19 | Out in the Open

Darkness.

Immediate silence cut into LUCAS's system. He saw nothing—heard nothing—felt nothing. It felt like he was locked away in some foreign dimension, taken prisoner by his own mind. His body had entered emergency recovery mode—something had hit him. At least, he thought something had. The last thing he saw was the floor beneath them crumbling—blinding white light and some of the foundation above starting to fall. After that, nothing.

He was floating within himself, access only to the information that was being fed to him through ICARUS. He tried to find anything that would help him discover more about what has happened. He found a trail that seemed promising. He followed it down and felt himself be enveloped by the growing shapes around him. Colors filled his vision with immense severity. He opened his eyes and he was staring at a much younger Laven. It had looked like some time had passed since the new world came about.

She sat alone by a campfire on a golden night. She sat on the peak of a rocky mountain overlooking the area that used to be her home. Now, it existed as an eternally burning flame. She wasn't sure how it had started, but the village only existed now in this world as a bonfire that no matter the conditions outside kept fueling itself. The licks of the flames kissed the air and painted a sorrowful sight from the viewpoint she had set up.

The sky was still getting used to showing its new colors. She wore thick garments meant to keep in heat—but they looked like they hadn't been cleaned in months. She stared down at her hands which were marked with glowing runic signs. They were unlike anything he'd ever seen. Sapphiric light emanated from her hands and on closer inspection he saw that they worked their way up and down her arms. She picked at her left hand irritated, a look of pain crossed her face as the light glowed brighter as she picked at it.

It wasn't as if she had wanted to return to the place she grew up—but her supplies had begun to run low and she knew not a soul in this new environment. She aimed to plunder some resources and make off for the next available settlement to see if they could align. When she saw the burning she simply sat in astonishment and started to make up camp.

The lights on her body were a new development. After forming the pact she started feeling a small new burst of energy within her. She would walk longer, climb higher, even heal from wounds like the fall she had taken from. But it wasn't until the past week when she fully began noticing the cost of her increased vitality—the cost of her pact. She's felt fatigue much faster than normal after previous long stretches of hiking across the world. It was now a risk to expend energy—it felt as if she now became twice as tired for each action she performed—for twice the output.

She stared at the marks which displayed her weakness to the world—she was glad most people didn't know the meaning behind them lest they take advantage of her situation. That was another reason for her stopping here atop this mountain.

She was being chased through the valley by a rough group who pilfered much in the region. They had banded together once the new world came into existence and let their primal urges of scavenging and pillaging free. They rode in caravan style and were catching up to her fast. She could run faster than a normal person, but it was still a stretch to outrun a group of vehicles.

She looked over her shoulder a single time to see their hooded faces and shaded looks. She thought that she was done for seeing them approach so quickly. She closed her eyes and felt energy swelling through her body. She leaped and felt herself lift into the air. Golden-white light sprung wings like a butterfly from her back.

Wind coursed through her hair and she looked behind her to see the caravan slow down as the pursuit became less and less fruitful. She took off and LUCAS was returned to her sitting by the campfire. The lights had since retracted from the wings to the markings over her body. Inside her mind an ancient language spoke in several tongues. The transaction had been paid and she had retained her freedom. She knew that she would need to sleep for a long...long time.

LUCAS opened his eyes back in the real world. He was on his back and overlooking the red sky of a new morning. He felt sore all over his body.

"Jesus Christ...thank god you're okay."

He looked up to see Laven looking over him. It took him a few seconds to realize his head was resting on her lap. When his eyes adjusted to the sun he saw the familiar blue lines running across her face. He shot up and looked at her, "Are you okay? What happened..."

She cocked her head and he could see tears in her eyes. "The building went down. We...were unable to stop it. The remains are back there."

LUCAS looked behind her and saw a gigantic dump that used to be the Republic Plaza. Not even a single floor stood standing. He couldn't identify any life signs coming from within.

"No..." he said, zooming back to his original sight.

She rushed him and held him close. "I thought you were a goner too. Everything happened so fast. You blinked out and..."

