Chapter 10

Love, connection, friendship is a risky game I'm not willing to play

-Ayle-

I wake up feeling warm and oddly relaxed. As a personal rule, I try to stay alert in case of well... murdery Ashari soldiers or something like that. Reaching out, I feel another shade enveloping mine, mingling together in a perfect transition from his yellow to my red shade. Everything in me, begged me to stay there in the strong pair of arms wrapped around me with my face nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

I hated it.

Throwing his arms off of me, I pushed him away from me and off the bed.

"What the hell!"

I smirk as an angry looking Joseph struggles to get up, his shade no longer the calm yellow orange from before but now an ugly angry color. Wiping the smirk off my face, I manufacture an angry expression "What the hell were you doing?" Rubbing his head, he groaned "I must have fell asleep..."

I raise my brows "That's obvious stepide" (Stupid) I cross my arms as he lowers himself on a nearby chair "What the hell were you doing with your arms around me pierevar?" (Perve)

He rolls his eyes "That would be your fault" I blanch "My fault!?" He coughs "Remember last night?" I try to think "I have no clue as to what you're talking about" He chuckles "You don't remember waking up last night, screaming and crying, hitting and kicking literately anyone who got near you?"

I slump against the wall as I think back "I must have had a nightmare..." I whisper. He laughs "One hell of a nightmare then, I had to hold you while they sedated you so you wouldn't fly off the handle. Even after they sedated you, you wouldn't let me leave without attacking the nearest bystander."

I stay quiet as I start to remember the dream, or memory rather. Everything after that was a blur, fuzzy and distorted. "It was..." I trail off, not knowing how to respond.

I hear a screech as the chair scrapes forward "Can you tell me about it?" his voice is soft, almost concerned. I can tell by the softening yellow of his shade that he's calmer now, concerned. I keep my eyes down, not wanting to repeat the memory that haunted me "I don't remember"

"Ayle, I can tell that-"

I look up at him angrily "I said I don't remember" His shade becomes a colder yellow almost whitish. Coldness saturates the air, emanating from his energy "Fine, then tell me more about the Outside"

I roll my eyes "I told you last night-"

He shakes his head "You told me bits and pieces about yourself last night, I want to know about the world outside of you idiot"

I push down my annoyance and respond with a sickly-sweet smile "Whatever you say deiok"

"There's a bunch of overgrown and torn apart ruins of the old world. Some places are green and healthy while others are wastelands. All the people there are awful."

He glares "Ayle"

I shrug "It's the truth"

He lets out a huff "You're going to have to brief everyone while you're here anyway, so why don't you start with me?"

"Maybe you should stop being an ass and just find out with the rest of them"

"I'm not being an ass; this is my job"

"No, you're doing your job and being ass, you're just that great at multitasking"

Joseph shoves his chair aside and storms over to a cabinet. I watch as he pulls out a syringe filled with a clear fluid. He looks over at me with a harsh expression "Talk or I sedate you again"

I just raise a brow "Is that even allowed?"

He frowns, apparently disappointed his tough guy façade didn't work "Ayle"

I laugh "Joseph-"

"Dr. Devlin"

"Isn't sedating me defeat the purpose of getting me to talk"

He makes his way over to me "You have six months here, there's time for that later"

I roll my eyes "I already told you that I would tell you with everyone else, I don't feel like talking today" He comes closer "And you know I could stick that in you with no problem, right?" I stood up, standing toe to toe with him, smiling "Try it, I dare you"

He shuffles uncomfortably, putting down the syringe, he looks back at me "Will you just cooperate for a second" I huff "Do I get to leave this terrible room" he sighs "This is all I need to know before you start meeting with whoever they put together for their team" I gave him a look and he chuckles "You'll be outside of the room for that" I smile as he sits down on the chair "Although I don't know what you're complaining about, it's only been a day since you tried to escape and then went marching around the building."

I tense, sitting back down on the edge of the bed "Shade, the energy of this room isn't comforting, its unfamiliar, cold. Tends to bring out the worst memories a person has."

