Chapter 12: The Storm

Shadow

"And he just sort of jumped out of the way and started shouting "Naw, man, naw!". Swift was practically rolling in her seat, roaring at the story I was telling. "I swear, Swift, you would have died laughing, it was so hysterical." Having a hard time keeping my own laughter under control, I pulled the Tahoe up into the driveway and kicked the parking brake down.

"N-no, Shadow, I believe you." She giggled, placing one navy hand on the door handle. She was glowing, absolutely stunning in the new mint green sundress I had purchased for her yesterday. I, on the other hand, found myself looking particularly handsome in the new tux. Rather than our Jet Shoes, we had gone all out, purchasing black dress shoes for myself and straw sandals for Swift.

"I'm glad we finally got around to the dinner." I stated, grinning as I removed the keys from the ignition.

"Me too." Swift agreed, sighing contentedly and pushing the car door open.

It was then that I finally detected the hostility on the air. It wasn't the tempest bearing down on us; Swift and I weren't overly concerned by that, otherwise, we'd have evacuated with the civilians. No, this was something else, something mortal.

"Swift-." I started urgently, about to ask if she felt the same thing, but was deftly silenced by two gunshots.

It was happening too fast, for once.

Suddenly tasting blood on my tongue, I looked down, struggling to comprehend through the thick blanket of shock now draped over me. Figures swarmed at my window, dragging me from the vehicle as one in particular, a canine, shoved a wet rag into my nostrils and mouth. Sucking in a sharp breath to protest, I found myself unable to breathe correctly. It was already too late, all hope of a struggle demolished as oxygen simply ebbed away from my brain. Horrific sounds of a struggle pounded in my ears beside my heartbeat, a battle drum. Desperately seeking answers, I clambered for the only thing that wasn't melting as the drug, which my nose defined out of no real scent as chloroform, took hold, Swift. Telepathy became near impossible, while speaking had already crossed that line. Words dissolved into emotions and, eventually, a mere presence as the world was ripped out from underneath us and we were washed away. Numb, but eyes darting, I had no idea where she was, feared for her with my life, shadows moving against the light projected by the headlamps on the car with vicious force. Finally, I managed to catch a glimpse of her as the black frame around my vision began to smother me. Staining her dress crimson, a puddle of blood beneath her began to grow rapidly as what looked like a yellow blob was on top of her, knees in her chest and hands pressing her arms to the concrete. Everything blurred, other than her.

Weakpoint? I whimpered with what was, possibly, the last of my strength. She shifted, staring directly into my eyes from across the space underneath the car, and gave me an almost imperceptible nod. She hadn't stood a chance, even if she did struggle.

"Take him with us, wouldn't want him running off to get help." The dog spoke, sounding actually intelligent as compared to the whoops and hollers of the rest of the group. I refused to look, refused to tear my eyes from her as the light simply faded out of her caramel irises, bleak and fragile.

Her body was made of glass, captive. Laughing, the men began yanking me away, into the brush surrounding the house, I could only stare, watching as her cheeks became almost pale enough to see through.

Push her down, she breaks. And for some reason, I knew they would do just that.

Swift

GET UP!!!

Why should I? My reply came weakly, as if I was dead.

If you don't, he will die.

There was no comprehension in my mind, no inkling of what this voice was yelling about and had been yelling about for the past hour or so. There were no boundaries now, nothing, save for the pain. It enveloped all; it was everything at present. Drenched in red, all existence on the plane was marred by crimson taints. None could avoid it, though I had dodged like a thief in the night. I had done my best. But…

Best isn't good enough.

Even as good a bandit of time as I could not avoid the catch-up.

Get up! The same voice urged, sounding more concerned and softer this time.

Something pulled gently at my consciousness, pressed me back into definition. The pain followed, intensifying and localizing as bearings established themselves. As mind returned to body, feeling wormed its way back into slack limbs, detecting subtle pressure against skin, a frigid perception washing through like none I'd ever felt before. Tensed in shock and physical distress, my body simply refused to unwind, no matter how many commands I gave it to do so.

That's it, now just open your eyes. Female, I identified, familiar as well.

Fear. The 'what-if-I-do' reflex.

Find the will to. The voice changed, masculine, yet calming. Fatherly, I recognized, as if I'd ever had a dad.

I obeyed, reaching for the surface of the purple-black sea of unconsciousness, clawing with a yearning I'd always possessed; digging deep to find it was not necessary. Managing the feat, vision restored to take in an almost-white, baby blue plane beneath which I lay. Perturbed, I stretched for the omnipresent out of instinct.

