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“I don’t want to take it back, Jesse, but I have to!” Jamie exclaimed, desperation flooding his face as he lifted his head back up. “It’s the curse! We were wrong about what’s really hurting you!”

“What?” Jesse stared in surprise. “What are you talking about?!”

“It’s… the artifact that Ezra used on me,” Jamie groaned, the words now tumbling from his lips as if he could no longer hold them back.

“It contained a curse that locked my powers away, and… it… Jesse, it wasn’t my powers that hit you!

It was Ezra’s fire-based curse! And that’s why it feels like ‘burning’ in your chest! ”

“…O-okay, so?” Jesse swallowed down his panic as he tried to think a way around what he was hearing. “Then, you can just remove it! Same basic principle; now that you know what it is, you can take it out!”

“I – I can’t,” Jamie admitted, tears starting to well in his eyes.

“That night, when we had sex for the first time, the curse split into two parts. One transferred to you, and the other remained in me. It wasn’t even supposed to happen; this kind of curse has never transferred out of its host before.

But… now that it’s begun, it won’t ever stop.

Because… because you’re only human. Your body is weaker than mine; so the curse keeps transferring, until it will be complete.

In someone like me, the only effect is the sealing of powers.

But you don’t have any powers to seal, so it’s…

killing you instead, and there’s… there’s just nothing Eleanore or I can do to remove it from you. ”

…No.

No!

Jesses heart began to race painfully within him, and it was near impossible to even process the words as they blurred into a suffocating fog. “I – I’m… going to d-die,” he rasped through the panic, raising his arm on instinct to clutch at his chest.

“N-no, you’re not— Jesse, I swear, I would never let that happen!

” Jamie promised at once, his blue eyes widening as he reached out and placed his hand over Jesse’s.

“No, there is a different way that I can save you, without removing the curse. And…” A sudden, heavy sadness carved into his face. “It’s something I have to do anyway.”

The final, shattering piece of the puzzle fell into place. Jesse could see it now, every moment clicking into a devastating, inescapable pattern.

With his powers being sealed away in a ‘forced safe form,’ Jamie shouldn’t have been able to use them—and yet, he obviously had.

Not right away, because he didn’t have access to them in the beginning, but it had started when Jesse had been in the hospital.

And while Jamie grew stronger, and regained more of his powers, Jesse on the other side got weaker as time went on.

Every single damn thing led back to that curse.

It all led to the one, inevitable consequence.

Jesse let out a shuddering breath as an exhausted resignation and deep, crushing cold settled into his bones. “You’re going to leave me. ”

Jamie swallowed hard, looking as though he didn’t want to answer, but then he nodded, forcing himself to answer anyway. “Yes,” he admitted quietly. “I’m going to leave you.”

Tears immediately sprang to Jesse’s eyes as he felt his heart break inside him.

This just wasn’t fair. He had worked so hard and gone through so much, all to build this life with Jamie. It couldn’t end now! Where was the justice in that!?

“I’m sorry,” Jamie whispered, gently wiping the tears from Jesse’s cheek as he blinked hard against the wetness in his own eyes.

“I wish there was another way, but… there isn’t.

The reason my seals keep wearing off is because the two parts of the curse keep reconnecting, like magnets.

It’s a connection that I cannot break, no matter how much I remember or how strong I am.

And with the condition you’re already in, there’s no doubt that the transfer is almost complete.

If I don’t put a stop to it now, you’ll…

only have a few days left. A week at the most.”

“But… how’s that supposed to work?!” Jesse’s voice cracked. “I can… barely move anymore; it hurts just to try!”

“It will work,” Jamie replied, his voice quivering.

“As long as I am not around. I’ll place the most powerful seal that I can, and then I’ll leave this world forever.

Without my presence, the part within you will not react to the last traces that are left within me, and it will grow docile.

It will act as though it has already done its job—and my final seal will stay in place.

You will be just as healthy as you were…

before… before I came into your life.” He suddenly lost the battle against his own tears, hurriedly trying to wipe them away. “As if you n-never even met me at all.”

If it were possible for Jesse’s heart to shatter further, it did now.

“Jamie, please don’t – don’t cry,” he begged, knowing full well that it was useless, and only crying harder himself.

“I promise, it will never be like that! I’ll never go b-back to the way I was, even if I live to be a hundred years old. ”

“…But, you could,” Jamie told him quietly.

“Eleanore has… she has the ability to alter memories, just like Ezra. I could ask her to erase me from yours. You, Austin, the dance crew—everyone who ever knew me. She could take away all your pain. It would be as if I n-never existed at all, and no one would have to hurt by remembering me.”

“NO!” Jesse exclaimed with a gasp, the very thought of it sending a chill of horror through his core.

“No,” he repeated, in a softer, gentle whisper, as he reached out and took hold of Jamie’s hand.

