Hello~ This is my first Ascension fanfic... Zander and Aida are made for each other, just saying.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ascension or any of it's characters.

I don't even know how long it's been. Hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. I didn't give up. There was no way I was going to lose her. Everyday was the same: search through the rubble and debris for any – any – sign of her. I didn't stop for anything, not even food or sleep.

"Zander."

I didn't even acknowledge the fact I heard the hardy dwarf behind me. To be honest, I barely did; I blocked out the world from everything unless it related to her. I kept my elven-ears trained on her voice, icey-blue eyes straining through the rubble for her iconic silver hair.

"Alexander."

My body kept moving on its own. My hands – scared with countless cuts from the rocks – shifted through the mess that held her trapped. My eyes were starting to droop, but I refused to close them as I may miss an important sign of her. My back ached, but I did not give in. There was a dull pain in my stomach too, which I also dutifully ignored. Unless it was related to her, I ignored everything else.

I was suddenly ripped from my couching position, thrown back onto the ground. Before me stood an angry, short woman. Her brown hair was braided, falling limply down her shoulder. She had green garbs on that hung off her wide, curvy figure. Her usually friendly eyes held a look of disappointment.

"Zander..." she tried again.

My eyes slowly met hers. An ache formed in my chest. I barely felt it, but I knew it was telling met to keep searching.

"You need to take a break. You'll end up killing yourself."

I wanted to speak, lash out at the woman who thought knew what was right. I couldn't, however. I lost my ability to speak within the first week of searching. Shock and lack of water does that to you.

"C'mon..."

She grabbed on of my pale purple arms, hoisting me to my wobbly feet. The sudden movement made the world spin around me.

I heard the dwarf next to me call out a name. Whose, I wasn't too sure.

Another figure appeared next to me, gripping the other arm which wasn't preoccupied. I gave the figure a sideways glance. He was a medium-height, muscular man with short golden locks. His sculptured face held a broadness to it. He wore the attire of Knight; an iron shoulder armour piece and a white tank.

"I know you miss her, Skirts... We all do. But you seriously need to take care of yourself."

They walked me back to the city, away from her. I tried to wiggle away when it dawned on me, but they held a tight grasp. There was no escaping.

I felt like I should've been dead. I felt nothing. No emotions. I barely felt pain. I briefly wondered if this is what a Noble feels like, but I wasn't exactly a killer. Then again, I probably would kill Diego without a second thought. The magic that coursed through my veins was almost non-existant, as magic is connected to one's emotions; something I no longer had. That part of Zander was with her.

OoO

We got back to the city. The brought me back to the inn where they force-fed me and forced me to drink. It didn't go well. I stopped eating and drinking for a reason aside from the fact I was too busy – my stomach couldn't handle it anymore. I ended up using my non-existant energy in running to the outhouse to relief myself of the sickening churns which emitted from my stomach.

When I returned, I sat at the bar counter, head in my hands. I had no more energy to move, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself to go find her. My mind was blank, my eyes closed but yet I still couldn't find sweet relief in which was sleep. Instead, I finally tuned my ears in on the conversation my so-called 'companions' were saying.

"Jace, Sky. I'm worried about Zander... He's seriously going to end up killing himself at this rate," started the dwarf.

"I agree, Tillie. It's stupid how Skirts is acting. He thinks he's the only one who misses her!"

"I miss her just as much as he does... But I seriously think he's still in shock that she's... gone. I haven't seen him smile or use his magic since. Tillie, doesn't his magic react when he's seriously emotional?"

There was a pause as the dwarf thought how to respond. "Yes, it does... I believe he's still in some sort of shock. Either that, or he's past the point he no longer feels anything – almost like a Noble. I'm afraid that he'll end up hurting himself and a lot of other people if he suddenly... explodes..."

The male of the group sighed. "Yeah..."

At that point, I tuned back out. I no longer cared for what they said. But there were wrong on one thing: I am never going to explode. I no longer have the emotions to mess with my magic to begin with.

OoO

It's been another month since the incident at the inn. My companions managed to get me to eat, drink and sleep after a while, but it still left me with an uneasy guilt inside of me that gnawed at me every second.

Slowly, as the days wore on, there was a shift of emotions. Even I noticed. At first, it was nothing. Idle chatter between the three members,excluding myself. Then, it slowly dawned on my dead mind that Tillie was slowly spending less time at the site where she is. At first, it didn't bother me. Then Jace slowly started to give up as well. Finally her best friend, Sky, stopped following me back.

I paid no mind to them. I would've felt betrayal, if I could. I just kept going back; a daily routine I refused to break out of. They would just watch me shuffle to and fro – obviously the strain of this all weighing heavily on my slowly shrinking figure. I paid no mind until they confronted me one day.

"Zander."

I was sitting at the bar, forcing the cup of liquid down my throat. I slowly turned my head towards the voice in acknowledgement. My dead eyes studied her rounded figure.

The blonde and brunette stood next to the dwarf, offering little support to her next words.

"Do you... think it may be time to accept the fact that she may be... dead...?" Her words were soft and quiet.

I stared at her, looking at her as if she was crazy – which she was. It was impossible. She was too stubborn, headstrong and downright stupid to die.

"Zander please..."

The patheticness of her voice made me stand up abruptly. "Don't you dare tell me she's dead..." I hissed harshly at her.

The trio jump back in astonishment. They weren't expecting me to tun so venomous after months of being a decaying, walking corpse. Their eyes glowed orange as they looked at the light that emitted from my hand.

I dared not look at it. It was impossible for it to be there. Emotional Zander had died. I had no emotions to mess with my magic.

I felt their pitiful stares as I stomped away from the inn. I felt as if I didn't get out of there, many people were going to parish.

OoO

I ended up back at that site on accident. My feet automatically took me there. As if machine, I started to shift through the rocks again without being told to. My mind flashed memories of the events that had just happened, making a familiar feeling boil my insides.

"She's not dead... She's not dead. They are just stupid, idiotic..."

The rocks in my hands started to glow orange with the heat that coursed through them.

"She's not dead..."

I felt my breath pick up as more unpleasant, familiar feelings started to swirl around my insides. I gripped the rocks, the air around my intensifying with heat.

Then, it hit me. Hard. Fast. So sudden I had no time to brace myself.

"By the old kings, she's not dead!"

An inferno of agonizing fire erupted from my very core, spreading quite literally as wildfire. All the emotions I thought were dead came flying out with the magic. All I could see was red as I did nothing to restrain myself, the fiery inferno basically melted anything it touched. I screamed and screamed as the fiery flames licked at my blistering skin. It wasn't the burn I was in pain about, however. It was the agonizing angst of not having her, knowing that she was trapped in the damned tower, knowing that I didn't go and rescue the one girl I would ever love.

The fires intensified as I sobbed out tears that would only evaporate in mere seconds due to the heat. I collapsed to my side as exhaustion swept over me like a gale so suddenly, the blazing inferno of red burned all around me. My sobbing was left unheard as the constant cracking of my destruction and pain drowned it out.

I don't know how long I stayed there, withering in my self-inflicted pain. Honestly, I could care less. All I cared about was the fact I had finally accepted it.

Aida was dead.

Hope they weren't too out of character... Reviews are nice