He held her back. He felt a reassuring feeling swelling deep inside him and he realized he had felt the same anxiety she had all at once.

"You saved me," he said. "You used the power that drains your energy."

She leaned back and held her hands out in front of her. "I haven't had to in a long while. I...haven't told the others about it. I guess deep down it was for the same reasons that you were wary about it. It leaves me near useless. I'm not even going to be able to walk until it clears up and these start to fade," she held out her arms.

LUCAS saw the light running down from her neck all the way to the tips of her fingers. "Does it hurt? The light?"

She shook her head. "No, I mean, the cost was heavy at first. I didn't see it coming, so I wasn't prepared to take care of myself during. I could have gotten myself killed then and there, but thankfully nobody was around when I had. I've tried to be sparing when I need its energy. I saw that large piece of debris coming toward you and I just jumped into action."

"What happened, exactly?"

"I swept you up in my arms and we crashed through the window. I flew us out of the range of the explosion. We were a little too close at first so we caught a little of the blow back, but I carried us as far as we could go. I managed to get us this far before I had to land. I wanted to try to drag you to at least somewhere safe instead of being out in the open. I couldn't manage that, though. I was scared we had gone through all that and some of the officers were going to all come out and overwhelm us out here..."

"I see that no officers came out," LUCAS said.

"Nobody came out..."

Her words hung on the air like a sustained note to accent the horror that followed. Accompanying the silence like a grand concerta that fully defined the guilt that sat in between them like a heavy broth, pinning them to the ground. They were silent for a few seconds until something inside LUCAS began ringing. He looked into his back mind and saw that the fragment of ICARUS was still calling out to him. It had survived the explosion.

"Woah...the fragment is still in there," LUCAS said.

"Wait, really?" Laven asked. "Fuck...I still can't move," she grunted, trying to lift herself up to her knees.

"Hey, don't worry about it," LUCAS said. He stood up, his legs were wobbly and for a second they threatened to collapse, but he took a sharp breath and steadied himself. "I got you. Consider it a return favor," he said. He bent down and scooped his arms under her legs and against her back. He found the act of lifting her no issue. She let out a small sound and grappled an arm around his neck in surprise.

"T-That's not fair. I was already paying back your favor."

"Guess we'll have to start a tab, then," LUCAS smiled.

She rested her head against his chest and he began walking, and then jogging, and then sprinting. He felt the power pulsing from deep within him. If he closed his eyes he could let the pulsing feeling guide him toward the goal. Like an echo reverberating through the valley—bouncing off the edges of the walls of the valley that embraced the remains of the building.

When they reached the outskirt of the building he noticed that the air felt coarser to the touch. He stopped and slowed so he could analyze. The composition of the air was...a concern if he was being modest. There were several trace particles that LUCAS couldn't identify. They covered the air in a noticeable foggy sort of residue. He noticed that some cuts on his arms had formed. It took him a second to put two and two together. The foggy particles were so rough that it had caused these cuts.

He took a few steps back. "I'm going to set you down here for a second," LUCAS said. "The air here is...poisoned. I don't think that's an accurate descriptor but my mind isn't firing on all cylinders right now. I don't want you to get hurt."

"There's no way to avoid it?" She asked, fearing the decision he was going to make.

"I am not familiar with it. Those explosives Namba set up must have spread these particles through the air. I don't know what would happen if I would try to absorb it."

She nodded her head slowly. "Do you think the energy you absorbed before will react with that stuff?"

"I...am unsure. It hasn't yet so..."

"Please, be careful, okay?"

"You have my word," LUCAS nodded.

He turned and looked back toward the wreckage. The fog was so light he could see through it, but there was a noticeable difference to what the air behind him looked like. He had a guess that running through this would worsen the effects, but then again, going slowly could equally be ten times as agonizing.

He took in a deep breath and brought his arms together and the shield formed in front of him. He wasn't sure it would do any good, but it was better than going in with nothing. He held his arms out in front of him and began to walk forward. He immediately felt the scratchy, itching on the lower half of his legs. Behind the shield he was mostly free from the rough sensation.

