ALEX

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙼𝙾𝙺𝙴 𝙲𝙻𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙿𝙰𝙲𝙴 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙴𝙽 𝚂𝙴𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙳𝚂. Alex's heart thumped in its chamber, pumping lungfuls of air through her mouth. Grimacing, she dropped to her hands and knees and peered over the ledge, inspecting the damage more closely now, thoughtlessly engaging in a fit of eye-popping. Oh God, there's no way she survived that fall! Shit, shit, shit!

  Scarlet's body wasn't moving. This realisation alone ripped a big black hole in her stomach.

  "SCARLET! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

  Her eyes still glowing blue with fiery intensity, she cried big, snotty crocodile tears and sensed a cloudburst open up from the sky. It was funny, for a second she thought she heard thunder—but there was no discharge, no blinding shutterflash of light to confirm her suspicions. The rain that had been pounding down over this subdivision expanded and whipped into the early signs of a storm, devouring at first greedy mouthfuls of ultraviolet grass and then voracious bites of swampy undergrowth. The cold that had been alleviated for a short time came back. And right now, the worst of times, it hit Alex harder than ever.

  "We have to help her!" rasped Alex, averting her gaze to Mama's Boy, who stood over her shoulder with a half-cynical expression. It seemed that, because he hadn't known her that long, it wasn't his problem. Well, it damn well is now!

  Mama's Boy swept a perplexed gaze across Alex. "What power you have? Water right?"

  "Yes!" Alex withdrew from the ledge, stealing glances here and there, but nonetheless focused most of her attention on Braeden. "Why, what are you thinking, can you do something? Please, anything, anything at all, she can't die, not now, please, I NEED HER!"

  "I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work very well," said Mama's Boy. "Look, I ain't know much about this game, and I sure as hell ain't cut out for saving lives. And my first idea led to this—"

  "Just what is it?" Alex restrained herself from bursting into even more tears, but the emotion built up in her throat like a sticky piece of food you couldn't manage to swallow the whole way. "TELL ME NOW!" Hair radiating a cyan undertone, each strand flying upwards at the same time, she enclosed her fists and saw the rain tipping over her body freeze drop by drop.

  "I think we could work together to get down," Mama's Boy suggested. "But I need to copy your power."

  "What?!"

  "No, listen," he said. "I copy your power, we gather as much rain as possible, and make a pocket through which we can reach the bottom. Do you or do you not understand?"

  "What's that going to do?! Scarlet's unconscious! She's probably dead!"

  "She's not dead!" corrected Mama's Boy, voice louder and struck with a savagely pettish undercurrent. "If she was, she'd be particles by now! That's what happens when people die: they turn into these little black atoms that whisk away into nothing. I had to kill so many people already, and I've only been here for—" He stopped and quickly changed his train of thought. "It doesn't matter! She's alive, Alex, but we have to get to the bottom and help her out!"

  He's right. By God, he's right! Relieved, Alex's hair began dimming, returning to its once reflective black state little by little, mixing with the purple skylight. She took his word for it, because not only did she witness the rock back at the farmhouse disappear in the same manner Mama's Boy had described, she also figured this world was something of a simulation. And now, with Braeden here to add to the juicy fire of belief, it appeared a great deal more plausible. In a way, everything around her was no different than a video game, no different than the ones she racked points on at the arcade. The only contrast lay in the concept that once they die here they die for good. No do-overs, no respawn button, no comparing scores. This was a straight walk through hell.

  That still means she's really hurt. I hope she heals as quickly as I did after the Man with the Clock—what's his name again?—smacked me. Gosh.

  "You chill now? You willin' to help out, or you still wanna wait around?" Mama's Boy swallowed deeply, then took a step forward with his hands out for emphasis. "The bubble sucked, I'm sorry. I thought I could control it, aight?"

  Less panicked, Alex said, "It's fine. Just . . . tell me what you want to do again."

  Mama's Boy pushed an arm forward and pressed his palm on Alex's shoulder. All at once: an aura of purple-blue smouldered around both their bodies, a sweet smell of lavender bloated out at Alex as if she'd been sitting in the middle of a spring forest, and while not necessarily displeasurable, it did contrast greatly with how she'd been feeling in the moment: sick, worried, and of course wholly drenched. She didn't care about that last part very much. With all of this coming at her in one swing, her vision blurred, causing her to close her eyes and almost lazily doze off into dreamland. But when Mama's Boy ceased his hold, everything was back to normal. Opening her eyes, she saw an almost entirely different person. Mama's Boy wore azure hair like the spill of a sunny day, either eye laminated with purple glints, and a face whose lips parted in glisters of blue.

