Bridge thought that getting some air would get his mind off things. So he took the elevator up to the roof. He was quickly met with the cool wind aggressively blowing at his face. But Bridge didn't mind. It felt so hot in his room, that the cold air actually felt nice.
He had woken up in the middle of the night for no reason. When he had checked the time, it was way past midnight. He thought that maybe his morpher had woken him up, but there was nothing.
Bridge tried his best to fall back asleep. But after a boring ten minutes, he gave up, which is when he decided he needed some air.
Bridge leaned against the railing and looked down at the city. It was quite dark with very little light shining from city and the moon. Bridge looked up at the sky. Just then he saw a shooting star. He smiled, then wished that Astrid was here to see it with him. She would have liked it. Or probably hated it. Being up here reminded him of when they first met.
He looked down at the floor and frowned at the thought if her. He missed spending time with her. It didn't feel the same without her around. At this point, he didn't care about the rejection, he just wanted to go back to being friends again.
Bridge sighed and leaned his back. All of a sudden his morpher began to start buzzing. Feeling annoyed, he took it out of his pocket and looked down at the screen. His eyes widened when he saw the numbers rising.
In a panic, he started making his way back to the elevator, not realizing that he had dropped his morpher. The elevator felt like it was taking forever for it to reach him.
Despite it only being a few seconds, he grew tired of waiting and instead decided to just run down the stairs. He tried his best to reach her as fast as possible but to also not trip along the way.
He burst through the door as he reached Astrid's floor. He didn't take a second to breath as he ran straight to her room. And neither did he hesitate to just run in. "Astrid."
Bridge looked around the room. She was nowhere to be found. "Astrid?" He muttered. He ran to her closet, but she wasn't in there.
He thought that she might have left on her own. He quickly ran back out and started looking around the base. He went to the command center, the laboratory, and even the common room, but Astrid wasn't in either of those places.
Bridge assumed that maybe she had went outside. So he made his way to the front of the base. While running across the balcony, he stopped in his tracks when he saw a figure sitting on the stairs and leaning against the railing. From how quiet it was in here, he could hear her breathing from where he was standing.
Bridge quickly made his way over to her. Thankfully she hadn't tried to run away from him. "Astrid?" He questioned.
Still breathing heavily, Astrid took a quick glance up at him. Her chest was in so much pain. And she was sweating. Bridge leaned down and gabbed her hand to check her monitor. It was way past 900. "I didn't think you'd come." She was clearly struggling to get those words out.
Without a second thought, Bridge picked her up and carried her outside. He thought that she would try to push him away. But she instead held onto him. Her arms tightly wrapped around his neck. It was as if she was afraid to let go of him.
Bridge could feel how shaky she was. He blamed himself for not getting to her sooner. Would it have been faster if he had just taken the elevator? What if she had died?
When the reached the fountain, Bridge tried to put her down, but Astrid refused to let go. Her hands tightly gripped his shirt.
Bridge sighed, then sat down with Astrid on his lap. His arms wrapped around her waist, and her head rested on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner." He apologized. "It's my fault."
"Shut up." Astrid muttered. "It's no ones fault."
She felt safe in his arms. She snuggled up closer, not wanting to let go of him. "I've never been this close to death before." She laughed. "Why couldn't it have just ended me right there instead of making me feel all this pain."
"Astrid." Bridge scolded. He sent her a glare, but her eyes were closed. Her breathing was shaky. The numbers on her monitor began to drop. "Stop." He pleaded softly.
Astrid let out an annoyed sigh. "You're boring." She joked. "I really didn't think you'd come."
"And why would you think that?" Bridge asked.
"Isn't it obvious." Astrid sighed.
Bridge rolled his eyes and sighed. "I know things haven't been the best lately, but do you really expect me to let it go. I still worry about you all the time. I can't just forget about everything."
"I kinda wish you did."
"Astrid." Bridge scolded. "You're still my friend no matter what. And no matter what arguments we get into, I'm still going to worry about you. I care a lot about you. I really wish you would see that." He frowned.
Astrid let out a scoff. "Idiot." She mumbled. Bridge rolled his eyes at her words. She looked up at the stars once again. "Do you remember when we first met? When you took me up to the roof?" She asked.
"Yeah." Bridge said. "You talked about the stars. Ever since then, I can't help but to notice that you always look at them."
