She didn't dare open her eyes, relying on what little sense of touch she had left to know that her hands were still around her partner's. Something, she assumed it was wind, lashed at her, cutting into her skin. At least, that's what it felt like. She might have been bleeding. She didn't think she was; not that she could tell.

A particularly strong burst nearly dislocated her shoulder, causing her to cry out; more in surprise than in pain at this point. "Are… are you okay?!" she called out over the wind.

Her partner's grip tightened slightly, so she took that as a yes. A burst of light… or lightning… shot past her closed eyes. The clawed hands slipped a little, probably leaving scratches. Not that she would know.

She was pretty sure this wasn't supposed to be this… turbulent, but who knew, considering…

She screamed at her partner to hang on; just a little bit longer, though she had no idea far they had come or how far they had to go. All that mattered in the moment was that they needed each other to get through this. Their role… this mission…

She felt more than saw something move. Not her, not her partner. Probably wasn't the one who sent them either. Whoever, whatever, it was, she felt that it had no good intentions. Risking her sight, she cracked open an eye just enough to see a dark shape behind her partner. She didn't know if he noticed it, but it didn't matter.

It took all her strength to pull him to her, curling up around him and praying it was enough, but she did it. Earlier thoughts went right out the window. If it only had to be one… he was the one better equipped.

The collision – attack – almost made her miss her partner's scream over the pain exploding in the back of her skull. Reeling, her eyes fluttered open without her consent. The dark shape vanished, and it took her a moment to process that it was apparently whisked off somewhere else. Her vision blurred, blacked out once… twice. So like that but not…

She idly wondered how long her partner was scrabbling at her hands, and if that wasn't a sign of the damage… Oh. Her grip was slipping.

Was she closing her hands? She had no idea. "No… I can't…" Her words were more mouthed than spoken, her voice fading along with her consciousness despite her struggles.

More flashes. Then everything suddenly went white as she finally let go; and she managed to muster one last scream. Thrown elsewhere into space-time.

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There were soft, shifting colors of light all around her… for about two seconds until she was suddenly in the middle a very different storm. Before she even had time to properly notice the abrupt return to chaos she was being dumped headfirst into vicious salt water. Normally she'd have some comment on the universe's placement skills, but at the moment all she could manage was 'What… the heck' as rain continued to lash at her body when it wasn't consumed by the sea.

She could barely get in half a breath between waves. Was she still breathing? Everything kind of hurt at the moment.

Lightning flashed overhead, providing her only sense of any sort of direction. She looked up and noticed a foreboding cliff illuminated by the bolts right before she was slammed into it and knocked sideways, losing consciousness once more.

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When thoughts finally began to form in her head, all she could tell was that the storm had ended. She might've assumed she had gone deaf, or died again, but she could still hear small waves hitting the rocks.

'Where… where am I?'

She finally managed to open her eyes, and was nearly blinded by the light for her trouble. She was on what she could only assume was a beach somewhere. Unfortunately she could register much more than that as she found herself drifting off again.

Well, her head hurt, so that was something.

She tried desperately to stay awake, but after only a few moments succumbed and lapsed once more into darkness.

Author's Notes:

Welcome readers. This story was the first one I ever posted on this site, although I never got farther than literally the introduction of the game back then. I posted the prologue and first chapter back in 2012, and never really got back to it until late 2016. That right there is the reason why I began my policy of 'finish the fic before I post it'. I feel bad about having abandoned stories on here.

This one is going to be the exception to the rule, I guess, since it's already here. So even though I haven't gotten much farther, and even though there's still not as much polish as I'd like, I'm going to go ahead and post my rewrites. Because it's still better than what was here. I'll post as I go, I guess; just don't expect much. :P

And on a completely random note, virtual cookies to anyone who noticed what I did with the scene breaks. ;)