Page 81 of Never Quite Gone

“Why tell me this?” I asked, though part of me already knew the answer. “Why explain anything?”

“Because you're a healer.” Will's smile held genuine warmth. “In every life, every incarnation – you try to understand what's broken. Try to fix what's damaged.” He touched my restraints again, checking for any signs of harm. “Even now, bound and helpless, you're trying to diagnose what's wrong with me. Trying to find a way to heal whatever made me this way.”

He wasn't wrong. Even as he prepared what was clearly a ritual of enormous power, my doctor's mind kept noting symptoms: the way fatigue dragged at his movements, how using magicseemed to age him slightly, the tremors that suggested he was pushing himself beyond safe limits.

“There's nothing wrong with me,” Will continued softly.

“Let me help you,” I offered, meaning it despite everything. “Whatever you're trying to fix, whatever pain you're carrying – there are other ways.”

Will's smile held centuries of secrets as he lifted Vale's vial. “That's exactly what I'm doing,” he said gently. “Fixing everything. Making it so we never have to lose each other again.”

The symbols beneath me flared as he began the ritual in earnest, power building in ways that made my medical mind want to shut down completely. But my hands... my hands remembered other magics, other healings, other ways of mending what was broken.

The ritual halted abruptly as Vale appeared in the doorway, looking ancient and tired in ways that had nothing to do with physical age. Alex stood beside him, bloodied but alive, his eyes finding mine immediately across the candlelit space.

“I wondered when you'd find us,” Will said, sounding almost relieved. His hands never stopped moving through ritual preparations, but something in his posture shifted. “You always were the protector.”

Vale moved into the room with careful steps, his doctor's hands steady despite everything. Even now, even here, I recognized his surgeon's grace – the same precise movements I'd watched in countless operations.

“You're right about the pain,” he told Will, voice gentle as delivering difficult news to a patient's family. “That's why I tried to stop it, all those centuries ago.”

Alex tried to move forward, but ancient power held him back.

“But this isn't the answer,” Vale continued, moving closer to my containment circle. His eyes met mine with centuries of regret, healer recognizing healer across time. “I thought I could save them too, once. Thought I could break the cycle of loss.”

Will's magic crackled in warning, making thecandles flicker, but Vale didn't stop. “All I did was change the pattern, make it more complex. The same thing you're trying to do now.”

“You don't understand,” Will's voice held equal parts anger and pain. “Your curse just made everything more beautiful, more perfect. The power it generates...” His hands glowed with ancient energy. “It's almost enough. Almost ready.”

“Will, please,” Alex tried again, straining against magical bonds. “This isn't you. This isn't what you wanted.”

“Isn't it?” Will's laugh held no humor. “Haven't I always wanted to keep us together? To stop death from taking everyone I love?”

The air grew thick with power as Will raised his hands, ancient magic gathering like storm clouds. Vale moved closer still, ignoring the danger with a doctor's focus on what needed to be done.

“I understand better than you think,” he said softly. “But this...” He gestured at the ritual circle, at the symbols pulsing beneath me. “This will only make it worse.”

Everything happened too fast after that. Will's spell launched, deadly and precise – magic learned from watching Alex across centuries. Vale moved with unexpected speed, placing himself between the power and my containment circle.

The impact threw him across the room, but his sacrifice did something unexpected – it broke the containment circle, shattering the symbols with a burst of light that made my medical mind want to argue about impossible things.

“I'm sorry,” Vale gasped as I rushed to his side, doctor's instincts taking over despite everything. Blood stained his lips as I checked his vitals, my hands remembering battlefield medicine from lives I shouldn't recall. “For everything. For all of it.”

Alex knelt beside us, his own bonds broken by whatever Vale's sacrifice had done. Will stood frozen, power still crackling around his hands but expression shattered as he watched him bleed.

“Stay still,” I ordered, trying to assess the damage. But this wasn't physical injury – this was magic older than medicine,power that shouldn't exist in our world of surgical steel and evidence-based treatment.

“Remember,” Vale whispered. And with that single word, everything changed.

“No,” Will's voice cracked as he watched understanding dawn in my eyes. “No, it's too soon. The ritual isn't ready.”

But Vale wasn't finished. His hand found Alex's, completing some circuit of power none of us had known to look for. “Remember,” he said again, and Alex's gasp told me he was experiencing the same flood of memory.

“What have you done?” Will's magic flared dangerously, making reality feel thin around us. “The pattern – it's breaking.”

“No,” Vale managed, though blood stained his teeth. “It's healing. The way it always should have.” His eyes found Will's, carrying understanding that transcended anger. “You were right about one thing – love is the strongest magic. But not when it's bound and caged. Only when it's freely given.”

“Brother,” Alex said softly, and something in his voice made Will's power falter. “Let us help you. Let us all help you.”

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