< HSoS 106 | High School Of Scenes | HSoS 108 >

< HSoS 105 | H So S Timeline | HSoS 109 >

Merope "They took Ras"

Maia "Shit."

Maia "We gotta get over there NOW."

Merope "That was... that was Cassie.... she had Ras' number somehow, knew I was calling..."

Maia "Is she there? At Ras's place?"

Merope pushes open her window. "Hold on to me."

Maia "What?"

Merope "Damn well hold on to me and don't let go! We need to get over there!"

Maia blinks, then shrugs and grabs hold of Merope's legs.

Merope Merope closes her eyes.... there's a rush of air...

Maia "HOLY SHIT!"

Merope "For fuck's sake let me focus! Oh GOD..."

Merope Her voice is lost on the wind... they spiral suddenly, dive.....

Maia "PULL UP!"

Merope "I... I don't.... AAAA-"

Merope CRUNCH.

Merope A pause.

Merope "....Shit."

Merope "Damnit, I think I.... Maia?"

Merope "I tried to aim for something soft.... aaaagh."

Maia kneels on the ground, shaking her head slightly. A few droplets of blood seep through the bandage and spatter against the ground.

Maia "You need to..."

Maia "You..."

Maia "Merope."

Maia "You need to practice that more."

Merope picks herself out of the hedge. "Oh.... shit, Maia! You're... oozing."

Merope "I... I don;t know, I just felt..... like a song and I thought... I can do this.."

Merope looks up. "This is near to Ras' house...."

Merope "Are you okay?"

Maia "You never took music class, remember?"

Maia "Sure."

Merope "I think maybe I sprained something...."

Merope is breathing heavily. She takes one extremely deep breath, and sets her jaw. "Ras."

Merope "We need to keep moving."

Maia stands up, wobbles, and falls back over, and sits there breathing for a second.

Maia "Okay, let's go."

Altair A car brakes soundly not too far from them, and Altair jumps out, running in their direction. "... Merope!"

Merope whirls. "Altair!?"

Maia "Oh, Jesus."

Altair is smiling, if nervously. "You were FLYING!"

Merope "Only a little. Now we have to RUN."

Maia "You figured out that I could go invisible, but you didn't know Little Miss Can't Touch The Ground can fly?"

Maia staggers to her feet, listing from one side to the other.

Merope "Oh, geez...." Merope moves to steady Maia. "Can we at least limp quickly, then?"

Merope "It's just around the corner."

Altair "... you." He looks at Maia, with a mix of a grin and a contrite smile on his face, "You VANISHED IN FRONT OF US, that was kind of easy to... look, this is beside the point, you should not be doing that HERE, not n... where are you going?"

Merope "Ras'." she says, grimly. "They took him."

Merope "If you're going to help, MOVE!"

Maia "Oh, right. That did happen."

Maia "I don't really...I don't really remember all that stuff."

Merope looks distinctly ragged, breathing heavily, buckling under the weight of an increasingly dizzy Maia, looking despairingly at Altair, her hair a nest of twigs.

Altair "What? Here? NOW?" He stops her as she runs and a couple of military jeeps run past, providing cover so they couldn't see the twig-haired Mero. "I came because of them. They're all around here."

Merope "They got to him.... damnit, we knew he was sniffing around..."

Maia "Holy shit. Did you see those jeeps?"

Maia "What the fuck is going on here? Everything is going straight to hell!"

Merope "We... we need to find Cassie... before they do..."

Altair "I said THAT'S WHY I'M HERE. They closed the whole damn neighborhood."

Maia "They can't cover this shit up. This is insane. How do they expect to keep the lid on?"

Maia "Johnstone said this couldn't happen. He said this COULDN'T HAPPEN!"

Altair "Well, he LIED. He's damn good at that." He puts his arms around Merope, trying to calm her down. "Calm. Where around the corner IS his house? Exactly. Calm, if they see you like that..."

Merope "We gotta get Cassie... Ras must have been.. trying to protect her.."

Maia "He doesn't LIE. He just...you didn't..."

Altair looks at Maia instead for directions

Maia "He's never lied to me."

Maia "It's the one on the right after we turn."

Merope leans against a building, on the corner, letting Maia rest against her if she needs.

Maia "With the..." they round the corner... "big fire."

Merope "No... no no no..."

Altair "Well, he's ALWAYS lied to m --" He stopped, looking at the fire. "... no. Come on, Mero, you were right, we have no time, come ON." All the plans, the ideas, getting around the soldiers, trying to find out in which jeep they were taken, break them out, all gone from Altair's mind now.

Merope "Can't go in there." she says, closing her eyes. "But Cassie... she must have got out... she called me.."

Maia "God, she's dead. There's no way. We have to get out of here."

Merope "She CALLED ME! She is not dead!"

Maia glares at Merope with her now characteristically crazed expression.

Maia "You want to be a hero?"

Merope "I... I...."

Altair "Call her, then! And pray to god her cell tune's silent."

Maia grabs Merope's phone from her purse and slaps a few keys. From inside the burning wreck, just barely, the quiet sound of Bach can be heard.

Altair runs to the corner, seeing the jeeps stationed in front of the house, crossing over through an empty garden still overlooked in their way to the house, stopping before a window and kicking it open! "Owww..." He grabbed his leg. Hurts so much less on TV.

Merope follows, exhausted, dragging Maia with her. "Are you crazy? You'll let air in..."

Maia pulls away. "No, please, don't drag me into the burning house. I insist. I'll just wait here and bleed, okay?"

Merope "She'll be upstairs, anyway..." Merope has tears running down her face. "...Need to get up there."

Altair turns to Mero. "You can fly. You're the only one who can."

Altair "Just... go." He looks at her. "I'll make sure nobody has a shot at you. I swear I will."

Merope looks between the two of them, tears flowing freely.

Merope "Maia..."

Maia "It's gonna go to voiiiice-maiiiil..."

Altair "Maia, SHUT UP."

Merope "Maia..." she says hoarsely, her eyes shut... "Sing to me..."

Maia looks surprised, then settles into seriousness for a moment, dropping her eyes. After a moment, she takes a breath, and opens her mouth...

Merope The song fills Merope, shifting, taking on new voices, becoming a chorus...

Maia "Baby, I know it's been a whilebut I still get lost in your smile...cause every time that you're around/I just can't keep my feet on the ground..."

Merope Eyes shut, she rises, slowly into the air. Then she opens them.

Merope "Thank you."

Altair looks up, his voice, even on that moment, full of wonder. "Go. Go save her, angel."

Merope In an eyeblink, she takes a curving path around the building, smashing through the window above the garage. Immediately a fireball emerges as the air rushes in...

Merope ...and then, another smash as a blur races into the air, into the sky...

Altair "She did it. She did it!"

Maia "I know you gave up long agobut I just had to let you know...that every time I see you there/it feels like I can walk on air..."

Altair "Yes. Yes, it does. Far away, into the clouds..." Hands in his pockets and a slanted grin in his face he turns to the sound of assault rifles clicking to life all around them, to the sound of military boots on the undergrowth. "... don't you think?" He had seen an angel take her wings - on THAT moment all he had for them was a smile.

< HSoS 106 | High School Of Scenes | HSoS 108 >

< HSoS 105 | H So S Timeline | HSoS 109 >