The Spark
The beast thrashes through the hall, not battered or bloody in the slightest. We duck around the corner as Lily runs past us and waves. Her other hand over her mouth, holding in all the dizziness and nausea that comes with being forcibly moved so quickly. The standstill we're in now is, once again, not in our favor. We can cut it, but not deep enough to matter. It has been healing every wound almost instantaneously, no matter how we hit it. It can snap and wrestle around, but with the time dilation we're just too quick for it to ever catch us. Its acid doesn't even phase us, and our physical strength that could knock around the Insectiants was like that of a child before its mass and sturdy scales. Our best weapons, when pit against each other, are futile. At least the monster still has the hope of a meal if it wins this game of endurance, but we're racing against the clock as the Feathers haven't awakened yet.
"Coda, do you have any ideas?", I can hear the stress in my tone.
I felt so free earlier, but the more this drags on the more I wonder if there's a way forward. I can feel a frustration with this situation building up inside me. The unease of having this feeling taken away from me looms as the limiter waits and watches, held back only by my connection with Coda. We just barely got behind it and down the hall with Lily in tow with our last rewind. To strike a meaningful blow on this thing would take more.
"You're cute when you're pouting too." His hand pats my head, and I feel his fingers run gently through my hair. No frustration could hold under this weight as I try my best to hold back a smile. Right. We're still in this together. Maybe it doesn't matter if we can overcome this obstacle. Maybe it's enough just to be here with him. It worries me a little that I'm so filled with this unbridled trust and infatuation for him, but in this moment, as it carries me out of turmoil... I can't help but be thankful to it. This isn't like the limiter taking it away by force, but like he is helping me carry this burden together. I'm certain this is what Lily hoped for me, and whatever those intentions were, I won't put it to waste.
I pull his hand into mine and interlace our fingers. I feel a warmth between us. His strong and sturdy pulse in perfect sync with my own. "Goodness. What am I going to do with you." I tease, as our eyes lock. The tail of the beast ripped around the corner at a blinding speed, trying to smash us to a paste, but that didn't matter right now. Time stopped. Not forward, not back, but waiting. We take our leisure and stay in this moment, taking in thoughts of everything this could be. For the first time, I'm not trying. I'm not rushing. I'm not stopping. I'm simply here with him. And he, with me.
Just like the first moment we met, and somehow I know it mirrors my last moments too. For our whole life, this is what waits for us. A something intangible bubbles up. My heart feels ready to overflow, and right there he is to hold this vastness with me being careful not to spill a drop. With his hand in mine, I let go of the world.
-
The beast knows its prey is strong, or at least fast, but the victory over them is still in its grasp. They appear and move like lightning, but their teeth are weak and small. It's prey knows it is lost and is trying to escape, but this is meaningless. A hunger deep within drives it forward, the scent of its prey is unique. It couldn't lose their tail even if it were blind and crippled. This was only a matter of time, a contest of endurance. It moves with authority to devour the fleeing mammals.
It hears the whisper of sweet nothings between the couple. The female seemed stressed, but these tones of joy from the male seem out of place given the situation. If they would let their guard down like this, it would not turn down an easy meal. The tail of the beast pulled back and let loose with all the power and hunger it could muster. They wouldn't have a chance to regret giving it this opportunity.
As its tail slammed into its prey... No. Its tail never reached the prey. Had they dodged? No, that's not right. Surely it was fast enough. It hadn't hit the wall, the walls are hard and feel rough on its tail. If it didn't hit the wall, it had to hit the prey. However, it was as if they were never there. No smell of blood, no smell of breath, no sign of life. There was no prey. But there was food. It looked at meat laying before it as drool began to drip from its... Was that a tail? Where did this tail come from? It lay in pieces on the floor before it.
