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They rose early the next day, ready to start the journey that’d be getting over the wall. Well- Bal rose early, and woke Nimona up, who also had to be dragged off of the couch…
It’d be difficult to get over the wall with the amount of security there was. There were knights constantly monitoring the wall, making sure nothing got it.
Being who they were, it’d be impossible to just get out without arousing suspicion. Nimona had just wanted to fly over the wall, but that’d guarantee the cannons trained on them and fired within minutes.
Bal dragged behind him two of their huge suitcases- Nimona with the third. They didn’t need to take as much stuff, but it was a gamble on whether or not they’d find people out there to buy stuff from.
Of course, if they’re successful in getting over the wall, who’s to say they can’t do it again? Get clothing, food, electronics, and more? The cars unfortunately don’t work outside of the side- they operate on an electromagnetic grid- so they’ll have to bring or find horses…
It’s safe to say that Ballister’s overthinking it, and Nimona can tell. She looks over at him and frowns.
“Hey, Bal.” He looks at her, eyebrows still creased. “We can do this.” She reassures him. He takes a deep sigh and his shoulders relax a little more.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just…” he trails off in the middle of his sentence.
“Overthinking it?” Nimona finishes for him.
“Yeah,” there’s an edge of laughter in his voice. “Maybe a little.” He shrugs, glancing away.
“We got this, Bal! Don’t think too hard about it,” she knocks her head against his shoulder. He reaches down and ruffles her hair, laughing at her indignant shriek. “Hey! What if we make a teensy-weensy little hole in the ground for us and make a tunnel? We could hide it in a building or something.” A laugh bursts out of Bal and he shakes his head. She pouts dramatically and he chuckles at her shenanigans.
They… make a tunnel.
Really, Bal’s lair is very close to the wall. It’s the most sensible place to hide something like a trap door leading to a tunnel that leads to outside the wall… that way they can return to the city freely.
It feels like a stupid idea. It probably is a stupid idea. But Nimona shapeshifts and digs a massive hole down and then under the wall until it’s at least a mile out. They use cement to make the whole thing secure, and manage to get enough to cover every spot of dirt in a couple inches of cement. That way, the dirt can’t collapse on top of them.
They add a ladder and a secret trapdoor in the secret lair, so they can return later.
They finish the whole thing… and finally Bal can step out into the world beyond the wall.
He has to sit down and process the beauty of it all, the rolling hills and rivers sparkling in the sunlight. Deer galloping across the plains, birds flying freely, a number of animals all enjoying life as it is.
No… monsters.
There never really were monsters, were there? Just scared people striking out in their fear, forcing anyone different into the shadows. The shadows, where they decided that they should belong.
Nimona never came from the shadows. She was just pushed into the dark.
He sighed, staring out at the land. Nimona flopped down beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tucked his arm around her, holding her close.
“Wow…”
“I know. The tunnel idea was great.” Bal laughed, the joyous sound loud and carefree in the absence of what they’d left behind.
“Honestly, it was kinda stupid. Still is- it took us a week to cement that whole tunnel. I can’t believe I gave into it.” Bal laughs and drags a hand over his face. “I can’t believe it worked. Did they never think about that?”
“Well, they’re sure not stopping anyone with a huge shovel anytime soon.” Nimona giggled. “I don’t think they thought about that when they made the wall.”
“They didn’t think about a lot of things when they made the wall. I think it was just built by foolish , scared people. Enough that your plan managed to get past them.”
“I still think it was genius.” Nimona shrugged. Bal sighed and smiled.
They both sat there until the sun was dipping down on the skyline, and the last bright burst of light spilling across the land. Stars had started peeking out- so, so many stars, more than Bal had ever seen.
“So… what do you wanna do now?” Nimona asked.
“Well, kid-“
“Hey!”
“The way I see it, we can do whatever the hell we want.”