Panting, Andrew ran across the thatched rooftops, his blonde hair constantly getting in his eyes. His goggles - consisting of a circular bronze frame holding a cracked tinted lens on one side and a clumsily made scope fixed to a leather section on the other - kept slipping down and threatening to obscure his vision. His blue sleeveless jacket was whipping behind him, his brown shirt flattened against his stomach by the air's resistance to the speed he was currently travelling. A short black sleeve topped his left arm and the respective hand was gloved, a feature he took advantage of to help as he vaulted a protruding piece of wood so not to catch his jeans on them.
Atop his head was a small orange creature, clinging to his hair desperate not to lose purchase. His short, jean-clad legs threatened t be swept from underneath him by the speed of his mount, his sword slapping against the side of his leg.
In pursuit was a short yet fast and agile girl in a green hoodie and brown trousers, who followed his route with ease. A translucent, teal eye piece over her right eye and a machete holstered on her back indicated that she meant business.
Andrew kept running and came to a gap in the rooftops above an alley, but instead of trying to clear it he drew his weapon, a sturdy wooden staff a little shorter than he was tall. At one end a small knife blade protruded, whereas the other hosted a more brutish bludgeoning appendage. The fugitive jumped down into the alley, jamming the weapon between the two walls and transferring the momentum to a swing that launched him across the street, wrenching the staff free with a practised twist before it snapped or (more likely) pulled his shoulders from their sockets.
As he flew over the road he glanced back at his pursuer in a momentary celebration of victory, but his joy was brief and his face froze as he was engulfed in blackness.
He watched from the trees, the predator and the prey, trying to decipher who was whom. The scaly creature with sharp talons and large fangs, its teeth bared - the lone man, his tail's fur damp due to the rain pouring through the trees leaves. He tapped some buttons into the device he was wielding, aiming it at the strange creature who had become his foe.
Jessi heard a few loud quick clicks from the contraption but no squeal or sound of the device harming the creature followed by the hunter tapping numerous controls furiously but before the device could be any use to him the creature pounced. Realising the futility of trying to get the device working, in anger he throws the device away into the thick brush
surround him and dropped to his back, kicking the creature upwards, away from
him, before rolling to his feet and running from the pursuing animal, panting and moaning under his breath the stupidity of leaving his trusted weapons back at the village.
Jessi picked up his device and aimed it towards the creature, squeezing the trigger mechanisms so it would fire a bolt, which flew towards the animal but only bounced of the creature's tough scales. The beast growled at the weak tingling of the bolt hitting it and turned its attention towards his attacker. The boy turned on his heel and darted through the trees and overgrowth, jumping over loose roots and ducking low hanging branches, his fragments of cloth he donned as a cloak rustling in the breeze behind him, his ears atop his head twitching at the sounds of his pursuer's growls.
As he ran a vine along the forest floor wrapped around his foot as he unwisely glanced back, lurching him down to the ground, flat on his face; he expected pain and the gritty taste of earth in his mouth, but was instead surrounded by blackness as he flailed around attempting to grab anything, hoping to feel the physical form of ground or vines, yet making contact with nothing.
A hooded girl returned to the cliffs where two blossom trees lay beside a lonesome grave. Her hands cradled a rose which she placed near the headstone, tears filling her eyes. She could still hear his voice whenever she doubted herself, "Calm down. It's not your fault; don't blame yourself. Now go with Eryn and get out." Sometimes she thought he was still there to comfort her and she would always try to hug him, but every time it was just a figment of her imagination.
The girl wiped her eyes which were becoming red from the tears. With deep breaths, she walked away and put her hood up to hide her face. As she left she looked back at the city beyond the hills and, squinting, could make out figures moving towards her - she couldn't work out how many but she got down and crouched in the shadows anyway, watching the oncoming patrol team.
They never came this far out and she couldn't let them find this place; it was too special. She ran across the cliffs, making sure that the patrol saw her. She kept running, her pursuers keeping up. Her foot slipped on a rock causing her to lose balance and fall down the cliff side. She flinched, expecting the wet and the cold of calm waters below her, but when she opened her eyes there was only darkness.
Falling was weird. Hatter had resisted to the very last moment, but as they toppled over the lip of the skyscraper every shred of sanity returned to the moderator and she knew exactly what was happening, including why Kia had resorted to such drastic measures as throwing them off a building. Up above she could see afterimages on the edge, or approaching the edge, or leaving it – everything was happening all at once, as though time itself were confused about what was supposed to be occurring at that second. Then again, regular time held no sway in a place like this.
The best way to wake up is to die, after all.
Kia's final words resonated around them and Hatter twisted to look at the girl, whose eyes were closed in resignation. The tiny smile on her face gave her an air of serenity, an innocence that she still managed to hold onto even after what she'd been through, but the tight grip she still maintained on Hatter's coat sleeve betrayed her innate stubbornness that refused to let them separate before their time together was irrevocably up. All in all, this wasn't the worst death Hatter could've imagined for herself. At least she had a friend by her side.
The moderator looked up again, contentedly watching the Hatters and Kias who had yet to fall and leave this world. She adjusted her hat so that it sat more comfortably on her head as it continued to defy physics, before taking a leaf out of her companion's book and closing her eyes gently, letting darkness engulf them.