atop the balcony of viola’s mansion, madeline and helen had just witnessed ernest falling off the ledge and into the abyss. the two women gazed into each others eyes and smiled softly.
“he’s just…gone?”, helen asked.
madeline took a second before shrugging. “oh well! who needs him? i’m pretty handy with my hands, if i do say so myself.”
madeline was about to walk off when helen grabbed her hand. the blonde turned around and looked at her.
“helen? are you alright?”, she asked with a small annoyed look.
helen took a deep breath. “i…im scared, mad. i’m not half as good as he is and viola already doesn’t like us and am i just going to-“
madeline put her hands on helen’s cheeks. “hey, hey, breathe. nervousness was never a good look on you.”
helen chuckled. “i’m being serious, hel. i don’t want you to be nervous because…because i’m nervous too. we can’t both be nervous!”
the pair giggled again. madeline looked deeply into her eyes and rubbed her cheeks softly with her thumbs. helen felt tears form in her eyes and hugged her friend tightly.
“what do we do?”, helen asked.
“i’m not sure but…i think im your person. and as your as your person, i want to help you. all we have is each other and i think we can do that, can’t we?”
helen pulled back from burying her head softly in madeline’s neck, trying not to ruin any of the perfect work that ernest did on her friend’s skin. she softly wiped some tears away.
“i think so. i…i can’t believe i even trust you enough to let you take care of me. i should hate you. why can’t i hate you?”
madeline took a shaky breath and fixed her hair. she took hold of helen’s hands.
“because as much as we hate each other, we’re all that we got. viola hates us. ernest is dead. for infinity, it’s just us. you and me. as the world intended. it’s always been that though, hasn’t it? every time we’ve been through something, we crawl back to one another.”
helen took a shaky breath and squeezed madeline’s hands. “you won’t leave me, right? promise?”
“i’m your person, helen. i’ll never leave you.”, madeline assured with a soft smile.
the pair hugged again and pulled back from one another. madeline fixed helen’s hair a little and kissed her forehead. helen’s eyes fluttered shut momentarily, soaking in her person’s lips on her skin. she craved more but wasn’t sure why.
they looked at each other with kind eyes. their gazes held no more hate, hurt, or pain towards each other. most of it was love and kindness to one another. something they both haven’t seen in a long time.
“what do we do now?”, helen asked.
madeline took a deep breath and smiled. “go home, i suppose? there’s nothing more we can do here.”
helen nodded and intertwined her fingers in madeline’s. “okay, let’s go home.”
the pair walked together out of viola’s mansion and back to the car. they sat in silence all the way back to madeline’s mansion, savoring the next few moments before eternity together.