Part II: Best Laid Plans
Chapter 7: Falling for You
I leapt after Vanille. Not one of the smarter moments in my life. It's not like I had any means of stopping us from crashing into the earth. I didn't have Alexander, nor did I have a grav-con unit like Lightning. Too late. I latched onto her crystal form. If she was going to explode into nothingness, at least she wouldn't be alone. Separating her from Fang was our greatest mistake. Well, this whole mission was probably a mistake.
"Let go of her you idiot!"
As the wind slashed at my face, I attempted to turn around. This plummeting to my death thing was going significantly slower than I imagined. Or at least since I last remembered.
"My unit won't keep up with the weight. Drop her. The woman supported a planet; she's going to be fine. We on the other hand, will definitely die," Lightning said, clinging onto my foot.
She'd jumped after me? Of course she had.
"I can't do that."
"Screw your feelings; I can't protect you like this. Trust me. She'll make it."
I didn't want to believe her, but I also knew that Lightning would never let go of me. The possibility of her dying by my hands was something I couldn't bear. For now, I needed faith that things would work out. I released my hands, but felt a yank.
"I'm stuck. My clothing is hooked somewhere."
Well, so much for heroics. None of us would make it out alive. I felt Lightning struggle to scale up my legs, I reached as best I could to shimmy her up.
"Hold on to me as tightly as you can," she said.
With my chest pressed into hers and my arms wrapped around her waist, she finally took her hands off me. They frantically began searching along my back, up to my neck, down my ass. Were we not in freefall, I could have enjoyed this more.
"Found it," she said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out her survival knife. "It's these damn loops on your purse."
The second she sliced my pack, not a purse, off me the resistance picked up. Relying on me to hold her, she extended her arms and legs to slow us further. Then I understood her plan. A warm wind funneled out of her hands and surrounded us and Vanille. It was the most nauseating sensation, being pulled constantly downward by gravity while being shoved upward by her magic in bursts. Sweat beaded on her brow, but she didn't let up. We were coming down fast.
"Let me help," I said, wrapping my legs around her and releasing an arm.
"No!" she shouted into my ear. "We're going to land hard. I need you as close to my body as possible for this to work."
I didn't realize we'd even approached the ground until I saw the jolt of electricity explode from her grav-con unit.
We slammed across the dirt and she lost consciousness. My limbs remained tightly knit around her as we rolled and dropped further into a ravine. I screamed as my elbow snapped between us and a rock tore through my shin, but the site of blood spilling out of her mouth upset me more. I drained all of my healing magic into her, but she didn't wake. Bone and muscle crackled and crunched in her torso. Her organs rearranged but the blood kept coming, no longer able to fit in her cavity. Her pallor finally improved and her breathing relaxed. She was merely sleeping now, a smile leaking from her dreams every once in a while.
Knowing she was safe, my body finally relaxed. It took the opportunity to empty the contents of my stomach. I knew I should remain awake in case of monsters, but I could barely keep my eyes open. I crawled up next to her and rested my head across her belly. I placed my working hand on her chest. I forced any bit of magic that replenished into her until I passed out.
