Chapter 20

I Won't Let Go

If they had looked over their shoulders while they were making their way back down, it would probably shock Cora even more than Darby to see what they had left behind just now. It was the kind of breadcrumb trail nobody wanted to create, honestly. All the way up from the roof where the mastermind behind the endless waves of grotesquely transformed spirits had quite literally vanished into thin air (but not before Cora had managed to burn him with a blaze that he would surely forever remember) and down to the corridor of the uppermost floor of the Cedar Hills Motel, blood had continued to spill from her severely wounded hand and had created a trail of drops that varied in size, the larger ones forming near each door they had passed, and up until now, all of them were either locked or blocked by something large being pushed in front of it, like a closet; perhaps a vain attempt to keep the one who had caused this short but frightening reign of terror over the hotel's lingering ghosts out of their hiding spots, but this thought didn't really cross their minds at the moment. No, the sole thing that was on Darby's mind right now was to get Cora somewhere safe to treat the gash in her hand before she would bleed out in front of him and potentially become the very first ghost to roam this building by her lonesome after every single one of the others had been wiped out and thus starting a whole new haunting.

Cora's arm had been draped around Darby's shoulder as he carried her through the corridor, and a little while earlier, she had been able to move her feet and keep up with him. But now, as more blood had escaped from her hand, the pace had slowed down to the point where she would often drag her feet across the scorched wood. The healthy tan that had been present on her sun-kissed body had strongly faded, having turned into a pale shade that was worrying to say the least. Despite the strange, light feeling that would often creep up inside her head, the ghost huntress could still feel every bit of the pain that coursed through her entire arm with the source being her bleeding hand, pulsating along with her heart that had been racing with nothing but pure adrenaline earlier and was still feeling the aftermath. Cora's eyes had been tightly clenched shut most of the time because of this, and she found herself unable to hold back any groans and winces the intense pain brought out.

Darby could feel something warm and strongly smelling like iron soaking into his shirt and he knew exactly what he could find staining his skin when he would take said shirt off, but in all honesty, he couldn't give less than a shit about that in the moment, because time was ticking and Cora's legs began to give up more and more on her. If he dug his fingers into her side a little deeper while he was basically dragging her through the corridor at this point, his fingernails would definitely draw some more blood. His heart had begun beating in his chest again, and there was no denying that it was beating fast, really damn fast. His stoic demeanor is what had helped him through the most frantic and chaotic moments throughout his career, and even though this was definitely one of them, it didn't mean that there was no need to hurry the hell up to fix all of this. With each door they passed, his spare hand frantically twisted onto the doorknob with the hopes that one of these rooms could offer them a safe place to patch up his companion's injury as quickly as possible, but upon realizing that this wasn't going to be the case, a four-letter word would escape through his clenched teeth. This wasn't happening, this wasn't fucking happening. He wasn't going to let her bleed out like a stuck pig, not when he had just gotten used to her being around, accepted her into his life, he would never forgive himself if he were to fail her. The blonde ghost hunter absolutely refused to let the bone-chilling image of him cradling Cora's lifeless body that had grown completely void of blood get to him, instead focusing on finding a damn door that would actually open.

But then, when they halted in front of Room 304 and his hand found the doorknob, he heard a soft click when he managed to fully twist it. There was no time to marvel over this amount of luck, though. The blonde ghost hunter kicked the door open with so much strength that it struck the wall next to it with a loud bang and drove the knob straight into the wallpaper. Carrying his companion inside the dimly lit room, Darby frantically looked around to see if the Cedar Hills Motel was at least decent enough to provide each room with a bathroom. With his sight falling on a door on his right, he figured that there was only one way to find out about this, and so he carefully hoisted Cora's slightly slumping frame up to make her find her footing for long enough to make it across the room, though it did make her whimper in pain once more. As soon as they reached the door, Darby swung it open and quickly searched for a light switch on the tiled wall, which he did. The sole fluorescent tube above them rapidly blinked before it eventually glowed with a faint though warm light, illuminating their new surroundings, which indeed turned out to be that of a motel bathroom; and a dingy one at that. Just from one glance alone would make one wonder what unsavory things must have taken place here over the years. How many junkies must have shot up their near-daily shot in that bathtub that hadn't seen a sponge for months? How many ladies of the night had looked at themselves in the cracked mirror that was attached to the cabinet above the sink, either to apply their makeup or talk some encouragement into themselves to prevent an impending meltdown related to their work? How many homeless people had stored whatever belongings they could carry with them in here? And how many folks who didn't see the point anymore in living the life they felt trapped in decided to…? No time to think about any of this, Darby knew. What he needed to do right now was to get that wound cleaned up to get started.

