You Broke Me First (A Wings of Fire Human AU)

Blood, tears, and chandeliers.

(Warning, semi-heavy swearing)

Snowfall's POV

Lynx. Fucking Lynx. Why, the fuck did she push me and that other girl out of the way? She literally fucking sacrificed herself like one of those cheesy heroes that Kinkajou likes reading about. She wasn't even under the blasted chandelier when it fell.

No, she was staring at the punch stand, moony eyed over Winter of all people. Somehow, out of the corner of her eye, she must've seen the chandelier just about to fall. Then, like the fucked up hero she is, she just had to push me and some other girl out of the way. The only reason I made it out practically unscathed and the other girl, I think her name is Moon, made it out alive is because she saved us. Lynx saved us. The girl, 'Moon', looked like she was right under the chandelier. She probably would've died had Lynx not saved her. And now, Lynx might not make it out alive. 

I'm not fooled by those cops and doctors; I know she won't be 'fine'. I heard the crack when the chandelier fell; I heard her fall and collapse on the ground, the way her limbs splayed out, crooked and uneven. I heard the doctors talking, how her injuries are severe. She fractured her skull, her spine's in pieces, she might have a collapsed lung, she's bleeding everywhere. They said she was in bad shape; they said she 'might not even make it to the hospital if she keeps bleeding at this rate. She might bleed out.' My best friend. My best friend might fucking bleed out. All because she played the heroine. 

I clench my fists. Winter's staring blankly at the ceiling, blood all over his clothes. Lynx's blood.  

Kinkajou, one of the girls on the cheer squad, is breaking down sobbing into some random boy's shoulder, and the boy tightens his embrace, hugging her hard. 

Icicle, Winter's sister, runs over to Winter and hugs him. I think that's the most affectionate I've ever seen from her. Though, a chandelier just crashed onto my best friend, so today is a first for most.

Qibli is currently being interviewed by the police, as he's one of the only ones somewhat calm out of this huge gathering of distressed teenagers, but even he's falling apart at the seams. It's the most distressed I've ever seen him. He normally is really good at controlling his emotions. He has a lot of blood on him, so I'm guessing he helped some of the paramedics move some of the fallen students. And Lynx.

I'm not crying. I'm not crying. I'm not crying dammit! Yeah, right. I can literally feel the tears dripping down my face; feel the way people are staring at me. I must be a mess. I wipe my cheek, and black mascara greets me when I look at my hand. Shit. Yeah, pretty sure I'm a big fucking shit show, but whatever. 

It doesn't matter what I look like, at least right now. I'm pissed. At the world. And at Lynx, and at the person who installed this shitty chandelier. Who the fuck installed this chandelier? Cause whoever did it, I swear I will murder them. That's what I thought, until the police reviewed the security footage. 

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"What?" I stared blankly at the screen, my mind blank. On screen, there was a person, in all black. Their features were completely obscured by their black clothes and black mask, but one thing is for certain: They're young. Probably around my age. 

They had a slim frame, and were quick and agile, easily scaling a huge, tall latter without difficulty, even in their dark, thick clothing. They weren't afraid of heights either; They looked down and around to see if anyone was coming without the slightest hinderance or hint of fear. They must've been fairly smart too; they came pre prepared with contraptions of sorts that they must've used to sabotage the chandelier. Make that chandeliers. They rigged every chandelier. Every chandelier.

I was seeing red, which almost caused me to miss two more crucial details. 

After getting off the ladder, they slipped something into their pocket. 

"Rewind the tape." I commanded. The police officer looked confused, but did as I asked reluctantly. 

"Pause right here." She did, then her eyes widened. She zoomed in, and on the screen was an image of a blurry remote. It had multiple buttons and switches, but one stood out. It was a big, red button, and under it it had been the labeled 'release'. My mind was zooming a mile a minute, half formed ideas zooming around in my head, though all I did was numbly tell the officer to 'hit play'.

Another key detail: Towards the end of the video, they pulled out one thing: A key. A key, that only students of Jade High are given to enter and exit campus. What does that mean? It means they're a student. Someone I know. I've probably talked to them before. They're the one that almost killed Lynx.

What does all this tell me? It tells me that they're a student that goes to this very fucking academy, and was also at this very party. How do I know that they were at this party? They had a button. That they needed to push. And because they rigged every chandelier, they needed to be here to see their target. Yes, they had a shitty target. If they just wanted to cause chaos, why didn't they just release all the god dam chandeliers? 

They couldn't've hacked into the security cameras; you need direct access to the main frame computer, and even if you did somehow manage to get/hack access, it still would take a lot of time to hack into the security cameras. Trust me. I've fucking tried. And Kinkajou actually threw this fucked up party quite fast. She literally told me two days ago about the party, and here I am now, at this dammed party, which means that they didn't have much time to prepare.

And I'm pretty sure that they couldn't gotten their hands on micro technology; that stuffs for the government, not high school students. 

So this leaves me with a few new questions: Who is their target? Why did they choose to act tonight? Why is their target a target? What's their motive? How'd they know that there would be chandeliers? Scratch that, I know the answer to that question. 

They must've been on the decorating committee Kinkajou somehow managed to scramble. That would also explain how how they knew where the party would be, seeing as Kink always gives the location and details last minute. She likes it to be a 'surprise'. 

As for the target, it was either that boy named Bigtail (don't know what his parents were thinking when naming him 'Bigtail'. We're humans. We don't even have tails), a girl named Tamarin, Moon, and... Me. Oh, shit. Me. I could be their target too.