"I want to see the sun again," said Cassy, who had her head on John's shoulder. They sat at the head of the bed together, their backs against the wall. "Feeling it for the first time was the greatest feeling I ever had. I always wondered what wind felt like."

"It was crazy for me too, you know." John leaned his own head over Cassy's. He enjoyed the way her hair tickled his inner ear. Her should rose and fell with each breath, which he quite enjoyed. "I never got used to hopping when I couldn't control it."

"Have you ever tried before?" Cassy asked before she remembered the meadow. She felt a slight tension from John when she asked. "Sorry."

"It's ok, Cass. That's behind us." John chuckled.

"Ok." Cassy wasn't fooled by his attempt to brush it off.

She jumped to her feet and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Sunlight. Let's go see it. Know any good places?" She smiled.

"I know a lot of places," he winked and grinned. "I know…" His grin vanished when he remembered the cage suspended over the dead bodies. Then he remembered the dimension where the wolf-life humanoids tried to consume him after they fed him calorie-rich meat. He frowned a little as he remembered the perfect world with that one perfect woman. He shook his head and forced that out of his mind.

He had Cassy now. That world meant nothing to him.

"Nothing?" Cassy asked playfully.

"I kind of want to try…" He wracked his brain. "I've been a lot of hellish places, Cass. I'm actually not sure where I want to go."

"...would you be okay with—" No, John would absolutely NOT be okay with that meadow again. "Nevermind."

"With where?" John asked, his eyes lighting with eagerness.

"No, not there. Okay. Do you have to think of someplace in specific, or can you just hop somewhere? You were able to just hop to any dimension when you couldn't control it, but can you just...I don't know, flip dimensions like a book and find a random page?" Cassy knew this sounded silly, but she asked anyways. As safe as it was here, she was starting to get cabin fever.

"You want me to just hop somewhere? Anywhere?"

"Can you?" Cassy raised an eyebrow.

"I guess I can try." John stood up and took Cassy's hand. He couldn't really think of any other method, so he just had one simple thought.

Hop.

#

A canyon, be it grand or not. The sun was bright and harsh, but not unwelcome. A pleasant breeze caressed the two SCPs, which served to dull the heat on this cloudless day.

"Wow, you did it, John!" Cassy shielded her eyes from the midday glare and gazed into the distance. "This is beautiful. This is amazing."

They stood near the edge of the canyon that lead to steep drop off to a crystal clear lake at the bottom. Cassy walked a little closer to get a better look.

John grabbed her roughly by the wrist and pulled her back.

"Ow!" Cassy said as she stumbled back and shot him a look of surprise.

A twinge of guilt shot through his heart. "I-i'm sorry. I just, I'm...please don't stand too close to the ledge." He let go of her wrist, looked down and kicked the dirt. "I've been to a place like this before. Might even be the same. I stood close to the ledge to get a better look. I fell and almost died, but then I hopped back into my home dimension and landed in a lake."

"Oh." Cassy walked closer and took his hand. "Well, let's walk." She flashed him a smile that was slightly cast in shadow by the intensity of the sun that hung in the horizon. "I'll be careful. I promise. I'll stay away from the ledge." And so she took him by the hand and walked with a child-like eagerness.

To his chagrin, she still wore the body armor. The only time she had taken it off was when they went into the drawing pad. Apparently, it was a tad too restrictive when you were in flowing letters and ink, but not so when you were in a restrictive physical body.

John suddenly found himself wanting to go back there.

"Can we go back?" John asked, which made Cassy turn around and cock a single eyebrow at him. "Into your drawing pad? I...really liked it there." If John's face had text, it would likely say blush.

"We can go back whenever." said Cassy. "It's our home now."

Our home.

John's blush deepened. "I a-appreciate that. That's sweet."

"You're sweet." She pulled him along and they continued on their walk. Their path was surprisingly smooth; no more steep drop-offs or jagged edges. The sun was slowly setting over this serene and peaceful environment. Even with as much time as they now spent together, as SCPs, they'd likely never grow accustomed to this feeling of peace.

"What's the scariest world you've been to?" Cassy asked.

Bad move again. She felt John's hand tense up and saw his body do the same.

"I-it was definitely that mushroom forest," John nodded quickly.

"Don't think you can ever forget about the meadow?" Cassy asked quietly.

Worse move.

John locked his arms around Cassy, who hugged him back.

"Ok. Better question. Prettiest world you've been to?" She asked him.

"The drawing pad," he whispered into her hair.

This made her feel good.

"I know you probably don't want to, but can we sit down at the ledge?" Cassy whispered into his ear. "You can bring us home if we fall. I trust you."

"Yeah."

They broke the embrace and sat by a ledge; John made sure he picked one that looked particularly sturdy. They edged close together and held hands, shielding their eyes with the other.

"I really like this, but I'm going blind." Cassy giggled.

"I'm just glad it's not humid," said John. "I'm already sweating and that would have made it worse."

The sun's glare was exceedingly harsh; they turned to look at each other, each with one eye closed from the brilliance. It looked like they were frozen in a permanent wink.

Beside these two, their shadows were cast upon the ground, melting into each other. They grew until they became a portrait on a massive wall of rock behind them. It was like a drawing.

Love you.

"Love you, too, Cass."

The ink on her face turned into an impossibly bright shade of red.

Her grin vanished when their ledge cracked. It rocked downwards and stopped, which caused the two of them to slip a little.

They made eye contact.

John reacted before Cassy even voiced the request. Never again would he ever have to hear, "I know you can!"

Because he knew it too.

#

Home.

"Home." John said as he tried to settle his racing heart.

"Y-yeah…" Cassy muttered breathlessly.

They still held hands.

"Can we go back into your pad now?" John asked sheepishly.

"Yeah. Sure."