Though we had started taking the walls down, it wasn't easy. Gracie was still so little that I had to make her stop scratching it. Her fingernails were bleeding and it was hard to watch, but I couldn't take my eyes off Alex next to me. Fighting for the same thing as I was. We were so different, yet we were the same. And I had to wonder what it would've been like if it were Alex I was locked in a room with instead of Julian. Julian was great, and I had loved him. But when Alex came back into my life, my love for Julian faded and faded until it was nonexistent. I realized Alex was irreplaceable and Julian... wasn't. "Gracie!" I tried to yell over the loud voices, screaming, guns, walls crumbling. I don't know if she heard me, but she and I had fighting the wall for hours. Some had brought guns and torches, shooting and burning the wall. Our group, being mostly unarmed we're the people knocking it down, speck by speck. And I had to think that raven was up aboveboard watching over us, guiding us. "Come on! We need to get you safe!" People from the other side we're getting weak. Shooting and many of us were falling. It was only a matter of time before the whole city of Portland would start crashing down. This was already full on war. Grace and I started running through the crowd, trying to break out and get safe somewhere, when I felt a hand on my wrist. "HEY" I yelled before I noticed it was Alex. "Alex, I have to get Grace to a place before things get anymore chaotic than they already are." He looked at me, looking with those beautiful brown eyes. "I know I've been a real douche, but I want you to know that we can be together. We can take care of Grace together. I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you or her. You have to believe that." And I did. I nodded to him, tearing up. It'd bee a long time since anyone made me feel loved. Until this point the only thing I was, was alive. Not living, just... breathing with a heart beating. And Alex made me feel like more. Like I mattered.
So we ran.