That night...
"Oh shit, I messed up big time." slamming the door behind him, Storm muttered under his breath as he walked into the living room of his apartment, before throwing himself onto the couch and landing face-first on a set of pillows. "I am so screwed. Like, what the hay was going through my mind when I asked her that? What the hay will Blue say if she finds out? Oh man, why did I even accept her invitation?" Turning towards the coffee table he laid next to, Storm brushed away his messy hair with the only available hoof he had, before picking up the framed picture of Blue he had placed there with that same hoof. "Well, at least those idiots at the dinner table won't bother us anymore, huh? Oh, shit. Who am I even kidding?" he let out a sigh as his mind slowly went over the events of the day that had just passed, starting from the moment the other recruits sitting at that table begun to pester him about getting a new marefriend, and ending at the moment during which Lilli kissed Storm at the train station completely out of the blue. Up until that point in their friendship, he had seen her as merely just that, a friend, and frankly speaking, that was what he initially hoped they would remain, only going to catch that movie with her simply because one of her other friends was too sick to make it there herself; had that not been the case, Storm would have more than likely ended up simply flying back to his apartment for another evening of writing letters to loved ones, eating pizza and watching movies airing on TV. In spite of this, his night out was certainly interesting, with him having met two fun mares who were talkative, yet great company as well as having gotten to know Lilli a bit more, whom it turned out shared some of his interests, mainly that in progressive metal music. However, the more he thought about it, he came to the conclusion it was also safe to say that Lilli might just as well also had...other reasons to bring Storm along to catch the film, not just because she noticed he felt somewhat depressed. A thought, a suspicion of her having a crush on him crossed his mind at one point, but he quickly ended up dismissing it as just that; a silly little crush. Nothing more, and nothing less, especially considering the fact that he already had a marefriend of his own whom he wasn't going to give up on.
"But how can I explain the fact that she kissed me? I mean, she didn't just give me a quick peck on the cheek, she reached in and kissed me. Like, gave me a freaking Prench kiss. And surprisingly enough, I enjoyed it... maybe she reminded me of Blue in some way? I don't know...ugh..."
The more he thought about what had happened, he quickly found that the same strange feeling from earlier lingered constantly within him, and while he initially tried to dismiss said feeling and simply get to sleep, he knew that he needed to somehow address it and do something about it. At first, he dismissed it as nothing more than just his gut working overtime to process all that extra pizza he had eaten upon returning home, but he soon realized it was something else entirely, as the more he thought of that moment they both shared at the train station, just before his train into town arrived, the more obvious and noticeable the feeling became. It felt like butterflies soaring in the confines of Storm's stomach, their wings flapping more violently and excitedly the more he thought about her and that little kiss she gave him. He gasped, his heart virtually stopping and his cheeks flaring up in a dull red as he did so. He couldn't have been. The idea of that happening was ridiculous in his eyes, considering that he was already taken; to him, it just didn't make any sense, but yet, the more he pondered over what had happened that day, the more he asked himself a certain question.
"Am I in love with Lilli? No, no, no. I can't be; I have Blue and she's all I've ever wanted. Well.. I guess I'll just have to tell her about Blue before she decides to take this even further. But when should I do so?"
In order to take his mind off things, he decided he'd start writing a letter to Blue.
Dear Blue
Training's been taking a huge toll on me lately, and it looks as though it's only going to get worse in the few days I've got left til the end of the week. but it's nice to finally cut loose and relax after a long day at work...