'Here, get over here, try to hold still.' he calmly told Cora while he fully twisted the tap open, sending a stream of cold water cascading into the sink that had suspiciously yellow-brownish stains permanently absorbed into its aged porcelain; as long as her hand would be safely hovering above them, the chance of her wound getting infected would be slim to none. Darby carefully took his companion's mangled hand, which by now had become entirely drenched in crimson, and he could swear that he saw some of the dim bathroom light peeking through the massive stab wound, which in turn made him secretly wish that he could have at least driven his fist through that revolting face of that Infected about fifty more times. This was bad, really fucking bad, but they could still treat this, they could still save it. The blonde ghost hunter guided Cora's hand to the stream of water, and as soon as it touched her bloodied skin, a heavy chill ran through her whole body. It may have not been much, but the cold did give her some relief from the nearly unbearable pain and pulled her out of the strange sensation that made her want to fall down to the floor, making her let out a soft, trembling sigh. Blood was quickly thinned in the sink before it flowed down into the sink along with the water, creating a small whirlpool as this happened.

'Darby…' was all she was able to groan, managing to find some steady footing due to her holding onto the sink's rounded edge.

'It's going to be alright, Cora. It's going to be alright. You're gonna get through this.'

A few seconds passed before the ghost huntress' hand had been fully rinsed, but as soon as the tap was twisted shut, small beads of new blood still managed to find their way out of the massive wound and some of the pain came rushing back, causing Cora to wince once more. Darby then opened the small cabinet on the wall in front of them with the hopes that at least someone who had rented this room at some point had carried a first-aid kit with them, preferably stuffed with bandages and mesh, but all he could find in there was an empty tube of toothpaste of a cheap brand with a missing cap, a few orange pill containers adorned with a yellowed label with the name of some prescribed medication and one used syringe that had once contained God knows what to get someone here high as a kite. None of these were going to help, so he promptly closed it.

Darby carefully hooked Cora's arm back over his shoulder and guided her back to the main room where he helped her to sit down on the edge of the bed, where no suspicious looking stains thankfully could not be spotted on the dark red sheet.

'Shit, there's still blood coming out…' Darby mumbled when he took another look at his companion's hand, that had once again been stained with crimson. 'Wait, just sit right here and I will take a look around. If there isn't a med kit here in this room, then there might be one in another. If not, then we're going to haul ass to the hosp-'

'Darby, it's… it's fine. I know what to do…'

'What?'

'Do you…' Perhaps it was because of the cold water she had felt earlier, because compared to a few minutes ago, Cora noticed that she was able to think a bit more clearly; she could even function well enough to actually open her eyes to look at the blonde ghost hunter. 'Do you remember when we first met and you got cut up really bad? Remember what you asked of me back then?' Her lips then curled into a rather weak, small smile. 'As fucked up as that was, it did help. It did stop the bleeding. I think it's my turn now. It's our best option…'

It remained completely quiet between the two ghost hunters for a few seconds.

'Are you sure about this?' Darby asked. 'You're gonna have to keep going despite the pain, you know that, right?'

'I know, Darby! I know it's going to hurt like a motherfucker, but… it's all we've got now. And I can pull it off, as long as you hold me by my shoulders as hard as you can. Don't let go, no matter how much I will squirm. Also…' A soft chuckle then escaped past her lips. 'Hate to break it to you, but you're going to have to put up with my screaming for a bit.'

'That's gonna be the least of my problems. Let's do this.'

