[ WP ] The characters in a book decide to finish their stories after the author stops writing

Annabelle found him on the cliff again, watching the sunset. Samuel's legs dangled from the steep precipice, utterly unafraid of the fatal fall below. His shoulders were relaxed, seated as comfortably as if he was in an armchair before a roaring fire. 
 
 She approached, and sat next to him, glancing down as she stuck her legs out over the crashing waves. Her hand slid into his, seeking his security while she settled down. When she tore her eyes away from the water, Annabelle found herself looking straight into his sad, smiling eyes. 
 
 `` You do n't have to wait with me,'' he murmurs, as he does every day. His mouth quirks, wavering between amusement and depression. `` It's silly anyway. Nothing is ever going to happen.'' 
 
 She looks up at him, her heart broken by what he has become. He used to be a leader, so confident and brave, even if he stumbled sometimes on his path to glory. It had been he who had rallied thousands to fight, he who had struck down the tyrant and raised the rightful king to the throne. 
 
 Then his quest had simply... ended. Life in this land had become peaceful, idyllic. There were no wars to fight, no great causes to uphold. All the criminals and other corrupt people of the world had rallied behind the evil usurper's banner, and now all were imprisoned or dead. Everyone was happy. 
 
 Everyone except Samuel. 
 
 Annabelle draws the warrior into her lap. The big man makes her look smaller than she is, barely able to fit his head atop her slender thighs, pillowed against her dress. `` I understand you, Sam.'' She strokes his hair, expression somber. `` I do n't understand how the world can become so perfect, so safe and boring, but I know that it is torture for you. You do n't need to tell me. I see it in your eyes, in the way you walk, in how you try to live each day.'' 
 
 Something cracks in the woman's heart, and the sorrow she has felt the past year, watching the man she loves as he dies inside, suddenly pours from her. Tears spill hot from her eyes, dripping down her face onto his. `` You ca n't stay here like this. We... we have to leave this land, and journey, to somewhere that needs your help. There will be adventure then, and danger, and you'll be happy, and-'' 
 
 Samuel's hand covers her mouth, his dark eyes meeting hers from her lap. Annabelle's tears dot his face, mixing with his own. He is smiling as he cries, a warm, familiar smile. It is the same smile that he used to never take off, that he gave to everyone he met. The smile that made him a leader, that made people trust him and follow him. The one that made her first fall in love with him. Annabelle sobs in sudden joy, seeing it again. `` Will you be happy, too?'' he asks. 
 
 `` Yes,'' she whispers. She ca n't help but smile back, hiccuping as she wipes away her tears. Samuel helps her, his arms slipping around her body as he sits up in her lap. Then he kisses her deeply, his voice low and serious as he murmurs to her. 
 
 `` It may be an endless search. We may never find what we seek, and almost certainly will never come home again.'' His eyes are locked with hers, staring as he fills his gaze with the import of his words. `` We may have to leave this world altogether, and venture into strange lands utterly unknown, with people and places completely different than anything we have ever seen.'' 
 
 Annabelle shivers, trembling with the power of his predictions as she absorbs them, before nodding resolutely. `` I know.'' Then she kisses him again, her arms wrapping tightly around him, before she pushes them both off the cliff. They descend for a long moment, locked together in passion and love. The ocean rushes towards them, the crashing of the tide against the cliff growing louder every instant. 
 
 Samuel's wings extend to catch them at the last second, their bodies swooping above the waves, skimming the water with their toes before he flaps, starting bring them higher and higher. As they ascend, the both of them grin like fools while their bodies shrink against the burning horizon. They become a black speck against the setting sun, then finally disappear, never to be seen again.
