The sound of the elevator struggling was easily heard, whether it was cat ears that heard them or bird ears. Red carefully laid Casey on the floor of the elevator, allowing her to relax as much as she could without touching the glass shards from the shattered mirror. She coughed up a bit more blood before letting out a loud sigh. The flow of blood leaking from Casey had slowed, but her fur was heavily matted in the viscous crimson stuff. Then finally, she spoke, through labored breath.
"How... did you... know... I... was going to... be... there?" She said, in a whisper, as to not inflame the pain she was dealing with.
"That's not important right now, I'll explain soon. All you need to know, is to call me when you wake up. You'll understand. For now... just lay down your weary head"
"Now... isn't... the best... time for... jokes..." Casey coughed out, along with some additional blood.
The elevator played a distorted beep as it managed to reach the bottom floor. Leon picked out his key, to see if the elevator would take them to the car-park, but as he tried to press it, he realized that it had malfunctioned. He tried to pick up Casey again, this time a bit harder, but he managed to pick her up.
"I... can walk..." Casey said.
"No, you can't." Leon replied. He knew that he was right, and Casey also knew that. Red carried her through the now watered down lobby, as the sprinkler system began to activate. Both Leon and Casey became soaked as the sprinklers poured down water from the ceiling.
Leon made it out of the building with Casey on his back. His labored carry now slowed yet again to a stagger, but he already knew that he could make it. Using the last reserves of his energy, he continued onward to the next street. He could hear the sounds of people there.
"Casey, we're... almost there." Leon said.
"Casey?"
Casey did not answer, because she had already passed out from the pain by the time he made it out of the building.
Red made it, without leaving Casey behind, either. He was at the street he was barely familiar with, but it brought a comfort to him. He was saved. He was not going to die, and this time, Casey will not, either. He laid Casey out carefully on the concrete footpath. It began to rain. As the droplets collided and spread about the tarmac and concrete, Leon also fell onto the concrete, feeling the refreshing feel of water dropping on his feathers. He closed his eyes, he was deserving of a rest, after all.
He felt himself slowly drift away into the black abyss of the land of shadows. He didn't fight it. Red allowed himself to be consumed by the darkness. He had a great plan, and there was no use prolonging the time before he could put it to action.
Swirling through the abyss. The fabric of time ripping and melding simultaneously. Leon glided himself through the black maze. He felt himself traveling further and further... but to where? Out there in the darkness there were objects, little stains of color on a black canvas. As Red floated through the enshrouding shadow, he saw things of the day past. A small, battered box, a cup of coffee... shards of glass were just some of the things he saw in the time he spent floating. Then, he saw someone else in the distance. He felt like he had to say something.
"Hey you!" Leon called out to the black silhouette, which, in the true darkness, seemed a completely off shade from the black that surrounded them.
"Out there in the cold, can you feel me?" He continued, in a tune that felt familiar, but he couldn't place his claw on.
"Hey you! Don't tell me there's no hope at all!" The silhouette began to grow closer, and Red reached a claw out to try get even closer.
Frozen through time, and yet warping through reality, these two figures, to an outsiders perspective, would look as if they were motionless, but that could not be further than the truth. Leon consistently attempted to gain on the figure. Then, suddenly, he stopped. The winds of time delivering a soft breeze of his feathers continued to blow, but he did not take notice them. He saw who was the mysterious figure, the character shrouded in shadows. It was Casey. She was not conscious. She was rolled up into a ball, as if she was sleeping on a quiet train ride home. He floated to her and hugged her.
"The time is gone..." He paused, as he gently scratched her behind the ears.
"Thought I'd something more to say..."
"Just... don't forget." Leon turned away from Casey's face, a blank, relaxed expression of obliviousness. Oblivious to what is around her. Oblivious to what happened. Oblivious to Red. The darkness began to fade into a lighter shade of color. Leon looked at where the color change began. There was shades of color, all bursting out of a seemingly unnoticeable dot in the obsidian sky. The black faded away as it got replaced by a dark blue, then a light blue, and then white. Red closed his eyes as the light began to blind him. He felt himself being dragged harder and faster towards where he first saw the colors. Even if he did want to fight it, he did not. He accepted it. He felt reality flutter away.