And as soon as his companion gave him a brief, silent nod, the blonde ghost hunter took a firm hold on her shoulders, making sure there was going to be little to no room for her to struggle. This was it. The realization of what she was about to do dawning on her pulled her further out of the daze, further away from the lightness. Cora's sight was now fully fixated on the unsightly gash on her hand, where blood continued to leak out of. Sitting here in hesitation wasn't going to heal it. Being too frightened of the pain that was yet to come would only cause her to bleed out more. It wasn't going to last long, only for a short moment at most. Darby's presence felt like a somewhat comforting thought too. But still…

'This is going to hurt so fucking much…'

'You can do this. I got you.'

That's right, he got her. As long as he wouldn't let go of her, all of this would by all things considered go smoothly, or so she hoped. Cora switched from breathing through her mouth to breathing in and out through her nose, which somewhat did ease to nerve. Her other hand hovered above the wound, slightly trembling. She got this… she fucking got this.

Energy then traveled towards the palm of her hand and manifest itself into a thin, short, though rather powerful flamethrower with its flames diving into the wound.

Cora's eyes fully widened before slamming shut as she tried her hardest to stifle a scream behind her clenched teeth, but to little avail, feeling her wounded hand tremble with excruciating pain. The same odor of burning flesh that had once lingered in their van a few days ago almost instantly filled up the room, and if she wasn't too preoccupied with concentrating on keeping the flames coming, she surely would have gagged upon smelling it. Just like she had predicted earlier, Cora's body began to squirm, protesting against this necessary yet crude procedure, but thankfully Darby's hands were there to hold her in place, refusing to let go of her. Cora forced herself to open her eyes and look at what she was doing, and the sight of the skin near the wound that was slowly but surely closing up bubbling with the intense heat almost made her want to quit, but quickly managed to convince herself to keep going. The pain would only be temporary, it would all be over soon… but despite that thought, she still couldn't help but let out another scream.

And then, a few excruciating seconds later, she saw that red, sizzling, thick, flesh had completely filled up the wound, closing it for good; that's when she allowed herself to stop.

The bleeding had stopped at last.

A heavy, trembling sigh escaped Cora's lips as she closed her eyes, feeling her body going limp. The back of her head touched Darby's shoulder, and for some reason, this sensation created this sense of comfort to her, calming her down despite the searing pain that made her hand lightly pulsate. The blonde ghost hunter felt it, looking down at her sweat-stained face but not feeling the urge to gently push her away for one moment. No. This… this was fine. He was fine with this. Good, even, in a strange way… He briefly stared at her slightly parted lips as she softly panted, slow, deep and rhythmic. Even though all of this was over now, his hands were still holding onto her shoulders, and Darby could feel his grip on them loosing up. He felt Cora's head slightly turning towards him, rolling it on his clavicle. Her breath gently warmed the skin underneath his shirt. Maybe Darby didn't quite notice this himself, but his arms slowly traveled down to her upper arms, where they remained for a few more seconds until Cora opened her eyes; blue grey met dark chocolate brown, which made the blonde ghost hunter quickly glance away. She then closed her mouth to curl it once again into a small smile.

'Done.' Cora uttered almost inaudibly before letting out a soft chuckle.

'Not gonna lie, that was pretty fucking badass. Do you think you can stand up? I know something that will ease the pain a bit.'

And so, with legs that felt way less wobbly compared to earlier, Cora was guided back into the bathroom where her sore hand was treated once more with a stream of delightfully cold water for a couple of minutes, long enough to almost entirely numb the pulsating pain. After this, she brought back to the edge of the bed and left there while Darby looked through the only closet that could be found in this room; Cora found it likely to assume that he wasn't giving up on looking for a first-aid kit after all. And no, he didn't find one in any of the three drawers he had opened, but he did find something that would make a fine substitute for a bandage. She watched as the blonde ghost hunter pulled out a large, white bedsheet, and though the fabric had clearly aged, it thankfully hadn't been ruined by any disgusting stains. He then proceeded to tear off a long strip with nothing but ease. He walked back to the bed, knelt down in front of Cora and carefully wrapped the strip of fabric around her hand, completely covering the wound that still slightly stung, but had become much more bearable. The two ends of the make-shift bandage were tied together in a tight knot.

'There, that should do.' Darby said. 'You might not be able to use it for wielding fire for a while and you have to keep it as clean as you can, but it will be fine. Can you move your fingers?'

