HEY GUYS! Thank you to everyone who reads or comments on this. It really is a ton of fun to write, and I can't tell you how happy it makes me that others are enjoying it as well.
Lots of love,
raniblows
Chapter 5.1
They waited until darkness fell again before going out. To be safe, they took the conventional route. Through doors, and hallways, and stairwells. All of which were empty.
"This really takes the fun out of sneaking out," Damon said as they approached the exit. A row of glass doors that mirrored their reflections back at them.
Bonnie bit back a smile. She admitted that Damon could be funny. At times. He walked a fine line between charming and annoying and she never knew which side he'd fall on.
The sky outside was dark and endless. While the hallways in the building had been empty, the sidewalks outside it were not. People gathered around tables set up outside restaurants that played loud music, and cafés with flashing neon coffee cups above the entrances. More of the strange circular cars filled the streets, covered in lights. One whisked by, creating a draft that blew Bonnie's curls away from her face.
"Do you think you could be happy here?" Damon asked, taking her off guard.
His expression was serious, yet somehow indifferent, as he watched her face.
"Why would you ask me that?"
"I was just thinking about what you left behind in Mystic Falls," he said. "An unfaithful boyfriend, a best friend who could never put you first, and a slew of dead relatives."
Her eyes narrowed as they walked. The picture he painted was not a pretty one. And for the first time, she was happy she didn't have her memories.
"Don't get me wrong. The Gilberts always mean well. Even the little hunter who could, but you were always collateral damage." Damon held her waist, moving her out of the path of a mob of screaming people in leafy hats who ran down the sidewalk with their arms waving and the bells around their necks jingling. "I know why I want to go back, why I have to, but you? I can't think of a thing you'd have to gain."
He looked into a store front as they passed, oblivious to the fact that she was staring at him.
The person she'd seen on her Screening Board, her future self, looked happy. Wherever she was. And Bonnie's thoughts on the future were all that brought her any comfort. The idea that she could figure everything out and find peace. Real peace. With her memories and with…Damon?
The possibilities the future presented might have been bright, but the more she learned about her past, the darker it seemed. And maybe Damon was right. Maybe she didn't have anything to gain by trying to leave Elysium.
They'd walked for a while when Bonnie found a shadowed corner private enough for what they needed. She grabbed Damon's hand and pulled him into a small nook between two buildings. Space was limited, and they were almost chest to chest as she stared up into his eyes.
"Where we going?" he asked her. The confidence in his voice seemed wrong. As if he believed she could just pick a place and move them there with no problem at all. She didn't have that same faith.
"I don't know," she said and shrugged, "hopefully somewhere with grass."
Then she closed her eyes. With his hands in hers, they moved.
Bonnie didn't know how to describe the feeling of traveling. It was like falling, but her feet never left the ground, and there was no fear.
She opened her eyes to a clearing. Wide and round. Surrounded by shades of darkness. From the grass to the trees to the blackest sky.
Damon's hands slipped out of her grasp and he was gone. She felt him breeze by her from behind. Then from the side. His laugh seemed to fill the clearing, and then he stood in front of her. His hair messy like it'd gotten caught in the wind.
"You like this place?" she asked, noticing the smile on his face.
"You could have done worse. Now, let's see those wings."
She held her coat tighter, feeling self-conscious. She still wasn't used to the idea of having wings in the first place, and she wasn't fond of the idea of whipping them out. It all felt so private for some reason.
"Turn around," she told him.
"For what?"
"Just do it," she said, eyes steadied on his. "Please."
"You know, I really hate that word," he said, but he cooperated.
Once his back faced her, she undid the belt around her coat and let it fall to the ground at her feet. Beneath it, she wore a simple white shirt with a deep back V and shorts. Comfortable enough for physical activity.
Pulling her hair up from her neck, she focused on the light tingling sensation that hadn't left her since she'd woken up that morning. As she concentrated, the tingling became burning. Deep and thorough, but painless. Then she felt them pull away from her, springing out into the cool night air and waving at her side.
"You have feathers," Damon said, turning to look at her.
She studied the feathers layered over the arch in her wing and released a satisfied breath.
"I have feathers," she said, nodding. "I guess it's time to see if I can fly."