  Alex stared at him incredulously, wondering what to say. Should she mention the change in his features, or should she ask him if he was doing all right? Turned out that neither option was good. She decided to stand back and witness herself in his eyes. This is unbelievable, she thought. He looks so different.

  That, he did. "Okay," he started (at least he sounds the same), stepping over to the ledge, "wanna tell me how your power works?"

  Still looking blankly at him, she said, "We, uh—you, uh." There was great difficulty in explaining that, because, well, she wasn't entirely sure herself; it was one of those situations where you just . . . knew. You know when you sit down at your desk and scratch out pages upon pages of well-talented art, and then you peek over to the person next to you and see stickmen? Yeah, it was like that. You either had the power or you didn't. Explanation or no explanation. After gathering her thoughts, she continued. "You . . ." She looked down over the ledge, stealing a glimpse of Scarlet. Was that a twitch of movement? Her eyes widened. You're alive.

  A slight grin cranked her lips open. "Just, go with the flow. It'll work."

  "Go with the flow?" said Mama's Boy. "You really are a city girl, huh?" He shook his head and hissed horsily.

  For the first time in that instant, she almost chuckled. She stepped down and raised her arms in the air. "Just use your hands, like this."

  Mama's Boy mimicked her with perfection, swirling one hand to the sky and rotating another as if controlling magic with a wand. And he did control magic. The precipitation paused midair. Alex didn't know whether she had been doing it or if Braeden had been, but the plan seemed to be coming together. After a while—a good three minutes at best—the liquid amalgamated, forming a jiggly glob through which the Spiral could be spotted, though it appeared strange with the refraction. Ignoring this, Alex asked, "What are we supposed to do now?"

  Mama's Boy took in a deep breath. "Aight," he said, "let go."

  "What?" she asked, and then looked at him a little apprehensively.

  "Trust me, let go, I'll hold onto it."

  It was a rather peculiar request, no question. How did he plan to hold onto that big body of water, and all on his own, no less? He wasn't that strong already, was he? Maybe he was.

  Adhering to his advice, Alex jerked her hands away, releasing her control over the body. Rain still padded gravely on either shoulder of her black jacket, but she ignored this like how one ignores a migraine and took a step back, backing up against a canopy and banging her head. It didn't hurt that much; only caught her off-guard.

  Slowly, the large water formation wobbled towards the area on which Scarlet had fallen. It stopped several feet from the bottom, leaving a small pitter-patter over the woman's body.

  "If you jump through," began Mama's Boy, "the impact will lessen, I can't promise it won't hurt, but it's the only chance we got at getting down there." Now he was talking with strain. "Go! Now!"

  She had to admit, it was a terrifying experience; not only did she not have a bubble like Scarlet, but there was also no guaranteeing that this wouldn't severely injure her. But what choice did she have? The cliff was too steep and even to climb down; she couldn't fly, not like Scarlet supposedly could (though, to be honest, that woman's description was more of a really big jump than anything remotely resembling flight); she couldn't levitate and float safely to the bottom. There wasn't a whole list of options. So, deciding against all other potential strategies—even some of the cataclysmically stupid ones—she put her left foot out and dropped. She zoomed down with more speed than she anticipated—than she had remembered, to be more accurate—and slammed into the body of water. The sound of rain pounding on the ground lessened to little muffles, and a slightly muted slosh raced through her ears. This lasted for maybe two seconds, but, despite all else, she felt the speed slow upon reaching the bottom of the water body, to a degree that perhaps would save her, and she would no doubt figure that out in the following second.

  It succeeded.

  When she hit the bottom, she landed with no more pain than she had experienced after having first fallen from the heavens: none at all.

  "ALEX? ALEX ARE YOU THERE?" Mama's Boy called from the top.

  Alex looked up at the massive body of water and yelled, "I'm okay, what do—"

  "YOU NEED TO HOLD THE WATER NOW!"

  Alex laid her hands on the ground and breathed heavily, with excitement, no doubt. "Say that again!"

  "HOLD IT! GOD, I CAN'T KEEP ON TO IT FOREVER!"

  Alex considered this for a moment, considered how he almost killed Scarlet, how he almost got herself killed both now and when they first met. It was awful scummy of her to even think about leaving him behind, but . . .

  I have a choice . . . I have a choice to make here, and I don't know which is better. God, this could cause some problems . . .

  "ALEX! I'M ABOUT TO DROP IT! PLEASE! I CAN'T FALL THROUGH IF YOU DON'T—"

  Alex jerked her arms forwards. Her hands shone with bright blue lustres, pulsing and beating in rhythm with her heart, which at this time had been at a speed of epic proportions. This is heavy. Jesus Christ!

  (no shit it's heavy it's the size of a house!)