'Wait, let me try…'

It was a bit painful, but much to Cora's and Darby's relief, she was able to slightly bend all five of her fingers, repeating this motion a couple of times. 'Thank God...' the ghost huntress mumbled, which was followed by a thought she chose to voice. 'That's gonna be a new scar… God, I was so stupid back there.'

'It's no big deal. You're not the first ghost hunter to get scarred during the job. Hell, I got plenty of them.'

'No, I'm not talking about that, Darby…'

The relief of being able to move her fingers and the knowledge that her hand would be ready for use again after some period of time was suddenly replaced by nothing more but shame. Now that all of this was over, now that every single ghost had been defeated and she had driven away that bastard in the black suit, Cora could finally let herself feel every bit of it. The ghost huntress glanced away at the carpet, lightly hanging her head down. She was absolutely convinced that a veteran like Darby Allin would agree that what she had come over her back there on the roof had been insanely stupid, given how it had nearly costed her damn life. She had thought that she had gotten over it all, she thought that she would never feel it again, she thought that she was fully ready for living the life as a ghost hunter. What a pathetic excuse she was… talking big about how she would able to endure all the horrors that were all part of this lifestyle, yet completely going numb with fear as soon as a blade was driven into her body. It was all because of this that it all came flooding back to her, Cora knew. It made her remember everything. It made her remember the night where her life had been irreversibly been flipped upside down. The first time where she felt the paralyzing fear of dying…

'When that ghost with the machete attacked me, I was feeling it again.' Cora spoke, her voice soft with shame. 'Up until then, I thought that nothing would frighten me anymore, now that I have chosen to be a ghost huntress. I thought I had forgotten about it all. When he plunged that goddamn machete in me, it brought me back to that night, where Trevor came at me with that knife. It all happened when he stabbed me in the stomach. I was so scared of dying that I froze up. I was so fucking afraid of dying that I couldn't move… how does that make any sense anyway? I'm… God, I'm such a piss-poor excuse of a ghost huntress, Darby. Look at me, just look at me! I let myself be weak on a moment where I had to be strong. I should be ashamed of myself… I'm so sorry…'

'You survived on that night and you have survived again. That's all that matters.'

There was absolutely no trace of wryness, coldness or sarcasm to be found in Darby's voice when he said this. He didn't speak it with a certain kind of tenderness either, but still… it did create a sense of reassurance for Cora, who couldn't help but look up in surprise when she heard this, having expected her companion to be a lot harsher about this, given his ten-year experience in this field.

Speaking of being alive…

The blonde ghost hunter stood up straight to silently look at the view behind the window that was the parking lot, where a nearby abandoned swimming pool was waiting to be used as a private skating park. There was nothing wrong with feeling alive for a short while when you're dealing with death for most of the time, that's what his companion believed, right? Unbeknownst to her, Darby hadn't quite disagreed on that for one second.

'If you feel up for it, we can go check out that pool later on.' he said; turning his head to Cora, he curled the left corner of his mouth to form a playful smirk. 'I did promise you something after all, didn't I?'

A quick trip back down to the parking lot was made for Darby and Cora to retrieve their skateboards from the van roughly one hour was spend in the motel room, which turned out to be enough time for the ghost huntress to recover enough to go exploring the empty pool with her companion. She couldn't help but look over her shoulders at least two times when they headed towards the goth edition of the Mystery Van due to a nagging feeling in the back of her head telling her that there was a chance of one lone ghost who hadn't joined the swarm would leap at them from the shadows, but soon realized that this was luckily not the case. Cora wondered if Darby was feeling the same thing, she wasn't going to lie about it; knowing that it was literally just the two of them now at this motel after whoever had bailed from the main office and they had literally defeated every single ghost who had been infected and mutated by that mystery mist that had spread all across the building, was quite a strange feeling. As of now, they had the whole Cedar Hills Motel for themselves, so why not turn a part of it into their own private skating park? Cora found herself to be kind of excited to introduce her companion to her most precious childhood possession, sure, it was way smaller compared to his own skateboard and the spray-painted initials were far less impressive than the white skulls painted on the bottom, but still, it was something that had been dear to her during the early teen years and had been part of some of the best memories from that time, so it almost felt like she was introducing her companion to an old childhood friend, in a weird sense. Despite the semi-darkness of the parking lot, she could see the curled line of an amused smile on the blonde ghost hunter's face when she retrieved her skateboard from the back of the van, but nothing indicated that he was mocking her for the size and artwork of her little baby; hell, it was almost like he thought this was kind of adorable, in some way.

