[A/N: Chapter soundtrack: Tommee Profitt, Sam Tinnesz & Beacon Light - Enemy]
Like a hawk, Aybel braced himself, taking a calm step forward, his eyes darted through the falling masses...
This is quite the ordeal - finding one person in a crowd of hundreds of thousands...
As he thought that, a set of bodies collided with the chandelier.
Crap. It's just like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except that it's more like finding a haystack in a field of haystacks.
Unlike before, the sheer amount of faces and panic in this Wave made it practically impossible to make out a single person.
Almost as if the Wave was challenging his observational prowess.
It's already hard enough to tell under this dim light. Now, the crowd is so packed that even if I do spot her, she could still slip right past me in a second.
Focusing solely on her face, he quickly discarded the faces that didn't match. Crossing them out mentally, like he was crossing off names on a list.
Aria, if you're in that crowd, show yourself. Don't make me search for you like this...
Despite his internal distress, Aybel's face remained still like stone. He continued to scan the various falling bodies that rushed past him over the brink.
If she is indeed in this Wave, then I really cannot afford any distractions.
"I've been thinking..." Caine suddenly began, taking his hands out of his hoodie pockets.
Speak of the devil... I'm just going to ignore him for now.
"Hey! I heard that!" Caine yelled. "Don't just stand there like a statue and ignore me!" He waved his arms in front of Aybel, trying to get a reaction out of him.
Without sparing the other boy a glance, Aybel asked: "Are you just trying to make needless conversation?"
"Needless...? My, my, Aybel. Are YOU trying to make light of my intelligence?"
"Ah, so you're serious, then? Alright, I'll bite. You have one minute."
"I'm sorry if my chatter bothers you, but, yes. I am quite serious. What I was trying to say: if our peers are falling as we speak... then there must be a meaning behind the order of the waves."
"I suppose, like I said before; you could think of it as a metaphor for the stages of life. Or maybe..." Caine's voice trailed, deep in thought.
"It shows their importance in this grand scheme. If you think of it that way..." He paused a bit, considering. "Then I wonder, what does that say about the two of us...?"
"That you have quite the large ego on you." Aybel replied dismissively.
"Ha! Is that what you think, brother? I'll take that as a compliment, you bet!"
"If that's how you want to see it, fine by me."
"Indeed. Why, my ego is so large it's almost inhuman. I'm practically the king of pride!" Caine proclaimed smugly.
"And you know what, is that such a horrible thing? Besides," he gave Aybel a nudge on the shoulder. "You're not half bad yourself. Although, I do admit-"
Caine suddenly cut off mid sentence as something... someone, caught his eye.
"Ah? Would you look at that..." Beneath his messy hair, his eyes lit up.
"Someone was born with the genes of god... Hey, Aybel." He tugged the high schooler's sleeve, like a child pestering their parent.
"A beauty falling from heaven~" Caine pointed to the sky, a smile on his face.
"Is that so..."
Aybel barely glanced at the falling girl, uninterested.
She was short, dressed in a billowing black high school uniform with a red ribbon.
Strands of her golden hair whipped furiously in the wind as she tossed around carelessly as if she had no purpose.
"Of course, there's the whole falling-to-her-death thing going on, still, just look at her~"
Aybel glanced at Caine, who continued to ogle her with a shameless grin.
"Have some dignity at least. And frankly, she doesn't look like anything of much."
"Your vision is off, dear brother~"
"Well, I don't care what you do anyway."
As long as you don't stop me from finding her before time runs out.
Aybel gave the girl one last glance before returning his gaze back to the waves of falling bodies.
She looks somewhat familiar. Like some kind of TV celebrity. Though, she really is different from the rest of the people falling here. Almost as if she's accepted her fate.
His thoughts were interrupted by Caine's sudden words of agreement: "Indeed, falling without a shred of complaint..." He said, bewitched. "How utterly fascinating..."
Determined and with an evil grin, he turned to face Aybel, suddenly making a serious suggestion.
"Why don't we spoil that for her?"
"We'll bring her aboard floaty. Ruin her expectations, and make her our third member!" Caine spoke excitedly as his eyes lit up with amusement.
"I'm confident we can support her, even better... she's heading right for us. And it seems like she's a little closer to you, anyway. So, all you have to do is reach out and grab her. I'm sure she'll be grateful!" He declared nonchalantly, a grin plastered on his face as he watched the girl fall ever closer.
"..."
He's trying to ruin my plan...
Aybel gave Caine a sharp, warning glance.
"What do you mean by 'grab her'? You seem to be getting ahead of yourself, Caine. We are not on the same page."
"Hm? We aren't?" The amnesiac's wide grin slowly faded away in confusion. "I just figured since the two of us are here together, we're on the same team, right?"
With his concentration now broken, Aybel turned to face his companion.
"And that's exactly my point. It's not about your own self-interest but our own mutual benefit."
"Hmm..." Hands planted on hips, Caine tapped his feet restlessly. "This is awkward. Haven't you been paying attention, brother? I've already made up my mind here. After all, there's nothing to lose, right?"
"I am not in the mood for this right now." Aybel replied dismissively turning away from Caine. "She should handle her own fate."
"Well, I disagree. We must save her. There's something about her. I can tell."
"Alright." Aybel spun back around to face him. "So I'm guessing she's pretty important to you in terms of your memories, then?"
The amnesiac wore a baffled expression. "What are you talking about? I don't know who she is."
Why is he so interested in a girl we don't know? Aybel was not fond of this side of Caine. "I'm starting to think you've lost all the brain cells you used to have."
"Trust me on this."
"...No."
"Huh? What was that?"
"I said 'No' to you, Caine."
"Ha! You sound pretty confident throwing around that word, brother." He grinned, looking as comfortable as ever.
Suddenly, Caine's demeanor took a quick left turn as he leaned into Aybel, his face mere inches away from his.
"See, you're being difficult for no real reason and my suspicions are nagging at the back of my mind - You have a plan of your own; so, why don't you tell me what's going through your head? What are you so worried about?"
Aybel's expression turned cold, as his eyes drilled right through Caine's skull.
"I refuse to allow you to bring someone else aboard this chandelier without my approval. If you go against my word, I'll throw myself off this chandelier and take you along with me, understand?"
Caine smiled a crazy grin.
"In that case, if you're this serious about it, then just do it. Don't think, act! It's our funeral! Your call, brother!"
He spread his arms out wide.
"What's it going to be!?"
To Be Continued...