A/N: I've decided to upload all my fics into a single account. eye of the beholder until let the walls break down were originally only uploaded to my AO3 account, callingthequits. Then I went back to my roots and thought, "Hey, why not post it on Fanfiction too?" so here I am.

Title from Walls by All Time Low.

"Todd," I say, "Todd, please."

It's one of the bad days. The days when I can't sit still, days when I can't leave the room, days when I unconsciously rub the faded mark on my wrist. Days when I wake up from the nightmares, the horrible reality, that for a moment I thought Todd Hewitt was dead because for that moment, he was.

I shouldn't be here.

I should be preparing a small speech, in honor of the one month anniversary since peace has been brought to the New World. I should be checking in with Bradley, making sure that he's doing well with the negotiations with the Spackle. I should be with Lee and Wilf, I should be with Mistress Lawson, I should be with Ben, I should be with all the friends I've missed since landing here, I should be with the one person I've miss most of all, the one person I love -

And I am. Sitting here with Todd. Todd who's not awake.

Yet, my mind supplies, conjuring an imaginary image of Todd and his crooked smile. Not awake yet.

Because he will.

He has to.

He has to see New World as it is now. A New World without Mistress Coyle or Mayor Prentiss, a New World with men and women and Spackle living side by side, a New World with a slowly reconstructing Haven and settlements by the ocean and New Elizabeth instead of old Prentisstown.

He has to be reunited with Ben, properly reunited with Ben. He has to talk to the Sky, about what happened before, when the Sky was still the Return and how he's sorry now.

He needs to open his eyes and stand up and explore New World as it is now, listen to the Noise he's been hearing all of his life but hear happiness and contentment instead of destruction and tragedy. He has to wake up.

"Wake up, Todd," I whisper to him. "I ain't leaving you. Not on my life."

It's true, too.

And if was awake, he'd do his lopsided grin and be proud of me for saying ain't. He'd look at me and his Noise would open up and I'd hear, Yeah? That's good. Cuz I ain't leaving you either, Viola Eade. Not ever. And I'd smile at him, and he'd know I heard him, and I'd kiss him again and again and -

But he's in a coma and I'm not hearing anything except his slow breathing.

"I love you," I say.

It's silent.