If only the winds weren't whistling so loudly. He could see his objective better if his hair weren't constantly getting in his eyes.
If only his time weren't done now. Maybe he'd see his love once more.
Her lighthearted giggle.
"Lucy?" In his peripheral vision, Alfendi saw her bright smile and glittering eyes.
She looked down at the traffic below. Then she turned and ran away from the edge of the building and towards the door to the stairs down the vacant soon-to-be demolished building.
"Wait!" He yelled, chasing after his beloved. How did she get out? How was she here? "Lucy!"
He found her spinning by a broken window, a couple stories down from the roof. When he was close to her, she jumped out of the gaping hole in the glass. She laughed as she somehow made it to the smaller building next door, twirling around on the roof.
Her smile practically outmatched the sun.
She waved to him and motioned for him to follow her.
This must have been a joke. How was he going to make it? He'd fall to his death. But wasn't that his original intention? He sighed and tightened his fist. A few steps back to get a boost, then he sprinted forward, eyes shut as he felt the edge of the building disappear from beneath him.
Somehow, he found his footing on the shorter building without hurting himself. Lucy laughed and pulled on his sleeve, dragging him away from the edge of this new roof. She tugged twice on his coat and pointed up into the sky.
He peered up and tilted his head. "What am I-"
Suddenly, they were up in the air, floating away from the roof and reaching the skyline. The endless air was their freedom now, and they had no one to stop them now. Lucy guided him around the London city through the air and everywhere.
It was beautiful, almost as much as she was. Alfendi pulled her close as they circled through the air. His grip on her wrists was tight. He would never let go.
He would never fall. Only for her. Figuratively.
She nuzzled her face into his neck.
"I love you, Lucy."
He didn't mean to speak those words if it meant what would happen next. Her wrists grew cold, like metal bars. His heart grew heavy, and he felt the floating disappear.
Around them, the world melted into a dark prison.
Lucy frowned, and her body moved away from him.
His hands were wrapped around the cold metal bars of the jail cell. Alfendi peered in, and saw the small, curled up body of the one he wanted to comfort.
I'd like to dream of a better world, where we are together and you are not in any kind of trouble. Where we are both no longer alone. Not empty and afraid of what if.
He clenched his teeth, then bit his lip to stop himself from repeating his words.
Lucy stayed there, her red eyes keeping its far away look, not even peering over at him. Cold, dejected, and guilty.
I miss you, Lucy.