Disclaimer: Sonic The Hedgehog and all related characters are copyright to SEGA. Lemon the Echidna, Tenchi the Hedgehog and all related characters that don't belong to SEGA belong to me, Zeldafreak-Vikki and my friend, Alyssa the Bat!
I was visiting my grandma all weekend so in the evening, I sat down at her gorgeous Windows XP (I have a crummy ME) and typed out Chapter 7. This chapter is pretty long considering I wrote it in one day. THANK-YOU SO MUCH to all of you wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter!! I'm so glad you like this story! And yes, go on and hug Tenchi, Dotty, he likes being hugged. :3
CHAPTER SEVEN - REMEMBER ME
"Tenchi, I'm not so sure about this..." said Lemon uneasily.
They were a few yards away from Rouge's house, standing at the tip of a high cliff that led down to a vast stretch of land that went on for miles and miles. All that Lemon knew was that Tank's house was somewhere far out there, in some remote location. But that was hours away...
Tenchi gulped, looking as nervous as the echidna. He nodded.
Lemon crossed her arms. "Ok, just let me go through this one more time," She paused as Tenchi nodded vigorously in agreement. He was obviously unsure as well. She walked to the very edge of the cliff, arranging it all in her mind.
"Ok, so you're going to carry me on your back, somehow jump down to the bottom of this dangerously high cliff without killing us, somehow magically appear fifty miles out in some remote place to find a cave, where we'll find some sorta...machine, was it?"
Tenchi clenched his teeth. "It's a computer-like machine... I can't remember its name though..."
Lemon sighed. This was insane. There was no way they could possibly survive jumping down a cliff that high. It was impossible!
Tenchi seemed to sense her negative thoughts and his ears drooped slightly. "Lemon, listen..." he began, sounding degraded. "I-I feel like I know what I'm doing... I just need you to trust me..." He held out his hand to her.
Lemon looked down to his hand, which looked like it was grey in the darkness of the dying evening. She continued to gaze at his hand as the wind began to pick up and her quills began to whip around. And it was in that moment that she noticed something she hadn't before:
Around Tenchi's wrist, there was a black ring. It looked like it was made out of some kind of metal. She looked down and noticed they were around his ankles as well, just above his ripped up shoes. But there were only three. A sudden memory flashed in front of her eyes and she gasped. Tenchi reacted to her gasp and reached out, finding her hand.
"Lemon? What's the matter?" he asked urgently.
Lemon blinked and a smile spread on her face. "Tenchi...Stay here for a minute!" Leaving him completely bewildered, she raced into the house. Dodging that annoying railing, she bounded up the stairs and into Rouge's room. She quickly went to the bat's desk and searched the drawers.
A few minutes later, she marched back out to where Tenchi was sitting on a rock, waiting. He stood up at the sound of her approach and she grinned.
"Ok, Tenchi, I think this belongs to you."
And she held out the golden ring Rouge had dropped three years earlier. Tenchi took it shakily and the moment he touched it, all four rings glowed gold. The black was gone as if the wind had blown it away like ash. Lemon stared and looked as shocked as Tenchi was. She blinked as the light died down and Tenchi put the ring on, a bewildered look on his face.
"What just happened?!" she asked.
Tenchi looked very scared. "I-I'm not sure...But it's familiar..."
Lemon thought for a moment. Her heart raced as she made up her mind.
"Ok, Tenchi. I trust you."
They inched nervously to the end of the cliff and as Lemon climbed up on Tenchi's back, her mind was repeating how she was going to die. She ignored it and simply shut her eyes and held on very tight. Tenchi could feel how scared she was and his hand somehow found hers. They both squeezed each other's hands and Lemon was reminded of when she had first met him, lying there in the hospital.
He smiled as he remembered too, then held his breath as he bent his knees to jump. Then a deafening silence pounded in their ears as they launched off the edge of the cliff into the wind.
Lemon screamed and her eyes shut tighter. She had heard of people who saw their lives flash before their eyes before they died. Lucky for her, she only saw the past three years.
She remembered the first time she had seen Tenchi, lying there, looking so helpless.
She remembered the first time she had seen his eyes, such a deep shade of red, staring blankly ahead.
She remembered when she had helped him to learn how to walk again. The first time he had bumped into that darn railing by the stairs.
