WhiteScratch

They Must End Their Story

Hand in hand, we start to descend. I look at Jake for reassurance before we take the first step. We stand there for a second to make sure everything is okay before we take another few steps and as soon as we take our 4th, I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm going to pass out. I fall to ground and put my hand to my head as I try to fight the urge to close my eyes. Once I've regained my barrings, I look over to Jake and notice that he had fallen too. 
"Are you okay?" I ask as I stare at him. He looks over at me in silence for a moment before he responds. 
"Yeah, I think so. Are you?" 
"Y-yeah, I'm okay." I say as he stands and holds out his hand to help me do the same. 
"What was that?" He asks as we start walking again. 
"I don't know but it felt similar to what happened when we left home, except a little more intense." I explain to him. "It happened to you too this time?" 
"It did. That felt weird." He chuckles and grabs my hand before we start walking again. 
"Better get used to it." I tell him, forcing a laugh. He smiles at me, squeezes my hand, and then turns his attention to the stairs in front of us. We continue in silence as I get lost in my own mind.  Something about that didn't feel right. It felt like it did when I left home, when it felt like I had lost some of my strength except this time, it still feels like that. With every step I take, it gets harder to stay standing. I look at Jake wondering if he's feeling the same way but I don't want to ask just in case I'm being paranoid so I return my attention to the stairs and try with everything in me to not collapse again. 
A few more minutes pass and we are still walking down these concrete stairs with nothing being said between either of us. Just as I'm about to say something, Jake speaks up. 
"I wonder who put these stairs here. And I wonder how far down they go. And I wonder where we are going."
"That was a lot of questions for you." I say, giggling. He shoves me just a smidge. 
"Shut up or I'm gonna push you down these stairs." 
"Wooooow! I love you too." I say as we both laugh softly. 
"You know I wouldn't actually do that." He says as he squeezes my hand. 
"I don't know. I think you would if I pushed you enough."
"You can't. Actually, you're the only one in the world that can keep me so calm." 
"Well, maybe it's because we've spent literally our whole lives together. I just get you in a way others don't." I say as I lean in closer to hug his arm. 
"That couldn't be more true." He looks down at me and smiles. I smile back before noticing a light up ahead. 
"I think we've made it to our destination." I say pointing up ahead. His face lights up and he races ahead of me to the end of the stairs. I quicken my pace but don't make it there with him. Instead, when I'm still 5 stairs from the ground he stands on, he tells me stop. 
"Wait, why? Its just 5 more steps." He chuckles and holds his arms up. He wants me to jump. 
"Oh no way am I doing that. Are you crazy?" I ask him. 
"Do you really think I'll let you fall? C'mon. Have a little fun." I cross my arms and roll my eyes at him. 
"Fine, don't have fun Ms. Serious." He turns so his back is faced towards me. 
"Okay, okay fine. But you better catch me." He whips around in a millisecond as I prepare myself to jump. He holds his arms out and I count to 3 in my head. "1...2...3." I take a deep breath and leap of the stairs with a pathetic yell coming from my mouth. I soon feel his arms around my waist and wrap my own around his neck, holding on for dear life. He spins me around before setting me down. 
"See. That wasn't so bad." He says laughing. 
"Just shut up." I say with my own laugh and kiss his cheek. Just then, behind him, I notice a colossal blue, ball looking thing hovering above the ground.  I motion for Jake to turn around to look at it and he does. 
"Holy smokes." He says, astonished. 
"Holy smokes, indeed." I then notice something flat and paper like on the wall a few feet from us. I grab Jake's hand and slowly walk toward it until I can see what's on it. I read it aloud. 
"When two were born, one core was restored. Now to revert back to its former glory, they must end their story." I look at Jake in silence before we simultaneously fall over onto the wall and then to the ground. I try to get up but it's gotten immensely more difficult to stand.  All I wanna do is lay next to Jake and close my eyes, but not yet. It takes everything I have to sit up against the wall and even more to help Jake do the same. He grabs my hand. 
"Can you stand?"
"Barely. Was it difficult to walk down those steps?" 
"Oh yeah. Which is why I wanted one last chance to catch you...and hold you." He squeezes my hand and my eyes start to sting as I fight back tears. 
"Try..to get closer?" I ask. He struggles to stand but eventually does and helps me do the same. We walk a few feet closer to the blue ball and then collapse again. 
"I can't..." He cuts me off.
"Me neither." I cuddle up close to him and lay my head on his chest as he wraps an arm around me and holds my hand with the other. 
"That's the core, isn't it?" He asks. 
"Yep. That is WhiteScratch's core." The core surges and I want nothing more than to close my eyes but I keep them open as long as I can. 
"It's getting what it lost, back." I squeak out. 
"You mean..." I cut him off by trying to nod my head.
"It doesn't need it's backup power generator anymore. We're right here. Not out there." 
"You think Crimson will come back?" 
"If what the wall said is valid, yes it will."  My eyelid falls but I whip it open as fast as I can as I feel Jake's breaths lessen. My eyes fill with tears and I give up on trying to fight them. I let them come with every blink of my eye.
"This has been the best 17 years a guy could even dream of." I feel him kiss the top of my head before saying, "I love you Rachel. Always have. Always will." A few more tears drop from my eye before his breaths stop and his hold on me loosens. 
"I love you too Jake. Always have. Always will." I finally succumb to the urge and let my eyelids fall. Every sound, every feeling leaves me as I am left alone in pitch darkness.