Leap of Faith, Part Two: Into the Light

Chapter Fourteen

It seemed to Leonardo that Miranda was falling in slow motion, and instead of panicking, he was calm, as if he had all the time in the world to reach her. In the moment that she leaped from the tower, Leo made an assessment of the distance between them and let his own body fall away from the line, snapping his glider open as he did so. He angled himself to the point where her trajectory would most certainly carry her, and prayed that the wind was enough.

It was.

She fell into his arms, cold and shaking with terror, and for a moment when she first looked at him, it was as if she did not recognize him at all. But then her face softened, and he could see the fear melt away as she looked up at him. He glanced around them, checking for pursuit before he turned the glider sharply towards the Turtles' agreed upon rendezvous. She had an ugly bruise on her cheek, her hair was matted and her eyes were red and puffy, but she was smiling at him, and he smiled back.

“I'm glad that you're real,” she whispered. “I thought for a moment that I just dreamed you up.....Leonardo, I'm sor-”

“Miranda, before you say anything else,” he replied, “I know that you can take care of yourself, but I had to storm the castle anyway. I had to help you: not because it's 'my job' or because I don't think that you can help yourself. I want you to know, I figured out what was making me so afraid. It's because I love you, Miranda.”

She clung to him as the wind gusted around them and Leo banked carefully, soaring across the city, in broad daylight. Hopefully no one's looking up today, he thought.

“Well, I love you too, Leonardo,” she said. “And I still think that we can do this; we're both too stubborn to give up easily.” She leaned up and kissed him, momentarily disrupting their flight. The glider jerked a bit, but Leo managed to correct their path. Miranda giggled a little at the turbulence, and he looked at her again wonderingly.

“You do realize that we're airborne, right?”

She laughed and shook her head. “You know, Leo, I think I'm over it.”