heavy bones [jason grace]

8. falling (both down and apart)

My dreams are perfectly normal, thank the Gods. In fact, I'm having this really nice dream and—

Holy fuck I'm skydiving without a parachute.

I open my eyes. Great. I'm plummeting to my death. Something must've happened with Festus because Leo, Piper, and Jason are falling too. I can hear them screaming. Fuck. The ground is getting closer and closer. I need to think fast. If I don't do something, I'm going to go splat. Fuck fuck fuck. Think Cordelia, think!

Wait. I got it.

I take a deep breath and start to glow. The brighter I burn, the slower I fall. The thing is, when I glow, I don't just glow. I become a being of light. Human and light rays. And light doesn't obey the laws of gravity. Hence why I'm currently floating down to the ground like Mary Poppins with her umbrella. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to help Jason, Leo, and Piper.

Something explodes below. Fuck. That must be Festus. Shit. I can't see the others. It's not like I can rise. I can only slow my descent. Gods, the others are screaming a lot.

"Where's Cordelia?" someone — Jason — yells. His voice sounds disturbingly distant. Oh fuck. What if they're on a different trajectory? Fuck. I need to stop falling. I need to burn brighter. I need to give over more to the light than I ever have before. Wait. There they are! They're below me now, zigzagging through the air, Piper and Leo clinging onto Jason while he tries to control the winds. Okay, so now I'm falling too slow. 

I just can't seem to win.

I try and follow Jason's flight path. Maybe if I can get close enough, I can take Piper or Leo. I would fall faster, but it'd be less strain on Jason. I'm not exactly falling anymore, but I'm not floating. It's more like I'm swimming? It's hard to put into words, but the important thing is, I'm moving closer and closer to my friends. 

Except I'm moving very slowly, and my eyelids are getting very, very heavy, and I'm starting to dim. Fuck. Fuck! Jason's eyes flutter shut and the three of them just drop. I try to match their speed, but there's nothing I can do. They hit the roof of the largest warehouse below us and break right through. Shit. Well, if you can't beat them, join them.

I accelerate. Just before I pass through the hole they so helpfully made in the roof, I slow down. It's hard to see, but my fading light helps some. I spot Piper on the metal catwalk that rings the warehouse interior and land by her. As soon as I land, I realize her foot is fucked.

"Cordelia?" she whimpers.

"I'm here, I got you," I say as soothingly as I can manage. The last thing Piper needs right now is me freaking out just as much as her. I slide my backpack off and start digging through it for my canteen of nectar, but I know I'll have to set her foot before I can give her more than a little sip.

Jason's voice echoes from below. "Piper! Where's Piper?"

"Ow, bro!" Leo groans. "That's my back! I'm not a sofa! Piper, where'd you go?" They must've landed at ground level. Shit. They're going to need patching up too.

Piper is struggling to remain conscious, so I answer for her. "We're up here!"

"Cordelia?" Jason calls back. "I thought—We thought—"

"Just get up here!" I order. "I'm gonna need help with Piper." I pull her broken foot up onto my lap. I can hear Jason and Leo hurtling up the steps toward us. Fuck. I don't know how to do this. I'm not a medic. Piper lets out a pained groan.

As soon as Jason and Leo reach us, Jason turns to Leo. "You got any first aid supplies?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He digs around in his tool belt. He pulls out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape, even though the pockets of the tool belt are way too small to fit that. It must be magic.