Author's Note:
Hey guys. Just hear me out, okay?
To readers who read the original first chap: I've changed chapter one after deciding on a different plot line. Don't worry, same concept. I beg you to go read it NOW. Future chapters will make no sense if you don't.
To readers who just tuned in: Uh... just enjoy this chap!
This'll get you thinking but won't reveal any plot details. Unless, of course, you're amazing at picking up foreshadowing.
The air was acrid and dusty as predicted, the evening sky an ugly, splotchy burnt orange. How she wished for one of their more scenic routes. Nudge's tawny wings flapped effortlessly behind her as she glided across the sky, her worried coffee eyes scanning the trashed ground beneath her. Only broken debris and the usual handful of construction workers. Sigh.
She spotted the familiar spiked blond hair hundreds of feet below and dived, tucking her wings behind her back as wind whipped at her face and loosened her messy bun. She slowed at the last second to swing her feet onto the solid earth, breaking into a jog. Wisps of black hair clouded her face, and her wings remained outstretched as she approached.
"Gaz. Not here," she told him, terse. Times like these left even Nudge with few words on her tongue.
The Gasman turned to her warily, his hands in his pockets. He was in a baby-blue windbreaker that would've matched his eyes had they not been so dirt-caked. In front of him stood a gray-eyed man in a hard hat, staring out onto the horizon with a sullen expression. He hardly noticed Nudge's exposed mass of feathers. The Gasman motioned for the man to go away, and he left without another word, heading towards a particularly rusty crane in the distance.
"It was a false lead," Gazzy informed Nudge, voice strained, his eyebrows scrunched. "Not even a mistake." He had suffered so much a normal twelve-year-old, or rather anyone, should never have to. It had been a long week. And month. And year. Nudge made room for sympathy in her emotional bank of depression.
She pulled him into a hug, and he buried his face into her chest, mumbling something. She replied, trying to soothe, "I know. We have to keep moving. We have to keep helping the Projects and such, and we'll keep looking for - "
Gazzy shook his head miserably, pulling away from her. "No! We won't."
Nudge sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. She wasn't used to this. She was the one supposed to be reassured, not be the one doing the reassuring. But she needed to stay strong, for herself, for Gazzy, for everyone. "I know you don't mean that. We will keep looking. Now let's get back to the others."
The Gasman muttered under his breath as he prepared to fly off alone, but Nudge overheard him, sadness engulfing her at his words. Before she could stop them, tears began to overflow out of her eyes, washing away red dust as they streamed down her face. Grasping Gazzy's hand, she launched herself into the air right beside him.
"I miss her too."