Later, on September 30th, 2022.
Ace and Katie were working late inside the Opera House, underneath the floor. Turning knobs, pushing buttons, typing code. Every single variable had to be accounted for if this process had to be perfected. After all, as seen on their whiteboard, not being perfected led to about 50 failed attempts so far. In just two weeks.
Hanging his head back on a chair with a magazine covering his face, as a pen's scribbles against a pad accompanied electrical sparks through messy wiring… Katie sighed. Just trying to end this equation with a final number was impossible. Face buried in inked equations littering the paper, the girl moaned as her stomach grumbled.
"When's Dad gonna get here with the foooddddd?" Katie hungrily groaned.
"Shut up… tryin'… sleep.." Sleepily replied Ace through murmurs.
Katie rolled her eyes, withholding a snicker. Standing up with broad shoulders and a straightened back, her arms stretched to the skies unleashing a satisfying pop from inside her skin. Picking up a plastic bottle from atop one of the many monitors scattered about the room, she smirked. Inching closer with each passing second, with the bottle in one hand, finally, she was able to get close enough.
For safety's sake, she slipped the magazine off his eyes, and just about to pour the tiniest drop onto his face… she realized his eyes were wide open from the start.
"Shit."
"You… you realize I have-"
"Yes, I do."
"And yet you still… tried to wake me up by throwing water on me?"
"I don't regret it… and what do you mean 'tried'?"
A moment of silence existed between them, Ace with comical despairing lines appearing over his eyes, noticing Katie's mischievous grin.
"Katie—"
Splash. He was wet in the face and his hair fell out its dryness. Dramatically sighing with a longer inhalation soaring through his chest, he stood up. And that was when she realized how much taller she was than him. Even trying to run was useless, for the Ginger's arms were long enough to catch her as he launched himself onto her. Tackling her to the ground so their bodies could thud against the metal ground, Katie and Ace playfully wrestled with each other, throwing each other's grips off the other while also sending fake punches to their faces.
"Get off me… dumb… man…. whore…" Katie groaned.
"Say you're sorry… emo… bitch…" Ace demanded through gritted teeth.
"Is this a bad time?" June appeared with a question, peeking through the hole in their false ceiling upside-down.
"June!" Katie cried happily, elbowing Ace in the chin and sending him to his back with a grunt exiting his lips.
Running off the ground to meet June as she landed into the lab, the shorter white-haired girl looked quizzically at her cousin as Moon slipped behind her.
"He's a monster! He tried attacking me and putting me in a chokehold! Beat him up for me!" Kate suggested.
Like the loyal sister she was, June immediately complied, stepping forward with a martial-arts stance after putting down a black bag. Yelling like Jackie Chan as she feinted punches at his face watching him arise from the floor, Ace stared down at her once recovering his full height.
"I never realized how short we are compared to him," Katie commented from the sidelines.
"Yup, y'all are small. Anyway, did you bring our food?" Asked Ace.
"I didsies!" June jumped back to pick up the bag she'd placed down.
Revealing one container of rice with chicken, not to mention a coke to go with it, she handed it off to Katie. Jumping up and down with excited cries, she vanished off to find a table somewhere among this messy lab.
"And for my idiot brother," June handed a box of chicken tenders and fries to Ace
"The one time I'll say I love you."
He pulled her into a hug, hearing as she ironically gagged, pushing her away to transition it into a mocking guffaw. The two got settled and started eating, but as they did, June scratched at her nape. Her finger fidgeted and her left eye twitched, not to mention… her heartbeat was irregularly fast.
"You okay? You seem a bit stressed. Did something happen during the operation?" Ace asked with his mouthful of chicken.
"Well, yes and no. This is kinda hard to say, but-" June shook her head and shed her sheepishness.
No matter how reluctant she was, she informed them of what occurred on the battlefield just hours ago. The red from Ace's spikes covering his head was squeezed out, replaced by snow, not to mention his left eye, too, shifting from Divergence to utilize half of Convergence's defensive green. And what more could the Reaper say with his daughter before him then,
"What?"
The purple tint of the Remnant's airspace perpetuated the illusion of an endless night. Shining against their faces, Katie stared ahead with dead eyes. All those people lost so casually, for the price of a better world. She looked to August- would the reaction be what she was expecting or would he be his usual unpredictable self? Just as she asked herself, she heard the beginnings of laughter intoxicate the atmosphere.
June felt goosebumps prickle her skin while Kima stepped forward. Moments away from her hand touching August's shoulder, his head started to raise and his voice squeaked. He stopped laughing, allowing for his eyes to shine upon gracing them with his acknowledgment. He stood in that long-sleeved cloth and smiled at them all. Just one word from one man made all the anxiety worth fighting through.
"I'm proud of you two. You did good work here today. And you, too, June. From what Azazel's told me, you're advancing your development. Keep working on your speed and the offensive techniques. You two are dismissed," August advised, waving his hand.
And so, just as she did so carelessly earlier, Kima turned tail and marched on home. Fingertips trembling, bottom lip quivering, June stepped forward, starting to speak. A hand gripped her shoulder… but she didn't turn back, she knew who grabbed her. And just like that, she hugged Katie quickly before following Kima, starting with a jog then slowing as she reached her friend's behind.
August now crouched, knees stabbed outward, elbow resting on his left leg. Even with the shades prohibiting the scenery's entire width, he could spot it as clear as day. In just one day, at the price of a few hundred innocent lives, the main hub of the Remnant World housing over a thousand monsters… had been wiped clean. He tilted his head, examining the field from another angle.
"So, what do you think about this?" Katie asked.
"Truth be told I'm grateful. A few hundred citizens to account for means we won't have to expend more resources than we have to for the reconstruction. Overpopulation is irritating, ya know. What about you?" August asked, turning his head so he could spot her blue eyes.
In those retinas, there was that enlightened oval staining the center of her pupils. Nothing unusual, just her intense gaze scouring the plain for a mile. And what else was she met with more than white? An open field with debris from a forgotten period, and with enough time, an empty plain littered with greenery. That was what she saw.
"I don't know. I want to save people and make sure their lives' potential is enacted upon. But, I also killed so many people when I brought out the Storm. I don't understand what's wrong with me, whether this is properly my justice or something's wrong with me, I don't care. Gazing upon this, I feel a shudder course through my veins and vibrate my being. Right here, right now, I don't feel anything but elation."
This icy background, like a painting created from a flowing brush elegantly congealing colors to make a masterpiece. Part of him couldn't believe this was real, then it hit him. Half of his life was a fever dream, pages documenting fantasies torn out fairy tales, and yet he continued to live in it. The possibility of fiction seemed so improbable to him, however, her words seemed to prove it.
Peace, in this day and age, where chaos ran rampant and stole lives mercilessly. The dream he'd told her just two weeks ago, hovering above that grassy plain surrounded by clear blue water. To think that this plain would serve as that Paradise's placeholder… for once, maybe order could last.
"Paradise is in your reach. A utopia where everyone can be happy and no one can despair ever again. To you, something like that is worth the sacrifice laid before you?" August asked, locking eyes with her.
"Yes. It is," Katie replied without hesitation, quick-fire in her tone.
'But with it spread so far before him, I can't help but feel even he'd shudder at this disturbing scenery.'
How right the Crow was.
To Be Continued.