Norsuk

Agatha was so small and light in my arms. I gripped her securely, ready to overcome any struggle. She had said so many times she needed to get home, get off Reazus Prime. Now I was about to make that happen, even if it shattered my own heart.

"Norsuk, wait!" She thrashed against my hold, kicking uselessly. Her boots thudded against my legs but I barely felt it. I stared straight ahead at the portal, steeling myself.

I couldn"t look at her, couldn"t bear to see her desperate pleading. If I hesitated, I"d crumble, throwing away my resolve. So I forced my gaze forward, muscles bunching as I prepared to throw her through the crackling gateway.

But before I released her, the floor buckled under my feet again. Agatha yelped, clinging to my neck as the building swayed drunkenly, metal screeching. I staggered sideways, grabbing the control panel. Stone cracked like gunshots.

Loose panels rained down from above. I hunched over Agatha, shielding her as razor shards pinged off her suit and scratched new gouges in my scales. But I barely noticed, only focused on the shaking woman in my arms.

"All this from that tiny lizard?" Her words were muffled by the helmet, tinged with hysteria.

I shook my head grimly, feeling the ominous shuddering through my boots. "We need to get out of here."

"Maybe you"re right, the building?—"

I cut her off. "No. The portal. It has to be now or never, love."

Even through the visor, I saw her eyes widen, felt her panicked heartbeat against my chest. She glanced at the portal, raw emotions playing across her face.

Then she lifted her chin, meeting my gaze squarely. "Maybe it"s never then."

Grief choked me. I knew what it cost her to say that, all the dreams she was willing to give up. Her family, friends, her human life. All for me, a criminal turned lover.

A better man would have forced her to go, thrown her to safety. At that moment, I was selfish, desperate to keep her at any cost.

But I'd been selfish before, and she'd hated me for it.

I wouldn't do it again.

With a bellow, I jammed her helmet on and sealed it. She wailed a thin protest, writhing in my grip. But I was already striding toward the portal.

"No! Norsuk, stop! You can"t do this!"

"I have to. It"s fate, Agatha. Our fate."

"Screw fate!" she spat, eyes blazing. "I"m not leaving you, you idiot!"

As if to agree, a massive slab of ceiling broke loose. It plummeted down in a tidal wave of dust and pulverized rock. I leaped aside, whirling to shield Agatha.

The chunk slammed into the portal housing, an explosion of sparks erupting. Agatha"s world vanished in static, replaced by unnatural darkness. Wrongness prickled down my spine.

"The portal!" Agatha gasped. "Where?—"

Another tremor cut her off. I cursed as the catwalk shuddered under my feet, coming apart in crunching sheets of metal. In seconds, it would collapse completely.

"Norsuk!" Agatha"s voice was raw with fear. "We have to move, now!"

No time to think. I gathered myself and launched us into open air, snapping my wings out. Drafts from the crumbling structure filled them, hurling us away from the disintegrating platform.

Agatha screamed, locking her arms around my neck. I couldn"t spare breath to reassure her, straining to keep us airborne. My wings ached with her added weight. Sweat blurred my vision. Every muscle burned with the effort of fighting gravity, dodging the tsunami of debris.

A beam tumbled past, nearly clipping my wing. I veered hard right to avoid a hail of rivets. The building was coming down in earnest now. One wrong move and we"d be crushed.

"Norsuk," Agatha whimpered. "I don"t— I can"t?—"

"Just hold on to me." I tried to sound calm. Her face was chalk-white, eyes huge behind the visor. "I"ve got you, I won"t let you fall."

She managed a jerky nod, visibly mustering her courage. "Okay. I trust you."

Emotion swelled in my chest but there was no time to savor it. Gritting my teeth, I poured everything into my wings, into the powerful flex of my legs. The cavern roof spiraled overhead, close enough to touch. If I could just reach it, kick off the solid stone...

Debris hissed past my face. I felt the sting of cuts, hot blood oozing into my collar. Thrusting out an arm, I snagged a rock spire, using it to pivot us out of the path of a plummeting girder. Heat seared my skin as it barely missed us.

But I couldn"t fall, not when Agatha needed me. Not when I"d finally found something, someone, worth fighting for.

Wings straining, I pulled up before we hit the ground, as far as I could manage from the falling rubble, the ruins of the city spread around us.

"Holy shit," Agatha wheezed. Her faceplate had fogged opaque with panting breaths. "That was..."

"Insane?" I tested my limbs. My back felt flayed, arms rubbery. But miraculously, nothing seemed broken. Just bruised and utterly spent.

"I was going to say incredible." Then she straightened, gazing at the broken tower behind us. At her lost way home.

We both knew without question that the portal, whatever it had been, couldn't have survived the last tremor.

Heavy grief hung in the air between us, Agatha"s impossible choice made under unimaginable circumstances. She had sacrificed everything for me, her old life and world. On the chance a rogue might be worth saving.

And I would spend the rest of my days earning that trust, that staggering faith. I"d scour the galaxy on my knees to find her another way back. I"d call in every favor, make any devil"s deal required.

Without warning, the ground lurched sickeningly. A vast, cold shadow fell over us. Slowly, dread pooling in my gut, I craned my neck back...

Just in time to see a massive slab of rock peel away from high on the cavern wall.