Regona City: Renegade (BK4)

Night in Armor

"If you have questions, just ask," he told her as they turned into a busier street.

Just like with Terrell, most of the female population couldn't help but notice the handsome young man walking down the street. Their eyes omitted the girl by his side and when they did finally notice they would burn with jealousy.

"Are you a Phantom?" Sahara revealed one thought on her mind.

Night grinned. Several girls rushed to capture the action via holopics, giggling in excitement. Sahara barely noticed. Being around Terrell had helped shut out the reactions to an extent. The only difference was that Night would shoot winks left and right, encouraging the action while Terrell would coolly ignore them altogether.

"Do you think I'm a Phantom?" Night replied with a question of his own.

Sahara shrugged. "You're around them...but other than that, I've never seen you before."

"Likewise."

They turned another corner.

"Are you in a crew?" Sahara ventured as she tried to find out more about the guy who'd saved her.

Night hummed in response. "Not in the traditional sense." He propped his hands behind his head, looking like the definition of relaxed as they passed by several stalls. "You can call me more of a free spirit or something like that."

"You sound like him too," Sahara sighed.

"Who?"

Sahara shook her head.

They proceeded, lost in their own thoughts.

"There's a reason you haven't seen me around," Night began out of the blue.

"Huh?" Sahara's eyes darted to him only to see that the smiles from before were all gone.

"I actually only came back to Regona with Lithium."

"What?" Sahara stopped in her tracks. Her heart pounded as a sliver of caution entered her. "You're from..." she looked around to make sure no one could hear, "Lithium City?"

"What are you talking about? I'm Regonan through and through. Born and raised here."

"Ahh..." Sahara resumed walking. "Then...?"

"It's quite a long story."

"We have a long walk," Sahara pointed out.

Night hummed in response. "I'll give you a shortened version." He tipped his head back, gazing at the sky that was already no longer the blue of noon. It was heading to dusk. "Let's say I grew up in the inner city. Happy childhood, great parents. School was good. Life was good."

"And then the WIS virus took it all away, huh?"

Night's steps faltered.

Only after a few more paces did Sahara realize he wasn't with her anymore. She paused and turned to find the boy standing, eyes clouded.

"No," he murmured. "The WIS wasn't what took it away."

The air felt unusually chilly and Sahara thought she briefly caught a murderous glint pass through those eyes. Her heart jumped into her throat and she took a step back as her intuition screamed danger.

Night's eyes cleared a moment later and a forced smile made it to his lips. The atmosphere returned to normal in a second, making Sahara wonder if she'd imagined it.

With a shake of his head, Night resumed his path. Sahara wordlessly fell into step alongside him.

"Things went downhill in my life before the virus." Night was no longer giving any encouragement to the girls gazing his way. "Actually, quite a bit before that."