Here we go
does it hurt?
say goodbye to this world.
i will not be undone.
come to life.
it gets worse.
all in all
you're no good
you don't cry like you should
i'll be gone when you fall
your sad life says it all

What Lies Beneath by Breaking Benjamin

Chapter 2

Leaving

Instead of staring out the window, Pleo was staring at the clock. It was the last period of the day and there was less than five minutes left in class. Staring makes it worse, she reminded herself and turned away. Back to her window.

A figure caught her eye. A dark hood with a shrouded face. It was still, frozen almost, leaning on the glass window of a nearby store. She looked desperately at the figure. She started with the boots, checking for a heel. No, no heel. Two possibilities were immediately eliminated. She then glanced over the shoulders. It was the giveaway. The skinny figure with slightly sharp shoulders.

It was him. He pushed up off the window and began walking toward the forest, away from town. Away from her.

"I need to leave," she stood from her chair, forgetting where she was completely.

"Sit down," her teacher scolded, "You have two minutes left in class!"

Pleo snapped back to reality. Her eyes quickly looked back to the figure as she slowly took her seat. She stared at the figure and blinked, hard. This could be her imagination. A hallucination.

But he was so clear! He was standing right there.

Six years and she still knew the figure the minute she saw him. Memories flooded her, every thing he had ever said to her. Everything became like crystal in her mind. Her journey was not a dream. It was not a far off memory.

The bell rang and Pleo was the first person out of the room. She ran down the hallways, down the stairs, out the double doors.

She ran across the street and out into town. She squeezed under a broken fence and then was able to find a building with a fire escape. She flew up the ladder and the buildings were close enough for her to jump from roof to roof.

There.

She could see him now, just reaching the edge of the forest. About to escape into the trees. She reached the end of the buildings and jumped down, onto a dumpster first, and then down to the ground. She rolled to avoid injury and then sprang to her feet. She sprinted now, zipping through the grass that separated the city from the forest. Zagging through a few trees, she caught up to him. He was standing right in front of her, only twenty feet away now.

She saw a portal behind him and knew if she didn't stop him now, he'd disappear forever.

"Axel," she called, out of breath.

The figure hesitated for less than a second, but it didn't escape Pleo's notice. He tried to carry on, step into the portal. He only had to shuffle his feet, maybe twice, and he'd be gone. Away. He wouldn't have to deal with the obstacle that was before him. Run away from Pleo, go straight to Deym. But, despite his lack of a heart, not even he could stand to turn away from the girl.

He had missed her too much to turn away.

"I know it's you," she told him, "I can recognize you from a mile away."

He sighed, turned around, and let down his hood, revealing his unmistakable red spikes. His face was a little older, his features harder, but it was Axel, "Hey, kid."

She was by his side in a second, throwing her arms around his waist, "I missed you."

The portal behind him closed as he returned her hug.

"It's easy to forget I can't feel anything around you, kid," he smirked, "Damn your heart."

She smiled, wide, "Why are you here? It's so unexpected. It's unlike you."

"Not unlike me," Axel disagreed but didn't explain, "Is Deym around?"

Pleo led Axel to her home, a small place in a crowded neighborhood. She let them in and revealed a somewhat untidy living room with Deym sleeping on the couch.

"Deym!" Pleo ran to shake him, "Axel is here."

"Axel?" he mumbled, wiping his face with his sleeve, "Tell him to go away."

"Up, up, up," Axel clapped his hands at Deym, "Come on, punk. I didn't come all this way to watch you sleep."

Deym sat up, "Oh, you were serious."

"As a heart attack," Axel responded, "I need to talk to you in private."

"Why in private?" Pleo asked.

Axel sent her a sideways glance, "Adult matters, sweetheart."

Pleo smirked, "Because your adult matters never have anything to do with me."

"She has a point," Deym noted, "She's not ten anymore, Axel."

Axel pursed his lips, debating, "In my head she is. But you're right, I guess."

Deym, Pleo, and Axel all moved to sit around the kitchen table.

"There's a lot to explain and little time," Axel cleared his throat, "We need to leave here as soon as possible."

"Leave?" Deym leaned forward.

"There's this fight going on, as we speak," Axel explained, "A war, really."

"Over?" Pleo pressed, anything to keep him talking.

Axel sighed, "Who knows? Our best guess is you, but it's only a guess. We have no evidence to prove this, but we also have no evidence that disproves this either. All we know is that worlds have constantly been lost to darkness. Why does that matter to the Organization? Because we believe someone's after you. And, well, that just won't do."

"A war?" Deym repeated, "Like, with people?"

Axel nodded, "A lot of people. And, quite honestly, it's not looking too great on our side."

"Wait," Pleo slowly stood from the table, "You're telling me people are out there, right now, dying for me? Why didn't you come sooner?"

"We wanted to," Axel insisted, "But the funny thing about the purest heart is that it's difficult to get to. You'd think it'd be easy to get to you. Except a shield of darkness has surrounded this entire world and it's been impossible to get through. We have an opening at the moment, but it's hard telling how long it will last. I told them to give me thirty minutes about fifteen minutes ago. Can you two be out of here before then?"

Pleo glanced over at Deym who was already on his feet, grabbing a bag out of the closet. He tossed a backpack to Pleo and then slung another over his shoulder.

"Hurry," he told her, "Grab some stuff and let's go."

Pleo ran into her room and threw whatever clothes were covering her floor into the bag. she stuffed in some toiletries, a blanket, and a first aid kit that she kept under her bed. She was slipping on her shoes and slinging a jacket over her arm just as Deym was shoving the emergency munny into the hidden pocket in his bag.

"Got everything?" Axel asked, pushing open the door.

Deym followed Axel out the door and they began jogging toward the forest. Pleo went after them but froze when she saw the sky. It was a thick grey, swirling above them. Small black pieces were sprinkling down on them.

"Deym," she whispered, but he was already too far away.

"Hurry, the darkness is going to shut off the world soon," she heard Axel say this to Deym, "Maybe they got mad and are now trying to destroy it."

She tried to ignore the sky and fell into a sprint. She caught up with them just as they reached the edge of the forest. Axel summoned a portal and plunged through. Deym quickly summoned his tonfas, blue fragments of light engulfing his hand as he ran after Axel. Pleo stood on the opposite side of the portal.

She glanced up one more time, then back at the city. People were gathering in the streets, staring up at the clouds and the unknown black substance. She knew this world would soon be lost. These people would be scattered, thrown into whatever worlds would take them. The people could only stare in confusion as the world slowly fell apart. She had never grown an attachment to the people, but it was a sad sight to see. Clueless victims were going to be left, waiting for a destruction that they had no knowledge of. Thrown into strange places and disconnected with all that they know. These people would be forced to live in her world. Forced to bear a faction of the pain that came with the burden of being associated with her. It wasn't their fault. These innocent people didn't have to be here, they didn't have to be staring up at an unforgiving sky, and they didn't have to know. But they were there. For all the wrong reasons, they were there.

"I'll make this right," Pleo whispered, "I promise."

She summoned her staff and followed Axel and Deym into the darkness.

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