"Alright everypony, please take a seat. I'd like to give you all a warm welcome to your first weather simulator, a necessary requirement to fulfill during a weather pony's training." Clear begun, looking at a small group of ten-fifteen recruits, Storm included in said group, standing just in front of the closed doors leading into the training pool, above which a thick glass platform hung, probably magically reinforced, just like Guard armor and riot shields, as well as bulletproof vests worn in the military. Suspended about ten feet above the surface of the pool via tethers which connected it to the ceiling, the platform, encased in walls of reinforced glass housed a large fan on its left side, probably twice the wingspan of an average stallion in diameter, which based on Storm's present observations as well as what common sense told him was designed for one thing, and one thing only; generating wind. "Now, I know some of you will no doubt have participated in some exercises involving cloud busting and the like, for example, during that thunderstorm we had yesterday, but basically what we are hoping to do here is test your reactions to the weather conditions we are about to simulate, as well as study the general effect these severe weather scenarios have on your bodies. In short, we just want to find out how accustomed your bodies are to these weather conditions. This particular sim is a wind-based one and will simulate a rough and choppy sea, and if you make it past 100 miles per hour, we'll move onto reaction times."
"Just in case something were to happen to you..." begun a bespectacled stallion, walking out from behind the spectator stands, probably the weather factory's manager who performed a role similar to the role Tornado fulfilled back in Cloudsdale's weather factory. "...which I must add is a possibility, albeit a rare one, especially in this day and age, we have our best lifeguards on standby, ready to go in after you if something were to go wrong, so you're in good hooves."
"Well, what could go wrong?" Storm muttered under his breath, scanning the poolside as well as the ponies gathered just to get a rough idea of who the lifeguards were exactly before his mind went over different scenarios and possibilities as to what exactly could go wrong, most of them being quickly dismissed as improbable and ridiculous. Yet as Marephy's Law states, what can go wrong, will eventually do so.
Snapping out of his daydreams, his heart dropped to the ground upon noticing that one of the lifeguards was Lilli, who noticing him standing in that crowd of mares and stallions, gave him a reassuring smile, which he returned after a quick moment. "I just need to find the right place and opportunity to tell her..."
"You talking to yourself?' asked a shorter stallion, probably around 3' 7 or 8 in height, standing directly in front of him, watching as the first pony in the group walked up a set of steps leading up to the surface of the platform, walking past the giant fan before strapping himself into a harness, which itself was attached to the ceiling by a rope.
"Are you talking to me?" Storm raised an eyebrow, before his heart sunk to the floor. "Oh no, it's you."
"Yeah." replied the stallion, a stallion whom Storm had the displeasure of knowing, despite only having met him two weeks back; Red Blizzard. "You got a problem with that, Shitfire?"
"Well, you got me there." Storm replied in a wry chuckle. "Sorry, it's just a little habit of mine."
"I'd suggest you stop." the stallion shifted his gaze at him. "You have no idea how annoying listening to your murmuring is."
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Storm smirked sarcastically in response. "What are even you doing here? I thought you were done with simulations."
"If I was done with them, I wouldn't be here." Red Blizzard shrugged. "So tell me, have you asked Lilli out on a date yet?"
"Piss off."
"Hey, I'm not done talking to you, asswipe," Blizzard growled. "I asked if you've invited Lilli out for a date yet."
"What's it to you?"
"Everything."
"If you care about her so much, then why don't YOU date her yourself?"
Gritting his teeth, Red Blizzard quickly attempted to come up with a valid response to Storm's question, but upon realizing that he couldn't he snaked backward across the floor tiles, muttering a single 'damn you' as he did so. "I told you that I'd leave you alone if you went out with Lilli for just one date."
"Actually, I did." Storm smirked. "More like, she did."
"What the hay are you talking about?"
"She invited me to catch a film with her." replied Storm.
"Wait, that doesn't count!"
"Aww, boo hoo." Storm made a mock pout face, trying to remain unfazed by his responses. "It's still a date, asshole."
"Yeah, but you were the one that was supposed to invite her!"
"Does it really matter who invited who?" Storm asked, beginning to get agitated. "It's still. A. Date! Why the buck are you so persistent?"
"Maybe I'm persistent, but you're a coward," Red replied. "You're just too scared to get out of your comfort zone, fearing you'll get rejected by your marefriend if you do. Coward, coward, coward...coward, coward, coward."
