Chapter 10:

Whoops, I forgot to update the day I applied; I applied yesterday. But I got my first offer today [and considering people who sent it a week before me haven't got any offers yet, I'm in shock] so here's the final chapter!

Oneshots will be written for Myrnins Bitch & NarutoRox if they would like to leave their requests at the end of the chapter.

"You need to give her to Gérard," Amelie said to Myrnin softly, sitting down on one of the chairs next to him. The dawn had broken and they were into a new day, yet Myrnin still continued to sit with Claire in his arms, not moving, his eyes staring into her face as though he was waiting for forgiveness that she would never give him.

"No," he whispered, his voice barely audible. He didn't look at Amelie, didn't act as though she was even there, save for speaking to her. "I'm not letting her go with your guards—you'll do something to her."

Amelie reached forwards and placed one of her hands on Myrnin's shoulder, but Myrnin did nothing. He let her do what she wanted, because he knew that she would anyway. "I will have her taken to the funeral home, in preparation for her burial, Myrnin, nothing more," she said, and though he knew he ought to believe her, Myrnin couldn't. Whilst he knew in his mind that she had no reason to hurt Claire, especially now that she was dead, the paranoia rose up and left him unable to let Claire leave his side.

Not until he was ready would she be leaving him.

He felt the pressure of Amelie's hand leave his shoulder, and that almost jolted him to look up, but he didn't; nothing would stop him looking at Claire, stop him apologising with his eyes, begging her to forgive him for what she had done. There was still the look of fear in her eyes, something that was because of him, and though it pained him more than anything to look at this, he couldn't look away; he was never going to see her again after this. That he was certain of—he wouldn't be attending her funeral, wouldn't be going to her grave, because that would only destroy him. He did this; he destroyed Claire Danvers.

She wasn't his to grieve for, not really.

"I will take her from you by force in ten minutes, Myrnin," he heard Amelie saying as she stood up and moved away from him.

He said nothing to this, merely continued to stare at Claire, begging and begging her to forgive him, even though he knew that she couldn't hear him; that was his fault, and he had to accept that he was never going to get an answer about whether or not she could forgive him.

~x~

He heard the portal open almost ten minutes later, and knew that Amelie was here to make good on the promise to take Claire by force. Myrnin was aware that he wasn't going to put Claire through the continued fight in death; he would let her go peacefully, just as she had always tried to live her life—she just ended up being dragged into the many occurrences of trouble in Morganville.

Standing up slowly, Myrnin realised suddenly just how cold Claire's body was; room temperature in his laboratory was below that of the outside surroundings, and he had no body heat to pass onto her. It just made it even more evident that the girl in his arms wasn't sleeping: she was dead, deceased, never to open her eyes or breathe again. She was never going to say his name again, never going to tell him to tidy his laboratory again—she was never going to do anything for herself again.

At an equal, measured pace, Myrnin moved across the laboratory to where Amelie and her guard stood, and he finally looked away from Claire's face, it having imprinted in his mind for eternity—or however long he managed to live after this. "Here you go. Be careful with her. Please," he said to Amelie, sliding the girl from his arms into Gérard's and turning immediately away.

"Don't do anything that you told me not to do when Samuel died," Amelie told Myrnin from across the room. "If I return here to find that you are quite insane, I shall have to take action, Myrnin. Please, my friend, do not destroy yourself—she…she would not have wanted that."

Amelie spoke the truth; Myrnin knew that. He had said nearly the exact same thing to her months before, when she faced the same predicament as himself, and it was only now that he understood how empty the words were; he had meant well by them, but they did nothing…they did nothing to alleviate the pain that rushed through him every second because of what he had done. He knew that Claire wanted him to live his life and to carry on with science in her name, but putting that into practise was harder than he had thought possible for it to be.

"Very well," he agreed slowly, realising that she would not leave until he promised not to commit suicide, essentially. "I shall not do anything that Claire would not want me to do. You have my word." It wasn't exactly what Amelie wanted—especially since Claire had such a different view on the world than Amelie—but evidently it was a good enough answer for she bowed her head and disappeared from the room, taking Claire with her.

