Rainbow Dash gripped her bed sheets tight, frowning lightly as sweat appeared on her forehead. Her stomach churned and her heart thumped, the images running through her mind filling her with both pleasure and fear. She tried to fight it, to ignore the pictures of this strange girl with sparkling pink eyes, but every minute it got more and more bizarre. Rainbow jolted up, breathing heavily as she looked around the room frantically. No-one. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, the sun streaming through the bottom of her window. No point in going back to sleep now. She crawled out of bed and walked towards the mirror, leaning on the desk. She looked into her reflection and barely recognized the girl looking back at her; the once energetic, ready-for-action girl had been replaced by someone who hadn't slept properly in weeks.
As Rainbow turned away from the mirror, she swore she could see her out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned back, the image of her entrancing eyes slowly fading away from the mirror. But of course, now it was haunting in real life. She trailed down the stairs, brushing the hair out of her eyes. Since Sunset’s prison release, she’d been focusing so much on how Sunset must’ve felt with the pressure that she’d never considered her own feelings. It wasn't until her graduation that Rainbow realised just had bad she had it. Since Sunset was no longer a delinquent, she had no reason to think of her anymore.
To others, it’d probably be described as selfish. But Rainbow had spent so much of her high school life thinking of others, sticking up for them, always been there to help them and lift them back up. Was it too much to look after herself?
This was a problem Rainbow Dash had to deal with herself though, she knew it. There was no point in getting involved with anyone else. She’d spent the last couple of years alone since her father had passed away from cancer; she could continue to be alone.
Rainbow opened up the fridge, but stood there with it open, thinking to herself. She knew she wouldn’t be able to live much longer with less than four hours of sleep every night. Did these dreams and nightmares mean something? She sighed and slammed the fridge shut, running back upstairs. She quickly changed, pulling her hair up and grabbing her phone. For now, she had to deal with this alone. She deleted all her friends’ contacts and threw her phone back on her bed. Heading back downstairs, she pulled on her shoes and raced outside.
She had to find her.
Adagio raced out of the store, gripping the pastries close to her chest as the store manager screamed out. She dived down the nearest alleyway and climbed up a stack of wooden boxes, leaping over the wall. Easy. She bolted down the path away from town until she couldn’t hear a single voice.
She plonked herself down behind a tree and began to eat happily. She felt no remorse as she finished her meal, but definitely felt annoyed at how small it had been. Nevertheless, she couldn’t go back now. She leaned back against the tree and stared up at the sky, slowly closing her eyes…
“There she is!” The sound of the store manager immediately alerted Adagio, and she jumped up on her feet, racing off through the forest.
“Get her!” The voice echoed around, and Adagio frantically sped up, zipping around the trees. She couldn’t get caught, not now, not ever. She vowed to keep going for the only people she ever cared about — her only family in this world. Now wasn’t the time to break that promise. Oh, if only those guys would understand.
Adagio raced out into a clearing, the shouts still ringing through her mind, she looked back, and almost fell off the edge of the cliff, skidding to a stop. She whipped around, seeing the shadows of the police nearing her. Peering down into the rushing river below, she crossed her fingers behind her back, slowly walking towards the edge.
Adagio jumped, her arms firmly fixed by her sides as the water raced up to meet her. She quickly looked around for any nearby land to save herself, while still desperately trying to dodge the maze of rocks. So far, nothing. She looked behind her, shielding herself from the sun as she peered down. Hearing the rush of water, she turned back to see the water falling off the edge.
Oh no.
Having no idea where it was going to lead, she clawed at the rocks, trying to get a grip, but to no avail. She knew there was no way she could get into safety position for this fall. She looked back at the drop, and noticed the branch sticking to the rocks right next to the waterfall. She struggled towards it and gripped it tight, trying to curve around to reach the flat rock near her. Suddenly, she heard a snap, and with barely enough time to react, Adagio felt herself falling yet again, this time her back facing the water. She crashed down, closing her eyes tight. At first she was okay, but she thought too soon, as her head was quickly met with yet another rock sticking up out of the ground.
Slowly and safely from then on, the unconscious thief drifted up to the nearby land.
“Damn thieves,” Rainbow heard the store owner mumble as she trailed past her. She stopped and looked back.
“What thieves?” she asked, catching the woman’s attention.
“Any! All of them! Keep comin’ into my store and running off with my treats! Ain’t gon’ have much left for the people who pay if this keeps happening!” she complained, marching off.
