Log entry: 2

Agent: UNKNOWN

Approximately 7 miles from Halcyon city, Time: 1200 hours, Date:19/04/2144

Status: Standby

"Jason."

Jason groaned. The voice was sweet, yet annoying, a bit of urgency at the tip of its tone.

"Jason."

The same voice, still trying to rouse him, this time with a little nudge in his ribs. He swatted it away and turned on his side. The grip of sleep wasn't something he was keen on losing right now

"Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason! Jason!"

Alright, Fine! That pesky voice and immature repetition of his name could only belong to one person. With a small growl, he sat up to find his care-taker Rose standing above him, that sugary-sweet smile of hers splitting her face in two. She was a kind person, always full of energy and life, but even for a guy like Jason, that could be a bit of a task to keep up with. To a lot, her childish behavior betrayed her actual age incredibly. After all, no one usually expected a twenty-two-year-old to behave like an eight-year-old on a sugar rush, but over the past couple of months, her slender frame had filled out quite a bit, the bulge of her stomach a massive advertisement that she was pregnant

"What is it, Rose?" He groaned, a headache already settling on him

She beamed and pulled him up, before dragging him out of the bathroom by the back of his jacket. "We're almost in Halcyon, we should start packing up our stuff."

Jason rolled his eyes and yawned. He would've much preferred to continue sleeping and just bundle all his stuff together in his bag when the time came, but at this point, most of his fatigue had already faded away, so he figured he might as well just do it. The only issue to that, however, was-

"Wait a minute?" he said, as he glanced over at his back-pack, "All my stuff's already packed."

He turned to Rose and found her somehow smiling even wider than she was before, "Yeah, I know. I packed up all our stuff already"

"So why'd you wake me up?" he said, unable to grasp her logic

"'cause I want to go up to the main deck and see the city when we get there"

"And you couldn't have done that by yourself?"

She shrugged, "Didn't want to."

Jason's eye twitched in irritation from her simple answer. Then again, this was Rose, so he should've seen it coming

"Fine, just me a min-" But before he could say anything more, she was out their cabin door, already on her way to the main deck

"-ute." Jason sighed, as he followed her out the door.

To many people, a ride on a Sliprider airship is said to be one of the most relaxing activities out there, and for a lot of reasons, it could be. The world was so much different from up in the sky as if all the details that were lost to your sight on the ground were given suddenly given a vibrant spotlight. From the main deck alone, you could simply reach out and touch the clouds, enjoy the scenery as the sun painted the horizon, or even simply sit back and let the calming rock of the ship lull you to sleep as it wafted through the sky.

However, on this particular Sliprider, it's port-side stabilizer had suffered a serious malfunction. And as those on board had soon realized, there was a very big difference between both stabilizers working and only one working

"Oh, crap," Jason groaned as he clutched his stomach. Bile threatened to spew from his mouth any second, "Now I remember why I was sleeping next to the toilet." He fought back the bitter taste at the back of his throat and staggered on

From the sounds coming out of the other cabins, it looked as though everyone on board was suffering same nausea that he was. He held onto the wall for support, as the floor rocked to and fro. The signs posted along the walls pointed him in the direction of the main deck, but just trying to read them gave him yet another headache. For a few seconds, he contemplated whether or not he should just go back to the cabin and leave Rose to her own devices

"Nah," Jason said, dismissing the thought, "She'd probably just drag me out while I slept and tie me to the railing or something." Wouldn't have been the first time Rose did something like that.

With a final effort and a stomach ready to vomit out its contents, he made his way onto the main deck. No surprise, Rose was already there, holding onto the railing and laughing as though she was having fun. Which .truthfully, looked to be the case. Jason ran forward and threw his head over the railing just as bitter stomach acid came rushing out.

"How much longer until we're off this damn vomit vessel?" Jason asked, slumping down against the railing, once his vomiting had subsided

"About....." said Rose, pointing at something he just didn't have the energy to look and see "five minutes, maybe ten"

What? A renewed vigor flowed through him (Or more likely the second round of vomit), and he turned to see what Rose was pointing at. In the distance, the outlines of buildings stretched up and connected the ground to the sky

Jason jumped for joy, "We're finally-" and there went the second round, down to the ground below "Dammit, I hate this ship!"

Rose raised an eyebrow and turned to him with an upbeat grin, "Why? It's so much fun!"

"How the devil is this fun to you?" Jason asked as he wiped bits of food from his mouth

"It's like one of those rides they have on Semblance day" she cheerfully replied, before she gave her stomach a small pat, "Plus, this is nothing compared to the vomiting these little guys gave me"

Jason shook his head "I don't think that's how it works, Rose"

To his surprise, the orange-haired sugar bomb paused for a moment as if she was actually trying to give him an explanation for her own weirdness, but after a few moments, she simply shrugged and uttered a light-hearted "Oh, well," before getting back to her make-shift carnival ride

Jason spent the next few minutes leaning against the railing with his eyes fluttering in between awake, sleep and the desire to puke. However, the moment that Halcyon city became more just an outline on the horizon, he couldn't help but pull himself up and gaze out at it.

"Wow!" Rose awed, "The city looks so pretty from up here"

Jason nodded in agreement. As one of the first Mega-cities to sprout up after the Cataclysm, Halcyon held a beauty akin to an oasis in the desert. It was an empire of steel and concrete; buildings rose to scrape the heavens while the machines turned the cogs of everyday life below.

Jason gripped the railing as the ship suddenly jerked forward.

"I think we've docked," said Rose

"Either that or the collective stomach acid's finally melted through the hull"

The intercom buzzed to life "This is your captain speaking." a man's voice over the sound system "I would like to welcome you all Halcyon City. The cargo-doors are now open, and we would kindly like everyone vacate the ship. However, due to the turbulence of the flight, a medical tent has been set up in case any passengers have lingering nausea. Thank you for flying with us and we do so hope to see you again soon"

"Sounds like this is our stop" Jason joked "I'll go grab our stuff, don't wander too far"

"Okay" Rose replied, staring back out at the city

He made his way over to the door back to the cabins, but before he left, he couldn't help but give a glance back at the scene. You shouldn't let looks fool you.

Against the setting sun, the city cast an almost welcoming shadow, one that seemed to want to swallow you up and never let you out, as if daring you to try and find out what lay in store for you. Jason smirked. behind all the glitters and gold, Halcyon was just one of those cities wherein the blink of an eye, your life could forever change, be it winning it big, or taking a hard fall