"The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space."
~Lord Byron George Gordon

Vivienne

I sat eating lunch in the hospital with Dylan when I saw the first ship zip past the window. Mostly everyone ignored it, but my friend wasn't one of them.

"That's weird," Dylan said, striding up to the window.

"What?" I asked, following him.

"That was Caleb's ship. What is he doing flying this low in the city?"

His question was answered when five more ships, smaller and more agile, chased after him. Somehow I knew they didn't belong to our military.

"Get the shields up!" Dylan barked. "We're under attack!"

People scrambled up from their chairs, rushing to wherever they needed to be. Dylan threw open the window. When I asked what he was doing, he said, "I need to get down there and help Caleb!"

He fired up and shot into the sky. I forgot Dylan's fire could help him fly. If we hadn't been under attack, I would've found it much more impressive, but the situation was severe.

"Where's Dylan?" Iris demanded, skidding to a stop next to me.

"He went to help Caleb. He's being chased by-"

"Come on!" Iris ordered, running back out of the room. I tried my hardest to keep up with her, but she had some serious speed on her. We ran to the elevator, which seemed to take forever to get on and arrive in the lobby. The two of us maintained our sprint outside to find Caleb's ship heading up into the sky.

Iris continued towards the battle, though. She only stopped when two missiles hit Caleb's ship. Even from the ground, I could see the hit was critical, and I didn't need the electrical sparks coming off the top to tell me that. The ship's engine died, and I watched, horrified, as it went into freefall. Iris thrust out her hands, concentrating on the craft and trying to slow it down with everything she had.

Her attempt was futile. Caleb's ship crashed into the ground upside down, creating a massive crater in the ground and sending a wave of debris everywhere.

"Caleb!" a man shouted, darting past us.

"David, wait!" Iris yelled, chasing after him. Taking a deep breath, I ran after them. David frantically called for Caleb, despite the people restraining him from reaching the mangled wreck.

"Hold him!" Dylan directed, hopping onto the ship. He put out the fires engulfing the ride, and only allowed David to come with him once they were out.

"Wait here," Iris said, following the two boys. Reluctantly I did so.

Caleb

I groggily opened my eyes to find my world upside down. I couldn't hear anything but the ringing in my ears, and all I care about was finding Lilly. She, Lilly, along with her seat, was MIA. I shouted desperately for her, but deep down, I knew she was probably unconscious and wouldn't respond. I hoped that was all that happened to her...

"Caleb?! Where are you?!" David's voice reached through the ringing in my ears. "Caleb!"

Suddenly David was in my line of sight with Dylan behind him. Both were a shade of white I'd never seen before, making me wonder if they were that horrified by my situation or if dust had settled on their faces, or maybe both.

"Are you okay?" David asked as he began unstrapping me from my seat.

"Where's Lilly?" I replied immediately.

"What do you mean, where's Lilly?" Dylan asked gravely.

"Lilly went to the prison with me to help with Shane and-" I stopped talking as a wave of dizziness hit me as my brother flipped me over into standing position. Having all the blood drain from your head back down into your body is not a pleasant experience.

"We've already searched the ship. You're the only one we've found. She must've been ejected from the ship before it crashed. Let's get you out of here, and then we'll search for her," David said.

"Dylan, go find her. She could be seriously injured," I said.

Dylan turned to David and asked, "You got him?"

"Yeah, go," my brother replied. So, while my friend dashed off to find Lilly, my brother got stuck with the laborious task of getting a very dazed and confused me back outside to safety. He kept talking to me to make sure I stayed awake. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Everything was fine until we reached the city. Fighters came out of nowhere and attacked us. Some debris hit us when we were in freefall, which broke the windshield. If Lilly got ejected-"

"She'll be fine. With the times I've had training her, I can assure you she's a fighter. Let's get you above ground, and then I'll go help Dylan search for her."

I nodded, and the two of us fell silent. David helped me up onto the wreckage of my precious ship. How I was going to salvage this, I had no idea...

"Lay down and rest until a Healer comes over to you," David ordered. For once, I didn't argue with him. I lay on my back, attempting to catch my breath and stop myself from thinking about the terrible things that could've happened to Lilly. I flinched when an explosion sounded to my right. Twisting around to see what happened, it turned out to be one of our fighters taking down an enemy. My attention shifted from that scene to the movement I'd seen in the corner of my eye. Fury coursed through me.

Shane Calhoun sat with Lilly, talking to her. By the looks of it, she was replying back. Shane had a smirk on his face, and I prayed it was because Lilly was being snarky to him rather than because he was getting to her, and he knew it... whatever it was, I wasn't going to put up with it.

Ankle bracelet or not, he needed to stay away from her.

Injured or not, I was going to stop him.

However, before I could reach him, a Healer approached me, leading me away from the scene without even listening to my protests. I bit my tongue when I realized my attempts were futile and allowed myself to relax a little. At least Lilly was okay, and if Shane was with her, Chad wouldn't be far behind. Chad would prevent his brother from going anywhere near Lilly or staying around her for prolonged periods of time.

I took comfort in that.