Artur had not seen his death row friends in the last year. He tried to move on with his life and leave the painful memories behind. Occasionally, he felt guilty about it, and his thoughts drifted to others. Were they in need of any help? How were they doing? What if they were inches away from suicide?
All these worries were resolved in a multitude of awkward and short phone calls and texts. Artur offered to meet up at least once with each of them. They always found excuses not to. He understood them. When they offered to meet in turn, out of obligation no doubt, and he also gave nothing but excuses. As much as they meant to him, he could not fathom seeing them again and opening his old wounds.
However, before he could blink an eye, the first anniversary of the invasion arrived. It was the day to remember the dead and celebrate those who survived. Artur wished to do so privately, but his wish could not be granted: the Elder Patriarch of Libra personally asked him to participate in the memorial service at Elpida Temple. It was unthinkable to say no to such an invitation.
Artur lost all his brothers and sisters in childhood, so it was not his first visit to Elpida Temple. Despite many bitter memories associated with the place, Artur did not hate it. This ancient structure predated even the cathedral and seemingly accumulated all the wisdom and compassion of the human race. When he walked inside and looked up at the mile-tall atrium, Artur once again felt that the strength of his soul was infinite. Any suffering the event would inflict on him would not break him.
Today, the atrium was full of people. Each arch on each floor had dozens of faces looking down on him and the empty stage. Artur received some greetings and pats on the shoulders and did his best to be polite. He was hardly aware of what he was doing as he made his way to the seat in the first row.
There, he saw his friends.
Sonya had her hair dyed violet. Tom had a short beard and almost looked like an adult. Dan was unchanged, aside from his eyes: deep and tired. Their faces were like stone. They did not say a word to each other. They quietly acknowledged each other's presence and prepared to tough the sermon out through the end.
When it was over, Artur could not recall much from it. It all went by in a painful blur. He vaguely remembered getting called on stage along with the rest. There was applause and a moment of silence. Speeches. Many speeches. Lots of tears. His old wounds had been opened anew, like he feared.
He now wanted to leave and get a drink. However, he could not pass on the once-a-year opportunity to see his perished friends.
In a dreamy state, Artur and his living friends boarded a levitating platform and went to the upper levels of the temple. Once they arrived, they passed through a series of arches, each darker than the one before, until they reached Aeon Veil – a Portion of Vida wall with the name of every person who had ever lived in Libra carved into it. Today, Elpida Temple was docked against the Veil and made the stars above each name shine.
Artur and his friends put their hands on the cold surface of the Veil and looked at their dim reflections. Artur duly acknowledged that he was still a head taller than the rest. He caught Sonya's glance, but she quickly retracted it.
Nothing happened for the longest time. Perhaps, the rumors were true? Did Aeon take the magic of the Veil from them, just like he powered off the Shield? He almost wanted it to be true. He did not want to deepen his wounds.
However, before he could think about leaving, he saw his reflections dissolving into a white mist. Artur's heart shrank.
Out of the mist beyond the mirror, the shadows began coming to them. They were vague at first, but they soon became distinguishable and recognizable. Artur searched for the tallest figure.
He found her.
Anna smiled and half-walked, half-ran towards him. He felt his legs going weak.
The ghosts touched the Veil from the other side. Anna and Artur's hands connected. Separated by death, they have reunited. Artur could see Anna's beautiful smiling face through the dense mist. He could almost feel the warmth and softness of her hand. He could almost lock his fingers with hers.
He wanted to embrace her. He needed it more than breathing. However, the border between life and death would not allow it. He wanted to hear her voice, scolding remarks, and laughter, but the meeting would remain silent. The living and the dead could not speak to each other. It was not the time for the living to know what awaited them beyond. The dead had no business in the world of the living.
In silence, Artur and Anna were left to relive the times gone – happiness and sorrow, hardship and bonding, the little moments neither knew were so important when they had happened. They were left to dream of the future they did not get a chance to build and share: the wedding they would never have, the kids they would never know, the places they would never see together.
Nostalgia was pushed away by pain that was too much to take. Artur removed his shaking hand from the Veil. His legs were so weak that. If not for Sonya's aid, he would have collapsed on the floor.
Anna removed her hand from the Veil too. The figures around her departed back into the mist, but Anna lingered. There was a concern on her face, sorrow. The world of the living held her. It disturbed her peace and infected her with the pain of life again.
However, the pain did not last. Her face cleared. She gave Sonya a nod and a smile. Then she sent Artur a graceful air kiss in which she put all her love and best wishes.
Anna then stepped back onto the mist, leaving him once more.
In shambles, Artur spent five minutes looking at his reflection in Aeon Veil, thinking about the day he would be on the other side of it. He put himself back together enough to walk away with his friends.
On their way out, they met Symon, who arrived on the levitating platform next, to see his daughter. They made a gap in their ranks and allowed Symon to pass. He did, without saying a word or looking at them.
Today was a special day. None of them wanted to fight.
Artur wished Symon would not hurt Anna like he did.
***
Shortly after they left the Aeon Veil, Tom and his friends were walking through the dark streets of Libra in silence, driven by a desire to be on the move. Artur looked like a wreck. The meeting with Anna messed him up, and he still needed to be propped up by Sonya.
It was not easy for Tom either. He did not have a lover perish in the battle, but most of his friends did. No bond was stronger than the one of the brothers and sisters in arms. Few things could hurt more than having these bonds severed.
Tom realized that they were walking through Lux District streets. He lived there for years, bouncing from one informal place to another, crashing on people's couches, sleeping in closets, always one step ahead of the Guards, every day giving them more reasons to find him and whoop his ass.
At some point, Artur joined him, clouded with his own bizarre issues, and they both made Lux, the whole district, their home. They made a ruckus during the day and partied through the night. Not one dull day with this guy! Tom considered that period to be the happiest in his short life.
The memories made it hard to stomach the current appearance of Lux: dark, dim, depressing, and empty. All the activities were inside and dialed back to not invite any more Leviathans in.
Tom and others soon found themselves in front of the Red Rose bar, the dim logo showing the broken five-edged bottle of wine filled with shards of glass. Tom smiled - his feet still remembered the path to his favorite establishment.
He stopped and looked at the logo, halting the rest. After some hesitation, he went inside, others strolling behind him.
The pub lit with red lights was crammed and noisy. Tom scanned the room for good vibes, contemplating if he should approach the hostess or just leave.
Suddenly, the whole pub fell quiet. Then, applause erupted.
Four cadets in parade uniform on Memorial Day walked into a bar. What on earth was Tom thinking? Oh, and all the patrons watched the stream from Elpida Temple because who did not? Tom's mug and the faces of his partners-in-crime were fresh in everyone's memory.
The hostess with dark hair and makeup froze, starstruck.
Tom could not hope for a better situation. It was time to bow and retreat, undo his mistake!
However, the bartender had other plans. With amazing nimbleness for a short elder man, he jumped over the counter and shook Tom's hand.
"Ezekiel," said Tom with an undoubtedly painful smile. "So nice to see you again."
"Likewise, Tom," he said, looking at him kindly with his mismatched eyes, "Likewise."
He shook hands with Artur, Sonya, and Dan in turn. The weird hexagonal tattoo on Ezekiel's forearms shone proudly as he looked hilariously at odds with his friend's strict uniforms.
"Lady and gentlemen," Ezekiel announced. "The food and drinks are on the house. I'm accepting no objections!" he said playfully at Sonya's uncharacteristically feeble attempt to refuse. "Now, would you please follow me?"
Tom and others were in too deep to back out now. Tom silently apologized to them as they followed the bartender.
