"..."
Cecilia caught the flyer before it could slip between her knees.
She felt Ikade shift behind her and leaned forward on instinct, catching herself before Ikade's weight could push her over. A second later, Ikade turned and rested her chin on top of Cecilia's head, flattening her tufts without even the slightest hint of apology.
Cecilia's eye twitched.
Calling it a poster was generous. It was really just a flyer, no bigger than a sheet of paper.
Ikade leaned a little farther in, absentmindedly putting more of her weight on Cecilia's head while chatting about nothing in particular.
Cecilia pulled it free from between her legs and held it up. The paper had a rough, textured surface.
When she tilted it from side to side, the images shifted—odd little visuals stitched together like a collage.
"Is this…a convention or something?"
The background resembled distant terrain from high above, warping slightly whenever she tilted the flyer.
Ikade's chin pressed harder into her head.
"Move it a little. I can't see."
"…It's not for you."
Ikade tried to reach around her shoulder.
"Aww, why not?"
"Some things are better left to innocent minds."
Ikade clicked her tongue and leaned around the other side, her hair brushing against Cecilia's cheek as she tried to peek.
"Oh yeah? And who took it from me in the first place?"
Ikade's hand darted in again.
Yet, with a flick of Cecilia's fingers, the flyer folded itself into a neat square and disappeared into the purse at her side.
Cecilia stood up and brushed down her pants before walking off.
Ikade followed after her, scooping up both their drinks and finishing them within minutes.
They wandered through the busy corridors, some wider than others, some packed tight with shops and kiosks. Every now and then, Ikade would drift a little ahead, only to suddenly slip into a store with unrestrained intent.
Cecilia followed along and watched Ikade pop back into view wearing something she clearly had no intention of buying, turning this way and that.
A charming dress.
A pair of tinted glasses.
A hat.
Then a loose outer layer she shrugged on, spinning once in it.
Ikade's lovely smile kept lifting Cecilia's spirits.
The more they walked, the more Cecilia caught herself watching—the sway of Ikade's hair, the bounce of her fluffy ears and the slight squeak in her voice whenever something caught her attention.
Eventually, the crowded stretch gave way to calm.
A lingering loamy scent drifted through the air.
A small herb garden opened ahead of them.
The two crossed the threshold, and soft air brushed against their skin. The ground rose into glossy retaining ledges, tall enough to sit on.
Greenery filled Cecilia's eyes. Plants, vines, and leaves arched overhead in a living canopy. She raised her head and traced the artificial light above with her hand.
She paused.
Cecilia drew in a slow breath and lowered her bandaged hand, letting her fingers brush across the leaves.
Ikade pulled out her phone.
Then she crouched beside anything and everything, snapping photos from one angle to another, catching a couple of people enjoying the atmosphere, leaning in to capture the textures of leaves and petals.
A few strands of her hair slipped over her shoulder, some sticking to the softness of her cheek.
Clck...flash!
Ikade paused. Slowly, she turned her head, still crouched beside the plants, with her phone held between her hands.
"...Did you just take a picture of me?"
Cecilia's face remained unchanged.
"...no."
Cecilia lowered her wrist with all the innocence she did not have.
Ikade stared at her for another second before looking away, the corners of her mouth betraying her.
They wandered from store to store after that.
Even so, it was fine.
"Wanna check it out?"
Ikade asked, slurping up the last of some leftover ramen from a clear plastic cup.
The two of them stopped in front of a kiosk planted squarely in the middle of the corridor. A looping movie preview played across the screen, dramatic visuals flashing by while a small line formed to their right, people waiting for whatever showing was up next.
"Might as well."
Ikade followed Cecilia to the counter, the two waiting through a painfully boring stretch before finally stepping up to see what movies were playing.
A quick round of rock-paper-scissors decided who would pay.
Ikade lost miserably.
She clicked her tongue and handed over the money, accepting the tickets with exaggerated disappointment.
"I was robbed. You're terrible Cece."
"Please secure your bags before entering. Storage is just through there."
Cecilia followed the attendant's gesture toward the lockers against the wall.
After that, they were waved through.
Inside, they checked their ticket numbers and slipped into the right theater, sinking into the most comfortable seats they could find.