She remembered the time he had been trying to help her with some chores only to have her slam the door on his tail. It had been broken for weeks and every time she apologized, he had always tried to make her feel better about how bent his tail was. That had been the first time he had smiled to her.
And she remembered the time when she realized her feelings for him. Her chest jolted in panic. What if she never got the chance to tell him-?!
"Tenchi, I- WAAH!!" She was cut off as they impacted the ground hard, Tenchi landing on his feet. Lemon shut her eyes again, waiting for him to hit the ground but it never came. After a few seconds, she finally opened her eyes and they widened to the size of plates.
It felt as if they were going the Speed of Sound! Everything around them was nothing but one big blur of color and when Lemon looked behind them, she could see they were an orange and yellow blur themselves. She looked ahead again and noticed a tree was coming up ahead of them.
"AH!! TENCHI, TREE AHEAD!!"
Tenchi responded by zooming to the right and then back to the same straight path. Lemon held on tight and stared at his face bent in concentration.
"Tenchi, how the heck are you doing this?!" she yelled over the noise of the wind.
Tenchi grinned and it looked quite similar to Sonic's. "N-No idea but if we keep going this way, we'll be at that cave in no time! Just let me know if we're about to hit something!! I can't see!"
"Sure thing!" replied Lemon, smiling. She pulled her quills out of her face and couldn't help giggling as they sped along together.
An alarm went off. Jigoku suddenly sat up and smashed his head against the roof. He hissed and gripped his head as it pounded in pain. The computer was making a rhythmic beeping noise, almost like a heart-rate machine. Jigoku stomped over, still rubbing his head. He bared his fangs as he realized what was happening. He brought it up on the main screen and his fears were confirmed.
That strange white hedgehog whom he predicted was the clone of Arashi was speeding towards the only remaining space transporter that could save Sonic! But how could that blind little rodent possibly know where to find that?! The only one with that information was Jigoku himself and the other earlier projects. Besides, according to the statistics, that hedgehog was blind!
Then he could see on the screen that there was someone with him. Jigoku's reptilian eyes narrowed as they closed in on Lemon the Echidna. He hissed in frustration. This hedgehog could pose a threat to him. He immediately went to the space transporter of the ARK and set the coordinates. In seconds, he was in a cave. He sat in the shadows and waited.
"IT'S THE CAVE! STOP!!"
Tenchi stopped running, kicking up a bunch of dirt in the process and once Lemon jumped off, he collapsed to his knees, panting. Lemon lowered next to him as beads of sweat dripped down from his white-grey fur and touched his shoulder lightly.
He looked up and his dull eyes glowed in the moonlight. "Is it nighttime?"
Lemon nodded. "Yup."
Tenchi groaned as he got to his feet. "We've gotta hurry... Sonic only has one more day left..." Lemon steadied him and they both entered the cave. The moment they entered, their whole atmosphere became pitch black. She gasped and stopped dead. Tenchi stopped at her hesitation.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
Lemon gulped, her eyes wide. "I can't see a thing," she replied.
Tenchi smiled and felt where her hand was, taking it. "Then let me help you, in exchange for before..."
Lemon blushed as he pulled her along. If Rouge could see them now...
SPLASH!
"AH!" Tenchi slipped and fell as his foot slid on some water. Lemon yelled and just managed to catch him. She looked down while pushing him back to his feet and realized...
"There's a pool right in front of us...It looks really deep..." she explained. Tenchi's unseeing eyes narrowed. "I remember this... There should be some sort of passage under the water that'll lead straight to the room where that machine is..."
Lemon clapped her hands. Finally, something she was good at.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I'm an expert at swimming! C'mon!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the water. As soon as they were in deep enough, Tenchi began to sink almost immediately. Lemon gasped and just managed to grab him and keep him afloat. She gasped as she struggled to keep him up.
"Hold crap, Tenchi! You're sinking like a dead-weight!"
Tenchi looked confused and scared. "This is new!"
"D'oh! I can't hold you up, take a deep breath!"
They both took deep breaths and Tenchi sank to the bottom as Lemon dove under gracefully. She took his hand and led him as he walked along the bottom. They went through a sort of underwater cave and just as Lemon was about to pull Tenchi up, something pulled him away, his hand ripping from hers. A huge clawed hand slashed out at her and she quickly swam to the surface, gasping as she broke the surface.