"Maybe I don't want to, have you ever thought about that?"
"And this is why ponies don't like you," Red growled. "You are so bucking boring!"
"And you're one shitty excuse for a workplace bully." Storm retaliated with a comeback of his own. "I am not dating Lilli, at all."
"Well then, I won't stop picking on you and Blue Night," Red smirked. "Either you go out with her by Sunday or I'll continue messing with you."
"Okay, Silver Lining. Are you ready?" asked Clear, gazing up at the Pegasus stallion whilst holding some sort of device in her hooves.
"Yes, ma'am!" he replied through a headset he was given in order to communicate with the outside world.
"Alright then," replied Clear through the microphone she had, before pressing a button on the device, which looked to be controlling the fan in some way. "Five miles an hour."
The fan whirred to life, although it generally remained pretty quiet at least for now, and the stallion's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks as a slight gust of wind generated by the spinning turbine blades embraced him, lifting his mane up into the air and blowing it about.
"Don't be scared." Clear noticed him shuddering slightly as he stepped backward along the platform above her. "Nothing bad will happen. We just want to see how high a wind speed your body is accustomed to. The hard part will come later."
"Uh-huh."
"Fifteen."
"Twenty."
"Thirty."
"Fifty."
"Sixty-five."
"Seventy."
"Seventy-five."
"Eighty."
The maximum wind speed Silver Lining managed to withstand was eighty-five miles an hour, and at the end of the simulation he was struggling with walking without stumbling for a short while, yet the weather ponies were incredibly helpful with getting him offside in order to watch the others participate. Though he wasn't injured in any way during the simulation, the general effect that much wind had on Silver Lining was a real eye-opener for Storm, who considered sixty miles an hour to be the highest wind speed he was ever subjected to. Eighty-five miles an hour, a wind speed equivalent to that of a weak hurricane rated at Category 1, was within the boundaries of what a Pegasus pony could withstand, and Storm did find it pretty amazing that Pegasus ponies could survive that, having heard stories of Pegasi getting knocked out at seventy and having to be stabilized at hospital. For him, it just proved one thing and that thing was that Pegasi like him were adapted to and very likely had evolved to withstand harsh weather conditions over countless millennia, wind included, offered in various regions of Equestria, enabling them to colonize large areas of the country previously thought to be inhospitable, such as the San Palomino in the far south or the Hayvian Mountains spanning the entire western seaboard of Equestria.
Around six more ponies followed suit after Silver Lining, including Windward, all of whom managed to withstand similar wind speeds, the highest recorded being 90. Soon enough, it was Storm's turn to go onto the platform.
"Remember what I told you." Red murmured into Storm's ear as the latter walked by him. "Ask Lilli out. You the man, Storm. You the man."
"Don't worry man, you'll do great." Lilli gently nudged him forward, watching as he looked back at the remaining ponies. "Scared, huh?"
"Just a bit."
"Don't be; nothing's going to happen," Lilli replied, passing him the headset. "I've been in there once or twice before and I absolutely loved it. I'm sure you will as well."
"Thanks." Storm grinned back at her, before glancing down at his watch, which displayed the time as 3:30 PM.
Letting out a gulp upon taking the headset from Lilli, he climbed the few steps up onto the platform, which covered much of the surface area of the training pool beneath it, before strapping himself into the harness.
"so, Stormfire." begun Clear from below. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be, ma'am." Storm quickly followed his statement with an uncertain and unsure gulp, wondering whether or not everything was going to go to plan.
"Okay! Five miles per hour. How's that?"
As the fan whirred to life yet again, a small chill made its way down Storm's spinal column, causing him to shiver slightly as a light gust of wind embraced him. "Yeah, I'd say that's good. Just a question."
"Yeah?"
"How much wind can this harness withstand?"
