Brine

[Geno]

- - II - - WHEN THEY NEEDED ME MOST I SANK BELOW MY LOVE, CAST AWAY IN A STEEL COFFIN PLUMMETING IN THE DUSKS I ADMIRED I AM BURNING, OH SO BRIGHT FORGIVE ME, MOTHER

Uhm!

Levan approached me, while I was lazily splattered onto his bed, my face blinded by the blue light of the holopad grasped by my right hand. I could make out his thin and built body from the corner of my eye. His hands were behind his back while he was trying his damndest to look as gentlemanly as possible, something he occasionally did just to sass me, since that's a habit I tend to do with idle hands. And Lord, have my hands been idle.

I could faintly make out something squared and red in his right hand, with a dangling chain hanging from it.

Greetings, mister Harlow. What can I help you with?

He was holding the keycard to the Kay, something I just couldn't help but nudge him into doing so. I always had this urge of making sure things are locked behind me wherever I go ever since I had people breaking into my college room to steal my friend's Liberty Ale cans by just opening the door. But nevertheless, he had this wanting, concerned look on his face. The kind of face he makes when he really wants to go outside after we have been cooped up in the room for so long. It's kind of adorable sometimes.

I am in the mood for a ride. We have been here for a while now, and I think you have been quite sad litely. I am a little worried!

The smirk I didn't even feel forming on my face suddenly died. No amount of sleeping would ever save me from the harsh reality I was trapped in.

This was true. Kimiko had discovered some kind of secret inside me, and they were all blaming Raven for what I was putting myself through. Whose fault was it, really?

Don't be, please. I'm actually doing a little better lately, but you know how it is.

Which is why I think we should take a ride on the Kay. We can sit next to each other and you can be your usual goofball self around me.

I've shut my eyes away from the 830 Colony Plasmaball League game results article on my pad, closing them tightly while breathing in deeply. My past had to catch up to me eventually. All the things I've left unsaid would have to emerge, and some sincere apologies to Becca are in order, as well.

I've been a coward. But I had to own up to my mistakes and move on again. It is what I've learned while being around Raven, as I began to grow spiritually with all of my experiences under my belt. There are differences in the things we can change and the ones we cannot change.

Well, hell. It's about time, anyways.

Ugh... 'Lev. There's just a lot to deal with. I can tackle things, but I am afraid I have to tackle a little too much as it is, y'know?

Levan tilted his head, with a bit of a worried but still radiant smile. For a boy from Pitt, his teeth were so white and pretty. No wonder I feel my heart race every time he looks at me.

Kris... maybe, uhm. We do not need to deal with any of this right away, right? Uhm, one day, one week, one month, what does it matter? So, uhm, how about we go and do some fun stuff while we can? Maybe you can show me your university?

I just couldn't resist the whims of that man.

Honestly? It might be a nice idea.








Suddenly, the co-pilot's controls crackled and sparkled menacingly. After we had struck that fucking mine, the Kay's controls went completely tits up. The shields went down, and some crazy explosion knocked me off my feet. I ran as fast as I could into the engine room to check if I could switch the wiring tubes from the engine to the emergency alternator to keep the thing running, but they were just too hot to touch. This is not a maneuver people do while the ship is actively running. Black smoke was pouring out of every ventilation shaft, the horrible scent of molten plastic and copper entering my lungs, making me cough and choke, tears welling up in my eyes.

Everything around me began to rumble violently with loud metallic rattling. I was shoved to the floor by the Kay moving into a trade lane, only for it to start creaking as though it was about to be ripped in half, all the while some loud fire alarms began to blare out a cacophony of noise directly into my ears. Levan was about to crash land us into Denver, with no knowledge or expertise on how to follow along the gravitational pull.

I had to run back again. I was practically crawling on my knees to get to the control room and help Levan out, but with two collapsed engines and the life support systems failing, our odds were looking grim. Meditation and contemplation of the universe be damned, we were both about to die to the most menial occurrence that could have ever happened to any spacer next to cabin pressure loss.

When I had entered the control room, I was welcomed by the sight of ominous flares of fire red burning up from outside the cockpit as the space around us began to give room to the blue ozone far above the clouds, while every single emergency console output on the front of the ship puked out an unreadable plethora of critical system failures. We were quickly accelerating into Denver's gravitational well, and no matter how many life-defying experiences I've had in this strange life of mine, there is nothing that comes close to the unfathomable power of gravity.

I made my way past the fallen chair on the floor, only to freeze as a curled up Levan was clutching his bloodied head. He looked pale, and he was knocked out cold. Streaks of crimson were trickling down his forehead. It was in that exact moment that the mild sense of danger I felt during the explosion turned into full-on panic. He looked dead in that moment, limp in my shaking mechanical arms.

I screamed as I picked him up. I began to cry and breathe quickly, like these were my last two minutes of my life and I had to let out every last bit of emotion in my body. I began to shout, hoping my voice could be heard through the indescribable shaking of metallic plates falling and burning off into the edge of the atmosphere, along with the Kay itself.

Levan! Talk to me, please! Wake up!

LEVAN! LEVAN?! LEVAN!!!

He wasn't waking up. I shook him by the shoulders, and nothing happened. I held him, and nothing happened. The world outside me was falling down, and the world inside me was crumbling. I was about to die exactly where I was born.

But something inside my chest flared up.
Something I couldn't believe was going to whisper little nothings in my ears ever again.
It was her. But more cosmic, bigger, infinite. Connected to infinite stars. She who bequeathed me flame.
And it was that very connection that allowed me to feel the boy's life flowing inside his body. He was alive.

Run, little spark. Save yourself.

I am NOT going to let him die.

I hoisted the Pitt prettyboy from the floor. The man who knew every emotion I felt, who truly understood me like a brother. He was a bit of a nympho, loving people left and right. I never got to tell him how much I disliked being ignored over them. But I had feelings for him. Adrenaline rushed to my brain, as I brought his heavy body on my arms and pushed him into the escape pod hatch out of the control room after I kicked away the hatch's cover with my foot. It was enough for him. He was never much of a heavyweight, anyways.

You must save yourself.

My shaking hands went over the heavy red steel handle, and pulled on it with every fiber left in my arms. The pod flew off into the atmosphere with a loud hiss. Levan got to live.

The Kay was slowly creeping up on the white mantle of clouds below me. The fumes made me feel like heaving, and I felt weak in the legs, falling immediately on my knees. I was still in disbelief and utter denial at the fact that I was at the very end of my life. I began to regret how I couldn't even say goodbye to any of the people I held dear.

The Kay didn't take long before belly diving into the clouds. I was plummeting and tumbling down. So I grasped my commlink on my wrist to hit record. At least, she deserved to know what got me killed.

Becca. Th-there's no time left. The Kay is crashing down. Levan's--

L-listen. I love you. Don't-- don't do anything stupid. I'm sorry I couldn't come back.

Take care of yourself.

I began to see the beautiful green trees and the verdant tall hills and the shiny white mountains popping into my view. And with closed eyes, I embraced the inevitable.

And after the loudest noise I've ever heard in my life, the world died.

...Not yet, little flame.