He rolled his eyes "You're blaming the room for your nightmare?"

I glared "Do you want me to tell you about the Outside, or not?"

__________________________________________________

The development of an asshole takes a second. The development of someone who cares can take a lifetime.

-Riley-

Walking into the facility, I couldn't help but wonder if Joseph survived. After all, treating people as people was never his specialty and Ayle didn't seem to be one to put up with his crap. I really didn't need a mutilated Joseph on top of angry family on my plate right now.

On that thought, I sped up, reaching the door a minute earlier than I would've. Just as I was about to open the door, the sound of calm conversation reaches me through the thin wall.

"Do you want me to tell you about the Outside or not?"

I guess my mind really could be blown. Instead of an enraged screaming match, Joseph had actually pulled through. Pulling up a chair, I decided to listen in rather than take the moment away from him.

"Was that rhetorical?" he asks dumbly, I cover my laughter as the sound of Ayle's hand meeting Joseph's head echoes. "Shut-up and listen stepide"

Joseph mutters something as Ayle continues "Your compound is located in the Muaire Tiole Pileans or The Martial Plains" I scrunch my brows in confusion, apparently Joseph is as confused as I am because no longer than a second later, he asks "Can I ask why-" Ayle quickly answers "It is named after a sort of old-world concept. You know... Martial law, I think?"

She pauses and a moment later begins explaining in a somewhat annoyed voice "Because of all the drones you people have flying around shooting literately everything and anything that they see move. No? Well, then let this be your first lesson; going through the Martial Plains is practically a death sentence. Unfortunately, your territories surround Baisyio lecya (Basilica) like a snake around a baby's neck"

I choke and cover my mouth as I try to control my coughing. I shake my head looking at the door with wide eyes, what the fuck comparison was that?

"Umm"

Ayle continues, ignoring whatever Joseph was about to comment "The territory blocks almost every way from the east and west side of Tera" She pauses "That is what the land is called" Joseph cuts in "You mean the last continent" She growls "Whatever"

"Aside from the compound territory what is there? What's Basil yo lake ya...?

"Baisyo leyca or Basilica, you know what just don't talk, can you do that?"

Thankfully, Joseph shuts up before he annoys Ayle to her breaking point.

"Basilica is at the center of Tera, it is the last place of peace and luxury. The one's who chose to return say it is an Eden, hopefully it still is..."

She pauses, taking a moment as she thought, "Every other territory; Pike, Quana, Safa, Asharia, they are made of ruins. When the old world died, they left behind plagues, war, and hatred. Tera was born from that and something else that changed everything about what we are and the world we live in."

She must have been talking about radiation, but the amount it would take to make the changes we'd seen so far... That would have killed everyone in the beginning.

"Basilica is the only place that we think was affected for the better, everywhere else the land is cursed to be torn by war and the extremes that we live in. There are only two ways to live, in the blistering heat like Asharia or the cold like my home, Pike. You must know how to survive in either one, how to grow or catch your next meal, how to keep warm or cut off frostbitten toes."

"There are no pretty lies on the Outside, only the truth of survival. We are the way we are because we are the survivors and Tera, as brutal as she is, is our home"

"Basilica used to be a dream that the niave hoped to get to one day. Even that was destroyed by Tera's most faithful children. The Ashari"

"You have heard me speak of them, yes?"

"Well they are monsters born from the heat of Asharia. They are the biggest territory and control almost every other territory. The ones that do not cooperate are war ridden and barely survivable. In the beginning they fooled us, offering to guide the way to Basilica."

She laughs "What a bunch of bullshit. They took the leaders of all our territories and made their way to Basilica."

She sighs "It is said that they say it before taking a blade to the neck. The Ashari murdered them all, took what they could from Basilica, and returned to rule over all of us."

"We are still survivors, but now we are surviving Ashari rule. A cruel dictatorship run by monsters who murder your parents and steal your children for their war."

I hear Ayle's voice become tight as if she forcing down a sob. My own tears roll down my cheeks as I struggle to stay on my side of the door.

I stand, I think Joseph's got this handled for now.