"From what I can remember, it was designed to withstand a maximum wind speed of 120 miles an hour." she said from below, before pressing another button on the remote control."Ten miles an hour."
The gusts generated by the fan picked up ever so slightly in speed, and Storm's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks as he glanced upwards, noticing the rope to which the harness was attached to rattle and shudder slightly, swinging slightly forward towards the rear wall of the pool hall. Yet, just by taking a look at the rope and feeling its hard, rough, bumpy texture with his left hoof, he knew that nothing would probably happen. Yet the rope was very tense as well, and he could only imagine what could potentially happen if it had snapped at some point. Shifting his gaze slightly towards the right, he was slightly relieved from his worries when he noticed Lilli looking up at him through the glass with her reassuring smile. Something about her smile comforted him, yet he didn't know exactly what it was about it that was so comforting in nature.
"Twenty."
"Thirty."
"forty."
"Fifty."
"Sixty."
"Seventy-five."
"Looks like I just broke my speed limit..." Storm noted, embracing the increasingly heavy gusts of wind, surprised that he managed to reach hurricane force.
"Eighty. How are you doing in there?"
"So...far... so... good!" Storm yelled into the microphone, wondering how high of a wind speed he was going to withstand, feeling as though he was hit by a wall of wind.
"Ninety."
"One hundred miles an hour. Congratulations, Storm. You reached the fastest wind speed out of the ponies we've had so far!"
"That's...REASSURING!" he yelled out yet again, his voice being near enough drowned out by the violent gusts of wind, much of his fur, as well as his mane standing on end as a result of the high winds.
"Tell me when you want to stop!"
"Now!" Storm shouted before he closed his eyes and clenched his jaws shut, trying his hardest to withstand the intense wind. His cheeks reminded him of ripples of ocean water as the wind impacted them and beat them relentlessly and his long mane fluttered about in the air. "PLEASE!"
"Okay, hold on! Just a moment!"
Suddenly, there came a moment where he felt much lighter than before, one where he felt his movement wasn't restricted by the tense rope hooked to his harness. Storm's eyes quickly shot open and his pupils shrunk, noticing the rope which held him in place laying in a coil on the surface of the platform.
"No..." Storm felt his stomach churn as he was being pushed backward across the platform, before turning to gaze out of the glass pane to his right. "No, no! Help! HELP!"
"Clear, turn it off!"
"I don't know how!"
"Somepony find the power supply! Shut this bucking thing down!"
All of a sudden, he slammed into the rear wall of the enclosure, to which he became pinned by the relentlessly high winds. Feeling a crack in the glass behind him, which grew with each passing second, Storm let out a gulp, before clenching his eyes shut. He had never been this terrified before in his life, but he tried his hardest to comfort himself by telling himself that the glass was probably made up of many layers of the material sandwiched together. Yet despite this, the glass continued to crack, soon shattering into a million pieces in spite of supposedly being reinforced magically. Letting out a sharp scream, he plummeted into the deep end of the training pool below him.
"STORM!" Lilli shouted, her heart rate picking up to a dangerously high level just as he impacted the surface of the water with a loud splash. Without a second to spare, she jumped into the pool after him, watching as his body sunk to the bottom.
