The Best Part is Falling

It had been the longest month of her life. So much had happened in one day a month ago, that she felt her life had been changed forever…and that scared her to the core. She had never felt so overwhelmed and confused and hurt before, and she had not known how to cope. So…she had ignored it. It wasn’t the best option she knew but she had prayed and prayed to God what to do and had gotten nothing. Maybe it was because she was now no longer in his favor now that she was…no. She couldn’t even think about it. She had tried to continue on her normal routine and had managed fairly well, and then she had gotten the invitation from D’artagnan to the ball. She hadn’t wanted to go, not after their little fight, she was afraid to face him, but Mia had encouraged her to go…well more than just encouraged, she had all but twisted her arm. She had bought Misha a dress and mask behind her back than did her hair and make-up, so Misha had been given no choice. If Mia said she was going…she was going.

She had tagged along with Mia and her boyfriend, she had been too afraid to show up there alone to find him. Mia and her boyfriend Robbie were so madly in love as young couples were, so she had felt a little awkward with them, but it was still better than wandering alone. Mia was a good friend though, so very loyal, she had refused to go off and dance with her boyfriend and leave Misha alone. They had grabbed a small table at the edge of the room and Mia had insisted her boyfriend just seat, shut up and eat because they weren’t abandoning her best friend. Misha had appreciated it but knew Mia wanted nothing more than to go have fun so she told her to go and that she would be fine alone. Mia had frowned “No way Mish, I’m not leaving you to sit all alone here like a wallflower. No way”. Misha had smiled and touched her face “Sweetheart, go dance with your boyfriend. I’ll be fine. If he shows up he shows up if not…that’s fine” She reassured her. Mia did not look convinced but with her boyfriend’s added encouragement she gave Misha a hug and whisked off, but not before saying “He’d be crazy not to show up for you”

She had smiled at them brightly as the couple went off to dance, but then it slowly faded and she sighed, glancing around the room. Maybe he couldn’t recognize her? Or maybe he just realized he was still mad at her and bailed…her shoulders slumped and she ended up taking off her mask and fiddling with it on her lap. She had been a wallflower all through high school, and she didn’t like it. She felt embarrassed to sit there alone, and debated whether she should just go instead of being the only loser in the room without a date.

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She shook her head quickly “No, no…quite the contrary. I…am still upset that I made you upset” Probably any other normal person would have still been mad at him for the way he had lost his temper, but not Misha. Yes him yelling at her had made her cry…a lot, but she still felt bad that she had been the source of his anger. The way he moved her about…she was in awe. He was a fantastic dancer and if she had simply been watching her jaw would have been dropped and her eyes glued to him, but she was the one actually dancing with him, so now she was getting all stressed out over-thinking how to dance. She knew how too yes but…this was D’artagnan. He was probably used to dancing with elegant, flawless women who danced like they were on clouds and Misha wasn’t one of them she was sure.

When he spun her so she faced away from him her heart went up her throat, into her brain and she was pretty sure it popped out of her head. Having his body close against hers, his lips near her skin, it did things she knew a woman of her religious stature should not be feeling. Forget feeling tongue tied, she felt body and mind tied as well, like she had suddenly just turned into a deaf mute person who was disabled from the neck down. Her heart hammered, skipping several beats it seemed when he spoke and she felt his lips against her skin. Was she dreaming? She had to be dreaming. A blush erupted over her cheeks, which she felt it was safe since she was facing away from him but of course her luck, he decided to turn her back towards him.

She tried to distract herself by looking at her hand as he placed it over his heart, staring there for a few moments before she felt him kiss her cheek. Her eyes closed and she sucked in a breath, feeling a shiver go down her spine. How did he do this to her? Make her feel this way? It was a good thing he was holding her so well or she probably would have just fainted right then and there. She opened her eyes and gazed at him for a few moments, forgetting to actually breathe, but she brought in a breath and brought the hand over his heart to touch his face gently. “I’m sorry” She murmured “I know the risk you took for me, I do and I’m grateful. You saved my life against the hellhound and against those…Elders and I couldn’t even begin to know how to repay you” She then frowned and her expression turned sad “I just…I’ve lost too many people in my life. My parents, my aunt, my friends…You wanted to protect me I know but I just wanted to protect you. I didn’t want to lose anyone else…especially not you. I, I couldn’t…I couldn’t lose you” She then glanced down and lowered her hand from his face "I didn't mean to make you so angry"

