Ground Two

The Director And The Nobody

Soal didn't know what to hold, whether she should nurture her left arm, right, or, somehow, her spine. Lumina noticed her struggle, and decided to drop what she had been doing - cuffing all of Heinz's limbs and taping his mouth shut. Her fingers kneaded at the spot where Heinz had his foot; about the middle of Soal's upper and lower back. Soal flinched as pain pricked her in the spine, her lips suppressing a whimper.

"Does that hurt?" Lumina asked, removing her fingers from the spot.

"The pain only means it is working," Soal said, her fingers splaying in her lap, and a weak laugh departing from her mouth.

Lumina took a seat beside Soal. "I'm not sure about that."

Soal gave Lumina the pouty face. "No, please. It really hurts. Probably the most, even though my arms were pulled back so far."

Lumina looked Soal straight in her crystal blue eyes. A sigh pressed at the back of her throat, but a small smile formed upon her lips instead. Her fingers eased into the spot on Soal's spine, lightly kneading it.

Soal hunched forward, elbows on knees. Her gaze held the floor for a while. Her lips pursed.

"What's up?" Lumina asked, the silence getting to her.

Soal clasped her palms on her lap and straightened. "Ah. Just the past few years, all hectic, no time to catch up. We've been running around stopping power hungry people -" Soal's eyes glanced over at Heinz. "- worried sick about loved ones on Ground 2, and hard at work inventing things to save the planet that we love so much."

Lumina removed her hand from Soal's back and bound it with the other sitting in her lap. "Then, since we have some time, let's start catching up. How about you start director. What have you been up to before the weight of Ground 2 crashed down on us?"

Soal smiled. "Oh, come on! How about you? Living on the ravaged Ground 2 sounds way more interesting than living on Ground 1."

"Nu - uh!" Lumina waved a finger. "You wanted the catch-up conversation. So, officially, you should start."

"Awe, look! This is how our friendship bonded!"

Lumina rolled her eyes. "Come on! Details Soal! Details!"

"Alright. Alright."

Soal cleared her throat.

"Well, for nineteen years, I was working under Soal Si. I was following her intently - her plans that is; how she pieced things together, and kept me as her confidant. She would relay bits of information to me, and those pieces eventually got bugged into Heinz's ear."

"How did that happen?" Lumina asked.

"Well during nineteen, long years, I didn't have my longtime B-F-F to vent to, or tell my secrets to. So, I confided in the only person I thought would understand. In time, he began sending you letters in my name, warning you about forthcoming destruction. But..." Soal looked over at Heinz's slumped body again. "I thought it was under better conditions. Never did I know about his dark, underlying impulse to control you and Ground 2 all at the same time."

Heat rushed to Lumina's cheeks and a throbbing began within her skull. Her hand went to her forehead. "Please. Don't remind me about his foolish act of deception."

"The nice thing is that we have him now, and he cannot harm us."

"Nor, with all those restrictions, even lay a finger on either of us," Lumina laughed.

"Okay. Now I told you my big life story about what I was doing for nineteen long years. Lumina, what's your story on living on the ravaged Ground 2? A wasteland where people used oxygen masks to survive, and their leader struggling to find a way home amid the persecution pummeling her from left and right."

"Well," Lumina began, her fingers softly tapping her thigh. "It all began with the day I awoke in the hospital. A nurse was fitting me with a fresh oxygen mask -"