Chapter Twenty

He has worked so hard to rebuild his body. He has done everything in his power in the last four weeks to get himself back in to the shape that he was in prior to the coma. And now- we're going to Aquitar. We have no idea what is facing us, but neither of us wants to wait any longer.

We landed on the planet and I was shocked by the immediate need for the oxygen system that he had given to me. My shock must have registered as his hand found mine and he gently squeezed it. We were meeting with Celestria. When we last talked to Billy- we all agreed that it was best that we not meet. It would just hurt all of us to actually see each other.

"You're pregnant," Celestria stated as I moved towards her and we exchanged a glance. Was that a problem? Hadn't Billy told her what was necessary for us to commune with the Command Center? Or did Billy not know what was necessary? "You should not have come."

"That would have been nice to know before we left Earth," Tommy quipped and Celestria shook her head. This wasn't good. The feeling that she gave off made my blood run cold. Had we really endangered our baby by coming here? "What's the concern?"

"She'll have to spend who knows how long in a decompression chamber once you return to Earth- to assure that the both of them survive," Celestria provided and I barely nodded. Fine. If I had to live in a decompression chamber- so be it. That put us that much closer to us going back to a normal life. I needed my normal life back, desperately. "If she goes back now…"

"It takes both of us to get the blade, correct?" I asked and Celestria barely nodded. There was no choice in that case- I had to stay. "Then I think you have our answer- just point us in the right direction- we'll take it from there."

Celestria pulled out a map and we glanced down at it. At least they were being kind enough to give us something that we could follow to get to the blade.

"You'll have to fight," Celestria stated as she reached a hand towards my abdomen, but stopped just short of contact. "I'm a mother. The two of you should have never been placed in this position."

"Billy didn't give us many options," Tommy forced out and Celestria lowered her gaze. She knew that her friend had let it get this bad. She had thought that much of it had to deal with him being unwilling to deal with his brother. She now wondered what he had told them about the blade to get them here. Did he even want them to succeed? "Celestria…did we have to come here?"

Celestria avoided Tommy's gaze and her eyes found mine instead. She communicated a volume without saying a single word. We had not had to come here. We had not had to risk our child for this blade.

"Without the two of you here- he had access to the blade and could send it to just about anywhere. With you here…" Celestria trailed off and I found myself grabbing Tommy's hand and pulling his focus to me. He was mad enough to go kill Billy and that would not do us any good. That would not guarantee that we would both survive this. I need him to survive this.

"He lied to us- I don't know why, but we can't focus on that. We don't have a choice. We have to do this now, let's get going- we shouldn't stay any longer than we have to," I forced out and he barely nodded. I had gotten far enough in for him to listen to me. It didn't matter that I was scared- he was going to be carrying the majority of weight on this and we both knew it.

"Be well. Once you've retrieved the blade- it should take you back to Earth," Celestria said and then disappeared. We would process the betrayal once this was over with. We would process a lot of things once this was over with.

"I'm sorry," Tommy whispered and I saw his eyes filled with pain. "I promised nothing would happen to you."

"You couldn't have prevented this. The only one that could have was Billy and he decided that he didn't want to help us in any way," I muttered and felt him grab my hand. We travelled in silence for hours. There was not much to say at this point. We needed to limit my time here- that was the most important thing that we could do.

"Oh no," Tommy muttered and I followed his line of sight. The blade was there and my stomach sunk. There was no way that Tommy could get up there to get to the blade. The platform was too small, the balance too delicate. My heart sank as we both realized that it would have to be me that did the majority of the work. My body was already in a place where this was going to be more difficult than it had ever been before. "Kimberly."

"This is the consequence. We knew there was a consequence missing," I insisted and began stripping off my pack, shoes, and any unnecessary clothing. I needed nothing that could possibly catch or hinder me as I made the climb. I chanced a glance over at Tommy and saw the helplessness in his eyes. He was not used to being helpless. He was not used to having to watch someone else do the task at hand. He had always been the one and we had expected that that would be the same here. This time- it wasn't. "I need you to keep an eye on me- look for better hand holds…catch me if…you have a purpose here."

"Guard the bags and watch? Do not like that idea. At all," Tommy muttered as he gathered all of my things and gave me a once over. His hands landed on my shoulders and he pulled me in for a searing kiss. A kiss that told me more about how he felt than he could verbalize at the moment. When words failed Tommy, his actions always let me know where he stood. "Go. I'll guard."

I looked at the tower in front of me and steadied my breathing. I could do this. I could climb this and get us the weapon we so desperately needed. It didn't matter that it had been years and that I was fighting morning sickness every. Single. Day. I could do this. I could do hard things.

Tommy grabbed my waist and boosted me up as high as he could reach. He then got under my feet and pushed me a bit further. Those eleven feet could definitely be the difference later. As I dug my feet in, I could not help but gulp. The tower looked to be at least a couple of hundred feet tall. It tapered in severely at the top. That was where this would truly get dangerous. I heard commotion below me and looked to see something headed towards Tommy. My gut contracted, but he motioned me on. Whatever was happening on the ground was his to handle. The tower was my job.

Time seemed to slow as I carefully found hand holds and foot holds that could withstand my weight and allowed me to make progress up the tower safely. I knew that there was a good chance that I would have to take risks the further up the tower I got. After what felt like ages, I got my hands to the narrowest part of the tower and felt it sway underneath me. I chanced a glance down and saw Tommy in the midst of a heated battle. As I pulled myself up even further…I realized that the only way to get the blade- would require me to jump for it. There was no way I could grab back on to the tower. The only way to get it would require leaping and hoping that Celestria was right. Hoping that we would be pulled back to Earth as soon as I had my hands on it.

"Kimberly!" Tommy yelled and I could not risk looking at him. I would bet money that he had realized what I was going to have to do to get the blade. I did not want to do this, but I did not see any other option. I adjusted my grip as high up as I could and then found foot holds as close to my hands as possible. I would get one shot at this and I needed to focus. I took one last deep breath and launched myself at the blade. I felt my hands close around the blade and then I slipped off in to nothingness.