More cheers and gratitude was expressed from isolated tables in the room. Tom was afraid that Ezekiel would put them in the middle of the room and advertise the souls out of them. Any business owner in the city would kill for such an opportunity. When Tom saw a round table with a "reserved" sign, he started inventing unexpected obligations elsewhere.
However, none of Tom's creativity was needed. To his surprise, they went past the table to the back of the house. Then, they passed through the hellish atmosphere of the kitchens with the cook yelling at her subordinates, then to the back door, down the long dark corridor past the storage rooms and offices. Finally, they were brought to the lonely booth by a bay window. The booth overlooked a quiet alley lit with dimmed golden lights and neon signs.
Tom looked at his friends. They smiled for the first time today. He could not hold back the smile either. Tom and Sonya took their seats by the window on opposite sides. Artur wanted to sit next to Tom, but Dan was quicker, forcing him to sit next to Sonya. At first, Tom wanted to protest, but then Dan gave him a wink and a tiny nod at Artur and Sonya.
The two looked hilariously shy and cute next to one another. Sonya's blushing face glowed in the golden light from the window. She looked out at the deserted alley with the intensity of a nuclear physicist trying to fix a leaking reactor. In the meantime, Artur studied the room's plain interior with the interest of a seasoned art critic.
Anna gave Artur closure today and absolved Sonya of any guilt. At least, that is what Tom hoped for. He wanted the best for Artur, the chronic loner with a passionate love for strong women, and Sonya was one tough bitch who was plainly head-over-heels in love with him. Tom thought it was a perfect match. Apparently, so did Dan.
Tom had to give Dan credit for quick thinking. Dan might have looked and acted like a dimwit, but beneath his stiffness was one mentally-nimble bastard.
Tom and Dan exchanged smiles just as the scheduled rain began outside. The water droplets drummed on the windows softly and slid down the glass in complicated patterns.
The atmosphere was intensely cozy. Tom could spend an eternity here, surrounded by people he cared about the most.
Ezekiel walked across the room. Tom forgot about him and almost fell out of his seat in surprise. He saw the bartender approach a strange painting on the wall.
It depicted a dark eye in the sky. The glowing red pupil looked just like the bar logo and illuminated the grim city below with red.
The images creeped Tom out. What the hell is this thing?
Luckily, the unnerving painting had a pleasant surprise hidden behind it. Ezekiel opened the picture frame like a door, exposing a beer-filled fridge.
"I used to serve," he said, facing away.
"Where at?" asked Dan.
"Everywhere one can serve," he answered. "AG, PG, VG... Other organizations you should not know about."
He sighed.
"I lost friends," Ezekiel said. "One too many."
He stood in silence for a moment, then continued.
"I know the last thing you want on a day like that is attention and noise."
The bartender, with a grunt, pulled out a case of famed Five Petals beer, arguably the finest in Libra, and put it on the table.
"Treasure these moments," said Ezekiel. "You owe it to the fallen."
He bowed his head in respect and left. Tom and his friends let his words hang in the air and sink in.
"What a wise guy," Dan was the first to speak and grab a beer. "This is now my favorite bar."
"It was our favorite bar when you still wore diapers," Tom said and got himself a drink. "Ezekiel is awesome, isn't he?"
"He sure is," said Artur as he clinked bottles with Tom. "Maybe we'll show you our commemorative plaque on the wall. We have a rich history here."
"Later, please?" said Sonya, taking a beer too. "I don't want any crowds right now."
"I thought the crowd is what musicians live for," said Artur.
After Artur practically ignored Sonya, his sudden attention startled her. She blushed more and choked on her beer. Artur gave her a mighty hit in the back that cleared her throat.
Tom strained his composure to the limit to not fire a snide remark.
"Thanks," said Sonya, tears in her eyes. "True, I live for attention and noise. But today, I want quiet. Today is a special day."
"Special indeed," said Tom and sipped from his bottle. The episode at Elpida Temple flashed before his eyes. "Seeing all of them again... I'm not sure if it helped or made it worse."
"It helped me," said Sonya. "It was nice to see the real JC-16-Blue. It's different in my nightmares."
"Nightmares?" asked Tom. "You have them too?"
"Yeah," said Sonya. "Once or twice a week. It's an improvement. I couldn't sleep at all before the trial and a good month after that."
"What do you dream of?" asked Tom.
"Same stuff, different spice," said Sonya. "I yell orders, trying to keep my unit alive. But every time, something gets in my way. I either have no voice, or my orders are dumb, or I say not what I think. Or something fucked up happens, and I have no response... I end up losing everyone. I feel like I never left the battle."
She still blamed herself for everything. Tom scrambled for something encouraging to say.
"You know we all think that—" began Tom.
"I'm not fishing for sympathy," said Sonya and sipped her beer. "Just sharing the nightmares. What's yours?"
"Oh, I... most of the time, I can't make it to the battle," said Tom. "Those are the worst. I run down endless stairs and hear our unit die. I hear you calling me over the radio. "Private Jason, where the fuck are you? We need cover!" Occasionally, I make it to the street and chase the fight, but it's always just around the corner."
Tom looked at Artur, expecting him to share his nightmares. However, Tom quickly remembered that he knew them already. Artur squeezed the bottle tighter. Sonya dispersed the mounting awkwardness by addressing Dan:
"And you?"
"I'm living the nightmare," said Dan. "However, by the time I make it to bed – I'm too tired to have any dreams."
"Huh, I wish," said Tom.
"You and me both, Flip," said Sonya.
"Flip?" asked Dan. "How did you get that?"
"I don't know," said Tom and thought about it. "My best guess – because I always flipped off the bed. Or maybe it's because I flipped off that general... Boy, did he make me pay! Yeah... I don't know. I can tell you how Artur became Thunder, though. Thunder, do you want to tell the story, or should I?"
"..." Artur drank some beer, "Neither, if you don't mind."
"Ah, c'mon, I was always curious!" said Sonya and punched Artur in the shoulder. "Such a cool nickname. Gotta have a cool story behind it."
"Remember our agreement regarding your social anxiety?" asked Tom. He was in charge of Artur's social interactions, as Artur was chronically too shy to do anything. "My executive judgment is that she should hear it."
Artur nodded. Perfect. It was time for Tom to forge a deeper bond between Artur and Sonya!
"Alright, so, it was back in Freshman Camp," started Tom. Sonya and Dan leaned in. "We were at the 99th back then, penal company. Picture this. Barracks, quiet night, a bunch of exhausted fuckups sleeping. Then, suddenly, we heard thunder. It was so damn loud that it made the windows vibrate and woke the whole barrack up. Folks look around, like, what the hell happened? No scheduled rain that day."
Artur's face was getting red. Tom mercilessly pressed on.
"Then, once again, thunder, even louder than before. A few people closed their ears, looking at each other with scared eyes. And that's when we saw the blanket over Artur's ass flapping."
Sonya spat her beer on the table, choking on laughter. Dan bit his fist.
"I had the grim misfortune of sleeping on the lower bunk under Artur. So, my eyes started burning first. But the stench spread fast. Soon, the whole barrack panicked, rushing for the exit, knocking beds over, coughing and gagging. There was a traffic jam at the door. We were all yelling at each other to move. Then, the apocalypse. Artur woke up."
Sonya was staring at Artur. Artur kept looking straight ahead into nothing, but even he began to crack a smile.
"This fool looked at the panic, thinking he slept through the alert, jumped off the bed, and rushed to us. He reached the traffic jam and, being the smart guy he is, instead of pressing on it, he started disassembling it, you know, peeling people off, dispersing the crowd. So, he got right in the middle of all of us, and..."
