The Hidden Secrets of Heaven

His dirty blonde hair was windswept. Loose strands flicked from side to side in the air as the most part was pushed to the left. They looked like perfectly blended strokes of a paintbrush. His face was the only face perfect enough to accompany such beautiful hair, and his perfect body.

He wore a blank expression on his face. He never was emotionless around me, just around the guards. And the trainers. And pretty much everyone but Elixir, Kane, little Thymble and I. His pokerface pained me greatly, but I knew that whatever was brewing behind it must be a thousand times worse.

He said something again. But his words were swept away by the wind, captured by the relentless blowing that pounded at our ears and tugged at our loose and tattered clothes. My oversized men's plaid button up shirt was the only this I could salvage before we... Left? Escaped? Broke out? I don't know, ever since I outsmarted the propaganda I couldn't tell left from right, right from wrong.

"What?" I shouted at him.

"I said I'm taking it."

I could hear it shatter.

My heart broke. My spirit crashed. My hopes were crushed. He wouldn't do this to me.

"No," I murmered. "You can't do this."

"I have to."

"But we can-"

"I want to. Rather than... This. This is pretend. We can't go on like this. How long? Before they can really capture us? And then what?"

I knew it was the truth, but I denied it. I must convince him to stay. "We can do this." I stopped myself before I could break down, but I heard the quiver in my voice just as well as him.

"Fern..."

I looked up at him, into his sea blue eyes. His expressionless face vanished when he saw my own green eyes water. He brushed away a tear that had trickled down my cheek.

"Lynk!" I shouted, collapsing into his body in sobs. He cooed at me until I could speak.

"Please, don't." I whispered. He could hear me now that our closeness shielded away the wind. He poked a finger at my temple to tuck away a strand of my red hair.

Lynk lifted my chin to the stunning view. We were perched high above the mossy ground and sparse treetops. We sat, curled up in the cold wind, on a thick tree branch. It was of a rather tall Witherspine tree, so we could see the landscape. Rolling hills, blue in the think mist, spanned far and wide beyond. The mood here was freedom- yet loneliness. Here, we were free to do anything, but alone in everything.

Heaven really was beautiful. There were the cloud areas, all white and fluffy like your stereotypical heaven. But their were forests and meadows, high mountain peaks and rolling hills.

He whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "Fern, what is your name?" He purred.

"My real name? Thea. Theadira."

"And why do you call yourself Fern?"

"I don't, I guess. That's just everybody's nickname for me."

"Don't let others define you. No matter how much propaganda they shoved down your throat, you are still yourself, deep down. And you need to find yourself. Let no one tell you what to do. We are the rebellion. Let no one take that away from you."

He leaned in close to me. I clutched his fraying shirt, a deep blue v-neck to small for him. It outlined his sculpted torso nicely. My eyelids fluttered when I caught his smokey scent before the wind stole it away.

"Then I'll let no one steal you away from me." I whispered back.

"I love you, Thea."

He said it.

Lynk wrapped me in a bone crushing hug. The wind ripped off another piece of my shirt. I was to shocked to care, and gratefully returned the embrace with equal ferocity. His body heat set fire to my already sparking nerves. We sat there like this for... What, seconds? Minutes? Hours? It was irrelevant. All that mattered was that he said it.

When we finally let go of each other, Lynk's eyes sparkled with rare tears. "Goodbye." he breathed.

And with that, he swept his wings out fully and let the wind carry him off our precarious perch. He tucked down and leveled out near the tree tops at full speed, racing away.

"I love you too!" I shouted. Did he hear? Did he hear? He needs to hear.

I watched him glide away until he was a tiny speck in the distance, then he vanished.

"I've always loved you," I muttered to myself.

"Always."