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Chapter 65

Ever heard the phrase, 'true love's kiss'? The mythical thing that can conquer any disease and hardship, even bring one back from the dead? The ray of hope in every fairy tale you've ever heard? It doesn't work.
"Wake up!" I scream/sob between the times when my lips meet his cold ones, then I kiss him again, and again, unable to believe it, unable to accept it.
This is Coal we're talking about. He can't die. He just can't. It's against his nature. I feel like my head is splitting in pain with a sudden onrush of images, like someone's broken the dam...
Coal, on the day I first met him- Well, Stone, as I knew him then- Less bloody, less scarred, no 69 on his neck. A complete lie, every bit of him.
Coal, pulling away from me the first Beast we ever encountered together, his face a mask of rage... Him, protecting me, when his duty was my death.
Coal, the light of the fire playing in his eyes, a smile warming his face as he enthusiastically tells his tall tales to Clay, who sits and watches his hero, eyes wide... That's one of the happiest memories I have of Coal, and one of the only ones I can recall when he's actually smiling.
And lastly, there's Coal again, me and him kissing as the rain pounds down around us, as the storm rages above us and wind tries to push us off the cliff... But it's only him and me, together, forever, and I can still feel his warmth, his strength... And he's the only person in the world who I've ever felt safe with, the only person who I know will always be there for me.
A person that strong, that solid- He can't just die like that.
Then I'm looking down at Coal again, face pale and white, the ground beneath him so, so red...
No. Coal is alive, somewhere in there. He loves me, he wouldn't leave me here, alone, against the world... No, he's alive.
I can feel it.
And I have a plan.