The body hurled towards the street below, and Delsin, heavy with exhaustion, looked over to Christy, who stared at the same scene.
"You okay?" He asked.
His friend glanced up at him, before she nodded.
"How's your energy?" He quizzed.
Christy looked away from Delsin's face, as she answered, "It's pretty low."
Delsin stood back from the building's edge.
"I figured," he spoke, turning back around and walking away from Christy. "Come on, we'll get back to the apartment. You'll need your rest."
Christy nodded, and turned herself away from the edge, following her friend over to the roof door, which creaked as Delsin forced it open.
Down they walked, down fifteen flights of stairs, not saying a word to each other. The only sounds drifting in the walls were the drips and drops of water leaking from ceiling above, and the echoes of their shoes squeaking along the wet cement. Neither had barely anything to say to each other, but in the territory they were in, it was better to keep quiet.
Once they had reached the bottom of the building, Delsin pushed the door open, slightly ajar to peak out onto the streets. Seeing that nobody was around, he whispered back to Christy, "Alright, let's go."
He opened the door for the both of them to slip out onto the street, right as the rain started to grow heavier. Christy pulled her grey hood over her head, masking her long brown hair, while Delsin quietly shut the door behind them.
He touched her arm as a signal to move along, while he jogged in front of her, looking around the street they crossed, paranoid that they would be spotted again.
As the rain fell heavier, Mary watched as it trickled down the window. Low amounts of thunder could be heard in the distance, even when a storm was practically here. She eyes two drops, racing down the glass on the outside. Inside her mind, she cheered on the smaller one, since she could so well relate to it.
"You keep staring at the rain like that, you're gonna turn into it."
The familiar voice of her roommate, Fetch, caused her to snap out of her daydream, and turn her head away from the window to look at her friend sitting in a busted beanbag across the room.
"It's better than staring at the sun and loosing your eyesight," Mary smirked.
"I guess I could agree with you," Fetch chuckled. "One of the perks of living in Seattle, I guess."
"Yeah, one of the perks of being stuck in Seattle," Mary replied.
Fetch sighed, before answering, "Don't worry kid, I wanna get out of here too."
Mary sighed, but didn't bother in replying to Fetch. She continued to stare out the window, looking across the streets, and the decent view they had of the city outside the Conduit Zone. In a way, she thanked her lucky stars that they were close enough to see the city. Without this view, she might have gone insane.
Fetch stood up from her position, stretching her legs to return the feeling back into them. She walked around the island in the middle of the room, walking into the small kitchen.
"I think I'll go for a snack," she announced, opening the first cabinet she saw. "You want anything?"
Mary turned away from the window, furrowing her eyebrows in Fetch's direction.
"Won't Delsin and Christy be back soon?" She asked.
"Probably," Fetch answered, pulling out a small packet. "Ohh! Dehydrated cookies."
"Eerk," Mary coughed, looking away and back to the window. "I don't know how you can stand that food."
"It's not like you get any different, princess," Fetch announced, tearing the packet open.
The door to the apartment opened slowly, making Fetch and Mary jump in surprise. But when Delsin soon walked into the apartment, with Christy right behind him, they instantly relaxed.
Fetch smiled. "Funny. We were just talking about you."
"Aww, did you miss me?" Delsin asked, shedding a cheeky smile in Fetch's direction.
"Yes, we all missed the mosted wanted conduit in all of Seattle," Mary chuckled, swinging her legs around to sit upright.
Christy smiled, before walking past them all and heading to the hallway at the far end of the apartment. From there, she entered her room and closed the door behind her.
Fetch shot Delsin a look of concern. "Is she okay?"
Delsin nodded. "She's fine. She just...had to use some of her powers as a last resort."
Upon hearing this, Mary jumped down from the window sill she sat on, and walked towards the back of the apartment.
"God, I hope she's alright," Fetch spoke with worry, looking to the packet she left open on the counter. "I can't imagine how drained she must feel."
"Hey," Delsin spoke, above a whisper, lifting up Fetch's chin to make her look to him.
"She's going to be okay. As long as we can keep her, and Mary, out of trouble, nobody will get hurt."
He stepped away, smirking as he spoke, "I mean, come on, they're in good hands."
"Yeah," Fetch replied, turning back to the cookies. "That's what worries me."
Mary slowly pushed the door open, peeking into Christy's room, and spotting her friend laying on her bed, with a dirty pillow over her face.
"Who is it?" She groaned, barely moving.
