AN: Here's a short little something. Enjoy, lovelies!

This is for McKenzieMac and MissLucyInTheSky, because they made my life.

Untimely

Chapter 2: Transition

"There is an engine in my body

With every beat, it lets me breathe

There is a machine within my body

If I can keep up with that machine that's in my body

Well, I can do anything, be anything, say anything

I can feel the beat within my body…

If I gave up on it, could I catch myself?"

Do What You Do – Cute Is What We Aim For

I never thought of death. Honestly, what was the point? All it did was depress a person, and who needs an unnecessary reason to be sad? Despite this lack of consideration, I was sure of one thing about my circumstances: I wasn't dead. Not yet, at least. It wouldn't be hurting this much for this long. There was more mercy in the world than that…

For what seemed like an immeasurable amount of time I drifted in and out of awareness. These times when I was conscious, the pain feasted on my flesh and I tried to focus on anything other than the flames gorging themselves.

All the distracting noises and feelings were disjointed; they all felt wrong. But I would take whatever I could in my escapism.

The first time I remember waking up, all I felt was cold. So much so that everything ached. But, along with the aching cold, came a merciful dousing of the flames. This was cold the likes of which I'd never experienced in Forks, but I couldn't analyze what that meant before the flames gained strength and my body was suddenly searing. I fell back under.

I can't recall when the murmurings started. There were times when it hurt so bad that I wanted to claw at my own skin, to end the suffering; this was mostly when I heard them. An angel would whisper in my ear, holding my hands down no matter how hard I struggled, promising an end to my agony, apologizing that I was even in this pain. I wanted to comfort my angel. He shouldn't suffer, that felt the very essence of wrong. But I never found the strength to tell him so.

The last memory I had was the strongest. My heart was racing and I couldn't effectively catch my breath, but I heard voices. Two people: one, my angel, and another, a girl, with a voice similar to the angel's.

"You can't just leave, you dolt! She's about to wake up!" the girl hissed.

"Exactly," my angel answered, "Why the hell would she want me of all people here right now? I'm the reason she's like this! How could she not hate me?"

"I know you; you want to be here for her. So just stay."

"Of course I want to be here! If it would help things, I'd stay and apologize do everything I could to help her, but there's no way she'll want me here!"

"For fuck's sake, and we're supposed to be related?" she huffed. "Someone, and by that I mean you, needs to be here to explain what happened to her! Look, Jackass, it happened. No changing that now. But for all that is sane in this world, how would her waking up, alone, help the situation?" her whispers turned more heated towards the end and her eyes had to be blazing.

"Well, good thing she won't be alone."

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No! This is not my job. I'm not the one who screwed up here. Don't give me that look; we all know you screwed up! It's done now, though. As in, time to deal with it. As in, be here to explain what happened to her because of you!"

"If you had just seen this coming earlier, we'd all be fine right now. Instead, because you couldn't stop focusing on Jasper's reactions, I slipped through the cracks."

"That's too low. I know you're hurting, but leave Jazz out of it. In fact, leave all of us out of it. You're just going to make it harder for everyone, especially the two of you. We both know I can't keep you here, but I can tell you that you'll be a real dick if you leave," she bit out.

"Look, I never wanted this. But, now you have a new sister. Maybe that's what you really wanted all along. Forget her humanity; you have a new Barbie doll."

My angel's last outburst was followed by a pained grunt that could only be the result of a swift hit to a certain male anatomical region.

The absurdity of the whole exchange brought an enthusiastic laugh from me, one which didn't stop. Everything I'd been feeling, the pain, the fear, the confusion, all fled from me in this laugh. I kept going, and my heart sped on with me, flying faster until the pain rivaled that of the flames, only this was tinged with an all-too-pleasant euphoria. And still my heart persisted. Maybe this is it, I thought as my heartbeats reached a crest. Thank you, my angel.

The muscle stopped.

AN: Review because you loved it. Or I'm amazing. Or you just feel like it. They're like drugs.