Lucid (BoyxBoy) {Pipe Dream: Book II}

Chapter Twenty-One: Frozen Flame

A/N: Hello all

Song: Tom Day - Who We Want To Be

I'll admit that I've been waiting to destroy Bolin since Vivid.

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Chapter Twenty-One: Frozen Flame

I'm surrounded by the dissonant chunks of the broken void that was once Tower crystal not too long ago; scattered like a makeshift wall around us and the now empty broken throne. I feel the burning afternoon sun on my skin, forcing me to realise that the ceiling of the Tower was barely holding itself together. The spider webbing cracks are ready to split apart if anyone took a breath. Some fragments fall, sounding like heavy glass, just to confirm that it was going to shatter.

The Tower God is dead. There's nothing left to keep it together. There's nothing left to keep it standing. I became fully aware of how unstable the Tower is right now. But I'm also consumed by the shock, the all too familiar paralysis gripping my legs, trying to pull me down with the Tower. I couldn't shake off the feeling I would deserve it too. Not that having two buildings on my to do list today. I barely manage to steal another glance at Seth's unreadable expression.

Bolin was little more than sludge literally slipping between his fingers, landing on the cold crystal floor shimmering like oil slick. What came next would have made my jaw drop but instead I just stand there stupid, leaning heavily on X who has basically almost all my weight on his shoulder.

Seth lets out a pained yell, close to the memory of him losing the target on that bridge all those years ago. He hammers a fist into the liquid, but it erupts in the life consuming fire that feels far hotter than the sun already hitting my skin. He was gonna cook me into a chicken tender. I wouldn't blame him.

I next see his eyes, they had changed to a dark burning orange, his fists extinguishing the fires just as soon as he ignited it with so much pain that it was making my heart ache. He held a destructive fire inside. It kinda explained why he never had to look for a lighter for his smokes now that I think about it.

Not the point.

I stupidly force myself away from X, coming closer to him. If he wanted to get his revenge. Let him. I place myself in front of him. I was expecting him to do something like scream abuse, throw a fire punch or something stupid...like a water balloon. I brace for it, my body stiffening but instead he wraps himself around my waist. His embrace is a shocking coolness compared to the hellfire he just raised five seconds ago. I feel his body shudder.

Or was that the Tower?

No it's him. He's been dragged back to the past and through all the hints he didn't see. All the memories that were taken and covered up. Only for them to click as his friend who remembered him before everything literally falls from his grasp. I could feel the pain and the long-buried suffering he experienced that forced him to close off that part of him. That the methods of torture spent on him should have broken his very soul into shattered pieces. Ut his soul wasn't whole either. It was cracked. That behind his joking exterior was a small fragile child who just lost his only friend. Again. That there was no way to undo this. ...any of this.

"There's no time left,' X's voice was almost lost to the sound of a deep cracked rumble from beneath us and I feel it vibrate. Not in a fun way either.

"We won't make it out fast enough before the collapse," Seth pulls himself up, turning his head away as his sniffs. His voice was shaky and even I could tell he was holding back tears.

"Seth!"

I frown at the sound. Not because it was Oz's voice but because I could hear it outside. The familiar soft hum of the Hollow Kite was heard before I could see it's sleek body pop up into view between the cracks in the ceiling and around to where...I guess I crashed throw the front of the damned room.