'Yeah yeah, I know, yours is way bigger than mine.' the ghost huntress said as Darby hopped back outside with his own skateboard and held it next to hers, playfully rolling her eyes. 'But look at that awesome lettering and little heart! At least mine is cuter than yours.'

'Who in the right mind would want a 'cute' skateboard?' the blonde ghost hunter answered. 'If you want, I could at least paint one skull on it.'

'Like hell I will let you defile my little baby! It's perfect just the way it is!'

'Alright, if you say so…'

They then walked into the direction of the fence that was supposed to keep unwanted visitors from entering the derelict pool, each securely pinning their own skateboard between their arm and side. It was probably the shortest time Darby's heart had ceased to function when they got to the fence; right after he passed his body through the chain-linked iron without leaving as much as a scratch on his face, it instantly resumed its main function. Cora followed soon afterwards, finding that even climbing over a fence was getting easier which each time. After she perfectly landed on the ground with both of her feet, she couldn't help but briefly admire the sight that was in front of them. This couldn't have been any better, really. This emptied, old, grungy pool had the perfect curve and depth for them to skate across, looking nothing short of inviting to the both of them. But as much as she was looking forward to having some much-needed and well-deserved fun after everything that had happened tonight, the mild worry of her having gone rusty over the years still lingered in the back of her head. Sure, she might have confessed to her friend that she hadn't done this in ages and thus making him well aware that she wasn't exactly the greatest female skateboarder to have ever existed, she dearly hoped she wasn't going to embarrass himself in front of him by falling flat on her face; which, by the way, was still way more preferable than landing on her recovering hand with her body's full weight.

'So, how about it, Cora?' Darby said. 'Ladies first?'

'Nah, I'm not old-fashioned, you know.' she replied with a light chuckle. 'In fact… I actually want to see what you got first. I want to see how awesome you are at this. Go ahead, impress me!'

'Don't mind if I do.'

Right after saying this, the blonde ghost hunter put his skateboard down partially over the edge of the pool, stepped on it, tilted the board upwards by putting some extra weight on the foot that was resting on the back, and then leaned forward to roll down the wall. During the following minutes that came afterwards, Cora couldn't stop looking at Darby skating across the empty pool as if he had been practicing at this place for ages. He rolled around at a constant speed, fast enough launch himself over the edge whenever he would skate up on the walls, only to safely roll back down and picking a bit more speed. It appeared that Darby did have quite the number of neat tricks an experienced skater could pull off up in his sleeve, showing Cora how to slide across the edge with his skateboard, remaining perfectly balanced as he did so. He didn't need any extra strength from his supernatural powers to support himself using one arm, his hand firmly placed on the edge and holding onto his board with the other as he bend his knees. He had picked up enough speed at some point to launch himself in the air far enough to make his board spin as couple of times before landing back on it with both of his feet. Cora hadn't looked away for half of a second, getting increasingly impressed by every trick and move he managed to flawlessly pull off in front of her. This could only be done who practiced skateboarding for many years, she knew; someone who would keep going to perfect this art despite tripping and falling for many times, despite gaining a tiny, bloody wound or two if he was unlucky enough. Darby Allin was proving to be just as skilled at skateboarding as he was at fighting rampaging ghosts… which definitely something to admire. And seriously, all this moment needed right now was one of the many energetic songs from The Offspring, seeing how it would perfectly fit into this aesthetic. Succeeding in pulling off one impressive stunt and trick after the other in an abandoned, grungy pool in the dead of night… there was almost something truly magical about all of that.

Right then, the blonde ghost hunter flew over the edge and landed next to his companion, the worn, scratched wheels of his skateboard clacking on the concrete.

'Dude, that was amazing!' Cora exclaimed. 'You gotta teach me some of that!'

