Fallen Star

Chapter 18

Omega was the same torn wasteland it had always been; as expected, in the day and a half I'd been gone, nothing had changed. The same broken buildings were there, the same rubble, the same moondust, the same everything. It felt like home and it was quiet; a far cry from the bright lights and shiny skyscrapers of Alpha City. I finally felt at ease, and it was back in Omega that I realized how on edge and tense I had been in Alpha. Damn, it felt good to be back home!

Sayuri seemed surprised, looking around at the landscape as I led her from the trash heap in the Outer Circle to the Middle Circle. I didn't feel like going back to Sally just yet, but Sayuri probably wanted to eat. Well, I still had some money leftover from my last job, and there was a place where we could get grub for cheap. In any case, if all else failed, I could just ask Sayuri to get us there on that rickety motorcycle she'd brought along with her. We were headed to the Inner Circle.

Omega was divided into three parts: The Outer Circle, the Middle Circle, and the Inner Circle. The Outer Circle bordered Alpha City, going from the northeast to the ocean, where it then ended. This was where Alpha dumped a lot of its trash and flung their gangsters and criminals for Omega to deal with. Some parts were nice, but it was mostly dangerous. The Middle Circle was the residential area, squashed in between the Outer Circle and the Inner Circle. It was the nicest place in all of Omega and most of its population lived here. This was the place Hunters were sworn to protect and there were a lot of nice(r) buildings here. Then... There was the Inner Circle.

This was the Hunters' stomping grounds. All the famed Hunters lived here and it was here that we flocked. Most Hunters worked alone and hated socializing but when they needed information, they came into the Inner Circle. Regular people weren't welcome but they weren't unwelcome either. You needed protection, you went to the Inner Circle. Personally, I mostly stuck to the Middle Circle since that was where Sally was. All the other Hunters were stuck-up jerks but as a known Hunter myself, I was at least acknowledged in the Inner Circle and could get food cheap at the Hunter HQ.

Well, it wasn't much of a "headquarters" as it was a canteen for Hunters to rest. We all hated each other, sure, but we could tolerate one another enough to eat and drink together in the same place. There were more amicable Hunters who came here to drink with buddies but those people were rare. Mostly, it was just Hunters reluctantly buying information from each other and complaining about troublesome Alphas. I rarely came here since I couldn't stand my "coworkers" but sometimes, I just wanted to eat nice food and not the crap that came by in the cheap markets of the Middle or Outer Circles.

The Hunter HQ was refurbished from an old, mostly-standing airplane hangar. How it survived World's End was beyond anyone. Despite what little damage there was, it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed. Inside the HQ, there were a fair amount of Hunters chatting and drinking but there were few enough of them for Sayuri, Empyrean, and I to claim a space all to ourselves. Sayuri awkwardly parked her bike against the wall next to our table and sat down, me right across from her. A waiter came by and I ordered cream sodas for the both of us plus two of the cheapest lunch sets they carried.

"I don't eat much," Sayuri confessed. I laughed.

"Well, what do you know, I don't either. Anyway," I put my serious face on, "I want to know why Emyr thought I'd killed his mother. It makes no sense; everyone knows that Omegas can't get into Alpha without special circumstances. Sterling got scouted and rose to fame. I went through the thug-infested ghettos with help from a cheat key." I patted my pocket approvingly. "Unless Emyr's mother was a criminal, there's no way I would have encountered her before. And I know this for a fact: I have never killed anyone. Not yet and hopefully not ever."

"We'll run into Emyr and the cloaked man again sooner rather than later if we continue searching for the Memory Keys," Sayuri pointed out. "Any ideas where the next one might be?" I turned to Empyrean.

"Do you know if all five Keys have fallen into Cadere?" Then I realized something and gulped. "What if they fell into the ocean? 'Cause if that's the case, they're effectively lost forever." Empyrean shifted uncomfortably.

"Let's do what we can for now," she said.

"Right..." I turned to Sayuri, who was looking at me quizzically, and gave her a mighty shrug. "Any ideas, Empyrean?"

"During our trek to this diner, I've taken to studying the Memory Key within my heart," she said. "This is what I've discovered: The Memory Keys seem to be oddly attracted to places full of human emotion. This is why the first Key was found at Sterling Asturias' concert. As to why this, I am not sure but it might be due to the Keys' role in sealing away Tariel or their own power seeking more energy on Cadere. I hypothesize that even if there are long-lost lingering emotions, the Key will still seek it out. So, Hiro, do you have any ideas as to where we can start looking?"

"Lingering human emotions, huh..."

Our food arrived and I busied myself by chewing the straw of my cream soda. I wanted the sweet beverage to wash away the hunch I had but the taste just made it grow stronger. Sayuri started poking at her sandwich, a plain but filling thing composed of corned beef, American cheese, pickles, onions, and ketchup. Lingering human emotion... What place in Omega would have a lot of lingering human emotion?

...I wanted to be wrong but I knew in my heart there was only one answer. Sighing, I took a pickle stick and started snacking on it as I nosed around the Hunter HQ. The guys in the front were drunk and would be no help. The guys in the back were the dangerous, shady Hunters who weren't going to give me information no matter how hard I begged.

"Hey there, Hiro!"

"Oh, for the love of... You've got to be kidding me."

My eye twitched as the huge man came forward. Six feet tall and bald but with a bushy beard was Hage, a middle-aged Hunter who'd been in the business for a respectable amount of time. He'd earned himself an honest reputation as a result. He was one of the few Hunters open to cooperation thanks to his friendliness, a rare trait in the business. He was often chosen as the leader of a raid for when we Hunters had to band together to take down groups of rowdy Alphas. Rarely, if ever, did Alphas join forces but when they did, we Hunters had to step our game up and cooperate and Hage was instrumental in getting that job done. He was loud, with a booming voice, a throaty laugh, and a tendency to drag others into his shenanigans. He made people feel safe and at ease, and he loved to talk. Naturally, that left him unpopular with only me, the antisocial teenager that I was.

"...What do you want, Hage?" I felt Sayuri's and Empyrean's eyes on me as Hage laughed and clapped me on the back.

"It's been a while since we last saw you here! Why don't we have a drink together?"

"I'm eighteen, Hage."

"Is that how old you are, now? Ha! I remember when you were just a babe! Time flows so fast I thought you were older!"

"Get to the point!" I finally snapped, though I blinked when Hage's face turned serious.

"Be honest, Hiro," Hage said in his softest voice, which was still loud enough to reverberate throughout the entire hall, "did you really go to Alpha?"

All the chatter immediately shut up. Everyone was looking at us. Damn that Hage and his stupid mouth! I felt myself shaking, my fingers balling into fists.

"Damn it, old hag," I muttered. "Sally told you, didn't she!?"

Hage said nothing, instead responding with, "She asked me to watch over you. That's all. It's a promise I made with her the day you became a Hunter. I thought you knew that?"

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it," I growled, storming out of the building.

I could feel the eyes of everyone boring holes into my back and I wanted to get rid of that irritating itch. I paused once to take my pendant out of my pocket and look at it for comfort, but I stowed it away safely within seconds and was on my way.

Damn you, Sally, and damn you, Hage. You're making my reputation precede me.