Racing the Sunset

[reliarobot]

Ivy hopped off her broom and leaned it against the outer wall of Kina's apartment. She tucked her goggles into the pocket of her leather jacket, held her pointed hat in both hands, and took a deep breath as she ascended the stairs.

"I should have come sooner..." Too melodramatic. "Hey, Kina, can we talk?" Too anxiety inducing. "Kina! Hey! Listen..." No. "I apologize for my actions..." Ugh, She sounded like a corporate stooge. Ivy felt the envelope in her pocket. She'd tried to write out how she felt, in case she chickened out and couldn't say anything. But that'd be almost worse.

Kina's door. Ivy closed her eyes, straightened her back, and knocked on the door.

No response. Ivy opened one eye.

The door was open.

She pushed her way inside. "Kina?" She called. The apartment was nearly empty, save for a small envelope with Kina's delicate handwriting on top - "to Ivy."

Ivy picked it up and started to read it. Her eyes went wide as she scanned down the page. Phrases jumped out at her; "by the time you read this," "I can't be here anymore," "back where I belong." Ivy dropped the letter and bolted out the door and down the stairs, as the fading sunlight fell on the last words - "goodbye, Ivy."

No way. She got to her broom and ran alongside it, trying to kickstart it. The thaumic engine caught, and she jumped on, hands rigid on the handle. No way! The engine roared as she channeled magic into it and she barreled into the street, forcing a car to swerve and stomp on the brakes and horn as she skidded through the air out onto the road. No WAY! She couldn't let it end like this!

She wove in and out of traffic, pushing the broom's engine to its limits. Her eyes streamed until she risked a hand off the controls, plunging into her pocket and stretching the goggles over her head, barely holding onto her hat as she sped down the highway to the Hedge.

Sirens sounded behind her. The cops were the last thing she needed right now. She checked her mirrors, licked her lips, and kicked the broom nearly vertical. The engine roared, and she gave the red-and-blue lights a cheeky salute as she boosted upwards, barely skipping off the concrete divide and onto the freeway.

Going the wrong way, but what can you do?

She landed heavily, boots skidding along the asphalt for a moment, knuckles inches from being sanded away. Gradually, she lifted up from the ground and made her way across the freeway, only to be cut off by a speeding Ferrari. She didn't have time to go around, so she went over, close enough to see the driver's irate face as she planted a boot right on the hood to help her gain altitude. She landed on the correct side of the freeway this time, her leg feeling like it had tried to kick a brick wall that hated her.

The sun broke through the glass and steel of the downtown skyscrapers. It was almost completely down, painting the sky in brilliant colors. She gritted her teeth and gunned the engine even harder, stretching her magic for every ounce of speed available to her, throwing herself flat against the broom for less resistance. She sped past trucks, skimmed over cars already going 30 over the limit, wove between deadlocked traffic. Anything to get there before Kina left. She couldn't let her go without saying her piece.

The last few months flashed through her mind like the faces in the cars she passed. Meeting Kina for the first time. Introducing her to her motorbroom friends. Kina's constant insecurity. Her feeling that she didn't belong in the human world. The late night talks, gazing up at the stars. The broom rides, with Kina holding on tightly as Ivy whooped, the wind in their hair. Kina's growing fears and anxieties. Hands held tight, warm and soft.

The argument.

Ivy had stormed out, kicked her broom on and flown away. She hadn't checked in on Kina for a week. She'd meant to, but the things she'd said... she hadn't known how to take them back. Her friends had told her Kina was getting worse, but this...

It's her choice, thought Ivy, the sun reflecting off her goggles onto the metal freeway fence flickering beside her, but I'll be damned if I let her go without at least trying to talk to her. The Hedge came into view, and Ivy gunned it for the exit.

---

Kina hopped off Birch's bike, and untied her small suitcase from the back. Birch popped her bubblegum. "You sure about this? It's not too late to turn around."

Kina felt so small beneath her gaze, the witch's black hat and fishnet shirt over a ratty metal band shirt and black jeans contrasting sharply with Kina's simple earth-toned outfit. She looked elsewhere, at the great wooden edifice of the Hedge, the sunlight almost right for the portal to open. "I'm sure," she said, in a small voice. "Nobody here cares about me anyway."

Birch's face twisted into an unreadable expression. "I wouldn't have given you a ride here if I didn't care about you, girl."

"That's not..."

Birch sighed. "Guess I can't talk you out of it." She checked her phone, tapped out a message on it, and stuck it back in her pocket. "Come back and visit sometime, huh?"

Kina mumbled something noncommittal, grabbed her suitcase, and walked towards the portal. It wouldn't be too long before it activated, and she'd be free of this world.

Birch checked her phone again. "Goddamn it, Ivy, where are you?"

---

Ivy could see the living wood portal off the road to the right, and the sun was almost set - she could see the shimmers of magic, the world on the other side struggling to make itself present.

She saw Kina.

She skidded off the ramp and rammed the gates, breaking through the magical wood with a flaming boot. She sped past another broom-user - Birch? No time to worry about that, although she whooped and waved her hat at Ivy as she passed.

Kina stood in front of the portal, on a simple dirt pathway through the grass. The sun sank, and suddenly the portal sparked into place, the eternal twilight of the fey lands matching the twilight on Ivy's side. Kina hesitated, then began to step through.

"No!!" Ivy reached for more reserves, and suddenly found them empty. Her broom hit the ground at speed, flinging Ivy off it. Sky and ground intermixed, her goggles shattered on an unseen rock, and she felt a snap in her left arm. She found herself on the ground, the air knocked out of her lungs, as Kina reached towards the barrier between worlds.

And a familiar-looking envelope flew into her hands. One labeled "To Kina."

Ivy frantically patted the pocket of her jacket, finding it empty as Kina opened the envelope and began to read, one foot through the portal. Ivy tried to push herself up, but just collapsed again. She gritted her teeth and heaved, finally making it to her feet. Just in time for Kina to finish reading, to turn and stare at Ivy.

A million things flashed through Ivy's head to say, as Kina held her gaze, but the only thing she was able to blurt out was, "Don't go!"

Kina startled at that, holding the letter close to her chest.

"Don't go. Please." Ivy held her broken arm and pretended the tears on her face were from pain. "I'd miss you."

Kina broke eye contact. "I'm... a mess. I don't belong here. I can't do anything right." She began to cry in earnest. "I don't... I don't deserve to be here!"

"Screw that!" Shouted Ivy, limping closer. "Fuck deserving anything! I never should have said any of that! I'll miss you! I want you to stay! I know that's selfish, and I don't care!!" she took a breath, only a few feet away now. "Please. Stay." She couldn't look at Kina's eyes, focusing on her chin instead, watching tears fall from it.

They stood there for a moment. The portal behind Kina shimmered. She turned to go, and Ivy suppressed a sob, squeezing her eyes shut.

And then a moment later found herself tackled by the small changeling. The portal behind her closed, and Ivy encircled Kina with her good arm, both of them holding each other close.

---

Birch dropped the magic that had guided Ivy's letter to Kina's hand, and went to go pick up Ivy's broom. She flicked a tear from the corner of her eye. Those gay idiots.