"Nice dress."
☾
We see the drone flying by us. We run as fast as we can trying to see where it was headed. John keeps falling, karma for not training with me, now he can't walk ten feet running out of breath.
After running for a while, we see a mansion, as soon as we open the doors John falls on the ground out of breath.
"John." I see someone coming towards us, I can't see them though, the light behind them making me close my eyes. "Inanna." The male voice states. I knew that voice, oh I hated that voice. "There you are."
"Jaha?" John asks as I look at the man, ready to cut him into little pieces and feed him to the sea monster.
"Welcome." He gets closer and John gets up from the floor. "We have so much to talk about and so little time. I found it." He states. "The city of light is real."
I take a deep breath not wanting to do something that I will regret later.
"One time wasn't enough? You needed to lock me away again?" I ask through my clenched teeth. "Lock us away..." I correct looking at John who's ready to jump at Jaha.
"You let us there!" He finally jumps at him but falls while doing it, better, passes out while doing it.
Jaha looks at me as he grabs him bridal style and carries him to the couch. I don't move past the entryway.
"Inanna, come in," Jaha tells me after letting go of John.
I walk carefully towards him, taking my weapons from the handmade cases I had made with the fabric I ripped from the sofa on the bedroom of the bunker.
"You still think I'm not gonna slash your throat..." I mutter noticing that Jaha is fine with turning his back on me.
"No one dies in the city of light." He says confidently and I scoff.
"Wanna test that theory?" He finally looks back at me. "Where's Cosmos?"
"In the city of light," Jaha tells me and I look at him waiting for him to explain.
"And where's that really?" As I ask this he points at his temples and I frown and take a deep breath. "You need help. You really do, Jaha. You should get that checked." I walk past him and grab an apple from the plate of fruit on top of a table.
"I'll call him for you." He walks up the stairs and I take a deep breath sitting on one of the chairs on the counter.
When I notice I see a woman I've never seen before, she looked weird. Red dress and red lipstick after the end of the world, type of weird.
"I know you..." I mutter noticing that she's the A.I from the videos on the bunker. "Nice dress."
"Thank you, Inanna." She nods at me.
"It doesn't change the fact that you ended the world."
She doesn't reply, instead, she tilts her head to the side a bit. I look away from the thing and look back at the apple I'm eating.
"Inanna!" Cosmos comes running down the stairs. He looked off.
The guy walks towards me, trying to hug me but I push him away.
"You look different," I state stepping back.
"Better, I hope." He smiles. "How's your leg?"
"It's fine." I look at him from up to down again.
He smiles and grabs an apple and a glass of water, putting it on top of the table in front of John's sleeping figure.
"He needs a shower." Cosmos jokes as he walks back towards me. "Here." He handles me a silicone thingy with an infinity log on it.
"What's this really?" I take it from his hands, analyzing it.
"The key to the city of light." He explains and I look at him and then at the thingy again.
"Cool." I nod unconvinced as I walk towards the blender that was sitting on the counter.
I throw the silicone piece inside and Cosmos starts walking towards me.
"No-" He's interrupted by me closing it and turning it on, smiling at him.
I grab the blender and bring it towards the garbage can, throwing the remains of the "key" into it.
"It's okay, I'll get you another." Cosmos nods at me, his expression changing into an annoyed one.
"Don't bother. I'm not putting that piece of crap anywhere but in the garbage." I inform him. He swallows hard, his expression changing drastically.
"I'm gonna get a shower." I walk past him and up the stairs.
I walk through the walls, looking for a bathroom. When I finally do, I look at the mirror and look at the clothes I'm wearing, a white shirt and black pants I had found back in the bunker. The only thing that remains from me since I left Delphi is my weapons, everything else is gone.
I take some time to recognize the person looking back at me as someone I've met before.
I let the clothes fall from my body and I enter the shower, feeling the hot water running down my body.
When I'm done, I wrap myself on a towel and walk into the room that seems inhabited.
I look through the clothes and soon find that was probably Becca's room. A.L.I.E's creator.
I open the closet and take a long black jacket throwing it on the bed behind me. I keep looking through her clothes and I notice that she dressed quite well.
I grab some pants she had on one of the drawers and see if they would fit me. When I notice that they would, I throw them behind me.
The next task would be to look for a non-white-shirt.
We don't want any blood stains, do we?
I find a black shirt with some details in lace and I throw it into the other clothes. I walk towards the shoes and not after looking for a long time, I find some boots that I like.
God, I love Becca's closet.
I grab the clothes I just stole from a dead lady and go back to the bathroom, changing into them.
When I look at the mirror, I still don't recognize the woman staring back at me but at least I was well dressed.
I look through the drawers trying to find some kind of hairbrush, and I finally do.
I push my hair back into a ponytail, and leave the bathroom, ready to grab John and get the fuck out of here.
I think I took a long time searching Becca's wardrobe cause when I reach the lower level, John no longer looks like a raccoon and is already screaming at Jaha. I'm glad things went back to normal.