The blonde ghost hunter briefly shrugged as part of his answer. 'Eh, there are more exiting tricks out there than those. I'm still hoping to pull off one sick backflip one day, maybe even double. Yeah… that would be pretty fucking cool.' He paused to let out a chuckle. 'How about it, Cora? Wanna honor Tony Hawk by showing what you got?'

The ghost huntress glanced at the pool, knowing damn well that she couldn't possibly be on the same level as Darby, not after neglecting her skateboarding skills for so long; hell, she couldn't even remember being able to pull off any of the more impressive moves when she was younger. All she could do now was focus and hope for the best.

'Welp… here goes nothing!'

Even though many years had passed since she had balanced herself on her skateboard, she still knew how to position it over the edge before rolling down. And that was pretty much all that could be said for Cora; not even halfway across the pool, she had completely lost her balance and was in hindsight grateful for landing on her behind with a pretty painful thud rather than her bandaged hand. The ghost huntress wholeheartedly hoped that the semi-darkness would enough to hide the embarrassed blush that colored her cheeks when she looked up at Darby, who in turn could barely mask the amused smirk that had formed on his face.

'Come on, give me a break!' Cora said. 'It's… It's been a long time since I've done this, okay? I still got it! Just watch!'

But during the minute that followed afterwards, it became so painfully clear that wasn't honoring her childhood hero whatsoever that even Cora was forced to admit this, seeing how she was only capable of slowly riding across the walls, losing her balance and falling as soon as she attempted to mimic the easier-looking stunts Darby had pulled off earlier; even attempting to simply flip her board in the middle of the pool would make her trip over her own feet. When she landed on her back for the fifth time, Cora barely managed to hold back a four-letter word, completely bummed out by this pathetic attempt to remotely impress Darby. She was a whole lot better than this back in her younger days, she knew, absolutely convinced about this. Even back then she wasn't as horrible… the rust was clearly showing here, much to her embarrassment. Who was she kidding? She was looking like a complete rookie right now…

'Here, let me help you up.' Darby suddenly said, kneeling down and reaching out with his hand; if you had to ask Cora, it didn't sound like he was annoyed by this display at all, rather amused. She didn't doubt about taking the offer, holding onto his hand as he pulled her over the edge.

'Sorry about that, Darby. It, uh… it has really been a long time, I guess.'

'I can help you with this, if you want. We can do this together.'

'You… mean by skating together, or something?'

'Well, no. Not exactly. We can use my skateboard for this, it's big enough for the both of us. I will hold onto you and guide you through all of it. I can reassure you that we start off with the easier stuff first. And hey… I did promise you to relearn it if you wanted to, didn't I?'

Her? And Darby? On one skateboard, with… their bodies pressed together? The ghost huntress widened her eyes at this thought, the blush of embarrassment now replaced by a blush of fluster. But why? They had only known each other for a short time, he was a friend to her, that was all. That was all she considered him as, honest to God. And yeah, she guessed, the thought of feeling the body of someone you had only recently formed a platonic bond with pressing this close against yours would be a pretty good reason for someone to have a reaction like this.

The few seconds of silence hadn't gone unnoticed by the blonde ghost hunter.

'Hey, it's okay, you can trust me on this. I'm not going to let you go. You do trust me, right?'

Maybe she shouldn't think anything of it, Cora thought to herself. This was purely for helping her out, to help her brush off the rust that had accumulated over the years and possibly become just as awesome with a skateboard as he was. This was purely platonic, that was all. Nothing more, nothing else.

'Of course I do.' Cora let out a short chuckle. 'Teach me all you got, sensei!'

'That's the spirit! Come on, get up here. I'm gonna make Mr. Hawks jealous of you in no time.'

The ghost huntress then stepped onto Darby's skateboard, standing a bit closer to the tip to give Darby as much space as possible, which appeared to be so when he took place on it as well behind her. They shifted their legs to make it not only as comfortable as possible, but to find a good balance as well, which they did. It was on that moment where the blonde ghost hunter's arm wrapped itself around Cora's waist, and even though he firmly pressed her body against his, there was no mistaking in the fact that there was a certain degree of gentleness in it as well. Hell, it felt kind of comforting… reassuring, even. Cora knew that she didn't have any need to distrust Darby on this, having witnessed how skilled he was with his skateboard earlier. This was going to help her out, it was going to make her better at this. As long as she would move along with his body movements, everything was going to be okay. All of her trust had been put in his tattooed hands.

