Chapter Twelve

She looked up slowly through parted fingers, not believing for a second that what she heard was real. The tears she cried patterned tracks down her face and she felt her heart skip a beat in response to his voice. She glanced at her friends, who stared at her with open mouths. Missy stabbed the air behind her, and she felt her voice escape her within a second at the thought that they could-

She looked over her shoulder to see a familiar, shy smile. A flicker of brown curls, tangled and unruly against a smiling set of eyes, and a hand placed on his chin as he watched her, kneeling behind her with a twinkle of a grin on his face.

He was there, not faded, but actually there. His body stood out against the backdrop of mirrors and wooden floors, slim and small, a checked shirt loosely tied around wiry arms and a pair of loose trousers framing his figure. He kneeled awkwardly, and as soon as she turned to stare at him, within seconds, he grimaced, and set himself down on the floor uneasily, like it hurt him to sit.

"Hiya, Cammie," he cheerfully said, his voice softening on her nickname. He grinned childishly when she continued to remain speechless. "I know, I'm so dang hot, girls cant speak when they so much as look at me." It as if the past few days hadn't happened, and he'd forgotten everything that led up to this moment.

It was as if they were meeting for the first time.

"You're really here," she whispered. "You're real." He nodded sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

"I came back, I guess," he answered. He took a second, a breathtaking second, before he murmured, "I came back because I heard your voice." Camille stared at him, and he saw those tears, the countless ones she cried for him. It made him kick himself for taking so long to find her again. His parents held him back, these injuries held him back, and his back still ached after all these months.

He shouldn't have been here, he knew. After all this time not moving, his muscles were not as strong as they used to be. Heck, he couldn't pop or lock or dance at all after all this time. But he knew he would be able to fight for what he believed was his saving grace. He watched her, allowed his eyes to dwell on her face, because now he knew he was able to do this, to do anything he wanted, all for her, because he was real. Because he was no longer an invisible shadow.

He leaned forward, biting his lip against the tug of aching in his side as he did so, and placed a hand on her cheek knowingly. He took a breath, pushing the moment before he said what he'd wanted to say for the past week.

"I heard everything you wanted to tell me, Camille," he whispered as they sat on the floor, their legs touching each others, their eyes boring into each others as deep as day, as dark as night. He remembered being in this school all this time, wondering why he'd been placed here, so far from home, on the other side of the city. He wondered why here, of all places, he'd be left to wander idly until he was taken off life support, when it dawned on him as clear as glass.

It was her. Someone, up there, saw them, and wished for them to meet. She was the reason he was in this school all this time. All these months, these agonising days, spent here, all working their way up to this, this one moment, this one breath in time.

He smiled as he came closer to her, as he pulled her gently toward her. "I've been waiting for someone this entire time, to come and undo the chains, Camille. I've been waiting for you this whole time, for you to wake me up and make me move," he murmured against her cheek as she leaned in, her breath hitching against his nose. "Thank you so much, Camille. Thank you for opening my eyes," he whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her, and making her pull back some. She looked into his eyes then, and he saw what lingered there.

That hope, flashing before him as bright as the sun.

"I love you too, Camille," he tipped his nose against hers, and without any warning, he felt a hand come upon his chest and dig deep, craving the steady pound she found there, just beneath the surface. Her hand burned through his clothes and he leaned forward just as she leaned down, and he kissed her, soft and gentle.

It was exactly how she imagined he'd kiss. Gentle, sweet, and soft, and he cradled her face with the lightest of touches, gently carressing her face with the sweetest of grins on his face. He breathed against her, and felt her move closer against him, wanting more of this nearness, this knowledge that no matter what, they were real together: they were solid and nevermoving.

He felt it then, the warning light he'd been waiting for all these months.

He was home.

She giggled against his lips as she began to cry again, unbeliveable happiness bubbling inside her as strong as a fountain, as light as a feather. He chuckled against her lips, his eyes shining.

"Um, lovebirds? What have we got here?"

Camille looked up to Missy, and seeing her shocked expression, she laughed again, unconsciously pushing herself down off Robert, who winced. He set a hand down on the floor behind him to steady himself and began to stand. Camille looked back to him, her eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"Nope, Chameleon, now stop worrying and introduce me to your friends. I've never met them before," he dusted himself off as she climbed to her feet. There was a glimmer there, a white lie surfacing from darknened depths, but she shook her head and forgot all about it. Gesturing to the group, she introduced them one by one. "Hm, and you guys are the ones practising for the Streets, right?"

"Can we ask who you are first before you go asking questions?" Monster folded his arms.

"Chill, Monster, he's a friend of Camille's. We can trust him," Chase said in answer. Robert smiled, pocketing his hands.

"I think I was the one who choreographed that part Camille helped put into the dance off you're doing," he answered easily, sticking his hand out for Monster to shake. "My name is Robert Alexander the Third. But, you can call me Moose."

"Moose?" Kido exclaimed. "Moose?! Where did you get that name?"

