THREE MONTHS LATER

Late in the afternoon during the tenth month of the year, Amber stood on the tarmac near the general-aviation terminal of Boston Logan International Airport. Despite the beautiful weather, seemingly perfect for aviation, today was a quiet day at the airport. (Or at least, as quiet as it ever got at Logan).

It had been three months since the night that had ended everything. As soon as Danny had been healthy enough to leave the hospital, he'd gone to live with Amber. After all, he had nowhere else to go.

A few nights after moving into her apartment in the North End, Danny had said something that stuck with Amber to this day: I know we're living together by chance now, but I could have chosen a lot worse.

Truth be told, Amber hadn't seen that as a ringing endorsement of her company. After all, just because things could be a lot worse didn't mean they couldn't be a lot better. Maybe Danny didn't actually like her and didn't care about her company. (This was, however, somewhat hard to believe when he'd almost lost his life for the sake of getting to communicate with Amber.)

More likely, it was just Danny being Danny. He wasn't pretending to be Dennis Summers anymore, nor Dylan St. Lawrence. He didn't need to pretend, because, in his own words: "I'm sick of living a lie. Good thing real life is even better."

It was this attitude that motivated Danny to take a few courses at a nearby community college just for something to do. But it became clear before long that he was ill-suited to such a classroom. People seemed to be there because they were catching up on their unattainable dreams, and Danny didn't want to leave his dreams alone for too long.

For this reason, Danny told Amber that he was withdrawing from his community college courses and would instead act on his dream to become a student pilot. Amber, of course, had respected that wish; they were equal partners in their roommate agreement, after all. All he needed to do was pass a permit test.

That was, in fact, the reason Amber was waiting outside one of the hangars at Logan right now. She stood next to Rachel Petty, whose dishonesty had led to this whole saga to begin with, and yet Amber couldn't find it in herself to feel fury toward her former best friend. (Quite frankly, Rachel was still her friend, just maybe not her best friend.)

"I bet he'll do fine," Rachel assured Amber. "Didn't he mention being a Braviary in a past life?"

Amber forced a smile. "Given that the person who mentioned that was about to kill him, I'm not sure he truly believes it. Maybe it's just a lie he tells himself to feel better."

"True" Rachel sighed. "But there are far worse lies to tell."

"Can't argue with that."

A few minutes later, Danny emerged from the hangar, his instructor walking in his wake. Amber searched Danny's face for any bit of body language that might give a hint. Did he pass or fail?

But Amber didn't need to wonder for very long, because Danny started leaping up and down, flapping his arms like a butterfly. He was beaming with evident pride.

"You passed?" Amber asked him.

In response, Danny merely leaped up and down, clapping for himself. He nodded eventually.

"Congratulations, Danny, that's amazing!" Rachel exclaimed, reaching out to give him a hug. "I knew you had it in you!"

Amber winked at Rachel. If you could have been as confident as him, you wouldn't have felt the urge to cheat. Maybe you could've passed that CRT exam anyway.

But, in the euphoric wind beneath the cloudless October sky, Amber had a hard time feeling bitter about that. She thought she and Danny were about to go out to a seafood restaurant to celebrate (though neither of them would order lobster.) However, the keyword is thought.

Danny's instructor, whose name tag labeled him as Floyd McCord, gestured at his student.

"Danny, I hate to interrupt the love, but there's something else I want you to do."

"What's that?" the student asked.

"It's simply a rite of passage for those who just passed their permit test. You'll return safely pretty soon. Danny, come with me."

Amber and Rachel glanced at one another. Once Danny had agreed to the unknown "rite of passage", he and Instructor McCord walked away toward the hangar.

"What's going to happen to him?" Amber wondered aloud. "Are they going to make him drink Crawdaunt blood or something?"

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "But I trust Instructor McCord. This flight school has trained many pilots, and hey - clearly, this doesn't kill them."

