Natural Disaster

Chapter 58

After a couple of days of doing nothing productive, but plenty of others- Launa proudly waved Avi's scarf at him, causing him to glare comically for half a second before splitting into an embarrassed grin and rubbing absently at his wrists- they headed back to the house, practically tripping down a hill on their way down. Avi slid his fingers between hers, clasping their hands together as they walked and smiling almost shyly as he gently pulled her closer to his side. "I love you," he murmured, bringing her hand up and briefly kissing her knuckles.

She pulled him to stop, whirling him around and grinning at the surprised look on his face as she stretched to press her lips against his in response, lingering until the words that weighed heavily on her tongue slid back down her throat, and only then pulling away. The look on his face was priceless, wavering somewhere between shocked and happy for a moment before settling on the latter, his mouth stretching into a wide grin. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead and started off, again, their fingers still intertwined.

______

Thankfully, the others didn't act like they'd been gone for any length of time, sparing her the awkwardness- until she caught Scott waggling his pale eyebrows at the pair. So did Kirstie, who quickly jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, quietly scolding him. And with that, life settled back into some semblance of normalcy.

The five vocalists began arranging again, Esther helped corral them into different areas of the rebuilding city to perform, and both she and Launa would help start a crowd if they had trouble getting one, clapping enthusiastically to get others' attention. They would occasionally come across other performers- Launa was particulary fond of the little band that moved like robots and sang about what it was like to be one, even striking up conversation with one of the twins the band consisted of. Esther had quickly come up and excused the pair of them just as Launa had traded names with them, realizing that they'd been away from the other five for a bit too long. They bid farewell to the group, promising to come back and see them again, sometime. It would be another week until Launa took Avi down to watch the 'singing robots', as she'd called them, forgetting the band's actual name.

A rhythm developed in their lives: Wake up, have breakfast and practice if they weren't going out, warm up if they were, come back and mull around the house, fixing it up in little ways to make it more theirs, have dinner and talk for a long while- maybe sing a little bit if it came up, which it usually did- and go to bed. It fit perfectly, for them, like clockwork. Day in and day out, and Launa felt the welcoming sense of belonging, even though something danced just at the edge of her brain, just slightly out of reach, as though something was wrong or missing.

Time passed faster than any of them expected.

______

Struggling against the exertion, yet fueled by the adrenaline pumping through her system, she heaved Avi onto her back, dragging him and the bags to the car and heaving him into the passenger side, slamming the door behind him and turning to find two men descending upon her.

"Don't fuck with me!" she shouted, raising her blade to plunge into one of her attackers' chests, only to have both of her wrists pinned to the hood of the car. She snarled at them, kicking and flailing, fury raging through her.

Fight.

Scream.

Hands roughly gripped her hips, a gruff voice spitting something something what is he saying I don't understand and-

Launa jerked awake, gasping and pushing at thin air. She froze, breathing heavily as she waited for the panic to pass, closing her eyes hard. It was just a nightmare. It's not real. It was real, I suppose, but it's over. It's over.