I didn't find him.

Panicked, I jerked into a seated position, immediately regretting the sudden movement as a dull throb, which I had previously ignored due to its miniscule size, erupted in an entirely new agony just below where a stomachache's epicenter would be located. Understanding escaped me, but I shoved that fact away as I pressed my hands to my eyes to clear the blur. A prickling paranoia began icing through my veins, unable to block it out. I shook my head, but it only increased the amount of dizziness pressing down.

It didn't matter, I wasn't the urgent problem at present.

Focus. It came with incredible effort. Finally, I succeeded in scraping black from what appeared to be white. Brining myself to my, now bare I noticed, feet was just as much an endeavor as seeing, receiving all sorts of protest from my legs and abdomen. I staggered towards the dark thing as scarlet streaks began to materialize upon it. Reeling, I collapsed, knees buckling just as I reached his side. Placing one hand on him, I instantly knew. The presence gave a feeble flutter against my mind at my touch, almost as if jump-started.

Shadow. Recognition was painful enough, but my head dropped to check him over anyway, a mistake. Abruptly, red was the only color I could see again, certainly blood as I ran my fingertips weakly through it. No.

Decadence and self-loathing invaded every crevice of my brain and I felt my soul turn to ice. Searching for revelation, reasons, I put my hand in his, weary. I probed my memories of hours past, finding that I had none. There was simply a deep, dark void, a rift in my near-perfect recollections. This scared me.

What kind of hell did I wake up to?

Trembling, I truly believed my mind was playing tricks on me, the adept instrument now casting illusions of its own accord, lies in three lives present on the beach rather than two, among other things. Unable to discern reality from fantasy, fear flooded in to mingle with the paroxysm. A cry for help was torn from my throat in desperation, though there were honestly no ears to heed the call. None to hear my despairing and pathetic pleas as the world spiraled out of control, making me wonder if I had ever possessed any grip on it at all. Façade torn away, stripped down, and raw as newly opened flash, I had nowhere to hide from this, nowhere to go. Cries became screams, subconscious if anything, I was fading back out again. Oblivion would be better than this, incapable of even standing as my brother bled out, as my existence became even more of a problem. I had no clue as to what had happened, nothing to hold onto. With nothing else to do as my brain took into a headspin and all hope of standing died with that, I prayed. Prayed until my mind ran itself over with a steamroller and I fell prone, pressing my cheek into the sand.

To greet the dawn, to face the turning tide… Why did a miracle seem so far out of reach?

No one was coming, that much I knew. Who was the hero of the heroes anyway? That, I didn't.

I clung to my faith, my desperate belief that somehow it would all turn out alright, that God was here, even in this hell. The world was burning, turning away from the mistake it had always tried to wash its hands of, while I fell away into one of the only things that had never failed me, the dark.

Shadow

Three days later…

Three days had passed, three days since that night. Three days gone.

It had been three days since she'd last moved.

Swift was curled up on the now-bloodstained couch she'd been on for the past three days, trembling from what I didn't know. No matter how many blankets I placed carefully over her ravaged form, how long I wrapped my arms around her to stave off what I'd thought was cold, how much I pled with her to eat something, she remained in that same spot, shaking as if she was made of ice, but could still feel how frigid she was.

The instant I'd found consciousness again, she had sealed herself within her mind and nothing I did dropped her defenses. I cursed myself for never developing my own mental abilities as far as she had, otherwise I'd have found out what was wrong with her days ago. As far as I knew, no one had seen the two of us for days, no one helped heal our wounds. So I wondered, how did Swift manage to get me back here in her condition, whatever that may be?

I had bandaged her wounds, cleaned them, which proved somewhat challenging considering that Swift simply refused to move… Those injuries I could see, anyway. She'd already wrapped my own by the time I reawoke, completely ignoring hers as if they didn't matter, as if she didn't feel them. She did though; her eyes betrayed all, even if her expression read blank.

I had planted myself next to her on the couch again, trying the TV for the fifth time that day and heaving a pained sigh at the lack of electricity. Pressing my hands to my back, I groaned as I corrected my posture. Shot in the lower back, the both of us, which explained Swift's lack of resistance, at least. Aside from that, nothing else from that night could be defined. It was, quite frankly, impossible to decipher anything out of a bottomless abyss in my memory. And, from the way Swift was behaving, she didn't know either.

