I Am Fictional Real

Chapter 14: I Beg You, Please

        There was a way to revive all of the people we accidentally killed. A way I had to somehow figure out while trying not to have an immortal Attin Ocklaeka. It was a moment after seeing that sinful man that any of this popped into my head, and I wondered what Akalirng had done with all of those bodies in the time they were out there. They would have been surrounded by flies, eaten maggots and animals in the forests until they were nothing more than bones. I didn't want to think a bout it. But I had to.
     "Certain conditions must be met before I can agree," I told him.
     "Explain." He leaned against a computer desk with his legs crossed.
     "You can revive the dead with the Tethers, right? I want the people we killed to be revived and returned back to that town. And you will not touch them."
      Akalirng snapped at one of the scientists and told them to get some people together to retrieve the bodies from where they were.
     "Anything else?" he asked.
     "My friends," I sighed. "I want them to be in that house, too."
     "It will be done." He stood. "Now let me lead you back home."
     He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back out of the door himself where he was guiding me to the house. I saw soldiers piling up into one group to organize what I assumed to be the task force to carry out my demands. Akalirng lead me into my room and told me to wait until he brought the others.
     "When are we doing this?" I asked him.
     He waved. "Three days time. I have to prepare him."
    I watched him leave, and I waited in my room surrounded by books by LACEI. He was going to do it. I gripped the unfamiliar bed sheets hoping that my strengthened hands would be enough to waken me up from this dream. Even better, the door to my room slammed against the door stopper as three familiar guys held me tightly with all the strength they could muster. IT was in that moment I knew I wasn't dreaming. It was then I also knew that I was setting up the world for failure because of temporary happiness. I had three days to figure it out.
     "What did they do to you?" I asked Alinak. He had scratches on his nose that were very fresh, and they stuck out like a sore thumb.
     "It was me," Rantorm blurted. "When they... subdued my abilities, I scratched with all my might, and Alinak stopped me."
     Alinak silently agreed with him, and I shrugged my shoulders. I refrained from telling them what was offered of me, and I encouraged us to talk about something unrelated to our situation. Because, fuck, my mind was spinning at a rapid rate, and there was so much that I couldn't keep down that I wanted a distraction. Two managed to talk about the city in its glory time. Rather, he asked us what it was like back then.
     "For me," Alinak started. "It was another world. I remembered the few times we went, I saw street performers, protesters, hookers, and everything you'd think you wouldn't see in one sitting. But, we saw it."
     Yeah. That was normal, and it was also normal for the average citizen to hold some sort of dirt in their DNA that made them have mannerisms that made them seem elegant or extra careful.
     "I was inside a lot," Rantorm admitted. "Creating my... endoskeleton. I can tell you that it was advanced in a lot of ways, but there were many, many secrets. I'm sure Esinna was also aware of the black market, yeah?"
     "More than aware," I smiled. "I bought and sold information on a lot of people because I wanted to. I got a degree in journalism, didn't you know? I continued collecting information so that on my blog I could incriminate people that needed to be."
     "I got my parts from the black market. I never necessarily made... contacts."
     I patted my panel that had my gun and unlimited bullet supply inside. "His name was Calovok. He was... good with this kind of stuff."
     Rantorm sat quietly, his mind somewhere else as I assumed he was trying to figure out who sold him what on the inside of his body.
     "Tell me, Esinna," Two started. "Where did LACEI come from? If it's uncomfortable for you to answer, you don't have to."
      "No, it's a good question," I said back. "People often speculated where it came from or if it meant anything, and I always assured them it was just a name. Lacei in itself is a common name, so I liked it for that reason. But... It was my mother's name. It was... suggested by one of the people that knew."
     "How many people knew?" Alinak questioned.
     "Two people. My sister and my best friend. Truth was, they were the people I knew that wouldn't tell anyone the secret without my approval. Except..." I shut my eyes. "Sarin did just that."
     Just then, Lanien walked into the threshold with three other guards all carrying trays of food for us, her eyes glaring at me as if I had done something completely wrong to her. The soldiers handed us the trays, and they escaped out into the house. The food was some soup and bread with water as our drinks, and we all started eating it immediately. Lanien didn't leave.
     "So, you're fine with this?" she started. "Just... sitting here with... them?"
     I sipped on the hot soup. "What do you mean?"
     "You act like you're one of them. Your shoulders are slacked, your demeanor is just plain awful. Aren't you just pretending like you used to?"
     Like I used to? Lanien stood there, her soldier uniform deceiving her body type and any childish part of her I knew. When I saw her grinding teeth like this, I knew she had something bothering her. I opened my mouth, but Alinak got to her first.
     "We're all Phenomenons," he said. "Esinna is no different than us, so we will regard her as an equal and nothing less."
     Lanien grumbled. "My sister is far superior than any of you all. She was the reason the city was destroyed. She was the reason that so many people were rising up. She-"
     "Lanien Valunett," I yelled out sternly. Lanien cowered at her full name. "I knew you'd still be a child without my guidance. You have a gun, but do you know how to use it? Properly now."
     She gripped her gun. "I..."
     "No excuses. You only put me in this house because you want to treat me as some superior to my friends. We're not superior. Nothing about being LACEI or being the cause of this one hundred year lapse makes me superior. I am just a pawn. I have always been." I stared down at my food. "Now, would you kindly let me eat in peace?"