Tom held a pause.
"He got an elbow in the stomach by accident," Tom finished. "And ripped the THIRD one, smack in the middle of all of us!"
Artur was red as a tomato, partly because he held back laughter. Sonya was crying on the table. Dan burst out laughing too.
"Pandamonium! People vomited on each other, making more people vomit. Everyone fought for air! Not knowing any better, the central set off the riot suppression unit on us. I mean, why else would there be a commotion at 99th in the middle of the night? Tear gas grenades went into the room. People in power armor with shields and electric maces beat everyone up and put us face down in our own vomit. And you know what was the last thing I thought before I passed out? Tear gas wasn't that bad!"
"In my defense, food in the penal battalion was absolute shit," said Artur. "What other smell could I produce?.. Sonya, do you need CPR? It looks like you have problems breathing."
"Oh Gods," Sonya wiped her eyes. "You're lucky they got Thunder out of this incident. The possibilities were endless."
"He should thank my genius PR mind for that," said Tom, remembering the proposed nicknames, the nicest being Genocide.
"Too bad I didn't have a nickname in the army," said Sonya.
"You did," said Artur. "Banshee."
"Banshee?" she looked offended. "Why?"
"Have you heard yourself angry, Sergeant?" asked Tom.
"Excuse me, I retired as a Lieutenant!" laughed Sonya. "Banshee? You're such assholes! I have a beautiful voice!"
"When you bother," said Tom.
"What about you, Dan?" asked Sonya. "Had a nickname?"
"Stiff," said Dan. "You were the fourth group who called me that. The Wall was the fifth."
"It should give you some ideas," scoffed Tom. "Alright, we're all assembled and loose! Time to catch up! Who wants to start? Not it!"
Tom put his finger on his nose. Sonya and Dan did the same. Artur was too late.
"Fuckers," he said in playful frustration. "Alright, brace yourself for my boring story."
***
Artur felt better, thanks to Tom. His friend could lift the haze of suffering from him in the worst times. He was relentless, too, and would never quit until Artur cracked a smile, even if the smile felt criminal under the circumstances.
Anna was still on top of Artur's mind, but the pain of seeing her again was now muted. Since his acquittal, he put a lot of effort into erasing the ugly memory of her death from his head. He watched videos of them together and scrolled through photographs and messages. It was torturous in its own way, but not as bad as living through the last moments of her life.
Day by day, his pain transformed into quiet, profound grief. He thought of Anna every day, but every day he thought about her less. He was yet to go one day without her visiting his mind.
He had his reservations about seeing her beyond the Veil. It was hard to get through, easily the hardest thing he had ever done, but he now got a sense of closure. Anna was near, still in his life, but she was now walking away into the mist of the past, allowing him to move on into the future in search of happiness.
What was this new happiness? Or, rather, who? He had a pretty good idea.
"Well?" voiced Tom. "Are you going to start or what? The laws of "not it" are very strict, you know."
"Right," said Artur, gathering his thoughts.
The others sipped their beers and listened, with the sounds of rain in the background. Their curious faces were touched by the golden light of the street flickering in the rain.
Could there be a more appropriate environment for healing?
"So, I wished to be a farmer," Artur began his tale. "I wanted to stick to being Alpha. Farmers' Union selection is a nightmare..."
"I sure hope so," said Sonya. "One farmer feeds a thousand mouths."
"The idea always appealed to me," said Artur. "Being a backbone of society – there is something in it. Gives my life meaning or... Anyway, out of all Alphas - healthcare, education, design, engineering, military, and farmers – the last ones attracted me the most, thanks to that story with the fertilizer tank."
Artur saw Tom wince, which amused him. Typically, Artur was the butt of Tom's jokes. Rarely could Artur return the favor. Today something woke up inside Artur, something dormant for over a year until minutes ago, and told him to mess with Tom.
Artur would bring up the fertilizer tank incident as often as possible.
"Unfortunately, I have a rich criminal history," he continued. "And farmers, being a backbone and all, cannot afford to have the likes of me in their ranks."
"So, they told you to find some other fields to plow?" asked Tom.
"I went to the interview anyway, you know," said Artur. "The HR, a younger lady, read my file long and hard, covering her mouth and bulging her eyes. Then she looked at me and listed my most proud achievements: break-ins, fights, and a solitary decent spot - the Silver Hexagon. I sat there and admitted everything. Then she asked me if I ever managed to break into the Utility Level and the farms."
"Stop giving me flashbacks!" Tom protested and smelled his beer, trying to push the memory of the smell away.
"Sorry," Artur said insincerely. "Anyway, after all the interrogations, she closed my file. And hired me."
"What?" Tom jumped in his seat. "Are you kidding? Your criminal shit didn't scare her?"
"Not only was she not scared of it," said Artur, "She was seeking it. I suppose my Silver Hexagon made me trustworthy enough... Since the invasion, they needed somebody like me to show them the holes in their defense and the potential ways to break in. Besides, they also sought to boost their military training. They were excited to get two in one."
"Military training?" asked Dan. "I heard farmers can take care of themselves, but I never imagined they're that serious about it. Is it a recent thing?"
"No, it isn't," said Artur. "Unions have been militarized since the Kingdom of Men fell."
"What kind of equipment do they have?" asked Dan.
"Same as the Guards," responded Artur. "Guns, mechs, trenches - you name it."
"Sound pretty hardcore," said Dan.
"Well, we need to fend off the entrepreneurial folks somehow," said Artur. "They team up occasionally and go: "Can you imagine how much food profiteering can yield?!" Then, they come by and say hi, guns blazing."
"What happens to them?" asked Sonya, blowing her violet hair out of the way.
"They make a splendid fertilizer for the fields," said Artur, sipping the beer.
He hoped he looked and sounded cool. Judging by Tom's face, he came out as a dork again. Artur had to push back against the wave of internal cringing.
"Wait, those were human remains we were sitting in?!" said Tom, coming to the rescue.
"Only 13% of it," said Artur. "The rest is shit and processed garbage."
"How does this experience keep getting worse year after year?" asked Tom and downed the rest of the bottle.
Now Artur felt bad that he messed with Tom. However, it was better than cringe, which was the baseline of his existence.
"So, to sum up, the Farmers' Union controls the farms and hence the city," said Sonya. "Got it."
"And kills whoever tries to encroach on their power," added Dan.
Artur blinked. That was such a blatant misrepresentation of the status quo! He had heard this opinion before. He just did not expect to hear it from his friends. Were they trolling him? Probably. But he had to say something and defend his colleagues! Not too much, though. He did not want to give in to their trolling.
"Farms belong to every citizen," Artur said patiently. "Every one of us has had a permanent share in it since birth!"
Sonya and Dan rolled their eyes.
"Besides, control my ass," Artur continued, fully aware that his cool was eroding with every word but unable to stop. "There's just over sixty thousand people in the Union. Sure, we can stop a group of enterprising individuals, up to two million." Tom was giving Artur subtle cues to shut up, yet he pressed on: "But if the city of sixty million above us catches as much as a whiff of greed—"
"Holy Gods, chill, Artur," laughed Sonya and hit Artur in the shoulder. "We're just messing with you."
Artur was pissed with himself. He could not leave people he disagreed with alone - he had to debate every fool, even if they were messing with him.
He decided to grow out of it for the tenth time.
"Only joking," winked Dan, although he looked serious. "And exercise my constitutional obligation to keep you in check."
"Well, fuck both of you," Artur waived at them, his face hot with embarrassment. "Anyway, where was I?.. Right, military training. That's my primary duty. At first, I was scared they wouldn't treat me seriously."