The second thing I did upon my awakening was attempt to get in touch with Sonic. My voice was frantic enough on the message I left him. He would get the picture.

I scooted over and hugged Swift's blood-soaked and shuddering body as close to me as I could. It was an uncomfortable side-embrace, but the only thing I could get out of the way she was sitting. As a direct result of what appeared to be beating, her body was swollen slightly, black and blue beneath black and blue. I couldn't imagine. The only reason I was not searching the kitchen for a steak knife to cut my heart out with was Swift. My failure to protect her raked against the inside of my head incessantly, almost never ending. It felt like my fault, as if I had been the one to beat her senseless, rather than those-.

I clipped my line of thought. In spite of the fact that I could feel nothing from her, aside from the light brush of our minds occasionally to insure we were still there, she could feel everything from me. I refused to hide behind my mask, not now. To conceal myself would discourage her from ever coming out of her shell again. And I wanted her to come back to me.

When I clawed my way back to life, I still had on the tuxedo from that night, though it was torn practically to shreds. Swift, though, was bare. It wasn't something I was typically concerned by. In fact, it had never bothered me. But knowing that she was wearing a dress that night and that she was completely stripped when I awoke was unnerving. No shoes, no locking cuffs, no nothing. The only other time I'd seen her like that was when she was a child, aboard the ARK. Swift still seemed like a child to me, my baby sister. God only knew how hard she'd fallen.

I had long since thrown the tux away, replacing my Jet Shoes and trying to carry on with some sense of normalcy, despite my complete fiasco, but that proved impossible as well. I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to keep my composure. With this inhalation came another puzzling factor; Swift's scent had changed. The peppermint was gone…

Abruptly, Swift made her first move in three days, reaching up and placing both hands on the arm I held around her front. She held that position hesitantly, her expression actually freeing up to show fear slicing across her face.

"Swift?" I whispered her name, pressing my head gently to her temple briefly. Her head slowly tilted up to lock eyes with me, then to almost instantly look down again. "It's okay; I'm here." The shaking intensified, breaking me down as if I was a building on wet ground when an earthquake hit. "I… I-I'm sorry… so, so, sorry, Swift." I choked on sobs, trying despairingly to hold myself together, not to cry. But, I could feel it, something was missing from her heart. No matter how hard she tried to keep me out, I felt that much. And it wasn't just some little thing either.

After what felt like a few minutes, Swift started trying to ease out of my grip, removing her hands from my arm. So, I released her, gazing questioningly at her. She pushed herself to her feet, swaying a bit once she got there, spine rigid in what appeared to be pain.

"You alright?" I lurched upright, ready to catch her. She managed to steady herself without my help, glancing over at me once she was oriented. Wiping at my eyes, I felt the kindling of hope from my soul. Swift lifted her left arm and pointed at the bathroom door, looking back at me with the question "Did the storm destroy it?" in her eyes. I shook my head vigorously, happy to have her communicating with me again. She blinked, then strode cautiously inside, poking her head back out just as she was about to shut the door. "Okay." I couldn't help but smile, even if it was a weak and sad grin. She blinked again, then disappeared inside, shutting and locking the door. I could have cried for joy, but I really didn't get around to it before the doorbell rang and someone banged hard on the front door several times. Regardless, I listened, hearing the water turn on in the bathroom. Afterwards, I quickly dashed down to Swift's bedroom, retrieved her Jet Shoes and locking cuffs from her dresser, and shot back up to place them on the couch where she'd been, considering she'd possibly want to return there. Then, I rushed to the front door, feeling my body tense defensively. Stopping just before I opened it, I gathered myself in preparation of meeting someone not-so-pleasant. I flung the door open, almost shocked at the cobalt hedgehog standing on the front porch.

"Sonic." I said his name incredulously.

"What's wrong? What happened? Where's Swift?" His face darkened in worry, green eyes flickering in anxiety, trying to shove past me to get inside. I exhaled sharply at his use of force, holding him outside without using my hands. He immediately ceased, eyes going to the bandage around my middle.

"Take it easy." I hissed through gritted teeth, wincing in pain. Sonic cast me an apologetic grimace. "I don't think now's the best time…" I looked over my shoulder briefly, then stepped outside and shut the front door behind me.

"What. Happened?" Sonic asked, more slowly this time.

"I'll tell you everything I know…" I said.

And I did.