The minute that the girl's body left the lab, Myrnin dropped to his knees again and began to weep, great uncontrollable sobs that had him unable to move save for the vibrations of his agony. There was nothing that he could do but kneel there, his body not feeling his own to operate, as he was tortured by his image of Claire in his mind—too late, he realised that he had never managed to get a photograph of her. All he had of her was his memories…memories which would be tainted by the disease, manipulated and teased into different formations whenever the insanity which had killed her took control.

Without realising it, Myrnin was on his feet, wiping his eyes as he strode towards the portal, determined to go and find a photograph of Claire. He knew exactly where there would be dozens…he just didn't know if he had the audacity or the courage to enter the Glass House and tell the residents that their fellow was dead—he knew he definitely would not be mentioning that he was the reason she was dead.

The portal was open before he could consider aborting the mission, and as he entered the Glass House, he was stricken by how normal life was; he could hear the girl and the one of the boys yelling at one another in the kitchen, the other on his way down the stairs. Myrnin was amazed at how they hadn't even realised something was wrong with Claire, hadn't even had a feeling that she was gone.

"What are you doing here?" the tone was accusatory and Myrnin knew instantly that it was the Collins boy. "Wait, why do you look like that? Is Claire ok?"

The boy's voice was louder now, and the other two residents had exited the kitchen, coming to stand behind Shane as they faced Myrnin. He couldn't look any of them in the eye, for fear that they would see right through him—not only as to the reason for Claire's death, but that he loved her, loved her in ways that they wouldn't be able to understand.

"I…I must regretfully inform you that she is…she is…she…dead." Myrnin muttered, his eyes roaming the room for a photograph of Claire that he could steal.

As his eyes landed on one merely metres to his right, the gasps of the Glass House residents shocked Myrnin into looking at them. Shane was almost on the floor, evidently believing Myrnin straight away, the girl was standing there, her face pale without the makeup, and the vampire boy…well, he looked as though he wanted to kill Myrnin. Which, Myrnin thought, was really rather something that he would like; he just couldn't die, due to wanting to have Claire live on forever with him.

Moving swiftly, Myrnin picked up the photo frame and stuffed it into his pocket, ignoring the questions that the children began to yell at him. "I…Amelie shall explain all. I have nothing to say to you, besides that I am truly sorry for your loss; it has hit us all, and I do not know what I shall do without Claire."

As he turned to face the portal, the girl—Eve?—snapped, "No, you don't understand! Claire's replaceable to you; you'll have another apprentice like her within a week. But to us, she was someone special, someone we can never replace! You're a vampire, you don't understand—" she cut off as Myrnin turned to flash her a look that was mixed of both anger and complete and utter devastation.

"Claire was more than an apprentice to me; did you not notice that she has survived, when so many others have not?" Myrnin said, his voice ringing clear as he spoke. "She was the greatest scientist I have ever had the pleasure—or, rather, pain—of meeting, and all my work shall be carried on in her name. She will be the last apprentice to work with me, you can be assured of that; she will never be forgotten in the course of time…or, at least until Amelie or myself perish." He smiled ever so briefly at the end, it being torn and filled with anguish, before he walked back towards the portal. He was broken, so broken that he was almost human once more, and the children seemed to realise that.

He was shocked that they hadn't set upon him for killing Claire (for that would be the only way that she could die in his laboratory, after all) but perhaps they themselves were too stunned by the news to be attempting to avenge her death. So Myrnin walked back through the portal and into his home, locking it behind him so that he could not be disturbed as he wrapped his arms tightly around the photo and wept.

Things were never going to be the same again.

~x~

He knew that her funeral was held three days after her death, yet he refused to attend. The official cause of her death was that she had tripped and fell whilst working with him, something that the Glass House residents seemed to accept…but he didn't know how they really felt. Myrnin knew that if he stepped out in public with them around, at Claire's funeral, he would most likely get a stake to the heart for the trouble.

And anyway, he had already told himself that he would never see Claire again. He had eternal life; it was his punishment to never be able to see her again; that was why, after he had memorised the photograph, he locked it away in one of the cupboards, able to be accessed if required, but only in the direst of situations. She was to be as unattainable to him in photo form, as she was to be in a physical form.