"You're a godsdamn mountain of a teenager," said Tom.
"But a teenager still," said Artur. "However, there was no whining. Nobody was late or a no-call no-show. No disrespect and no rolling eyes, either."
Artur glanced at Sonya and caught her looking at him, smiling. It made his insides jump. A complex stew of emotions was brewing in him: guilt, hope, promise, and... infatuation?
"I was also doing rounds with them," said Artur, turning away from Sonya and looking at Tom and Dan. "Showing every security breach they had and what to do with it. They, in the meantime, taught me the basics of farming: how to maintain and repair equipment and coordinate the desired improvement with Designers' and Engineers' Unions. How to control the growth of the crops, spot and solve any potential problems. The job has a ton of responsibility, lots of studying, and it's far from easy. But it's quiet and rewarding. It's everything I wanted it to be and then some."
He felt Sonya's eyes on him still, and his heartbeat was getting faster. Should he look at her? Should he play it cool? A smile. Just look at her and smile. How hard can it be?
Artur looked Sonya in the eyes. He smiled and winked. Both these things felt twitchy and unnatural to him, yet it widened Sonya's smile.
"So, what were the holes in their defense?" inquired Tom. "Asking for a friend."
Artur, satisfied with the success of his social interaction, faced Tom.
"What matters is I fixed it," said Artur. "Now, neither you nor I would be able to break in there."
"I'll be the judge of that," winked Tom. "Looks like you're well set!"
That had a double meaning. Artur figured it out. Tom definitely did. Did Sonya and Dan catch that?
He felt Sonya's gaze again. He was afraid others could hear his heavy heartbeat.
"Dan?" Tom decided to shift attention from Artur. Wisely so, as Artur tended to undo his social achievements the longer he talked. "What about you, Dan? Still on the Wall?"
***
Dan was drinking beer and looking outside. He did not respond for some time. He had stories to tell, but all of them were grim. He did not want to ruin the pleasant atmosphere.
Also, despite having a bond with Artur, Sonya, and Tom, they remained strangers. He knew only the minimum about them. This was the first time they casually hung out together.
He wanted to open up to them. At the same time, he was afraid to do so. Opening up to his mom, dad, and his wife did not go smoothly.
"I was on the Wall the next day after the trial," Dan started talking. He did not know where he was going with it. He just let it flow. "I was itching for action. My dad's partner, Zhen Tso, was drafted to the Pyramid for "an important mission," so I took his spot."
He took another pause, then sniffed quietly and looked at his friends.
"The first weeks were rough," he said. "Attack after attack, all of them big. Arachnids were getting to the Wall and sometimes climbing it. Incoming artillery. Diversion groups making it on top of the Wall..."
He sighed and added:
"Then, there was the Fire Squad."
Artur, Tom, and Dan shifted in their seats. They heard of the Fire Squad, the whole city did. Why did Dan even bring it up? What was there to be said that the news did not cover?
"I was directly involved in that," Dan continued nevertheless. "About a month into my service on the Wall, Lux Bastion got hit hard, and the fight reached the Day Deck. Thanks to timely reinforcement from the city, we won, yet a group of Lepers snuck into the city on ziplines, a total of five."
"My dad, as the top gun, coordinated the search on the streets. I went with him, of course. We chased Lepers down one by one, killing four. These fucks were carrying tanks of flammable liquid on their backs, so every time they got shot, it was a shitshow. Firefighters had to work overtime that day. No casualties, though, Lepers all got busted on empty locked-down streets."
He was coming up to the nasty bit. This was his chance to abandon this story. He looked over at his friends, gaging their reactions. They did not avert their eyes like his wife, nor did they lean back, subconsciously trying to escape the uncomfortable situation, like his father. They also did not try to change the topic, like his mother.
Instead, Artur, Tom and Sonya stayed with him, knowing they were about to get hit with something unpleasant.
They wanted to tough it out with him. At last, he found people who wanted to do that. He understood why he brought this story up. To this day, he never got a chance to get it off his chest.
"The last one was a woman," Dan continued. "The intel came in, putting her a few blocks from our position. Dad and I went after her ourselves. Soon, we found a dead officer from PG next to the unlocked door to the skyways. Inside, a dead attendant next to the barred doors to the cinema. Before we even reached the door, we heard an explosion and saw fire coming from under it."
He looked out of the window again and finished his bottle in five or six gulps. Tom slid another one his way. He caught it, nodded, and continued.
"We heard the screams - hundreds of people burning alive. It took thirty seconds to break the door. It felt like a godsdamn century. By the time the hinges gave in, the fire had gone off, and the screams got muffled. Now I wish hinges would never give in."
He emptied half a bottle in several massive gulps. He saw the events unfold before his eyes, and it made him sick. Beer helped.
"We couldn't see the room. All I could see was a wall of bodies. Melted together, fused. Unrecognizable. Barely human. And moving. Wheezing and screaming in pain. The damn sprinklers prevented them from dying right away. The black water was coming to my feet. The smell..."
Another bottle was emptied. Tom already had the third one ready for him.
"I'll never forget this moment. Ever. We had to kill the survivors. Mercy kills. We put bullets in their heads, tore the wall of bodies apart, and went in to see more of the same hell behind it. I don't remember how many times I pulled the trigger. But when we finally did the body count, it was two hundred and five adults."
He took another massive gulp.
"And six hundred and nineteen kids. Four to nine years old... I had to..."
Dan's voice broke. He took a moment to recollect himself and to push down tears that came too close to his eyes.
"They're fucking monsters, Lepers," Dan said soon after. "It's hard to imagine what they would do if they had won the battle a year ago."
"To the fallen," said Tom and raised his bottle. "And to our victory."
They all raised their bottles and drank in unison. Dan listened to the rain outside, allowing it to wash away the images from his head.
He felt relieved. The guilt was eating him from the inside for months. He did not go to a psych. It could be the traditional guardian's stubbornness to deny mental issues. Or Dan felt dubious that a civilian could understand what he was going through. He read people too well, and he would see the judgment and horror in the doctor's eyes. He would not be able to bear it.
What about Artur, Sonya, and Tom? Did they judge him? Nervous, he turned to look. They did not seem any different. A bit bummed, perhaps, but not different.
It was as if all of them had their own demons, which made them immune to his.
"After this attack, things were quiet, more or less," Dan broke the silence. He wanted to bring the conversation somewhere brighter. "We added snipers on the roofs next to the Wall. We haven't had a soul sneak past since, even though there were attempts. In time, our artillery got so good that we excluded any incoming shells from Twilight. Now we have one or two small attacks per day. Old-timers say it is what it used to be before the invasion. The only difference is in the number of people and equipment on the Wall to compensate for the useless Pax Turrets. We're a hundred times the pre-invasion personnel, and we keep adding more people. We should max out at two million people."
"Damn," Sonya produced a dry sniff. "It must be the biggest army we've had since the Kingdom of Men."
"It is," said Artur. "Because of that, we had to drop the level of life for the first time in centuries. The Alpha sector, the military being part of it, sucks a lot of resources out of Beta. More people are tied up with the Ministry of Defense. Materials used to make fun stuff are being locked in military equipment or shot into Twilight. Many businesses were shut down and switched to arms manufacturing or repairs."
"You tell me," said Sonya. "Beta is rough right now. A bunch of venues died, and attendance in the remaining is poor. I haven't seen Libra grimmer in my life."
Politics. Dan brought the conversation to politics. So much for a lighter mood.
At the same time, he was unsure what else to talk about, and this topic was rich.
