“Tonight will be our last sunset. You will never see me again.”

The words were barely a whisper, yet I hear them echo through my mind like a shout of warning.

I will never see him again, I repeat in my head.

My eyes drift shut, the scenery in front of me fading to black. I can still imagine the ghost of his being standing by my side where he said those words.

“That is, of course, if everything goes according to plan,” I remember responding. Tears were threatening to fall, stinging my eyes as they do now.

A lifetime of training taught me to shield my emotions just as much as teach me to shoot a gun. But as of that moment, it was as if I never experienced such a thing.

I turned to look at Ryder but it seemed his training was better than mine. He showed no sign of fear or loss or even any acknowledgment of the situation at all. I could almost pretend we were just two teenagers watching the sunset. Almost.

He simply nods his head once in response to my statement.

“Ryder?” I whispered it as if his name was a secret.

“Yes, Evanna?” unlike me, he maintained his composure.

I forget what I planned to say while I studied his face. His brown eyes — normally so dark they were almost black — were like pools of honey due to the sunlight reflecting off of them. His blonde hair shone almost white. He had a slight crease between his brows as though he was deep in thought.

“What are you thinking?” I ask him.

His shoulders reluctantly relaxed and the crease between his brows disappeared.

“Nothing of importance,” he sighed with his eyes studying the dirt beneath his shoes.

“I doubt you could be thinking nothing in a situation such as this,” I say, slightly stunned. “Ryder, you are giving up everything. Our plan may lead to peace or it may lead to war. Are you sure you are willing to take this risk?You’re leaving everyone on a maybe,”

You’re leaving me on a maybe, is what I wanted to say.

Ryder had run a hand through his hair in what seemed like frustration, temporarily losing his calm tone. “What do you want me to say?”

Say you’ll stay, I plead in my head, Say you won’t leave me behind.

But those words were left unspoken by the both of us. Now I stand alone on the same cliff overlooking a new sunset. Five years after.

I wish I could say Ryder was wrong. I wish I could say we had a thousand more sunsets together. I wish I could say I saw him again. I wish I could say that I told him I loved him before he vanished.

Unfortunately, Ryder was right. It was our last sunset together. And I never did see him again.

“I love you,” I whisper to no one as the sun finally disappears beneath the horizon, “and one day I will see you again. I will see you and wrap my arms around your neck and tell you that I love you. I refuse to let those words remain unspoken.”