Chapter 486.<h4><b>Chapter 486. Heading to the Peak: The Descent. (1/3)</b></h4>
<span style="font-weight:400">Regret.
<span style="font-weight:400">I deeply regretted my words.
<span style="font-weight:400">Why did I trust her?
<span style="font-weight:400">Why did I trust my girlfriend who’s clearly got a few loose screws in that head of hers?
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rosa, no.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What do you mean no?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You can’t be serious.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m very serious though.”
<span style="font-weight:400">We’d spent some time recovering after monkeying about and Rosa was able to get back on her feet albeit a bit unsteady.
<span style="font-weight:400">Right now I was nkly staring at what she pulled out of the bag she’d been carrying and I wanted to cry.
<span style="font-weight:400">What was inside the bag that made me despair?
<span style="font-weight:400">It was... another backpack.
<span style="font-weight:400">But calling it a backpack was incorrect. It was a parachute container and she even had the straps to tie us together.
<span style="font-weight:400">I trembled in fear at the implications as I looked down over the steep ledge she’d led me to right before she’d pped her bag down on the ground and revealed her dreadful surprise to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rosa…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What is it?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Jeez, would you stop freaking out? We’re not going to die. I’ve practiced tandem skydiving and base jumping a lot with my father growing up.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You have?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. It’s a lot of fun.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t think plummeting to your death or crashing into a mountainside can be considered… fun.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa stuffed the bag she borrowed from Dawn into our bag before she strapped the parachute container to her back and forcibly had me wear the bag in front of my chest.
<span style="font-weight:400">“None of those things you’re worrying about will happen. Consider this a trust test.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“This is impossible. There’s no way the parachute’s going to deploy safely. If your n is for both of us to run while strapped to each other we’re definitely going to trip and fall.” Rosa strapped herself to my back while Iined.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, we would.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then why are you doing exactly that?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You clearly are.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s true if we both ran while strapped to each other we’d stumble… BUT we’re not both going to be running...”
<span style="font-weight:400">When she wrapped her arms around my neck and raised her legs off the ground squeezing my sides between her thighs the blood drained from my face.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No. This isn’t going to work.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’ll be fine. All you need to do is run as fast as you can and jump with all your strength. You can leave the rest to me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You’ve lost your mind.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t be a big baby, it’s just a little trust fall.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“This isn’t a trust fall, Rosa! This is a ‘go jump off a mountain and die’ fall! A double suicide fall!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Jeez, I trust you with my life, are you saying you don’t trust me with yours despite us selling our souls to each other and being bound together in both body and mind?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s not that I don’t trust you.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then, are you scared of dying?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“If you’re not scared of dying, what are you so scared of?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That… I’ll mess up... and you’ll die because of me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa softly whispered directly into my ear in a sweet tone, “You don’t need to worry about any of that. If you die I’ll die together with you. If you’re going to hell, take me with you. This way neither of us will ever be alone.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Her words were the tempting whispers of the devil. What the hell, wasn’t she a better fit for being a devil than I was?
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you a devil?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The only devil here is the one I happily sold my soul to~ so… jump. Take the leap of fate and trust me the same way I trust you. I’m trusting you’ll be able to run fast enough while carrying me and jump a safe distance away with me on your back for the parachute to deploy. You trust that I’ll pull the parachute with the right timing so we don’t die. It’s that simple.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaaaah. You’re the embodiment of evil, the devil’s incarnate, aren’t you?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Why thank you~ Coming from a real devil I can only take that as apliment.” Rosa kissed my neck from behind.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It wasn''t apliment.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Did you want me to hold up a shlight for you so you can see the ground when running?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, I can see it just fine as long as you’re here.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. That’s pretty convenient.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It is.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then start running.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“So quick? Just like that without any build-up or suspense?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah. What, did you expect some epic music to start ying?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I mean… it’d be kind of cool if it did. An inspirational speech might be interesting.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“An inspirational speech? Are you an old man? No one’s got time for that crap. Just pick a song. Do you have a song in mind? We don’t have reception up here but maybe I have it saved to my phone.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm… have you heard Rise before?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rise? Who’s the artist?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… I can’t remember. It was from League of Legends I think.” For me, it was pretty far back. I personally never yed the game so I knew little to nothing about it, but I did hear the songs every now and then and saw the videos. I couldn’t help but think of it since I remembered one of the characters climbing a mountain in the music video.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Mmmm. Don’t think I’ve heard it before.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see.” I didn’t have it on my phone either. Actually, now that I think about it, has it even been released yet?
<span style="font-weight:400">“Whatever, let''s just go with this.” Rosa picked a random song on her phone and let it y through the speakers.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What the hell’s with this song? It’s so mellow. Why’d you pick this?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I dunno, I just picked it because the title stuck out.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What’s the title?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Leap of Faith.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Pfft. Hah! It’s fitting I guess. Who’s it by?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Uh, let’s see. RyAL?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Never heard of them before.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Me neither. It’s probably some song Alicia rmended that I saved but never got around to listening to yet.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You download them before even listening to them?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course! If it’s something my precious Alicia rmended I’ll definitely at least save it. If it was someone other than her, forget it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The lyrics don’t even fit the situation. It’s totally off. Pick something bet-”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Cross my heart and hope to fly. Across the mountains through the sky.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">I shut up mid-sentence when those lyrics suddenly came up out of nowhere.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Heheheh. You were saying? It sounds pretty on point to me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ah! Whatever, I’m just going to jump. Don’t me me if we die because of your terrible song selection.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hahaha! Go! Do it! If we die at least we die together!” Rosa pumped her fist up in the ear energetically without a care in the world.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t move around so much back there, I’ll lose my bnce.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, yeah, just go.”
<span style="font-weight:400">As soon as she said that I gripped under her thighs and lunged forward with my right foot toward the mountain cliffside. Rosa glued her body to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Cross my heart-</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">My left foot moved forward. It was heavy, and difficult to keep my bnce, but it was manageable.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">-and hope to fly.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">My right foot raised up off the ground and crossed forward past my left andnded on the ground. I carefully gauged the distance to the edge.
<span style="font-weight:400">Eight more full strides.
<span style="font-weight:400">That was the distance between me and death. That could very well be how much time I have left. The time it takes to traverse this gap.
<span style="font-weight:400">The thought sent shivers down my spine and got my heart pounding.
<span style="font-weight:400">The first stride.
<span style="font-weight:400">The song stopped.
<span style="font-weight:400">The second.
<span style="font-weight:400">I couldn’t hear it.
<span style="font-weight:400">The third.
<span style="font-weight:400">I couldn’t hesitate to jump.
<span style="font-weight:400">And the fourth.
<span style="font-weight:400">If I hesitated at thest second and tried to stop it would only end in disaster.
<span style="font-weight:400">Five.
<span style="font-weight:400">Trying to instantaneously kill my momentum with another person on my back and a bag in front of me wasn’t possible.
<span style="font-weight:400">Six.
<span style="font-weight:400">I was two steps away from life and death.
<span style="font-weight:400">Seven.
<span style="font-weight:400">Time seemed to momentarily slow down as the endless darkness beyond the edge of the cliff came into view.
<span style="font-weight:400">My right leg raised up and inched forward.
<span style="font-weight:400">I had to... jump into that abyss.
<span style="font-weight:400">Without fear.
<span style="font-weight:400">And trust Rosa.
<span style="font-weight:400">It was far toote for second thoughts.
<span style="font-weight:400">I’d already crossed the point of no return.