by prexus

disclaimer: I do not own harry potter stuff. X] I wish .. but alas, I cannot have. sigh* the sadness of this world. lol .. I`m a fourteen year old drama queen. XP

He couldn't love – no, not even love – he couldn't possibly care for her. No, it couldn't be done.

For they were on two different sides, from two different worlds.

She wasn't allowed to look back, wasn't allowed to regret losing someone she cared for.

They didn't love each other. Well, at least, not at the beginning. Companions, they agreed, was the term they should use. Acquaintances, they pondered, was even better.

And finally, when in the hallways, they were both brave enough to nod or smile in the other's direction … it was all broken apart. How quickly things can change.

Because of what? Because of the assembling, the setting up of the board. The players of the two kingdoms were being set up at their rightful place. There were no buts or how about's. No, they were very much segregated.

And when one from each side coincidentally should meet in the middle, then one must be destroyed.

They were standing there now, in the midst of the battle. And it was the strangest thing. Because they weren't facing the same direction. No, of course not.

He was facing her, face blank. She was staring him in the eyes, her own countenance with void of emotion.

How strange, they both thought. For they had just been smiling at each other in the hallways a year ago. And a year, it didn't seem so long ago.

What happened, he secretly thought to himself.

Things changed, she inwardly flinched.

I wonder what could've been, his fingers gripping his wand now.

If only things weren't this way, her hands tightening around her own wand.

I might've actually cared for you. Regret flashed in his eyes but left just as quickly.

I wish we had been at least friends. She bit her lip.

I'm sorry, he raised his wand and fought away the hesitation.

I'm sorry, she closed her eyes, ready to destroy something so precious.

A flash of light. He falls forward. She rushes to meet him at the ground.

She chokes on her tears. Why is she crying? She does not love him, maybe.

He closes and reopens his eyes to focus on her fading figure.

Friendship, they say, is harder to lose than love, and even harder when you love the one you share that friendship with.

She kisses him for the first and last time, hoping to take some of his pain and make it her own.

He is dying and a little bit of her is dying along with him. Because she cared.

He whispers. She lowers herself to him to listen.

Come, death, and welcome. Virginia, wills it so.

She is lying beside him. Another flash of light. And she is sleeping next to him forever. Her last thoughts: Come, death, and welcome. Love … has willed it so.

The game is overturned, the rules broken. But there is death and bloodshed, and betrayal. The players are put away until the board is assembled again. And they are dying inside as the chess box is covered, because truth is lost.

Friendship is hard to lose. Even harder, when you love what you lost. And so a little bit of you shall die along with the lost.

FiN.