"TENCHI!!" She dove back under and saw that Tenchi and the big clawed monster had disappeared. She swam back through the passageway and her muffled scream issued out in several bubbles as she saw that Tenchi was struggling to get away from the monster-like creature. Lemon could see that it was like a gigantic lizard, closely resembling a raptor. Its tail thrashed around as Tenchi kicked at him. Lemon was about to attack when Tenchi's foot connected with the creature's jaw. It hissed and let go of him. He sank back to the bottom, completely out of air as the creature fell back. Lemon quickly grabbed him around the middle and swam him up. They both broke the surface and Lemon heaved him up to where there was higher ground. Tenchi gasped and looked up in Lemon's direction.
"Wh-What was it?" he asked in between gasps.
Lemon sighed as she spoke, scared. "I have no idea! Some scary monster! We should get out of-"
But she was cut off by a very loud roar as the creature burst out of the water, bounced off the wall and headed straight for Lemon. It snarled as it opened its jaws wide to attack. Lemon screamed and shut her eyes, waiting for those sharp teeth to sink into her skin.
"Lemon!" She opened her eyes as everything seemed to slow down. Tenchi had realized that the monster was heading for her and had pushed her out the way. The last thing she saw was his face looking panicked and concerned. Then everything went back to normal speed and Tenchi screamed as the creature knocked him back into the wall, its teeth biting into his arm. The stone wall behind him cracked, he had hit it so hard.
Lemon felt a rush of anger run through her. She sprung to her feet and attacked the monster head-on. She yelled as she drew her fists back and then punched as hard as she could, fire surrounding her.
"FIRE PUNCH!!"
The fire ignited on the creature's skin and it screeched and quickly dove back into the water. Tenchi groaned as the creature's knife-like teeth ripped at his arm. He sank down the wall and Lemon rushed to him. She covered him with her own body as the creature jumped out of the water and, in a mad panic, rushed for the computer-like machine. It hissed the name as it turned it on.
"Space transporter!! Fine!! Let him come to me! I'll kill him myself!"
With that, it disappeared in a flash of light.
Lemon looked up. Her palms were pressed against the cracked wall and she realized she was dangerously close to Tenchi. She quickly backed off, blushing furiously. Tenchi winced and reached for his arm but Lemon quickly stopped him.
"No, don't touch it..." She examined it and saw that his whole wrist was mangled and broken, completely ripped up from that monster's teeth. She was about to try to stop the bleeding when Tenchi pulled away from her and started to get up.
"Uh! Tenchi, what're you doing?!" she demanded, getting up as well. Tenchi ignored the searing pain in his arm and when he spoke, his voice seemed to have become much stronger.
"Is the space transporter on?"
Lemon stared, then shakily nodded. Tenchi turned to her and gulped before continuing. "Alright, Sonic will be able to get onto ARK...But he doesn't know about the monster... You go find Rouge and tell her what's happened... I'll go up after him."
"No, you're not! You're bleeding!" countered Lemon. Tenchi paused for a moment, then heaved a sigh. "Oh, I guess you're right. Fine, let's go find Rouge then..." He began to lead her away with his one good arm and she smiled triumphantly. She dove into the water and held out her hands.
"C'mon, I'll help you in!" she called.
Tenchi bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Lemon." She stared in pure horror as he turned and rushed to the space transporter. She jumped out of the water and chased after him. He was so much faster than her!
"TENCHI!" A pillar of light surrounded Tenchi and she pounded her fists against it as if it was a solid wall! She was cut off from Tenchi! Tears began to fall from her eyes as she continued to pound on the light- wall.
"TENCHI!! NO, NO, NO!!! PLEASE!! COME BAAAACK!"
Tenchi listened to her scream and shut his own eyes, hoping to block out the sound. At that moment, the light intensified and something strange happened;
His eyelids were lit up. He opened his eyes and realized things were a lot lighter than usual! He blinked a few times and everything was an odd shade of grey and white. But he was beginning to see! He whirled around and in that split second, their eyes met.
"...Remember me..." he whispered.
The light flashed and, like the monster, Tenchi disappeared. Lemon collapsed to her knees, deeply shaken. He was gone and it was all her fault! She'd never ever see him again! There was no way he could survive with that monster up there! Never in a million years! She rammed her fists into the ground with a scream.
