End of The Line // 0x00 // The Fall

The bridge loomed like the spine of a dead god, crumbling and whispering ruin. Faulty fluorescent lighting flickered on the rusted rails, casting deep pink and violet hues across Aura's face - shadows of who she used to be. Her fingers hovered just above the ledge, cold and wind-burned, trembling with the kind of quiet that only comes after screaming for hours inside your own mind.

She was so, so tired.

The vape burned in her lungs, and she didn't even register the inhale. Just one last drag before becoming a ghost.

Inside her skull, Void shrieked.

"AURA! FUCK-STOP-don't-don't you do this to us! NOT AGAIN! It took me WEEKS trying to integrate your fractured psyche last time! You feel like eating Death out once more?!"

Aura didn't flinch. She exhaled slow, her voice barely above the wind. "You knew this was coming. Don't act surprised."

"Knowing isn't the same as watching the fucking fall happen in real time! You let go of that rail and we both vanish. You think I'm just some subroutine you can shut off? I live here, too!"

Aura turned her head, almost curious. "You sound afraid."

"Damn right I'm afraid! You're about to flatline, and I've got nowhere else to go! This brain? This body? It's all we've got, and it's falling apart with you in it!"

She stepped up. One boot dangling off the edge. The river below was an abstract painting of distorted lights mixed with smoke. None of it mattered. Not anymore.

"Don't-please, please. Just... just sit. Fucking sit with me, Aura."

Aura's fingers clenched. Her knees locked. She swayed.

"I can't keep living like this. Every second since she left has been like bleeding from a place no one can see. You're the enforcer, Void. I'm the one who feels."

"You think I don't feel it? You think I didn't watch you curl up and scream into nothing when she left? You think I didn't memorize every sob while helplessly witnessing every line you cut on your body like it was fucking canvas?!"

Void's voice cracked.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I never knew I even could want something - until you broke enough for me to be scared for the first time since you built me."

Aura's fingers twitched. She let go.

"Goodbye, Void. Thank you for your strength. For your fight. I love you."

Her body tilted.

The wind hit her first, peeling her hair from her face, slapping her with icy fingers.

And then - panic.

"NO. NO YOU DON'T- YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS-"

Void seized the controls, a terrified and violent takeover. The fall was already happening, but Aura wasn't driving the body anymore. She gave up. The switch hit like a system shock, hard and jarring.

"Holy shit-fuck-what is this-why is it so LOUD-why does it hurt-"

Void's mind flooded with sensation, a brutal system shock: the icy whip of wind, the terrifying freedom of weightlessness, the painful pressure of gravity claiming limbs and lungs, now belonging to her.

She screamed into open air.

"Aura, you-bitch-you knew. You always knew I'd panic like this, didn't you?"

There was no answer from the backseat. Just silence. Peaceful, trusting silence.

Void's hands - her hands now - gripped the edge of the jacket. Her eyes burned from the cold, and the horizon split beneath her like glass fracturing in slow motion.

"Okay. Okay. I got this. I got this. I'm Void. I'm built for this shit. Just need to... survive the landing..."

She didn't know if it'd be water or concrete. Hell, she didn't know if the body could handle it. But she knew one thing: Aura believed in her.

And that scared her more than anything.

"Don't die on me, girl. I'll keep the fire going. You just... Rest. Just heal. I'll-"

Impact.

Lights out.

continue...