"Yup," said Dan. "And it'll stay this way until Aeon and Pax "bless" us again with their presence. If ever."
"It isn't even the worst part about it," said Artur. "Did you know that Aeon Shield was what kept the air loop closed?"
"Air loop?" Sonya asked.
"We breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide and water vapor, right?" said Artur. "We used to capture those molecules with Air Recycling Factories and take them apart again. Oxygen was sent back in the air, and hydrogen and carbon were put in production to make food."
"So, what's the problem?" asked Sonya.
"Water vapor and carbon dioxide used to be trapped behind Aeon Shield," said Artur. "Which allowed nothing in and nothing out. With Aeon Shield down, all these molecules go up over the Wall and away into the Twilight."
"Oh shit," said Sonya and loudly put her bottle on the table. "We're losing resources with every breath!"
Dan already knew that. Aeon Guard was briefed on it ages ago. However, the Church preferred to keep this information under wraps. Artur could get fined if someone less friendly had overheard them.
"Exactly," said Artur. "MT did all the preventative measures they could to negate that. Encouraged people to stay in their apartments... Hence the poor attendance in venues, by the way. Enclosed all the skyways and moved the most popular businesses from the streets. So, we lose resources at a slow pace, but we lose them still. At the current rate, if nothing changes, we're looking at a material crisis in four years or so. And when it happens, we'll have no choice but to further cut the birth rates in the city."
"Great," said Tom. "As if the current parenting wait times are fun. What are they now, ten to fifteen years, depending on the lottery? And you say it might go higher?"
"If that's the case, the city will burn," said Dan. "Everybody hates the current birth restrictions. Half of the riots happen because of them. Some people go as far as stealing kids. Not to mention the Thinners - those masked freaks with machetes that are "thinning the herd for the new generation" once in a while."
"A delightful company," nodded Tom. "Artur and I had a run-in with them once. We are lucky to have our original limbs still with us."
"Now imagine what happens when birth rates get cut deeper," said Dan. "On top of a long war, a drop in the level of life, light restrictions, and the boiling frustration of the people."
As Dan's secret effort to lighten the mood smoldered before them, everyone fell silent. Politics never failed to sour the mood. Well, this was not the worst social interaction he had ever had. His Dad was responsible for the top ten of those, and he did so on purpose just to mess with him.
"Let's drink to none of that ever happening," exhaled Tom.
Dan toasted his friends in turn. They drank bottoms-up, then grabbed and opened the new bottles.
Dan smiled to himself. They were alright people. Too progressive for his taste, but alright.
"Ok, now that I made us all gloomy," said Dan. "Tom, Sonya? I hope you have lighter stories to tell?"
***
Tom tried to read Sonya's mind. Did she have a fun story? She looked rather grim. Better not risk following one depressing topic with another.
"I'll go," said Tom, and Sonya did not object. "Me and my lawyer ambitions... Do you remember Rin Matano promising me that I'll hate her more? Well, she wasn't lying."
"First, a few words about my routine. It's eight hours of classes, four hours of homework, and two hours of practice in the field. Every. Day. Of the week. Fourteen hours! Who can maintain their attention span with a schedule like that!"
Sonya had a patronizing look on her face. Really? She knew somebody who studied harder? Tom did not believe it.
"Those aren't the profession's requirements, I mind you," Tom wagged his finger. "These are requirements imposed by Rin. She's a sadist. You don't want to hear about the first twelve hours of my day. It's mostly me hitting my head against the terminal, trying to knock some knowledge into my head. The two hours in the field is a different story."
Tom drank and wiped his mouth, remembering, the sounds of rain filling the silence.
"On the first day, I got to try the lawyer's exam," said Tom. "Of course, I failed miserably, but the point was to find out which areas I'm good at and which I'm not. It was determined that I'm most proficient in dealing with trespassing and IT cases."
"Shocker," said Artur.
"I got my first case soon after," said Tom. "The task was to study it, assemble similar precedents, develop a strategy for the hearing, blah, blah, blah, and submit it to her."
"She didn't give you the real case, did she?" asked Artur.
"Yes, she did," nodded Tom deeply and suppressed a burp.
"You were a teenager who just joined their ranks!" exclaimed Dan. "Is she crazy?"
"She's quite crazy," said Tom. "Or so was my first reaction. But soon, I figured that I'd only shadow her. She preps on her end, I prep on mine, we compare results, I get ripped apart by her, then I move on to the next case. And so on and so forth. Besides, the first case was a joke - I talked myself out of worse situations before."
"I did what she asked and submitted the documents at the end of the day. The next morning, I got a message from her, telling me to meet her at a courthouse to go over what I had submitted. When I showed up, she projected my submission and asked if I was ready to bet my ass on it. I said, hell yeah! She said I was wrong, and she was about to show me how this case was supposed to play out. Then, she led me to the door and opened it for me."
"So, I went through the door and found myself in a courtroom packed with people. I mean, jammed! All the visitor seats were taken, twelve arbiters at the end of the room, prosecution bench full end to end. And all of them turned to look at me. The speaker from arbiters said, "You're late, and we should've started ten minutes ago.""
"I stood there, expecting Rin to say something. I turned around and realized that Rin wasn't there, and the door was shut and locked! I actually tried the handle! That was my first exposure to her method. The method being – throw an infant into a pool and let it figure out how to swim."
The smiles on everyone's faces grew as beer began walloping them one by one. Tom was convinced that his story also helped push the grim thoughts away.
"So, I walked to the defense bench, my palms sweaty, legs spaghetti, browning my pants along the way, and sat down next to my defendant, a dude roughly my age. He looked at me and went like "Bitch, you ain't for real, go back to your incubator and grow pubic hair at least." At the moment, I couldn't agree more."
"The trial was a circus, second only to our treason trial. It was as if all the people I beat up formed a gang and filed a class action against me. All the arbiters were assholes, kicking my case around the room. The prosecution team, five of them, objected to every third word I said and bitched about every precedent and evidence I put forward."
"Even the audience! The fucking audience cheered the prosecution and booed me! And arbiters never tried to stop them! Finally, my defendant was a moron, said everything he shouldn't have, and attempted to deck me, so I had to knock his ass unconscious."
"No!" Dan laughed skeptically.
"Yeah!" insisted Tom. "That happened. Anyway, after defending every comma in my case for four damn hours, I heard the verdict. Not guilty. I nearly cried in joy."
"What happened then?" asked Sonya.
"The whole room stood up and applauded me!" said Tom.
Everyone shook their heads and waved at him.
"Ok, I get it now," said Artur. "You got high in your first days of freedom and dreamt the whole thing up. Because there's no way any of this happened."
"Let me finish," said Tom. "Rin opened the door into the courtroom and joined the applause. Turns out, the case was already settled by her yesterday, and I had a mock trial with a real case and a real, already acquitted defendant. I guess the defendant got carried away with his role. All the folks in the audience were seasoned lawyers who showed up for giggles. Arbiters and prosecution were real also, although buffed up as if it were a murder case. The whole thing was set up to make my first experience hell. It was Rin's initiation. Since I managed to hold my shit together, I passed."
"Please, tell me there's a video," pleaded Sonya.
"There is," said Tom. "And I'd rather go to the Church and renounce all the Gods in Symon's face than show it to you."
"You suck!" said Sonya in disappointment, making the rest laugh.
"That isn't what Rin said," said Tom. "She said she didn't expect me to win. Arbiters were supposed to render my defendant guilty no matter what."
"Why didn't they?" asked Dan.
