"So, Princess, how was your first taste of commoner food?" Cay leans over, wrapping his arm around my shoulder again.
I gulp, stuttering "U-Uh...good?"
"Didja even know what we cooked?" He asks, taking a swig of water. "Your face tells me y'haven't."
I sheepishly chuckle, scratching my head, "No...I've never eaten something like that. I've never even eaten that much before."
Ruby looks down at my plate, before deadpanning, "Really? You ate a single plate."
I click my tongue, flushing a little bit, "Well, there were always feasts up at the Towers...but I never really had too much. I tried to eat as little as possible, so that everyone else could enjoy it."
Jay hums, resting his arm on the table, "Sounds like you guys had a ton of food."
I shake my head vigorously, "Not when it came to feasts. I always ended up cooking stuff for them because the food ran out too quickly. I don't know how, since it was always the same foods."
Cay gags, "The same thing every day? That sounds like garbage."
I roll my eyes, scowling, "Sucked so bad, man. I had to ask Lib to teach me some new recipes, cause the cookbooks always had the same foods, just done a little differently."
Ruby gets up, not bothering to push in her chair, "Well, better get some good rest. You got a course to go through tomorrow."
"Where do I sleep?" I ask, following her with my eyes as she walks to yet another room.
"The beds, duh. We've only got three, though, so you'll have to bunk with Cay."
I blink. My head whips around to Cay, who's got a quirked eye, but his expression doesn't really change.
He sighs, "Well, if it's gotta be like that."
I gulp, stuttering, "I-I mean, I could just sleep on the floor if you're uncomfortable with that."
Ruby rolls her eyes, "You'll be fine. I mean, I'd die if I had to spend a night with that ugly mug, but you'll be fine."
Cay scoffs, "Excuse me?" He gestures to himself. "This, ma'am, is the pinnacle of beauty!"
Jay huffs, but can't hide his amusement, "Sure it is. Hence why your last girlfriend dumped you, and I quote, because 'you were too ugly to look at.'"
Ruby howls in laughter, "See! You don't wanna sleep with that!" She points wildly at him, gripping her sides in amusement.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Cay scowls, but I see the smirk on his face. "What a shame. Now you won't realize me for who I really am?"
I can't help but join in, "And who is that?"
Ruby smirks, "An asshole."
"Rude!" Cay gasps dramatically, before slinging an arm around me. "Now, c'mon. You gotta get rested for tomorrow."
The smirk is wiped off of Ruby's face, and I can probably guess why.
"Yo, you're actually smiling?" She gawks, and I sheepishly shrug. I can't stop it, but yeah, I had a tiny shy smile on my face for it.
Jae clicks his tongue, "Man, we need to test her judgement, too." There's no amusement in his tone, but there's a light smirk to his face.
Cay rolls his eyes, retorting, "Says the two that got together. Who'd ever want to sleep with those ugly mugs of yours?"
"Hey, Jae's too big to sleep in one of these beds with!" Ruby explains, gesturing absentmindedly. I noticed that she usually just...moves her hands around normally, like she doesn't even realize it.
Wonder what that's like. I feel like I've...gotta have some sort of meaning to every move I make, you know?
"Yep," Cay clicks his tongue. "Hence why we have three beds. But now, I got someone to actually spend it with, unlike you two horndogs."
Jae hums, "Can't argue with you there."
As Jae and Ruby head to their own beds, Cay leads me over to his. The three of them all sleep in the same room. It's...not as warm as I'd expect it to be. Most of the time, since I...since I used to live up in the atmosphere with Lib and Luna...
God, I miss them. How are they doing? How's everyone doing up there? Are they trying to retrieve me? Is Lib trying to come down here any more? How's that mass transport thing going?
I gulp. I could head to the tower, but I don't know where the elevator to the edge is. Plus, the system's too secure for that.
We never used DNA or anything like that to manage the water elevator. Instead, and I know this sounds like the most garbage piece of bull that just seems...built to keep me out, we use a percentage.
When someone holds their soul out for inspection, a machine inspects the ratio from Mirth to Misery, and accounts for Morality with it. If there's a much higher concentration of Mirth, the person is let into the Sky Tower.
The problem comes when counting for cheating.
Obviously, nobody can attain a 100% Mirthful soul. I've not even seen anyone in the Sky Towers maintain a 100% Mirthful soul, other than after I purge them of their Misery.
So, when the machine accounts for cheating, it won't let anyone in who has a 92% or higher concentration of Mirth.
And when you count for a Pure Soul like me, who literally cannot gain any Misery...there's sort of a problem there.
Anyways, back to what I was talking about.
This room isn't warm. It's surprisingly chilly. Just like my old room. I used to have to turn on the heater, since we were so close to the upper atmosphere. We might as have been in outer space, if you really wanted to stretch it.
I gulp, hearing Jae and Ruby plop down and groan in relaxation on their own beds. It creaks under Jae's weight, but doesn't break.
"Well, Princess?" Cay hums as he hops into his own bed, with some maroon stripes on it, tossing off his jacket. "You gonna just stand there?"
Ruby groans, trying to find a comfy position, "You gotta pull her in there. She's not gonna move, you know."
I gulp, hands close to my chest. She's right. I can feel her eyes on me.
I force myself to take a step forward, and take his hand.
I yelp, flushing instantly in embarrassment, "Hey! You didn't have to pull me down like that!"
Cay snickers, "What? You would've taken a few years to actually lie down afterwards."