Somewhere around the midpoint, both of them fell asleep.
Only for them to jolt awake when a particular explosion rattled through the speakers.
Time slipped by.
The credits rolled and they retrieved their bags from the lockers before walking back into the movie corridor.
Ikade's ears flicked sharply.
She lifted a hand to rub them, still sore from the relentless explosions. Cecilia, on the other hand, answered whatever Ikade was saying with distracted little sounds while stretching out her own stiff body, twisting side to side.
By the time they reached the main corridor, it was even more crowded, like insects crawling over sugar.
People moved in thick streams, shoulders brushed against theirs, bags bumped against one another, voices layered over one another until it became a buzz.
Ikade turned to say something.
Behind her, a woman came cutting through the crowd, a shoulder tucked inward and her head turned the other way.
Cecilia's hand jabbed out and grabbed Ikade by the collar before pulling her aside.
Thud!
Someone else caught the impact instead, farther down the corridor.
Ikade blinked, then looked over her shoulder at Cecilia's hand still gripping her jacket.
"...Was I about to get flattened?"
Ikade smiled before hugging her arm.
"Thanks, you saved my life." Before Cecilia could answer, Ikade leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against her cheek. "Mwah."
Cecilia shifted the bags on her arm, looking away before Ikade could see her face.
"Let's go back."
They carried their trinkets through the hallways, letting the current of people push and pull around them until the shops thinned out and the noise slowly dulled behind the many turns.
By the time they made it back to their room, even the softened echo from outside had become too much.
Cecilia set the bags down near the wall while Ikade kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the couch without ceremony, sinking into it with a long breath.
She closed the door behind them and cut the room off from the corridor.
Darkness slipped in quietly, broken by the guiding light coming from the window. The scenery beyond did little to ease the mood, the blanket of gray clouds leaving everything touched with blue.
Cecilia changed her shoes quickly, rolling her feet to work out the soreness.
Fuu...
She walked over and threw herself on top of Ikade, who squealed beneath her.
"Heavy—!"
Cecilia ignored the plea, letting her own body sag into comfort. Ikade shifted under her, muttering unkind things with no strength behind them, then gave a weak tap against Cecilia's leg with her tail.
ggrrnn…
A feline's meal.
Cecilia went still and listened closely, pressing her ear to Ikade's back and feeling the soft beast beneath it.
I don't… I don't even feel bothered anymore. I'm just…tired.
She closed her eyes, her breathing growing quieter than the night. Her arms slid around Ikade, then her legs followed, loosely interlocking them together.
For a while, she tried to sleep.
Her thoughts kept moving beneath the ceiling of her mind, slow and shapeless.
The muted gray of the outside bleed in from the window.
Her eyelid twitched.
tktk.
She cranked an eye open, though blurry.
At first, she saw only the edge of the table before her.
tktk...tktk...tktk.
A pismire.
⌜Ifrit⌟, its undoing.
Pop.
The table blurred around the pismire bits. Light bent, dragging the rest of the room along with it.
Cecilia blinked.
She found herself sitting upright in a dilapidated room, her body stiff, her throat dry, her heartbeat crawling up from behind her ribs.
The once unbroken window was cracked.
Beyond it, the city sat blurred and colorless, obscured behind the grime smeared across the glass.
clnch.
She looked down.
Her firearm was clutched tight in her arms, pressed so tight that her knuckles had gone pale.
Tears gathered along her lashes while sweat beaded across her brow. Both broke loose and ran together down her skin.
█░░░░░█
█ W█er▓ d▒d th░y g█…? ░█
Cecilia sat upright on the sofa, her firearm leveled with the ground while the floor seemed to pulsate beneath her shoes.
Her gaze dropped to her band-aid-covered hand wrapped around the grip.
Her fingers tightened.
Thmp.
A dull pressure beat behind her eyes, slow and heavy, forcing her to blink through the blur. Her firearm danced in her vision, its shape twisting and distorting before settling again.
rrrnnn…
Her eyes lifted to the ceiling.
Voices bled through the ceiling, muffled and uneven.
A thin bead of sweat slid down the side of her neck.
Cecilia tried to stand, but nausea crashed through her before she could straighten herself. She slid down the sofa, keeping the firearm close while her breathing dragged in and out.