Rainbow blinked, continuing down the road. Why was it that everyone made it sound like having the title “thief” was such a bad thing? I mean, they do steal stuff people should pay for, but it’s what they’re stealing that people should pay attention to. Not entertainment. Not jewelry. But food. It’s not exactly their fault they can’t afford it. People like this don’t deserve to be treated badly, because all it does is make them need more. Still, Rainbow didn’t want to get involved with those people. She wasn’t like them. And there wasn’t really anything she could do.
Rainbow looked around. Still no sign of the one in her dreams. She knew only her eyes, but had a feeling she’d know if it was the one. She carried on, making her way to the not so deep forest, eyeing the police that walked by with curiosity. Funny that she was heading in the direction of the thief. She shrugged. She could protect herself if needed.
Rainbow looked out at the clearing, but saw only a cliff. She turned back and looked around for another exit. There wasn’t a noticeable one, but she could see a wide open space near a river through the trees. She crawled through, almost getting her foot stuck a couple of times in the trees. She jumped down off the small cliff and looked towards the slow running water. She smiled a little and trailed her eyes across the sparkling blue water mixed with the shades of red.
At notice, her eyes widened and shock. T-That was blood! She raced down towards the river, but abruptly stopped when she almost tripped over something.
Or someone. Her hands flew to her mouth as she took one look at the girl, lying on her side, blood seeping from her head. She quickly crouched down, carefully taking a look. It was pretty serious, and who knows how long she’d been here. Rainbow had to do something, but hadn’t brought anything with her for the trip. She looked around to see if there was anything she could use, and quickly saw her ray of hope.
Adagio could feel nothing as she slowly cracked an eye open, groaning. A few seconds later, she felt a jolt of pain and winced, her hand curling into a fist.
“Sorry!”
Adagio heard the quiet apology as bright as day. She wasn’t alone. Someone was here, and they were… helping her.
Had they known who she was, Adagio was sure they wouldn’t.
She sat up, ignoring the pain, she turned to face the girl with vibrant rainbow hair with what could’ve been a glare. Without a word, she went to stand up.
“No, you shouldn’t—”
The girl’s words were cut off as Adagio’s ears buzzed and her vision blurred. Her head ached and her knees buckled, and she stumbled back towards the ground, the girl’s arms supporting her fall. A few seconds or so, she regained her senses.
“Idiot,” the girl said bluntly, pointing to the wound wrapped securely by palm leaves. “You’ve lost a lot of blood from that injury. I would’ve taken you to a hospital, but I’m not that strong. So I did what I could.”
Adagio growled quietly, but placed her hand carefully on the wound. Whatever she’d done, it had definitely helped. She hated to admit it, but after she was knocked out, she’d probably have died if she had stayed like that any longer. Of course she should thank her.
That was gonna be hard though.
Adagio bit her lip and looked to the side. “Yeah, whatever.” She leaned forward, hugging her knee.
She could see the girl roll her eyes in the corner of her vision. “That’s it?”
“Hey, I didn’t ask you to help me,” Adagio said, scooping a pile of dirt and watching it fall through her fingers.
“But you sure aren’t complaining,” she said, holding out a bottle of water. “Here, got this for you. Didn’t really feel comfortable leaving you here alone, but I was pretty quick about it.”
Adagio stared at it, gingerly taking it into her hand, she popped off the lid and took a long swig, wiping the remains from around her lips when she was finished. “Um, thanks,” she said quietly, handing it back.
The girl held up her hands, refusing. “You keep it. I have no need for it. So what are you doing here anyways?”
“Hiding,” Adagio said, drinking a bit more.
“From what?”
Adagio bit her lip and turned away again. She waited for the girl to come to a realisation. Thankfully, she did. Adagio wasn’t in the mood to explain anything.
“You mean you… you’re the… you are, aren’t you? You’re the one who stole from that woman before.”
Adagio scooped up some more dirt. “Not my fault I’m hungry.”
The blue skinned girl grabbed her wrist, helping her up. “I know. And I want to help you.”
“Help me? Why?” Adagio stepped back.
“Because I feel sorry for you. For all of you. Other people would think it’s bad, but obviously they’re all blind. I mean, just look at you! They see a person who deserves jail time. I see a person who needs help. They work so hard to help the ones who they care about, they ignore all the people who really need help. So I want to be the one, starting with you. Now come on,” she said, heading back up towards the forest.
Adagio pulled out of her grasp. “I can’t. They’ll catch me.”
“No, they won’t. I’ll make sure of it,” Rainbow Dash said seriously, before turning back and smiling at her a little.
Adagio lowered her eyes, reluctantly following after her. Together, the two made their way through the maze of trees.
“I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way.”
“Adagio.”
“Sweet name.”