"Inanna." A.L.I.E looks at me smiling. "I'm glad you liked Becca's clothes."
"Yeah, we're leaving... right?" I look at John who nods and walks away with me.
We both walk away and honestly I'm not sure where we're headed. I don't particularly want to go home, but everywhere is better than here with these crazy fuckers and the lady in the hologram.
"Where are we going?" I ask him and he shrugs his shoulders and sits on a rock on the beach close to the bunker.
"I don't know." He mutters and I take a deep breath. "You want to go back?"
"Delphia will kill me." I look at the sea as I sit on his side.
"Not if you kill her first," John smirks and I scoff resting my head on my knees.
"How are you doing?" I ask, realizing that talking about what happened before the door open would probably never be a good idea.
"Fine, you?"
"Yeah." I nod as I turn to look back at the sea and at the monster swimming around. Cute.
When I look around I don't see the animal, instead, I see a boat coming in our direction. I hit John with my elbow pointing at the light in the middle of the sea.
I instantly grab the bow and point at it, of course, I couldn't make anything out of it since it's the middle of the night.
"Calm down, Inanna. It's a friend." I hear Jaha saying as he walks towards us.
I don't put the bow down, I even try harder to make out a figure.
"You're leaving, huh?" John asks Jaha while I focus only on the boat in front of me.
"So are you." He replies.
"Not with you, we're not."
"I'll be right there, Gideon." Jaha tells the man that was with him.
"I see you've made a new friend."
"I'm sorry we kept you in the bunker, John. Is that what you want to hear?" Jaha starts, I don't even give myself the trouble to do anything but point the bow at the boat that keeps getting closer. "Well, the truth is, I knew you were safe, and with all the things that we had to do, I needed the time."
"Yeah. I could tell you were pretty busy back there." John scoffs.
"We converted a nuclear warhead into a power source. With the added power, A.L.I.E. Was able to complete the work she began with her creator a hundred years ago."
"Whatever." He scoffs again. "Look. We're still leaving this place in a rowboat."
"I need you." Jaha states. "Both of you."
"Of course you do, more food for the sea monster, right?"
"Let me prove to you what we can do." Jaha keeps trying but I can tell John's not paying attention to him. "Listen to me."
"I've seen what she can do."
"No. You haven't, not even close, son." He nods in deny.
"Now, how is it possible you sound even Crazier than before?"
"I can tell you about the city of light, but you won't understand until you experience it yourself. And that's supposed to take me to the city of light? No pain, no hate, no envy-"
"No, thanks." John finishes making me chuckle, still trying to make out an image in the boat.
"John..." he takes two silicone... keys?
"No. Pain, hate, envy... those are the ABCs of me," John tells him. "Hey, get rid of them, and there's nothing left, so why don't you get that thing out of my face?"
"Take care of yourselves, and decide later." Jaha gets towards me and puts his hand on my arm but I push him away, grabbing the bow tighter as the ship's horn blasts
"John? I don't believe it." I see someone coming from under the light. Emori.
"Emori?" he asks and my jaw tightens.
"First you knock me down and kill my brother, then you want to shot me with an arrow?" She looks at me but I don't put the bow down.
"Sounds appealing," I say through clenched teeth and she scoffs and looks at John.
"Inanna, you did enough to Emori," Jaha speaks again and I swallow hard as I look at the girl, thinking if I should kill her or not.
Everything in me tells me to shot an arrow through her heart, but then John puts his hand on my shoulder. I still don't put it down.
"Don't kill her." He almost orders making me look at him taken away by the way he told me that.
"Don't tell me what to do." I stare into his eyes as I put the bow down.
"What are you waiting for? Come on." Emori tells more John than me.
"We're not interested, thanks." I spit as I turn around and walk away, I notice that John's not following me making me look back.
"One more trip then we'll leave." He tells me, loud enough only for me to hear.
"One more trip." I repeat after him, making him nod and walk into the boat.
"Change your mind?" Jaha asks John, teasingly.
"Bite me."
I fight the urge of killing everyone in this boat. I sit on the little bench and look at the sea in front of me, trying to calm myself down. The only person I have has changed and I couldn't do anything about it. I lost everyone only to be with him. I went through hell these last months but he doesn't see it.
Invisibility.
Delphia told me it was a gift. That I could attack without anyone seeing. Right now it feels like a curse.
When we arrive land they went to do whatever they went to do while I stayed in the boat not doing shit. Emori was being... well Emori.
I should have killed her in the desert when I had the chance. Ending families seems to be my specialty.
Cosmos was here too, great.
I hear some noise outside and I notice that some guy had a knife on Emori's neck. Of course, I could just shoot an arrow through his eye, but I didn't.
I turn around and go sit on my little place on the boat. Soon enough, I notice Emori and John entering the boat and turning on the engines.
"You could have helped!" Emori snaps at me.
"Yeah, I could." I nod at her, not moving from my position. "I just don't want to."