Thirty minutes later, I finally allowed a more-severely-concerned Sonic into the house. The expression on his face was of one absolutely mortified and remained that way. As I led the way back to the living room, I did not detect the sound of running water. Swift's shoes and cuffs were gone from the spot I'd left them as well, so I assumed that she was wandering the house. Reaching for her in my mind turned up the usual, blocked out. I prodded at her defenses, abruptly detecting a weakness. Swift's wall wavered, then crashed to the ground.

No. I fell to my knees, incapable of hearing Sonic's "are-you-okay"s. Why? Swift did not reply, save for gathering up the debris of her shattered barrier.

"Shadow!" He was shaking me now, hands on my shoulders.

"S-she's gone." I whimpered, unable to help myself.

"What?" Sonic released me, dumbfounded. "SWIFT!" He screamed, rushing off to find her.

"No! She's already gone too far! There's no way to catch her; not even you can." I leapt up and slammed him into the wall, holding him there.

"Let me go." He snarled, furious.

"She's almost just as fast as you, Sonic. Even if you ran after her, you wouldn't catch her for an eternity." I released him, as told, heading for the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" He seemed calmer, speaking after several minutes. Swift had repaired her wall. She was too far to get a mental connection, anyway, but now her location was cut off too.

"Reasons." I muttered, practically tearing away at the bathroom.

"And where do you find those?" Sonic pressed, leaning against the doorframe and holding his head in his hands.

"Hopefully, since this was the last place I saw her go, she'll have left something behind to explain this." I had to find her motives, to figure out what drove her to this point. Unexpectedly, the doorbell rang, yet again, causing the both of us to look up in alarm.

"I'll get it." He hissed, leaving the doorway and walking off down the hall. I kept watching the place he'd been standing for a few seconds, then jerked my head back down, ears erect in search of this new visitor. Arguments quickly came out of hushed conversation, allowing me to identify this new being as Jericho, as I had heard his voice while observing in Swift's head. However, all words became unintelligible as my eyes caught on something in the trashcan neighboring the toilet.

"What…?" I muttered to myself, digging it out with care. It finally registered as I managed to uncover it; the answer staring me straight in the face as shock ripped through my body. And this explanation came in the form of the blue smilie face from hell.

Jericho

One month later…

Rain poured relentlessly from the sky. At this point, I didn't bother pushing the hunter green quills out from in front of my eyes. Not like it mattered anyway. The streets of Tokyo were a promenade of shadow and light. Sight and seeing were two different things, especially considering that it was also sometime around midnight. Despite that this was Tokyo, Japan, few beside myself roamed the typically bustling boulevards. Time usually didn't exist here. Someone like me would normally be uncomfortable in the environment presented, but I wallered in it. I wasn't the norm, though, either. Neon ran through the veins of this silicon body. I was made for the city life. I flowed seamlessly through, invisible against the steel and brick.

Shadows played shapes in the corners light chased it to. In spite of what I was told, I searched here, for here I could do better than I could anywhere else. This was my home. And, as my home, I knew it better than anywhere else on the planet. Cities were simply where I belonged.

Every alleyway and every storm-drain appeared to be an option, no matter how much I wished they weren't. I knew this was my fault. Guilt wasn't even the biggest motivator in this case, just my desperation to get Swift home safely. Things were looking bleak though. A month missing couldn't mean anything good…

I trudged along, keeping my head down to prevent my golden eyes from attracting any attention or otherwise. A frown settled itself on my lips as I anguished from within. My shirt stuck to my body, already tight, but now pressing water into the fur beneath, and I pulled my jacket closer. I ignored this and continued on, casting glances into the dark whenever I could.

Abruptly, movement caught my eye from an alleyway. Rather than dismissing it as rain pounding into a puddle, I felt compelled to check, discovering a small group of people huddled around something, jeering and muttering things. I cocked my head in confusion, such things seemed out of place, and so I deviated from my path. Blinking into the rain, I peered forward, picking shapes out of the black. One caught sight of me, yelping something to the others, and they all rushed off out of the alley the opposite way I was coming, leaving a small heap on the ground in their wake. It was unbetraying in figure; it could have been anything. Still, I bent down next to it, prodding the dark thing gently, feeling fur beneath my fingertips. Fear pressed against the insides of my head, and I gently laid my hand on the being's side.

"H-hey. Are you okay?" I asked, carefully pushing on it with the intention of rolling it over to examine it. A groan came from it, familiar in sound, almost like… "Swift?!" My voice was shrill, but still low in volume.

"J-jer… Get out of here." She whispered, pushing herself up and leaning back against the wall, face illuminated by a nearby neon light.

