Vivid (BoyxBoy) {Pipe Dream: Book I}

Epilogue: XXI

Hyde frowns, muttering under his breath, "An accident or desirable?"

Ulysses glares at him as a warning to stop.

"Twenty-One. Tell us what you think of Outsiders?" Foster asks without looking away from Hyde.

"They are a threat and if so prove to be dangerous, they must be destroyed."

Standard textbook answer.

He was Foster's perfect solider. Perfect little trained mutt which could be dangerous, Hyde knew.

"That will do for now," Foster said. "Perhaps you would like to repeat your discussion?"

"Sir," Ulysses acknowledges. "There was strange activity in Bolin several weeks ago...it looked to be something of a G-Magnitude accelerant-type tester in the works...but it just disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Quite literally. Sir." Hyde adds. "There is no evidence. No lingering trail...Our source knows nothing."

"Which means Yue knows nothing."

Foster let out an amused breath, "Is she satisfied with that? That can only mean is has something to do with that snake, Siem. This means that your contact will be useless in this matter, I am afraid. If it's Siem's little nest that's involved in any way. Unless your contact can slip into his ranks...it's a dead end."

"Siem is watchful and good at leading Yue by the nose," Ulysses put simply. "And I will not remove our infiltrator at this point. They are in an excellent position for any information trafficking that passes Yue. It will be difficult to maneuverer in the city without them there."

"...What is the state of Bolin by the way?" Foster changes the topic.

"Unstable at best." Hyde puts simply. "There is unrest but...it's still too early for us to process any real data at the moment, Sir. But we are suspicious that Bolin's Core is weakening."

Foster held in the almost delight he was experiencing at this news. Even if it was a rumour, he was having a hard time at supressing his enjoyment of the concept. "Very good. Keep me informed if anything changes." Apparently satisfied with the outcome, Foster moves back to the door. He notices that Twenty-ne had taken a step towards a wall of screens, his eyes focusing on an out of focus picture. "What is it?"

As if snapping from a dream, Twenty-One gasps and looks away from the picture, "Nothing sir. I just felt a bit of déjà vu."

Foster follows his gaze and see a blurred picture of a crowd. There was no mistaking the shot of blonde hair in black clothing. "You have seen this person before?"

"I...don't know, sir. Sorry sir."

"Maybe in time something will help your memory." Foster stares at the surveillance footage of Subject Ten. No one would have picked up that it was him way at the back in the shadows of a crowded market place at the slums of Bolin. "Not to worry. Come along, lad."

"Yessir," Twenty-One retreats from the picture.

"I guess we will see you two bright and early at tomorrow's full debrief?" Foster refers to the two who were watching the boy closely.

"Bushy-tailed with bells on. Sir." Hyde states while standing to bow stiffly at them.

"Come on, Twenty-One we still need to meet a few more people." Foster walks out of the room as if they never existed.

"Yessir," Twenty-One says softly, lingering in the doorway with one last glance at the screen. He was not focusing on the blonde in the photo. Rather, the one wearing a hoodie to cover up at much of their face as possible that was next to the blonde. To anyone else, this person was invisible and unimportant. Nothing more than a shadow...but it felt like something was pulling him towards them. But nothing came to mind as he walks away from the room.

<><<>><>>><><<><><<<<>>>><><>>><>>>><><<><<>

From her crystal throne in the crystal room that was completely dark save for the light coming from the clear window that she looked out of. The girl looks out to the cityscape far below from her tower of blue and white crystal. She had walked away from her throne; her feet had led her as far as the pure wall of smooth glass. Her deep piercing blue eyes reflected the glass-tinted work in front of her. She reaches out a delicate porcelain white hand to touch the cold glass.

Only one word falls from her lips, as the living doll continues to stare out into the sky, "Kae." Even though the haze of empty memories, the word seemed to have engraved deeply within her heart.

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A/N:

Hi everyone :)

Thank you so much for sticking through everything with me (especially those who were there right from the beginning)...it has been a long 2 years in the making.

This is pretty big for me as this is the very first book I have ever finished!

Thank you so much again for the reads, votes and of course the wonderful comments and follows. ...words cannot express how awesome you guys are and...I just am truly thankful that you guys took even one look at the cover and gave Vivid a shot, who continually encouraged me and demanded updates every now and again. It kept me from giving up knowing that there is someone out there who actually likes my work!

Of course this isn't the end of Kae and X (far from it)

I just felt that Vivid needs to stop here.

But don't worry! I am planning to start posting in the next week, the next installment; Lucid 

So please join me again for the next step...or leap  

I'm looking forward to it!  (ノ・ω・)ノ

Thank you again!