I burn in blush, knowing he's right. I mutter, "Shut it," and without any real force to it, smack his arm.
I can feel Ruby's smirk burn into me while I lie down, especially after...
Well, after Cay pulls me closer to him.
We're not...what's the term? Spooning?
We're not spooning, but he is holding me close. I can feel his heartbeat.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
It's steady. Slowing. Calm.
It's nice.
I hear a few more words being muttered, a tiny conversation going on between Cay and Ruby, "See? I don't think this is so bad."
"Wait for it, Cay. I'm telling you, I'm gonna win myself ten bucks from this."
I have no idea what they're talking about, but I can't gather the energy to ask about it before I fall asleep.
The way he's gently running his fingers through my hair?
It's nice.
~~~
"Crap! Wake up, Princess!" I hear Cay hiss, and it's now that I realize that there's an alarm going off. Blaring, blasting, and the first thing that I do is clasp my hands over my ears as my eyes snap open.
"Damn it, I knew this was going to happen!" Ruby scowls, shooting a glare at me. "I told you we needed to leave her!"
"And I'm not going to let that happen!" Cay retorts, and I hear a swish go through the air. "This isn't the time to argue, anyways! The base is under attack!"
"Whetstone," Jae's voice cuts through the air, and I see him toss a...stone brick towards Cay, who catches it with a huff.
As Cay whips out his knife, his head whips over to me, "Princess, get me the key on the wall!" He nods towards the wall, and I, out of instinct, whip out of bed in my current clothes and grab it. I look at everyone in the room. They're in their pajamas, still. They hadn't even tried to change or look presentable.
Is this a drill?
"Rube, call for backup!"
"What's so special about her, anyways?" Ruby furrows her eyebrows. "She's a Pure Soul. That's all she is!"
I don't even listen to her speak, "What's going on?!"
"You remember the guy who fled?" I nod. "I guess he spread the news to some other people, and now they're coming for you."
"W-Why me?!" I stutter.
Jay huffs, as if it's obvious, "They're going to use you as a tool to escape. You can take the Misery outta anyone, right?"
I nod, speechless, making the connection.
Cay builds off, "That's why they're coming for you. So, you wanna be forced to help them out or are you gonna make a stand?" He holds his knife up to the light, snatching a piece of paper from the nightstand.
Yeah, it's sharp enough.
I gulp, "What can I do?"
Ruby hums, somewhat intrigued, putting the phone after her alert, "Wow, so you can do something other than put a target on our back."
Cay walks over to me, taking my hand and leading me over to a secluded doorway, "So, you can control how bright your soul is, right?"
I nod, mouth dangling like a fish hook.
"Well, we want you to blind them. You're going to head to our watchtower, and shine your light."
"What if they try to hit me?" I ask.
"Just hide behind the wall, and they won't. The most people have are bows and arrows, anyways. Not like they can shoot through concrete with that," Jae advises, seeming way too calm for this. "Now, can we get a move on? They're probably almost outside as we speak."
Ruby calls out, "Cay, lead her to the tower. Jay and I are going to try to stall them as much as we can, but if something breaks out, you need to leave her and hope she can do something!"
As he grabs my wrist again, I flinch, almost pulling away.
But before I can, I'm whipped up to a higher level, barely able to keep pace with Cay, who's got a solemn look on his face.
"Princess," he hums, before nearly going silent to listen. "This isn't the best way to wake up for any of us. But bear with us. I don't think it'll be good for any of the four of us to be broken down, especially you."
As the two of us climb the final steps, he leads me out to a tall tower, the only way up or down being a decently long ladder. It's made out of bricks, and it's somewhat shoddy. It looks sturdy enough, but it's so...obvious.
"Go up there, and when you see somebody, shine your light. You can focus it in on somewhere, right?" I nod at his question. "Good. Can you do multiple beams at a time?"
I shrug, "I dunno, honestly. I should be able to, but it'll be a bit tough to control."
Cay scowls, though not at me, "Well, we're going to have to do. Can you do anything else with your soul?"
I put my hand on my chin, "I...I think I could probably focus the beam stronger, but other than that, but I can't come up with anything."
A whistle. Soft, but swift.
It gets louder.
"Watch out!" Cay hisses, diving to the ground, and as I follow where he glanced, I see an arrow.
I gulp, holding out my arm, legs not willing to move. My eyes shut, and I don't even know what I'm doing. The arrow isn't on the right path to me, but doing this definitely isn't doing me any favors.
"Princess...what...the fuck?"
I hesitantly open my eyes, and gasp.
Right there in front of me, in front of my own two eyes, is the arrow. Stopped mid-air. There's this sort of...force field that caught it, but I don't know how I did that. It doesn't seem to be anywhere else.
"Did you do that?" Cay whispers, dumbfounded, before getting back to his senses. "Wait, crap! No time to ask questions. Shine your light in that direction!"
I nod, holding out my soul.
I meekly point it towards the direction the arrow came from, and in a flash, a beam of light flies out, lines of bright blue and flashes of red flickering in.
My eyes dart to where Cay was standing, who'd stood up by now to inspect the arrow.
"Princess, do you think you can do that again?"
"I-I don't know!" I squeak. "I just panicked and that happened!"
He looks confused, before smirking, "Well, if you can do more stuff like that, I'm more than ready to find out."
In a flash, he heads back down the ladder.
Why do I feel like he wasn't just talking about what my soul could do?