UnWanted Reunion (UnWilling Roommates book 2)

Chapter 19: I'm Falling for You

Or maybe just falling.

(Will's POV)

I found Y/N while the Fearamid was rumbling from Bill and Strange's fight.  I began to worry that the whole building would fall out of the sky while we were all still inside.  Shaking with urgency and adrenaline, I began to break the spell keeping Y/N from moving.  Her expression was frighteningly empty.

I squeezed her hands as I pulled her to her feet, hoping to see a reaction, but she stared at me blankly.

"Y/N," I tried.  "Do you recognize me?  Do you even understand me?" 

The room shuddered, the floor lurching under our feet.  I stumbled, still holding on to Y/N.  When she recovered her footing, her eyes focused on me with a little more awareness.

"Will?" she asked hesitantly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Strange round on us with murderous intent.  But Bill was already there, blasting Strange away from us and demolishing an entire corner of the building.  I put one arm in front of Y/N, trying to shield her from harm.  I wanted to get her out of here immediately.  But before I could teleport away, I saw Strange attack Bill.  I acted without thinking, using my own magic to deflect the shot away from him.

"Idiot!" Bill snapped at me.  "Don't join the fight, get Y/N out of here now!"

I knew Y/N was in danger, but I couldn't leave Bill to die here.  The moment I'd killed the demon cat, I knew that my days of running away were over.  Not only that, I didn't want to lose Bill.  I could see in the way he was throwing himself into this fight with such reckless abandon that he didn't expect to survive.

Typical Bill.  Always thinking only about himself.  Did he even consider how I'd feel if he died?  Especially if I just ran away without even trying to help him at all?

I stayed and watched for another few moments, ready to jump in, until Strange seemed on the verge of losing.  The Fearamid was listing to one side, crumbling apart at the seams, and Strange himself appeared half-dead.  Y/N clutched at me for support, her human legs not able to keep her balance as well as a demon could.

"Get out of here, quickly!" Bill called.  "I can finish him, just hurry!"

I grabbed Y/N, preparing to escape, but the room lurched suddenly, shaking more violently than ever.  I stumbled and fell to my knees, Y/N tumbling out of my grasp.  I hadn't realized the Fearamid was tilted at such a sharp angle until she fell away from me, unable to grab onto the smooth floor.  I was pelted with debris as everything started falling towards... that gaping hole in the corner.

My eyes widened as I realized what was about to happen.  I scrambled to my feet and lunged for Y/N, but Strange attacked Bill at the same instant.  I stepped in, shooting Strange from behind with a magic blast that nearly knocked him off his feet.  He turned to face me, only to be attacked once again by Bill.

I realized cornering him was a mistake as he began to glow ominously.  I barely had time to begin conjuring a shield before I was thrown backward by an intense explosion.

When my vision cleared, I was lying on my back in a pile of rubble.  I sat up quickly, looking frantically around.  Bill was picking himself up off the ground on the other side of the room, grunting in pain.  Strange was nowhere to be seen, but I could sense his presence above the Fearamid, which was beginning its final collapse around us.

Y/N had fallen to the extreme edge of the ruined section.  Her legs were dangling into open space, and she was clinging for dear life to the torn-up floor. 

I scrambled to my feet as she screamed for help, only to be knocked down again when the ceiling collapsed above me.  The pyramid was falling apart completely, huge chunks falling from above and giant cracks appearing in the walls with a rumble that hurt my ears.

I blasted the rubble off me with what was left of my power, but I was too late.  I could only watch as Y/N lost her grip and disappeared from sight.

"NO!" I shrieked, sprinting towards the ledge, but she was gone.  I dropped to my knees next to the hole, staring at the empty space beneath me, not caring as the pyramid continued to crumble around me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.  "Didn't she have a grappling hook?" Bill asked in a hollow voice.  We both stared expectantly into the abyss, but there was no sign of her.  After a few seconds of silence, I heard Bill let out a long breath.

"No... this can't be happening," he croaked.  "After all this...  We can't just LOSE her like this... not now..."

I was at a loss for words, still staring downwards as if Y/N would suddenly appear.

"Will, we need to... go stop Strange..." he whispered. 

I didn't answer.  He shook my shoulder.  "Will, we c-can't... give up..." his voice cracked.  I looked up, startled to see tears streaming down his face.  I hadn't thought he even had tear ducts.  I brought my hand to my face to find I was crying as well.  Where had my eye patch gone?

With a thunderous crack, the floor collapsed out from under us.  For a split second I considered just letting myself fall, but squeezed my eyes shut and teleported to the ground.  A moment later, Bill appeared next to me.

I searched through the rubble until I spotted Y/N's body.  The fall hadn't been high enough for the corpse to be unrecognizable, but it still wasn't pretty.  Her skull had been caved in and her neck was clearly broken.

Next to me, Bill's legs gave out and he dropped to his knees with an utterly shattered expression on his face.  I wanted to do the same, hide in Sweater Town for the rest of my life, but I'd come too far to give up now.  I killed the demon cat.  I didn't run from Strange.  Look how much I've done without Y/N holding my hand.  I can't fall apart here, no matter how much I might want to...

Bill clearly had no such compunction.  He was staring at nothing, crying like he would never stop.  I knew the feeling well, but I couldn't allow myself to feel it now.

I stared at the rift in the sky, Tad Strange a tiny silhouette in front of it, and realized we still had one last-ditch course of action available to us.

"Bill," I said.  He didn't look up.

"Bill, we can still fix this.  We can still stop Strange."

"How?" he said in a broken voice.  "We can't kill him.  Look what happened when we tried..." he trailed off with a sob.

"We may not be able to kill him, but we can still stop him."  I formed a plan as I spoke, gaining courage with every word.  "Look up there.  See how close he is to the rift?  He's recharging now.  We can trap him on the other side and seal it off.  But right now is our only chance."

"Seal the rift?" he echoed slowly.  "That's nearly impossible.  We might be able to pull it off, but the cost..."

"I know.  It'll take everything we have.  But we don't have any other options."

"Besides," he chuckled bitterly, "what do we have left to live for now?"  He gestured to Y/N.

I agreed wholeheartedly.  Without Y/N, this world wasn't worth living in.  Fortunately, I wouldn't have to for much longer.

"We have to do it now.  Let's go before it's too late."  Bill nodded shakily in agreement and crawled over to Y/N's body.  He grabbed her hand with both of his before collapsing to the ground.  His triangle form floated over his human form, which was now an empty husk.

I sat down on Y/N's other side, holding her hand as I also abandoned my human form.  My body fell over limply, still holding hands with Y/N. 

I forced my grief and regret to one side as we appeared directly underneath the rift, on either side of Strange.  His eyes snapped open as we closed in on him.

"Miss us?" I asked.