She felt the nip of the cold, powdery snow against her cheek first.
The encrustation pain didn't hit until until her eyes started to flutter open. She was half inside her aircraft, half outside of it. She clawed at the ground, forcing herself out of the burning hunk of metal. She ripped off her mask, coughing up blood.
Blood stained the white snow, though she couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from. She managed to flip onto her back. A blood curdling scream ripped through her lungs as she landed hard on her shoulder. Remembering she was still in enemy territory, she bit the inside of her cheek as she continued to scoot farther away from what had once been her plane.
She must've been ten feet away before she finally collapsed, her arms and legs so numb that all feeling had been lost. Her hair was crushed with blood and frozen snow , and the tears that streamed down her bright pink cheeks turned to trails of ice.
She covered her mouth to keep the sobs contained. It didn't really matter anymore if anyone heard her. She was completely and utterly alone; the world around her undisturbed.
Her eyes grew heavier the longer she laid there. It felt like hours but she knew it was mew minutes. Every second seemed to be in slow motion, as the pain in her body turned to a dull throb.
"Okay," she hissed quietly to herself as she pushed herself off of the ground. "You got yourself into this shit, Lilah, now how the fuck are you gonna get out of it."
Her shoulder was in such a disturbing position that Lilah gagged at the sight of it. The right side of her chest was tender, and the lightest press made her puke onto the white powder ground beside her.
Lilah sat in a pool of her own blood. A trail of it lead from her aircraft to where she now rested, tense and alert. She felt down her suit until the warm sticky blood covered her hand. A few of her stitches were now gone.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit," she kept repeating in a hushed tone. There was no way she could drag herself, or even survive the next few hours until search and rescue was dispatched.
If search and rescue is even going to be deployed, she reminded herself silently.
She'd made her choice, a choice to sacrifice herself. Whether Warlock was going to let her became a martyr was in his hands, loosing her life was now in his hands.
"No one to save you now, Lilah, you're on your own" she muttered to herself as she found a shard of glass and slashed open the leg of her her flight suit.
She ripped a piece of her parachute off and shoved it into the open wound. She bit her tongue to contain the scream that ripped through her throat. She was about to start on her shoulder when she heard it.
The low rumble of an engine.
She dropped her parachute from off her back, the weight dropping off and the sudden shot of adrenaline alike giving her enough energy to get to her feet. Her leg dragged behind her, barely throwing herself into a run, each movement heavier and more sloppy than the last. She managed to climb behind a few logs before she collapsed completely.
Stars flashed in her vision as she shaded her eyes from the harsh sun. The snow beneath of her was longer cold as she fought to contain her breath.
An enemy helicopter appeared over the trees. Lilah didn't dare move or breath as she watched it circle her burning jet. Once it seemed satisfied that she was no longer inside of dead, it turned the other way and started searching.
A few minutes, she'd been given a few extra minutes.
She curled up the best she could, starting to shiver. No longer did she have to heat from plane. She closed her eyes and listened, praying that the helicopter stayed north.
Lilah didn't want to fight, she didn't even know where the fuck she was.
She wanted to be at home, curled up on the couch with Jamie, listening him ramble on and on about the new video game or what sports team was at the top of their league.
She wanted to be in Bradley's arms.
The helicopter started to get quieter as the minutes passed.
Just as she felt herself slipping into a limbo of half-consciousness, the whirling got louder.
It wasn't a lot, but enough to snap her out of the fuzzy trance.
She sat up, poking her head over the log just as the guns started firing at her.
"Oh fuck!" Lilah shouted, shoving herself up against the log and covering her head.
All around her, the snow erupted with eat bullet that hit. The world was white as the snow clung to her. Shivering followed, but whether is was from fear or the snow, she couldn't quite tell.
"I'm gonna die," she sobbed to herself as she laid there.
The rain of explosives had stopped, but even with her eyes closed, she could almost see the helicopter closing in on her from the other side. Even if you could run, trying was a death sentence than she was in right now, they'd shoot her down before she'd taken a few steps.
The last of her tears ran down her now blue cheeks as she heard the whirl of the guns readying themselves. She didn't move as she waited, everything becoming much too heavy to even try.
But, the pain of being hit never came.
The ground shook so hard, Lilah had to roll out of the way to avoiding from being crushed my the log.
She managed to open her eyes.
And get to her feet.
The smell of smoke immediately filled her senses as she took in the wreckage before her. She might've laughed and cried, and thanked whoever was looking out for her, had it not been for the plane that emerged.
The name was clear, as she hit the ground.
"Oh, no, no," with each word she spoke, her voice became louder, a scream. "Damn it, Bradley, damn you!"
She knew what was coming before the SAM even started after him. She didn't try to shout a warning at him, there was nothing that he could possibly due.
She watched in horror as his jet went spirally down in flames and disappeared into the trees.
"Dagger two is hit," the voice sounded like it was much too far away as Maverick felt himself sway. Hondo helped him to sit down as his ears started to ring. "Dagger Two is hit."
"Dagger Two, come in."
Payback managed to hook his arms under Phoenix's before she hit the tarmac. He let her down slowly, and took a shuttering breath as she crumbled on the ground in a fit of wails.
"Dagger Two, do you copy?"
Again, no response.
Maverick found it was now hard to breath.
"Dagger Two, come in."
Hangman let his head fall into his hands as again, there was no answer.
Something inside Lilah snapped, and she found that her legs were carrying her faster than she ever imagined she could run. There was no longer any pain in her leg, though she could feel the blood trickling down her thigh and soaking her flight suit.
Lilah didn't know how far or the distance she'd been running for when she finally saw him. She took a step forward. One step, as if in a daze.
Her body no longer worked property, it could no longer carry her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the man she swore she'd never forgive, never love again.
She let loose a shuddering breath, a small whimpering noise came out of her - a sob. And she was sprinting through the snow, flying as if she had an enemy aircraft at her heels.
She flung herself on him, crashing into him so hard it should've knocked him to his feet. He grabbed her to him, his massive arms wrapping around her tightly and lifting her up.
Lilah was laughing as she cried, and he was just holding her, his helmeted head burird into her neck as if he was breathing her in.
"I'm so sorry," he murmured, the words sending shivers down her spine as he set her down gently on the ground.
The bliss lasted a moment longer, and then his ass was in the snow.
"What the hell, L?" he growled from where he laid, face up in the snow. Whatever joy had been there moments before were gone.
Lilah threw her helmet at him, glaring, "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Bradley shouted back, scurrying to his feet.
"You think I took that missile, so you could be down here with me?" Lilah yelled back, fire in her eyes. "You should be back on the carrier by now!"
"I saved your life!" he gritted out, getting in her face.
"I saved you life! God, that's the whole point! What the fuck where you thinking?" she fumed, giving him another shove for good measure.
"You and Maverick told me not to think!" he shot back, throwing his hands up in the air when he realized Lilah had nothing else to come back with.
Both were panting hard, but a small, sad smile played across Lilah's lips.
"You just had to fuck up my plan, didn't you?"
"What plan? That wasn't a plan." he snored as he bent over, trying to catch his breath. He glanced up at her as her cheeks grew red with anger.
"I should kill you." Lilah grumbled as she picked up her helmet and plopped onto the ground.
"Probably, but you need me." Bradley said with a wink as he sat down next to her. "So, what's the plan?"
Lilah flashed him an evil smirk. "Boy, are you going to regret asking that."
y'all we're so close to being down it makes me sad.
hope you enjoy.
-mads