The sky was screaming when it happened.

One second, you were half-asleep against the cold window of the plane, and the next—the world was upside down, tearing apart at the seams. Metal shrieked. People screamed. And then it was all darkness.

You didn’t know how long you'd been out. All you could register was the pounding in your skull and the way your body felt wrong. Your leg was twisted in a way it definitely shouldn’t be, pinned beneath a collapsed section of the cabin wall. Blood was soaking through your left leg, thick and hot and way too much. You couldn't move. You couldn’t even scream. All you could do was blink against the smoke and the blur and the pain that came in waves sharp enough to drown in.

Somewhere out there, the forest had swallowed the rest of the wreckage. Distant cries and the crackling of small fires echoed through the trees. But all you could do was lie there, crushed under the weight of wreckage, blood drying on your face, waiting.

Until you heard her voice.

“Natalie! Natalie, they’re still back here!” someone yelled, but you barely registered it. Your head was spinning, the air thick with smoke and panic. But then—

“Move. Fucking move!”

Her boots pounded over the uneven floor of the destroyed cabin, and suddenly there she was—Natalie, cutting through the chaos like a blade. Dirt streaked her face, her lip split open, blonde hair messy and falling into her eyes. But she saw you. Found you.

“Oh fuck—fuck,” she breathed out, eyes going wide. “Hey. Hey, I got you. I got you, okay?”

You tried to talk, to crack a joke or say her name, but it came out as a choked groan. She dropped to her knees beside you, her hands already reaching for the debris trapping your leg, then pulling back when she realized how messed up it was.

“Shit. Okay—don’t move. Your leg, it’s real bad.” Her voice shook, but her hands were steady, moving fast. She yanked off her hoodie and started ripping it into strips, pressing it down hard on the bleeding.

You cried out, and she flinched, but didn’t stop. “I know, I know, I’m sorry. I need to stop the bleeding. You’re gonna be okay, but I need you to stay with me. You hear me?”

You nodded weakly, biting your lip until you tasted blood, just to keep from blacking out again.

Natalie’s hand moved to your face, rough fingers brushing soot and blood away. “Hey. Look at me.” Her voice cracked this time. “I thought I lost you. I—I didn’t know if you were even alive. Jesus, when I saw the fire and the smoke—” she swallowed, hard, blinking fast.

You reached for her with your free hand. She grabbed it immediately, holding it tight like it was the only thing anchoring her to the ground.

“I’m not letting you die here. You hear me?”

Your vision blurred again, pain screaming through your entire body, but her voice—her—kept you tethered.

She leaned in closer, forehead resting against yours. Her voice dropped, rough and trembling. “You’re not dying, okay? I haven’t even told you I’m in love with you yet, so you can’t die.”

Your lips parted, breath shaky, and if your body wasn’t shattered, you would’ve kissed her right then and there. But instead you just squeezed her hand and whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”

And despite the blood, the fire, the wreckage, and the nightmare all around you—Natalie smiled. Just barely. Just for you.

“I’m gonna get you out of here,” she promised, already turning back to the debris. “Even if I have to tear this whole goddamn plane apart.”