"They said I won fair and square," shrugged Tom as if it was nothing, even though he was bursting with pride to this day. "Just like that, I became Rin's new student, aka beating bag. I'm only her third student ever. I assume others died of a heart attack during the mock trial. She started giving me more cases with increasing difficulty. I had no certificate, and still don't, so she did the talking. I was strictly in a support role, a glorified secretary."
"Rin was doing all the cool cases on her own, leaving for the team effort wonderful cases such as a serial mooner, a self-proclaimed love sorcerer, a woman stealing old underwear from male fashion models, a dude with malicious erection–
"Hold up," Sonya raised her hand and stopped him. "A dude with what now?"
"Oh, he erected a shit statue to spite his neighbors," he said, then added over giggles, "Grow up! Malicious erections are very serious and can be dangerous for the public!"
Dan and Artur were both choking on silent laughter. Sonya was crying and laughing on the table. It lasted a couple of minutes, to Tom's delight.
When his friends recovered, he continued:
"I dealt with many more weirdos and lunatics. It was a vast experience, but all these cases were easy. I was eager for a challenge. And in six months, I got the chance."
"Rin handed me a pile of cases outside her expertise. I had to go through them, figure out what they were about, and send them to the appropriate lawyers. Mind-numbing stuff, in other words. But I had a present waiting for me in a pile. One of the cases was about a juvenile hacker. The case was stuffed with code and IT lingo, which was over Rin's head but in my ballpark."
"So, you brought it back to her?" asked Sonya.
"She didn't agree to take it on easily, I'll tell you that," said Tom. "She gave me a lot of valid reasons not to do it, and I gave her a lot of valid reasons to do it, plus one. Rin was infuriatingly stubborn. We talked for almost an hour and a half. At some point, I thought she was testing me, teaching me how to make my point. Turns out, it was more complicated than that. Turns out, she has a weakness."
"Really?" asked Sonya. "I thought she was made of whiskey and concrete, that woman."
"She has a spot made of jelly," said Tom. "So, she gave in to me, and we took this case together. We went to see the client, a gal of ten, and, as usual, she took the lead in talking to her. By Gods, was Rin terrible at that! She couldn't find a point of contact with her. Everything that came out of Rin's mouth made the client more closed-off and angry."
"She can't relate to juvenile hackers, can she?" asked Artur.
"Later on, I found out it's all the kids she can't relate to, not just hackers," said Tom. "After cringing for fifteen minutes, I jumped ahead and took over. It was out of line, but I couldn't take it anymore. Within five minutes, I had a fully cooperating client. I understood her: why she broke the law and did what she did, what drove her. I saw Rin rolling her eyes in the background when we were talking."
"What did the girl do?" asked Artur.
"I can't go into details," said Tom. "But in general terms, she attempted to fix a bug in a certain off-limits system and wrapped her patch into a virus shell to get it in. The virus had a flaw and triggered the firewall. Once that was clear, I helped assemble arbiters with appropriate expertise to judge the case."
"During the hearing, for the first time, arbiters were mostly addressing me, not Rin, when asking the defense to clarify their position. At the end of the day, we managed to prove Pure Intent. The girl walked with a small fine and later on was enlisted in the Ministry of Thermodynamics as an intern. She's doing very well!"
The friends gave nods of approval.
"This case was my ticket to a higher league," said Tom. "I was no longer assigned to weirdos; instead, I dealt with IT and Juvenile crimes. They often come together, you know."
"Boy, do we know that well," said Artur.
"I'm yet to lead my own case," said Tom. "It's about three years in the future if I keep my study schedule. But I'm looking forward to it. I think I finally found my calling, guys!"
"Aww, I was just about to offer you a robbery gig," said Artur. "But in all seriousness, I'm proud of you, man."
Tom and Artur cheered each other, Dan joining a bit late.
"Should we give you two a room?" asked Sonya.
Oh no, she did not just go there! The nerve! Very well, Tom took his imaginary gloves off and went after Sonya's weak spot.
"As far as I can see, soon you two will need a room," said Tom and pointed at Sonya and Artur.
Sonya choked on her beer again, and Artur came to the rescue, patting her back.
"If you don't have the first date in a week," said Tom, producing the nastiest smile he could, "I'll have Rin tangle you in another conspiracy."
"We're yet to hear your story, Sonya," said Artur, trying to steer the conversation in a more comfortable direction. Graciously, Tom allowed it.
***
Sonya attempted to set Tom on fire with her stare. Unfortunately for her, it failed. It did not even wipe the annoying grin off his face. She wanted to be his Sergeant just one more time and send him on a dozen sweet sixteens. Alas, these times were behind her.
She focused her attention on the beer bottle in her hand, trying to regain her composure. Artur's presence did not help. The butterflies in her stomach were having a riot ever since he sat next to her.
Nevertheless, she could get a grip on herself like no other. In five short seconds, she was ready to talk.
"Unlike Love Lawyer over there, I found my calling long ago," said Sonya. "I diverted from my path because of my arrogance and burned all the bridges for the same reason. My band fell apart, and none of them wrote a message to me in the last three years. Neither did I, to be fair. Before departing for Boot Camp Freshman, I sold all of my equipment, including my guitar."
"What the hell happened that prompted you to do that?" asked Dan.
"Long story for another time," said Sonya.
Sonya looked outside to the rain, sorting her memories and carefully locking away those she was not ready to share.
"First, I tried to track down my guitar," said Sonya. "Soul 1941. Absolute legend."
"What does 1941 stand for?" asked Artur.
"The date it was made," answered Sonya.
"What kind of date is that?" asked Tom.
"Nobody knows," said Sonya. "The legend goes that it was smuggled from Twilight three hundred years ago. It's anyone's guess who made it and what they counted their years from."
"It is at least 300 years old?" whistled Tom. "Holy pancakes!"
Sonya pulled up the hologram of herself playing Soul 1941.
"It was originally an acoustic guitar," she said. "When it was found, it was a wreck. Only the top part remained, and even that missed a good chunk from the bottom."
"So someone decided to fill the missing pieces with holograms?" asked Artur and pointed at the violet glow on the instrument.
"And turn it into a hologuitar," said Sonya, pointing at the glowing string. "A genius move, copied in other restoration projects since. When the guitar is off, it looks like a broken relic. When it's on, it becomes whole with holograms. It's as if it gets possessed with its departed spirit again to play on forever."
"I had no idea it was a historical artifact," said Dan. "I thought you just smashed the thing at some point and refused to let it go."
"Yeah, I broke a few guitars in my career," said Sonya and turned off the hologram. "But this one was handed to me by my favorite musician. She told me to stop being a brat on stage and focus on making music instead. And so I did. I don't know if I imagined it, but it was the best-sounding guitar in the world. I was in perfect sync with it. It felt like a part of my body, and playing it felt as natural and easy as picking a beer bottle."
Sonya picked up a beer bottle and put it back on the table.
"Nice demo," said Tom. "So, did you find it?"
"There was no need to search for it," said Sonya. "I gave it to MMH, Museum of Musical History."
"The one that went down with the Gatehouse Area?" asked Artur.
"Yup," Sonya said bitterly.
She was still heartbroken over it. To waste such an instrument! She would never live it down. She was afraid to reach out to the woman who gifted it to her since.
"That's a bummer," said Tom.
"Yeah..." she said. "The legend ended with me because I was an idiot... Anyhow, not to cry over the past, I went ahead and got a brand-new guitar. Lightstorm 806 – Sharp Oak Edition. For a thousand hours, can you believe it? However, thanks to the severance package from the city, it wasn't a problem. The new gal still doesn't feel like second skin, even after a year of playing it, but it's an excellent tool. Who knows, maybe I'll get used to it one day."