He rolled his eyes, grinning. "It's a very long story."

"You done the choreography? Jeez, man, that was mindblowing!" Smiles started, just as Cable rushed up to him and grinned wickedly.

"Can you do it again?" he asked, stars in his eyes. "Camille said you could do it a lot better." Moose laughed, and shook his head.

"I can try, but-" his smile seemed to fade, as he gripped his side. "I kind of got into a serious accident, and my back hasn't healed properly. I'm wearing a brace to try and right it, but I can try to do it again. In fact," he scratched the back of his neck. "You guys get going. Show me what you got."

Everyone looked to each other, and Camille understood exactly what he was trying to do. He was giving them a reason to move, one they unconsciously never had before.

"We decided to quit it," Hair said softly, his arms coming up to sheepishly hand around his chest. He was looking at the floor.

"Quit what?"

"The Streets," Andie explained. She put both ehr hands on her hips just as Missy looked to her. "We aren't able to keep the momentum going, for some weird reason or another. Somehow, last week, we were blazing it, now-" she gestured widly as if to emphasise her point. Moose watched her carefully, his mouth open, before he looked to everone else, their downcast expressions, their faceless sorrow, and he suddenly understood.

He understood everything, and he stepped back with the recognition.

"Oh my God," he breathed, with shock. While everyone believed it was due to their stepping down from the Streets, only Camille understood what he really meant.

"You see? Even when you weren't there, you were still alive," she murmured as she stood on tip toe to whisper into his ear. "You made them dance. You made them happy, and without you, were bascially screwed." He held out his hand for her to take, and he squeezed it softly in acknowledgement. But he still couldn't believe it. It strangled him to believe what he'd done.

"Well then," he swallowed, breathing out. "I suppose you don't think you're good enough."

It was an unspoken challenge. Andie looked up to him, cocking an eyebrow, as did Chase.

"You serious? We worked hard for this," Andie spoke evenly, the threat in her voice.

"You sure? You really do give up easily," he answered, on the ball and quick. "The whole lot of you do, but I suppose I understand the feeling. I gave up easily too, before I saved someone, and then someone saved me in return." Andie watched him, her face expressionless, her eyes speaking more. She wanted to be determined, and he knew beyodn a shadow of a doubt that she was the only one keeping the confidence in the group. He stared at her, allowed his own determination to speak for the both of them.

"You can do this, you know that, Andie," he said, strongly. "Everyone who is anyone can dance. You just need to keep getting back up when you fall down, and you just need to fight and keep fighting even when you know you're going to lose. Don't ever forget that."

She huffed, ebfore she heard Kido jump at what he said, a big smile on her face. "Come on, guys! Let's show this Moose what we can do!" Slowly, everyone slumped to the centre of the dancefloor, not entirely sure of what they could do when they honestly had nothing. Moose rolled his eyes, and clicked silently, hoping something nice would come on, something that wasn't anything Street related.

All of a sudden, and without warning to the otehrs, a blast of Fancy Footwork blared out of the speakers, the sirens of the music singing and coming to life. Andie stared at the Player, and Camille looked to him.

Bright lights-

Moose twisted onto the floor, gnoring the pain in his back, and started to dance, ignoring the world around him as he tried to pop and lock against the timing of the music he heard. He moved to the side and laughed as his feet found a beat he could move to without causing too much pain. He jerked sideways again, and moved his hands in an irrational manner, pushing his body to its limits, knowing that he'd work himself up and push himself as far as he could. He knew he had Camille cheering him on.

He couldn't let her down.

He pulled himself out of a tight circle and reached out, pointing to her. Someone started to cheer- Kido probably, and Camille joined in, jumping and pumping to the beat as she curved her body against the song. Moose moved around her just as she reached out and laughed, grabbing his open hands and pulling him into loose waltz.

As if they knew what the other would do, they both turned opposite to each other and pointed to Hair, just as the next song rolled in to play Let's Go. Both Hair and Cable looked to each other before they shrugged and jumped in to do what they done best. Moose pushed a hand up into the air as he pumped his body to the beat, the infectious beat that had everyone up and dancing as if their lives depended on it. Everyone jumped, screamed and suddenly, moved as one.

They tipped off each other, but they laughed as they done it, and unconsciously, people parted into groups of two or three and began to copy each other's movements in canon, following exactly what Camille and Moose done as they moved and moved and moved to the rhythm they'd been waiting for this entire week. Moose panted against Camille's body and felt himself getting dizzy as everyone crunched bar out for bar, and breathed as frantically as they moved and worked the music they heard blaring over the speakers.

Before the song even finished, Moose crashed to the floor, clutching his side in pain, his eyes wired shut.

He'd never felt as happy as he did now.

A/N::N'awwwwhhhh! XD Well, what do you guys think? I believe there are another three chapters to add to this, so I'll upload a little later on, and thanks a bunch for all the reviews and favs! I love you all so much! x/x

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