He continued, slowly. The itching sensation was now starting to feel like small contained burns. He bit his lip and continued moving forward. He looked down at the ground and saw that he was climbing over destroyed furniture. The smell of blood was pungent in the air around him. He tried his best to keep his thoughts off of all the bodies that were around him. His legs started to buckle underneath him, but he kept moving forward.

He felt the vibrations inside him pulsing faster and deeper to his core. He threw out his arm in an arc and it flew into a crevice that had formed into a small mountain of debris. He wrapped his fingers around the source of the pulsing and yanked his arm back. It came to him with a dozen cuts and stinging pain around each and every one. He winced as he held a small black brick in his hand.

Its exterior looked like it should be shined, but the dust and dirt that had coated it had smudged it into a dull block. In all total it looked like it was smaller than the kind of bricks that were stacked for houses, but it had a considerable heft behind it.

This was it for sure, he felt immense power surging from within the brick. This...was the last of the three pieces.

He had a feeling when he saw that sight of Allison Fae and Sakonna that there could have been another piece out there somewhere. Something about the idea just stuck with him. He held it in front of his face and felt a mesmerizing sense of wonder looking at it. He knew in that moment then that it would be fate from this point forward that he would come into contact with the both of them. Now that he carried this, it was but inevitable. He swallowed his fear over what that possibility would bring and returned his arm to the shield and started to head back.

He made it back to Laven in one piece. She had looked at him with wide eyes—she had noticed the cuts across his arm and legs, but was glad to see they didn't spread too far. The deepest ones were at his ankles, but he was able to stop the blood flow as he had with the gunshots. The others were superficial at worst and would heal on their own.

"Find it?" She asked, and as he brought out the brick she looked at it confused. "I'm glad it's here, but I'm definitely curious on how it works."

"It's definitely got to interact with the main unit in some way, but it's not complete."

"Not complete...? Oh, you think it's part of what the others found?"

LUCAS nodded. "Yeah, I think finding them is going to be my next task."

"I wouldn't say that," a familiar voice rang in LUCAS's head.

"Gavin?" LUCAS called out, confusing Laven.

"I thought you were gone with the building. The others gave up in trying to find you, I figured I'd try one last time. I'm glad to read you made it through."

"Yeah, Laven's here with me. We're the only two that made it out."

"...I had feared hearing it, but I guess there isn't much we can do about that now. We did rescue a hundred workers that managed to get out safely."

"A hundred? That's honestly more than I expected."

"Yes, their families were very happy to see their return, but I fear the overall state of things is a net loss of morale. That'll even out in time, though. That's not your fault."

"One of those things where they're going to have to push through it," LUCAS said.

"Unfortunately. Hey, where are you guys stationed at? I can come pick you up."

"Come without the guild if you can," LUCAS said. "I've got the fragment."

"You're not talking out loud, are you?" Gavin asked.

"I told Laven about it, about it all."

He was silent on the other end.

"I trust her."

A heavy sigh came. "Okay, that's fine, I can work with that. But did you tell any of the others...? Roshe?"

"No. But that's what I was going to say. I think one or more of them sold us out. The Kosunaga brother—Namba, he had access to my map data."

"What? That's..." he trailed off for a moment. "Okay, I got your coordinates, I'll come by alone with a buggy. I was planning on taking one of my trips soon anyways, I'll just make my quick farewells and I'll come meet up with you, we can talk more in person."

"Roger," LUCAS said. When he finished he took a seat beside Laven. She rested a hand on his leg and he stared up at the sun. "He'll be here soon, he's coming alone."

"That's good..." Laven said. "I just don't know how this went all wrong. I've never had an issue with any of them before this...and we've worked together for years now."

LUCAS shook his head. "I don't know. I have suspicions but I don't have any facts to back any of it up. I'm just...done with this job."

"I hear you."

Together they sat with the amber light of the sun casting their shadows as one melded being. They waited until the familiar hums eventually made their way closer, ever closer.