The Altered.

Chapter XLVII

Miles returned to the rooftop just after dawn.

He was closer to the edge, this time. So close that if he lost his balance, he'd fall right off.

He was without company.

It was windy, today.

His thoughts were wandering again.

If he fell, would the wind catch him? Hold him? Suspend him in its grasp, keep him safe?

Miles closed his eyes, shuffling a little closer to the edge.

His head was clear and confused at the same time - clear, for he had not a single care in the world while he was up here, and confused because his thoughts were contradictory.

If he fell, would he die?

Yes.

It didn't scare him, but he didn't want it to happen.

The wind brushed by again, tickling his skin and whispering promises of flight.

Miles knew it was in his head.

If he fell, could he soar?

His eyes were still closed as his feet moved again, this time getting so close to the edge that Miles felt the ground disappear from beneath the soles of his shoes. Such a precarious position, such an exhilarating thought; letting himself fall forward, spreading his arms, flying.

Maybe he could. He'd never know if he didn't try.

Thoughts like this were dangerous. Thoughts like this weren't to be listened to, but they called Miles' name and sang to him when he dared let himself roam so close to an edge that he could see everything below it. So, so far below it.

He was on top of the world.

Maybe

he could

fly.

Miles lifted one foot. He wobbled. He held his breath.

He didn't hear the footsteps behind him.

He told himself that wouldn't meet the ground.

Miles leaned forward and felt his foot slip from the edge.

He forgot where he was, what he was doing. Had he fallen at all? Had his feet even left the rooftop? If they had, how far had he fallen?

He wasn't going to fly.

His heart was soaring, but he wasn't. Anticipation and adrenaline were racing through him, but there was something else.

Fear?

No, fear didn't belong here. Miles wasn't meant to be scared.

Arms around him.

Miles' eyes shot open. Arms around him?

Before Miles could actually process what had happened between his foot slipping and him ending up back on the rooftop, he was being tugged further and further away.

He hadn't fallen yet.

He'd been damn well close, though. And that thought alone had him trembling.

"Miles!" The arms around him tightened and then there was a face buried in his shoulder.

Miles was shaking; so was the person embracing him.

"Aaron?" Miles' voice wavered.

Everything was starting to wear off. The thrill, the determination, the hope - it was quick to vanish. In its place were emotions that didn't have names. Emotions somewhere between fear and anger and confusion and everything that encompassed those. Miles liked to ignore his emotions on any regular day, but he couldn't quite find out just how to do that right now.

Miles realised: he'd almost let himself fall.

It felt surreal and impossible and terrifying and make-believe.

Was he dreaming?

If only.

It felt a little like a fantasy. As if when he was on that edge, another being took his body for its own and he wasn't his self anymore.

The moment was vague in his head, almost like it hadn't happened - but little fragments of remembrance danced about in the darkness behind his scrunched-shut eyes.

He'd never do that again.

Miles' arms hung limp by his side as Aaron embraced him, like he wasn't quite sure what to do with his body now that it felt like his own again.

"Miles," Aaron said, pulling his face away long enough to stare at Miles, eyes watery and cheeks chalk white. "What - what was that?"

Miles had to open his mouth and close it again a few times before he found his voice. He croaked, "I'm so sorry."

Aaron just pulled him back into a hug and this time, Miles wrapped his arms around Aaron too. "You're such a stupid asshole," Aaron said, voice muffled.

"I know." Miles clung to Aaron like his life depended on it. Just moments ago, it had. "Why are you here?" Every word he said was fractured and rushed.

"I was looking for you. I couldn't find you in the library and I knew" - Aaron pulled away from good this time, but grabbed Miles' arms and held them tight, restraining him. "I knew you'd be up here. Then I got here and you were standing on the edge. I couldn't tell if you were going to do anything or if... I just didn't want to witness your next stupid decision."

Miles was both shaken and a little lost, still not fully aware of the feeling he was experiencing after those few fuzzy minutes standing on the edge.

He didn't want to die; he wanted to fly. But he didn't have wings.

Aaron just stared at Miles. Their faces were so close now that Miles could see his own reflection staring back at him in Aaron's every-shade-of-blue-flecked orbs. Like waves, emotions rolled through those big ocean eyes. "Don't -" he started, but had to stop when he lost track of what he was going to say.

Miles said, "I won't," and that was it.

A moment passed in silence, and in this time, Aaron let go of Miles' arms and took his hands instead.

Miles fleetingly wished that Aaron would hold his hands more often and then scolded himself for even letting a thought like that cross his mind.

Aaron took one step towards the stairs that would take them back inside. As if this had been the trigger for Miles' feet to unstick themself from the ground, he followed without hesitation.

Miles spoke so softly he was worried the wind would steal his words and blow them away. "Thank you, Aaron."

Aaron responded, "I wouldn't have been able to see the rest of this apocalypse through without you." The ghost of a smile flashed across his lips.

A scream with hardly distinguishable words came from somewhere inside the library. The noise sounded far away and lost, but in the midst of something else being said, there were two names that fell in the middle of it.

"Aaron! Miles!"

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+1064 Words.