Tethered

AN: Edited some parts and tried to tidy up things in general.

2004.

Amelia Dallon sighed gustily, trying and failing to find enjoyment in the same activities that her sister dragged her through with all her friends - if they could be addressed as such, if anything, they could be acquaintances at best by the proximity they shared with Victoria and not for any merit of hers nor a shared hobby or anything in the same vein, at that.

Almost throwing her hands up in frustration, she separated from the gaggle that surrounded Vicky and went to sit in one of the benches nearby while fishing a book out of her backpack, deciding that trying to mingle with people her age was a waste of time.

She was just a couple of pages in when she felt someone sit down next to her and almost growling in frustration she snapped her gaze at the newcomer, surprisingly finding a tall, black-haired girl her age. The girl just smiled slightly at Amelia, a soft, kind smile that just stretched, even more, when her eyes went downwards and found in Amy's hand the same book she was reading. Both of them just stood there, looking at each other intensely when they opened their mouths at the same time, speaking in unison a surprised "You read it too?"

Both of their jaws snapped shut, with the girl starting to giggle softly and after while offering her hand in a handshake. "Taylor Hebert, and you?" Amelia took the offered hand somewhat reluctantly, but she took it nonetheless. "Amelia Dallon," she paused, "you wouldn't be here for New Wave, are you?" she added with the slightest hint of suspicion coloring her tongue. Taylor just furrowed her brows and looked at Amelia quizzically, "who?"

Amelia blinked, blinked again, and then offered her a smile - a rare thing, indeed - while she shook her head, "Doesn't matter. Did you know that…"

Amelia spent the afternoon talking with Taylor about their favorite authors, likes and dislikes in regards to literature, and the morbid obsession with body horror - written or otherwise - they both shared.

Amelia never stopped smiling until she fell asleep.

2007.

Amelia sunk into the couch with a pleased sigh and a mug of tea next to Taylor, who was trying to make the finishing touches to the homework she hadn't done earlier. Amelia looked at her focused face, and with a mischievous grin poked her best friend between the ribs, making her jump in place and snap her head in Amy's direction who at the moment was giggling and setting the mug at the table, knowing well in advance what was to come.

With a smile, she tried to flee from the couch but thanks to having sunk too deep she couldn't get up fast enough, leading to Taylor tackling her into the soft furniture while poking and tickling Amy between the ribs and the crook of the neck turning her into a squirming, laughing tangle of limbs and joy.

Minutes later had them both on the couch again, breathing heavily with the last traces of laughter and exertion, this time with Amelia on top of her friend. "I win this time!" she proclaimed proudly at the world with a smile from ear to ear. "Alright, alright, you- you win this time, no more tickles, please."

Amy just smiled, letting herself fall on top of her friend while getting a gusty "oof" out of her. Seconds later, she felt a pair of arms circle her, one of them grabbing blindly at the small and fuzzy blanket on top of the couch. With an aggravated little growl, Taylor heaved what she could, grabbing the offending item and covering them both with the fuzzy thing. Amelia sighed in contentment, eyelids fluttering and inching ever closer to shutting fully, happy with the company and warmth that Taylor produced.

A sudden knocking noise startled them both, waking them up from their slumber with intelligible mumbles and groans of displeasure. Amelia looked up at the source of the noise with a frown and a wrinkled nose she met the eyes of Carol Dallon, reddened eyes looking at her with an intensity she never had seen. "Wha' happened?" asked Amy in a half-mumble half-yawn, her jaw snapping shut with the force akin to a beartrap at her mother's next words "Fleur is dead."

Amelia's world froze. She couldn't breathe, think or do anything. She just stared at her mother's eyes uncomprehendingly, hearing the words, knowing the meaning of every single one except when arranged in that order they made absolutely no sense-

She noticed that her cheeks were suddenly wet and her vision blurry. There was a knot in her chest made of pure permafrost that didn't let her breathe in the slightest. She touched her face absentmindedly, noting the wet skin and numbness in her head with a hiccup. She was crying. Why was she crying? She still couldn't breathe. Clawing at her chest as she threw herself at Taylor who embraced her in a crushing hug that didn't and wouldn't ever let go.

Amelia couldn't hear what Tay's father and her mother discussed, but she didn't care, because the only thing that seemed able to offer her comfort and warmth in a world that suddenly seemed so so cold, was her best friend's arms, and she knew that she absolutely wouldn't ever let go.

The funeral was a quiet and windy affair in the open air. Amy sported baggy eyes for the first time in her life, the only thing she could focus on at the moment was the slowly lowering casket and the security that Tay brought her. She knew that Tay also had been crying, but she remained firm and straight as a towering steel monument that just wouldn't bend, offering support and respite in a moment where everything seemed oh so distant. The priest spoke, talked, and preached, as did many others that seemed to know Fleur but the only thing that Amy heard was white noise between her sobs and tears.

Once it had lowered completely the people started separating into their groups, leaving or chatting between them. Faces and voices assimilated in the white noise of her entangled mind, lines of thought appearing and fraying within the second, leaving nothing but the reminder of a lost familiar, and the supporting touch of Tay, helpful, but unable to make her forget.

Amelia heard her mother speak and how Taylor tried to pry her away from Amy, and with a small cry of "No!", she exclaimed, clinging even harder to her. "Please don't leave me…" Taylor hugged back as hard as she was while her mother and Tay's father discussed something, and felt how her friend was now moving alongside her.

She didn't even know how they got home, the only thing in her mind was the security Tay provided.