“Jamie… If this is truly o-over…” The tears kept coming, and he had to swallow hard to speak through the thick lump in his throat.

“If this is over, then I don’t want to forget a single second of it.

You are the m-most important person in my life; you taught me to be bold, to be myself, no matter what the world thinks of me.

You’ve given me hope of a life I never thought could be mine, and you’ve shared a love with me that I’ve never experienced before, and – and I’m sure I never will again.

” His grip on Jamie’s hand tightened. “Knowing it is about to end is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, but I would rather feel the pain of loss a thousand times over than forget the love I’m losing. ”

Uncertainty flickered over Jamie’s pale, damp face. “Are… are you sure?”

“I am.” Jesse wiped the tears from his eyes once more. “No matter how hard it is to say goodbye, I will t-treasure these memories for the rest of my life—I wouldn’t trade away one second. Please, don’t… don’t make my memories lie to me, Jamie.”

“…Alright,” Jamie conceded, giving Jesse’s hand a gentle squeeze and resting his forehead against Jesse’s.

“Jesse… I won’t… let go of these m-memories either.

I never thought I would get the chance to ever love or to be loved, but…

you showed me how it feels. These past few months have been the happiest times of my entire life, and I will…

I will r-remember them. Always, and… forever. ”

They were both crying freely now. Jesse couldn’t bear to see the tears streaming down Jamie’s cheeks, but he couldn’t bear to look away, either; knowing that soon, he would never see this precious face again.

Mere inches away from each other, he could see every glisten of light in Jamie’s watering blue eyes, and worked to commit them to his memory.

The years stretched out before him in his mind; a long and tiring life ahead, filled with milestones, holidays, failures and successes, sickness and health—and Jamie wouldn’t be there for any of it.

The absence felt unbearable, and he couldn’t stand to let it start.

He couldn’t stand to close his eyes, and give the absence one more second.

It was only now that he noticed Jamie was wearing the hoodie Jesse had left in the kitchen earlier. He hadn’t even given it a second thought before, but now, it made so much sense.

Jamie was going to take it with him.

A piece of Jesse to hold on to…

The realization cracked something deep inside him. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, a sob tearing out of him, because it just wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. He would have given up anything just to have more time.

Suddenly, a strange energy filled the air, and a golden glow flooded the room. He looked unwillingly towards the source; a bright, shining oval of light, opening in the middle of his living room.

A portal.

Eleanore stepped through it, her long white hair and flowing robes giving the oddest impression of angels as she stepped aside to wait for Jamie.

“Jesse,” Jamie whispered, closing his eyes for one moment as he pressed their foreheads closer together, before leading Jesse to stand up with him, fingers trembling as they curled tighter around Jesse’s hands. “I’m… so sorry, for – for everything.”

Jesse shook his head, blinking away the fresh blur of tears. “Don’t ever be sorry for loving me.”

Jamie let out a sharp breath of heartache, and then he leaned forward, pressing his lips against Jesse’s in the purest kiss .

It was wet with the salty taste of tears, full of longing.

It was gentle, loving, sweet—yet it was also passionate.

Strong. As if Jamie was trying to make up for the thousands of kisses he would now never give.

Jesse melted into it, wrapping his arms around Jamie in a loving embrace as Jamie’s fingers were pushed through his hair.

If only this moment could’ve lasted forever…

He registered Jamie’s arms shifting position, until they took hold of Jesse’s shoulders and turned him around. His back was pressed firmly against the wall, but he didn’t pull away from the kiss to ask what was happening. Perhaps if he had, he could have prepared for what was coming next.

Jamie broke free of the kiss, placed a hand over Jesse’s chest, and took in a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

Before Jesse could so much as open his mouth, he was hit by an agony worse than anything he’d ever experienced before, as Jamie renewed his seal for one last time.

A searing, coursing pain stabbed deep into his heart, like a spear of freezing fire tearing him to shreds.

He realized he was screaming; the sound ripped from his throat unwittingly.

After a long, agonizing moment, the pain began to subside, but it had left Jesse weak in the knees, unable to stand.

He fell forward, barely registering as he was caught and slowly laid back down on the couch.

He flittered his eyes open as his hair was brushed gently out of his face, and Jamie leaned down to plant one last soft, trembling kiss on his lips. “Goodbye,” he whispered. “My Love.”

Jamie stepped out of view.

“N-no,” Jesse managed to gasp out, trying to push himself up from the couch as panic surged through his very core, only to fall back onto it as a wave of dizziness washed over him. “No, no! JAMIE!”

He craned his neck towards the light, his eyes taking in the sight of Jamie walking with Eleanore through the blindingly bright portal. Jamie took one last look over his shoulder, tears streaming down his face, as he offered Jesse one last smile …

And then he was gone.

The portal disappeared. The light faded. And Jesse was left alone, breaking into ugly sobs before the darkness overtook him.