He tried to grab for air and make it back up to the surface of the pool, but he just couldn't stay afloat. The force of the impact alone quickly forced him down into the depths of the pool, and surrounded by small shards of glass which either bounced off of him or cut into his skin, as evidenced by a slight, yet stinging pain radiating through areas of his body, he tried to make do with what little oxygen he had left in his lungs. Gazing upwards at the receding surface of the pool as torrents of water begun to rush into his ears, he felt his eardrums pop as the water pressure quickly became higher than what he was used to. The chlorinated pool water which surrounded him at all sides took on a murky hue as he arrived at the bottom of the pool, the quiet whirring of the fan above him still being audible despite most of it being drowned out by the water which surrounded him for around thirty feet. He had never learned how to swim before, having never had the need to do so, in spite of the fact that swimming lessons were offered by North Cloudsdale High's physical education department, and yet, now that he lay in the depths of the abyss, he mentally regretted not taking those lessons when he had the opportunity to do so. Enshrouded by water and pinned against the bottom of the pool, Storm silently said his prayers as he prepared himself to meet his maker. Despite never being religious, at that point, knowing that this would inevitably happen to him sooner or later, he came to an almost soothing, ethereal state of peace, something that reminded him heavily of being cradled by his own mother, but he knew that right now, at this point in time, the circumstances were completely different. Throughout the eighteen years he had lived on this planet, he had never felt more at peace than he felt at that very point in time. He had never felt a more soothing silence than the one that surrounded him right now, as he approached what he was certain was his death.
If this is how I die---I can't die. I just can't. It's too early for me. he thought to himself, his oxygen reserves within his lungs dwindling as water rushed in through his nostrils. What little light he saw in his eyes quickly dimmed as his vision became blurrier and less clear with each passing moment, and the life began to fade away from Storm. As his life begun to flash before his eyes, he could make out the approaching shape of a swimming pony in the distance, before his thoughts returned to a time when life was simpler for him. He began to recall the moment he played his first hoofball game at the elementary school he went to in Griffsvale, which ended on a broken hoof and a two-week-long hospital stay. Chuckling slightly at that moment, his mind quickly fast forwarded to the moment he and his mom moved to Equestria across the pond on the first available flight back after the war ended, the moment he met and befriended Mist, perhaps the most wonderful stepsister he could ever have hoped for, the moment he met new friends upon starting school in Cloudsdale, how he came to terms with his mother's wedding to High Wind, the moment he started high school, and the moment he met and fell head over hooves for Blue during his first flight lesson amongst other memories that appeared in successive order, before the last of his oxygen was used up and his lungs expanded in his chest with the water inside them.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Swimming through the murky, dark-blue water as fast as she possibly could, Lilli caught a glimpse of Storm's seemingly lifeless body lying at the bottom of the pool, his coat noticeably paler than it was before. Pupils shrinking in her eyes, she approached the stallion's body and gently picked it up, tossing it over her shoulder as it appeared to be much lighter than it was on the surface. A spurt of blood emanated from a small tear in his skin as she begun to make her way back up to the surface of the pool, carrying Storm on her back and trying her very hardest not to let him slip off and back into the water. The light levels increased as they neared the surface of the water, Lilli letting go of Storm's body and pushing it up out of the water and onto the poolside before she herself got out as well. Taking a good look around and inhaling as much oxygen as she possibly could in order to replenish what had already been used up, she felt her lungs expand and contract within her ribcage with every heavy breath she took. "Somepony... call for emergency services!" she yelled at nopony in particular, the other recruits having been removed from the hall before she knelt down in front of him and placed her ear next to his mouth in order to check for any breathing.
"Oh my gosh." Clear quickly rushed over to them. "No..."
"Mom...mom!" Lilli cried out, shifting her gaze up at the mare standing next to her. "Call for an ambulance, please. Please!"
"Alright, alright," Clear replied, before she pulled out her cell phone from within her jacket, having gone outside to switch off the fan's power supply. "Hello? Hello? Yes, I'd like to summon an ambulance. I have a pony here who has...."
"Storm..." tears rolled out of her eyes as she turned towards the lifeless stallion lying in front of her. "Come on, we've only just met. Come on, don't die on me."
The stallion remained in his supine position next to the swimming pool, his breathing having completely ceased.
"No, no, no!" Lilli yelled out before she gently pressed down on his chest with her hooves, a spurt of water splashing out from his mouth.
Clear suddenly rushed over to the stallion. "Oh, no..."
"Mom, did you call?" she turned to look at the mare kneeling down next to her, whilst continuing doing chest compressions on the stallion.
