Looking through the glass into the small room, Neph saw Ivy sitting on the ground, bouncing a tennis ball off the wall and catching it. It was a grey windowless room; only a few colorful posters hung on the walls.
Someone had stripped her of her usual clothes; now she was barefoot, wearing long purple pajama pants and a white t-shirt. On top of that, she wore a heavy green smock.
Neph lightly tapped on the window. He winced, seeing her face light up when she recognized him. She crawled over to the window, sitting cross-legged in front of him.
"Yeah?" she said eagerly, grinning.
"So, we've come to a decision. We've decided to expel you."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you'll have to leave." He glanced back, looking at the clock. "You'll have two hours to collect your things and say your goodbyes. At midnight, you need to be outside the gates."
"Oh," her expression sunk.
Neph moved to the door, scanning his ID card. The light above turned green; a loud click signaled it was unlocked.
"Here," he said, once she'd walked from the cell. He pointed to a table. They placed her clothes and shoes on top. "We'll give you your weapon and card once you're ready to leave."
Reiza sprung forward. She felt like her heart was about to explode. She looked around wildly, calming down slightly after realizing where she was.
Sitting beside her hospital bed was her dad's assistant.
"Um, hi?" Reiza said, rubbing her jaw. "Why am I…" The memories of what had transpired came flooding back to her. She jumped out of the hospital bed, running to the bathroom sink, looking into the mirror. 'I don't look any different.' she took a sigh of relief. 'It doesn't even look like I've been in a fight.'
"Do you feel okay?" The assistant asked.
"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. An odd feeling bubbled in her stomach.
"Well, there's some good news. A little bit ago, your father called, and told me that Ivy is leaving!"
"Leaving?"
"They voted on it, and she's gone…But, um, don't tell anyone, alright? You're not supposed to know that, but I knew you'd love the news!"
Reiza hunched over, the pain in her stomach feeling worse. "Why did he… where is he? Where's my dad?" she demanded. She felt the room slowly spin. The more she thought about it, the worse her stomach felt. "I gotta see him!"
"It doesn't look like you're in any shape to go anywhere," she observed, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Please," she begged, tears appearing at the corners of her eyes. "I really gotta see him."
The assistant had a shocked look on her face. "Uh, I think he's at the oval building."
"Thanks," Reiza said as she sprinted out of the room.
"Where's my dad?" Reiza demanded. Sprinting through the sliding glass doors of the oval building.
The worker at the front desk looked up, surprised. Seeing Aye's daughter running through the front door, barefoot, and wearing a hospital gown, wasn't a sight he expected to see at that time of night. "Umm, try the roof. If not there, maybe the third floor."
She took the stairs three at a time, rocketing up to the top.
"Dad!" she said, swinging open the roof entrance.
Aye looked back, slightly startled, "huh?" He was leaning over the railing, watching the nightlife below.
"Ivy," she said, breathing hard, holding her stomach. 'This pain. I'm not injured there. So what's it from?' She moved next to him, looking him in the eye, "you've gotta make her stay! I…I think I messed up."
Aye scoffed, "you can't be serious."
"I am!"
"Wow." He chuckled, shaking his head. "That girl almost kills you, and you want her to stay?" He turned away, gazing out over Crater once more, watching the quickly dimming sky.
Zoe walked past the front desk. She knew he had to be here. 'If I'm honest, everything will be fine,' she kept repeating.
She walked into the open elevator. First, she clicked '3'. When the doors opened, she wandered around the floor. The entire floor was completely empty except for one person.
A boy pushed the cart forward next to the door. He walked inside the room, grabbed the trash from under the desk, and was ready to clean the room.
When he turned around, he thought his head was about to hit the ceiling from how hard he jumped.
The girl with ghostly white hair regarded him for a few seconds before asking, "Do you know where Chairman Aye is?"
"Yeah," the boy said, pointing to the ceiling. "Up there. On the roof, the last I saw."
Reiza waited for Aye to continue, but he never did. "Dad!" She pleaded.
"Why are you still talking?"
Reiza stamped her foot. "You aren't listening! I need you to bring her back! I think I…kind of deserved it," she mumbled, looking away. Behind her, a soft ding from the elevator, but neither noticed.
"Reiza…" he turned to her, the last bit of sunlight melting away in the distance. "Have a nice night." As he turned to walk away, he felt the anger rise up from behind him. He glanced back, seeing the crackling red aura surrounding his daughter. "You know," he smirked as he walked back to Reiza, towering over her, "Back in the day, if I did just a fraction of what you've done today. My father would've beaten me within an inch of my life."
Reiza swallowed, "Is that what you want to do?"
"He also wouldn't have put everything on the line to cover for me." He grabbed her forearm, squeezing and twisting it until she couldn't take it anymore. The aura surrounding her flickered off. He spoke softly, "You really aren't doing yourself any favors. You can't keep-"
"Cover for me?" She growled, "I would've been fine! Why don't you just leave me alone?"
"Lucky you," he smiled a humorless smile. "The amount of money I've sent… If it weren't for me, you'd be just like her. You'd end up just like Ivy right now."
"It's not like you'd care!"
He looked down into her eyes, "You couldn't possibly understand someone else's point of view, could you? Not mine. Not your friend's. Definitely not Zoe's or Ivy's."
"Go kill yourself, you fa-"
"Because in your head, your 'brain,'" he poked her in the forehead with his finger, "everyone around you…all these people are just dust to you. We're all your indentured servants—your maids." He stepped forward, "Maybe it's me. I've paid so much. Your energy trainers, do you know how much it costs? To teach someone energy who is unranked is, one, a big crime…and two, very expensive—and still, you lost to someone who just learned it. Wow! You know what," he turned back towards the stairs, "I'm gonna stop. Since you say you don't need me, I'll stop protecting you. After today, you're off my payroll. No more." He walked down the staircase and out the front doors of the building.
