A strange little piece written because I wanted to write a song fic and because this song, by Stratovarius really sung out (excuse the pun) to me. The story itself is not particularly special - being merely a few minutes effort late New Years Day (well, technically the day after) and its rather derivative of at least one "Dark Materials" fic I've read (which I'd credit if I could remember its name and had any hope of finding it again). But still, here it is. Enjoy.

* * *

He was old now, too old. Even walking this short distance was enough to send his pulse racing and catch his breath in his throat. Soon it would be time, time for him to pass on, to become one with everything.

"I stand alone in the darkness
the winter of my life came so fast
memories go back to my childhood
to days I still recall"

He could never forget her face, the fey glint in her eyes, her unruly mop of hair. Oh, sweet Lyra, had it really been so long? Seventy years seemed to have passed him by, unnoticed, unheeded. Was there anything really important, anything since that moment - that last moment when he had bid her, his first, his only, true love farewell?

It seemed a lifetime ago - it was a lifetime ago. There had been others in that time. A wife, children, grandchildren. But there had not been her, and everyday, when he watched the sun rise, his thoughts would go out to her, so far away, yet forever in his heart.

"Oh how happy I was then
there was no sorrow, there was no pain
walking through the green fields
sunshine in my eyes"

The park bench was hard beneath him, his hands shaking and the breath catching in his chest. It had been a long walk - his last walk. Every year, for the last seventy years he had come. There had only been two exceptions - once when he had been in hospital, following a car accident and second at the birth of his first child. Every midsummer's day, at noon, he would sit on the park bench, in the Oxford Botanical Gardens, close his eyes, and call his love to him.

Oh, how things had changed since those wild, crazy days - days when life had been a glorious battle, filled with risks at every turn. But they were risks he could face, with her at his side.

Today, as he sat there, arthritic hands clutched in his lap, he imagined he could see her there beside him. Beautiful, forever - but aged, as she would be now. She looked at him, a smile dancing across her face, her eyes alive, mischievous and full of life, even after all this time.

"Forever," she mouthed the words. She reached out a hand towards him, and he took it in his, the shakes dispersing. He faded into her, enwrapping her in a glorious, heartfelt embrace. She brought her lips to his, and her touch was cool, as spectral as she was.

He felt himself sliding, slipping away.

His life was past and spent, it was time, to fall into the infinity and become one with eternity.

Forever.

"I'm still here everywhere
I'm the dust in the wind
I'm the star in the northern sky
I never stayed anywhere
I'm the wind in the trees
Would you wait for me, forever?"