  Alex, not entirely confident, shouted, "I have it! Pass through now!"

  The sound of a heavy object striking an open bed of water clapped above her, and out swept a foamy wave, slipping off on either side of the formation. Mama's Boy slipped through with his bubbled cast around his body, and when he struck the bottom, a loud crack could be heard. The dome shattered and he came out crying with pain.

  Quickly Alex let go of the water, and it slapped down over the dewy timothy grass and washed off until even with the land. She yelled, "You okay, Braeden?" But already she'd been heading towards Scarlet.

  "I'm fine, just, oh my God," he said. "Didn't expect that much force. Double gravity really fucks you up." He gritted and sucked in the pain, standing up the next moment, and then limping over to Alex and Scarlet.

  "Scarlet," said Alex. She slapped her cheeks a little, just like she had done the first time before fighting the dragon.

  A murmur.

  "Scarlet!"

  Another. This time with a twitch.

  "She's okay," added Alex. "I think, can you hear me?"

  "I can," Scarlet murmured. Rain slipped over her ears and cascaded over her shoulders. "Did it . . . did it work?" She sounded so out-of-it that Alex had expected her to fall asleep again within seconds, but no, that didn't happen. Instead, she winked her eyes open, dreary and ever-so-confused, looking up into Alex's eyes. "Alex?"

  "Yes," she said, and now she was tearing up again. But why? She was alive at the end of the day, or night, or . . . whatever. She leaned down and tugged Scarlet into an embrace.

  Because I almost lost you, because you're all I care about now, because I'd damn well miss you if you left me this quickly.

  "Missed you, too, kiddo," she said, as though reading her thoughts. "But what happened, seriously? I can't remember."

  A voice called behind Alex: "That might have been might fault." It was Mama's Boy, sounding not all that convincing.

  "Might have been?! It was your fault!" Alex spat, turning around to face him. He was no longer glowing with a purple-blue aura, nor did he possess the blue hair and lips. "You almost killed her!" She glared at him, scowling.

  "Hey, it's all righ—" began Scarlet, voice a little stronger now.

  "It wasn't even my idea to begin with!" returned Mama's Boy. "I said that I wasn't sure if—"

  "No, you said you weren't sure that the shield would work on her, and guess what? It did! And you never said you weren't able to control it! Don't you think that would have been helpful information to know at the start?"

  Mama's Boy scoffed. "How was I supposed to know, you idiot?! This is the first time I've been with someone that I didn't have to kill!"

  "What, did you kill them by being this ignorant, too?!"

  "Okay!" shouted Scarlet. "Stop it, all right? I'm fine, you're fine"—she flashed an angry expression Alex's way, then Mama Boy's. "We're all fine! Can you two just relax?"

  Silence, silence, more silence. The rain drummed in it.

  Wiping her face, Scarlet picked herself up off the wet grass and continued. "Mistakes happen, okay? You're both new here. You shouldn't be so hard on each other. And, frankly, it was my idea. So if you have anyone to blame, it should be me. Okay, Alex?" She looked down at her glumly, holding her own left side.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" asked Alex diffidently. She started shivering.

  Scarlet smiled her wolfish smile. "I told you, I'm fine. I'm just a little sore from the impact."

  "It was a hard fall," said Mama's Boy. He stepped forward and added, "Even with the water to lessen the speed, and my bubble, I still feel pain. Not much, but a lot more than when I jumped off the mountain back in the grass place."

  "That's the thing about divisions, subdivisions, whatever," said Scarlet: "they're unpredictable. That last division could have had slightly lower gravity, you know? And, maybe, that's why it didn't hurt so bad."

  "Hm." Mama's Boy nodded, stuffing his hands in his trench coat pockets. "That makes sense. So is there any way to gauge what happens in these places?"

  Scarlet rubbed her nose, then crossed her arms, trembling in the cold. Her breath manifested on the air. "Well, we could do things like from earlier. Throw rocks, look for anything unusual, you know?"

  "Yeah, but how do we know if something's unusual?"

  "I guess, for you it might be harder, but . . ." She looked around the land. "I guess, you just know. Some features are very different. For example, this division is fucking freezing." Another quiver.

  "Hm," said Mama's Boy. "We should work on getting up there." He pointed up at the rocky formation, the one with the platform and the house.

  "I don't know if I have enough strength to get us up there," said Scarlet.

  "Don't worry," said Mama's Boy. "I can copy your ability. It isn't a far jump at all, and I'll make sure to be careful this time."

  That last part worried Alex, and that was a warranted reaction. What with everything that happened. Still, she held her silence, deciding she was better off not to start another fight. Perhaps if she had been angrier she would have, but, considering that Scarlet was here, alive, she was more than delighted—she was relieved.