The Ending's Near

I can feel it coming.
The ending's near.
I think I must have known before it happened,
Must have sensed I'd lose you somehow.
That night had been a quiet one.
The night exceptionally dark.
Our only light was the pale moon above,
And even then your features were strained.

You knew, didn't you?
That's why you were so cold.
You knew our time was up.
That's why I had to fight to stay by your side.

I can feel it coming closer,
Drawing over you like a shadow,
A cloak,
Taking you away.
You knew, and you never put up a fight!
How could you not?
How could you leave me?
How could you?!

I felt you tense,
I felt your fleeing panic.
But how could I have known?
I thought the darkness was safe with you.
But out of the shadows, an enemy unknown to all but you,
And there was the clamor,
The deafening shot brought forth.

You shielded me then,
Before I knew what it was.
But I could sense something happening,
A foreboding.
Somehow I knew that this was the end.

The scurrying of footsteps,
The enemy ran,
But I had no thought but for you.
You, who had fallen,
Who's blood was black as the darkness surrounding us.
You who had taken the gunfire so bravely...
You who had known what was coming,
And had met the pain head on.

Tears could not find me,
As I felt the world crashing in.
My body was numb,
My mind sluggish,
Consumed in you.
And there you smiled,
Stubborn even as death approached.

I could feel it now,
Like butterfly kisses upon my skin;
The ending's near,
No fighting it now.
And you laughed that old laugh,
The one that held all your devilish charm,
As if your wound was nothing.
But I saw the fear in you eyes,
Just before we faced the end together.

Your eyes glazed,
Jaw slackened,
All that I'd loved vanished in those few seconds.
But it felt like eternity,
Cradling the cooling shell of you,
Felt like forever,
For time is meaningless,
When the world has ended.

The ending was near, but you knew that, didn't you?
You'd held a secret, a war, on your own.
Your enemy won,
You left me alone.
But I promise you something,
I'll find him.
I'll make him pay for each shuddering breath he'd caused,
For each moment of fear I saw in your eyes,
Before the ending came.