She remembered his eyes, how they had somehow focused on her own. She tried to hold back but soon completely broke down crying. She stayed down there for a long, long time.
I was visiting my grandma all weekend so in the evening, I sat down at her gorgeous Windows XP (I have a crummy ME) and typed out Chapter 7. This chapter is pretty long considering I wrote it in one day. THANK-YOU SO MUCH to all of you wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter!! I'm so glad you like this story! And yes, go on and hug Tenchi, Dotty, he likes being hugged. :3
CHAPTER SEVEN - REMEMBER ME
"Tenchi, I'm not so sure about this..." said Lemon uneasily.
They were a few yards away from Rouge's house, standing at the tip of a high cliff that led down to a vast stretch of land that went on for miles and miles. All that Lemon knew was that Tank's house was somewhere far out there, in some remote location. But that was hours away...
Tenchi gulped, looking as nervous as the echidna. He nodded.
Lemon crossed her arms. "Ok, just let me go through this one more time," She paused as Tenchi nodded vigorously in agreement. He was obviously unsure as well. She walked to the very edge of the cliff, arranging it all in her mind.
"Ok, so you're going to carry me on your back, somehow jump down to the bottom of this dangerously high cliff without killing us, somehow magically appear fifty miles out in some remote place to find a cave, where we'll find some sorta...machine, was it?"
Tenchi clenched his teeth. "It's a computer-like machine... I can't remember its name though..."
Lemon sighed. This was insane. There was no way they could possibly survive jumping down a cliff that high. It was impossible!
Tenchi seemed to sense her negative thoughts and his ears drooped slightly. "Lemon, listen..." he began, sounding degraded. "I-I feel like I know what I'm doing... I just need you to trust me..." He held out his hand to her.
Lemon looked down to his hand, which looked like it was grey in the darkness of the dying evening. She continued to gaze at his hand as the wind began to pick up and her quills began to whip around. And it was in that moment that she noticed something she hadn't before:
Around Tenchi's wrist, there was a black ring. It looked like it was made out of some kind of metal. She looked down and noticed they were around his ankles as well, just above his ripped up shoes. But there were only three. A sudden memory flashed in front of her eyes and she gasped. Tenchi reacted to her gasp and reached out, finding her hand.
"Lemon? What's the matter?" he asked urgently.
Lemon blinked and a smile spread on her face. "Tenchi...Stay here for a minute!" Leaving him completely bewildered, she raced into the house. Dodging that annoying railing, she bounded up the stairs and into Rouge's room. She quickly went to the bat's desk and searched the drawers.
A few minutes later, she marched back out to where Tenchi was sitting on a rock, waiting. He stood up at the sound of her approach and she grinned.
"Ok, Tenchi, I think this belongs to you."
And she held out the golden ring Rouge had dropped three years earlier. Tenchi took it shakily and the moment he touched it, all four rings glowed gold. The black was gone as if the wind had blown it away like ash. Lemon stared and looked as shocked as Tenchi was. She blinked as the light died down and Tenchi put the ring on, a bewildered look on his face.
"What just happened?!" she asked.
Tenchi looked very scared. "I-I'm not sure...But it's familiar..."
Lemon thought for a moment. Her heart raced as she made up her mind.
"Ok, Tenchi. I trust you."
They inched nervously to the end of the cliff and as Lemon climbed up on Tenchi's back, her mind was repeating how she was going to die. She ignored it and simply shut her eyes and held on very tight. Tenchi could feel how scared she was and his hand somehow found hers. They both squeezed each other's hands and Lemon was reminded of when she had first met him, lying there in the hospital.
He smiled as he remembered too, then held his breath as he bent his knees to jump. Then a deafening silence pounded in their ears as they launched off the edge of the cliff into the wind.
Lemon screamed and her eyes shut tighter. She had heard of people who saw their lives flash before their eyes before they died. Lucky for her, she only saw the past three years.
She remembered the first time she had seen Tenchi, lying there, looking so helpless.
She remembered the first time she had seen his eyes, such a deep shade of red, staring blankly ahead.
She remembered when she had helped him to learn how to walk again. The first time he had bumped into that darn railing by the stairs.
She remembered the time he had been trying to help her with some chores only to have her slam the door on his tail. It had been broken for weeks and every time she apologized, he had always tried to make her feel better about how bent his tail was. That had been the first time he had smiled to her.
