It was a large, flat field, and the two of us had just landed and thrown are wing blades to one side. That was when he began attacking. We ran—oh, how we ran. Without our wing blades, we were incapable of getting close to him, and each jab was more and more dangerous as his bloodshot, rage-filled eyes hunted us down.

"We have to stop him," she cried out.

But how could I, I wondered, when I still loved him so much?

We dodged each attack, and finally she was hit, sent sprawling to a side. Still, she picked herself up slowly, looking at me with imploring eyes.

"We need something sharp," I sighed My heart was heavy, but I knew what I had to do. The screech overhead was getting louder. I grabbed a pair of wing blades that we had dropped earlier, "How can I sharpen these?" I yelled over the noise.

She motioned toward her own wing blades, off to one side. I took the edge of my pair and desperately scraped the edges of the wings against hers. The sound of metal tearing against metal hurt my ears and the motion sent sparks up into the sky. I winced at the noise and at the tear of muscles in my shoulder. There would be pain tomorrow—if we made it to tomorrow.

He was readying for another attack, flying up high from the edge of the clearing, where the trees were. Wing blades whirring, he dove towards me. Why? I screamed at him in my head, Why won't you wake up and see what has happened to you? Briefly, my mind wondered why, despite the intensity and the number of attacks, I had yet to feel a scratch from any of his attacks. Was he deliberately avoiding me? Too late to wonder why I was still alive, despite the odds, I ran towards him, battle cry emerging from somewhere deep in my stomach.

We raced toward one another, one diving in from the sky, the other running on foot through the dry, trampled grasses. Finally, at the last possible second, I let go of the wing blades, letting the sharpened tips fly with the speed from my momentum towards his body while I rolled to the side. My tears mixed with grime from battle, and as I peered through the dirt that caked my face, I saw a large plume of dust rise from the place where he crashed.

I stumbled towards him, falling midway, my legs unable to carry me further. The dust began to settle...