Epilogue

His heart pounded like the bass beats and the speaking of the turntable as the darkness shimmered like glass around him. He was terrified, but he had to do this. He listened to the music as it reverbed throughout the whole of the crowd that had gathered to see the MSA crew. You could feel it in your chest if you stopped to listen, you could feel the excitement in the air if you closed your eyes and sniffed, you could sense the smiles and the cheers from the audience if you just looked to the sky as it poured buckets.

He moved like liquid, like water, and he shuffled his feet like they were nothing but an extention of his body. He turned and twisted when he heard the breathy rasps of air that flowed through the overhead speakers, and marvelled at the sheer nervousness he felt as he used his friends like they were nothing but small waves on the ground, making them move with nothing but a glance and a flicker of his hand.

It was funny, he thought, as he turned against them. It was funny, how their drive to dance in this competition came directly from him, and his want to be real, his want to be a human being again. It was funny when he saw them move for him, as that was what they had been doing all these weeks. They were dancing simply because they needed him to, and so he controlled them, he controlled them like they were nothing but dolls.

They obeyed everything he done, with nothing but a bow to his name, a permission from their bodies to collapse on the ground.

He saw Camille smile as she paired herself off with him, and they moved as if they were one being. He breathed against her, she reached her hands up against him. This was where everything changed between them and the rest of the group. This was his chance to allow both himself and her to shine.

He moved against her, and turned himself away from her, just as he flicked his fingers to the music coming from the back of the car. He saw it clearly in his mind, he wondered if she did too.

Something cracked and fizzled out, and the dancing around him stopped. He asked the guys if he could do this, without her knowing, and they agreed wholeheartedly. Andie smiled and laughed when she heard what Moose suggested, nodding her head wildly, and grabbing Chase by the hand just as he agreed Camille was one lucky girl to have a wild, curly hair kid suggest the dance he wanted to do.

Camille didn't know.

She stopped just as everyone bowed out from the dance around her, and she looked over her shoulder, temporarily scared, as the audience stopped cheering and looked to the guy who mastered the Player at his car. He shrugged, indicating the CD was still playing, and suddenly, a new song cracked through the speakers, like an olden time jazz piece that hadn't been played in a long time. Camille looked at him, as he held out his hand, a playful bow accompanying his exaggerated gesture.

"I wont dance, don't ask me-"

She laughed and put her hand into his just as he swerved her into a backbend. Through his hands, she fell and cartwheeled backwards into the spilts, her hands coming up to meet his, her face facing the ground. He pulled her light body up just as he twirled her like a ballet dancer, around and around, just as he pulled her down into a dramatic bow. She held her hands out around them, before she tricked herself into slipping through his arms sideways, and down onto the ground below them.

It was complete on-the-spot dancing. They never rehearsed the music, they never went over any of the steps, but somehow, their movements mirrored the dance they were doing, their acrobatics and streetstyle perfect against the jazzy accompaniment.

She twirled just as he started into a tap dance number, and she copied him in canon, her hands splayed wide and her smile as bright as the sun. She walked away from him, just as fell back, propping his feet to keep him grounded, as she cartwheeled over his body.

Everyone was clapping and cheering, but they were faraway, lost in the sea of water and lithe movements that seemed so strong and vibrant, so colour and beautiful to him, that the world of darkness and grey just fell away, leaving only them, only what they could do with what they had, leaving them to make out the truth and speak those forgotten lies.

He twisted against her as she began a quirky foot movement, and he watched her, before he copied her, and they fell into the dance again, moving to a beat only they could trace, as the lines of music fell away around them. He grabbed her hand, and against her knowledge, twirled and twirled her dizzingly through the air, before taking her into the most dramatic bow he could ever make with his arms, the water soaking their skin, making them fall to the earth just as they flew to the heavens. She bowed over him, and without any warning, just as everyone fell back into position and continued their chant, he kissed her, a deep kiss that spoke volumes through the music. She chuckled against him, holing her hand up to his chest, where the beating of his heart could be found.

He twirled her out of the lock they were in, and they separated, turning to their places just as they heard the beginnings of Spitfire come into action, and they charged into the piece, their movements becoming more erractic as the finale loomed.

Cable and Monster fought against each other in robotic movements, their spotlight piece coming into fruition just as Andie and Chase followed them out onto the floor and moved with the breath-like motion Moose suggested, only this was more rough, more like it was meant to be painful. They launched into the last part of the dance, and roughly jerked to the side with the force of lions.

And even though he knew they hadn't done their finale yet, he just knew beyind a shadow of a doubt, that they'd won.

He could feel it in the air, stronger than the excitement, stronger than the nervouesness, stonger than the screams and cheers.

He looked over his shoulder to see Camille smile toward him, the shock of what they ahd done clearly evident on her face, and he grinned widely. He laughed, feeling the elation ripple through his body like the millions of droplets of water that pelted against his heavy and drenched clothes.

It was like slow motion, as they pumped their hands into the air, and swerved through the rain, slicing the drops in two as they pounded their way through the dance.

It was like breathing again, waking up to the reality that no matter how tough life was, it was real, it was cruel and it was as menacing as the unknown.

It was the truth of knowing that no matter how tough it got, there was always someone there, waiting for you, telling you that you were never alone in the first place.

It was the dream of waiting your whole life to find that person, the one who would make all the nightmares and the pain go away, the one who would hold out their hands and tell you to take them, that she had been waiting for you her whole life as well.

It was the knowledge of knowing that you had finally let her, of finally throwing your belief and your hopes and dreams to the sky in the hope that saving someone would eventually mean being saved in return.

The buckets of rain above all of them continued to swallow the ground around them in rivers and as soon as they finished their dance, he pulled his hand out and tugged her to him, not forcefully, but meaningfully, letting her body become pliant against his as he let his lips kiss hers in the hope that never again will he ever feel that loneliness, that want to fall away into nothingness.

How could he?

She would always be there to steady him if he faltered, just as she was doing right now, by placing both her hands on his chest and craving the heat that she found nestling there. She peeked up into his dark brown eyes, and finally found the sheephish grin carved there. He closed his eyes and laid his forehead against hers, feeling peace and finding solace where she found it best.

Between them.

A/N::Aaaaand, there we go folks! Here's the ending, and cue the waterworks... T.T

Thank you everyone for your kind-hearted thoughts: I really appreciate them, and without all of you, this story would never have continued! Your kindness fills me with joy, ^_^

xxxxxxx