"True" Amber sighed. After having been apart from Danny for two months that summer, unable to communicate in any way, this brief unknown should have been very easy by comparison. She could not, however, shake that intrusive thought that the tarmac might burst into flames.

A few minutes later, Danny and Instructor McCord emerged, connected to one another via a chest harness. The instructor wore what looked like a giant backpack, and Danny looked at the ground as though he thought he might never see it again.

"Amber, I think the 'rite of passage' is a tandem skydive."

Amber nodded. "Yes. I should have figured that out. I guess book smarts don't always translate to street smarts, or drop zone smarts."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks for taking the L. I should learn to do that more myself."

"Right."

Out of the corner of her eye, Amber noticed something that seemed important. Danny leaned over and asked Instructor McCord something. From this distance, the question was totally inaudible.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Did you hear that?" Amber asked Rachel unnecessarily.

"What do you mean?"

"It sounds like Danny asked the instructor a question. But I'm not sure what it is - I couldn't hear."

"It was probably something they all ask before they jump. Like, are you sure this thing is gonna open?"

Amber laughed nervously. "That thing had better open. I've lost him once - I don't want to lose him again."

"Nah, he'll be fine," Rachel insisted. "These guys know what they're doing."

As Danny and Instructor McCord climbed into the small bush-plane that would take them up to an altitude of ten thousand feet, Amber comforted herself with what she knew best: Statistics. According to the statistics, you were more likely to die in the drive to the drop zone than you were to die while skydiving. And clearly, they'd had no problem getting to the airport - was this situation really too scary for her to handle?

But statistics were hardly an effective weapon against the instinctual fear of watching someone you cared about partaking in such an extreme sport. As the small plane took off, Amber fully processed that what goes up must come down.

The girls watched the start of the sunset for a few minutes as the plane disappeared from view. Then, they made small talk about how their classes were going until about half an hour had passed.

"He should be landing soon," Amber remarked.

Rachel glanced at her phone. "Yes, he's due to land any minute now."

"Unless…what if the parachute didn't open? What if he just splattered against the ocean? In that case I might never know!"

"Don't think like that, Amber. He will land. Instructor McCord knows that if they crash, he dies too."

Right on cue, Amber saw a shape high above them of two men floating to the ground under a canopy. Given how far away they were, Amber could not make out who those men were, nor what color the parachute was. However, the former hardly mattered, because she let out a sigh of relief upon recalling that only one Cessna had taken off from the general-aviation terminal within the last half hour.

It's Danny. It has to be.

Soon enough, the pair had landed. Danny, who increasingly resembled a silhouette against the sunset, shook hands with the instructor, then started running awkwardly over while still wearing the backpack/harness that had been on his back upon entering the plane.

Amber frowned. She'd never been skydiving, but she was pretty sure you didn't need the parachute once you'd landed.

And yet Danny didn't seem to notice or care as he jogged toward Amber. If anything, he appeared even giddier than he had upon initially passing the permit test.

"Hello, Danny!" Rachel exclaimed. "How was it?"

"Incredible!" Danny shouted without making eye contact; he only had eyes for Amber at the moment.

"Why are you still wearing the parachute, Danny?" Amber asked him.

"Oh yeah," he said. "About that…I asked Instructor McCord if the box was still in there before I boarded the plane we jumped out of. He said yes. So it should still be in there, since we didn't need to use the reserve."

"Huh" Amber muttered, not having put two and two together yet. Rachel, on the other hand, gasped.

"Is this really about to happen?"

Danny nodded, reached into the backpack, and pulled out a small black box. That's when it clicked for Amber.

What's in that box?

Danny opened the box. Inside was a small, circular piece of jewelry with the pattern of a Pokéball inscribed upon it.

A ring.

"Before I ask the question," Danny stated, "I want to make my case."

Rachel smiled. "I don't know if that's customary, Danny. Besides, the general aviation terminal is going to close soon."

"Both of you know me well, so you're well aware that I like to do things my own way" Danny responded. "However…".

