☄Darkness in the Way of My Dreams (1x1)

[тнε.τяαgιϲ.нεяσιηε~]

For moments, Tori struggled to grab hold of any air that she could possibly get. Then suddenly, someone holds her and began to pull her ashore. Her frail body was weakened from fighting the waves. She had no energy to turn around and see who it was. But somehow she felt safe. Then a wave pushes them to the shore.

Tori crawls on the sand while she lays on her back and breathes heavily. Turning her head towards the person who saved her, she saw it was Aer.... Her gray eyes went from fear to sadness. She got up and crawled weakly to him and held him tightly. Her breathing was still heavy and her body was too weak, but she held him as tightly as she could. Her eyes were shut with tears slowly falling down.

Moments ago she was scared of dying but then now she's scared she'll loose Aer. If only he would believe her, she will do everything she can just for him to believe. Nothing else mattered to her, not even her severe cuts that covered most of her body mattered. All she wanted was for Aer to come back to her and be with her again.

[Cloudsong]

Aer felt relieved as a wave pushed them to shore. He collapsed onto the sand, panting in exhaustion. The shout from Sarah had come so quickly that he hadn't had time to change into a bathing suit; his clothes were soaking and ruined. But he didn't care. All that mattered was that she was safe. He hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. The fact that she was getting blood on him didn't bother him, though he worried that she may be injured. "Shh..." He whispered in her ear, kissing her forehead. "Don't cry, Tori..." He held her face to his, closing his eyes tightly. For a moment he had thought he had lost her...

[тнε.τяαgιϲ.нεяσιηε~]

His kisses stopped her tears from falling. With her face close to hers, she opened her gray eyes and looked at him. She could feel him once again, his heart beating with hers. Something she lost just this morning.

Tori took Aer's hand and held it up to her chest. "D-do you feel that? It's my heart beating for you...." she whispered while she closed her eyes.

Her blond hair clung to her body, some strayed over her face. Grains of sand clung to most of her body, making her cuts sting a little from the salt in the sand. But she didn't care at the moment, Aer was more important than anything.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and raised her other hand up to his cheek. The back of her fingers slowly grazed his cheek back. Then her eyes fell onto his, then she closed them, leaning foward. Hoping that Aer would meet her half way and if he doesn't....then she'll give up. Because that just shows her that he really did mean it when he said he just wanted to start over. But she can't start over, not when she feels this way about him.

[Cloudsong]

Aer wished more than anything he could believe her... But that would mean that he had completely misunderstood with Sam. I saw what I saw, he thought, looking down. Perhaps he had misunderstood. She seemed so... in love. It was surreal that it was with him that she felt these strong emotions for. "I never wanted to believe that what I saw was true," he said finally, his voice a mere whisper as he looked deep into her eyes, a fiery passion burning within them. "I apologize for for misunderstanding." He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing that this had all been a mistake. Her feelings for him were real, and as were his for her. There was no point denying them any longer. As he opened his eyes again, seeing her leaning towards him, he blinked, feeling terrible for the pain he had caused her; both inside and out. Her arms were bleeding profusely, and it was all his fault. He was still for a moment, then he gave in and kissed her.

[тнε.τяαgιϲ.нεяσιηε~]

His lips touched her, Tori leaned in a little more, kissing him passionately with all her love. A long while later, she pulls away. Smiling at him with her hand still caressing his cheek. "I love you so much. So, will you be my prom date?" she asked him looking deeply into his eyes.

Her body was aching and sore, she cant move another inch without a muscle panning or a cut stinging. The salt on both the water and sand made it worst than it already was. "Ouch...." she muttered to herself. Then she looked down at her arm and legs; the cuts were quite deep and blood was trickling down her damp skin. Tori's eyes began to close. Then she Hugged Aer, but while she was hugging him, she fell asleep. She was tired and her wounds didn't help. So she just fell asleep on him.

[Cloudsong]

Aer felt as if his heart stopped as she asked about prom. He pulled away from her, looking in horror down at the sand. But... I accepted Jennifer's invitation. Being a man of his word, he never would be able to just ditch her like that, no matter how horrible she was. "Tori... I can't." His voice cracked, and he didn't dare look over at her as he looked at the sand, obviously quite interested in it. More than anything he wanted to go with her, but what would people say about him then? The girl had probably already spread it around that he was going with her.

[тнε.τяαgιϲ.нεяσιηε~]

Tori's smile quickly went away when he said he couldn't. Her eyes fell to the sand and she immediately knew the reason. He probably asked someone else. Then she laughed nervously trying to cover the tears that tried to escape pass her lashes.

Picking herself up, weakly, she stood up and grabbed her clothes. She had nothing more to say. They were broken even before they started and maybe it was meant that way. At first Tori walked towards he house, but then she began to run crying. Her arm constantly wiped her tears until she reached her house. Running up to her room, she went and changed. Her wounds were still open and burning, but her tears kept overflowing.

[Cloudsong]

Aer watched her leave, seeing that nothing he could every say would matter. He had hurt her in a way that he had never wished to hurt her. I can fix this, he thought determinedly, standing up. I need to go with Tori. She was the most important thing to him, and he needed... needed to go with her.

He walked towards his house, dead set on a plan. If he couldn't ditch Jennifer, then he would make her leave him. And there's only one way to do that. As he walked by Tori's house, he couldn't help but sigh. He doubled back and approached the place where her window was, and reached down to pick up a small pebble from the floor. There was a moment where he wondered whether he should bother her, but then he decided that there was only one way to fix this all. He threw it up at her window, knowing that it would make a noise, but not harm the glass. She needed to know that he wanted to talk to her.

[тнε.τяαgιϲ.нεяσιηε~]

In between Tori's sobs, she heard a tapping noise on her window. She wiped her tears and walked to the window. Sliding it up to open it while she peaks over it. "Aer...." she whispered to herself. His name echoed through her head while she went on a short daze.

Breaking the daze, she looked down and wondered what he wanted. "You can come upstairs...." she offered. It was difficult to hear from the ground to her room, and there was a ladder there.

Tori used to get grounded all the time due to her 'rebellions' so her and Aer put a ladder beside her window so that he could visit her during her grounded days. They barely used it now, but its still sturdy and there.

Tori sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for him to come up

[Cloudsong]

Aer climbed up the ladder quickly, wanting to get up there before she could change her mind about seeing him. As soon as he was inside of the room, he closed the window, turning to face her. He approached her warily, a look of sorrow on his face. "First... I'd like to apologize for being an insufferable ass," he said. It was surprising, as Aer wasn't one to curse. "I only accepted the invitation to prom because I was sure that you would go with Sam." His words came out in a rush, and he ran a hand through his wet hair.

"But luckily for you, I have an idea." He knew that she would know that he wouldn't want to go with Jennifer. "Tori... I love you more than my life now." He hesitated before rephrasing; "You are my life, Tori. Ever since we were in the sixth grade, I've been in love with you." He paused, glancing over towards the outside, seeing the pouring rain outside. "I want to go with you... And I know how to make this right."