It was a small cell, with a slab that I assumed they’d call a bed and a toilet in the back corner. Percy had landed on the slab. I was on the floor, which didn’t make much of a difference except for height.

“Well love, you wanted civilization. You got it. Happy?” Perceneige said.  She sounded as tired as she looked, but there was still fire in her beautiful eyes. “Careful what you wish for, huh.”

I smiled. “Just be glad I didn’t wish too hard for a bath, we’d be drowning. Care to help me up?” It was hard to get in a sitting position with my hands behind my back and one arm stuck under me. She got up with a grunt and helped me out, deciding in the end to get me to the slab next to her.

In this little cell, with little freedom of movement and even less hopes of seeing daylight again, she put her head on my bruised shoulder and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Tamara. Truly, very sorry.”

She never called me by my full name. Never. I turned my head slightly to kiss her hair, breathing in the scent of her as if it was the only real thing in this nightmare. There was nothing to say. No hope, no plan, no way to get out of there. We were probably going to die soon, in a horrific way, at the hands of a madman who had once thought he loved her. But that was for later. Now, at least, we had each other. Despite my earlier words, I wished I could hug her. 

“It was a fun ride”, I whispered. “I don’t regret a thing.” I laid back against the wall, allowing Percy to find a less uncomfortable position against my chest. I ignored the million little pains, and the big one in my shoulders. “I never thought I’d say that to a woman, but damn girl I love you.”

I felt her smile. We called each other “love”, but had never said the words. There hadn’t been time, there hadn’t been a need. Now we were at the end of everything, it seemed fitting.

Her answer came in the form of a kiss. A long, deep, glorious kiss, with her tied hands cupping my face and her body pressed against mine. It contained all the words we didn’t know how to say, all the fears and the hopes, all the feelings we had been hiding from ourselves and each other. If trust was a kiss, it would be this one.

It lasted a second or an hour, I didn’t know. But eventually Percy pulled away, leaving me cold but full. Full of what, no idea. Feelings. Emotions. A bit of lust. A lot of longing. At least I was less afraid of what was to come. Almost curious, even.

Percy put her head back on my chest, following the kiss with as close to a hug as we could manage. She didn’t say a word. We remained there, in this weird bubble, for a long time. Her breathing started to deepen, her body felt heavier. I welcomed it with a smile. “Sleep well, my love” I whispered into her hair.