a gift for Imogen Cadwell's birthday
~~
You were my courage, my sword and shield
Grace under pressure, my wall of steel.
I was a storm, weighing us down
You were the angel I chained to the ground
Tears streaked Imogen's face, rivulets of mascara staining her porcelain cheeks. She sniffed as she shifted atop her satin bedsheets, rustling the papers and documents and files still spread over her bed. All of them pertained to the alternate universe, and all of them pertained to Reese. He'd been declared missing in action for too long, and there was talk to burn his shroud in his memory. Imogen had shut the idea down, but as she stared at his photograph printed onto the parchment, her heart twisted with regret.
They could have had more time. They could have been happier for longer, they could have been together for longer, if it wasn't for Imogen. She winced at the thought. Had she learned that love was genuine rather than a form of toil, things could have been different. She wouldn't have had to flirt her way into Reese's heart, things could have bloomed naturally. But no, she'd been caught up on her father's mindgames, and since suffered.
And just like that, she was lost in a whirlwind of thought. She found herself remembering all of the moments where Reese had made her laugh, made her smile, made her blush. He was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, and each time Imogen saw him, she wanted more and more and more. He was the light at the end of the tunnel her father had trapped her in, and she couldn't run out of it fast enough.
Imogen bit back a sob, forcing herself to become steel. She couldn't afford to be weak in a time like this. Reese needed her and Kaden and Tessa and Kaya to figure out a way to bring him back home.
But it was hard. As Imogen eyed a photograph of the two of them on her nightstand, her heart weighed down like an anchor, into the abyss of her mind.
I miss the way you undress, I miss your head on my chest
In her dreams, it was easy to get away. Reese was always there in situations that felt so real, Imogen thought she could feel his warmth beside her at night. But in her head, she relived the memories, replayed their story until from the past, the future unraveled.
Can't stop this bleeding, can't stop you leaving
But the dreams would take a sharp turn. One moment, Reese would be at her side, laughing and swinging their hands as they walked through New Rome. The next, she was in the Principia's headquarters, watching as he slipped through the portal he'd never come out of. She'd helped him with his mission, but what she really wanted of him was to come back alive.
I'm missing the sound of your heart beating
And then the reckoning. Imogen had left to run a small task, and when she came back, the basement of the Principia was in a mass panic. A blond boy and a brunette girl, beaten and bruised, were huddled on the immaculate floors. Dale and Kaden were wildly typing away on the computers, Tessa was watching in horror as the portal shrunk and dissolved into thin air. Silence, then chaos.
It was as if a storm had broken above Imogen when she heard the news. The chaos had been the looming thundercloud, the warming that something was wrong. Her friends' words of sorrow had been the first icy drops, and the empty feeling of truth in her heart was the lightning that struck too close to home. She'd become rage incarnate, tears flowing, screams echoing, until she'd crumbled into the nearest chair. Something wasn't right, something wouldn't be right, and it wouldn't be for too long.
Baby I'm in love with you
Oh, I'm missing the sound of your heart beating
Baby, you were mine to lose
I'm missing the sound of your heart beating
Reese missed Imogen more than anything, and to see her each and every day in that alternate universe was torture. Because it was her, but it wasn't. It was the darkness within her embodied. Each glimpse of her face sent a flurry of hope into Reese's heart, but he couldn't bring himself to behave the way his alternate self could. Imogen's alternate self was furious, repulsed by Reese's lack of advances, but his heart belonged to a daughter of Cupid with words of fire but a heart of gold.
He'd lay awake in bed at night, wondering if his friends back home knew he was alive. Matthew had been helping him work on rewiring their bracelet transmitters, but to no current avail. He wondered what his friends were doing, what Imogen was thinking. He'd pray and pray to the gods to let him see her in his dreams, but in this world, there were no gods to pray to and so his wishes withered.
Each day, the song and dance would change him. He'd have no choice but to be cruel, be evil, be heartless and cold, but it would take something out of him whenever the night fell and he was alone again. He'd dig out his photo of Imogen, stare at it until he fell asleep, and then wake up in the middle of the night when the General's minions requested something of him to be done.
Reese swore up and down that he'd see the end of this world. He'd tear it apart one obsidian brick at a time, as long as it took to be back in his universe, where his love awaited him with open arms and his home was filled with light.
Baby, I'm coming,
The battle raging on behind him roared in his ears.
Baby, I'm coming,
The portal glowed as it opened, and Reese could make out Kaden's tall frame, Tessa's chocolate hair.
Tell me now, baby, I'll come running
He staggered to the ground, the portal shutting behind him.
Baby, I'm coming
A message from Tessa, the closing of elevator doors. Imogen didn't want to be bothered, but Tessa had wheedled her to meet her in Headquarters.
Baby, I'm coming
The elevator doors opened, and Imogen took one step into the room and froze.
Say the words, baby,
I'll
Come
Running
"Hey, Gen," Reese smiled from across the room. He was bruised, bloody, like he'd walked through hell, but one glimpse of his grin and the shadows Imogen had been dwelling in for two months dissolved into sunlight.
She ran to him, leaping into his arms as he spun her around. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, breathing in the scent of him. He was home, he was home, he was home. He was her home, and now that he was back, she was never letting him go. Shadows be damned, Reese Hale was the light at the end of her tunnel, waiting to lead her to a new age of love and happiness that she'd never known.
