Love-Love || OLD DRAFT

nine - eleven

A/n

Attempt #15 to update because Wattpad has been constantly messing with the alignment.

....

Maybe it was selfish of me. Maybe it was true what they said. I was selfish because honestly, I was very glad to see that Aspen was Super Storm. It made it easier for me to choose.

I knelt down in front of Storm and willed the pile of earth in my hands to shape into a spearhead. I was grateful for the mask that hid my emotions - just because I had made a decision did not mean it was any easier to actually do it.

I positioned the weapon in front of his heart and grabbed his throat with my free hand.

"Ridge," Aspen muttered and I could hear the uncertainty in his voice. He did not trust me. I roughly pulled him closer, the spearhead pressed to his chest.

"Will you be able to run?" I whispered in a voice that was barely audible.

"Yes," he breathed.

"So run," I said. "Just run."

Without turning around, I threw the spearhead backward, right at Linden who stood behind me. There was a cry, but I didn't turn to see whether or not I had hit the mark. I pressed my burning hand against the gigantic plant that held Aspen immobile. There was an angry hiss and the next moment Aspen was on his feet, pulling me along with him.

"RUN," I yelled. I grabbed him by the arm and dashed towards the nearest shattered window that lay open to the sky. I heard the heavy sloshing of water approaching and the water level on the floor was rising, making it difficult for us to control our movements.

"Ridge, STOP," Linden shouted (as if that ever stopped anyone) and I felt creepers at my feet trying to grab my ankles, but we were too close to our freedom now for him to -

"Ridge, I won't-can't... fly!"

It was too late of a warning. I had already jumped, bringing Super Storm down with me.

We went hurling down through the air. I knew Storm would not be able to fly in his current condition, so I wasn't counting on him for any help. I pulled the earth upwards, creating a slide instead of a landing platform. Roux had the entire area flooded and the ground I pulled up was slick with mud - exactly the way I wanted it to be. The mud was what I was counting on to provide us a safe passage down.

Still, I braced for impact.

Maybe Aspen had done something - I wasn't sure - for our initial hit to the slide was smoother than I had expected. We plummeted down at a speed too fast even for me to grasp, but in the nick of time, I created a tunnel at the end.

I landed on my feet as the slide ended in an underground tunnel. Aspen came crashing down right on top of me and I fell down face-first. Despite the awkward position that I was in, I snapped my fingers and the ground closed off above us, blocking us from any attack.

I let my head fall to the ground and let out a breath.

The weight on top of me shifted and Aspen collapsed on his back next to me. "Dude... that... was crazy." He turned his head to look at me. "You're... crazy."

I didn't have time to think about how nice his hair looked covered in mud. I pushed myself to my feet and held out my hand to him. "We need to go. Linden can control the plants, so underground is not the best place for us to be in right now."

Aspen took my hand and got to his feet, staggering. "My place," he said. "Twenty... twenty-sixth... street."

I took a few more deep breaths to compose myself and not think about the consequences of the blunder I had just committed. I then calculated the shortest route to Aspen's place and led him through the tunnels. I held onto his arm as he stumbled in his steps, the drug clearly affecting him hard, and seeing him so weak made me want to kill Linden more.