Her head pounding, Dea struggled to open her eyes against the harsh light that beat against her eyelids, the sounds of machines humming almost hidden by the clicking of heels against the floor. Feeling the dryness of her throat, Dea tried to speak aloud to question where she was and why Letta had brought her here, not angry so much as just curious.

Surely the woman had no interest in killing her after working so hard to keep her alive the past few days. Even if she did want her dead, all she had to do was sit by and watch her wither away. No, Dea knew Letta had no intent to commit murder. So what was she doing?

It couldn't be the serum that Miro was working on, for if it had anything to do with that, Miro himself would have been there beside her. He would never have let Letta knock her out like that. No, he would have held her close and carried her to the labs, whispering comforting words into her ears the whole time.

"Mistress Dea, please forgive me. I don't want you to suffer any more than you already have but I am afraid this will hurt. There is nothing I can do to change that, just as there is nothing I can do to change the past. All I can do is try to get you where you belong," Letta's voice washed over me as the sound of her clickings heels came to a stop beside me as I lay on the cold metal table. "I promise that when the pain stops, when you next awaken, you will be able to find him again. All it will take is a little patience and time, just has he has shown in waiting for you. And you will have all the time you need."

With those words, my world went dark again, pain blooming in my neck and shoulder as my last view of Letta was of her unmasked face leaning over me. Even seeing her scarred face, cheeks torn and lips ravaged as if by a wild animal, I felt no fear of her. Just a sadness, like I was seeing my best friend for the last time before beginning a very long but welcome journey.

"Welcome to the beginning of forever."

Part of me felt like I had made this journey before, somewhere long ago and far away.

--------

Letta watched with both sadness and joy as Dea vanished, the hum of the machine she had spent the past few decades working on in secret slowly dying after having done the job they were created for. And to think, if she had told anyone what she was working on all this time, they would have scoffed and called her insane.

Anyone but Dea. She would have believed in her, just like she always had. Just like she always would.

"Come Letta. We must prepare," a soft voice bade her as a gentle hand rested on her shoulder.

With a final wish for the happiness of her vanished friend and mistress, Letta turned from the machine and lifted her hand towards her accomplice.

"I can only pray Miro will be able to wait for her return. Even I do not know how long it will be before she returns to him here," Letta's voice wavered as her fingers grasped for the security of her lover's hand. "Let's go before he finds us here."