"Yep." replied the mare. "They're going to be here in about ten minutes. Have you checked for breathing?"
"Yeah." Lilli sniffled before pressing down on his chest further and quicker, more water rushing out of his mouth. "I don't know whether or not he has a pulse, but I'm not counting on it."
"How long has he been down there?"
"Probably around ten minutes." Lilli croaked, before continuing pressing down on his chest, this time slightly quicker than before, watching as more and more water rushed out of Storm's throat and out of his mouth, spilling out onto the floor.
"I'll check his pulse every ten seconds," Clear replied. "You be sure to continue chest compressions."
"Alright," Lilli replied with a tearful and uncertain nod, her magenta eyes appearing to ripple as they welled up with tears before she resumed compressing his chest. "Does he have a pulse?"
"No." Clear shook her head, having felt for a pulse at the boundary between his neck and his chest. Lilli groaned in frustration, before pressing down more and more rapidly on his chest, more and more water spilling out from within his mouth.
"Any pulse?"
"Nope."
"How about now?"
"Still no."
"No... we can't give up! He can't be gone!"
"He's probably lost quite a bit of blood too." Clear sighed, taking note of the cuts Storm had all over his body, before feeling for a pulse again. "Look at the cuts he has."
"Yeah, but..." Lilli pressed down on his chest slightly further as tears rolled out of her eyes. "We just gotta keep trying."
Suddenly, just as Lilli pressed down even further on his chest, a small cough was heard. She paused, before reeling slightly backward as she noticed his chest rising and falling, the previously limp and pale body of her friend beginning to twitch and jolt.
"Storm?" she asked, trotting up to him as his eyes opened and he began to splutter and cough violently before she hugged him tightly. "Oh, Storm... Oh gosh..."
"Oh, my gosh he's breathing."
"What..." he paused to take a deep breath in, before spluttering out more water he had within him as his vision cleared up. "...happened to me? Where am I?"
"You're okay..." Clear replied. "I thought you were dead...We both did."
"Was I...in the pool?" Storm blinked twice, before suddenly flinching backward from a sharp pain which radiated throughout his body. "Agh..."
"We need to get you to a doctor," Lilli replied. "Stay down, alright? Don't move an inch. You're bleeding pretty badly, the glass must've went in pretty deep. Plus, we don't know how much water is inside you at the moment."
"What exactly happened?" Storm asked, his heartbeat increasing, before coughing violently yet again. "Please... tell me."
"I'll tell you later on, alright?" replied Lilli, noticing the paramedics arriving on the scene through the open emergency exit. "I'm sorry, but this is neither the time nor the place for me to do so."
"Lilli, please..."
"I'm sorry, Storm. I'll tell you later. Keep still, alright? You lost quite a bit of blood."
"Clear? Can you tell me what happened?"
"Well, I don't want you to freak out or anything," Clear replied. "So, I'll tell you when we get to the hospital."
"Hospital?" Storm muttered, noticing that some ponies dressed in white and carrying a stretcher were approaching them.
"Storm..." sighed Lilli as she knelt beside him. "What happened is that you almost drowned."
"I drowned?" he raised an eyebrow, before turning to his left to see glass floating on the surface of the water. Shifting his glance upwards, he noticed the shattered remains of the rear wall of the weather simulator, and his heart sunk into the back of his own body. "What?"
"You heard right," replied Clear. "The rope holding you in place snapped and you were pushed through the rear wall of the enclosure... and you fell into the pool. Truth be told, I never realized just how deep this bucking thing is until now."
"So, what happened up there was my fault?"
"No, it wasn't," replied Clear. "Please, don't say it was your fault because it wasn't. What happened there was just a matter of happenstance. This particular simulator has been known to freak out at times to put it lightly, and we thought we've had it fixed."
"But who exactly pulled me out of the water? Who revived me?" Storm inquired.
"I did." Lili smiled.
"You what?"
