Floating

Chapter 14

Willa's eyes opened, and she tried to stand but collapsed to the ground, she had no control of her body, and she felt numb from the inside out. Blood dripped from her nose to the floor, and her eyes strained to see the environment around her. Everything was blurry. Finally—like a surrender—her eyes closed.

Schaffel opened his eyes slowly, his throat was dry and he coughed as a dark shadow was cast over him. It was the Emperor, with his wings protectively wrapped around Schaffel's body. 

"You alright?" He asked, unwrapping his wings from Schaffel. 

He nodded. 

As the Emperor removed his wings, Schaffel noticed flakes of dust flying by him.

The energy from the explosion must've killed the nearest Imods. 

He huffed, and stood up, gripping his side. "Willa!" Schaffel cried, as he limped into the building, grabbing the wall to stay balanced. As he walked, piles of dust lay scattered across the floors.

They were gone.

He stopped at a room where the door was on the ground, and black explosion marks surrounded the doorway.

He walked in reluctantly, feeling a strange and dark energy escaping the room.

Schaffel stopped to gaze at the large machine that was torn apart.

The Oprya.

Schaffel had never seen it in real life, only from the explanations his grandmother told him. It was much grander than he thought.

He shifted his gaze to look around the room, searching for his friend. "Willa?"

Schaffel looked at the ground, and he noticed a body lying there. His eyes widened, as he drew nearer, and his eyes filled with tears.

No, no, no please no!

He limped to it as fast as he could, and fell to his knees. Schaffel's tears waterfalled down his cheeks, and he sobbed.

It was Willa, but barely alive. 

Her skin was pale, her breathing shallow and the only thing moving being her eyes. Tears fell down her cheeks as her gaze slowly moved over to Schaffel. 

"Schaffel," she said weakly. "I have to tell you something..." She cleared her throat. 

Schaffel held Willa's cold hands, which were slowly losing colour. 

"I lied when you asked me what's wrong." She whispered hoarsely. 

Schaffel looked down trying to control his sobs. 

"I have a brain disease, Schaffel." Willa said. "Jan..." She coughed. "He removed my memories because of it. But the memories came back, since my brain was falling apart." 

More tears filled her eyes and it felt amazing. For all those years Willa viewed pain, fear and emotion as a weakness, and tried to cover it up. But now that she was embracing it, made her feel happy. Truly happy.

"I have to go Schaffel. I'm ready." Willa said. 

"Please, not yet. Why didn't you tell me?" Schaffel whispered. 

"I didn't want you to get hurt." Willa replied. "You can't control when I die Schaffel. You can't control something so unpredictable." 

"Like our friendship." She said. "Thank you, Schaffel, for being my–" Willa swallowed hard as her eyes slowly closed. 

"–friend." the last words came out as a mere whisper.

Schaffel felt her hand and arms go limp, and the strength in her hands was gone. He gently placed her hand on her stomach, and began to cry more. 

Why does she have to leave me? I don't want her to leave yet. 

Schaffel suddenly felt something wrap around him, and he looked up to see the Emperor's eyes, large and doe-like, shiny with tears. The bird's soft and warm wings wrapped around Schaffel tighter, as the boy turned his head and cried into the bird's wing. 

I cried... *Sniffles* Please vote and *sniffles and snots everywhere* Thank you for reading.