She took the glass of champagne and thanked him, taking a very little sip of it. She didn’t drink anything with a drop of alcohol in it, she never had, not even something as light as champagne. Hell, she didn’t even drink coffee. A nun was never to drink of course…but also nuns weren’t supposed to be secretly fae who happened to be in love with another fae. She took a bigger sip of the champagne and tried to ignore the odd taste that she wasn’t accustomed too. Wasn’t stuff like champagne and wine supposed to calm you? She couldn’t remember, but if it did she really could use it since D’artagnan was making her heart go insane inside her chest and he wasn’t even doing anything anymore right now.

She glanced over to Mia who was watching them and smiled at her. Mia was as protective of Misha as Misha was of her, they were like sisters, and poor Mia’s boyfriend was standing there looking a bit pouty he was being ignored with Mia’s attention so tuned on Misha and D’artagnan. But seeing Misha smile and D’artagnan bow his head she smiled back and finally turned her attention back to her boyfriend, subtly approving that D’artagnan wasn’t going to crush Misha’s heart into a million pieces. She took another sip of the champagne before looking to D’artagnan curiously as he led her to the exit. When he mentioned the picnic her eyes lit up and she beamed “Really?” Since there last picnic had been ruined, she was very excited for this “That sounds wonderful!” She was going to be alone with him in his apartment…and they were having a romantic picnic…they were friends. They were just friends…so why was she suddenly blushing and feeling all nervous?

Misha knew she had absolutely no strength, she barely expected to even stun the demon, she was just trying to distract it so D’artagnan could get away from it. She had not been expecting to send it flying and she dropped the picture frame in shock, staring at where the creature landed. She had done that?! How had she done that?! She didn’t have any more time to think about it because suddenly D’artagnan was grabbing her hand and running and her adrenaline kicked back in, quickly making her legs move to run with him. She could hear it behind them and all she could feel was panic, such fear that she felt she would drop from it but she couldn’t, she knew she had to keep running to try and get away from the monster…but how? She was starting to realize none of the hallways were the way they were supposed to be, how would they get out and to safety?

She gasped then shouted in surprise when D’artagnan grabbed her and threw them off to the side so suddenly. She would have made a pained sound from the impact, but her body was on such a terrible rush she didn’t feel a single thing when they hit the floor. Her heart was so loud in her ears she couldn’t seem to hear anything else, and her body was frantically kicking into survival mode, trying to tell her to get the heck up and keep running! But as she frantically looked around she saw the wall close, keeping the demon at bay. She felt such relief that…she started to cry, covering her mouth as the terror and adrenaline and other crazy emotions exploded in her. She sat there frozen for a few moments staring at the wall, just bawling her eyes out until she could smell the icky scent of blood and turned to look at D’artagnan. “Oh…oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!” She quickly moved over to him, looking at his wounds…and she just cried harder.

She nodded for at the moment that was all she could do as she watched him rip his jacket apart to try and bind his wounds. She raised her hands and hovered them near him, wanting to do something but her whole body was shaking so horribly and she didn’t know what to do. She stared at all the blood before looking to his face when he spoke “I couldn’t leave you” She cried, her lips trembling as she spoke. She glanced over to the wall that had appeared then him “What was that thing? H-how..how do we get out, your hurt, what-what do we do I-“ She was frantic.

Stopping crying was easier said than done, but she did try just so he wouldn’t get angry with her. She sucked in a breath and pursed her lips together, but her mouth still trembled and tears kept falling down her cheeks but, at least she wasn’t sobbing…? It was the best she could do at the moment. She took his offered hand, for without it she wouldn’t have been able to stand on her wobbly legs. She stepped closer to him, glancing to his injury then his face and gazed at him quietly as he wiped her tears and nodded. He was right…she couldn’t cry, but she didn’t know how to be brave. She wasn’t used to creatures hunting her down and being placed in scary situations. How did they get through this? But D’artagnan must know what to do…he always knew what to do. With him here, they would be fine…she believed that.