"You heard me." she smiled. "Mom also helped out."
"They're gonna patch you up at the hospital and just monitor your vital signs for a while before before they let you go," Clear responded. "Words cannot describe how sorry I am for what had happened, and as a result, I will give you a week of medical leave, as well as personally pay for your medical care. You'll return to work in a week's time, and we'll find something else for you to do instead of weather simulations... I am truly sorry for what happened, Storm."
"Thank you, ma'am." Storm replied, before turning to face Lilli and Ward. "And thank you... I'm just wondering as to how I could ever repay you both for what you did."
"Well, you don't have to," Lilli replied. "I just did what had to be done...I did, what I felt any friend would've done. I didn't think twice, I just followed my instincts."
"Same here," Clear replied. "Being the supervisor, I take full responsibility for what happened back there."
"Wait a moment." Storm murmured, before trying his hardest to stand up on all fours, but the pain was overbearing.
"Storm, i told you to stay down," Lilli replied. "Just don't move a muscle. You don't want it to hurt."
"Yeah..." replied Storm, hissing in pain. "Lilli?"
"Yeah?"
"Was there any other reason as to why you brought me along for that movie yesterday? Any other reason as to why you rescued me?"
"Well, Storm..." Lilli sighed, placing her hoof on his chest, before a unicorn paramedic picked him up via a magical aura so not to hurt him in any way, placing him onto a nearby stretcher, which was then picked up by two Pegasi. "I'll tell you this on the ambulance."
"No, you can tell me now."
"I really care about you... I just don't want to see you hurt in any way," replied Lilli, walking alongside the stretcher.
"You do?" Storm asked.
"Yeah." she gave him a tender smile, just as they walked out of the emergency exit. "I really like you, and by like, I mean... you're just... uh. How can I explain it? I have a crush on you, and I've had it since I first met you."
"You do?"
"Yep," Lilli replied. "You must think of me as being pretty foolish, huh?"
"No, of course not." Storm shook his head, wanting to tell her about Blue right away. "I just...never mind. You remind me very much of a mare I knew and loved in Cloudsdale."
"What was her name?"
"Blue Night." Storm replied.
"That's a nice name." Lilli smiled. "She was really lucky to have somepony like you."
"Yeah..." he let out a sigh, just as the stretcher he laid on was placed in the back of an ambulance, Lilli and Clear both climbing on board to join him and the doctors just before the doors were slammed shut. "...thanks."
"My pleasure." Lilli picked up one of his hooves and held it in hers. "Does it hurt?"
"Yeah..." Storm replied as he gnat his teeth. I guess now would be a good time to tell her... "Listen... I gotta tell you something."
"Yeah?" she recoiled back into her upright position, letting go of the bloodied hoof she gripped. "What is it, Storm?"
But then again, she did save my life...for that alone, I'll be forever in her debt.
"Well..." Storm sighed. After what happened, I can't just throw her away... especially since she did pour her heart out to me as well. "I guess all I wanted to say was thank you, yet again... I really appreciate it."
"Hey..." Lilli gave him a reassuring smile, before turning to look out of the window, watching as the weather factory receded into the distance. "I did what I had to do... so it's cool. All that matters right now is that you're alright."
"Well..." Storm noted. "I wish I could repay you in some way."
"Like I said, you don't have to do anything," Lilli replied, before reaching in to give him a kiss on the cheek, a blush forming on his face just as she pulled away.
"Lilli?"
"Yeah?"
"When this is all over and done with and I'm out of the hospital, would you like to..." his voice suddenly trailed off. "...out somewhere with me?"
"...you mean, like on a date?" Lilli suddenly raised an eyebrow, her face turning a dull red.
"Yeah." Storm nodded.
"I'd love to." Lilli grinned.
"Well then, once I'm out, wanna go catch another movie?"
"Of course."
"Well then, I guess that's settled."
What in the hay did I just do?