Nothing to Say

Escaping Stars

Sarah still remembers what happened before the fight.

How do I know it's not my fault? She'd asked, her grip tight on the gun, the safety still on.

I'll come to you every night, I promise, and I'll tell you it isn't. I swear, Fia, I will. Jack had smiled at her, a real flash of a smile as he glanced at her- though it faded when he looked back at the darkened landscape.

But how do I know it's true? Sarah had questioned, looking out at the beasts across the ruins.

I don't know, Jack replied with a sigh, agony crossing his features.

Just promise me you won't leave me, Sarah whispered. He glanced at her again and smiled.

I promise. Now, come on. Jack hugged her sideways, dropping a kiss into her hair. Let's go protect this wretched place so we can get out of here.

He hasn't come back. Sarah knows this because, well, she's rotting away in a prison cell while she's sure the others are out celebrating and living their lives. Not that she's complaining. She'd locked herself in the tower. She hadn't come down.

She'd hid herself away from everybody, barely even eaten until Ivy had built in a pipe that slid food up to her and made sure she ate it, screaming like a banshee until she did.

Sometimes she thinks about jumping, just opening the window and feeling that freedom as she falls from the highest point in all of Sunset Steel. Of course, she isn't.. Ready. She is too afraid that she'll leave everyone behind, though she feels like dying all the time. She is hallucinating; a result of being in the one spot for too long. Sarah stands, walking on wobbly legs as she goes silently in circles around the room.

She stops when she hears a knock on the door; the doorknob rattling gently; then the click of the lock being picked. She guesses quickly who it is. Jack has been known to steal quite a bit. He opens the door and rushes towards her. Sarah takes a step back; she hasn't been this close to Jack, to anyone, for so long. Months.

"Fia." His voice is hoarse, as if he hasn't spoken in weeks. "I need to talk to you."

"No," Sarah swallows. She knows what will happen. She knows what will happen and it hurts. "Leave."

"Fia-"

"You promised- no, you swore, you'd come back," Sarah interrupts. Her eyes are blazing, angry.

"Fia. Please." She doesn't listen, ignores him. He continues speaking. "I want to help you. I know you think it's all your fault, but it's not, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you, I am. The others have been.. It doesn't matter. They all miss you, Fia."

"It doesn't matter?' Sarah bites her lip. "I don't matter. That's just me. You shouldn't have come here." She looks away.

"Fia, why don't you realize it?!" Jack shouts and she flinches. "Outside of the tower, Fia, there is an entire world. They're waiting on you. The clock, your clock, has stopped, and so have all of ours. All of theirs."

"Then why don't they just tick on without me?!" Sarah screams. Jack stops, stunned. "I- I don't matter a second, Jack. Leave me alone." They stay silent for a long moment, and Jack doesn't move. His chest heaves; so does hers, but she never meets his eyes.

Sarah turns away and places her hand against the closed glass window, her gaze flitting across the city. She knows she doesn't want to return. To the city, where everything is moving, all the time- while in the tower the only way she can tell what time it is, is through the sun. Or the moon.

She doesn't even notice Jack moving up beside her until he speaks. In the voice of a storyteller he speaks, of familiar towns and dark legends and a girl and a sword who would rather go home than find the darkness told of in the legend.

He speaks of wishes and wisps and whispers and the bluebells that aren't really bluebells -they only hide the smallest wishes until someone picks them- and how when the girl picks them, they all glow like freed stars.

He tells her about the girl, who, though terrified, decides to find a friend and meets a thief in the markets.

He weaves a tale of regret, longing, and tragedy, but the happy bits are what makes her shiver.

When he is finished, she is still staring out the window. He doesn't move until she does.

Sarah takes a shaky breath, and it seems like the first real thing she's done in years.

She looks at him.

Finally, honestly, truly looks at him, as if he's a fellow warrior from a long-fought battle.

For a moment, he thinks something bad has happened.

And then she collapses into his arms with a sob, making him stumble back, but he recovers quickly and holds her tight.

He is not going to let her go.

Years later, she asks what he would have done if she had jumped.

He leans closer with a smile, still holding the stuffed animal she's gotten her from the carnival- and he speaks softly:

I would have caught you.

And then he adds, with a gentle smile-

I will always catch you.

They grin at each other, then startle as Roz -Fia's sister- grabs both their shoulders and shouts at them to look up.

They do, and they see fireworks.

Explosions of light and sound are the things that get Fia to smile, put her notebook down, and note that she needs to remember to tell her cousins a story.

And that is where everything began..