Planet: Eteran, Sanctum Outpost

First Insurgency War

JAMES

Night fell.

Edevic rifle set against the small pod, he listened to the hush of the forest within his temporary sniper tower, where Maia took the back and wrote down on her datapad. His own rested beside him, counting any change in the wind and noted disturbances. Most of them, Gorgots.

"Any movements?" Maia asked.

He rested his cheek against his rifle and aimed down the scope to examine another Gorgot when it ran into the bushes, where the squeak of prey echoed through his ears. He lifted his head to the canopy when birds scattered. His fingers rested on the grip of the rifle while ice slipped down his spine and reminded him of a time he longed to forget.

"You going to jump at birds?" Maia mused.

James withdrew his rifle and holstered it over his shoulder. "No," he mumbled. "Something's wrong."

I recognize this feeling.

Maia peeked her head out of the window. "What is it?"

"The air." James clenched his fists. "It's changed." He scowled, and followed his instinct to leap out of the window. He balanced on the small edge, ready to take the fall.

"James—" He dodged her hand. "Get back in here, what sniper leaves his nest?"

"One that knows when to move with the change," he said and held onto the windowsil. I know this air... "Focus, Maia."

Smoke tickled the scar deep in his heart, and he steadied himself when an explosion rocked the forest and the entirety of the tower. It fell silent, and James scooted out of the way when Maia joined him on the edge.

Black pillars of ash blocked and swallowed the clouds. Fire and embers lit in the darkness. James stood on the hill, out of the way of any danger while everything he knew burned to nothing.

Maia clapped her hand against her mask. "James, that's where the hospital is!"

"No time!" James leaped off the edge, where his shock boots caught the brunt of his fall, and Maia joined him on the grassy forest floor. He rushed for the source of the past once more, but the heat weighed down his lungs and seared through his chest in reminder. He skidded to a halt when his compearl chirped, and he tugged Maia into cover when the ground trembled. "Who the hell is contacting me on my personal line...?"

He answered, "Hello?"

"I don't have much time," Rayan's voice sounded through a blurry autumn, and he choked on the embers in his lungs while the explosions on the other end of the line intensified. "The Insurgents attacked the hospital." He leaned against the cover of the tree when Rayan sobbed. "James, listen to me, I'm—"

Autumn burned.

He clicked on his compearl in desperation, to find the truth in the flames. "Fuck!" he hissed, then turned to the ball of flames. He shoved Maia. "We need to go! Now! Communications are down!"

Again and again.

Another explosion sent him reeling, and he tapped on his compearl for one last shred of hope. He raced for the break in the trees, where the foundations of the hospital groaned and cracked while smoke bloomed out of the windows like lilies of death. Debris scattered across the concrete clearing. James searched, and listened past the torrential inferno. It scattered with life, but he found a familiar heartbeat. One he heard in the embrace of the golden leaves.

"Maia! We need to get up there," James said and pointed at the window. "I'm getting some vitals."

"Celestials..." Maia rushed forward, then slid so her back faced the flames. James rushed for her waiting hands, and he readied the edevic leap when she tossed him upwards. His feet found the windowsill, and he used his shoulder to break the glass. He reached his hand out when another scatter of stars joined him, and he tugged Maia inside.

I have to find him. I have to know.

His lungs shrank in fear, but he pushed through it to rush through the smoke and fallen supports. He ducked under some, and leaped over others. Cracks crawled through the ceiling, but when he turned the corner, he faltered.

Aelius Matthey, soaked in ash, knelt beside a fallen shape, where metallic debris pierced their leg. Black hair, sprinkled with soot, face-down against the hell he left him in.

"Mouse," James snapped to her. "Grab Matthey."

Aelius whipped around with a reflection of despair.

James slid to grab Rayan Falae into his arms, hauling him into his chest, where he breathed and his heartbeat echoed against his own. His target's vitals took one small section of his mask feed, but he snapped his head to Maia, who wrapped an arm around Aelius. "Things are coming down! Got him?"

"Yes, James! We have to leave, now!"

James wrapped his arm around Rayan's waist and rested his shoulder across his neck, where the golden haze settled on him. His fingers dug into his collarbone, and his head rested against his shoulder.

He scowled, then lugged Rayan back through the corridor to reach their escape window, but he snapped his head up when the ceiling caved in with Maia on the other side.

"Black Wolf!"

"Just get Aelius out!" he ordered, and tightened his grip on Rayan. "Fuck." He looked around, then found the burning sign for the fire escape.

"James..." Rayan groaned.

"Shut up!" He trembled and hauled him forward. "We don't have time."

Not unless I get you out of here. Alive. I need to know.

Rayan's hand clasped onto the front of his shirt, but when James turned the corner, a quick leashing spiderweb slicked up the walls and through the floor.

James braced himself, but found his grip on Rayan lost when his knees buckled with the collapse. His shields beeped out a warning when he found himself in a sooty pile when he tucked into a roll. Stars danced in his view, but he shook out his head and listened to the tree crack around him.

He failed to get back home.

He failed to stop her.

He dug his fingers into the debris, and crushed it in his palm.

Feet against the beams, he shoved them back, then climbed out of the wreckage. His heart froze at Rayan's fallen shape, eyes closed.