She squeezed his hand tightly and followed close behind him as they wandered down the hall, her eyes looking everywhere, mistaking any shadow as the beast and jumping in fright before realizing it was nothing. She listened to him talk intently, it was helping keep her calm…at least, as calm as she could be in such a predicament. She wondered as he took the right path if he had any idea what he was doing or if he was as clueless as she was right now. She hoped not…or they were doomed, because she was really, really clueless. Her eyes widened “Brilliant?” She would hardly call it brilliant…terrifying yes, but brilliant? Mm, not so much, no. Her hand shook in his “I’m scared” She whispered “Are we stuck in here? Are we going to get out? What if were stuck in here forever?” Frantic panic was starting to set back in “Oh my gosh…I don’t want to be stuck in here. I…there’s so much I, I wanted to do and, and now were going to be stuck in here!”

She clung to him as he hugged her, burying her face against him and closing her eyes, bringing in the comfort and warmth of him as she tried to force herself to calm down and not go ballistic. She just held him for a few moments and felt her erratic heart beat slow and the nervous trembling of her body simmer down. She could have just stood there and held him for hours, but she noticed his attention had gone elsewhere and she turned her head and looked surprised to see the door “Was that…there before?” She asked, a bit of fear in her voice. When he got closer to it she hesitated and pulled back slightly, wary of going through it. What if it was a trap? But if D’artagnan felt it was safe then it had to be fine. He had to know much more than she did about all of this.

She stepped through the door and glanced around, sticking so close to him she might as well just climbed up on his back. She looked between the doors and pointed to the cafeteria one “It has to be that one…we can’t go into the freezer. It's a dead end” It seemed obvious to her, but then again for all they knew the freezer door really didn’t lead to the freezer. Suddenly she heard something behind them, something scuttling on the floor of the kitchen. She jumped and screeched, turning around and looking but she couldn’t see anything. She whimpered and squeezed his hand hard and felt fresh tears prick her eyes “Oh no…oh no, oh no” Her heart started roaring in her ears again and her legs buckled a bit as she looked all about frantically “It’s in here…it’s in here…it’s in here!”

She felt her knees buckle as the demon screeched, covering her ears and wincing from the sound. When she opened her eyes she saw D’artagnan and stepped away to the sink and she quickly moved closer to him “What are you doing?!” She asked, glancing over to the demon and screamed as it came closer still. She turned back to him as she heard the cross hit the bottom of the sink then stared at D’artagnan began to say a prayer. He….he was….she didn’t even know he knew any prayers. She was rusty with her Latin but she knew it was a prayer and that he had spoken the Lord’s name in it. This shocked her enough that she just stared at him and seemed to forget there was a demon coming at them until she heard it lunge and she turned, shouting and stumbling back. Her back hit a counter as the water hit the demon’s skin and scalded it. Holy water…D’artagnan had created holy water from prayer. But how?! He had told her he wasn’t religious! He didn’t in believe in God…did he?

She didn’t have time to process anything more because he suddenly grabbed her hand and threw them through the freezer door, and all she could do was pray now herself that she had picked the right door. She grunted and then felt the air escape her lungs as they hit the grass. She laid there stunned for quite a while, her eyes shut tight and her head buried into his chest, not wanting to look. But slowly she could hear the faraway noise of the Halloween festival, and a soft cool breeze come over her skin. Her eyes opened when she heard him speak and she raised her head, looking around before sitting up quickly. She looked back behind them, expecting to see the demon or a door or…something, but it was just the school. A laugh left her, a surprised yet joyful and relieved laugh and then more followed hysterically until she covered her mouth to control herself “We got out…we got out. Were safe! We got out!”

She grinned and lowered her hands “I did it! I picked the right door! I did! I picked it! I just, I just closed my eyes and I just knew! I knew what door!” She looked down at him and giggled “And you! You prayed! You prayed and blessed the water, sink water! And you created holy water and hurt the demon! That was incredible! You were incredible!” She laughed more then put her arms around him tightly in a hug “I was so afraid! I was so afraid; I thought we weren’t going to get out! And you being injured and-OH! You’re injured!” She leaned back and looked at his arm then his face “I’m sorry, I forgot your injured…are you alright? Do you need me to get help? I can go get help if you need help, but I’m just so happy you’re going to be ok and you’re not dead!”

She touched his face and gazed at him with a smile then found herself kissing his cheek over and over a few times…and then somehow her lips misguided themselves because she seemed to miss his cheek on the last one and peck his lips. She froze and gasped, leaning back “Oh! Oh Im…im sorry I didn’t mean…I’m sorry I…Im sorry!”