“We did it! Oh my god, I thought we were definitely done for after that last trick he pulled,” Ren screamed, twirling around the square with no care in the world as their long quest finally came to an end. “The way you managed to trick him into giving us his sword was phenomenal! How did you —“ As Ren turned around, he noticed Al’s face getting paler by the second and stopped in his tracks.

Just as he made eye contact with him, Al crumbled to the ground, holding his side. His hand could no longer hide the large amount of blood that was seeping through his clothes. Ren rushed forward to catch him before he could hit his head on the stone-path. Holding him steady, he carefully lowered him to the ground. Al’s eyes were getting heavy and keeping them opened seemed nearly impossible.

“Stay awake! Don’t you dare close your eyes right now, I’m not losing you,” he hurried, tapping his friend’s face as his heart hammered loudly in his ears. He couldn’t hear anything other than Al’s weak pulse and shallow breathing. Clicking his fingers to keep him awake, he ripped his sleeve to put together a make-shift bandage. Ren took hold of Al’s hand, noting how clammy it was, and put it over his heart as he put pressure on his wound. Al’s face held nearly no colour and had noticeable sweat pouring from his face. Al’s lips turned blue as he struggled to take another breath. Ren could hardly see straight anymore and blood, so much blood that it could fill buckets, was blurring his vision.

“You’re gonna be okay, everything is fine. Don’t worry, everything is fine,” he shakily muttered under his breath, one hand pushing Al’s hair away from his eyes.

“It’s okay. I’ll..” Al stopped, taking a shallow breath. “I’ll be fine, and… and you will too.”

Ren finally looked up from the bloody sight and gazed into his eyes. Al’s lips were turned up as he reached up to take hold of Ren’s face.

“We’ll… we’ll see each other again. I promise,” he whispered, staring into Ren’s eyes as he took his last breath.

Ren had held many things in his hands, and he had lost them all.