Understanding - Repkyle

four

Song: I saw you in a dream
by The Japanese House
___________________________

Kyle's POV

"We're raiding the village."

She said. I looked around at the other cadets in confusion.

"Why?"

It was bold of me to ask, but sometimes I felt brave. Catra glared at me and slammed the table, her claws digging into the fresh metal and creating a jarring scraping sound.

"We have to send a message to them. To her."

She said. Her voice was strangled and and I could see the hurt in her eyes, but that was no excuse.

"They're innocent people!"

I replied. Rogelio and Lonnie shared a look of surprise, but I didn't care, not when Catra was going to force us to capture the innocent. Then she did it. I think I understand why she did.

It was only a scratch, a small gash at the very most, but it bled like crazy. Almost the second she did it her eyes widened and a look of regret took over. Of course she was too proud to apologise, but I could tell she was sorry.

Rogelio got all worried, whisking me off to clean and bandage up my arm, all while I listened to Lonnie shout at our force captain. It was touching how much they cared, but I knew Catra was struggling with something. Now I finally understand what it was she was struggling with.

~

I wake up and instantly sit upright, clutching the sheets around me and bowing my head to catch my breath. The sky is an orangey-pink, and Rogelio is still snoring, so I quietly lift the blankets and swing my legs over the edge of the bed, standing up and silently making my way outside. I'm used to waking up in the early morning.

I have to pull the wedge out from under the door and it opens with a creak, but I don't wake anybody up, so I let out a breath of relief.

I've always loved the peace of the Crimson Waste. I love the silence that envelops the place all night, I love the soft heat that fills the air, and the feeling of being isolated yet surrounded by people close to you. Sure, there are some dangerous residents, but they tend to stay away from us. Maybe they know how unstable I am.

I decide to walk down the street, like I always do. My feet are bare but the ground is hot from the sun, so I won't be cold. Some windows are open, or as open as they can be at least. Most of us just have a single sheet of plastic stuck into the wall's opening.

This is usually the time I feel most comfortable with myself. Take now, for example. I'm wearing grey sweatpants that I just slept in, my shirt is one of my old cadet ones and my hair is a mess. But nobody cares when the sun hasn't fully risen yet.

Maybe I should be embarrassed, maybe I should worry about what people will think. But what is there to to judge?

They know I was a soldier. They know I'm a friend of Adora's, and of Bright Moon in general. They know what I've been through. Besides, I don't have time to worry about my status in the waste when I can't even get out of my own head.

"Morning Kyle!"

A raspy voice calls. I turn to it's owner and smile.

"Morning."

I nod, and keep walking. It gets tedious after repeating this cycle for weeks on end. An older man with curled goat horns and soft beige skin smiles at me and I smile back.

When I finally get to where I was heading, I take it in like it's my first time here. It's a small clearing outside the tall blocks of flats, away from the bustle of people and away from stress of every day.

It's not appealing to most people, the red sand that floats in the air tastes gross and the shrubs that protrude from under the rocks are dry and dead looking, you can literally see the heat on the horizon and you can never be sure of who's lurking outside the town limits. I like it.

I decide to sit on a large grey rock to think.

Bird song in the distance reminds me of when I was younger. There weren't much living things in the Fright Zone that weren't soldiers of some kind, except for birds. They would come on flocks of ten or eleven at a time, soaring above us when we trained or landing on our machinery when we were on guard.

They were the only things I knew to be free, that's why when Adora left I was so confused. I didn't know there could be a life for us beyond the walls of the Fright Zone.

My eyes wander to the floor, surveying the dirt on my feet and the weeds between my toes, when I notice something glistening in the sand.

Without thinking, I lower my hand towards the glimmer, almost certain that it's money of some kind. But then I pull it out.

I look down to what's in my hand and feel my breath hitch in my throat. A scarlet-red crystal with twelve or so sides rests in the palm of my hand, a white message etched into its edge in a form of symbols and runes.

Just like the one that Catra found.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sorry it's not the best, but I'm suffering from writer's block again.

-Rose 💗

Published: 1/June/2020