She doubted it, personally. She'd have to play this guitar for a hundred years for it to gain a shred of the significance of Soul 1941.
"I started practicing as soon as I got my new guitar," Sonya carried on. "And, boy, was I rusty. Whatever I tried to play sounded like a metal fork on a ceramic plate. My voice was to match. Three years with no practice of any kind does it to you. I spent the next three months practicing in my room until I felt I sounded decent. After, I decided to start slowly. I decided to pick up a gig with an always grateful, always excited audience."
"Who would that be?" asked Tom.
"Kids in preschool," said Sonya. "Just what I needed to get my confidence back. Kids won't boo me if I say an ill-worded joke or have technical difficulties. Every venue is full, too, guaranteed. I did that for three months and had a lot of fun doing it. I would take the kids anywhere with music, and they followed eagerly. Every performance was a riot that left me with nothing but positive emotions."
"That lasted until Valentina Stern, a caretaker of Alexander Litt, asked me for a favor."
Everybody leaned in. Sonya knew she was the only one who saw Alexander in person after the trial.
"How's he doing?" asked Artur.
"He's well," said Sonya. "Physically. Did you know that he was stone-deaf when we found him?"
"I told you to not waste time talking to him," scoffed Dan.
"You said he's alright physically," said Tom. "What about mentally?"
"He had several attempts on his life in the last year," said Sonya. "The Enlightened tried to kill him. His caretakers stopped all of these attempts, although one was a close call."
"I heard of that," said Tom, and others nodded. "He killed an adult. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that report. How the hell did he do that?"
"He was taught to do that," said Sonya, sharing information that was not public knowledge. "By his uncle. How to hide, how to fight, and how to kill."
"Impressive upbringing," said Dan.
"And now, because of this situation," said Sonya, "He won't study with other kids."
"Parents worried their kids would get caught in the crossfire?" asked Artur, and Sonya sadly cheered his correct guess. "There's gotta be a way to put him in class!"
"There are ways," said Sonya. "Plenty of them. But Alexander refused to consider them. He even threw a fit. I shit you not, he actually said he doesn't want to put other kids in danger."
"Are you sure he ain't a forty-year-old dwarf pretending to be a kid?" asked Tom.
"No kidding," said Artur. "I don't think I'd be able to make such a call now, let alone in my selfish childhood."
"And yet he did," said Sonya. "He is a remarkable kid. Also, nobody would ever adopt him because he has a target on his back. Too risky. He will be an orphan forever unless any of us will take him on."
Sonya thought about being a mother a lot. Interacting with Alexander on the day she met him awoke something in her. Since, she got her parenting license, even though she was not eligible for a lottery yet due to her age.
However, she would come of age in a couple of months. Once she did, the Silver Hexagon award would give her more preference in the draw, cutting the wait time to get a kid considerably.
Even so, the wait time was at least a decade. Same for adoption, as orphans went through the same lottery and usually landed into a new family in under forty-eight hours. Currently, there were no orphans in the city except for Alexander. The poor kid beat all records for the orphans remaining unclaimed.
It got so bad that anyone taking him would bypass the lottery entirely!
Selfishly, Sonya hoped there would be no takers for Alexander until she came to age. She was aware that was a horrible thing to hope for, as she knew firsthand the situation Alexander was in: the danger, the loneliness, the isolation. Sonya also knew that Alexander, being the Spawn of Twilight, came with a God Pillar worth of baggage and stigmas.
However, she could not care less. The boy was a kindred soul to her.
Sonya, Artur, Tom, and Dan exchanged looks. None of them was of age to be a parent. None of them, aside from Dan. Eventually, all eyes were on him. Sonya drew her breath. Did she just lose her chance to be Alexander's mother by putting an adoption idea into Dan's head? What a drunk idiot! She waited for Dan to say something.
"I know what you're thinking," said Dan. "I'll tell you honestly. I can't do it. Not with my line of work. I can't bring myself to love a Leper."
Sonya felt like she had just dodged a bullet but then immediately got mad at Dan for his stance. Really? After everything they went through, Dan cast Alexander aside?
"I'm not saying I'm opting out from protecting him," said Dan as if reading her mind. "Not at all. I'll help him and come to his aid when called. But to be his dad... After what I've seen on the Wall... I just can't do it, guys. Think of me what you want, but I can't do it."
Both Artur and Tom seemed understanding. Sonya was far from it. She did not show it on her face, but her respect for Dan dwindled a little. However, it was offset by the fact that her own path to adopting Alexander remained clear.
"I get it," said Artur. "Really. Your work plus his heritage would tear your family apart."
"I guess," said Sonya in a purposefully neutral voice. "What about you, guys?"
"Well, it sounds like only we would be mad enough to adopt a boy with so much heat," said Artur. "So, if he's still kicking by the time I'm eighteen – I'll throw my name in the hat."
Sonya was exuberant to hear that. Even though she and Artur barely held hands, she already had their family life planned out. It was highly presumptuous, but the fantasy felt too good to stomp out.
Sonya decided to give Artur space after the trial to let him heal. She wanted him to reach out when he was ready. He never did, not in the way she wanted. He asked about her well-being a few times, but it never went beyond that.
A year passed. She was ready to begin drowning her feelings in booze and drugs. Of all things, the Patriarch's invitation brought her and Artur together again.
After seeing him, after spending some time with him, after Anna... She decided not to give up yet and give Artur more time.
"I'd adopt him too," said Tom. "The kid sounds like a hoot."
He and Artur cheered each other as Sonya feverishly tried to remember if Tom was younger or older than her.
"Thought about adopting him myself," said Sonya, letting some possessiveness in her voice slip. She quickly changed the topic to mask that. "After all, he put my music career back on track."
"How under the Sky did he do that?" asked Tom. "Assassin slayer, career restorer... Can he heal head wounds too?"
"Probably not," said Sonya. "But he can inspire a banger. After this shitshow with the parents kicking him out of class, I came home livid and stayed livid for days. The news that Alexander refused to be put back in class only fueled my rage."
"There's only one way for me to vent. I picked up my guitar and began writing a snarly song. I was done in a couple of days, and my anger dragged me onto the street to share my "masterpiece" with the crowd. I took an open mic on Lux Avenue, which used to be proudly the city's loudest street. Now it's a mere shadow of what it used to be, though: dark, half-empty, eternal party long-dead, and lots of depressed people walking around... Anyway, I digress. I took the mic, introduced myself, and played in front of an adult crowd for the first time in three years. Very risky, too, with a song nobody had heard before: Best Friend You Never Met."
"How did the crowd take it?" asked Artur.
"Tepidly," confessed Sonya. "I got heckled by some old fans when I introduced myself. I got a few laughs in the middle of the song. When I was done playing, I only got scattered polite applause."
"Sorry to hear that," said Artur.
"It's fine," said Sonya. "It comes with the job. Also, nobody launched a beer bottle at me, so it wasn't the worst reception I've had."
"So, how did it help you?" asked Tom.
"Well, it motivated me to return to a real stage," said Sonya. "Even though I didn't consider myself to be ready. I started getting more gigs all over the city: bars, venues, and streets. Mostly ambient stuff, sometimes songs. It helped me to get my stage confidence back. It's easy enough when the audience doesn't expect much from you. I had maybe a couple of burgers thrown at me, booed off the stage once, but my gigs in kindergarten healed my damaged pride and self-esteem every time."
"Three months later, I received surprising news. My first performance of Best Friend You Never Met at the open mic was recorded and put online, and after some time of non-existent activity, it suddenly went viral. I did some research and found out that my old groupmates, who're all known solo performers now, came across this video and shared it with each other and their fans. The video went to over a million views overnight."