Thmp.
She took in a deep breath.
"Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
Her breath coagulated like blood, thick as lead in her throat.
—~!
Everything returned to normal.
The floor stopped bending, her sight returned, the grey of her vision slowly bled back into color.
The room smelled like dust, rotting fabric and something burnt under it.
░▒▓ It h█rts…e▓eryth▒ng h░rts… ▓▒░
For a moment, the sound of her breathing and the distant scrape of something dragging was all she could hear.
Right when she was about to rest her eyes.
—!
She snapped her firearm toward the door.
Battered. Scarred.
Worn and dented.
A shield filled the doorway, its surface chewed up by old dents and fresh scratches alike.
She snickered through her teeth.
A pistol hovered beside the shield's edge, steady in the wielder's grasp.
"Ce."
Cecilia stared over the sights, her knuckles pale all around.
The man stepped in first, cutting along one side of the room while two others slipped past him and sliced the rest, their weapons in the low ready.
The second he stepped into view, Cecilia saw how tired he looked. One ear had been cut near the tip, leaving a rough notch in its curve.
"You look...terrible..."
A few more figures slipped in behind him, moving carefully through the doorway with their own weapons lowered.
Cecilia's firearm dipped by a few centimeters.
So did his.
The man with the shield sank to one knee in front of her, using his wall of steel for a crutch. He moved slowly, the way one would approach a wounded animal with its teeth still bared.
"Every time I come looking for you, I find you half-dead in some shithole." He lowered his weapon. "You're one hell of a handful, Ce."
He reached somewhere she could not see and pulled out a small pack of cigarillos. The box was creased, half-crushed and stained at a corner.
"Still your favorite?"
Her eyes stayed on him for a moment longer before dropping to the pack.
She reached for them slowly.
Her fingers closed around the box, but she did not take it right away. For a second, she just held it between them, the pressure in her grip increasing until it began to cave beneath her fingers.
Then, with a small jerk, she took it from him.
She shook one loose, her fingers fumbling before she put it between her lips.
Cecilia raised her bandage-covered hand and cupped it around the end of the cigarillo.
The tip burst into flame.
A small, sharp bloom of heat licked outward before tapering into a steady ember.
Cecilia took a shallow drag.
"Where are they?"
Something in his expression changed.
"No." Her grip tightened around the box. "Don't you fucking look at me like that. Where's my team?"
"...You're the last one still on your feet, Ce. The others made it out, but none of them are going back in anytime soon."
The ember at the end of the cigarillo glowed between them.
"After this, you're done too."
"No."
"That wasn't a question."
The man with the shield stared at her.
"Your body can't take much more. Lucas doesn't have the time to keep piecing us back together—not after losing his little errand boy."
"Then get someone else."
"That someone else would still tell you to sit your ass down."
One of the others shifted near the doorway.
"Slow down, Ce. Let us take it from here."
Cecilia's eyes snapped toward them.
"Stay out of it."
Cecilia clenched her teeth, enough for her jaw to ache.
Me? Done?
Who the hell is he to decide that?
Heat crawled up Cecilia's face, humiliating, burning through the sweat and filth clinging to her skin.
No, fuck that.
The cigarillo trembled faintly between her lips, its ember burning hotter before dimming again.
Cecilia pushed herself up.
The sofa shifted beneath her, its springs groaning under her weight. Pain ran through her body in sharp spasms, stabbing at every bruise.
"Ce, sit down."
The edges of the room bent in her sight, slowly turning a hue of red.
"You don't decide when I'm finished."
"I can still fi-!"
braaam…
All of them turned toward the window.
The first tremor rattled through the glass, then crawled into everything around them.
clatter!
CRASH!
clink—shatter!
They dropped before the last piece hit the floor.
A sharp flick of her fingers and the curtains snapped shut on their own, whipping across the cracked window before pulling tight at the edges.
Pain tore through Cecilia's wrist and ran up her forearm. She squinted through it, refusing to let herself make a sound.
Noiselessness, except for their breathing and her own battered self.
Thmp.
Coldness against her temple.
Seeping in.
"Ce...Ceeee—"
Voices muddled, like drowning into noise.
vrrrrmmmm...