[ No need to say anything else. The gate is a few feet off. Hei watches Pai's dark blank eyes, feeling time stretch and something, some final wall of denial, crumble. It hurts; it makes his eyes burn. To distract himself he takes her hand. Guides her to the shimmering glow of the exit. Glancing sideways at her, he has a view of parchment-pale skin, of the individual hairs escaping her ponytail -- up close they are three different shades of dark brown that would've been pretty if his eyes didn't feel so dry, and at the same time so clouded. He traces a blue vein across her cheek, like the shadow of a scar. Doesn't know how he's got the strength to let her go; he was barely ambulatory when she'd last left him. ]
[ But they are the same in that much, able to summon up reserves of self-control when need requires it. ]
[ At the threshold, he lays a hand on her arm, so lightly it's almost a whisper-touch before he withdraws it. ]
THEY TRIED THAT AND FAILED
[ But they are the same in that much, able to summon up reserves of self-control when need requires it. ]
[ At the threshold, he lays a hand on her arm, so lightly it's almost a whisper-touch before he withdraws it. ]
[ He steps back, and lets her pass. ]