Reiza turned, kicking the railing as hard as she could. The metal crunched and bent underneath her foot. She swore loudly, her foot bleeding from a jagged edge of metal.
She whirled around, hearing something shift from several yards behind her. Zoe peered out from behind the elevator, seeing that Reiza had noticed her.
She had seen and heard most of the conversation. In her hands, clutched close to her chest, was her wavy silver blade.
She stepped out from behind the wall, standing nervously and avoiding her gaze, not knowing what to say.
Finally looking up, Zoe noticed the wary look in Reiza's eye as she looked at the knife clutched in her hand.
"Oh," she slid the knife back into its sheath, "I-I thought he was going to attack you, so I…" she trailed off. It was hard to see, but with what little light was available, she could see tears streaming down Reiza's face. The dim fluorescent light bulb on top of the stairs bathed the roof in a lambent purple shade.
Reiza wiped her eyes and looked back to Zoe, "Yeah? What do you want?"
"Uh," Zoe mumbled. "I was here to ask your father about something. I just didn't-"
"But you decided to watch. Did'ja enjoy the show?"
"I was surprised. I thought you hated Ivy," Zoe said, stepping forward.
"I don't," Reiza sniffed, sitting down and leaning her back against the railing. Cursing herself as she put her head in her hands.
"Oh."
"I don't know, I mean…I don't hate her."
"Do you hate me?"
Reiza looked up, studying her. "No," she finally said.
"I don't hate you, either."
"I just didn't want her to get kicked out."
"Wait," Zoe crouched in front of her, "They're making her leave?"
"Mhm," Reiza said. "I was just messing around. I've done a lot worse, and I never got banished. I didn't think anything bad was gonna happen," tears started down her face again.
Zoe felt as if all of reality was cracking apart. In that moment, it was as if all the pressure from the sky above was pushing down on her.
She took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself, 'I've got to do something. I just need to think.'
They continued talking for a while longer. Though Zoe was only half-listening to Reiza; in her head, thousands of thoughts flowed a second.
"This isn't going to be the last time I see her," Zoe said after a long silence, getting to her feet.
"What?" Reiza looked up, confused.
Zoe shook her head, walking toward the stairs, "Goodbye, Reiza."
Ivy opened the door of Zoe's room. She flicked the light switch; Zoe wasn't in bed or at her desk. Behind her, one of Crater's security force leaned against the doorframe, waiting for her.
She walked over to the backpack, which was tossed haphazardly on her bed. She rifled through it, removing binders and loose pieces of paper until it was empty. She opened up her desk drawer and saw the letter that her mother had written her, and the map she'd sent her. Quickly, she folded them up, stuffing them in her pocket.
She picked up the golden horn on her desk, studying it in her shaky hands. Sighing, she placed the object on Zoe's desk next to the glass case.
After opening the closet and stuffing as many snacks and clothes into her bag as possible, she turned to the man standing in her doorway. "Do you know where she is?"
He only shrugged.
"That's it. Since I'm not allowed to be in the boy's dorm, I can leave."
"Okay," The man said and gestured for her to follow him.
While walking out of the room, the guard stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Stay composed, alright. Don't try anything. Keep your head held high, chest out, shoulders back, and we walk out of here."
As they walked to the elevator and out the front door of the House of Seeley, every colonist stared wide-eyed at her as the man escorted her out. Some said things, others gestured, but Ivy didn't react. She did as the man said, keeping a composed and stoic frame.
Sitting in a chair by the closed gates was Neph. He absently spun her remaining knuckle duster in one hand and held her Crater ID in the other.
As Ivy approached, he got up and walked over to her. Not meeting his eyes, she stuck out her hand, waiting for him to place the two items in it.
"Listen, Ivy," Neph said, holding the brass knuckle inches above her hand, "I wanted to see you off before you go."
Ivy stayed silent, her eyes focused on the ground.
"You know why this is happening, correct?"
"Whatever," Ivy sighed, her hand still extended.
Neph opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say more; but thought better of it. He placed the brass knuckles into her hand, signaling for the gate to be opened.
As the stone doors cracked open, Ivy looked back to Neph. "Can you promise me one thing?"
"What would that be?"
"Make sure nothing bad happens to Zoe."
"Zoe? Yeah, you have my word."
"Thanks," she turned, slipping through the gate and disappearing into the night.
Her boots clicked softly on the mossy stone tiles as she walked. She looked back towards Crater. The doors were just about closed; a stream of silver light crept through the crack of the door.
"Well, mom," she said to no one in particular, "I guess I'll never see you again."
After a few more steps of walking, a loud rustling of a nearby bush made her almost jump out of her skin.
She stepped back, her hand instantly wrapped around the brass knuckle. Squinting into the darkness, she made out a figure, carefully maneuvering through the bushes.
"Hello?" Ivy called out.
"Hey," Zoe said back, almost tripping as she hopped from the shrub. She ran a hand through her long hair, removing most of the leaves and the sticks.
Ivy ran up and hugged her, "I was looking for you!"
Zoe's eyes widened as she stood there awkwardly. "I was waiting for you here," she said once Ivy let go.
"You could've just waited for me in your room. I would've said bye to you there." she looked past Zoe, "I bet sitting in a bush wasn't so fun," she laughed.
"I'm not here to say goodbye. I'm coming with you."