I watch the reapers ready packs;
     their practised moves precise.
A state of preparation
     to assault his paradise.
Bertholdt's lair Yolanada razzed
     except the undergrounds.
Where copies of the leader lurk
     and densely Earth surrounds.

The abstract place his soul frequents,
     is further to the East.
Marcus and his squadron set
     to end this wretched beast.
The girl and I will find my key,
     the rest will set the trap.
A bomb that will obliterate
     with mighty thunderclap.

We make farewells though curt and swift,
     I wish their journey well,
and ask their captain questions
     of the tale he didn't tell.
"Marianne?" I ask. My lips are dry.
     From flask I swig the water.
And wait to hear the solemn truth
     about his baby daughter.

An android nurse malfunctioned
     while the girl was in her care.
Her treatment was routine
     but the results beyond compare.
A lethal dose injected,
     her diagnosis incomplete.
An error in their logic
     the cause of death so indiscreet.

A turgid tumour grew inside
     until her systems failed.
And breathing oh so sweetly
     with her final breath, exhaled.
The android was relinquished,
     reconditioned and resold.
And Red Cell raked the profit;
     manufacturing their gold.

"I'm sorry," Y remarks
     as the events she overhears.
Marcus nods in deep respect
     the fight he's fought for years.
"Their time has come," he speaks the phrase
     a prophecy perhaps.
As he dreams the fight is over
     and sees Bertholdt's sweet collapse.

I walk aside my queen,
     amid the morning sun of dawn.
The rays dividing landscape,
     as the lumber freshly sawn.
A tiny speck of purity,
     now tumbles from the sky.
Floating every gently
     as the breezes guide it by.

Another, the another.
     As the white begins to grow.
Faster, ever faster falls
     a blanket made of snow.
My face must be a picture
     as a flake lands on my nose,
inward turn my eyes. I blink.
     Her laughter quickly grows.

"The seasons her are quicker now." She laughs a little more.
"And sometimes unexpected," as we pass pale sycamore.
The snowfall like a blizzard now,
     a silent torrent falls.
Our footsteps leaving craters
     as our destiny now calls.

"I love you Xav," my heart doth freeze.
     It wants to beat but can't.
I gulp and will its service
     as inside the words still chant.
"I hope that you'll still love me,
     when your memories return."
And deep inside I'm sure that fire
     for eternity will burn.

But gremlin Doubt then rears his head.
     My footsteps slow then halt.
What happens if my memories
     displace my love, gestalt.
I can not bear to lose her.
     Mayhap my mission flawed.
How could I want much more than this,
     and court the unexplored?

She takes my hand, her hair half white,
     a raging storm of grey.
The fluffy clumps now glistening
     as they slowly melt away.
The white betrays the colour
     and the world transitions charm.
The greens and browns now given way
     to Nature's purest balm.

She smiles at me, then in my ear,
     she leans and whispers bold.
"I bet you can not catch me!"
     as I rediscover cold.
The icy chill assaults my neck,
     bequeathing nerves a flame.
The molten ice parades my back
     and with her rests the blame.

Instinctively I reach for collar,
     it's wet and cold to touch.
She skips away and giggles,
     with that laugh I love so much.
I run to her, she notices
     and picks up merry speed.
Her mismatched legs bipedaling
     as the snow tries to impede.

The pearly dust is cast aside
     as we play our game of chase.
I grab and lunge sporadically
     in attempt to win the race.
Her energy seems infinite.
     Whilst keeping watch she sprints.
Always there, just out of reach;
     the queen now taunts the prince.

And then I catch her dainty hand,
     and balance goes awry.
My body tumbles to the floor
     I'm facing bleachèd sky.
Then in manner awkward,
     she lands upon my chest.
I feel the ice upon my back,
     fighting though suppressed.

She kisses me. I hold her close.
     She kisses me once more.
I know her lips not real
     but her love's forevermore.
Our eyes connect, they pierce me so,
     and even if I yearned.
I could not ever look away;
     my will is overturned.

"I love you Xav." "I love you too."
     the words I speak I mean.
Even though mayhap I shouldn't,
     that common sense I contravene.
I've changed so much in recent years;
     since waking in that bed.
With her I learned to thrive
     against the world that bears the dead.

I know the Lord hath planned my path,
     my destiny designed.
With love right at the centre,
     and a future close behind.
"You know Sir you're incorrigible"
     She grins from ear to ear.
But that final word she utters
     sends my world aspin with fear.

She's calling me. My name an echo,
     floating on the breeze.
Her lips I see are moving,
     but the sound distorted. "Please!"
The snow becomes tornado,
     flakes swirl and fast rotate.
As colours from that face I love,
     away accelerate.

I try to scream out "No!".
     I try to lift my arms.
Yet everything's been twisted
     by the other worldly charms.
Thrice I blink my world away;
     each time the fade is stronger.
And weightiness surrounds me,
     as durations take much longer.

Then she's gone, my love my queen,
     replaced by little girl.
"Celine?" I venture, "is that you?"
     She turns on spot with twirl.
"You remember me!" She beams a grin.
     "I really hoped you would."
Mayhap last time we met,
     I her intent misunderstood.

"Remember this is secret now
     You mustn't tell a soul."
I couldn't if I wanted,
     for I do not have control.
My head doth nod. "Stand!"
     she says, "It's time for us to play."
My body so complicit
     as she makes her getaway.

I chase her through the twisted halls.
     This house a mansion? No.
Yet all the while my body
     seems to know which way to go.
The walls adorned with ornate art,
     a gaudy chandelier.
I realise then succinctly,
     I no longer harbour fear.

The carpet now beneath my feet
     is soft and lush and green.
The thickest pile I'd reckon,
     that my eyes have ever seen.
I blink quite hard, my eyes in pain.
     The grass beneath my feet,
becoming oh so literal,
     as Nature's verdant sheet.

Outside we are, I find myself,
     reclined on emerald lawn.
At mercy of these memories:
     a dusty willing pawn.
"Let's start" she says, her changed attire;
     in evening gown she's dressed.
With white tiara on her head,
     her hair at it's behest.

In hands I hold some parchment
     complete with words aplenty.
My mouth now speaks in sequence,
     what my mind considers empty.
They do not register at first,
     I concentrate to hear.
Perhaps as they are not my own,
     my mind holds not them dear.

"My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand,"
     now I orate.
The shroud upon the meaning wanes,
     the shadows so ablate.
Her tiny voice exhales the words,
     so practised, so in time.
Maturer sentences I'm sure,
     no other girl could rhyme.

I stand on ship at crest of wave;
     the mast against my palm.
I'm close I sense to knowing
     what should follow after calm.
Yet as the ship is poised to crash,
     and breathe the words of truth.
A darkness grows and steals from me,
     the answers. Nay! The Sooth!

The evil cloud swirl overhead
     and time begins to slow.
I'm sitting on the throne again,
     as fear begins to grow.
My arms are bound. The serpents snake.
     their destination set.
My beating heart attacking me,
     the beading of my sweat.

I feel the droplets paint my face,
     exhausted the retire.
The heat of skin a furnace
     that cremates them in the fire.
The serpents bite, the pain returns.
     Excruciating string.
My nerves are set afire
     with the agony they bring.

And then I'm here, in the cage.
     I see her worried face.
She works so hard to set me free;
     abrim with constant grace.
I see the girl who savèd me
     with eyes of cobalt chroma,
Break the bolts that hold me fast,
     as echoes chant: Verona!