'Here we go… get ready!'

The skateboard was tilted up once again and rolled down the wall, immediately picking up some speed. For one heartbeat, Cora feared that they were going to tumble when she could feel her balance slipping for a bit, but Darby was there with her, his arm still around her waist as he kept her in place. She could feel his legs slightly moving as they rolled across the pool, heading straight towards the edge in front of them, and so she tried her hardest to mimic these movements. She guessed she was doing the right thing, because the blonde ghost hunter didn't tell her to stop moving. Just then, they rolled up the wall, and Cora noticed that she was bracing herself for what was about to come; as it turned out, Darby felt that her body was tensing up a bit too much, because he calmly told her to relax a little and follow his lead. So she did, bending her legs along with him. The ghost hunting duo was launched into the air as soon as the board reached the top, and as soon as that happened, Cora could feel Darby's body moving in such a way that they were making a turn, heading straight back down, and so she moved along with him. Her eyes widened with pleasant surprise when they made a landing that seemed like a distant memory to her; absolutely flawless without any indication of losing their balance, which made her exclaim an excited 'Whooo!' Because her back was turned to him, she didn't see the small smile his lips had curled into. This was only the beginning of her training, though. Cora continued to fully put her trust into Darby while they skated over the walls, both of them finding the balance they needed to pull this off. It was almost like they had become one being, their teamwork closely resembling the one they had during their ghost hunting adventures. At some point, they had climbed up high enough for the skateboard to almost touched the curbed edge, and so they rolled down again and headed for the other side of the pool. Another edge quickly approached thanks to the speed they had picked up in the meanwhile, and despite the fact that they were a little higher up in the air compared to the first time, Cora felt confident enough that they were going to land on their feet instead of their face, moving along with Darby as another turn was made. Darby had remained relatively quiet during all of this, but he wasn't going to lie; he was actually having a pretty damn good time.

Who would have thought of this, really? Who would have known that a girl he had only met roughly two days ago would bring all of this out of him? He wouldn't have even thought of helping her to relearn the art of skateboarding when she asked him to give her a ride to Autumnfield, seeing her as nothing else but a stranger. And yet, he had still allowed her into his life. Everything during these past days had all lead up to this very moment… and it was all thanks to her. Damn. Cora Jade sure was something else.

But no matter how skilled someone can be at whatever they are good at, there would always be a moment where you can slip up, which was exactly what happened when enough filth had formed onto the skateboard's plastic wheels for them to slip in the middle of the pool; Cora landed on her back, Darby managed to support himself on his arms just in time before falling on top of her.

Genuinely happy laughter escaped past Cora's lips while the blonde ghost hunter chuckled, not finding any reason for this landing to ruin the immense fun they had together. Darby was the first one the fall quiet however when he looked down at the sight below him, causing his mouth to turn into a flat line and his eyes to widen for a bit. Her long, wavy, dark brown hair with a few sections that had been dyed black had been beautifully spread out underneath her, feeling undeniably soft on the palms of his hands. Her face was a mere seven inches away from his, close enough to feel the warmth of her breath. She noticed the silence that was now coming from him, and when she stared straight back at him, she fell quiet too. Not one word was exchanged when a redness dusted their cheeks, staring at each other as if they were caught in a trance. Cool blue grey and dark chocolate brown had met once more…

Someway, somehow, Darby was able to snap out of it and scramble to get off of Cora, sitting down next to her and glancing away. His companion sat up, unsure of where to look at as well. A few seconds of complete and utter awkwardness followed.

'Maybe…' the blonde ghost hunter had to pause to quickly clear his throat. 'Maybe you can try skateboarding by yourself. I think you've got the basics down by now.'

'Yes. Yes, I could.'

In an attempt to drive the awkwardness away and steer it all into a bit more of a serious tone, Cora decided to ask something that did actually hold quite some importance. 'So… what's the next plan?'

The answer that Darby had in mind for this was simple but clear. 'Let's just say that this Malakai guy has proven to be one interesting bastard… so I want to find out a little bit more about him.'