,Don't listen to him, he is still not over the fact that his death wasn't something special."assures Larrikin with a smile.
,,My death was special....."argues Hopeless back and Saracen looks around in an attempt to comprehend what just happend.
,,Welcome in the land of death."greets Ghastly him warmly and hugs him.
It feels so good and Saracem huggs him back as good as he can.
,,I missed you."says Saracen with a smile .
,,I know,I missed you too."replies Ghastly with a smile.
,,We all missed you."adds Hopeless with a smile as soon as he has stopped arguing with Larrikin.
Saracen smiles once again at them, glad to have his friends back before the smile vanishes.
,,I still miss Dexter."
,,We all do."replies Hopeless with a sad smile and pulls him in another hug.
And one day they are all going to be reunited, thinks Saracen.
Hopefully after Dexter, Skullduggery, Valkyrie and Tanith lead a long and happy life.
One day.