The ground was whipped cream as Ed flew above it. Air drag didn't blast them into a gazillion pieces, as one would expect. Although, his eardrums would disagree. Ed held on tighter to the now unconscious body of Emma.

He flew above the buildings that shrunk down to toy size from the height. A few lights, purple or blue, zipped past before they could be discerned. As Ed rose, he noticed something even odder.

The sky, or at least the dark veil that passed for it, seemed to come closer and closer. It seemed to swirl and twirl, not like a cloud, more alive then that.

Air became chillier and somehow dustier as Ed rose higher and higher. The houses were indistinguishable. A large blue bonfire seemed to light up the central square. The uneven form of the clouds above hurled towards them like the wicked of souls.

Ed braced for impact as they dove into the cloud.

It was dark. It was murky, confusing, smelled like tarmaric. It was confusion incarnate. It was suffocating, like a pillow on your head when you wake in the middle of the night. Ed was scared. Ed was scared if he'd make it. He didn't know what he wanted, or how he intended his life to lead, but this wasn't it. His mind was empty, he had fed his dreams to the cloud. And the cloud ate dreams, or their carcasses, at least. Because it was the great conscience of broken dreams. It was the city. And Ed knew, because his own were a part of it now. And it was Chaos, perfectly ordered chaos, something way worse than whatever that stood under the light, or whatever chased him through the pavilion could ever be. They were animals. This was a god.

Then, like a mattress yanked from under his feet, the emptiness left his heart, and the darkness left his eyes. He was above it.

The scenery unfolded before him left his mouth hanging open.

Cobwebs, that was the only way to describe the sky he saw. Cobwebs of blue, yellow, red, green and practically every color concievable by the human mind, vibrant as fireworks. Some dominating the sky with their dazzling light, some fading away into darkness. Through the intersection of the strings, the sky was a deep blue, tinted by the other, more colorful inhabitants. A vibrating energy seemed to hang in the cool and wet smelling air itself, as if it was susceptible to thought.

The clouds underneath, lit by the web-light, seemed like a colorful blanket. It rushed past them like water under a boat. A hypersonic boat.

It may have been seconds, may have been minutes, may even be hours, time flies when you're flying, but all of a sudden, their bodies jerked up, and then, like a meteorite, shot downward, into the clouds.

The clouds didn't feel suffocating this time. Quite the opposite, it felt open, even more open than open sky was. Somehow, the cloud was fertile. A void, but not an all consuming one, rather, one to be filled with dreams and hopes and possiblities. The warmth of a campfire lingered in the pine smelling air.

It felt like home.

Then they passed it, and went under the cloud.

The ground, a landscape of green lush mountains and another desolate city in the horizon, was coming forward with imminent death as greeting. Ed let out a shrill cry when a gust of wind hit him full force in the face. He almost let go of Emma but managed to get his elbow around her, basically crushing her to himself.

Through clenched eyes, he could vaguely see their destination. He could spot a giant wheel standing on the ground, a fairly sized ball of crimson fire burning lazily on top of it.

Before he could notice anything else, thunder sounded all around them. They flipped and rolled mid air.

The air felt like gelatine, heavy and viscous, slowing them down, but bringing them close to ground nevertheless.

Unsurprisingly, Ed landed on his face. The cut that had, he was sure, split his skull open, sizzled and burned in pain. He lifted himself up with a grunt of pain and effort.

Emma's tiny body had fallen under his. She was laying motionless, her expression completely empty. Blood had long stopped oozing out of the wound in her leg. There were also multiple cuts and scratches visible all across her body, but they looked old. Her blond hair was wet and in knots.

Ed hurriedly lifted her hand up and placed his index finger on the artery.

No heartbeat.