In the moments after his confession to Jess, it was like time slowed almost to a stop. The impossible cold that leeched into his body was no longer an enemy but a friend, numbing the agony and the pain that wracked his dying body. Even the aches and pains that had in recent years pursued him though his every waking hour faded away. Around him the clatter of sounds softened to a gentle susurration. He was alone, in a darkness that no longer confined or threatened but embraced him.
Dave had heard that when you died your life would flash before your eyes. But in this moment he could only remember the callous dismissal he'd heard from one of his instructors a long time ago about this. He'd barked, in an incandescent rage that that this indeed happened. It was called living. And that he'd better get to it.
Life for him had been a wild ride, his body showed it, even before the monsters took it upon themselves to free him from it. He'd outlived too many friends, seen too many battles. But he always told himself, for every person lost, thousands more people slept safely in their beds, unaware of the struggle that raged around them. He cared about people. If there was one thing life'd taught him above all else, it was that no matter how far into war, how deep into the shittiest places you took people, the good in them always shone. It was that spark, that determination, the ability to crack a silly joke, sing a song or laugh in the face of death, that was what made humanity great. Some said Halloween could never die. Well humanity could never be defeated. It was this faith, even as he died, even as he lost his own personal battle, that made him sure, made him determined that they would win in the end, perhaps not this battlefield, but another.
He'd been ready a long time ago to greet the end with open arms, had been so certain that to die would matter little to him. He'd been young and foolish then, and if there was something he'd learned, it was that life grew on you, when you were older, you'd learned to savour all that you had to lose. You found things you cared for. Things you couldn't bear to let go.
You told her. Argyll's gentle voice came to him out of the dark, and he was no longer alone, he'd never been truly alone, she had stayed.
I'm proud of you Dave.
She called him Dave.
Here and now, she finally used the name she'd never approved enough to call him. He remembered her vehement determination in those early days that she would never bend to him, never obey him, never respect him. She called him a monster and swore he would be forever unworthy of being titled friend.
Time changes all of us Dave.
His thoughts reached out to Jess once more, she'd been with him through so many years, he'd watched her blossom from a boisterous and brash young hunter into his equal and then some, gaining in his respect year on year until he realised that somewhere along the way his respect had turned into love. "I hoped you'd go to her you know. " he spoke aloud to the Selkie, though there was little need to speak anymore. "Will you, will you care for her?"
I cannot.
I have made my choice just as you made yours.
He swore if he could truly see her, the Selkie would have been smiling, he could hear it in her voice.
I learned something from you two. Sometimes being a weapon is not a bad thing. Sometimes it lets you protect the ones you respect. The ones you love.
You were her weapon Dave, in those last moments, you gave your all to protect her, you stayed with her to the finish.
Just as I am yours and I will stay with you.
She didn't need to say more than that, her accompanying him in this most solitary hour the most moving gift she could give him. He would see Jess again someday, he was certain, and if there was one thing the death hunter was good at, it was determination like an iron bar.
"Thank you." was almost all he could say, the silly little song he'd been singing only moments before rising in his mind as he slipped below the surface of consciousness.
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone~
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