PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE BEATEN THE CHAPTER "THE BOAT"!

Good GOD this story gave me hell to upload. For some reason Fanfiction wouldn't accept my documents for the past two days and I was starting to freak out thinking it was my computer. Glad to know it's fixed now, but did anyone else have a problem like that?

So, my first one-shot for Mirror's Edge received a lot of totally unexpected support. It's close to a year old (wait, really?) and to this day I still get reviews for it and requests to write for the series again. I'll admit, I only had two ideas, this being one of them, but I totally loved the game and just had to write for it again. I suppose you already know what this story is about, but I'm stubborn so I won't talk about the details until the end of this story. For some reason I've been in an odd mood where I absolutely could not write anything unless it was a story where it's about only one character and the narration gets into their head, and after realizing I couldn't win against my writer's block (and unfortunetly had to drop three Prince of Persia stories to write this and get on with it) I finally wrote this story.

Based on: Mirror's Edge (EA/DICE. Sequel, please)
Rating: K+ for slight emotional conflict and mentions of death. Gasp!
Author's Note: This story is a bit like Colmac McCarthy's The Road in the sense that for some reason he doesn't use quotations and leaves everything very open. I guess I was inspired by that but it wasn't exactly intentional. This story is very short and is only 1,200 words long, and it's mainly about character developement and getting into their heads. No action like my other ME story, alas. The whole "conspiracy" thing for the game's plot still gets me confused in terms of what those involved did, so my appologies if my adaption here is inaccurate.
And no, the title wasn't supposed to be the Led Zeppelin song.

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There was nothing she could do to stop it.

They came at her so quickly that day. She could run faster, run farther and across obstacles that they dare not even try to overcome, but they had the equipment, the numbers, the brute force that she lacked. They had guns, and they had her life in their hands.

What was she supposed to do? She was surrounded, trapped in a circle with weapons all pointed to her face. Trigger fingers ready to twitch at the slightest movement. She put her hands up in hopes that she wouldn't be riddled with bullets, her eyes scanning the area for any possible means of escape. There were none.

She didn't have her com on that day. There was no reason to—it wasn't even a handoff. Just a little trip to the café to get a small lunch, and then they came at her.

Was her identity really that obvious? Did she really stick out that much? Maybe it was just her way of travel—she slipped into a dark alley where a few wall runs would get her onto a roof, and in this damn city even the slightest bit of suspicious movement meant you were a Runner. But they acted as though they were...expecting her.

One of them stepped out from the circle and snagged the yellow bag off from her shoulder. He didn't seem like a cop, just some meaty guy with white hair, bad teeth, and hands that looked like they could break a neck easily. She recognized him as Ropeburn, that old wrestler who was fired for head butting the ref and somehow Pope's favorite and head of his security. He seemed disappointed when he realized that there was nothing but just food in the bag, and took it out and stomped on it on the concrete floor, staining the otherwise clean world.

They gave her no choice.

You're a Runner, he said. You're the scum of the Earth who just won't let this city progress into its new and better era—an era with no sorrow, no anger, no violence, no dirt soiling your eyes. We could kill you right here and now, he said. One bullet is all that it'd take, and they had hundreds.

Then he asked if she knew Pope. Yeah, she heard of him. Didn't know him personally. He asked if they supported him. She shrugged, told them she could care less about politics. They didn't seem impressed.

We want you to kill Pope for us, Ropeburn said. He knows too much. You have the skill to break in and out. They won't even know.

Or we'll kill you.

It wasn't meant to go as far as it did. All she had to do was shoot Pope and steal that stupid diary. No one would ever know about Icarus. No one would ever be able to stop them. Faith and Mercury, Kreeg and Drake, they'd be dead. They would be stupid not to conform, and if they didn't take the same offer they gave her, they'd be dead. But she knew them well—they'd rather die by their own hand than have to work for this damn city.

But Faith had to go ahead and mess things up.

How was she supposed to know that cop was Faith's sister? They didn't tell her anything—they just said that a cop would be visiting Pope, which would provide a perfect distraction, and that she was to kill him. They didn't say to kill the cop, and she didn't seem like a threat. After all, you do something wrong in this city, you're dead. Using that cop's own gun as the murder weapon would have made it all go smoothly.

But she was hasty.

There was evidence, and Faith took it. And that day in Merc's liar she was absolutely certain that Faith wouldn't even try to go that far into the lion's den. But she did.

Ropeburn was too concerned swimming in his own knee-high pile of muck he'd stepped into to worry about her. So she was instead under control of the CPF. The PK's, they called themselves. And when she heard that Faith had found out about the murder, she had to do something. So she started following her.

She was surprised when Faith had somehow bested Ropeburn. And when she saw her offer to help him up, she knew he would tell her everything.

It was for her own sake. She had to kill him. She had to silence Ropeburn, or else she knew Faith would come after her.

But even then Faith wasn't finished.

That day they talked outside Merc's lair, she knew she had to stop Faith. Or else she would be killed, no second chances given. CPF was furious at Ropeburn's death, but as far as they were concerned, it was all Faith's doing. Faith knows about the meeting she and Ropeburn were supposed to have, she told them. She would be coming.

Kill her then.

She was a bit nervous when Faith had followed her that day into that swarm of cops. All she did was stand there, watching behind her mask as Faith somehow managed to dodge the bullets and get the hell out of there. They couldn't blame her for their failure; she did all she needed to do. She was even shocked at Faith's luck. But she couldn't be lucky forever.

She had a new job after that. Faith wasn't her concern at the moment—all she had to do was keep an eye on the boat from then on. Just incase the Runners decided to get in the way. You're the only one who can match up to their skills, they said. Icarus isn't ready yet.

We need you.

But Faith's energy and persistence never seemed to end. She was informed by the PK's that Faith had broken into their facility and learned about Icarus. The project wasn't ready, but she was told they were forced to use it against Faith. She knew too much.

But how she managed to stay alive through that entire time, she never knew. Faith had more skill than she was aware, and now she regretted her blindness.

But she still had power. She had the equipment, she had the numbers, and she had a gun.

Faith only had herself.

She was ready when Faith came after her on the boat that day. She was more than nervous lining up her shots at her and just barely missing as she sprinted past. She was shooting at her friend.

But she had to remind herself—no life was more important than her own.

She nearly defeated Faith that day. She could see the surprise in her eyes when she found out the skills she had. After all, she trained with her. She had the same skills as Faith did.

But that didn't help her.

Running away from her, creating obstacles for her only to stumble for a mere second, trying to best her in the fight—it was all a failure.

Faith had more than just shock in her eyes when she saw what hidden behind the mask. She could see the memories of her past, the anger of her betrayal, and the sadness of losing a friend within them.

There would be no nervousness this time. There would be no hesitation. She would kill Faith right here and now.

But then the PK's had to ruin everything.

Faith is strong. Stronger than she ever believed was possible. She was persistent, stubborn, and a nuisance to the city's well-being. And she tried to kill her.

Her name is Celeste. She betrayed her cause, her friends, the Runners who acted as her family...all for the sake of keeping her own life.

And she had no regrets.

--
I love Celeste. I don't know what it is about her, but she and Merc are my favorite characters. As you guys might know, I love writing stories about what you don't see in games, so I wanted to try and get a little backstory about Celeste and what her actions were when we didn't see her. If anything, this story was more of an experiment and a "leave me alone stupid writer's block" thing, but I still tried to put effort and emotion into this. If it isn't that detailed, that's because I wanted to stick with the open feeling of it all. Think of it as a dream, in a way.

I am surprisingly at loss for words here (I call it "Last day of summer" blues), so I guess there's really nothing else to explain. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!