[WoD drabble post]
velleity \veh-LEE-uh-tee; vuh-\, noun:
1. The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition.
2. A slight wish or inclination.
The blood drips and leaks and dribbles like little teardrops, streaking inch by inch down the pale landscape of flesh and bone, from the down-turned corner of a frown.
He's gaunt and breathless, coughs wracking his frame, like the last muffled gutturals of an engine's failure in ignition.
Metal creaks with strain, and the splatters of red that fall and seep between the cracks do nothing to oil the machine from its exhaustive agony.
"Nagato..."
Her voice is lost in the huff and pant and groan, and if she could say it once more, scream it from the tops of her lungs, maybe he would--
"Just a bit more, Konan. I can see it."
And maybe he can.
They are still; her watching him watching the unseen, staring blankly past the fortress of her paper walls, into the darkness where she cannot follow.
Velleity: Stop.
Come back.
Words forever unspoken.
They both know it is already much too late.
Fin.