Again. It was there again.

It racked his mind from sleep and left him shaking like a child in a black-out. It was a nightmare of disgusted and fearful faces. Black lightning and screams of the woman he loved.

It all griped him until the dream deprived him of air and his mind's only hope of survival was to rouse itself into consciousness. But that could only do so much. The images, like many others, still sat uninvited in the stone archives of his mind.

So that's why he's running now. The urge, the need, to mourn had never struck him so severely before. As he blazed through crowds of midnight pedestrians an angry cloud bearing red weights and fire clouded his mind. It made him angry. Wild. Untrustworthy. It made his perception of the world dull so that only the pain of an assault would suspend his focus. His focus was channeled inwardly to where his pain was centered. He felt an acidic nausea rise into his throat but instead of bile it felt as if his body was trying to rid itself of his exploding heart.

All the while his body pumped him forward, his body instinctively making its way to the place of its re-birth and death.

Ground Zero.

The crater made by the greedy explosion of the ray-sphere still remained unstirred. It was left as a scar for now. A form of incentive or inspiration to all those who survived the Blast to keep going.

That meant little to Cole now. All this place was to him was the painful beginning of an even more torturous end. Cole instead looked for a building amongst the ugly blemishes of steel, blood, and ash. A specific one that would bring him to the face of the sky.

There he could be alone. Unseen and unheard.

There…In all its glory, a building still clinging to its prestigious white paint underneath an overcoat of soot pointed towards the sky as if signaling a God. It was slanted in a haphazard way. Like a toy abandoned in a sand box. But that's what made it perfect. It was the tallest building in Empire City since the fall of Alden's tower. Were it anyone else climbing the broken skeleton like building the trip would most likely have ended far lower than the top.

Muscles practically born for their trade sent Cole vaulting up the crumbling building as if his life depended on it. Every foot and hand hold was a piece of memory locked away and ready for use. The climb was effortless.

At last, Cole stood at the very apex of the slanted building he was fond so of. He came to this place to think, sometimes to even sleep. I was the closest semblance of a home he had since Zeke's betrayal. It was like him…Broken.

For a moment Cole did nothing. He could only pant hotly and stare at the sky as if some sort of answer would fall from it. Not that he was sure of what question to ask.

What was it that he wanted? What was it that he ran here to find aside from silence and solitude.

Then it was there. A flash of lightning plunged from the dark sky and in its blinding light her caught sight of what he sought but could never attain. The flash of light brought him the image of a young woman. Her brown hair hung over one side of her strong face. The looks in her eyes spoke of years of hardships all overcome with a strength hidden further within the blue depths. All together it formed the once love of his life. And just as wholly, the image disappeared.

It all rushed in. Anger, grief, hatred. It was too much.

Cole threw back his head and howled with an inhuman grief to match the beastly tone he created. The skies above him shrieked in response, the light created by the energy he knew so well muffled behind contemptuous clouds that hid his love's image from him.

Too bereft of his sense by his churning, oil-hot blood, he threw a fist towards the sky and released a light blue bolt towards the sky. He'd in that moment voiced a challenge to Mother Nature. And she had not refused.

The force returned in full, if not more. The bolt of lightning crashed into Cole as powerfully as a tsunami to the shore. Still the heartbroken man stood. He would stand all night if he had to. He needed her image again…

Cole took in the natural charge and made it his own to again retaliate.

Electricity flew for hours on end. People below made for whatever shelter they could and played as spectators to the awesome sight. No one spoke. As if the two forces were rival dragons that could hear a mouse's whisper and attack like wounded hounds if disturbed.

Back at the crumbling edifice the fight began to dull. Cole's eyes were fogged over and his breaths were far past labored. The sky too, showed signs of exhaustion. The previously intimidating clouds thinned into wisps strewn like ribbons across the sky.

Cole could only bear one more strike. He raised a hand to raise one last protest against the world's injustice when instead the world struck first. The clouds amassed and delivered a massive blast of energy. The very foundations of Cole's building quivered in fear, as did the population of Empire City.

The man receiving the blast however was singing a very different tune…

Again the man was blessed with the glowing image of his lost lover. Her full beauty wrapped in a white, flowing dress that complimented her body perfectly and her hair framed her smiling face. She floated just out of his reach, over the edge of the building's boarders.

Trish held out her arms in a loving embrace, her invitation warm and succulent as if he could actually lean forward and fall into her warm bosom. Unconsciously he did lean. The closer he was the warmer his chest felt, the feeling soaked his cold bones and sore muscle with a physical relaxation no touch but her's could match.

Cole was one foot over the edge now, and was fully aware of the abyss and steel graveyard below. But he had long thrown caution to the wind. If the image before him was an illusion of the dead than maybe the fall from the sky scrapper could make it a reality. If it wasn't than maybe his forgetfulness when it comes to his eating habits recently had finally took its toll. No matter what it was though, he would never know if he refused this chance.

He was close to her now. The scent he'd known for years had filled his mind. A pulse beside his own thumped in his ears. It was all so real.

Too real…

Cole knew where this would lead. He would wake up on Zeke's roof or simply plummet to the earth. Imagine his surprise when he instead made contact with peach soft flesh. Cole looked up in shock and found Trish still smiling sweetly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly into her chest with no reserve.

In the arms of the one he loved the most Cole broke down. He relinquished himself to his body's urges and let himself cry for the first time in so long. Hot tears swept down the valley of Trish's soft curves and sobs shook them both as they hovered over the scarred land.

All was still until Cole felt Trish's soft lips pressed to the back of his head. Cole, with some effort, raised his head and gazed into her eyes softly, silently begging her for her affection. Trish happily obliged and leaned in for a kiss. It was nothing compared to the intense sessions they shared when they were alone, but it was worth all the fortune the world could provide him.

At that point the world could have been the figment of imagination dreamed up by a child somewhere far away. He didn't care. All that was real was he, Trish, and the sky. The kiss was broken when Trish pulled away. With Cole's face cupped into her hands, Trish gave a reassuring nod and released him. Cole floated limply for a moment then brought himself to attention. Trish drifted away with a spirited leap across the sky. She stood on a cloud and looked at her love expectantly.

Cole briefly flashed back to the days where he and Trish would sometimes chase each other through the city streets, playing as Adam and Eve would in the Garden of Eden. For the first time that night Cole smiled.

He knew that eventually responsibility or fatigue would drag him to the scornful ground again. But for now, nothing was real. Nothing was real except for the two lovers and the sky beyond.

With this in mind Cole pushed from the aerial space…

…and flew.

~Fin~

A dream? A hallucination? Reality? What do you think Cole was experiencing. I do allow anonymous reviews so please review. I hope you enjoyed this piece. I usually don't write pieces without dialogue but I liked the idea of this challenge. Tell me what I did right, wrong, and I love detailed reviews so be mouthy.

I obviously don't own infamous.

As Yakko Warner would say: "G'night everybody!"