"Calm down Christy," Mary announced, walking into the room and shutting the door behind her. "It's just me."
She walked over to her friend, pulling out a chair that sat at a study desk next to her bed.
"Bad trip?" She asked, taking a seat.
"Horrific," Christy answered through the pillow.
"Did you at least manage to get some food?" Mary questioned.
"I filled the bag this time," Christy explained. "Though, it wasn't nearly enough to last us the week."
"A small backpack like that would barely suffice one person," Mary agreed. "Let alone four."
Christy threw the pillow off her head, before blowing away a strand of hair that covered her face.
"It's not like I had a choice," she spoke roughly. "If I could handle carrying a duffle bag around, I would."
"Wouldn't exactly look the part," Mary joked.
"And a backpack would?" Christy asked, facing her friend with a serious look.
Mary's smile dropped, and she looked to the ground under her friends bed. So dusty and dirty.
"I'm sorry," Christy sighed. "I'm just tired, that's all."
"Just tired?" Mary asked, peering up at her friend.
"And maybe a little disappointed in myself," Christy confessed.
Mary sighed, leaning forward in the chair. "Christy, you can't blame yourself. It's not your fault you got stuck in the Conduit Zone."
"It's not that," Christy spoke, sitting up and crossing her legs.
"Then, what is it?" Mary urged.
Christy sighed in frustration, looking down at her hands, at her little, black, fingerless gloves.
"It's that ever since I became a conduit, ever since Delsin and Fetch..." She paused, swallowing the hurt that was brewing in her throat. "...changed me, I feel like I'm indebted to them."
She looked up at Mary, who sat wide-eyed and intently listening.
"They gave me this place to live, they let me go out whenever I want, they share their food with me...and I can't even get something for them without dragging a whole bunch of conduits to our hideout!"
She banged her fist onto the table next to her bed, frightening Mary a little.
She looked away from her friend, and out the window that sat next to her bed. It was such a gorgeous view of the city, even with the rain that clouded it almost everyday.
"Christy," Mary started, trying to get the girls attention. "Honestly, it isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. Delsin, and Fetch, they do this for you because they care about you. They don't want to see you get hurt."
"He shouldn't have to come running to me whenever I get into trouble," Christy spoke, leaning her head against the window frame. "Like every other conduit, I should be able to take care of myself."
"But you're not like-"
"I know!" Christy spoke harshly. "I'm not like all the others, I know, I know, please, don't remind me."
She sighed, peering over at her friends reflection in the window.
"I just want to be able to show them I can do it alone," Christy confessed. "That's why I came here in the first place, to make it on my own."
Mary stared at her friend with hurtful eyes. She hated seeing her like this, all broken, with barely any life left. She wanted to help in the best way she knew how.
"You know," she spoke, hoping to gain her friends attention. "We could always go back, and see if there's any food left for us to scavenge."
Christy looked to Mary, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Delsin and Fetch would never allow for that to happen," she informed.
"So, we just don't tell them," Mary explained. "We'll just say we're going on an adventure, like we always do."
"Yeah, except the difference between those times and now is that we'd be lying to them," Christy spoke with caution.
"Christy, they're not our parents," Mary half-smiled. "They can't control us on where we go. It'll just ease the tension a little if we don't tell them, that's all."
Christy sighed, thinking over the possibility. She turned her head back to look out the window. The rain was becoming lighter.
"Well," Christy began, scratching the back of her head. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to check it out."
She then turned to face Mary again.
"But my energy is low enough as it is. What if we run into trouble?"
Mary's face screwed up, before it lit up with an idea.
"I'll be right back," she announced, standing up from her seat and heading towards the door.
Once Mary had left the room, Christy turned back to the window to stare back out. By now, the rain had stopped, and a light mist was covering the city, but she still enjoyed the view. It gave her the opportunity to relax until her friend came back.
When she heard her door open again, she turned back around to find Mary back in the rock.
"Don't tell Delsin or Fetch," she explained. "But here."
She chucked an object across the room, right into Christy's palms. As she looked down at it, she noticed that it was a chocolate energy bar.
Her eyes widened with surprise. "Mary, how did you-"
"Uh-uh-uh," Mary smirked. "Don't ask where I got it from, it's not important. Just eat up, okay? I'm going to get a few things for our trip and we'll head out soon."
She turned on her heel and closed the door behind her, leaving Christy in the room alone, once again.
Without a second to waste, she tore the packaging open, taking a bite out of the sweet sugary goodness that she had missed for so long.