And she remembered the time when she realized her feelings for him. Her chest jolted in panic. What if she never got the chance to tell him-?!
"Tenchi, I- WAAH!!" She was cut off as they impacted the ground hard, Tenchi landing on his feet. Lemon shut her eyes again, waiting for him to hit the ground but it never came. After a few seconds, she finally opened her eyes and they widened to the size of plates.
It felt as if they were going the Speed of Sound! Everything around them was nothing but one big blur of color and when Lemon looked behind them, she could see they were an orange and yellow blur themselves. She looked ahead again and noticed a tree was coming up ahead of them.
"AH!! TENCHI, TREE AHEAD!!"
Tenchi responded by zooming to the right and then back to the same straight path. Lemon held on tight and stared at his face bent in concentration.
"Tenchi, how the heck are you doing this?!" she yelled over the noise of the wind.
Tenchi grinned and it looked quite similar to Sonic's. "N-No idea but if we keep going this way, we'll be at that cave in no time! Just let me know if we're about to hit something!! I can't see!"
"Sure thing!" replied Lemon, smiling. She pulled her quills out of her face and couldn't help giggling as they sped along together.
An alarm went off. Jigoku suddenly sat up and smashed his head against the roof. He hissed and gripped his head as it pounded in pain. The computer was making a rhythmic beeping noise, almost like a heart-rate machine. Jigoku stomped over, still rubbing his head. He bared his fangs as he realized what was happening. He brought it up on the main screen and his fears were confirmed.
That strange white hedgehog whom he predicted was the clone of Arashi was speeding towards the only remaining space transporter that could save Sonic! But how could that blind little rodent possibly know where to find that?! The only one with that information was Jigoku himself and the other earlier projects. Besides, according to the statistics, that hedgehog was blind!
Then he could see on the screen that there was someone with him. Jigoku's reptilian eyes narrowed as they closed in on Lemon the Echidna. He hissed in frustration. This hedgehog could pose a threat to him. He immediately went to the space transporter of the ARK and set the coordinates. In seconds, he was in a cave. He sat in the shadows and waited.
"IT'S THE CAVE! STOP!!"
Tenchi stopped running, kicking up a bunch of dirt in the process and once Lemon jumped off, he collapsed to his knees, panting. Lemon lowered next to him as beads of sweat dripped down from his white-grey fur and touched his shoulder lightly.
He looked up and his dull eyes glowed in the moonlight. "Is it nighttime?"
Lemon nodded. "Yup."
Tenchi groaned as he got to his feet. "We've gotta hurry... Sonic only has one more day left..." Lemon steadied him and they both entered the cave. The moment they entered, their whole atmosphere became pitch black. She gasped and stopped dead. Tenchi stopped at her hesitation.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
Lemon gulped, her eyes wide. "I can't see a thing," she replied.
Tenchi smiled and felt where her hand was, taking it. "Then let me help you, in exchange for before..."
Lemon blushed as he pulled her along. If Rouge could see them now...
SPLASH!
"AH!" Tenchi slipped and fell as his foot slid on some water. Lemon yelled and just managed to catch him. She looked down while pushing him back to his feet and realized...
"There's a pool right in front of us...It looks really deep..." she explained. Tenchi's unseeing eyes narrowed. "I remember this... There should be some sort of passage under the water that'll lead straight to the room where that machine is..."
Lemon clapped her hands. Finally, something she was good at.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that I'm an expert at swimming! C'mon!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the water. As soon as they were in deep enough, Tenchi began to sink almost immediately. Lemon gasped and just managed to grab him and keep him afloat. She gasped as she struggled to keep him up.
"Hold crap, Tenchi! You're sinking like a dead-weight!"
Tenchi looked confused and scared. "This is new!"
"D'oh! I can't hold you up, take a deep breath!"
They both took deep breaths and Tenchi sank to the bottom as Lemon dove under gracefully. She took his hand and led him as he walked along the bottom. They went through a sort of underwater cave and just as Lemon was about to pull Tenchi up, something pulled him away, his hand ripping from hers. A huge clawed hand slashed out at her and she quickly swam to the surface, gasping as she broke the surface.
