I don't know if it was a dream or not, but it must have been, since I was no longer in the dungeon.
I was standing by a window, looking down into the courtyard. There was snow on the ground, and Lenin and Kim were there, scarves wrapped around their necks.
Lenin was laughing, as he scooped up a snowball and pelted it at Kim. Kim dodged, retaliating by slamming a massive chunk of snow over Lenin's head.
Lenin wiped the snow from his brow and looked up at me, his golden hair dusted with white, his eyes shining with excitement, the crisp winter air leaving his nose and cheeks pink. "My prince!" he called. "Come outside! Look, it snowed!"
Prince? What? But then I realized I couldn't see out of my left eye.
I was Prince Evian Grace.
"My prince! You should come outside!"
Lenin did love snow…a pity it never snowed.
When I awoke, my skin was cold.
I had…to kill…
Lenin and YV-7144 were discussing something. I tried to still my mind and emotions to listen to them.
"My lord…you know…the glass…"
"I've seen it. I don't know…"
"Down here, though…"
"Yes…what do you think, Eve?"
Kim was there as well, only she was hidden behind Lenin. "With Mao and Castro gone…" she muttered, "things have changed a lot."
"Not that much. We're still down here, aren't we?"
"Yes, but…have you seen the Prince?"
I closed my eyes again. Once more, that scene with the snow, spread out in front of me…
What was all of this? Kim was here, not above, and I was…
I had to kill [him].
I had to kill [him].
I had to kill him.
But why?
And my head throbbed at this thought.
"You know what else is strange?" Lenin lowered his voice. "Apparently he ordered for the androids to be on standby mode…or to come down here. You think it has something to do with Castro and Mao?"
"I don't know," Kim replied. "It's…strange."
"You know, the computer systems…they seem to be malfunctioning as well," Lenin continued, and he glanced at me.
"Would you like me to fix it, my lord?" YV-7144 asked.
"No, it's fine… fine…it's just slow...everywhere. And you know, the other day… I could've sworn I saw birds flying above."
"Birds?"
"Yeah. Strange, isn't it?"
"And you know…he mentioned to me, the other day…to 'be ready for new visitors'. What do you think that means?"
"Did you ask him?" Kim asked, sounding equally bewildered.
"Yeah, but…you know how he is."
"Did he say anything about…you know?" Kim shot me another glance.
"He wanted to see him soon. Very soon."
"What, now, then?"
"Maybe today…yo, Akiya! You been listening all this time?"
"No," I lied.
They stopped talking, anyways. I sat up, rubbing my head. These chains were chafing at my wrists...
"Lenin," I called. "Do you like snow?"
Lenin stopped. "What?"
"Nothing."
Lenin narrowed his eyes, and turned away. Kim shot me an icy look and followed him. YV-7144 left swiftly as well.
Once they were gone MK-5567 said, "I don't believe I have ever seen snow…since the time of my manufacturing. Then again, I am a young android."
"Have you seen snow?" DG-8260 asked me.
"Once…when I was a child."
"What's it like?" MK-5567 asked.
"Cold...white and wet, but dry sometimes. Different from sand."
YV-7144 came back, looking troubled. "Why did you have to ask Lord Lenin about snow?" he asked me in a low voice, leaning close to the bars. "It brings up memories."
"Good or bad ones?"
YV-7144 did not answer. "How did you even know about the snow?"
"What?"
"You know, that day…it was a wonderful day. Lord Lenin was happy, for once. But the dome nearly came down…"
"What?"
"Don't mention it again. And I suspect that the Prince will want to see you soon, so be ready."
I knew too little about Shuijing to understand what any of this meant.
"Do you know why grass doesn't grow here?" Lonnie asked me one day as we sat outside of the base, taking a rest under the shade.
"Not really…it's desert, isn't it?"
"It wasn't always desert. My parents told me about it." Lonnie opened a drink, and offered me a sip. "There used to be grass here."
"Grass? Here?" I could've laughed. There was nothing but sand and sand for miles and miles…
"Yeah…"
"So why doesn't grass grow here?" I asked, taking her drink and taking a sip.
"Because it doesn't rain. Have you ever seen rain?"
"Only once…and it wasn't very hard. It was at the training center, I think. The day of Cana's funeral."
"I think I remember that…"
Cana had been one of the recruits there. He'd jumped off a roof. It wasn't very high, but it still killed him.
"Why did he jump again?" Lonnie asked.
"I think it was an argument he had with the trainers…he said that we shouldn't kill [him]."
"What?"
"Yeah. He said that [he] didn't need to die. And that he would take no part in killing [him]. But they wouldn't let him leave. So he jumped."
"Yikes." Lonnie took another slow sip.
I remembered the day of Cana's funeral. The reason for his death had been covered up, of course. The sky outside had been clouded over, for once. Dark and stormy. And as we stood there, listening to the eulogy, the heavens had opened, and rain came down.
It was half-sleet, cold and piercing, and later Seere had said,
"Sleet is almost snow. You know what snow in summer means?"
It was always hot here, and it was the beginning of September, anyway. But I asked him, "What?"
"It means someone's been wronged."
"Oh…"
"Yeah. But this was only sleet, so we can only say it was bad weather."
But for a place that never rained, much less snowed…and form of precipitation could be considered as a sign.
"I think we need more than just rain in order for grass to grow," I said to Lonnie.
"Oxygen too, I guess. And sunlight. There's plenty of that around."
"Do you think that grass will grow one day?" And I watched her, to see her reaction.
Her expression didn't change. "If it does, I'd like to see it." She took another sip. "But it has to rain first, doesn't it?"
Of course…
"Say. Why didn't Cana want to kill [him]?"
I shrugged. "He seemed normal. But he was so intent on that fact that it was strange…"
And I remembered seeing Cana being restrained by the trainers, dragged out of the headmistress's office…
"No!" he had screamed. "You can't, you just can't kill [him]! If you do, it'll all be over!" And he saw me, and his eyes widened underneath his mop of dirty-golden hair. "Rinthe, Rinthe, you'll understand, won't you? You have to understand—"
But I could only stare at him in bewilderment. Of course it all made sense, why we had to kill [him]. Because he caused us immense suffering and pain. Things were not getting better because of [him]. Things had only gotten worse.
But maybe, if I had said something, anything, even if it was something that I didn't believe, maybe Cana wouldn't have jumped later that day.
"We're here to mourn the loss of Cana Lu…"
And all throughout the gray, dreary day, all I could think of was what I could have done.
Maybe if we had changed our minds, Cana would have lived.
But it was too late. He was gone now…
Regrets, regrets. Regrets always flooded my mind. But they came and went, and never lasted long.
This was the only one that had stayed.
And I wondered, once I died, what I would say to Cana when I saw him.
I'm sorry?
Maybe I would.
But I could never understand…just why he didn't want us to kill [him]…
Neither could I truly understand why we were to kill [him]…
And now, in Shuijing City, I wished that Cana was here instead of me.
It was only right.