"You missed the funeral." To his right, Myrnin noticed that Amelie was standing there, and though he attempted to ignore her for a few more moments, he became aware that she wouldn't let him do that. She had permitted it before, but not now…now, things were to go back to a semblance of normal.

"I chose not to go," he replied, keeping his voice neutral as he began to pile chemicals into a pot. "She didn't need me there; she needed me here. I will be here every day until we leave Morganville, leaving only when her friends have died. This shall be my prison, my punishment for what I have done to her."

Amelie took a step closer to Myrnin and placed a hand on his shoulder, as she had done that fateful morning. "We can end Morganville, Myrnin, there is no need for it any longer. We have achieved what we came to achieve, and the only thing that keeps us here now are the memories of those we loved here. Why do we not take their memories with us—the happy ones, the ones that make us certain that we loved them—and live life for them in somewhere that means something to us?" she sounded so hopeful, Myrnin half-thought that she expected him to agree with her.

"I cannot," he told her. "At least, not until she would have died if she had lived her whole life—I shall say that in sixty five years, if Morganville survives that long and you still want to leave, we shall leave and take our memories with us—they shall be nought but dust and shadows by then, after all…well, Claire will. But I cannot leave until then, Amelie. You must understand why I cannot."

He looked up at this point to see a wistful smile upon Amelie's lips, one that he had not seen for such a long time. "I know," she replied. "I knew what you would say, I merely wanted to confirm it. Yes, if we survive that long, we shall leave together, Myrnin, with our thoughts and memories…but for now, we shall remain here, together."

Before Myrnin could say another word, Amelie was gone, flitting from his side to the portal, which was situated on the other side of the room. Myrnin smiled slightly, not entirely sure why, and realised that he had sixty years to make enough of an impact on science that Claire would be revered worldwide for her contribution.

He had sixty years to make her greatness known to the world.

Sixty years later:

The weather was cold—comparatively to the Texan summer—and wet on the day that Morganville's residents were finally to be released. The years had provided them with new devices to fit within the bodies of the vampires, compelling them to be Amelie's for the rest of their existence, along with developments within the world of science that had made the headlines worldwide. Myrnin's name was never mentioned; the one that was always cited was Claire Danvers, and through this, Myrnin felt that he was helping Claire to live forever.

"Do you have your things, Myrnin?" Amelie asked as she stood by her car, waiting for him. "The driver must put them in the car now, for us to depart for…where was it that you said you wanted to go first?" her brow furrowed as she tried to recall Myrnin telling her a location, and Myrnin smiled.

"I never did tell you. I want to return to Wales, to stand upon the hills of my homeland and to appreciate what I have had for so many years: freedom." He waved away the man who approached him to take the one solitary bag he had with him; the rest of his equipment had been packed away last week, all of the things Claire had purchased alongside it. "If that is alright with you, of course."

Amelie smiled ever so slightly and inclined her head. "That is fine with me, Myrnin. Are you ready to say goodbye to the town which will be Claire's final resting place?" as she finished, her voice grew softer.

Myrnin nodded. "She is dead, and I understand that now. She has received the worldwide recognition that her scientific skills would have gotten her anyway, and whilst that does not mean that she will ever leave my heart, we must live our lives."

He didn't believe this; he only felt that it was appropriate to say to the woman who was leaving behind her lover, also. Inside, he knew that Claire's importance was never going to diminish within his heart, and neither were his feelings for her. She was always going to be the most brilliant scientist he ever knew—even more so than Ada—and he would never forget her.

As they drove from Morganville, Myrnin removed the photograph from his pocket and looked at the youthful face of the girl who meant everything to him; the one who was now merely dust, the one who he had killed just by his stupidity and illness. He was never going to make that mistake again.

"We will live for them, Myrnin," Amelie said quietly. "And they will never be forgotten."

Myrnin could only agree with this.

Please don't favourite without reviewing.

Feeling like promoting my other stories; I have many other ClaireMyrnins, and if you haven't seen my Clyrnin set in the Tudor era, you should read the first part.

Thanks for reading.