2008, September.

Amelia finds herself hogging the couch all for herself while Taylor speaks with her mother through the landline, probably telling her where they were going to spend the Sunday and how. Possibly telling her where she could find some money to spend today.

She smiled softly, reminiscing how her friend always had been there for her when she needed it, be it at Fleur's death or just when she needed time to decompress from the burden that came from her family's fame. She pondered buying Tay something, possibly that scarab plushie that she saw at Lord's Market, but something was wrong.

'Why is Tay so still…?'

Amelia bolted out of the couch the moment she saw Taylor fall to her knees, eyes as wide as dinner plates stared into nothing while they let out rivers of tears that marred her cheeks. "Tay!" she screamed, kneeling and embracing her friend in a crushing hug. "What's wrong!?"

Amy had never seen Taylor this confused and lost, this hurt. She could see her eyes, always so full of that spark of joy and warmth she loved, slowly flickering out. "I killed her…" she mumbles, more to herself than to Amy. "I, I killed her. She- she was talking with m-e, on the… on the p-phone, and I killed her, it's my fault…" Amy started to panic, hugging with all the strength that her short arms could muster while she whispered in her ear "It's not, it's not your fault Tay, it's not…"

She didn't know what was happening, but what she knew is that her friend needed her, and that's all that mattered. She tried to get her to her bedroom, almost falling down the stairs once or twice but always there when Taylor wavered and threatened to collapse into the steps. Once there, all she could do was get into the bed with her, acting as support and pillar even if Amelia herself was slowly falling apart just by seeing someone she valued so so much oh so broken.

She didn't hear her mother nor Taylor's father coming up to check on them, occupied as she was consoling her pillar. What she did take note of is when Victoria came to visit, knocking and entering in the same heartbeat as she always did.

Victoria narrowed her eyes, looking at how Taylor hung desperately on her sister, her face borrowed in her chest with sobs and hiccups racking her body even when deep asleep. "You need to go home, Ames, you can't be here forever," said Victoria with a glare at Taylor. "Come on, we have to leave with Mom or it'll get too late."

Amelia positively bristled at that, snapping her arm out of the reach of her sister and hugging Taylor more tightly. "She needs me. And if you can't understand that you can fuck. Right. Off" she spoke in an angry, low hiss.

Vicky recoiled at that, then narrowed her eyes in fury, "Fine," she spat. "You can stay here forever with your new sister for all I care," then Victoria proceeded to stomp downstairs, at which point a verbal collision sparked in the lower floor between what she recognized as Carol and Victoria, ending sharply with the sharp snap of the closing front door.

Amy turned to look at Tay's sleeping face, wet and scrunched in pain.

"Don't worry, I will."

November.

Amy led Taylor by her hand, almost dragging her between store and store, pointing out new books of some of their favorite authors, clothes she would like to see on her, or places in which to catch a bite later. Tay followed her and tried to make conversation, almost failing miserably, but she tried nonetheless. That's what mattered to Amy.

"Hey, Tay, there's a new import from Aleph," that sparked some curiosity in her eyes which brought Amelia no small amount of joy. "Do you want to see it?" At her nod, Amy turned sideways and shot a pleading look at her uncle Neil, "Can we go to the theater later?"

Neil shrugged with a kind smile, knowing how happy it made his niece spend time with her friend he simply couldn't say no to such a small thing, "Of course, dear. Just let me get some drinks from here, yeah? I'll be back in a minute." He slipped a ten in Amy's hand, pointing with his chin at a bookstore nearby that had hung a poster about a deal with old books, "See if you can find something that catches your attention, I'll be back in a minute, okay?" Amelia simply nodded, dragging Taylor to the store down the sidewalk until they both noticed something worrying. A group of Asians dressed in the colors of the ABB walked the sideway with sneers and sharpened eyes, making Amy's pupils sharpen into pinpricks of black, and by how heavy Tay's breathing got, she understood how this situation could spiral out of control. Turning sharply, she was cut short by the veritable wall of skinheads with Empire 88 memorabilia that had appeared on the other end of the street. Amelia's breathing quickened and gained a frantic, manic pace. She crouched near one of the cars and tried to make herself and Tay as small as she could, praying to whatever god was out there to have mercy upon them.

They didn't know who made the first shot, but the fact was that a small outing meant to offload stress off Amelia's best friend had turned into a gang fight between E88 and the ABB, leaving them trapped in the middle of the shootout without a clear escape route. A tugging into Ames's hoodie caught her attention, and seeing that Tay was pointing towards an alleyway, she could see what she wanted them to do, the problem was in getting there.

Taylor's fingers intertwined with hers while she breathed out all the air in her lungs.

And suddenly, there it was. That spark, that fire in her eyes that she oh so loved, that defiance. "Do you trust me?" She asked with a strained smile, but a smile nonetheless. Amelia didn't doubt her answer for a moment, nodding the instant she finished the question.

Taylor smiled, "Good."

Then they were running at the maximum capacity their poor muscles let them, sprinting across the street and almost there.

That is when Amelia noticed the ABB member that saw them, the one with the handgun currently aiming at her.

Taylor's adrenaline levels exploded, tackling Amelia into the safe space of the alley at the same time a loud - louder than the rest - rang.

Suddenly, there was something warm in Amelia's chest.

Suddenly, there was something red in Amelia's hands.

Suddenly, Taylor collapsed, giving Amelia an oh-so-red smile.

"TAYLOR!"

Stars.