Spec-Corp

Chapter 9 - Choice

Lucas has felt unease since the mock battle, he would often toss and turn in his sleep unable to stay still; sweat will drip from his forehead as the bedsheets under him gets drenched from the excessive sweating every night.

Recurring nightmares of the intense battle haunted him, he almost died after all. The fact that their instructor did almost no countermeasures against it made it worse. Hearing stories of his teammates arms being blown off and seeing the injuries they acquired in the fight sent shivers down his spine.

Lucas got up and went to the kitchen to drink a cup of cold refreshing water as quiet as he could, just so he wouldn't wake the others.

Lucas knew something was off ever since the day the fight ended, but everyone acted as if nothing unusual happened. Other things that bothered Lucas is the disappearance of Mona in the city, to his surprise even her parents didn't know where she was.

"Maybe I should go outside for a moment." he mutters under his breath, clearly unable to relax.

Lucas went back to his room, wiped himself down and got dressed in comfy clothing that is easy to move in and went outside. He got out of the dorms where every low class agent lives in and took the path deep into the mountain range.

The road to the top was narrow and the way it sloped made it a tiring climb, but eventually Lucas reached the top and found a flat surface with a small pond that reflected the moonlight. The cool breeze and the sight of the moon helped Lucas calm down unexpectedly quick. The scenery or at the very least the feel of it felt familiar to him. almost like this feeling has been ingrained into his body since long ago but something was missing that made it feel incomplete.

Perhaps this feeling awoken something deep inside him, or maybe its just fatigue that's getting to him. It doesn't change the fact that the feelings that has been swelling from inside him has started to seep through, as tears trickled down from his eyes.

"Hic- Kuk- damn it!"  Lucas begrudgingly tried to hold the tears back.

It was expected that everything would eventually catch up to him. one day he was just preparing for a normal day to work, a normal life. Suddenly he gets dropped off somewhere for who knows what, without as much as a name to remember himself by; let alone his past. And now he has a responsibility to do work for the same people that made him forget everything, it was practically a slave contract, It would be stranger if he didn't felt bad right now.

Holding back his tears, he hugs his knees while leaning his head on them. He let out a sigh before standing up, patting down and dirt that got on him. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming up from the mountain, he was alert until he saw who it was. A girl with long black hair wearing a turtleneck was walking up the mountain.

'It's Mona!' Lucas thought as he waved at her smiling.

She smiled back happy to see him.

"Hey Lucas! We haven't seen each other for a while. how have you been?" She asked.

"As fine as you can get after breaking a bone or two I guess." Lucas replied.

"You broke a bone?"

"Nah I'm just kidding." He replied with a slight chuckle right after.

The girl examined his face, notably his reddened puffy eyes. She began to hold his face still with both hands, subtly shifting his bangs.

"Did you cry?" She asked worried for a friend.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't"

She paused for a minute before taking his hand and pulling him along.