Burntout

Playing Cards with Death

Andromeda Claire Holloway

I fell through the air, the wind whistling in my ears and making my eyes water. I fumbled for the dagger in my hands, I didn't have any time to think about how stupid my decision was before I saw Regulus falling as well.

"Damn you, Regulus," I cursed. He better have a plan to keep him from falling to his death as I did, I thought as I resisted the wind flow to draw nearer to the cliff wall. I was dropping at a rapid pace now so I quickly pointed my dagger away from me- towards the red, rocky cliffside. With a grunt, I stabbed the dagger hard into the wall, leaving me hanging dangerously high above the bottom. My hand slipped for a second as I held onto my weapons for dear life.

Looking up I saw the dark-haired devil still falling. He was a flailing mess of limbs and I silently watched as he nearly cut his ear off with his uselessly stupid sword. I hadn't wanted him to follow me nor did I want him to recklessly jump after me since he clearly didn't have a plan for how he would survive the fall.

He was nearing me now and he looked at me with a startled expression. He waved the sword wildly, glinting in the sunlight and blinding me, making me panic and let go of the hilt for a brief moment. I set him a glare and in response, he tried to yell something at me but the wind instantly stole his words away. My own grip was loosening with my sweaty palms but his scared gaze was burned into my mind.

Battling the instinct to let him drop, to not catch him and be the villain in the situation, I reclaimed my grip before swinging myself far enough. Stretching out my hand towards him, I felt my leverage slow down and I swung back. Regulus was right next to me now and if I didn't grab him now, he was good as gone. I pulled myself up on the blade and kicked myself off of the cliff, using it to swing myself further, just far enough to grab his outstretched hand. He let out a yelp as he narrowly dodged his swinging sword, clutching onto my arm instead of my hand. My clutch on my dagger was the only thing stopping us from falling into the blue abyss.

"Do something with your damn self!" I barked at him as I could feel my grasp slipping even more with the extra weight. Regulus didn't respond and I couldn't tell if he was trying to do anything to keep us alive. We couldn't hang like this forever.

I felt the designs on the hilt embed onto my palm as I tightened my clasp once again. Suddenly, Regulus pulled away from the wall, nearly making me drop us. I cursed under my breath as I pulled us closer to it once again, him still swinging in the air. Sweat was pouring down my face, my muscles burning from the minutes spent clutching onto the dagger. The sun was beating down onto my face, the back of my neck itchy from the moisture. Swallowing the sudden urge to puke, I looked down at Regulus who was desperately clawing hand and foot grips into the wall.

His calloused palm held on tighter to me, his fingernails digging into my skin. Dangling over the ocean and with the wind whipping his tousled black hair into his face, he looked up at me with a pleading expression, "Don't let me fall."

The situation and how close we were to actually play cards with Death must've been playing tricks on my usually sharp mind because I felt my emotions soften. I felt myself, if it even was me, put my hatred aside. Instead, I looked into his eyes, keenly aware of what he had done to me in the past few days but not letting it hinder me from saying, "No. We're making it out of this alive. Whether we hate each other or if you've tried to kill me several times at this point, that's not going to matter if we're both dead."

I saw a change in his expression but he quickly looked down, digging his one free hand into the wall. I turned my attention back to my dagger and to my horror, small cracks were slowly forming around it. Against my better judgment, I shifted the dagger carefully to the right and gasped when it almost pulled out before I quickly pushed my left arm to the wall to push it in. I looked down at Regulus, feeling the dagger pull out again slightly, my voice catching in my throat, "I- it's coming loose."

"I told you you would fall for me," he uttered boldly, digging his heels into the wall.

Flustered, I scowled at him, "Not helping."

"You catch me, I catch you."

I looked at him, hoping my gaze would bore a hole through his skull, "Will you shut up-"

With a cry, I dropped down about an inch as the dagger slanted down, barely still in the wall. His right hand in the wall, his feet secured in hopefully enough to keep him from falling, I felt his arm snake around my waist, firmly holding me.

Startled, I almost let go of the dagger but quickly regained my composure. I didn't look at him but his smooth voice floated upwards, "Do you trust me enough?" Enough. That one word was the hit or miss, the one that came down to my opinion of him.

"Yes."

"Slowly pull out the dagger."

"What?!" My frantic movement made me slip further down, "We're going to fall if I do that-"

"Trust me."

Voice shaking, I looked down at him, his piercing gaze meeting mine, "I-I don't want to die."

"If you stab in the dagger again as you're falling, we won't."

I didn't want to ask what would happen if I didn't and instead, with my palms now sweating like crazy, I felt the dagger lurch down again. Regulus moved his hand to wrap it around my wrist, squeezing it tightly as I gently wedged the blade out. I stared at him and he cocked his head to the side and mouthed again, Trust me. My breathing was shallow, the panic setting in, the dagger nearly out. I swore loudly as my grasp slipped again but I quickly regained it. With a deep breath, I looked at Regulus one more time then yanked it out, prepared to stab it back into the wall and-

I wasn't fast enough.

We were falling again, his grip on the wall having broken as well from the sudden jolt. My scream was pulled right out of my wind-cracked lips by the fast-moving air. I looked at Regulus urgently to see if he had any idea on what to do but panic was also written on his features as gravity pulled us down. One hand still clutched in his as we free fell, I said loudly to be heard over the rush of wind, "Do a protection spell or something!"

His expression changed again and he immediately pushed his free hand down by his side, moving it in a swiveling motion. I looked down and saw that the ocean was approaching faster than Regulus could do whatever he was doing. Dread washing over me, I looked back at Regulus who was struggling, fear contorting his features, "Hurry!"

I closed my eyes tight, prepared to splat onto the ground and die but felt something underneath my feet. Blinking, I opened my eyes to see a translucent platform formed underneath both of our feet. Regulus was gritting his teeth, the energy it took to make it sapping out of him. Like a bubble, it popped as soon as we touched the surface of the water, a few inches above my ankle.

I let out a sigh before turning to a windswept, tired Regulus, 'Do you always jump off cliffs after your enemies, or am I just special?" He glared at me and I matched his expression- a near-death experience couldn't change some things. 

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A/N:

Another whirlwind of a chapter, my Ravens! Hey, if you're reading this and you like it go and check out my friend's story, Bastard of Blood. Show theleahfisher some love will you on her newest story as well!

Love y'all,

-Rae