"Not bad," said Tom.
"And then," said Sonya, "The parenting committee saw it, recognized their shining personalities in it, petitioned to take the song down, and ban me from performing to the kids ever again."
"That sucks," said Dan.
"Bro, you obviously don't know how these things work," laughed Tom. "If you want to make something insanely popular – ban it."
"Exactly," said Sonya. "In a week, I had a hundred million views. The song was taken apart into quotes. I saw a news article starting with one of the quotes. The parents' petition to ban my teaching choked, too. Amidst this storm, I reached out to my old groupmates to team up and perform the song together. They agreed! Amazingly, they did."
"You'll have to tell us how you fucked up your old band," insisted Tom. "I'm dying to hear it!"
"Later," promised Sonya, intending to delay this topic indefinitely. "Anyway, Mirror Shards was a team again for a short while. But that short performance reminded us why we mattered so much to each other. We met up for the last six months and recorded a new album. In about a month, we'll announce the return of Mirror Shards to the stage."
This produced the loudest cheer of the day.
"We better be invited to your concert!" said Artur. "I ain't waiting two years in line to see you."
Sonya pictured Artur in the crowd of fans. Immediately, the fantasy turned into a nightmare where she forgot how to sing, play, and breathe.
"You're all invited, of course," assured Sonya. "Tell you more; if any of you doesn't show up, I'll hunt you down one by one. Regarding two years, Artur, I wouldn't hold my breath. Sure, we were super popular before, but it's tough to repeat the previous success, let alone surpass it. Bands that fell apart and were put together later rarely come back on top."
"I don't know," said Tom. "I have a good feeling about it, and I'm usually right."
***
Sonya woke up in her bed and was hit with a brutal hangover headache. She sat upright, waiting for the blood to reach her brain, then opened her eyes wide and looked stupidly into space.
Tonight, she had a dream instead of a nightmare. That hadn't happened in... Forever.
Sonya's studio apartment was only lit with the purple night light on the bedside table. One of the walls was all glass, with curtains closed, showing sparse city lights behind it. The apartment was a standard loner's four hundred square feet, including a separate bathroom and a big open space with a bed, dining table, desk, chairs, storage shelves, closet, and food printer - all neatly and stylishly organized.
On the walls, Sonya had holographic posters with her favorite musicians, pictures of her performances, short videos of her parents and friends playing on a loop, a calendar, a reading list, a clock, and other miscellaneous things. The only tangible property on Sonya's walls was a Golden Record of her album Fun House, a Silver Hexagon in a frame, and her ridiculously expensive guitar.
She looked over her apartment and sighed. Her clothes were lying around in piles. It was messy but not yet disgusting enough to prompt her to clean up.
Also, in the middle of the room was a shopping cart.
"Huh? How did that end up here?" she murmured and got up. "Hey, I made it home, unlike New Year's. Ugh, that New Year's..."
Sonya, grabbing on the walls, went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her violet hair was exquisitely styled by the pillow. Today's style was half-blown Dandelion. Her eyes were sleepy and puffy, her skin white as snow. She still wore the same clothes she did the day before.
Sonya evaluated herself.
Oh Gods, what a striking beauty! Almost feel bad fixing it. Damn, I didn't even take the makeup off. Must have had a lot of fun... What did I do yesterday?
Sonya waved to the mirror. A chemical printer built into the sink produced a small cup with an all-purpose mouthwash. She used it to rinse her mouth, thinking.
Red Rose. We stayed there for... four hours? Then the bar closed, and we left... To a nightclub. With all those nude waitresses and waiters. It gets really blurry there... C'mon, girl, concentrate.
Sonya spat and felt her teeth and tongue to be perfectly clean. She then waved to the mirror again, but differently, and a brush was printed out.
"Not a small one, dummy," complained Sonya and threw the brush into the recycling. "Do you even see my hair? I need a rake or something."
The printer under the counter produced a bigger, broader brush.
"Now we're talking," said Sonya and attacked her rebellious hair.
She continued to reconstruct her night.
Movie... We went to see an interactive VR movie and got thrown out for pushing the plot in an x-rated direction. Then... music store? I was cheered to play a song. I took a guitar and collapsed in a drum set... Then...
Sonya jolted and dropped her hairbrush. Her eyes widened as her memories came back. She looked back to the bedroom in time to see the huge muscular figure of Artur rising from the floor on the blind side of the bed.
He stood up too fast, lost his balance, waved his hands, and knocked the lamp off the bedside table, breaking it into pieces. The room was now lit only by bathroom lights.
"Fuck. Where am I?" he asked quietly, rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding onto the bed stand with the other. "Where are my clothes? The fuck did I do yesterday?"
"Artur?" called Sonya.
He freaked out and collapsed on the closet door, breaking it in and sinking in Sonya's clothes and stage props. After some confusion and cursing, he emerged, covered in dresses from top to bottom. He shook them all off.
Sonya giggled.
"Oh, Gods," said Artur. "Oh Gods, you were drunk; it was so inappropriate. I.. Did I?.. Did we?.."
"At ease, Sergeant Huber," commanded Sonya. "You didn't take advantage of me. You passed out on the street like a lightweight, so I borrowed the shopping cart and wheeled you home. I didn't know where you lived, but I still remember where I lived. Else we'd both wake up in the sober room, listening to those preachy lectures for a week."
Sonya leaned on the door frame and crossed her hands on her chest, deeply amused. She could tell, however, that Artur was just as deeply embarrassed.
"My pants?.."
"On the chair," said Sonya and nodded to the corner of the room. "Sorry, I didn't have time to iron them."
Artur darted to the chair and put his pants on. Sonya's amusement withered. She felt like she spun the situation wrong and came out too strong. She bit her lip, thinking about the next move, as time was running out: Artur had already put his boots on and went for the door.
Sonya, usually great at coming up with something to say, had nothing in her head when it mattered. She froze in the bathroom doorway, casting a long shadow down the room, trying to force herself to do something. Anything.
"Thanks, Sonya," said Artur. "Sorry if I mistreated you in any way. Goodbye."
With that, he ran out of her apartment.
Sonya's petrifying spell broke as the door shut. She turned to the door frame and hit her head lightly against it, lamenting her conduct.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why do you have to be such an ass, Sonya?
The door to Sonya's apartment flew open again, and Artur burst in. Sonya re-established her posture of leaning against the door frame with her hands crossed. She blew the hair lock off her face. She managed to do it all before Artur laid his eyes on her.
Sonya was so surprised that she was ready to take Artur for the fruit of her wild imagination and wishful thinking. She opened her mouth, but, annoyingly, no sound came out still.
"Would you like to go to a theater tomorrow, 8p.m.?" Artur asked quickly in a cracking voice, then coughed.
"Busy tomorrow," said Sonya, to her horror and screamed internally.
Aaa! Why the fuck did you say that?!
"Oh," said Artur. "What about Sunday at 5p.m.?"
"I could make it work," shrugged Sonya.
"Cool," said Artur. "I'll pick you up. See you then."
"Hey, did you just ask me for a date or something?" asked Sonya.
Who's speaking right now?! Shut up! Shut. The fuck. UP!
Sonya could see that Artur's sudden burst of extroversion was draining fast.
"Yes," he said simply.
She suppressed whatever was pulling her tongue and hoped the next thing coming out of her mouth would be decent.
"Great," she smiled. "You better dress really nice then."
Artur scoffed nervously and walked out of the room. As soon as he closed the door, Sonya jumped on her bed and riffed an air guitar in silent celebration.