Astrid smiled. "Every wish I waisted on a shooting star was the same. I wanted to live. All I wanted was to live a long life and to get rid of this pain. But as time went on, my wishes kept changing. I didn't care about the pain anymore, I just wanted to live longer. Then I wished to at least live till I was forty. A while after that, I just gave up. I was never going to get that wish."
Bridge looked down at the numbers. It was slowly going down. But it was still rather high. "Why were you jealous of the stars?"
"Because I just wanted what they had. They have trillions of years to live. Meanwhile my life span was cut. I won't get to live my whole life. I probably won't even get to live half my life. A star get's to see all these changes throughout it's lifespan, meanwhile I can't even get a couple more years to do what I want." Astrid explained.
She lifted her hand and poked his chest. "You remind me of the sun. Every time you appear, you always just light up my day. For some reason, I'm a lot happier when I'm around you."
Astrid knew he was probably smiling at her words. But even with him here, she still wasn't happy. "Meanwhile, I'm the opposite. I'm at at the end of a stars life. My light is slowly dying, and sooner or later, I'll just disappear. Meanwhile you still have years to shine."
It grew silent between them. Nothing awkward thankfully. They just decided to sit for a little while longer. Bridge assumed that she needed to cool down a bit after what she went through.
Bridge felt her body shiver. Unfortunately he didn't have his jacket to give to her. So he instead hugged her tighter, hoping that his body heat would warm her up somehow.
"At some point, my wish ended up changing again. Instead of wishing to live a longer life, I had wished to die as soon as possible so that I could get the pain over with. I hated having to go through this all the time. It hurt so much. Every time I woke up from those stupid nightmare, the only thing I could think of was why I wasn't dead yet. I hated being alive." She spoke.
Bridge frowned at her words. He couldn't imagine the pain she had been going through for all these years.
"After that, the thought of dying never scared me. But today really changed that for me." Astrid mumbled. Bridge turned to her confused. She hadn't opened her eyes. Bridge was still feeling worried about her.
"Seeing as how close I was, I was so scared. And it made me realize how much of an idiot I am for wanting that."
"You're not an idiot. Why would you say something like that?"
"Because it's true." Astrid said sternly. "After what happened tonight, I finally realized that I don't want to die. I want to keep on living. I want to stay here at S.P.D. I don't want to leave you guys. I want to be with my friends forever. I want to live. And it just makes me upset knowing I can't have all that."
Bridge brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. Astrid finally opened her eyes and looked up at Bridge. He remembered how bright her eyes were when he first met her. But now it seemed like most of the color had disappeared.
He let her rest her head on his chest. Astrid could hear his heartbeat and how slow it was. She wished for her heart to be as normal as his.
"I'm going to do everything I can for you. I want you to live. I want you to be happy. And I'll find a way for that to happen."
"Bridge-"
"I know you told me to give up, but I don't plan to. I'm not going to stop just because you told me to or because you don't believe it could happen. I'm going to keep trying. And if you tell me to stop, I'm not going to listen to you."
Astrid scoffed and closed her eyes. "And I thought I was dumb." She mumbled.
Bridge sighed, leaning his chin on the top of her head. "We'll get through this. I know we can. And I'm going to be by your side through this whole journey."
Astrid closed her eyes and gave a weak smile. "It's impossible to get rid of you." She joked.
Bridge shook his head and scoffed. The silence came back. But he heard light breathing coming from Astrid. he looked down, realizing that she had fallen back asleep. He wasn't surprised. All her energy was basically wiped out of her.
He tightly held onto her as he made his way back into the base. He tried his best to be as slow as possible so she could stay asleep, but it didn't seem like she really needed it, considering that she was out cold. If an earthquake were to happen, not even that would wake her up.
Bridge made it back to her room and carefully placed her back onto her bed. He covered her with the blankets and kneeled down next to her. Bridge rested his chin on the edge of her bed as he watched her sleep.
He lifted his hand and brushed the hair away from her face. He grabbed her hand and took a look at the monitor. It was back to normal, but he was still so worried.
Bridge stood up and began making his way out. His eyes landed on the paper sitting at her desk. It was another resignation letter. And it still wasn't signed.
Bridge grabbed the paper as he left the room. He crumpled it up and threw it away as he made his way back to his room. He knew he would feel guilty about it later, but he didn't care at the moment. He wasn't going to let her leave. And neither would the others.
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