The girls glanced at one another, then Danny cleared his throat. He began his speech, which went as follows:

"For most of my life, I was a nobody. I was locked away in what amounted to a mental hospital just for being who I was. Who I still am. For the longest time, I thought it was because society pitied me. In reality, they might well have feared me given what happened three months ago, when I was able to scream a group of Crawdaunt right off me.

"I remember that day five months ago, Amber. I remember it like it was yesterday. You swooped in to save my life when Clint Cargile had cornered me, and you brought me to safety and took me in as a member of your own family. I also remember that afternoon well, during which I opened my heart up to you. I told you the truth about me, placing a great deal of trust in you. There was a time that evening when you were withdrawn, however, when I wondered if that trust had been misplaced.

"Of course, I now know that you were under immense pressure that night. Clint Cargile, or one of his cronies, wanted you to kill me. But instead of going along with his proxy, you decided to do the right thing. You went to the police, and I was placed in witness protection. I cannot imagine that it was an easy decision for you, but you made it nonetheless."

No, Danny. It wasn't an easy decision at all.

"For two long months I was without you. I couldn't even text you, and when I finally gave in and messaged you on LinkedIn, I was immediately lambasted for making such an idiotic mistake. Perhaps I was an idiot that day, or maybe this was how it was meant to be. I'm not sure if I believe in destiny, but in a way, I guess that happened for a reason."

I guess it did, but maybe the reason was that you were stupid and made a bad decision. Even if it led to us being together again in the end.

"And then I woke up in the hospital with you by my side. I didn't even need to open my eyes to figure out it was you, because you told me even without telling me. It's funny how it works, sometimes? I just knew.

"A few minutes ago, I took part in a frightening activity in leaping from a perfectly good plane. Yes, it was exhilarating, and I now understand why people do it for fun, but there's risk involved. Maybe the parachute doesn't open, or maybe you have a heart attack from fear and die before you hit the ground. You just don't know for sure."

I think he knows something. Something I'm not sure I want to admit.

Of course he does. That's why he has the ring.

"So that brings us to this evening," Danny continued, "and why I'm doing what I'm doing. You see, as scary as skydiving may be, there are things in life that are even more intimidating. Asking the question I'm about to ask is one of them."

Here it was. They were getting closer and closer to the question. And Amber wasn't even going to hesitate when he asked it.

"You see, there are activities in life during which you don't have a reserve parachute. In fact, you don't even have a regular parachute for them. You have to take a leap of faith without knowing for sure you'll be okay, and that's beautiful. Sometimes you need to embrace your instinct and feel your way to a decision.

"The last three months have been as close to heaven as I'm likely to get on Earth. I've finally felt like I belonged to someone. And now that I know what belonging feels like, I never want to lose it again. I don't want to lose you again, for those two months truly were hell on Earth.

"Amber…I think I love you."

Amber interrupted him with a smile. "I love you too, Danny."

"So now it's time for the question…Arceus, this is scary. But if my worst enemy was telling the truth just once, I was apparently an incredibly brave eagle in my past life. Hell, in this life I just went skydiving on short notice, so I think I can do this."

"You can," Amber said aloud.

Danny grinned. "Amber Hawkeye, will you marry me?"

Amber didn't even hesitate to deploy the line she'd been thinking about the last few minutes, during the young man's soliloquy. "Danny Sham, any inkling that my love for you is a sham is just that - a sham. I watched you from the ground with my hawk eye, to use another pun."

Rachel snorted. "Get to the point!"

Danny cleared his throat again. "Will you marry me, Amber Hawkeye?"

Amber smiled warmly. "I will marry you, Danny Sham."

After that, the pair embraced each other, wrapping themselves so tightly in the other person's grasp that it might have taken a knife to separate them. Amber couldn't speak for everyone; indeed, she couldn't speak for anyone but herself.

But as soon as she looked in Danny's eyes, she knew she'd made the right decision. How did she know, you might ask?

It's simple: Living required taking leaps of faith. And this was one of them.