After the forge, the sword is sharper.
After the break, the bone is harder.

After the fight, the knight is mighty.
After the night, the light is brighter.

After the fracture, the bond is stronger.

Melanie sat on floor of the stone dais. The steps were still wet from the water, and Lenny was leaning against one of the pillars.

"What happened?" Melanie asked.

"Hand me that," Lenny asked.

Melanie grabbed a thin strip of colorful fabric from the floor of the gazebo. She handed it to Lenny, who held it tight with both hands.

"When we at Clockworks, we had to use this," Lenny explained. "We each held one end, and it was like we were touching. Connected."

Melanie stared at her incredulously. "Syd?" she asked.

The girl nodded, and Melanie hugged her fiercely.

When Syd was in another person's body, she could touch people. Melanie took advantage of the chance to hug her surrogate daughter.

"Lenny saved me," Syd explained. "When David wasn't looking, she touched me, and we switched places. David thought she was me, and he took her with him to the world he was building in the Astral Plane."

Melanie kept her hand on Syd's arm, but said nothing.

Syd looked down at the fabric she was clutching. Even in the dim cave, the fabric's bright color could be seen. "I had no idea David still had this. That he still believed we could …"

Suddenly, Syd scrunched the fabric up into a ball and threw it across the cave in disgust. It landed in the last dregs of draining water, which pulled the fabric down the gaping hole in the rock.

"Come on, Melanie." Syd stood up and dusted off her hands. "Let's help these people get home."

Syd stepped off the dais, and Melanie followed behind her.

◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆ḅᛒ◆

Dawn was breaking when Cary woke up. The morning sun was peeking over the distant trees, and rays of light were hitting the edge of the valley.

Cary touched his chin gingerly and winced when he touched his bruise. He also had a headache, but it wasn't too bad.

"Kerry?" he called out instinctively, but there was no response.

He wiggled free from his bonds. He recognized it as Kerry's belt, so he kept it with him as he walked.

His memories were trickling back into his conscious mind, but his unconscious mind knew exactly where to go.

He was walking somewhere with purpose, but he didn't know where he was going or why. It was like the gentle tug of a current, slowly pushing him in a vague direction until he finally floated downstream.

He remembered what he had said to Kerry. How he had demanded she help the others. He had meant for the two of them to fight David together. He never meant for her to go into battle alone.

Tendrils of fog still clung to the feet of boulders and trees. The fog swirled as Cary hurried past.

He picked his way through some low brambles, then stumbled down a sandy bank. The bank was damp and slippery, like a lot of water had recently flooded over it. A piece of brightly-colored fabric was snagged on a bush.

At the bottom of the bank was a small rocky beach beside a stream. Kerry was laying there on her back. He grabbed her hand, but it was cold and wet. She wasn't breathing.

Cary dropped to his knees on the damp ground and called Kerry's name again and again, but she didn't respond. He had always worried that he would die before her, and the separation might kill her. But the thought of losing her and having to go on living by himself was just unthinkable.

He wasn't sure what would happen if she was dead and he tried to meld with her. He might die too. But he realized he didn't care. He laid down over her, and they formed together again.

Cary sighed deeply, letting the wave of their connection wash over him. Live or die, always together.

They had been broken apart and tested and tortured and had suffered alone. But now they were together again, and their bond was reforged into something stronger than before.

They gasped and breathed in deep and full. The bright light of the morning sky was above them. Their head hurt and their chest ached, and they coughed up water and fought to breathe.

They were alive. Or maybe dead. They weren't sure. They looked around and sat up and tried to figure it out.

But then they realized, they didn't give a flying fuck if they were in this world or the next.

As long as they were together.