He forces the link open, grabbing your head and bringing it, surprisingly gently, to his. Your forehead touches his and the blocks you had built to keep him out weaken and disappear, your mind and his, inseparable and indistinguishable for the first time in many years. Then you hear them, for the first time you hear the drums you never truly believed were real. They are real and you cannot ignore them.

You are sharply brought back to reality, the link no longer overpowering but still there, faint but not completely gone. You are so shocked that it takes a second to realise that you had pulled away.

"They are real!" You did not even realise you had said it out loud." How can they be real?"

You choke on your own blood as you draw air into your lungs with shuddering gasps. They were always real.

As you hold him, dying in your arms yet again, you smile. You smile because the drums are real, were always real, it wasn't your fault that he left and this time you won't let him go.