"N-no! I came here to find you." I explained, placing an arm around her shoulders as I sat down beside her.

"What if I didn't want to be found?" Her reply was quiet, wounded.

"You know as much as I do that that's a lie." I pulled her close, not really willing to believe the words she spoke. Swift started to scoot further from me, when I spoke up again. "We know, Swift." She stopped, eyes dead. I looked down, at her stomach, where a small lump was beginning to form.

"All the more reason to make sure they don't ever have to see my pathetic face again." She hissed, gritting her teeth, pain written on her expression.

"Swift, you can't fall like you did the last time." My voice suddenly quieted, and Swift froze. "You fell when you ran from Jet. If you run now, from Sonic, you'll fall again. And you'll break."

"You don't-." Her tone turned abruptly angry and defensive. I silenced her deftly, which surprised even myself.

"You've come too far from that to just let this go, Swift. Don't make the same mistakes." As much as I didn't want to be making this speech to her, I forced myself to, keeping my eyes firmly on hers. "Don't go out the same way."

"Jericho, I'm damaged goods."

"Sonic wouldn't care. I know he wouldn't. He loves you with all of his heart and would love you no matter what." Why did the words burn like acid on my tongue? "I swear, you're like your own worst enemy. The only times you've ever been even close to defeat, that I've seen, have been when you're fighting with yourself."

"Wh-?"

"And, don't get me wrong, you are a pretty good fighter, even when you're fighting with yourself." I continued, trying to laugh, but it caught halfway up my throat. I coughed instead, attempting to mask my sorry go at lightening the mood. We remained silent for a long while, rain falling gently onto our heads as we merely sat, unresisting. Eventually, Swift's shivers began to shake through me as well. I wondered why it was her that was taking the fall for this, for my mistake. I should have thought it through; I should have remembered her strength. Surely Ace couldn't have killed her, as he and the leader behind him had threatened. Swift was stronger than him, I was sure. Why my thoughts had not traversed to that before, I didn't know. I mentally killed myself a thousand times over. This was my entire fault. That thought shook me to the core.

"I… I just don't know how it all fell away so fast…" Swift looked over at me, drops of rain running down her cheeks like tears.

"It'll be okay." I choked, the expression on her face yanking at my heartstrings. "So, you'll go back with me?" I pulled my jacket off, placing it over her shoulders. She tugged it around her, nodding briefly. I stood, helping her to her feet as the storm seemed to let up a bit. Easing her into a hug, I wrapped my arms around her as her body began to shake with sobs. Swift buried her face into my shoulder and remained there for a few moments. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so very sorry, Swift." I muttered as I swayed slightly, closing my eyes tight and holding her against me. She didn't answer, save for releasing me after a few seconds and taking hold of my hand.

"I'll go." Her voice was quiet, vulnerable.

"Okay." I managed a small smile, and then began to lead the way back to home.

Sonic

The sun was beginning to set on yet another day. Storm clouds gathered on the horizon, but weren't going to be much of a problem. The warmth of the sun would die and leave the cold to smother them before they would be able to form anything threatening. I sat on the beach, a good distance from the ocean, just watching everything around me, and then again, not really there. Absent, my eyes merely picked a spot and stayed there. Farther up the beach, to my right, Shadow stood atop a dune, expression perhaps even more bleak than my own. Devastation was the one word that could possibly describe the aftermath of this.

Another family torn. And for what?

Shadow and Swift were simply the two most together people I had ever known, the two who moved in perfect sync and who balanced each other with unparalleled… being. The fact that even they were struck by this division tore me down even further. In all my life, I didn't think that I had ever experienced something so destructive. All I wanted was for Swift to come back home. At least to Shadow, if she could not to me. All I wanted was to tell her that I didn't care. Raped and beaten or not, I loved her. I longed with every part of my being to tell her those three words just one more time.

The sun touched down on the ocean's surface, igniting the sky in a brilliant pallet of color and light. I choked, struggling to comprehend.

Why here? Why now, when everything was coming back together? Now, it was falling to pieces…

Bringing my hands to my eyes, I refused to look upon the scene anymore. She would have enjoyed it as much I as I used to.

