Chapter Text
Everyone around me stood on guard, watching the man on the runway scream hysterics at no one in particular yet everyone in his vision at the same time. My feet stood planted on the ground at the Captain's words.
‘-and placing explosives in residential areas, those are ploys to provoke outsiders so…’
A bead of sweat drips down my brow, I can feel my stomach turn and twist. I try not to think about the ‘accident’ too much; thinking about Grandma and Caleb lying in the rubble, most likely mangled and disfigured to the point of being unidentifiable, was always enough to make my mouth start to water and my palms clammy.
As the officers are getting into their positions a loud buzzing fills the air. Wind and small debris fly in all directions as the aircraft makes its landing, I try to block some of it with my hand as I squint my eyes.
The sleek, black aircraft lands with a resonating quake, feeling the vibration through my boots. When the hatch opens, a tall figure emerges from inside, judging from the dozens of medals and tassels and tags, there’s only one person it could be. The new Farspace Fleet Colonel.
He exudes confidence and pride as he makes his way onto solid ground, yet something seems almost familiar in those strides.
Looking around me I notice everyone else’s gaze locked onto the male, whispers of both excitement and dread come from their mouths. I don’t know which group I should be in, I’ve heard a few things about the new Colonel during the start of my assignment. Not particularly good things, actually.
He stops in front of the man on the runway, and through the whispers and gusts of wind I can make out his words. My brain processes the sound of his voice before my ears can, a sudden warmth spreading through my chest as the familiar tone finally registers.
‘Too many coincidences in one day’ I think to myself, trying to will away the images that creep up the back of my mind and the front of my vision by focusing on the ordeal at hand. It’s almost as if the universe pities me, pulling my attention instantly as the situation escalates.
The man- who I now know is named Joseph- raises his voice at the Colonel, challenging him. “That’s not possible!.. You made me do it!!” His scream echoed through the open, making sure every person heard his cry. Something else is said that I can’t hear through the crowd of people rushing to try and catch a glimpse of the person who had the gall to stand up to the Colonel.
His voice is suddenly interrupted, the crowd’s demeanor immediately shifting to one of seriousness. I pushed my way past a few officers, my eyes locking onto the black hole that slowly opened up behind Joseph.
It felt like my attention was being sucked in, the growing void’s blurred edges made it look straight out of a movie, like someone photoshopped it into the sky.
“Enough. You don’t need to defend yourself anymore.” The Colonel’s voice is heard more clearly. The spectators having gone quiet with anticipation and anxiety. In the blink of an eye, the man and the detonator are both consumed by the void, gone. The black hole closes just as quickly, like a beast retreating after a meal; the edge of the runway now empty.
“Lock down the command center. We still have an unidentified ‘traitor’ with us.” His cold voice ordered, snapping everyone out of their daze.
‘Shit… Once they start digging around it’ll be no time before my cover’s blown, I have to get out of here and contact the association’
My heart rate speeds up, thrumming against my ribcage as I try and quietly slip through the sea of people. I only make it a few steps before I feel as if a thousand grams have been dropped onto my shoulders, stopping my feet dead in their tracks.
Maybe they weren’t coincidences, maybe I just didn’t want to entertain the ridiculous idea that nipped at the back of my mind. This feeling, the familiar embrace of this Evol, I know it all too well.
Heavy footsteps stop behind me, the owner’s tall shadow swallowing my frame as if it were a black hole itself.
“Don’t move.”
Hearing it up close, right behind me, I could never mistake that voice. That annoying voice that would tease and annoy me every single day; that voice that would console me through the thunderstorms raging through the night.
My blood ran cold, freezing my body from the inside out, starting with my heart that I could feel skip a beat beneath my skin- definitely won’t be telling that detail to Zayne the next time I see him-.
* * * *
I snap my head away as a bright spotlight is suddenly switched on, the intense beam filling the dark room and shining down on my face from its mount on the wall in front of me. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to look ahead of me, trying to see past the blinding light and see the face of the person in front of me.
The light was soon cut off, darkness consuming the small room for a short moment before four smaller, less intense lights, lit up in each corner. My eyes blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the quick changes in brightness.
As my pupils dilated they immediately focused on the figure- no, the man that stood before me. Scanning over every single detail, every thread of fabric, every hair peeking from underneath that Colonel hat.
“...C-Cal-”
“No talking unless I ask a question, understand? Show some respect for the Farspace Fleet’s Colonel.”
‘No… This isn’t right…’ I try to move but my limbs are stilled from where they’re retrained, instead I clench my fist as I look back up at him. ‘This can’t be him… This has to be some sick joke the universe is playing on me.’
“Good, let’s get started then.” He grabs a stool from a corner of the room and places it in front of my chair, taking a seat and looking at me with eyes that I used to cherish, instead this time all that warmth is replaced with an icy stare.
His hand reaches forward and for a moment I think he’s going to release me and tell me this was all just one of his elaborate pranks and he’s not actually some Colonel, he’s just… Caleb. He grips the gun in my holster and pulls it out, rotating it in his hand to give it a quick examine before tossing it onto the nearby table. The metal-on-metal clanged loudly, pulling a small flinch from my nerves at the grating sound.
“Hey! That’s-” I was cut off again.
“Once we’re done I’ll give it back to you.” He said simply, continuing his search. His hand stops at the silver chain around my neck, his gloved fingers grabbing the dog tags that hung from it.
Deciding to test my luck, I open my mouth. “...It belonged to someone close to me… He died in an explosion like the one in the cascade district. I… I miss him…” Looking up at him and meeting his violet gaze, I dive head first into the deep, searching for any kind of light besides the buzzing incandescents around us. “Sir… Can you tell me something?... If that person hadn’t died, do you think he would support me? Even now?”
He doesn’t answer, but through the dense fog I swear I can see a flicker of light, a flare of the boy I know.
“Then what about you? Will you support me?” I probe, lifting my chin with an odd confidence. I can see his lips twitch as his eyes roam my face, presumably biting back words he shouldn’t say.
“..Just do as your told and don’t cause any trouble. You won’t get hurt that way.” He stand up from the stool and moves it back over to its original place in the corner. When he turns back to me his arms are crossed over his chest, his eyes finding their way to the chain around my neck once more before lifting to meet my own.
In some strange way, that told me all I needed to know. In some… weird way that’s caused by our lifelong connection, I know that he’s real, he’s alive.
A small ripple of relief runs through my tense muscles but I try not to let it show. A sigh leaves my lips, sitting here in this room, surrounded by these blinding lights, staring into the voids of his eyes. I start to wonder... Where did it all go wrong?
When did we stop being little kids running down the street? When did we stop building snowmen in the winter? When did we stop texting or calling everyday? When did we start keeping secrets from each other…