As the final destroyed camera let out its last sparks of electricity, the eyes that controlled Celeste were no longer present. We'd blinded the perpetrator, for now.
We noticed as Celeste's eyes regained its life. He looked around, confused to see us panting in front of him.
"What happened?" He noticed that there were only a few remaining glass shards in his hands. "What did I do…?"
"You put up a good fight," Sav told him.
Kyra, shocked to the core by her near-death experience, wiped a heavy bead of sweat off her forehead. "You nearly killed me."
"Oh my god." Celeste's hands shuddered, and he dropped the remaining shards to the ground. He noticed the wrecked cameras behind him. "Did I…?"
"We did," I told him. "We destroyed the cameras. When we got to this floor, they were untouched, and you were in complete loss of control over your body. It seems as though the controlling Fractal worked quicker than you could destroy the cameras."
He scrunched his eyebrows, ridden with guilt after noticing how much he'd done against us without even consciously realizing. As Sav came to his side to calm him down and help him regather his thoughts, I went and retrieved the knives me and Kyra had thrown. One was stuck in a camera while the other was stuck in the wall. I pulled both out and passed one to Kyra.
"I nearly costed us our lives," she told me, quietly.
I tried to reassure her. "Don't beat yourself up over that one missed throw. If it weren't for you and your Panorama, we would have died the moment we stepped into this hall."
"I know, but when it counted the most, I faltered…"
I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then let's be thankful Sav still had a hand left to use Gateway."
"Klyson." She suddenly turned to look at me sternly. "I can't keep doing this."
"What do you mean?"
"Every time I'm in charge, people are always at risk for dying. People always end up injured. I feel like it's me. Am I doing something wrong?"
"No you aren't. You're doing perfectly fine—"
"Then why does someone always get hurt!?" She yelled, catching the attention of Sav and Celeste. They realized it was a personal matter, so they kept to themselves.
"Because the job we work is dangerous," I told her. "This isn't office work. We're constantly putting ourselves at the frontlines where danger is inevitable. Don't blame yourself Kyra, not for something that's a given in these missions we take."
"I know, it's just… I hate it." Her eyes were glistening with tears. "I want nothing but for all of you to be safe. My heart can't handle it when something bad happens to someone while I'm in charge. You guys are my responsibility, so when one of you gets hurt, it means I wasn't doing my job well enough."
I sighed, almost offended at how much she downplayed her efforts. "Don't say that. It isn't true. You do the best job out of any of us here, Kyra. There's a reason you're put in lead every time. Even if to the General, it's because of your rank, to us, and to me, it's because you exhibit those leadership qualities the best. I've never felt more reassured than knowing you're the one to lead us through these missions, into those battles, while following your orders and plans. You're the glue that ties us all together, and you're the spark that gets us all going. Without you, we're in shambles. Without you, I'd be in shambles…"
Kyra looked at me in the eyes with a stunned, bewildered look. It were as if she hadn't expected me to suddenly speak from the bottom of my heart. And honestly, I hadn't expected to suddenly blurt out my feelings either.
"You mean all of that…?" She asked.
I nodded.
She blushed.
Our eyes locked contact and we stared at each other for a while. Although I was still and calm on the surface, inside my heart was racing like crazy. I could feel my face heating up.
As I stared into her eyes and as she stared into mine, I felt my body begin to lean towards her, and I could see that she began to lean my way too. It felt as if there was this force of attraction, magnetizing me in her direction. But as we got closer to one another, I hesitated for a moment, realizing I didn't know if I was ready for a moment like this. I tried to pull away before it looked like I was set on going through with it, but for some reason I couldn't. The pull towards her was out of my control. In my peripheral vision, I saw a glass shard between our feet suddenly disappear, and as it did, the force pulling us towards one another had disappeared too. We both stumbled backwards, embarrassed at how closed we'd gotten. Then, I saw that same glass shard appear over where Sav and Celeste were standing, watching us.
They noticed my glance in their direction, and they quickly turned away.
"Hey!" I called out to them. "Sav!"
"Yes…?" He turned around awkwardly.
I shot him an annoyed look. I knew what he did. The force of attraction that was pulling me and Kyra to one another was actually the gravitational pull exerted by one of Sav's wormholes. I noticed he'd spawned one at a glass shard between our feet, which began pulling us to one another.
Embarrassingly, Sav was trying to get something going between us.
"You—!" I hesitated, then stopped midway. I sighed, glancing over at Kyra who began to recollect herself as if nothing had happened. Remembering the situation we were in, I realized it wasn't appropriate to have a moment like that. Still, I couldn't help but replay the moment over and over in my head. I'd never been so close to a pretty girl before. And of all people, it was the astonishing Kyra, Second of the Upper Four.
Celeste came over to me and heavily pat my back.
Smack!
"I see you."
I rolled my eyes.
Kyra suddenly spoke up with a serious tone. "We've got two more floors left. The fourth, and the fifth, where J and the tenants are having a field day."
"The security office can't be anywhere else other than either of those floors, right?" Celeste asked.
"Right. We checked everywhere on the other floors below. Nothing. This person has to have been watching from above the entire time."
"Fourth floor then?" Sav pointed at the elevator.
We all nodded, and made our way over. Stepping into the elevator, I was in the position to press the button "4." But my hand trembled before I could, as I realized I was nervous. Nervous knowing we'd be a floor away from hundreds of bloodthirsty mind-controlled tenants. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle them, considering I couldn't even handle the single Celeste. I was scared. I felt little.
"Klyson?" Kyra grabbed my attention. "Are you okay?"
My fears were wiped immediately. I didn't want to look weak in front of Kyra, not like how I always had.
"I'm good." I pressed the number "4." The doors closed and the elevator began to move up. We had no choice but to keep ascending until we found who we were looking for. Although more uncertain than ever, I was certain about one thing, and one thing only.
Heathen was close.