As it opened its maw to devour the meat, more meat appeared. It fell before its eyes, but no matter how hard it tried to eat the meat it couldn't. Like a newborn trying its limbs for the first time, the beast awkwardly tried to find its mouth, but each movement left more food laying on the floor. It fell to pieces as it tried to move, each movement met with the dicing and splitting. Every bone, every muscle, every vessel, every nerve. Torn apart on every level, eventually its mind, too. The beast never realized the pain was also cut to pieces. There was no time to recover from these wounds. It was the pile of meat.
-
The two were simply forgotten by time. To others, time just moved on as normal. Nothing strange about it. However, for the two of them, minutes and hours passed between every nanosecond as they held hands. Not a word was said, not a word needed to be said. They could feel what the other wanted to say with no possibility of misinterpretation. With no uncertainty, they were of one mind. It wasn't just love or romance or a melding of spirits, it wasn't attraction or passion or need. They definitely have those for each other, but they also had more to discover here. It was a unity they had before any of this happened, before the attraction began or their first conscious thoughts, and it was something they would have long after their bodies faded into the pages of history. A unique oneness. Some like to say they've met their other half, but the only beings to know what that really feels like were set apart by more than just the bonds they shared. They were still Origin and Coda, but they were also this something more together.
What they fell into was this sorting out of thoughts, of looking at the moments before them with a fresh vigor. Of promises and hopes. It happened at the speed of their wit as they echoed their whole self through a new connection. It was a fluke, perhaps, but the physical connection between them broke away what little doubt was left in what they were capable of. Like it was an important ingredient to realizing that last step, or at least for now it was. They were still growing into everything they could be. For now... A new and important step had been taken.
Finally, it felt like the slip wasn't stopping halfway or that there was further they could push. The training wheels were off and away they went. They could choose to stay in this space that is all their own for eternity. If for even a moment they lose the spark, time would start again. That wouldn't happen unless they allowed it. He was her spark, and she was his, and what could stop them if even time couldn't find where they went?
Needless to say, they took their time. Hand in hand, they laughed and teased each other the whole time. "What, are you too shy to write it down now? After all this?" her spirit hummed as she moved about like a child playing with chalk on the sidewalk, "Oh hush, I just feel bad for this thing. If it found out it died because we wrote 'no, you have the prettiest eyes' into its side 463 times..." he replied, thinking of what he should write instead. "464.", she mused, very proud of herself. "It was my turn." he half-heartedly protested. "What, I can't write it anyway? I'm not trying to disagree with you, I just think it's true and you were taking too long!" The reptile was truly diced and dissected beyond what was necessary to overcome its regenerative capabilities. Each individual part did its best to recover, but even the most tenacious bits ran out of energy quickly without the whole.
They sat, coming down from this extended high. Both looking with worry at Lily mid sprint, unmoving. "We have to." they thought together as the spark faded. His hand loosed first, but went straight to my cheek. I feel my face burning up. Even after all that, he can so easily get a rise out of me. Not that I mind it. My heart aches as I can't feel him on my skin and in my bones anymore. His thoughts quiet across me as if they started speaking a foreign language.
Even as they fall away, I don't doubt for a second how he feels for me. I can feel an addiction forming to the spark between us. A danger within it that could ruin me, if there were anything left to ruin. Even if there are ruins to make here, we'd still live in them. There's no part of us I could even think of that doesn't belong to us both, down to our core. Thinking now, on my own, about what we are... It leaves me with an anticipation, a curiosity. All it took was for us to hold hands and allow our chemistry to flow to realize a new potential and the time to explore. We have all we need right here.
He leans in, and I can feel his breath on me. We're so close, I can feel his nose rub against mine. His hand on my cheek is gentle, but firm. I can't escape, not that I want too. My breaths become shallow as everything around us slows ever so slightly. Even though I know it's coming... I shiver as he whispers "Let's go", and gets up and walks away like it was nothing. Yup. He's exactly who I think he is. "You'll pay for that." I whisper under heated breath, as I shake loose from this torment he's left me with. I can just barely feel his smirk and his little "I hope so", as his thoughts wash off me again.