"Oh, no." James rushed to him and grabbed him around the middle. "Rayan?"

Blood oozed out of his leg, with his lips ashen. James unshouldered his rifle. It's too fucking hot in here... I just need some ice... He rifled through his elementium clips, then found the blue one to crack it into his rifle. It pulsed with newfound energy, and he aimed down the corridor, to the next window.

Bark curdled and ripped.

He pressed the trigger, and the beam of wispy smoke splashed against the walls and stifled the flames for a clear path. Temporary, from the embers which chewed.

James hauled Rayan into his arms, then dragged him closer to the escape.

I'm so close.

His back hit the glass, and he shuddered when the concrete tree broke, all at once. His fingers found his force expander, and he grunted when the shockwave of both sent him through the window, but he refused to let go of Rayan as his shields blazed to life. He rolled off of him, but the explosions rippled upwards and glass scattered in the air.

He clicked his detachable shield bubbles to throw them on the ground, then expanded his own before grabbing Rayan, and holding his head when the tree fell apart.

Foundation beams slammed against the ground while he fought his panic.

Flames flickered.

His shields died.

In the field of ash, he knelt to Rayan before scooping him into his arms once more. "Maia?" he asked his personal communicator. "Maia?"

"You got out?" her voice asked on the fritz.

"Yeah. I'm on the other side..." James glanced back at the broken foundations of the hospital.

"Hm...?" Rayan huffed into his uniform.

Of course you didn't die... what was I worried about? He tugged him out of the blast radius, back into the ash soaked forest. Leaves crinkled, but it never bared its fiery fangs it used in Eastpoint. He snapped around when a supernova of blue joined him, with Maia pulling Aelius along.

"You okay?" she asked.

James rolled out the pain in his back and knelt to Rayan, who opened his eyes with a moan.

"Can you remove the debris, Matthey?" he asked, clear and concise, to quell his fear.

Aelius stepped forward with a nod. "I-I can. Urtanes, can you help me?"

Maia nodded, and the two hovered around his knees, and Rayan gasped when Maia cut the serrated edge with a hand on the wound.

"Fuck," he rasped and clung onto James.

He set his arm around his neck and brought him closer. "Rayan."

He winced then lifted his gaze to him. "Not even going to show me your face? Is that how it is?" Tears cracked through the dirt and grime across his cheeks. Maia repeated the process on the other side while Aelius rested his palm on the top, and she grabbed the bottom. Rayan's fingers dug into his uniform, breaking the crimson eagle-eye. "Come on, James. Is that too much to ask?"

James frowned.

'At least I didn't turn myself into a monster.'

He used his free hand to click the button, and sighed when the vitals disappeared in a pixel hush. He breathed deep smoke, and it twisted through his lungs.

Rayan's eyes widened, and James shook his head at him. He rested his other hand against his cheek when Rayan squirmed when Aelius tugged on the debris with Maia's help, who cursed when it stopped.

"Fuck!"

James blocked the view of the two and kept Rayan's attention on him. "What do you mean is that too much to ask?" he hissed.

Rayan rested his arm across his and breathed in scattered time. "Just... I wished... we left on better terms."

His heart tore at the seams. "What's done is done."

There's no saving us.

Rayan flicked his gaze through the gap when Aelius motioned at Maia before returning to him. "So... what, is red your favourite colour now?"

"Is pastel still yours?" James asked back.

Rayan hung onto him when Maia and Aelius nodded, and grabbed the debris, cutting it bit by bit. "What are you... talking about?" he whispered the words past his lips when the haze settled in the golden autumn. "I said black was my favourite colour."

"I cannot fathom why." James took his unresponsiveness as a chance to check on the other two. "What's taking so long?"

"We're going to take it out now," Aelius said through a shaky voice, but focused on the injury.

James returned to Rayan, who gazed at him. "You're lucky, Falae."

"I know." Rayan rested his hand on his shoulder. "But you answered me. I never thought you of all people would..."

James bit on his tongue, but refused to show the weakness from Eastpoint. He tucked deeper into Rayan when they tugged out the debris in one stroke, and Rayan dug his fingers into his chest with a soft scream of pain through fabric.

"Come on," he hissed as Rayan panted for reprieve when they rushed to clean the wound, clapping his back. "It's out, just got to give it some time."

It's over...

Maia left Aelius to wrap the wound to investigate the hospital, bringing her hands to her head.

And still...

He trembled when Rayan held him.

I can't.

He set Rayan on the ground, where his fingers drifted on his back. Maia turned to him, while Aelius frowned and released his grip on the compress he placed around Rayan's wound.

I can't...

He crept back when Rayan twisted to catch him, but his fear swallowed his flaming lungs.

"James, wait... I need..."

I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready to know. Tears dripped down his throat as he ran into the forest.

"Black Wolf!" Maia's voice screamed out. "Come back!"

Come back, many voices screamed out from his burning hometown.

Come back, he begged Rayan Falae, who ran into conflict and joined the side who delved into the depths of the black hole.

Come back, Rayan Falae pleaded him, but he was not ready.

Out of Rayan's hands, he raced from the flames, to flee from their ceaseless hunger before they brought him back.