"TENCHI!!" She dove back under and saw that Tenchi and the big clawed monster had disappeared. She swam back through the passageway and her muffled scream issued out in several bubbles as she saw that Tenchi was struggling to get away from the monster-like creature. Lemon could see that it was like a gigantic lizard, closely resembling a raptor. Its tail thrashed around as Tenchi kicked at him. Lemon was about to attack when Tenchi's foot connected with the creature's jaw. It hissed and let go of him. He sank back to the bottom, completely out of air as the creature fell back. Lemon quickly grabbed him around the middle and swam him up. They both broke the surface and Lemon heaved him up to where there was higher ground. Tenchi gasped and looked up in Lemon's direction.
"Wh-What was it?" he asked in between gasps.
Lemon sighed as she spoke, scared. "I have no idea! Some scary monster! We should get out of-"
But she was cut off by a very loud roar as the creature burst out of the water, bounced off the wall and headed straight for Lemon. It snarled as it opened its jaws wide to attack. Lemon screamed and shut her eyes, waiting for those sharp teeth to sink into her skin.
"Lemon!" She opened her eyes as everything seemed to slow down. Tenchi had realized that the monster was heading for her and had pushed her out the way. The last thing she saw was his face looking panicked and concerned. Then everything went back to normal speed and Tenchi screamed as the creature knocked him back into the wall, its teeth biting into his arm. The stone wall behind him cracked, he had hit it so hard.
Lemon felt a rush of anger run through her. She sprung to her feet and attacked the monster head-on. She yelled as she drew her fists back and then punched as hard as she could, fire surrounding her.
"FIRE PUNCH!!"
The fire ignited on the creature's skin and it screeched and quickly dove back into the water. Tenchi groaned as the creature's knife-like teeth ripped at his arm. He sank down the wall and Lemon rushed to him. She covered him with her own body as the creature jumped out of the water and, in a mad panic, rushed for the computer-like machine. It hissed the name as it turned it on.
"Space transporter!! Fine!! Let him come to me! I'll kill him myself!"
With that, it disappeared in a flash of light.
Lemon looked up. Her palms were pressed against the cracked wall and she realized she was dangerously close to Tenchi. She quickly backed off, blushing furiously. Tenchi winced and reached for his arm but Lemon quickly stopped him.
"No, don't touch it..." She examined it and saw that his whole wrist was mangled and broken, completely ripped up from that monster's teeth. She was about to try to stop the bleeding when Tenchi pulled away from her and started to get up.
"Uh! Tenchi, what're you doing?!" she demanded, getting up as well. Tenchi ignored the searing pain in his arm and when he spoke, his voice seemed to have become much stronger.
"Is the space transporter on?"
Lemon stared, then shakily nodded. Tenchi turned to her and gulped before continuing. "Alright, Sonic will be able to get onto ARK...But he doesn't know about the monster... You go find Rouge and tell her what's happened... I'll go up after him."
"No, you're not! You're bleeding!" countered Lemon. Tenchi paused for a moment, then heaved a sigh. "Oh, I guess you're right. Fine, let's go find Rouge then..." He began to lead her away with his one good arm and she smiled triumphantly. She dove into the water and held out her hands.
"C'mon, I'll help you in!" she called.
Tenchi bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Lemon." She stared in pure horror as he turned and rushed to the space transporter. She jumped out of the water and chased after him. He was so much faster than her!
"TENCHI!" A pillar of light surrounded Tenchi and she pounded her fists against it as if it was a solid wall! She was cut off from Tenchi! Tears began to fall from her eyes as she continued to pound on the light- wall.
"TENCHI!! NO, NO, NO!!! PLEASE!! COME BAAAACK!"
Tenchi listened to her scream and shut his own eyes, hoping to block out the sound. At that moment, the light intensified and something strange happened;
His eyelids were lit up. He opened his eyes and realized things were a lot lighter than usual! He blinked a few times and everything was an odd shade of grey and white. But he was beginning to see! He whirled around and in that split second, their eyes met.
"...Remember me..." he whispered.
The light flashed and, like the monster, Tenchi disappeared. Lemon collapsed to her knees, deeply shaken. He was gone and it was all her fault! She'd never ever see him again! There was no way he could survive with that monster up there! Never in a million years! She rammed her fists into the ground with a scream.
She remembered his eyes, how they had somehow focused on her own. She tried to hold back but soon completely broke down crying. She stayed down there for a long, long time.