​     "Niki! Niki!" 

     Niki went to open her eyes to see who called her name, but then she realized they were open. Oh no. Oh my God, no. Niki's universe had become a swirling mass of nausea and disorientation, and now she couldn't even see? 

​     "T-Trevor?" 

     "Niki, are you okay?" 

     "I can't see, Trevor!" 

     "Okay. Okay, so..." Trevor had no idea how to handle this situation. And where were the fucking Azure? One of their soldiers was maimed, maybe dying, and an Azure healer could return Niki to fighting strength so easily. But the Azure did what the Azure did because the Azure did what the Azure...really, there was no use questioning why the Azure did anything.

     Trevor shot another look up at Pomimi to see how well he was doing against Egoneg. 

​     Ooo, not well. 

     It was like the great bubble blob that was Egoneg looked Pomimi full in the eye... 

     and what in the hell was Pomimi doing being visible, anyway?

     And then Trevor saw Pomimi fall like a rock out of the sky.

     Trevor did not have a single moment to think about it.   

​     "Bye," he said, turning invisible.

     He rose to save his falling comrade. 

     "N-Niki?" Fathom said. 

     "F-Fathom?" Niki replied. 

     "I can't see you, Niki!" 

     "Hi," Niki said. 

     And then Fathom could see her, and Fathom gasped because Niki looked so ghastly pale. The blood from her skull wound had coagulated, so what Fathom saw was dry and black and red and all down one side of her body.  

     And Niki's eyes looked frantic. 

     They looked frantic because they stared out at nothing. 

     Niki was blind, and that fact scared her more than anything else ever had before in her life. 

     "F-Fathom?" Niki said again. 

     "Niki, it's me! It's Fathom! I am so so so so sorry I didn't recognize you before. Everything happened so...I'm afraid to hug you."  

     "Hug me."                                                                                                                       "I'm afraid I'll..."

​     "Hug me!" 

     They embraced so that Fathom pressed up against the side of Niki's head that wasn't hurt. "I can't see, Fathom! I'm scared!" 

     "I'm scared, too! I'm so...I'm..." Fathom kissed the tears from Niki's eyes. Then, 

     "Where's Trevor?" Niki asked. "What..."

     "There's a blimp in the sky, Niki! It's like this huge, ugly blimp, and Trevor's..." 

     A blimp? Niki could make no sense out of that whatsoever. Still, Fathom was with her, was in her arms. They drew love and solace from other's souls the way they'd draw warmth from each other's bodies in a snowstorm.

     "Please don't leave me," Niki said. "Please, Fathom, please."

     "I'll never leave you again," Fathom said. "I promise."  

                                                    CONTINUE