Another day of searching desperately, gone. Nothing. There was simply no trail to follow, no one to ask if they'd seen her. She was gone without a trace. And yet, we refused to stop looking, nothing would make us. Worry, frustration, and anxiety dominated every part of me. She was alone. That much was enough to make me want to tear out my own heart. Combine that with pregnant…

I wanted to scream, to run around and fling myself off the nearest cliff, get back up and run out in front of a bus… or a train. Whichever was closest. My heart stuttered weakly against my rib cage. A part of it felt missing, dead. I bleakly allowed my eyes to open again, watching the tide go out slowly. Sighing, not willing to accept defeat as the sun slipped beneath the ocean, I pulled my knees to my chest, shuddering as a cool wind washed over me.

"Come home… please…" I looked to the sky, observing the first star to come out of the growing darkness, shining brighter as the seconds passed. Twilight fell heavily, seeming to remain suspended as actual night would not come just yet. I was just as trapped in limbo here, it appeared. I twisted my head to the side, not wanting to look on it any longer. Breath caught in my throat and my heart stopped. My eyes grew wide as they took in the sight. Two figures approached up the beach, not one, but two. Two. I knew one like the back of my hand, memorized and burned into my retinas, it seemed.

Subconsciously aware of what I was doing, I rose to my feet, angling my body towards the two, squinting to confirm what my heart already knew. An incomprehensible cry of joy escaped me and I dashed towards her, barely able to slow enough to safely envelop her in a hug.

"Swift." I sighed, happy that she was in my arms again.

"Sonic." Swift put her arms around my neck and clung to me as if she would never let go. And I didn't want her to. I wanted to hold her there forever.

"I missed you… so much." She pressed her face against my shoulder, shaking slightly. So, I merely held her tighter, the rest of the world falling away aside from her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She was crying, voice muffled slightly by my fur, liquid diamonds finding purchase where her head lay. Swift removed her arms from around me and simply allowed me to hold her there.

"No! It isn't your fault…" I bit my lip, closing my eyes and just breathing her in. "I want you to know something, okay?" I held Swift out at arm's length, staring straight into her broken irises.

"Okay." She tried to smile, despite it all, but it cracked before it could live.

"You're never alone, Swift." I whispered, watching her expression twist in pain. "Do you hear me? Never! I won't let you." Swift started to go limp, but I gave her a slight shake. "Never!" I pulled her in close again, breaths heavy as my heart reactivated, on wings, high. "And if I die-." She shook violently at that thought, but I continued. "Your brother won't let you be either." I finally tore my eyes from her, looking over my shoulder at Shadow. His muzzle was dark in a frown, but his crimson-bronze eyes shone as he locked them with me. I heaved a sigh in content, feeling restored. Light. Even in the dark. Light. I cast a glance Jericho's way. He stood off to the side, away, appearing to be struggling. I mouthed "thank you" to him, though words could not describe the appreciation for how he had tried to repair the burning bridges. It would take more than this for me to fully accept though… I didn't think I could look at him as I had before. I ignored this, shutting the thought down and returning to the most important thing. "You understand?" I felt her nod, sobs no longer silent.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I-I l-love you."

"What?" Dumbstruck, I held her away from me again.

"I-I love you." She repeated softly, gazing blearily at me through tears.

"I love you, too." I replied, breathless.

"Don't let me go." Swift whispered, barely audible for the blood rushing past my ears.

"Okay. I won't." I answered, disbelieving of it all. And I finally realized it all. Even though we were falling, we were being uplifted literally at the same time, stretched to prove our limits. When all others would simply fall, we would not let go, we would fall in order to rise against whatever the future held. "Where did this go wrong? And how to us?" I asked, sheer out of disorientation. This gravity was mind-boggling.

"If there was nothing wrong… Well, there'd be nothing right, either." Swift answered quietly, managing a smile through the tears. I could not find the voice to respond. My heart threatened to shatter my rib cage as I merely pressed her closer, hoping that one day, the damages from the fall could be repaired and the broken wings could heal to allow for the rise to a better tomorrow, through the dark, and into the light.

A/N: One year and a week ago, Falling Up was born. Over that time, it's twisted fate's strings for the upcoming... Thank you to everyone who's held on this long, and trust me, you won't have long to wait for the next installment, though what I'm calling it has yet to be decided.
So yeah, I'm a terrible person to my fancharacters... AND IT'S ALL FOR MY ENJOYMENT XDDDDDD. And, yours, as well. lol. I'm so going to hell. jk
I promise, the action greatly increases in the following sequal... s. Yes, more than one. XD A playlist is in development for this one, so I'll be sure to post it once I'm done...
Once again, thank you all for your support. Until next time... Wow, I haven't done this in a while...

-When darkness falls, heroes will rise-
-Swift-